"Maybe I've been a bit too hard on her…" Hyde's eyes drifted over to Mary. Luckily she was too focused on the teacher to notice him staring. He hadn't caught certain details about her before due to being so annoyed by her loudness. His eyes fixated on assets that many would be captivated by. She was a robust girl, in the chest to put it bluntly. Her pale face was free of blemishes almost resembling the white girl in his dreams. It would be ironic if this was the girl of his dreams, but then he'd had to kill her.

He noticed a pink hood around her black cardigan's collar. It should've been a uniform violation but that just meant she was a wicked rule breaker underneath her bubbly personality.

After having seen enough of her body, Hyde leaned back in his seat rolling his eyes towards the ceiling. He chalked up her good looks to good use of makeup rather than natural genetics. Although further testing was needed to see if her red hair was natural or a wig.

"Uhm… Hyde. I can tell you're following me." Mary sweated, though her cheeks reddened feeling the pressure of being near. "S-shouldn't you be watching Hoka?" She said before stopping in the middle of the hall.

Hyde stopped beside her, throwing his hands up and behind his head. "Dakota is watching her. Anyway I think we should look for…" His eyes scanned the windows beside then walls on his right, eventually stopping on a poster advertisement. "A club..!"

Mary's nervousness subsided with her smile. "I'm already planning to join the band club. Maybe you can join me…" She paused before lifting a finger. "The room is on the third floor. I'm looking for the club leader at the moment so wait for me there, okay?"

Hyde nodded and they parted. It wouldn't take long for him to ascend the steps and find the room the club was using on the third floor. A slight pull cracked the sliding door from the wall allowing him to peek. Finding nobody inside, it was his cue to enter into a rather plain classroom save for band instruments lying on the desk topas. There weren't many probably due to the small number of members the club enmassed during the first weeks of school.

Something peculiar about the guitar case resting on the back desk lured him to explore its contents. Whoever the wielder was also left their cardigan on the back seat, its design similar to Mary's but much bigger in size and its hood colored blue, fit for a male such as himself. To get the complete look of a guitar hero, he swapped his blazer for the hooded cardigan then unzipped the guitar case. What he found inside caused him to audibly gasp.

"A sword!?" He couldn't help but say out loud. A 100 centimeter blade perfectly fit inside just for him, the chosen wielder stumbling upon it. In awe of its glory, he zipped the case back up.

"Maybe I shouldn't…"

"Maybe I should."

"Maybe I shouldn't."

Clearly, this was a potential crime scene in the making. As the detective, he possessed the authority to handle evidence as required. "I'll have to confiscate this." He murmured to himself, slinging the guitar strap over his shoulder. Mary wouldn't mind if he bailed out of her offer due to his duty to uphold justice. And if he saw her again, would he have the strength to resist pulling the sword and slashing her like the girl in his dreams? The thought made him snicker.

The sky was adorned with scattered clouds, with faint hints of blue attempting to break through the veil. As classes came to an end, Hyde took off on his own, strolling with his bike through the desolate streets of town. Initially, his steps seemed directionless, but gradually, he found himself drawn towards the familiar destination of the cafe.

The sound of rolling wheels skidding against the pavement took his eyes away from the book's pages. Without completely looking, he split from his bike to jump aside, avoiding a little girl crash landing off her skateboard after she'd grinded on nearby rails. Her foot had slipped off the board and thus the once smooth landing became a hard crash.

Before Hyde could speak, the girl hopped back to her feet instantly. The adrenaline coursing through her veins made pain a joke. "Hey sis did you catch all that?!" The blonde exclaimed past Hyde.

As Hyde turned around, his gaze met another child, a girl with flowing brunette hair who held a camera with an air of curiosity. Hurrying beside was her sister, their attire mirroring each other in identical maid uniforms.

"L-Lambda… we should go elsewhere." The small brunette said while going to tug on her sister's sleeve. "I think that's the boy who stole our bike."

Lambda eyes darted to the bike flat on its side, then to Hyde. Following a smirk, she stood up, patting down her long skirt unsuited for extreme activities then stomped towards the culprit in question. "So you're the thief swindling my gadgets."

