BY 4pm, everyone had trooped back to the Tantei association HQ situated at Ruth and co. It was then Michio's jaw dropped.

For Junko was in a ruffled blouse top, deconstructed. "Where did you get that? That doesn't suit you at all." he scowled.

Junko blushed and hurried to her desk. She pulled a stack of files in front of her and sank low in her chair, feeling depress. Ran and Emiko shot Michio a mean look and went to sit with her friend. Confused, he turned to the founder and wondered why are the other girls giving him a harsh look?

Kudo Ranran was someone who can read a person's behavior, let alone, the mood within the room. Though telepathy don't exist, there are times she was able to guess their behaviour with frightening accuracy, it sent shivers to the boys, mainly for Shinichi, who wonders if she was a obsessive stalker in a past life.

As always, Ranran is able to sense it, so she answered, "She is trying to impress you with a change of taste in her clothes, Majima. And the way you said to her come across like an insult, as if she shouldn't go for something different."

"But I think she shouldn't." Michio frowned further, leading Takuma to face palm at that thought while Shinichi just blinked absently, not truly getting why is this relevant to the case they are working on before setting up the laptop and projector for the meeting.

"What part of it doesn't suit her?" Takuma probed, grabbing a seat and so did the rest of them.

"Well..." Michio was reluctant to bring this up.

Don't get Michio wrong, he wasn't insulting Junko. But in a way, that over-the-top ruffled blouse top doesn't suit Junko. Sure, the cutting and all of that fitted Junko nicely, as she is fit for her age. But her muscles she gained from her martial arts club was evident, it doesn't fit the top that is meant to bring out femininity.

"You know that my mother is into the jewelry boutique business, right?" The boys and Ranran nodded to him, as he justifies his reaction, "I got influence with fashion when it came to women according to my mother, and...for some reason, that top just made her arms..."

"Ah, I see." Takuma and Ran exchange nodding to one another.

Fuyuko Junko's arms had always been a bother to Michio, mainly because growing up, he always had to deal with her bashing on occasion whenever things don't go her way during kindergarten. He swore that the older they grew, the arms had grown to gorilla powered sized arm, fitting to break a table in half.

As each team made its report, Shinichi typed whatever it is on the school's laptop they borrowed from their school. Everyone looked up sharply when Emiko mentioned the Rajah's Ruby progress, their theory and all.

"Considering if what Emiko and Junko said is the truth, that explains why the victim utter the word 'Rajah', a mission that ultimately may or may not...have cost him his life.'' Ranran announced, studying the chart Shinichi wrote, "What we have to do now is to verify whether that gallery in the research is part of this conspiracy."

"I agree, "Shinichi nodded. "So let's start with....that doctor you cornered against the wall," he mused.

"I have something to ask regarding that, "Michio raise his hand up before asking no one,"What motive would a doctor lied that the old man had been in an accident?"

"Maybe he had something to gain out of all of this?"growled Takuma.

"Or did he simply think it was none of your business?" challenged Emiko. "Doctors never discuss their patients with strangers. It will get them sued according to Ranran."

"That is what we know so far,"Shinichi agreed, "But you should have seen Dr Hata's face when Ranran accused him on being a phony and a liar. He look like he was going to kill her with his gaze."

"Is that so?"Ran and the rest turned to Ranran as she nodded to her.

"He definitely would, if he had the chance. Man, I wish I was there to see his face."Takuma folded his arms.

"And then there is this ruby in question, the Rajah's ruby. Or King of Rubies as we speak." said Ranran, tapping her pen on the table. "Why is it the King of Rubies I wonder? What is the story behind it?"

Junko pushed her glasses back up her nose and cleared her throat nervously, "According to research, this The Rajah's Ruby is reported to be the world's most expensive ruby among all."she stated, holding up the pages she'd printed out from the cybercafe.

"And through further research thanks to the girls, there seems to be a story behind it." Shinichi then took over before reading out the report, switching the slide on the laptop as he goes, "A long time ago, there used to be this family of royals from Afghanistan."

"Afghanistan?" Everyone frowned before Emiko pointed out, "We are talking about Rajah, a term used in India. Why Afghanistan? Afganistan ain't India." She asked.

