WHEN the girls burst into headquarters at Michio's place an hour later, upon learning school has once again had to be shut down thanks to someone setting the school up in flames, they found Ranran and the boys sitting at the central desk staring at Emiko's sketch of the man with the hawk-like face.

"What took you so long?" grumbled Shinichi."We've got a big breakthrough to talk about."

"So have we! You wouldn't believe it!" Junko's eyes flashed angrily.

"You won't believe who we've just seen!" Emiko announced importantly.

"Not to mention, who we saw earlier!" Ran added.

Takuma snorted, leaning back in his chair with a triumphant look on his face. "And you won't believe who the whole lot of us saw last evening!" he boasted.

With excitement eager to burst from both sides, Ranran decided to held up a hand for peace before announcing, "Ladies first."

Once the excitement had settled down, Emiko was the first to waved her notebook breathlessly, "I spoke to the gallery owner earlier, Enomoto Mitsuo, under the guise of school assignment. There is a lot more to it that led to the value of that Rajah's ruby to be worth millions of yen, apparently the color contributed to it. In addition to this," She past the report to everyone,"We also bump into someone unexpected."

"Who?" Michio asked.

"It was that man you and Junko saw at that parking lot the other day, the one you all thought was kidnapped." Emiko's eyes was filled in excitement as she announced it.

Jaws dropped from the opposing side as Junko was the next to drop the bomb, "And if you all were there, he seems very relaxed."

"So we have reason to believe, he is very likely to have chickened out, but then at the last minute, decided to work for them! Cause if he was genuinely kidnapped, he wouldn't be so relaxed at the gallery!" Ran dropped her own bombshell and looked at their expression, ranging from horror to shock.

"Exactly! What kidnap victim would act as if they are walking freely without getting caught the second time!?" Junko finally lost it, her head is spinning as to how things are progressing at this stage.

Shinichi snapped his fingers excitedly, but leaned forward, his elbows on the old table. "Well, yesterday late evening during the impromptu stake out, while Ranran and the rest of us went down to the gallery, we saw the blue-eyed man in the back alley. When we tried to follow him, he disappeared into thin air."

Emiko and the rest of the girls was silent for a moment, their mouths were hanging open, not sure what to say. Then Junko raised her hand to ask. "Well, now what do we do? Should we contact Genzo?"

Sergeant Genzo was an adult everyone is familiar with. A friend of Michio's late father, he was someone the association seek for help whenever they get into serious danger. And one of the few police officers Ranran thinks isn't easily influence to corruption.

"Sure, no problem." Ranran agreed, before listing down the things they need,"We are gonna need something to proof the switch is gonna happen. You girls must have dig sufficient clues in that gallery to bring charges, right? " Ranran studied the girls' expression, all of their emotions becoming far too evident to the founder, "Seriously!?"

"It was in the morning, alright!? The exhibition wasn't completely set up yet at that time. And with so many maintenance men near and far, we would've gotten caught if we do as you said." Junko argued with a pout while Ranran face-palmed.

"There were still setting up everything, so we didn't really get a good look at the ruby in person. Sorry to disappoint, Ranran, but we don't have the capacity to think ahead like you do." Emiko expresses in non-nonchalant tone while Ran stole a glance at Shinichi. He seemed different somehow. Something was on his mind.

Having got to his feet as he paced up and down. "Ok, so forget about the fact whether they were planning to do a switch on the King of rubies situation, and lets focus on the connections we manage to find. Everything is starting to make sense. Supposedly the old man, the victim and the tough guy, we call him 'kidnapper', are in cahoots, and that the victim chickened out the last minute, only for the 'kidnapper' to drag him back...it made total sense now why he mentioned the word 'Rajah' to Michio and Junko. Because he assumed he was going to die at that time. But since all of you recognized him being alive...that meant they are likely to give him a second chance to pull this off, right?!"

"Oh yeah, I have another announcement to make," Emiko waved to get everyone's attention, "I think all of us should do a private investigation on the gallery owner as well."

