*** So... Any song requests? ***

Chapter 1: Request

25th of July 1890

01:40 PM

"Welcome." A monotone voice came to greet the two customers. There, a pink haired bartender stood while stirring a cup of who-knows-what. Miku twitched. She had forgotten about another person who had become depressed once everyone went away.

The difference with Rin was... Luka's depression might cause harm to other people.

One time Miku caught her stirring up a mixture of juice, coffee, and milk… Luka simply replied she had no customers and was just bored. None of her customers had been poisoned to date, so Miku and Rin had nothing to worry about. Not that there were any customers in the first place.

"Hi, Luka. What's that there?" Miku put down the shopping bags and sat on the bar.

"Milk." Miku and Rin bent over to see the cup purple.

"… It's purple."

"Milk is one of the ingredients. So, the usual?" Luka pour the purple milk down the sink and prepared Miku and Rin's usual choices.

"I can't remember when you started mixing those things… Luka, has boredom finally got into you?" Sure, Miku could say that; at least the café wasn't a complete dump.

"It started just a month ago, I think. And I don't think boredom has anything to do with it." She shrugged.

"No, no, no. It's just not like you to be that weird. A month ago…" A lot happened a month ago. Miku couldn't summarize it all in two or three sentences. The only positive thing she could take out from that case is… Well, a lot of people stayed in the inn thanks to that. First there was that annoying Kaito, then there was Meiko and Gakupo… Oh, that's right.

"Long distance relationship is really hard, huh?" She smirked.

"Hahah." Luka gave a sarcastic laugh and served them their drinks. "I added cucumbers on your tea, Miku." Hearing that, Miku nearly spat out her drinks.

"… Not bad I guess." Miku continued to drink. "So, how is your love life? What does he say in his letters? What did you say in your letters? Still formal? Informal? How many kids are you planning, here? When was the last time you wrote back? O-"

"He hasn't replied any of my letters."

"… Oh…" They sat in an awkward silence for an entire five seconds until Luka sighed. Now Miku knew why she gave her the cucumber tea earlier.

"He's probably busy anyway, it's nothing." She pouted.

"That's a great way to look at things!" Miku patted her back. "What about you, Rin? Anything interesting?"

"... you mean about my love life?"

"Luka's newest dri- Yes, of course I meant your love life!" Miku laughed, a bit surprise Rin didn't stir the conversation away.

"… I really can't tell myself... It's just that, these days…" The café door opened, and it interrupted their conversation. Luka's gloomy face turned bright in an instant as she greeted the customer.

"Welc-"

"-pant-Excuse me, but can I please hang a poster here? It's really important!" It was a girl, around Rin's age judging from her curves… Only, there's just something childish about her face that made her look thirteen. Her pink hair was tied back, her dress was... It looked expensive, but it was a mess, and the girl simply couldn't wait for an answer; she put up the poster before Luka could answer her..

"Okay then." Luka simply said with a shrug, she took a peek and read a few lines from the poster. A simple poster of a missing cat. "Go on, Rin." Luka left the table, looking at Miku and Rin, it made her want to drink as well.

"These days… Whenever I arrive at the mansion, he's always asleep." Miku waited long until she figured out… That was that, that was what Rin wanted to talk to them about.

"So?"

"That doesn't usually happen, I'm a bit worried…" Rin drank her half empty/full iced tea. "It means, he doesn't get enough sleep at night." Miku still couldn't understand the problem.

"Why? We're not handling any cases right now, so he should have a good night sleep, I mean… Unless, … He's busy doing something, at night… But, I don't know…"

"Does this happen every day, or…?" Luka returned with her drink (which Miku bet 10 pounds had cucumber in it) and sat with them.

"At first, not really. Now it happens every day, and… A few days ago I saw him asleep on the sofa with his arm on."

"…So?" Rin had to understand Miku isn't so bright, or, rather, she knows nothing of Len in the first place.

