“Um, can, like, someone explain to me why I’m back up here again?” Goldie fiddled with her black dress. “I thought I, like, already told you everything I know and stuff.”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” I said. “You know exactly what’s going on. I’m accusing you of Volk’s murder.”

Goldie put her finger on her lips and looked around the room. “First you, like, tried to push the blame onto Ms. Rayne. Now you want to try and say I did it?” She laughed. “Just, like, how desperate are you? It’s so lame.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself, Madam Goldie.”

“Jeez…” Yaika tried to whistle, but it just came out like she was blowing air out of her mouth. “You gonna take that, Ryley?” Why the hell was she egging me on?

I would make them eat their words, and I was going to do it the fake lawyer way. It was time to get to work.

“Goldie, would you like to explain to us all why Rayne didn’t see you come out of Volk’s office?” I asked, doing my best impression of a no-bullshit tough-as-nails lawyer.

“I don’t know, it’s not, like, my fault she didn’t notice me going to the dressing room.”

“That’s not going to cut it.” I smiled. “No one saw you leave his office, and no one saw you in the dressing room. There’s no proof you were there.”

“Really, Sir Allard, are you going to play this game again?” Lyili asked. “If so, I ask that you present proof that she wasn’t.”

“That… Uh, it will take some time to establish that.” More like, it would take some time for me to figure out how I could prove it. Still, I knew I was on the right track. I just needed to keep going.

“Why would I wanna kill Mr. Volk anyway?” Goldie scratched her head. “I didn’t care who he was, like, sleeping with and all that.”

Her motive, huh? I would probably need to establish that before I could get anywhere. I thought back to her claim that Violetta was sleeping with Volk. If she really believed that, would it be enough for her to frame her for the murder? Couldn’t she have just as easily framed Cyana for the same reason?

I guess it wouldn’t have made sense in the timeline. After all, Goldie’s meeting was after Cyana’s had already finished. Was Violetta just chosen out of convenience? It was possible, but something didn’t seem quite right. What if it had to do with something I had been overlooking this whole time?

I had an idea. I had a… terrible, terrible idea.

“Uh-oh, I think you guys broke Ryley,” Yaika said. “He looks like his brain just exploded.”

“Whoa, did he, like, die standing up?”

“Sir Allard? Are you still with us?”

“Mr. Ryley!”

“Bro, what are you doing?” I felt Brad poke me in the back.

My tentacle-based trauma was enough to snap me out of it. “I can’t believe I’m saying this...” I looked over at the king. “But I’d like to call a special expert to the courtroom.”

The king looked around like he was waiting for someone to explain what was going on. “Can… someone explain to me what’s going on?” Yeah, my face reading skills were on point.

With everyone’s eyes on me, I spoke again. “When I went to investigate the office, Princess Yaika noticed something.”

“Father, listen, he’s talking about me.”

“My goodness, you’re right, sweetheart!”

I ignored their weird father-daughter banter and continued. “Uh, anyway, she noticed how strange the content of the meetings was. Namely, why would Volk suddenly decide to change the choreography for their upcoming shows?”

“Hmm…” The king nodded his head. “You’re right, pumpkin. That is very strange.”

Yaika nodded back. “Isn’t it?”

Alright, come on, she didn’t need to take all the credit.

“Just now, I realized how important that question’s answer might be.”

“Where is this going?” Lyili asked. “What expert could you possibly call to clear that up?”

“I would like to call…” Alright, it was time to open up the pits of hell. “Prince Minzfel back to the courtroom!”

As soon as the words left my mouth, the main door to the courtroom flew open, slamming against the walls. “Did you just take my name in vain, Allard!?” The crowd let out a cheer.

What the fuck was with this ‘in vain’ shit? I added ‘Prince’ to it and everything.

“Minzfel!” The king’s eyes were wide. “Are you… uh, will you be alright?” I could tell he didn’t want his son making another scene, but that was too bad. I needed him to make one.

