"And here we are. Our place of business" Detective Shirudo Hashimoto said, as they walked up to a rather nice building.

However, Kuro was quite confused. After all, what was in front of him did not say Detective Agency, but Hot Springs. Although the name of it....

"Spirit Baths Hot Springs?"

"Ah yes. Thats our side business. It makes a good side profit, and the waters allow for spiritual energy rejuvenation and even enhanced healing" Shirudo explained. "When not on a detective job, you will help out here, keeping things clean and taking care of customers".

"Eh?"

"It helps us get what we needs, and also...our baths are said to reduce tension and stress, but they also do other things as well. People tend to be a bit more loose lipped and gossip, and those troubled by spiritual matters will be instinctively drawn to the waters to cleanse. As such, we have a never ending tide of information and customers from the hot springs. Oh, and you are also free to use them as well, of course. For the record, there is a spell that brings the information to us, so no one needs to peep or eevesdrop or anything either. Myst helped set it up".

The group of them entered the main lobby, where a young boy wearing glasses was manning the front desk. There was also a collar around his neck, with a tag that read Myst.

"I see that you have brought back someone new" Myst said, looking at the collar and then Kuro himself. "I guess that is why you texted me ahead to ask Shiori to bring some new clothes of that size? Ah, sorry. My manners. I am Myst, a Water Fox Spirit".

"You are all young boys..." Kuro muttered, causing Myst to appear confused.

"Ah sorry, Kuro here lost his memories. So, he doesn't know various things".

"A spirit that lost their memories? Thats odd...well, whatever. Spirits that take on a humanoid form often look like young boys or girls, typically around ten. Some believe its symbolic of a Spirit's mischevous and chaotic nature, others believe its because like children that age, spirits are in between mortalityw and the afterlife, so we take on an appearance to fit. That said, there are exceptions to this rule, and that is only for those with a humanoid form. There are also spirits that look completely like an animal, shapeshifters, and others. There are also monsters and the like as well".

"Ah...I see".

"By the way, Kuro...I bet some really beautiful ladies are here right now, so you mind giving me some good luck?" Shirudo asked.

"Eh?"

Kuro was a bit surprised, but then he realizeed what Hashimoto meant, and his face went red.

"You didn't contract with him just to get lucky with women, did you?" Myst said with a deadpan stare at the detective. At that time though, another boy came in with brown hair and brown eyes wearing a yukata like Myst, and had a collar around his neck that read "Cypher".

"Shirudo, there is a bunch of messages that you got while you were out. I think most were reservations, but there might be a client or two in there. Let us handle the newbie in the meantime".

"Ah, sure. I will leave it to you" Shirudo said, heading through the door and down the hall to his office. Once he was gone though, Kuro felt as if everyone looked at him with a mischevous smile, aside from Yuki who seemed to be blushing a bit.

"Now, before we can get you new clothes and a place to sleep...first we need to give you a proper introduction".

----------------------------------------

"Hey! That tickles!" Kuro said as his hoodie was pulled off his body, while Ignis and Zap held him down while he tried to squirm out. The group of boys was now entirely naked aside from their collars which didnt come off, as Kuro was dragged into the bathing area. Myst took a sprayer, and began spraying down Kuro's body with water while Yuki brought over some soap.

"Time for your newbie initiation! Taking a bath with everyone!"

"With a forced group washdown and soaping up first!"

"We have a good two hours" Myst mentioned. "I put extra power into the illusion of myself I made, so it is fully autonomous and can handle all the business properly".

Zap and Yuki then held both of Kuro's legs down, while Myst held down one arm and Cypher the other with one hand, while the other had soap in it. Ignis, now with both hands free, made sure to wipe and soap the various areas. Kuro was completely helpless and at the mercy of the five boys, and it was really embarrassing and also ticklish. Once they were done with his front, they flipped him over, but he tried to rush out and escape.

The moment he touched the door though, he suddenly fell down, and was held down back on the original spot. Myst, whose fox ears and tail were now in full display, had a bit of glow in his eyes. They were scrubbing down really hard, getting him from head to toe to make sure he was totally clean.

