Michio cut the call and turned to the others. "Guys, Amelia just found something at the circus and it's urgent. She wants one of us to go over."

Junko looked at him curiously. "Seriously? What she wants now?"

"Probably a date with Michio..." Takuma teased, before laughing off together with Emiko.

"It's part of the case!" argued Michio.

"If Amelia said it's urgent it must be serious, don't you think?" Ranran's sudden remark brought silence to the group. "I mean, Michio said it's urgent."

"True," Shinichi broke the silence, getting out of his seat, "Alright, I'll go with Ranran."

"Same! Let me tag along!"Takuma stepped forward.

"I'll go along as well since I still am put in charge to look after Ranran and Shinichi." volunteered Michio, his answer seemingly affecting Junko. "I don't mind seeing her!"

"Fine," Junko shrugged as she decided, "You boys are better off staying here with Ranran... You know, just in case something else needs your attention."

"Like what!?"Shinichi stares at Junko in disbelief, suspecting it must be her usual 'girl problems' with Michio again."Like those idiot girls-"

"Shinichi, don't go there."Shinichi didn't get to finish his sentence as Ran stared him down with her trademark freezing glare. A cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he slowly get back to his seat."I am staying back with Ranran."

"I'll come, too!" declared Ran, smiling. "Just in case Junko needs help."

"So am I!" Emiko grins.

Michio turned pale as he watched, uneasily, as the three girls prepared to depart."We'll call you from the circus when we see what Amelia found," Junko promised.

"I'm sure it's nothing important anyway," Emiko remarked as she yawned.

"Who knows when we get there?"Ran says casually.

