Disclaimer:

Let's just skip the giant disclaimer you can find in Chapter 1!


x.

FS

x.

x. ENCOUNTER in VENICE x.

(new version)

x.

Starry, starry night

Paint your palette blue and gray

Look out on a summer's day

With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

("Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)", by Don McLean)

x.

The Z-Files of Detective Boy Holmes

x.

The Z-Files of Detective Boy Holmes, the mystery series which should have been translated as The Secret Casebook of Young Sherlock Holmes, was the victim of an idiotic translation mistake. Angela's Japanese wasn't great at that time, and the translator must have been wasted or stoned when she suggested the title—but other people must have been temporarily demented as well since there was no way that this wacky name would have stuck to the series otherwise! And though she—the fierce, dedicated director of the acclaimed Sherlock Holmes parody, which won several awards—tried to move heaven and hell and also flamed the moron of a translator afterwards, her serious, high-brow Sherlock Holmes series became famous under this most unfitting title, which couldn't be changed due to the weirdest bureaucratic problems (one of the many odd and mysterious difficulties the series suddenly encountered ever since Three Lights became part of the crew).

Someone immensely powerful must have played a prank on them—but no one could tell who it was. Yaten and Seiya, unfazed by all circumstances, had only laughed out loud when Angela declared that, if she were paranoid, she would have suspected an evil syndicate or even the interference of Satan (Taiki, the quiet one, only gave her his usual blade-thin smile before he focused on his book). But after ten years and many hours of praying and repentance, Angela Gray aka Gushiken Akane, devoted Christian, film director, choreographer, and dance teacher, has come to accept Detective Boy Holmes as it was—one of her pet projects which turned out quite different from what she wanted it to be although many changes were happy accidents, in Saki's opinion.

You know why you're here with me? Because it's always the leader of the mob and not the mob that deserves punishment! Why are you sabotaging my work as if we were enemies? You must learn to pick your fights and swallow your pride, Young Moriarty!

What are you talking about? I haven't done anything! Seiya flashed her his pure angel's smile which, under different circumstances (and if she had been less angry), would have made her knees weak. Look, I'm the only one here who is trying to work seriously! He flipped through his pocket-sized screenplay and even dared to give her a mischievous wink. I'm trying to get into the role of Young Moriarty, just as you've taught me! Sticking his head out of the window, in front of which half the crew of Detective Boy Holmes were still immersed in their most recent street brawl, he cheerily shouted, Go, Yaten! Go, Taiki! Our rich sponsor's kid likes another round!

Even now, Angela is overcome by a sense of humiliation when people on the street recognize her as "the director of Detective Boy Holmes" despite the great success and critical acclaim the series have brought her. And since Angela has always been a reclusive person, who refuses to give interviews, she is selfishly glad that the reporters were too distracted by Saki to see that the ("notoriously hot-headed and tough") director of Detective Boy Holmes has come to Venice with Itabashi Saki, Naked's star photographer.

Shizuka, who is still working as Seiya's long-suffering agent, has told Angela that Yaten and Taiki are flying to Venice to see Seiya on Sunday, which Angela interpreted as an invitation to come to Venice as well. As might be expected, Shizuka didn't dare to suggest the idea to Angela, who never allows other people to plan her holidays for her, but it was understood that the occasion couldn't be more favourable. At the time of Shizuka's (dramatic, lengthy) phone call, Angela was holidaying in Rome or rather going on a pilgrimage to Rome, which was Yumemi's favourite city, the one Yumemi visited before she died. Rei (Angela's all-time favourite female student) will be singing Christine at La Fenice in the Phantom of the Opera production of Angela's cousin, whose athlete daughter is visiting her ex-girlfriend Kaioh Michiru at the moment. Three Lights (Angela's all-time favourite male idols) will also be together again in Venice, where they will hopefully not get into any of the fights Seiya always attracts in New York, which makes this the ideal occasion for a long-overdue reunion.

"Finally! Those reporters have left us alone at last!" sighs Saki as she flops into her chair after taking photos of Al Theatro's interior. "Imagine the commotion if they had recognized you! But of course no one could identify you in these clothes if you're always running around in tomboyish jazz dance attire or your nunlike white rags. You should let your Bad-Akane and Good-Angela personas dress up like this more often!"

"Who is always running around in tomboyish attire?" Although they were half-sisters, Saki is the very opposite of Yumemi if one ignores the long French braid—the only similarity they shared. Yumemi was always dressed pragmatically and unobtrusively—perhaps because she saw herself primarily as an illustrator and plein air painter, who should be more concerned with the beauty around her than with her own looks—but Yumemi was feminine at all times while Saki, despite her feminine face, might as well be a young man with braided long hair.

