Novel/Story

Spoilers!*"Your greatest villain Drake shall warn you, SPOILERS AHEAD!"*The following article or section contain **spoilers!** Viewer discretion is advised.

Overview**Story**VoicelinesGallery

## Behind the Scenes

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Kim Chae-ha

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Kira Buckland

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Kaede Hondo

## Profile

A detective that runs to the scene whenever a crime occurs. Tends to get overexcited during serious cases. This is especially true for murder cases, where she can barely keep her head on straight. Has aspirations of becoming the Ark's version of Sherlock Holmes, and in reality possesses powers of deduction that are very much comparable. However, these skills can only be used when her so-called “detective senses” kick in. This results in her often reaching rather absurd conclusions.

### Nikke Backstory

A detective who is a fan of Sherlock Holmes. Her intense curiosity inevitably draws her towards any nearby crime scene. Although she is in Protocol, she has great difficulty operating machines.

## Story

### Character Story

#### Episode 1 - The Yogurt Murder (The Incident)

*The day before the incident, 16:33, Royal Road.*

The commander and Novel visited a store where he spent his quarter budget to purchase 100% fresh strawberry yogurt as a surprise for everyone. As 95% of the food in the Ark is made from Splendamin, a food source with unknown contents, this was indeed quite the find. Since this is the first time she will try some, Novel wants to inspect it first to make sure it's not poisonous. He is certain it is safe to eat, but she insists on trying some out. After convincing her to wait until it could be shared with everyone, she was a little upset and warned him if anything bad happens, the fault lies on him.

*19:10, a private room in the Nikke Dorm.*

The two returned to be greeted by Exia who was also eager to try some yogurt, but had to wait until everyone returned. While most of the Nikkes would be busy with a large-scale mining task on the surface, Exia was aware that Neon and Emma would be arriving later that day. The three decide to wait and the protagonist agrees to play with Exia to pass the time.

*9:00 PM, the lounge in the Nikke Dorm.*

Neon has returned from Elysion Tower. Upon detecting the yogurt's scent, Novel shared what she and Watson brought over. She wants to dig in as well, but they have to wait until Emma returns. Not long after, Emma sends him a message informing him she will be back early tomorrow and to go to bed. She offers to make up for it by making them breakfast.

*11:00 PM, a private room in the Nikke Dorm.*

The protagonist informs the others of what Emma shared with him so he decides they will eat the yogurt tomorrow after she returns. Neon will head to bed since she has been active all day and Exia will continue playing games until she falls asleep. The others also decide to go to sleep.

*The day of the incident. ??:00 AM, the lounge room in the Nikke Dorm.*

Some rustling can be heard coming from the kitchen. Someone opens up the fridge and consumes something inside of it. They make a note on its taste.

#### Episode 2 - The Yogurt Murder (The Deduction)

*The day of the incident. 09:00 AM, the lounge room in the Nikke Dorm.*

Novel awakens bright and early to discover Emma and the others already in the kitchen. She reveals that they got genuine strawberry yogurt yesterday, something she didn't even know still existed and since everyone's here, it was time to dig in. After Novel opened the fridge however, everyone discovers the yogurt has disappeared. Everyone is confused as to how this happened, but sensing a mystery to be solved, Novel is determined to get to the bottom of this. Everyone agrees to put her in charge of finding the "yogurt killer" and since any of them is a suspect, she's ready to begin her deduction.

Five minutes later, Novel has an epiphany. Exia took this to mean she figured out who murdered the yogurt which wasn't the case, but she knew how to find out who it was. Her idea was to review the surveillance footage and the culprit will be revealed. Though Exia and Neon felt dumb for not coming up with that, they go to review it anyway.

*10:05 AM, the control room in the Nikke's Dorm.*

While scanning the footage, Novel senses no activity until about 3 AM. After she fast forwarded through it a bit, she discovers a white-haired Nikke zooming past a camera heading towards the lounge. Neon is certain that this is their culprit, until it turns out she's the one on the video. On her request, Exia and Emma capture Neon.

