A loud 'Pak' could be heard echoing across the ground floor hallway in Teitan Elementary school.

There are not many children around the school, as it is around 6:30 pm since most of them are at home away from this place. Just those who had to stay back due to after-school activities

With a struck a firm slap across Amaya's face, her 6-year-old brother of hers became enraged over his half-sister as he rubbed his sore face from where she struck her, "You!"

While all of this was taking place, a little blue-eyed boy of the age of 6 is hiding at the corner of the wall, quietly listening to their interaction in a tense moment while recording all of this on his smartphone.

"What is wrong with you!? I know you are mad over the fact that I was the reason behind losing the election, but what the heck!?"

Election? The blue-eyed boy wondered what Amaya meant by that statement.

He then recalled during the student head council election when Reina and Mamiko were contesting for votes. So far, the only thing Shinichi know about it was the rumours going about that Ishibashi Mamiko secretly has a half-brother who bullies other weaker kids in this school, and that she was intentionally smearing Reina's reputation as a daughter of divorced parents to distract people from looking into it.

In their school during the early days, kids who are single-parent household (divorced or separated) are not entitled to run for the head, because the majority of the kids here had strong beliefs that they are too messed up to run the school. Even if one parent has remarried someone else. But that all changed after Reina took over the office.

No, Shinichi corrected himself, even before that...he knew this year was going to be different when Reina revealed to a stunned crowd on her own accord that she belonged to such a family, but she ain't ashamed about it. Maybe because she opened up and resonated with the other kids who had suffered as she did, she later won the vote by a landslide.

"That's beside the point!" Mamiko snarled at him before confronting him with a piece of paper before him, which much to his horror, had his handwriting written 'You deserved it' in Japanese. "I found this in my office that got ransacked, do you have anything to say!?"

"How did..." Amaya was shaken, as he absentmindedly held the paper to inspect it, "How did you get this?!" Red suddenly appeared in his eyes before confronting his sister with rage, "You broke into my place, didn't you!?"

"Why are you accusing me while you are the one who did this to my office!?" Mamiko retaliated back.

As they squabble furiously, Shinichi thought about the earlier events that took place in her office.

.........

Kudo Shinichi who recently discovered Sonoko's betrayal on the laptop thanks to Ranran's betrayal was livid as hell over the role she played in ruining him.

As he was about to trash the office by making a grab of the box of files and cause a messy scene, he almost forgot about the phone he held with his other hand as the voice from it blasted into his ears, reminding him out loud, "If you are about to trash the office, the first thing she is going to do is look into the association and cause something that will shut us down, Shinichi!"

That stopped him.

Even so, Shinichi was clearly in a foul mood. What had started as a bad day, had slowly turned from bad to worst as he snapped over the phone, "Even so! How can I not!? All the things they did to the other children-no wait!" That gave him an idea, "I should bring those videos and expose her!"

"Shinichi, don't be an idiot! Even if you do, she had plenty of puppets to take the fall for her!" That stop him in his tracks as Ranran continued, "Do you know why she and that idiot brother of hers couldn't be kicked out of school even up till now? Despite all of the crap they were causing to others?"

"Er....why aren't they-" He couldn't figure out the reason why.

"Did you not notice while browsing the videos on the teachers she blackmailed had one thing in common?"

"Which is...?"

"When I asked you who the teachers are, you knew of their names, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then what do they have in common?"

"Hmm....they are all males."

"Correct," Ranran nodded over the phone, "But why would using her mother's name make them shiver in fear? Her mother is a woman after all."

"Wait..."His eyebrows shot up, realizing what was his mentor heading with this, "You don't mean-"

"I have no evidence yet, but I had a nagging suspicion what sort of job she works for. And I think you too should know what." Silence, dreaded silence. "Also, you also have another problem to deal with. Showing those videos isn't a problem for us, but for the victims as well."

"Why!? They were not at fault!" Shinichi argued.

