All That Counts

By: Aviantei

Chapter Three: Take By the Hand

May 11, 2019, 5:48 PM

Southway Residence, Hallway

Nora felt like she was going to throw up, which wasn't exactly something she could consider during dinner. Especially since it was her guest, there was no room for the mistakes that had been scattering throughout her performance lately. Generally something like this was usually suggested by her father as a chance to show that she wasn't completely useless as a lady of the house, this was without warning. While such a thing might gain her some additional points if it went well, screwing it up was out of the question. The possibility that she had just gotten a glimpse of would definitely be gone then.

Yumihiko had offered her a job—the job, really—and while the chances of convincing her father at the moment that she should be allowed to take it were nonexistent, it didn't matter. She wanted to be like her mother so bad that she was going to try her damnedest to do whatever it took. Of course it wouldn't be that simple, considering her father was only one obstacle, but still…

Nora walked down the hall, back straight, and took confident strides behind the servant that had come to lead them to dinner. She had taken much longer in getting ready than usual, making sure nothing was out of place. The dress was uncomfortable and more than a bit stiff in places from lack of use, but it was easy enough to put up with. At the very least she had to keep her head up so Yumihiko wouldn't worry about her too much.

The young prosecutor was playing with his baton again, although this time he had reverted back to bending it like Nora had seen so many times back in America. It was surprising to see the gesture without tears, but it still showed how nervous he was. Even so, Nora couldn't help but think that he was still trying his hardest to get over it.

He's trying so hard to get stronger and I… What had she done in the past few months? Nothing much other than get overwhelmed by some ridiculous school assignments and disappoint her father. Yumihiko on the other hand had apparently had some resolution push him into improving himself. True, Nora hadn't had anything world shattering to push her into doing so, like learning that she had been raised and molded to fit needs and nothing more, but she should have done something about it anyway, considering how unhappy she was about her situation.

Her mother was gone. She was a disappointment to her father. Not to mention—

Nora stopped the train of thought with a shake of her head. That last point wasn't an issue at the moment, so there was no need to work herself up over it. All it would do was add extra stress, when all she really needed to worry about was acting properly during dinner. That was an easy enough task on its own, so when they finally approached the dining room, Nora's stomach was quite stable, with only traces of nerves coursing through her system.

She smiled at Yumihiko, who did his best to smile back. She reached out for his baton for the second time, once again slipping it out of his fingers. He started to protest, but Nora just shook her head. "I believe in you, Yumi, there's no need to work yourself up over it, okay?" she assured. "It's only dinner."

Yumihiko looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead plucked the baton back, wielding it as he always did when he was in a confident mood. "There's no need to concern yourself with me," he stated with a smirk. "After all, I'm first-rate in everything I do, and dinner is no exception." The baton poked at her chest, and Yumihiko's expression switched into a smile. "You said it's best if I act like that, right?"

Nora blinked a bit at the sudden change, but ultimately nodded. "Yea, as long as you keep that up, you'll do fine." It was getting a bit difficult to ignore to look she was getting from the servant, so Nora made a mental reminder to fix her speech patterns. "Well, if we keep standing here, we're going to be late. Shall we go?"

Still smiling, Yumihiko gracefully offered his hand, and not even thinking twice, Nora took it before the servant opened the door for them to enter.

The dining room was beyond large, more suited to parties than a family dinner, but Nora had stopped being amazed by it a long time ago. Sure, she still couldn't comprehend why those with money thought wasting space was necessary, but she had never been able to question it. Yumihiko only stared for a second, not gaping like she had expected before being ushered along towards the table.

Nathaniel Southway sat at the head of the table, but stood up as the duo approached. Nora slipped her fingers away from Yumihiko's, experiencing a little resistance, in order to give a small bow of greeting. "Good evening, Father," she said, trying to sound confident and humble at the same time. It wasn't easy to do, but it was what was expected, and for once, Nora felt like she had pulled it off.

