Returning to the original room, where Bambini still cowered beneath the table, Aisha pulled him out and explained what had happened to him. However, there was one thing Yamato still wanted to know before they returned back to Yukimato.
"How exactly did you get inside the estate in the first place? I understand that Aisha changed it later on, but to me it seems you had to first enter or be brought here."
"Well, my existence was tied to my music box. Some elf brought it with him and placed it in this room and left it open. Since I got bored and noticed no one seemed to be coming back to close it, I decided to come out and do my thing."
"Your thing being the transformation of the house, right?"
"I didn't use any djinn magic for that though. That was my personal one, copying a space into a parallel dimension and moving all inside the original over to the copy."
"You said an elf placed the box…"
"Is something wrong?"
"No… Was the elf you killed at the conference room also the one with the box?"
"Killed an elf? Hey, we didn't kill anyone. The audience is a performers greatest treasure! Isn't that right, Bambi?"
"T-that's right. No one ever died through our actions, we promise!"
"So you didn't think we would assume you to be responsible for the dead body on the table you used to make your entrance on?"
"T-there was a body there!? Dead!? I had no idea! The truth is, I can't really see anything with this mask on, which is why I try to speak broader and not address anyone specifically at first, since I might say something unfitting or the topic of their appearance might come up. All I knew going in was how many people were roughly in the room. Well, actually I never entered the room either. Aisha just projected my appearance from here into the room."
"Okay, but if you didn't kill Masami, who did…?"
As a random thought crossed his mind, he glanced over at Yuki, who as he remembered moved during lights out from her seat onto his lap. However, with her speed, it would have absolutely been possible to get up, kill Masami, and then get onto his lap as if nothing happened. And after Bambini appeared, she just assumed everyone would assume it was him, which was in fact what happened. Looking at the Yuki standing on the ceiling with her arms crossed, staring at him with a blank expression, one that read no serious thoughts behind her eyes, he could not help but think that she was totally capable of that.
"Hm? Is something the matter, boo? I didn't really listen to anything said just now… But could it be that during your conversation you were captivated by my beauty and charm, so much so that you glanced deliberately towards me~?"
"…Yeah, your mere presence seduced me."
Since their heads were almost perfectly leveled despite one standing on the ground and the other on the ceiling, giving a quick kiss was relatively easy, so Yamato did just that. He thought that Yuki was innocent this time, not that he would have particularly cared if she was not. No one would a have caught her after all. But no, Yamato had a different theory. One he could confirm before they left.
But first, they reunited with Phoebe who had been patiently waiting here the entire time. Even staying awake for an entire minute after they left her and Petrisha alone. Surprisingly, James was also there waiting, leaning against the wall next to Petrisha. Though Henry and Violetta are nowhere to be seen, so it can be assumed Sir Zonar found them and moved to the exit, which was already opened by Aisha.
"Boo, I'm really not in the mood for a carriage ride after all of this, so I'm just gonna teleport, 'kay?"
"Yeah, can you bring everyone to the Asolute Citadel? I want to check something out before we go."
"Uh huh…"
Yuki yawned as Petrisha, Phoebe, Aisha and Bambini disappeared. Bronelli and his son were send on their way as well, leaving Yamato and Yuki all by themselves. Walking back to the now empty conference room, Yuki switched up between walking on the ceiling and wall but never the ground.
"Is this gonna be a regular thing now…? And couldn't you do that before as well?"
"It's just for a bit more. And yes I could. But I had no other super cool way to demonstrate my sudden increase in awesomeness. There wasn't even some thug I could obliterate with some sparkly attack… So now I'm gonna be floaty for the rest of the day! Unless you wanna pull me down for something that requires ground~…"
"Like?"
"Aw, you know what~!"
Jumping from wall to wall slightly above him, they arrived at the conference room, where it was as Yamato had suspected. Completely empty. Even the hallway leading to it was empty, even though there should be at least one thing.
"Did they move Masami's body? Why would they do that? And if they were cleaning, they might as well do it correctly and also remove the blood. Dumasses."
"Are you sure that's blood?"
"I mean, I didn't check but… Sure looks bloody to me."
"Check anyway."
"Oki doki. But if you're wondering if he's actually dead, his heart stopped beating too as he was lying on the table. That I did check."
