A scam case

Eve was running down the hallway of the hospital to a room assigned to Taylor Anderson, with Chifuyu following behind her.

"Dad!" Eve pushed the door open in a rush.

"Hello, Eve, Tsuguha-kun." Taylor was resting on his hospital bed in patients' clothing, giving the two a smile as Eve approached him with tears in her eyes.

"What happened??" Eve was sobbing as she fell on her knees beside the bed.

"It's okay, Eve. They already caught who shot me, and it turns out to be a friend of Michael Jones's who is upset that Michael Jones ended up imprisoned." Taylor patted his daughter's head, "I never revealed that I had someone working for me, so he thought I was the one who made Michael Jones placed behind bars." He explained.

"Why...?" Chifuyu asked him.

"Why? I never thought about it actually," Taylor chuckled, but Chifuyu's solemn serious expression made Taylor pause.

"You're protecting me, aren't you?" Chifuyu questioned him.

"Maybe," Taylor shrugged with a smile.

"What now?" Chifuyu's question made Taylor's smile turn into a bewildered expression, "What am I going to do now without the old man giving me cases to finish?" Chifuyu had a stupid and playful look on his face.

"Hey, there are loads of them and you can choose which one to finish." Taylor sighed, "I might have to stay here for a few weeks, but you can still come to discuss with me." He added.

"I was joking, you think I'm that dumb to think that way?" Chifuyu's mischievous smirk rose on his face.

"Urgh, you..." Taylor was playfully annoyed.

"You're going to surgery later, right? Are you not going to rest?" Eve wiped her tears away after the few moments she was silent, calming herself down.

"That's right, maybe I should rest, huh?" Taylor smiled to his daughter.

"You should..." Eve nodded her head, and Taylor noticed she was scared.

"I'm going to be fine, Eve. Ne t'inquiète pas," he comforted her, "Why don't you go home and rest too, Eve? Look at you," he wiped the remaining tears from Eve's cheeks.

"Okay, Dad. I'll be going then," Eve finally smiled, "I love you, Dad." She waved as she walked to the door with Chifuyu.

"Love you too, Eve." Taylor smiled, "Watch over her for me, okay?" he added to Chifuyu.

"Laisse le moi," Chifuyu nodded as Eve walked out of sight.

"And Tsuguha-kun-?" Taylor stopped Chifuyu from going, "Eve gets anxiety when she enters a hospital, please take care of her." He told Chifuyu.

"Yes, sir." Chifuyu smiled, then walked and shut the door behind him.

Victor visited Eve, and the two of them sat in the living room enjoying tea while Chifuyu was preparing the spare room in the house with Lucas's help.

"Tsuguha is going to stay here temporarily?" Victor asked Eve.

"Yeah, Dad's very worried about me, so he wanted Chifuyu-kun to keep me company for now." Eve replied, trying to contain her tears. "I'm so worried about Dad..." tears ran down her cheeks again, as her body trembled in fear.

"Evening, please don't cry." Victor moved closer to her to hug her in his arms, "Your father wouldn't want you crying, you know that..." he said gently to her and Eve slowly calmed down before Victor could release her.

"Thank you, Victor." Eve gave him a small smile, wiping her tears away.

Chifuyu and Lucas fist bumped, celebrating in a small action to their accomplishment of cleaning the spare room, that eventually appears to be a small bedroom.

"You're fine staying here with Miss Evening?" Lucas asked him.

"I want to repay the old man with taking care of her daughter, it wouldn't be good for him to worry about her while in surgery, wouldn't it?" Chifuyu replied, grinning at the end.

"Are you two done?" Eve approached them.

"Yep," Lucas nodded.

"Did Victor leave already?" Chifuyu tilted his head.

"Yeah, he has a meeting he can't skip." Eve replied.

"Well, I have to get going too." Lucas sighed as he smiled, "Au revoir, Fuyuchi, Miss Evening." He waved.

"See you, Lucas." Chifuyu exchanged waves with Lucas while Eve gave him a smile before Lucas left the house, closing the door behind him. "Well, I have to get started cooking dinner now." Chifuyu rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt.

"You can cook?!" Eve was surprised.

"I live alone remember? Obviously, I can." Chifuyu mildly flicked his finger to her forehead, "What are you in the mood for? Something sweet, savoury, or sour?" he gave her a smile before he entered the kitchen.

"Hm, maybe something savoury?" Eve smiled back.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do." Chifuyu grinned.

