Jacob Doyle has been taken care of and he was put in prison for his crimes, after unsuccessfully defending himself from the justice and evidence. Chifuyu was reading a file of a new case Taylor told him to take care of in Eve's room, his chain earring making the settle noise Eve enjoys when he tilted his head. Eve was prone on her bed while Chifuyu was leaning against the front-side of her bed in front of her, he was tall enough for Eve to easily touch his chain earring from behind to play with the one-and-a-half-inch silver chain of his earring as the afternoon light shone from the big window in Eve's room.
"Bored?" Chifuyu asked Eve in a relaxed sigh, who was touching the chain of his earring and chuckled.
"I've never seen a boy with a piercing before, and I really like your earring." Eve responded, Chifuyu could feel her smile from her speech. "Have you ever thought of wearing other earrings before?" Eve was curious.
"Not really, since I like this one." Chifuyu responded, without turning his attention from the document he was reading. A moment later, the home telephone outside of Eve's room rang that made the two of them turn to the closed door.
"I'll get it," Eve stood up from her bed and walked out to answer the call, "Hello?" she placed the phone next to her ear.
"Eve, is Tsuguha-kun there with you?" It was Taylor at the other end of the call.
"Oh, he is." Eve stepped to the doorway to gesture Chifuyu to come, and the 17-year-old rose from his seat to approach Eve, who handed the phone to him.
"Investigator Tsuguha here," Chifuyu placed the phone next to his ear, speaking with an arrogant voice.
"Hey, listen up. I told you to work on the case of Samuel Hughes's kidnappings, right?" Taylor sounded serious, "Give me a summary," he wanted to know if Chifuyu actually read the file he gave him or not.
"Samuel Hughes is a 38-year-old man who is suspected of woman abduction for the last 3 months, he is suspected to be responsible for the disappearance of Caroline Miles, Amelia Mist, and Elizabeth Ruth. Current whereabouts are unknown, and the location where the women are held captive are unknown as well." Chifuyu gave a short summary.
"Alright, his whereabout aren't unknown anymore." Taylor said, "From investigating another case, I coincidentally discovered Samuel Hughes is attending a mask party held at Paris Central Hall. I want you to attend that event," He explained.
"A mask party...?" Chifuyu's expression showed complaint.
"No complaining, young man. This is part of your investigation," Taylor spoke strictly, "Samuel Hughes possibly planned to go there to abduct another woman, he could take advantage of the crowd and area if he is planning to do so. We couldn't come as police to arrest him on the spot since he's still a suspect and is yet to confess about his crimes, so taking him down on the spot when he does take unwanted actions is the best choice." He explained.
"Why do I feel like an errand runner more than a hired investigator?" Chifuyu was still complaining, "I hate parties," he rolled his eyes, while Eve was listening to him with curiosity in her eyes.
"That's why you can take Eve with you, it'll make you blend in better." Taylor tried to convince Chifuyu, "You just need to observe him and make sure he doesn't do anything unwanted until the event is over," he added.
"Fine, fine. I'll go," Chifuyu reluctantly agreed.
"Good, just contact me as soon as possible if you have him down, and we'll come to arrest him. His actions there would be enough evidence to bring him in front of the justice, if he actually does plan to abduct, that is." Taylor said, "I'll be in front of the central hall to hand you the invitations, I'm expecting you to execute as well as last time, kid." He added.
"You got it, old man." Chifuyu groaned, then ended the call by lightly slamming the phone back to the box.
"Are we going somewhere?" Eve was clueless.
"Change into a gown and put on a mask, Eve, we're going to a mask party." Chifuyu started walking down stairs.
"A mask party??" Eve was bewildered.
"I'm going to go change back at my home, I'll come pick you up in an hour to go to Paris Central Hall." Chifuyu explained shortly, then leaving through the front door.
"Here's the invitation," Taylor handed Chifuyu the invitation, when he and Eve met up with Taylor not far from the central hall. "We've identified Samuel Hughes, he's in a white suit and a red mask." He added to Chifuyu.
"Got it," Chifuyu nodded.
"It's weird seeing you dressed in a suit, kid." Taylor lightly hit Chifuyu's chest with his fist, seeing the 17-year-old dressed in a black ankle-length tailcoat, a white high-necked waist coat with black accents, black pants, black boots and a pair of white gloves, and his face covered by a different black-pattered white mask than his mask as the Alabaster.
"Shut up," Chifuyu made an annoyed sound.