"That bike? Uhm." Hyde visibly gulped down his worries. "I was renting it for a day."

Lambda stood on her toes to get a better look of his guilty face, or rather, bored expression. But his averted gaze was further evidence. "You took it by force."

"I was testing the acoustics." He leaned back further letting Lambda slowly loom over him with every excuse.

"I never modified it, you see."

"Yamiko let me borrow it for a day."

With that, she let up. Her cheeks puffed out forming a fat pouty face. "She didn't tell me about that. And she didn't tell me there were new people in the Royal Floral Cafe. That's so unfair!" She said while planting her hands on her hips. With a sassy hip thrust to the left, she introduced herself, "My name is Lambda and I'm the extremist! I have a video channel where I show my extreme tricks and flips."

That wasn't exactly what extremist meant but Hyde nodded slowly regardless. This kid was living her childhood dreams, and he wasn't one to stop harebrained children from chasing impossibilities. Having leaned too far to the point where his back was touching the ground, he crabbed away towards his, yes his, bicycle. "I'll be going on my way."

"The least you could do is give me your name." Lambda exclaimed.

"Hyde," he responded, lifting his bike as he prepared to depart. "Hyde Styles."

As the name left his lips, it left Lambda gazing with starry eyed and her sister with bewilderment. Without further ado, he pressed onward toward the cafe, contemplating the roles they held within the agency he had been assigned to.

A newly added bell above the door signaled his entrance but the ring was seldom heard, muffled out by the murmuring of the cafe's customers. Hyde started to get comfortable with the routine of coming in. This week was every so often but later it would be every day. Midare was who he was searching for, but she was locked in a conversation with the feminine looking male, Lemon.

"So many fresh faces. This agency of yours is a brilliant idea." Lemon moved his eyes across the vast cafe.

Midare discontent was visible through narrowed eyes. The amount of people joining this organization at once gave her a headache. "I’m being handed members on a silver platter, Lemon." Constantly she analyzed the personalities of the people flocking under the agency's wing. The cafe banner was floral, but the agency side was Royal Floral, and their insignia took the shape of a flower but at certain angles it'd looked like a dragon. A dragon–a legend. Lemon coming to her was no coincidence.

Having chuckled at her remark, Lemon asked directly. "Have you made up your mind on my offer?"

Her eyes moved past the male before her to view a rabbit-eared rushè male and a brown haired brown nose followed. Both carried boxes to another room behind closed doors. Midare closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "Yes, I’ll allow the Blue Corps to assist us."

"Splendid!" Lemon clapped once. "This will be perfect for them to hone their skills."

Returning from behind closed doors were two of the four Blue Corps members. Stopping to stand tall for all to see, both changed out of their musketeer uniforms into more casual attire to fit in with the populace. One was a cat rushè girl from France and Midare liked her the most out of the four because she was calm and strategic. Her name was Yuyucherry Belvedere. A mouthful and apparently repetition in names were common for rushès born in France, other times they shared a name with a fruit. She had both and preferred to be called Cheri as to ease the tongue twisting name.

Her hair was long with a left side ponytail, silky in appearance and chocolate brown in color. Pointed cat ears twitched, catching every sound until adjusting to the cafe ambience. She would take the outfit of a shoulder cut blouse and black high-waist skirt remancient of lolita style clothing. Patterned dark stockings covered most of her legs up to her thighs, and on her feet were a pair of maid shoes with a flat heel. Of the four Blue Corps, she was the youngest at 13.

The other says he's from France, a boy Midare could never get a read on. Cranberry was the only human of the group and always had a narrow gaze about. Despite looking sinister, he was the most calculating and capable of coming up with a backup plan within seconds. His outfit consisted of black duffle coat over a buttoned shirt and black jeans. Midare found his resemblance to Hyde quite a coincidence. The shaggy hair both had created a similarity, though Hyde's bed head was normally worse and that's how she could tell them apart.

"We're finished moving the boxes from the kitchen to storage." Cheri announced with a salute.

Cran rested a hand on his hip. "What's next boss? We can do more than just move heavy stuff."

"Boss?" Midare raised an eyebrow at the sudden title.