The door shut behind them, and the room was silent.

~~~

The act has ended by the time the three girls arrived at the circus. Hundreds of people exited the field. The girls stood at the entrance, observing.

"Ah reh? Majima did say a couple of you were coming, but why am I seeing the 3 of you here again?" asked a voice.

Emiko turned to find Amelia staring at her, a look of surprise was evident on her face." Well, we convinced the boys to remain with Ranran. That's what happened." announced Ran.

"I know Emiko is fine, but are you two even capable in the first place?" Amelia scowled at Ran and Junko.

"Why? Do you think we are too lovesick to tell the difference!?" Junko challenged bitterly.

"You both are! Neither of you even apologize to Ranran after what you both put her through!"Amelia disputed.

Emiko intervened just as Ran was going to claim once more that Ranran is a psychopath. "I apologise for those two girls' behaviour; now, could we please proceed with what you discovered?" Emiko prayed the tension between the two younger girls and Amelia would dissipate.

"Please accept my apologies, Miss Emiko; I know you meant well. But, as long as those two refuse to accept their deeds were wrong, I'm not going to provide the crucial information in case it endangers Ranran's life!" Amelia started to walk away.

That's when Ran held her down. "You were right, Amelia. I had made a mistake." Ran's eyes were filled with remorse when Amelia peered at her. "Like everyone else, I didn't know anything about Ranran's life, and yet I continued pursuing after her without thinking about the repercussions."

"Do you have anything further to say, Fuyuko?" Emiko prodded her to speak up.

"What!?" Junko focused at Emiko as if she were insane, "But I-"

Emiko drew Fuyuko aside and said, "Put it this way, you'd rather watch people die of carelessness without a care in the world."

"That ain't true!"

"Then please apologise! We don't have much time, Fuyuko!" Emiko exclaims, pointing to two girls nearby.

She sensed she had no choice but to accept it as Emiko pushed Junko in front of Amelia. "Personally...I apologise; I did not want to brand Ranran a psychopath. It's just...she generated so many unexpected issues... I wasn't sure what to make of her."

Amelia came to a halt, flabbergasted by Junko's choice of words.

"Anyway, I think it's about time we told you the truth Ranran didn't want you to know." Junko felt it was time to come clean "Ranran has been working on a case for a long time that involves a jailbird being engaged in animal smuggling, and there are signs that Mr Rupert is implicated. Involving a white tiger, most likely Fifi."

"What?!" Amelia became paralysed. "But that's what I found!" she responded.

Ran looked at her in bewilderment. "Eh!? Do you mean Fifi is back?"

"I wouldn't say it's Fifi, but it's close." Amelia felt perplexed before cautiously looking around. "I'll show you three. But we must proceed with caution. I'm not sure where Rupert is. He might return at any time."

She guided the way across the circus grounds, staying in the shadows. They finally arrived at the modest trailer. "It's in there," Amelia said quietly. "But after I contacted Majima and asked him to send several of you girls over, I discovered something else. Here." She took a stride across the room to a canvas-covered mound of equipment. "Take a look at this..."

She lifted the corner of the canvas and showed them two empty cans and a paintbrush. The bristles seemed to be covered in white. As the girls examined it, Emiko recognised the brand on the cans and exclaimed, "Isn't this animal dye!"

"Are you familiar with this brand?" Amelia is taken aback by Emiko's expertise.

"Yes, I do!  This dye is used at a dog competition I once watched on TV, they painted many wonderful artworks on their dogs," Emiko revealed.

"You're right, it's an animal dye," Amelia explained. "They utilise it to paint the animals for performance story-telling purposes on occasion."

"But why on earth the dye is near his trailer?"Ran couldn't help but wonder.

"Hold on a second," Junko muses, "a white tiger that doesn't appear to be Fifi, with these things here," Junko squats down and checks the brush. She sprang to her feet, her eyes shining with knowledge. "Oh, please don't tell me Mr Rupert was dumb enough to colour one of the three Bengal tigers to fool everyone into believing it was Fifi! If that's the case, this is very perhaps the dumbest scam ever devised!"

"What!?"Amelia convulsed at that thought, "Seriously!? Rupert is planning to switch a fake white tiger for the real white tiger, oh the audacity."Amelia was beginning to feel repulsed, before turning to Junko, "Wait, how did that come about!?"

The three girls then quickly explained further details of the case to Amelia.

Amelia absorbed in the news and process what it meant for her in the silence that followed their words. "So, Ranran is going for not only a jailbird, but also a group of Yakuzas and a mass killer who has been operating his criminal empire for almost 2 years!" Amelia advanced towards the three girls, shouting, "Have you all gone insane?! What were you thinking when you went after deadly criminals? For Pete's sake, you're all kids!"

"I-I-It wasn't like I didn't try to tell Shinichi or Ranran off. I did many times, but they say they couldn't afford to rely on incompetent cops."Ran stuttered out.

"Anyway, this is not the time to discuss this. We need to find Fifi right now, or he'll be gone forever." Emiko tries to steer the discourse back to the primary subject.

"Right," Amelia decided the idea of lecturing Ranran later.

"Anyway, Fifi's cage hasn't arrived yet, right!?"Emiko asked in haste.

"No," Amelia shook her head," Fifi is supposed to arrive tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? What time?"Ran asked.

"I'm not sure, Mr Rupert never bothers to inform us where and when he gets his animals every time we move from one country to the other." Amelia bowed her head.

"Alright then, then I have an idea."Emiko decided as she suggests, "That tiger is still in the trailer, correct?"

"Yeah?" Amelia became mystified, wondering where she was heading with this.

"Why not all of us hide, then wait for Mr Rupert to take the decoy tiger out?"

"How would this benefit us?" Junko couldn't help but be puzzled by Emiko's scheme.

"I mean one needs to switch tigers, correct?"All the girls nodded to Emiko, "If we secretly follow where Mr Rupert is going to take the painted tiger, we'll find out where Fifi is."

The sound of voices drove them scurrying into the shadows. Griffith and another man approached the trailer. "You can bring the truck around," Griffith responded. "Everything is prepared. We need to bring the tiger down to the pier."

"What a ferocious pig! Who'd have believed even bloody Griffith was involved in this!" murmured Amelia.

"Who is Griffith?"Ran turned to Amelia for answers.

"One of our old coworkers who has been working in this circus! When this is all done, I'm going to take that bloody jerk to the cops!" Amelia declared in hushed tones.

Suddenly, Junko screamed. Something hard and cold had pressed into her neck."Hold it right there," snapped a voice.

Amelia jumped to her feet. "Rupert!" she cried in alarm as the two men rush towards her.

"Amelia," Rupert said, aiming his gun at her. "Now that you know, I can't bear witnessing."

"Amelia! Run! Don't ever look back!" Emiko shrieked, grabbed Mr Rupert's leg and bit him, causing him to howl in agony.

Amelia took one glimpse at the gun and bolted for her life. Rupert recovered quickly and aimed his gun at one of the three remaining girls before Ran and Junko could join her. "Don't try anything outlandish! Don't think I'm incapable of shooting a bullet at a bunch of small kids like you!"

Ran cast a peek at the powerless Junko as Rupert stole her phone.

"You girls have caused me enough trouble," Rupert hissed. "I'm not taking any chances from now on. You're coming with us." He yanked them to their feet, a victorious grin on his wicked face. He fingered the ring in his ear. "This will be the last time you interfere with my plans!"

Then he blasted Griffith and the other man. "You moron! I warned you about others monitoring us. It's a good thing I was there. I thought I heard someone speak." He pointed his gun towards the girls. "I don't want any more mistakes! Place them in the tiger's car. If they try to flee, execute them!"

None of them, however, had seen a second figure hunched in the shadows. Mr Finlay rose stiffly to his feet, his arm bandaged, and withdrew into the darkness, having recently escaped from torture. The Crows would be interested to hear his thoughts.

