The detectives took Evelynn's case and she promptly took them to the site of where the suicides took place, Osaka castle park. They stood by the railings of the park by the outer castle's moat. Beyond the tree leaves they could see the top of the castle in its full glory standing proudly. It was one of many historic buildings kept intact after so many wars and battles. The deep blue of the cold evening had set in, the cherry blossom trees were at their full bloom and withering away, raining over the detectives like rain.

People who joined the suicide cult were intructioned to drown themselves in the moat as a sacrifice to the world. They needed to damage their own bodies to a point where it could not be found unless a person were to go searching deep in the water. It was ridiculous that people would kill themselves for a vague reason but sadness often clouds the mind. Whether it be tying a rock to their ankle or slitting their throats and jumping off while no one was looking; to these individuals it was the quickness option to happiness.

Just to see Evelynn's reaction, Ibuki said that her daughter might already be dead to which she was grabbed by the weeping woman begging for her to not say things like that until they found the body. Mikael had to pull her away to which she promptly bowed and apologized for her outburst.

"It feels like it might rain." Syrup held a black lace umbrella over herself and Ibuki. But the black haired detective rolled her eyes and moved away to avoid any kind of kindness."That's just a feeling."

"If it did it would be very fitting." Mary said. Hoka looked up at the sky hoping it wouldn't, to make things worse, she thought what if Hyde was in the suicide cult and had killed himself as well. Was his past too heavy to carry on his own..?

Mary brought Hoka along just in case they encountered Hyde but she couldn't go off on her own because it was too dangerous. If Soap was around and captured her, their mission would all be for naught.

Mary turned to the group "We still have time before the arrival of the next wave of people in the cult come around. We'll split up into groups to stop and interrogate them. I'll be going with Hoka. Syrup I want you to go with Evelynn."

"Guess we're a pair Ibuki." Mikael shrugged. "Any specific place you want us to go?" Ibuki asked.

Mary thought over it for a second before answering "I'll search the inner section of the castle walls. You can search the perimeter"

"What about me?" Syrup questioned while Mary was walking away. "Just watch over Evelynn for the meantime."

Syrup was unknowingly left with the worst part of their mission.

Hoka and Mary walked around and asked various people if they had seen any suicides around the area or heard of an online suicide cult but the people they asked were just as confused as they were. The answers they were given were vague however, not leading them to a direct conclusion whether or not this was real or fake. The information they were given by Evelynn about the cult was little which brought unneeded difficulty to their interrogations.

That was until they stumbled upon an old woman weeping under a tree. She had been too late to stop her daughter from drowning but…

"A suicide cult? I-is that the reason why she killed herself!?" the old woman bowed profusely "Please detectives! I know it can't be true. My daughter is still alive, isn't she?!"

Mary was horrified at her begging, thinking about the weight of emotions she was going through. Crying her heart out in a scene that caused passersby to side glance. This the first time she had been begged to investigate the death of a loved one publicly and it was an uncomfortable feeling. Most of her skills were meant for sniffing out magic and the criminals that abused it rather than easing the pain of victims.

Mary winced "P-please calm down. We are on the case!" it was all she could think of at the moment. Mary then shuffled away from the woman with Hoka to a secluded area to calm her mind a little. Now there were two deaths but a body yet to be found.

Noticing the unease on Mary's face, Hoka held her hand firmly trying to let her know that she will have her back if things go wrong. Mary pulled her hand away though "Thanks Hoka, but I can do this. I really wasn't expecting this to be so difficult."

Being a detective was harder than it looked. Lots of paperwork, making reports, and so on. Mary was lucky to have gotten a case and an easy one compared to what she faced before. Midare did a majority of the work and left her and the others to combat criminals if need be.

The doubts lingered throughout their search. In the castle building, the rampart edges, in bushes and behind trash cans and benches; they couldn't find a trace of the supposed death and Ibuki and Mikael had yet to call. They haven't found anything either, Mary assumed.

She turned to Hoka who was looking down from the guard railings at the mow and joined her. There indeed was a body, a student in a sailor uniform floating face down in the water. Hoka was worried if Hyde suffered the same face, the student was long gone.