And then after that, they dragged him into the hot springs bath to enjoy a good soak.

Incidentally, there was also a large mirror in both the washing area and the hot springs area. This let Kuro see himself finally, and see that he had a new face, a new body, and even cat ears and a tail and how it looked on him. Yuki swam up behind him for a bit, but then hoisted himself up onto a rock and lay there basking in the moonlight.

Kuro got embarrased cause he had started checking himself out in the mirror, so he sat back down in the water.

"You are not staying in the water?"

"I will, but first I am letting Ignis heat it up more. As an ice based spirit, I can sometimes accidentally make the bath too cold. But also, more then any other spirit, I can get hot too quickly as well. So laying out here with my soaking wet body against the cool night air, helps me a lot.

"If Yuki bathes on his own, there is a chance the baths might freeze over, especially since he hates being alone" Zap mentioned.

"In truth, we regularly all bathe together anyways" Cypher mentioned. "Besides, having Myst around really helps with any potential perverts".

"He does?" Kuro asked, looking over at Myst who was floating on his stomach.

"He is a Water Fox Spirit. He can use his mist to create illusions and trick people".

"...so that is why when I tried to escape, I couldn't get anywhere".

"Pretty much".

"What about you then Cypher?"

"I am like you, a Non-Elemental Spirit. Actually, I am a new species of spirit all together, a Cyber Spirit. My powers involve the use of technology and networks".

"Oh, I see".

"And you, you are a Black Cat Spirit. One of the types of spirits known for being guardians between worlds, influencing luck, and having deep ties to mysticism and psychic ability".

"What about the others?"

"Ignis is a Flame Wolf Spirit. He can create realistic illusions, which unlike Myst, can be touched and felt, however his power has a limit, it seems he can only summon a certain amount of mass at once, and with an occasional exception, it has to be near him, or applies on himself. He can also summon low ranking flame spirits. Yuki is a very rare male Snow Princess, or Yukihime. Its technically a weird cross between a monster and a spirit, but as you can see from his collar, clearly its more spirit then monster. Normally they are self sustaining, but Yuki has had some family trouble, so he is with us now. As a well established spirit though, despite his timid and shy nature, Yuki is possibly the strongest of us here. Zap is a Lightning Sprite spirit. Normally they are low leveled spirits, and cant take human form, often just appearing as small orbs of lightning. And not only does he have a human form, but his power is well above any lightning sprite. He tends to be one of the more active members of our group, constantly bolting around. He is definently the fastest, and also possesses the greatest spiritual awareness of us all. Except maybe you. Black Cats have often been reported with Precognition abilities, given their strong ties to psychic power".

"Precognition huh?" Kuro muttered, remembering about how he sensed that searchlight coming before he even saw it. That certainly does seem to be the case.

"Oh boys, I am here with your delivery!" a young girls voice was said, suddenly swinging the door open. She got a good look at them all, causing many to be embarrassed, as the mist engulfed them all and a large robot appeared between them suddenly, loading weapons and preparing to fire.

"ANTI-PERVERT WEAPONS ACTIVATED!"

"Sorry sorry!" she said, suddenly afraid.

"That is why I told you not to go in and peek...sorry about that, boys" a woman came in behind the girl. They were both dressed as detectives of the VCPD, or Veiro City Police Department. "Salia, get out".

"Eh, why do you get to stay?!"

"I am not a pervert" she pointed out. "And I need to ask. Is it okay to put the new clothes in a bin?"

"Yeah that is fine" Myst answered.

"Alright. Come on then, Salia" she said, dragging the young girl away and out of the room. Once the door was closed, the mist subsided.

"Who was that?"

"Detective Shiori Hashimoto with the VCPD. She is in charge of the Major Crimes Division. That girl was a Spirit like us, a rather nosy and persistant girl" he said, dispelling the giant robot. "She is also Shirudo's sister".

"Ah, I see".

