*mean while on earth...

Chapter Thirty Eight

Mia left Shincha University slowly, she was not excited about tonight's meeting. It hadn't been easy since they got back from the nether realm, especially since most of it was spent quiet. Leea tried to help around the house, make dinner and such things, which was nice but the girl was always too optimistic. Or she was in denial. She bet on the latter, because some reason the girl believed her best friend to still be alive, but she saw Rowen's blood stained clothes and heard what happened from the others in bits and pieces. No one survived decapitation, even if her soul was still somewhere in the nether realm, she wouldn't have a body to go back to. She was all for hope and optimism, but she was sure Leea was just in denial. She thought Rowen was bad, even though he had been silent the last couple months, he was starting to come back. She heard from Sage that it was something Leea had said. At first she thought it was something hopeful, but only found out she had made him mad.

She put her books in her bag as she left her building, she checked her cellphone for the traffic and she smiled. It was starting to look like a good day.

She looked up and saw a woman leaning against her red jeep. The woman was tall and lean, wearing a trim a umber colored pin strip suit. She had short chestnut colored hair swept forward in spikes, and her eyes were hidden behind extremely dark sunglasses. She had her arms crossed defensively, and Mia didn't have a good feeling about her.

"Can I help you," Mia asked sweetly.

The woman smiled, "O genki yo, Mia-san! (Hey there, Mia.)"

Mia frowned, she didn't know who the woman was to be talking to her in such a manner, "dare wa? (who are...)"

"Sumisan," The woman paused and Mia knew she wasn't fluent in Japanese. "Watashi..."

"...I speak English perfectly well," Mia interrupted irritably.

"Oh, of course you do," she said and Mia could hear a thick Welsh accent. "I apologize, I should have realized that such a high up professor in Japan would be able to speak English."

Mia hated that sort of thinking, "I'm sorry...but...this is a bit rude..."

The woman fumbled in her suit pocket and flashed a shiny badge that read UN, "I am Detective Stell."

Mia looked at the badge curiously, she remembered her trip to the UN a few years ago. It was when Suzunagi had taken over Tokyo to give the boys their armors back. She went to them with naive hopes that they would take her and her grandfather's research seriously and to the heart, but they had been laughed at her precariously. They didn't believe her anymore than they believed the people who picketed Area 51. She gave up, and went back home, and the ronins had returned unharmed. She figured that there was no harm that she tried, they never bothered her about anything after that. She said, "may I ask what you have come to see little 'ol me about, Detective?"

The woman smiled gregariously, "I just wanted to ask you a few questions about a missing person."

"Missing person," asked Mia, feeling her heart beginning to race. There were a few of those in her life at the moment.

The woman smiled and assured, "I know you have nothing to do with it, it's just precaution because this person is really important."

"May I ask who I know that could be so important," Mia asked trying to remain calm.

"Oh, yes, you might not be close to her," the woman paused to fumble in her pocket for and hand sized notebook. It looked fairly used, and had small papers and sticky notes sticking out every where from it. She flipped through and pulled out a wallet size picture of a young woman, Mia was holding her breath to see Hoshi, Ruby, or Leea on it, but it wasn't. The woman was young, maybe fourteen, with pale blue hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a pair of goggles on her head and a bunny choker around her neck. She seemed really spunky, because she held up a classic peace sign in the photo.

The detective didn't seem surprised that the woman didn't recognize the girl as she said, "um...no? Should I know her?"

"You're friends with Rowen Hashiba, correct?"

"Yes?"

"Well, this woman goes by the name Cerule Hashiba," the woman paused to make sure she wasn't giving out too much info. "She claimed she was related to the Hashiba family in Japan."

"As far as I know, Rowen is an only child. His mom an dad split up right after he was born," Mia replied, this was really curious.

"I see, thank you so much for your help," the woman said and started to walk towards the street. Mia just noticed the limousine that had been waiting at the side of the road. How did she not notice it sooner, limos were not a thing that were common. The detective walked around to the other side and enter the car. She saw the window roll down and woman who looked exactly like the detective but with long curly hair smiled at her with a wave.

Mia felt a chill go up her spine as she watched the limo pull away from the school.