"Why? Did you notice something?" Michio wondered.

"Yes, he was acting jittery when we were interviewing him about the story behind the King's ruby." Emiko confirmed as she shared her views, "Don't get me wrong, I guess maybe he wasn't used to being interviewed, but I was thinking earlier...judging that the 'victim' was very relazed at the gallery not far from where we were...supposedly, and let's say if...the owner recognized Junko as the one who witness the 'victim' at the carpark...and if he was like what Shinichi said, in cahoots in the ruby switching plot...it would make sense to behave this way, right?"

"Oh yeah!" Takuma had his fist pound on his hand in response, "I mean if the owner is in this, it would make total sense!"

"Did the old man spotted the three of you at the gallery ?" Ranran questioned the three of them.

"I don't think so, we hurried out of the gallery as soon as we saw him." Junko and the rest shook their head before cursing, "What do you think we should do!? Had any of us dug clues on locating whether there is a ruby switching situation....?" Junko lamented in regret before demanding Ranran for a solution, her nerves tingling with alarm.

Ranran toyed with her pencil before putting it down, "Alright, I have a solution: We've got to split up into two teams. One team will be in charge of following the 'victim'. We need to know how involve is he with this potential scam, such as where he goes after work to where he live."

"And the other team?" questioned Shinichi.

"That'll be the team stationed outside the gallery," Ranran informed him. "One of us would need to keep a watch on the gallery round the clock when the 'kidnapper' comes back. No matter what, we cannot lose sight of him. Similar to the 'victim' stakeout, same motto. If both 'kidnapper' and 'victim' are in this together, that meant very likely the gallery owner is involved."

"Wait, isn't that going to be dangerous?!" Junko frowned. "I mean, what if they find out we're following them?

"We're just children," Takuma shrugged. "They won't suspect us in a million years."

Ran disagreed. "You can't be sure, we already solved two major cases in total, and it's a matter of time before everyone knows." She cautioned him before turning to Shinichi, "Also, if they get tipped off by the true mastermind that we are looking into this, how?! And let's not forget that doctor the 'kidnapper' took the 'victim' to is involved. If the doctor tipped them of, we won't hear the end of it."

"Which is why..."Junko jumped up. "We must contact Genzo."

"Here we go again," Ranran rolled her eyes at the glasses girl, let alone, all of the boys.

"Ranran, if these men are planning to steal the world's most valuable ruby, not to mention, this is an organized crime, they won't let anyone stand in their especially us! We don't have the resources to deal with them!" Junko reminded them.

"You are right! But since the three lot of you did not find any clues to suggest otherwise, how are we going to go to Genzo without proof?!" Michio jumps up from his seat in protest as he shook his head, "There is no way Genzo is going to listen to us if we have no evidence."

"But the blood pool-"

"Don't forget that they have a doctor on their side, Fuyuko. They are able to lie their way into thinking the 'victim' just celebrated his birthday at a night club and had a nasty fall while drunk! Between a doctor with medical qualifications, and a group of children who only started school, if you were the adult, who would you trust credibility more? Us or the doctor?" Shinichi's stern words forced her into silence.

"Cctv-"

Again, Junko was cut by Ranran,"We checked, it's a blind spot."

"But we solved major cases! Ain't that enough of credibility?!" Ran defended Junko's stance.

"We may have, but people still thinks we solved it based on luck. And that it's child play. Everyone," Ranran turned to the other children, "How many of you are able to convince Genzo that there is a kidnapping, and that the doctor is lying, please raise you hand. And if Genzo demanded physical proof, is anyone able to prove it?" She called out the opinion of every member.

None.

"You see what I mean?" The red lip girl adjust her new cap as she continues on, "Now, let's talk about our plans for tonight's stakeout."

Shinichi then pulled up the blue-prints for the building they all would be staking out in. "Since some of us will be busy, I set a schedule in motion...."

Junko slumped back into her chair as she groaned loudly, and shared a worried look with Ran. They listened in silence as Ranran and Shinichi worked out who is to keep watch on the gallery, the other, on the 'victim' side. So far nothing has changed, the girls would be in charge of the 'victim' while the boys and Ranran on the 'kidnapper'.