~~~

Back at the computer cafe, the boys and Ranran were heading no-where."Anyone can be named Josephine if we are looking for a person."Ranran brought up this issue with the boys.

Shinichi paced up and down agitatedly. "We have to figure out where Josephine fits into all of this," he urged the others. "Has anyone come up with anything?"

"Is Josephine a real person's name? For all we know, it may be a location." Michio proposes.

"In the middle of Japan? English named locations ain't quite common in Japan."Takuma shakes his head at him."Also, why would one say that while on the verge of death?"

"When you put it that way, no," Shinichi responded. "However, it has to imply something!"

Ranran decided to try something she'd never done before since they were heading nowhere. She went on social media and searched for Duke Kramer's Circus Olympia and scrolled through its postings. "Guys, come and have a look at this post," she urged them to gather.

As Ranran's cursor hovered above the post, all the lads surrounded her. "The Circus's last performance before heading to Japan was in India."

"India!? Is it possible that's where the tiger is coming from?" Michio was surprised. "It would make sense given that they're transporting the tiger over here."

"Is there any significance to the word 'Josephine' based just on this posting?" Shinichi sighed and scratched his chin in frustration.

"I have my doubts." Ranran offered a sceptic smirk. "But there has to be some connection to the lost tiger."

"Neh guys, I've always been intrigued about something that has bothered me for a long time." Takuma's befuddled face catches everyone's attention. "What exactly is it?" Ranran asked.

"It's this..." Takuma wasn't sure if he should ask, but he had to. "How do you transport a tiger from one location to another?"

"Hah!?" All of their mouth drops.

"It's just...don't tigers typically attack humans? How does one carry a tiger? Let alone a travelling circus?" Takuma couldn't help but be puzzled by this situation.

"For circuses, they normally use a cage wagon with wheels."Ranran google-searched before pointing the photos, "See? There."

"That's quite big if you ask me." Michio viewed the photos that emerged in the search results. "India to Japan is a long-distance journey," he said, pointing to a photo of a flight from India to Japan. "This region of the sea lies between Japan and India; how does one travel while transporting a tiger?"

"Normally, a large commercial jet would be used to transfer it," Shinichi explains.

"Maybe Josphine is the name of a plane or airline?"Michio guesses.

"Why would one want to name it after a girl?"Takuma scoffed.