Yuki took a step closer, or rather made a floaty motion towards the pool of dried blood on the table, thinking she could check through taste, but them almost puking from the thought. If it were Yamato's blood, she would happily do so. That fact was the only reason the thought even crossed her mind in the first place. But as she just used a drop of phenolphthalein, followed by hydrogen peroxide, at which it unexpectedly did not turn pink as it should.
"Inconceivable! What must we do, Watson?"
"What? And where did you get that smoking pipe, and when did you change…"
"Too many questions Watson, or maybe they are just the wrong ones!?"
Yamato just stood there, letting silence fill the room for a bit. Seeing as Yuki had just changed into a stereotypical detective from the 19th century and her referring to him as Waston, Yamato assumed she was impersonating Sherlock Holmes. One could call it tasteless seeing as they assumed a life had been taken here. But Yamato found it really cute.
"There can only be one conclusion drawn! It is so blatantly obvious, that I refuse to speak it aloud! Watson, I give you a hint! Nothing is as it seems! And elven blood would react same as human blood to my test, in case that was in question."
Smugly leaning against the wall in a corner of the room, Holmes waited for Watson to catch up to her train of thought, while smoking from her pipe, which tasted like strawberry but no one would know.
"I would assumed Masami faked his death, carrying the box with Aisha here in hopes of creating a distraction for his plan. There must have been some sort of drug or spell to temporarily stop or lower his heart rate, I'm not familiar with the anatomy of elfs sadly, but I will assume there is something along those lines that would make it possible. Hence the fake blood. I'm pretty sure he was the only elf at the estate, so no one else fits Aisha's description that had access to the top floor. And as organizer he surely would be here first. Why remains a mystery to me though…"
"Splendid, Watson! That is the same conclusion I had drawn, and yes, the why remains unanswered! Here, take my glove!"
"…Thanks."
"For every conclusion, you get a piece of clothing!"
"That was my conclusion. Now we can leave."
"Huh? But I wasn't done yet!"
"There is nothing else to investigate here."
"What a good conclusion! Here take my other glove and detective poncho!"
"Okay…"
"And my shoes and socks too!"
"Sigh…"
Giving into her antics, it ended as it usually did. Luckily it was a lockable room. Later returning to the Absolute Citadel via teleportation, also teleporting the carriage since it was one of a kind and could be seen as a national treasure by sheer value, even if it was outclassed in efficiency by teleportation. Waiting in front of the main entrance was Petrisha, still awake and waiting for their return.
"Welcome back, Master and Mistress… I assigned the two people you brought with you rooms as instructed. And lady Phoebe is already asleep, or rather still… How did your investigation go?"
"Ah, Trishy, we did lots of investigating. It went great. Many conclusions were reached."
"I'm happy for you, Mistress. Would you like a bath before going to bed?"
"Hm… I dunno! Boo, do we want a bath?"
"Not really…"
"A bubble bath!"
"Of course, Mistress. It will be just a moment."
"Chop chop, Trishy."
Yuki pulled Yamato onto a couch in the Sphere and sat onto his lap, leaning while one hand held onto the back of his head going through his hair in a relaxing manner.
"Mhm… Boo, it was a long day, wasn't it?"
"Many surprises, to say the least…"
"Good surprises~?"
"Some were pretty good. Like that game, I really enjoyed it. Even if it felt a bit unfinished. And the wishes helped us out immensely too, though we still have to talk with Aisha about some things…"
"You were supposed to say I was the best surprise."
"You were beyond the best, of course."
"Mhm~"
There was a knock on the door and Petrisha spoke through it.
"The bath is ready now. I will retreat for tonight with your permission, and wish you a good night and relaxing bath."
"Yeah, go ahead, Trishy. You did good today."
"Thank you, Mistress."
After they took a bath together, they slept extremely well, as if the whole day had been one giant date. Which, if one recalled, was all the "party" was meant to be to Yuki in the first place. Though her original goal had been to have fun at a party, look like a beautiful empress and so on, she felt that this had turned out even better than she could have ever imagined. Phoebe even made friends, though now that Yuki thought about it, other royal families would not have a bright future ahead. So maybe it would have been better if Phoebe found commoners as friends. But then again, just because the Absolute Empire was destined to become the sole global authority, that did not mean all previous nobles had to die. They would however have to be stripped of their titles. Which would make them commoners, so it was alright after all. Yuki was proud to have solved that issue for Phoebe and went to sleep dreaming about Yamato today as well.