"Even any child from the lowest of the hierarchy has their own sense of pride. If these videos end up in the wrong hands, although we successfully punish her...don't forget, she had teachers under her puny little hand's thanks to her mother. They can make those children who were her victims claim that all of this was acting for a video project, while we were the instigator who is eager to frame and ruin her innocent reputation."

"That ain't true! They were the victims!"

"Perhaps, but don't forget the number of victims is considered the majority. Their words against us. Also, judging no report of Mamiko's nonsense has ever made it to Reina's office, it's pretty evident that she still has influence over them."

"But Ranran!" protested Shinichi, "Surely we can do something to protect them, right?! We are the founders of a detective association for pete sakes!"

The red lip girl took a cautious look over the office she is in currently, at Tantei Association based at Michio's mother's shop. He is right, right now, they are well known to the media for stopping criminals since the cops here are corrupt to do their bloody jobs.

Even so, Ranran's mind was going in circles trying to figure out what to do with this situation. As much as she wanted to bring it over, stormed into the teacher's office and bring the treasure trove of evidence against Mamiko, they have no clue over how much influence Mamiko had onto the teachers, let alone, how many are involved with Mamiko's mother.

Mamiko's mother...she really is one of a kind.

As soon as Ranran got a text message during the stakeout about Ran forced to leave because of her father's situation, she knew there was something going on and had contacts who worked not far from where the bar was, and lol and behold, her suspicions were confirmed that Mamiko's mother is in some way is involved. If she was a naive little rich woman, it would've been easy to ruin everything she had built.

But the problem is her mother wasn't an ordinary wealthy woman without power.

And by power, she didn't earn it through clean means, a fact she had discovered around the age of 5 when she dug around about her family. Which disgust Ranran further when she found out about her real career. No wonder her kids can easily get away with their sins in this school. Let alone, in the future, able to get away with wronging her.

What a coward. Then another thought occurred to Ranran That's right, she mused in understanding. Now that we got to this point, we can use 'that'!

.......

Kudo Ranran recalled Fuse Amaya had this stupid habit mentioned in the book through that projector, where he was described as irresponsible by his sister because he always never lock the door since this is school property according to Mamiko, while Ranran was dragged into the student council office to be 'rehabilitated' and made Mamiko's image look good in the eyes of many.

In addition to this detail, his relationship with his half-sister was never good, to begin with. Mostly because Mamiko thinks of herself as the smart conniving politician-style girl while he was treated her like a country bumpkin with limited cells. Also, the fact that spites him further was that he used to have a solo life which his mother showered attention to until the birth of Mamiko changed everything, making him neglectful and insecure.

To cope with his wounded ego, he tormented kids weaker than him. If there were kids who rat his deeds to the teacher, he would destroy their property anonymously and then leave notes, where he would write 'You deserve it'.

That's right since this moron had many victims, he actually made fuckton copies of it upon writing it so that he can plant it into his victims' shoe lockers, shoes, backpacks, you name it, he has done it.

What a blithering idiot. Ranran can't help but think. He could've just done all of this through a computer to make things anonymous for him so no one could recognize his handwriting, but then he decided why not make copies of his signature handwriting just to stir fear?

Ranran recalled not long ago this morning there was an argument again between the two, something about his bike with rabbit stickers having been removed, leaving ugly patches all over his old bike. Apparently, it seems like she borrowed it without telling him the same day of the stakeout, so he wrote one not long ago before leaving it in his idiot club. If Shinichi can get his hands on it and plant it there, he can trash the office happily and she would mistake it for her brother.

That's right, Ranran knew that the bike belonged to them.

After finding out about the camera in that bike, she was not going to give Mamiko the satisfaction of filming them and publishing it on the news, so she sabotages Shinichi's stakeout. And to add fire to an already deteriorating relationship between siblings, Ranran knew it had to start from the bar.

First, after leaving Hq yesterday, she intentionally hung a signboard near this newly opened bar not far from their school, stating 'Free parking' at their bike area in Teitan Elementary school. The bar had a 50 per cent opening discount, and the area where parking is too expensive even for Japanese standards, so they normally used their bikes to ride over and leave them there to have a nice sip of beer. Since the distance between their school and the bar is only a simple 10-minute walk, plus space is limited there, this would be a tempting offer the drunkards would be more than happy to park.

