..It took me a long time to get back to Yuffie's, but that was only because I walked very slowly, reviewing my situation inside my head.

..Throughout the city of Costa del Sol, there had been a string of very strange, magical deaths. They were strikingly similar to the way Ghaleon, who was vacationing here, was known to kill his opponents. The victims had been slightly wasted away, killed without marks. Ghaleon never left his hotel room and denied all involvement with the crimes, which I didn't believe one way or the other. I got the distinct feeling that he'd kill me if I did any more prying around him personally, and then I would be another wasted face in the morgue.

..This not being part of my plan, I decided to go back to Yuffie. Approaching this by going after Ghaleon didn't seem to be a bright idea. This left me a few other options, and the one I took was to find out about the victims themselves. I wanted to see if they linked together, and maybe revealed a motive.

..Eventually I arrived, banging on the front door. Yuffie opened it.

.."Oh, Face," she said. "Come on in."

..I went in and sat down. Yuffie didn't offer me anything to drink other than her smile, which I didn't swallow. I gave her a look that told her if she was bringing up what she wanted to, I'd be very angry. The fact was, I was starting to chafe after being around all those beautiful women. She didn't need to know that, though.

..When I didn't start right away, she said, "So what's going on? Did you get any information on Ghaleon?"

.. "No," I said. "He caught me snooping around, and we had a little chat. The way he made it sound, it would have been our second to last chat."

.. "Oh," she said. She frowned for a moment, and thought to herself. "Okay. So you want my help with something, I take it."

..Bright girl. "Yeah. I need to know of any possible links between the victims. Maybe there was something they all had in common, which is why Ghaleon may want them dead."

..She was shaking her head before I could finish my sentence. I didn't like that. She said, "No. The police already went over that. There isn't any link between the victims, other than that they were killed in the same way. That's why we called in an investigator in the first place. The police decided they had other things to work on after that."

.. "Damn! Well, now I'm cornered. I'm going to need to think about this for a little bit." I had my face leaning heavily against my fist, and I glared at nothing in particular. I was getting nowhere fast, and I didn't want to have to try sneaking around Ghaleon's even more unless I had to.

..Yuffie jumped up then, shifting moods so fast I could have sworn I was seeing a different girl. She bounced up to me and grabbed my arm. "Why not go for a walk, then? C'mon, Face. It's your first real day in Costa del Sol. Why waste it inside?"

..I wanted to argue that I should be working, but usually when I get stumped I go for a walk anyway. I shrugged and moved for the door. Yuffie bounded along after me, all grins and glitter, and I wondered what the hell she was up to now.

..We took a path that lead along the beach at first, and after a while, Yuffie finally managed to stop giving me a grand tour of Costa del Sol. We shot around casual conversation that didn't really amount to much, but it made me realize that I genuinely liked Yuffie. I hoped that if nothing else, I'd have made a friend out of this mess. A deadly ninja-thief could be a valuable friend indeed.

..Eventually, our back-and-forth conversation ended when a local girl called out to Yuffie, saying something about someone getting sick and needing her to fill in for the rest of the day. Yuffie cursed, and said, "I'm sorry, Face. I've really got to go. I'll be around tonight if anything comes up," and walked after the other girl. I was alone.

..The sun was still up, but it had somehow passed into the afternoon, which surprised me. Growing tired of the beach, I decided to head into town.

..There were people outside, most of them in groups, and just about all of them having a good time. If nothing else, Costa del Sol did a good job of covering up its underbelly. I didn't think people would be out in this kind of force if they knew about a serial-killing godlike sorcerer in the neighborhood. Hell, I was wondering why I hadn't made a break for it, money or no.

..When I passed the next building in my path, a hand snapped out from around the corner and tapped me on the shoulder. I stiffened, thinking I was done for, but the soft, feminine hand grabbed me by the arm and gently pulled me in its owner's direction.

..I managed to turn around somewhere in there, and started when I saw what was possibly the most breathtaking woman I had seen since earlier this morning. She had astonishingly long, silver hair. I followed this all the way down, where it paralleled her shapely yet slender legs, which were visible by slits that ran up either side of her dress. It was an open-shouldered blue number, wrought from a soft, inviting fabric. She wore matching gloves, which covered most of her arms, including her delicate fingers, one of which was placed against her lips. She also had a familiar set of tattoos.

..She led me to a much more secluded area before she began speaking, and when she did, she never bothered to tell me her name. This was okay, because I knew it already. She was Phacia, the missing member of Ghaleon's entourage.

.. "I know who you are and what you are up to," Phacia said.

.. "Uh... huh," I offered. I wondered what the hell she was playing at, but figured if anyone knew, it'd be her. I let her speak.

.. "You're a private investigator, hired to look into the deaths of local citizens. You suspect that Ghaleon is responsible for these deaths, but you have no evidence to support this other than the way in which the people were killed."

..Hey, what do you know? She really did know who I was and what I was up to. I said, "Pretty much, yeah. There any reason why you're pulling me into a remote part of town during the fleeting hours of daylight? Not that I don't encourage beautiful women to do this, mind."

..She seemed to ignore that last part. Pity. No one around here seemed to have any sense of fun. She looked around, both controlled and nervous at the same time. She leaned into me a little bit, but not really enough. She said, "I... I suspect him too, despite myself."

..Well, that was interesting. I wondered if she had any evidence for me. I waited, and she continued, "Ghaleon and I have had our... disputes, in the past. There was a time where he seemed to have gone insane, and I turned against him. Since then, he's seemed better mentally, and we've patched our differences. Now," she said. "I'm worried about him."

.. "You think he's gone nuts and he's killing people."

..I suspected that she was afraid she'd be tracked by Ghaleon or maybe one of the other girls. I'd be afraid, too. It wasn't likely that they'd let her live if they thought she'd betrayed them. Finally, she said, "I... wouldn't put it entirely like that. There is more to this mystery, Mr. Investigator."

.. "Yeah," I said. "Are you gonna tell me anything about it? Or are you just going to sit around all day looking pretty? Again, not that I mind."

..She started to visibly show her nerves around now, and I realized that she was about to bolt after whatever she had left to say. Backing away from me a little, she said, "Try to learn about the other killings, and maybe it will start to make sense. I really have to go now, Mr. Investigator. Please don't mention this conversation to anyone."

..With that, Phacia ran off into the night. hoped whatever divinity watching over her would protect her, and silently agreed to do my part. She had just risked her life to give me more information about my case, and I wasn't about to forget it. I walked back into town, leaned against a wall, thinking.