♫ You said your favourite colour is blue
You said that if there's no love, so what?
What's wrong? What's wrong with you? ♫
-- 周兴哲 (Eric Chou), 怎麼了(What's Wrong)

Michael and Celeste looked at one another, and Michael gave him a knowing look.

"Maybe not, like you said." Michael smirked, and Celeste shrugged in response.

"Chocolate kept looking at me, but I've only met her for the first time. It was strange."

Chocolate grew embarrassed, "I-I was only looking because you were like what the pretty lady said."

Celeste stood up, and powered down the object. Michael proceeded to point at it, curious. "Where did you get that from anyway?"

"My brother."

"Huh, it's pretty neat."

Celeste nodded in agreement, showing another rare, tiny smile. He stared at the object for a moment longer, before keeping it in his pocket.

"Oh, mister prince charming!" Chocolate exclaimed excitedly. "I actually did see her without her mask too!"

Celeste widened his eyes, pivoting his head back to Chocolate, an expression of incredulity written all over his face. Chocolate didn't seem to notice it, beaming proudly at the two flabbergasted detectives.

Michael swallowed, clearing his throat. "Chocolate, sweetie, ho-how did you see her without her mask?"

"I asked the pretty lady, and she just showed me her face!"

"..."

"..."

The two of them were speechless. This didn't sound like the Peach they knew, she might be capricious, but she was definitely not dumb.

"She...just showed her face to you?" Celeste managed to utter out.

Chocolate nodded vigorously, "can you tell me her name? She didn't want to tell me, she told me to ask you!"

"Peach, her name is Peach." Michael told Chocolate.

Celeste crouched down again, he couldn't believe someone to catch a glimpse of Peach's real face would be a young girl.

She hadn't even hit ten years old!

"Peach? It really suits her! She's really pretty, like the fruit...and the colour!" Chocolate answered, grinning adorably.

Michael smiled painfully at Chocolate, nodding slowly.

"What did you she tell you before she showed you her face? No, why did she even show you her face? What happened at that time? How did you exactly convince her?" Celeste barraged her with multiple questions.

Chocolate frowned, having difficulty keeping up with Celeste's questions.

"Ermmm...I woke up from a nightmare, so I went to play with the dogs. I hate going back to sleep after a nightmare, it really stinks," Chocolate pouted. "So, I played with my dogs for awhile, they were resting, it was so quiet, and then "bam!" they just ran, like "tatatatatat" out! It scared me!"

Chocolate mimicked the way they ran, and Michael cleared his throat. Celeste only listened studiously, impassive.

"So! So, I ran after them, but then, they were so fast, like "bbbbbfffff", so fast!" Chocolate blew out a breath of air, using her fingers to show how fast they moved. "When I finally found them, I saw Peach being chased by them!"

Michael stifled a laugh, and Celeste still didn't react.

"Peach was like...uhm--how do I say it...?" Chocolate trailed off before she lit up, and started to run around.

"I'm just passing through! I'm really just passing through! I'm not here to steal anything or hurt anyone!" Chocolate screamed dramatically, and Michael's shoulders were shaking with mirth. "Why did it have to be robot dogs! Why robot dogs! Why!

Chocolate skidded to a stop, almost falling and Celeste reached out to prevent that. He was finally showing some reaction, his eyes were twinkling in amusement, and his mouth was twitching a little.

"Yeah, it was like that when I saw her! Then they jumped onto her, and I was so shocked! I called my dogs to stop and go away, then I went to help her," Chocolate added on. "She was really hurt, I felt so bad...she took a long time to stand up properly."

Robot dogs were truly more ferocious and powerful that normal dogs. Getting hit by them, especially by their metallic parts, getting bruises was the least of one's worries.

"She thanked me for saving her, she said her bones would break if I didn't do that. That sounds really scary...and painful." Chocolate began to sound scared.

"It's alright, Chocolate, Peach knows how to take care of herself. She's fine." Celeste comforted her. "You can trust me, I'm her..."

"Friend." Michael finished Celeste's words when he started to hesitate.

Celeste looked at Michael, and Michael only shrugged his shoulders in return.

"I'm her friend." Celeste nodded, going along with the bluff.

"Really? Yay, I'm so happy that she's okay!" Chocolate beamed, believing their awful lie.

