For a moment, 6-year-old Shinichi did not know what to think of this video Reina had sent him.

The more he watched, the more he could hear curse words towards the disrespect Sonoko was causing among the crowd ringing from all directions. While some may not have known what she is saying, but it was evident judging from the tone, it was directed at Ranran, and it sounded very rude and degrading.

Ranran who heard this pushed herself more forcefully through the crowds gracefully, showing as if she wasn't affected by the words.

But Shinichi knew that is Ranran secretly seething, scheming the worst kind of hell for the rude heiress.

Shinichi knew this expression of Ranran anywhere, even though she was 4 years old in the video, let alone, good at keeping her facade. That was the same look she gave him when he and those idiots called her a 'bastard', an expression of anger, but bottling it all up with determined eyes, eager to ruin someone.

"Reichan! Give me back my phone! I worked hard to obtain it!"

A woman's voice could be heard on the phone telling her daughter in Japanese telling her off before snatching it away to switch it off. From what he could make out of, it seems like the angle of the footage showed Reina was at the front side of the spectators, which made sense why the footage look blurry since it was being handled by a four-year-old.

Another video soon arrived from Reina, this one Shinichi knew he had to watch regardless.

Clicking on the second video, a commanding young child's voice came out, the British accent more than evident as she speaks in English: "You are going to bow before him and apologize, I don't care even if your forehead bleeds heavily by touching the damn carpet multiple times. Your parents poorly taught you? Then this can be corrected. Otherwise, I am going to toss you to the nuns of this church and officiate the public caning for disrespecting his honour!"

Shinichi couldn't help but react, he stared at Takuma and Reina on the monitor trying to read either of their reaction, but the two just blankly stare at the screen when the phone camera seems to move up, from what Shinichi make it out, they seem to be in an expensive looking church with the coffin placed at the podium. From observation, the place is fully packed with mourners.

Then, he saw it, the little 4-year-old girl who is no longer seething, baring her contempt expression as she glared down at the kneeling child who she deemed as trash, standing before the terrified Suzuki Sonoko while Ranran's parents, no, everyone in the chapel was stunned over what Ranran was doing now before them.

Shinichi turned back to the video to see Sonoko, who looked very flustered with tears streaking down her face with her knees on the ground, pleading to her for mercy, "I am sorry! Please give me mercy!" and the video came to an end.

"Eh!? Only this short of 20 seconds video?" Shinichi turned to Reina on his monitor and expected her to upload more videos.

"The phone was confiscated by my Ojisan (uncle), by right we ain't allowed to film anything that goes under the funeral ceremony." Reina sighs before revealing what actually went down in the church.

As it turns out, when her mentor selected Ranran to be the one leading his funeral possession, he didn't do it because she was close to him.

According to Reina's uncle who worked in the U.K and is rather familiar with the aristocratic system there, what Sonoko did almost jeopardise her spot as 'successor'.

When Ranran's mentor specifically choose her to lead his funeral, it was in the name of politics.

It turns out the title 'duke' was bestowed by the queen of the country, there were not many families in the area that had such prestige titles. Before he was murdered, he was in a way respected and loved by the children of Edgewood Academy thanks to his 'efforts', once again, Shinichi isn't clear over what it was referring to, but overall, his unexpected death sent a shockwave across the United Kingdom and brought grief to everyone who knew him.

Thanks to his unexpected death, although there are children in his school who wanted to lead his funeral possession out of sincerity, there are others who wanted it out of self-interest.

Since there were not many families who carries such titles aside from royalties, children of lower rank among the noble peerage would have a huge upgrade in status should they be chosen to lead someone of higher status.

A good example is during a state funeral of His/Her Majesty, it's common for them to select their eldest child to lead the possession, giving acknowledgement that someone who is able to lead their funeral smoothly will solely be the official true successor to the throne, like an official appointment that they are trusted greatly to succeed them. The privilege of becoming one's successor for a prestigious family is financially lucrative for anyone of lower rank: Power, over-the-top luxury, connections...one would be a fool if one doesn't do so.

