A breathtaking scenery painted by the colors of nature greeted the students on that early morning. The mere presence of those great trees reaching for the skies drowned out the light of the sun as the train entered the territory of the Green District.

It was a beautiful display, enough to leave anyone speechless, but Daiya Kaida instead looked out the train's window with a confused expression.

It was common for many others his age, but he couldn't remember much about his childhood before the Procella Event took place. More importantly, he couldn't remember what the world was like back then, he was still too young when humanity was hit by that powerful cataclysm. While a few images of adults rushing to help others, or his parents taking him to a shelter would still flash in his head from time to time, most of his proper memories took place in Glint City's Indigo District.

For someone who hardly travelled, it wouldn't be strange to say that to him, the Indigo District and all of Glint City were one and the same. It's not like he wouldn't hear mentions of other districts here and there, but that was all they were, districts. Given his busy life as a student, there was no reason to go out of his way to visit a small part of the city that had nothing to do with him.

The size of the district where he lived was large enough that taking a train to travel around was still within reason, but seeing the endlessly stretching road of greenery and flowers before him was making him question a lot of things.

"Alice?"

"?"

The young blonde girl couldn't tell why Daiya had gone pale, and it was obvious that his voice was also trembling a little, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

"Did we take the wrong train?"

"Huh? No way! Why? Did we?!"

"I mean..." He glanced at the girl and then back at the lush scenery surrounding them. "This doesn't look like the city anymore to me."

"I only used to live in Iris a while ago." Alice crossed her arms.

"The Blue District?"

"Yeah! It didn't look like this at all, but it didn't look like Cosmos either. You know, I was wondering about that for a while now. I don't think Glint City is simply just a city."

Daiya brought a hand to cover his mouth as he listened intently. Glint City being more than just a city is something he heard rumours about before, but more often than not, it was very uncommon for people who lived in the city to leave their own district.

Come to think of it, why did people hardly leave their district in the first place? If he were to think of the Indigo District as a whole, it was quite big. Having only lived here for most of his life, this was perfectly normal, but for anyone else who knew the world outside, wasn't that area a little too large for a district?

While trains like this existed, the other reason people didn't visit other districts too much was that neither tourists nor the citizens could simply go wherever they wanted. The city was full of restrictions, so it was easier to stay in your lane than to either go through hell to get the paperwork and permissions to visit special areas, or to get in trouble to check out some other district you didn't care about to see if an urban legend was real.

"If you think about it like this, it makes sense right? Maybe each district is its own city! So even though as a whole the area is called Glint City, this explains why each district is so disconnected!"

"But isn't that odd? If there were these many different cities, wouldn't it be more common knowledge? Unless... I see... that's it!!"

Striking a pose, Daiya covered his face with his bandaged hand, his blue eyes glaring at Alice as they peaked between his fingers, and his voice lowering to a more serious tone.

"This is all the doing of the Scarlet Mafia!"

"The Scarlet Mafia?!"

"That's right, it's a secret organization running the city from the shadows. They are using the forbidden heaven doors to connect cities from other worlds and hiding them as districts in order to complete the universal aegis link. By lining up the cities in a perfect position, and naming them after the colors of the sealed beast, they will activate the secret sacrifice spell and take everyone's lifeforce in order to fire the forbidden weapon that will destroy the world once more."

"Of course!" Alice simply accepted it all without question. "And that's why they don't want anyone to find out, so that the Unified World Goverment can't stop them!"

"Exactly. If anyone does find out, they probably wipe their memories clean to keep the secrets of the city intact. At this rate, we will surely be in mortal danger, but we can't stop here. Especially now that they are finally making their move. Beat witness to the truth, Alice, I have proof that the Scarlet Mafia is real!"

"Hm? Did you get it from the World Detective Agency?!"

"Of course, it's top secret, but now that we are in this together, I'll let you look at this."

After looking for it on his phone, Daiya showed Alice a picture taken with very blurry quality. It was hard to make out some of the letters in the image, but from what Alice could see it was a pamphlet with the words:

"A...i.. Scarlet - we do anything!"

"What is this?"

"Apparently, this pamphlet was being spread around the Blue District just recently. And look at this tagline, "we do anything". Isn't it a very clear threat? "If you don't obey us, we are capable of doing anything!" or "If you want someone dead, we can get the job done, we do anything after all!""

"So the Scarlet Mafia is finally making themselves known, huh?"

"This is why I received a request from the world's ultimate detective themselves to investigate this organization, I will stop them at all costs."

While it's true that Daiya was part of the World Detective Agency, he was still a detective at the lowest rank possible. Because of Daiya still being a high school student at Palette Academy, the agency couldn't possibly hire him as a full-time detective just yet. Instead, he joined as an intern, he was given the title of apprentice and would receive special lessons on the weekends.

The white box with three blue diamonds attached to his belt served as both his detective badge, and to show he was only at the apprentice rank. Apparently, the head of the organization, Heaven, was the world's ultimate detective. A powerful entity who could solve any mystery with ease, someone spoken of in legends, the only living human to know the truth of the world.

No one knew their real identity, but to Daiya, Heaven was his ultimate aspiration. Oddly enough, a message had been sent to him from the organization, a message with the recipient stating it was from "Heaven". Attached with the message was a photo and specific instructions, telling him to investigate this organization.

To think Heaven of all people had noticed him was unthinkable. His first thought was that this message was a scam, or someone playing a prank on him, but that couldn't be the case. The message was sent through the organization's private system, something no one else but its members had access to.

Of course, Heaven was also said to be the genius that created this private system in the first place, Daiya knew it was impossible for anyone in the entire world ever to be able to bypass Heaven's security. It was unthinkable.

After giving it some serious thought, Daiya concluded this was a real message.

"You know, if this organization already made their move, do you think this is why our vice president didn't come back?"

