Mary sat across from Hyde at the cafe with an icepack on top of his head. The coffee he made himself was too sweet for his mood. All around, this was an awful day.

As for the client, they agreed to let Lloyd keep the sword as a reward for helping them out. Though, they would never make an allegiance with Noble Third as their methods of conducting an investigation and solving cases were too different and time consuming. Noble Third viewed the detective agency as reckless and viewed their methods illegal.

Lambda slammed the table Hyde was sitting at surprising him and Mary. "You look so sour Hyde. Did you accidentally drop something in your coffee?"

"I wish I did. This pain is killing me." He whined.

"Cheer up! We're about to see Midare live on TV. She's going to totally put that Morren guy in his place." Lambda smiled.

Hyde looked over to Lan, Ruudachi and Levin setting up a small TV that sat on top a shelf. There were speakers beside the TV so they could hear loud and clear. When the screen switched on, Lan frantically pressed the buttons on the remote looking for the news channel.

"Uhh uhh, w-which channel is it?" She asked shakily.

"Lemme do it." Levin took the remote from her and fiddled with it until he found the right channel.

"Are you sure this is the right one?" Julius asked.

"Shhh!" Levin snapped. The entire cafe silenced itself to listen to the broadcast.

"Helllooo and welcome everybody. Today we will be having a very special show. Not only will we be having a Q&A with the famous magician Morren, but also two famous detectives in Osaka. Here we have Kamui Hiiragi from Noble Third and Mi-"

One of the backstage crewmen approached the host and whispered something in her ear before quickly leaving. The host let out a nervous laugh "It seems Midare Amayda hasn't arrived. Unfortunately the show must go on without her. Today for this excellent Q&A I, your host Houjou, will be asking about the controversies about magic and the infamous threat to Osaka, Soap."

Houjou sat in a chair that was between Kamui on the left and Morren on the right. "Our first question will be relating to magic…"

Lambda was the first to shout, "Where the heck is Midare?!"

"Quiet Lambda, we're trying to listen." Ruudachi hissed. Lan nodded in agreement "P-please sis…"

Levin clicked his tongue and threw his hands up. "Doesn't matter now. I doubt anything important will be asked anyway. Noble Third likes to play it safe."

"Does it mean our operation was a failure?" Julius lowered his head "Ugh, that was so barbaric of me…"

Cran pointed at the screen. "Check again,"

"I fear for our future if Soap and many other criminals continue to run loose." Morren said.

Houjou raised an eyebrow "Yes. I fear that Osaka will become a haven for crime, but there's hope. Noble Third and Midare's agency will continue to work hard for the betterment of our society."

"Ah Midare's agency… Unfortunately I believe they too may be allied with Soap." Morren took out the badge of the agency from his pocket and held it up for all to see. A loud audible gasp was heard from many. "I have had the displeasure of running into Soap's little 'yakuza' who assaulted me on the way here. They carried this badge which I took from them when I defended myself from their ambush."

Houjou's eyes widened "Ehh?!"

"Can you elaborate more?" Kamui questioned sternly.

Morren shook his head "That's all I know of this predicament. I would appreciate you investigating into it. I don't want to believe Midare is one of them."

"What?!" Julius exclaimed "This is bad!"

Everyone shared the same sentiment. Morren had turned the tables on the detectives and there was little they could do to defend themselves from the rising rumors about their agency. Then, Midare entered, carrying her black trenchcoat in her hands.

She hung it up on a nearby coat rack. "You all look like you just seen a ghost." she said with a smug expression.

"You were supposed to be on the show!" Levin angrily responded.

Mikael crossed his arms. "Now we're going to have an even harder time. The TGA might as well dismantle us."

Midare held her hands up defensively and laughed. "Reeelax. I got caught in traffic and couldn't make it. And the Director knows not to intervene in my problems. Take a look yourself." She motioned her hands towards the TV.

Kamui explained how unlikely it was for the detectives to be colluding with Soap due to their small "partnership" with the TGA(the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as Midare liked to put it) and because of that, Soap would naturally be opposed to helping the agency in any form. As for the badge, Kamui suggested that it was taken from them.

He added on,

"The detective agency does not have the best reputation but I have heard some rumors about yourself, Morren."

Midare snapped her fingers "Tada! That's exactly what I wanted."

"Huh..?" Mary tilted her head confused by the statement. Midare snickered, it was so simple. There was no way they were going to be able to get close to Morren thus they needed Noble Third. Morren had less to fear from them, letting his guard down while they conducted the investigation behind the rumors. Naturally, they'll find nothing due to Morren using magic to his advantage and Noble Third being binded by the laws.

"Then we'll take the reins from there." Midare finished her explanation.

"How do you know for sure that Morren is the one sending the body parts? We're after the person doing that, not Morren." Mikael interjected.

"Because it's not a one man job. We have to catch the accomplices too." Midare replied. "Give this a few days. One of us will definitely be getting a special present."

Their meeting was adjourned and work resumed as normal. Hyde saw Midare's methods of relying on uncontrollably factors very flawed. It was, logically.

For now he just had to wait and see how everything played out.