Lemon chuckled, tracing a circle in the air with his finger. "I thought it might be fitting for them to address you as 'Boss' while they're working under your command. Is it a tad excessive?"

Midare shook her head, signifying her understanding. She then proceeded to assign them their first real case, acknowledging that she hadn't yet evaluated their active performance. "There's an ongoing investigation I've been requested to delve into, but this task will be yours to handle. A murder has occurred at the Osaka Fujiya Hotel. If you require more information, you'll need to consult the local police, as that's all the information I have."

Just as she finished speaking, Hyde made his entrance, seamlessly inserting himself into the conversation before Cran or Cheri could respond. "A case? Count me in." He said just as fast as he entered.

Likewise, Midare pointed to the door just as quickly. "You should be watching Hoka."

"I was but," He couldn't think of a better excuse and didn't even spend a second thinking up one. "It was boring. Besides, you saw my skills. I'm better suited for the front lines being a detective than a bodyguard."

"Technically, you're Soap's main target by protecting Hoka." Cran pointed out.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I don't do technicalities." Hyde emphasized.

Cran's face twisted into a smirk in response to his retort. "The nerve of this guy." he remarked, relishing his brazenness displayed.

Lemon let out a chuckle. "I think we should let him do it. This is Yamiko's boy, yes? I'm interested in what he can do." Emphasizing his own words with a hint of curiosity.

"Just know that I'm not responsible if you get injured, Hyde." Nothing more needed to be said since he eavesdropped on enough of the conversation to know where to go. As he observed, Midare handed Cheri her badge adorned with a dragon flower insignia before walking away. Most law enforcement badges were gold or plastic yellow, but this one had a distinct silver glow. Holding it felt weighty and captivating to the eye.

Cran nudged him out of his trance and took the lead. Hyde ignored the attempt to provoke him, especially since he was about to embark on something so exciting and so soon, without needing to argue with Midare about his reasons. Her last words about the potential for danger did sow seeds of worry in his mind.

It was an investigation and nothing more. In his head they were to go to the hotel, ask a couple of questions–maybe a tough one here and there, then leave without any trouble. If they did find the culprit then there were police officers around to do the chasing so that was no sweat off his back.

Going to Kashiwara station, they boarded a train that took them to inner Osaka. The white towering hotel was in the heart of the city and with this murder still being relatively recent there were only two police vehicles parked outside its cubed entrance.

When the glass doors closed behind Hyde, a sense of sophistication washed over him. Its polished marble floors, stylish furnishings, and soft ambient lighting, the hotel was a resort for tourists and the rich alike. Hyde, being a country boy, didn't belong in this residence but he had to shake off that identity when he was out on investigation. He was here as law enforcement, a position higher than money and foreigners. It took him smacking his cheeks, hopping up and down to pump his heart, and shadow boxing the air to adjust completely to being a detective in this moment.

Cran watched him perform all three in that order, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Quite the form. What's your name?"

Hyde quickly returned to standing having forgotten Cran was beside him while Cheri moved onwards to the group of police officers discussing by the front desk. "Hyde Tetsuya." He said fast.

Cran returned to facing the front of the lobby. "You have an ugly name."

"Oh yeah? What's yours?"

"Cranberry."

Hyde rolled his eyes. "You're named after a tasteless fruit."

Instead of delivering back an insult, Cran changed the subject. "You've got balls of steel wanting to come with us. What was going through your head when you made that decision?"

Hyde smirked, believing he had the uphand hand in this battle of wits because he could keep a secret. "What's it to ya?"

"That's an interesting answer." Cran boredly said before moving to join Cheri's side.

His abrupt shift in interest earned him the win in this battle but Hyde wasn't going to lose the war of insults and clever lines to a dude named after a fruit. He hurried into the topic of conversation picking up on the details as he listened to Cheri and the police officers.

Most of the hotel was vacant, setting the opportunity for the murderer to kill. The paper record of the guests' reservations was taken, forcing the police to go door to door with an investigator searching for the culprit who was still inside since the officer they had stationed in the parked vehicle outside had yet to see any man leave the premises. The site of the murder was bloody and left uncovered for them to discover. The murderer wanted them to find the woman stabbed with multiple holes.