Of course, she ensured to let Reina and Takuma be aware of this before the plan could begin. When chaos ensued between the drunkards and the kids who had no place to park their bikes, that is when stage 2 of the plan begins: V.I.P parking applications.

You see back in her old school, the teenage nobles and royals like to flash their rides, but it would be better if they get to park closer to the school entrance so they didn't have to travel far from the school building to their vehicles. And parking was a huge problem at Edgewood Academy, despite how big the campus was. So to settle the problem, applications for parking had to be submitted first come first serve basis, with accurate details of their vehicles and names to be verified to reduce the problem. Those who didn't make it are forced to have someone drive them to school, or park outside the campus.

And for some reason, this seems to apply to Teitan Elementary children when it came to their bicycles.

So when Ranran had Reina make this announcement this morning, the idiot brother of Mamiko submitted it without hesitation. He wants to brag about the idea of having VIP private parking for his bike, one spot that no one else is entitled to.

However, Mamiko who suspected this ruse was a means to the investigation who owns the rabbit bike ownership decided to scrap all of the rabbit stickers at the last minute in such haste, it resulted in his application for the V.I.P. parking invalid. Because the appearance of the bike with rabbit stickers does not match what was stated in the document.

Which made him super mad when he figured out who did this to his bike, he and his sister argued this entire morning. Because she knew what Mamiko's motto is like as briefly mentioned in the biography, it was easy to figure she is the type who would do anything to destroy evidence to stir suspicion. Which was Ranran's plan all along.

Getting Shinichi rushed over to his office to collect the note was a no-brainer for Ranran, which is on the second floor where Amaya's boxing club was situated before planting it in the sister's office. Of course, there is doubt from Mamiko that someone could've sowed their discord, but Ranran had a backup plan for that.

In case she accused her, she is going to pin it on the 'thief' that broke into their tantei association in school. To those who are not aware, Ranran had one of the members trash their office previously to stage a fake break-in, just to get permission in changing locks that would prevent Junko at that time from entering their office in school at that time of 'extinction heist'. There was in fact a legal police report made at the time of the incident, so it will do nicely in her favour.

Now Ranran could've just done it herself obviously, breaking into that idiot sister's office and making a double copy of those videos. But no, she didn't have time, and presumably...she had a little sympathy over the victims they had wronged and humiliated.

Ranran recalled the time when Moriko got word about the fact that making Reina head girl will give her protection from that Mamiko, she pleaded with her to do it with desperation in her voice. She didn't even care when Ranran said a lot of underhanded tactics may need to be used to subdue her tormentor, the bottom line is she wants her out so she could give back to her old life, but with a better set of friends that ain't easily influence with the she-satan.

Moriko was to Ranran no different than the clients she used to save back in Edgewood Academy, except they had far tragic stories that led them to a darker path, almost led to villainy had she not interfered.

Anyway, Ranran decided initially not to let Shinichi trash the office as she had concerns it will lead back to her. But then she decided he deserved somewhere to blow up, at least her late mentor always let her do so whenever she herself grows furious over tyrannical children who were behind making their clients miserable.

Also, as much as she detests him for the things he did to her in the book, Shinichi could use a well-deserved screaming session after being manipulated by the people around him for so long, especially the people he trusted. Let alone her duping him.

.............

After doing what Ranran suggested, she proposed he secretly eavesdrop on their conversation, and so far, Shinichi was mindblown with the revelations they admitted to one another through their yelling, over how much they were very much involved in ruining everyone's lives around them in the school they are in, let alone, exposed each other's motives over the targets they picked.

And while the motives were rather petty, it just got from bad to worst when the brother pointed out why his sister went after Ranran, "Petty? You still cannot let go of the fact that she took your place in Edgewood Academy since you were both 3! Who is the real petty one now!?"

Edgewood Academy?

