Matantei Loki and all its characters belong to Kinoshita Sakura, Studio Deen, TV Tokyo, Mag Garden, etc. I don't own any of them. Spoilers for all 10 volumes of the manga and the anime. This fanfic occurs after the events of episode 19 but before 21.

It's a Mystery!!

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"Come on, Loki-kun. What about this one?"

"No way."

"How does this sound? Merry-go-round mysteriously turns itself on at midnight in local fair. Police and carnival owners are still baffled at the strange events occurring."

"Mayura, no."

"Mou! You're such a spoilsport! Loki-kun, aren't you looking for mysteries? You're a detective after all!"

"Not really. Mysteries usually find me."

"You're so cruel!" And with that Mayura stomped out of the office, stopping only to grab a cookie from the platter Yamino Ryuusuke was holding. They heard the twinkling of the chimes as she slammed the door shut.

Loki bemusedly watched her walk (or rather sulk) home from his vantage point at the window. "Maybe I was a little too harsh on her, Yamino-kun." He said, accepting a cup of tea from said manservant. "Then again she doesn't have to know that merry-go-round was an unfortunate casualty from Heimdall and Freyr's "disagreement" last night."

"So it would seem, Loki-sama." The butler agreed.

"Che, what a noisy girl." Fenrir growled, teeth bared as he yawned. "No thanks to her incessant blabbering, I hardly got any sleep."

"Nii-san!" Yamino admonished him. "Mayura-san is just . a little excitable."

"That's the understatement of the year."

"Loki-sama! Not you too!"

Fenrir rolled his eyes (or at least he did if a dog could). "Hmph. If you're done defending her, massage my back. It's stiff from acting cute in front of her."

"Nii-san!"

"Shut up and do it, sibling with a father-complex."

"What?!?"

Loki gazed out the window, deep in thought. He didn't hear a word of his childrens' arguments, having concentrated so much. He muttered to himself. "Mystery, eh? That girl seems to be a magnet for disaster. Maybe it'll be a good idea to."

He fingered the tiny vial tied around his neck. Because of his defeat of several minions of the Norns, he had once again collected enough evil auras to cause a transformation back to his unsealed self. He let a little smirk show in his face. "Yamino-kun, Fenrir!"

The brothers immediately stopped fighting. "I'll be going out for a while." Loki said to them. "No need to wait up for me."

"Daddy! I'm coming with you!" Fenrir whined at the same time Yamino let out a curious, "Loki-sama?"

"I'm just following Mayura." Loki assured them. "Before that silly girl gets herself possessed again or something similar."

"Of course, Loki-sama." Yamino gave an all-knowing grin.

"There's no fooling you, isn't it, Yamino-kun?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Loki-sama."

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Daidouji Mayura loved mysteries. But she didn't like most of the things that came with them. Generally, the frightening aspects, and the fact that she go knocked out cold most of the time when the truth was about to be revealed. And she also hated that she couldn't understand why her father disliked Loki so much. Daidouji Misao was very suspicious of the little detective, and with a good reason. Ever since she met Loki, Mayura was involved in the strangest and most bizarre cases she could remember. Not that she regretted ever knowing him.

It only complicated matters when she realized just how CUTE Loki really was. Loki was an eight-year old boy, but admittedly the most adorable little boy she had ever seen. Mayura could only imagine what he would look like when he grew up. She resisted the urge to glomp the detective several times already. And she realized that the little crush had turned almost to attraction.

And Mayura knew it was wrong. She was nine years his senior but it didn't help that Loki acted older than he really was. It was as if he gave an air of wisdom and sometimes sorrow that was out of place in a little kid.

She snapped out of her reverie and realized where she was. Ever since she left the detective agency in a huff, she had been wandering around the city. A glance at her watch revealed that she left two hours before. And by now, it was already late at night. A glance behind her revealed also two burly-looking men following her. She didn't like the lecherous grins in their faces. The grins grew when they realized Mayura had seen them. She did the most logical thing she could do.

Mayura ran.

She had only taken a few steps forward when she was grabbed from behind. One of the men held on to her while the other searched through her bag. She belatedly labeled her captor as thug#1 and the other as thug#2.

Thug #2 let out a disgusted snort and threw her belongings to the ground. "Only 300 yen in her purse!" He leered at her. "And for that, we'll take a little extra." He reached out for her face. "Don't worry. We'll be gentle."

Mayura highly doubted that they would be. She screamed for help but thug #1 clamped one of his hands over her mouth. 'Loki.' she thought while trying to wriggle her way loose.

"HELIOS VELLMONOCHE!"

She let out a scream as she fell on concrete. And she could hear screams for help and odd thumps around her. She groaned as she tried to get her legs to cooperate and pull herself off the ground.

