Being called at the struck of twelve with an unfinished homework and a pop quiz the next day was a nuisance. Time management was exasperating. And, it was the only problem she couldn't solve.

Since the day her mother died, her rebellious side couldn't get any more stronger. Aiya still remembered the salty tears she had cried that night and her father had been out of the country, with another woman who had a son a month before Aiya was born. An older half brother and the heir to their father's inheritance. She gritted her teeth just thinking about it.

At times, she would ask herself silently whether her father still had a teeny bit love for his daughter. Sadly, the word "love" was nothing but trash, slowly dying in their world and being erased of existence. Instead of the warm feeling she longed, Aiya thought she should perhaps sought for attention, determined she would be the named inheritor and the favorite child of the man who owned the most famed business in the country.

She'd worked hard, done every single thing he made her do, and she had reprogrammed herself. But Aiya later discovered that it was all for naught. Her father already planned her to enter the school that encouraged people to love since it barely existed nowadays.

How could she experience that emotion most people wanted to feel if her own father had not even shred a single exposure of that feeling towards her?

"As you know, it's dying," her father would say. An excuse; lies and phony words enabled Aiya to suppress her tears every time she heard it from him.

Yes, she knew love was slowly disappearing. Why not bring it back? Then, why not at least give hope for his daughter and allow her to find the reason to live?

Pathetic. Aiya mentally rolled her eyes. It was an unbearable thought for her to still analyze the reason why the hell that man was icy and cold to her. And only her.

There was only one answer. She'd be happy to shout it out to the whole world why it won't be needed. Love is weakness. Love leads you to your demise. Love is your own downfall.

Proof won't be necessary for her. She had already seen it, felt the heart slowly cracking and breaking apart, acknowledged her life tearing apart and her mind expanded with her boundless thoughts; trapping her identity somewhere in the chaos as it ran through her skull to break. Even if she wouldn't remember what happened, her heart would remind her all over again.

Three times her heart was bashed to embrace a fracture. The last time she gave love a chance, fate smashed it to a thousand pieces. They said to follow your heart. And Aiya asked what piece would she follow. Definitely, none.

From that last chance, she finally figured out why love kept dying.

Her intelligence would be a much safer option thus, the night of studying ended up into the appearance of the other side she had been hiding. The one who wore a black mask, glued with silver glitter to catch the essence of her own aura. The one whose hair was lazily tied up high. The one who swore to protect the city she lived in, hiding the very reason that it was only for her pleasure.

The city of Lumiere had heard of the young detective who solved cases even the oldest man in the police department, Inspector Graham, couldn't close up. She was clever, observing, a human lie detector, and a girl who enclosed her real face and name.

Lumiere only knew of the Midnight Detective and not the original fragile Diamond Veleen, the daughter of a businessman whose company had already branched out to several other countries.

With the persona and the mask, she felt free. As in the actual freedom unlike the freedom her father called by locking Aiya up in her own room.

That's not free, she once mused.

Despite the call that took place in the middle of the night, she didn't hesitate to answer it and become the detective one last time before her father would send her back to the academy. This night was the last night of the festival that occured around Lumiere. She'd miss it. Not the festival. But the presence of her other self.

Aiya would soon be back to the lady who always obeyed and silently cried.

As soon as she reached the town center, Aiya immediately found herself in the middle of the crime scene. A corpse lay dead at the fountain whose head released his blood while the dark red filled up the crystal clear water. His back became familiar to Aiya but without seeing his face, perhaps she would never know why.

The police warned the people to back away and go home since the festival had ended with a murder. The one who killed the man should be crazy and skillful enough not to be detected by anyone. He may or may not be in the crowd.

"Wait-" she stopped the officials, turning to the people of the town and analyzing each and every person she could identify-"don't let anyone return their homes yet. The criminal must be somewhere in the crowd disguised as a civilian."

One cop name tagged Robbie sneered at her. He scowled, pointing at the little girl dressed in a casual attire and a glittered mask. "Who are you to make the decisions around here, young lady?"

"I called her out here, any problem with that Spezero?" A gruffy sharp voice caught their attentions. Even if Aiya were not to turn her head, she'd still recognize Inspector Graham with only the tone of his huge posh accent. "This is the young lady who solved the Jubelin mystery a month ago."

"Sir, but this is a child-"

Aiya itched to retaliate and so she did. "I'm not a child, Mr. Spezero. For all you know, I could perhaps be older than you despite how I looked."

It was a bluff and she was sure that he'd take the bait. No, Aiya was not any older than any other cops in the department. She was a teenager, still studying, and still enduring the challenges life gave to her.

She was seventeen, adding one year more to her age after the next three months. But the whole world didn't know that. And they should never know how a girl like her could easily solve crimes as though it was just a game. For Aiya, it was literally just a game and luck continuously pursued her. She never cared for the murders, only how the game will end. Should she be the loser who couldn't solve such a simple equation? Or be the winner who deserved the recognition?

Perhaps though the only reason for her to execute such missions in the middle of the night was because she lacked attention. And this night, she gained all the eyes of the people, being in the center of the crowd. Now she was determined not to lose to the game.

"Let's get started. Who's this unlucky person?" Aiya asked, delicately wearing her black plastic gloves.

"Trevor Abbot," Robbie answered her.

She flinched at the name. Only because she knew who he was and how grateful she was to him. She shivered, skin turned pale, eyes being devoured by the whites.

Aiya caught a piece of paper, crumpled by the fist of the dead man swimming on the fountain. She came closer to him to retrieve the paper and observe what it was. The ink was scattered, blood and water mixed with the colors yet the girl could still read it.

Beware, they're coming for you DV, it stated. Signed, K.

"How didn't we see that?" A police officer blurted out as Aiya trembled more and blood rushed out of her face entirely.

"Who's DV?" Inspector Graham questioned.

To answer the inspector, Aiya would tell her own name. Diamond Veleen. But she couldn't and she shouldn't. Not even the true detective of Lumiere had figured out who she was underneath the mask. And he never will.

She began to be certain. This night would really be the last night her real freedom would end.

Midnight Detective must sleep and Diamond Veleen should stay awake instead. Because without the real one, the detective side will never get the chance to experience the wistful sensation ever again.

She gained the motivation to actually treat the night as her mission and not some mind game she found the detective work all those days ago. Since there was a threat, it'd be Aiya's last day as the masked girl. And since it was Trevor Abbot, a man who showed what was fatherly love like, she'd solve the case.

And nobody can stop her. Nobody.