"He usually sleeps without his artificial arm. He never wears his arm on the mansion, he only uses it when he's out."

"Ah..." Hearing that Miku nodded in understanding.

"If you're really that curious, you should just ask him. You two are friends, right?" Luka calmly suggested the obvious.

"I disagree. That master of yours is being really suspicious and if it's caused by a case similar to that last one, I don't want you to be involved. Why can't you just solve cases like, like…" Miku noticed the girl who was still putting the poster up, of the missing cat. "Why can't you solve every day-like-cases, like that. A missing cat, completely normal and safe."

The girl turned around, she looked somewhat interested in the subject.

"Wait... your master can solve cases? You're like... a detective or something?"

She went over and looked at Miku in the eye… Real close.

"No, it's my friend, Rin. Rin's job, she's a detective's assistant, so-"

"Can you really help me?" Iroha took Rin's hands, ready to beg on her knees. Must be some important cat…

"I'm not sure if Len would accept a case like that…" Rin scratched the back of her head, wondering how Len would respond to her request.

"Ignore her, I'm sure he would accept it!" Miku interrupted. Rin gave her a 'why did you just say that…' face and watched as that girl jump up and down.

"Take me there! The reward is really big, you won't regret it!" The girl -forcefully- pulled Rin out of the café, leaving Miku and Luka speechless.

"What is the reward?" Luka read the half hung poster on the wall. "Let's see… The reward is…" She didn't know whether it was a joke or not, and thus only motioned her friend to see for herself. Miku finished her drink and stood next to her.

"It looks she's ready to give up her life for that cat."

01:55 PM

"I'm not sure if he'll say yes… I mean, this case is just too…" Saying that, Rin didn't know why she was taking that girl to Len's mansion with her. Well, it was all Miku's fault.

"If it's so easy for that boss of yours, then he should solve it in a few seconds!" Even though Rin didn't finish her sentence, she seemed to know what's on her mind anyway. Realizing this, Rin sigh. That girl had confidence… Too much of them. And sometimes having so many isn't good for a man/woman.

"Ah, see, Ms…What's your n-"

"Iroha."

"Yes, Iroha… My 'boss' is a bit, how do I put it…" Rin wasn't sure why, but something about that missing cat case just… To put it simply:

1. She had a bad feeling about it.

2. She knows Len for over half a year, and she knows him well enough to say he'll reject the case for the obvious reason. Why bother trying?

"What? I don't care how much money he wants, I just want to find my cat!" If Iroha wants to go there so badly… Then there really was nothing Rin could do. Len would just say no anyway, she already warned her it won't work, and Iroha was too stubborn to listen.

"How long have you been looking for your cat? You can always ask the police for thi-"

"I already did. It's been a week since I saw my cat one day I came home from work and she just… She just disappeared. I don't know how and why but it just did and it's just that this never happened to me before and what if she got hit by a carriage? What if some peasants eat her or hurt her, it's driving me insane! Do you know what it feels like to lose something really important to you?" She spoke without a pause… When did she get the chance to breathe through all that? Must be some lungs.

"You shouldn't panic like that, you know? It makes things more complicated than it is now… Bad things happen when you panic." Was the only thing Rin could say to her in that kind of situation. Len's mansion was just a few blocks away… And just seeing that adorable innocent face crying for her cat, … It made Rin want to help her.

Wow. The "bad feeling about this case" disappeared for a second there.

"It's hard to relax when the possibility is endless!"

"I'm sure your cat is fine out there, animals have those… Kind of instincts, right? And besides, cats have nine lives."

"I don't want her to lose any of her lives! What kind of master am I to ignore just one life?" Bad move, Rin shouldn't have said that.

"It's just an expression Iroha, don't take it so seriously… I'm sure we'll find your cat in no ti-"

"So you'll take up the case?" Her face lit up; bad, horrible, stupid move. Why did she have to say we? Great… Rin just made her believe in false hope, there's no way Len would say yes to that kind of case.