Oddly, the unthinkable happen when an official Will from The Boy surfaced on who he personally wanted to do so, and since he had no siblings, and his situation with his parents had legal issues involved, it was a huge shock when Ranran's name was mentioned in his Will to lead it, and since Ranran was too young at that time to handle the complications of money and funeral arrangements, The Boy added her family member's name to run the estate. All Ranran needed to do was walk with the coffin behind her, with a brave face. And this was only several days after he was murdered.

Of course, there are downsides to this. Any humiliating situation, namely what Sonoko did, would give the public the impression that Ranran and her family may not deem a suitable candidate as a successor for his estate of that sort. A proper noble must arrange a proper funeral with dignity, no mishaps are allowed.

Otherwise, one's position as successor might be removed despite having the deceased's support, cause it is also giving opportunistic families to pave way for stealing the ruler's estate and kicking the incompetent successor out. Not to mention a tarnished reputation.

And as Shinichi was becoming more dumbfounded by the minute, according to Reina, Ranran was recently discharged from a hospital after having lost an eye at that time, it was unclear whether it had anything to do with his murder, but the bottom line was: She has to honour his passing since he picked her. Turning it down although was an option, would be a huge mockery to the other high society people she should do so. Adding the fact that 'he' was a very well-loved figure, it would definitely spark backlash at her on being 'ungrateful'.

Jesus, even in death there is no rest in peace for nobles and royalties! Especially towards children for God's sake!

Also what the heck!? Ranran was only four years old at that time, so for her to be paraded with a coffin after having to deal with some trauma in front of millions of people...Shinichi has no idea how she was able to deal with this, period! Even for someone like him, he would just crumble within 2 minutes of the service!

So when Sonoko did what she did, it was evident that as much as other people were disturbed by Sonoko's insensitive rants and told her to shut up, Shinichi is certain that those opportunists could obviously take advantage of this situation had things gone their way.

But much to his surprise, Reina later revealed exactly what she did next shocked them: Ranran took care of the problem by forcing Sonoko to kneel and bow before the coffin using the Church's history of troublemakers like her, making her an example that kids like her who don't represent their status will suffer the consequences of their actions, especially someone who made one's funeral, a Duke loved by many, to be tainted by her idiot words.

And that move obviously worked, because later on, Reina's uncle called them to inform Ranran's family was granted the title 'marquis'.

Shinichi sat a little shell-shocked for a moment. He had imagined perhaps something petty such as Sonoko insulting her would be the major reason, or perhaps that one of Ranran's dubious moral decisions led Sonoko to retaliate, but to humiliate Ranran at that time who was grieving while her family was put in charge of leading the funeral possession of her mentor? Not to mention, when no one provoked Sonoko?

That was not what he expected, no, not one bit!

The thought of how distressed Ranran became thanks to Sonoko...his mentor was, in general, a ruthless little girl when it comes to achieving her goals, even more so when cornered to a wall where her mentor is being disrespected, and 'The Boy' can't defend her since 'he' is deceased. The apprentice could only imagine how eager she was to break every bone in Sonoko after having to endure her mentor's death, losing an eye, and the pressure to succeed at this funeral, only for all to go to waste thanks to the idiot big mouth Sonoko!

Wait, her eye...if he recalled correctly, the grandparents mention she had eye surgery before. Though they didn't reveal why she did, they didn't mention she lost an eye.

So in other words, her right eye is a fake? How did that happen? Screw it, he will ask about it some other time. This question is too insensitive.

No matter how innocent it sounds, nor how childish she was at that age, Shinichi knew what Sonoko did was unforgivable. Sure, she may be innocent for not understanding noble etiquette or politics, but overall, he is certain they should've been briefed in advance over what are the dos and don'ts since Reina mentioned there were all briefed!

The fact that Sonoko went against this made it clear to Shinichi that it was either out of malicious intentions or that Sonoko is too much of a fool to notice this!

And now, one thing bothers him...why Sonoko didn't mention any of this? Also, why didn't Ranran reveal any of this?

Plus, state funerals are televised internationally. With elements of this incident involving a 4-year-old girl, nobles, royals, murder etc, they would be stupid to not broadcast this!

"He wasn't a royal despite having this title but a noble, so he wasn't entitled to have all of this he lived stream globally, just locally within the U.K soil."

"But someone could've just recorded it and uploaded it online?"

