“You’re right, I really should have,” she began, then stopped. “Wait. Is the Phantom Thief well-known for being right on time?”
“That’s what the rumors say.”
“Doesn’t this fellow know a bit too much about the Phantom Thief?” Hat muttered from atop Octavia’s head.
Hearing this, she tried staring steadily at Raven.
Raven chuckled slightly, noticing her stare. “What’s the matter? Am I so fascinating?”
“No. Of course you aren’t. I was merely thinking about how you look suspicious no matter what you do.”
“Am I so suspicious? Perhaps being judged like this is its own sort of fun.”
Octavia frowned, and Raven smiled mischievously in return. Octavia couldn’t trust this attitude of his, the way he always seemed to be enjoying himself.
Suddenly, looking puzzled, Raven said, “I wonder why you always seem so cautious around me. It’s not as if I’ve done anything to you.”
“Well, the thing about that is...” Why, indeed? Unable to process this unexpected response, Octavia put a hand over her heart.
“It’s because you really are suspicious of him, Octavia. Don’t let your guard down,” whispered Hat.
“But...” Thoughtless, Octavia had been about to speak to Hat in front of other people. She hurriedly shut her mouth. Raven, who had already turned to walk away, apparently hadn’t heard them. She breathed a sigh of relief. In her heart, however, the fog of confusion continued to spread.
He certainly hasn’t done anything to me, but whenever I’m around him, I keep my guard up, as if he might do something. I’m confident that I wouldn’t be fooled by him, so why is that?
However hard she stared at Raven’s back, the answer never came. Raven started to climb the stairs ahead of her. Apparently, use of the elevator was forbidden right now. This was probably for security reasons.
“Have there been any developments on your end?” asked Octavia, following. “Have you learned anything about the impostor of Crow, the Phantom Thief?”
Raven replied, “We’ve managed to narrow down the list of suspects. But in the end, we still don’t have the time or the people to investigate them at random.”
Ashton waved a hand at Octavia and Raven as they reached the fifth floor. “Oh, so you’re back. Was it a fruitful harvest?”
“Do your best to pull the wool over his eyes, Octavia.”
At this warning from Hat, Octavia pulled back her chin, approached Ashton, and nodded. “Miss Colette has realized that the dolls were swapped.”
“Huh? At this late stage, you’re telling me that Mrs. Smile is our prime suspect?”
“No, that’s not it. Miss Colette is a victim. It seems that the doll Raven obtained was stolen. Of all things, it seems that she witnessed someone sneak into her room and swap the dolls. Thinking it was just a bad dream, she couldn’t even tell her mother. She said that the original had probably already been destroyed.”
For what was to come, it was better if everyone else thought that the doll had been destroyed. In reality, it was broken, so it wasn’t really a lie.
Ashton screwed up his face. “Then who was it that stole the doll? Did Miss Colette see who it was?”
“She said she couldn’t tell, but we can pinpoint the date it was stolen. Miss Colette says that it was the day after her birthday.”
“The very next day? That’s pretty quick. That means...”
“There was someone who knew beforehand that Miss Colette would be receiving that doll as a gift,” said Raven quietly.
At that very moment, there was a dramatic crashing sound, and then all the lights went out at once.
“What the devil?! Don’t tell me he’s already...”
“Oi, get the lights back on! Hurry up!” yelled Ashton at the constables who stood quaking around him. Clicking his tongue, he took a lighter out of his inside jacket pocket. With a firm click, it produced a tiny flame; he held it out in front of the glass case that had contained the doll.
Ashton’s strained voice was almost drowned out by the bong of a nearby grandfather clock. “Oi, you’ve got to be joking.”
On top of the shattered glass case there stood a doll.
Hat cried, “Don’t tell me it’s time for dolls to start running around?!”
Moving its mouth awkwardly, the doll let out a shrill cry of laughter. “Hee hee hee!” At the same time, a gale blew through the room, even though all the doors and windows were definitely shut. The wind shattered the windows from inside.
“Hee hee hee!”
With a never-ending scream, the doll ran straight for the nearest window and jumped out of it.
Leaning out of the empty window frame, Octavia clicked her tongue. “I’ll go after it!”
“W-Wait a minute, you’ve got to be joking! A doll can’t move by itself.”
“Didn’t I tell you? That doll is cursed!”
“After it, Octavia!” cried Raven, seizing Ashton by the shoulder before he could stop Octavia.
Looking back at Raven, Octavia nodded firmly in response. Grimacing, Octavia placed a foot on the window frame. “I’m counting on you, Raven!”
“Oi, you may have magical powers, but this is the fifth floor...”
“For a detective, this is nothing!” declared Octavia, and jumped out of the window. She landed on the roof of the building across the street and followed the trail left by the doll’s magic.
Atop her head, Hat grumbled, “However you look at it, you claiming that was nothing ‘for a detective’ sounded a bit forced.”
“I’ve already discussed the fact that I have magic, so it’s fine. There it is, Hat!” She spied the doll under the light of the moon, flying straight to its destination like a bullet. The doll was headed for Mrs. Smile’s mansion. It was far enough away that she couldn’t be sure of catching up to it.
Now the doll was pressed up against a window. Octavia recognized the location of that room. It was Colette’s room. Its target appeared to be Miss Colette after all.
“Hat, go get it!”
“Huh?! I-I’m really not cut out for fighting—” Drawing the doll’s attention would be enough. Octavia took Hat off her head, imbued him with magic, then hurled him at the doll. “Ohhh, Octavia, damn you!”
Just as expected, the doll suddenly halted its motion. Then, a rigid wall of magical energy appeared in front of the doll, deflecting Hat. With a pitiful moan, the deflected Hat plummeted down into the courtyard.
Following his descent, Octavia also touched down in the courtyard.
“Y-You, damn you... Throwing my omniscient, omnipotent self like a stone!”
“Thanks to you, we were able to slow it down. We’ve caught up to it.”
“I still protest, in no uncertain terms! We tools will form a union and go on strike!”
“Y-You.” The doll spoke, turning around to face Octavia.
Hat also suddenly stopped wailing and thrashing, and stared at the doll. “I thought it was more than a mere doll, but it can talk as well?”
“P-Persistent.” Ker-crack, came a strange sound. A sound like bones breaking. The doll continued to emit clicking sounds, and its joints bent backwards. Its arms and legs began to grow in length. A girl was emerging from this transformation, and Octavia recognized her.