────── 〔✿〕──────

"4...3...2...1… time."

"Got it..!"

Ibuki smiled seeing the old lock she opened using a lockpick and pin. She had barely finished opening it in time. "That was somewhat difficult. How did you guys catch on so fast."

Hyde shrugged, sitting across from her "Just a feeling."

Mikael returned to the table with a book in hand. "Thinking too hard about properly lining up with the shear line takes too much time. There's a rhythm to it."

Mary lowered her book. "Why is Midare teaching us how to lockpick? Isn't that illegal?"

What was the purpose of learning a skill like this? Sneaking around didn't feel very detective-like. In fact it felt like the complete opposite! But after everything they've been through, it wouldn't be wrong to call the detective agency a group of vigilantes. Not fighting for justice but for… for…

"Apparently we need skills outside of fighting and using magic. Hey… what book is that..?" Hyde caught a glimpse of the book's title 'Boys don't like me!', before Mary covered it up. Her face flushed red "D-don't worry about it!"

"Heeeeeey Hyde." Yurobei slid into their conversation.

"Hooooooows it going." Chihiro did the same.

Hyde turned around in his seat to see his two newly made friends. They leaned over his shoulders looking at the small pile of locks.

"Are you planning the most elaborate bank heist of the century?" Yurobei questioned curiously.

Hyde panicked for a second before responding calmly, grabbing one of the locks. "That's right. And the world's diamond will be mine."

Yurobei laughed "That sounds like something out of a movie."

While the two boys were conversing, Ibuki and Mikael quickly put the locks in their school bags before anyone else could question their suspicious training session.

"Anyway," Hyde stood up. "We gotta head back to the cafe." He wanted to ask Midare something regarding Noble Third.

"You go there all the time. Must be a good cafe." Chihiro shrugged "But we gotta watch what we eat y'know. You should too."

"A snack here or there ain't too bad. You should swing by some time." Mikael said cheerfully. The two boys wanted to think over it for a bit. They heard the cafe was home to the lazy yet scary detective Midare. Indeed she was scary but lazy?

Well… she pushed a lot of work into the hands of Hyde's group. Anyway, Noble Third.

It was still unknown whether or not they were hired by the director of the TGA. Whether or not it was the director's way of getting back at Midare or her incompetence. Lloyd seemed relatively lax and easy to work with. Hyde entered Midare's office with questions in mind. She was sitting at her desk facing away from the door on the phone with the Director(surprisingly). It didn't sound pleasant,

"So who hired them?" Midare sounded more curious than angered. The answer she was given brought some closure to the mystery surrounding them. Afterwards she hung up and turned in her chair to face Hyde. "What?"

Hyde scratched his head. "Was that about Noble Third? I wanted to know more about them."

"They weren't hired by the Director." She bluntly answered. Midare then stood up and made her way to the door "If you are here to pester me-"

Hyde dropped a sweat "I was thinking we should look into them more. For all we know, they could be working with Soap."

"Don't be silly Hyde, they're not working with Soap." Midare closed her eyes with a sly smirk. "It's nice that you are interested in them but you have a more important mission."

A more important mission? The only thing his group has been doing is waiting around.

"Morren has made his move."

"..!"

Has a body been found?!

"A body part to be precise." Midare opened the door "Bring Mary and the others."

Hyde nodded and left to get the others working with Levin in the cafe. Pulling them aside for a small meeting of what action to take next.

"Morren sent his regards to Noble Third. It wasn't a move I was expecting him to make." Midare furrowed her brow.

"You didn't predict that he would do that?" Mikael responded.

Midare shook her head "I made myself a very clear target for him. I guess he was smart enough to not take the bait."

Hyde stepped forward "Does this mean we get to pay Noble Third a visit?"

"Nope! Since Morren is a big threat right now you’ll need some firepower." Midare took a folder from her desk and opened it, cycling through the papers. "A good friend of mine who lives in Nara has everything we’ll need to take on a magical threat.

"Nara huh? Does that mean..?" Mikael rubbed his chin in thought.

Midare closed the folder after taking out a paper. "That’s right! Pack your bags because you’ll be staying with her for a few days.”

The three novice detectives all nearly fell over from the sudden news. They would be staying with a powerful exorcist and close associate of Midare’s to find the power needed to confront Morren. Mary believed this was a test from Midare to see if they would die or not after what happened in the last case. Without guidance from Midare or Levin, they were lost and aimless.

After they left her office they asked Cran and Rine who were sitting at a table in the cafe looking over a draft of their article.

"Advice from us? Uhh…" Rine could only shrug. "I don't know anything about conducting an investigation. Sorry."

"Hmm… Morren struck much earlier than I expected." Cran grew an uncontrollable grin. "It's always entertaining to be thrown into the unexpected, wouldn't you agree?"

"It makes planning a lot more difficult." Ibuki replied, letting out a sigh.

"What should we do if we run into someone strong? Levin helped me out last time but Hyde got really hurt." Mary asked.

Cran pointed to Hyde's katana sheathed on his waist. "Fight until you can't fight anymore."

His advice really sucked…

The next day Midare watched as they boarded the train and left on their own.