Hello everyone! It's yours truly, namucchi! This is my first fanfiction. Ever. And as my debut of fanfic writing, I started off with my favorite Love Live! School Idol Project OTP, KotoEli! Yes, I'm that one rare-shipper in the fandom. And, their first UR pair in School Idol Festival; the Job set with Cop Kotori and Thief Eli, it gave me much inspiration and motivation for me to finally write my first fanfic of my favorite LL ship.

I hope you, dear FF dot net readers, would like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Love Live. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the writer

"Have you tried talking with flowers, Kotori?"

"P-Pardon?"

The blonde chuckled at her gray-haired companion's puzzled expression etched all over her adorable, innocent face.

"Nevermind. The thing is, I've found out already~"

"Eli, don't you mean—"

Smirking, the blonde named Eli turned to the crown, debating noisily like no care of their fragrant surroundings. Kotori, the gray-haired, stared at her senior in awe. As expected of Ms. Eli Ayase...

"Miss Inspector, please do something!" a black haired small lady in twin tails begged as she approached the two, staring at them with her magenta eyes. "I swear I'm not the culprit! You have to stop these people!"

The two officers stared at each other and nodded. Eli walked to the crowd, who seemed to notice her presence.

"Everyone, may I summarize the conundrum here first?" she asked in a kind but authoritative tone.

The crowd fell silent, staring in awe at this beautiful lady. Kotori found herself blushing as well. She's so smart, cool, and beautiful. Everyone is in admiration on her. She's an ace of Scotland Yard. The superiors love how she does her job.

"Very well, I shall take that as a 'yes'," Eli said with a nod. "Kotori?"

And yet I have no idea why she's stuck with a rookie like me, Kotori's thoughts continued. I'm so clumsy and I always have the culprit slip through and escape away from me. Sigh.

"Kotori? What's wrong?"

With the blonde inspector's face near hers, Kotori shrieked in astonishment.

"E-E-Eli! I-I'm sorry! W-What is it?"

"Are you alright? Are you tired?"

And I always worry and burden Eli...

"A-Ah, no! I'm fine!" Kotori waved apologetically. "I-I was just thinking about the case..."

"Is that so?" Eli replied, staring at her companion anxiously. "I was just wondering if you could explain the case for us in summary."

"Y-Yes! Absolutely~"

"A replica of the princess's tiara went missing at the neighboring pawn shop of this flower shop." Kotori began. "An alarm was brought by the pawn clerk. Soon, the pawn owner found the piece in a vase of marigold flowers displayed outside the flower shop. The owner then accused the only employee working in this shop."

"I swear I didn't do it!" the black haired female blurted, alarming Kotori.

"Let her finish, Nico," Eli snapped back.

"T-The tiara is retrieved but by public demand," Kotori continued. "We are to pursue the culprit behind this. We have the pawn shop owner, pawn shop clerk, and the florist. All passersby around the crime scene are on-hold... though only one was found for this is the deserted part of the market. I-Is that fine, Eli?"

"Yes, thank you, Kotori," Eli replied with a nod. "Any objections?"

"I do," a bossy female voice of the pawn shop owner replied in. "'By public demand'? Psh, don't give me that. The culprit is Nico Yazawa, and it's obvious!"

"Hey!" Nico retorted angrily.

"Do you have any proof, ma'am?" Eli stepped in.

"W-Well, she was the only personnel in this flimsy shop!"

"I already said that I was in the back room!" Nico shot back. "Why would I come to your shop in the first place to grab a replica?"

"You probably had an accomplice to do the dirty work for you!"

"I don't! Why would you suggest such? Maybe that's how YOU did it! You were the one who found the tiara in our vase to possibly FRAME ME!"

"Everyone, I demand silence and all attention to me!" Eli interrupted in a loud voice. "Accusing each other with lack of evidence will only lead to more chaos. We want you to go back to your duties as soon as possible..."

"Then tell us already!"

"To reduce the noise," the blonde sighed. "It is neither Nico nor the pawn shop owner."

"WHAT!?"

"So be quiet now and listen to my explanation."

"The first point that we should consider is how the tiara got out of the shop. The pawn shop is surprisingly light guarded and the surveillance cameras placed don't scope much each of the corners of the room. There is only one clerk present in the shop while the owner is at her office, am I correct?"

"Yes, that's right," the owner answered with a nod. "I was taking care of some...papers."

"So," Eli continued. "There is one conclusion on how the tiara got out of its glass case without any trace of mess."

"T-The pawn shop clerk!" Kotori exclaimed as everybody turned to the girl.

The girl looked timid and quiet. With all eyes on her, her body shook and her words quivered as she spoke.

"B-But I w-was in t-the s-shop t-the whole t-time," she stammered nervously. "I-I didn't went o-outside t-to place the t-tiara..."

"That's true," Nico said. "She was in the shop the whole time when we watched the surveillance video."

"Indeed," Eli replied with a nod. "Unless someone can put it for her."

"The accomplice must be Nico!" the pawn shop owner retorted.

"Are you out of your mind?" Nico stammered. "Didn't Miss Inspector just said its neither of us?"

"Miss Nico Yazawa is neither the culprit nor the accomplice," Eli replied. "I talked to the old lady; the owner of this flower shop. She had Nico to talk about. Therefore, she's innocent of this."

"Then who did—"

"T-That's right. Its not M-Miss Nico Yazawa..."

A small voice interrupted in. It was from the pawn shop clerk.

"Miss Officer is right," she added as her body shook more. "I-I did it. T-Though its true that it w-wasn't me who put in Miss Y-Yazawa's vase. It was my boyfriend."

Kotori gasped as she turned to the only guy in the shop.

"It was totally a childish act," the clerk continued, choking into tears. "But it was a sign of a revolution—rebellion from me."

She turned to her boss, the pawn shop owner, with disgust and hate clouded in her eyes.

"I had enough of you. You keep ordering me around like a slave of yours, abusing me unnecessarily—!"

Her expression soon fell.

"I tried hiding it from him—my boyfriend. But he saw my scars. He became furious. He want me gone of that place."

The guy shifted.

"Millie—"

"But you know I can't!" the clerk named Millie retorted, sobbing. "I needed money...for my grandmother..."

"Why didn't you resign immediately?" Nico asked worryingly. "You could have found another job."

"Her boss threatened her that she'll make her life miserable," the guy stepped as he hugged Millie. "Worse, she'll kill her grandmother."

"Then why stage a stolen tiara?" Kotori asked.

"Once the mall management heard of it and discovered how the boss is handling the shop," the guy answered. "It could be forced to close down. Millie will be free from her grasp."

"I didn't mean for Miss Yazawa to be involved," Millie wailed. "She's a very nice lady. I wanted to stop her rows with the pawn shop owner.

"Please," her lover added. "Don't throw Millie in jail. I did it. I planned it all. Arrest me, instead, Miss Officer!"

"Courageous man," Eli remarked, nodding to the man and turned to the pawn shop owner. "We'll get onto that once we're done with..."

"What's with that dirty face, Miss Officer?" the owner stammered. "Y-You now I'm the victim here! They stole the tiara! They framed Nico Yazawa!"

"Oh, was I giving you a dirty look?" Eli snapped back suavely. "I thought I was giving you the most affectionate look that I could ever give to somebody who has violated human rights. Wasn't your shop about to be closed sooner anyway? Unpaid debts to the mall management and taxes to our dear country. My dear ma'am, you're committing tax evasion!"

"You—!"

"Kotori, call our team. Arrest this woman."