"Don't get too excited, I'm not the detective! You have to ask my boss first." Rin stopped. That was fast, there it was. "There's a chance he might still be asleep. If he is sleeping, can you please leave him and rest?"

1. Rin didn't want to bother Len, no man on earth wants to be bothered when they're sleeping.

2. Iroha might lose interest that way and would just leave them alone and look for her own… Then again, that'd make her feel guilty. And she wasn't even involved, even if she did say we. Accidentally.

Rin rang the doorbell and waited for Len to open the door… Hoping he wouldn't answer.

…

Before long they heard footsteps, Rin gulped as she heard the door being unlocked from the inside. When she wanted to go to work this morning she had to wait ten minutes, rapidly ringing the doorbell; and when Rin didn't want to...

Life isn't fair.

"Rin…" She could read Len's face clearly, it's not every day that Rin brings someone to his mansion.

"She has a request, ah… A case." Rin let Iroha do the rest of the explanation.

"Please find my cat!" Iroha said so innocently, her fake tears ready when needed. Rin already said to her, the probability of Len saying no is high… Too high. Even so, Rin was sure Iroha would go as far as stalking those two if needed. So far, for who knows how long (a week) she's been searching, that detective's assistant is the only one who didn't say no to her request. Though she didn't say yes either, but, it was… close enough. That assistant said we.

Len looked at her from top to bottom. Her expression, how she dresses, her… Her smell. Cologne + sweat is the worst combination a woman could ever have in that era.

Odd.

He took Rin's hand, pulled her inside and closed the door shut.

"… Hello?" Iroha knocked from the outside a few times, rang the doorbell a few times, shouts a few times, did nothing for a few seconds, and the cycle repeat itself for a few minutes.

"Why did you bring her here?" Len massaged his scalps, Rin could tell he was still sleepy. "A missing cat… The police should take care of something like that, not a private detective like me."

"… I'm not sure. Everything happened so fast. I met her in a cafe with Miku and Luka earlier, and it just..." Len sighed when he heard Rin's name being mentioned, as if they were the answer to his problem. I mean, really, it didn't sound like Iroha's tantrum would stop. The more the cycle repeats the harder she shouts and the harder she bangs the door.

"You know, Len… I think she's crying outside." Rin listened quietly... Either she was shouting emotionally, or, she could really be crying out there.

"So? Somewhere out there, right this second someone else is crying over something that matters more than this." Len turned around, he was ready to leave; when Rin stopped him.

"We shouldn't just ignore her like that!" Sure it sounded stupid. Still, there was a girl (stranger, she met a few minutes ago), and was (probably) crying her heart out. Rin couldn't just ignore her like that, and neither should Len!

"It's just a cat."

"It's important to her."

"Not to you. You just met her a few minutes ago!"

"She wouldn't be crying right now if it's not important, and it matters to me!"

Len couldn't respond to her last announcement.

The two stopped arguing, they realized her cries have stopped. Len opened the door and, no crying girl in sight. She wasn't at his gate, not anywhere on the lawn, not on the roof, nowhere.

Len closed the door, leaving Rin in shock. She didn't know Iroha would give up so easily… And she was so persistent a few minutes ago. Maybe Rin was overreacting? No, maybe Irohawas overreacting, faced reality, and just gave up.

"See? Not important." Len sighed and left to the living room.

"It is IMPORTANT!" The girl came out of nowhere, … From the living room? How did she get inside? The second Len entered the living room; not too far from the front door, Iroha was there… She stood there, as if waiting for Len to enter the room.

"Listen to this. I don't care if you think it's stupid or maybe it's not challenging or maybe it's too easy for someone with a title and reputation like you. I just wanted to ask a request and that kind assistant of yours has a heart and decided to-"

"Alright, I accept the case. At ten in the morning tomorrow, you better be here or you should just forget about us helping you." Len interrupted. He didn't look happy, he didn't look irritated or annoyed; to Rin's surprise, Len looked dead serious.

"Now, leave."