While all of this is going on, Takuma studied on Michio while founder and apprentice were briefing. Judging his expression and the unexpected question he asked Takuma the other day, he discovered odd things that didn't made sense.

After that conversation on Michio's astrology club planning to take in a child from another school, no less an elite school, Takuma spoke to his girlfriend earlier this morning and learn that there was no submission made from the Astrology club. That meant Michio lied to him about it, but he couldn't figure out what was his motive to come up with such lie.

Feeling super uneasy, he decided someone had to know.

So as soon as everyone left the HQ, the first thing he did was to contact someone on the smartphone, for a private meeting away from the association.

...........

While all of this was going on, Michio stayed behind when everyone left. After much discussion, he would be joining in a later time for the stakeout that Shinichi is in charge of, under claims that he had a personal errand to run to - which his is supposed date with that mystery girl who came by his mother's shop.

When everyone got word that Shinichi is being put in charge, he and the rest were taken-aback since Shinichi had no experience in doing so. That said however, Ranran announced that it's about time he gain some experience, since she can't keep leading the stakeout 24/7.

Now that Michio manage to get a dating venue, it's time he make his move. Having fished in his pocket for the slip of paper with Adeline's phone number. He stared at it for a moment, then took a deep breath and reached for his smartphone. When the girl answered, Michio noted she had a pleasant voice, "Ні," she breathed into his ear

"Ні," Michio tried to make his voice sound deeper "This is Majima Michio? The boy you met the other day at the boutique shop Ruth and Co?"

"Majima Michio...?" She said vaguely before recalling, "Oh yes, the boy in the shop who commented on my uniform rather than my looks. "Suddenly she sounded a little annoyed, "I thought you'd forgotten all about me after I handed you the number."

"I've been busy with school and all, Adeline," Michio said urgently "Anyway, now that I am free, I thought I'd ring you and, well, you know..."

"And...?" she demanded coldly.

Michio fumbled for words. "Well, I'm calling you about our date."

"And?" she teased him

The words came out in a rush. "Well, I was thinking about our date, and where to go, and there is this place I know of-"

"I hope it ain't a burger joint near your place," Adeline snorted. "I have nothing against fast food, but I don't really like crowded places."

"Ah, no worries, it's alright." He reassured her before naming the place.

"Osteria...that place is nice! I won't mind there!"

After everything was talked out, the line went dead in his ear: a wave of heat scorched his cheeks. He then stared at his phone.

What was wrong with the burger restaurant anyway? He wondered.

As far as he had known, Junko always liked going there whenever he took her. Even one of the children he was paid to babysit, Ranran, enjoyed going there. Not to mention, Takuma and the girls within the association.

He then prowled the room, deep in thought. Recalling the uniform she was in, he was reminded that Adeline was different. She is born from a family that is as wealthy as Ranran and Shinichi's family, so girls from such family are usually more...on the 'refine' side as Ranran calls it.

Now that he thought about it, when he gotten to know Ranran a little longer, he knew her background was far different from Shinichi's. Although both were born into wealthy families, it was evident that Ranran's behavior made it all so obvious that she was way different than your average little rich girl. One time, when he made tea in the association, she handled the cup elegantly with one hand, while Shinichi held it with both hands as if he was drinking soup from a cup.

Another time was whenever they pull out a chair  to sit around the table in tantei association HQ back at his mom's place, her chair is the only one who didn't make that much noise whenever she drag it out unlike Ran and the rest of the girls and boys alike. Also the way she pose when she sits on a chair, it was very elegant unlike the rest of the girls. Then again...Michio frowned, he too remembered listening to Shinichi's rants on a certain one-brain-cell heiress, that Suzuki Sonoko, lacking refinery in all forms despite being born from a rich family.