Mary watched the body float at first imagining the horrors the student must've gone through to kill herself then switching the topic for a bit "What is your fixation on Hyde anyway? I know you like to be around him a lot."

Fixation? Well… She was right in a way. But Hoka had a connection towards him, he promised to protect her and helped her get away from Cran who was very creepy. It wasn't easily understood to people who didn't know.

Mary lowered her head "I see…" she wondered if it could be love…? Jealousy flared up in Mary before she shook off the idea. Getting back to their case, They needed a way to retrieve the body.

Mary told Hoka to stay at this location to watch the body while she left to find a net or something that could be used. While Marywas walking back to the castle, she turned her head to look at the outer moat rampart and immediately rushed over to the railings at the edge. Her heart sank witnessing Evelynn gut Syrup in the stomach with a chilling sword. She tossed the body over the railings and into the waters while no one was around but Mary saw the whole thing.

"W-w-w-what?!" She exclaimed, frozen in place. Was this entirely a trick? By who and why..? Mary turned to sprint as everything seemed to fall apart. In her mind she could practically hear Midare scolding her for getting one of her members killed.

Away from the action, Hyde and Sasaki ventured under the sakura trees on the outer path around the castle. Both had their minds made up with leaving but wanted to look at the city they grew up in one last time for the memories. Sasaki held Hyde's hand cheerfully smiling all the while then she ran to a nearby bench to stand on trying to see the full castle beyond the trees.

"That's dangerous, you'll fall." Hyde said bluntly.

Sasaki looked down at him and stuck out her tongue "Only if you push me while I'm not looking." she then hopped down giggling. "It's not often I get to go sightseeing. Most of the places I went to I never got to admire because I… had to take someone's life."

"..."

She looked up "But now that's over. And I'm sure you were tired of smelling the stench of blood as a detective."

He was.

Knowing the truth behind lies was also something he wanted to run away from. He couldn't handle it and whether it was because he was stupid or too young he didn't care to find out. Hyde was glad to have a fragment of his past return to whisk him away to some faraway place where he didn't have to feel under pressure from it all. All he needed to do now was eliminate the feelings anchoring on the agency.

He sheepishly rubbed his head "Ehh… I kinda don't mind the smell anymore."

This brought a frown to Sasaki's face, instantly flipping her mood. She looked at the castle "This place used to be covered all in blood you know? The long ambition of Oda Nobunaga. Everyone knows that story. But… not everyone knows the story of Izanami's ambition. You and I have parallels to that story."

Hyde crossed his arms and tilted his head "I never heard of it before."

Sasaki shot him an annoyed glance "I'm not surprised you haven't. You never show interest in anything particular."

"All I know is that Izanami was the god who blessed humanity with magic." Hyde tapped his chin trying to remember more, it was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't exactly remember. How did this relate to Izanami anyway?

"She wasn't some holy moral figure we look up to. As a death god, she guided dead souls for a long time before traveling to the surface world we live in…"

Izanami found humans entertaining and wanted to leave behind a gift for them. She taught only the wisest individuals her magic; Non, Arcane, Holy and Earth. She trusted the humans she granted powers to use it for good and they did, using magic to bring about a peaceful Japan. People grew to love her and eventually she found a very kind man named Izanagi...

Hyde rubbed his chin "I'm guessing that's how our stories parallel? We did just met randomly."

"Not only that..." Sasaki continued,

Izanagi was a man very obsessed with upholding peace and justice. His attitude was very noble and kindhearted, willing to do anything for the sake of others and to defeat evil. Unknowingly Izanagi would marry this death god and bear 3 children, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo. They were practically the lords of Japan given how people honored them greatly for their magic.

But it was inevitable that Izanagi would find out about Izanami's true role in the world. She returned home one day only to find her children missing and Izanagi awaiting her with a sword in hand. He couldn't turn a blind eye to his wife. The concept of justice enraptured him and so… they fought.

Sasaki looked at Hyde "Unlike us, Izanami won and severed Izanagi's head. She mourned for her husband's death but when people saw her for what she truly was, they sealed her away for eternity." she chuckled "This may sound a bit silly but what if we're the reincarnations of Izanami and Izanagi?"