It appears "The incident of the yogurt made from 100% fresh strawberries murder" has been solved within a day.

However...

#### Episode 3 - The Yogurt Murder (The Interrogation)

*The day of the incident. 11:45 AM, the corridor in the Nikke Dorm.*

Neon has been tied up and is ready to be interrogated. While Emma thinks this is a bit much, Novel assures her that this is necessary since this doubles as a punishment if she is the killer. Exia tried to question her on how it tasted, but she refused to talk. Watson felt it was fair to allow Neon to speak so she can prove her innocence.

A few moments later, Neon professed she was not the murderer and would stake all of her firepower on it. Emma and Exia were surprised she would do such a thing, but Novel deescalated the situation so they can think through what happened, reminding them that even if Neon was seen heading in the direction of the fridge, that doesn't mean she was actually there or if she did, she may have done something else. The group agrees to reexamine things and Novel informs the others she needs their help to do it.

*1:00 PM, the corridor in the Nikke's Dorm.*

Novel is ready to begin the interrogation and asks Neon to step into the interrogation room (the Commander's room) for it. While the two are busy, Watson, Emma, and Exia discuss if they will have to go through that as well. Exia believes that Novel needs an alibi from everyone since there are no clues to work with but believes the commander is innocent as the one who bought the yogurt in the first place.

While that conversation was going on, Novel was interrogating Neon. The time frame of the incident occurred between 21:00 last night and 09:00 today. Novel again asked what Neon did last night and she revealed that when she was caught on camera, she was heading to the lounge to retrieve her glasses. Since she can't see without them, she had trouble navigating her way to the lounge. Afterwards, she returned to bed.

As for Emma's whereabouts, she returned to the Outpost around 5 AM, took a shower, and then headed to the lounge to make some breakfast. Remembering that last part made her realize she never gave her creation to the protagonist. Novel noticed that Emma just admitted to also being in the lounge during the timeframe of the crime. Despite that being the case, she expresses her innocence.

On to Exia, she spent her time playing games until 7 AM and fell to sleep immediately after, having never visited the lounge at all during that time. After Novel suggested she could've hacked the cameras to erase her presence, she only now remembers that's something she could do.

*15:15, the private room in the Nikke Dorm.*

Novel finally finished her interrogations and upon her analysis, none of them have perfect alibis so they are all still suspects. Despite all three of them feeling innocent, Novel is convinced once her "detective senses" kick in, the case will be closed. While she has no idea when they will, she knows how to increase the chances of it happening. She thinks that by doing things like leapfrogging around the crime screen, continually rolling forward and back, doing a handstand, or doing a pyramid while interrogating them again, the chances she will discover something increase by 3.3%. Exia believes that's ridiculous.

*16:00. The yogurt murder ends as a cold case.*

Or at least it would have had Novel given up. Wanting to maintain her reputation as a detective, she is determined to uncover the truth. Out of options and ideas, she asks for the commander's assistance. In particular, she wants him to act as her aide and to help her think things through. Exia realizes everything she has said before were just assumptions.

#### Episode 4 - The Yogurt Murder (The Observation)

*The day of the incident. 5:00 PM, the lounge in the Nikke's Dorm.*

Novel decides the next step to solving this case is for the two to investigate the crime scene. If they find any clues, they will have to make deductions based on them. After quoting Sherlock Holmes, The two begin their observations. The commander decides to check the ~~floor~~ top of the dinner table first, which is filled with plates of food in creepy shapes covered in plastic wrap. The two figure this was the meal Emma prepared though it smelt like something from the Outer Rim's Incineration Plant. She suggests to avoid eating it if he values his life. The two then move on to the refrigerator which is full of emergency food the Nikkes brought over. It was so stuffed only the third partition had any space available. Novel believes this was where the yogurt was placed. After moving in for a closer sniff, the detective immediately faints. He considers trying to resuscitate her, but she comes to before he could. She can tell that the partition smells similar to Emma's cooking, which makes sense since it's only reserved for her. Novel's "detective senses" finally kick in, but she still has nothing concrete yet. She turns their attention to the garbage. Despite the rancid smell, Novel is determined to find some clues.

