Chapter 3: Silver coin

While being silently observed from every direction, Jun took a seat near the centre of the long table. Even though the table is quite spacious, barely any free place was left around, making the formed picture similar to the one from "The Last Supper". A bunch of cups full of steamy black tea are set with various liquid levels, the spaces without the cups are filled with plates full of sweets or half-eaten sandwiches, and only Jun´s site is free from tableware. Seems like they were waiting for his return for quite a while.

No malice could be felt from all the glares directed at the boy, but their weight still pressed Jun to the point of not being able to turn his neck, as if an iron collar restrained his movements. His lips parted, and out came a laughably quiet voice, which only triggered a loud hubbub of those present.

"W-well.."

"Jun! Why you did not tell anything about Laplace, desu!? This information is essential for Shinku´s revival!" - snapped Suiseiseki, angrily pointing at Jun from Nori´s hands. Despite being sassy all the time, her seriousness in actual fury is quite remarkable. Small brows are narrowed and gem-like eyes are glowing looking sharply at either boy´s face or neck.

The one stopping her sister from further accusations was Souseiseki. She tapped Suiseiseki by her shoulder, taking her attention and voiced an excuse for the boy.

"Jun has not done anything wrong, we just-"

But suddenly, another voice continued to bear the fruits of clutter, planted by the third sister. While soaring above everyone, as holy spirit but rather an evil one, Suigintou interrupted Souseiseki.

"Kept all the secrets to yourself, did not you?" - another voice continued to bear the fruits of clutter, planted by the third sister. Suigintou was soaring near the ceiling, looking down on everyone around as the holy spirit, but rather a malicious one. Her silver hair is hanging down like extraterrestrial lianas. Only her spine, along with jet black wings, were seen from Jun´s side, but in actuality, her head is a bit tilted to his opposite side and just enough to see the faces of her younger sisters. "Pains to agree with Suiseiseki, but there was a reason for our research. It was said that we got closer to our goal, yet you decided to shove it down your throat. As if you do not want to revive your Rozen Maiden at all, human!"

This provocative statement got on Jun´s nerves indeed well. The blood raised to the head, melting iron, which restrained his mind and body. He struck the table with his bare fist and yelled in his defence.

"Shut up! These were not my intentions, I am the one working my ass out to revive Shinku!... How did you know about the evidence?"

An immediate silence was established in the room with only rare gusts of wind, coming from an open window, being audible. His vocals took off guard everyone around, except for Suigintou, whose calm expression was unshattered. While everyone were swiftly coming to their senses after skipping a beat because of Jun´s action, Suigintou jerked her head to face the one residing on Mitsu´s laps and stretched out finger, all whilst holding her smug expression straight.

Kanaria froze for a second and sighed, then briefly glanced at Jun who unsurprisingly was also staring at her. No sign of her regular smile could be found on the small face only a sense of guilt shining through her emerald eyes. Both her index fingers lightly touched each other and she confessed.

"I am sorry, she pressed me, I suppose."

In the beginning, Jun was ready to continue speaking, but an illegible murmur to his right took his attention. The one with tears in the corners of her eyes was Hinaichigo. Her narrowed brows struck Jun by surprise, it's been a long time since she was upset with his actions. As soon as Hinaichigo herself noticed the gaze of her previous medium, she wiped the tears away with the sleeve and supposedly repeated the unheard line.

"Jun… is it true? You do not want to revive Shinku…?"

Jun gasped and his eye twitched at this nonsensical question. He barely restrained himself from screaming as his answer. Instead, he said with a clear annoyance.

"Suigintou is obviously lying to mess with me, Hinaichigo! Are you going to believe everything that was said to you!?"

Regardless of his action, Hinaichigo´s tears still departed her eyes and she started sobbing. At the sight of the poor crying child, Jun´s furry decreased and a common-sense returned to his mind. The boy cleared his throat, but suddenly another crybaby fell onto his shoulders. Kirakishou pulled lightly his right sleeve and faced Jun with no tears, but a gloomy mood instead.

"Why did not you tell me everything before, master? Am I that unreliable to you?"

This time a tired sigh came out of the boy´s mouth, he outstretched his arm and landed a light flick onto her forehead. The sound of it was not concerning, yet Kirakishou stroked the affected area and a tear concentrated in the corner of her eye.

"Ouch!"

