Shortly before the group dispatch, they had one last meeting on what to expect about the ruby case.

"So Ranran and I had some last-minute discussions, so before leaving for tonight's stakeout, I felt like everyone needed to be briefed about additional details."

Once again, Shinichi pointed the cursor on the projector screen while Ranran sat in front of the laptop, highlighting the building before Ranran switched the slides to the comment section, flooded with reviews left by the former employees who used to work there. 

"I did research about the Swiss company that allegedly purchased the Rajah Ruby, the name is Swiss De Luxe, thanks to intensive investigation. After having an online chat with them, neither of them had seen the ruby in person. Even the ones who left the one-star review claim he or she felt like this company was a scam."

"Neh, I am confused over one thing," Takuma raised his hand before questioning no one in particular, "How is it that the ruby ended up in the hands of Swiss De Lux, to begin with?"

"I don't get you," Junko and the rest became confused at Takuma's question.

"I mean...originally the ruby was discovered in a mine, correct? Not to mention, it was based in one mountain of Afghanistan before the Rajah's family decided to obtain it and gift it as some birthday present to their first son?" Pondering further into this, he adds, "By right, if the ruby belonged there, why isn't it returned to where it originally come from? Why is it easily sold to some swiss company out of the blue?"

"I see where you are heading with this," With her arms folded, the founder explain to him this complex question, "Let's not forget that this ruby fell in the hands of many kings back then. In that era that had the existence of many Kings and Queens back then, war is common to expand their territory."

"Territory? What is that?" Ran turned baffled.

"It's like...example," Shinichi thought hard over how to explain this before snapping his finger, "Imagine...this association classroom we have, we split it in two: Left side where Junko, Ran, Emiko belonged to me, Michio and Takuma sitting at the right side belong to Ranran. We cannot agree on how limited space is, so we fought each harder and very cruelly until if I die, Ranran would benefit from owning my side of the association."

The children imagined it, then Ranran brings up, "Now think of it on a larger scale. Kings and queens want to build more hospitals, schools, churches, or even expand their idiotic palaces since the land ran out of space to build, so let's go declare war on another country, and if the ruler there dies, we will build more of those things there."

"That sounds cruel the way you worded it," Ran became a little pale at that thought.

"War is awful," Emiko nodded, and even the rest of them agree.

"This leads us to how the ruby ended up in the swiss company's hands," Now that the rest of them had roughly got it, Shinichi presented the facts, "With all of these circumstances of war and powerful rulers, it was easier to steal things like ruby as well. That is how the swiss company was able to obtain it. Although laws exist nowadays to prevent anyone from stealing such valuable things out of the country, there is always a loophole."

"And that made things very difficult for anyone, even the Queen of England back in my place still get to keep those jewellery and crowns her ancestors stole from other countries because of this." Ranran rubbed her chin before realizing, "I think I recalled people were still pissed off that she didn't return it even till now."

"Is it that difficult to just simply return something one steals during the war? No matter what...stealing is still stealing! Even if one is a bloody Queen of England, it does not justify that this act was wrong!" Junko grew annoyed at this revelation, for she was not expecting to learn that royalties are capable of such devious acts. Now she is beginning to wonder whether the Emperor and Empress of Japan committed such acts behind the scenes.

"Logically speaking, they should've returned. However, there is a lot more to lose if they do so," Ranran listed out those possibilities, "They will lose power and literally everything at their disposal."

"On what grounds? I don't see what is there to lose since they are wealthy beyond their means." Takuma lazily leans his head on the table, burying his head in between his arms.

"Exactly, plus, aren't they powerful? They are kings and queens after all." Even Michio pointed out in distaste.

"You don't forget that back then they had power because there were no proper laws in existence when they declare war on other countries, and to top it off back then, they were the people in charge of making citizens' lives for the better," Emiko commented while struggling to recall the history she used to read about royal paintings and so, "Of course, after citizens became more educated and realized kings and queens are useless to their livelihoods, they had to go survival mode and find different means of survival."

"By different means?" The glasses girl's eyebrows shot up, "You mean-"

"Becoming a mascot for the country," Ranran elaborated further, "Except they get paid to do so." She then listed many things they do to ensure survival, " For Example, some of them would lend the country their castles and palace as a tourism spot open to the public. Each time the public pays for admission to look into it, the money goes straight to the royals."