"We ain't even allow to upload, as all of us will face several lawsuits if we do so, no matter if it was in or outside the church while all of this was going. In a way, this was very disrespectful to the dead. Also, the recording I am showing was actually illegal. "

"Really?!" Shinichi blinked.

"It is. You see when my mother was a victim of a snatch thief, it resulted in her losing her expensive iPhone at that time. So by the time she bought another one and was invited to the funeral by her uncle, this one is solely because her uncle needed emotional support as he was grieving over that boy,  she lied to the person in charge she doesn't have a phone with her by hiding it into my clothes when I was a kid. When she left to go to the toilet and left my snoring uncle to accompany me, I got so bored that I took out the phone to play games secretly incognito, but I didn't expect to accidentally hit the camera function and record the entire thing, for I was too stunned when Ranran punished Sonoko in front of the coffin, much to the horror of the mourners."

Shinichi tried not to show his expression of shock over the developments of this story, but this was really unexpected.

"Does Ranran know? You were at that funeral?" Shinichi probed.

"No, she has no idea, let alone, even aware of the video's existence." Reina firmly denied it.

"Why did you keep both of these videos anyway? Were you all not worried if someone checks your mom's phone, you both would be in serious trouble?" Takuma suddenly after hearing all of this begin to question his girlfriend.

"It just slipped my mind, that's all." Reina scratch her head nervously, "After all of that had happened, the only thing on my mind at that time was I hope to catch our flight back to Japan and that we were not caught having to pay a fine. Also, my mother tends to enjoy downloading so many memes and gifs from WhatsApp, it gets easily cluttered to non-existent."

Straightening her initial slump posture from her seat, she ended it with, "Anyway, it was thanks to this incident, that I decided if I ever got a chance to befriend her, I would."

"Eh?! Why would you?" Shinichi demanded answers, feeling as if Reina wasn't making sense of her choices.

"How would you feel if you were placed such a huge burden at that age, Kudo!? Let alone deal with someone close to you having murdered like that? Would you continue to be as gullible or as delusional as Ran to continue trusting people? That the world is a safe haven?"

Suddenly, it made clear sense to Shinichi that Reina has a point.

Ranran's mentor...it sounds like they were close beyond that. Having lost someone under such tragedy...isn't it the case that one should act timid and fearful for life?

Yet the Ranran when he first met...was very hostile, bitter, blunt...even her eyes were murderous and filled with hatred. She saw him as if he was a little pest.  He had seen children their age having suffered such trauma, but Ranran was the first to act beyond that.

"But I think...her circumstances made her evasive and unapproachable. It wasn't until she made a bet with her mom that things change."

"I remembered this one," Takuma recalled, "When I asked Ranran what did the bet involve, she said that if no one tried to approach and befriend her within several days for a group project, her mom would be forced to send her back to Edgewood Academy. This was around last month before you broke into her place."

"Wait-send her back?! To her old school!?" Shinichi exclaimed before probing, "Did she say why?"

"To finish things where she last left off," Reina answered.

"Finish-like what?" He demanded the specifications.

"I think...she never said anything, but I think it had something to do with the 'killers' she said will never be placed behind bars."

Killers? "What did she mean by that?" Shinichi struggled to understand until he deduces, "Wait-her mentor's murderer? But there is only one as far as I have known."

"I could be wrong, but I think she must be referring to the children who killed her mentor." Takuma rubbed his chin.

"Woah, wait-children!? As it...kids who commit murder!?"

Shinichi's jaw fall, he did not see this coming at all!

"Although she never revealed it...I mean judging the way she almost committed murder multiple times onto the unreasonable children, especially bullies......would one continue to pull such extremes if she only resents the mentor's killer, the only adult who killed him?"

Now that he mentioned it...this is abnormal behaviour for someone who resented her mentor's killer, who happens to be the mentor's mother. At first, Shinichi assumed it was due to her nature of work that she chose such methods, but perhaps there is more to this murder.

She ain't like Mamiko who did it for the thrill. Ranran is someone who doesn't plan such questionable methods without a reason.

"Anyway, in hindsight, as soon as I heard stories about you and your so-called friends pushing her down to break her leg, I didn't have to think twice to know you all must have done something to her. Cause she had a reputation back in the U.K. According to the rumours, she only does so if one wronged her maliciously. Which is why when her mother requested me to befriend her, I didn't turn it down, because I knew she was isn't the type to snap unless one provokes her."

