"Oh, it's you." He gave Yako a disapproving look as she came up to them.

"Sorry Ishigaki-san, but he's with me." She decided it was best to keep Hour out of trouble by keeping him close to her. Knowing him he might have ended up causing a scene or something that would drive attention to them, and that was the last thing they needed now.

"This guy's with your lot?" He looked at her disbelievingly as Hour scratched his stomach absentmindedly as he continued to space out.

"Well, um, yeah. Eh heh heh." Yako smiled nervously. She wasn't too good at lying in these situations, that was more of Neuro's talent.

"Then how come I've never seen him before?"

"Th-That's because....we just recruited him. He's um, a new member of the Demon Detective Agency." She said this in a matter-of-fact tone in hopes that this would convince him. Although it was never too hard to pull one over a guy like him.

"Is that so? Well what's his job?" Ishigaki was quite persistent in at least getting someone who looked half-way suspicious to senpai.

"Well, he...." She shifted her eyes in his direction. He was dusting some bits of lint from his shoulder.

"...dusts for finger prints and um...DNA analyzing...." She broke into a sweat as she told him these false positions of someone she had met only a week ago.

"Well if that is his job, how come he didn't come with you guys before?"

"Er, he was held back in the lab. He tends to be a little tardy is all." She walked beside Hour as he let his gaze follow her. She patted his arm and laughed nervously.

"Heh heh, you should learn to be more on time Hour. Being late is not something I approve, but I'll uh, let you slide on this one." She smiled back at Ishigaki-san as if this was proof enough.

"Okay...?" Hour raised an eyebrow at her as she took him by the arm.

"Well then we must be going Ishigaki-san, got to get as much done as possible you know." She quickly dragged Hour along  with her, to which he followed indifferently. Ishigaki still kept looking at her with a wary eye as she returned to the table with him.

"Jeeze, teen girls these days....hmm?" Something had just clicked in Ishigaki's head as he said this.

"She's a high school girl 'prodigy' with her own Detective Agency. In addition she hired an older guy assistant, who she takes every where with her. She also has a kind of bodyguard or odd jobs type who hangs around there too with a pretty gruff streak. And now she's got another guy for finger printing and DNA analysis....." After connecting all these ideas together using his fingers, he came up with only one conclusion....

"EH!?!?!?! Reverse Harem?!?!" He exclaimed  so loudly that he caused an old lady who was nearby to topple out of her seat.

"She's so young to be in such circumstances! N-not that I care," He said this dismissively to himself.

"but still what type of immoral lifestyle is that girl living?! To be surrounded by a bunch of men who might fond over her from time to time, and who in all likely cases use her in their games of love and other illicit situations...." He started to get all misty-eyed as a warped image of Yako surronded by men surfaced on his mind.

"To be part of such a life...."

"Hmm?" Sasazuka looked up from his last attestor who he had finished questioning. He sighed wearily as he saw his partner having another awkwardly warped moment with himself.



"What do you think you're doing here Hour? You know you shouldn't draw attention to yourself like that, it's a standard demon's code isn't it?" Yako had stopped halfway to the table of Kurojima-san to demand an explanation of Hour's sudden appearance.

"Yeah I know. But I find it a hassle to search out a cover up for myself. I've already got my job to do, so I don't like to do more than is already necessary..." He started to rummage through his pockets.

"But, that's really necessary." Yako thought peevishly.

"Besides..." He pulled out his insect-like detector once again. "I sensed there was something a little more lethal here, so I had to come. Though I probably wouldn't have come for like another month so..."

"Erk!" Yako winced at the idea of a more lethal demon substance spreading around the vicinity. Good thing he didn't wait until then, there probably wouldn't have been a soul left within a hundred miles of here.

"Uh, Katsuragi-tantei,"

"Gah! Kurojima-san!" She quickly slapped Hour's detector out of his hand, sending it flying across the room.

"Ah, the Miasmic Sensor..." he looked broodingly in the direction that it had flown, knowing that he had to go after it.

"I-is there something that you needed?" She hoped that Kurojima-san had not noticed that weird little tool of Hour's.