Nowadays, whenever Michio sees Shinichi around Ranran, he too had began to notice the blue-eyed boy had started to pick up on the manners from Ranran alone. Before, he didn't care much, but then a month later and all, all of the traces of the casual attitude he used to have had seemingly vanished. He literally mirrored her so closely, Michio at one point mistaken Shinichi to be born into some noble family.

That's right, if Ranran herself was born in such family similarly like his date, that meant Adeline wasn't just an ordinary girl. Unusually beautiful, always expecting the best.

And Michio for the first time felt a little lacking to someone like Adeline.

No matter, the date is set. He will do the stakeout, they leave midway to join their date.

........

Michio was whistling softly when he joined Shinichi and Takuma in the alley behind the Gallery earlier, before doing their stakeout for half an hour at around 8:30 pm. He had changed into new jeans and a striped shirt that his mother had given him for his birthday. Meanwhile, for some reason, Shinichi received an unexpected phone call that Ranran had to run an errand, since her mother contacted her to purchase milk, so she will join Shinichi's team on their night stakeout at a later time.

And to avoid attracting any attention, the children did not bring their bike, scooters or even the motor-sidecar here.

"Damn, I knew things are unpredictable, but really...first is Ranran's grocery trip for her mother, then Michio's personal errand...God is trying to test me or what." Shinichi groaned in annoyance at this point. On the day he finally gets to be put in charge of a stakeout, all this nonsense had to take place.

This time with both Ranran and Shinichi's parents at home, they both lied that they are out to do their red ruby assignment homework together at the public library. Since the family is thankful now that relations between him and Ranran had taken a different direction, they were more than happy to let them off.

"You may not know it, but when Ranran was formerly 'The Fox', worst things like that happened." Takuma told him as he was reminded of their old conversations, "A lot of the officers one time took leave in protest on having a child in charge of their stakeout operation on this suspect, so Ranran sent out photos of them having the time of their lives with hostesses at Shibuya to all of their wives."

"She did what!?" Shinichi was shaking.

"Yeah, that did happen," Takuma nodded in confirmation, recalling the time Ranran gave a devious smile on her smartphone at Reina's office, "I swear there were threats of divorce unless they return to work."

Seriously, this Kudo Ranran is one girl not to be messed with. Shinichi truly did not want to know what to think of all of this if he remained her enemy for life.

"My mother had me check out the inventory stock back at the shop, it's urgent. But I will return as soon as possible," The eldest boy explained as he slipped into the doorway where Shinichi is keeping watch. They had a good view of the back of the gallery.

"You look as if you are going on a date, given that the condition of the clothes you are wearing...not to mention, your hair...seems nicely groomed. " Shinichi notices, and Takuma noticed that Michio turned bright red. Shinichi had found an old packing case to sit on. He checked his smartphone and fired off another test camera shot.

"What are you talking about? I just had a change of taste in fashion. That's all." Michio muttered.

"I'm getting hungry," Takuma whined.

"Didn't you purchase a large set from Mcdonald's earlier?" Shinichi became annoyed at his attitude.

"I did, but for American Footballers, we have a huge appetite," Takuma commented.

"Oh for God's sake...." Shinichi rambled in annoyance as he thought about how his mentor would handle this stakeout if it were him. Given her experience, she probably accommodated him since he is her friend. But he ain't Ranran, and this ain't a game but a stakeout.

As the time dragged on, the alley remained deserted. At 8:40 pm, Michio hurried off, leaving Shinichi and Takuma to keep watch.

.......

Meanwhile, the 'victim' team had found a bus stop that gave them a perfect view of the front of the gallery. They settled down to wait. Delivery vans came and went, but there was no sign of the old man.

"You know...I just realize this stakeout is much more comfortable than the 'kidnapper' side." Ran commented.

"I mean you ain't wrong, we have a bench to sit on while Ranran and the boys sat on crates. When I went over to check on Michio earlier...I knew they are going to have a rough night." Junko agreed before folding her arms in a thoughtful position, "Perhaps we were wrong about Ranran making us do all the hard work while she is credited for the spotlight."

"Agree." Ran and Junko had an understanding moment.