"Thank you, Chifuyu-kun." Eve's smile turned into a genuine appreciative one with her eyes sparkling and expressing the same gratitude, making Chifuyu look away with his cheeks lightly hinted with a red colour.

"Sure," he walked into the kitchen with a somewhat embarrassed look on his face. Eve decided to peek and watch him cook from the door-less entrance for a short while, seeing him open every single drawer and cupboard to explore the kitchen and discovering the cooking tools' whereabouts, then chop ingredients to begin tinkering in the kitchen was a mesmerising new experience for her, then she walked to take a shower with a smile on her face.

Chifuyu rolled down his sleeves as he sighed in relieve, dinner was already served on the dining table with a delicious aroma accompanying the appetizing appearance of the food.

"What is this lovely smell~?" Eve popped into the room, just finished drying her hair and in her night gown.

"What are you waiting for then? Dig in," Chifuyu chuckled as he approached her, then leaning in to sniff her hair and give her a teasing smile. "You smell nice," he smirked, making Eve blush.

"What is up with you?"

"Ow, ow... Calm down, ha-ha." Eve was playfully punching Chifuyu, making him chuckle in satisfaction.

"Is this Okonomiyaki?" Eve recognizes the dish.

"Oh, you know Okonomiyaki?" Chifuyu didn't expect her to know what he cooked.

"Yeah, my mom used to make it for me." Eve smiled as she sat down on the dining table.

"Your mom?" Chifuyu remembered he never seen Eve's mother around anywhere, he never even heard of the Anderson family mention her until that moment.

"Yeah, my mother is Japanese." Eve smiled to Chifuyu, and a shocked expression with the message 'what?!' was written all over his face. "Nanamine Hiwa is her name, she passed away from an illness seven years ago." She added as she turned to the Okonomiyaki on the table.

"You're half Japanese all this time?" Chifuyu sighed.

"I learned Japanese etiquette and dishes from my mom, she was a pretty one and Dad loved her so much." Eve's smile was a smile of grief, "I really miss her and her cooking..." Eve was stopping herself from crying.

"Um, should I not cook Japanese stuff next time...?" Chifuyu felt bad.

"No, please make more!" Eve pouted and took a bite of the Okonomiyaki, and happiness was instantly written all over her face. "This is so delicious, just like how Mom used to make it~!" Eve was overjoyed.

"Good to know," Chifuyu smiled.

Chifuyu walked out of the shower drying his black hair with a towel over his head, dressed in another white dress shirt and dull black loose pants. He was going to enter his room when he heard sobbing from the top of the stairs, and he peered up to see Eve on the telephone in front of her room with her hand over her mouth, as if trying to be silent.

"Okay, thank you..." Eve spoke with a frail voice, before putting the phone back and entering her room in tears. Chifuyu puts away his towel before heading up to her room, he listened to her weeps during the few moments of hesitating. It was painful for him to hear her cries, the only thing he wanted to do at that moment was to comfort the 17-year-old in the room in front of him.

"Eve? I'm coming in," Chifuyu knocked on the door and entered the room, closing the door behind him as he saw Eve on sitting on the carpet, facing the footboard of her bed with her back facing the fireplace, sobbing with her hands covering her eyes. "Eve, did something happen to your dad?" he sat down in front of her with Eve between his opened legs, his back facing the wooden footboard as he patted her back.

"Dad's condition was worse than expected, he's in terrible condition right now... He hasn't even recovered from the anesthesia yet," Eve sobbed, didn't change her position while Chifuyu's face showed forlorn and remorse for her.

"It's alright, Eve. He's going to be fine," Chifuyu tried to comfort her with a smile as he gently held her hand in his, Eve looked up to him with her emerald eyes before he gently wipes her tears away. "Your father is a strong man, I'm sure he'll make it through." He spoke in a mild tone, in a way Eve has never heard him speak before.

"But I'm scared... It's like when I knew Mom's illness was getting worse... I'm so scared, Chifuyu-kun..." Eve body was trembling despite the warmth from the fireplace, but Chifuyu gave her his own warmth by wrapping his arms around her and hold her tightly in his arms. Eve didn't know how comfort overpowered her fear in that instant, she paused in surprise of his action. Chifuyu continued by caressing the back of her head as he held her, letting her face rest on his shoulder. His embrace was nothing like Victor's, Eve could feel his sincerity and genuine wish to comfort her from his warmth.