Shinichi was a little taken aback, he knew about the school because of Junko's research the other day at the library. Since when did Mamiko apply for a scholarship to study there? Let alone, flew to the U.K? Also, why didn't Ranran mention any of this? Looks like Ranran wasn't wrong about Mamiko's mother having some sort of influence of that sort when it comes to money by no means. He would have to ask Ranran about this later.

"Oh please! At least I tried, unlike that damn brat! Pretending to act like a mental retard of a child just so as to get kicked out of a prestigious school after watching a documentary for about 2 hours in her lavish home! I initially got word that I had initially earned the spot, but only some idiot tipped her family who was about to take a flight and work overseas! Thanks to her supposed 'outstanding talent' of duping even the principal, I ended up on the waiting list and never got to study there since!" She exaggerates batting her eyelashes at him.

By now, Shinichi was more focused more than ever. He wanted to hear all of them if only to create a more vivid image of how the school Ranran attended was like, let alone, what sort of character Ranran was before meeting her.

As if the 'Edgewood' issue stung Mamiko to the root core of her hatred, she argued back, "What about you? As soon as you found out that Shinichi wasn't getting punished over what he did to his supposed 'bastard sister' while demoted to the worst class, the first thing you did was provoke that Rokuro boy by exploiting his inferiority towards Shinichi, cause you knew all about it! And when you got word of their arguing, you bribed all of the boys in soccer club front row seats to the coolest soccer game match to go against his words!"

"And are you not any different?" The brother mocked, "You befriended those two girls surrounding Shinichi because you wanted him to be broken. That way, when he turned against everyone, including by you using Ranran's name as 'The Fox', you become the kind saint friend who offers your shoulder for him to cry on! Imagine the day he finds out you were behind all of this, he will never look at you the way you wanted him to!"

Shinichi stood there in shock as he felt his insides run cold. Those two DID WHAT!?

Seriously, if he didn't stop his voice from raising, he swore he was going to kill those pair of rotten siblings! How dare they!? How dare they ruin his life!?

"How can I not?! Anyway, I find this is a 'fair play' to begin with, don't you think? He hung out with us just to stop his grandparents from setting him up with those playdates because he couldn't make a single friend normally! Hah!" That boy sneered in a conceding tone, it honestly made Shinichi's head boil mad, "Even the two friends he made...he has no idea how much they detested his Holmes hobby! What is so great about a fictional character anyway? Get a life man!"

Shinichi's irritation was palpable as he had heard enough. He can't believe those two children would go this far to ruin his life. Especially this girl! Never could he had foresee she would be as evil as one would seem.

Mamiko didn't look like she could hurt a fly. But as soon as he heard the things she just said, where she always come across as polite and kind, believing in second chances....that was nothing but lies. Right now, he is glad he listened to Ranran because now he knows his decision to cut complete ties between Ran and Sonoko had not gone to waste at all. He now knows what those two truly think of him and Ranran.

Mamiko threw her head back and laughed."Oh Onii-san, he is so stupid when it comes to a girl's feelings!" she said mockingly. "He will never suspect I was behind all of this."

"You don't know that! Cause your plan to isolate him by pitting him towards Kudo Ranran...that girl can see through you!"

"Meh. I doubt it, I checked the camera I bugged in their place, they had a huge feud over her idiot pride regarding a stakeout about some ruby!" Mamiko sneered. "All I had to do was tug the strings even slightly and they all danced like puppets to any tune I chose."

Shinichi felt his throat tighten, along with his chest. He was almost sure he was going to pass out soon the more he hears of this. After hearing those words the siblings had exchanged, Shinichi could feel his hand tremble in anger.

The Fox's comparison with Shinichi, their harassment towards Ranran...all of this was intentionally spouted with malice to ruin Ranran's reputation in the name of ugly jealousy, let alone, ruin Shinichi's life.

The moment he tried to secretly peek at Mamiko's face, he saw her ugly smile for the first time. Why never notice her true nature?

"Whatever, the point is I had nothing to do with breaking your office!" The brother blasted at his sister, before turning away to a storm.