"What does this has anything to do with losing power if they return the stolen gems or jewels?" Ran's eyebrows knitted, not seeing where the founder was heading with this.

"By returning to the original owner, you are basically admitting to everyone that your ancestors, the royal family, stole from another country. Therefore, you are officially labelled a thief. Am I wrong?" 

Emiko finally figures out with her perceptive thinking, sinking into deep thought, "It doesn't matter if one is Rajah, or King or Queen like Fuyuko-san said earlier, stealing is stealing. In an era where there were tons of wars, stealing is a way of survival for the country and its citizens, especially the upper class. If they return it, then many more countries their ancestors had previously stolen from would demand that they return, eventually...they are a likely possibility that the royal family might end up being perceived by their own people as thieves. Also, they have been growing hate from their own citizens that they had to pay taxes to them, so it would justify them to remove the royal family completely and make the country 'republic', or in easier terms...independent."

"Taxes!? You mean-" With both hands slam on the table with a thud, Ran stood up confronting, "The tax money our parents and everyone been paying...it ends up with the royal family!? As in the same one we all have been idolizing for years!?"

Before learning all of this, Mouri Ran was your average typical monarchy-loving citizen.

Having grown up with fairy tales, it's no surprise that the majority of Japanese citizens grew to love their own royal family, the same way the citizens in the U.K. do with their own. A real-life royal is something one would generally look up to, so Ran and Sonoko never once fell out of love with it.

But to hear it from Ranran that this portion of the money that was supposed to help those unfortunate families are paying is given to the royal family of all people!? That was like a huge slap in the face for her because she wasn't born with a spoon of diamond or gold, just average but barely keeping things together. And the royal family in Japan, she always wondered how they were able to live in luxuries as reported on the paper...so that is how they gain their money through such means!

Mouri Ran was no stranger to the term 'tax' despite her age. When her parents split up, her father at some point went onto a downward spiral with alcohol that he almost forgot to pay up rent for the detective agency and their home.  When Ran took charge of those affairs after her mom left, she started to learn what the term tax meant, and initially, she never questioned why she should pay for it since her mom educated her over the phone that the purpose of the tax is to help benefit citizens lives for the better in no matter shape or form. Public roads, hospitals and schools, she was up for it. Sure, she hate being deducted to a point that their savings aren't enough to survive another day, but Ran had managed to persevere until her father got at least 70 percent of his act together.

"Yes, you didn't know?" Ranran blinked blankly at her as if she was living in a well before adding, "How do you think they are able to live so lavishly in the first place?"

Mouri felt blind-sighted by this news. Takuma who was listening to all of this questioned no one in particular, "Wait, I don't understand...I thought royal families don't have the power to build schools and all those nonsense anymore. That falls on the government currently, right? So why is it that the government is simply using the money we paid through tax to pay them to do nothing!? All I ever see them do is cut ribbons!"

Even Junko bawled at that before turning to the founder, "Is this true, Ranran?"

"Yes,  the government has to do so because in a way...it's like a form of filial piety."  Ranran admits before shrugging, "Look, you guys are aware that originally tons of countries wouldn't have prospered well without respected royal rulers, correct? Similarly like...let's talk about our parents."

Using the laptop, she opened the art software before giving a proper demonstration, drawing a pair of female and male stick figures before labelling below them 'parents' and drawing a huge circle around it, "The clothes we currently wear, the house we live in, even the bills...who pay for all of this? Them!"

She then draws smaller versions of the stick figures, titling them as 'us'.

"Now some day, we are going to become our 'parents', and they would eventually have to retire, cause they can't work forever. However, you need money to keep yourself alive. So even with savings and all of that, they can't work anymore because they are old, right? So who is going to pay for their way of living?" Ranran then drew arrows pointed at the 'us'.

"Now you imagine this on a larger scale, the royals being like our family, but no longer having the power to make such decisions for us anymore. Including their children, they are all powerless now. So guess who is going to have to pay for them?"

One by one, all the children finally understand why things are the way things are.

