Hey guys! This should probably be in bold, but this isn't my phone... I lost it but I knew I had to update somehow... Alright, I know that you don't care, & all that matters right now is that I'M BACK! LOOK OUT WORLD, YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME YET! Alright, time to work wonders here, hang onto your hats folks, 'cause this roller coaster's not stopping anytime soon!

A week later, the professor & Luke had finally fully-recovered, & were leaving the hospital. As they boarded a red double-decker, Layton finally broke the pestering silence. "Alex, are you sure you saw the Black Lady?" he asked.

"How many people who wear cloaks & hate you do you know?"

"Perhaps the tea caused you to hallucinate-"

"I spit it out."

"I'm sure I would have noticed if-"

"You were barely conscious. Plus, assuming I imagined it is assuming Dean Delmona drugged you."

"That's not true. Don Paolo could've easily-"

"You said he's currently in custody. He hasn't escaped yet."

"Well... I did, didn't I..."

Alex smirked, ready to claim victory.

"I say we ask around Gressenheller & see if anyone saw her," Luke chimed in. Layton & Alex nodded as the bus stopped in front of the university. Their game plan set, the trio deborded the bus & went inside.

"Alright, ask around, be at my office by 11:45," the professor instructed. Luke & Alex gave him a thumbs up, & they all headed in different directions.

"Excuse me, Miss," Luke said to a pretty, young woman in a pink dress & a purple waist-coat. "By any chance, did you-"

"Oh my goodness! Aren't you the cutest thing!" she squealed.

Luke felt his cheeks turn pink. "Oh, um, thank you, but I really need to ask you-"

But the girl cut him off again, turning to someone behind Luke. "Jess! Hey, Jess! Come look at this nine-year-old! He's adorable!" Another girl in a blue shirt & a dark blue skirt came over & joined her friend, aweing at Luke.

"N-Nine-year-old! I'm fourteen!"

The girls didn't seem to hear him. They just kept saying things like,"You are the cutest!" & "You better get out of here before my boyfriend shows up!"

Finally, Luke couldn't take it anymore. He groaned in frustration & stormed away. "Wait! Come back!" the girls yelled. They chased after him, & the poor boy broke into a run.

"Ah, Rosa!" said Layton, smiling at the maid.

"Professor! You didn't make a mess of your office again, did you?"

Layton was ready to say no, but then he invisioned his office, remembering the bits of rock scattered all over his desk, the books all over the floor, & he still hadn't gotten the window fixed since Don Paolo jumped through it. "Erm..." Rosa raised an eyebrow. "Well..." He glanced at his wrist. "Oh, look at the time! I really need to be...somewhere."

"You aren't wearing a watch."

"Good day, Rosa!" He turned & left, slightly faster than he should have.

"I WILL be checking your office later!" Rosa called after him.

"Don't!"

Alex said, "Well, thanks anyway, have a good day," to the umpteenth person. "Honestly, she jumped through the window! SOMEBODY has to have seen something!" she mumbled. She was just about to give up & head to Layton's office early, when she saw someone of interest.

"Dean Delmona!" she gasped.

The dean looked at her confusedly. "And you are...?"

Right, because the Dean Delmona she met was a decoy, she had never met the real one... "I'm Alex. Professor Layton might have told you about me."

Delmona nodded. "Ah, I see." He let out a chuckle. "He was quick to replace Flora, wasn't he?"

Alex was silent for a moment. Was that what she was? A...replacement? Wait no, of course not! It was the professor's idea to take her in, & that was before Flora decided to leave. But now that she thought about it, she could think of a few things when Layton had tried to call her "Flora" on accident... Well, either way, it didn't matter now. There were bigger fish to fry.

"Dean, are you alright? Were you hurt?" She couldn't help but wonder what her enemy had done to him, & why he seemed perfectly fine now.

He gave her a confused look. "Fine. Better now, at least. See, I was feeling under the weather, so I took the day off last week. I'm annoyed though. Th window in my office was broken when I got back. Can you believe it?!"

Alex did her best to look surprised. "Whaaaaaat?" She noticed a clock on a nearby wall. "Shoot, I'm gonna be late! I should be at the professor's office soon. Bye, Dean!"

When she reached the door, she tried to open it, but it was locked. Odd. The professor never locked his door. She gave it a knock.

"Don't come in, Rosa!" yelped a voice on the other side.

"Professor, it's me." She heard the door unlock, & Layton let her in. He looked really, really tired. "Professor, what's wrong? You look like you ran across the university!"

"That's because..hah..hah... I di..hah...did." Books crammed into the bookcase, the rubbish bin overflowing with rocks & shards of glass, dust particles flying everywhere, Alex may have never been to school, but she could put two & two together.

"Did you find anything of interest?"

"Well, I did learn that Dean Delmona took the day off last week. He has no idea he was inpersonated."

The professor nodded. "That may aid us on our investigation! Great work, Flor-Alex. Sorry."

There it was again. Suddenly, she had to know... Was she just filling the space that Flora had left empty? "Professor, do you think I'm-"

She was interrupted when Luke ran into the room, slamming & locking the door behind him. "I...hah...hah...lost them..."

Alex had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, & Layton covered his mouth; Luke's face was covered in red lipstick marks, making it looked like someone had binded him to a chair under mistletoe or something.

"Luke, what happened you your face?" Layton managed.

"Why? What did they do to me?!" He ran to a mirror hanging on a wall, let out a small scream, & rubbed his face with his sleeve. "That's why everyone was staring at me..."

"Alex, what was it you wanted to say?" Layton asked, trying to save Luke from any more embarrassment.

The girl found the floor extremely fascinating for a moment. Finally, she looked up. "Professor, do you think of me as-"

She was interrupted again when the lights flickered & went out, followed by a crashing sound that sounded waaay to close.

Luke grabbed the closest figure to him.

"Ack! Who just grabbed me?!" Alex yelped.

"Sorry, I think that was me..."

"Oh. For a minute I thought-Augh!"

The lights flickered back on, & Luke found his arms wrapped tightly around his mentor. "Oh! Sorry, Professor," he said, pulling away, but then he realized,"Wait a minute, if I grabbed you, then who-?!"

The two scanned the room. The door was broken, & something was missing...

"ALEX!"