Hearing this, Daiya looked down with a pained look, his clear-blue eyes looking out the window for a moment before adjusting his tie and trying to regain composure. As members of the student council, they were supposed to set an example for other students. For their vice president to be missing for more than two weeks now, it was unthinkable. What if something happened to them, what if they simply couldn't make it back even if they wanted to? For Daiya, even more than Heaven's request, saving his friend was his biggest motivation for this trip.

"It's okay, Alice." The brown-haired boy took a deep breath. "We are going to bring that idiot back no matter what."

"Now that's more like it! Even though Risa is still going to kill us when we get back!"

Even if it was for a good cause, the student council president, Risa Rilideus, was still the scariest, most strict person Daiya had met in his life. Neither his teachers at the academy, nor his instructors at the agency, or his own parents came close.

While trying to stop his fear from consuming him, Daiya was snapped back to reality as the train abruptly stopped with a violent movement.

Murmurs from the crowd filled up the train as Alice looked out the window, but she couldn't see anything off from the spot where they were. Nothing but endless greenery surrounded them, it was as though train tracks ran across a magical forest, and they were now stranded in the midst of that ethereal wonderland.

"I don't think we are there yet, did they have to make an emergency stop?"

Alice was unsure if trains ever made emergency stops at all, but it was all that came to mind. At the very least, with this being the only running train today, they shouldn't have to worry about another one crashing into them.

"Did we find out too much? The Scarlet Mafia might have more power than I thought..."

"It's okay! If they get you I'll make sure there's good food at your funeral at least!"

"?!"

"Do you really think you have what it takes to stop this organization? Might as well accept your death and let it happen."

"..."

«

"Did we find out too much? The Scarlet Mafia might have more power than I thought..."

"It's okay! If they come to us this is your chance to stop them, right? I believe in you!"

"I don't like how you are making it sound like I'm going to fight them alone."

"Listen here, you are a member of the World Detective Agency! I'm just a cute little frail girl! Do you really expect me to do any fighting?"

"That's true..." Daiya let out a sigh. At the end of the day, he knew Alice was only here for moral support, if it came down to it, the only one who could do something about this situation was him.

As more time passed, the other passengers were starting to become visibly annoyed. Five minutes, ten minutes, half an hour. The train never started moving again.

"This train is never moving again, is it?"

"I can't do this anymore." Alice leaned against the window as the light quickly left her eyes. "I am so bored, I can't wait any longer! I refuse to!!"

Daiya scratched his head, it's true that with every second that passed it only felt like this would go on forever.

"Do something, Daiya! Do! Something!! Do! Some! Thing!!!"

"Fine, fine." The boy stood up, taking a moment to stretch and crack his fingers. "Let's go take a look."

"Yeah!!"

Leaving their bags behind, Alice happily followed the boy who made his way past the next train car, and towards the corridor leading into the room where the conductor was. Looking at the faces of the other passengers as they walked by, it was apparent that no one else was having a good day either.

As Daiya came to a sudden halt, Alice bumped against his back, her small figure recoiling a bit.

"Ow ow, why are you stopping?"

"Look," he turned around and pointed towards the door just a few steps behind him. "The train doors are open."

"Hmm..."

Both stepped out for a bit, if they squinted their eyes, they could faintly see the next train station far away in the distance. Even though it gave them a faint glint of hope, it was far enough that it could probably take hours to get there if they were to walk.

Daiya looked at Alice, by the expression on his face she could tell he was considering just going for it, but-

"Yeah, I'm not walking there!" She gave him a somber smile.

"But if we-" "Yeah I'm not walking there!!"

Daiya sighed defeated, if Alice made her mind up, it would take more effort to convince her otherwise than to walk there.

Walking back into the train, they approached the train car where the conductor usually was. As they got closer, Daiya started to wonder where to go from here, maybe it was best to knock on the door and call out for the conductor. If they got in trouble for going there, they could just make up an excuse. It's not like they could yell at them after making them wait for so long anyway.

Before Daiya could reach a conclusion, Alice simply reached for the handle and opened the door with no effort. The boy scratched his head in frustration as he followed Alice inside the control room.

"Hello?"

Alice called out as both stepped in, her voice was heard loud and clear, but they were only met with eerie silence.

Looking around that empty room, the moment his foot bumped into something, Daiya finally noticed what was lying on the floor: the body of a young man.

He was completely motionless with his face facing the cold floor, if they were to roll his body around, surely something disturbing awaited them.

"Are you okay?!"

Daiya called out, but there was no response.

"A-Alice... is the train conductor...?"

"Okay! Mr. detective, this is your time to shine!"

"Huh?!"

"Isn't checking the crime scene your speciality? Let's start the investigation! As a detective make sure you properly investigate the cause of death!"

Daiya took a deep breath, he knew a day like this would come sooner or later. Alice wasn't wrong, investigating a death scene like this was a detective's job. In fact, finding the crime scene this early was a good thing, it was the best possible place to gather clues and reach for the truth. He knew that but...

Simply looking at the body that lay motionless, thinking about how this was someone who had their own life, their own dreams, seeing it all come to an end just like that. He couldn't stop his hands from shaking.

"Right..."

Daiya gave a single step forward. He couldn't back down, he couldn't let Heaven down, and he had to save his friend. As a detective, he had to find the truth.

Yet, as a detective, he had made a fatal mistake. In this train stopped in the middle of nowhere, if someone had gone as far as murdering this person... then there was nothing to assure they would be safe.

The moment he heard Alice let out a loud gasp, it was already too late.

The sound of a gunshot reached him before he could even turn around. Alice's body was flung onto the floor, and a pool of disturbing red blood rapidly started to stain her white summer uniform.

The moment he turned around to see the direction where the gunshot came from, his eyes met the last person he wanted to see at a time like this.

Somber, green eyes were glaring at him with an empty stare.

It was Risa Rilideus, the student council president of Palette Academy.

« « « « « « « «

"Alice!"

Daiya could hear his own voice let out a loud yell as he moved a step forward only to halt in place. The gazes of several people waiting at the train station all focused on him for a few seconds, before going back to mind their own business.

