Hello, everyone! I have another chapter for you! I don't own rights to YuGiOh! 5Ds!

Remove the Mask

Dusting Leads to Discoveries

Crow POV

I smiled as Mr. Tanaka opened the door. "Hey there, old timer!"

"If it isn't Master Crow," he bowed lowly, gesturing for me to come in. "What brings you to the Izinski manor?"

"I was wondering if I could look around Akiza's room for any clues that might help," I pulled out a magnifying glass for emphasis. "Maybe I can find something that everyone else has missed. A fresh pair of eyes can really help an investigation like this."

He nodded. "You are quite right, Master Crow. I trust that you remember the way?"

A smile formed on my face. "As if I could forget. I'm not an old man like you, so my memory is just fine."

"Well, then," he chuckled, pointing down at my feet. "You probably recall how Mistress Akiza disliked you wearing your shoes in the house?"

I hastily kicked my shoes off with a nervous laugh and bounded up the stairs. If I were to accidentally track any sort of dirt into her room and she found out that it was me, I was a goner!

Mr. Tanaka followed me to Akiza's door. "Master Crow, I feel that I should warn you-"

"About what?" Opening the door to her room, I was mildly surprised to see her mother sitting on her bed and holding a picture of her. "Hello, ma'am." I gently knocked on the doorframe.

She raised her head and studied me with unfocused eyes. "Whose there?"

"Ma'am, it's me, Crow Hogan." I smiled as she stood and approached.

A small pained smile tugged on her thin lips. She had grown quite thin and her once olive color had now become dominated by white. "Crow, how wonderful to see you, she reached up and patted my cheek. "My, you've grown up, haven't you?"

"I did as you told me to," I chuckled. "I ate my veggies."

She shook her head, patting my cheek again. "She would be close to your age now..."

Mr. Tanaka nudged me to the side as she suddenly slumped forward, catching her before she hit the floor. "She has been unable to sleep or eat for the past couple months now. We fear that she may never recover."

"We will find her, we just need some time." I frowned as he placed a feather duster in my hand. "What is this for, old timer?"

"It's quite dusty in there," he chuckled, sending a teasing smile over his shoulder before the door closed. "Might as well do some cleaning while you're in there."

My jaw dropped. "Get back here, you old timer! I'm not a cleaning maid!" I looked down at the feather duster. "The things I do for my friends..."

~L~A~F~

"When was the last time they cleaned this place?!" I wheezed as another cloud of dust rose from her bookcases. There was at least two inches of dust on everything! I wiped the dust from my eyes, attempting to bring the room back into focus, but fell backward as a massive sneeze shook my being. I groaned as one of the bookshelves caved and pinned me to the floor. "Oh, great," I groaned as a book knocked my head. "Tanaka's going to have my hide for this."

I reached up and grabbed the book, ready to toss it to the bed, but froze as I recognized the cover; it was pink with rose-like patterns with her name written in fancy gold calligraphy. It was her picture album! This could prove to be helpful!

Standing, I deposited it on the bed and continued my way around the room. The walls, which were a pastel pink, were lined with shelves that contained books thicker than my hand, which I recall that she had painstakingly organized by colors as well as the author last names. Talk about a bookworm! There was an easel and stool that faced her western window that looked out onto their large garden. There was a half finished picture of the three of us playing with an incomplete Akiza.

Something caught my attention as I flipped through her other pictures. There was a small spot on the windowsill that was dust free. Looking closer, I could just make out the faintest of outlines. I took a quick survey of the room and noticed that one of her plush toys and her deck was missing, Hideo had given them to her as early birthday presents.

The air was suddenly pierced with the sound of an engine revving, telling me that Yusei was calling. My fingers reached for my pocket...and found it flat and empty. "Oh, no! My phone must have fallen somewhere! Crap! Crap! Crap!" I lifted the bookcase and searched the room for any sign of my cell, fearing that the call would go to voicemail. I fell to my knees, yelling my frustration to the ceiling. "Where the hell is it?!"

"Crow, down here." I blinked, looking down at the floor to see that Yusei was shaking his head from around my knee that was in the middle of the screen. "Maybe you should try picking up the phone so that we can actually talk."

"Oh, right!" I sat on the floor and picked up the phone. "How are things on your end? Did Security give you the case files?"

He shook his head. "They refused, saying that I needed to be a family member or spouse to access the files."

"Well, she did pick you to be her husband anytime she wanted to play house," I teased. "That's close enough, right?"

"Anyway," he mumbled, giving me a sideways glare. "I would need permission from Akiza's parents to access them."

"Speaking of which, I saw the Mrs." I shook my head, sighing. "She hasn't been doing to well."

"So this is taking a major toll on her. Guess that means we're going to have to ask Hideo for permission."

I suggested that he send me the papers so that I could get Hideo's signature and that I could meet up with him and Jack later. We agreed to meet up around 2 at his place so that we could all go through the files, that gave me another hour to look around for more clues...or clean the mess I made. "By the way, take a quick look and tell me if you see anything missing." I turned the camera around so that he was able to see the room. "Look really closely."

"The bookshelf, for one," he chuckled, then he leaned forward, almost pressing his face to the screen. "Her Black Rose Dragon plush is missing."

"That's what it was!" I smack my forehead. "I couldn't think of it before. Anyway, look at the window sill. It was removed from where she had put it recently."

He nodded. "Good work, Crow. Be sure to take plenty of pictures before you leave, but after you put the bookshelf back."

"I get it, I get it," I grumbled, ending the call. It was going to take me forever to get these books back in their correct order!

~L~A~F~

Plopping down on the couch, I sighed heavily as my hands and fingers throbbed painfully. That old timer of a butler happened to have a picture of how the bookshelf looked before I had accidentally knocked it over and instead of letting me see it, he played the "Hot-Cold Game". He quite literally drove me crazy with his "hotter...oops, ice cold...warmer...on fire" crap.

"Dont' get too comfy," I opened an eye to see Yusei walk in carrying two boxes. "We have a long night ahead of us." As he placed the two boxes on the table, Jack came in carrying two more and a briefcase.

I sweat dropped as a pile of files were dumped into my lap. "Security had all of these files on hand?!"

"Jack helped a little with that," Yusei chuckled, grabbing his own stack and settling in his favorite white arm chair. "Trudge proved to be quite helpful and more than willing to help us with our cause."

"It was nothing," Jack smirked, grabbing a file and settling on the other couch. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"

Picking up the top file, I was surprised to find a photograph of her party paper clipped to the inside. She had just blown out the candles and was smiling up at the camera with a big grin. In the left hand corner, you could barely see the three of us behind her. The file contained what had happened that day according to witness accounts; mainly from her parents and some of the adult party guests.

I recalled that she was beyond ecstatic when she had been given her plush toy, but then I remembered the look on her face when she received her deck. Hideo had asked the three of us what she would want most and, of course, we told him she wanted a deck just like us. She used to watch us duel each other all the time but was unable to join in because of her lack of a deck. So, while the Mrs kept Akiza busy with party preparations, he had taken us around town to gather cards for her.

"It isn't here either," I murmured, finished searching the boxes. "Her deck was missing from her room too."

"Her favorite plush toy AND deck are missing?" Yusei sat up, placing his file on the armrest. "Those two were her favorite things in the world."

"Take a look at this," Jack held up his file. "Akiza's maid, Martha, was there at the party but no one bothered to ask her any questions."

"What are we waiting for?" I asked, standing and grabbing my helmet. "Let's go pay her a visit.

What do you guys think? Please leave a comment/review and let me know your thoughts!