"There's nothing to be scared of, Eve. Have faith in your father," Chifuyu whispered to her, and Eve could hear a small smile from his voice.

"Did you feel this way too, Chifuyu-kun?" Eve asked him as she slowly calmed down.

"Hm?"

"When you lost your family... were you scared too?" Eve was trying to stop herself from crying further, closing her swollen eyes as Chifuyu remained silent for a few moments.

"I was at first, but that wasn't the worst thing I felt; the worst haunted me for the next two years." Chifuyu repeated what he admitted to Taylor earlier that day, but he decided to open up and tell Eve in more detail as he continued to caress her. "It was cold... unbearably freezing. During those times, I just wished for someone to hug me." Chifuyu admitted in a frail voice, remembering himself hugging his knees in the darkness and loneliness. Eve could imagine him in that darkness, all by himself for the next two years that probably felt like an eternity to Chifuyu. But it just tells Eve how strong he is mentally from his regular behaviour, there was solemnly a frown on his face and he is so laidback, how he managed to still find things to enjoy himself from the smallest things.

"Thank you for hugging me, Chifuyu-kun." Eve finally smiled then buried her face in Chifuyu's shoulder, thanking him for becoming the someone he wished to have comforted him in the past, knowing his kind heart better by his act that showed he doesn't want others to feel the same pain he did.

"Anytime," Chifuyu smiled, he didn't stop caressing her hair. Eve was enjoying the settle woody scent from Chifuyu's freshly dried hair, the scent slowly hypnotizing her into a peaceful slumber.

In just an hour, Eve had fallen asleep in Chifuyu's arms, peacefully sleeping from the exhaustion of weeping and the comfort Chifuyu gave her. Chifuyu smiled when he noticed she was asleep and he leaned his back against the footboard as he straightened his right leg, letting her sleep on his chest and in his loose embrace.

"You're finally asleep..." a mild smile was painted on his face as he gazed at Eve with warm eyes, he took a few seconds to think, but he decided to stay. He thought Eve's wouldn't want to separate from him so soon in that situation, as if it was himself, he wouldn't want the comfort leave so soon. He grabbed the small blanket at the edge of the bed within his reach and he covered Eve with the blanket to shield her from the cold, before closing his eyes to rest for the night.

***

Eve slowly opened her eyes and she could still feel a familiar warmth, that she realized was Chifuyu when she lifted her head. She was dazed at the teenager for a few moments as she watched him lightly breathing with his mouth slightly parted, before smiling and gently plays with his earring between her right thumb and index finger for a few seconds.

"He didn't leave me either... he stayed until now," Eve was touched by his considerate side, "Thank you, Chifuyu-kun." She muttered as she smiled to him, then slowly backing away to stand up without waking him up. She quietly placed the blanket over him, before walking out to shower and get ready for the day.

"Good morning, Miss Evening." Lucas greeted Eve when she opened the door after hearing a knock on the door.

"Good morning, Lucas." Eve smiled to him, letting him enter the house.

"Where's Fuyuchi?" Lucas noticed Chifuyu wasn't around.

"He's still sleeping, I troubled him last night." Eve responded, shamefully admitting. "I'm going to make breakfast," she took the only apron in the house, the one Chifuyu wore the night before to make dinner.

"Wait, what...?" Lucas paused in confusion, "Since when do you cook, Miss Evening?" he asked her as she puts on the apron and tied her hair up into a mid-high ponytail.

"I'm going to try my best, I can't let Chifuyu-kun do all the work." Eve was determined, "He also has cases to solve, he's busier than I am." She began by checking the fridge.

"Good luck, then. I'll be at the backyard if you need me," Lucas chuckled.

"Thanks," Eve grinned before Lucas left to the backyard.

Chifuyu was awakened by the melody sang by the birds heard outside the closed window, it took him a few moments to gather his full consciousness and realize he was asleep in the same position as when he shuts his eyes. Chifuyu stood up and folded the blanket to place it back on the corner of Eve's bed, just a moment before he heard a held-in shriek from downstairs.

"Was that Eve?" he mumbled as he quickly ran out of the room and down the stairs, "Eve, are you okay?" he entered the kitchen, to see an egg in a pan that has caught on fire.

"C-Chifuyu-kun?" Eve didn't expect him to come as soon as she shrieked, and Chifuyu quickly turned off the stove and took a lid to cover the pan and put out the fire. A sigh of relieve came out of both of them, before Chifuyu turned to Eve to see the shame on her face.

