A friendly competition

Lucas was running down the sidewalk as he was putting on his grey flat cap, he was rushing to the Andersons' residence and quickly knocked on the door.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" he was out breath but called loudly.

"Lucas, what's with-"

"Fuyuchi, you got to help me!!" Lucas pushed the door aside as soon as Chifuyu unlocked the door from the inside, surprising him.

"Is everything okay?" Chifuyu slightly tilted his head.

"I-It's Otto Mason, I saw him down the street just now doing shady stuff in front of the Paris Bank-" Lucas's explanation was stopped by a large explosion, that took place at the area Lucas was pointing at. "A bomb?!" Lucas was shocked.

"What happened?" Eve also ran outside to see the smoke and fire at the distance.

"I'll check it out," Chifuyu fixed his boots, preparing to sprint.

"A carriage?!" Lucas was frantically looking around for a transportation.

"No time for that," Chifuyu jumped onto the roof to start running to the location from roof to roof, as police cars were driving down the street towards the same location. He stopped at the edge of a roof to look down at the scene, and from the aftermath, the bomb was set to bust the wall leading to the money stock pile. Sheets of the currency was scattered, while some were burnt. "The range of the bomb is not that big, must be some sort of homemade bomb." He was observing the burnt marks, calculating it to predict the possible type of bomb used.

"Hey, kid. Come down!" Taylor called to Chifuyu from the sidewalk, making the 17-year-old jump down to him.

"Otto Mason's doing, I assume?" Chifuyu asked the investigator.

"I think so too, you've read the case just yesterday, right?" Taylor nodded.

"Bank burglar, utilizing bombs to break through walls and is known to flee immediately." Chifuyu gave a short summary, knowing the investigator would want to make sure he reads the files.

"Right, he got away again." Taylor turned back to the scene, while ambulance was taking the injured people into the vehicles to bring to the hospital. "We're yet to find his hideout, and the type of bomb he's using." He added.

"Shall I provide you with my assistance, Mr. Investigator?" Chifuyu gave Taylor his mischievous smirk, mocking the investigator with just a facial expression.

"Fine," Taylor rolled his eyes and Chifuyu took a few steps closer to the scene, but stopped to turn his head.

"Your payment is attached to your wrist, sir." He gave the middle-aged man a wink with his grin, and Taylor looked down to his wrist to see his watch Chifuyu previously stole attached to his wrist.

"You little..." Taylor grumbled before Chifuyu continued getting closer to the scene, "You'll do a great job in silently putting on handcuffs, huh, kid?" he was playfully irritated.

"There's more where that came from, old man." Chifuyu chuckled without turning his head, focusing on the scene. While Taylor shook his head as he smiled, but he was secretly wondering how focused and professional Chifuyu becomes as soon as he's absorbed on investigating a scene despite how immature and mischievous the 17-year-old usually is.

"Hey, kid. This is no place to play around, get out of here." A preppy-dressed man called out to Chifuyu.

"Jeffrey, he's with me." Taylor told the man as Chifuyu turned his head to the man, then mildly sticking his tongue out with a straight face that made the man annoyed.

"What is a Japanese kid doing here?" Jeffrey immediately knew Chifuyu was a Japanese immigrant, "Who is he?" he asked Taylor while Chifuyu continued to focus on the burnt marks, touching the chain of his earring as he thinks.

"He's an independent sleuth, he's working for me." Taylor responded as he watched Chifuyu.

"Pardon? How is he working for you?" Jeffrey finds it somewhat unacceptable.

"Ever heard of the saying 'Never judge a book by its cover'? That young lad over there has more to him than he appears," Taylor told him, "Even I'm still learning more about this runt, but there's always more to discover each time he finished a case. He's full of surprises, but intelligent and professional." He smiled in the end.

"I would love to see that with my own eyes," Jeffrey rolled his eyes as Chifuyu stood up from his squat and approached them, with confidence in his eyes.

"That was quick," Taylor was not expecting Chifuyu to be done so soon.

"Why take so long, there's not much to investigate here." Chifuyu shrugged, "I've made a conclusion, from the range and power of the bomb Otto Mason used, I'm guessing it's a homemade time bomb." He began to explain.

"Homemade time bomb?" Taylor was interested in the rest of Chifuyu's explanation.

"Exactement, it's easy to convey and set up. Enough to buy himself time to plan emergency escape routes and preparing whatever he uses to carry the money," Chifuyu explained shortly.

"Tu penses? Well, I think Otto Mason uses C4 explosives." Jeffrey spoke up, and Chifuyu gives Taylor a look to ask for an introduction.

"Oh, right. This is Jeffrey Neilson, he's a junior investigator working in the same office as me." Taylor introduced the young man.

