Party Invites and Police Inquires

A clean white room with no windows or cameras and no furniture other than a small table with two chairs.

This one was the ambient Amy found herself in right now but was also an ambient she was very used to at this point.

She was the only one who could consider being sent to the interrogation room as a nice way to go see her best friend(unilaterally) though.

“It always amazes me how little these rooms changed and how the officers’ uniforms went weirdly backward like all other fashion, do you agree, Lily?”

Her lighthearted question was aimed at the woman with the appearance of twenty or so years who should be interrogating the idol.

She was a somewhat tall woman with a curvy body, striking facial features, greyish sharp eyes, and raven black hair.

Amy once said that she was very close to being an upsized version of the idol with a different color pallete.

Her clothes were a dark-blue peeler long-coat with same-colored cape and trousers in another abnormal style for the pink idol.

She had also been seen wearing a police hat a few times, but Amy found out she would wear a top hat more often than the high helmet-like hat most cops used.

The woman named Lilianna Norcraff was a detective and not a grunt cop, so it made sense.

In any case, she was wearing no hat right now since it would be bad manners, although the idol still had, and wasn’t willing to take off, her small pink and black one.

“I already said that my name is Lilianna!” Exclaimed the officer. “You can even use officer Norcraff if you wanted to, but Lily makes me feel weird. And I still think your clothes are the unusual ones here…”

“You are so mean sometimes, Lily...” Continued the self-proclaimed idol without caring about Lilianna’s protests.

“My name isn’t… Sigh… Can you answer the questions, so we can end this already? I believe you never ask for a lawyer, right?”

“I won! I mean... Yes, no need for lawyers and no need to hurry, Lily, it is not every day I can visit you since we are both so very busy all the time.”

“You’re called here almost every three days!” Shouted the detective in turn as it was almost time to get Amy a personal interrogation room. “And if you want a visit we can meet at the pub.”

As usual, she had a point.

It wasn’t as if Lily lacked the money to visit a high-hung establishment as El Democrat and Amy lived there, but that was beyond the point to the outraged girl.

“But it is not 'every day', right?! And you all are still to explain why I am called so often here and always leave right away.”

“How in the heavens can you be on every scene and not have anything to do with the crime?! Some people want to arrest you beneath the tables just in case at this point, dammit!”

And her faked outrage was answered with a genuine one by the person who was forced to keep investigating a girl that could never be caught.

This high in the city, cameras could see almost every place, so only more direct methods could be used to elude the law.

Even a small robber would be thoroughly investigated and arrested in a few hours at most.

And if small crimes with no priority were closed right away, something like major would only happen with the proper arrangements.

With a situation that was such, it became very hard to consider that a self-proclaimed pop star could elude the law multiple times.

There was a mountain of circumstantial evidence since she was always close by, but never once was a connection found.

By this point, Lilianna was the only of the dozen or so detectives still willing to lose time on it instead of just arresting the girl to be done with it.

The subject of the whole trouble seemed to not have a single care in the world though.

“I can say that I am a trouble magnet, but my luck is enough to hold any real trouble from happening, you see? I am so very blessed I have nothing to say.”

Amy was shrugging the whole situation as usual, but even Lily was starting to have doubts about how innocent this girl was.

In fact, she was pretty sure she had direct connections with the whole thing.

“What about telling me how you manage to vanish from surveillance all the time then? And what you were doing singing right in front of an isolated office building with little to no pedestrian movement? It’s only circumstantial, but it can become a problem…”

As the detective was talking, a holographic screen opened itself in front of Amy and started to show a small video.

In there, she was doing a street performance in front of an office building with a QR code signboard plopped on her side as a means to ask for tips.

Weirdly enough, there was no footage of her arriving there and the camera with a frontal shot was the only one of the dozen ones around the area that had a clear view.

That was beyond the point for now and even then, Amy’s smile was still the same when she answered.

“My research calls it 'guerrilla tactics', you see? If I keep doing shows all-around, I am bound to show my terrific skills to the unlucky souls who have yet to see me.”

”And why did you stop this one person when he left the nearby building?” Asked the detective while pointing to the fast-forwarding video.

The hologram had skipped some hours until, for no apparent reason, the singing girl in the front of the building suddenly stopped.

She then walked to a man who had left the office and was waiting for a vehicle at the exit of the building.

They exchanged some words at an angle that was hard to see their lips with any of the cameras in the area and then she waved him goodbye as his ride stopped by.

Seeing the video, Amy took a pensive expression until she finally found a conclusion and answered.

“I do not remember exactly, but, if I am not mistaken, this person was one of my fans who visit the El Democrat, you see? I was thanking him for coming by and asking if he would keep supporting me, but he sadly told me he was leaving the city soon…”

“And this building behind you, you know what it is?”

“No idea. It appears to be some office building, but what they do there is beyond me.”