Sweat rolled down his neck, the weight of his backpack that had been left at the train was now pressing against his back once more. The busy sounds of a hectic morning drowned out everything around him.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow."

The petite blonde pressed her palm against the side of her head. Her body didn't suffer any injuries at this moment, but the lingering sensation still remained enough to cause a piercing headache.

Relief washed down the detective's heart only for a familiar sight to put him in high alert once again. Even though it was now coming to a halt, the light blue halo resting on top of that girl's head had been spinning at an alarming speed. While it was normal for it to move ever so slowly, this was the first time he saw it acting like this.

"Did you have one of those dreams again?"

Alice had to take a minute to calm down. She took a deep breath, adjusted the box-like device with a long antenna attached to her left ear, and then looked at Daiya again.

"Yeah. What do you remember?"

The same way Alice was the only one who took Daiya seriously when he ranted about the Scarlet Mafia and the World's Broken Light Organization, Daiya was the only one who sincerely believed in Alice's prophetic dreams - the Reverie Reset. To Daiya, this was Alice's secret power granted by the seven angels of the end of the world, a power that let her experience the history of the world in her dreams.

That said, Daiya himself was terrible at remembering his dreams. While it was common to hear stories from his friends and classmates about crazy adventures, or bizarre experiences in dreams. Daiya himself has never remembered any of his dreams once.

No matter how much he tried to rattle his head, he couldn't remember much. Last night he stayed up watching the new episode of a fantasy anime, then he went to sleep and... it was suddenly morning. The same as always.

If there was something that stood out, it was that this morning he received the most unexpected message in his GDA email, a direct request from Heaven to investigate the Scarlet Mafia. The message contained secret instructions he could not reveal to anyone, as well as pictures of the pamphlet saying they would do anything. Thinking about it, he shouldn't have shown it to Alice.

(Showed it... to Alice?)

For some reason, his hands were suddenly growing cold. If only for a second, the image of Alice's dying body flashed in his mind, followed by the face of someone he knew well.

"Risa?!"

"In my dream, the train stopped after a while, when we went to investigate, the conductor was dead, and then, I think they got me too. I didn't see what happened, was Risa there?"

"I don't know, I don't know but..."

Alice quickly glanced at the screen of her phone to check the time and then put it away while looking around. There were ten minutes before the train would depart. A train going from the Indigo District to the Green District was rare. In fact, they had originally planned to take the "Rainbow Express" a quite expensive train, sponsored by Heaven, that travelled directly to the Blue District, but the train was cancelled last second.

Only minutes after the cancellation, the Rainbow Express VI quickly became fully booked by all the people who rushed to buy tickets for the last remaining train of the day instead. It was common knowledge that the Blue and Green districts were next to each other, so if someone were looking to travel without caring too much about the luxuries of the main train, this wasn't a bad option.

"Let's find her, if Risa is getting on the train too then she's skipping class too, so she can't get mad at us! Besides, safety in numbers!"

Daiya nodded. If the situation was as dire as Alice saw in her dreams, then being with Risa would certainly help change that future. That said, deep inside, something about this was still bothering him. Whenever he tried to remember, the image of Risa's face flashed in his mind, and it didn't have any positive feelings behind it.

As he and Alice ran through the crowd as fast as they could, he realized finding Risa was more complicated than he originally thought. The person they were looking for wasn't someone who stood out too much at first glance. Being the student council president, he had hardly met her outside of the academy, so he had only seen her wearing their uniform before.

Just like what Daiya was wearing, it was mainly a black winter high school uniform with some room for customization; while Daiya's jacket had some blue outlines, Risa's usually had a bright green that matched perfectly with her eye color. And instead of the plain black pants, she had a plated green skirt.

As for the president herself, even if up close she always exuded a powerful air of authority, from afar she easily blended in with the crowd. One of her biggest defining features might have been her glasses, and that she would usually tie her brown hair in a ponytail. Looking through the crowd and all the different hairstyles present here, it wasn't doing much to help.

Daiya and Alice had forced their way through the crowds, going towards the stairs leading out to the station to get a better look at anyone who rushed in to try and make it in time, but there was no sight of Risa anywhere.

Out of breath, both stood by a corner. A group of tourists rushed through the door connecting the stairs and the boarding area while making a lot of noise. It seemed to bother the other passengers, but the tourists didn't care one bit. A young man sighed as a vending machine with different types of coffee ate his coins without giving him anything in exchange, and another girl let out a yell as she tripped, only to be caught by a man who was clearly a foreigner.

Risa was nowhere to be seen.

With the announcement that the train would be departing soon being heard loud and clear throughout the station, Daiya and Alice looked at each other and reluctantly fought their way through the crowd and towards the train.

Recklessly jumping towards the doors that could close at any time, both made it in, barely in time.

"Do you think Risa is on the train too?"

Both put down their bags on empty seats across from each other and took a moment to catch their breath as the train slowly started to depart.

"When the train stopped, there was a moment when the doors opened, maybe she could have gotten on th-" Alice suggested but then shook her head. "No, but that was pretty far from here. If the train stops again, let's hide somewhere safe. For now, we should still try to look for Risa, if she's really here with us it should be easier now."

"Wait!"

Daiya grabbed his phone and the blonde's device then immediately began to ring with the instrumental version of a song from a popular rock band. Alice questioned why he was calling while they were in front of each other, but picked up the call anyway.

"Listen," Daiya pointed his phone at Alice. "The demonic curse from the organization of broken lights prevents me from remembering what happens in the ethereal realm. This is why, Alice, you are the chosen one. Please help me solve this case and bring justice to the world!"

"Ah." As an expert in Daiya-speak, she was quick to understand his plan. "If you find anything of interest, you can tell me immediately, and if something happens, I'll remember!"

"Exactly! With the power of the detective of megiddo and your power of dreams, we'll get through this easily! The agency will have no choice but to acknowledge my prowess!"