"Hey, listen up." Taylor grabbed Chifuyu's shoulder, "If my daughter ends up being Samuel Hughes's target and she gets kidnapped, you're done for. So, I want my daughter safe, understand?" he gave the teenager a firm gaze.
"Understood, old man. I'll keep this little missy safe," Chifuyu stopped himself from rolling his eyes.
"Eve, be careful and stay close to Tsuguha-kun, okay?" Taylor added to his daughter.
"Don't worry, Dad." Eve smiled, behind her light purple mask that matches her purple gown and hair accessories.
"Okay, I'll be waiting outside with my troop on guard. Give me a call if anything happens," Taylor continued, before Chifuyu and Eve stepped up the stairs to the hall. Chifuyu showed the staff the invitation and he entered with Eve, and a big crowd of people was before them as soon as the security staff opened the big entrance door.
"Whoa, so much people." Eve was amazed by the number of people, chatting and having drinks in their beautiful gowns and stunning suits.
"So noisy in here..." Chifuyu mumbled in complaint, but his eyes explored the big room in search for the man Taylor mentioned. "Don't even think of getting drunk," he glanced to Eve.
"Hey, I don't even like drinking." Eve pouted.
"Alright, alright. Put your pouty face away, little lady." Chifuyu lightly flicked his finger to Eve's forehead.
"Bonjour, Evening." A familiar voice made Eve and Chifuyu look up.
"V-Victor?" Eve could recognize the man approaching them despite half of the man's face hidden by a mask.
"I didn't know you were invited to this event, nice to see you here, Evening." Victor greeted them, before his eyes met with Chifuyu's. "Who is this gentleman?" Victor asked with a smile on his face.
"He... He's a friend of mine," Eve doesn't know how to introduce Chifuyu, because Chifuyu doesn't like revealing his identity.
"A friend? Well, a friend of Evening's is a friend of mine." Victor smiled to Chifuyu and extended his hand, "My name is Victor Clark, I am this beautiful young lady's fiancé." He introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you," Chifuyu shook his hand.
"You look fairly familiar, sir. Are you a nobleman by any chance?" Victor seemed to recognize Chifuyu.
"Not quite," Chifuyu responded shortly, hiding his reluctance just when he saw Samuel Hughes amongst the crowd. "I have my eyes on our man, stay here with your boyfriend." Chifuyu leaned closer to Eve to whisper to her.
"Huh?" Eve was confused.
"Excuse me, there's business I must take care of." Chifuyu bowed slightly, before slipping away into the crowd.
"Chifuyu-kun, don't leave me here!!" Eve screamed in her head as she watched Chifuyu disappear amongst the crowd.
"So, are you going to tell me the name of your friend there?" Victor broke Eve from her daze.
"O-Oh, um... Call him Winter," Eve randomly came up with a name, taking it from Chifuyu's first name.
Chifuyu observed the suspect from the edge of the hall, and that is when he noticed Eve was his target. The way his moved around, he was trying to get close to Eve yet staying out of sight and flinching whenever she turns his way.
"I have to meet with some people, excuse me, Evening." Victor excused himself as Chifuyu walked back to Eve without Samuel Hughes noticing.
"Okay," Eve waved as he walked away, and Chifuyu stopped in front of her to give her a polite bow with his hand extending to her.
"Milady, shall we dance?" he had a smile on his face, giving Eve a wink that made her blush.
"C-Chifuyu-kun??" Eve was confused.
"Don't be shy, come on." Chifuyu tried to keep a friendly face, knowing Samuel Hughes is watching them from a distance.
"Tch, she's being asked out to dance." Samuel Hughes mumbled to himself, watching Eve place her hand on Chifuyu's and they walked a little to the middle to join the other people who had already started dancing. "I can drug her with my gun, then I could pretend to be the man she came in with and take her outside. I could take her to my hideout afterwards," he arranged his plan in his head, while Chifuyu was dancing a Viennese Waltz with Eve, following the crowd of dancers.
"You're a good dancer, Chifuyu-kun." Eve noticed Chifuyu was dancing fairly well.
"Right back at you," Chifuyu's smile made Eve blush, "Are you nervous?" he made her slightly flinch.
"K-Kind of," Eve smiled shyly.
"Don't worry, I won't let him take you." Chifuyu was calm yet serious, his eyes glanced another direction.
"Ng? 'Him'?" Eve was bewildered, and Chifuyu leaned closer to whisper to her, making her heart rush faster.
"Samuel Hughes, he's onto you." Chifuyu whispered to her in a serenely serious tone, and Eve had a shocked look on her face as Chifuyu pulled his face away. "Relax, I'm skilled in combat remember?" he smiled to comfort Eve, and she did relax immediately.