"As Takuma said 'Why the hell are we paying for them to do nothing'? This is why," Ranran had Shinichi move the cursor circling around the 'us' part. "They are doing so out of obligation, thanks to the decisions of what their family do years ago to benefit Japan as a whole. Think about it, how do you think they were able to afford those luxurious mansions, staff members, ceremonies here and stuff? It all came from every person's pocket in every city or that sort. Though as mentioned earlier, they do lend the locations they own as tourism spots to earn money, I can't quite disagree with Tak-san's words, but with a little correction. We are technically paying their kids to do nothing."

By this point, the rest of the children felt rather sombre and glum over the cruel reality that royal families are living off their incomes, adding salt was that they are living lavishly. And everyone within this association except Ranran and Shinichi was born from an average family income, so it stung them in many ways possible. Suddenly, it seems like royals to them are in a way...a huge annoyance thanks to Ranran's words.

After digesting all of this, "As much as I hate this, I mean let's be fair, their family did get Japan to where we are now." Michio who is popular among elderly people, especially close to his mother, voices out with comforting knowledge about this.

"No, it ain't!" Junko disagrees, feeling outraged about this, "In the first place, it was their parents who brought them to where our country is today, not their children! They barely did anything to benefit the county besides using our money!" Junko lashed out at this harsh truth in anger, since her family wasn't any wealthier having to deal with tax, then turned to Ranran to ask, "Can we not pay tax?!"

"First of all, you will go to jail if you don't. Second of all, the government is the one who is doing this, so no one can do anything about it. Plus, don't forget the very soil we are standing on right now belongs to them, regardless of the fact that they no longer are doing things their ancestors used to do so." Shinichi pointed it out.

"Not even a politician?! Surely there got to be some people who are not happy about this, right!?" Ran raised her voice.

"Mouri, did it not occur to you why a lot of people around us here love them in the first place? They need to pay people to talk nice things about them to prevent such things from happening. Going after them would paint you a bad guy overnight, as if you were going after their idol, people will hate you and do the worst things possible. And true, a politician can do so, but don't forget even his or her life would be made very difficult by their supporters." Ranran said.

As much as Ran wanted to refute, she thought about that time this male idol was reportedly walking past the street casually and this fangirl was being all so improper, so his fans ended up surrounding this rude girl and beating them up black and blue live on tv. Police got involved later on, and the injuries were severe. It didn't help that later on, people somehow managed to track down this girl's identity and left all sorts of hate spam on her main social media account, she later committed suicide by jumping off a building. And even after her death, her surviving family members ended up receiving all sorts of hate online, saying that woman deserved it.

It's official when Ran heads home, she is going to burn away those fairy tale books involving royals!

"That takes us back to where we are, after explaining of such things about royalty, Ranran brought up some unsettling dilemmas. " Eyes turned to Shinichi as he elaborates further, "I have some concerns about this ruby's existence posing a huge problem to all of us.."

"Why?" Michio nudges his head in the air, "If the ruby literally exists, won't that be proof to everyone that the swiss company and that gallery owner are in cahoots over the insurance scam all along?"

"For the cases, we worked on, yes, it will be bagged as evidence. But what happens after that is another story. I mean there is a time limit that one must claim back the ruby after things had settled." The apprentice reminded everyone.

"Eh?" Ran quizzes, "What do you mean?"

"Legally speaking, certain items bagged as evidence can't remain as one forever after the culprit is charge for the crime they committed. Depending on the nature of these said items, keep in mind that the ruby belonged to the royal family of Afghanistan, a gem of such high value...it's bound to attract the wrong people who plan to steal it and make profit."

Ranran's words drew sweat from everyone.

"With that much money, I can pay of the bills of my dad's detective agency, especially household expenses," Ran calculated the amount with her fingers.

"Aside of that, we can finally move out of the damn house that always been leaking," Junko pondered about this before tapping her chin with her finger thoughtfully, "Also aid my dad who just lost his job."

"Millions of yen worth of gem can do wonders for anyone, hell, I don't even need to wake up so early in the morning to head to school and be out fishing all day till the day I die," Takuma whistled, thinking of its value in yen, "With an item that is worth so much money, returning it back to someone is obviously a no brainer to prevent such situations. But now that Shinichi brought this to attention, I am starting to wonder what if anyone pretended that they belong to a such family and obtain it?"

The rest of the children gasped at Takuma's perspective, except Ranran and Shinichi.