"Afghanistan was a part of India till politics happen, it's a long story." Ranran answered, before urging Shinichi to continue.

"Thanks Ranran," He then cleared his throat and went on, "Now this family, we called them the 'King of kings' to avoid confusion between Raja and Maharaja, were powerful." He paced before continuing his speech, the slide revealing a royal couple, "This particular couple here, had a love story unlike any other."

"Ah! I love romance!" Junko speak dreamily.

"Keep quiet! Shinichi is trying to present the case." Ranran hissed at the glasses girl, making her retract her body in shock as Takuma laughed. "Anyway, most marriages, especially royal families, are arranged by their parents. Because power is important for families involved. There is nothing romantic about royalty." Ranran decided to point out the harsh facts.

"Says who? How can there be any successful marriage without love in it?" Ran spoke in detest.

"Anyone issues any nonsense in this room about romance of that sort, I am going to personally kicked you and Junko out of this room, you hear me!?" Shinichi's commanding and booming tone was enough to shock in Junko and Ran. Emiko and the rest said nothing, for they were eager to listen what Shinichi has to say, regarding the story behind the ruby.

Shinichi made a mental note that someday he is going to have to add a rule later on with Ranran that ban the topic of 'romance' within this association, permanently. And he knew she would be more than happy to. "Anyway, like Ranran said: Most marriages within royal families are not as beautiful as the portrayal of fairy tales. In a way, you are technically marrying a stranger you barely knew during our age, then you are forced to move into a foreign country and serve as wife with this stranger, even have kids with him."

"I mean it sounds nice, if you are born with a diamond spoon." Junko casually comments.

Ranran rolled her eyes at the elder girl's idiocy, before leaving a snide comment, "So Fuyuko is more than willing to end up like a cow at a farm!"

"I am sorry-what?!" That unexpected random comment caught everyone's attention as Junko was caught off guard, much less from Shinichi as well.

"Cows! You know? The ones who are selectively bred with one another at a farm to produce high quality offsprings for human consumption, mainly Wagyu." She said it with a teasing tone.

"What?! Are you calling me a Wagyu Beef?!"

"Yes, just imagine a dish of you, with your glasses and two pony tail side by side."

That make Junko's jaw drop while Emiko began to burst into giggles at her comment, and so did Takuma, as he raised his fist and hit the surface of the table repeatedly while struggling to contain his laughter while Michio tried to stifled himself from Ranran's words, but it was proven difficult with that mental image in his head. Even Shinichi who was giving a straight serious face earlier covered his mouth with his hand, hiding his smile. Ran on the other hand was displeased with their behaviour, however, she soon finds her hand covering her own mouth unconsciously.

"Man, after hearing how Ranran put it, this arrange marriage thing sucks! " Takuma spat in disgust, after he stopped laughing.

"How can one have kids with someone who doesn't like the other? Don't kids exist when parents love one another?" Michio wondered.

"You guys are way behind on 'that part of the education', huh?" Ranran folded her arms with an amused expression, before deciding she should give them the lesson where kids come from a little early,"When a guy-"

"Ranran, case!" Shinichi bangs the table with his fist, successfully drawing everyone's attention away from the founder to the apprentice. He didn't mean to do this, but the last thing he want to deal with was a atmosphere filled with awkwardness from all of the members thanks to Ranran's comments.

After all, the last time she told him about it while they were at their grandparents house, he had mental trauma after learning 'that truth', he couldn't cope for about a week without giving his parents odd looks whenever they head back to the master bedroom.

"So what made this love story behind this ruby special?" Emiko prompted Shinichi to continue.

"Ah right, here." With the tap of the key, photos of the royal family's journey began, "I ain't going to bother with names, but to summarize this as Ranran said: Both fell for each other at the age of 13, even though he has his own harem-"

"Wait," Ran's raised her hand in confusion, and so did the other kids, "What is a harem?"

"Ok," Ranran decided this was it, to explain this in a simplified manner, "Imagine your father, marrying other women that ain't your mother-"

"Ain't that step parenting?" Takuma commented.

