Afternoon approached the next day, and Raine St. Claire was already seated in the simulation hall, running her Realism Exam.

Her mind had been taken somewhere else entirely. Manipulated into believing everything was real. And it would stay that way, without exception, until it was over.

Something about it felt absolute. Too absolute. As if mistakes wouldn’t just be corrected, they would be counted.

—

At Randburg’s train station, a young woman in blue stood pale-faced, crimson eyes sharp beneath the brim of her hat, decorated white hair tucked away beneath it. She held a black umbrella despite the sun blazing clear overhead.

Her assistant, in shorts, braces, and a tie over brown sleeves, hauled all the luggage with boundless enthusiasm.

"What is it now, Raine? It isn’t even raining. What’s with the umbrella?"

A soft smile tugged on Raine’s lips.

"It’s not raining... for now. You can feel the moisture in the air. It’s only a matter of time. Come on, we’ve got work to do, Ren."

No sooner had the pair taken a few steps than the rain began to pour. Ren wasted no time praising Raine for her quick thinking, but the words fell on deaf ears, she never acknowledged them.

—

This was Raine St. Claire. The detective who didn’t fail.

Personally requested from Wexford Vale, the capital, to look into the Lona Case and arrest the culprits.

Records had it that she had never left a case unsolved and had never lasted more than two weeks on any case she took on.

To Raine, these were all just formalities. She had every intention of solving it before time was up. And for the first time in a long while, "time" didn’t feel like something she controlled.

There were problems with the case, though. A few that gave her pause.

’According to the reports, Lona was murdered in her room at Billy University. Many suspect Frost Nol. However, he claims he doesn’t know how the weapon got there and maintains his innocence, despite his distorted memories... Hmph. The details fit too neatly. As if they had been arranged for someone to accept them.’

There had to be another party involved. Frost’s childhood friend and Lona’s roommate, Nata.

While her mind wandered, a black horse carriage pushed through the rain and pulled up beside them. Its wheels cracked against the wet street. Then silence.

"I think this is for us, Raine. Inspector Allen must have sent it," Ren said and was the first to step onto the carriage.

Raine followed suit, folding her umbrella. The warmth wrapped around her the moment she was inside. A smile found her face and her guard, just slightly, gave way.

She met Ren’s eyes, and they were cheerful.

"Ren, how about we explore the streets tomorrow? I want to see what the City of Education is truly like."

Ren answered with an enthusiasm that needed no translation.

For as long as she could remember, this had been her life. Born into high nobility, her intellect was never in question. What fascinated people, what fascinated her, was the speed of it. The way she sized up a situation before most had even noticed one existed. Fifteen years old. Youngest detective in the Prism Kingdom.

She’d solved plenty of cases. This one she took for two reasons. The difficulty, because it was the biggest challenge she’d ever faced. And the stakes, because failing meant losing her license as a detective.

And if she failed here, she would lose everything that made her who she was.

Soon enough, they arrived. The Imperial Hotel, Randburg. The only four-star establishment in the city of education.

True to form, Raine and Ren went through all of Inspector Allen’s evidence. Every last piece. The more they read, the less the case made sense, and Raine hated that.

Sleep was the only thing that stopped them.

—

The following morning, it was Ren’s buzzing that woke her. Maddening and persistent until Raine St. Claire had no choice. She was slow about it. But what rose to the surface of her mind wasn’t fitting for someone who had barely opened their eyes.

"You have my sweets, don’t you?"

Raine asked, then finally dragged herself out of bed. The first thing she did was reach for some sweets, wandering about the room as she worked through them before going back for another handful. They were finished before she knew it, and that was when her morning properly began.

The sweetness lingered, but it didn’t settle her thoughts.

While Raine wandered, Ren was already buried in the reports she hadn’t gotten to yet.

Every detail of the Lona Case she caught made her want to witness it herself. Even so, once her morning preparation was done, the promise she’d made Ren the day before stayed with her.

They walked the streets of Randburg. Raine knew cities. San Paulette, where steam and machinery kept their distance from primitive life. Leon, where both were scarce. But Randburg was something else, outside the capital, it stood alone as a place where the two worlds didn’t just coexist. They worked together.

Their stroll ended where it had to. Billy University. The crime scene. Raine focused on the details, where the body was found, when it was found, and most importantly, how Lona Zynx had been killed.

’Frost used Lona Zynx’s personal briefcase to strike her head open,’ she thought, her expression tightening. ’But the damage... it isn’t normal. There’s no way Frost could have done that in one hit.’

"I hate to say it, Raine... but this points to magic," Ren said quietly.

Raine nodded, though even as she did, the conclusion sat poorly with her. Magic was not something this world accepted easily. Machines were. Only machines.

Raine paced back and forth, massaging her brow after each breath. The anxiety was there now, visible. She knew what this case was asking of her.

And if she was already behind, then someone else would be next.

Her mind was still elsewhere when a man walked in. Ren noticed first. She didn’t speak immediately. That alone was enough.

She was already moving before Raine looked up. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The gentleman’s news kept Ren rooted longer than she wanted to be. When she turned, her expression had darkened. Raine read it immediately, her own face shifting to match, and instinct set in. Something bad was coming.

"That’s right, Raine. Whoever is behind this has struck again. This time, two more people, and they died the same way as Lona."

Her chest tightened. Her teeth clenched and her throat grew heavy. The pressure of this case had been building, and now it sat full on her shoulders. Fear, maybe. But it didn’t matter. There was something she had to do.

Failure wouldn’t just cost her the case. It would strip her of everything that made her who she was.

"Exactly, Raine. Inspector Allen already knows this wasn’t Frost and Natta. Why didn’t he give this case to the Secretive Detectives?" Ren said plainly. The cheerful expression she always carried was nowhere to be seen.

Raine had already made up her mind. If there was even a chance she was right, then waiting wasn’t an option.

Inspector Allen needed to be confronted.