"No not really. But I was hoping you would accompany me to the restroom. I know it seems foolish, but I feel a bit uncomfortable going alone right now." She smiled embarrassingly, feeling like a child.

Yako smiled at her. "No of course not. Um, Hour?"

"Hm?" He looked at her dully.

 "Could you please stay here and wait for an old man name Mateo to come? He should be coming with our drinks soon." It was a few short pauses before he answered.

"Whatever..." He scratched the back of his head. At least he didn't have to go after the Miasmic Sensor yet.

"Thanks a lot."

"Yes thank you." Kurojima-san bowed politely to him, realizing that she must have appeared rude for interrupting him and the young detective. 

"Do you know where the closest one is that isn't sealed off?" Yako asked her as they began to walk.

"I believe the one in the lobby is still available..." She walked pass Hour as she said this, causing Hour to react in a way that was unusual of him. His eyes became attentive as his body seized a little, as a sudden winter chill had brushed pass him. He turned to look at the two girls as they left, staring mostly at Kurojima-san. He sensed something exude from that woman's body as she had passed by him, making a twinge of numbness course through his veins as he inhaled.

"Looks like another long job for me..." He took a small tube from his pocket with a little squid like mouthpiece. He squished the squid-mouthpiece into his partially open mouth, causing it to squeak as he squirted some bluish-gray substance into his mouth. He sighed as he placed it back in his pocket. "This'll be quite troublesome." He decided to take this opportunity to find his sensor tool before sitting back down and waiting for the old guy that Yako was talking about. Things were getting more complicated by the minute.

-----

In a far off part of the building was a jungle-like garden that contained a tower-of-a-green-house resting a few miles away from where it was located. Next to this shadowing structure was a broken down metal shelter where corroded tools and rejected auction items were tossed. It gave a sad and decrepit look, with only two chipping gargoyle sconces that served as stylish trimmings.

A shadow crept from out of the nearby shrubberies as it tip-toed towards the door. It slid a key from a secret compartment of one of the gargoyles mouths and unlocked the large shed door. Creakily sliding the rusted door open, it  slowly walked back into the abyss of the room, echoing footsteps following suit. The stranger was searching around the place for something, but what? After a few short minutes of searching, the figure finally found it behind a painting of a weeping woman.

It shifted the painting aside to reveal a loose floor board. Inside was a black box covered in a dust-covered burlap. It swept the cloth out of the way and pulled the heavy container out from it's hiding place. Using another key the mysterious figure opened the box, and were surprised to see that nothing was inside it.

"Ah, so this item here was the object you had been searching for after all."

The silhouette turned in shock as it saw someone standing by the doorway, tossing it up and down like a coin. It looked to be a large stone piece.

"Unfortunately for you, I am more than capable of finding even the most ambiguous evidence that most overlook."

Neuro had shifted so that half of his sharp features were bathed in the moonlight. He rolled the piece between his fingers to reveal some illegible scribbles on the front side.

"This little piece of stone here is much more valuable than it appears, containing the last few words to an ancient tablet that foretells of a priceless heirloom that was seized by a kingdom who sought power over its people. It was one of the ulterior motives of the late Kurojima-san, and why you had decided to end his life in the process to obtain it for yourself. Am I right...."

He slid open the door, bathing the stranger in the moon light.

"Mateo-san?"

The old butler winced as he tried to cover his eyes from the blinding moonlight. There was no way around it now that Neuro had finally cornered him.

"Wha...what could you possibly mean Nougami-san?"

"Oh there is no need for the false pretenses anymore." His plaster smile glinted with the acidic anger that had been coursing through him since the abortion of the case.

"Eh?" He looked at him confused as he continued to look cool and collected, leaning against the doorway as he flipped the rubble between his fingers.

"In fact why don't you start by not letting your toy here speak for your audacious actions of poisoning my food."

He swiftly took the stone in his fist and shot it at a blinding speed behind him. The artifact flung passed a figure cloaked in black, grazing the wrinkled face and embedding into the wall. Blood dripped from the cut that had been induced  by the sharpened rock, but it did not faze the old woman who was now smiling malevolently at Neuro with eyes that flickered red.