When Lloyd, Yulie, Shiki and Reanne returned, the white rabbit queen came stomping towards Midare with vengeful eyes. She tried to keep her voice low, pointing at Midare with her sharp nail nearly stabbing her "You did this, didn't you sly detective? Your kind can't be trusted at all!"

Midare turned away crossing her arms "I have no idea what you're talking about kuso usagi."

"What did you call me?!"

Lloyd tried stepping inbetween them to settle down their complaints. "Let's try to relax a little. The detectives have no clue what's going on just like us." he scratched the back of his head "We couldn't find anything while searching around the rest of the mansion. Nothing looked out of the ordinary."

"As we speak, our killer is making his movements." Midare's eyes scanned the room again for any changes. Yamiko was across on the other side of the room trying to calm down some of the guests and spoke with some of the knights to let them know that they were going to investigate the matters as detectives. In order to catch their killer they needed everyone to remain in the party room so the detectives could investigate without people feeling the need to tamper with the mansion in an attempt to investigate themselves.

Reanne cleared her throat and instructed her guest to remain in this room, letting everyone know that Midare's agency will be handling the investigation and if anyone was found trying to leave then they would be charged with obstruction of justice. The individuals who already left, if found, would have to pay a fine.

"Now that we have that settled, let's move on to what happened while the lights were out." Sho suggested.

The crime happened like this… The lights blew out by unknown means and the entire room fell into a pitch black darkness. No one could see anything. Hyde and co. were beside each other and likewise with Lloyd, Yulie and Shiki on the opposite side of the room, the left side. Midare on the other hand had been pushed and hit her head on the ground making her faint. Pushed presumably by Yamiko who saved her from the chandelier crashing down. Sho had hid under the table after hearing the gunshots and seeing the flashes. When the crime was done, the lights returned back on...

"And since these noble third guys didn't find anything strange in the other parts of the mansion. I think we can safely say that our killer here is setting up traps and distractions as we speak." Sho said.

Hyde stepped forward with a bone to pick with Sho here, "Why are we even listening to you? We're the detectives here, not you. You're just some ex-yakuza, how do we know you can be trusted?"

Sho lifted his cap with a smirk feeling that eventually someone would ask. "And you detectives who fail at every turn are trustworthy? Come on, the newspaper showed you guys getting knocked around by Kamui's posse. What about finding out about Morren's killings a little too late."

This made Yulie growl in frustration "Shut up! You don't know anything about us and Kamui, or anything at all!"

This banter was getting annoying…

Midare brought them back on topic, darting her eyes to Rissa briefly. She proposed a question to Sho, asking where the gunshots were fired.

"You didn't see it? Surely you could point out the location by hearing its position."

"Spit it out." Hyde's words jabbed him.

Sho aimed his finger at the staircase where Reanne was standing when she gave her introduction and where Rissa was standing before the lights blew out. The only other people there were the two red guards standing behind Rissa. One of them was present in the room, sitting by the stair's banister almost curled up in a ball.

Midare and Sho approached him and he raised his head to see his interrogators. Immediately he shook his head crying "I don't know what happened. It was all so fast, so dark. I couldn't protect her highness… damnnit!"

Sho chuckled and kneeled down beside the knight "Chill out bud, we know you didn't do it. We're here to ask what happened to you when the lights went out."

"Me? Well…" he had explained to them that as soon as the lights went out, he was pushed to the ground by some unknown person. He had no time to react or see but he heard the gunshots directly next to him where his comrade was, followed by Rissa's screams. When he stood up ready to unsheathe his sword to stop the perpetrator, the crime was already done. The lights turned back on and he saw Rissa had fallen down the stairs after being hit with one of the gunshots, and his partner…

the novice knight looked to his left where his dead partner lied, surrounded by other guests who tried to perform any medical procedure they knew to keep him alive. Alas the shot to his neck was fatal.

The novice knight held his head whining, "This sucks! I can't protect anyone, even as a knight!"

Sho patted his shoulder "We all were powerless in that situation. Nothing we could've done to change the outcome."

Midare rolled her eyes at Sho sympathizing with the victim. They needed to get answers, not to cuddle some young knight about courage. They had pieced together one part of this puzzle, the sequence of events. With this sequence of events, they could confidently craft some narratives that may have happened. Their killer was smart and they needed to go over every possibility to shoot down what couldn't have happened.

Firstly when the lights cut out, everyone heard the gunshots. Sho specified that there were 2 shots fired and only he knew where they were fired when he hid under the table. Both of the knights were attacked meaning neither had intentions of hurting Rissa. Lastly, when the lights returned back on, 4 people had left on their own to investigate while the rest remained in this room.