“I’m fine, father!” Minzfel said, stomping his way back to the throne. “I’ve been watching this whole time. Allard’s made quite a mess of things. Of course he’d ask for my help.”

Resist… urge… to punch.

Lyili turned back to me, her arms crossed just under her breasts. Hot. “The prince… is your expert?”

“That’s right,” I said, skillfully moving my eyes back to her face. “I’d like him to watch the Succy Girls perform their dance choreography before and after it was changed.”

Minzfel laughed. “You’ve chosen the right man!” Boy. “No one knows more about the Succy Girls than I do.” He looked over at Violetta, sitting near the stand. “V-Violetta… can you please tell me which song the upcoming concert was supposed to open with?”

“Of course, Prince!” Violetta clenched her fists, excitement in her voice. “We’re going to start things off with ‘My Life Succs!’.” I could strongly identify with the title.

“That’s a great choice.” Minzfel lifted his hand from his cult robe. “The dance should loop halfway through the song.”

“Yeah, great,” I said. “Make sure they switch halfway through then.”

“Don’t give me orders, Allard!” Fucking brat. Minzfel turned his gaze to the audience, raising his hand high into the air. “Brad! The royal boom box!” Seriously?

“You got it, Prince.” Brad reached into his body and yanked out a boom box straight out of an 80’s music video.

“W-We have to perform?” Goldie asked.

“Alright!” Violetta jumped out of her seat. “Are you ready everyone!?”

The audience roared.

“Seriously? A freaking Succy Girl performance!? This is amazing!”

“I never thought I’d be able to see one of these!”

The three succubi took center stage between me and Lyili. Just like I had imagined, a girl in a normal dress flanked by two dominatrix was quite the contrast.

Well…I guess I’d finally get to hear what demon pop idol music sounded like.

“Ready when you are, Prince!” Violetta yelled. She had so much confident energy, she almost seemed like a different person. Person? Demon? Whatever.

“One minute,” Minzfel hurried away from the throne over to my side of the table. I supposed he needed to see the dance to judge the differences, but it didn’t mean I had to like it.

“Oh, wait for us, Minzfel.” Yaika grabbed her father by the hand and pulled him over next to me too. Great, now I was getting death glares from Lyili.

“Okay, ready,” Minzfel said. “Play it!”

Brad pressed a button on the boom box and the sound exploded like it was a fucking surround sound system. Holy shit, the royal boom box was not to be trifled with.

All the girls shouted. “My Life Succs!” Heh.

And then… there was a lot of bouncing around. Bouncing? I meant dancing. Yeah, okay, there was a lot of bouncing too.

While Minzfel fangirled next to me, I did my best to keep an eye on the dance itself. It was pretty standard, if I was being honest. Real 3 out of 5 material. What really mattered was what happened when they started the new choreography.

They went on like that for another minute. Suddenly, the girls nodded to each other. They threw their fists into the air, each jumping over to change their place in the formation. Goldie jumped to the left, Cyana to the far right, and Violetta… to the center.

Was that the change?

The crowd was going crazy. I mean, it’s not like I couldn’t understand the appeal, but wasn’t like they were at an actual concert. They weren’t even trying to lip-sync along with the recording.

Regardless, the audience had reached a fever pitch, the entire room jumping. Well, everyone except Lyili. She just stood there watching the dance, her face blank. I wondered if Brad could jump or not.

Yaika was hopping up and down, still holding onto the king’s hand. “Come on, Ryley!” She grabbed my hand with her free one, jerking it around. Was she seriously expecting me to get into this?

Aww, what the hell? If I was going to have to sit through a Succy Girl performance, I might as well have fun doing it. I jumped.

And then the song just suddenly ended.

“Well that was fun,” Yaika said. She dropped my hand like a sack of demon potatoes and moseyed back over toward the throne. Everyone returned to their original places like nothing had even happened.

Come on! I was about swallow my pride and have fun with these assholes. Now I just looked like an idiot that started jumping as soon as the music finished.

Fuck that. I was never going to attend an impromptu Succubus pop idol concert again.