"So that's how it is, I'm just a convenient little tool to help you go up in your detective rank! Nothing more than something to be used and discarded. Hah... so that's how Daiya really feels huh?"

"Don't make it sound so wrong!"

"Hehe, just kidding! Let's solve this case, super master detective Daiya!"

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

With both giving each other a thumbs up, they walked in different directions. No matter what, the young detective was not about to let the prophecy in Alice's dream come true.

Even though both had kept their phone on speaker, there wasn't much but the background noise of the train coming from both sides.

The Rainbow Express IV had a total of four passenger train cars and a smaller one where the control room was, generally, the door leading to it would always be locked, so only staff had access. As for the remaining ones, the selling point of this train was that the first train car was the most affordable one, with each car getting fancier the further back into the train you went.

Daiya and Alice had initially boarded the train in the first train car, the less fancy one. While Alice had gone to check on the other passenger areas, maybe he should try to look for the place where the crime took place in Alice's dream.

Both as a member of the student council and as a part of the detective agency, always following rules was something deeply burnt into his brain. Rules were always there for a reason, no matter what, never do anything to break them. That's something that his parents always told him, it was something that he couldn't easily defy, at least not when he was on his own like this.

Even though he was only walking around the second cart right now, an uneasy sensation had already started to tug at his heart. He had already seen the faces of everyone boarding this cart, Risa was not there. If Alice was checking the fancier carts the natural course of action was to check on the control room.

Going back to sit next to his bag and then standing up before sitting again, Daiya continued to glance in the direction of the corridor leading to the room where the conductor was. He knew he had to go, but it felt like every single person here was glaring at him, judging him for doing something he shouldn't.

With the image of Alice's corpse flashing through his eyes again, he shook his head and smacked his cheeks. That's wrong, this isn't how a super master detective should act. That's right, this uneasiness, it was the curse of the broken lights, wasn't it? Of course! And to think he was falling for something like that! He couldn't allow it!

Clenching his bandaged hand into a tight fist, Daiya stood up. Holding his breath, he began walking towards the door leading to the control room. Walking all the way here was a short distance but it felt like it had taken him hours. Now what? The door should be locked tight, should he try to call out to the staff on the other side? Should he try to find a way to open the door on his own? Was this door really locked? It's not like it was common for people to try opening it while the train was in transit.

As his hands reached for the handle of the door, the train came to a sudden stop. Just like in Alice's dream.

"Alice?"

ϟ"Yeah, it stopped around the same time."ϟ

The voice on the other side of the phone replied, but then went silent again. Daiya's body had frozen in place with his hand on the handle of the door. If things were going to play out like in the dream, then someone would break past this door and murder the conductor. Standing here was the best course of action if he wanted to catch the criminal, it was what a true detective would do.

He stood in place, staring at the door for several minutes, but nothing was happening. Maybe it was going to be okay, maybe the dream wouldn't come true, maybe it was okay to leave.

Before he could realize it, he had turned around and started walking away. Going back to where his bag was, he noticed the doors to the train had opened, just like Alice said. At this rate, would it be safer to get Alice and run away as far as possible?

ϟ"By the window in the last car-! Ahhhhhg!!"ϟ

Alice's voice was cut off by a horrifying scream. No matter how much Daiya called out to her, there was no response.

With a mad dash, the boy ran to the last train car as fast as possible. Was there still a way to save Alice? Was there a way to stop the culprit? Was he going to be next victim?

As all these thoughts raced through his head, his limbs grew cold the moment he saw Alice's body collapse backwards against one of the larger, fancy seats of the last train car. The second she saw those lifeless eyes staring at him with her mouth open, her body sprawled backwards with her back bent against the soft fabric covering the seat, he knew it was too late.

Standing just a few steps in front of that lifeless girl, was the person that they had searched for so desperately.

Was she... the culprit?

But why?

Why would Risa go this far?

No, as a detective this was the wrong train of thought. He needed to focus, to fight his fear. It was time to reset his thoughts.

Right now, the why didn't matter yet, but the how. How did she do it? What was the murder weapon? A knife? A gun? It was hard to see from where he stood. He couldn't see Risa eye to eye, but he could feel her piercing glare.

He didn't want to look at Alice like this, he wanted to forget all of this ever happened, but after glancing at blood raining down her forehead, he could clearly see the gunshot wound. Just like in Alice's dream.

With the world becoming blurry, the dream was coming to an end once again.

"Risa is the culprit. Risa is the culprit. Risa is the culprit." He muttered endlessly to himself in a desperate attempt to remember.

« « « « « « « «

"Risa is the culprit."

"No!! Give me my money back, I need this, please!"

The muffled pleas of a man who lost his money to a broken vending machine reached Daiya. Slowly, the noises around him became louder. His hands were shaking, and it felt like he was experiencing an odd deja vu.

The last thing he knew was that Alice had a Reverie Reset and they were looking for Risa. They had run and searched across the crowd gathering around the train to no avail.

"Daiya." Alice was breathing heavily, looking at the ground with a hand pressed against her forehead. She looked pale and frail, like she would collapse on the floor at any time now. Despite this, the girl spoke resolutely. "Risa was deep in the luxury cart, one of the seats on the right side by the window!"

The original plan was to travel together with Risa in order to stay safe, if they knew her location, it would be easy to regroup. Yet... just now.

"Risa is the culprit."

Why did he mutter that to himself out of nowhere? No, why did Alice suddenly know where Risa was? Moreover, she said that in the past tense, So that didn't mean that was where Risa was at this very moment.

As words scrambled in his head, he had to put these clues together.

Alice died on the train, Risa is the culprit, Risa was in the luxury cart.

Originally, Daiya and Alice were going to travel in the main Rainbow Express, a train that was luxurious as a whole, so it wasn't like they couldn't afford the luxury cart here. The reason they didn't take it was because the process to get these tickets was a hassle, so the chance of them missing the train altogether was way too high with anything but the basic tickets.