"Still, Ranran is forced to leave thanks to her mother's grocery errand while Majima is with his mother. The most surprising thing is when Shinichi is taking charge of this stakeout thing, I mean he barely had any experience in stakeouts! What perfect timing," Emiko scoffed, wondering why the universe is so unpredictable.

"I had to be back home by 10 pm," Junko sighs, as she couldn't come up with a good reason why a 10-year-old girl like her is going to be out at night with her mother.

"Did you not go with the 'ruby assignment' excuse?" Ran asked, as the rest of the children were told to lie to their parents about it the stakeout.

"You know my mother, after the two major cases I was involved in, she put her foot down and told me if I had to do assignments or so, do it on the computer and meet up online." Junko sighs before remembering something as she turned to Ran, "What about your parents? Are they still mad about you joining the association?"

"Don't even get me started," Ran deeply exhales as the two girls glance at her before keeping an eye on the gallery, "Ranran really kicked things up a notch on me. She is that eager, the worst part is Shinichi is on board with this."

After the events of 'Illegitimate Extra', Ranran somehow managed to convince Shinichi to have Ran removed from the association by ratting out her behaviour towards her separated parents. With all of the dysfunction and nagging, she was close to quitting, however seeing him all so happy with Ranran made it clear that she wasn't going to let Shinichi cut her out of his life permanently because of the feud he was involved with Ran former neighbour, Rokuro.

With the association still accepting cases of serious nature, Shinichi no longer hung around with Ran and Sonoko, spending more time with the cunningly deceptive Kudo Ranran. Even when the birthday discussion was held in their class among all of them, Ran and Sonoko had to somehow invite themselves in. Before this, he only had his hobby of Sherlock Holmes to talk about for so many hours, their ears would rot. Now that he had Ranran, his presence is almost reduced to non-existent for Ran and Sonoko. Even whenever they walk home from school and fro, he is always with Ranran, as if their friendship meant nothing to him!

"My mother is fine with me," Comment the artist with their eyes trained on the building,"She always goes out and come home late at night with her dates anyway."

All of a sudden, a ringtone disrupted their conversation.

It sounded that the ringtone is coming from Ran's pocket. Confused, she took a call from her mother. "But, Okaasan," the others heard her say, "We are working on an assignment-"When she rang off, Ran looked at her friends and shrugged. "Shinichi is not going to be happy."

The two girls gave Ran a puzzled gaze over why Ran made such comment.

"Yes Ranran, Ran had to leave-what? Let her go? Noted." As soon as Shinichi silence his phone, he let out another annoyed sigh, which the boy in the cap took notice,"Jesus....the universe is hating me right now."

"Why?" Takuma questioned the blue-eyed boy.

"Ran had to leave abruptly, apparently while her mother is out with her colleagues at a tavern after a long day's work, guessed who was it she bumped into? Ran's drunk dad."

"Ah yes...Ran's parents separated, right?"

"That's right," The two boys continued to monitor the situation, while Shinichi explained the situation, "Apparently, a 'WOTN' tried to take advantage of him when he was drunk, so Ran's mom manage to shoo her off and escort him back to their former marital home, Ran's place."

"'WOTN'?" Takuma became confused as Shinichi drank a can of coke he bought not far from the shop nearby.

"Woman of the night-"

"You mean 'prostitute', right?" Takuma emphasised that degrading word in English.

"Pffft!" Shinichi splurted his coke away before tossing the can away in response, wiping his leaking nostrils with his sleeve before confronting the athlete, "How the hell did you-"

"Ranran said so. She explained to me one day when Reina, Ranran and I were watching Tv in Rei-chan's living room till this announcement of rerunning this movie, 'Pretty Woman', would appear in cinemas came up. When a line in English 'Woman of the Night' came up in the synopsis narration, Rei-san and I were rather confused about what that meant. Till Ranran rolled her eyes as she booed, 'Booo, don't waste our time by using the term 'Woman of the Night'! Just use the word 'prostitute' so that you all shorten the commercial time and we can all continue watching our favourite anime!"

