They traversed steps similar to the shrine steps, steep and seemingly never ending. Afterwards they stopped by the entrance doors of the old museum. The building was still very intact, just not maintained anymore. In the corners of the building they could see cracked stone with weeds growing in between. The museum was aging.

"That shopkeeper told us the special weapon was here but we don't know where exactly." Hyde scratched his head.

"I'm not sure he knows either since he didn't take the weapon." Mikael said to reassure Hyde. "Just means we have to use our magic to sense where it is."

Hyde looked at his hand "Can we..?"

"The strong magic user here is Ibuki." Mikael turned to face her. She waved her hands sporadically "W-wait a sec- I'm not good at sensing sources of magic. That's an entirely different skill."

Mikael rubbed his chin "Sensing magic is a feeling. What if we all used magic together to amplify our magic sensitivity?"

"What else can we do?" Hyde held his hand out. Mikael and the others did the same, keeping their hands close together and focusing all the power they had inside.

…

…

…

"..!"

Mikael perked up "I feel something..! Over there." He pointed to the museum. "Er… far in the back."

"It felt like a feather brushing across my skin. But…" Mary looked up and pointed to an open window on the second floor with burn marks around the edges. "That over there. It felt like touching bricks."

"Damnnit! They're here already?" Mikael then kicked the door but it was too strong to be opened like that. It was old and creaked loudly when pushed open. The museum interior felt like an elaborate dungeon (to Hyde), that paired with the storm outside made for a creepy environment to be in.

"It's kinda hard to see clearly in this dark." Ibuki commented.

"Your cat eyes don't have night vision?" Hyde asked with a grin.

Ibuki chuckled "Unfortunately no. Maybe there's a flashlight we can use somewhere."

They heard rapid footsteps further in the building which prompted them to hurry. Deeper in the museum they took stairs that curved downwards around to the next room. On the wall were various paintings depicting historical figures and the special weapons they used in their hands. One of which was the halberd and the lance they retrieved, held by what seemed to be siblings.

"You look like you're interested in those paintings." A voice said from behind. The detectives turned around to see Cran and Rine at the beginning of the staircase.

"Especially that one." Cran looked at the painting of the siblings. "The special weapons they used are called siegmund and sieglinde. The halberd being the latter. They were used back in the war on dragons."

Rine interrupted his speech "More importantly, what are you doing here?"

"We had a case that led us here. There's a special weapon we have to get before Nakata does." Hyde explained.

"So we have the same mission…" Cran started to walk down the steps. "Unfortunately Nakata has some assistance. It won't be easy to fight them without special weapons of your own." He took off his scabbard holding the red katana. "All I have is the weapon Lambda made, Rento."

Mikael took the weapon because Hyde and the others were overly confident with the power they had.

"Are you coming with us?" Mikael asked. Cran shook his head "We explored the other side of the museum and couldn't find them. They're down there waiting for us, I know it. I'm leaving this to you guys, Rine and I will try to block off their escape at the entrance."

"Be careful down there." Rine waved as he followed Cran back to the entrance.

"Hm…" Hyde wanted to know more about the story Cran was talking about. He had to save that question for later. For now, it was time for a decisive battle.

────── 〔✿〕──────

Lambda pressed her face against the window looking out at the storm outside. "This rain doesn't look like it's gonna end anytime soooooon."

"Get your face off the window." Ruudachi hissed.

"It's fine, let her do what she wants." Midare said while digging through a drawer with folders. Lambda turned around. "What are you looking for?"

"Something I could use so I can get a warrant to investigate Morren."

"You didn't need a warrant before." Lambda crossed her arms "What changed that now?"

"I need warrants to investigate famous people. I can't just go barging into their residence like I do with other criminals." Midare closed the drawer. "I need to fix the reputation of this agency anyway. The police are starting to become wary of us."

Ruudachi dusted off the shelves opposite to Midare. "Do you think they're the ones who hired Noble Third?"

"Either that or it was the Prime Minister's decision." Midare shook her head and changed the topic. Talking about Noble Third mysterious origins was going to get them nowhere. "I'll have to make my debut on TV to persuade the public."

"That's too dangerous after what Morren said!" Ruudachi quickly responded with immense worry.

Midare snickered "Heheh! You have no faith in my detectives."

"Huh?"

Midare tapped her cheek. "I see a lot of potential in them. They'll be even more crafty than I am one day."

