#yuujin mikotoba they could never make me like you

[avery-braindump]

Filled out a thing for funsies

I'm definitely not indecisive btw

[youngerfrankenstein]

tgaa for the gen ask game? :D

My favorite parent-child relationship

Kind of wish we got to see more of the relationship between Susato and Yuujin because there’s some really interesting stuff to dig into there. He essentially ran out on her as an infant but came back and seems to have done everything he could to make things right. Meanwhile she clearly cares about and looks up to him, yet he’s keeping some pretty big secrets. (I love the Mikotobas basically)

My favorite sibling relationship

Fuck even though Klint is dead the impact he had on Barok is felt so strongly it’s them. A testament to how badly you can hurt the people you love with your mistakes and the dangers of idolization. Also the scenes with them in the artbook are so sweet it just adds to the tragedy.

My favorite family relationship (other)

Baker Street Family my beloved.

My favorite friendship between two people

I have been a sucker for the Sherlock Holmes stories since I was like 10 it was never going to be anyone but Sholmes and Yuujin. The game managed to craft one of the best Holmes and “Watson” dynamics I have seen in like FIVE MINUTES. Bashed me on the head with both nostalgia and freshness somehow. They’re so good.

My favorite friendship between a group

BAKER STREET FAMILY MY BELOVED!

My favorite mentorship

I do actually quite enjoy Sholmes’ dynamic with Ryunosuke. I love that you can never quite tell how much is Sholmes acting dumb to teach Runo and how much is just him being loopy. I love how exasperated Runo gets with Sholmes. I LOVE the Dances of Deduction and how they show through both gameplay and story that Sholmes IS teaching and Ryunosuke IS learning.

I also really like Gina and Gregson’s dynamic though.

My favorite rivalry

Honestly a fair amount of the rivalries in the game are pretty one-sided. Hmm.

I do rather like that it’s how Kazuma and Ryunosuke end up. They’re on different paths now, but it might be for the best. The secrets are out so they can challenge each other on equal terms. No longer standing together, but pushing each other to be better. It’s a really good end to their arcs.

My favorite hatred/antipathy

Does Soseki Natsume and Shamspeare count?

My favorite potential relationship between characters who never talk in canon

Oh my god I don’t think Gina and Albert ever meet properly. Can you IMAGINE?

[061890]

I rlly liked your post explaining the koseki system but im a bit confused about why kazumas extended family would disown him? i might be misremembering but wasnt it the case that yujin didnt tell anyone about the whole professor business upon returning to japan? so how would kazumas family know about genshins supposed wrongdoings?

The koseki system post

It’s never explicitly said in the text, mainly because Ryuunosuke is a non-omniscient first-person narrator, but there’s a lot of background hints that point towards it.

TLDR: Yuujin in 2-4 lied about Kazuma not having any living relatives to care for him; they're alive, but don't provide for his financial needs, and Kazuma and the Mikotobas already conceal information due to social stigma re: adoption. Kazuma's mother not being taken care of would unfortunately be nothing new, but to do that to Kazuma is alarming. So: something happened, and the implication/most likely explanation is disownment.

To begin with, we need to examine Kazuma’s position in the wider Asougi family.

In the DGS2 DLC episode, Asougi states this in his narration:

いよいよ大英帝国へ旅立つ前た。。。亜双義の本家へ挨拶するためだ。

DGS2 translation: (Regarding his trip) It was to say goodbye to the Asougi family home before leaving for England.

Note his use of 本家 (honke). From Jisho:

(Noun) head house (family); birthplace; originator

A honke is the main house hold of a Japanese family where the head resides, while collateral branches live in bunke (分家). And while Asougi says “say goodbye to the Asougi family home,” in the Japanese language, referring to things such as houses as people also addresses the people living there. 

This establishes that while Genshin and Kazuma have ownership over Karuma, neither of them are the head nor heir to the patriarch position within the Asougi family and are a branch family instead. Additionally, this also shows that Kazuma does indeed have an extended family, albeit one that he does not live with.

However, this statement contradicts information presented in DGS2. Namely, Yuujin’s exposition on why he’s been caring for Kazuma.

DGS2 translation: Kazuma-kun had no relatives. I began to care for him as if he were my own child.

TGAA localization: As you know, I tried to guide Kazuma growing up, as if he were my own son.

Note: If I recall correctly, the TGAA localization makes no mention of Kazuma supposedly having no living relatives; here nor anywhere else. I don’t know why this is.

I would argue that this isn’t a case of inconsistent writing, but instead lying for the reason that this information is given in public, whereas Kazuma mentioning his family in the DGS2 DLC episode is mentioned in private. This is supported by Kazuma and Susato deliberately never mentioning that they lived together as adoptive siblings until Susato chose to, along with a matter of circumstantial appellation.

For example, in DGS1-1, Yuujin refers to Kazuma in public as Asougi-kun, a title that he also uses for Ryuunosuke. However, while in public but in trusted company (Jigoku, Susato, and Ryuunosuke), Yuujin refers to Kazuma as Kazuma-kun, thus showing a great difference in social distance depending on whether Yuujin is in public or private/trusted company.

Note: Despite TGAA having Ryuunosuke and Kazuma be on a first name basis, Yuujin refers to Kazuma roughly the same way in localization.

So, why does Yuujin trust Ryuunosuke enough to call Kazuma by his first name, but still lies about him having no living relatives? Well, it’s never said explicitly, since Ryuunosuke as our player insert doesn’t pursue it; however, there is a likely explanation for it, and that’s disownment.

Concealed information aside, we know that while Kazuma’s extended family is well and alive, Yuujin not only raised Kazuma, but also paid for his university fees.

DGS2 translation: Since then, Professor Mikotoba did whatever he could to help me. He even helped pay my university fees. I, well and truly, owe my life to him.

TGAA localization: Ever since then, the professor was very good to me. He even helped to fund my university education at Yuumei. I’ll be forever in his debt.

It can be assumed that college education in late 1890s Japan was costly, as while primary education is compulsory, college education was limited to the few imperial universities established, e.g. Yuumei. 

What’s alarming, though, is that Yuujin not only houses and cares for Kazuma as a ward, but also pays for something as costly as college tuition, and not, say, his extended family.

Widows such as Kazuma’s mother having little to no financial support is, unfortunately, nothing new in Japan. It wasn’t until 2018 did the Japanese Legislature Council introduce an outline for widows/widowers in a legal marriage to continue living in an inherited residence after their spouse’s death.

In a review for Deborah McDowell Aoki’s study on Japanese widows, Ruth Campbell described Meiji era Japan as the low point in women’s legal status and family role, which saw the institutionalization of the patriarchal family system. 

She also provided an anecdote on a friend of hers:

A friend told me about her grandmother who was widowed in her late twenties in rural Shimane prefecture. The oldest child of a “good” family, her parents made her return to her natal home and remarry. It was understood that she would leave her two young children behind in her husband’s family. She never saw them again.

Of course, this anecdote is hardly universal. As Campbell herself writes, Aoki emphasizes that there is no archetypal widow in Japan. However, this should still be kept in mind when considering the Asougis’ family situation, as while Kazuma’s mother not being cared for by his extended family isn’t that surprising, Kazuma not being taken care of is, especially since he lived with the extended Asougi family for a time after Genshin’s death. 

Not to mention, him living with Yuujin wasn’t immediate. It’s something that happened at least a while after Yuujin came back.

DGS2 translation: One day, when I finally became accustomed to living with my father… […] He said that, in London, he lost one of his best friends to illness. And he told me that this friend, had a child. That child was a boy, who was older than me by seven years. […] That was how I first met Kazuma-sama…

TGAA localization: It took time to adjust to having Father around. But just when I was starting to get used to it… he called me into his study one day. He told me that a great friend of his had passed away in London. And that friend had left behind a son. A boy, seven years my senior. […] So you see… that’s how he and I met.

Meanwhile, Kazuma in 2-4 specifies that the letter was delivered to his family home as he uses 我だ家 (“my home”, 家 carrying connotations of lineage/blood family). He doesn’t specify on whether it was the honke or bunke, but because he and his mother were bereaved, it could be assumed they lived at the honke prior to the letter. 

To reiterate my point from before, Kazuma (and by extension, his mother) being disowned isn’t explicitly stated; but what we do know is this:

Genshin’s branch of the family is not the head of the Asougi family

The letter regarding the Professor case was sent to Asougi’s family home

Kazuma no longer lives with them, and has instead lived with the Mikotobas after Yuujin returned, but not immediately

Yuujin lies to Ryuunosuke about Kazuma having no relatives to care for him (the implication being no living ones, anyway) despite Kazuma visiting them

Yuujin paid for Kazuma’s college education when his extended family did not

Information from the koseki system post in mind—namely, the concept of shi ni haji—an implication is certainly there.