"So, what did you do after you saw her so badly hurt?" Celeste prompted and Chocolate continued on eagerly.

"Oh, I asked if she needed a doctor and she was like "no, it's okay" and went on to say how she owes me a favour? I don't know what a favour is, so I asked her, and she just said if I wanted anything from her."

"She returns favours, even to a kid?" Michael seemed surprised.

"So, that was when I asked about her mask. I thought she was hiding an ugly scar, and she asked me if I wanted to see her face, I said yes."

"Did she show you right away?"

Chocolate shook her head at Celeste, "she asked me if I can share with her my own drawing of my mother."

The two detectives were perplexed.

"I drew my mother and shared with her, do you wanna see?"

The two of them nodded and Chocolate swiped her hand in the air. The two of them were prompted by their smart lenses to share screens with Chocolate.

This screen share requires your Paint application to view it. Please wait while we launch the Paint application...

Hooray! Your painting have been successfully shared! Now you can show others your masterpiece!

A pair of sky blue eyes accessed the painting in front of him, or to be more specific, a "stickwoman" that is awfully out of proportion on a blank white background. Even the dots that represented her eyes weren't positioned properly, and the smile was crooked.

Michael just burst out in laughter, and the innocent Chocolate just giggled along with Michael. Celeste immediately understood Peach's intentions, and he could guess what Peach would say next.

"Did she say no photos and videos were allowed too? Because she was too shy?" Celeste questioned.

"Yes! Peach said that, and when I said I promise, she took off her mask. She wasn't ugly at all, she was soooooo pretty!"

"So no photos at all?" Michael asked, rather disappointed.

"I did take one photo with the lenses actually, I begged Peach! She said she owes me a huge favour, so it's fine!" Chocolate chirped. "You wanna see it too? She told me to show you too, if you ask!"

Celeste sighed in exhaustion, nodding. Everytime he assumed that he had figured out Peach's actions, she does the exact opposite.

"Well, sure then!" Michael threw his hands up in the air, growing tired of the constant surprises.

Photos successfully downloaded and shared! We, at LÖNE, ensure that the photos are of the highest quality!

The photo showed her revealing her face fully, but she had tilted her head slightly, allowing her to hide half of her face. Her tousled, messy hair framed her small face, leaving room for the viewers to imagine more. She had then used her arm to block her out the rest of her face that was visible.

The only visible part of her was soft, milky peach eyes, gazing right into the camera, along with her arm that covered her face, still with her bodysuit on. Michael found himself momentarily dazzled by the picture, and shook his head.

"Is...is this supposed to be a photoshoot?" Michael snapped out of his daze.

"She's so pretty right?"

Celeste was silent the entire time, gazing right into Peach's eyes in the picture, an indecipherable look in his eyes. He didn't even seem to register the conversation between the other two.

Michael sneaked a peek at Celeste, noticing his fixated state, not saying a word.

"Look! Even prince charming looks so in love!"

Michael coughed, "Chocolate, please, he's not."

He's not right? I mean, she's bloody beautiful in the picture but...

Michael hesitated, glancing back again.

"Are-are you for real, mate?" Michael stuttered out, when he saw Celeste still frozen.

Celeste's eyes began to drift down slowly, and that's when he saw the message written on Peach's arm, with a familiar signature. If the photo wasn't captured with the smart lenses, it couldn't even be seen.

Here's a photo update, the last photo you had was ages ago, blue-haired hottie. If you are really seeing this, you must be obsessed with me, aren't you?

[🍑 Ꭾєα¢н αρρяσνє∂ 🍑]

"That's her reason." Celeste spoke, closing the image. Once again, not answering Michael's question.

"Reason? No, no, that's not the problem here, mate. Are you alright?"

"What are you spouting?" Celeste frowned, not understanding Michael.

"You were just standing there, looking all mesmerized," Michael posed just like the frozen Celeste, before turning to Chocolate. "Aren't I right, Chocolate?"

Chocolate nodded, smiling.

"Let's head back, there's nothing else to do here," Celeste ignored Michael, walking forward. "Thank you, Chocolate."

"I should have known he wouldn't care." Michael grumbled, jogging to Celeste's side.

"Oh, mister detectives, wait!" Chocolate called out and they halted.

"What is it?" Michael inquired.

"Uhm, can you guys visit me again, with Peach?" Chocolate fidgeted nervously. "If you are not too busy..."