"The thought of that scares me." Lambda returned to looking back out the window. Ruudachi didn't understand her line of thinking. The blue corps were more suited for the job of being a detective yet Midare hired foolish children to take the most important role. Levin liked them personally but even he had doubts about them being at the front lines.

Midare felt that she stuck gold with them. "Being a detective is more than just paperwork in my eyes. Fighting for justice? They don't believe that. It was nothing more than a lie to hide how much they resent the world."

Lambda sneered "I get it I think… You're trying to make a change in this stagnant time we live in."

"Stagnant time?" Ruudachi tried to think back to when… "Uh… I can't remember much before I joined." And she didn't have any interest in questioning why she couldn't remember.

"Because it was so boring." Midare laughed. A fake one that caused Ruudachi to awkwardly join in too. There were pieces of the past better left to disappear.

────── 〔✿〕──────

The detectives spent some time trying to solve a puzzle in the weapons gallery of the museum. Moving paintings, pushing glass containers to reveal hidden keys beneath them and taking their findings to a door that was hidden behind a rack of weapons. Before they opened the door however, they heard the steps of two people approaching slowly from behind. They made no attempt to ambush the detectives because there was no reason to when their appearance alone was enough to intimidate them.

Nakata, wielding the same dagger as before but over his ragged school uniform was a black cloak. His hands were covered in bandages as well as a scar across his nose covered by a small patch. The person beside him, a female, was tall like a tower due to long metal pointed greaves. Footless, she stood on sharp pointed spikes and her entire body was covered with a black trenchcoat. Her face was covered with a gas mask but her hair color was light.

Here, a grim reaper and a student who had their soul corrupted by powers above humans. Hyde didn't have the strength to move, neither did the others. Despite being novices at magic, they could feel the cold and bitterness of the tall woman's magic radiating around her body.

And when she spoke, her voice, muffled by the mask. "Move."

Hyde wanted to hide away like a mouse when it sees a cat.

Nakata couldn't help but curl his razor bladed lips into a smirk at their hesitation. "Their ears must be full of dirt. Get them out of the way."

The woman didn't spare another word. She revealed her gauntlet covered hand from the long sleeve and cold wind gathered in her palm to form a light blue unstable ball. She tossed it at the detectives blasting them in separate directions with ice. Afterwards, Nakata wasted no time with cutting down the door and taking the sword wrapped in heavy cloth.

"Special weapon acquired. Let's hurry back to- Gah!" Nakata dropped both weapons and fell to his knees holding his rapidly beating heart. "Urk! The m-magic..!"

The woman cursed under her breath "A weapon from Mariellir is too strong for you to comprehend…"

While the two were in a little spat. Hyde was on the ground facing up at the ceiling hurting immensely. He thought about giving up, again…

Everything was going to get worse, why bother trying? He couldn't find the strength inside to fight odds heavily stacked against him. Then he remembered,

"I'm going to get stronger to protect you. I won't fail like last time."

Right,

he said that.

Empty platitudes but it felt so cool to say in the moment. He made a promise to Hoka…

Hyde turned his head to look at the others, just as hopeless as he was.

Ibuki wanted to be a knight like her sister. Dying here wouldn't achieve that. Mikael was a wannabe cowboy, but a real cowboy would shoot until the last shot. And Mary… she seemed so confident at first. Was she faking it to fit in?

Hyde sat up slowly and asked. "Are you… going to kill us..?"

The woman turned around with the wrapped weapon in her hands. "Do you want to die?"

"I…" Hyde looked at his hand. He had to make his own power and will to fight. He grabbed the handle of his sword and stood up "I won't-"

He stopped mid sentence when the woman was already at the stairs, ignoring him entirely. Mikael got on one knee and watched as she disappeared from view. The tapping of her metal greaves soon faded and the detectives were left with silence.

"Who was she..?" Was all he could say.

"..." Hyde looked down at Nakata's now cold body. The dagger he used was shattered. A strange phenomenon. Ibuki helped Mary stand then walked towards Nakata's body, digging through his pockets for anything useful they could use. What she found was crumpled plans to give the detectives magic poisoning by giving them the strongest and most lethal special weapons to keep.

Ibuki nodded "I see… that way Noble Third wouldn't be able to catch the culprit. We would have mysteriously died from unknown causes."

"..." Hyde sighed "Well it's something. Let's hurry back to Cran."

The rain subsided but the cloudy gray skies remained.