There was no rhyme or reason they found yet, given that this person was on a one night stand with someone's wife. Someone this murderer has never interacted with before now.

"And no one used the elevator or stairs, correct? Are you positive the culprit didn't get away?" Cheri inquired.

The policeman shook his head slowly. "Our response time is fast. In fact we were just right next door when we got the call. There's no way for the culprit to have left a bloody mess and escape without being seen with stained hands."

Another policeman interjected. "Think he's hiding in a vent or something?"

"He's not smart enough to do that if he left an obvious mess for us to find. There's a correlation between these murderers being the dumbest people on Earth when it comes to successfully escaping." The policeman touched his peaked cap. "If they're not named Soap, that is."

Hyde wanted to speak but being surrounded by adults was intimidating. Thankfully Cran asked the question that was on his mind. "You think this could be Soap's doing?" He spared a side glance towards Hyde as if he did read his mind.

"Is the lazy detective agency hiring idiots? Of course it's not Soap."

Even though Hyde didn't ask the question, he still felt insulted for thinking of the idea.

Returning from the investigation was a male investigator, trailed by a policeman. The investigator, tall and aged, donned all black attire save for his grey, unfastened trench coat. He exuded an air of authority, with an unlit cigar clamped between his lips and meticulously combed hair. Each step he took resonated with purpose. Hyde was almost tempted to accuse him of being the culprit for being so smooth

Upon laying eyes on the exotic clothing worn by Hyde and his companions, the investigator scoffed, though he still addressed them with a measure of maturity befitting their circumstances. "You must be from the Royal Floral Detective Agency," he surmised, deducing this solely from the glow of the badge in Cheri's hand, even though her arm was held at her side. "You're a bit late. I've already inspected the scene of the crime and found nothing."

The policeman threw his hands up. "That's that, I guess he got away."

"What?" Hyde blurred out. "We haven't even searched for ourselves."

"What makes you think you can if the leader of Noble Third can't? Kamui's the best investigator we've got. Nothing gets past him." The policeman asserted.

"I wasn't finished." Kamui said, which then caused the group around to raise a brow. He continued. "This murder is connected to a string of murders I believe to be caused by a man who can take the appearance of others. He uses magic to disguise himself as the victim's wife or children before killing them. Since this is a magic case, I can't help you."

Cran couldn't help but grin at the idea. "So what you're saying is, he could be any one of us."

"This is in your hands, Royal Floral Detectives. I need a smoke." Kamui moved on to go outside.

"Shit, what if it was him?" Cran broke out into a horrible snicker.

"Cran!" Cheri knotted her brows.

Cran's eyes darted towards Hyde. "It could even be you."

"We walked in together, you saw me."

"Enough!" the policeman exclaimed. "This is no time for jokes. We're dealing with a shapeshifter. The implications of that are consequential."

The second policeman beside him narrowed his eyes. "This is the first time I've seen you lash out like that. What if it is you?"

"Stress is a good sign of who the culprit is. There's one, two… seven of us standing here." Cran included himself naturally, placing his hands in his pockets as he explained, "The killer can shapeshift but does that include his clothing too? The site was bloody so he couldn't have gotten away completely clean even if it stole the appearance of one of us. I have a feeling this killer is careless and is shaking in his shoes right now. Hmm… I think it's you..!"

Cran had outstretched his arm forward and stepped towards a lanky policeman who stayed silent in the conversation, up to Kamui's information reveal. Upon hearing the twist that someone in the group was a shapeshifter his eyes darted from left to right eyeing each member of the group suspiciously, but there was no one to perceive him since he had been distant.

When Cran touched a hair of the suspicious police's clothing, he smacked away Cran's hand and backed away in a hurry. His trembling hand instinctively hovered over the holster attached to his side. "Don't touch me! I can assure you I'm not the murder."

"Look at your hand."

The suspect policeman looked down at this palm and there in the center was dried blood, staining up to the cuff of his sleeve. Feverishly he scratched at it then begged the detectives. "I don't know how that got there—It wasn't there before!"

The sole policewoman finally spoke up. "How could you have figured that out? None of us noticed his bloody hand at all."