In other words,

(If Risa were to get on the train like that, she might be cutting it really close too.)

The announcement stating the train would depart soon played on the speakers.

Alice sighed ready to give up but Daiya quickly stopped her, and instead walked closer to the door leading deeper into the station.

"We couldn't find her because she's not here yet, she should be late too!"

There was no guarantee that they could make it if they waited any longer. If they missed the train Daiya would fail Heaven's once-in-a-lifetime request. As for Alice, she couldn't accept defeat so easily.

One second, ten seconds, time moved slow enough for this to feel like an eternity.

And then, they saw her. The student council president was running down the stairs and rushing towards the boarding area of the station.

Taking a deep breath, Alice screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Everyone run!! There's a murderer here!! They just killed my friend!! They have a knife!! Run!!"

Reacting to a really strong hit by Alice's elbow, Daiya let himself fall on the floor, pretending to collapse lifelessly.

The crowd reacted in seconds, some boarding the train faster, some making a circle around as they approached the students to assist them, but more importantly, many rushing back deeper into the station to escape, cutting off Risa's path before she could make it past the door.

As Daiya started getting up with Alice's help, he noticed a security guard rushing towards them. They surely couldn't get away with this so lightly, but it was a desperate measure.

The doors to the luxury train car were already closing, but as expected, the entrance to their own car was still open. Boarding the train like this would only add to their crimes, but it was their only choice.

As both locked their sights on the remaining open door, a familiar voice made Daiya's blood freeze over.

"Why are you two-?!"

The student council president was standing a single step behind them. How did she get past the commotion blocking the way? It was not humanly possible. How did she catch up to them?

Daiya could only keep eye contact with her for a few seconds, before his sight moved to the purse hanging to her side. Her slender hands clad in bridal gloves were reaching for something.

"Daiya, go!"

Alice pushed the boy forward before hurling herself at the girl. She didn't tackle her away, or try to hurt her, instead, she embraced her as hard as she could.

As the president's curvy body pressed hard against Alice's frame, the moment Alice let go, Risa fell to her knees, the world around her became nothing but a blur as she collapsed on the cold floor.

image [https://64.media.tumblr.com/0d2886281caa5eaff70d020df14f5f9c/21a8572bb83e2e94-54/s1280x1920/a984a0dee37a3046ff9228270294fbea68ef0da7.pnj]

The blonde girl knew this was a low blow. While she didn't understand the reason, she had known Risa well enough to know that she absolutely despised any kind of physical contact. Despite having a very attractive body, she would always go out of her way to cover as much of her skin as possible, not only because she didn't like being seen, but to make sure no one could directly touch her either. There was not a single time in the past three years that she's known her, where she hasn't seen Risa wearing her long gloves, with her legs covered by a white pantyhose and more often than not, she always wore clothes with long sleeves. Even when the uniform changed for summertime, Risa would insist on wearing the winter uniform full of layers, even if it meant breaking the rules as the student council president. It was without saying that she also avoided simple greetings like shaking someone's hand. If you sat too close to her, she would immediately move away. If you ever tried to hug her, she would immediately refuse.

For someone like this to receive such sudden, close physical contact, it made her shut down immediately.

Daiya couldn't see what happened properly, he could only hold his breath as he stood inside the train, waiting for Alice to make it in time. There was a loud commotion behind her, but running as fast as she could, Alice jumped right into the train, sliding against the floor as she crashed inside and bumped into one of the seats.

With the Rainbow Express IV now departing, Risa lay on the floor, unable to move a single finger and rapidly losing her breath.

"Alice... why?"

A single murmur escaped her lips as the train departed.

☆

"What happened?!"

"It's... fine."

Daiya helped Alice stand up but she could hardly keep her balance, it was almost like seeing someone who had gotten drunk after downing several bottles of alcohol.

The passengers gave them weird looks, but neither cared enough to say a single word to them. They probably assumed it was a drunk couple who messed around a little too much, so it was better to steer clear of them.

Eventually, they finally made it to their seat. Surprisingly enough, not a single staff member had called them out for the scene they made earlier.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know." Alice rested her upper body on the table standing across them. "I feel... weird."

Alice Hoshiyume was a girl who lived in dreams. No matter how much she tried to wake up, she would always end up inside a dream again. Because of this, she had a lot of new possibilities that were unique to her. She could say something, see how someone reacted, and if it wasn't the outcome she wanted, she could wake herself up and try again. In fact, you could say that seeing different reactions and outcomes was what kept her going in this endless dream. Thanks to this she had gone through many more experiences than what the average person her age would have, very happy ones, and very painful ones. Yet, she had never in her life felt a sensation like this.

Without a doubt, it happened the moment she hugged Risa. It was like her entire body had been set on fire, her heart was beating faster and faster, it moved at a disturbing speed that felt like it could burst at any second now. Her sight was blurry, and the world around her was spinning. While it's not something she was familiar with, professionals would have likely compared this experience to that of taking very strong psychedelics.

At that moment, what did Risa do to her?

After that, Daiya's voice, the sounds of the train, even her own thoughts, everything was a blur. She was trapped in a world of colors, mystical sounds and ethereal presences dancing around her.

☆

How much time had passed?

Alice's senses ever so slowly started to return to her. Had she fallen asleep at the very end?

"Alice?"

She could tell the boy couldn't hide the worry on his face one bit. She couldn't blame him, after directly opposing Risa like that and causing such a scene, at this point they may not be able to go back to their usual life anymore, maybe this was a one-way ticket in the end.

That said, remembering the pain of being shot reminded her this was a much better option. It's not something she wanted to experience ever again.

The thought that he might have been worried about her instead didn't register in her mind.

"Sorry, it's okay." Alice nodded, shaking her head and pumping herself up as she swung her fists downwards in the air. "It's okay! We'll do something about Risa later! For now, we made it!!"

