[La Monarquía] is wrenching your detective's arm behind me, middle of her elbow csped around tiny neck! Although she is not putting any pressure on it, she is definitely not letting go! It would be exactly like one of Madi-san's 'the weak must fear the strong' moments, except that Madi-san zutto, zutto[1] would tighten the grip until I passed out!

  "Huff... huff..."

  [La Monarquía's] grip with her elbowed glove tightens. Wordlessly, the dark monarchess cautions me to not speak at all! As the true enemy nears, she peers at me from behind her opaque Fox-Mask. It covers the top of her face, just enough to keep her identity secret! T-this is unfair! You can't hide clues from a detectiveeeeeeeeee!!! Why aren't you wearing a magickal disguise?! Those I can see through right away---argh! My breath cut short, oxygen to my head running out, my thoughts simply cease to be, kicking with bent little feet just to survive!

  Why... are you like this, [La Monarquía] ?

  What are you up to...?!

  "Of course. This is how the Trabul Twins always worked."

  Spine bent forward, Fox-Mask inspects the little detective who has just been caught.

  This was not supposed to happen.

  She was supposed to come up here alone.

  Now an outsider had come to interfere.

  Which led to the disastrous consequences that have now unfolded.

  There is no way this can be expined away.

  No simple wave of the hand or loud excmation will help.

  What are you going to do now, descendant of Lord Sunset...?

  "Ah... argh...!?!"

  The girl in bck fox-mask is tall, but not quite as tall as the dark beauty now choking out the detective. Fox-Mask's identity obscured behind a pair of orange twin-tails, she paces with great arrogance in a three-step circle before the pair still struggling in a hold that purposely prevents the detective from speaking!

  "Hypothesis. The [Exposer of Conspiracies] doesn't work alone. She never has."

  Still pacing the room with her arms behind her back, as if deep in though, Fox-Mask rubs the bottom of her chin thoughtfully while nodding. It seems like the green-jacketed detective would like to say something, but cked the cards to do so!

  "One in the dark, one in the light. La-Roux has always worked in the dark. Today, she has appeared in the light." Fox-Mask swishes dramatically, outstretching a single hand that cuts across the detective's face!

  [SFX:Scratch!]

  Her sharp nails leave a tiny, imperceptible line under the detective's eyelid, causing her to squirm and struggle in stinging pain!

  "Reasoning. Her accomplice is now working in the dark."

  No AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHs came out.

  No great rebuttals were spoken.

  Through the gnashing of teeth, she definitely, definitely wanted to say something!

  My grip tightens around the neck tightens.

  Please.

  Go to sleep.

  Doktah continues monologuing, mistaking that silence for assent!

  "... I have been wondering since Galopin Chateau. Who? Who are you? You cim to be [La Monarquía], but as you can see..."

  A thoroughly malicious smile sparkles in the darkness!

  "... this person is my pything."

  There's no response.

  Not from the phony, who now has her head down.

  Not from the real one, who has now closed her eyes.

  It was a simple thing.

  The detective, miscalcuted.

  That was all.

  And now she was paying the price.

  "I advance my hypothesis." Still in that same annoying posture, the Fox-Masked culprit extends that manicured hand of hers, as if inviting the detective to speak, knowing full well she cannot. The st bit of air cuts off from the captive's head, and she slumps her head down, completely lifeless as her knees just give up and her entire body slumps downwards.

  Good.

  Now I can release the hold.

  Keep quiet like that.

  "Somehow my pn to 'drop a ball', on the dance floor was leaked. Initial hypothesis. [Trono Palido] has an insider. But there's a simpler expnation..."

  "When the [Exposer of Conspiracies] stopped me from taking the Galopin heiress, I had been wondering.

  Wondering.

  Today, I was reminded.

  The Trabul Twins... come as a pair.

  La-Roux and her accomplice.

  One in the light, one in the dark.

  That is the modus operandi of the Trabul Twins.

  Isn't that right...

  Heiheiheiheihei..."

  Cold, metallic and generated ughter rings through the night, as the answer is revealed:

  "TRABUL TWINS: SACHIIN'?!?!"