"Heh...."She mused a sly smile before reminding him, "Then do you want me to tell Ranran? That you were the one who spread those rumours about her being a 'bastard' before she arrived here?"

And that is when Shinichi felt something snap.

But he was too shocked to move, let alone, react to what he had just heard.

"Hmph," The elder brother huffed while chuckling, "The rumours about that ain't completely in the wrong, you know? Whether the mother had an affair or not, she did have her early. Regardless of who is her real father, we all know that doesn't change the fact she is one. And if that happens, I will tell your precious crush about what you did to him."

Precious Crush? Shinichi fell into deep thought before realizing, Hang on!? She had a crush on me!?

"Hey!" She gave a scowl at him, but he gave her a dangerous expression.

He paused and took a deep breath. He pointed an angry finger at her and in the corner of his eye, "I may have written that letter to spite you, but I didn't trash your office. And if you ever revealed this to that idiot boy, I won't go easy even though you are my sister regardless!"

Turning on his heel, he stormed away angrily.

A look of shock and surprise crossed her face. Clearly, she hadn't expected him to say that.

After exchanging a few more unpleasantries, the siblings split up and headed their separate ways, not knowing Shinichi had heard everything.

Right now, after hearing all of this, the first thing he wanted to do was to immediately race out of the office and tell the teachers everything. That the children who were influenced by them, even the damn Mamiko's bloody supporters should be expelled! That everything they said was all lies.

However, a phone call that arrived from Shinichi's pants pocket stopped all of that.

..........

"Can you afford it?"

Those were the first four words that came out of the little red lip girl's mouth over the phone when Shinichi announced on wanting to punish the two for what they did to them. He continued to hide in the school association's office and waited for a couple of minutes, by now, he hoped those two headed home already. "I had a recording of them-"

"The evidence is a no-brainer, but what I meant is the aftermath. Can you afford to handle it?"

"The aftermath?" Shinichi blinked in confusion over the thought, only to think about the words Ranran listed earlier over what he might face should he does so. Their mother's influence over the teachers, the bullying, the scheming, even having ruined his relationship with his friends, even the possibility she and brother will never be kicked out of school and dump it on their supporters...this was all too much to handle for 6-year-old Shinichi. Feeling very bitter, he spat out to her, "I can deal with all of the lies they are ready to spew at me when this recording goes live! Also, I had a backup copy of all of the said videos in my pendrive!"

"Wait, you did what!?" Ranran gasped in shock.

"You heard me! I actually had a pen drive in my pants pocket, I forgot about it when Agasa gifted it to me as he received it from his boss at his office."He told her over the phone in a whisper, "Before ruining the laptop, I had the entire stash with me. If they try to be funny with me-"

"And what? Are you going to confront them by waving the evidence you have with you? If so, that is a dumb-"

"Oh no, I am going to do the worst to them!" Shinichi sounded determined, "I will ruin them with these videos one way or another!"

"Shinichi, so far, were they any videos of Mamiko being in it? As in physical appearance?"

"So far, no-"

"Then it would be proven pointless!" Ranran then refuted why "She can-"

"Dump it on her supporters?" The boy mocked, for he couldn't care about anyone at this rate, "As much as I admit it was my fault that led me here, that bloody Mamiko did all of this to isolate me to make me fall for her!"

Shinichi swore he could hear something dropped in the background.

And he ain't completely in the wrong, given Ranran's free hand covered her mouth at that bombshell. Ok, that was something she didn't foresee. That prick actually had a crush on Shinichi? "You heard her say that!?" She blurted before she could think.

"It was the damn recording! And did you even know the real reason she was mad at you? Because of some...retard stunt you pulled when you were a kid or something? That cost her a spot in Edgewood Academy?"

Suddenly, he poured everything into what he had learned. And that was enough to make everything around Ranran freeze still. The more he revealed, the more ill she felt.

"Jesus...."Ranran muttered under her breath, her elbow resting on her computer desk in her bedroom, slumping slightly on her chair while her free hand was on her hair.