"A junior investigator? Enchanté de faire votre connaissance, nice to meet you." Chifuyu gave a mocking smile to Jeffrey, "I assume you're working on Otto Mason's burglary case as well?" he kept a friendly face, trying his best to be polite.

"Oui. In fact, I've been working on this case since it started." Jeffrey responded.

"Really? No wonder you're not getting promoted, you really are taking your time to solve this one." Chifuyu's mischievous smile emerged.

"You-!"

"Suffisant, Jeffrey." Taylor told him calmly, "So, do you might have any leads of Otto Mason's hideout?" he continued to question Chifuyu.

"I'll find my leads somewhere else. À bientôt," Chifuyu still has his confident smile on his face.

"And where would that be?" Taylor was suspicious.

"I have my own tricks up my sleeve, old man, best just leave it to me." Chifuyu responded.

"Alright, I'm counting on you." Taylor nodded.

"I'll solve this case, just you wait." Jeffrey was annoyed, speaking in a challenging tone.

"I accept a friendly competition, sir, we'll see who crossed the finish line first." Chifuyu gave him an arrogant smile.

"Oh, dear..." Taylor sighed heavily.

Chifuyu returned to the Anderson residence with Taylor, greeted by Eve and Lucas as soon as Taylor opened the door for Chifuyu and him to enter.

"How is it over there?" Eve asked her father.

"All of it is taken care of, it's okay, Eve." Taylor responded to her with a smile, while Chifuyu stood still outside the door despite it was open for him to enter.

"I'm going for an investigation, I'll come back later." Chifuyu turned around to leave.

"Attendez! I'm heading to my mom's bar; we can part ways there?" Lucas approached Chifuyu, who gave him an unamused look on his face.

"Whatever," Chifuyu sighed as he started walking down the sidewalk.

"See you tomorrow, Miss Evening, Mr. Anderson!" Lucas waved, and the two waved back to him before they shut the door. "You're going on an investigation?" Lucas turned to Chifuyu as they walked down the sidewalk.

"Yeah, I need to locate a hideout." Chifuyu responded.

"How are you going to do that?" Lucas asked as they arrived in front of the window of the bar, when Chifuyu abruptly pulls Lucas back from the windows, out of sight to those within the bar. Chifuyu moved his eyes to the edge of the big window to peer inside, where he saw a familiar man chatting to Lucas's mother.

"Otto Mason," Chifuyu immediately recognized the man as he whispered, while Lucas also peered into the bar. "So, he's out here robbing banks to throw money at women in bars? Gross..." Chifuyu mumbled in disgust, the side of his mouth raised.

"Je n'y crois pas! He's talking to my mom??" Lucas was surprised, but tried his best to be quiet. Otto Mason rose from his seat and showed signs of leaving the bar, which made Chifuyu grab Lucas's arm and pull him into an alley to hide, then peeking to see the man walking away.

"I got my lead; you can hang out here if you want." Chifuyu told Lucas, then jumped up to the roof of the bar.

"Hey, let me come with you!" Lucas stopped him, and Chifuyu gave him a reluctant look before offering his hand to help him up the roof.

"We got to move; we can't lose him." Chifuyu begins following Otto Mason from the high platforms, with Lucas carefully following.

"You do this a lot, huh?" Lucas noticed Chifuyu was moving calmly and buoyantly on the roofs, his eyes focusing on Otto Mason without paying attention to his own steps, yet he moves smoothly from roof to roof.

"If you're nervous, take your time and just repeat my steps." Chifuyu told him calmly, considerate for the safety of his friend.

"Entendu," Lucas nodded.

They followed the man to a private area surrounded by trees at the edge of Paris, where there are no more houses to jump onto. Chifuyu stopped and jumped down to continue tailing Otto Mason, hiding behind the trees while Lucas was struggling to jump down from the roof.

"Slow down, Fuyuchi..." Lucas was out of breath after chasing after Chifuyu, who flitted to hide behind a tree, then rapidly pulled Lucas to join him before Otto Mason turned his head.

"Let's head back for now, I'll investigate further on my own tonight." Chifuyu told Lucas when Otto Mason was out of sight in the private area.

"Ça alors, are you going to sneak in?" Lucas asked him, as they walked back to the town area.

"Sans aucun doute, 'why not put your skills to good use?' is what the old man said anyways." Chifuyu responded, making a weird face as he to impersonate Taylor.

"Hahaha, you're right." Lucas laughed.

***

The next morning arrived, and Chifuyu was walking to the Andersons' residence as he slipped a note into his jacket pocket before turning back to the sidewalk he was walking on.

"Bonjour, jeune homme." A voice made Chifuyu turn his head, and it was Victor sitting in his horse carriage, smiling through the window at him. "You're the young investigator at the mask party, right?" Victor recognized him, despite Chifuyu's face was covered half by a mask.