"I have a bad feeling about this though" Zap mentioned, unaware of what was to come.

----------------------------------------

After a good long soak, the group finally got out and headed into the changing rooms. On the way though, Kuro saw a full body mirror and couldn't help but look at his own body. Perhaps because it wasn't quite real to him yet, he couldn't help but think that his body was incredibly cute. The cat ears and tail probably had something to do with that though, but also his skin seemed so new, and felt so new. It was strange.

Although, the collar around his neck was the especially strange part. In his old world, wearing such a thing as a human would definently be seen as embarrassing, or it would signify something or another. But from what he could tell, here it seemed to be a natural thing for a spirit at least, and also was something that a few of them seemed quite proud of.

"What a weird reincarnation...if one can even call it that" he said, stretching a bit. That said, he then got a bit embarrassed for checking out his body like that, and quickly hurried in.

Waiting for Kuro was a black cat hoodie, although the ears at the top were hollow so his real ears would fit, and it was slightly large so that there was enough room for his tail to hang out behind. The front had a white paw print on it, and it was short sleeved. He also had some boxers and shorts, which had also been designed to accomodate his tail. And then finally, some black sneakers.

"No socks or shirt?"

"I heard that while cat spirits like the heat just like cats, also like cats Cat Spirits can get ill or sick easily when exposed to too much heat. So something snug, but not too many layers".

"Makes sense. Thanks Cy".

Kuro then turned around happy as everyone had already gotten dress, looking very happy.

"This feels perfect!"

"And Cy and Myst win again".

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Oi, you all done and dressed?" the Hashimoto siblings said as they opened the doors. Thankfully, they all were this time.

"What is it?" Zap asked, sparks of electricity coming from him in his excitement.

"We have a case, so I thought I would give Kuro a chance to see what we do, and to see what he can do. Myst, hold down the fort. Zap, Ignis, help him out. Yuki, Cy, Myst, you three are with me".

"I am going?" Cy asked.

"Yeah. The case involves a high tech security system, and I think I will need you on sight for that one".

"Rodger, I will get my shoes" Cy mentioned.

"Already threw a pair in the car. We gotta hurry, this one is a bit sensitive".

Understanding there was a matter of some urgency, the trio quickly hurried to the car, with Shirudo passing Cy a laptop and Kuro a smartphone as they got inside. He then started to drive as they were still buckling their seatbelts, and began to explain at the same time.

"Cy, look up the details for the Oriyu Security Company on the way. Kuro, that is a Datavice. So long as you are not too far away from the city, you should be able to call and contact us provided we are not out of range either. It can also look up some information on the internet, take photos, record notes, and you can make it do a whole bunch of other things as well. Don't lose it, and make sure you properly register yourself with all the security measures. If you need help, ask Cy".

"Right...so what is this case?"

"Its a murder case. My sister is taking her own car to meet us there. The murder victim was inside a rather nice home, and the victim's family is already there. We have a short window to solve the case before things get real difficult or real messy".

"...a murder?"

"Yeah...well, I guess its good to start you off running. We will all be investigating and there to help, but...I want you to try and solve the case, okay?"

"Right...wait, what?!"

"Ah...I remember this happening to me" Yuki mumbled.

"Eh? Was I the only lucky one? We mainly dealt with cyber crimes when I got recruited".

"...I think thats just because thats your specialty and you are the only one who can do them..." Yuki muttered a retort, though a bit sheepishly.

As he said that, he took a rather violent turn that was quite dangerous given the cars around and hte traffic. However, he made it just fine.

"...does he not know how to drive?"

"I swear, next time, I am driving".

Cy said such words with a nasty voice as the vehicle made another tight turn.

----------------------------------------

Although some of them felt like their fragile link to the material plane was about to be cut short, the vehicle eventually arrived there. The four of them got out, and saw several cop cars. Waiting for them somehow was Shirudo's sister.

"...how the hell does she always beat us to the scene? Does she drive even more recklessly then her brother?"

