Midare grabbed a nearby chair as Evelynn drew closer, kicking aside and flipping tables making a loud commotion in the dining hall.

"My detectives will find me if you keep making all this noise." Midare raised the chair in an attempt to block the sword swing. The cold magic enchanted blade cleanly cut through the wooden chair bit by bit.

"I'll cut them down if they get in my way." Evelynn slammed the sword down, missing when Midare jumped back.

Midare snatched a tablecloth to cover herself with and vanished from sight. But this was merely a trick, easily countered by Evelynn stabbing her sword into the ground creating spikes of ice that shot up from the ground around her. One of which pierced Midare's arm, the strange arm she had in a cast.

The ice burned her skin and her blood, the uncomfortable pain worse than a bullet wound. The illusion fell with the table cloth and Midare was trapped due to foolishly getting struck by Evelynn's counter trick. She couldn't do anything, or rather, she didn't want to. If she died here then, would it be so bad?

Evelynn pulled her sword up "Hmph, you're a lot weaker than I expected. You don't even believe in your own cause enough to fight for your life for it."

The searing ice burning her bones made it difficult to speak. "I hoped to reach the end...without adding another death… to use as a stepping stone."

Midare couldn't die here, not yet. She pulled her arm back with all her strength, cringing from the pain but breaking her arm free from the icicle.

Evelynn quickly dashed forward with her sword pulled back, though Midare was prepared. Making a claw with her hand, Midare swung her peculiar arm digging her nails and shredding through Evelynn with magic at her fingertips. The attack pushed Evelynn back into a table, breaking it on impact and bleeding from the deep scratch on her stomach.

Midare's right arm then fell limp "If that's what you wanted then there you have it. Now tell me where Soap is!"

Evelynn sat up but held the injury, unable to stand. She looked at Midare with blood dripping from her mouth and a fearful gaze. "W-we haven't even gotten started."

"If you aren't going to answer me then you can stay here and fawn over whoever Fukami is. I have a killer to catch. Step in my way again and I'll dispose of you like the rest." Midare began walking away leaving Evelynn to wallow in her mercy.

Evelynn took this as an insult, "Then kill me right now. That's how you show your justice right? Aggh, stupid little…"

"Dulivale's suggestion may have come in handy but why would she continue to work with the director? Seems like everyone turns against me eventually. Not like she was on my side in the first place. Like with everyone..." Midare thought while walking through the halls.

────── 〔✿〕──────

Meanwhile Lloyd, Shiki and Yulie had found a flight of stairs that led to the basement where the power generator was tampered with. The basement was a dull concrete compared to the vibrant interior of the building's hallways and many decorations and cramped to navigate through. What they found was a man who was just as interested as they were in solving the mystery. But they couldn't make out his face in the dimly lit basement.

Instead of pressing him for questions, Yulie shouted at him to leave and to go back to the party room while they dealt with the mystery. He ran off fearing Yulie and Shiki were going to beat him up. Lloyd had little say in convincing them to let him explain himself.

"We can solve this ourselves, we're geniuses. Midare is probably twiddling her thumbs right now." Yulie proudly said while rubbing her nose.

"You heard what Reanne said, anyone other than us found out here gets charged for obstruction." Shiki added.

They were by the book investigators and their teachings from Kamui still stuck despite everything he had done. Lloyd was hoping to distance himself from the Noble Third title all together and wanted to begin anew. He didn't have the right words to convince his partners to think the same way.

"Anyway…" Lloyd brought their attention to an opened power control panel, the main object that was tampered with in the basement. Whoever turned off the lights knew what they were doing, switching specific wires rather than cutting them to cause a brief power outage before the generator kicked in.

Lloyd shrugged his shoulders "Maybe if you didn't scare that guy off we could've had an answer to who did this."

"One of Soap's lackeys as It's always been!" Yulie exclaimed.

"Do you think it was that guy himself? Seems like you can only get to the basement from the second floor." Lloyd replied, scratching his head.

Shiki stammered "I… hadn't considered that."

Lloyd groaned. "Come on guys, we have to put aside our grudges with the detectives. What we used to be is gone. We have to work as one."

"We don't need to hear your billionth speech about friendship." Yulie rolled her eyes "We get the point."

"That's not…"

Shiki interjected, "Doesn't seem like we can deduce much else here. And I'm interested in what Midare has to say."

Lloyd was surprised to hear that Shiki didn't have a clue. "You haven't deduced it either huh?"

"It's just…" Shiki lowered her head "I don't think anyone here is the culprit."

They heard a spark from the power control panel that interrupted their conversation causing them to nearly jump out of their skin. Yulie was the first to laugh it off and grabbed the panel cover that was lying on the ground.

"Bet you two thought we were going to get killed huh?" Yulie snickered, "Let's just put this back where it belongs…"

"Wait a second-- Yulie!" Shiki was too late,

Another spark was sounded, followed by a massive explosion that blew the whole room up in dark smoke and caused the lights in the whole mansion to flicker. It left many of the guests as well as Hyde, Mikael and Ibuki confused. Yulie and company were covered completely in black soot and harsh burns from the rigged trap.

"A-ah…" Yulie was in a state of shock and automatically fell back giving into her injuries.

…

…

Mikael broke the silence "That sounded bad. Should… should we go check it out?"

