"Wait, so they only had 24 hours to prove you innocent?"

"Yep" Myoukou was practically leaning over her desk so much that she might fall off, while I had given up on sitting on the chair and was now sitting on my empty desk. "Well, this was a one off exemption at the time, so there was still a few things to work out before independent investigations could legally proceed."

"So, what happened next?" Myoukou asked wide eyed.

"Well, I did have to ask sis what happened, but, it went something like this…"

Enterprise and Essex were standing in what was left of the ballroom, there was glass shattered everywhere, and the bird cage had been taken away from the crime scene by the Royal Knights as evidence. "So…where do we start?" Essex asked.

"Ummm…" Enterprise looked all around the room, "How about we start with those shards of glass over there?" Essex followed to where Enterprise was pointing and knelt down to examine the evidence, she stopped herself however, when she saw something that had pooled around the glass shards.

"Is this…blood?" Essex dabbed her finger in the red liquid and gave it a lick. "It tastes a bit funny though…" Enterprise, who was standing behind her put her hand under her chin and gazed off into the distance, before she noticed something impaled on the frame of the shattered window. "HOLD IT!" Essex yelled suddenly, sprinting away into the corridor, before skidding around the door and jumping on someone.

"Guh!"

"What were you-AKAGI!" The fox girl turned onto her back and gave a wicked grin.

"Oh~ what's the matter Essex? Has your poor little birdies lost their way~?" Essex attempted to grab her by the collar, only for Akagi to swat her arms away, so instead Essex grabbed onto her wrists. "You missing your little birdies already? I wouldn't be surprised if someone had decided to have fried chicken last night~" and just to emphasise the point, Akagi slowly licked her lips.

"You sneaky, conniving, little-"

"ESSEX!" Enterprise yelled managing to catch up to her junior "Let her go."

"But she-" Akagi took this opportunity to push Essex off of herself and ran towards the door giggling maniacally.

"Let her go…" as Akagi shut the door, enterprise returned to the main ballroom, Essex hurrying behind her.

"Enterprise, why did you let Akagi go?"

"We can't let Akagi's gloating distract us from the facts, trust between us and the Sakura Empire is rather fragile, we can't just go up to them and accuse them of something they didn't do, especially without evidence." Essex gave a sigh

"Okay Enterprise~" Enterprise gave a nod then pointed towards the far side of the room.

"Do you see that over there?" Essex looked over towards where Enterprise was pointing. Hidden partly by shadow, one of the windows on the other side of the room that acted as an emergency exit was partly open. "Whoever took Grim and Nine might have escaped that way!"

"You're right! But how does that prove that Akagi didn't do it?"

"Look over at the shards of glass on the floor there." Enterprise pointed back towards where Essex had first investigated, kneeling down she gingerly moved some of the shards from side to side.

"I don't get it?"

"How about you look a little bit more to the right?" Essex obeyed and spotted a larger shard of glass that looked a funny shape. Essex picked up the piece of glass and examined it from the light from the main hallway. It was shaped like a funnel, and looking down, she could see a label on the one side.

"A…wine bottle?"

"Correct…and the Sakura Empire is not known for drinking wine, their favoured drink is Sake." Essex got back up on her feet.

"Well…Akagi could have planted that there to throw us of her scent!"

"Then if you would…please come over to the shattered window here." Enterprise beckoned her junior to come to the window, but she didn't have to get that close to see what was impaled in the frame, a fancy rapier. Enterprise plucked the sword out with ease. "And to round this off…the Sakura Empire is also known for their katanas, long, curved swords. That aircraft carrier that keeps challenging me has one, Zoo-ku? Or something…?"

"Oh! You mean the one with the brown ponytail and the red dress!"

"Yes, that's the one!"

"But…Akagi could still have-"

"Let's face it Essex, this is starting to look less and less like Akagi is the one behind kidnapping our eagles." Essex gave a huge sigh, as her Akagi theory was now proven incorrect. "But this does prove that someone else was in this room, before Hornet!"