"Guys, make sure you are fully respectful. The victim's family are quite sensitive, so you need to be as curtious as possible. And whatever you do, dont upset them...also, you really using this for the newbie?"

"Hey now, he is our good luck charm" Shirudo mentioned.

As they said that, they entered the scene. A bunch of shoes had been taken off by the doorway, so the four of them did the same. Cy was just wearing a shirt and sweatpants, so he looked a bit ouf of place though, while Yuki was wearing clothes that were easier to breath in. Shorts with suspenders, a white T shirt, and blue sleeveless vest. Incidentally, like Kuro, entiher of them were wearing socks.

"Do spirits not wear socks or something?" Kuro asked.

"Ah. Cy, and Ignis for that matter, need to ventilate more due to their powers involving thermal energy. For Ignis, he emits too much heat, so he feels stuffy when he wears too much. Yuki meanwhile, prefers to be cooler due to his ice based nature, so he also prefers to stay cooler. Well, its basically for comfort. As for me...I just didn't have any. I dont go out for cases too much".

As Cy explained that, the group of them entered the living room. Already, Kuro could see a major situation in the making, and roughly understood why Yuki and Cy were called. For sure, there was a bunch of high tech security measures already that they encountered. They were de-active now, and Kuro didn't understand what they did too much or how they worked, but at the very least several barriers could be activated on the front door, and the windows.

And the victim himself was stabbed through the heart with what appeared to be a sword made of ice. There was also some broken glass by the body with some liquid spilled, so it seemed like he was holding that as well when he died.

Cy briefly glanced at the body, and then began to head over to a computer he noticed. Yuki, Kuro, and Shirudo approached the body.

"Hey! What are those children doing here?! I thought you said you secured this place!" one younger man said, upset. Kuro looked over, and around hte tables on the sofas were a few people. They looked like they might be related, but there was also a maid.

"Relax. They are just spirits. And he is from the Hashimoto Detective Agency".

"Hashimoto? I think I heard of that before..." the woman mentioned. "Still, cant you please let us go now? You already did such a terrible thing as strip searching us".

"Ma'am, its just standard protocol" a young officer mentioned. Really young actually, but Kuro thought that might just be normal for this world. "They are specialists, here to reach the truth".

As that was said, Yuki frowned while Kuro looked at the body closer.

"Seeing blood and guts always makes me a bit uneasy".

"...there are no guts though, only blood?" Kuro mentioned. He was actually more okay with this. "So, exactly what do we do now?"

"Make observations, analyze the scene. Since he is using this case as a test for you, it shouldn't be too difficult...rather, I suspect Shirudo already solved it".

"Already?"

"Yeah...also, since we are supposed to share information, he was killed from a close range ice attack. Its got no spiritual trace on it, but quite a bit of mana, so this was done by a human. And since it was close range, and he was stabbed from the front...well, people dont normally just stand there defenseless when someone is coming at you casting ice magic".

As Kuro turned around, the one who caught his eye was the youngest of the four people sitting there. A boy who appeared to be about thirteen, and for a moment Kuro saw a look on his face. However, he quickly seemed to go back to normal concern and worry like the others.

"By the way, something else I should warn you, especially since you are lacking memories. When cornered, criminals always tend to lash out and try something violent. Our jobs dont just end at solving the mystery. Successful capture and detainment of criminals also counts, as well as other supernatural duties" Yuki mentioned.

A cornered animal, huh?

He wondered what that emotion he saw was, but he could not discount the others as well. While thinking that, Veiro City Police Detective Shiori as well as her spirit Salia came over.

"So, what is the story?"

"They already got interviewed by the responding officers. Apparently, they were all in the house, and nobody saw a thing till the youngest found the body. Until the police arrived, the security system had been engaged from the time he was confirmed alive, working on some art masterpiece, to the time the body was discovered, and no logs of it being de-activated. In other words, someone inside the house had to do it. The wife, the two sons, or the maid".

"I see...so thats it huh?" Kuro muttered.

"First day, and the cute boy is trying to act cool already?" Salia mentioned, causing Shiori to give her a bit of a whack.