"You'll be surprised, nowadays people named anything they like," Michio explained.

"Let's give it a go. Ranran, get off the computer and give me a shot." He pushed Ranran out of the seat and sat, his fingers dancing furiously on the keyboard as he typed. Looking for planes with the name 'Josephine.' None.

"How about cargo ship?"Realization dawned on Ranran.

"Cargo ship?" Shinichi inquired. "Do people name their ship Josephine?"

"I mean, I know of several ships called 'Queen Elizebeth' that are named after the Queen of England." Ranran mulls over her memories. "What if the ship transporting Fifi is called after a royal name, Josephine?"

"Who would bother to name a cargo ship after royalty?"Shinichi scoffed.

"Well, Shinichi, do you have any other ideas?" Shinichi remained uneasily silent after proving her point. "Try looking for a royal name Josephine, then search for the ship's journey from India to Japan."

"Can we get the ship's schedule?" Michio couldn't help but be sceptical: "The other day at a meeting, Ran claimed it's not feasible to verify the timetable on which specific animals would be transferred to which location for a zoo due to safety concerns."

"True," Ranran acknowledged, "but ships are a different matter. They do list it on their website since cargo ships bring a variety of goods other than tigers, such as oil, gas, and livestock, making it impossible for anybody looking at their schedule to predict which boat is likely to deliver an animal."

Shinichi yelled triumphantly a moment later. "I did it!"

"Wait, you found it?" Ranran and everyone encircled him, staring at the monitor.

Shinichi examined the results while smiling. "Josephine Bonaparte will come tomorrow at daybreak."

Ranran smacked Shinichi on the back, leading him to cry out in pain. "Way to go, Shinichi!"

Takuma took out his smartphone. "I'll contact the girls; they'll be thrilled." He dialled their number but received no response. Their phone was turned off. "Huh! Neither of the girls has responded."

"I'll try to call as well, "Michio took out his smartphone.

While Michio and Takuma tried contacting the girls, Shinichi wrote down all the details while Ranran contemplated 2 plans."Ok, so I have two suggestions devised, both have good and bad. It's up to you to decide."

"Which is?"

"For starters, we report everything to the police. According to Amelia, Mr Rupert has a history of smuggling animals. We can leave it to them if I get Amelia to rally her coworkers to testify against him, including our testimony about The Crows attempting to kill us."

"What is bad that can come out of this?"

"Well, Fifi and Watanabe will most likely be dead by the time they arrive. Remember, we're up against The Snake. Someone having two years of evading law enforcement, let alone, we don't know how many of them are still under his payroll."

"Alright, then what is your second option?"He can feel the tension of this situation.

"We have to be there when the boat arrives," she replied. "The Snake would undoubtedly get Watanabe over to crack the cage, as would Mr Rupert to swap the tiger. Take a video of all of the evidence and send it to the cops. Simultaneously, prevent anybody from seizing the tiger."

"Wait, what!? I get the video part, but stopping him!?"Shinichi was appalled, before asking, "We don't even have weapons, and yet you wanna stop him-"

"Who says we're after The Snake? I was referring to the tiger. We'll seize the tiger from him."

"Wait, what?!?" Shinichi's jaw gaped open, he wasn't thrilled with the idea. "Ranran, do you know what you're talking about?"

"What? Do you mean seizing the tiger!?"

"Yes, Ranran! They may have gotten used to humans, but stealing a tiger is easier said than done!"He disputes before adding, "It's also probably the reason why The Snake enlisted Mr Rupert in the first place! He has experience in handling animals! Also, we don't know how old is Fifi! If Fifi is a cub, it would've been easier-"

"11."She interrupted.

"What? Come again?"He blinked.

"It should be 11 years old now, it was 9 when I last saw it, "Ranran answered.

"Ranran-"

"Look, Shinichi," Ranran dismissively remarks, "it wasn't easy for me to come up with the two plans. I outlined the pro and cons. So choose your decision wisely since time is running out!"