"Hmm… I guess it's a possibility." For some reason Hyde couldn't smirk or laugh at the idea. "But I'm glad we don't have to go through what they went through. They must've felt awful fighting each other."

"Mhm." Sasaki nodded slowly. "But for that reason… I don't know if we can be together."

Hyde's heart tightened when she told him that. He didn't want to continue being a detective, he didn't want to continue being the hollow person he once was. Although being with Sasaki didn't bring complete happiness, he found it to be a better path than going back to the agency. He gained a whole new life joining the agency but he was going to throw that away for this dark past and future with someone he cared about.

But Sasaki saw it differently. Hyde had the freedom she didn't and she wanted him to pursue that instead. His desperation to be someone he wasn't was more unhealthy and to be with someone who had already died mentally and almost physically...

She moved her gaze to the inner rampart and her eyes widened seeing a lady with light hair jump off the edge and land on the water, freezing it solid on contact. She made a path of ice with each step she took, flakes of ice and a cold aura surrounding her feet elegantly in a slow dance. Sasaki instinctively took a step back "No… I… I have to go!"

Sasaki ran away without Hyde which confused him. Nonetheless he chased after her. Evelynn was late in jumping up and pulling herself over the railings. She looked in the direction they ran then turned around after being tapped from behind.

"Evelynn..?" Mikael rubbed his chin "Was that...ice magic?"

This was bad but she had a trick up her sleeve. She had already preemptively informed the TGA about the detectives and Sasaki, and Midare was no doubt already caught. Looking past Ibuki and Mikael, she caught sight of police officers on their way to apprehend the two. Well, she was going to leave it to another certain person to handle her job of catching Sasaki.

"This is where we part ways, detectives."

────── 〔✿〕──────

Hyde caught up with Sasaki in a place under the trees but unexpectedly she turned around, pulling out a pistol from her pocket to aim at him. She was anxious about this being all a trap set by Hyde but he truly had no idea what was going on.

Then Cran smacked the gun out of her trembling hands making it slide towards Hyde. Sasaki pushed Cran away with enough force to make him fall on his back but he did his part now it was time for Hyde to do his. "Sorry I'm a bit late. Take the shot now!"

Hyde picked up the gun but was unsure of what to do. Why did Cran want him to kill Sasaki? This was entirely unnecessary, whatever stunt he was trying to pull. And how did Cran find Hyde in the first place?!

"She was luring you into a trap. Aren't you curious about how she's still alive? She didn't leave the life of crime, she needed it to survive." Cran coughed up blood from the force of the push. He felt as if a rib was broken but the injury wasn't enough to kill him. "Take a real close glance at her teeth."

Hyde took a step closer to see Sasaki's bloodied fangs and green eyes reflecting a hint of red. "What…" was all he could muster to say.

Sasaki couldn't look at Hyde after her secret was exposed. She averted her eyes towards the ground as she explained "After you cut me up, I was sent to ER. The doctors had been developing and experimenting with vampirism to create regeneration cells. They used me as a test subject since I was on the brink of death and managed to make a breakthrough allowing me to recover. Unfortunately… I was implanted with magic circuits that were slowly burning my blood cells. The only way I could continue to live to find you was if I continued to kill as I used to."

She outstretched her hands, "But you're not a detective anymore right?! We can look past this and leave it behind forever! All vampires are like me so spare me the blame!"

Cran winced "Like hell we would..! It's the duty of the detective agency to arrest any and every criminal that threatens Japan's peace. We aren't going to forget the past!"

We aren't going to forget the past…

The phrase repeated in Hyde's head a few times, striking a fragile chord.

He…

"I…"

His mind racing and Cran urging him to shoot her where she stood. He shattered like glass.

The flash of the gun followed by deafening silence and holes littering Sasaki's body. This moment was so fleeting…

Sasaki wondered if things would change if she stopped him at that train station. Their eyes connected but he didn't recognize her, and he looked so happy meeting with Yamiko, running from place to place.

"I wish I could thank him but… he wouldn't get it."