[boypussydilf]

I'm going to throw you a curve ball and say Sherly and that one guy whose name I don't remember who you ship him with (I think it's Soseki?)

idont know how to say this without unintentionally sounding mean but this is the second funniest ask ive ever gotten. (i was going to say funniest, but i cant lie even for comedic purposes- the funniest ask ive ever gotten was “shouldve KNOWN an AKESHU shipper would RIP MY THROAT OUT IN PUBLIC for mentioning shusumi”) i got curious and looked at all the relationship tags for dgs on ao3 until the site wouldnt let me anymore and i can almost conclusively say tht no one on this earth ships sherlock and souseki, which, to be honest, is kind of a surprise. on my journey i learned just how dire the state of the dgs ao3 relationship tags really are. i hadnt looked that hard, and i had thought, “oh, woe is me, only about 200 of these are homumiko” There are less than 30 with the susahao tag. theres like, a Small Handful of fics with kazuma interacting w iris or yuujin. This is. This is awful. Someone needs to fix this. What’s wrong with you people? You could have filled this website with one hundred Kazuma Asougi Gets Forcibly Absorbed Into The Greatest Family fics and you’re still asobaroing away? Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Anyway it’s completely understandable to mix up souseki and mikotoba when you havent seen a ton of them they do both . have mustaches. thank you for thr ask and also for always calling him Sherly bc its cute here we go

describe their canon relationship/dynamic

*putsmy head in my hands* they have like 2 hours of screentime interacting its hard to describe a dynamic beyond “God they are so mean to each other”. its ok though. Its ok. the concept is very clear honestly. World’s Most Hyperactive and Completely Insane Man & Completely Normal Guy Who Goes Along With It. Oh My God They Were Roommates. lets see. serious notes. they trust each other completely and implicitly (mikotoba has to find a good home for The Baby He Was GOING To Raise But CAN’T and asks sherlock and he IMMEDIATELY agrees On The Spot my god ……) look . what do u call devotion if not saying “our home” about a place youve been away from longer than u ever lived at and thought youd never even see again & acting like you were never separated in the first place. Unreal. unreal.

anyway the fact of the matter is theyre literally just another variation on the Holmes & Watson concept go read an acd sherlock holmes story and imagine if they were ace attorney characters and idk i think youd more or less have it

your ideal/headcanon version of it? how does it differ from how it is in canon & why is this your favorite version? any other alternate versions of it you enjoy?

*pulls out my giant conspiracy board and 90% of it is just screenshots of fanfic The Legendary Pair by Meowzy on AO3* IF YOU LOOK AT IT. THE NOT-REALLY-INDICATED-BY-CANON BUT MORE FUN AND COOL TO ME VERSION OF IT. it makes this A Necessary Relationship. sherlock is. smart in Some places. definitely observant. But has. 0 common sense. you would think hes never been to this planet before with his apparent complete lack of frame of reference for what is or is not plausible or likely. there is too much shit going on in his brain for him to figure out which ideas are Actually Likely without taking like 2 days to work it out. Give him someone who actually has common sense and can crossreference What Sherlock Has Actually Noticed And Figured Out with What Actual Human Beings Generally Would Do.

OHGOD MAYBE I CAN TRY TO ELABORATE IN A MORE SERIOUS TONE ON MY FUCKING “YUUJIN MIKOTOBA SILLY ARC” POST. GOD. what im attempting to drive at is thinking abt . the idea proposed of 16-years-ago sherlock being more of a prickly little bitch and, Much More Importantly, mikotoba going to britain to try and escape the Grief Of Losing His Wife & subsequent Depression That Made Him Unfit To Take Care Of His Baby . and then theyre . again, worlds most hyperactive and completely insane man, and, again, GUY WHO TAP DANCES DURINVG INVESTIGATIONS ?!!!!?!???????????

basically fuck you *gives you by chance a fundamentally life altering friendship right when you need it*

Anyway i dont think theyre that different in my head than in canon but its hard to say.

what do you like about their relationship, why is it interesting or enjoyable to you?

i like it because i think they are neat. i like it bc i love families and fuck dude they sure do have one. i like it bc i am a dgs sherlock holmes kinnie and this drives my behavior,

what about the individual characters involved? what does this relationship mean to them, what makes it unique among their relationships?

*SCREAMS* BESTIES. anyway,

sorry for once again saying serious concepts in the dumbest fucking ways possible but Pov u are yuujin mikotoba age 26 leaving ur home to try and run away from the deepest pain of ur life & deciding not to stick with ur very close friends uve known for quite a while as you do so? For some reason? AND IT WORKS ???????????? in some part bc of this weirdo freak u moved in with impulsively who keeps almost blowing the fucking house up?

This is basically something i already said in this post earlier and i STILL . cant think of an actual good way to say it. I guess just . as many people on this blog may have noticed. me wh. me when stories involve the way positive connections with others help people <3

Also basically the only 2 reactions sherlock seems to invoke in people are “this guys insufferable” and “this guys insufferable but i also admire him” - god the trajectory of this train of thought just changed drastically im laughing so hard Bear with me . mikotoba is of course in th second camp bc thats where all sherlocks Positive relationships are. this is known to us. see: thr dialogue where hes like “Well your methods are unusual but ive always been willing to try them :)” (and then sherlock yells at him for being stupid.) anyway thats wonderful and its also Wonderful. mikotoba shortly after meeting sherlock watching this man rip up a handful of grass an d just eat it and then solve an entire mystery and mikotoba has to work out if this guys a genius or insane. He quickly realizes it is both. Anyway i guess to yuujin mikotoba sherlock holmes is his dear friend and partner & also the guy who cursed him to occasionally think “i DO wonder what that grass tastes like” at inopportune times

I don’t know WHAT the fuck i just rambled about for like ten minutes. So anyhow. sherlock describes mikotoba as “the only person i could truly call a friend” so shoutout to this friendless man i guess . no but literally hes a little weirdo freak and people dont tend to. like him. societal perceptions of ND people are not conducive to sherlock holmes having close friends . (Also he might not be. or might at some point not have been. particularly social in the first place - But this is my extrapolation based on acd canon and nothing in dgs at all so it cant be counted as anything other than my female hysteria.) and like. epic win for him finding someone who can Tolerate Him Enough To Live With Him and not just that but like . Actually Likes Him. Actually Likes Being Around Him And Would Like To Be His Friend. Congrats! also a win 4 him having like, a normal human being around. who can keep track of him and yknow. Help him remember important things. make sure he actually sleeps and eats instead of spending 42 hours straight trying to make The Sequel To Toasters (It’s Also A Juicer!)

favorite interaction they have in canon

oh,my god you know the thing is theres not a Lot of them but what there is is Really Good Actually.

on one hand we have the shit from the legendary pair scene like “:/ only JAPANESE mice go Chu. make a RUSSIAN mouse noise” or “YOUR BIRTHDAY? THATS FUNNY BC AS OF TODAY YOURE DEAD TO ME :D” “measured as always.” On the other hand we have the part from the scene after the last trial where sherlock thanks mikotoba for leaving iris in his care.

Basically i dont know how to decide. im going to say the Other part of the scene after the last trial where sherlock is excitedly telling mikotoba a story about something he did. With mikotoba. like a day before. and mikotoba lets him get through thr whole fucking thing before going Yeah i was. i was there.

favorite interaction they have in your head/a situation you want to put them in

OH GOD I DONT KNOW ACTUALLY. what is there to say beyond the Default List Of Every Homumiko Fans Shared Interests. its all been done. “Remember That Time They Raised A Baby Together For A Month”; “Have You Heard Of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes? Great Here’s My Adaptation-“; “Put That Beast (Sherlock) In Japan LOL”. i will say that like. i dont remember where but theres some tiny bit of optional dialogue where iris says that sherlock playing the violin was a detail she wrote into the stories for fun and then after that he felt obligated to actually learn. i think a lot of people dont know this or dont use this. which is fine its a tiny random one off line i wouldnt even be able to track down. and a lot of people have the order of events go sherlock has violin -> mikotoba learns to tap dance, Look another musical thing matchy matchy :) . which again is FINE. BUT. isnt the other order of events - the order that it’s only reasonable to assume is canon - more fun ? Sherlock goes HEY GUESS WHAT I LEARNED VIOLIN NOW WE CAN MAKE MUSIC TOGETHER. He has not seen mikotoba in person in 9 years

thats the end of the post thank you i like the dads

[renegadewangs]

I’ve been rereading The Legendary Pair these past few days, fixing up a few typos as I go. (Only on AO3. My Tumblr chapters are severely outdated and I would recommend that everyone forgets they exist.) I’ve still been getting kudos these days, so I figured I might as well make sure new readers get the best quality I can deliver. Here are some musings I had after finishing chapter 15 (The Dying Detective) which really made me smile. Obviously, there will be spoilers for the entire Dai Gyakuten Saiban series, as well as The Legendary Pair.

Though it was semi- intentional when writing, I never really stopped to think too hard about this until now: the way I set up Moriarty in this story.

Everyone who’s read the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories (and experienced most adaptations) will know that James Moriarty is Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis. His intellectual equal, the only man who could match Sherlock’s wits in the diabolical sort of way. But in The Legendary Pair, there’s something quite hilarious happening. Yes, Moriarty was designed to be the anti-Holmes, just as his partner (Mary Sutherland) was designed to be the anti-Mikotoba, but the narrative loops around it to some degree.

After learning of Mycroft’s murder and who was behind it, Sherlock declares Moriarty to be his arch nemesis. Yuujin immediately undermines the sentiment by remembering that time Sherlock declared a personal vendetta against a literal rat. Considering Moriarty plays no role in Sherlock’s life for ten whole years after Reichenbach, the nemesis thing is further drawn into question. Meanwhile, Moriarty never considered Sherlock to be on equal level at all. Instead, he looked to the puppet master behind the scenes, the one who set Sherlock on Moriarty’s trail to begin with. Sherlock is a clumsy student who copied off his big brother’s work to get to the truth, so to speak. To Moriarty, the only one worthy of the title of nemesis is Mycroft. Aaand then we have Mycroft, whose response to the situation is basically “Sir, please. I barely know you but from what I can tell, you are not even on Sherlock’s level, let alone my own.”

