Total words including Author's note: 4340

Chapter Two

Another lovely morning in France, the sun raised up to greet all the villagers who are about to start their own jobs. The lady with azure blue eyes is wandering around the market, holding a basket of red roses and sunflowers that she's going to deliver to someone. While she's walking while humming a sweet tone, with a gentle look on her face, she suddenly stopped as she overheard the conversation of those women near her.

"I heard that there will be a bal masqué that is open for the public. It was announced last night, they said that it will be held by a rich man from London, his identity was not revealed though."

"Really, what's with the sudden announcement?"

"It was said that he want to help others to socialise with each other. Also, he wants to have fun and meet new people here in France."

"Wow! That man must be really wealthy. It's been a long time that a ball happened here. So when and where will it be held?"

"Tonight at 7 o'clock. It will happen on that mansion on the west part of the city."

"Isn't that too soon? But I'm sure that people will be ready in no time and that a lot of people will attend. Goodness, I'm so excited!"

The lady's azure blue eyes brighten up in excitement and joy after she heard their conversation. She lives to attend different parties especially bal masqué or masquerade ball, where everyone will be anonymous, people will eat with each other, socialize and dance with each other. Also, she might also meet that famous detective; he's quite known around─ not only in town but also in the whole country.

'Jimmy Kudo... Let's see if you can unveil my illusion this time.' she thought while unconsciously smiling and starts to walk again, she was too busy with her thoughts and fail to notice the person in front of her, she accidentally bumped with someone who seems to be in rush. Her basket that is full of roses and sunflowers falls down on the ground. She quickly kneel down on the ground to pick up the flowers that she's about to deliver to someone.

"I'm so sorry... I wasn't loo─" a person with a deep yet gentle voice cut her off before she could even continue, she saw him kneel down on the ground to help her pick the flowers "No, it's okay, this is my fault anyways, I was in so much rush" she slowly looks at him as the azure eyes met the stranger's golden ones.

It's a guy with a blonde hair, his golden eyes matches his pale skin. He is wearing white long sleeves and brown long pants with a pair of black shoes. He's holding a wooden case which is already on the ground. The two of them stare at each other for a second as the girl quickly looks back on the ground to pick up the flowers and put it in the basket.

The man help her stand after picking the flowers up, she step backwards to look at the guy, "I'm so sorry again. Thank you for helping up but I really need to go right now" she said with a formal tone and with an apologetic tone. The stranger just stares at her until she starts walking away.

"Wait!"

She stops walking when felt someone hold her wrist to stop her, when he she turns around it was the man with golden eyes. He was looking at her, seems like he wants to tell her something so he waited for him to speak.

"What's your─ no... Are you going to attend the ball tonight?" she was quite confused on why he would ask her that but she gave her a smile and nods.

"Yes, I will."

With that, the man smiled gently and kissed the back of her hand in a respectful manner before letting her hand go, "Then I will be seeing you tonight, mademoiselle. Again, I apologise from what happened earlier."

"Don't worry about it" she said giving the guy a reassuring smile. The lady waved her hand as a sign of goodbye and starts to walk away to deliver the flowers, 'I'm so late!'

"Hey, Kudo! Are ya goin' to attend that ball?"

Jimmy stopped reading the files of cases that he is currently holding; he sighed before putting the files down and turns his gaze to his friend.

"You know that I'm a busy man, Hartwell. I have no time for such nonsense." he said while crossing his arms as he rested his back on the upholstered back of his chair. He saw his friend raised an eyebrow before he shook his head.

"We detectives need to have some fun too ya know?" said the guy with a dark brown skin that matches his dark blue eyes and dark brown spiky hair. Jimmy just gave him a bored look that made him frown.

"You're no fun, Kudo. I'm sure that everyone would be there, attend for once, I'm sure that everyone wants to see you there, especially the ladies." the dark brown skinned man said with a persuading tone, trying to make his friend change his mind.