"Don't say such rude things. Well, the answer seems obvious anyways...although, we did a test, and none of them had an affinity for ice magic, nor any ice spirits contracted with them. So unless we can find the magic tool or device that was used to create the weapon, we are out of luck".

"And I just confirmed. The system wasn't tampered with" Cy told them, showing the data. No weird cuts, no rewritten sections, nothing like that. Or so Cy explained to them.

Frankly, it was puzzling. The police had already searched the house, the guests were kept there for eight hours already, grieving but unable to leave. After all, by some chance if they somehow managed to sneak the device out...well, the police was about to do another round of strip searches first, to see if they picked it back up inbetween then and now, as unlikely as that was.

"Do any of them have motives?"

"Well I detected some family drama, but this isn't some crime show. They wont spill just because we ask unless we get lucky".

Kuro looked over at them again. He then looked over at Shirudo, who seemed to just be whistling.

"...what is he doing?"

"...when he does that, it means he already solved the case" Shiori mentioned, her voice full of irk and some contempt.

Kuro thought about it for a moment though.

"Rather then get irritated...think, that means in this time, enough details were already presented to solve the case. It means we already have everything we need".

There was something there, something obvious they had missed. Kuro went over to another position, pretending to look around the house as he snuck glances at the four. He already went over and glanced at them, so Kuro did the same.

He had no intention of losing.

Hints of family drama...close range ice attack...no one heard the attack...

Then something clicked for Kuro, but it was only a hunch.

No one heard the attack!

And from that, he could roughly guess how it was done also. But, he didn't know how they pulled it off, and how they decieved the police. He then went back to Yuki.

"Do you need an affinity for ice magic to do such a thing?"

"Not if you are a well skilled mage, or have some serious natural talent. But none of them do, I was told".

"Cy, this security system, so no one could get out as well as in right?"

"Yeah...it was deisgned like that..wait, do you seriously have an idea?"

"I do. I know who, but not how. Exactly, how does the police do that test?"

"They do it by taking a sample of the blood, and running a test to determine the affinities the mana inside the blood has. Sometimes magical affinities are carried down through bloodlines though, but that is not a rule".

"So...blood can determine it...I see now. I understand".

Kuro looked towards Shirudo, and thier eyes met. Kuro took out his phone and checked one last thing, before confirming he was ready. Shirudo was quite amused.

As I thought, the boy is smart...and he has not lost all of his memories. He remembers something...I suspect, it may involve that dual-soul situation. Let us see the power of that second soul in action, Kuro!

Kuro looked over at Shiori, who seemed to understand on instinct. Yuki meanwhile came into the dining room a bit more, and so did Shirudo. Cy meanwhile backed off, heading well behind the others. The tensions rose. Kuro knew he was right, just like how he could understand given the others expressions something bad could happen if he got it wrong. Kuro stood in the center of the room, right at the edge of the coffee table the sofas were positioned around.

"I know who the killer is" Kuro mentioned, making the entire family tense. He looked over at the youngest, and caused the mother to become concerned, and the other brother immediately went on edge as if he was ready for a fight.

However, this would not stop Kuro from saying the truth.

"...but first tell me, why did, for a moment, you smile there for a brief second, when you saw me say that while looking at the boy, maid?"

Kuro realized halfway through his line, as a bit of an embarassment, he had not learned the names of anyone here. So he just called her by her profession, but he wasn't going to stop now and look awkward. He would learn from this mistake for next time.

"What? What do you mean?" she said, genuinely shocked. Or at least, she appeared to be. But Kuro turned the Datavice he was holding around, and revealed he had recorded something the maid did. He played the video, and as his line was heard in the background, for a brief moment, she smirked. It was less then a second, but still.

And so, the show had begun.

"Hold on! But I cant use ice magic!"

"But according to this article I looked up, a pregnant woman can use magic her unborn child has affinities to while pregnant with them" he said with a bit of a smile, the excitement getting to him as he saw his snared prey. "The family drama that everyone could feel...I guess we know what that was about".

