'Oh...' Akira said, now faking sadness as Lacie made her first response. I guess reconciliation is not an option. she thought as she finished slurping up her drink and set it down on the stall dramatically. 'Another.' she said with a small smile towards the stall owner. It was said in a manner that it wasn't exactly an order, still a request, but almost a friendly one, where she didn't need to rely on overt politeness and could assume that the beverage maker would be ok with it. Luckily for her, he was, the man played along seamlessly as if Akira was downing liquor instead of this special brew that basically worked as the opposite, keeping her alert, awake and now focused.

The Shimada ran her fingers through her hair and bit her lower lip to prevent herself from smirking as the woman seemingly recalled what she had said. It really was a little funny, first because Alice didn't quite say that and second this confirmed Aki's suspicion even more clearly than a peek at her feet would've. Brown eyes and then all this pretentious chatter, it was definitely good enough. The issue still remained, what was Akira going to do about it. This was the woman who had taken away the eye of the churchman, Kon... Clearly, she could be quite a mage to handle if Akira outright challenged her.

'So, I take it, nothing happened then and you've just been on the lookout for her? You think she is here?' Akira asked again, as another cup of the steaming purplish liquid was poured into the container beside her. She lifted it and blew the surface of the shimmering fluid to cool it. 'Who knows, maybe Lacie has changed and is just here to be that family for you...' the Shimada added, in an attempt to get more information and see if Lacie betrayed her side of the story while pretending to be Alice.

The woman seemed to be slipping up, it was evident in the choice of her words, the tone she used and the flitting expressions she betrayed. Akira continued to pretend like she was lapping up all these details much like she was slurping her magic infused drink. She nodded sagely, refusing to offer voice and words in fear that it would betray the knowledge she had gathered. All in all, this had been educational and so far, Akira had managed to keep things non-violent. As she narrowed in on her plan, she reflected on the things Lacie had offered. The obsession with her sister was apparent as was her bitterness at Alice's happiness.

She set the cup down and held the gaze of the woman. It was strange, Akira had hoped there would be a more nuanced tale between the sisters, but it seemed Alice's explanations were bang on, there was nothing more to it. This wasn't even rivalry or misunderstandings, the issues seemed to have spawned from a blatant pool of envy and jealousy, it was rather despicable. Aki's guilt about judging Alice too soon grew... It seemed fate had offered her a chance to at least try and make amends.

'So, I'm assuming its still bad enough and Lacie is still out to get you and Kon...' Aki said softly, dropping her gaze one more time as she wondered if the woman would confirm her own intentions, not that it was required. The cloudy details around the woman were getting more and more clear every passing second that she continued to be Alice. Perhaps, there was a chance if she'd just been honest and explained her side of the story, the pretention definitely made her a culprit, identity theft was a criminal offence after all.

The clincher, of course, was when she referred to the baby as singular. Aki was well aware that Alice had given birth to twins. It was time, if the woman dropped any more hints, it'd eventually become obvious that the Shimada had made her deductions, it may cause her to defend herself with magic. At least if it did come to that, no one except the poor stall owner was at risk of being in the crossfire, there was a small mercy right there. 'If only she understood your guilt and turmoil over all this...' Akira mentioned, still sticking to her mediator role.

Following this, she did something which Alice would've definitely found supremely fishy and uncharacteristic, the Knight leaned in for an empathetic hug. It was a ruse of course, while on hand reached around the woman the other snaked to the handcuffs.

~

Only upon securing the woman in an embrace did Aki swiftly snap on the magic-nullifying handcuffs onto the identity thief. 'You know, it's illegal to pretend to be someone else, for that and the countless other things you have been accused of, I have no option but to arrest you, Ms. Lacie.' her words were spoken loud and clear, she maintained a certain aura of professionalism, even though it was difficult.  

Akira clicked her tongue and shook her head at the handcuffed woman, betraying her dismay and disagreement with the words she spoke. 'No. Firstly, I wouldn't have done the same.' she said, with a slightly bitter note in her voice. It came from a place of sorrow and angst, something she hadn't quite yet resolved. For Akira it wasn't just a sister, growing up she had an entire town paint her off to be something devilish, demonic... evil. While she couldn't deny urges to want to retaliate, she hadn't and that was the difference between her and people like Lacie. 'And secondly, she doesn't paint you as a criminal, you are one. Like I said.' the Shimada added huffily.

She narrowed her eyes, wondering how to proceed, there was no way she'd just leave Lacie to her own devices. Yet, Akira didn't have the time or the patience to deliver her all the way back to Era. She placed her hands on her hips and tapped her feet. Her eyes snapped to the stall owner in front of him. 'I don't know if the business I brought to you this early will make up for it or not... But I need your help.' she said, rather curtly. The stall owner who had been avidly watching this interaction from the corner of his eyes, while he pretended to work, had gone rather pale. It wasn't everyday that one saw someone being arrested this way. 'Down that way and to your right, there is a cluster of tents for the Rune Knight squads.' she explained, indicating the make-shift road through the outgrowth with her finger. 'Marco, Luca and Rosa are scheduled to leave for Era later today, tell them they've been ordered by Akira Shimada to leave earlier and escort a renowned criminal to the prison and bring them with you.' Akira said, her words were clear and simple. The man nodded earnestly and scurried towards the designated direction.

'You may keep silent, anything more you say or do can and will be used against you.' Akira said, with a bite in her words as her gaze flitting back to the brown eyed woman. Finally, as the Shimada got to scan her form, she did in fact notice the sandals. She was glad Alice and she had spoken about this, some good had come off of it. The wait for the Knights was a little longer than she had expected, but finally when the bewildered, slightly drowsy people got there, Aki was quite sharp with them. 'Each of you will order the beverage to wake the hell up and they you'll will march to Era with this woman, I don't want any mishaps.' she declared. She'd expected to be challenged, but perhaps words about some of her exploits had filled their ears. Lucky for her, they hadn't directly worked under Alice, otherwise this whole ordeal would require much more information.

The stall owner smiled gratefully at Akira at the extra business, she returned the small smile politely. Once the burden of responsibility had been transferred, she offered Lacie nothing more than a last scathing look, before turning to leave, while the Knights promised to get this job done properly. A pessimistic pit in Aki's stomach told her otherwise, but it was the best she could do. She'd put three people on the job, wasting any more man power on a single person would raise too many questions... Hopefully, they were up to the task. If it all went well, Akira was rather proud of the way she'd handled this.