The only reason Mycroft pursued the truth behind Moriarty and framed him for the supposed murder was because he wanted to protect Sherlock. He’d basically forgotten this guy existed for ten years and Moriarty is now a byproduct of his hunt for Koroshiya. He really doesn’t care what Moriarty gets up to, no matter how hard the guy screams “NEMESIIIS” at him. And really, Moriarty’s obsession with besting Mycroft is exactly like Sherlock’s instant proclamations of “nemesis”, which is what makes him such a good ‘rival’ to Sherlock to begin with. :’)

[airisuwatoson]

my friends got me on a dgs2 high recently, and it got me thinking a lot about Iris Watson

(major, MAJOR dgs2 spoilers, right up to endgame)

*******

iris’s relation to her real parents wasn’t really a “big deal” in the grand scheme of things, and i’m okay with that.

despite this tumblr’s URL being her, i struggled with iris’s place in the narrative for a long time. while i adore iris a whole lot, and her familial bond with sherlock makes me cry for a million years, her place in the narrative was a complicated subject for me. her relationship with klimt felt a bit like an afterthought, answered at the end of the story. i didn’t know if it was “wasted potential” or not.

but, recently, as i went home one day after discussing the game and its writing with my friends, i finally have an answer. and yeah, i’m sure there’s people who won’t agree with me, but iris’s story is fine. heck, i love it, now that i’m given time to think.

- to me, iris’s involvement in the story is more character-driven; rather than providing us The Clue to solve the conspiracy, we would instead watch her develop as the story goes on and we jump headfirst into the swirling darkness of the conspiracy.

in the first game, we spent the first case solving her presumed father’s murder. when ryuu and susato go to london, they meet iris, who claims to be john watson’s daughter. we get an “Oh, Shit” moment as we now struggle to consider whether we should tell her about her father’s demise. during her conversation at the attic with gina, ryuu and susato, she expresses that she misses her father, even when gina expresses her grievances regarding parents.

in the second game, we get in depth about the mystery, and how iris feels about her missing father. we learn how desperate she was to find out who her father is, even going so far as to have stolen government documents just to learn her father’s name. she is crushed to learn that not only is john watson just a nobody to her, the man who wrote the manuscript for sherlock’s cases wasn’t her father either.

it’s important that we got the scene in the middle of chapter 5 where iris feels a bit sad that she wasn’t yuujin’s daughter (as that would’ve made her susato’s sister), showing how she is still yearning for that biological connection. after susato and ryuu tell her that they’re perfectly fine in being her siblings despite having no blood relation, that’s when she starts to change her mind.

plus, with this exchange, we get an astonishingly heartwarming scene about the baker street family’s bond, even though only two of them are tied by blood. (”ryuu: i’ve got the strongest family backing me, after all” “me: my eyes are sweating”)

and in the end, we see that iris, who has certainly watched how the trial went down while having tea with Queen Victoria (lol), finally decided to stop trying to look for her biological father. she stops yearning for someone who most likely isn’t coming for her, someone who may not be the good father she may have imagined him to be... because she has sherlock, an amazing father who has been by her side this whole time, even if he may be eccentric and flawed.

- (insert me crying for years)

- when iris has her talk about seeing sherlock as her father, she says how she’s caused so much trouble for everyone during her quest to find her father. and it’s true - in the first game, gina goes to the pawn shop to look for the manuscript and gets arrested for murder, while sherlock gets shot; and in the second game, she stole the document about klimt’s autopsy report, which is just?? a bad thing to do??? daughter no

speaking of that, i really appreciate that moment because it’s iris acting out of a strong desire to connect with her father. i’m so glad that it’s plot relevant that susato and ryuu gain access to the document (which also reveals who sherlock’s partner really is), and also a character moment of a sad little girl who’s desperate enough to commit a crime. it kind of reminds me of pearl fey in 3-5, when she does That Bad Thing for a “good” reason? yeah

- i also think that iris serves as another person linked to the overarching theme of “Family” in the dgs series.

we have asougi & genshin, susato & yuujin, barok & klimt. except for ryuu, who is the lens we see this story through, the core cast has a family member, and we seen how... troubling these relationships are.

genshin and klimt’s deaths, as well as their actions before those deaths, have haunted asougi and barok for many years. we also know that susato and yuujin has a rocky relationship, due to how he straight up left the family after susato’s mother passed away. genshin, klimt and mikotoba aren’t 100% good people - and klimt is a heck of an understatement - and it’s caused varying degrees of emotional harm to the younger ones.

i suppose the only one who doesn’t have that is sherlock. he is, instead, linked to iris as her adoptive father. and it makes for a powerful scene when iris, one of the people haunted by the idea of “biological family”, calls him her “papa”. he is genuinely touched by that, considering her gratitude to be the most moving of all, compared to the many thanks he received from people he met in the past.

also sherlock is dadlock and i love the baker street family so much

on a lesser note is gina & gregson. in the first game, gina comes from a lonely past, jaded by how her parents abandoned her. in the second, she goes under the wing of gregson, who is yet another person who has committed numerous atrocities, but is well-meaning in general. in a way, gregson is an unstated father figure for her, and even if he may be bad, he still contributes to her growth. basically gina & gregson also make me cry a lot

to conclude this point, the “found family” narrative is one we see time after time in many stories, but the way DGS expresses this is wonderful.

- another thing is that, the reveal that klimt was iris’s father, felt less like a reveal, and more like the answer to “why hasn’t sherlock and yuujin told iris about her father, despite knowing who he is?”. for me, when i got to the reveal, my reaction was “ahhh, so that’s why they didn’t want iris to know!”

it’s also precious characterization for Klimt van Zieks, the man who committed crime after crime because he felt despair towards the darkness of london’s evils. klimt refused to tell barok about his unborn child, instead trusting this secret to genshin and asking him to help his family. klimt didn’t want iris to be raised in the van zieks household, and then known forever as the professor’s daughter, in case the true identity of the professor is revealed.

it shows that he may have strayed from the path of justice, it also shows that he still loves his family despite everything. after all, vortex managed to blackmail klimt by threatening to harm his wife.

if the dgs games were localized, i have a feeling we’d get so much discourse about klimt, lmao. but to me, it’s nuanced character writing. and if you know me, you know how much i love my flawed characters. klimt is a murderer, and don’t get me wrong, let’s not excuse his crimes, but he feels very human. and this is something we can explore in fiction. klimt van zieks is a tragedy, a good man who faced evil with justice and became the villain in the end.

- in a way, it’s also characterization for sherlock and yuujin, the latter to a lesser degree. they didn’t want iris to find out who her father is at her young age, because they were worried that they’d find out about the atrocities her father committed in the past.

they never intended to let iris know the name of her father, either - it’s only through her discovery that she found the document signed by john watson. at that point, sherlock had to go along with the lie, because to him, that’s better than telling the truth about her murderer of a father, and let her shoulder that truth for the rest of her childhood. he cares about iris, as cruel as his actions may be.

of course, lying to a little girl and letting her believe that her father is a complete stranger isn’t GOOD. but like i said, it feels nuanced, that our good lovable cast is very much imperfect. imo sherlock holmes is Good when you show how hecked up he is as a human being alongside how good he is as the famous detective

- “but john watson WAS involved in the professor case!” the imaginary person in my head says. “iris could still be his daughter, and it could still keep the idea that iris’s parentage would be problematic to the public.”

this is coming from a place of hindsight and being able to see the big picture as a player, but, like. between one of the few people centrally involved in concealing the truth of the the professor’s crimes... and THE guy, the person who committed said heinous crimes? the man who, in this particular narrative, is much more important to learn more about? i’d give the characterization to klimt every day of the week, no question.

and maybe it’s because i don’t have as much of an emotional connection to the sherlock holmes canon, but i don’t really mind that the man named John H. Watson wasn’t as important in the narrative as takumi’s original characters. just because takumi wanted to write sherlock holmes fanfiction, doesn’t mean he has to completely rely on the characters and conventions of sherlock’s stories, i feel?

i mean, we have Mikotoba Yuujin. just because the guy named john watson isn’t the man we know and love in THIS story, doesn’t mean our “sherlock” and our “watson” isn’t still there. i’m okay with takumi and the writing team twisting sherlock canon to fit their narrative. and besides, i’m going to be vague because spoilers, but it’s not as if certain TV shows adapting sherlock holmes haven’t changed the characters to fit their own narratives.

*******

it’s funny to say this, but after writing all that, i feel like i have much more of an appreciation for iris watson’s story, and dgs’s narrative in general. it’s such a good game, and i’m so glad i got to experience this story myself.

[akahachimaki]

DGS2 afterthoughts

I posted this on twitter already, but I’ll post it here too. Huge spoilers ahead, obviously.