"Right," she smiled back to him, and Chifuyu glimpsed a sight to the suspect to notice he was not far from them. Chifuyu saw the man pull out a small tranquilizer pistol from his jacket and quietly aims it to Eve's back facing him, thinking nobody noticed his shady actions.
"I'm borrowing this," Chifuyu moved his hand placed on Eve's waist to grab the tip of the big-thick ribbon tied loosely around her waist, pulling it to untie it and into his grip.
"What for?" Eve was confused as Chifuyu kept his eyes focused to hers, to not look suspicious in Samuel Hughes's eyes. Chifuyu released her hand and pulled her closer into his chest, making her heart race.
"Stay still, okay?" Chifuyu's whisper made Eve nervous, but his warmth she felt from the palm of her hand on his chest made her feel safe. Chifuyu kept his eyes down but he was slowly rolling up the ribbon for it to be entirely in his grip, while his alertness was focused onto Samuel Hughes. Samuel Hughes fired a miniature dart at Eve, that Chifuyu easily caught in his hand with the ribbon preventing the dart from injecting the drugs into his hand.
"Damn it!" Samuel Hughes immediately understood the situation and began to flee through the crowd.
"Stop!" Chifuyu called out as he released Eve, making the crowd bewildered as Samuel Hughes was squeezing himself through to the exit and escape. Chifuyu was not interested to waste time, so he stepped onto the edge of a table to propel himself into the air, jumping over the crowd and knocked Samuel Hughes down with a kick to the man's upper back before he landed on the floor. The crowd ran aside from Chifuyu and Samuel Hughes while Chifuyu locked the suspect's arm on the man's back, keeping him down on the floor.
"W-Who is he?" a woman was confused, backing away from the scene.
"Eve! Call the police!" Chifuyu called out, loud enough to be heard clear by Eve, who was 7 metres away.
"R-Right!" Eve ran outside to wave to her father, and soon Taylor and his troops arrived to arrest Samuel Hughes.
Samuel Hughes was pushed into the prisoner carriage, that quickly began moving to put the man behind bars. Eve and Chifuyu watched the carriage set off with Taylor.
"Well done, Tsuguha-kun." Taylor patted Chifuyu's shoulder, "I didn't expect less from you," he gave the teenager a smile.
"So, you're an investigator." Victor approached them.
"Difficult to say, I'm just doing this old man's jobs for him." Chifuyu responded, his mask still concealing his identity. "Ow," He winced when Taylor nudged him.
"Surely, you're no ordinary person though, only skilled units could do what you did. Your performance back there will spread like wild-fire, especially for a young investigator." Victor smiled, "You certainly remind me of a certain someone, who's also popular amongst people in Paris." He added.
"Oh, I wonder who that could be." Chifuyu thought as he glanced away for a split second, nonchalant.
"But mind explaining your actions towards my fiancé earlier?" Victor's smile gave a somewhat unhappy impression.
"Excuse me?" Chifuyu doesn't understand what Victor meant, but he knows it wasn't something he was okay with.
"Holding her too close to you is a no-no," Victor's smile didn't fade away, "Are you trying to get close to Evening? Do you like her?" he added.
"Hey, I'm literally right here..." Eve sighed, but Victor's question made Chifuyu's ears burn instantly.
"As if..." Chifuyu looked away calmly, "I was too focused on my assignment, and her old man would kill me if anything happens to this little lady." He added with a light growl.
"Excuses," Eve had a pout on her face.
"I see," Victor enjoyed teasing Chifuyu, "I must take my leave now. There's a meeting I have to attend, au revoir." He said before walking away.
"Au revoir, Victor." Taylor responded as the nobleman walked away.
"Well, I got to go too. Dressing like this is not really my thing," Chifuyu added, then raised the watch Taylor was holding to wave it in front of the man's face. "You're really easy to rob, aren't you, old man?" his mischievous smirk rose on his face.
"W-What?! When did you-?!" Taylor checked his right wrist as Chifuyu chuckled and began running away, "Hey, come back here!" Taylor was a helpless man compared to Chifuyu, who immediately jumped high onto a roof of the house across.
"So long, sucker~!" Chifuyu's big prideful grin was on his face with his signature gesture as the moonlight shone behind him, before jumping out of sight.
"Why that runt...!" Taylor was clenching his fists as he huffed in annoyance, while Eve chuckled.
"Don't worry, Dad. I'm sure he'll give it back to you somehow," she patted her father's back.
***