"What were you doing? Are you that hungry? Why didn't you wake me up?" Chifuyu snickered, laughing from the shamefulness on her face.

"I didn't want to trouble you again; you've helped me so much last night and you still have many works to do. I wanted to make you breakfast and some for myself, but I guess it didn't turn out as expected." Eve fidgeted her fingers in embarrassment, Chifuyu couldn't hold his laughter anymore and laughed hardly in a way that made Eve's face burn. "Y-You're so mean! Don't laugh at me, I meant well!" she mildly screamed out her embarrassment.

"Hahaha... sorry," Chifuyu slowly stopped his laughter, before approaching her and gave her a smile. "Just leave the cooking to me, okay? We don't want the old man to hear the house was burnt down because of his daughter, right?" he lightly flicks Eve's forehead with his finger as his smile turns into his mischievous smirk.

"Okay..." Eve pouted.

"Alright, what would you like for breakfast?" Chifuyu asked her, but Eve reached to touch his bangs.

"Why don't you get ready first? I can wait," she gave him a smile that made him dumbfounded for a few seconds.

"Good idea," Chifuyu smiled back.

Chifuyu returned to the kitchen not long after, dressed in his dress shirt and brown jacket along with his loose navy trousers and dark brown boots.

"French scrambled eggs or Oyakodon? Your choice," Chifuyu placed the eggs down on the counter.

"How about Oyakodon?" Eve suggested as he took out a bowl from the cupboard.

"You're in the mood for Japanese, huh? Okay then," Chifuyu chuckled, and Eve approached him to watch him crack open the eggs with one hand like a professional. "Bored already?" he smiled to her.

"I just wanted to see if I could help if anything..." Eve said hesitantly.

"Alright, alright. Why don't you cook rice?" Chifuyu snickered as he took a pair of chopsticks in the drawer near him.

"Okay!" Eve went to wash the rice as Chifuyu started whisking the eggs in the bowl.

Two hours later, Chifuyu entered Taylor's office to start another unsolved case. Knowing he couldn't visit Taylor for guidance, he sat down on the sofa of the office and started reading to understand them on his own, with only the information contained in the folder. He was calmly reading when the phone on the desk rang, and Chifuyu stood up to pick up the call.

"Hello? This is the Anderson family residence," Chifuyu placed the phone next to his ear.

"This is Jeffrey Neilson of the Investigation Department, Paris Police." Jeffrey at the other end of the line said, and Chifuyu immediately closed the call by placing the phone back on the box. It rang again a second later, Chifuyu reluctantly picked up the call and simply placed it next to his ear. "What was that for?! I was going to ask if you needed any help, but I change my mind." Jeffrey sounded offended.

"I'm doing fine on my own, I'm going out to investigate soon." Chifuyu responded with his teeth sealed together.

"What case did you take?" Jeffrey asked him as Eve entered the room with a tray of tea and small cakes.

"The scam case, Lewis Alexandre filed a report to the old man about a scam by a man named Jack Howard and wanted him to do something about it, since Jack Howard took a large sum of 16 million euros from Lewis Alexandre." Chifuyu gave a short summary out of habit with Taylor, Eve paused when heard the name Chifuyu mentioned. "I'm going to the Alexandre residence to question Lewis Alexandre," he continued, hasn't noticed Eve had entered the room from the door behind him.

"Alright, good luck with that." Jeffrey agreed with his plan, "I'm feeling nice right now, you can call me if you need any help with your investigation and I'll come to the location if needed." He added.

"You're definitely the nicest person in the world, Neilson, thank you very much~!" Extreme sarcasm was in Chifuyu's voice, and Jeffrey lightly growled at the other end of the call.

"Whatever, just remember to inform me if you need police on the spot." Jeffrey groused before ending the call, and Chifuyu smiled in satisfaction of successfully annoying Jeffrey as he placed the phone back onto the box.

"You're going to the Alexandre residence?" Eve's abrupt question made Chifuyu flinch, and turn to her with complaint written all over his expression.

"Yes, Eve. I'm going to question Lewis Alexandre about the fraud," Chifuyu rolled his eyes.

"Can I come too?" Eve asked him, mildly begging with her eyes.

"Très bien," Chifuyu sighed.

