In the palm of her hand

Himawari scowled as Reika examined the spot where Hilda had died. "I believe you did have a case you were assigned to."

"But this could be related."

"Cease the excuses, you've been frequently following Detectives Myouchi and Inohara ever since the scandal."

"Well why wouldn't I? Their comrade Yumeko Yamaguchi was found guilty of corruption and kidnapping and pulled out all the stops to avoid prison."

"Yet you managed to get her a 4 year sentence."

"And it was hard. I'm more surprised an ambitious woman like you didn't jump at the chance to incarcerate the superintendent general's daughter. Or perhaps your friendship with Yumeko-"

"Enough of the drivel. I'm giving you 4 more minutes to look, then you're getting dragged out."

"In that case, I'd like to view the security cam footage, assuming there is any."

Wexley scowled and guided Reika to the security room. There, Reika gazed at the footage shown.

"Hmm, why is a portion of the footage edited out?"

"Nothing's edited! Look at the timestamps!"

"That trick won't fool me. Now a copy of the footage if you please."

...

Rika groaned as she found herself staring face-to-face with Reika.

"Care to tell me what happened with the girl at Wexley's wax bank?"

Rika ushered Reika into a private booth before telling her all.

"Hmm, an Illumous member then, and a vampire too you say."

"'Illumous'?"

"Ah, it's what I've decided to call them. Great code name if I do say so myself."

"S- Sure..."

"Getting back on topic, while it's good you took out a high-ranking member, the law won't be so forgiving, nor will Illumous."

"I don't think they can really make any drastic moves though considering what happened with Rebellle."

"Naive thinking. They can find a way. Especially since they have eyes and ears within the police. Not to mention, there is video footage of you stabbing and setting someone ablaze, which is justified reason to arrest you outright."

"What if the video didn't exist?"

"Unfortunately, the police do have a copy of it, though said footage has edited out the bit where Miss Hilda falls into the wax, emerges, gets sliced to bits, and reforms on the spot."

"Hmm, then is there a way to claim that the video is fake?"

"There might be a way, but it would require a skilled hacker..."

...

Rika exited the booth and scanned the restaurant before checking her phone. "Guess that hacker isn't here. Come to think of it, I'm not fully sure who that hacker was anyway."

Suddenly, she noticed a suspicious figure in a trench coat and mask entering the restaurant and gazing around. "Too suspicious, but wait, his face looks like he's got fur and-"

Reika then stepped out and smiled as she noticed the figure. "Seems a deal might be in the cards," she thought as she approached the figure.

She had taken the liberty of ditching her suit coat and using a quick-dye kit to dye her hair blonde. She had also adorned her now exposed arms and shoulders with fake tattoos, further disguising her appearance. The only finishing touch was...

"Hola mi amigo, ¿te gustaría un buen metraje? Tengo en mis manos algo que te gustará [Hello my friend, would you like some good footage? I got my hands on something you'll like]."

The figure nodded and followed Reika to the private booth a few spots over from the one Reika had just been in. Inside, Reika showed the figure the footage of Rika killing Hilda.

"¿Quién es esa chica [Who is that girl]?"

"Rika Korosekai. Fue sorprendida asesinando a alguien, pero trató de destruir las imágenes. Por suerte, lo conseguí en mis manos [She was caught murdering someone, but tried to destroy the footage. Luckily, I got my hands on it]."

"¿Y el precio [And the price]?"

"1.000 euros. Y asegúrate de subirlo lo antes possible [And make sure to upload this as soon as possible]."

"Trato [Deal]!"

Once the exchange was complete, the figure immediately logged into Ewetube and uploaded the footage. "Rika Korosekai, you always were a pain in the ass in Madam Rebelle's side, but now you'll be dragged down to hell. I.L.U. may try and delegitimize this, but if I upload it on MY channel, they can't claim it was a deepfake made by Madam Rebelle," he thought.

Reika meanwhile smirked as Cyril fell right into her trap. "Now the footage can't be used as evidence. It will instead be billed as a fake video made to try and slander Rika. The only way Illumous would be able to counter would be to release the full unedited tape, but they can't do that, otherwise it would either add to the narrative the video's fake or expose the fact that Hilda was a vampire, which would lead to mass hysteria, but absolve Rika of any wrongdoing. Plus, if the police try to come and arrest Rika anyway, the public would take her side and fight back. This is checkmate," she thought.

...

Ginji happily skipped down the street, thinking of how Rika was going to finally be arrested and eliminated. However, his hopes were dashed as his phone began vibrating.

"Are? Chairman-kun? You trying to hit me up?"

"No, you're plan failed. Adler's lemur got ahold of the security footage."

"Huh?"

Ginji's smile began to contort in anger as his phone began to crack. "That damn monkey. Is this payback for eliminating his master!? Well in that case it's clear, we'll declare Rebelle as the ringleader behind all of this! Ruchi's disappearance, Hilda's death, the election scandals, ALL OF IT! She was a Kirikawa anyway so damn fer to hell!"

Ginji hung up and immediately stormed into his workplace, the main office building for the Inomizu times. Within I.L.U., Ginji wielded the most power over the worldwide press. His family was also the second richest within the organization, second only to the Hakkins, which contributed to his power. The only thorn in his side was journalists not under his control, like Fubuki Dakota.

"That monkey ruined everything. Now I've got to waste time and resources to delegitimize his credibility. He'll pay for this."

Little did Ginji know that Reika was the ultimate mastermind behind this plan, and had acted just as she hoped he would.