"..." Ibuki slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times to clear her blurry vision. Sitting up in her hospital bed, she felt a weight on her legs and rubbed her left eye before she could make out the blonde haired fox rushè sitting by the bed with her head resting on Ibuki. It was evening and a few days passed since Ibuki was fully recovered from the injury. She could have taken her leave earlier but stayed an extra day to see if her sister would come to check on her.

Only Yamiko seemed to care enough to look, but that was out of obligation. And Syrup being here only disappointed her further. So no one came to visit her.

"Wake up." Ibuki gently shook Syrup in an attempt to move her off her legs so she could leave. Syrup raised her head and rubbed her eyes letting out a small yawn.

"Ah, you're awake. I was sent to escort you back to the dormitory." She quietly said after her yawn.

"I'm able to do that myself. Besides, Midare needs me in the next case." Ibuki responded with slight annoyance in her tone.

Syrup stood up from her chair and moved it back to the wall, "There is no case currently and that's a bad idea. If you exert too much force on your remaining eye you may become blind."

It was difficult for Ibuki to move her eye alone. She had to turn her head along with the movement of her eye to get a solid perception of her surroundings. She raised her hand to touch the soft pad of her white eyepatch, slightly pressing down, she felt the hard surface of the glass eye implanted in her missing eye. A sharp pain made her flinch and pull her hand away. They didn't have any eyes that matched her unique yellow iris so Ibuki wanted to keep this glass eye hidden behind a patch permanently.

She moved out of bed and nearly stumbled off balance from poor depth perception. Syrup saw this and offered a hand but Ibuki scoffed and shook her head. Afterwards Ibuki would accidentally bump her head on the side of the door frame which changed her mind on the suggestion Syrup offered.

They returned to the cafe, Syrup holding Ibuki's hand the whole way despite her embarrassment. Entering the now desolate feeling cafe brought a new feeling, a breath of melancholic air. What was once here was now gone and Ibuki couldn't even reflect back on the 'old days' because it was all a facade.

In place of Hyde's position behind the counter was now Shiki. Replacing Levin was Lloyd who swept the floors and the pink haired girl now known as Yulie wiped the tables. It was almost as if Mary, Mikael, everyone in the cafe had been replaced. Ibuki wished she had been too so she didn't have to witness this alone. She had persuaded Syrup to take her to the cafe and regretted that decision. But looking away wasn't going to change the course of events, though that ignorance would help elevate the pain.

"The Blue Corps aren't going to be around for awhile. Kaguya called them away for something very important, but no specifics were given." Syrup informed.

Her sister was gone the whole time, figures why she didn't visit. A lie Ibuki made up and convinced herself of believing. Where was she supposed to go from here? Losing an eye was the push she probably needed but still, what was the agency;s next move now?

Her thoughts were interrupted when Midare stopped by, very clearly bothered by the events of the previous case and Levin's death. How could she be so foolish to not see the obvious?! She cursed herself over and over for failing to stop Levin sooner. The agency's performance was abysmal. Most of the members were too injured or shut themselves away wanting to quit this charade. Midare didn't know where to go from here, what options were there?

Midare eyed her clipboard in her hand, the final choice she figured was to do the rest by herself "The police department gave us a case that Dulivale was working on. They want us to catch a murderer they've been struggling to apprehend for years now. I don't know why since the killings ended years ago but apparently this murderer is closely related to Soap." her voice lacked the sass and enthusiasm it had before.

Ibuki grew a small grin "By myself? I'm willing to do that." Everyone else was gonna drag their heels anyway, too caught up in their grievances.

Midare lowered the clipboard "You can forget it. I'm going to have to let you goー"

The chime of the entrance bell followed by Mary bursting in interrupted Midare. Mary would proclaim "I'm here for the next case!" despite her left arm being fractured and in a cast much like Midare's.

Deadpan… "No." Midare placed it on the table nearby. Mary was baffled at the quick remark.

"I want to help too." Said Lloyd who walked in on the conversation. His black eye from previous events was still visible and partially covered by a bandaid but he had a spark in his eye. After Kamui's death, the members of Noble Third joined the agency seeking to get away from their past life of helping their boss commit heinous crimes. "I know we were 'rivals' before but we really didn't mean itー"

Midare's red eyes seemed to glow when her eyes darted towards him sharp as daggers. "That's my problem with you. People who just follow orders aren't living beings."

Lloyd clenched his fist "We're all in a tight bind. Sure, none of us know what exactly to do now but we won't find answers unless we help each other out."

Syrup felt the same but knowing Midare, it was obvious she would refuse.