Shinichi face palmed to himself internally upon hearing Takuma's innocent explanation.

Of course...Kudo Ranran, ever so possessing those rare 1% intelligence at the age of 6 is somehow able to figure out what the commercial was referring to. Though Shinichi knew he shouldn't be surprised since all the kids here roughly knew what that meant, he was a little surprise that Ranran was the only one who is able to pinpoint the exact word in English.

In their elementary school, 'WOTN' was a term commonly use among kids of all ages, derived from a movie that was banned months ago, namely 'Woman of The Night'.

This movie got its inspiration thanks to a scandal that allegedly took place 10 years ago among the students of Teitan High school, in which shady night activities between teenage girls took place in exchange for money. Things took a turn for the worst when rumours swirled that the children of corrupt rich families were involved, mainly adults, resulting a public outcry from many citizens within the district.

Whether this incident truly took place in real life or not remains to be seen, but the most unusual twist to this story is that it was later turn into a movie. And it hit box office, as it was the first of its kind to involve teenage girls having lived a life of luxury by becoming 'WOTN', dressed in luxurious gowns, branded handbags and wallets, watches, you name it, she got it. But the movie abruptly got banned later on, since the movie had no age rating in general, kids grew interested and innocently wanted to become 'WOTN', because of the luxury goods they were seen carrying, not to mention, scenes that showed the main character quitting school, relaxing under the sun while on a beautiful luxurious yacht.

And it was plain obvious, between having forced to wake up early in the morning and dragged your miserable life to a place that bores you everyday, or a life that allows you to make millions in yen easily while travelling of the world, it ain't surprising to Shinichi over why those kids would choose the latter. It wasn't surprising either that after this uproar from parents, the prime minister of Japan soon got word of it and was so pissed off, he literally pulled strings to fine the director and script writer of the movie. Even now, the lawsuit is still ongoing.

Anyway, after the government had everyone educated their children the degrading meaning behind WOTN, though in a vague manner, they are now educated enough to know that they are bad, evil yet beautiful women who scam people for money. And as always, Teitan Elementary banned the use of the word 'prostitute', but everyone is allowed to use the word 'WOTN'. 

"Although I can't understand why Ran's mom helped him, it's good that she noticed it before anything could happen. I mean those kinds of women are scary." Takuma hummed, before understanding the situation. When Takuma was young, he recounted the stories his dad used to tell him where women of such kinds are manipulative beings that won't hesitated to 'dirty themselves'...whatever that meaning is to woo a boy, often told him to stay away as it spells destruction to any boy's lives.

Whatever that meaning is, he doesn't want to know. But the expression on his father's eyes made it all so evident that he could've once encountered them before. Because when Takuma asked him, his father answered yes during his teens, but he narrowly avoided thanks to a friend of his.

After trying to possess all of this, Takuma realize,"I thought Ran's parents hated each other. Why did her mom help him then?"

"No matter what, he is still Ran's dad. Anyway, while he is recuperating at Ran's place....she need Ran to buy a couple of groceries to treat his hangovers. Apparently his fridge is close to empty, however, she couldn't leave with Kogoro Ojisan's situation, so Ran had no choice but to leave. But she did say that she will return as soon as possible."

By this point, Shinichi was ruffling his hair in frustration, as Takuma could tell all of these unforeseen circumstances were beginning to ruin his stakeout operation for the night.

"First Ranran, then Michio and Junko, now Ran. Maybe right now it's the beginning of Murphy's law." Takuma thought about it.

"Hah? Murphy's law? What is that?" The apprentice blinked profusely.

"You know...whatever goes wrong, will go wrong regardless. The most well-thought out plan will go wrong despite how meticulous things are. That is what I learn from Ranran." Seeing Shinichi's uneasy face, Takuma then try to reassure him otherwise, "But so far no one knows about the stakeout yet, so don't think too much about it."

Even so, this does not sit well with Shinichi's uneasiness on how things are progressing.