Shinichi paled as he realised she was right. As he weighs both options in his mind, time is not on their side. They may do what any regular citizen would do in their position and call the police. On the other hand, he'd known about the police's incompetence from his time with Ranran.

Another concern he must consider is that if he lets the police take charge, there is a significant chance that their efforts will go unnoticed in the media, and the cops will claim credit for capturing The Snake. Ranran's detective career may not be affected because she is already a well-known Fox detective, but it is a tremendous matter for him. At this point, he'll go back to looking for misplaced Bentos and wallets, which he despises.

So this option was pretty obvious, "Neh guys! We are unable to contact the girls! What is the plan regarding Fifi? Should we contact the police or...."Michio is at a loss with what he should do now, far more lost than the time the kids he was paid to look after.

"Yeah! I mean, I can't reach them, and the tiger situation's time is almost up. What is the plan?" Takuma pressed enthusiastically, unsure of what to do.

Right now, Ranran could see the boys are like headless chickens running around aimlessly.

"Screw it, we're going with the latter!"Shinichi decided.

"The latter? What is that supposed to mean?"The remaining two boys asked in unison.

"We'll do as Ranran said and seize the tiger from The Snake. For the girls, we'll contact them again later." Shinichi was adamant.

They lapsed into silence and Michio's voice suddenly grew quiet, "I am sorry, I think I misheard you that Ranran suggest we should seize the tiger away from The Snake."

"Please don't make me repeat myself, Majima," Shinichi pinched his nose-bridge over this, "It wasn't an easy decision for me to make either."

"Is this...not an option?" asked Takuma, cautiously. He didn't sound dismissive, just genuinely curious.

"No, it ain't. For Fifi's life."Ranran sighed.

Michio and Takuma exchanged a glance, confused, "Ranran, how old is the tiger?"Takuma asked.

"11."Shinichi answers.

"11..." He fishes out his phone to google the tiger of that age, as soon as it pops up, he swore his eyes could've fallen out of his sockets. 

Michio was no different. But this isn't the time to debate. "So...say we get to the tiger first, who will be the one to...steal the tiger?" Michio couldn't help but be perplexed.

"We'll see when we come to that." Shinichi had had enough of their stares, "Just listen to Ranran! You'll learn things they say!" Shinichi murmured cynically to himself, while Ranran rolled her eyes. "So, let's not spend any more time; let's stake out the pier immediately before anybody else comes!"

He stood up and headed for the door. They rushed to follow him.