"Of course not, I just… Alright, listen to me, everyone!"

Declared Jun aloud, while standing up from his place. All the anxiety was relieved and he regained total control over his body. Why was I even scared? After all, I had everything planned from the beginning - such were his thoughts upon observing every living doll and silent people by the table. Whether his fatigue or the remains of past self took a role of fundament to his fear, he did not know, but the fact that he eventually had to tell the information regarding Laplace was unavoidable and essential to himself. Even though there was no time for the rest, it would be absurd to miss such an opportunity to make the first step towards the unknown, thus Jun further proclaimed.

"I do not know what Suigintou told you, so I will start from the very beginning. Today in the N-field, right before our meeting, I bumped into Laplace. Seems like not much changed in his attitude, but his words were surprising, to say the least. Apparently, one of you found a hint to end all of this… to end Alice Game."

Jun stopped and sharply observed the reactions, like a vulture in search of its prey. And the prey was indeed found, every Rozen Maiden was wordlessly looking at each other. Even Suigintou´s eyes were filled with incomprehension and she started to soar down. The one breaking through the floating silence was a non-Alice Game participant, but the one sitting at its tribunes. Mitsu took a sip out of her half-full cup, adjusted glasses with one hand and said.

"Ah, this tea is truly wonderful… I did not expect that rabbit to return. Also, wasn't Alice Game already over? At least this is what Rozen Maidens agreed on, right?"

"Seems like it is not the case now, but there is no need to continue it either way because the said hint should lead us to Rozen´s secret and force its ending."

Despite the seriousness of the following discussion, a cackle parted Nori´s lips and she made a silly yet accurate remark.

"Hehe, Rozen´s secret? Sounds mysterious and quite dangerous!"

"And you are saying it with such frivolity…"

Jun sighed yet again with a tough dilemma of being surprised or disappointed at his sister´s airheadedness. His train of thoughts did not last for long because of a sudden question from Tomoe. Like during a lesson, she raised her hand to drive the boy´s attention and then asked.

"Is this secret about the creation of Rosa Mystica? Is it a philosopher stone in the end or not?"

Without hesitation, Jun shook his head and gave an uncertain answer.

"I have no idea, but the fact of us actually getting somewhere is a relief… there is a reason why I did not want to tell it from the beginning, though. Laplace also mentioned…?"

His intention to reference the so-called New Game was shot down by the indifference on Rozen Maidens´ faces. They all were sinking in thoughts without moving at all, which made them look like masterfully crafted yet lifeless dolls. Soon enough, some of the girls commented on the situation one by one.

"In the end, our purpose was unchanged? It will also mean that Shinku is not the winner..."

"Alice Game is not over, desu. So we should proceed with fighting?..."

"I do not want it! I do not want to lose anyone else!"

"What should we do, I suppose?... Jun?"

Anxiety was growing on Rozen Maidens´ faces. Even their spirits were soaring around less enthusiastically as if understanding the situation. Some of the girls fell into deep silence, looking straight into the void of their own thoughts. But the majority directed their gazes on the one who brought up such disappointing news. Jun parted his lips and brought up even more mysteries to the table, making clear the reason for his previous hesitation in explanation.

"I know what you feel. I was also disappointed when Laplace mentioned the state of Alice Game, but… there is another way to end it all." Jun adjusted his glasses, peeping at curious gazes surrounding him, and continued: "If we follow the clue which was brought by one of you, it will initiate the start of the New Game against Laplace… and Rozen himself."

Several Rozen Maidens exclaimed "Father!" at the same time. The only one saying the actual name of the mysterious doll master was Mitsu. At first, Jun was struck by surprise but soon realized why her tenor was so excited.

"Rozen!..." - her arms squeezed Kanaria so tightly that she exhaled and murmured under pressure: "Micchan, I cant breath, I suppose…"

"You mean that Rozen, who created these cuties? You will be able to meet him!?"

Looking into her shining eyes, which as if changed from deep brown to light copper, Jun was struck by surprise, but soon realized the reason behind the woman´s excitement. Considering Mitsu´s deep enthusiasm regarding dolls, no wonder she would idealize the genius in this regard. Jun could even somehow sympathize with her feelings. Rozen is not a mere celebrity, but the one who decoded nature in itself and created life out of lifeless dolls. But as much as the boy would love to have a casual chit-chat with him, he remains real regarding Rozen´s persona and considers such occurrence as impossible.