  Club Percheron, The Loft

  Raucous ughter can be heard from all three judges, as they sp their knees, ughing at the absurd attempts of Ruvress and Rufti to pick up the DJ, each pressing their bodies against each other to impress her! In the end, their confrontation led to a dance-off in the middle of the floor; a battle so intense that it scared the DJ out of her wits, running her out straight outta the room!

  "Oh come on! You two literally had ONE JOB!" Moi' can't hold myself back anymore! "And you two went for the WORST person to pick-up! Ehehehehe!"

  "But you have to admit... Ruvress has some dance moves!" Even as Saint-Taiga holds the top of her head, covering her eyes, she is so doubled over that she cannot even hold her champagne gss straight! "She just has no game!"

  To prevent yet another accident, the wobbly gss was drained in one full swoop, and thrown behind her in the small half-mountain of empty gsses!

  Their attempts were so terribad, that even a stoic someone unexpectedly... ughed!

  An impossible scene, for an impossible ugh! Spreading her arms wide, she gives the detailed breakdown:

  "Heiheiheiheihei. The overreliance on canned lines and prepared logic shows the weakness of the pyers. The moment that one's thinking is proved wrong, they should immediately pivot, and apply a different hypothesis. To do otherwise is to insult the reasoning process of the game."

  "Exactá!" Saint-Taiga points at the camera! "When met with failure, why not try again?! There are dozens, dozens of beautiful girls in the club! But if you keep pinning your hopes on a single target, it is naturallé you're going to fail! And by Sharryn [2] as my witness, these two dorks..."

  "Well." Doktah muses, while pying with one of her orange twin-tails, "You wouldn't catch me making that sort of amateurish mistake. It would go against the rules of logic to do so. I am a woman of science after all."

  "And THAT'S how you know ya BOTH lost, ya dummies!" Sipping the rest of my refilled orange juice, it joins the splintered gss slowly piling up since the show's start! "Even THE SCIENCE is telling ya' ya' goofed up!"

  "So. Are we in consensus?" Doktah motions for her other two-cohosts to decide as well.

  Call it a cruelty, but I call it exposin' the truth! If you have no game, you can learn! But if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, that's just gotta be madness at that point!

  "No objections here!" Saint-Taiga points a thumbs down towards the ground! Looking towards moi', my decision is the same too! BOTH Aya-chan's supposed girlfriend AND the giant girl in the goat mask get TWO thumbs down from La-Roux tonight!

  "BOTH of them, FAIL!"

  Club Percheron, The Attic.

  "Silence? Do you think that will get you out of trouble, Trabul Twins: Sachiin'?"

  There is a single twitch from the detective's body.

  It was a really bad pun.

  Trouble, Trabul, get it?

  I've always hated that stupid idiot's naming sense, ever since we met her!

  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

  A thousand thanks! A milestone to be sure!

  That was so bad!

  So bad that even the dead could not rest!

  Now that the stupid little detective is asleep...

  Why don't I (watashi) come out to py?

  "Put her away in ropes somewhere--- Once the afterparty is done, she can be taken back to---"

  "A."

  "What's that? Are you going to beg for your life? You're going to experience torment like you have never---"

  "Of all shiggy diggy seafoam-brained things I've heard tonight...!"

  I bet you never thought "I" would respond this way, did you?!?!

  Idiot!

  Why are you still speaking?!

  Go back to sleep!

  "Dame dayo, zeeeeeeeeen zen dame dayo~"Not only did her voice change,

  the bck haired girl's mannerisms did too!

  Suddenly---!

  --- tilting her head backwards so that the blues of her eyes met mine...

  A dastardly, scallywagged smile is drawn over her face, sharp, pointed tongue sticking straight out!

  "You've got it wrong! You've got it ALLLLLL WROOOOOOONGGGG---!"Go Go And Learn Moonrunes With Aya-chan! (?)[1] zutto- "Ehhhh...? Nobody's here!"

  [2] Sharryn - One of the major goddesses worshipped in the Continent! She's the Sorceress-Saint who travelled with Lord Sunset before forming her own church! You should come visit the church in New Coimbra... When I get around to fixing it up!