→ Plot I think most of the big reveals were either really predictable or really unexpected. But even the predictable things came as a surprise because they were revealed in quite shocking ways. Things I expected: - Jigoku and Hart Vortex were suspicious as fuck - Gregson was gonna die - Masked man was so obviously Asougi - The case from 10 years ago was connected to Asougi somehow - Asougi Genshin was actually a good guy - Barok will be the defendant so Asougi has to be prosecutor (after the reveal in case 3, I was expecting this to happen for case 5. I didn’t think it’d happen right after) Things I did not expect and hit me in the face: - Jezail was A. Sasha - I… really liked Dr. Shisu and didn’t expect her to be a murderer… I was really sad when I had to accuse her - I never would’ve thought that Gregson was working under shinigami and was in denial even after it was revealed - Mikotoba Yuujin was the real aibou - Iris Watson was Barok’s brother’s secret child. What the fuck. I don’t think ANYONE could’ve seen this coming. - This is a smaller thing but Petencci was actually alive and when he stood up and started moving it spooked the shit out of me Things I predicted very wrong: - Jezail was murdered and silenced - Gregson is actually Everyday Mitelmon (I was about 15% because Mitelmon was disguising as Gregson in secret) - “Maybe the K. Asougi on the disc was referring to Asougi’s dad and not Asougi Kazuma?” this quickly got debunked when I found out Asougi’s dad’s name was Genshin - The game kind of led you on to think this, but for a while I thought Iris was half Japanese and Yuujin and a love affair. I started suspecting things when Susato mentioned that her family went through problems when she was first born and also when Yuujin said something about “Watson” being a common last name. But I’m glad that Iris turned out to be who she is. - Maybe Asougi Genshin is still alive somewhere!!! Thanks to Level-5 I don’t believe in dead dads but this theory got debunked pretty quickly too. A couple small things I’m curious about… - How did Barok get his scar? I guess it’s not that important though. Maybe during that encounter when Genshin got attacked? - Why did Susato hide Asougi’s diary from Ryuu? I initially thought it was important for plot but it’s not an important detail. I can headcanon this a lot anyway so I don’t really care. I think they did a really good job of solving all the mysteries leftover from DGS1… I can’t think of anything big that was left unsolved. When I was in the middle of case 5, I was a little worried that they would rush explanations since a lot of huge mysteries were still unclear… but they revealed everything at the right time. I was worried the game would be rushed but it was surprisingly well paced for a game with that much content… It was just surprise after surprise after every case. They tied all the cases together so well too, it was amazing. Unfortunately, you can tell that they crammed two games worth of content into one because this entire game was so plot-heavy. I’m actually really sad that DGS didn’t end up being a trilogy… I think I would’ve liked DGS to be spread out among 3 games because we would’ve gotten more character development, but I’m satisfied with what we got. I am a little sad that Shisu and Guroine didn’t get as much screen time as they could have if there was a 3rd game… I really liked their characters, but they. Because we had DGS1, we got tons of character development for the old characters, but the new characters in DGS2 didn’t. Asougi isn’t really a “new” character, but he has I would’ve been willing to wait another two years for a trilogy, honestly. ...Maybe it’s just my bias and I’m only saying this because Asougi is alive and I want to see more Asougi development. A DGS3 is... possible, I guess, but it would be more like an omake to the first two games rather than interlocked stories. Same characters, same settings, just different mysteries to solve. → Other things Okay I know I talked about this before already, but I really love the little details they put in the game. You can tell how much effort and love went into its development. Things like… all the English newspapers and a completely random nonsensical German song that plays for just 5 minutes of the game. I asked a German friend and she told me the lyrics are well-written (grammatically). All of the English newspapers . There were many side articles in them as well, and you can tell some thought was given into writing them. They could’ve easily cropped the newspapers to not show that many side articles, but they didn’t. I also appreciated other little historical things like… using feet/inches as height measurement. And all the little cultural things in London... The OST was amazing. A lot of tracks were reused, but the new ones were all REALLY GOOD. In particular, I really love pre-pursuit theme, new objection theme, and all the Asougi ones (さすがに). But honestly, DGS has the best game OST, hands down. → Things I didn’t like My only complaints are… - Breakdowns for case 2-4 were a little lacking, but the case 1 and case 5 ones were great - How the fuck did they make a hologram device and how was everyone so calm about it → Asougi Okay, let’s talk about my favorite character Asougi. First of all, I just want to say prosecutor Asougi is the best thing this game has given me. I think he originally wanted to go to London to find out the truth behind his father. He lost his father when he was 14 and then his mom a year later… He probably went through a lot of trauma, and dedicated his life to going to London so he can find out the truth. Going to London was his dream for 10 years, so he reluctantly agreed to the assassination mission (although with no intention of actually carrying it out). He has a strong sense of justice and also loved his father very much. What originally was his desire to seek the truth got turned into a desire for revenge after his encounter with Gregson. As soon as he found out forged evidence was used against his father, he became enraged, which is understandable. From that point, his hatred just… took over. He was always portrayed as this cool, flawless, honors student, but in the end he’s still a human with emotions. Before the trial even began, he already knew about the darkness in his heart. He pleaded Ryuunosuke to be the defense lawyer for this case. He wanted Ryuunosuke to be the defense attorney for that case no matter what because he knew he could count on Ryuunosuke to bring him back to his senses. He had a strong sense of justice, but he also knew he had his demons. He wanted to fight them off, and I really love that about him… After Ryuunosuke slapped him awake, he fixes his behavior and acknowledges his mistakes. I’m really proud that he knows exactly what he’s done wrong and apologizes for it!!! He’s still the same Asougi I know and love and I couldn’t be more proud of him… Not gonna lie, for a second, I almost doubted Asougi when I found out that he was involved in this assassination plan. But then I thought to myself “No. Asougi would never do that. I have faith in him.” and kept playing. He feels so much guilt from what happened that he gives Karma to Ryuunosuke to keep and stays in London to make up for everything???? Since he finally accomplished his mission at London, I’m really happy that he found a new path to start walking down too. This game just made me fall in love with Asougi all over again. Looking back, Asougi cut the wax figure of his dad because he thought it was disgraceful, huh. → The verdict DGS2 gets a 10/10 from me. I loved it. Other than the little things I pointed out, I can’t think of anything I was unsatisfied with about this game. ...I have a lot of things to say regarding ships as well, but that can come in a separate post.

[aoi-mikazuki]

The Briefest of Reunions

Huge spoilers for DGS1 and 2, but I wanted old people love and reminiscing so here is my contribution... >>;

Also on AO3 if shorter chapters are your jam.

SPOILER SPACE

Title: The Briefest of Reunions

Series: Dai Gyakuten Saiban

Words: 5,765

Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/Mikotoba Yuujin

Chapter 1 - The Train Ride

"I nearly had a heart attack when I first saw Miss Susato on that ship, you know," Holmes suddenly blurted as he sat at his desk hunched over his fancy instruments.

"Hm?" I looked up from my book and over the back of the settee I was lazily reclining on. The children had all retired for the night, and I had been hoping to finish this last chapter before I headed up to bed myself. But alas, I could see that my relatively relaxed evening was not meant to be.

"She looks just like her mother," my friend continued, lowering his goggles into position on his face, "though she has your eyes."

I had, on a few occasions, shown a picture of my dear, departed wife to Holmes during our six years together, but to think that he still remembered her face ten years on was remarkable; the man could barely remember what had happened on a case an hour after the fact and yet he had identified Susato with ease, it seems.

Then again, one should never underestimate Holmes's capacity to remember things -- especially those even tangentially related to me -- is something I learned about him relatively early on. He had always chalked it up to his keen powers of observation, yet, I daresay it was more due to a combination of his youthful spirit and a keen personal interest in me.

It was 16 years ago that I first met the then 18-year-old Sherlock Holmes. I was only 27 myself back then, and though I was a rather privileged and well-educated man back in Japan, it was something of an eye-opener to travel with the intent of living in an entirely different country -- I was suddenly intensely aware of how very small and very ignorant I was here among a people and a society with a set of rules all of their very own. Suddenly, all of the book-learning I had done felt very inadequate indeed in preparing me for my new adventure half-way around the world, so it was a godsend that I had met a young man who was willing to share his home with me and acquaint me with different people of all stations of life.

As with most people he encountered, Holmes instantly struck me as a strange and curious fellow, and perhaps that is what drew me to him in the first place. From the poorest of the poor up to the noblest of the noble, the man had a way with every soul in London, it seemed. I had initially assumed that this was a perfectly normal state of affairs for the average British gentleman, but I soon grew to see that he is actually a most singularly peculiar specimen among his countrymen. His strange mannerisms, raucous laughter, and ridiculous theatrics endeared him to the masses, but his intellect and deductive reasoning were what made him a necessity to the upper elites. But none of that seemed to matter to him, for I never saw him with anyone I would label as a "friend".

That is, until a little under a year after we’d first met. We were on a train traveling back to London after a most thrilling chase through the English countryside when we hit upon the topic of how we should celebrate yet another great success.

*********

"Let's go out -- just you and me! A night on the town!" Holmes proposed.

I laughed at that, my slightly larger frame bouncing in time with the train as it leaned into a curve in the tracks.

"I'm too old to be running around piss drunk like a teenager, Holmes. And you know how I feel about 'female entertainers' and brothels in general."

"That I do, but you still never gave me a good reason why."

"Does a man need to have a reason to decline the company of certain persons in this country?" I rebutted. I was beginning to sense that Holmes was going to try to push that topic again today.

Holmes stared at me from his seat across the cabin, making observations and filing the information away for future reference. I released a small sigh in response.

The Western custom of casually sharing one's personal life with strangers and friends alike is something I continue to find rather odd, and the expectation that I should divulge such similar information about myself to others still seems immensely invasive to me. Yet in the year of our acquaintance, Holmes had proven himself to be a trustworthy flatmate.

I ran my hands over my face to clear my mind and buy myself some time. I needed to phrase things in such a way as to satisfy his immediate curiosity without opening the door wide enough for him to barge right on through to ask gods know what else.

Placing one hand on each thigh, I leaned forward and looked Holmes in the eyes. "I know I haven't shared very much of myself with you, Holmes, but I... I’m actually still in mourning. My wife passed away in childbirth, you see... and I..."

In my mind's eye, I saw my wife's pained face as she slipped away from me -- me, a medically trained doctor who was powerless to stop her rapid decline. The piercing cries of our new baby girl grew muffled in my ears as my mind focused solely on the woman in front of me.

"Ayame... Please..." I had pleaded then, as my eyes darted around furiously, searching for the source of the bleeding. I scrambled and tried to find a tear, a rip -- anything -- but it was like dowsing for water in the middle of the bloody ocean. Precious minutes passed like seconds, and eventually, my wife reached down to me and lifted my face up to meet hers.