Due to the risk of accidental blasphemy of their father, Jun never mentioned even his name. He was aware of Rozen Maidens´ stubborn love towards their father, but for the boy, Rozen did not seem like a good person at all. Rozen is the one who dictated the rules of the Alice Game, a game where sisters, his own daughters, must end each other's lives only for the one to become a perfect girl. He witnessed all the struggles and adversities these poor gals have gone through with the reason being his absurd demands. A person who willingly pushed his children into the pit of misery could not possibly be thought of as good.

"Meeting Rozen… This might be a possibility, but our main objection is to revive Shinku via Rosa Mistica. First, we need to find out if we are able to create the source of life."

"And for that, we must obey our Father´s will."

Added Suigintou another statement to Jun´s words, which appeared to be the one thing that bothered every single Rozen Maiden. The room yet again was enveloped in silence as the girls exchanged their dumbfounded glances, clearly hesitating in front of the divided road.

"Um, why are you so silent all of a sudden?"

Mumbled Nori before Jun even had a chance to complain about their attitude. Even though he expected their nature of battling dolls to be in the front, he was struck that not even one Rozen Maiden tried to accept the new alternative to end the Alice Game. He briefly looked at now silent Nori along with Suiseiseki, whose brows are narrowed in irritation, and proceeded to talk.

"Do not tell me you are going to stick with Alice Game, hey, why are you so silent!?"

"Jun… He is right, would not it be better to continue with our current plan? We even have a direction to take now…"

Only Tomoe reacted to Jun´s concerned tone. She was aware of the amount of time and efforts everyone gave into the research, surrendering under just one statement from Rozen´s acquaintance would be a waste of an entire year. Also, there was not a single participant who would be consonant regarding the Alice Game continuation. If that's the case, why not brush it aside for the presumably safer and more civil alternative? It might be an obvious decision for a young human, but not for the one who was constantly fighting for centuries. Era after era, girls were opposing each other with the only goal in mind - to become a perfect girl. Truly, lots of sweat and tears were spilt during these years, but Rozen Maidens were created to become Alice for their father, thus for them opposing Rozen himself seems like a radical solution… at least it was in the past, for now, several souls are ready to question the will of their creator, and the first one to speak out was Kanaria.

"I do not think there is a need to continue Alice Game, I suppose. Tomoe made a good point, our current goal is to revive Shinku, so why not do this first and then think about Alice Game together, I suppose?"

Against Kanaria´s words, Souseiseki made a fair remark: "Jun said that following the clue will result in opposing Father…" but soon after was silenced by Suiseiseki´s complaint regarding Rozen and the whole situation.

"Why can't he come here and explain everything himself, desu!? This dumb rabbit makes everything so complicated!"

Negotiations seemed to be moving towards a stalemate, but it was not destined to happen because Kanaria acquired a powerful and quite unexpected ally. Suigintou soared down on the empty chair but instead of sitting down just leaned on it with her back. After a dozen seconds of silence she revealed crimson eyes to everyone around, their glow felt menacing and a bit disappointed.

"How could you be struck with such a foolish dilemma? Shinku is the winner in Alice Game, thus proceeding with it is pointless..."

This statement left everyone speechless. To think that of all sisters Suigintou will be the one to side with her main rival's resurrection is unbelievable, yet here she is, waiting for other dolls response. After a while, another voice, not so confident as the previous one, destroyed the thoughtful silence. Hinaichigo, leaning with her small hands to the table side so that her ribbon´s end fell into the mug full of tea, declared.

"That's right! I… I do not want to break Father´s rules, but… I want to save Shinku even more!"

"But… Father."

"Stupid Souseiseki, desu! Do not you want to see Shinku again? If Father does not want us to revive her, then he can just come and say it himself, desu. As long as he does not do it, there is no need to be concerned about him."

Suiseiseki grabbed her twin by the shoulders and shook her violently as if she tried to sweep doubts out from her head by force. Surprisingly, it worked and soon after several shakes and rarely annoyed groans, she replied.

"I got it, I got it, Suiseiseki, please, stop it!"