On a hill where the entire city of Nara could be seen, Hyde, Cran, Ibuki and Hoka stood around a small rock with flowers growing around. Behind them was Yamiko sitting on the guard rail holding up the sun necklace Hyde gave to her.

She smiled to herself remembering what Hyde said about it. "A fake necklace that'll give you power if you believe."

Something about the phrase made her remember the past.

A breeze of wind flew by.

"Hyde… What kind of girls are you onto?" Cran asked.

What kind of question was that?! "... hard to say."

"What? Embarrassed?"

"I haven't thought about it."

"What about you Ibuki?"

"G-girls or boys?"

She stammered while Cran laughed. Hoka glared at him for his crude humor.

"I'm just teasing ya." He playfully stuck out his tongue.

"Siegmund and sieglinde helped fight off the dragons in France and Japan. There's a story that goes, 'the destined lovers who find themselves using the tools of power will be blessed by the Goddess Leanne herself' ."

Ibuki frowned, "It sounds like you made that up."

Hyde agreed "If that's the case then I don't want to be using them at all."

Cran dropped a sweat "Ok maybe I got the destined lovers part wrong but the weapons wielders tend to have a tight bond. We'll need that strength when we fight against those criminals and Soap."

Eventually Hyde needed to be the one to wield the special weapon. He felt that now wasn't the time. Ibuki on the other hand, wanted to gain as much strength as she could to prove herself. But a pole arm wasn't her strong suit.

Their time of relaxation was brought to a close when Hyde was called by Mary to return to the agency. Midare had changed their plans and wanted all the members of the agency to return for the last meeting about the case. It was short but they enjoyed their time with Yukikari.

“Aww you’re leaving too soon.” The Duke of Kazan pouted. Mary found it odd how the Duke had grown attached to them. Selena also expressed slight disappointment at their sudden departure. More so she was worried about them having to fight Morren without the proper training.

“I packed some tools you can use against the magician. Sealing ofuda, kunai and shurikens, and a kaginawa.”

“Odd for us to be receiving ninja tools from a knight of France.” Mikael chuckled.

Selena nodded “I have read about your exploits in the newspaper. The way you conduct business is like how a ninja would act. I’ve read all about it in a novel, how ninjas were often hired by kings to investigate.”

Yukikari opened her mouth but held against telling the detectives about the newspapers. Instead, she wished them a good farewell on their mission. They will meet again someday...

The train ride back was mellow. Still, Mary felt butterflies in her stomach thinking about the case.

...Another meeting.

Once more the members of the agency were watching the broadcast Midare was set to appear in (for real this time). She was brought in to make up for her absence last time. Morren was also brought along due to the controversy arising between the two.

"Midare is behaving herself. I wonder what she's planning." Levin slowly nodded his head.

"You say that like she's as reckless as a dog." Yuyucherry replied with a small laugh.

Mary looked at the folded note with specific instructions in her hand. Open after fortune… "..!"

"You want your fortune told? It's a hard technique to pull off but I have been practicing looking into the future." Morren smiled confidently when the crowds of people were chatting amongst themselves about the feat.

Houjou even gasped. "You can reveal the fate of a detective? I'm at a loss for words. Midare, what do you think?"

"Morren is making many discoveries using magic. I want to see it in action." Midare stood up "Tell me about my future."

Morren hesitated for a second before standing up and holding his hand over hers. He closed his eyes, muttering a chant. A blue aura surrounded their hands.

Then it was told "You'll have a pleasant talk with a former friend at night. When the clock strikes 9, it will all be revealed."

The aura faded. Morren and Midare pulled their hands away from each other.

"I'll be waiting for your return."

"..."

Midare stared at him briefly before shrugging. "We'll see…"

"That was sooooo fake! Right sis?!" Lambda asked Lan who nodded slowly. "Y-yes..!"

Whilst the members of the agency were discussing the event. Mary stared at the folded note. Remembering a call she had,

"What do you think this means, Midare? What fortune?"

"Probably Morren. But who cares what it says, just open it now."

"That girl from Noble Third dropped it for me. I'm sure she saw through my disguise."

"Is that so? Then I'll get my fortune. I know this guy's magic is full of bullshit."

That was a conversation Mary had in private with her boss. She furrowed her brow and unfolded the note and inside were two backstage tickets to Morren's magic show taking place in Kyoto. The last written instruction said to 'investigate his room' . This opened a new can of questions but Mary set aside those thoughts and told the members of the agency about this. A new plan was formed and the case was entering its final act.