Even under the moonlight, I can see that this dark phantom standing before me is beautiful. Her long brown hair falls all the way down to her hips, impossibly straight and calcuted. Her face is fwless, like an exquisite oval. If not for her sullen, smileless face, your detective's heart would have skipped a beat! The bck ced on her reveals part of her shoulders, long yered skirt trailing down to the floor in [Hexenhall] [1] fashion.

  [SFX:Gulp]

  What should I say? 'Can we talk?' is out of the question. Perhaps I should be a little more imposing. 'I'm Aya-chan, have a seat, Culprit-san!' No! That only works if you are on a show that catches predators and you have literal w enforcement waiting outside! In real life, the culprit doesn't just keel over the moment you expose their crimes like in Detective Cxnan! Looking at the eyelids that slightly narrow at that thought, I prepare a >greentext finger-gun at the side---

  "I can hear your thoughts perfectly fine, you know."

  N-nani?!?!?!This dark figure... can read my thoughts?! Did I make a mistake calling her out? That's impossible, the only people who can do that are---

  [SFX:SLAP]

  Both of my palms smack the side of my face to prevent my head from leaking even more information! But if this person is who I think she >implies herself to be, then that overturns my original assumptions about the 'mystery'!!! I have to figure out how she's reading my thoughts and---

  "Don't bother. I'll tell you."

  The dark figure steps away from the long vertical rope hanging the disco ball. On it, countless metallic butterflies rest, tiny little biting fangs slowly eating away at the metallic rope! At this point, I don't even need to say out loud what this evil woman is trying to do...!

  "My mennifest: [Lined Thoughts] allows me to read the thoughts of people these threads connect to."

  With that, greenish ghastly magick coalesces at her dark fingertips, forming a single string that lies the entire distance of the floor from me to culprit-san. Under the moonlight, the eerie green string travels all the way from her fingertips, travelling up my green jacket. It passes right through the side of my head like an illusory rope...

  ...connected to the side of my temple...!"When did you---?!"

  "From the very first time I met you. Well, that hardly matters now."

  Very first time we met? When was that? Is that even part of the mystery?! You can't tell me clues that are not present in the mystery itself! This is a viotion of Knox's rules! N-no! Wait! I've got it all wrong...! This woman is a witch! The fact that she's using magick means she's not pying by the rules of the mystery genre at all! Mind reading?! Like hell I would believe that! Its just because my thoughts are easy to read because I have it all on my face isn't it?! No... I am must smarter than that! There MUST be some sort of rational expnation how [La Monarquía] is able to read my thoughts!

  With a sigh, the dark monarchess dispys her prowess: a single small tug of her finger forces my to move a couple of steps forward, right into the moonlight!

  "I dislike... being called a witch. How hopeless. Are you still concerned about a 'mystery' at this point?"

  "Its not 'a' mystery, its 'THE' mystery! You wouldn't understand!"

  [La Monarquía] does not smile or even make any emotion at all. Well, I thought it was a cute and funny comment to make, so there! You can read my thoughts, so tell me, what did I mean by that? If its you, then this much is--- urk!!!

  There is a vanishing swish of bck ce.

  One moment, [La Monarquía] was there.

  In the next gust of wind...

  ... she was gone.

  It was as if she 'folded' into the space itself...! Her body colpsing into a single thin, unseen thread!

  How else am I supposed to expin how she disappeared right before my eyes?! Even Madi-san who goes super-fast only becomes a blur of purple! This person just disappeared right before my eyes...!

  [SFX:Thud!]

  In a single movement, the dark beauty in bck ce crosses the distances between us! I didn't even manage to catch how she did it before she kneed me in the gut! Flying upwards in shocked eyes and coughing up saliva, you detective barely had the sense of mind to put her up hands before another kick---!

  [SFX:Crash!]

  The force of the steel impact blew me away from the left, crashing into a pile of boxes at the side of the room!

  "....!"

  Even in my clutched teeth and clenched stomach, I still have enough wherewithal to tug at the green thread connected to my temple...!

  The dark sorceress makes her way towards me with slow steps, knowing that in terms of physical ability, I am no match for her! That's a given isn't it?! Did you need a visible clue to know that I would lose a straight up fight?! If you are looking for a fighter, then you should be looking for Madi-san!

  Even as she makes slow, meandering steps, her words are calcuted and cut like sharp, thin bdes. She moves slowly, as if she had all the time in the world. Is it arrogance? Or caution? Your little detective is so curled up in pain that my body is screaming at me to shut it down now! Between my twitching kicks on the floor, [La Monarquía] doesn't approach too close, instead keeping a seven-paced distance from me, her fingers still pulsing with that greenish magick that dances on her fingertips. She probably said something else to me as well, but my thoughts are too wrapped up in the pain to---!

  "... Disappointing. I thought you would be stronger, former accomplice of the [Exposer]."

  "...?"

  ... ...?

  Something's... off.

  Something within those words cut straight through my thoughts and set off my little grey brain cells.

  What it was, I couldn't tell through the burning pain!

  But I can feel it! Unlike Madi-san's thought-reading I am so familiar with...

  Her thought reading is not...!

  Grasping the green string that is connected to the side of my temple...

  That's right! That's right!

  If your mennifest is not 'complete'...

  I can do a bunch of crazy things too!

  This will probably be 'very painful' like Madi-san likes to say!

  "...?" For the first time, [La Monarquía] doesn't understand what I am up to! There are limits to her understanding, for sure! Right now, I am cross-posting on other boards! Even if you read all the animu and mango I have read, there's no way you can read what I am about to do next!

  "Hey... If I remove this string, will I die?"

  "It would be very painful---"

  The dark monarchess stops mid-sentence.

  She can read my thoughts, for sure!

  But for (you), whoever you are... this is the first time that someone else read YOUR thoughts...!

  Right, desho? Even though you don't say it, I can see your body stiffen up already! I don't need my Usodo to tell!

  Grasping the string tightly, so tight that my fingers clench right into my palm...

  I am going to try something nobody else has tried!

  Looking at the shocked pxkachu face you have now, I can say this with certainty! [La Monarquía] pulls the thread connected to me taut, but I hold on for dear life on my end of the thread! Holding a thread made of pure menne cuts like a bde through my palm... It hurts just a little bit when I try to pull it off my temple... But if I do this too slowly, I might just cut my fingers off!

  What happens if I just tear it off in one stroke...?

  Nobody in their right mind has ever tried this, have they?

  Tearing out your mind-control threads with their bare hands!

  Too bad for you!

  Your little detective is NEVER in the right state of mind...!

  One chance! I just need one chance to call for help!

  Anyone! Annalie! Madi-san! Someone come heeeeelp!!!

  "Stop. If you try to do that, the damage is perman---"

  AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!![Broadcast Error: Connection Lost]

  Go Go And Learn Moonrunes With Aya-chan![1] [Hexenhall] - One of the ten major factions of Vespana. [Hexenhall] is both a location and the name of a faction. Made up of dark sorceresses from all over Vespana, they converge on the Silveryn Mountains to practice their dark craft and fuel their ambitions! That's what Oracion said anyway...