Chifuyu had the address to the Alexandre residence, but he decided to follow Eve to the location. It was a large estate that screams how wealthy the Alexandre family is, and Eve approached the gate with Chifuyu to the security guard.

"Good morning, Miss Anderson." The guard recognized Eve, "Are you present to visit Young Mistress Alexandre?" he asked her politely.

"Something like that, sir." Eve nodded with a smile.

"And who might this young Japanese fellow be?" the security guard scanned Chifuyu from top to bottom.

"I work for Senior Investigator Taylor Anderson of the Paris Police, I am present on his behalf because of his absence. I came to investigate concerning Mr. Lewis Alexandre's complaint regarding a scam, aiming to ask Mr. Lewis Anderson a number of questions concerning the matter." Chifuyu introduced himself calmly but firmly, while Eve was dumbfounded since she never heard him speak so formally before.

"Your name?" the security guard asked him.

"Tsuguha Chifuyu," Chifuyu responded.

"Very well, I shall have a maid escort you to a room and another to call for Master Alexandre, please wait for the master there." The guard opened the big gate.

"Thank you, sir." Eve bowed to thank him, and she entered the estate with Chifuyu. A maid escorted them to a small living room and told them to wait for Mr. Alexandre to arrive, and Chifuyu took the opportunity to explore the room.

"What are you doing?" Eve was curious why he stopped to observe the paintings arranged against the wall at the corner of the room.

"So many Neoclassicisms here..." Chifuyu kept minding his own business, squatting down and looking through each one gently to not break them then writing down something on his notepad before putting it back in his jacket pocket.

"Hey, are you ignoring me?" Eve stood up from her seat and approached him, tugging on his sleeve to make him turn to her.

"Oh, sorry. I was taking a look at these paintings," Chifuyu smiled slightly, "Don't you think these paintings look a little weird?" he asked her as he turned back to the paintings.

"What do you mean?" Eve was clueless, squatting next to Chifuyu.

"Look, the paint used for these works are so cheap, they're scraping off really easily and the quality is so bad." Chifuyu pointed the issues out to her.

"Why would Mr. Alexandre have cheap paintings in his house?" Eve asked in confusion as she stood up.

"That might be case here," Chifuyu stood up, just before they heard the door open behind them and they turned their heads to see a well-dressed middle-aged man and a young lady in a short fine-looking gown entered the room.

"Eve~!" the girl appeared to be around Eve's age, she came running to Eve and threw her arms around her. "Charlotte missed you~" the brunette-haired girl was overjoyed.

"I saw you a week ago, Charlotte..." Eve was overwhelmed.

"Hello, Evening. Please excuse Charlotte, she just had a chocolate cake." The middle-aged man gave a smile to Eve.

"I can see that, Mr. Alexandre..." Eve patted hyper Charlotte's back.

"I was informed an investigator was here to investigate about the scam," Lewis fixed his tie.

"These paintings are the scam items, I assume?" Chifuyu was still at the corner of the room near the paintings, giving the man a smile from across the room. Charlotte was dazed at Chifuyu, making his smile turn into a confused expression before she ran to him with sparkling eyes.

"Are you Japanese?" she asked him, her peach-coloured eyes filled with curiosity.

"Um, yes...?" Chifuyu was doubtful.

"A Japanese~!" Charlotte gleamed as soon as Chifuyu responded, "Charlotte Alexandre, just call her Charlotte and nice to meet you~" she offered her hand to him excitedly.

"O-Oui, nice to meet you too, Charlotte." Chifuyu was a little overwhelmed by her enthusiasm as he shook her hand.

"What's your name?" Charlotte gave him a big smile.

"I-It's Tsuguha Chifuyu,"

"Chifuyu? That's a really cute name," the big smile hasn't disappeared from Charlotte's face, "Charlotte has never met a Japanese before, this is so exciting." She was hopping in joy.

"Well, you're definitely the first person this joyed to meet me, Charlotte." Chifuyu snickered, but his statement made Eve sad.

"You're the young lad working for Taylor, correct?" Lewis approached Chifuyu.

"That's right, sir. I am investigating without him for the time being, but I am in contact with Junior Investigator Jeffrey Neilson for consultations." Chifuyu nodded.

"Nice to meet you, Tsuguha. I've heard about you from Taylor, he told me you're an intelligent and professional investigator for your age, so it seems I don't need to expect less." Lewis smiled to Chifuyu.