"We'll try." Celeste answered in a soft tone.

Michael shot him a look, but didn't retort after seeing Chocolate glowing.

***

Peach devoured her reheated meal, sitting in an unladylike manner. She chewed on her food in a frustrated manner, and Arwen appeared in a hologram form, in front of her.

"What, Arwen?" Peach asked with her mouth full.

"The contusions would be visible now, would you like me to order a delivery of medical supplies?"

Peach swallowed her food, pointing her chopsticks at Arwen. "No, stop that. It's not like I don't get hurt in these missions, it's just...rare."

"Very well, and I assume what you meant to say was that you miscalculated. A mistake which you rarely make."

"Shut up," Peach barked, shoving a spoon of rice with gravy into her mouth. "I'm eating, don't ruin my mood."

A piece of rice flew out from her mouth, passing through Arwen.

"I understand, I will remain quiet until otherwise instructed."

She continued chewing, grabbing the cup on the table counter and gulping the drink down. She exhaled sharply, and she winced when the sudden movements caused a sharp pain in her abdomen.

She was wearing a big, loose shirt that almost touched her knees, and she easily lifted it up. On her toned stomach, there was a bruise forming like Arwen said. The shirt slipped off her shoulder at that moment, and there was a glimpse of another bruise forming.

Peach finished her food, tossing the empty meal box into the trash bin. She moved down from the seat, grimacing as she made her way to the couch, plopping herself down on it.

"Arwen, play the footage between 2:55am to 3:25am."

"Playing footage from your AI helper and Master's plugin."

Peach's eyes were scouring around the area of the surroundings of Rose's house, her breathing soft.

"Löne, activate x-ray heat signature mode."

Activating x-ray heat signature mode.

Her entire vision changed, and she looked around the house, spotting two heat signatures. One belonged to a figure sitting on a wheelchair, ambling along the garden, while the other belonged to a smaller figure, resting on her bed. She also noticed two more heat signatures, belonging to dogs, resting in their kennel.

"This fucking client just had to put me in through path of the richest residential area in Neo," Peach hissed out, irked. "It's a bloody nightmare for us courier, doesn't he know that?"

Peach looked back at the dogs in the kennel, zooming in with her lenses. "Good, stay asleep--"

"Pause it there, Arwen, and move it back a second."

The footage paused and reversed. Peach only glared at the television screen, looking really upset.

"No matter how you look at it, they still look like dogs."

"The creators must have implemented a heat signature system to deceive intruders like you."

"I just needed to pass through! It's a shortcut! I would have wasted twenty minutes trying to go the other way around!

"Trepassing is still a crime, and you will still be considered as an intruder."

Peach couldn't retort to that, it was a fact she can't deny. "Just continue the footage."

"Resuming footage."

The footage immediately resumed from the point where Peach spoke, but Peach urged Arwen to fast forward.

"Stop it right there, and play it."

Peach was rubbing her hands eagerly today, exhaling heavily. She has asked Löne previously to check, with the help of Maddog's plugin, the state of the house. There wasn't any sign of recording equipment around the house, and the child was still sleeping.

Even if the older figure on the wheelchair spotted her, they wouldn't be able to do anything to her. The dogs were sleeping soundly too, and she trusted herself in being quiet.

"Switch off x-ray heat signature vision and activate sticky mode."

Activating sticky mode, to deactivate, simply use the voice command. This mode is designed to enhance your grip strength in a whole new way. It allows you to stick on slippery surfaces, and the longer you hold it, the sticker it becomes! To make it less sticky, you just have to keep moving.

It will be disorienting at first, remember to practice before using it officially! Do not worry, you will be able to master it, good luck!

The Peach in the present could only scoff at the screen."Oh look, it's your master, again. How great." Her tone was completely sarcastic.

"I am afraid I do not understand, I do not see master around."

Peach sighed.

Peach stuck herself onto the glass fence after the messages were gone. She easily climbed her way up, reaching the top and pushing herself over. She dropped onto the grass patch silently, glancing around. The fence would have been impossible to climb with normal shoes, but with Peach's expensive and advanced equipments, it was an easy feat.

"Fast forward until I heard the dogs coming after me."