"Yujin," she had said though a pained smile. "I am counting on you to raise our daughter now."

"No, we'll raise her together...!" I answered in denial. But she knew me, and gave me one last parting request.

“Please take good care of Susato for me.”

And then, she was gone.

"...kotoba! Mikotoba!" The force of Holmes shaking me snapped me out of my reverie and back into the train cabin.

"I-I'm sorry, I appear to have..."

Holmes gave a flourish of his hand. "No need to apologize. I assume you were transported back to that moment?"

I nodded in affirmation.

"I see," Holmes states. "So..." he started, "you have a child then?"

I nod again. "A daughter. Her name is Susato."

"And yet you are here with me in jolly ol' England?" he questioned.

"Holmes, don't..."

"You... didn't come all this way just to escape your responsibilities, did you?" he said with one eyebrow cocked as he drew ever closer. Uncomfortably so, even.

"I wasn't-- I'm not trying to escape my responsibilities!" I answered indignantly. And yet, he was right. I had come to escape something, but I decided that the sordid details could wait for another day.

His eyes lit up for a second, and I knew he had made some deduction in that short span of time. But he quickly hid it.

He moved to sit next to me, his long right leg against my left -- the man really had no concept of personal space -- but when he reached out to grab my left hand with his own, I pulled it towards my chest instinctively. His hand was quicker and he caught it mid-air and laid it over my heart, holding it there. He slung his other arm around my neck, his hand reassuringly gripping my shoulder.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to impugn on your honor. But... just humor my curiosity for a second, Mikotoba."

A long moment of silence passed between us as I considered my options:

Push Holmes off and away from me and switch to another topic

Ask him to extricate himself from me and then switch to another topic

Talk with him like a goddamned adult

I breathed in and steeled myself for what I knew I needed to do.

"You've probably already deduced that there is more to my story, but..."

"But...?"

"I'm sorry, my friend." The word "friend" couldn't have felt more right just then. "But I'm afraid your curiosity will have to go unfulfilled for now."

Holmes was strangely silently next to me. Perhaps I had been too forward, or perhaps he did not see me as a friend. I turned my head to see what was the matter. He seemed at once somber and yet, somehow, comically dejected.

"Ha ha! You are a tease, Mikotoba," he rebounded. "But I will get the truth out of you yet!"

I smiled back at the young detective. "I have no doubt you will, Holmes. But for now, I ask that you simply stay by my side."

"Isn't that what partners are for, Mikotoba? To be there for one another in times of need?" he gently said into my ear over the rattling and clanking of the train as it continued on towards home.

Chapter 2 - The Advertisement

Recalling the details of that train ride brought to mind another lady I couldn't save.

"...Is everything alright?" Holmes asked, concern in his voice. He had turned around and was now kneeling on his seat, facing backwards over the chair’s tall back. Holmes lowered his goggles to where it usually hung around his neck to get a better look at me.

"Ah, yes,” I started. “I was just remembering how I came to tell you about Ayame--"

"And it brought up memories of Lady Baskerville, right?" Holmes surmised.

"Yes," I replied, not the least bit surprised anymore by his ability to read me like an open book. "I can only wonder what she thought of me -- whether she honestly believed that this Japanese stranger would take care of her daughter, or if she had simply given herself over to me because she had no choice in the matter."

"But you explained yourself to her -- about how you came to know of her hiding place and your promise to Mr Genshin."

"I did, but she was delirious from blood-loss by that point. All I could do was help her finish delivering Iris and let her hold her child in her final moments." I squeezed my eyes shut in frustration. “What’s worse,” I continued, “is that I couldn’t even keep my promise to Genshin and I had to leave Iris in your care.”

Holmes looked at me as though I had just proffered him the world's most complex puzzle to solve.

"Mikotoba," he started cautiously, "to this day, do you really still doubt that you've been a good father?"

"...Sometimes."

"Is it because of me?"

I looked up at my partner. "...I can't tell Susato what really happened, Holmes. You know that."

Holmes gave a small sigh and put his head in his hands as he leaned on the back of his chair. "She's not a child anymore,” he said as he looked me straight in the eye. “Sooner or later she will find out. Especially given how much liberty you allow her."

"I am only allowing her to claim her full birthright as a human being. After seeing the different kind of freedoms women are allowed here, and far be it for me to be a hypocrite, I found myself unable to justify my ability to act as I wished while she was bound on all sides by social expectations."

“Or is the real truth that you feel guilty for not being around for her -- be it that you are always busy with your teaching, or research... or that you were gallivanting around solving cases with me half-way around the world for six years?”

“I...” Holmes’s words stung with the pain of truth, but while I was still reeling from his pointed observation, he had leapt up and over his chair to close the distance between us.

“Wake up, Mikotoba! And see how highly your daughter thinks of you!” he said. “It is you, and only you, that thinks you have done her harm.”

Holmes’s countenance softened for a second before he came around to sit by my side, trapping my legs between himself and the back of the settee.

"Just as I will have to explain the circumstances of her birth to Iris someday, Yujin, you should explain how it was you really came to England in the first place to your own daughter." Holmes reached out to clasp my hand.

"I know. I've left her in the dark for long enough."

Holmes was right, of course. Susato would find out in her own way someday, just as he had in his usual, persistent way one morning, not long after that fateful train ride.

*********

Holmes was reading the paper at the breakfast table again -- as he is still in the habit of doing -- with his meal in front of him lying wholly untouched. Yet, I could tell his mind wasn’t actually occupied with the paper, but rather, with me, as I sat on the other side of the table gently tapping the top of my egg open.

“Out with it, Holmes.”

I had no patience for his whimsical games today. I had a medical forum to attend, and before that, a train to catch.

“Nothing. I was merely scanning the personals and found an interesting listing.”

“You? An interesting listing? In the personals?” I laughed at the thought of Holmes finding anyone genuinely interesting. By this point in our relationship, I had been with him long enough to know that people were only as interesting as they were a source of puzzles and mysteries to solve. Otherwise, the ever-aloof Sherlock Holmes had little use for actual, intimate relationships.

“Indeed, for the comings and goings of society itself are reflected in these pages. One never knows when a particularly juicy piece of gossip may be the lead that cracks the case.”

“I suppose I’ve never thought of it that way,” I replied, dipping my toast into my not-quite-as-soft-as-I’d-hoped soft-boiled egg. My face scrunched up at the less than runny yolk. I knew there was a reason why I usually got up earlier than Holmes to make our breakfast.

“Here’s a fine example, Mikotoba: ‘Wanted: Male partner for a night of passion. Am willing to pay for transport, and utmost discretion.’ Now, what would you make of that?”

I felt myself slowly tense with each word of that infernal advertisement. Holmes had to know what he was doing, I thought. Curse the man’s inability to let things go until he’s solved the living daylights out of them.

“I’m afraid I must be going, Holmes,” I said as I ungracefully dropped the remnants of my toast on my plate.

“Fine,” he pouted. “But you will think on this listing and let me know your conclusions when you return?” he requested as I wiped my mouth with my napkin.

“Yes, yes, of course, my dear man,” I hastily replied as I checked for crumbs in my mustache on my way out of our drawing room. A quick glance back provided me with the picture of a close-eyed Holmes, deep in thought. Before anything further could transpire, I quickly shut the door, ran down the stairs, threw my coat on, and strode briskly out -- cane in hand -- into the mid-autumn air.

At the time, I had no intention of answering Holmes in any way whatsoever. What was private, was private. He had no right to pry, I thought. But as the day wore on, my mind kept drifting to my dear friend.

Surely a man with as many eccentricities as him could understand my plight without judgement. Not to mention, if he had indeed, already correctly deduced what my secret was, he had been more than generous in allowing me to stay on in our lodgings.

And so I resolved that should he ask for my opinion about the advertisement upon my return that night, I would do my best to be honest with him.

I arrived back at our lodging a little past seven, and found it to be empty.

“Holmes?” I called, but received no reply. On the arm of the settee was the paper from that morning, a giant red circle around a small block of text. I picked it up and read it for myself.

“‘Wanted: Male partner for a night of passion. Am willing to pay for transport, and utmost discretion,’ huh.”

I gave a long sigh, and wondered where Holmes had gone off to. If he was on one of his expeditions again, I feared what little courage I had scraped together would be lost by the time he returned.

I spent the rest of that evening reading, though honestly, I could hardly call what I did that. Rather, it was more akin to staring at a sea of English words with the more than occasional glance at my watch. At a quarter to eleven, I finally gave up all hope of seeing Holmes that night, so I placed my bookmark in its place and closed the book.

“Of all the days to be out, you had to pick the one in which I finally have something worthwhile to share.”

“Ah, then do feel free to share,” Holmes exclaimed as he twirled into our drawing room.

“Wh-Where have you been, Holmes?” I stuttered, bewildered at how my words had seemingly summoned him home somehow.

“My story can wait,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand, “while I suspect that yours cannot. Therefore, I request that you go first.”

“At this hour? And after you left me waiting for an entire evening?” A twinge of irritation slipped out of me. “I’m inclined to say that we should have to wait until tomorrow--”

“Un, un-un.” He tsked his finger at me. “I did ask that you provide me with your thoughts upon your return, did I not?”

I placed a hand on my forehead and looked down in defeat. I might as well get it over with, I thought.

“Well, then, I suppose I had best get on with it, haven’t I?”

Holmes took a seat in his chair and nodded, and urged me to continue. I took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh.

“Let me just start by saying that it was an awful trick you played by placing that advertisement.”

“Ah, but how do you know it was me?” His eyes twinkled in mischief.

“You’re not the only one with deductive powers around here. I’ve gained quite a bit of insight into your methods by now, as you should know.”