"Are you kidding me, old man?? You're giving your clients high hopes for no reason!" Chifuyu thought, thinking Taylor has too much faith in him.

"I'm Lewis Alexandre, the man who reported about the scam to your mentor, a friend of his to be exact." Lewis introduced himself.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Alexandre." Chifuyu bowed, showing how natural he was as a Japanese.

"And you're right, these paintings are the scam items." Lewis nodded to him.

"You're still upset, aren't you, Father?" Charlotte chuckled, followed by Eve when she saw Charlotte's impersonation of her father's angry face and the man cleared his throat to make the girls swallow their laughter.

"It is not a surprise you're unhappy, sir. You spent around 16 million euro for these terrible quality paintings," Chifuyu smiled, "Can you please inform me the summary of the situation?" he asked the man politely.

"I went to an art fair recently held at Valenciennes and it was shown that these paintings displayed were genuine high-quality paintings, I eventually went to purchase 16 million euros worth of paintings for my collection before I returned to Paris. But these paintings are what I receive when they were delivered, when I contacted the Jack Howard the seller, he cut off all contacts with me and I'm unable to contact him until now." Lewis explained.

"Hm... The purchase took place at Valenciennes..." Chifuyu nodded his head with his right index finger touching his chin and his left hand touching his right elbow, "It's a shame, it appears it will be difficult to perform on-site investigations." Chifuyu mumbled.

"Come to think of it, Chifuyu-kun is more of an on-site investigator..." Eve thought as she watched him think in the silence.

"I shall ask for assistance from the Paris Police, if it's possible to ask Valenciennes Police to arrest Jack Howard. And I shall continue my own investigation regarding the matter in the meantime," Chifuyu said, "You are certain Jack Howard is the man, correct?" he wanted assurance.

"Yes, I made my purchase with the seller himself, and it's Jack Howard." Lewis assured Chifuyu.

"Understood," Chifuyu nodded, "My questioning is concluded, I have gathered enough information to continue my own investigation." He continued with a smile.

"Thank you, Tsuguha." Lewis smiled back to him, "Feel free to come again if you have any more questions," he added.

"Yes, please come again~" Charlotte agrees.

"Certainly," Chifuyu nodded with a smile, "Then, Eve and I shall take our leave. Thank you for your cooperation," he bowed before walking out of the door.

"See you next time, Charlotte, Mr. Alexandre." Eve waved goodbye as she followed Chifuyu out the door.

"Bye-bye, Eve, Chifuyu~" Charlotte waved her hand above her head.

Eve and Chifuyu left the building and walked out of the gate, then Chifuyu let out a sigh as soon as the guard left out of sight after shutting the big gate, deflating.

"Are you okay?" Eve was confused.

"I don't like talking formally..." Chifuyu was drained, and Eve chuckled from his exhausted expression. "I need to go to a booth to call Neilson about the arrest," he took a deep breath before he started walking, and Eve followed behind him to a nearby booth and waited for him outside the booth.

"This is Jeffrey Neilson, Investigation Department of Paris Police." Jeffrey answered the call.

"Hey, Jerry~" Chifuyu blurted out with flowers around his spaced-out expression, but his greeting made Jeffrey clench the phone.

"It's Jeffrey, not 'Jerry'." Jeffrey growled, "What do you want?" he asked him reluctantly.

"Sorry, I just spoke too much formal speech that I wanted to say something with the opposite etiquette." Chifuyu has a mischievous grin on his face, "Is it possible to contact Valenciennes Police to arrest Jack Howard?" his question that was suddenly spoken with a calm and somewhat serious tone made Jeffrey pause for a few seconds.

"It is possible, I can contact them right now." Jeffrey responded with slight confusion over Chifuyu's tone swings.

"Great~, I'll let you handle the scam questioning. I'll continue my own investigation here," Chifuyu's tone turned back to the dorky tone he did when he greeted Jeffrey.

"Wait, what?" Jeffrey was confused, but Chifuyu ended the call before he could ask anything. "Hrgh, he's so unpredictable..." he groaned as he placed the phone back onto the box.

"Eve, do you want me to drop you off at home?" Chifuyu asked her when he left the phone booth.

"Ng? Why are you dropping me off?" Eve was confused.

"I'm going to continue investigating, Alabaster fashion, so it'll be hard if I had you with me." Chifuyu told her.

"Are you going to break into someone's house...?" Eve sighed.