While twins were making a decision by themself, Suigintou cast her gaze to Jun and, in a split, to Kirakishou. All this time, the youngest Rozen Maiden failed to keep up with negotiations and was instead yawning in Jun´s hands. As soon as she noticed Suigintou, her fatigue disappeared in an instant.

"Sister Suigintou?"

"And what do you think about the situation, Kirakishou? Would you rather oppose your Father´s will or try stealing our mediums again?"

Jun narrowed his brows upon hearing this unreasonable taunt. Moreover, he clenched his fist, thoroughly ponding over a clever response, but Kirakishou got ahead of him and, to Suigintou´s surprise, gave a casual answer.

"Huh? I want to help sister Shinku and master, Father did not really care about me, so why should I respect his wish, dear Suigintou?"

For an instant, Suigintou fell silent with her mouth slightly opened, but soon enough, she burst out cackling which drove the attention of every other guest of this meeting in the dusk. Suigintou spread her wings and soared upwards just enough to see everyone around. At last, her pink lips parted, forming a fishy smile, her hands were lined up with jet black wings and she declared excitingly.

"How amusing! Finally, something is destined to happen, but… if some of you still have the will to proceed with the Alice Game, please, raise your hand. I will accept this foolish desire and will challenge you here and now-"

"Not inside the house!"

Suigintou was fully immersed in her monologue and did not notice that Nori prepared the broom to fight the sassiest doll among Rozen Maidens by herself. The majority of the sisters were living in Sakurada´s house. Even though the place is spacious, disputes and tussles were spreading out fairly often. In the beginning, this chaos was unstoppable, but later on Nori, the householder learned Rozen Maidens tactics of fight and withdrawal and was able to cut them off before they even broke out. The same happened right now, as soon as she heard the dare from Suigintou, she waved the broom towards the flying doll, which Suigintou successfully dodged by flying aside.

"Idiot, what do you think you are doing!?"

"Fights inside the house are forbidden and you know it well, Suigintou!"

"Shut up, who do you think you are to order me- hey, cut it, human!"

Nori kept waving with a broom while Suigintou was avoiding the swings like a hummingbird. This bizarre scene of a fearsome 1st Rozen Maiden barely dodging the attacks of his sister seemed entertaining to Jun and everyone around. Several giggles parted from the table and with them silly sneers.

"And who were you ready to fight, if you can't even defeat my sister?"

"Suigintou, it is dangerous, better do what Nori wants and do not further anger her."

"Do not worry, if she will strike you I will be more than happy to fix your dress!"

"Shut up and stop this psycho!"

Shouted Suigintou while evading Nori´s weapon of choice. As dumb as this situation gets, it helped to discharge the atmosphere in the house. After a bit more game of tag and cackling, Suigintou surrendered to Nori´s determination and took her previous seat. She did not seem too exhausted but rather frustrated in the contrast of Nori´s proud smirk. Now it was time for the second part of the negotiations and information share to begin.

By the table, 4 people and 6 living dolls are sitting, but only one soul was speaking. Jun once again took the lead in the discussion and did it quite fabulously, without a trace of insecurity just a while ago.

"If everyone is ready to participate in this New Game, then there is a need to find out a clue from your trip to Europe. I would like to hear your stories one by one, explain everything that happened to you, in short, please. If we will not discover this clue earlier, then, later on, we will get into deeper analysis. And the one who will start… how about German pair?"

From all the short dialogues Jun had today, he barely had a chance to talk with Souseiseki or Suigintou, who travelled to Germany. The only thing he was aware of was the person who took the girls in to not reside on the cold roofs of Berlin or the uncertain N-field.

Immediately after Jun mentioned her place of research, Souseiseki stood up, still being on a chair, glanced over Suigintou, who sluggishly waved her tiny hand. Souseiseki took this sign as a refusal to speak, thus she was the one to bring the light to the German investigation.

"Then I will start, master. During the travel through N-filed, we did not see anything suspicious. At least no one noticed anything, and since we all were going together, I do not think there is a point in discussing N-field. So, we arrived in Germany exactly through the mirror in Mr Büdchen´s house. His great grandmother-"

"-The information regarding his ancestors is unnecessary, moving on."

Suddenly objected Suigintou, crossing her hands. Souseiseki examined her with a questioning look, but since her crimson eyes are hidden under eyelids, there is no point in silent interrogation. As soon as Souseiseki was ready to break down Suigintou´s caprice, Jun commented on this issue.