"No, that's different. Instead of one step-parent, you are getting multiple step-moms-"

"Wait, like as in your father divorcing while marrying over and over?" Michio cuts in.

"No, they all stayed married. It's one man and many wives for themselves. In those days in royalties for that country, it's normal to marry more women. The queen is the legal wife and the most powerful above the rest of the women." Ranran explained to them.

"What!? What the hell does one king or Rajah need that many bloody wives!? Ain't that cheating!?" Junko blasted in annoyance.

"It ain't, and its for good reasons." Ranran explained to the fuming girl in glasses, "You see, sometimes the queen is considered not able to have a child, even if she can bear one, they end up mostly having girls than boys. And you must be biologically related to the King, let alone, a male to be future Rajah or King whatsoever. Girls are usually lack of value, the only value they have is giving birth and to be married of to co-run country affairs right next to their future husbands, be it king or prince, depending on the status of their mothers to ensure power for their fathers."

"So to put it short based on your explanation, in those days...girls are basically treated like cows, am I wrong!?" Ran managed to put it together in anger at her revelation.

"Yeah." Ranran confirmed.

"Guys, please, I don't want us to waste time now, alright?" Shinichi massage his nose bridge, as the topic was becoming wayward, having shift their focus back on the projector screen where he points, "In most marriages among royalty where the love between King and Queen is ultra rare, not to mention, has their own harem, this one was the only exception. The Rajah treasured this queen so greatly, he barely paid a visit to his harem and had the lowest number of kids with a harem."

"Woah, that mean he is very devoted to his wife huh?" Takuma couldn't help but be impressed.

"Not bad for someone who had many wives," Emiko thinks about this indifferently.

"Though I think its better he had no harem in the first place,"Junko pointed out.

"It ain't a given option, Fuyuko. Another reason for harem is to gain power over other country through marriages. Sometimes politics can be so messy, this had to be done to ensure no war takes place from both parts." Ranran gives her realistic view on the situation, "As I said, all of this ain't fairy tale like as one would led you to believe."

"What does this have anything to do with a ruby?" Ran wondered.

"I will get to that. It all started when his beloved wife, the queen, gave birth to their first son on a July." He then switch to the slide, where everyone's eyes were hooked on the red ruby shown on the photo, "Now common knowledge not known to many: Birth stones on July are you guessed it, Rubies. To understand how his son's future fate would be as a Rajah, he literally listened to the royal fortune teller, since he is born on a July, he should be gifted a present of such value, that it would grand the kingdom and country endless wealth and prosperity in the many years to come. It must be a ruby as red as blood. So did what any king in his situation would do: He raided a certain area that is off limits beyond theur country, and then obtained the mine where the alleged ruby is."

"You meant to say he committed genocide to steal a mine to gift a birth stone for his son's 1st birthday thanks to a scammer, right?" Ranran sums it up.

At first, Shinichi was going to refute, but then possessing Ranran's shorten yet straight to the point words made it all that obvious.

"Why is it not crafted into some jewelry? I thought royalties normally craft it as a necklace or earrings of that sort? That is what I know according to my mother." Michio raised his hand to ask.

"Well, they did. But then revolution happen, the whole family were exiled, and to prevent anyone having obtained the ruby in the name of power, the exiled King had someone took the cut ruby and burry it back at the mine. That was according to the fortune teller's advice, later printed out in the royal documents online. Though I am pretty sure he said that just so to steal the ruby for himself to make himself millions of yen." Shinichi rolled his eyes then flipped the slides, showing distressing picture of plague, poverty, and corpses all over. "Royal families rely on the people to run the country, mainly their money. Problem is, most of them used it to spend lavishly for themselves rather than the country. And people who keep dying of hunger thanks to that...it's bound to go south when one gets word of it, hence, revolution."

"It's like Marie Atonette, the last existing queen of France. She just lived in luxury while her family continued to charge their own people till their broke, to a point of starvation, which also let them getting them beheaded, and have her children toss in a cell to live and die." Ranran provides an example.

"Wait, that actually happened!?" Jaws dropped from the other children, especially the older ones except Shinichi.