On the other hand, Jimmy have realised something. Many people will indeed attend the bal masqué, there will be a huge possibility that she, the lady magician, will attend that ball, since she loves to entertain people, he is quite sure that she will attend the ball. His face suddenly lit up in excitement that made his friend confused.

"Harley Hartwell you're a genius!" Jimmy suddenly exclaimed that made Harley jump in surprise.

"I know, but what in the world? What's with the sudden change of mood, Kudo?"

He ignored his friend's question and just gave him a cocky smile, "Get ready, Hartwell. We have a bal masqué to attend to."

Harley gave him a confused expression which he ignored again so he just shook his head.

With that lady on that ball, Jimmy is sure that it would bring him excitement. He grins widely while thinking of the challenges that she might show him again, 'So what tricks under your sleeves do you have for tonight, mademoiselle?'

When the night comes in and the lovely moon comes out, the people start to prepare their selves for the special event that a mysterious man held for them. All of the ladies are already wearing their glamorous and colorful gown that will make their beauty stand out. Their hair was already fixed and clipped to match the shimmering jewelries that they are wearing that added more. Of course, the gentlemen has also dressed themselves to impress the ladies, they are wearing their formal attire that I used for such events like a ball, their well-fixed hair surely matches their tux that has made them look more presentable. But it won't be called Bal Masqué without their mask to compete their whole attire.

As for the lady magician with azure eyes, she will never missed the chance to prepare something really elegantly beautiful to wear, she is wearing a heron shoulder draped gown that has a elasticated puff sleeves that matches her porcelain skin, it is made out of tulle and silk with embroidered detailing, her gown is high waist at the front, that has a curved down to sit on her natural waist on the back, it has a layer of silver French lace over the pale grey tulle silk on its bodice, her dress is paired up with a white pair of high heel. As for her hair, she decorated her well done half up styled long brunette hair with a blue rose and a brooch that is made out of pearls, the only jewelry that she's wearing is a silver necklace that has a crescent moon pendant that has tiny diamonds and sapphire on it.

She felt more excited as her eyes wander around the almost-castle-like-luxury-mansion. She paused when she overheard another conversation from the other guests and realised something, 'So they are using code names instead of their actual names? That make sense' she thought too herself while walking around the venue while holding her gown, she walks towards the vacant table that has an expensive glass and wine on it and sat on the chair in front of it. Her eyes wander around the whole area again to search for a certain someone.

People are staring at her, especially the men, feeling mesmerized on how gorgeous and beautiful she looks even if half of her face is covered by a blue and silver mask and only her azure blue eyes, pointed nose, and cherry lips are shown.

On the other hand, the detective is still on his way with his good friend Harley Hartwell towards the venue of the bal masqué, he is wearing a black tail coat that has a white cream waistcoat and high collar long sleeves underneath, it is paired up with black slacks and a pair of black shoes, he also wore a white cream colored bow tie to complete his suit. He decided to push his hair back as suggested by Harley so that it will match his outfit perfectly. The half of his face is covered a black mask that only his cerulean blue eyes, pointed nose and his lips are shown. Jimmy and Harley almost have the same outfit, the only differences are Harley's tailcoat is navy blue and he's wearing a navy blue colored bow tie instead of white.

Jimmy and Harley didn't fail to catch the other guests' attention as soon as they arrived at the mansion, especially the ladies who found the two gentlemen really attractive even if their masks are covering half of their faces.

Ignoring the attention that he got, Jimmy's eyes starts to wander around to search for the lady magician, but he couldn't get a good look because of the crowd that surrounds the area,

'Maybe she did not attend?' he thought and feels quite disappointed because for him, what's the point of attending this ball without the lady he's looking for?

"Oi, Kudo! We have to find that British guy to greet and thank him for giving us personal invitations, come on!" Jimmy turned his gaze to Harley that is already waiting for him. He let out a deep sigh and followed his friend to find the host of this bal masqué, he will just find her later after talking to the host so that there will no longer be any distractions.