Hyde opened his lighter then closed it… "Why should we..? It's probably Midare getting into trouble with Sho. She can handle her own problems."

"Hyde's right." Mary leaned back on the nearby table. "Midare has always been able to take care of only herself."

Mikael dropped a sweat at her pessimistic outlook "She's our Boss, and more importantly…"

"She's a villain just like we are." Hyde gripped his lighter tightly "That's something I can't accept. Working for someone who blindly makes decisions that costs people lives. That's beyond just a mistake."

"It bothers me a little bit too… but I still trust her." Ibuki then noticed Sho return with Akira and Toru but without Midare. Immediately they were asked where their boss was.

Sho answered "She needed to check something in the back. But did you guys hear that explosion? Think it might be her?"

Hyde made up his mind and pocketed his lighter. "Fine… we'll go investigate." He figured speaking to Midare directly about these issues would ease his mind with the actions he took that day. But there was no need for them to move far as Midare returned alive though with a limp arm.

She was immediately surrounded by the detectives as well as Yamiko and Reanne for questioning on her findings and the explosion. Midare held her hand up motioning for them to give her some space as she explained.

"Our killer is still in hiding. But…" Midare raised her arm and slowly lowered it, pointing directly at Sho. "I still have some unanswered questions for you."

Sho raised an eyebrow then chuckled "Shoot."

"It is awfully convenient that you approached us immediately after the crime to assist us instead of going off on your own like the others did. You seem to have a confident grasp on the situation, even diving under the tables when the lights turned off as if you were prepared for this." Midare lowered her arm "Furthermore you knew only 2 gunshots were fired when several sounds went off in the dark."

Sho felt all eyes on him awaiting for his response. He merely chuckled "Are you accusing me of being the killer?"

"No… but you certainly know who the killer is." Midare responded.

The detective all took a step away from him worried about what he might do next. The tense silence set in, making them all worry. Sho would shrug and sigh, "Alright I guess I have to tell you the truth. Oi, Akira, Toru!" he called over the two men that immediately rushed to his side.

"We're actually apart of the TGA sent to capture the mystery woman on stilts. Akira, Toru and I were sent here to investigate and we were well prepared for a gunshot murder party." said Sho.

Gunshot murder party…

After the detectives were disposed of by the TGA, The Director had recruited secret agents to replace them and to finish their unsolved cases. One of the cases was the woman on stilts also known as Shampoo by the public, and their clues led them to this ceremony. As soon as the lights went out, they prepared for action but their culprit was fast. Striking the chandelier with magic in an attempt to kill Midare.

"When the lights came back on, we sprung into action. Though I wanted to work with you guys instead of my regular crew." Sho explained.

Akira added on "Splitting up to catch the killer seems like a bad idea since he could pick us off one by one, but in this instance, we had two killers to catch."

"Exactly. Akira and Toru left on their own to catch Shampoo while I joined you detectives to find whoever this killer is." Sho finished.

Reanne groaned in annoyance "The Director always butts her nose into everything."

Then what was the reason for them pretending to be dead in that room? Did they end up finding their killer? Mary thought over the investigation but was mostly waiting for Midare to have an answer. And she did…

Their alibi was all bullshit.

"Reanne, did you invite any people from the TGA?" Midare asked to which Reanne shook her head. "No, this is a ceremony only for nobles to attend. But Clearly The Director has infiltrated my party with her secret service. I wasn't aware that it existed."

Turning back to Sho, "And you knew that the chandelier was struck with magic despite us not having a chance to look at it ourselves."

Remembering what Evelynn said… 'Him and I only worked together because we had a small common goal. Now I work independently.'

Her efforts of trying to kill Midare were entirely her own. It wasn't apart of whatever grand scheme was at play and Midare just happened to be under the chandelier which was simply convenient for her. There was no way Sho could know magic was used since he hid under the table, unless he was hiding under the table the whole time, coming out after the crime.

Sho knew their plan was spoiled by Evelynn acting on her own and he had to cover their tracks long enough for the killer to get something. That's why he approached the detectives offering to help instead of going on his own like Akira and Toru. So what was all this leading to..?

"Wait a second, you said yourself that none of us were the culprit because the real killer is still out there." Sho argued with a nervous grin. "Where is the killer, Miss detective?"

Suddenly they heard slow tapping footsteps and turned their attention to Evelynn dragging herself into the room. Hyde's eyes widened thinking it was Evelynn all along but she would point upwards towards the balcony where their culprit was secretly watching them. "Your culprit's right there. Soap...himself…." she fell to her knees unable to keep enough strength to stand on her stilts and spat out blood. "You owe me… for this Midare…"

Soap unmasked, no longer needing to hide his identity because he had gotten what he needed. A crackled faint gold emblem almost the size of his hand. He looked down at the detectives like they were all scum and they were, their past lives full of death and killing. Their justice was the salt poured into wounds, and they were all out of righteousness.

Hyde's heart skipped a beat, Mary gasped, Mikael's eyes widened in shock and Ibuki was too stunned to make a move.

"Cran…" Midare returned his menacing glare.

He still adorned his musketeer uniform without the hat, speaking in a different and deeper tone than he usually had "They always say kill a traitor before an enemy. You and I were too merciful."

But how did he pull this all off…? Why did he…

There were so many questions to ask.