"Wow, if royalties are so useless, why not Japan do the same with our existing emperor and empress?" Emiko thought about it while rubbing her chin, "It would do the country well without them, leaching on our money like that."

"They must make majority of people go hungry to do that, Emiko." Ranran sighed to her, "Although there is to this day the existence of hunger and all of that, don't forget the country relies on their property as tourist venues to make money. So they have no reason to kick them out when they are making money for both royalties and the people, and to top it off, the country."

"Ah man, that sucks." Takuma pouted.

"I agree," Ran nodded alongside Junko and Michio.

"Anyway, if I can turn all of your attention here!" Shinichi then switch the slide to the picture of a building that had the title 'Atsuko Gallery'. "Next week on a Monday this said Ruby, one that is described to be highly prized and discovered small quantities in Afganistan, will be exhibited at 'Atsuko Gallery' according to the site, right Emiko?" He turned to the artist for confirmation.

"Yes." The artist nodded before everyone read the reports, "And if you can look at the value section, it is worth an estimated 5 million yen in today's money."

"I am sorry, 5 million!?" Everyone's eyes grew wide in shock.

"Yes, 5 million yen. And there is a problem," Shinichi moved to the next slide as Emiko took over, "This gallery? I went there in person myself before. Previously when I was around 6 or 7, the gallery used to always feature artwork from young artists who are what I would say average talented around town."

"So?" Takuma and the rest couldn't see where she was heading with this.

"Next slide," Shinichi tap on cue as Emiko continued, "Admission fee back then was free, adults included. But after they switch ownership around 2 years ago, there. You see?" The slide revealed the price of the admission ticket had soared to a point, even Takuma's eyes were this close to falling out of his sockets. "According to the previous owner, the reason for the rise in price was due to the new owner shipping in expensive artwork and gemstones collection from overseas, just to meet up the expectations for visitors who paid such expensive admission fees to take a look. And that is true in some cases, as an aspiring artist I did come across that in some forums online over the complaints. Then...there are some alarming complaints I can't ignore."

More slides followed suit, revealing comments that it was a waste of admission fees, to claims that the items the gallery brought it was a fraud.

"Mind you, all of these comment reviews were removed a month before announcing this ruby would be appearing in their gallery next Monday."

"And your point is, Emiko?" Ranran prompted her to get to the point.

"My point is: I think there is a possibility that the gallery is potentially scamming people in the world of art, because majority of people are not as familiar or passionate in art and artifacts alike, just like the whole lot of you. If one says 'We imported this painting from the legendary late Picasso', say one of you bought the admission ticket, let alone, had no knowledge like I do, all of you would blindly believe it without questioning. Why? Because you pay the price to see a legit art, why would you question it?"

"I see, like that time The Snake's idiot men, that gambler attempted to stupidly paint a white tiger and tried to scam people in the circus?" Michio recalled.

"Yes, exactly the point!" Emiko nodded to him.

"And do you think this ruby is a scam job as well?" Shinichi reverse the slide back to the large ruby.

"Maybe yes or no." Emiko gave the ruby on the screen a hard look,"But that would be a good motive why that old man was attacked at the mall, right? Perhaps he realize this scam, and he was kidnapped against his will to avoid having this scam exposed. Just like the negative reviews that are later removed."

"You know, I think you are up to something." Ran couldn't help but agree, "They deleted the negative reviews, but I think ain't it a little too extreme to attack a person?"

"When one has everything to lose after doing this for two years, attacking a man in a parking lot ain't difficult to pull it off." Ranran folded her arms in a deep thought, before pointing the printed site on paper, "But we are also forgetting one main point of this story."

"Which is?" Everyone eyed on the red lip girl for answers.

"All of this is to avoid drawing attention towards the alleged scam that is taking place within the gallery. Deleting them would just add more fuel to the fire depending on circumstances as to how many people are furious at this gallery, but attacking someone in a parking lot would draw more attention shortly after doing so. And the way they are doing...it ain't a good job. And if I were the owner, they are better ways to do it rather than resort to violence."

Shinichi then probed while Ranran paused in thought, "What is your point, Ranran?"