As for the mysterious gentleman named Sebastian Hainse, a detective from London who held the masquerade ball walks down the stairs of his mansion. His well-fixed blond hair matches his cream light yellow pair of slacks and coat that has a white waistcoat and a neck length ruffled shirt underneath, the jabot white on his neck completed his upper wear, his pair of black boots made his attire look more perfect and presentable that made ladies around his stare on how attractive he is even with those yellow cream and gold coloured half mask. He looks at the ladies, who are following him, giving them a sweet smile which makes their heart melt before he walks away.

His sharp hawk golden eyes wandered around the whole venue to search for his two special guests for tonight. Relaxing music from the instruments played by great musicians filled the whole area as he caught something blue— azure coloured roses that are displayed in a glass flower vase that is displayed in every table.

'Azure...' he thought as he tries to recall on where he saw that familiar colour, his eyes widen as he suddenly remember the image of the azure blue eyed lady that was holding a basket of flowers in his mind. A small smile appears on his lips and he looks around, hoping that she attended the ball tonight.

"Oi Kudo! We have to find that British guy to greet and thank him for giving us a personal invitations, come on!"

He quickly look around to find the owner of the voice after hearing the words 'British guy', he quickly found the owner of the voice and identified that it is his special guests for tonight. He walks towards the two gentlemen that are also looking for him.

"You gentlemen seem to be looking for me" he said as he chuckles which makes the dark skinned guy point him out with his finger.

"Wait you must be Ha—"

Sebastian quickly interrupted his dark skinned guest before he could ever say his name out loud, "Shush, we're using code names here so just call me 'White Horse', you must be my special guests for tonight, the detectives of France." said Sebastian and gave them a welcoming smile, Jimmy turn his gaze to the host while showing his hand as a sign for a handshake,

"Dark Knight. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. White Horse." Said Jimmy with a formal tone. The British stretches his arm and gave him a handshake.

"You're very much welcome, Mr. Dark Knight, it is a pleasure to finally meet the great detective that has reach its popularity in London." The British detective turns his gaze to the dark skinned detective, "And you must be—?"

"Just call him Reverse."

"Oi what's the big idea, Ku- Ku...Dark Knight?!" complied by the dark skinned detective to his friend which made the British detective laugh but noticed that Jimmy's eyes are wandering around the area

"It seems like you're looking for someone, Mr. Dark Knight." Sebastian said and confirms it when Jimmy nods

"Yeah, you have been like that ever since we arrived here. Who is it?" Harley said while looking at Jimmy who let out a soft sigh

"I was expecting that she would come tonight, but it seems like I'm wrong" Jimmy looks at them and shook his head. The two men looks at him as they get curious, Harley put his arm around Jimmy's shoulder and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder while smiling teasingly that made Jimmy frowned.

"Ah! So it's a woman, I see? No wonder ya suddenly change your mind about attendin' this ball" Harley said while a teasing tone, "So, what does she looks like? When did ya meet her, huh?" he continued while wearing a wide and teasing grin. The Blond detective crossed his arms and wait for Jimmy to speak.

Letting out a deep sigh, a smile formed on Jimmy's lips while thinking how he'll describe that elegant lady he met the other day, "She...well she's the most beautiful lady I've ever seen in my entire existence. Some of those magic tricks are kind of predictable but i couldn't help but to feel amuse, I got drowned by those beautiful azure eyes as she perform, I don't know how I could I describe her but... she's amazing. I want to meet her again to challenge her by revealing her tricks"

Sebastian just looks at Jimmy while listening; he got a bit surprise when he heard him say 'azure eyes? '. He just cross his arms while looking at him, 'coincidence?' he thought.

"Ya should introduce her to us! So what's her name?" Harley asked while still wearing a wide grin. Jimmy scratches his nape and let out an awkward laugh.