"Really. Humans think of such ingenious ways to hurt each other." A man's voice drifted to her ears, dripping with sarcasm. Smooth, sensual and unbelievably sexy, her hormones screamed.

"Did they hurt you? Miss?"

Mayura looked up at her rescuer and gaped. He wore odd foreign clothing and was carrying a staff (a weapon or a scythe of some kind, her mind recognized). Her jaw dropped when she saw his face. Green eyes on a lovely, androgynous face and reddish-blond hair. She left out a gasp.

"It's you! The one I bumped to near the cake store!"

He gave a rakish grin and pulled her to her feet. He then retrieved her belongings and handed them to her. "I believe these are yours."

Blushing, Mayura accepted them. "Thanks a lot. Huh?" She scanned the street. "Where did they go?"

Her rescuer grinned even wider. "Somewhere. You don't need to worry about them. How about some coffee? My treat? I know of a cute little coffee shop about two blocks away."

She couldn't resist. "Of course!"

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Meanwhile, unnoticed by everyone except by the trickster god himself, two very unhappy would-be-thieves rotated in a glass prism 20 feet above the ground. They panicked when their efforts to escape resulted in a cracking in the glass. They realized that with their demise came with the destruction of the prism. They prayed to the gods with all their might to be released soon. Prison was better than the fate they were now destined to have.

Far, far away in Asgard, Odin banged his "all-knowing" head into one of the pillars in his home. He grumbled to himself about "Ragnarok" and "Fate" and what he did to deserve looking after a mischievous exiled god. Frigg stood calmly beside him, ready with bandages, all together too used to the ways of the gods to be amused anymore.

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The Lightning God Thor was never known for his intelligence. Surely, his strength was uncontested in battle. But give him an intellectual job and disaster was sure to follow. That was why Narugami is working as a waiter instead of a cashier in a coffee shop. The last time he attempted to man a cash register resulted in a melted pile of steel. And his last boss wasn't very happy about it. Now he is back at his old job at the 'Evening Coffee Shop.' Luckily the Master had returned to Japan a week before and had hired him immediately. Luckily he had money to pay this month's rent and to feed himself. Unluckily coincidences always happen because you're a Norse god stuck in earth, destined to forever cleaning toilets.

"Irrashai!" Narugami cheerfully welcomed the new customers, his back to them as he wiped dry several cups.

"We'll have two cups of mocha cappuccino. One with extra milk. And the master's house specialty brownies."

"Coming!" Please sit wherever you like and AAAHH!!" Narugami catches one of the cups before it reaches the floor. "Kakusei Loki!"

"Yo, Narukami-kun."

"Geez. Last time you did that I nearly got a heart attack. And who's that with you. DAIDOUJI!!!"

"Wow, nice save, Narugami-kun. How did you know each other?" Mayura asked as she was led over to a booth facing the window. "And did he just call you Loki?"

"We go a long way back." Her rescuer smoothly said. "I'm Loki. Jasshin Loki. And your name is? Pretty lady?"

Mayura felt herself blush again. "Mayura. Daidouji Mayura. Um. You don't look like you come from around here."

"Europe my dear. I'm from the Scandinavian region to be exact. I'm here visiting relatives."

"That's great, Loki.san. Is there any chance that I know your relatives?"

Kakusei Loki smiled at her. Narugami set down their orders and rolled his eyes at the blatant flirting. Mayura reddened once again.

"You're the detective, miss." He said, taking a sip of his coffee. "It's your job to find that out."

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The next day, Mayura was at the Enjaku Detective Agency, this time, recanting the tales of last night's escapades.

"And he was so cool!" She gushed. "After coffee, he took me home. It was a good thing papa wasn't home yet. He was such a gentleman! He took me to the door. But when I looked around, he had disappeared already!"

Loki, back to his child form munched on some of the master's cookies Mayura had brought over. "And then what? Did he give you a number or address?"

Mayura froze. And the realization sunk in. "NO!!!" She wailed. "I was so caught up in the moment that I forgot!"

"I see." Loki snorted indelicately.

"But then again." Mayura squinted at Loki's face. "He looks like you a lot when you could be older. And you have the same name too. And he's also not Japanese. Could you be one of the relatives that he was talking about?"

"Why knows?" Loki dunked one of the cookies in milk and chewed on it thoughtfully. "That is definitely a mystery, isn't it Mayura?"

The end? ***********************************************************************

Author's notes: Loki actually does introduce himself as Jasshin Loki in the manga. Jasshin literally translates into 'trickster god.' And no, I don't support the LokixMayura pairing. Mayura just annoys the hell out of me. R/R please!