After rummaging through the waste, she uncovers the plastic packaging the yogurt was kept in. Despite it smelling really bad, the detective finds a pattern on the side of it. She believes she has most of the answers she's looking for, but the two have to head somewhere else to make sure they are right.

*6:00 PM, the private room in the Nikke's Dorm.*

The two wish to search through Exia's room but she refuses to let them unless they have a warrant. After the protagonist assures her that her Ark Ranger figures will be left untouched, she grants them five minutes to conduct their investigation. After Novel notices that he and Exia get along well, something that he attributes to either being similar to her or as a product of bonding with everyone, the two look around ~~Exia's game collection~~ the sofa and finds the controllers the two used to play together yesterday. Though she doesn't understand why that would matter to them, after he noticed it had a cap on it that wasn't there before, Novel had an idea. She proceeded to take off the cap and shake the joystick until she asked Watson to touch it. He felt something sticky, leading him to question if she was the one who killed the yogurt. Since they still don't have enough clues, she still can't make a final deduction yet.

*7:00 PM, near Nikke's Dorm.*

Novel calls for a carriage (Sugar and her motorcycle) and asks her to take them to M.M.R.'s Research Center. Despite her ride being fairly small, both of them can hop on though anything that happens to them isn't her responsibility.

*20:00, M.M.R., Missilis' Research Center.*

Mana analyzes the substance found on Exia's controller and shares it's comprised of pure water, crude oil, white sugar, strawberry juice, and lactic acid bacteria. The sample matches the yogurt's composition. After reminding Novel to not disturb her again unless she has urgent matters to deal with, the two were kicked out. The detective believes she has everything she needs to solve this case so the two head back to the Outpost on their carriage to reveal the truth of the murder.

#### Episode 5 - The Yogurt Murder (The Resolution)

*About 24 hours after the incident. 11:00 PM, the lounge in the Nikke's Dorm.*

The suspects have assembled waiting to hear what Novel and Watson have found. After asking the commander to reveal who the culprit is, she explains the timeline as to what happened to the yogurt. Her prime suspect throughout all of this was Emma because the yogurt was placed in the partition reserved for her. Exia took that to mean Emma mistook it as her food and ate it, but Novel then shared the diagonal pattern on the packaging shows it was poured somewhere. The detective figures it was either poured in the trash or used as an ingredient. Watson assumed the latter which was correct. She didn't knowingly use it since no one told her about it, but comparing it to the white porridge she normally bakes with, the two look pretty similar. Emma apologizes for mixing the yogurt up with the instant protein she bought last year. What was on Exia's controller was the food Emma made. Watson notes this doesn't fully clear her of suspicion since she was also at the lounge. She also apologizes for clearing herself from the camera footage to hide her presence. In the end, this was a huge accident that no one was at fault for.

*At exactly midnight, the yogurt murder was over.*

*15:00 the next day, Yogurt Blast on Royal Road.*

The protagonist and Novel bought some more strawberry yogurt and she really enjoyed its taste. She suggests that he eat his before a cunning detective makes off with it, but he's fine with her eating as much as she wants since she both solved the case and showed him how to be a detective himself. No matter how true that may be, she believes that without him, the murder would still be a mystery. Had luck not been on their side, Novel's "detective senses" might not have kicked in and they would probably have given up by now. She would've had to go through about 45 different superstitions and rumors to hopefully get it to activate. So long as the two are together however, they work much more consistently. With the commander by her side, Novel is confident she can solve any case imaginable and become a real life Sherlock Holmes. She asks him to be her full-time assistant and split the profits with her 70/30. After understandably turning her down, she makes it a 50/50 split. He agrees to help her whenever he has free time.

Overjoyed at his acceptance, she runs full speed out of the mall. Now that the master key to solve any case is with her, the two are ready to seek out more mysteries to solve. She calls her carriage one last time, but Sugar is now getting annoyed with this job. Novel allows him to pick their destination and with that set, the two head off at full speed to discover what's ahead of them.

## References

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