"I...actually forgot to ask her name, she was called by her co-worker so I let her went off and forgot to ask for her name. That's why I was hoping to see her here" the detective with cerulean blue eyes said with a hint of disappointment on his tone.

Both Jimmy and Harley turn his gaze to the British detective when he chuckled.

"I suddenly remembered that woman I met today" said Sebastian as he close his eyes and smiled when remembering the lady he met this morning. While Jimmy just looks at him and listen.

"Mind telling us about her?"

The blond detective thinks before speaking, "Well I've suddenly bump into a beautiful lady this morning, she was holding a basket of flowers and seems like unfocused while she was walking, it seems like she's day dreaming" he said and chuckled when he remembered what happened before he continue to talk,

"She has soft hands; I noticed it when I held her hand to help her stand up after helping her on picking up the flowers. We both have shared an eye contact for few seconds, her expressions were really adorable though. I can still remember the scent of the flowers on her" he said while wearing a wide grin after he finished talking.

"Geez, I envy the both of you. I wish I could meet beautiful ladies like both of you did." said Harley while wearing a frown which made both Jimmy and Sebastian laugh.

"I was hoping that she would show up too since she told me that she would when I asked her" the British detective said and shook his head.

Harley looks at the both of them and sweat dropped, 'These two are hopeless...' he thought to himself and shook his head.

Jimmy cleans his throat before he speaks, "Anyway, I'll be just use the comfort room, hope you don't mind, Mr. White Horse" he said, Sebastian agreed and pointed on where the comfort room is located. Jimmy thanked him and takes his leave. But instead of to the comfort room, he went to wander around to find the lady magician. After minutes of searching, he almost lose his hope until he saw bunch of people surrounding an area, he heard applause and chants, aside from those, he overheard a conversation of other men near the area.

"That lady is really something. It's amazing that a young lady like her could be such good magician."

"Indeed. She is also really adorable,"

That is all that he has to hear and runs towards the area where bunch of people are surrounding someone, he looks above and saw white doves flying that made him confirm the thought inside his head, 'It's her!' he thought to himself before making his way through the crowd to be able to go in front. When he finally reached the front, there he saw the lady that is moving elegantly while showing her magic tricks with a proud smile on her face. Even if she's wearing a mask, he couldn't possibly forget those elegant movements and especially those beautiful azure blue eyes.

'She's breathtaking'

The lady stopped doing her magic tricks when she saw a really familiar man; she almost didn't recognise him because aside from he's wearing a mask, he has a different hairstyle this time, their eyes met for few seconds before flashing each other a smile. Jimmy walk towards the lady with his gentleman posture and bow down before holding the magician's hand to kiss the back of it.

"I finally found you, milady. You look absolutely beautiful tonight" he said while looking at her. The lady's cheeks slightly flushed, she holds her skirt, bend down her knees before bowing down her head to return his formal approach,

"Why thank you, Monsieur Kudo, and you..." she paused to look at him from bottom to top and chuckled, "you look absolutely handsome tonight"

The detective gave the magician a smile and thanked her before letting go of her hand, "So, doing magic tricks again huh? I knew that I'd find you by that."

"Well, I didn't originally plan to perform a trick for tonight but I had hope that it might catch your attention" the magician said before walking towards her table, Jimmy follows her and pulls out a chair for the magician and sat next to her.

"So, why is a detective who said that my magic tricks are predictable searching for me?" the magician rested her chin on her palm and looks at the detective who is sitting beside her while smiling brightly.

The detective lost his focus when he stare the magician, unlike other ladies here in this party, she's not wearing too much makeup that made her natural beauty stand out, that made Jimmy smile unconsciously while staring. The magician realised that he was not paying attention so she lean closer and waved her hand in front of Jimmy's face.

"Hey, Mr. Great Detective, are you even listening?" she slightly raised her voice that made him comeback to his senses and slightly blush when he realised that the magician's face is really close his.

"O-oh, I apologise, could you please repeat what you've said earlier?" he laughs nervously because she might have noticed that he has been staring at her.

