"Very well, Sir Anno. I'll explain the rest."
James Moriarty patted Anno on the shoulder.
"I'm the one they're questioning, and Sherlock Holmes is no longer here. Without anyone to explain things to them, they likely won't understand the current situation, will they?"
"If my plan were accomplished without anyone ever knowing about it, even I would be rather disappointed."
Anno indicated that either way was fine and took half a step back.
Moriarty looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka, who stood among everyone else, and smiled.
"Ritsuka, you noticed it too, didn't you?"
"From the moment you arrived in Shinjuku, it had been an incredibly strange place."
For some reason, looking at Moriarty made Fujimaru Ritsuka feel calm as well. He took a deep breath, let it out, and nodded.
"This Shinjuku... isn't real."
"It feels like a place from a story, somewhere that shouldn't exist in reality."
"Exactly."
Moriarty nodded.
"Cut off from every world, rendered utterly unrelated to human history."
"Yes, that is Shinjuku's current state. In other words..."
"An Imaginary City."
He spread his arms, seeming immensely satisfied with all he had accomplished.
"Phantom Spirits and Heroic Spirits, even the fusion of Phantom Spirits with Phantom Spirits—such things could never be achieved anywhere else. Not even in the London you experienced before. Only here in Shinjuku, only in Quarantined Demonic Realm Shinjuku, could it be done."
"In Shinjuku, I formed an alliance with the Demon God Baal—this one beside me. That was the original Phantom Demon Alliance."
"We each had our own objective. Baal wished to kill Fujimaru Ritsuka—you—while I wished to surpass Sherlock Holmes."
"Though I hate to admit it, under normal circumstances, neither goal was nearly achievable. That was why we formed an alliance."
Moriarty adjusted his glasses.
"That is the true meaning of the Phantom