"Good evening," Nathaniel returned, barely sparing his daughter a glance before focusing on Yumihiko instead. Nora wasn't religious, but she gave a quick prayer to something out there that he would be okay. "And welcome to my home. I would like to give you a proper greeting, although I'm afraid that I have yet to be told your name." Her father paused to offer his hand. "I am Nathaniel Southway. May I ask your name, my guest?"

Nora felt her heart thundering in her chest as she watched the exchange. Fortunately, Yumihiko seemed prepared, the same confident look she had seen in America on his face. "I am Ichiyanagi Yumihiko, a prosecutor from America." He shook Nathaniel's hand before dropping down into a bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Southway-san, and thank you for welcoming me into your home."

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Ichiyanagi. I must admit, though, I'm rather surprised that you would travel all the way to Europe, although I guess it comes with the job. You must be talented, though, to become a prosecutor when you're so young." Nora internally winced at the comment, and could tell Yumihiko probably had as well. "I am rather curious, just how old are you?"

"Seventeen, sir." Yumihiko seemed to falter in his presentation for a moment, but quickly caught himself. "It was a lot of hard work, but it wasn't much of a challenge. After all, I am first-rate at what I do." Nora wondered for a second if she had made a mistake in telling Yumihiko to act that way, but her fears were erased when her father let out a boisterous laugh.

"Well, you most certainly are a confident young man, that's good," Nathaniel commented, grinning. Nora could feel some more of her anxiety come back; he never acted like this, not even for guests. Either he was genuinely impressed or he was pretending for the sake of being a good host. She honestly had no clue. "How in the world did you meet such a person?"

It took Nora a few seconds to realize she was the one being addressed, and a few more after that to come up with a convincing lie. She didn't need to bring up the coincidental running into a crime scene, the not-so-coincidental intruding on another, and the trial. It wouldn't look good on her behavior, not to mention talking about the investigations would ultimately lead to that bastard and the truth about her—

"We met while Ema and I were visiting the prosecutor's office where her sister worked. She wanted to talk to some old acquaintances and one of them—you've heard her speak of Prosecutor Edgeworth, right?—was discussing a case with Mr. Ichiyanagi," she lied, trying not to think too hard about it. "They were busy, but were kind enough to spare us some of their time." Yumihiko gave her a look, but didn't question it out loud. Instead, he took the lie and expanded on it.

"I didn't have much time to talk with Ms. Southway then, but we did get along well," This time it was Nora's turn to stare. "I was conducting some business concerning a friend of mine and overheard the family name in the process. Since I was in town, I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if I could pay her a visit." They both glanced at each other for a second, cementing the fake situation in their brains. Nathaniel gave a short nod of understanding before heading back towards his seat.

"Well, you are most certainly welcome in our home, Mr. Ichiyanagi. Now we should take a seat before the cooks get impatient. They always get worked up over the meals they prepare for guests, and we shouldn't keep them waiting any longer."

Nora walked over to her usual seat, and Yumihiko was quick enough to pull out her chair for her. She could feel some color forming in her cheeks at that, mostly because no one had ever treated her like a lady before. The servants all saw her as a disappointment, and the field she was studying wasn't exactly one where you wanted to be seen as prim and proper. But Yumihiko seemed to be doing it without second thought, even if it could have just been for the situation.

She didn't have the time to think about it, though, when she realized that there were five places sat at the table instead of four, and that Yumihiko's place was to her left instead of across.

"Oh, is Mrs. Southway late?" the prosecutor asked as he scooted his chair closer to the table. Nora wanted to ask a different question, but it was good enough. She couldn't form the words, her mouth felt dry, and she was back to wanting to throw up. Everything felt like it had been going well, but things were going to turn around for the worse if that woman showed up.

"Ah, Lillian has been out on a business trip for quite some time," Nathaniel responded, and Nora held out a hope that there would be another guest, like one of her father's business partners—anyone but her. The next words dashed he hopes. "However, she was able to finish her business early, so she should be arriving soon. She sent ahead that we shouldn't hesitate to start without her, so shall we begin?"