"Takuma, did you forget that the royal family was exiled? Let alone, executed? To pose as one would be stupid, cause everyone is confirmed dead to even have their own family! They didn't even leave spare the baby's life! " Emiko reminded the apprentice, before confronting them, "Also, I don't think the cops here are that stupid to just simply hand over such an expensive ruby to-"

"But!" Junko suddenly jilted in response, "Those days there were no such things as computer and stuff to verified their official deaths, so a person can be easily declared 'dead' to everyone despite being alive or so! Let alone, no one actually knew if the family survived! Perhaps one of them did, and had surviving members here!" 

"Like Junko said, with that much money, one of you in this very room would no longer need to work till one grows old." Ranran slouched against the back of the chair with a calculative look, her eyes remaining on the screen of the laptop, "Let's all not forget why this ruby is called 'Rajah's ruby' for a reason, it was sought after by so many kings around the continent, who are we to say no one will eye on it? Hell, do you guys not think that the royal family here wouldn't do a thing to not have it within their palms under 'legal means'?" 

Everyone could feel the tension in the room as the thought of the ruby, millions of yens...that is a lot one can do in their money.

"But ain't that ruby itself cursed?" Ran  suddenly recalled the details of deaths to whoever possessed the ruby from the gallery owner, "Who would still want it after having attracted so many deaths!?"

"The Snake? Did you forget who had his daughter in an attempt to dig out any intel about us? Also, money makes the world go round, despite the risk of a curse that comes with it. Did you forget during the earlier briefing that the Rajahs or kings didn't care of the curse and decided to profit it off?" Takuma argued.

That made the karate girl gulp, as she sank deeper into her seat.

"With that said and done, the ruby's existence itself would present a huge problem for us, which is why I prayed that the swiss company lied that they owned this ruby. Cause if they don't, at least they can be charged with insurance scamming, and such problems would be spared of the association."

"But if the ruby actually exists-"

"A ruby with such royal history would be funding his empire a lot more than one would realize. If the claim for the ruby's ownership fail within a certain deadline, they will legally auction it off. Though I would be honest: The Snake's criminal empire having that much money...I won't be surprise if he pay someone to head there and purchase it. Think of how much that ruby would be enough to make up for all of the losses Tantei association has caused." Ranran cuts off Emiko's words in a darkened tone. "That's why, we must obtain it before he does. We cannot let it fall in the wrong hands."

"One question?" Emiko raised her hand before setting it on the table, "How do we know whether the ruby is the real deal?"

"Leave it to Ranran, she figured out a way to prove it," Shinichi announced before calling the meeting adjourned, much to everyone's surprise.

"Wait, Ranran knows how?!" Ran and the rest of the children were in astonishment, just how much more talent this red-lip girl before they are packed with?!

I guess that is how she ended up at Edgewood Academy in the first place. Junko muses with a hint of jealousy.

....

Since Ran and Emiko decided to have dinner first, it was decided Michio and Ranran would be accompanying them as they head to the main HQ of the Tantei association while Shinichi, Takuma and Junko would remain in school to be briefed on what should they do should The Snake's daughter attack them.

Being one of the few physically fit children out of the 7, it's no surprise why they had to stay back. Mouri Ran was no different since she too should've remained with Takuma and Junko since she too took up martial arts, but with her drama with Shinichi in full display, and the aura of hatred emitting from him was far too evident, it's no surprise she came up with the excuse on wanting to have dinner with Emiko.

Though she wasn't pleased to see the she-demon with them.

But since Shinichi was in a foul mood with Ranran as well, she too volunteer on wanting to have dinner with Emiko. Having Michio with them wasn't really part of the plan, but not long after the break-in incident during the events of Extinction Heist, he was able to get his mother to change the locks not long ago, and at the moment, he was the only one with the keys and there were no spare keys made, so they are relying on him to unlock it after their dinner.

It was fortunate that there is this cafe not far from the HQ since the gallery is around a 20-minute distance if one rides by vehicle. Shinichi had his neighbour provide some mode of transportation to cut costs on travelling expenses: Sun solar-powered skateboard, bike, scooter, and even a motor sidecar was fueled on that. 

However, to prevent being easily assassinated since all of the transports Shinichi has brought them had their heads openly exposed, they have been relying on taking taxies lately through the money they received from the 2nd case, illegitimate extra.

