Crystalized Changeling (A HSR x Genshin Impact Crossover)

Chapter 18

A man with blonde hair flipped his gambling chip flawlessly, putting up a sly yet cunning smile. His bright pink eyes appeared majestic paired with his cyan circle pupils. His eyes seemed soulless as If there's not a single soul inside his body. As he kept flipping the coin, the door to his room opened, revealing Ratio standing in front of it.

"My doc, wouldn't it hurt to knock instead of coming in unannounced?" The blonde man asked, Ratio rolled his eyes before crossing his hand.

"For your information, you agreed to help me with this case so you should've expected it." Ratio argued back. 

Aventurine chuckled in amusement as he threw the gambling chip in the air before catching it, he got down from the sofa and flicked the chip around. This action gave Ratio a sense of uneasiness, making him squint his eyes in suspicion while Aventurine stepped closer, once their faces were merely inched apart, Aventurine grinned before pulling himself away. He put both of his knuckles in front of Ratio.

"Now doc, which hand would you think has the chip?" Aventurine questioned, Ratio stared blankly at Aventurine's knuckles, and sighed, clearly not amused by Aventurine's game.

"I'm here to talk to you, not play a guessing game." Ratio stated as he crossed his hands, glaring at him.

"Or do you not have any useful information about the case that I gave you?" Ratio mocked with a daunting tone, raising one of his eyebrows, Aventurine's smile faltered for a second, turning to a frown. 

"Do you doubt my ability doctor?" Aventurine inquired, clutching onto his lucky bargaining chip.

Ratio put on an unreadable expression as he pulled the sofa and sat on it before facing Aventurine, it seems that Ratio hit one of Aventurine's blind spots. Ratio knew Aventurine was more than capable of searching for information, though he needed to push Aventurine a little bit to the edge to make sure he got what he wanted. Especially remembering Gabriella's trauma towards the killer, they're not fighting with an ordinary killer after all.

"Who knows? It all depends on how much information you have, if you only have a little, then I'll ask someone else for assistance." Ratio responded with a vague answer, not revealing his facade.

Aventurine squinted his eyes, as he took a deep breath to calm himself down before facing Ratio, trying to keep his cool and professionalism. His smile still cunning despite twitching slightly in anxiety, putting his hand behind his back.

"Do not worry doc, I might have the information you need currently," Aventurine said as he grabbed a folder labeled the Halovian family, handing it to Ratio.

Ratio accepted the folder as he opened it, looking and swimming through the files and pictures. In some pictures, Robin has crystal blue eyes, she stated that she wanted to try a new look for herself, hence creating the crystal eyes look for her fans. There were some reports of how her voice sounded odd in her recent concerts, sometimes out of tune than usual.

This information isn't new to Ratio yet there was some new information that he received. For how Sunday was acting suspiciously, covering up Robin's out-of-character act by saying she's not feeling well or unavailable despite her being active with her fanbase in the past. Sunday was a person who could sweep everything under the rug, but there were some cracks in his statements.

Some people have witnessed that they saw Robin in the changeling's crime scene but this soon was "debunked" by Sunday himself, saying she was with him in Penacony the whole time, spending time with her. There was a hole in his statement though, Robin wasn't supposed to be in Penacony at that time, she was supposed to be in Mondstad for her concert where the murder took place.

But since Sunday has evidence about it, the police accepted Sunday's alibi. When Ratio look at the alibi, Sunday was with someone, but that someone was quite shorter compared to Robin's real height in pixel measurement.

"Seems like your brain is putting this new information to good use," Aventurine commented as he pulled out a cigarette, lighting it up with his lighter.

Ratio didn't respond as he tried to process this new information, connecting the dots. He brushed his purple hair with his muscular hand and sighed, this is a lot more complicated than he thought as now there might be a chance Sunday is involved with this whole murder.

The smell of cigarettes filled Ratio's nose, he sighed in annoyance as he went to Aventurine, pulling out the cigarette out of his mouth.

"As a doctor, I suggest you don't smoke, it's quite harmful to your health," Ratio advised as he crushed the cigarettes to bits on the ground. Aventurine clicked his tongue in irritation before reluctantly nodding. Seeing the expression on Aventurine's face, Ratio took a deep breath as he took the folder.

"Make sure you took care of your health well gambler." He suggested before pulling out his wallet and handing Aventurine a couple of money towards him.

"Keep searching for more information. I'll give you a bonus if you manage to find more clues in this case" Ratio added, Aventurine took the money, counting it as it totals to around 2000 credits, and he chuckled slightly.

"Pleasure doing business with you doc," Aventurine said smugly, Ratio didn't realize, that he was interacting with a backstabber, someone who he shouldn't trust in the first place, and that someone, was Aventurine himself.