It was only in the taxi that Michio realized all of their sullied clothes, as well as his phone, was still back in his aunt's bathhouse.

~~~

Meanwhile, a recently escaped Amelia had looped behind the huge tent and doubled back. She was just in time to see a truck drive up to the small trailer. Rupert then guided the white-painted tiger up a ramp into the truck's back. Griffith and the other man dragged the three little girls after him. When the truck drove away, Amelia hurried across to her family's trailer and borrowed her father's smartphone. She had to inform them of what had happened to the girls. She didn't know where they were going except Griffith had mentioned a dock.

Also, she is now extremely worried over Ranran's welfare at this point.

But what dock and where? Somewhere down at the harbour maybe?

But, when she tried to call Michio, nobody picked up the call. She rang again and again.

Nothing.

There was only one thing she could do and she punched in another number.

"Police emergency," replied a voice.

"Hello!? Three elementary school girls had been abducted "She cried out. "Mr Rupert Aubrey Austin, my present supervisor, works at Duke Kramer's Circus Olympia, a travelling circus! He holds them at gunpoint and is presently transporting them to a pier. They're doing it to stop the smuggling of white tigers. A friend name Majima Michio is aware of it."

The officer answering the phone placed his hand over the phone. He grumbled, "Some kid on the telephone with a wild tale about white tigers."

The cop next to him rolled his eyes. "These kids are insane."

Amelia then remembered Michio mentioned that Ranran had been a detective for almost a year. If that's the case, do the officers recognize who she is if she mentioned her name? "My friend Kudo Ranran is also involved in this!"

"She now mentioned someone called Kudo Ranran is involved," the officer taking the call added.

His partner raised his head swiftly. "Hey, isn't that The Fox? The one who has been investigating cases!? You should contact Genzo right now..."

"Fox?... Now, where have I heard that name before...?" Amelia remarked as she overheard the muffed sounds mention 'The Fox.' The police interrupt her thoughts by telling her to wait at the circus while they send a dispatch to her.

Amelia sought to figure out why the cops referred to Ranran as 'The Fox' after the phone call ended. As a side note, by the time Amelia's circus troupe arrived in Japan, most of the news about Ranran as The Fox had been erased from the press, so she had no idea what the cops were talking about.

Even still, Amelia felt that 'The Fox'.... sounded familiar, because she first heard about it in her hometown. Amelia tries hard to remember where she heard this, but she has nothing but scattered fragments on her brain to work with.

She started to google whatever she could discover on 'The Fox' out of curiosity. It took a lot of research, but she eventually found a low-resolution photo of the girl with the fox mask, which appeared to be shot at a tailor shop, on some prominent forum. She almost dropped her phone in response to recognising the mask as soon as she zoomed in on the shot.

"Wait a second....this mask is.....!?"

.....

"I'm delighted you finally broke loose from your engagement to your fiance. Since the day she announced her engagement to you, the whole class has disliked her. I mean, she paraded you around like you were some new handbag she just got. Even the girls in our class thought you deserved more, although you didn't have a crush on any of them." Amelia, 8, chats to a former classmate over the phone in a calming tone; she was in Harrold's mall, shopping for necessities for her parents back in the U.K.

"Yeah...I should've done this earlier a long time ago."The Boy could be heard sighing over the phone.

"Why didn't you report any of this and endured all these 2 years? What she did to you was wrong in all forms!" Amelia berated him over the phone.

"That's..." The receiver's voice seemed indecisive for a while before responding, "I had feelings for another girl anyway while I was engaged, so-"

"So what!? She brazenly was all lovey dovey in school, cheating onto you with that idiot boy while you barely did anything wrong as far as I known you openly!"  Amelia clenched her fist, before adding,"You listen to me, that girl doesn't deserve anyone to love her! Not to mention you! No one deserves her, and she doesn't deserve anyone's affection!" Amelia couldn't keep it together. "I'm thankful you contacted Fox and Deer to break this engagement your parents set you up with! After hearing all of the specifics, I honestly wanted to summon the entire class to whip her ass up!" Over the phone, her voice was rising and her grip was clenching almost painfully, as she was enraged after discovering the circumstances of his terrible life.

When Amelia mentioned 'Fox and Deer', she was referring to a Fairy Tale themed website that tells the wonderful narrative of the prince of the Forest, the charming deer befriending a Fox hated by many owing to the erroneous representation of its species as a villain. It was a popular continuous fairy tale enjoyed by children of all ages, including Amelia.