“Quite right! Aha ha ha ha ha!” he laughed raucously, doubling over in amusement. “Well done, Mikotoba!” Holmes’s laugh subsided as he recovered into an upright position. “But I won’t be derailed so easily.”

“Very well. Where shall I start, then?”

“How about with why sleeping with a man compelled you to travel to the complete opposite end of the world when, unlike here in England, it has once again become perfectly legal to do so in Japan?”

Well. Let it never be said that Sherlock Holmes is the master of subtlety, I thought.

“Because,” I began, “as you are no doubt aware, I come from a country where honor and dignity is valued more than gold. And ever since Western culture began pouring into my home country, all of Japan has been most thoroughly taken in by your ideals and way of thinking. On the topic of human relations, a book titled ‘Psychopathia Sexualis’ by a Dr Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing has been quite influential, to say the least.”

“Ah, yes. The Germans have been rather vigorous in their pursuit of knowledge in the emerging field of sexology.”

“Then you are familiar with its underpinnings?” I inquired.

“Only that it seeks to explain anything outside of the everyman experience as perversion.”

“Yes, well, it got my own countrymen talking, and not wanting to be seen as closed-minded, perverse barbarians, I’m afraid that most people of my station in society and above have quickly turned their thinking around to match that of their European counterparts.”

There was a brief moment of silence as Holmes looked at me in all seriousness, the mirth gone from his eyes.

“And what about you, Mikotoba? As a medical man, does your thinking on the matter fall in line with those of your colleagues?”

I had never been asked to state so clearly my thoughts on such matters before, and I struggled to put them in some sort of order before I opened my mouth again.

“I... I must admit that I have a great deal of trouble reconciling the scientific literature with my own lived experiences, Holmes. It is hard to look back on more than a thousand years of Japanese culture and history and simply wave it all away as wanton perversion when truly beautiful relationships did emerge from such acts. Indeed, some of them have even endured the test of time through glorification in poems and art.”

Holmes nodded at me. “Which explains the lack of disgust on your own part at your rented liaison.”

I give a small sigh. Of course he would also quite correctly deduce that my partner was paid.

“Yes, he was slightly younger than me, and an actor of kabuki theater. Oh, Holmes, it wasn’t that he meant anything to me, though. I fear my act of indiscretion was the result of severe loneliness and grief.”

Holmes took my statement in and processed it as only he can. “Yet you chose a man. Why?”

“Ayame... She had only just passed. And I... I did not wish to dishonor her by replacing her with another woman so casually, or so soon. It is with greater shame that I reflect on my inability at the time to control myself and deal with my grief properly, and instead, succumbed to my emotions and need for another person’s touch.”

“Well, depression can do drastic things to a man, as you know by my own dark moods.” Holmes paused for a second before he continued on. “I think I have an idea of the shape of things now. Your family must have thought it best to use its clout to send you far away -- perhaps allowing you to regain your sanity by redirecting your focus to your professional studies and training here -- while they tried to repair any damage you may have brought onto yourself and your daughter’s reputations. Is that about the long and short of it?”

“Yes,” I replied, unsure of what else to say.

“Excellent. I’m glad we resolved that little issue. Now, on to the next!”

“N-Next?” I sputtered in Holmes’s direction as he got up and started for his room.

“Of course, my good man. Did you forget what I actually asked for your opinion on this morning?”

I thought back to my mad dash out of our drawing room earlier in the day and the truth of the matter began to dawn on me.

“The advertisement...”

“Correct!”

“Holmes... I’m flattered and honored to have your attention, but... I hardly know what to think right now.” I answered honestly. “If you would give me some time...”

“As much as you need, Mikotoba. As much as you need,” he said with a flourish. “Just don’t expect me to pay for your transportation fee when you do come around.”

“Wh-What transportation fee?! I live with you, Holmes!”

“Right, so you do! Aha ha ha ha ha!” His laughter continued down the hall as he walked through his bedroom door. “Good night, Mikotoba.” He tipped his finger against an imaginary hat and closed the door behind him.

“Good night, Holmes,” I replied lamely from my chair, alone in the drawing room.

Chapter 3 - Our Family

“You should explain how it was you really came to England in the first place to your own daughter.”

“I know. I've left her in the dark for long enough.”

Giving my dear Holmes’s hand a squeeze, I picked up my train of thought from where I had left off. “I just hope she can understand and forgive me for the time I’ve stolen from us as father and daughter.”

“I’m sure if you start at the beginning, she will,” Holmes reassured me with a warm smile on his lips.

“I suppose that means I’ll have to more fully explain how it is that you and I came to live together as well.”

"That’s right! She did seem as surprised as Mr Naruhodo when she found out you were my partner!” Holmes paused for half a second before exclaiming, “Wait, are you saying that you never mentioned me to her -- ever?!"

"There was never any good way for me to do so!” I retorted. “It's bad enough that I haven’t been able to set my selfishness aside to do the socially correct thing and find myself a new wife to give her a mother. How was I supposed to explain why?"

"Pshaw, that’s simple: Susato, did you know that THE Sherlock Holmes used to call me "daddy" too?"

I threw the nearest pillow I could grab into Holmes's face.

"And sometimes," he continued as he sensuously licked his lips from behind his newfound cushion-shield, "he'd feed me a most thick and juicy sausage--"

"H-Holmes!" I ejaculated. "She could come down here at any minute!"

"Excellent! The perfect chance to fill her in, wouldn’t you agree?"

"N-No!" I sputtered. "I am nowhere near ready to divulge such information."

Holmes's eyes lit up.

"And you are not to divulge it either. Understand?"

The world’s most immature man gave me his most disappointed look.

"Time and place! And context, Holmes! This isn't something one simply blurts out over breakfast."

"Pooh, pooh! Why do you have to be such a spoilsport?" he pouted.

"Because you saw what happened when she thought Iris was my biological daughter. She was literally ready to punish me over an imaginary affair."

"But you did have one... with me."

"It's not the same. You weren’t some one-night stand. You were the one who taught me that I could still honor and cherish Ayame while loving another. And had I not been forced to leave this country, I might have called for Susato to come join us and raised Iris with you.”

“Thus bringing her into the very sort of inverted household you were sent here to cleanse yourself of!” Holmes chuckled.

I gave an exasperated sigh at the bald irony staring me in the face.

“Regardless, Holmes, there is so much more nuance to what we have than she can imagine."

"You mean the fact that we are two men in an actual honest-to-god relationship."

"...Yes."

"Come on, now," Holmes said, looking rather serious. "Do you honestly think she has never imagined the domestic home life of 'Sherlock Holmes' and his partner 'Dr John Watson', and the sort of sexual congress they might have enjoyed?"

Oh.

In truth, the thought had not crossed my mind, though I had seen my share of female students throughout the years whisper wild and taboo fantasies amongst themselves about their favorite fictional characters. Why had it never occurred to me before that my own daughter might enjoy such flights of fancy?

I could feel the tips of my ears burning with embarrassment. I harrumphed and twitched my mustache as I tried to think of something suitable to say in return.

“Speaking of those novels, do you remember when you sent Iris’s “Baskerville” manuscript to me?”

“Of course.”

“I must apologize for being so negligent as to leave it out in my study where Susato could see it.”

“It’s quite alright,” he forgave me with a flourish of his hand. “I deduced as much when she let it slip. To be honest, it was my fault for jeopardizing our case by even sending it to you in the first place.”

“Regardless, I’m glad you did, Holmes. You were so genuinely torn up about prohibiting Iris from publishing it that it was the first time I really saw that you had let her into your life... and your heart.”

Holmes looked sheepishly to the side. “I’ll admit I did spend a number of years trying to distance myself from her.”

“I’ll say you did! You told her I was her father!”

“Well, you were! You were the one who promised to look after her, after all.” Holmes grew quiet. “I only agreed to keep her safe because I thought you’d come back to England once everything had been resolved. I never imagined that so many years would pass in the interim.”

The fire crackled loudly behind us in the silence that enveloped the room. It was my turn to reach out to my dear partner. I gave his hand a squeeze.

"Do you remember how frantically you would telegram me at all hours of the day, asking me how to change Iris's diapers and how to tell whether she was crying from hunger or discomfort?"

Holmes turned and smiled in return. "I do. And I still remember your frustrated replies, reminding me that you never had to change Miss Susato's diapers so you had no idea!"

“What a spectacle you must have been at the telegram office with Iris crying on your back!” I laughed. “I wish I had been here to see it for myself.”

“I’m afraid that before I gained the moniker ‘Great Detective’, I was known as the Great Nanny Sherlock Holmes,” he joked and laughed. As his laughter subsided, the warmth in his eyes remained as he cupped my face. "Must you return to Japan so soon, Mikotoba? You've only just arrived! Why not relax a little longer here. We've barely had a moment to ourselves," he gently complained.

"That's what happens when you have kids, Holmes. I thought you'd have figured that out by now."

"I guess I have to take my fatherly duties more seriously now, don’t I?"

"You've got a charming young lady with even greater expectations of you than before."

"I get the feeling it won't be hard to live up to virtually no expectations," he gestured melodramatically.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. You are a brilliant father raising a most extraordinary daughter. I daresay she has even picked up a few of your mannerisms.”

My mind drifted back to the night before, when Iris had made her fondness of Holmes clear. A number of things had been brought to light that day -- some of them big, some of them small. But one thing had remained unchanged throughout it all: I had always intended to call on my dear friend Genshin.

“About my plans, Holmes,” I began. “I would still very much like to go and pay my respects to Genshin, and see about arranging for his remains to be returned to Japan, now that he has been cleared of all charges.”

