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Chapter 5: Because Screaming Solves Everything.
Author's Note: Rou was suppose to appear in this chapter. But I decided to rearrange a few events in my story to make it flow a bit better.
Disclaimer: Inspired by Capcom's Ace Attorney series and this epic roleplay, TACAC.
Summary: Talking, SCREAMING, and then more talking.


The day passed by normally in the lobby. People filtered in and out as time passed. Some were close friends and came rushing to see Nicky when they saw she was by her usual spot. One of them was Kaoru Yuuka, the brunnette with a cowlick that always dresses in pink. She was excited and cheerful to see Nicky after her two week-long absent. The two friends chatted idly to each other, but their conversation came to a screeching hault due to one question.

"So, how's your boyfriend doing?"

Kaoru shrugged lightly. "I haven't seen Nick in two days now." She frowned lightly. "I'm not sure where he's gone off too."

"I'm sure he's just busy, Kaoru." She gave a gentle pat on the head to her friend. With some more reassurance from Nicky, Kaoru's smile returned to her face. But in the back of her mind, she was curious why Nick had disappeared.

And then their conversation returned to normal. Time idly went by as the two chatted. And then a few strange things occured.

A man dressed in the most bizarre red, green, and gold costume walked into the lobby. His attire looked like a captain or admiral wearing Christmas colors. But his hair was even more bizarre. His red hair was wrapped into two tight buns on each side. Almost like that princess from that popular sci-fi movie.

That bizarre looking man was Ron DeLite. He used to be the famous phantom thief, Mask★De Masque. But those days were long gone. He still wore his infamous costume but never the trademark mask. And it was this man that was walking nervously around the lobby. He looked frightened and ready to dive into one of the couches at a moment's notice.

"Hey Ron," Nicky called out to him. "Is something wrong?" It didn't take a rocket scientist to discover Ron was more jittery then ants in a cage with an anteater.

"H-hi, Nicky," he returned the greeting. Then he went silent and started to look around the lobby again.

Nicky and Kaoru exchanged the same inquisitive looks to each other before focusing their attention on Ron.

"Is everything okay, Ron?" Kaoru's cowlick lowered lightly as she asked.

"E-everything is f-fine, K-kaoru." Ron only gave her a light smile before wandering to the other side of the lobby.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Kaoru asked her friend.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen Ron scared like this before." Ron may be a cry baby and a timid mouse. But he was never this scared and timid before. Something rattled and left a deep impression in his mind.

Nicky sighed lightly as she kept a careful watch over Ron. He kept darting his eyes to and fro, checking all the spots and corners of the lobby. Then when he was certain it was safe, he sat down by himself.

She was close to getting up from her spot on the couch to comfort Ron when she spotted a woman with a labcoat enter the lobby. This woman carried a messenger bag and underneath the labcoat, she wore a purple vest, shirt, and tie. She wore some capris and high heels with straps. To all that knew her, she was one of the many Ema Skyes that resided in this complex.

But Ema wasn't alone, just to the side of her was the young Klavier Gavin. He dressed in his usual purple attire...but there was something a bit off about him this time. Maybe it was Nicky's vision, but he seemed to have lost a bit of his tan complexion. Either way, the two were chatting feverishly with each other.

Nicky couldn't really make out most of their conversation. But at one point, Klavier angerily replied to her "Nien, that is not necessary Fraulien Skye."

And it was during that instance that Ron became aware that he was in the room. Ron was as white as a sheet and quickly ran to a corner of the room, holding onto himself dearly. Concerned, Nicky and Kaoru approached him.

Kaoru tried to reach her hand out to him, but he shrieked out loud. "STAAAAAAAY BACK!!!!" And then began to shiver violently.

Everyone in the lobby became quiet and focused on the corner of the room. Everyone save for Klavier Gavin.

"Ach, what is wrong with Herr Crybaby?" He said as he fooled around with a strand of his hair. He could careless what he was freaking out about. His attention was focused on Ema.

Ema only glanced over lightly, her mouth opened as she stared at Ron. Then she focused her attention back on Klavier. "I don't know," she answered his sarcastic question. "But it's not my problem." She smiled at him lightly.

Klavier didn't say anything. Even though his attention was focused on Ema and he continued his conversation with her, every now and then he would look at Ron. And it seemed the timid mouse wasn't calming down anytime soon.

"LEAVE ME ALOOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!" He shouted after Kaoru's second attempt to calm him down.

Nicky sighed deeply. "I don't think anything we say or do will quiet him, Kaoru."

"But we can't just leave him like this, Nicky. There has to be something we can do." Kaoru looked so determined.

"The best we can do is just to give Ron his space," she said to her friend. Although, Nicky wasn't too certain about that. Every now and then she kept seeing Ron touch something lightly from underneath his jacket. She was a bit suspicious to that behavior and started to have second thoughts about leaving him alone with anyone.

A few minutes went by and the two friends stayed by Ron in the corner. Just when Nicky was close to giving up and considering calling Rou for help, Klavier and Ema went into the kitchen and Ron began to calm down.

Nicky wasn't stupid, she noticed where Ron's distress came from. The question was why. Did Klavier do or say something to Ron? Whatever the case was, she kneeled down and smiled at him.

"Do you want to talk?" She said calmly.

Ron shook his head. But after a few seconds he did speak up. "I-I should go. B-before...be-before it gets dangerous. T-Too dangerous."
And he got up from his place and started to head up the stairs.

"HOLD IT!" Nicky shouted and even pointed to Ron with her index finger. "Something's wrong, Ron. Why did you act that way when you saw Klavier?"

Ron shook his head violently. "I-it's nothing, n-n-nothing at all happened be-between us." As he spoke, several chains began to appear over him followed by five red and gold locks. To everyone else, Ron was perfectly fine. But Nicky knew and understood what she saw. Those were pysche locks. The spiritual manifestation of someone's secret. Pysche locks could only be seen with the Magatama, a small green stone that an old friend gave to her long ago. She could easily break the locks using information she gathers of the person which would cause them to tell her the truth. But in this case...

I don't think I have a lot of information to break his locks, she thought to herself. Breaking pysche locks could be dangerous. If she didn't have the right information, the magatama would put a strain on her mentality. She was told that the mental strain could kill her...which was something she would like to not know first-hand. So, she reluctantly allowed Ron to go upstairs.

"Nicky?" Kaoru called from behind her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She turned around and nodded to her friend. Then she looked out at the window. The sun was setting. "I'm afraid I have to go to work, Kaoru. I'll talk to you later." And she waved her friend good bye and headed out the door.

Of course, Nicky had lied to her friend. Twice. For one, she was worried about Ron. The pysche locks proved that something had happened between him and Klavier that caused him to be so jittery. The question was why. It was something she needed to gather some information about.

Secondly, she didn't have work at the Borscht Bowl for another hour. Ever since her encounter with the mysterious stranger, she hated walking alone at night. But when she had to, she made sure she walked down well lighted streets for her protection.

But as she left the complex, one last thing crossed her mind. Where did Nick dissappear to?