"Are you a detective?"
"I'm a genuine royal detective. Detectives are supposed to be like this, otherwise there wouldn't be so many detective novels with matching descriptions." May spoke with certainty. "Without detectives, there would be no detective novels. Detective novels are about detectives!"
"As expected of a detective."
"Quiet."
Hoshino broke away from her thoughts and said solemnly, "This is my archenemy, the phantom thief Sixth Serenade. She always appears with purple irises and strange magic tricks, so she's also called the Purple Iris Phantom Thief. She likes using bizarre turns of phrase, while her true purpose is hidden beneath that exaggerated performance. She's a very dangerous person."
"Is she... perhaps..."
Tina hesitated, and Hoshino looked puzzled. "What do you want to say?"
"Something feels off. When I saw her... she didn't feel like she did that night. The phantom slowly descended, and even the moonlight paled before her. She was elegant, mature, and composed—not this frivolous and exaggerated."
Oh no, this is going to go badly.
Hoshino hurriedly tried to salvage the situation.
"Before today, have you ever spoken to this so-called phantom? Has she ever even seriously looked at you?"
It was a hard truth to accept.
Hoshino had known all along that Phantom would never speak in front of ordinary people. Because his Oripathy caused his Originium Arts to go out of control, he had to be constantly careful not to hurt anyone. And judging by what happened last night, Phantom probably would not take off his mask either.
Sure enough, Tina nodded.
"Distance creates beauty, but all that beauty is an illusion. Having it pierced like this might not be a bad thing. Better than suffering later."
Hoshino spoke like a detective, always keeping her distance from the person involved.
She was very cold. Coldness