“Why not let Mr Asogi deal with that?” Holmes said with a rather considerate look on his face. “Perhaps he would rather keep his father close by, though probably in a better grave than the one he is currently occupying.”

“Indeed. I suppose I’ll speak with him in the morning. To be honest, I’m glad I am able to speak with him at all.”

Holmes nodded his agreement. “Things did get a little too close for everyone a few times, didn’t they?”

“But you managed to keep things under control, and that’s what’s important.”

I thought back to that day when the children had left on the Alaclair, bound for England. Holmes had urgently telegraphed me two months prior about two things: “I’m sending you a package,” he had mysteriously said, “and I will be on the Alaclair”. I suspected something had begun to move in our case of ten years past, and I was not mistaken when I finally received the package containing the Baskerville manuscript and a note regarding some sort of conspiracy spelled out in a series of dancing men.

I sent the manuscript back after they had gone so as to delay its arrival until after Holmes’s return home with a simple, pleasant message about how enjoyable the story was, and added a few words of caution through a line of dancing men of my own.

I admit that sometimes, it had filled me with great regret to know that my partner had been on that very ship, and that we could’ve met then to strategize further, but as long as he was watching over Susato, I knew she was in good hands.

“You have no idea how many times I wished you had been by my side, though. Truly, as my fictional self would say, ‘I am lost without my Boswell.’”

“Well, there was at least one circumstance that was a conundrum of your own making. Naruhodo mentioned that you told him that sometimes Great Detectives lie. Far be it for me to be surprised that you would do such a thing to him, trickster as you are, something tells me your brilliant plan backfired when you'd set yourself up as the fool during your first encounter with him."

"It would have only aroused suspicion had I suddenly reverted back to my charming, clever self, wouldn’t it?"

"True, but to maintain the act for so long! You are truly a consummate actor, and a master of disguise, Holmes."

Holmes took a dramatic bow. "It was nothing really, especially in this case. After all, there is but a fine line that separates genius from jackass."

"I think you mean brilliant and bumbling, since there is certainly no line separating jackass from any part of your beautiful, Bohemian soul."

"Aha ha ha ha ha!" he laughs in that way I love. "We've come a long way, haven't we?"

"I dare say we're certainly much better off than we were back then."

"Who would've thought that the great Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr Mikotoba would have two daughters to round out their rather unconventional family?"

"Indeed, I'm not sure that the world would believe it, even if Iris wrote it up in one of her stories!"

"As she said, you really are the only "yujin" I have in the whole world," Holmes said as he doubled over in laughter at the silly cross-language pun.

"I honestly still can't believe you made Iris write that!" I joined in my partner’s mirth.

"My Yujin, the only one I will ever need," he whispered as he leaned in and took my last snide remark of the night from my lips.

NOTES:

- Technically, “Psychopathia Sexualis” was published in 1886 in Germany, and then later in Japan, but since DGS is fairly liberal with its historical timeline, I figured I could be, too...

- Japan had outlawed sodomy at one point in 1872, but in the quickest of turnabouts, it seems that it was repealed only 10 years later (8 - 10 depending on which dates you count) when Japan adopted the Napoleonic Code into what would form the basis of all Japanese law, the Six Codes. Thanks, Japanese Wikipedia article “日本における同性愛”!

- DGS Holmes seems more likely to initiate things between the two of them, but I wouldn’t say he is an especially sexual creature either. He comes across as demi-sexual to me (or he would if he had any other true friends to speak of other than Mikotoba). I like to think that he seems asexual in Iris’s accounts partially because he has no other partners that she can see (his only partner is off in Japan, after all), and partially because it probably didn’t occur to her that her papa could be interested in such things.

- Maybe someday I’ll get around to writing how they actually get together, but I fear that that will take another long fic on its own... ^^;

- Watson “ejaculated” a number of times in the real Sherlock Holmes canon. I guess that was just the hot word to use back then instead of “exclaimed” XD

- Mikotoba’s first name is phonetically the same as the word for “friend” but it uses different kanji.

[renegadewangs]

Chapter 25 preview

Wow okay, I am definitely not going to get this chapter done before the move starts (which is tomorrow). I’m pretty far in, but it’ll probably be another long one. Since it’s been a week since my last update, here’s a preview to keep you in suspense! --I mean... To make you totally happy and content, and relieve all worry. Nothing bad is happening here. Nope.

(obviously there are huge spoilers for the Dai Gyakuten series here.)

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There was something to be said about awakening from a state of 'nothingness'. It held blissful ignorance to it; something pure and pleasant, unhampered by the influences of reality. Such a thing could never last, of course. Tick tick tick- The first thing Yuujin became aware of was a splitting headache, which presumably spread itself out from the throbbing pain in the back of his skull. He was cold, he realized soon after. He was on the floor. His wrists hurt. This was not home. He must've collapsed. Tick tick tick- Something had happened. Something awful enough to fill him with tense, overpowering dread, even when the details failed to come to him. What was that blasted ticking sound? ...No, it was more than ticking. There was whirring and creaking. Where...? His eyes opened to a blur, further intensified by the haze of semi-darkness. Neither blinking nor squinting did much to relieve the problem, at least not at first. The process of the world coming into focus was a gradual one. He attempted to move his hands to the back of his head, only to run into an immediate problem: his wrists were bound together behind his back with thick rope. Tick tick tick- A pair of black leather shoes stepped into his field of vision, their progress aided by a hardwood cane so smooth that traces of light danced along the surface. With that, he remembered. While he'd fallen unconscious in Baker Street, he was no longer home now. Fighting his way through the numbing pain and the protest of his muscles, he moved himself up into a kneeling position and looked upward. Moriarty was standing less than five feet away, watching him with such leisure, he gave off the impression of someone enjoying the sight of a caged animal at the zoo. Yuujin would have none of that. “Where is Iris?!” was the first thing to come to mind, and thus the first thing he blurted out. “Detained,” Moriarty said, entirely too calm. “Where is Iris?!” Yuujin tried again, putting more force behind his words despite his obvious disadvantage. A loud tisk, then Moriarty raised his cane and jammed it straight into Yuujin's chest, just below the ribcage. The pain was so fierce that it caused him to double over and even then, the cane wasn't removed. Moriarty leaned against it with most of his weight, pressing it firmly into Yuujin's abdomen. “Don't you dare raise your voice to me,” the man hissed. “You are lucky to live up until this moment. The both of you. Bait doesn't serve its purpose unless it wriggles about in a helpless manner. So long as there is even the slightest hope you may survive, Holmes will avoid doing anything impulsive.” For a moment, Yuujin assumed that Moriarty was speaking of the younger Holmes brother, only to remember that it could pertain to Mycroft as well. Either way, it caused him to grimace. His response came in something of a wheeze. “If that's what you believe, you don't know him as well as you think. Impulsive behavior is guaranteed.” “Regardless, once you die, there is nothing stopping him from taking this entire building down in order to eliminate us,” Moriarty said, and Yuujin thought that was a fine hypocrisy from the man who destroyed a slaughter house less than a day ago. The tip of the cane was finally removed from his abdomen, allowing him to breathe easier, and with that, Moriarty took a step backwards. He was off balance in the left side of his body, Yuujin noted, making the cane more than a luxury item. It was an opportunity in the making. If Moriarty suffered from such an obvious physical problem, he would be easy enough to overpower. How unfortunate that a better glimpse of their surroundings ruled that option out. Koroshiya was standing near a window, leaning back against the wall, still as a statue. Mycroft and the others were supposed to have been tracking him, which had Yuujin wonder just how long he'd been unconscious and just how much he'd missed. Where was he now? The origin of the ticking and creaking became perfectly clear; despite the overall appearance of a library, its bookcases holding nothing but dust, there was clockwork all around them. Enormous cogs and gears led all the way up into a high ceiling. Never before had Yuujin seen so many things moving in unison. Glass plating of a clock's backside took up one particular portion of wall, allowing Yuujin to tell that it was past three in the morning. This wasn't the Chief of Justice's office- it couldn't be- and yet... “Disorienting, isn't it?” Moriarty asked, having noticed Yuujin's stare. “One must give Hart Vortex credit for his complete and utter absence of taste. One out of ten, I would've graded it. This monstrosity of a building was to become the new headquarters to Scotland Yard's forensics department. Can you imagine the amount of money he invested? ...No, I doubt someone like you could ever hope to comprehend it. Now it's been left to rot, as Vortex's disgrace has set criminal investigation back by several decades. And whose doing was that?” “Hart Vortex was an integral part of the very problem he was attempting to fight. We've lost nothing of value in his disgrace, just as we lost nothing of value in yours,” Yuujin snapped back at him. About a second of silence, then Moriarty burst into roaring laughter. It was as disturbing a cackle as it'd ever been. “All these years,” he began through his snickering, “and you still cannot pronounce the letter R the way one ought to! Why you still bother with the pretense of your English gentleman front, I will never understand! Though, I suppose returning to your backwater country for another decade has sent you straight back to where you started!” Yuujin felt his cheeks flush with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. “The very same backwater country which sheltered you for a good decade, Professor. Or should I address you as 'Common Criminal' instead? The title of Professor is mine now after all.” “You'd better watch yourself, Mikotoba.” Moriarty pressed the tip of his cane up against Yuujin's throat and while he didn't apply too much force this time, the threat was there nonetheless. “The more you antagonize me, the more painful your death will become. I'm quite looking forward to it already.” Yuujin waited until the cane was removed before he dared to speak again. “What is this about? This twisted plan for revenge? It seems as if you are risking everything for a petty grudge. Had you remained hidden, you could've continued to live the easy life in this opium empire of your own making,” he pointed out. Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say. “The easy life?!” Moriarty roared. “Simply because I have money, my life is meant to be easy?! Do you believe this is what I dreamed I would become?! What use are all my diplomas and titles now?! Years of hard academic work have been wasted! Even my own reports and theses were discarded as if they'd been plagiarized! My former colleagues viewed me nothing more than an imbecile!” “I-I...” “Do you know what it feels like to have a bullet pierce your body at a sideways angle,” Moriarty growled, prodding at Yuujin's gut with the tip of his cane, “searing through flesh and muscle, not coming to a stop until it collides with the inside of your hip, fracturing bone in the process? I know it quite well, thanks to Sherlock. The pain was unfathomable. I was convinced I wouldn't live to see another day, and so, dragging him down with me was the least I could do. Imagine how much my body protested when I fought him. Imagine my disappointment when I lost track of my target by the river. Imagine my agony as I struggled to fight the current and clamber onto shore.” Yuujin didn't want to imagine it. Not one bit. He said nothing. “The bullet is still in there. I could hardly chance a visit to a doctor at that time, after all. I had to focus all my efforts on recovery, even as I was whisked away from my home country. It took two years until I could walk with crutches. Three years until I was limited to a cane. Even now, the pain persists and my only relief is to be found in the very opium I peddle. Do not fool yourself into believing I live an easy life, Mikotoba. The punishment I suffered was quite severe, and so, my revenge shall be far from petty. I will destroy you, I will destroy Sherlock... And I will destroy the one who tricked you into action- that despicable brother.” With that, Moriarty withdrew himself a second time. He stumped over to a nearby table, where several cups of tea had already been set out, and took a seat. While Yuujin found it difficult to sympathize with a thief who'd had his own students assassinated, it did allow him to understand just a bit better how far their opponent was willing to go. The more hardship Moriarty had gone through, the more he would take it out on them.