The footage was a series of images as it moved forward. It resumed the moment Peach turned back while she was running. She hadn't have the slightest clue, till now, how the old woman had noticed her, which was the only explanation for the sleeping robotic dogs to suddenly come to life and chase her. She had stuck to the shadows, sneaking about, and did not approach Rose in the slightest.

Peach was truly unlucky, as Rose had noticed her in the most silliest way. She had mistakenly toggled the binoculars mode in her lenses, by misclicking. She panicked, and had forgotten how to bring up the user interface. She glanced around, jabbing her finger in the air. That's when she noticed a figure moving in the dark, and Rose was easily agitated.

She became paranoid, releasing the dogs and running back into the house without a second thought.

"What is that sound?" Peach swivelled her head, she was almost out of this humongous private property.

There were weird sounds of something mechanical that she couldn't figure out, and the noisy rustling of the grass. She activated night vision mode, and to her horror, two large robotic dogs were charging straight at her.

"Okay, stop, I don't want to watch anymore further than this," Peach shuddered. "I knew it would be a fucking mistake to deliver the package once I saw the address."

"You were very fortunate to have escaped only with bruises."

"Definitely. The little girl saved my life, couldn't say no to what she requested." Peach said, she owed Chocolate her life too.

When people do something for her, Peach would no doubt repay that debt and she would repay them generously. No matter what it was, it was her habit to give back generously to the people she owed.

"Speaking of the little girl, I wonder if the blue-eyed hottie appeared and got my photo...and my message." Peach muttered out thoughtfully, a cheeky smile playing on her lips.

"I do not think that is advisable, Peach."

"Don't worry," Peach waved it off. "The only things visible in the photo are my eyes, my hair and that message."

"Very well."

Looking at the time, Peach realised it was time for another round of her virtual reality gaming session. She headed to the gaming room, picking up a gaming equipment. She was feeling more of a fighter today, and decided to launch one of the most popular first-person hack and slash game in the market.

"Initiating gaming mode."

Peach smirked, wearing her smart goggles that was meant for gaming. "Thank you, Arwen."

***

Celeste was sent back to organizing duty yet again. He had to do this for another week, before the maintenance crew for the automatic organizing system will finally arrive. Even till this day, keeping both softcopies and hard copies was still a requirement in certain industries, the police department was one of them.

This time around, Celeste still didn't have any complaints since he had something new to ponder about now.

The new mesmirizing photo of the notorious Peach, and the message.

Celeste dug into his pocket, taking out the same coin-shaped metal object. He switched it on, flipping through the different pictures until he found a folder.

Peach.

He clicked on it, and the folder revealed the dozens of contents in it. It ranged from pictures, documents, audio recording and even video recordings that had any relation to Peach. There had been an update in the folder, which was the newest photo of Peach.

He opened it, and his eyes zooming into the message on her arm.

Here's a photo update, the last photo you had was ages ago, blue-haired hottie. If you are really seeing this, you must be obsessed with me, aren't you?

[🍑 Ꭾєα¢н αρρяσνє∂ 🍑]

"I'm not obsessed," Celeste mumbled to himself. "You are just an important clue."

Though, those anyone who would stumble upon this folder would beg to differ. It was an obvious borderline obsession.

Despite saying that, his eyes drifted up to meet Peach's eyes unconsciously. He blinked away a moment later, closing the image. He resumed his organising work without another word, and he filed the papers at a rapid rate, not making a single mistake. Nevertheless, he stopped when he read the contents of one of the paper.

This isn't meant for filing.

Celeste frowned, the contents of the paper was an e-mail were particularly inappropriate and private. He noted that it was addressed to the same lazy superior, a gruff middle-aged man with a slight beer belly.

He didn't think his superior would like it if anyone else discovered this scandalous e-mail.

He sorted out everything efficiently, exiting the room, the once quiet environment was now raucous. People walking about, and people being arrested or detained for petty crimes, the murmurs and shouts in different tones and pitches. There wasn't a change in Celeste's expression as he headed straight for his superior's desk.

Two girls were sitted in front of an officer, eyeing one another murderously. Their apperance were atrocious, with their makeup smudged, dishevelled hair and ripped clothes, it was enough to tell people to stay away from them.

The officer handling them sigh pitifully. He didn't even know why he was assigned to handle these girls, when he didn't even understand what they were talking about. He could communicate in English and Spanish, but not in French!