Blood drained from Shinichi's whole body. During the parkour event, to top the fact that a then 4-year-old Ranran was also dealing with the murder of her mentor, let alone, carrying out all of the possession of his funeral, himself, Ran and Sonoko did nothing but denounced Ranran's character cruelly.

Right now, Shinichi was deeply made aware that what they had done was unjustifiably the most tremendously cruel thing to do to someone who lost everything around her! Literally to the bone!

Also, Ranran being born into a family of nobles was not what he anticipated. This leads him to wonder...since his family had no noble blood in them, that meant her mom is one!

Thinking of this made his head spin, he just insulted the family member of marques and if this was in the U.K. during the Medieval era, he is certain she would be more than happy to throw him to the guillotine! She had that much influence in the financial world where Sonoko's family almost went bankrupt for bullying her, there is no way of telling what else is she capable of towards his own family.

"If you asked me why Ranran hate you, the only reason I could think of is because of your friendship with Sonoko at that time." The athlete's voice suddenly brought him back to reality.

"My friendship with her!?" Shinichi grew frazzled at that reasoning.

"You may not have known of this, but before arriving at the parkour event, she actually revealed to me that she did research on everyone to protect herself," Stunned, Reina continued while ignoring his expression, "Ranran's mother is a foreigner, and we all know unlike anime life, they are not treated with privilege or like a celebrity if one gets word about her mother, so it made sense for her to check everyone's background. The moment she found out about your link to her, she decided something had to be done."

"She wanted you to make a mistake, an irreversible one that will stir clear neither you, Ran, Sonoko, or even the boys you were with at that time would have the opportunity to set foot in her life. In her head, she felt like she will be bullied since she thinks you shared the same mindset with her. That you all will pressure her into falling in love, making her life very miserable like those female leads, who dumbly listen to the best friend who pressures them into dating, then make their life a living hell. Those were her words. I found it odd at first and assumed she was being dramatic, but then I decided she made it a point when I watched those dramas she recommended, man, those female leads had it miserable, being all so emotionally sick in love. It's emotional torture as Ranran put it." Takuma thought about it then.

Frowning, Shinichi argued, "How can she naturally assume I would be alike like Sonoko?! Just because I called her a 'bastard'...."

"Well, you broke into Ranran's house the other day to try and get her to quit, did you forget that? Because you were feeling inferior over her success as The Fox? Thanks to Mamiko?" Reina's harsh words were enough to silence him, adding, "When that incident happen, I realized she made the right decision to do so. Cause it seems like un-reasonability runs within your inner circle."

"Don't get me wrong, although it may sound biased on her part, if it were me, it would make sense for me to do the same. I too wouldn't want to end up like them, that is for damn sure." Takuma stuck his tongue out in disgust, "She even told me this 'You look at that boy, Shinichi, look how miserable he is whenever Sonoko said he should be with Ran. Do you know why he never left them despite being intelligent? Because he is like those dumb female leads, who got infected by the stupidity of their friends! So even if he was mistreated, he lies to himself like them to say 'It's alright, they care for me as a friend', when in reality, they only cared about themselves! If I ever hang out with them, our family can open a cemetery, each time my brain cell dies whenever I hung out with them, a gravestone had to be etched for each cell before they are to be buried!"

"Pffft!!!" Reina choked, trying to stop herself from laughing at her boyfriend recounting those said comments from Ranran, but the joke doesn't get old. Realizing Shinichi's eyes widening at the head girl's reaction, she became apologetic, "I am sorry, but that was the funniest comment Ranran has ever made."

But to Shinichi, that wasn't funny at all. It was a clear-cut insult directed at him.

At the same time, however, he couldn't help but feel ashamed, knowing deep down Ranran had every right to. Hearing those words from the couple, especially Ranran's opinion about him made the apprentice realise how much of Sonoko's misdeeds had given Ranran the wrong impression about him. That she assumed he was a stupid boy.

In a way, she was right. He was being unreasonable when he tried to get Ranran to quit. His pent-up unhappiness towards Ran and Sonoko led him to hate her for all the wrong reasons. No wonder his parents and grandparents were very angry towards him, let alone, protective over Ranran among many other things. Her huge indifference towards Shinichi, especially more so towards Mamiko, Sonoko and Ran...after what Sonoko did to her, it was evident that she treated anyone associated with that one-brain cell heiress as her enemy.