As they strolled through the cars parked to the side of the road behind headquarters, Emiko groaned, "I can't wait to have a nice dinner after a long day in school."

"Don't worry, the food there not far from where my mom works is worth the price," Michio reassures her.

"I hope is affordable, otherwise I don't think my dad and I would live another day with a roof above our heads," Ran muttered, still feeling annoyed with Ranran's presence, she suddenly whipped her head at Ranran who was walking behind her, "Why are you with us anyway? I thought you and Shinichi order food delivery normally?"

Unfazed by her hostility over the events Ran had to go through, Ranran casually answers, "Shinichi said no one is to take any risks and go anywhere alone. Since everyone is far too hungry in having dinner, and there were concerns that The Snake may send one of his men to pretend to be a food delivery guy to infiltrate our HQ, I decided to accompany dinner with the whole lot of you. Initially, I assumed Junko was going to accompany the whole lot of you, but then Shinichi decided to have Takuma and Junko stayed back for the backup solutions should the stakeout go horribly wrong."

And it was impressive, Ranran couldn't help but think.

He bounces back from failures, unlike his old self who he at times is too arrogant for his own good (he still is through glimpses in her opinion). After Ranran struck him with a gun multiple times for breaking and entering her house when he applied for leave for over a week, she assumed the outcome would either be him distancing himself further away from her, or the worst outcome was him coming after her like Pink Panther and Clouseau. And no, that could've been a huge threat to her future big time. But Ranran came in prepared for that should it happens

He is so different from Mouri Ran, very different.

It sometimes made Ranran question what did he see in her to fall for someone like her?

Of course, Ranran wasn't completely in the know, the projector did help her reveal a couple of things she was not aware of. It was evident the feelings were there since they were in kindergarten, even more so when they grow up into teenagers. The Ran the detective girl who listened through the projector was at times short-fused, she was not beyond irrational, unlike the current one she knows now. 

For one time when Shinichi and Ran scheduled to meet up somewhere around the age of 16, Ranran recalled that one of the details revealed he was several hours late, and rather than berating him for making her wait, the only thing she asked was 'Is he alright?', which made him fall for her deeply.

Now this narrative came from his future self, and he is a reliable narrator, so she had no reason to doubt this. But Ranran had every reason to doubt Mouri Ran when she said those words. Suddenly, everything about Ran came into question.

Was she sincere when she said so? Hell, is anything about Mouri Ran ever sincere?

Did she say it because she had a crush on him and didn't want to present him with this unsavoury image Ranran is dealing with now? If that is truly the case, that made Shinichi's oblivious behaviour towards girls alarming to her now. Thankfully Ranran had Michio's name signed on the paper documents when The Snake sent his daughter to woo him, cause if they had put Shinichi's name, it would've gone horribly wrong. 

Maybe Ranran should consider giving him lessons about girls, she is his mentor after all. But he wasn't completely that much of an idiot when she observed the way he interact with girls of such a nature. If she were to compare him and Michio side by side, Shinichi's awareness of deception is higher than Michio's by a margin of 30 percent.

However, when Ranran studied the video of the interview from that projector, it seems like Shinichi wasn't even aware that Ran had feelings for him till he was poisoned and shrunk into a little boy by the age of 16 or 17. So no matter how hard she observe this, it was pretty clear Shinichi wasn't aware of the shady crap Ran and Sonoko were doing behind his back because of Mamiko. He was blinded because they were his 'childhood friends' of many years.

And it was thanks to this blindness, it destroyed Ranran's future in the projector.

Michio who was listening to all of this offered, "You know I could've cooked all of you dinner, I wouldn't mind doing all of the washup back at the main HQ."

"No, it wouldn't be fair towards you, you already gave us the venue without charging us for electricity and water bills despite your job to look after us by our grandparents. Let alone, the food you cooked for us must have been tedious for you while all 7 of us were working on the detective case files." Ranran shook her head at him, feeling a little uneasy since she doesn't like to rely on others doing such chores before looking up to him, "It's fair that we go out for dinner together, cause you did earn it. So I will pay for everyone's dinner tonight."

Emiko who was quietly listening to all of this sees Ranran differently now, perceiving her as someone who is compassionate over their efforts, "That is very nice of you to thank us."