"I do not think this information is essential either, Souseiseki. Continue with the story, and if we will not find the clue, then we can just get back to it later."

Jun suspected that the named clue was something physical, even though there was no evidence for such deduction. It did not change the fact that they have all the time in the world to solve this mystery, which means a lack of need to rush things up.

Souseiseki nodded at her medium´s proposal and continued with the narrative.

"The first night, we were too tired for the work, so it mostly consisted of us sleeping. The next night we sneaked into the central library, where we went over several histories and alchemy books, but there were no mentions of the man named Rozen or the dolls called Rozen Maidens. Mr Büdchen also helped us by researching in museums. We were lucky that he was a historian and knew exactly where and how to look for information. Despite that, though, we did not find anything even remotely related to us. Only some doll designers vaguely knew the concept of Rozen Maidens. Among them, there is a legend of the cursed puppeteer who was able to make living dolls by stealing other people souls… hopefully, the story is not about Father, at least that puppeteer was believed to have a name of Montblanc Klaus-"

"Hey! I know him!"

Exclaimed Mitsu, looking down on Kanaria.

"Do you remember? I used to tell you stories about him."

"Of course, I suppose, and they were quite creepy."

This topic took Jun´s attention, and he directed his words to Mitsu with Kanaria instead of the one who brought that person´s name first. Souseiseki demonstratively crossed her hands which Jun did not notice.

"What do you know about that puppeteer?"

"Hm? Well, I do not think he is anyhow related to Rozen, because his story is quite fresh. Either way, he was a French puppet master from the end of the 18th century. It is believed that Klaus was in love with an influential duke´s daughter but kept silent about it. One day the duke announced that his daughter desires a splendid doll, and the one who will make the perfect one will be free to ask anything from the duke. Klaus could not miss such an opportunity and start with the work. But they concluded in countless fails. Deadlines were running out, but the perfect doll was not yet ready which resulted in him seeking help from dark magic. He stole several souls, increasing his mastery to the point of his creation becoming alive. Unfortunately, the duke´s daughter was scared of his creation, making his work meaningless."

After Mitsu finished, Tomoe tilted her head and showed her interest by presenting a question.

"...And what happened after he scared the duke´s daughter?"

"The ending is quite unclear. It is said that Klaus never left the floors of the duke´s mansion. Maybe he was imprisoned for dark magic?"

"But why in duke´s manor, I suppose?"

Several people started analyzing the story of a mysterious puppeteer, but Jun did not seem too affected by it. After a few seconds of silence, he faced Souseiseki again and asked her to continue with her story.

Montblanc Klaus´s story aside, there was no other point of interest in the case of Germany. Even Suigintou acknowledged the lack of results in their research. Jun and everyone else agreed to move on to the next adventurer's pair who were Hinaichigo and Suiseiseki, the French pair. Jun still kept in his head a short line Hinaichigo mentioned during her interaction with sleeping Shinku. He did not expect much from this team, yet Suiseiseki, who took the lead in storytelling, still was able to surprise everyone, not with the details but rather her attitude.

"Chibi-Ichigo will surely miss several points in our investigation, which leaves no choice but to tell the story myself, desu. We arrived at Odille´s house near the end of the night, and since we were tired from the trip as everyone else, there was no place for any activity. First night, desu! We were sleeping!"

She proudly pointed with one of her fingers to the ceiling. As soon as she proceeded to speak, another small finger was directed upwards.

"Second night, desu! We spent some time with Odille, who appeared to be a much better person than the holders of this house. Third night, desu!-"

Yet another finger on her palm moved, but it was abruptly lowered down because of Jun´s sudden complaint.

"For two days you did not do anything!?"

"Hiik!" - Suiseiseki jumped back in surprise, stood still for several seconds, then angrily pointed her tiny finger at Jun and exclaimed, "Do not scare me like that, desu, or I will not tell anything!"

"...That's the reason why there were teams of two, idiot! Hinaichigo, please continue."

Suiseiseki´s show off failed, and she directed a demonic look at Hinaichigo, even Kirakishou shivered a bit under Jun´s arms. The 6th Rozen Maiden, out of the blue, was under the pressure of the most vainglorious gazes in the room. It made her scared at first, but as soon as Nori with Tomoe punished their behaviour by pulling the ear of the one and stirring up the hair of the other, Hinaichigo found the courage to take over the lead.