No, he corrected himself, Perhaps she felt like the whole world is her enemy.

Her endless scheming with the adults and children who tried to take her down, by bringing them closest to Satan's door...that is a little girl fighting for survival, like a noble who no longer had anything to lose now dragging them to her grave.

It also probably explains why the parents ended up removing Ranran from the school and later brought her here a lot faster than the actual date, to prevent her from being consumed with revenge towards the children who caused her mentor's death.

Now that Shinichi thought about it, that school Edgewood Academy had nothing but cherishing memories of 'The Boy'. The thought of his death plaguing her since 'those child killers' are alive...it only reminded her that those children got away with murder because of their age and power, and she couldn't accept it.

Then again, who would? Even Shinichi himself would not accept it if this happened to him.

There were many times that Ranran said she would be more than happy to return to Edgewood should she have the chance, but he never could've guessed it was in the name of revenge. So as he processes his thoughts about this, it suddenly dawned on him of her Fox days.

Could it be... was it out of guilt that she couldn't save her mentor, she went all hero mode? Or did she do this to gain experience? To become an experienced detective to throw them in jail?

Judging what he knows, he is certain it was the latter.

He closed his eyes as his dominant hand rubbed his nose bridge with a mix of frustration and daze, questioning himself out of guilt, "What have I done...?"

While he was tormented with guilt, there was no comfort from Reina and Takuma, as they exchange looks silently on the monitor before staring at the devastated blue-eyed boy.

.....

"Still awake?"

Meanwhile, back at Ranran's residence in her bedroom and pyjamas, Ranran too was busy chatting with someone she hadn't seen in a while online.

It was after she ended the online video call with her three friends that 'O' suddenly dropped her the message. Equipped with headphones, she speaks to her online friend of almost a year with the voice changer software installed on her computer, speaking in English, "Very much so."

"Haven't heard you in a long while, did something happen?"

"Yeah, sorry that I wasn't online, I was busy dealing with a horrible matter involving S."

Since her parents always warn her not to share too much online, she usually come up with nicknames or initials to cover the identities of the people she talked about in real life. Based on the list, this was how she refer to the names below:

Shinichi = S

Ran = R

Sonoko = S2

And more recently updated list:

Reina = Ena

Moriko (Reina's cousin) = Oreo

Mamiko = T.G [Trash Girl]

Takuma = T.K

"No, don't need to apologize, I was busy in school too nowadays. So did anything interesting happened?"

Recently they decided to talk over the headphone with condition of using voice anonymity to prevent people from recognizing their voices in real life. It might have been over-exaggeration that one could instantly recognize the other in real life based on real life voice like in the movies, but safety is better than none.

"You know I was telling you about the scheme I set up for S to lead him to T.G?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

And so Ranran did in full detail, and O's reaction was exactly what Ranran was expecting; shock, then anger. "Wow...I have no words to describe it! But damn, that is an all-time low, even if it had good intentions. Also, are they really kids!? For her to stoop this low...I would've assumed you studied in some noble school for this sort of nonsense to happen."

Judging the tone of the message, it was clear he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Is S2 just stupid or plain smart to do this to a boy? I would've guessed that a boy would do this to a girl in real life to prove superiority in terms of intelligence and stuff, but come on man..." O's voice was unlike she had ever heard it. It was harsh and self-admittingly, struck a nerve towards him.

And Ranran knew it did, because 'O' once shared to her a time where this girl used to belittle him every chance she gets under the guise of gaslighting before he finally found the courage to expose her point blank.

"Based on the video, is there a date that mentioned when this took place?"

Ranran knew since Shinichi told her, "Around the time we started elementary school. This was before the incident where S got into an altercation with a boy his age."

"What? So even when you did not do a thing at that time...."

Ranran nodded. "Yeah. As far as I could tell...I felt maybe something happen like those scene from a movie, where this tragic or dangerous scene cause her to do the things she did."

"Did you ask S that anything dangerous occur during their younger years? Or perhaps is like those cliché where the main character lose their memory and was being protected by the ones who remembered?"