Amy’s expression was blank and she lacked any signs that Lilianna could read as a hint to the truthness of her words.

But this much was the usual and the detective still had to continue even if she knew nothing would pass.

“They have many different offices for sure, but the most important one is a certain multi-floored company that works with third-party finances. They're known for being a little more than sketchy though, or that’s what the rumors say at least.”

“It seems I have fans in every walk of life indeed!” Amy excitedly answered without a worry again, only worsening her interrogator’s complexion.

“You knew this vehicle he got there blew up due to some malfunction on the system during this same trip then?”

“Now that is very unfortunate…”

“We also received some anonymous tips from an untraceable source that this 'fan' of yours had proof of some very high-up and obviously shady deals. We were trying to bring them to justice, so we had units ready to bring the man into protective custody the moment he got home that day, but he never arrived...”

“What an unlucky fan I had, I may make a new song in his memory now…”

Amy’s laid-back responses were starting to get on the officer’s nerves by this point.

Her lack of commitment to something that was starting to become a crimewave never seen this high on Miskaria was as clear as the day, and Lily disliked it.

It was ever truer when this whole situation could end with something like a false apprehension happening for the sake of saving face.

“Answer me seriously here, Amy! Do you really have nothing to do with any of these cases? All we dealt with were some odd burglars and wallet hackers up here for a long time, but with you, we’re now flooded with mob fights and straight-up murders. Damn! Things are getting quite wild around here and you’re not helping...”

The increase in seriousness in Lilianna’s tone and expression as she got up and glared down at Amy made the calm-looking singer close her face too.

She also straightened her posture before answering, which by itself was weird enough.

“I am not the perpetrator of any of the murder cases you are investigating, Lily. You do not need to worry about me killing someone, you see?" She affirmed with a weird sureness in her voice that was against her apparent age. "Also, there is not and will never be any evidence to use against me. I have not made anything to be ashamed of and no one can fake them without going against some very important people, you see?”

The change in tone and aura on the pink girl was so unusual that Lilianna got stunned for a while.

She was way too unused to seeing the usually beaming and overbearing idol without a smile or an ounce of enthusiasm like this.

“You’re…” Lily started to question but gave up midway and went back to the real subject. “Forget it. Can you assure me you haven’t killed any of these people?”

“This much I can do with no problem.” Amy answered plainly.

There was not much else to be asked now, much because it was widely known at this point that pressing Amy was useless.

The best someone even managed to get from her was a lawsuit.

Since it was so, both females returned to their chairs, with one of them turning back to normal right away.

"Are we done, Lily?" She asked with her usual smiling face.

“Sigh… Fine. I think we’re done here then… You can go now.”

Lily seemed done with the interrogation and was already getting up to leave, but the pink-clotted girl seemed to not be willing to follow right away.

“Wait a moment, I have another subject to talk about…” She called. “I heard you are going to a fancy party, Lily, am I right about it?”

The detective’s expression was somewhat confused by now, but she was too tired to carry about it and instead simply went along with the question.

“I don’t know nor want to know how you know it at this point, so... Yes, I’m going to a fancy party, or actually, I was invited to one. I’m not sure how I’m going to attend it with my current resources."

“Terrific! You can bring a partner, right? I can supply you with the necessary tools if you were to bring myself as yours, you see? And I shall even put a bonus in if you could make it so I was allowed to sing a little at the venue for the other stemmed, and rich, guests.”

“You came here with all this in mind already, didn’t you?”

“I do not have to answer this without a lawyer.”

At this point, Lily was way too shocked and too tired to answer the bantering of the person under custody in front of her.

Even the seriousness on the officer’s face couldn’t survive after all this and she started smiling at the situation.

“Sigh...” The detective smiled as she pictured the situation and then started laughing at it all. “Ahaha! Fine, why not? Maybe I can even stick an extra one to that zombie with it, so have your fun. I can’t be sure about the venue part...”

“Just set the grounds and I will use my magic.” Was the vague answer of the idol, and then she continued with more important matters. “Should I send the toy to your house or will you visit my room for once? I can also go to your house if you wish so, but that seems slightly troublesome for your position…”

“Not a single one of these options should be allowed, but you live in a pub anyway and I don’t care at this... These weeks are being way too much and it’s hard to find an excuse to visit the El Democrat, so I’ll pass by. You know the date, right?”

“What do you think?” Amy answered with a smug smile forming on her face and received a wry smile back.

“I better see you again only at this date then.”

“I shall do my best for it.”

“It’s weird how hard to believe it is, but well… Get out of here already.”

“Understood!” Amy happily answered while being shushed away from the room.

Having been freed, and with her business done, for the time being, the mass of pink frills at the white room went to the exit.

Before she passed through it though, she stopped for a last outrageous question.

“Should I prepare a dress or a suit for you?”

“What exactly are you implying here, you pink brat?!”