into thought. After thinking it over for a while, he let out a quiet murmur. "...What does she find enjoyable about that?" "Oh heavens, I haven't the faintest. Nor do I suspect I wish to." Elisabeth followed him in crossing her arms in thought. Now they had another useless riddle on their hands. However, this was hardly the time to be worrying about it. All of a sudden, Elisabeth rose to her feet and returned Hina's diary to her desk. "Anyhow, none of the entries here seem suspicious. 'Twould seem there weren't any hints inside." Kaito nodded. He'd expressed qualms about looking at Hina's diary without permission, but Elisabeth had informed him that Hina let her read it from time to time anyway. It was nice that the two of them got along in spite of their professional relationship. Unfortunately, though, the diary hadn't given them any clues into their current missing-person problem. Hina's strong. But that's what makes this so worrying. "'Tis too early to give up hope, Kaito. Let's retrace the steps she took today." "Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah, let's do that!" Elisabeth strode off, proactive as always. Worried as he was, Kaito gave her plan his enthusiastic endorsement. If worse came to worst, they might at least find traces of any magic that got used. Kaito stood up. And with that, the two of them left the room and set off in search of leads on Hina's current location. There was nothing to be found in front of the door to Kaito's bedroom, nor did they have any luck in the surrounding hallways. After checking them, they headed to the next place that Hina stopped by in the mornings. Namely, the kitchen. When they got there, Elisabeth proudly puffed out her chest. "Each and every morning, Hina brews me the finest cup of tea, you know! See, unlike a certain someone, she knows what it means to be considerate! You could stand to learn a thing or two from her, Kaito!" "Oh yeah, Hina's great; I'm with you there. But you do realize that if I tried doing the same thing, I'd end up with a cup of toxic sludge, right?" "...'Tis a mystery to me how your cooking skills remain so singularly catastrophic." "You're one to talk, with that poison cooking of yours and all." "You know, if we weren't in the middle of an investigation right now, you'd be meeting a brutal end for that comment." As she spoke of bloody murder, Elisabeth headed to the white cupboard and threw its doors open. Inside sat Hina's collection of tea leaves, seeds, and dried flower petalsâ€”all of which were sourced from far and wide and arranged into neat little rows. The lowest shelf was home to the silver spoon, small dish, and mortar that made up her mixing set. Each morning, Hina would carefully consider the ambient temperature and humidity that day to come up with the perfect blend. Elisabeth circled the cupboard, looking it over from top to bottom. Kaito did likewise. This was where Hina did much of her workâ€”not just in the morning, but in the afternoon and evening, too. However, they couldn't find anything out of order in the cupboard or its surroundings. They then gave the rest of the kitchen a thorough once-over and, upon doing so, discovered that it was completely spick-and-span. Not so much as a single knife was out of place. Elisabeth nodded in admiration. "Hina's efforts really do exude excellence, don't they?" "Yeah, you can say that again." As her beloved master and her master's master, it filled their hearts with pride. However, this was no time to be getting sentimental. The two of them quickly hurried out of the kitchen. This time, they headed for the stairs. "Why, Hina even cleaned the stairs throughout the castle today! Yet another display of magnificent thoughtfulness!" "Yeah, she said dust was starting to build up in the corners. For the record, I did help her out." "And you accomplished but a fraction of what she did, no doubt. The difference between your work and hers is as vast as the distance between Heaven and... Hold that thought." "What's up?" "Now that I say it, something dawns on me. 'Throughout the castle'?" Elisabeth massaged her temples. Kaito noddedâ€”he knew exactly what she meant. Not only was the castle gigantic, but in keeping with its fortresslike exterior, its layout was also complex and unintuitive. Elisabeth's face turned a little pale. "I-in short, we, too, have no choice but to climb and descend its entire godforsaken span?" "H-hey, at least we're just looking around; it's not like we have to clean it or anything!" Kaito gave his response enthusiastically, but after thinking it over a little, he, too, came to appreciate how daunting the task before them was. As his mind swam, he recalled the interaction he'd had with Hina earlier that day. At the time, it was midafternoon, and the hem of Hina's maid uniform was swaying back and forth in the most adorable way as she diligently swept her broom to and fro. "Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho, my meats are the finest meats around! Filled with love and bravery, they'll never let you down! Eat them and your courage will increase a millionfold! As always, I'm your friendly neighborhood Butcher! Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! And I am Master Kaito's maid!" While she briskly cleaned the stairs, Hina was also singing, and her revised version of the Butcher's peculiar song echoed through the halls. Each time she finished clearing a given step of its dust and cobwebs, she would hop down to the next step in turn without wasting so much as a single movement. It gave her work an almost rhythmic flow to it. Impressed, Kaito walked over to her. She immediately turned around. When she spotted him, her face lit up like a puppy whose owner had just returned home. In fact, Kaito could practically envision a little tail wagging back and forth behind her. "Oh my! I sing Master Kaito's name, and here he is before me! Surely, this must be destiny!" "I dunno if I'd go quite that far." "In fact, I have half a mind to hold a wedding ceremony right here and now, but when I think about it, I suppose I'm already your eternal companion. Yee! ...Ahem. Forgive me, Master Kaito, I let my excitement get the better of me. Is there something you needed me for?" "Nah, I was actually just wondering if you wanted me to lend a hand." "Goodness me! Why, that's so kind, I could just swoon! I would be overjoyed to have you help!" In spite of the snarky quip it had been preceded by, Kaito's offer caused Hina's face to flush with glee. She was an automaton, so it was unclear if she actually needed the help, but she was clearly delighted by his consideration regardless of its efficacy. Hina smiled happily. Bliss practically radiated from her expression. Upon remembering that smile of hers, Kaito clapped himself on the cheeks. When he spoke, it was with renewed motivation. "And besides, we gotta do what we gotta do! Remember, this is for Hina!" "Right you are! For Hina's sake, no task is too onerous!" Kaito and Elisabeth gave each other a firm nod. Then they took off at a run. How did things go after that? Well, for all his enthusiasm, Kaito ended up being largely useless. Without a supplementary source of mana, his stamina quickly ran out, so despite verbally lambasting him as being a weak-kneed coward, Elisabeth ultimately had to cover the majority of the stairs herself. In the end, though, their investigation came up empty-handed. They did receive a scare when they found traces of mana-rich blood on the first floor of the main western stairwell, but they quickly realized that it was just Kaito's from when he keeled over in exhaustion. "Don't go leaving red herrings!" Elisabeth cried as she clapped him on the head. And there was something else they discovered as well. It was about the leftmost stairwell in the servant quarters, the one Hina had assigned Kaito to clean. After investigating the castle's staircases, they discovered that out of all of them, that one was both the shortest in length and had the widest steps, meaning it was by far the easiest one to clean. "...Man, I'm so tired that I can't even move, and even so, I can feel Hina's love." "...You're surrounded by it constantly. You should be feeling it all the time, you dunce." During their quarrel, the two of them were both sprawled out on the hallway floor. Kaito idly gazed at the ceiling. The light streaming in through the stained-glass windows was as creepily ominous as ever. He let out a dull murmur. "Elisabeeeth." "Whaaat?" "You really should remodel those, y'know." "I share the sentiment, but they're so high up, 'twould be a right royal pain." "Yeah, I feel you." Both of them sounded like their brains weren't getting enough oxygen. Before they even noticed, they got deeper into the night. Normally, this would be the perfect time to start drinking. However, they still hadn't found Hina yet. The two of them racked their exhausted brains for ideas. "...Man, I wonder where Hina went." "Well, we did cover the whole castle without turning up so much as a single trace of her. It seems rather unlikely it was any sort of curse or suggestion. No mage, no matter how skilled, could have pulled such a stunt off so cleanly." The good news was, that meant it was less likely that Hina was in any immediate danger. Even if they hadn't learned anything else, that alone was reward enough for their trials. Kaito breathed a sigh of relief. If that was the case, though, then where had Hina gone? Why did she vanish? Kaito and Elisabeth furrowed their brows. "Hey, Elisabeth. Are there any other possibilities that come to mind?" "At the moment, the most likely one seems to be that Hina left the castle of her own volition." "What, without telling either of us?" "Hmm. No, perhaps not." The mystery only grew deeper. Another silence descended on them, and they each closed their eyes and thought. Their bodies were hot from running all over, and the hallway floor was cold against their skin. Right when the two of them had just started cooling down, though, Elisabeth's eyes shot open. She sat up with a start. "Wait just one minute!" "Forget waitingâ€”I wasn't even moving." "Precisely! No, not precisely." Elisabeth lay back down, then used her arms to lift her body off the floor and rose to her feet with movements reminiscent of a clockwork doll. She pointed her finger at Kaito, who was still lying on the floor. "I found it! Something strange!" And with that, they returned to the starting point. Namely, Hina's room. Elisabeth strode over to the desk and retrieved Hina's diary from between the desk's bookends. Then she flipped it open to the final entry and pointed at the passage in question. "Here!" "Uh... You mean this bit? 'However, I discovered that one of the rooms that had been listed as empty was actually being used to store grain. And just as I feared, the place was home to a large rat infestation. Perhaps due to the preservation magic that had been cast on the grain, each of the rats had grown to the size of a human baby. Oh my! As a result, we ended up having a rather heated battle.'" "I often cast magic on grain to preserve it for long periods, then forget that I did so or that it was even there in the first place!" "I feel like that's the sorta thing you should try to remember." "But see, even eating it would never cause rats to grow as large as babies!" "Say what?" Kaito stared at Elisabeth blankly. Being from another