"No...no! You have it wrong!"

"And of course, the fact no one heard anything...that was the real kicker. I admit I dont know much about maids, but...let me guess, you know how to clean without dirturbing anyone...you probably have a silence spell even. You also know how to serve a drink...and, if you happened to serve a drink without ice, you could perhaps say you recently got some ice magic spell, started to use it...and then killed him, with him not realizing anything until it was too late?"

It was simple, and some of it was based on luck. But he was sure he got it right.

"You...you bastards, dont understand what he forced me into!" she said, outraged. A burst of magic suddenly hit Kuro and slammed him into a wall, suspending him in the air being strangled by an invisible source, as well as others who rushed to stop her. "I was never going to let him live, I was never going to let him turn me into something to be displayed to everyone!"

"Kuro!" Yuki shouted, as mystical hands reached from the ground and grabbed him, slamming him into the ground as it began to claw at him.

"Magical backlash...when cornered too far, sometimes a magic user can demonstrate power like this, but...no, wait. Her child could use magic too....double backlash?!"

"Its surprising for someone so powerful to be a maid though...I guess that should be expected of a liar and murderer though" Shirudo mentioned calmly, raising his gun. "First Bullet: Manaburn!"

He fired the gun, and a bullet infused with spiritual powers was fired out. As it crossed the battlefield, the mana holding the magic together was all burned away, and freed all the cops, Kuro, and Yuki in an instant. The woman looked shocked, and tried to run away, but the defense system activated suddenly.

"Come on now! Please! I dont want to suffer! Not for this! I will do anything!" she said, pleading towards Shirudo.

"As much as I wouldn't mind a woman with your figure, you are pregnant...and im not so cold to forgive someone who mistreated my boys like that" he said, looking at Kuro and Yuki briefly. "I will never tolerate anyone who abuses them, understood?"

Suddenly, a massive force of magic shot out right at him, but he fired another bullet, this time freezing all of her attacks in place as well as herself. She used her own ice magic to undo the power, but he already loaded the third bullet. It fired, and a massive bolt of electricity hit her, shocking her to such a degree it rendered her unconscious, and she fell to the ground.

"Was she lying about what he did to her? But you held back quite a bit".

"She is quite the odd one. She was lying to a degree, that was obvious. Even if the security system could keep her in, no way he could just hold her here long term. I think he might have forced himself on her...but I think she came here for her own reason. She was far too strong after all...she mentioned the art room, lets go see it".

As the officers were cuffing her, some looked at admiration at Kuro, but a few also looked at him with contempt.

"Come on Kuro, you got it right. Now lets see this case through, okay?"

"Yes!"

----------------------------------------

"...this is clearly something strange".

In the paintings, they saw something unexpected. Kuro thought it was all the various nude portraits, not just of the maid, but also the members of his family, but that was not it either. It wasn't even the strange one with three bears on a unicycle riding around a bee hive like circus tent.

No, what they were looking at was a painting of the city, as well as a vortex.

"Why is this one the strange one?" Kuro asked. "All it is is a city with a vortex in the background".

At those words, everyone stopped and looked at him.

"Hold on, you see what this painting is?"

"Eh? Wait, what? What do you all see?"

"A random blur of paint".

"It doesn't even look like anything".

"Its just paint poured all over and then spiraled".

It seemed only Kuro could see the painting.

"The Psychic power of the Black Cat. The ability to see through to the truth of things. It gives you the ability to percieve things that cannot normally be percieved by those of this world, including spirits" he mentioned. "Shiori, I will be taking this painting for Kuro to study, and perhaps duplicate".

"Understood. It should be fine, since we dont have anyone who is capable of viewing this from what I know, and the Chief would hate having to bring in outside experts. Well, more then we already have".

"Sounds good. I hope you are good at painting, Kuro".

And so, Kuro was heaped with so much work. However, there was a thought, an impression that remained in his head.

An opponent that he and so many officers were powerless against, Shirudo Hashimoto dealt with them in an instant.

Just who was he exactly?