"Let's say if...this ruby is the real deal." She directed everyone to the ruby on image, "The gallery could use this to do a good swipe on the negative reviews that they were allegedly scamming visitors. That way, they didn't have to resort to deleting reviews or attacking a man at the parking lot."

"Well then...if the ruby is real, why do all of this then?" Takuma couldn't help but ask no one.

It suddenly then dawn on Shinichi what was the answer behind their actions, "Steal."

"Hah, steal?" The glasses girl disagreed, "Then one doesn't need to resort that far!"

"No, they have to." Shinichi refuted, before explaining further, "Supposedly what Emiko said was true that they have been scamming all this while, except these reviews are about to put a nail to this gallery, the only way to squash all those rumors...is to acquire a real artifact, mainly this ruby. That's why they deleted those reviews to acquire it so they can't find any fault that they aren't trustworthy. But supposedly...someone found out the truth, but tried to tell someone, only to be kidnapped later on...."

"Damn...I mean that would make total sense," Takuma gave a low whistle. "That's why the big man took him away, to silence him." He glanced across at Emiko's sketch "I mean, what other reason could he be keeping that guy captive besides that?"

Junko stared at the sketch and shuddered. "I mean now that Shinichi mentioned it, it would make sense of this theory. Cause that man who was with the victim was very frightening. And the old man was really afraid of him." Then she looked at Shinichi, "But then...how does one explain about the fact the he had a German accent?"

"But you have no way of confirming he is 100 percent born German, corrrect?"Michio reminded her, "Also, why would a German crook be involved in this scam?"

"Did you not recall Emiko stating something about artifacts and artworks being shipped overseas to the said gallery? You need contacts from overseas to pull this off, and I know this because my mother once dragged me to Louvre Museum when I was four." Shinichi recalled, "It was the most boring day of my life."

"Wait, Louvre Museum?! As in the famous one in Paris!?" Emiko suddenly stood up with a stomp, not to mention, in annoyance at Shinichi's obnoxious behavior, "How can you sound ungrateful!? I would've cut my own arm to go there, and yet, here you are yapping that the museum is boring when you are given the opportunity!"

"But it is boring!" Shinichi argued.

"Enough!" Ranran stood up, silencing the both of them with her killer glare, before the two returned to their seats, "Anyway, like Shinichi said...if what he said is the truth, then we are very likely dealing with a group of organized crime, mainly scammers, and that makes things very difficult against the 7 of us."

"Still, I think there is one more flaw to this theory." Michio voiced out his opinion, "What about the doctor? How is he involved in this?"

"Oh yeah, that's right! Doctors are mostly involved in medical field when it comes to curing people, not go steal artwork or red rubies!" Takuma agreed.

"Tak-san, if you are a doctor who received a patient of such suspicious state, what is the first thing you would do?"

"Hmmm..."With his chin lowered, he hummed before answering Ranran's question, "Contact the police."

"But if I pay you a million yen, would you not contact them?"

"Of course I would not- wait, what!?" Takuma suddenly turned to Ranran, "He was paid hush money?"

"Or he could've been threaten not to make a phone call." Ran suggests, before recounting something, "When my tousan(Father) used to work as a police officer, there were cases where people were forced to accept money whether they like it or not just so they can't testify against powerful people."

"No, he definitely accepted hush money willingly. Because when I was observing his interaction with Ranran, he smiled as if he managed to successfully fooled us all. You don't smile when you are forced to accept hush money."Shinichi's eyes it up, "I am dead certain that this case is going to involve an international gang of crooks."

"Is it because of the German man he was seen with the missing victim? Let alone, Emiko's overseas artifact relations with the gallery?" Michio concludes before he snapped his fingers. "If that is the case, we should contact Genzo!"

"Yeah, but the problem is it hasn't happen yet, and we have no clues that indicated it's going to happen. Plus the ruby, we don't even know whether that was even a scam for that matter, maybe the ruby itself might not even had exist to scam more visitors." Junko sighs in defeat, "So how?"

"And the man, if he was around, at least we could've have something to back our words." Even Michio too was feeling downcast at the situation.