"No, it's more on the quietly-investigating side." Chifuyu shook his head, "Come on, now. I'll take you back home, you'll have Lucas to keep you company." He grabbed her hand to start walking with her, the warmth of his hand made Eve follow him.

Chifuyu was on his own now, and he walked on the roofs of houses to arrive at the location quickly. He jumped down into an alley before walking out to the front of a small shop, with his small notepad opened on the page where he wrote down 'Kennel Supply Shop'. He placed his notepad back into the pocket of his jacket, and entered the shop to be welcomed by a woman.

"Welcome, what are you in need of?" she asked him nicely, she was paused when she noticed Chifuyu was Japanese at first, but forgot about it a moment later.

"I'm just asking around; I don't have money with me right now." Chifuyu scratched the back of his head, "Do you perchance sell canvases?" he asked her.

"We do, we sell hand-crafted canvases in many sizes, my husband makes them." The woman smiled as she responded, "We make them and stamp them with 'Kennel Supply Shop' behind a frame of each canvas," she explained.

"That sounds amazing, does anyone regularly buy your canvases?" Chifuyu was looking around as he continued to ask.

"Yes, there's this young painter named Grant Johnson, he sells his paintings and he loves to buy our canvases." The woman replied.

"Do you know where I could find him?" Chifuyu asked her.

"I can give you his address, he owns an antique shop." The woman smiled.

"That would be a big help, thank you." Chifuyu handed her his pen and notepad after opening an empty page for her.

Chifuyu went to the address the woman gave to him, and it stopped him a few miles away from the supply shop. He looked up to the building to see a small sign with 'Johnson Works' written on the board under a bigger title, 'Johnson Antiques', and a small smile rose on his face as the wind lightly swayed his earring.

"Bingo," he mumbled before he pushed open to enter the small shop.

"Welcome," the man at the cashier welcomed, and paused when he saw Chifuyu. "It's not often to see a Japanese here, feel free to look around." He gave Chifuyu a friendly smile.

"Pardon me, but are you the owner of this shop?" Chifuyu asked politely.

"Yes, I'm Grant Johnson." The man introduced himself shortly.

"Do you perchance also sell paintings for a living?" Chifuyu continued questioning the man, but the man paused in slight suspicion.

"Yes, I take commissions and sell my works for a low price due to my budget for supplies." Grant responded.

"Sorry for my questions, my friend who recommended you too me likes to play tricks with me, so I find it hard to believe him sometimes." Chifuyu blurted out a lie, hoping to lower Grant's suspicion. "Can I see some of your works? I would like to decide whether to commission you," he requested with a smile.

"Alright, I will be right back." Grant nodded, and made Chifuyu wait in the shop for almost half an hour. Suspicion overpowered Chifuyu's patience and he went into the back of the shop where Grant went, not caring if Grant would be content with that or not. Chifuyu went to the back to see an opened window, and his brows furrowed as the wind blew the curtains of the opened window.

"Escaping, huh?" Chifuyu's tone turned cold, and he ran out of the shop to jump onto the roof and start sprinting to the direction he estimated Grant ran off too.

Grant was running down an alley with a big bag, nearly out of breath but he kept speeding aimlessly, but a shadow immediately made him look up and saw Chifuyu had jumped off the roof towards him with a cold expression on his face. Chifuyu landed on top of the man and quickly secured him against the ground by locking his arm behind the man's back, the bag the man was carrying flung a few metres away, revealing it was unzipped and money scattered onto the floor of the alley.

"You're with the police, aren't you?!" Grant shouted to Chifuyu.

"Oui," Chifuyu gave him a cold gaze, making him stop struggling to break free. "You're really brave to escape from me, monsieur. But I thank you for that, you gave me exactly what I came for." Chifuyu's smirk this time was like no other, it was cold and menacing. Grant was silenced by his smirk, the confident and ruthless side of Chifuyu was painted all over his face, making Grant fear what Chifuyu is capable of doing.

Chifuyu contacted Jeffrey and he arrived to the location as soon as possible, Grant Johnson was quickly taken under arrest and transported to prison until trial day.

"You really like putting more people into jail, do you?" Jeffrey gave Chifuyu a complain look.

"Not letting people get away with their crimes is more precise, Jeffrey." Chifuyu's mischievous grin appeared, Jeffrey was inches away from punching him in the face, but he held his urge in.