Ranran's thoughts stops for a single moment, "I did, but he recalled nothing. And he did his own personal digging, no recollection."

"What about that kidnapping incident you brought up earlier involving R since kindergarten?"

"That incident..."Ranran gave it a pause before shaking her head, "No, I asked S2's parents and her elder sister over the phone, they insist to not tell her anything. I even contacted all of the children from the same class where S and R used to study, and even the bullies themselves does not recall anything out of the ordinary. Just your everyday normal life of a kindergartener. After I have turn every single stone, I concluded that she only did it just to secure the happiness of her best friend, but in the process is costing S's own."

"Honestly, I wonder what was going through her head when she decided to do all of this? I mean ain't S the friend of S2 as well?"

"I mean to be fair, they were already friends before S was transferred to their kindergarten in the first place, so it's not odd that S2 and R are close even as S entered the group. Also S was obnoxious anyway." Ranran was pacing around while chatting over the wireless headphone.

"I doubt so, your first friend you made was 'K' back in kindergarten, before you befriended the rest in elementary school, correct? Say if 'K' was in the wrong and falsely accuse your friends in school, the same friends you don't really feel close to unlike you were with 'K', would you blindly choose to believe your closest ally?"

"No, of course not! I will dig every single piece of evidence before confronting him." Ranran retaliated.

"There you go, just because out of the trio, two of them are closer than the third, doesn't mean the third should be cast aside like trash nonetheless. And I think R and S2 should realize what they did was unforgivable, regardless of the intention."

"Wait, you too think that R is involved?"

"R has more to benefit if S2's plan on discouraging your apprentice's dream to become a detective became a reality. Because you were the reason that his dream had taken afoot, they realize this was a huge mistake in making him obey to them. As much as I am aware that you mentioned R is too stupid to come up with such plan, you don't forget that regardless or so, S2 has been her close friend even before meeting your apprentice. And from what you have told me, I gathered even after the break-in incident S2 did at your place, R has remained by S2's side, correct? If R finds this out, I am certain she will remain with S2 regardless."

Ranran finally stop pacing around before turning back to grab a seat in front of the computer, a little solemn at his words, "Anyway, after all of this, my apprentice decided to look into the videos that T.G (Mamiko) had done, and from his message, the video content was awful. He told me not to do anything till he announced what he plans to do to those two girls during breakfast."

"Ah right, the breakfast he owed you, right? About pancakes when you falsely praise that crappy romantic movie about childhood romance?"

"Yeah," Ranran agreed and is glad that 'O' hates romance movies like she does before continuing, "I think after working with him, I am sensing he is planning something big against those two girls, especially T.G and that useless brother of hers. If you had seen the anger in his eyes, it was evident any love for them was trampled to the ground."

'O' could be heard gasping, "Damn, I knew about him trashing the office, but the fact that he felt like it ain't enough is just-"

"Well, then again, I can relate to him in this aspect..."Ranran's cellular blue eyes then drifted quietly to the broken Deer terrarium on her desk, spacing out on the memories that carried with those words she utter.

As if 'O' could see her reaction, he goes, "Are you still thinking about that Prince in the window?"

Ranran snickered at his choice of words. "What odd choice of name is that?"

"I mean ain't he not? I remembered the conversation we had when you spoke about him, that a lot of girls fawned all over him in your classroom back in your old school. Which was how you met your mentor for the first time."

Ah yes, how can she forget that?

That was an old but beautiful memory, but memories are memories, they can never return back to reality and be replicated ever again. Sometimes, it just sours and torments the surviving one who is left behind.

And the first impression of him wasn't of a prince to Ranran, but rather...something else. "He ain't a prince."

"Ain't he?"

"He ain't. In fairytales, Prince are perfect, but he was none of that. He was..."

Vengeful, tormented, as similar as her. They were both angry, against the world who cast them aside to favor other children who doesn't deserve any ounce of God's blessing.

"....an unusual little boy but with good foresight and compassion. And he is far patient when it comes to dealing with me."

Every girl who saw him at first sight thought he was an angel. A prince from a fairy tale.

But it was obvious to Ranran all of those thoughts seem silly, because the first time she met, it was evident he was so far off from those rumours.

The first time she met him, she was horrified see something in those eyes that other's don't. Not a single person knew that behind his charming, witty, elegant and handsome facade were nothing but carefully crafted lies just so that other children admire and adore him.

