I don't really know the relationship between the me as Ro and John, but I have always assumed as just friends, not to the level of good or best friends. So, imagine my surprise that he was showing me a document of a rape crime, and a sticky note that was said, 'Probably in relation with Lust Choker'.

I looked up at him in surprise, but John looked dead serious.

"You are one of the people I can trust with this, Ro," John said solemnly.

"But... I'm not a part of the CB. In fact, I'm not a part of the law department at all. Wouldn't this get us in trouble?" I asked nervously, having a terrible feeling about being involved. Sure, it involved the Lust Choker, but I just didn't want to play detective alongside John. I didn't want any legal trouble by poking my nose in business that doesn't involve me as a civilian. Legal detective stuff is a thin line.

"But they don't believe the connection between the Lust Choker and the rape. This will lead to apprehending a wrong justice. So, I need to pursue this lead, and I need help," John continued.

"But you could do it yourself, oh Mr. Great Detective," I said, because it was true despite John's young age that he had solve good big cases.

"There is so much one person could do," John stressed out. "And we don't know where the culprit is going with this. Why the rape now and not once he stole the Lust Choker?"

John looked deep in thought, as if he had more questions in store for the case, but he snapped out of it and addressed me with a reasonable tone.

"The only people that could help me with this case... is not the CB, but people who would believe everything I say and be there with me when I need them most. And one of them is you, Ro," John said.

"Me? Why me?" I asked.

"Why? You are one of my good friends, and smart as a whip. In fact, you will make a great assistant for me," John smiled.

"Thanks but no thanks," I said, because the road I took is the exact opposite of John's and there's no way I'm turning back on it but helping John right now would be the better choice and an opportunity taken. Any way to find the culprit and take the gem from him was a gift of God.

"But I do want to help catch this culprit. Women's chastity are in danger!" I immediately said after, with a slight blush.

"Not exactly..." John said, "For one thing, they didn't do... that. Secondly, it was more like fooling around than anything, except more aggressive."

"Huh? Didn't they say that it was a rape?" I asked.

"It was exaggerated. It was more of an S-M thing with weirder kinks, and a bit of a vampire fetish," John waved his hand around dismissively, but his face suggested otherwise.

So, technically, women's chastity will not be in danger, but it was still traumatizing.

"Plus, the victim was very young, more or less the same age as us. Maybe it was more of a child molester," John sounded out.

"Hmm... the Beast... then again, I wonder... is this really related to the Lust Choker? It could be just another pervert," I said.

"It could, but my gut feeling tells me it's definitely the Lust Choker stealer. There is also one proof, thin but noticeable," John said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The victim, she said she had no recollection on how she was molested. In fact, she stated at the beginning, she was pulled toward the Beast by an irresistible red glow. She said she was taken to it and felt a weird craving, wanting to spend 'time' with him. She regretted that immediately, with no idea where she got the desire to do an unspeakable."

"It was immediately dismissed as a delusion to the CB because whatever came out of the victim's mouth was a blurry recollection that defied logic altogether, but I think differently," John continued.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" I asked.

"Like all good detectives do... and I need your help," John said.

And from here, we started our hunt for the Beast.

***

"What reason for you to be here? Didn't you interrogate me enough?" A girl, slightly taller than both me and John, asked with a pout on her face, and also an uncomfortable glance on her face.

The victim of the Beast... her name was Miley Nelper, a daughter of a baron who went out to town nearby after a disagreement with her parents and came back... worse to wear.

"I know that," John said calmly, "But when you were first interrogated, you were shaken and incoherent with your statement. Now that you are calmer, we can probably take a better statement from you."

"Then... what is she doing here? I haven't heard of another child detective in the CB," Miley said, referring to me.

"She is here as my assist- no, a friend," John retracted 'assistant' after I pinched him at the back... hard.

"Yeah... I thought it would be more comfortable for you to talk with another girl around instead of with just a boy," I said, smiling. Miley smiled back.

"That's thoughtful of you," Miley said, and later sighed. "Fine, fire away your questions."

We were in Miley's house at the sitting room where Miley sat on an armchair opposite of us on a sofa where we sat side by side.

"Can you tell us the story?" John asked.

Miley took a deep breath before she went to her statement, the first that I have ever heard.

"It was at the night after a fight with my Father after a minor disagreement when I met... him. He was just standing there, hood over his head and a bright red glow on him that made me... attracted to him. Before I knew it, I was in bed in an unfamiliar room being..." Miley shivered and I said, "You don't have to go through it again if you don't want to."

"Thank you, but just for understanding my situation, I will give you the long and short of it. It was more of torture than rape, and he ended up biting my neck like a vampire. Then again, is it a vampire?" Miley asked, wondering and gave another shudder at the thought.

"As far as we know, there are no existences of vampires," John said dismissively, being the straight laced person he is despite having seen a ghost last year.

Miley still remained skeptical, so I butted in, "Well, to confirm whether he's a vampire or not, do you remember anything about the guy. Skin color, fangs and whatnot."

John looked at me, but my eyes remained at Miley. She looked thoughtful now.

"His skin wasn't pale... no. I had say that his skin was tanned, not pale from the little I can see. And when he bit me, it wasn't sharp and pointy like real fangs. So, he isn't a vampire," Miley then sighed.