"How does that narrow it down! There must be hundreds of girls that use swords! Even if we exclude the ones using katanas, that's still a lot of potential suspects!" a good few second went by without a word, Enterprise gripping the blade and slowly drawing her fingers along it, while she looked from side to side. "Enter-" Enterprise put her finger to her lips and then pointed towards the large cupboard that was used to hang coats during parties that was hiding behind the door. About five seconds later the cupboard rocked slightly and made a quiet creaking sound, which, in the almost silent ballroom, was extremely loud. Essex gave a nod before the two aircraft carriers gently creeped up towards the cupboard. Enterprise slowly grabbed the handle of the cupboard, trying to make sure that she didn't make a noise, while Essex stood poised, ready to pounce at whoever was inside. Enterprise gave a nod and Essex returned the gesture. Enterprise then held up her hand and counting up, mouthed.

"(one, two, three.)" Before quickly pulling the door open, allowing Essex to grab the arm of the potential suspect and pull her out.

"Eek!" the petite figure yelped as she was thrown out of the cupboard and spun round into the ballroom

"Who are you? And what are you doing hiding there?" Essex yelled before she realised that she was just scaring the poor girl, who was crouched, trembling on the floor. "Oh wait a minute, you're that Iris Libre girl!"

"(Iris Orthodoxy)" Enterprise whispered quickly

"Yeah, Iris Orthodoxy girl…for…four…"

"Forbin." Enterprise finished. The poor Iris Orthodoxy girl slowly lifted her head from between her knees and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Here's your sword back." Enterprise handed the petite knight her rapier back, the terrified girl nodding and taking her weapon back.

"W-w-why are you d-d-dressed like H-H-Herlock Sholmes?"

"These are thinking caps. There used to make you smarter, anyway, I'm sorry for that just now, but could you tell us why you were hiding in the cupboard Forbin?" however even with Enterprise's gentle words Forbin shook her head.

"S-s-sorry, but I've sworn on my knightly honour not to reveal anything about my mentor!"

"Oh, so there was someone else here last night?" Essex exclaimed. Forbin gave a squeak as she realised her mistake.

"Who was here with you, tell us!"

"It doesn't matter Essex, I already know who was here last night, but to be honest I'm surprised, I didn't think that Iris Orthodoxy was on good terms with the Royal Navy yet."

"They weren't from the Roy-" Forbin quickly covered her mouth as she realised her mistake. "I didn't say anything~ I didn't say anythingggg!" She yelled as she ran out of the room.

"Hey wait!"

"Let her go Essex."

"But-"

"Forbin wouldn't have stolen Grim and Nine, you know how strict the Iris Orthodoxy is on morals."

"But we need to find out who she was with last night."

"We don't have to, which other faction is known for drinking wine, that isn't the Royal Navy?"

""Sardegna Empire"" they concluded.

Essex ran towards the door "We'd better get over there right away!"

"Yeah, um… give me a sec…" Enterprise walked over to the side of the cupboard and picked up a small object off the floor and put it in her pocket.

"Come on Enterprise!" Enterprise gave a nod before following Essex out of the room.

"Buongiorno! How can I help you; did you need advice on fashion?"

"…No…?" Essex answered. The two Eagle Union carriers were now standing in the foyer of the Sardegna Empire's dorms, where they were lucky to find the leader of the Sardegna Empire faction.

"Oh, then why are you dressed like Herlock Sholmes?"

"Why does everyone ask that? These are thinking cap, to help you remember stuff." Enterprise explained.

"I see…" Vittorio replied.

"Anyway…" Essex interrupted, "How long have you been stationed here Vittorio?"

"I'm not…"

"Okay then…" Enterprise said, "How long have you been here?"

"Oh, nearly a year now, I'll be stationed here officially in about a fortnight, but I thought that it would be best if I stayed her unofficially to keep an eye on Littorio, she can be a bit pre-emptive at times but then again, I am known as a bit of a ditherer, so she might be more decisive in that regard, but I do worry whether the choice she makes is the right one-"

"Ahem!"

"Oh, yes, I apologize, what was it you wanted?"