"...How's that sound?" Sho asked the party.

Shiki nodded slowly. "I have no objections." She along with her friends agreed to the sequence of events. Midare on the other hand was still on the fence, feeling that something was missing from this sequence.

"You feel that way too?" Mary said "I know something is missing. I just don't know what."

Mikael scratched his chin in thought for a bit trying to figure out what clue would lead them to the killer. For now he let out a sigh and suggested they split up to find the 4 people who left on their own. Maybe they had the answers they needed.

"Right. They left after the attack, which means one of them has to be the killer." Shiki placed her hand on her hip. "Soap must've disguised himself as a guest here."

Midare tilted her head slightly with a frown "You're too quick to blame. When investigating, you can't confidently say one of our suspects is the killer. The killer had a clear motive to disrupt this ceremony but beyond that is something we don't know."

Whoever it was didn't assassinate Reanne or Rissa. Merely injuring the young princess as a distraction to gain something more important. If it was a political act then it would be more spectacular to scar the event into everyone's memories. No, this killer wants something perhaps hidden in this mansion.

The detectives split into two groups. Lloyd naturally went with Shiki and Yulie to the second floor while Midare, Sho and Mary--

"No, you have to stay here." Midare outstretched her arm in front of Mary. This made the girl scoff as a response and smack her arm away.

"Fine! Go be a detective on your own then." Mary turned her back towards Midare. It made her flinch but at least Mary was listening to her orders after the mess she created. The others were told to watch out for anything strange or if the killer was to come their way.

────── 〔✿〕──────

Unlike the party room they were in, the hallway lights were partially dimmed from tampering making the red and black carpet and dark patterned wallpaper give the illusion of the detectives being in the dark. The windows by their side were frozen over with ice completely cutting off them from the outside and getting close made them feel a chill down to the bone. It was ice magic that caused the blizzard. Since Soap didn't use ice magic, it had to be someone else in this planned attack. Multiple killers searching for something here.

What was this something that Midare alluded to? What kind of thing was hidden in a place like this? Midare and Sho passed multiple closed doors and they briefly inspected each one. Finding nothing noteworthy in each room. A bit further in the long hall Sho found a faint dusty footprint on the carpet. It was slightly turnt meaning that the person they were chasing must've entered one of the vacant rooms.

Sho took the initiative and opened the door unwavering and stepped into the room, turning on the light switch by the entrance. What they found were two adult men wearing similar suits, lying on the ground. Simply… pretending to be dead. Midare saw through their plain trick and moved towards them, raising her foot about to dig her heel into his back.

He opened his eye a little then rolled to his side, away from Midare which made his partner jolt from the sudden action. Raising his arms, he panicked "W-wait I'm alive! I'm not not injured, not injured at all!"

He had a freshly shaven head, not bald, but his haircut and build was that of a soldier either in the TGA or Japanese military. His partner who joined him had a similar haircut to Hyde but shorter and was a dark black instead of brown and looked like he was in his early 20s, in contrast to the older male who was showing his old age.

"State your name, occupation, and what you're doing here." Midare got straight to the point.

"Toru, a retired veteran and I wanted to solve this mystery." Toru said and scrambled to his feet. "I saw that you passed out when the lights went out and thought to solve this crime with my friend here." he motioned to the younger male who bowed.

"Akira, Tokyo Magic Government Agency intern. I uh… wanted to help capture the killer." Akira nervously shifted his eyes away "I guess I can't really be the hero like in mangas."

"Not everything can be a game bud." Sho shrugged. "Being out here really messes up our investigation."

Toru placed his hands in his pockets wondering how so..? For one…

"Isn't it obvious? Two men walking out on their own right after the crime was committed?" Sho lowered his cap "It's like you're asking us to suspect you."

Sho was taking too much of the spotlight of this investigation, Midare nudged him aside for getting into too many off topic conversations. What they needed now were their alibis not pointless badgering.

Toru rubbed his chin slowly "Where were we at the scene of the crime? Well I can tell you for sure that we're completely innocent during that moment of fright."

Moment of fright…

The last thing the two men were expecting was an attack during the ceremony. Akira and Toru were together near the back of the room, away from the dancing crowd and in a discussion wondered what this whole ceremony was about. They were invited randomly and thought it was a good time to spend their freetime on. After the light had gone out and the gunshots were fired, they nearly tripped over each other in the midst of the confusion. They heard several shots fired and crouched down by the tables to avoid getting hit by the bullets and the crowd of people scrambling. When the light returned back on and they saw the destruction caused by the chaos, they decided to take action and left the party room thinking the killer couldn't have gotten far.