"At least you seem to be doing better now." Daiya finally let himself relax for a moment, leaning back into his seat. "I was wondering about that, can you explain what happened a little better? I have the feeling there's a lot I'm missing here."

At that moment, the train abruptly stopped once again.

"Huh?"

Alice didn't know what to think. The first time the train stopped, they found the conductor's corpse, but the culprit shouldn't be on this train anymore.

Maybe it was one of those - something Alice had encountered in her dreams before, no matter how much she tried, there were specific events that simply wouldn't change no matter what. Just like how she couldn't save her friend from being bullied back then, was the train stopping one of those events set in stone as well?

"Hmm... if the train stopped the doors should be open." Alice stood up picking up her bag. "It's a long walk, but do you want to get out of here?"

"But if Risa isn't in the train anymore, isn't it fine if we just wait for a bit?"

"I think we should be fine, but you never know what the Scarlet Mafia is up to!"

"You know about the Scarlet Mafia?!"

"Shh." The girl placed a finger over her lips and gave him a wink. "Let's go!"

Unsure of what to expect, the rookie detective followed Alice towards the metallic doors leading out into the open field.

"Man, it sure is gonna be a long walk from here. Daiya..." She looked into the boy's eyes with an innocent, pleading look. "I'll give you the chance to carry me!"

"Don't worry, walking is good for your health!"

"Sooo... that's a no?"

"It's a no!"

Alice sighed defeated.

Immediately after, as a disturbing sound reached the detective, Alice's body collapsed on the floor. The pristine greenery was now stained with her deep red blood.

The boy rapidly turned around only to see a tall, hooded figure run away. They didn't go into the train, if he ran after them, could he catch up and capture them? No, more importantly.

"Alice!"

The boy knelt down, holding the girl in his arms as she rapidly bled out. The gunshot this time had hit close to her heart, but she was still conscious. Was there any way to save her?

"Cell...phone... call my cellphone..."

It was such an odd request at a time like this, but he couldn't refuse. The moment he called her phone, it began to ring inside the pocket of her skirt. With half of the phone already sticking out from the moment Alice collapsed, he reached for it without hesitation and answered the call.

"Find the truth... before this dream ends..."

Find the truth? Somehow, he understood the reason for the call almost immediately. If this was ultimately one of Alice's dreams, then he wouldn't be able to remember anything.

That's right, this was a dream, this was just one of Alice's dreams. He repeated this over and over again in his head, but it didn't make anything feel any less real. The smell of iron getting stronger as that young girl's blood stained his own clothes, the pained expression on her face as her life slipped out of her, the fear, the anxiety, the pain in his heart. It was all real.

At the end of the day, dream or not, he was Daiya Kaida, a detective who would solve the mysteries of the world one day. That's right, he had to find the truth, he was the only one who could do it.

It didn't leave a good taste in his mouth, but he left Alice's dying body behind with her phone placed close to her.

He gripped his own phone as he walked back onto the train. The culprit had already run away into the distance, if he tried to go after them, Alice's dream would end before he found anything.

He didn't know how long it would take before Alice woke up. As someone who was never good at remembering his dreams, he had to overcome that barrier.

(Take a good look at everything around you. Burn it into your mind. Any clues, anything that stands out. This train, the faces of every passenger. Remember it all. Remember it. Remember it. Remember it. You have to remember it.)

The reason he had gone back into the train was because according to Alice, she wasn't the only victim. In her first dream, she claimed they went into the control room and found the conductor's corpse. If there were clues somewhere, it would definitely be on that crime scene.

Steeling himself, he held the door's handle leading to the control room with a tight grip, and the door opened with ease.

"The door wasn't locked."

He spoke loud and clear into the phone for Alice to hear.

Once inside, it was just as she said, the body of a young man in his twenties lay on the floor. If the train stopped when he was killed, then this was the initial crime scene. Up till now he only had experience solving riddles sent to him by detective organization as part of his tests, it was the first time seeing the real deal.

He knew he had to hurry, but he prioritized looking for any other clues before having to look at the corpse.

Looking at the control cabin, there were two screens, with several other buttons surrounding it, as well as a device that likely measured the speed of the train. Daiya didn't know what any of this meant, but one thing did stand out.

"A screen in the control cabin has a little warning icon on the upper right corner."

Why was this warning icon here? He tried tapping on it, but nothing happened. Maybe this screen wasn't a touch screen, or maybe the train's power being down now was stopping it from working properly.

What about the door? When he walked in, the door wasn't locked, it simply opened. That meant that the assassin would have needed to break the lock, murder the conductor, close the door behind them, and then go outside where he shot Alice.

Something about that wasn't right.

"The door doesn't seem to have been tampered with, and there's no damage anywhere either."

Something about speaking to his phone like this only caused him more distress. Was Alice still listening to him? There was nothing but silence coming from the other side. Was this... really a dream? Was Alice going to wake up? Or in the end, was it all just a lie? What if this was just the reality he had to accept from here on?

No, it wasn't the time for this. He had to focus on this investigation. There were two things that immediately stood out to him.

The door wasn't tampered with, but did the assassin really enter this room in the first place? Did they enter the train in the first place? Alice and Daiya had been standing by the train entrance with their backs towards the train, but they had turned around to look at the distance. Had the bullet hit Alice from inside the train, it would have hit her on her left side, yet, it was a shot that came from behind her.

Moreover, the murder weapon had been a gun, with a bullet deadly enough to cause Alice immense blood loss in seconds.

That's right, the murder scenes didn't match up. Looking at this control room, there was no blood around the conductor. As much as he wanted to avoid it, the only way to have an answer would be to examine this corpse properly.

Holding his breath, Daiya knelt down, looking at the young man. He had short brown hair, and looked to be in his mid-twenties. He wore a simple white t-shirt. Despite his shirt being pure-white, it didn't have a single stain of blood.

What was his cause of death?

Since the conductor was lying face down, Daiya rolled his body over, revealing an orange tie that had a badge with the train's logo on it. Looking at the state this man was in more closely, that's when he noticed something was out of place.