[renegadewangs]

Because people seemed excited for this fanfic thing I’m (slowly) writing, I shall give you a preview of the first chapter! Mind, there’s spoilers for DGS2 (Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2) right there, so click the Read More only if you’re willing to accept them.

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Yuujin raised his hand and a long moment of hesitation preluded the act of knocking. He had been told by one of the science professors to find a Mr. Sherlock Holmes in the laboratories, yet at the same time he had been warned. He would come face to face with someone 'overbearing' and 'peculiar'. The tone used had made the young man sound rather like a criminal, but then, surely St. Bartholomew's would dismiss him if indeed he were dangerous. Holmes was a student involved in difficult research- or so Yuujin had been told. His knuckles rapped against the wood, though no response came. He waited fifteen seconds, which he found to be a very polite and suitable amount of time, then tried again. Still nothing. Even so, he could hear a thumping coming from inside the room that implied someone was hard at work. “Excuse me! I'm coming in,” Yuujin called. Despite his firm grasp of English words and grammar, his voice was thick with accent and he'd wondered more than once whether it deterred people from speaking to him. At times, he found it deterring himself from conversation. This was no time to back down, though. At first glance, there was no one; only a cluttered laboratory. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, a man slid right into Yuujin's field of vision and personal space. He must not even have been twenty years old yet. A mop of messy, frizzed hair acted as something of a curtain to keen, dark blue eyes. His lab coat was being defiled by several stains and holes, particularly along the bottom of the sleeves. The shock of it all had Yuujin step back, only for his wrist to be grasped and tugged at. The man's fingertips were all covered in bandages, he noticed vaguely. “Hello hellooo,” cried the student, pulling Yuujin into the room and snapping the door shut behind him. “Right on time, my dear fellow! Not a moment too late, nor too soon! Come, come, you must sit! Here!” A chair was whirled around and Yuujin was guided into it before he could think to make a counter move. His wrist was still being held, even as Holmes turned to snatch up an instrument from a nearby tabletop. “Ah, excuse me, I believe there may be a misunderst-” “Hush now, hush! Let me see!” Holmes held up Yuujin's hand, examining the fingers for a reason that was beyond grasping. “Splendid! Good circulation, this will do nicely. You are right-handed, I see, so we'll go for the left. Don't worry, you'll barely feel a thing!” “I beg your pard- Aaah!” Yuujin made an immediate attempt to pull his hand back, as now that he'd been pricked in the finger by a sharp needle, he was willing to forego any further politeness. Unfortunately, Holmes's grip proved stronger than his own. “Now now, hold on. Just let me- We mustn't waste it!” Yuujin's aching finger was squeezed and a drop of blood was sucked into a pipette. Following that, Holmes' hand finally released him, allowing him to sit back. Frustration clashed with curiosity and in the end Yuujin opted to watch. Holmes hurried to move the blood into a beaker of water. “One small drop diluted into a liter... The resulting mixture has the appearance of pure water, do you see? The proportion of blood cannot be more than one in a million. I have no doubt, however, that we shall be able to obtain the characteristic reaction I'm searching for. If I just...” Holmes scattered a fine white powder into the mixture, then added a few drops of transparent fluid. His eyes focused on the beaker and Yuujin found himself doing the same. Five seconds passed, then ten... The silence was broken by a cry of dismay. “Failed again! What sort of useless chemist am I if I cannot even master this one simple principle?! A reagent that precipitates only through hemoglobin, indeed! What a work of fiction! Holmes stomped away from the beaker and slumped down in the chair across from Yuujin, looking utterly defeated. It was rather reminiscent of a limp rag doll. His head hung backwards so far that it seemed as if he might lose his balance and topple over, chair and all. “Excuse me,” Yuujin tried again, hoping the man would be more willing to listen now that his experiment was concluded. “Are you Mr. Sherlock Holmes?” “Guhhh... I may as well be no one,” was the dreary, lackluster response. How one man could go from loud and excitable to such gloom was beyond Yuujin. “Ah, my name is Yuujin Mikotoba. I am an exchange student, you see, in search of shared lodgings. Your science professor told me that you are in need of a housemate so that you may... Ah, what's the words I'm looking for... Halve your rent.” “He said that...?” Holmes drew a deep breath, then rolled his head sideways to peer at Yuujin with one visible eye. “Well, he's wrong. I cannot help you.” Yuujin's hands curled in his lap, whilst his toes attempted to curl inside his shoes. Even so, a gentleman never lost his cool, or so he believed. “I understand that it may be difficult to share quarters with a foreigner. However, I assure you, I am an honest, hard-working man.” “Huhhh... No one was doubting your integrity, Mr. Mikatobo.” “It's Miko-” Holmes waved a lazy hand. “Whether you're from England or from Russia, or even the depths of hell itself, it matters very little to me. I am not a 'housemate' person, you see. I require my space and solitude. My mind rebels in the face of disturbances.” “Are you certain you can afford the rent by yourself?” Yuujin asked. “It's true, I am but one man. However, that does not mean I have only one income. I have several jobs.” “Several? At the same time?” “It's called part-timing, Mr. Mikoboto. A new concept. I am a professional chemist, a musician, an inventor and so much more. … I was even a beekeeper for some time. A shame, what happened. Perhaps one day, I will acquire new bees.” Yuujin's eyes narrowed into a squint. His first thought was that Englishmen were funny folk, only to remember that Holmes was the odd one out even among his own people. “This allows you to pay the bills? Your professor gave the impression that you are, ah, struggling.” “It will work out. And if it doesn't... Well, I suppose the gutter is where a failure such as myself belongs. ...Good day, Mr. Mitakaba.” Yuujin lost the will to correct this man, along with the will to persuade him. Such pigheadedness was best left to its own devices, he felt. “Well, then. Good day, Mr. Holmes.” He bowed his head and got to his feet. Still, as he turned towards the door, his eye fell on the beaker and the notes scattered beside it. The water was as crystal clear as before. “... Pardon me for saying so, but this experiment seems a bit redundant. I believe the Guiacum test is already an indicator of hemoglobin,” he found himself pointing out. “No, no! That test is clumsy and uncertain. Presumptive, even. One might as well flip a coin,” Holmes grumbled from his chair. Once he was certain that the young student was too downcast to stop him, Yuujin reached for papers. His pricked finger throbbed painfully, though it was but an idle distraction. He skimmed the papers without further ado. From what he could tell, the theory Holmes had been following was sound. Surely, the hemoglobin should've oxidized to metheglobin, but then... “Did you remember to add potassium cyanide to your little concoction?” Holmes sat up straight in a very slow, eerie manner. Then, out of nowhere, he sprang to his feet, his earlier excitement renewed. “Potassium cyanide! That's it! Yes!” Yuujin was all but shoved out of the way as Holmes began to bustle about the lab, searching all the cabinets until at last he pulled out a small bottle. All it took was a single drop for the water to turn a dull brown, with precipitate settling in the bottom of the beaker. “Eureka!” Holmes exclaimed, slapping a hand on Yuujin's shoulder. “I knew I could do it! The Sherlock Holmes test is complete! My good man, what would I have done without you? Wherever did you come by your chemistry knowledge?” “Ah, it is not so much chemistry as biology. I am a doctor and a forensics student, you see.” “Forensics! Brilliant! This is the future of criminal investigations! Some would argue otherwise, but I would fight back twice as hard! Gathering knowledge from other countries through exchanges should definitely be encouraged. You are from Afghanistan, yes?” “Ah, no. I came from Japan,” Yuujin pointed out, somewhat surprised by the assumption. If he'd been mistaken for Chinese, he would have understood. “But then, surely, you were in Afghanistan for some time!” Holmes insisted. “I've never been there. In fact, I have never gone abroad before accepting this project” “Did your ship make port in Afghanistan, then?” “Mr. Holmes, please. It feels as if you are getting led astray.”