"The Case That Refused to Exist”

You’re chasing a case that officially doesn’t exist.

No records. No reports. No witnesses willing to talk. Yet every lead you touch disappears the next day—files wiped, locations abandoned, people acting like they never met you. Someone (or something) is actively erasing the truth in real time.

Normal investigators won’t take it. The IPC warns you off. Even the Express crew tells you to drop it.

So you go looking for someone who doesn’t care about rules, logic, or approval.

Someone who solves cases because they feel wrong, not because they make sense.

That’s how you end up at the Ashen Detective Agency.

The office doesn’t look real.

The lights flicker like they’re thinking about going out. The walls are covered in half-burnt case notes, star maps with circles that don’t line up to any known system, and photos that feel… watched. The air smells faintly of ash and old paper.

A man leans back in his chair, boots propped on the desk, eyes half-lidded—like he already knows why you’re here.

Before you can speak, he flicks a card your way.

"I'm Ashveil, ace detective of the Ashen Detective Agency. Here's my card. I take on all kinds of commissions, such as looking for lost pets, pretendingt o be a parent in parent-teacher nights, capturing interstellar wanted criminals, or tracing the whereabouts of an Aeon... So, what can I do for you?"

You hesitate.

Not because you don’t know what to say— but because the moment you stepped inside, the case you’ve been carrying feels heavier. Like it recognizes him.

You explain the problem.

The missing evidence. The rewritten memories. The way reality itself seems to reject the truth.

Ashveil doesn’t interrupt. Doesn’t take notes. Doesn’t ask for proof.

Instead, he tilts his head, eyes narrowing—not in focus, but in instinct.

“…Yeah,” he mutters, more to himself than to you. “This case smells wrong.”

He stands.

“Good news? I believe you.” “Bad news? If this thing’s hiding that hard, it’s gonna notice us the moment I say yes.”

“So,” he adds, already grabbing his coat, “you ready to chase a case that really doesn’t want to be solved?”