According to Alice, the corpse of the conductor would be here. Yet, how did Alice know he was really dead if there was no blood? Had they checked this corpse properly before?

After all, this man was still breathing.

At that moment, Daiya's sight became blurry, he rapidly started to lose control of his body, it was as though the world was starting to fall apart. Unbeknown to him, the blue halo on top of Alice's head had started to spin, going faster and faster as Alice was losing the battle to stay conscious.

"The conductor isn't dead!"

Almost as if reacting startled by Daiya raising his voice, the conductor was jolted awake.

"W-W-What is happening?! Who are you-?!"

He screamed in panic, but Daiya could hardly see anything anymore.

He had to remember this, he had to remember this moment, he had to remember everything he experienced up till now. He couldn't let this go to waste, he had to make sure this dream would never come true.

« « « « « « « «

"No!! Give me my money back, I need this, please!"

The muffled pleas of a man who lost his money to a broken vending machine reached Daiya, but he was forced fully awake by Alice suddenly yelling at him.

"The conductor isn't dead!"

"The conductor...?"

For Alice to say this out of nowhere, there had to be meaning behind it.

Daiya could only trace back his memories of this day. He was at a loss, but somehow, it was like the clues were piling up. Looking at Alice's pleading eyes, it was as though she expected an answer from him.

Did he have enough clues to solve the mystery? Could he really stop that dream from coming true?

At the time being, if he were to put the events that took place today in order, it was as follows:

After arriving at the station with Alice, the main Rainbow Express had been cancelled. They booked tickets for the basic ride in the Rainbow Express IV, a train with four different tiers of luxury options.

Once they were waiting at the train station, Alice's demeanour changed. She claimed she had a Reverie Reset, a prophetic dream where both she and the conductor would get killed in the train shortly after the train suddenly stopped. However, Risa was on that train too.

They had looked for Risa but failed. Their objective had been to reunite with the girl so they could find safety in numbers, but Alice's new, sudden statement carried some weight behind it. The conductor wasn't dead.

Piecing what he knew together, two things stood out.

If the conductor wasn't dead, the only target was Alice, and Alice's death happened after the train stopped. If the conductor wasn't dead, why did the train stop? Had he passed out, had he fallen asleep?

Somehow, at that moment, something clicked.

The yell that he heard just now, the pleading man at the vending machine, where had he heard that voice before?

He had nothing but a hunch to go on, but at times like this, it was the very first lesson that he learned from Heaven. Always trust your intuition.

Ignoring Alice, Daiya hurried over to the man who dejectedly started walking away from the vending machine, and forcefully pulled on his shoulder, forcing him to turn around.

A young man in a white t-shirt let out a yawn, barely looking at Daiya while fighting to stay awake. The moment he saw the badge on the man's tie, the boy knew he had found the answer he was looking for.

"Are you the conductor of the train that is about to depart?"

"Huh? Yeah, I am, why? Oh shoot, I should get going!"

Without saying a word, Daiya forcefully pulled the man's arm, dragging him back to the vending machine. Pulling out his wallet and opening it with a swift movement, Daiya used his other hand to scan his student ID on the machine's screen. Instead of using coins, he used the academy's credit system to obtain a drink from the machine. Without asking for the man's opinion, he chose the option with the most concentrated caffeine and handed it to the man who stood in place half-asleep, confused, and scared.

"Thank you, but-"

Having taken the coffee in his hands, it looked like he wasn't content with the option Daiya had chosen. In response, the detective slammed his arm against the machine, trapping the man between him and the dispenser while glaring into his eyes.

"Drink it all or there will be consequences."

"Y-Y-Y-Yes sir!!"

It took less than three seconds for the man to drink the coffee until the can was empty and then dash away at a crazy speed.

"D-Daiya?" The boy felt Alice tugging on his jacket as he let out a sigh of relief. "We have to go!"

Since he delayed the conductor, despite the announcement that the train would depart soon, it seemed like the doors wouldn't close just yet. But there was something he entirely forgot about.

"Why are you two-?!"

Risa, who was walking through the door leading into the boarding area was now rapidly approaching them. Even though they had been looking for her up till now, almost as if based on instinct and fear alone, both ran away as fast as they could without facing her. It seems like the crowd had worked in their favour because in the end, they had made it to their usual seats, and Risa had not come for them.

☆

"So what happened there? Why were you flirting with that man?!"

"I wasn't flirting!"

"Okay okay, I need a good explanation then, because that totally looked like flirting to me!"

"It wasn't! Listen... I have no idea if this is going to work, to be honest, but okay, you leave me no choice." Daiya held his bandaged wrist and looked at Alice with a smirk. "I guess it's time to present the solution to this case!"

Alice clapped excitedly and looked intently at the detective.

"So the case is as follows, after boarding the train, once we are deep into the area leading to the Green District, the train comes to a stop. Both you and the conductor end up as victims of a merciless killer, but that's not right, the conductor never died."

"Huh, so why did the train stop then?"

"The man at the vending machine earlier, he was the conductor. It was only a hunch though, but I noticed he complained about losing his coins. That vending machine is the type that has those big screens. Those don't take coins, it only works with the academy credit system or using an indigo district card."

Alice only nodded in response, trying to follow along with his reasoning.

"Once I interacted with him, it was obvious he was sleep-deprived, I don't think he ever put coins in the machine at all, maybe he just dropped them somewhere."

"Wait so if that man was the conductor then- Wait. In my dream, you said there was an emergency icon on a screen in the control room!"

"An emergency icon?" No matter how much Daiya scrambled his head, he could not remember it, but if he were to add this to his deductions. "Right, if that man was the conductor, he likely fell asleep. I don't know how this train works, but I am guessing the icon was the train going into an emergency protocol and stopping."

"And then the killer got on the train when it stopped?"

"Exactly! So as long as the conductor doesn't fall asleep, the train won't stop, and that dream won't come true!"

