"Excuse me," I greeted the rumoured detective, to no avail, as he just continued sucking his fingers dipped in contraband.

Ciel and I looked at each other, sighing together. It seems the first obstacle was to gain the attention of the detective, who was fully occupied with snacking on that sticky, blue liquid.

Observing the situation, Ciel asked, "Should we leave and return later?" scratching her head confusedly.

"I beg to differ, if we could attain his attention and recognition, we might be able to discuss with him," I replied.

The question is how. How can we gain the attention and recognition of an addict? Someone invulnerable to reason and discourse. Someone hell-bent on getting inebriated.

At that point in my thoughts, I remembered something the siblings Dorian and Doe-Ritter brought, mushrooms they didn't know were contraband. I mused, saying, "Maybe we could use that…"

"What's that?" Ciel asked.

I replied, "You know, the mushrooms Dorian and Doe-Ritter brought back. That's contraband you know? I believe I could cook up some mushroom syrup, with these mushrooms as the base."

"Isn't that against the law?" She asked cautiously.

I assured her, saying, "Well, as long as there are no substances that would cause injury or death by poisoning or failure of bodily parts, it's perfectly legal to consume or use concocted compounds for recreational purposes as long as the user exceeds twenty-one years of age. At least that's what my elder brother told me in one of his story sessions a long time ago. Although you need a licence to concoct such compounds, we'll just gloss over it as long as no one knew."

Adding in, I continued, "I have some know-how on compounding, so you just need to wait here while I go find someplace to brew it," all thanks to my past memories.

=======

Watching Layne's back becoming more distant as seconds passed, Ciel found herself bored with nothing to do.

'Should I look around the place, or maybe sit around in the cafe over there, or maybe I could climb the Great Clock and see its mechanisms up close?' She thought.

Still, she didn't have any privilege of going to either of those places, because she could feel her shadow trembling. It was not a sensation a normal person could feel, but was not a normal person, was she? That's why she immediately went to the dark alleyways, where there were no people in sight.

She waved her hands, chanting in a language unknown to man, before finally saying, "What is it, Robert? I've placed a barrier, you may come out now."

The shadows of the building lengthened, before finally converging into an old gentleman's figure, kneeling on the stone-paved alleyway.

"I am sorry for interrupting your outing, lady Ciel, but I have some news that must be passed on to your hands," Robert reported.

Ciel nodded, replying, "Please continue."

Thanking his young lady for her permission, he started, "We found tracks of the other kind just now, they're alone and seemed to be of vampiric descent. There was no indication of whether they've fed or not, but from what we're looking at, they might be in the process of hunting."

"Vampiric descent? Here in Six Ridges and not the Dairy Lodge? Are you sure, Robert?" she replied grimly.

"We are very sure, although it might be a straggler, we can't be too sure. It might be an incitement from those bloodsuckers. As long as we handle it carefully, war won't happen," Robert surmised.

Ciel thought for a moment, before finally saying, "Handle it as you see fit but don't ever touch the laymen, if anyone of them ever got caught in a freak accident, those sorcerers will come, swarming all over the place."

Robert acknowledged, before lightly teasing his young lady, "Is Layne part of those laymen you don't want us to touch?" he asked.

Angered, and blushingly red, Ciel immediately asked, "Why did you even mention him?" stomping her foot.

"Young lady, you're the one who suddenly took him in as a replacement for your grandfather, and you're also the one who led him into your house and lend him your couch. It's love at first glance, isn't it? " Robert replied, smirking.

Ciel's silence made him a little anxious, thinking his little joke was a tad bit too far, Robert was going to apologize, however, she started saying, "I- I felt like we'd met before, talked before, had fun together before, cried together before. I just don't know, I felt close to him, somehow, as if we've had a connection to each other." letting her bursting feelings out of her heart

The curtain of silence fell down the closed-off alleyway until Robert cleared his throat, and awkwardly said, "I've done my report then, I'll return to the circus. Have fun on your outing young lady," he scurried off into the shadows.

Facepalming, Ciel said to herself, "Great, you've done it now Ciel, now everyone in the circus will know of this."

Calming herself down, she went towards a nearby cafe, waiting for Layne's return.

=======

Returning after concocting the mushroom syrup, I found Ciel whose empty gaze was looking into the distance, sipping a cup of tea in a nearby cafe while mumbling some words.

I called out to her, to no avail, as her mind wanders to who-knows-where. Since calling her won't do, I'll just sit in front of her until she's out of her reverie while appreciating the scenery of the Great Clock.

A cute little squeal could be heard inside the cafe, as Ciel asked, "When did you get here? Don't surprise like that!"

"Around five or six minutes ago. Since you're out of it, I decided to order some coffee, so let's go out after I'm done with this," I replied. Whatever she was thinking of must've been really important, since even her beast-like instinct and reflexes failed to detect me.

"Urk, alright then. What about you-know-what? Have you finished concocting it?" she asked.

I put the glass jar I brought on top of the table, inside was a viscous liquid the colour of lavender. Proud of my creation, I declared, "Feast your eyes on this."

Ciel seemed enthralled by the colour of the liquid, saying, "What a beautiful colour."

I nodded at her appreciation, feeling good about myself, before adding, "Should we go to that detective?" to which Ciel nodded, expressing her approval.

Walking outside the cafe, we found the detective hasn't moved from his original place, but the liquid inside his jar was running thin. I waited for a bit until his supply of syrup ran out, before walking toward him and presenting my creation.

He looked at it confusedly at first, before reaching his hands as fast as he could to grab the jar out of my hand. Alas, his addled reflexes were trumped by mine, he didn't manage to get what he aimed for. I looked into his eyes, quietly saying, "You want it, you work for it."

The detective mulled for a bit, before throwing us two badges along with a document file. He said stutteringly, "You are, you are Sarah Carter's little, little brother, aren't you? You do my, my job, for me, and I'll give you a permanent lodging place."

Shaking the muddledness out of his head, he added, this time clearer than before, leering smugly, "You have to know that apart from that shared room lodging, there aren't any available lodgings left. You don't want to come back to your older sister as a snivelling young boy who can't even find a room for himself, don't you?

Hearing that insult, Ciel frowned sternly, she chillingly said, "Repeat that if you had the courage."

"I don't, but I do have a suggestion. It would do you good to follow my instructions since it might have something to do with whatever report your little shadow brought you," He replied.

Ciel scowled, she pressed, "How do you know about-," before I interjected, "Deal. You'll find me a room, and I'll do your job."

The detective looked at me for a bit and smirked after a while, he said, "I actually lost the bet with the captain. Fine kid, I'll get you your room, and those documents inside the file will certainly help you out," before walking off into the distance.

Looking at the detective's back, Ciel asked, "Why did you interrupt me?"

"Because it seemed like you cared about whatever it is you're talking about. I can see that the negotiation is going south and that he's gonna leave soon. That's why I felt like I had to quickly accept the terms he was offering. Not to mention, as he was a subordinate of my elder sister, I doubt he's gonna do anything worse than a snide remark," I explained.

Taking it all in, Ciel finally nodded, accepting it.

"So? Should we open up these documents?" I invited.

She mulled over it, saying, "Alright then, let's open them back at my place." finally smiling again.