"Pétasse. (Slut.)" The brunette spat out venomously at the redhead.

The redhead scoffed, crossing her legs and flipping her hair. "Ton petit ami a d'abord flirté avec moi. (Your boyfriend flirted with me first.)"

"Je m’en fous! (I don't give a fuck!)" The brunette screeched and the redhead only rolled her eyes.

This triggered the brunette so badly, she immediately lunged for the redhead. The poor Spanish officer panicked, stretching over his table to try and stop them, shouting helplessly.

Soon enough, screams and curses in French flew out from their mouths, their fight escalating quickly.

The other officers in the precinct tried to help, though they didn't dare to handle the girls roughly. They ended up dancing around the girls, unable to do much. The other female officers in the area stepped in to help, but one of them was unfortunately subjected to getting her hair pulled by the two women.

It seems like they were awfully violent.

Two more female officers rushed in, trying to separate both women. One of them was larger in size, and she was the best bet in stopping one of them. Though, the french girls were formidable, as they kicked one of the female officers in the abdomen, causing a chain effect as she bumped into the other bigger size officer harshly.

The bigger size officer stumbled back badly, colliding into another female officer trying to help too.

"Oh my god!" The female officer gasped out, staggering back.

She knew she was gonna fall, and she braced for it, but to her surprise, something prevented her fall. She felt a gentle hand clasping on her shoulder, balancing her.

She glanced up, reeling in shock when she saw Celeste right in her face. Celeste didn't show any reaction, lifting his other hand that held a water bottle. It was the water provided to those who personally visited the police station to report about crimes, and had to wait in line.

He unscrewed the cap, splashing the water over the two ladies. The two of them gasped as the cold water hit them, their fight ending abruptly. They both turned to glare the culprit, and the whole precinct went quiet.

To the ladies' surprise, the culprit was an absolutely gorgeous man. The bottle he held in his hands was still dripping with water, and his expression seemed more broody than usual. He proceeded to shift his body, hurling the empty bottle into a trash bin before looking back at them.

The ladies at this point were utterly captivated by Celeste.

"Grow up, don't involve innocent people." Celeste spoke lowly, before turning his attention to the officer he helped. "Are you okay?"

She gulped, nodding her head vigorously as she withdrew back hastily.

Celeste walked off, heading to his desk, taking back the e-mail and opening one of the drawers, taking out a towel. He looked at the female officer who was dragged into the fight, who also unfortunately got splashed with some water

"Catch." He stated, throwing her the towel and she fumbled about to catch it, stunned.

He clearly didn't care about the two French ladies, not even glancing at them. Instead, he marched his way to the poor Spanish officer who watched Celeste, speechless.

"Samuel, just throw them out, they can settle their own stupid fight." He suggested, a hint of irritation in his fruity voice.

Samuel laughed, sounding both nervous and relieved. "I should, shouldn't I?"

The lazy superior who was munching on some donuts the entire time, also witnessed the scene, astounded. He swallowed the remaining donut in his mouth when he saw Celeste making his way over to him as well.

"Sir." Celeste addressed, sliding the hard copy of the e-mail across the desk.

Celeste didn't know why it was printed out, and neither did he want to know what was going on with his superior's life.

The superior glanced at it, his face growing beet red as he snatched it away. He began to sputter incoherently.

"It was between the papers." Celeste answered tersely.

Michael suddenly barged through the doors, breaking the stunned silence. He was breathing heavily, a permanent grin on his face as he dashed in.

"Yo, Cel, where you at man? Cel!" Michael hollered, not noticing the strange atmosphere.

He jogged past the two ladies and the stunned female officer, giving them a puzzled glance.

"Cel! Hey!" Michael continued calling, finally finding his target. "There you are, come on, mate!"

Celeste found himself being dragged by Michael, and he was perplexed at Michael's action. However, he still trusted Michael enough to be dragged around by him.

"Explain."

"Oh man, I have huge arse news! Peach, it's about Peach!"

"What about her?" Celeste became interested, alert even.

"She made a mistake," Michael disclosed. "She slipped up, big time."

Chapter is pretty long! Oh wow, didn't expect it to be this long xD. My schedule might change for now, like one chapter per two weeks? I am running out of pre-written chapters and I do need to stack up more.

Thank you for reading this chapter, do comment and vote if you want to! Have a great day, everyone!