On cue, the servers carried in the dishes, and Nora tried not to look too hasty as she reached for her glass of water. Her mouth was even drier now, and she didn't want to think of what would happen if she tried to eat. But when it came down to it, she didn't have much of a choice after not eating much all day. She was hungry, but at the same time she couldn't tell if her stomach wanted her to eat just so she could heave it back up.

Her father continued to talk with Yumihiko, and Nora only tossed in contributions every now and then so they wouldn't think something was wrong. She ate some food as well, taking small bites so she wouldn't push it. It wasn't long before the door opened, and Nora put her hands to the sides of her chair and gripped. Nathaniel stood up to greet the woman with a hug.

Lillian Southway was beautiful; Nora had to give her that. She was also graceful and elegant and practically everything Nora wasn't. She had clearly been raised by a high-class family to be married into a high-class family, which she had easily succeeded in doing. She wanted Nora to do the same, which was just impossible. For one, Nora had been put into the training attempt far too late for it to make an impact, and it showed. She couldn't speak properly without effort, she couldn't stand wearing the formal clothing, and she didn't want to just be some trophy wife. She wanted to make her own way, and if she found someone that she liked enough, fine, marriage. But it wasn't going to be any of the snotty brats she had to socialize with at parties, not a chance in bloody hell.

Even worse in her favor were her job ambitions, which Nora had had to fight for in order to gain approval to even study it, and that permission had only been given because even Lillian couldn't argue that being educated would help her chances in finding a husband. But the simple fact was that ladies—Nora really hated the word—didn't have ambitions for jobs where they played with dead bodies, no matter the money they could earn from it.

There were so many other expectations Nora failed at that it was useless to list them. To put it frankly, she hated Lillian with a passion, and she was quite sure the feeling was mutual. But there was no way she could say that, so she just kept gripping onto her chair, trying to put her eyes on a decent level of the table before she had to look up at the place across from her. Suddenly, Yumihiko's gloved hand closed over hers, and she turned to look at him with wide eyes. He was smiling in reassurance, but the concern in his eyes was obvious.

"Nora." Lillian's voice made her snap to attention, finally looking where she was expected to. Nathaniel had finished seating his wife and was just getting back into his own chair. Lillian gracefully folded her napkin over her lap and picked up her glass as her personal servant brought out her food. "I expect that you have been keeping up with your training while I was gone, correct?"

Yumihiko's fingers picked at her own; Nora gave in and connected their hands under the table. Focusing enough so that her voice wouldn't show the contempt she was feeling, she replied, "Yes, Mother." The word tasted like acid coming out of her throat. It didn't belong here. She gripped onto Yumihiko's hand hard, and he did his best to squeeze back.

"And your… classes…" It wasn't fair that Lillian could show her disapproval, but Nora couldn't return the favor. "I suppose that your performance is exemplary as well."

Nora quickly thought about the work piling up in her room, the paper she had to write, and the tests she had to study for. She knew the progress she was making was nowhere near what was expected. So she did the same thing she always did when it came to this woman: lie. "Yes, Mother." It wasn't just the talk of her work that was untruthful. The biggest lie was the charade they put up as mother and daughter.

But she didn't care anymore. As soon as this dinner was over and Yumihiko was gone, she was going to sit down and get everything done. She was going to make herself better for herself and no one else. All because of one ridiculous boy who was willing to let her cut off the blood flow in his fingers to comfort her.

To Be Continued

A long time ago I said something selfish along the lines of "I'm going to update this story weekly!" Obviously, this has not been the case. Regardless, I haven't abandoned this story. I worked on it a bit over the fall, and picked it up again last week as I was let out of school and picked up writing again. This story does have an end, and it does have a purpose. Nora and Yumihiko's journey has a lot to it, so I hope to keep going until the very end. If anything, I truly think this story is the first one I will finish this summer. That being said, I hope to be able to get to the internet enough to share this story with you at a reasonable lace that doesn't involve any more year-long hiatuses.

Special thanks to Magic Detective for favoriting this story back in August. I hope the rest of the story is what made you enjoy it in the first place.