As soon as Shinichi gave Ran permission, Mouri Ran explained to the other girls the reason behind her departure. "So your mom witness a WOTN attempting to scam your dad who is drunk?!" Emiko found herself saying in disgust, "Damn those kinds of women are the worst!"

"That's why I am desperate more than ever to have my father patch up with my mother." Ran groaned while rubbing her hair in frustration, "I know his line of work as a private detective tend to take him to such places, and I know he can handle this drink well and he often surrounded himself by beautiful women, but seriously, a bloody WOTN tried to take advantage of him! If he patch things up with mother, he would've had a wedding ring on his finger and they would've left him alone!"

"Those kinds of women should have their face disfigured! Like Snow White's beautiful step-mother, the evil queen! That way they can't cheat anyone of their money with their looks!" Junko ranted at that in anger, before looking up the dark sky, "Why do God bless the wrong women beautiful faces!? Do God even exist anymore!?"

Junko seriously has had it with them, it's one thing to deal with such girls in their school, especially someone like Kudo Ranran, though she never cheat of anyone's money yet to her knowledge, but it's another to deal with a bloody WOTN!

The secretary then glanced at her watch, too. "I think my time is almost up as well. My mother need me to buy soy sauce the last minute for tomorrow's dinner, plus, I think my curfew is almost up..."Junko and Ran were reluctant to leave Emiko all on her own, not to mention, in the middle of the night.

"Just go then, I will be fine with the 'kidnapper' team." Emiko reassured them with a laugh. "I can stay here all night if I have to, since my mum is out with her new boyfriend. I'll call any of you out if anything happens."

Reluctantly, the two girls departed and left Emiko on her own.

....

The closet shopping mall that had a grocery shop open around 9-11pm is none other than Beikai Mall.

With most shops closing down after the another, the two girls sigh a breath of relief that the Aeon grocery shop are still open for business. While Junko rushed inside to buy the soy sauce, Ran filled in time browsing for the certain specific items that her mother instructed her to get.

However, having to deal with the exhaustion of the stakeout and everything in between the association, her complicated situation with Ranran, and family dysfunction, her eyes would sometimes drift to the very one place that would make her take her mind off in an instant.

Osteria ain't your typical fancy restaurant, as it is affordable during weekdays for diners of all ages. The Italian restaurant was well known for its fancy interior and excellent food. Tonight was no different, as the place was packed with people enjoying a delicious meal. The story behind the opening of this restaurant had always intrigued Ran, in a way that the restaurant was rumored to mirror the story of a real life Cinderella.

Many years ago, there was this girl who belonged to a wealthy family, but was mistreated and neglected after she was severely blamed for causing the death of the restaurant owner's twin brother during birth. After becoming a single mother and was forced out of her home, she moved to Japan and raised this child on her own, struggling to pay the bills but dreams on opening a restaurant.

There...she met the son of a wealthy family, but their love wasn't blessed by his family. So to the shock of everyone, he left everything and married her, raising the child as his own. Gradually, with every yen saved up, Osteria was later born. Gradually, the son of the wealthy family accepted her as their daughter-in-law, even accepted their daughter-in-law's child as their own, and together, Osteria has become a worldwide franchise since. Although Ran never know whether the story is true, but if it was, she hope to break free from her dysfunction and have such miracle like Osteria has. 

The reason Ran knew of this story was because one time, Sonoko introduced her to this restaurant during promo week, and the story was imprinted on the wall in English and Italian. The reason for the Italian theme was because the son of the wealth family mentioned was half-blood Italian, while the woman he married was from the U.K. One would say it is a marketing ploy to attract customers, but the story Ran noted sounded rather realistic for some reason.

A real life Cinderella...will that day ever come for Mouri Ran?

She glanced into the direction of the restaurant, as she felt like the dream will never come true for a normal girl like her. Maybe for someone like Kudo Ranran-wait, what!?

Speaking of the devil...what is she doing there hiding below the display window outside the restaurant?! At from the looks of it...she seems to be...on earphones while squatting down at the side!?

The more Ran observe her from afar, the more puzzle she becomes.