She then recalled the projector she was watching the other day, regarding Mamiko becoming a future serial killer who killed multiple men for money.  Though the details were rather vague from what Ranran could gather about the future killings, she remembered that her mentor taught her killers of such kinds have a certain pattern in their killing, ranging from methods to motives.

Supposedly...this is just pure speculation, but if in the future she killed men of the same type as Shinichi: Black hair, blue eyes, good looking and rich...because she failed over the fact Ran was in the picture...

Thinking about this sent chills to Ranran. It also probably explains why she too targeted Ranran, because since she is born within the same family, somehow in her own twisted her...she gets to see Shinichi every day. And hearing that Mamiko had once applied for a spot in Edgewood Academy shook her. That idiot girl actually attended the interview before!? And she held a such grudge because of this!?

Honestly, hearing all of this irked Ranran.

Bloody hell! Ranran knew Mamiko was far worst than herself, but really!? And her damn brother! The asshole! Ranran swears she is going to ruin him one way or another someday.

Deciding to push this part aside, Ranran reminded herself to collect any ounce of calmness she could find before explaining over the phone, "Shinichi, how are you going to react if she painted herself a victim and said 'You were the true bully, abusing your family's privilege to stay unpunished over what you did last year while my brother suffers in the worst class'?"

That brought his anger to a halt, "I am sorry!?"

"Her motto had always been about playing the 'Damsel in Distress', if you were going to declare a full all-out war on her, then you must be mentally prepared for this possibility to come up."

"But-"

"Also, now that you know Ran and Sonoko are under Mamiko's influence, who are they going to the side if this comes up? The first thing they are going to do is side her, then point the finger at me and say 'I am manipulating you' into defending me."

"They won't!" He declared, "With the videos-"

<Oh, Mamiko is such a nice girl, she wouldn't do that sort of video.>

<I know, you made this with Ranran to shame her!>

<What a greedy pair, sending your friend as the head girl isn't bad enough, and you still want to humiliate the loser.>

In the character of mimicking Mamiko's follower's voice, Shinichi was stunned by Ranran's level of acting is as much of a professional, it may even put his own mother to shame for an actress!

"Can you afford to deal with all of this? These are one of the lines she will use to protect herself. Don't think she is some typical idiot villainess without brains."

And Ranran meant it, as she recalled one of the details in that biography read out 'I always had a backup plan' in a proud tone whenever she committed her murders. That's why it took the idiot incapable cops here to make an arrest only by the time she reached adulthood, with all the lies she weaved, it was clear she knew her way of the law better than any kid would know of besides herself.

For a long while, Shinichi didn't respond to his mentor. Everything he set and plan out to do was seemingly in vain for his experienced mentor.

Then what should I do...what should I do to end both of those siblings? Let alone, her deranged half-brother?

He could tell the teacher, after all, he has a reputable reputation among all the teachers of his grade.

At the same time, however, Ranran was right. There are still kids in their school who secretly resent him due to his privileged background, and he was spared the punishment of allegedly pushing Ranran down the parkour obstacle course a year ago. Mamiko could've predicted in case Shinichi ever confronted or exposed her, the first thing she would do is spread more lies that he is defending Ranran, now that he found value in the girl he hated that she is his tool to chase after his dream as a detective, turning everyone against him. Mamiko already was able to use Sonoko, Ran and Rokuro to discredit him. God knows what else she is capable of.

Ranran was massaging her nose bridge, wondering what is her next plan to set in motion before she finally makes a decision. With a vengeful heart, she answers, "Shinichi, leave everything to me."

"Eh?" He was caught off guard by Ranran's sudden words.

"Stay at home, lock your doors. Don't tell anyone about the copy of the video, make sure they didn't see you around the campus, let alone those siblings realize that you overheard them, I am going to take care of the problem."

"Wait-!"

With determination, Ranran abruptly hung up the phone before he could ask any further questions, hopping out of her seat to open her wardrobe, revealing the tons of clothes she had in store.

If she isn't mistaken, she knew 'that event' is taking place at that luxury tavern through social media. The same place where Ran's father was on the day of the stakeout. If what she had suspected on the night of the stakeout was true...she need to keep this plan discreet.