But Midare closed her eyes and thought over what to do. But it was more a moment to take in the silence since nothing coherent came to mind. She was reluctant, afraid her detectives might conspire against her too. If signals like that ever appeared, she would give them a fate worse than death. It was… too big a risk to take, "If you want to do something then do it yourself."

"F-fine!" Mary stomped her foot "Then we will! Isn't that right Ibuki?"

"Err…"

Lloyd raised his fist "We'll work together with you. Yulie and I are going to work our hardest to do right."

Yulie nearly tripped over a chair hearing her name mentioned. "M-m-me?! Me working with Mary?" Her shaky voice and obvious fears brought a smirk to Lloyd's face.

"It's our fault for causing this mess so it's our responsibility to fix what we can."

Yulie sighed "I'd rather continue working as Midare's maid."

Their childlike view of things was going to get them killed. Midare She left the clipboard on the table and took her leave from the cafe for now.

────── 〔✿〕──────

The dark clouds set in and the rain poured down on the leaves of the towering trees. Rine climbed the shrine steps and approached Julius who was waiting for him outside with a lantern in hand.

"You're a bit late." Julius walked with Rine behind the shrine "I was expecting Cran to be last but he came in a rush when the letter was sent."

Rine tugged on his collar "I'm a bit nervous. This is my first big meeting with Lord Lemon."

Julius flashed him a smile but deep down he knew this may be their last. "Sorry you have to be tangled up in this Rine." He thought.

They met up with Cran, Cherri and Lemon on the building's balcony sitting under a roof that shielded them from the rain. In the center was a large poster paper written with an elaborate scheme, arrows drawn from point to point and diagrams of what seemed like daggers covered in poison.

Rine didn't know what to think of it. What he saw didn't make sense without context. "What is this..?"

Lemon raised his head so he could face Rine directly. "Tangerine, you took an oath to swear your allegiance towards me, yes?"

Rine nodded nervously.

"Everything you hear from this moment never gets out, under no circumstances should this plan be made public to anyone. Understand?" Lemon asked.

"Y-yes Lord Lemon! It is my duty as a blue musketeer to serve you and only you." Rine said with a salute.

It almost made Lemon smile but this was far more serious. He tapped the paper "I trust you. This plan of mine has been in the works for a very long time. I worked with Julius and Cherri to make it nearly full proof."

Rine rubbed his chin "What...is it?"

"This is our plan to finally assassinate Reanne and end her reign over France." Right after Lemon said that, the thunder roared in the cloud seemingly on cue. The silence was nearly deafening, Rine was speechless.

"Assassinate… Reanne…" was all he could get out.

Lemon closed his eyes and hovered his hand over his face "It's my revenge plot to get back at her for the atrocities she's committed. Even now she continues to ignore the woes of the people. Her being here without her royal guard makes it the perfect opportunity to finish something I started."

Rine looked at the other members of the Blue Corps for their thoughts. They were all on board with the assassination plan, sharing the same feelings of betrayal as Lemon.

"It was only after I joined the knights I'd notice the corruption of nobles trying to twist the words in the Lenneth Church scriptures. I could not allow my sister to be a piece in their grand schemes." Cherri tilted her feathered hat downwards.

Julius rubbed his chin "Lord Lemon took the twin Dukes of Kazan to hide them from Reanne, that way if she were to ever attack north, her reputation as some holy saint would be tarnished and people will find out how manipulative she truly is."

Rine dropped a sweat "I've heard rumors about her misdeeds. Were they really that bad?"

Julius let out a sigh, "Unfortunately what Midare says is all true. To make matters worse, Reanne somehow found one of the twin dukes and is using her as a political prop to justify expanding territory back into Kazan."

"She's planning to throw a grand party to announce the crowning of her little princess. Since Japan is the only other country where magic isn't outlawed, she's hoping to get assistance from the TGA to make her conquest of Kazan easier." Lemon added.

So this what was going on behind the scenes… Rine could piece together that the party was their perfect opportunity to strike. They planned to poison Reanne and have Cran take the blame. On the day of his execution Lemon had a way to set up his fake death. Since the princess is too young to lead the country, Lemon would be placed in charge and from there he could fix the mess Reanne caused.

"And since it's a magic related death, the case would be given to the detective agency. But Midare hates Reanne with a passion so she'll toss it out and continue trying to uproot the director's crimes." Lemon rolled up the assassination plot and handed it to Cran, "This is something I've been waiting for all my life. We cannot afford to mess up."

Cran took the rolled up paper, entrusted with keeping this far from anyone's sight. He was the best at keeping things hidden.

With the serious tension lifted, Lemon proposed they have a small tea party to ease their nerves after the meeting.

"Assassinating Reanne…" Rine couldn't get it off his mind. "I don't even know what the future would be like after that…"