The magician frowned let out a deep sigh, "Nothing, nothing. So detective can lose their focus too sometimes, huh?" she asked and tilts her head while looking at him.

"Well yes, if we are being distracted by something." Jimmy said that made the magician wonder what kind of thing distracted the great detective.

"So what's was that thing that distracted you?" his eyes widens with his question and didn't know what to answer, at the exact moment, the musicians played Ludwig van Beethoven's Adagio Cantabile from Sonata Pathétique No. 8, Op.13. He thought that this will be a great opportunity to escape the question so stands up and bow his waist formally in front of the lady he while lending his hand, "Will this fair and beautiful magician honour this old humble detective a dance in the middle of the dance floor?" he said while flashing a manly smile.

The magician's cheeks tinted but still managed to let out a giggle and accepted his hand, "Well of course Mr. Kudo. A dance with a gentleman like you wouldn't do any harm would it?" she replied.

The both of them walk in the middle of the dance floor hand in hand. Jimmy's held the magician's waist and pulls her closer while the magician put her hand onto his shoulder as they are holding each other's hand. They both stare at each other as they both share a warm smile.

They both start to dance with each other, not losing the eye contact they made. They continue dancing with each other literally not minding the people that are already watching the both of them. They are both drowned with each other's eyes, the beat of their heart shares the same melody which made them confused with the unfamiliar emotion that is starting to build up.

The music ended and they stopped dancing but still, there are locked up with each other's eyes and didn't know how to escape. Jimmy remembered that he still don't know the name of the elegant lady in front of him so he decided to grab the opportunity to ask her,

"What's your—"

"Flower lady?"

Before he could even ask her, a familiar voice cut his sentence up. The both of them turn their gaze to a blond man that is standing meters away from them.

"You're the guy from this morning, right?" said the magician while looking at the British detective.

"Well yes, I knew that I'd see you here" he said and looks walk towards the two. The familiar scent of the flower brought him to her. It is also weird for Sebastian to follow someone's scent but he knew that it would be the lady he met this morning. He turned his gaze towards Jimmy Kudo, they glared at each other and there they knew that they were talking about the same woman earlier.

Jimmy pulled the lady closer to him from her waist that made her a little bit surprise, "Well, I said that I would attend, right?" she said and gave him a smile, Sebastian return the smile hold her hand to kiss the back of it.

"Well it is really nice to meet you again, I am Sebastian Hainse by the way and I have a lot of things to tell you, would you mind coming with me?" he asked the magician and hold her hand,

"Well, you see..." the magician said and looks at the detective who is holding her waist tightly, Sebastian got her point so he turn his gaze to Jimmy, "You don't mind if I borrow her for a while, right, Dark Knight?"

The magician looks at Jimmy that is already wearing a blank expression, "I definitely mind, I have a lot of things to ask her too." Said the French detective and held the magician's other hand.

"But you already had a dance with her, right? You should have asked her while dancing" said the British detective and pull the magician away from Jimmy but then again, the detective with cerulean blue eyes pulled her back to him making sure that the other would let go of the lady's wrist.

The lady looks at the both of them nervously saying not a single word; she is confused with the current situation and didn't know what to do.

"Dancing with her is different so we will take our leave now" Jimmy said and was about to leave the area with the magician when the British detective stopped them by holding the magician's wrist again. He and Jimmy shared a challenging and deadly glare before he let go of the magician's hand, "Enjoy" Sebastian said with a smirk.

"Thank you"

Those are the words that Jimmy said before he went out of that area and went to the garden with the magician who is currently speechless with the sudden heavy atmosphere that both Jimmy and Sebastian brought.

NOTE: So that's it for today! We will try to update once a day, so please keep in touch! Again, we apologise for the typographical errors and grammatical errors, we will try our best to fix all of them!

P.S. Thanks to our friend who edited a video just for this chapter.

-Dark Knight