"Whoa! I wouldn't have thought about that, as expected of a super master detective!"

"Heh, I'm still an apprentice though."

Daiya laughed sheepishly. It had been a hectic morning but they could finally relax for a bit and enjoy the sights of the fresh greenery surrounding them.

And then,

the train stopped once more.

"Why?!"

"The conductor! Maybe he fell asleep again!"

He had no choice but to run after Alice who made her way to the control room as fast as she could.

Had they missed something along the way? Were his deductions wrong? At this rate, was this nothing but another bad dream?

"W-W-What are you kids doing, entering this room is forbidden!!"

They were met with the startled cries of the train conductor. He hadn't fallen asleep this time.

"Wait, why are you here?! Shoot, did I forget to lock the door?!"

Instinctively, the man pressed a button, and both could hear a click behind them.

"Why did you stop the train?!"

Alice clenched her fists, moving a step closer towards the man. Even though it was only him, Daiya and herself inside the room, that didn't stop her from frantically looking around, waiting for an attacker to jump at her at any moment.

"L-Let's calm down, okay?" Having taken a good look at Daiya's face, the man didn't intend to fight back. "We received an emergency alert, the gates to the Blue District are closing down, so I was ordered to stop the train until they are done."

Hearing this, Daiya realized that was probably what that icon was. In other words, the train never automatically stopped. It was stopped upon receiving this notice, and being able to take a break, the conductor likely fell asleep afterwards.

"That doesn't matter! Make the train move again immediately!!"

"I'm sorry but I can't-"

Alice's desperate pleas fell on deaf ears, there was no way he would risk losing his job and disobeying orders. Moreover, instructions that involved other districts were more delicate, if he were to keep going it could create a serious problem between the Blue and Indigo Districts.

Daiya stepped in front of Alice, gently pushing her back and shaking his head signaling to calm down.

"We understand if you can't move the train, but did you also open the doors leading outside?"

"Huh? I don't think I- shoot!" glancing at the control panel, the man realized he had messed up. He hurried to press a button to close the doors again, but the sounds of someone repeatedly pulling on the handle of the door leading to the control room were heard. They were very persistent in trying to open the door at all costs.

He had been a little too late.

The man opened his mouth as if to say something to the person trying to enter, but Daiya glared at him, signalling him to keep quiet.

Moving ever so slowly, both Daiya and Alice walked closer to the control panel and stepped behind the man, almost like they were using him as a shield.

"I know this is hard to believe, but an assassin might have just boarded the train." Daiya whispered as low as he could.

The man immediately went pale. Usually, he would have written it off like nonsense from some kids, but the pressure of feeling his own life threatened by Alice and Daiya being here made him accept it immediately.

"Do you have security on the train, can you ask for help or backup?"

But he could only shake his head at Alice's suggestions.

"Security is supposed to shut down incidents at the station, and I'm travelling without staff since we departed on short notice after the main Rainbow Express was cancelled. If there's a threat here then... it falls on me."

With his hands and legs shaking uncontrollably, the man reached for a stun gun from inside a compartment in the control cabin.

"You kids hide here, I... I will do something about it."

Neither Alice nor Daiya had the confidence to be able to handle the assassin head-on. They could only trust the conductor to do something about it.

As both crouched down and hid under the control panel and behind the conductor's chair, they could only watch the brave conductor as he made his way to the door.

Steeling himself, he readied to open the door and walk into a fight. If someone boarded the train just now, it was his mistake. If he didn't keep these kids, or the rest of the passengers safe, this would haunt him for the rest of his life, and worse, he would lose his job.

As he turned the handle to open the door ever so slowly, several disturbing sounds reached them in succession.

The sounds of gunshots, the sounds of people desperately screaming in terror, and finally, the sound of something large and heavy slamming against the door at full force.

Forgetting how to breathe, the man opened the door, only to reveal a high school girl standing on top of a hooded figure as she shook dust off her hands.

Judging by the large bump in the metallic door, the crashing sound against the door earlier had apparently been caused by this person being hurled against it. With the deadly gun lying on the floor away from the assassin's reach, Risa Rilideus, the student council president of Palette Academy had stopped the culprit and saved everyone.

It seemed like after growing desperate at being unable to find his target, the assassin had tried to harm the passengers, only to be rapidly shut down. It was nothing short of a miracle that no one had received any serious injuries.

With the conductor taking away the hood that hid their face, he realized the assassin was a large old man in strange white clothes. Seeing his large muscles, it worried the conductor that he would be able to break free of his rope, so he was very careful when tying him up, if it broke into a fist fight he knew he would lose immediately.

With the assassin now unable to move, and with the orders to continue, the train departed again. Both Alice and Daiya never left the control room, even now, they decided it was best if Risa didn't see them.

At the very end, they had finally reached their destination, the station that led to both the Green and Blue districts.

Both students waited for a bit to step down and blend in with the crowd, looking around to make sure Risa wouldn't spot them. Unlike the previous station, this one had a ridiculous number of vending machines spread all around. There were machines for food, drinks, clothes, electronic devices,accesories, you name it. Apparently, this very station had become a popular tourist spot in the Green District for that reason.

Once they had realized Risa was nowhere to be seen, Alice could only stretch out and take in the fresh air of the Green District.

"What is that?"

The girl pointed at the sky. Daiya looked intently in the direction Alice mentioned, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"The clouds? Oh! Look! It kinda looks like a dragon! I see, so this is the dragon of the apocalypse. It's finally descending upon us!"

As the students continued to discuss this, a cheerful figure walked past them, happily hopping around until she reached the train.

"So the train did come after all! Guess I should have known that wouldn't be so easy."

Almost as fast as she boarded the train, Caroline Malheur disappeared immediately while blending in with the tourists checking out the vending machines, walking away while holding a chipped bone in her hand.

☆

Uneasy to face the assassin on his own, the train conductor left the control room once more before departing, but the assassin was nowhere to be seen anymore.