However, the site was in appearance deceptive.

If one clicks on the deer image, a secret vengeance site for kids will appear. It was exclusively available to students at Edgewood Academy, and there were various requirements to be qualified. One must present their official student ID, as well as their adversary against whom they have a grudge or intense animosity, and wait for their response. If approved, a child wearing a fox mask will appear to meet with the client and discuss the plans.

There were a few times when The Fox appeared with a boy a few years her senior, one they refer to as 'The Deer,' the brains behind this website. It was rumoured that the duo was utterly elusive and difficult to track down; there were occasions when other kids tried to capture them only to fail, and they even doubted if the pair genuinely existed. But Amelia was aware of their existence because she had already met with The Fox for consultation once for a case.

The webpage has been up and operating for about a year and is well-known thing among kids of all ages, including teenagers. Through the reviews Amelia had read, their services had altered many children's lives for the better.

"Amelia-"

"You are right, this engagement was an arrangement. You barely love each other and love other kids emotionally, but that doesn't give her the right to bully you like that! I mean she never once even treated you with respect! That pure hypocrite b**ch!" Amelia insisted firmly. "You deserve better, remember that."

When Amelia learn everything about The Boy's abusive mother, not to mentioned, how this pretentious loving fiance of his was making use of his mother's temper against him whenever he never obeys her demands, Amelia felt sick to a point she puke in a public toilet. Honestly, the first thing Amelia is going to do in school tomorrow is to personally beat her up in black and blue! It's fortunate that 'he' moved into his dad's place now. "Well, I gotta go now. My mom is calling me now for lunch."

"Do you mean your 'step-mother'? The one who stole your dad from your real mother?" Amelia thinks it strange that regardless of how twisted up things turned out, 'he' maintained calling the woman who wrecked his parents' marriage 'mom.'

"It isn't homewrecking, if the person did everything he could to avoid marrying the devil in the first place. All she did to wreck my father's life was drug him and then force herself on him to marry her, to trap him after becoming pregnant with me." The Boy's voice could be heard replying bitterly.

Amelia will not argue with that, even this detail regarding the affair was not mentioned when his parents divorced. A child beater is one thing, but for his mother to drug his biological father and force herself onto his father...that poor friend of hers, he is gonna need tons of psychological therapy.

"Okay, I'll stop bothering you. Have a pleasant meal, and please say hi to your mum and dad for me."

"Alright."The tone became cheerful in an instant.

"And also...you should thank Fox and Deer, you know? They do their job well with kids like us."

She waited for her friend to respond after a while of silence."I will."

What is with that response? "I am serious," Amelia insist over the phone, "They did a good job for your case."

"Does this mean I should thank ourselves for saving each other?"He muttered.

"Hmph?" Amelia's attention was drawn back to the phone, "Come again?"

"Ah, nothing!"For a moment, Amelia swore 'The Boy' mentioned something as he gasp over the phone. However, for some reason, he quickly ended the call with, "I gotta go. Talk to you later! Bye Amelia!"

"Bye-" He cut Amelia off before she could continue her reply. "He must be starving, huh?" Amelia couldn't help but mumble as she slid her smartphone into her pocket. "However, given how his mother treated him, this is to be anticipated. All right," Amelia decided, "it's time to go get the carrots my mother requested me to buy-hmph? Wait a minute, is that...?"

Amelia believed she saw a familiar small girl in a Edgewood Academy uniform, and a fox mask for a split second. Amelia recognised her since she had seen The Fox several times in and out of school. On rare occasions, she would run into her at a cafe or shopping centre without The Fox noticing.

"Fox!"Amelia called out to her.

"Hm!?"The younger girl in the fox mask turned to her in response, "Ah! Miss Amelia!"

Amelia wasn't blind to unusual happenings, but something - something about the girl... troubled her? She appeared very familiar, but she couldn't place it.

Approaching the fox, Amelia asked, "What are you doing here alone in the mall?"

"Ah! I am here on an errand sent out by 'The Deer'."The fox smiled back at her.

"I see."Amelia then look around her surroundings, "You walked here all on your own with no adults?"

In the U.K, especially within their community, it's very unusual for a girl of such age as The Fox to be seen walking out on their own, unlike Japan."I am familiar with the area, so they let me do as I please."

"I see, "Amelia bend down a little to speak to her with a grin, "That is very brave of you!"

"Eh heh heh! Thanks!"The Fox formed a bright grin on her red lips.

