Trial Run

"They stood, shimmering brightly, right in front of me, that's how I met the spirits of the sea. As they sang with new rhythms and melodies, the lines of a poem I can't recognize, as they dance to celebrate the birth of a new spirit, the one which the likes of us seek."

"What are the lines?"

"A world, by a void we separate."

***

Of course there was no way for Ayre to not know of this person. He was a famous investigator after all.

"Ayre Bushnell, 26, the secretary of the DFA." Said Arth as soon as Ayre ended his introduction.

"Yes... How come it sounds like I am a suspect?"

"Oh no, no, its just a habit of mine, but yes you got one thing correct. You are currently being treated as a suspect. An accomplice to be exact."

The atmosphere weirdly relaxed instead of tensing. It was probably the result of Arth's not-so-hostile demeanor as he went back to his previous seat after shaking Ayre's hand.

Speaking of Arth's demeanor, he never put down his creepy smile from when Ayre went into the room until his introduction.

His thin slits that held both of his ruby red, sparkling eyes were partially hidden by his almost-black, purple hair, giving him a pretty attractive and handsome appearance. When he turned to sit down, his dark, regal clothes swayed back and forth in harmony which complements his good-looking features.

"An accomplice huh." Well, Ayre's similarly calm attitude sure helped in setting up that kind of relaxed atmosphere.

"It's a deduction made with haste based on the following statements: 'two nights ago, Ayre just started randomly breaking vases', 'Ayre suddenly opened the dining room door while we were having our family dinner', 'he was late to it of course'. This is the generalized answers to my questions of your siblings and parents."

A confused expression was pasted on his face as he put his middle finger on his lips while saying this.

"I guess even that idiot Enson would not be deceived, let alone you hahaha."

"Of course. You can slap him anywhere you like, no one will stop you here in this house. At least that's what your parents told me."

"Yeah no, it wasn't anything. Someone randomly barged into my room so I ran. Shouted at first but meh, no one was able to hear anything." Ayre stated half-heartedly.

"Is that it?"

"That's it."

"Huhh...what does he look like?"

"Covered from head to toe with clothes. Gender indistinguishable because of it. Woke up from sleep because of him opening the door. Opening a door wasn't weird but his knocking was. I thought he was a servant calling me for dinner but I was met with silence."

He paused midway through this sentence to find a seat. He was relating the tale as though he had not personally gone through it. He still wore a casual expression.

"So you ran...to the dining room? Why not towards the housing unit of your servants or security? Why not outside?" Arth continued his interrogation.

"Well, first, I wasn't able to determine the level of threat. What if people like him was outside? Waiting on the door or something. I did not think of anything that deeply but I can think of something simple as an ambush at least."

"Heeh? You're clearly not thinking right now too. Tsk tsk." Arth remarked while moving his right hand's index finger back and forth...

"What?" ...in which Ayre replied in confusion.

"A guy, for some reason, wanted to catch you and was somehow able to infiltrate this heavily guarded estate or villa or whatever you call it and then you ran away to the dining room? I am willing to bet a thousand of your country's currency right here that it wasn't that you hadn't thought to go to the outside via the main door first but rather, the main door wasn't one of your options to go to the moment you dashed and arrived there ."

"I haven't said anything about not considering of going outside through the main door though. I mean on the contrary, I explained it..."

Technically there's nothing wrong with what Ayre said. No lies were spouted. Everything was the truth but that didn't mean that an apple is also red all throughout the inside just because the outer skin is red.

He wished to stay clear of this. He had no idea how he was going to explain that the person pursuing him had the ability to phase through doors. Of course, he could have just explained that there might be other people there, which is what he did. And even then, he believed that he was in a separate space at the time and he did not know how to get out, which meant that he would always be inside the space no matter where he moved. Of course, that wasn't the case.

When he saw the person at the front main entrance, he had no choice but to just choose the alternative: the backdoor to the garden, which required him to enter the dining room.

"Yes, I guess there's that explanation too. However, it is clear that you weren't ambushed by the supposed accomplice of the infiltrator." Arth readily countered.

His stare pierced like needles towards Ayre's eyes.

"Isn't it better to be cautious though?"

"What cautious? No, we aren't talking about that. You haven't met an ambush but still, you decided to turn your back on the main door."

"As I said, what if there are ambushers outside that door?" Ayre was clearly answering the questions with a bit of irritation. They were going in circles with this questioning.

"Sigh. If there are ambushers just outsiders main door, why wouldn't there be any in the garden just outside of the dining room? Haven't you thought of this?"

Ayre was shocked. Shooked wooaaahhh AHAHGAHAH. How could he not have realize that? To be fair, a pervert was on his butt all the time so he did not have the time to think thoroughly but since he was able to at least assume that there was danger outside the main door, why couldn't he assume the same for the garden?

In fact, assuming that there were people who will ambush him in the garden was more logical than assuming that there were any just outside of the main door simple because, that is the main door. Everything mainly goes in and out there so people in ambush would immediately be realized by the workers in the estate compared to the soothing and calming atmosphere of the garden, especially at night.

"Ahem. No, I haven't." Ayre quickly admitted.

Now it was the detective's turn to be surprised. Of course for him, that thought would form naturally in his mind if it was him at that time but for Ayre, not so easily. He tried to think logically at that time; he even ran the moment he realized he was not high but one cannot deny he had too much on his plate to think about everything perfectly.

Arth got up, faced his body towards the guest room door.

"As a suspect, you should be giving your statements in the stations nearby. Preferably the one on the 12th Street. I am currently staying there. Oh wait, no, I forgot you don't have a choice in this. I will be forcing you either way."

"..."

"I am a magnanimous person so I gave you a trial run. All right, now come with me. Ahh damn it's so hot outside...about twenty degrees, no?"

Arth was now in his own little world.

Of course Ayre could not do anything but abide.