The Girl With A Moon Hair Clip

"Rei, that girl! She stole something too, didn't she? Should we go after her now?" Hiki rattled as soon as he burst into the library. "Just see if I find her later! She works in the delivery office right? Hurry up with me now. Let's catch her!"

Without turning around, Rei just replied, "Didn't you say that nothing was lost in the treasury? Is something missing?"

"Yeah, but she ran, so she probably stole something else that's not in the treasury, right?"

Although strangely Rei didn't even respond at all after that and started to focus back on one of the books on the table. "How did she do it…?" He muttered to himself.

"Hey Rei! Didn't you hear me?" Call Hiki again.

"No, so shut up for a sec."

"Why? You even locked up the thieves from yesterday. Why are you not excited about this one? She might be the one targeting you as well!"

With a contorted gaze, Rei finally turned his head. "She can use micro-magic, you know. So if she was targeting me, she should've used more lethal magic. Not a magic that can only turn soil into jelly."

And this time it was Hiki who went silent for a moment. "So she was a witch after all, huh."

"...You noticed it but you still took her in? You useless son of a--You really want me dead, aren't you?"

Enduring the ridicule, Hiki just pursed his lips. "I mean, I've gotten used to your heavy aura, so I barely felt it either." Replied Hiki. "You didn't realize it either, right? It must be because that girl's aura was indeed very faint."

Hearing that, Rei just sighed softly and went back to reading his book. But Hiki then spoke again. "So what? If she wasn't a thief nor the one who was targeting you, who is she?"

Rei still didn't answer him, so he continued guessing. "Why? Is it because that girl can do some micro-magic?"

Not answering right away, Rei folded his arms across his chest and leaned his back on the bench instead as if he was going to start telling some long story.

"When I walked in here, the door was slightly opened, you know. So there is a possibility that that girl had entered here as well." He said. "And you know I always put the weight on the book where I opened it, so I remember which page I was reading."

Glancing at the book Rei pointed at, Hiki stretched out his neck to peek at it. And after looking at it, it turns out that the page has a chapter that explains how to change the texture of solid objects to various soft textures.

"You might not know this, but jelly isn't a common food among commoners." Rei said again. "So the first possible answer was that the girl isn't actually a commoner and just disguised as a package delivery guy…girl."

"But the problem is, if that's not true…" Rei continued in a heavy tone. "There is a possibility that she just accidentally read this page and just spontaneously used it when I got in her way earlier."

Hiki was silent for a very long time after hearing that. But after his head processed all the stories, he immediately burst into laughter. "Bwahaha!"

"Whaat? Damn, so you're actually jealous of her?!" He screamed with amusement. "I didn't know someone like Alrei Kransfein could get jealous of someone else! Especially a thief!" He added, which immediately made Rei throw a book at him.

Feeling annoyed, Rei immediately stood up and walked out, but Hiki was clearly following him--though he was still giggling by himself in the back. He did know that Rei used to have an obsession with learning micro-magic. But since last year, he suddenly stopped learning it. So Hiki thought his friend had finally given up on that.

But it seems that seeing someone who can do it spontaneously reminds him of that obsession.

"Wait, where are we going?" Hiki asked again when he realized that they weren't walking towards the main mansion, but towards an abandoned warehouse near the garden. The place where Mika and Leyna were.

"Oh? To the thieves from last night? Do you want to interrogate them again?"

"I think… If she was really a thief, who knows, they might know her."

"Ah… Kinda makes sense, I guess."

And there they were, looking fine. Except for their hands that were held to the table and some of their broken fingers.

Both Mika and Leyna tensed up as soon as they saw Rei. They even spontaneously gritted their teeth as if they were worried that this time he would actually cut off their hands as well.

But despite putting on a threatening expression, Rei just folded his arms. "This is the last time I ask. You're not sent by anybody to kill me?"

"A-Absolutely not!" Mika replied, shaking. "We don't even know who young masters are at all. We only want to steal… Please spare our lives!"

Rei was just silent, but Hiki snarled. "Hm, I should've been famous though." He muttered randomly. "But if you guys are really thieves, is there any chance you also know the thief who was here earlier?"

"..." Not understanding the question, Mika and Leyna could only look at each other in confusion. He definitely wasn't talking about Arran, and it's not like they know any other thieves beside him either.

Moreover, Hiki hasn't even explain how the thief looked like--

"The girl with a moon hair clip. And can use magic too." Rei added.

GULP.

Mika and Leyna seemed to be trying to control their reactions, but even Hiki caught their surprised glances that appeared for a split second. "Aha… Rei, it seems like that girl is indeed their friend." He said while poking Rei's arm.

Went silent for a few moments, back with his murderous aura, Rei slowly walked closer to them. "Who-is-she?"

'Aria what did you do??!'