They did not know of the horrors the lied in his house, there were many things that the young boy was capable of. And he taught her many things that made her this capable of the things she was able to achieve.

Before becoming The Fox, she used to be very temperamental. During Fox days, there were many times her anger almost could've sabotaged the plans 'he' had made to go after those unreasonable adults and children of all rank within Edgewood Academy, especially after learning the despicable things they were capable of.

But after witnessing the plans 'he' had schemed through her, producing far better results than intended, she started to master self-control herself becoming as patient as him to ensure the worst kind of hell would be properly executed, and so far, it had always been satisfying for Ranran to watch it all of the enemies self-sabotaging themselves to a point, it literally burns their reputation to the ground.

That's right, which is why by the time Ranran was four years old, there were certain lessons that not even Edgewood Academy could offer her.

Like that time Ranran once secretly poisoned a child and she ended up facing multiple organ failures.

It was expected since she used modified rat poison because her mentor taught her how to make one. He was around 7, she was 3.

When 'Deer' found out about it, he scolded Ranran fiercely about taking things too far. But Ranran didn't care by that point, the person Ranran targeted was a tyrannical bully who ruin every aspect of their client's life. The client was born to a family of Earl, talented when it came to stocks and shares in the finance world, which was how he ended up in their school. And since crushes were common in their school, he actually still is very devoted to this childhood girlfriend of baroness rank (recently upgraded to Viscount rank for her family) the last time Ranran contacted them last month.

But before this, he was a very depressed little boy.

Being a self-made entrepreneur, he was making millions of pounds for his family. But then hell happened when this girl was held hostage over his business, let alone, his parents' job.

Because this girl was of similar rank to the client, she sees the opportunity to climb the ranks of society thanks to his budding talent, and her family at that time was facing bankruptcy. She even went as far as to threaten marriage with him and force him to break up with his girlfriend, in an eager malicious tone.

Ranran lost count of how many times she was spared from her crimes, but the bottom line was... the client who was 10 years old at that time actually contemplated jumping off the top building of Edgewood Academy when she forcefully isolated his friends and girlfriend away from him, had his girlfriend not contact their service.

Anyway, authorities had blamed that rat poisoning incident on 'accidental misadventure', and no one ever knew the truth behind it. She was basically a soulless doll by the time she was sent to the hospital, losing every single ability in her body to torment another child ever again, let alone, her client, his friends and his girlfriend.

But 'The Boy' has since then tripled check she does not carry severe poison-related items before sending her out to do their job.

"Speaking of 'him', are you still doing the 'stiff upper lip' thing?" 'O's question suddenly burst the bubble of Ranran's memories.

A stiff upper lip is a common attribute among the British people uses to display when one faces adversities. It's when one shows an indifferent expression in any given situation, whether one is mocked or spoken ill of.

"Of course I still am, it does me many wonders in life, 'O'." Ranran grins in amusement.

That's right, another thing her mentor had taught her is how to keep such expression, but that depends on the situations she faces.

Take note, for example, of the memorial situation with Suzuki Sonoko at the hotel last year.

When she got word that Sonoko's birthday party was cancelled from one of her clients of Fox and Deer, she immediately had her family book her mentor's death anniversary memorial event at the exact same venue. By far, it wasn't intentional to hit Sonoko in the balls, but with the parkour incident that had earned mixed reactions from the children around Shinichi that she is the bad girl who frames him, one must turn the situation around.

Ranran knew she can't keep letting rumours run rampant about her framing Shinichi during the parkour event forever. In the future, she eventually had to see him in the same class and school whether she like it or not on a daily basis, and he has a huge fanbase of supporters who still believed in his innocence over a foreign girl like herself. The last thing she needs to deal with was his idiot moron supporters when she becomes 'The Fox'.  If she doesn't do something about it, people would twist and turn the things they thought they knew about the incident.

Now Ranran could use her tragic past to gain sympathy, especially the part where Sonoko almost ruined the funeral possession of her late mentor, but she didn't want to use this like a 'V.I.P pass' to get away with anything thing she does, as it left the impression that she is a spoilt little girl who uses tears to justify her actions. Retelling the same sad story over and over would eventually bore others, even making others think she is an attention-seeking girl.