"Jack Howard just arrived here; we'll be able to set the day of the trial from then." Jeffrey decided to talk about something else.

"Merci, here's my notes for evidence of Grant Johnson's part of the scam." Chifuyu took out his notepad and ripped out a page to hand to Jeffrey, Jeffrey took it from his hand to start reading the notes written.

"According to my investigation, Grant Johnson is a freelance artist who sells paintings as a side job and worked together with Jack Howard in the scam by creating copy paintings, copy paintings that are done extremely poorly. They also split the money they gained," Jeffrey read the notes out loud, "Where's the money then?" he turned to Chifuyu.

"Right there, there are 8 million euros in total." Chifuyu pointed at a bag sitting outside the antique shop behind them.

"Secure the money, you idiot! Your client will sue you if you lost them!" Jeffrey kicked Chifuyu's leg.

"Fine, fine." Chifuyu walked to the bag and carried it in his hands, "You're lucky I didn't decide to spread this money across Paris," he smirked to the junior detective.

"Don't make me take the money with me, Mister Personality. I want you to get some credit at least, you can return the money to Mr. Alexandre yourself, the other half from Jack Howard is in my car." Jeffrey gave him a sour look.

"Is this because you're being 'nice'?" Chifuyu asked him.

"Just shut up and leave with the money already!" Jeffrey shoved him towards his car, to make him take the other bag of money as Chifuyu laughed in satisfaction.

Chifuyu arrived home a few hours later, he was fatigued and leaned back against the door after shutting it to let out a sigh of relieve as he closed his eyes with his head hanging.

"Welcome home, Chifuyu-kun." Eve walked out of the kitchen, Chifuyu quickly lifted his head to give her a smile but Eve grew concern immediately.

"Are you tired? You should rest if you are," she approached him.

"I still have cases to read, I'm alright." Chifuyu stopped leaning against the door, "Are you hungry? I could start cooking dinner if you want," he asked her.

"No, no, I can just buy delivery." Eve knows he's exhausted, "Please go and rest, Chifuyu-kun, you've done so much today." She remembered he had been out all day for his investigation.

"Trop bien, you're back, Fuyuchi~" Lucas came back from the backyard, but his excitement turned calm instantly when he noticed Chifuyu was exhausted. "Tired, aren't you? Rest up already," he patted Chifuyu's shoulder as he gave him a smile.

"Okay..." Chifuyu surrenders and went to take a shower, he finished shortly with a drowsy look on his face as he pushed open the door to Taylor's office.

"Where are you going?" Eve thought he was too sleepy to know where he was going.

"I'll read a few more before I sleep, I won't take long." Chifuyu gave her a drowsy smile.

"Don't overwork yourself, Chifuyu-kun. You don't need to do literal investigations, it's never your job in the first place; your role is as a consultant, remember?" Eve reminded him.

"You're right, why am I even working so hard for your old man...?" a stupid smile rose on Chifuyu's exhausted face, "I don't know, I guess... See you later, Eve." he entered the office.

"See you..." Eve was worried, but just decided to wait.

A few hours have passed and Chifuyu hasn't left the office, Lucas was ready to head home when he saw Eve outside the office, hesitating to enter.

"Hey, Miss Evening." Lucas approached her, making her flinch a little. "Fuyuchi hasn't come out, hasn't he?" he asked her.

"Y-Yeah... I'm kind of worried," Eve sighed.

"Well, why not check up on him?" Lucas smiled, "I have to head home quickly, so I'll see you tomorrow, Miss Evening." He walked to the door.

"Okay, see you, Lucas." Eve smiled as she waved.

"Bonne soirée," Lucas grinned before he shut the door and left, then Eve turned back to the door in front of her and took a deep breath.

"Chifuyu-kun?" she pushed open the door, to see Chifuyu asleep on the carpet not far in front of the fireplace in the office. Eve quietly closed the door and silently approached him, then getting down on her knees in her night gown as she looked down to Chifuyu. Eve quietly gathered the files to stack them on the corner of the carpet, before turning back to Chifuyu and unconsciously smiling. His resting face was somewhat adorable to her, and she enjoyed the silence by gently playing with the chain of Chifuyu's earring between her right index and thumb. The warm orange light from the fireplace sets a very relaxing atmosphere, it was no surprise Chifuyu would fall asleep on the spot. "Bonne nuit, Chifuyu-kun." Eve said in a mild tone, before standing up to him with a blanket and left the room.

***