According to what she manages to dig, this luxury tavern is well known for its privacy within the wealthy community, in a way...everyone is require to wear something that covers one's face before dining there. The activities that took place there initially was for a good cause during the World War era, as it involve exchanging intel among spies and stuff like that according to her mother, where the patrons are require to wear masks in the restaurant to conceal their identities. Later, it became a popular high society meeting ground among wealthy elite for blind dates, let alone in her personal option...cheating.

It was also a place where criminal activities often takes place, which made Ranran as The Fox, a regular to extract intel from other high profile criminals. Corrupted higher up cops too were no exception. That's because the dress code remained as it is: Concealing one's identity. If anyone is seen with their faces exposed, a permanent ban for life in this bar. Now one would just shut down the damn place filled with such activities, but similar to how Japan treat Yakuazas here, the place was never shut down as it was easier for them to just know where to head, capture them here and go. The law officers here work based on convenience, and Ranran was the true definition of it.

Except she always take things to extreme ends. Which she is about to do today.

As soon as she's spot it, she tugged it out before laying it on her bed.

Dark blue blazer, black vest with white stripe, grey checkered skirt, and a tie with a little 'peace badge' at the centre of the tie, it screams a school uniform of a high society child. The only thing that didn't fit was a fake badge with the letter 'M' on the breast pocket, hiding the true badge that only Ranran knew she can never show to the world.

This uniform had brought her bittersweet memories, in a way, she will never wear this on the ground of her former school. Let alone, 'That Boy' will never get to admire it. 'He' always looked forward to seeing her in this uniform when she grows older, but that chance was robbed out of her.

No point thinking of her broken dreams anymore, she thinks of this numbly.

Before heading out, she reminded herself to bring weapons. She is after all heading out alone at night, and with the recent ruby case, she need to keep a vigilant awareness over The Snake and his crafty daughter. With everything all packed in her skirt pocket upon changing, Ranran is about to put on her Fox mask until the ringing sounds of the doorbell could be heard ringing downstairs. And it kept on ringing in haste as if it would do whatever it can to drag Ranran down from her bedroom.

And quite frankly, Ranran hates annoying sounds.

Furious, she slams the door of her bedroom wide open before heading downstairs to confront the idiot. To her surprise, she spotted a rather impatient blue-eyed boy dressed in his cape coat detective clothes calling out to her upon opening the main door. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Observing Ranran's new change in clothes as she approached from the other side of the gate, he didn't need to think twice to figure out why, "Take me with you."

Ranran's eyes widened as she unlocked the gate to let him in. "Go where?"

Shinichi looked her in the eye as he entered. "Wherever it is you are going! You are going somewhere to dig further about Mamiko and her twin-"

"Technically they are half siblings," Ranran corrected him.

"Whatever! Anyway, I worked with you for over a month to know you will dig anything about your enemy who you felt wronged you. And judging from our earlier conversation over the phone, you are about to do this undercover, right? Otherwise," he pointed at her uniform,"You wouldn't have changed your detective club representative clothes to the one you wore as The Fox." The question hung in the air as Shinichi studied her face, "I knew it!" Ranran rolled her eyes as he pressed, "Where are you heading by the way?"

Ranran closed her eyes. "A place where I suspect her mom works."

"Where her mom works....? Why?"

"To understand the enemy, one must look into the environment they were raised in." Ranran justified as Shinichi was in awe, while she continues on, "Do you know that most serial killers became one in the first place due to hostile upbringing? The same it goes for what I am about to do. I want to know why the hell Mamiko and that bastard brother of hers are as twisted as they are now, and as soon as I do get to see what sort of woman is she, I would know how to deal with those blithering morons."

For some reason, Shinichi noted Ranran always slipped a hint of her British accent with the word 'blithering' in English. "Why aren't you taking me with you-"

"If her kids are there and they noticed you, if anything goes wrong...what happens if you lose the videos you had copied from the laptop and they learn it's you by accident? You are obviously not going to trust someone to look after your pen drive out of your sight, right? Also, do you think Amaya and Mamiko are going to let you off the hook? Let alone, their suspicious mother? Also the ruby case, Mamiko knows about it already. What if she use this case to blackmail you in exchange for the videos you had?"