"Why did you sigh? Shouldn't you be happy that it is not a vampire?" John asked.

"I guess... but I kinda like vampires, you know? I did want to meet them someday..." Miley said, with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Yeah, me too, sometimes," I said truthfully.

"...OK," John said, to those responses.

"Well, if he's not a vampire, then what species. It should be narrowed down. Human, wolfman, elf, fairy, demon?" I asked.

"Hmm... I have to say it's between human and elf? That guy doesn't have wings as far as I know, and he had no horns when his hood was pulled down as he bit me. I'm not sure about his ears. And he wasn't as furry as a wolfman... But, his appearance was kind of blurry for me, so I couldn't give you the full image," Miley said.

I nodded, knowing that if it is not a wolfman, it had nothing to do with the Savagery and narrows it down to a simple man lusting after women instead. Unfortunately, it doesn't narrow it down much. Too many perverts.

I was still thinking, when John decided to fire a question of his own, "Can you tell the age?"

Miley shook her head midway before putting a finger at her chin instead, "He seemed young, but maybe our age? He was only a bit taller than me, and his voice was about the same pitch as yours, detective. Wouldn't older man have deeper voices?"

Both me and John's eyes went wide as saucers, surprised with this information. The culprit was someone our age? The person who managed to steal the Lust Choker before the phantom thief and elude the Savagery? The one called the 'Beast'? Our age?! Just a kid?!

"Im- impossible," I stuttered out in my surprise, "Are you sure?"

"His appearance was blurry, but his height was not. His voice was also definitely not my imagination, I will never forget it. And now that I think it, he could be our age. Otherwise, there would be more of that, right?" Miley said, now in analytical mode.

"I can't believe despite everything, you are able to say that with a straight face," I said.

"I'm pretending this is just a story in a book. It is not real... not real..." Miley said, and when she said it, I could see the vulnerability.

"Never mind," I said quickly, "It would definitely be better that you never remember, but is the voice familiar to you?" 

Miley shook her head, "I can't help you there. He was totally new to me."

"Never mind then, what you have given us is enough to consider about. Hopefully, we will catch the Beast soon," John said.

"Yes," Miley nodded, and with that, both of us headed out where we had a heated discussion.

"Miley Nelper, she was actually at Xerneas Academy last week before she went for a quick weekend home which was the time the incident happened. So, it's unsurprising that it was no one unfamiliar but that also means this was a random crime," John said.

I frowned. It's nearly impossible to pinpoint a random culprit for a random crime. Everything happens for a reason, and if it doesn't? well, where do we go from there? Reason is one of the things that help break a case.

"Do you really believe that the Beast is actually around the same age as us?" I asked. That was the main point.

"I find it hard to believe," John said, "That would put the culprit from age 8-12, which is not even teenager. I can't even imagine kids to do... this," John said.

"Yeah... I was too young to know the birds and bees until you dragged me into the 'Beast' case. Nothing will be the same again," I shuddered. The truth was that I knew about the kinks of adulthood a long time ago, but for an actual 8 year old to hear about it, oh come on!

"Yeah, me too, but crime is perverse too," John said,shivering. "But a normal child wouldn't know anything about it, let alone do what the Beast did. I have doubts that the Beast is actually the same age as us. There could be many small people with high pitched voices who are actually a teenager or adult."

"But... keep an open mind. At least we can rule out fairy, demon and wolfmen off the search. She seemed very sure about it," I said.

"Yeah... those species have distinct characteristics not too hard to miss. So, it leads down to elf and human. The elf's distinctive feature are their ears, but Miley didn't have a good look," John said, sighing.

"How about the inn? No clues?" I asked.

"The inn was on the edge of town, populated by mostly travelers. We checked out the room where Miley said the scene of the crime was, but of course, considering the timeline where Miley called on the CB in the morning and the crime happening at dead of the night, that room was spotless by the time we checked it out. It was a dead end," John said.

"The 'Beast' is really good," I said, "Then again, he really has to be good to steal the Lust Choker in the first place," I said.

"I wonder about that..." John said. "Maybe it was the phantom thief after all."

"That wouldn't fly with what Miley said. Short and high pitched. Also... tannned," I said, remembering from the slight testament, "Was the phantom thief even tanned?"

"No..." John said, defeated, "But Miley's testament might not hold up..."

"She said although appearance was blurry, what she heard and felt was no joke. Mostly, if we suspect that this has to do with the Lust Choker, wouldn't it be easier to narrow it down to the people who were there that day the phantom thief stole the Lust Choker? Maybe they saw it, waited for the phantom thief to return it and stole it right away afterwards?" I said.

"Plausible... it's a lead worth looking for considering we are not running by much. I will try to get a list and we will go down with Miley's description for now. I hope it wasn't a dud lead," John said.

I shrugged, "The investigation is only beginning and we don't have much anyway. A small lead is better than no lead at all. It's not like solid evidence is going to fall out of the sky anyway. That's why all those mysteries were spent solving for months and months in books worth hundreds of pages."

"Unfortunately true..." John sighed, "Let's hope for a miracle, assistant."

"For the last time, I am no assistant," I said, but I laughed along easily and thought, hopefully, I will get somewhere despite the odds. No Arceus Diamond should be out of my reach!