 "Hmph! Flexing her money and all of that," Ran scoffed, but seeing the other kids' eyes staring back at her hostility towards Ranran made her shrink.

Ah damn it, now Michio and Emiko must be thinking I am going after Ranran for the wrong reasons! Ran is beginning to hate herself and once again, she fell onto the traps of the devious Kudo Ranran.

"Which reminds me, Emiko, was there any link to the ruby case and the bribery taking place at Musashino Art university? Or is there something I ain't aware about?" Ranran said in a concerned voice.

"Eh?"

Everyone stopped walking, roughly around 5 minutes away from their school as Ranran confronted the artist, as Michio and Ran became confused over what was truly going on, "The art university you were asking me about, you have been acting odd ever since at the hospital."The founder then looked at her face tensely and intently, "You sounded quite furious about it."

"I-"

"I understand that your passion when it comes to art is larger than life, which is why you snapped when you wondered why I did nothing despite knowing of the bribery that is taking place. And I am not going to ask you to understand this, in the first place, bribing is wrong." Ranran admitted huffed at this, but then continued on, "But rather, I suggest if you can come up with a solution that will make their lives for the better, especially the innocent artists after raiding the school, then I will give you the right to go at me. Otherwise, it's just a pointless opinion I am receiving from you."

The artist once again bit her lower lip in hard thoughts, as a trail of thoughts made her think:

Does Ranran know? What I am actually going through now?

Judging from the tone of her words, along with her knowing expression, it was evident Ranran is aware. But instead of confronting Emiko to force her to understand, which she refuses to, the founder is offering her to come up with a solution to fix this.

No matter how hard Emiko looked at this from all angles, what was going on behind the scenes at her prestigious art university was morally wrong on many levels.

There is a huge red flag that rich families are just given a passing mark and get better jobs, robbing other kids from middle-income families to even shine. For several days Emiko couldn't accept this harsh truth, this cruel reality that they have been getting away with for so long. And she did make attempts to cancel this scholarship after learning what was truly going on.

But on the day itself, when Emiko witness this university girl on the floor crying out loud in front of the staff's office when she pleaded to transfer to another art university, even yelled 'corruption' as the adults, acting ignorant in that office went they told her to leave while accusing her to be overly dramatizing that the scores of her art piece were robbed and handed over to a girl from a rich family, that was when Emiko knew there was no way out of this.

Emiko was a perceptive child, she knew the reason the university was doing this to this poor college student wasn't that they refuse to: They were walking on thin ice while their time is running out.

While she was entering the university campus, she noted that the notice announcement board had planned on introducing an exhibition involving children around her age doing awesome artwork within the building, which stir Emiko's fear as Ranran's words is becoming a vicious reality.

"I mean if the school is going to prove themselves to be innocent while hiding all of the shady crimes they committed, they are going to need to promote new talent from a poor background to trick them, which will trick others into thinking there is no favouritism on individuals from rich families. Maybe for instance...showcasing an extraordinarily talented individual with an art exhibition or work like no other...enough to overshadow all of this mess they had started to keep their students. Cause a school can't survive without students in the first place. I doubt even if one request cancel, the school would let one go easily to fix their mess...."

As Emiko listen to those words, she gulped.

In a way, Emiko knew what Ranran was implying behind those words: If one builds a strong excellent reputation, even if one finds fault with you like the authorities, the reputable person will end up receiving a favourable verdict from the community.

Similar to that specific university thanks to its prestigious rank and honour, if the cops make an arrest towards the children of rich families, there will be a bloodbath from all sides: Hell, even the innocent poor students would eventually be dragged down through violence because everyone refuses to believe that the university and those rich families were capable of such feat despite having clear evidence that proves otherwise.

In other words: Poorer or middle-income students would eventually be at high risk of becoming victimized. As for those rich students, that would be a different story since their families can send them overseas to avoid repercussions.

With the potential police raid looming above the university, it was a ticking time bomb for Emiko. If she doesn't get her name out of the institution, she will never be able to fulfil her dream as an artist. But that was only the tip of the iceberg, cause her family who already has a bad reputation would be pushed to the slums. And Emiko's dream had been argued multiple times among everyone, as her parents never supported that this dream could bring her money. If they got word of it, they will not let her pursue this dream any further.