Toru frowned, "I guess we were too slow. Although on our search, we couldn't find any trace left behind. Seems he got away."

"That's impossible. The entrances are all frozen shut." Midare said.

"They are?" Akira raised an eyebrow "We didn't check to see if we could leave or not."

"Don't you feel how cold it is here? There's a terrible blizzard outside." Midare replied.

Sho came to their defense "People without magic can't sense magic well. Makes sense why they aren't affected by it in the same way we are."

Midare then proposed a question to the two. Curious about how many shots were fired. Toru, being a veteran, had a calm enough mind to know that 4 shots were fired. Rissa and the knight were hit, perhaps the chandelier as well to make it fall, but they would have to inspect it when they returned. And the last shot..?

"How does knowing how many shots were fired important to this?" Sho tilted his head.

"It's all apart of a bigger picture." Midare turned around and moved towards the doors to leave saying nothing more. They had gotten all of the information they could get out of the two men, now they had to escort them back to the party room.

But Midare felt a sharp ring alert her mind, something only she could feel and something she'd been longing for to return. She split from the group "Go back on without me, there's one more thing I need to check."

"W-wait, what if you get killed?" Akira worried but wasn't given a response back. Sho pushed him forward telling him not to worry about what the professional was about to do.

Cold dread overcame her when she turned the corner and emerged into the dark dining hall where a woman with metalitics leg stilts was waiting, sitting on the top of many cloth covered tables. She wore a long black coat that covered her entire body but had her hood off so Midare could identify her… Evelynn.

Midare groaned at her failure for not being able to notice the connection before, but her many disguises she put up were too clever and her detectives were too stupid to put together the pieces. Still, this reveal was nothing more than a distraction for the real killer to get something.

Not wanting to engage, Midare was about to turn around until Evelynn tossed Midare's suitcase partially open towards her. "You're a sick person. A sicko, perhaps the worst human being to walk the Earth." Evelynn berated her with disgusted insults. Funny how that's coming from a killer, but Midare was also evil in her own way.

Midare stared at her suitcase briefly "You killed my maid. That's the sickest, most vile thing imaginable."

Evelynn stood up, her height of 8ft due to her sharp stilts may be towering to individuals who were afraid but Midare wasn't intimidated by it in the slightest. Even though she had been called here by Evelynn manipulating Midare's hidden power.

"How were you able to trigger my 6th sense?" The curiosity in Midare's tone made Evelynn frustrated at her stupidity thinking she was just pretending to be ignorant.

"Because we used to work together? Of course you wouldn't remember me since you erase everyone's memories." The way she talked about Midare was like the way a secret admirer would talk about their senpai. Midare probably did have a few people that looked up to her, not that it mattered since she was too caught up in her research back then. To answer her question, "I am Evelynn Yukikari. I used to work with Imperia on the nightmare project. The project you ruined and nearly ended the world over your petty feelings."

Midare wasn't the one who erased the world's memories. Though Evelynn wouldn't believe her if she defended herself from that accusation. "Was this entire attack meant to target me? Is that your end goal?"

Evelynn continued, pacing to the left through the rows of tables "I only assisted Soap because I needed a way to get to you. Him and I only worked together because we had a small common goal. Now I work independently. I'll make sure you're killed permanently for your crimes against humanity."

Another person who wanted her dead, just great. Midare couldn't get away from her past at all no matter how hard she tried. "I'm a different person."

A weak phrase lacking any kind of meaning behind it, aside from angering Evelynn further.

"You're still the Fukami I always knew!" It was almost as if Evelynn cried "Is killing fulfilling that so-called justice you alway talked about? Thousands died because of your actions that day. Why did you do it?!"

Midare responded "I'm not telling you. You killed my maid and you're from Mariellir." Besides, she wouldn't understand the reasons if the detective told her.

"Who cares about your maid?! She was just an obstacle to me." A sword made of pure blue ice was summoned into Evelynn's hand. A chiller blade with a cold aura visible around the blade.

Midare crouched down and touched her suitcase, she really didn't want to fight or even reveal the contents inside. Evelynn had already crossed the line by saying her name and seeing the contents of the suitcase and calling her maid nothing but an obstacle. Maids aren't easy to replace but...

No…

Although she worked endlessly to regain her hidden power, even going as far as to do that with Dulivale, something was pushing against going to her old self. She was going to fight Evelynn with what she had now. And unfortunately what she had now was nothing.