"Do you know the whereabouts of the members of your faction last night?" Enterprise asked.

"Why do you want to know that?"

"We're trying to find whoever was in the Ballroom last night and hopefully ask them some questions." Essex explained. Vittorio gave a frown.

"Oh, oh dear, would you mind stepping this way?" Vittorio led the two aircraft carriers to an adjacent room, decorated with red walls, green leather settees and numerous pieces of marble art. The three of them sat down, Vittorio on one settee and Enterprise and Essex on the opposite one. Vittorio twitched nervously before asking. "What do you know about whoever was in that room last night?"

"Well-" Enterprise stopped her.

"We didn't get much from our source, but we do know that they were Sardegnian." Vittorio fidgeted nervously.

"I see… mi scusi, I'm the one who was in that room last night."

""YOU?""

"Si… you have to understand it was she who came to me, and I didn't want to strain relations further…"

"And you're telling us this because…?"

"We're still not on good terms with the Iris Orthodoxy yet, they've only just reformed, so they haven't had much chance to build relations with the other factions yet, and on top of that there is the fact that I am not officially part of this base yet too."

"What exactly are you talking about?" Essex asked. Vittorio stared at them confused.

"Interfering in Iris affairs by giving Forbin fencing lessons?"

"Look," Enterprise interrupted "We're not here to judge you for whatever crime you think you've committed, we just want to know what happened that night." Vittorio gave a heavy sigh, then she went about retelling her story.

"Forbin had been asking me for fencing lessons, to improve her skills as a knight, eventually I agreed as I thought that she had permission to do so by Richelieu, but I found out later that that wasn't the case. We had already agreed to meet in the ballroom that night, but I also decided to bring a bottle of wine with me to help me relax, the Iris Orthodoxy was still rebuilding and were not opening communications to other factions yet I didn't want to be accused of meddling in their internal affairs, but it was either that or break off my agreement with Forbin, and they do have a strict code when it comes to promises, they find it dishonourable to break one, and think you the devil incarnate. She arrived and we went through the basics, I had a few sips of wine to calm my nerves, and then the bolt of lightning lit the sky up and suddenly she screamed and threw her rapier into the window frame, I guess that she was aiming for whatever was on the other side of the window, she screamed that there was a monster but I didn't have time to see it, I turned quickly to grab my sabre off the table, knocking over the cup on the one side and the bottle on the other when I turned around to confront it, but then a second bolt of lightning hit just outside of the window and shattered the glass, I had to shield my eyes until it went dark again, by then Forbin had disappeared, I figure that she got scared and ran off, your eagles were chirping loudly and I could hear someone coming from the hallway, so I made my way out of the emergency exit on the other side of the room, I didn't want one of the Iris Knights to see me there, so I ran back to my room." Enterprise and Essex both sat there listing to Vittorio without interrupting, the three of them sat in silence for about a minute before eventually.

"O…kay…? I don't know what to make of that just now." Essex replied rubbing her face.

"It's the truth, I swear!"

"That's fine, look, I think it be best for you to explain everything to Richelieu, poor Forbin was petrified when we found her." Essex gave a nod.

"But what if she wants to punish me for interfering in her internal affairs?"

"If what you say is true Forbin will back you up, even if she doesn't want to, she has to tell the truth to her superior, it's against her morals otherwise." Enterprise explained.

"I see, si, mille grazie, I'll go and do that."

"That's okay Vittorio, thank you for explaining everything." The two aircraft carriers got up off the settee and made their way out of the Sardegnian dorms.

"What just…a monster…?" Essex muttered in disbelief "What did she see, a siren?"

"If that was the case then we'd be on high alert now, and besides what would the sirens want with two eagles?" Essex gave a sigh.

"So we're back to square one!"

"Not quite, I do have an idea of what Forbin saw that night though."

"A scary fire fox lady?" Essex said.

"No," Enterprise answered going into her pocket and taking the small object out "But you are on the right track." Essex stopped and looked down into Enterprise's palm, to see a small black iron cross.