"Y-yes, I do not believe that we were able to find anything important. All these days, we were visiting several libraries, archives and museums, but it was all pointless…"

"You see, desu!? I said she will miss important details!"

Such taunt brought negativity to Hinaichigo´s face. She narrowed her brows, looking sharply at Suiseiseki, and puffed her cheeks.

"...So you found something I am not aware of?"

"Of course I did, but I dropped it into the lake, desu!"

"You are a liar! Suiseiseki is dumb and lying!"

"What did you, midget, say to be, desu!?"

Another fight was about to break out on the spot, but Nori was able to keep the mood under her iron fist, which hit the table with an incredible force. Both girls covered their mouths with hands to not further provoke Jun´s sister. Suiseiseki seemed especially terrified and did not make a sound until the culmination of the whole discussion.

Jun could see through Suiseiseki´s lie regarding her finding, but just in case, he wondered if she was lying or not and asked about the location of their quarrel. The 3rd Rozen Maiden only shook her head, being concentrated on the menacing presence at her back. Hinaichigo, on the other hand, told the name of this location. Before heading to Japan through the N-field, they stopped at the lake Mauve Gemme, a spacious yet well-maintained lake in the northeast of France. Its name did not activate the grey matter in anyone's head, which resulted in the 3rd duo being a last straw of hope.

"How about you tell everyone what you saw in the park, Kirakishou?"

Suddenly made Jun a request to the one resting on his laps. Kirakishou raised her sight, showing hesitation in her only eye. He was not sure whether the girl forgot about the occurrence she was speaking of in the unwound world or hesitated to speak under the possibility of being mocked. Either way, Jun left her with no choice by mentioning it first.

"I am referring to this demon fish you mentioned to me and adult myself."

"Demon fish, I suppose?..."

Kanaria became the first one to react to such a bizarre statement. She did not seem too surprised at first, but further development of Kirakishou´s explanations visibly changed her expression into the concerned one.

"I doubt you noticed it at all, sister Kanaria because even Hollie and Pizzicatto did not react to this thing… I witnessed a demon with a fish´s head in the park on the last night of our research. I was a bit tired, and the lamps were rather weak, but I surely saw that thing. And as soon as I rubbed my eye, it disappeared under the darkness…"

"So you also saw it, I suppose…"

"Ah, bet it was so scary, but worry not! Whatever it will be I will protect you, darling!... But to think about it, this description heavily resembles Laplace, do not you think?"

"Micchan, I cant breathe, I suppose…"

Despite her thoughts being diverted from her doll, Mitsu´s grip around Kanaria´s small body was not weakened. Everyone around had a quiet resemblance of shock on their faces, but Jun along with Kirakishou differed the most. Jun believed this phenomena´s nature was Kirakishou´s strong imagination, but now two dolls acknowledged this fish-head´s presence. The boy shook his head to relieve restrainments in his mind and leaned towards Kanaria, who somehow was able to escape Mitsu´s hands.

"When did you see him, Kanaria? Tell me more about that thing!"

"Um, I saw him at the 3rd and 6th night of our research… oh, he started appearing after I found this thing, I suppose."

With one hand, Kanaria entered the sleeve of the other in search of unknown to everyone around. All were staring in silence at the hand that leisurely revealed a yellow sack. The bag in itself was not particularly important. But the same could not be said about its contents, which Kanaria revealed while speaking.

"I found it when we arrived in Austria, unfortunately, we did not make it to Mrs Cromen´s home with one go and had to fly to it, I suppose. Luckily, I remembered the streets quite well, and when we nearly reached the house, I noticed this lying on the ground, I suppose. I actually forgot about it later on."

The content of her small, yellow sack was a single coin. Judging by the look of it, the coin was weighty and its shine resembled the one made out of silver. Its head portrayed an old person with a bushy moustache and a goatee, the tails portrayed a spacious mansion and the coin´s date.

Everyone gathered around Kanaria´s godsend and were silently reading the content of both sides. The first one to bring light to it was Souseiseki who whispered the texts in a fairly loud tone.

"Duke Gramont, France, 1785…"

Jun hid the coin under his palm and looked closely at it, adjusting his glasses. He reread the writings to confirm Souseiseki´s words and announced involuntarily.

"Could it be… a clue?"