There was a short paused before he blurted out in anger, "Then go ahead then! You think I would be intimidated by their threats?! They are nothing but a bunch of cowards anyway."

This was an outburst she wasn't expecting. He could see her face contort in confusion, "Please don't tell me you are about to confront that woman in the name of revenge if I don't?!"

"This isn't an option, Ranran! You either take me there, or I go confront them myself!"

"Woah, Shinichi. Calm down a moment-"

But he was not having it, "Why shouldn't I!? My life was being manipulated by that girl and her brother! Those two idiots destroyed my life by manipulating the people I cared about! I ain't going to just stand there and do nothing while they go about ruining everything I held dear, especially my detective dream! And don't you dare to try and talk me out of it."

It just enraged him more, even to the point of him presumably attacking anyone physically, especially either Mamiko or Amaya for that matter. Or even Ranran if she were to be honest.

In the future, the supposed deranged 17 year old Ranran was struck by Shinichi after hearing the alleged 'atrocities' she did to his childhood sweetheart Mouri Ran in the face. Though she honestly didn't think why were they labelled 'atrocities', especially when she is just pointing out harsh facts about her personality. The Ranran in the projector biography book only started out her tyranny due to Ran and Sonoko overly dramatising her scheming being no different than a murderer, while Shinichi blindly believed them.

Of course, the present him never laid a hand on Ranran yet. Quite the opposite when one thinks of the break in incident. The present Ranran heard a lot about his anger episodes in the projector, never personally seen it first hand unlike the time she framed him. Even when Sonoko broke into their grandparents house, it wasn't that bad.

But this level of outburst was something Ranran didn't expect from him. He was so furious – everything around him....he was seeing red, demanding she either take him to his manipulator's family to beat the leaving senseless out of them, or that he will recklessly do it himself. She thought after letting him trashed the office only his anger would subside.

Then again, looking back, this level of betrayal from those two girls was uncalled for. It's something he hadn't seen coming, especially because he had thought that their friendship was normal.

But it never was.

It was a surprise to his mentor when he reacted like that. That meant to Ranran, there were many unseen layers of resentment he had that she may not know about between the three.

However, only today that she had discovered a whole new side to Shinichi. And had never known Shinichi had it in him to be lashing out in blind rage, but reasonable valid rage. He was betrayed by the people closest to him – hurt that his dream was sabotaged. Who wouldn't be pissed in his situation?!

It reminded of Ranran when she found out about the projector's existence at the age of four, man, when she found out of the hell that awaited her, her own mentor allowed her to trash this expensive looking place he has taken her to, it was a townhouse that he claimed he booked it through connections, explains to her that this is a 'rage house' where she can vent her rage by destroying property.

And man, this rage house was decorated as extravagantly lavish as a Versailles palace. Though initially sceptical at first since she noticed that it came with a large garden with expensive exotic cars parked outside, let alone, strangely had no photos hung in the house, she was too pissed of to ask further questions and proceeded to trash every single room in that house. Bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room, you name it, she did it all. Bottom line was: It was by far one of the most expensive damages she has caused, but 'he' never cared about this and spared no expense till her anger finally subsided.

So arguably, Ranran couldn't blame him as her apprentice was within his rights to lash out.

"Screw it, let's go out." Ranran reluctantly decided before motioning for Shinichi to follow her back in the house. "You need proper clothes before entering the bar."

After all, she knew he will track down the place himself if she didn't take him there herself. At least when she is around, she can keep in check of his temper and refrain himself.

But not to a point of a tight leash. Instead, she will let her apprentice wreak further havoc if that made him feel better as she learn one lesson today. 

Sometimes, even for someone who is quote 'The one friend that will go to the end of the earth for the other' are unusually the scariest when one is pushed to their limits, let alone, taken advantage of.