Cran returned his hands to his pockets, snickering all the while. "A detective has a good eye. The killer knew he couldn't escape with his current disguise and had to blend in with one of us to get by. If I hadn't been here then the investigation would've been for naught and the killer would've gotten away."

"No offense but I don't buy it." The policewoman upholstered her pistol in one swift motion to point at Cran.

"W-wait!" Cheri shouted but her pleas against violence were ignored when Cran pointed a finger gun back at his accuser. Hyde's mind went blank when guns were brought into the mix again. The thought of dying eclipsed all he could think of and he slowly moved away according to his fears.

"Shoot me then, if I'm the murderer. Just know that there's no rewinding time when you find out you're wrong." Cran taunted her further but would only make the other policeman around draw their own pistols finally coming to a conclusion.

"Royal Detectives, you're being detained." One said.

"I agree but also," The second changed his aim towards the first. "You're being detained too, because the shapeshifter wants us to kill each other."

"I didn't say anything about killing. Besides, that boy there is the one that accused us first."

Cran started to step back, opening the top buttons of this duffle coat and reaching his hand in. "Are we forgetting there's blood on that guy's hand?"

Cheri did the same, glaring darts at Cran for starting this mess she couldn't fix. "We'll just be on our way–"

Right as Cran pulled his own pistol from his inner pocket, the policewoman fired in his direction. In response he retaliated with his own bullet. Both shots missed but split the groups in two; The detectives quickly took refuge behind a nearby lounge couch in the lobby.

"Was this really necessary!?" Hyde screamed, his body curled into a ball. With every bullet that flew overhead he winced and sunk further into his fear.

Cheri tightly gripped Cran's shoulder as he pulled the slide back on his pistol for fun. "We could have talked this out! We can't work as one when you make drastic decisions on your own." She chastised him.

"I agree with her. We're going to be arrested because of this!"

"Relax. Didn't you say you were suited for the front lines?" Cran had a point throwing Hyde's own words back in his face. That's when Hyde noticed a small bleeding cut on the back of Cran's palm meaning that the blood on that policeman's hand was not from the murder but from Cran when his hand was smacked away.

"Don't you love trouble? You should be thrilled!" He stood up to unload his entire magazine at the police attackers. Quickly he ducked back down before a barrage of bullets all fired in sync. "This is what it means to be a magic detective!"

"A magic detective?!" Hyde repeated louder than his beating heart.

The toothy grin on Cran's face was maniacal, insane even. "You haven't pieced together our work have you? The Royal Floral Agency solves magic related cases because no one else will. Criminals using magic to aid their crimes is commonーregular law enforcement lack the tools to solve these crimes since regulations outlaw the use of counter magic, and the WMA doesn't care to get involved. It's our mission to put these suckers down. Hyde, look that way for me."

"Eh?" Hyde turned around, unaware that his head peeked out from behind the side of the couch for a split second. He saw the policewoman shoot the last of her own while making her way to the door. Just as she changed her aim in Hyde's direction, Cran pulled him back behind cover saving his head from being obliterated.

"Did you see it?"

"T-that?" Hyde pointed his finger in the other direction.

"Yep! That's our culprit." With their targets needlessly killed and the culprit having escaped, Cran could safely stand out of cover. "It's likely the culprit killed the real policewoman when the first wave of police came to search and took her place. She didn't waste time hiding the body of her murder no, she hid the body of the policewoman she killed."

Cheri lifted her hand and soon within her palm a calm flame was conjured and soon took the shape of an arrow. "It's not too late to chase after her."

Cran grabbed her hand in a hurry, dispelling her flame. "Hey wait–put that away, Cheri! We'll be crossing a line if someone catches us using magic."

Out of all the things that happened within a span of a second, that was the thing he was worried about? "Ha…" Hyde let out an exasperated chuckle. He was in disbelief, speechless, but also deep down he felt so thrilled being between life and death.

He stepped outside following meekly behind the two partners far above his league, his mind still blank and coming to grips with the events that transpired. The corners of his vision started to darken as his adrenaline high wore off. The cold air breeze touching his face was a pillow for him, and he collapsed.