In addition to this, she was also born into a noble family thanks to her mother, and people of common lives do have a hard time making a living, so anyone would find anything to find fault with her. This is why as soon as she moved to Japan, Ranran decided this stiff-upper-lip act would be perfect to win in her favour.

Since Sonoko is such an idiot when it came to 'economy' and 'inflation', Ranran knew this idiot who only knew how to spend money and not earn would immediately confront the hotel staff and demand why her birthday party was cancelled despite being booked. It's normal after all for a child to cry when their birthday party won't be taking place.

Seeing the blue eye girl in person, the very one who wronged her friend Shinichi under the same hotel would definitely stir curiosity over what Ranran was doing here, even more so if she leads them to the venue where her mentor's memorial is being carried out instead of Suzuki's birthday party, stirring enough hatred in Suzuki to attack Ranran.

And she won't fight back in front of those noble children who were her clients, remaining her stiff upper lip act, cause when it happens, everyone who sees this would perceive Ranran to be a strong yet sympathetic little girl who was wronged, and this obviously will provoke anger for anyone who wronged her.

Even the memorial venue being placed next to Takuma's father's birthday bash was no coincidence either, it was deliberated. When the same contact told her about this, she knew she had to pull this card.

Reina was someone who is neutral, not extreme to a point that if she chooses to believe in the 'right', she will remain there, if anything, she isn't easily swayed. Seeing Ranran multiple times by accident under the same hotel where both are running different events would eventually intrigue her, over what sort of child Ranran is when no one is looking. Using her mentor's memorial where Ranran is in charge to ensure things are as humble and as lowkey would give Reina the impression that Ranran was a tragic little girl who wouldn't harm someone without a reason.

This is why as soon as Reina found out by accident about the memorial feud where Sonoko and Ran stormed in without respecting the rules, their reputation tanked slowly after the other, leading up to where Ran and Sonoko are at the moment.

If Ranran continues with this act, she is certain those two girls would be kicked out of school soon. After all, Shinichi hates them to the core beyond return after learning of their deeds.

"I hope you can keep the consistency, cause in case anyone digs out that your 'stiff upper lip' act was deliberate to hurt someone-"

"I doubt so, do you not recall this particular prince who married this commoner back in the U.K?" Ranran reminded him with a pout, elaborating the story she recalled reading in the Edgewood Academy records room, "In the historical records, this particular Royal family many centuries ago had an idiot crown prince married a calculative commoner."

"I know, everyone knows that story in the U.K," He could be heard exhaling his breath, recounting this memory, "She was the illegitimate daughter of this baron family, spoiled rotten by the father who can't grant her the title due to circumstances, and with her ambitious greed, managed to seduce the prince and led him to break his arranged marriage with some noble lady. Life with the royal family wasn't easy for her, because they gave her a hard time."

"By a hard time, she never followed a single royal protocol that is mandatory for a future queen. She reminded me of R by the way," Ranran muses at this aspect, "She kept using her status as a commoner to invoke sympathy from the people initially, said royal life was difficult and had the crown's prince, her then-husband's support at that time. She was never treated of equal status she claims. With all of this taking place, the King and Queen remained on their stiff upper lip and said nothing, initially confirming her claims were true."

"But then gradually, the public adoration turned to hatred when they learn she used the royal allowance the King and Queen gave to her for lavish renovations, dresses, tea parties...when confronted about it, she claims she is entitled to it since she is future queen. Anyway, favour gradually went back to the King and Queen and eventually, she and the crown prince were exiled, but then they tried to start a rebellion...long story short, the two were beheaded." 'O' finished the story in a huff, "People did speculate that the stiff upper lip act was a deliberate weapon against this woman to kick her out, and win sympathy from their people. I wonder...if that woman is innocent or not."

"I don't think it matters if she was innocent or not, but the moral of the story was: There is this saying 'Actions speak louder than words', and in order for more of their actions to be revealed in an uglier manner, " With her satisfied smile the red lip grin has formed on her beautiful face, she ended the call in a gleeful tone, "One must silence the room, so their actions would speak louder in volumes and attract the worst kind of attention."

All of a sudden, 'O' who is listening to this is beginning to wonder if the friend he is speaking to is genuinely a 6-year-old girl.