Emiko's family were not poor, let alone, wealthy. But they pinch every single yen they could find. You can say that her family were obsessed with money, so obsessed that it led to the divorce of her parents. So when Emiko announced her wanting to become an artist, she was greatly discouraged. In the first place, heading to an art school is costly. This is why when she explained that she was offered a scholarship, they were alright with it.

But now...with all of this coming to blows,  Emiko finally broke down as she reveals, "I think...my dreams as an artist...may no longer be possible anymore."

Jaws dropped from Ranran, Michio and Ran, "Say what now!?"The long brown-haired brunette blurred out, ignoring the reaction from other pedestrians walking past them.

By this point, the rush hour traffic had thinned out as they continue to converse. For the first time, Emiko couldn't take it anymore and began to reveal everything, starting from her family's obsession with money to the bribery situation she had recently learned from Ranran etc. Even Ranran wasn't expecting to hear this coming from the 9-year-old's mouth.

As soon as all of this was said and done, and with long silence upon processing such news, Ran was the first to break "How long were you going to tell us any of this?" Ran demanded, "You should've said something rather than keeping it all to yourself!"

"Nah Ran, don't be too harsh on Emiko, alright? I am sure this is very difficult even for her to put into words." Michio tries to calm Ran down as Ranran just stood there digesting all of what had Emiko told her.

Internally, Ranran was shaking to the core, she suspected that Emiko was offered a scholarship from that school, but she never could've guessed Emiko's artist dream has becoming a ticking timebomb now that she knew about the upcoming raid.

"Ranran, don't just stand there, say something!" Ran tried to get Ranran to talk, but she wasn't responding as she paced back and forth.

Finally, as if there was some flicker in her eyes, Ranran's head spun as she tried to take it all in."So let me get this straight, did you at least try to head over to the university office and demand that this scholarship is cancelled?" 

With everything overwhelming her, Emiko looked at her with wide eyes. "Honestly, when I saw that college girl in tears while the adults were acting all so dismissive about her being dramatic, I knew it was an obvious no!"

"Dismissive?! That meant...is it likely they knew the raid was coming!?" Ran thought of it and it all made sense for them to behave that way. Outraged, she decided, "We need to call the cops."

And Emiko tried to stop her, "Ran, no-"

"You don't get it, do you? How is it that the school has become aware of this raid?" With a click of disapproval towards the eager Mouri Ran, she approaches her with a frown, "We had a corruption scandal involving cops last year, and so far, not everyone was arrested. And with the such situation...you can see why the school were that brazen despite having such accusations coming forward."

Feeling that the world was spinning around Ran, she froze, "No....you don't mean-"

"Are you suggesting that the police were in on this corruption, Ranran!?" Michio's answer beat Ran to it.

"Not all of them, but I suspect some of those who are involved in this," Ranran formed a grim expression, "Due to the lack of evidence, they are still working there. If there is still no evidence to tie them to it legally wise...Emiko's future is a goner."

"No way...you can be serious...." whispered Ran with a shudder.

"But you have a way to save Emiko's dream, do you not?" Michio nudged her "Illegally?"

As Ranran scanned their surroundings, including the shadowy alleyways, a few pedestrians could be seen walking along beneath the streetlights seemed normal enough. Everything seems normal enough. There were no signs of anything suspicious.

Judging her silence, it was clearly evident to Emiko that she does. "You do know a way!"

"I do, but not without sacrifices."

She look very hesitant to share it, but Emiko demanded she spills it with both her hands on the founder's shoulder, shaking her roughly as Ran yelled at the elder girl not to while Michio is at loss over what to do with the commotion. "...Ranran. Spit it out! Anything for my dream, I will go all out! Even if it was illegal and that was the only option, I will do it!" It was harsh, her tone was as cold as the weather now as it is still winter, but she was used to it.

Emiko had dealt with hell growing up, anything to get her dream back she is all up for it. 

Finally, after much deliberation, Ranran's bangs covering her eyes before dropping the bomb onto the artist, "It will involve destroying the life of a 5-year-old girl."

There it is, the obstacle before her dream. Emiko say nothing because she knew, she knew anything Ranran suggest was bound to be cruel.

Still, even after knowing, the confirmation of the obvious made Emiko stiffen.