Emiko ran long fingers through her hair, before everyone turned to Ranran for answers, "Well, tactician, what do you think we should do next from here?"

"In order to confirm our suspicions,"Ranran smiled at her, "One must go straight to the source of the scene."

Her lips curved in a smile as she answered her question, "We are heading to the gallery, am I wrong, Ranran?"

"Yes, and here's the plan," She told them. "When the gallery opens tomorrow morning, you, Junko and Ran head over there and ask them about the Ruby that is coming in next Monday, under pretenses of homework assignment."

"Wait, why are you sending the girls there instead of me or Michio? And why ain't Ranran heading there?" Takuma raised his hand to ask.

"Right now, it is a huge case in the works. We do not want to alert our enemies, Takuma."Shinichi explained to him as he says, "It would strike odd that three little boys plus one girl would take interest in a jewel instead of the girls here. In addition to that, Ranran has already gotten the attention of many criminals over the past cases we have solved recently. Therefore, there may be the possibility that other criminals could be there stationed about to make sure no one ask questions the same way with the bleeding man in the mall. If any of them recognize Ranran, they might go straight to the mastermind."

"That's true..." Michio and the others realize Shinichi made a point.

"However, if we send over the three girls that the criminals might not have had set their sights on, no one would feel suspicious. After all, jewels are a girl's best friend after all. In others perception, it is normal for girls to love doll houses all sorts of nonsense in the eyes of the adults. This approach has to be taken, nah?" Ranran grinned.

"And what are you going to do then?" Junko asked frostily while Ran seethed in silence at Ranran's comments, while Emiko didn't care much about her words.

As if Ranran noted that they were jealous of the lack of effort in the later plans, she said, "Unless you all want to join the boys and stationed the surroundings outside Gallery, especially on a cold Winter's night tomorrow, feel free to join in. "she replied. "So which is it? Enter the warm gallery with a heater, or join us on a winterly night?"

Takuma raised a fist enthusiastically, "Yeah! Tantei Association's first stake out."

"You are really that excited to do a stake out, huh?" Emiko couldn't help but think he is overly excited over nothing.

"You do know that real life stakeouts are boring unlike the movies, yeah?" Ranran pointed out.

"Who cares? Now that I achieved this on my bucket list, I can tell the world that 'I did a real life stakeout' with real life criminals." Takuma beamed with excitement before his stomach rumbled as he was getting hungry, "Ah man, dinner time."he added quickly, before everyone realize it was 5:50pm.

"I'll have all of us gathered in Starbucks not far from our place tomorrow 7pm sharp,"Michio suggested "Well, we will eаt first before we start work. So Shinichi, Ranran, you both be joining us tomorrow, right?"

"Uh no, we won't." Shinichi shot Ranran a mysterious look, while she blinked on confusion.

"Eh? Why? I thought you all like eating outside food." Michio was surprise, everytime when he clocked in to do his babysitting duties on the Kudo children by the Kudo family, Ranran always requested eating out.

"Ranran does, not me. Which is why Ojichan and Obachan prepared us dinner, so we be eating at home before joining the whole lot of you by 8pm."

"Wait, what?! How is it that I didn't know any of this!" Ranran blurted out in outrage.

"We have no choice, they made me not say a word, Ranran. You been eating out too long, and your parents agreed you stop eating out for a long while. "Shinichi gave a frown, like an elder brother would to the younger sibling in others' opinion observing this.

"What did they cook then?" Ranran demanded to know.

"You won't be disappointed, Ranran. Cabonara." Shinichi answered.

"It sounds nice," said Junko wistfully, "I want Michio cook me some pasta too."

"Wait, he never cooked for you pasta?" Ran reacted in surprise, for Michio enjoyed cooking in the kitchen.

"Nope." Junko shook her head in disappointment, "Not even when I pleaded with him to cook for me."

"Pasta require ton of work and effort, Fuyuko. I would need tons of cleaning to do after preparing it. Also, I don't really enjoy eating them."Michio pulled a face."There is a reason why Japan invented Instant noodles in the first place."He rapped his pen on the table to end the meeting

"Well, it's been a busy day. And tomorrow will be very very interesting day."Ranran grins.

