Long before the kingdom of Corona knew him as a wanted criminal, Satoru Gojo had already decided that being a thief was considerably more entertaining than being caught.

Unfortunately, today had not gone according to plan.

It had started with a royal ceremony, an extremely valuable lost-princess tiara, and Satoru deciding that stealing it would be much easier than earning an honest living.

It had not accounted for the royal guards.

Or the palace horse.

Or two furious criminals named the Stabbington brothers.

Or the fact that the stolen tiara was currently stuffed inside his satchel while half the kingdom chased him through the forest.

Satoru sprinted through the trees, white hair bouncing wildly as he glanced over his shoulder.

Guards.

Horses.

Shouting.

And, somehow, that ridiculous white horse was still following him.

Maximus.

The palace's most dedicated guard apparently had a personal vendetta against him.

Satoru vaulted over a fallen tree.

Maximus cleared it effortlessly.

Satoru's eye twitched.

"You're kidding me."

The horse snorted.

Their rivalry had become almost legendary.

Maximus didn't merely want Satoru arrested.

He wanted justice.

Satoru, meanwhile, firmly believed Maximus needed a hobby.

Eventually, desperation drove him toward the only thing nearby that looked remotely useful—

A mysterious tower hidden deep within the forest.

Satoru climbed.

He reached the window.

He pulled himself inside.

And for one glorious second, he believed he had escaped.

Then—

THUNK.

Everything went black.

✦ ─────────────── ✦

When Satoru eventually regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that his head hurt.

The second thing he noticed was that he couldn't move.

The third thing—

A tiny green chameleon was staring directly into his face.

Pascal leaned closer.

Satoru's eyes slowly opened.

Pascal stuck out his tongue.

Satoru blinked.

"...What?"

The chameleon promptly used his tongue to poke Satoru awake.

Again.

And again.

And once more for good measure.

Satoru finally groaned and opened his eyes properly.

"Okay, okay! I'm awake!"

Pascal looked extremely satisfied with himself.

Satoru attempted to sit up.

He couldn't.

Golden hair had wrapped around him from practically every direction, binding him securely to a wooden chair.

His wrists.

His torso.

His legs.

Even the chair itself had been practically imprisoned by the magical hair.

Satoru stared at it.

Then stared at you.

Then at Pascal.

Then back at you.

His expression slowly transformed from confusion into complete disbelief.

"...You tied me up with your hair."

Pascal gave an approving little chirp.

Satoru sighed.

"Of course you did."

The enormous tower around him was unlike anything he had expected.

It was clearly someone's entire world.

Books were scattered around the rooms. Paintings and drawings filled portions of the walls. Little handmade decorations sat beside musical instruments and various unfinished projects. There were brushes, paints, sewing supplies, cooking things, books, paper crafts, and countless other hobbies packed into the tower.

It wasn't simply a prison.

It was a home.

A strangely cheerful, wonderfully chaotic home built from years of having nowhere else to go.

And right in the middle of it sat Satoru Gojo—

The kingdom's most wanted thief.

Still tied to a chair.

Still holding the royal tiara's location hostage.

And still trying to understand how a frying pan had defeated him.

His reputation was supposed to be terrifying.

His wanted posters certainly tried.

Unfortunately, the artists of Corona had never managed to draw him correctly.

Every poster somehow looked like a completely different person.

One gave him an enormous nose.

Another made his face strangely square.

A third had somehow transformed his hair into something resembling a badly drawn sheep.

Satoru had complained about it before.

He considered it a personal insult to his beauty.

Yet despite the terrible artwork, everyone knew the name.

Flynn Rider.

Or, in this AU, the alias Satoru had adopted for his life of charming criminal nonsense.

And now that legendary thief was completely at the mercy of one girl, one chameleon, and one frying pan.

His eyes shifted toward the satchel.

The tiara.

You had already found it.

That was a problem.

A very large problem.

But your attention wasn't really on the tiara.

It was on something else.

The mysterious lights.

Every year, on the night of your birthday, thousands upon thousands of glowing lanterns were released into the night sky.

From the tower window, they looked like distant stars.

You had watched them your entire life.

You had painted them.

Drawn them.

Written about them.

Dreamed about them.

You had filled your days with hobbies and little projects simply because there was so much time to occupy inside that tower—but nothing had ever captured your imagination quite like those lights.

They were the one thing outside your walls that you desperately wanted to understand.

Why did they appear every year?

Why did they always appear on your birthday?

Why did the entire kingdom celebrate them?

And most importantly—

What did they look like from up close?

Satoru's expression changed as he realized this wasn't simply an interrogation about the stolen tiara.

You wanted answers.

So, after enough suspicious glances and increasingly desperate attempts to bargain his way out of the chair, he finally explained what he knew.

The lights weren't stars.

They were lanterns.

Every year, Corona released thousands of floating lanterns into the sky in remembrance of someone who had been lost long ago.

The missing princess.

The child the kingdom had searched for but never found.

Satoru explained it almost casually, but even he couldn't completely hide his curiosity when he noticed how important the tradition was to you.

The lanterns were released every year on the princess's birthday.

The same birthday as yours.

For a moment, the tower became unusually quiet.

Pascal watched carefully.

Satoru's eyes moved toward the window.

Far beyond the forest, somewhere beneath the moonlit sky, was the kingdom he had just escaped from.

The kingdom that was preparing for another night of lanterns.

You wanted to see them.

Not through a window.

Not painted on a wall.

Not imagined.

You wanted to actually go there.

And that was when Satoru finally understood what you were asking.

He glanced at the window.

Then at you.

Then at the tiara.

A familiar, mischievous smile slowly returned to his face.

Because Satoru Gojo might have been a thief.

He might have been wanted across the entire kingdom.

He might currently have been restrained by enough magical hair to qualify as furniture.

But he also happened to know exactly how to get to Corona.

He leaned back against the chair as far as the enchanted hair allowed.

"...You want to see the lanterns?"

A pause.

His smile widened.

"Then I can take you."