"Um," Chifuyu doesn't know what to do.

"Your earring gave it away, garçon." Victor smiled, and Chifuyu touched his earring with a sigh as he looked away, before turning to the nobleman.

"Can I help you?" Chifuyu asked him.

"You're the Alabaster, aren't you? You have that delinquent's striking eyes, and your actions back at the hall doesn't explain less either." Victor kept his friendly smile on his face, Chifuyu doesn't find a point to deny his statement and just lightly nods. "Ha-ha, who would expect the Alabaster to be a young Japanese and investigator as well?" the nobleman chuckled politely.

"How does this guy smile 24/7? I seriously don't get him..." Chifuyu raised his brow as he thought so, didn't find Victor's words funny.

"What's your name?" Victor asked him.

"Tsuguha Chifuyu," Chifuyu responded shortly.

"Tsuguha, huh? Nice to meet you," Victor nodded his head.

"Well, I have to get going now. I have to finish a case," Chifuyu bowed politely.

"Of course, a la prochaine, Tsuguha." Victor slightly bowed before Chifuyu continued his walk to the Andersons' residence. "What an interesting Japanese lad," Victor smiled.

"Fuyuchi, you're finally here." Lucas welcomed Chifuyu as he shuts the door behind him.

"Is the old man here?" Chifuyu asked Lucas.

"You have to stop calling Mr. Anderson that, le gamin." Jeffrey was standing outside of the opened door of Taylor's office, but Chifuyu just gave the junior detective a casual look.

"You're here too, Neilson." A small friendly smile rose on the Japanese boy's face as he tilts his head, his chain earring made a very faint ring.

"I'm reporting updates of my investigation on Otto Mason's case," Jeffrey was giving Chifuyu a bitter look.

"What's with the look? Don't tell me you haven't made any progress at all," Chifuyu's mischievous smirk emerged, making the junior detective's eyebrow twitch. Lucas was in the middle of all of this, not knowing what to do than looking back and forth from Chifuyu to Jeffrey.

"You're so damn annoying, do you know that?" Jeffrey hissed.

"Of course, I do. If not, I wouldn't be having fun annoying others, wouldn't I?" Chifuyu responded, and Jeffrey's growl of annoyance made Lucas step away a few inches.

"Mince alors... maybe I should restock the firewood again..." Lucas thought as he escaped from the scene and to the backyard of the house.

"Tsuguha-kun, don't you think you've gone a bit too far?" Taylor walked out of his office as he wears his coat.

"Oh, old man, I've made a discovery that could finish this case." Chifuyu approached him, pulling out the folded paper he put into the pocket of his brown jacket and handed it to Taylor with a smile on his face.

"What's this?" Taylor unfolded the paper to look what as written on the paper.

"It's the address of Otto Mason's hideout," Chifuyu responded, shocking Jeffrey.

"Are you sure...?" Jeffrey found his defeat unacceptable.

"Oui, a hundred percent, it was flooded with the sheets of money he robbed." Chifuyu smiled.

"How did you discover this address?" Jeffrey asked him.

"Let's just say, I was really lucky." Chifuyu's smile turned into a mysterious one, making Taylor more curious of him, so many are hidden behind his smiles and mischief.

"You broke in, didn't you?" Taylor guessed.

"He-he, it's my 'way' of investigating." Chifuyu grinned.

"I knew it..." Taylor sighed as Chifuyu moved closer to Taylor's ear.

"You're lucky I didn't decide to take everything and spread them across Paris, old man." Chifuyu whispered to him, then moving away to give him his iconic impish grin.

"You-!" Taylor nudged the boy, making him chuckle in satisfaction.

Chifuyu went with Taylor and Jeffrey to the police office after Otto Mason was successfully arrested in the address Chifuyu gave them, who was in the middle of sorting the money mess in the location. Chifuyu waited for Taylor at the entrance hall of the court building, and the detective left the court room with Jeffrey.

"La victoire?" Chifuyu greeted them with a smile.

"Certainly, Otto Mason is sent behind bars as a result." Taylor nodded, "Otto Mason also confirmed that he used homemade time bombs as his explosives, well done." He patted Chifuyu's shoulder.

"I acknowledge your ingenuity in investigation and solving cases, Tsuguha Chifuyu." Jeffrey said politely, extending his hand to Chifuyu. "I'm looking forward to the results of your future investigations, Tsuguha, I'm not expecting less from you." He gave Chifuyu a genuine smile.

"You too, Neilson." Chifuyu shook his hand.

"Still..." Jeffrey gripped Chifuyu's hand, "Watch that mouth of yours, young man." He gave Chifuyu a playfully fierce look.

"Ha-ha, yes, sir." Chifuyu chuckled before Jeffrey released his hand.

***