"No, thank you."Amelia smiled back, "Now thanks to you and 'Deer', that bad girl will no longer dare to harm him anymore, and that he is living with his dad and mom now."

"That is great."The Fox breathe in relief, wiping sweat from her head.

It was then Amelia noticed The Fox pushed some of her bangs upward, revealing dark bruises. For a moment all Amelia could register was who was the bastard who left those contrasting nasty bruises on her fair skin, "Are those bruises!? Who did this to you!?"

"Oh, those? Ah ha ha... it is something one gets when one gets into this job, so...."The Fox explained.

The Fox brushes it off, but it felt familiar to Amelia. She couldn't quite pinpoint where she remembered seeing it... but nothing about it seem familiar to Amelia. Amelia noticed the younger girl in a mask is now staring back at her, something in her eyes seemed familiar as well... but coincidences exist, right?

"Ah, I got to go now. It's getting late. See you another time, Miss Amelia."The Fox seemed to be in a hurry.

(Where have I seen those bruises before?)

"Miss Amelia?"Suddenly, Amelia realizes she hasn't responded to The Fox.

"Sorry! I was just thinking of something. That's all. Alright, go do your thing then. Be careful, alright?"She frowned worriedly like a motherly hen.

"Sure! I am used to it!"She beamed.

As The Fox left, something about the way The Fox walks over to Amelia felt peculiar, no smile, nothing, just eyes – because it's all hidden under that mask. Mysterious – just like the feeling Amelia gets from her, like... that she should know who she is but she doesn't. "Fox, wait!'

"Yeah?"Fox stopped, turning to Amelia.

"Have we...met before...?"

"Eh?"

"I once went shopping with a friend I know, 'he' wanted a mask, a deer and a fox. Your fox mask...looks exactly like the one he bought."She couldn't help but comment, expecting a reaction from The Fox.

It's something about her that is achingly familiar in her face, one that makes Amelia halt in her tracks, forget what she was going to say. The child hesitated for only a moment, but it was hesitance all the same, and for that second Amelia thought she would deny it."You may or may not know."

Only as soon as the Fox vanish from her sight, Amelia then recalled a girl she knows of often drops by the circus. One who always arrived with bruises that she accumulated day after day; the bruises she always seemed to brush off as 'falling down' while The Boy would always look on with only knowing glances.

Amelia blurt out as she looked over her shoulder again, wanting to call out whether what she suspected was 'that girl', the girl name Ranran.

But she was gone.

....

Looking back, had she confronted her, she would've prevented a tragedy.

It was like being struck by lightning. It couldn't possibly be...

But even as Amelia blinked, she couldn't erase the image from her mind. Staring at the photo, she only knew of one person capable of wearing that mask. One who is born with such talent of dignity, elegance, and wittiness.

There can only be one child who has such talent to pull off as The Fox, and that girl is none other than...Kudo Foxe Ranran.

The more Amelia thinks of this theory, the more it became plausible.

The entire time, Ranran had been living a life of lies and deceit with 'him', and Amelia never would have guessed it. Amelia could not believe that Ranran had been able to keep it up for so long, and was worried about what would happen next.

Kudo Ranran had dreams on wanting to become an entertainer.

But to think she became a detective...never in a million years would Amelia had expected her life would take such a turn. Ranran enjoyed singing and dancing, she took lessons for 2 years, and was very serious about this when they talked.

So why is it Amelia was stunned to find Ranran getting involve in detective work!?

Amelia recalled the times 'he' would say they (him and Ranran) are working on a detective novel, so she never would've guessed they were the ones running the online business 'Fox and Deer'. Now she thinks back, all of the exciting stories Ranran used to share, the one Amelia thought was made up...were real.

The façade her two friends had so carefully crafted to safeguard others finally cracked open in Amelia's mind. Everything made sense.

She was living a life that Amelia never would have expected for her. She was always so put together when it comes to her future, and now Amelia realizes she had been living a life of deception alongside The Boy all those years. 

Amelia breathed hard as she muttered in a whisper, "Ranran...what made you throw it all away to live this kind of life!?"

The past memory of The Fox and The Deer stared back at her.  

Amelia felt like they have both lived a life of deception for so long,  when one wears a mask too long, one forgets who is beneath it. Has Ranran been doing this for so long...to forget her pain, she chooses to leave everything she loves behind!?

For the first time, Amelia felt lost over what to do.

As she spots the red-blue flickering light approaching towards her, she can only hope all goes well so she could pry answers from the friend who lost her way.