While all of this is going on at the HQ, back in a mansion in the middle of nowhere, an anonymous figure is busy briefing the other of tomorrow's plans at his home office.

"So apparently there have been an incident in the mall where the members of that little detective club been poking their nose where it shouldn't belong. Now normally I wouldn't care about their presence, but after that white tiger incident, we need to take some proper precautions to ensure smooth sailing." The mask man tells a close associate of his.

Shorter than the mask man, the child questions the man, "Why not just sent some men to mess with their place? But this time, with a dead animal or something."

The mask man raises an eyebrow. "Tell me, the last time we actually did that, did their HQ ever shut down?"

"No."

"Exactly."The man laughs outright, "And that is where you get involve with them."

The little girl considers that it hardly matters anymore, "The job is to infiltrate the association, am I wrong?"

His eyes light up. "Obviously, this is an opportunity not to be miss. No matter how smart a child is, there can be fooled regardless." he says, stepping closer to her as he shared his enthusiasm, "You can't tell me you don't see it, too."

"Even so..." The girl thought about it, "I was in Starbucks the other day, and that red lip little girl," The child explained to the man, "I don't think I can fool her."

The mask man positively beams. "Oh, don't worry about that girl. It's one thing to fool someone who is always cautious."

She frowns. "What are you talking about?"

"The identity of the true founder behind the association, I got the men to broke into the school they were in." The demon like eyes are alight with excitement as he delivers the true news, "They actually went through great lengths to hide it, that document when they applied for the HQ in their school, but they didn't think I would think several steps ahead of them."

It is not often that she is struck dumb, but this is one those rare occasions. As it sinks in, though, she is somehow reminded of her own fate, and something bitter rises in her throat. "Why would they go so far as to hide it – " unless – "the identity of the founder is....too risky to be exposed?"

"If you had read the fairy tales of a remarkable story, where the illegitimate child is the true mastermind and the true heir to the throne, while the legitimate child was a phony to protect the family's golden goose, this is no surprise either. My theory is, they maybe didn't go far."

The girl finds that hard to understand. "Why would you say that?"

The mask man shrugs. "A bunch of elementary kids, how far can they actually think luck will lead them to us? Whatever the reasons are in hiding the founder's identity, this person is either afraid, or......is scheming something huge."

"And.....do you know who is the Founder?"

"That tall boy in a blue jacket."

She is not often one for taking anything with a grain of salt, but she gasps anyway, jaw dropping. "No way! That boy who is stupidly fooled around by pretty girls is their founder/leader?"

"His name was on the document as sole founder in their school, and I had intel that he was the one who sponsored the HQ to those brats. Also, I dig in further that his late father used to work in the police department. Ain't it possible that he was faking stupid?" The girl nods quickly, though she had a complicated expression at the man's theory, "Tell me, would you truly suspect someone who is dense when it came to girls?"

With this new revelation, his stupidity seems...suspicious.

The man wasn't completely wrong with his theory, she did meet some kids who act that way in her previous school.

"So, considering he is the real founder," The girl gave it a good thought, "What if he suspects me? I mean don't get me wrong, I have no problem fooling anyone, mainly boys. But ain't founders of detective clubs usually...wary of people?"

"They are, "The man admits, "But don't forget, they are after all school-going elementary kids regardless, who had no experience with the real world. He is a fool for pretty girls, hence, he had to hide the truth that he is the true leader."

"I mean you might be on to something, he doesn't want girls to fall for him over his position, how cunning," she agrees. "Fooling him, he will eventually supply us the progress of the investigation," she says, "If we were to come together...then we might even hope for a true alliance."

"Exactly." the man nods.

"But you will not be the only one who sees an opportunity here," she points out.

His face falls a bit at that. "You're right," he admits. "Nonetheless, you are desirable. If he doesn't see it, he is a fool."

She smiles.

He leaves her to, she assumes, begin his clever machinations, as she returns to her letter. He is nearly out the door before it occurs to her that there is a question she hasn't thought to ask.

"Wait," she calls after him. "What's his full name?"

The mask man turns around. "It's Majima," he says. "Majima Michio."