"How could I hunt for the best snapshots if I were always tripping over my high heels? I've squeezed myself into these girly clothes for once just for the sake of the disguise—hell, I'm even wearing a push-up bra! But it didn't help at all since the journalists have identified me regardless—"

"Your voice was so loud that it was impossible for them not to notice you, as always! You shouldn't have mentioned Reunion in Venice while the reporters who had come to interview Seiya were in the vicinity. Of course they would recognize your face, knowing you've often worked with Yaten."

The waiter has just arrived with their order, and both of them remain silent until he leaves. Afterwards, Saki greedily downs her fresh orange juice in one gulp (years of socializing with celebrities and reporters haven't managed to change Saki's manners although they have eliminated her Osaka accent completely)—but Angela, who is just as thirsty as Saki, has to wait for two to three minutes until her green tea is ready.

"How, do you think, will it feel to see your beloved 'Prodigal Son' again after eight years?" asks Saki. "Seiya must have changed very much if he has a girlfriend now. How did you call the three boys? Wandering stars or shooting stars? It was impossible to imagine them with girlfriends since all they cared about were their independence and their foster sister."

"Seiya isn't my 'prodigal son'," Angela corrects her. "Prodigal sons return to their elders after losing themselves to the seductions of the world. Seiya has never been seduced because he always knew what he wanted; and I don't think the boy will ever come crawling back to anyone—not even to me."

"The girlfriend seems to have him around her little finger, though. Is a real dragon, so I've heard. But I admire women who can manage their boyfriends, especially when the boyfriend is as unmanageable as Seiya. Pity we've arrived too late to see her."

"Don't worry—she will be around when we visit Seiya and Rei in their dressing rooms. One always attends the opening night if the singer in the main role is one's boyfriend. That's a question of manners and good taste—and Shizuka said Shiho is a very fine girl although she wishes that Seiya has never met her."

"And then there is Rei, who will be the loveliest Christine who has ever been onstage! Sadly, the girl has no sex appeal at all in contrast to her minx of a roommate!"

"You know… I'm looking forward to seeing Rei again." Angela instinctively touches the cross around her neck. "She seems to do well now, which is a blessing."

The last time Angela met Hino Rei, who was easily the nicest, warmest girl of the all-girls school where Angela taught, the beautiful miko of Hikawa Shrine was mourning a good friend's death. Kumada Yuuichirou, an apprentice of Rei's grandfather (and a millionaire's son who had spent most of his time at the shrine pining for the dark and distant miko instead of focusing on work) had just passed away after a terrible freak accident on the stairs of Hikawa Shrine. Miraculously, Yuuichirou saved Rei's life (and, consequently, Rei's grandfather's life) while he died. Although it was already bedtime, the lovesick boy had dialled Rei's number before he tumbled down the stairs, whereupon the young miko, who always slept "like a rock", according to her best friend's accounts, was woken up by the persistent ringing of her phone and noticed that Hikawa Shrine was burning.

"I like the girl—straight arrows like Rei are rare—but I'm looking forward to seeing Seiya more," Saki admits. "Do you remember what I said during the audition, when he entered the room and everyone went silent? I said—"

"'Fascinating, those eyes,'" Angela, who can remember Saki's exclamation, recites. "Like Irene Adler's colour-change sapphire."

x.


She can remember…

(Saturday, November 3rd 20xx, from different points of view)

x.

She can remember the first time they met as clearly as if it was a movie she had personally directed. The three Kou brothers, so Akane had been warned by Igarashi Kenji, Shizuka's father, were exceptionally pretty. Generally, natural beauty was advantageous for an acting career; and for the role of a leading man, charisma and attractiveness (not to be confused with conventionally good looks although a handsome appearance is definitely a plus) had become a minimum requirement in the acting world. On the other hand, it could be problematic to cast up-and-coming teenage heartthrobs like Three Lights in Detective Boy Holmes without turning the series into another cheap teenage franchise featuring pretty airheads… Anyhow, since it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that Three Lights possessed charm and talent, Angela decided to have a look at them.

The setting of their first encounter was the audition for the advertisement of the unsavoury Galaxia's Golden Sunkissed Bun (a dish that the devil himself must have invented!), which Saki also attended and to which Three Lights, Kenji, and Shizuka had been invited. Angela, dressed in her nunlike clothes, in which almost no one recognized her, was going to test the young men separately before the audition for Detective Boy Holmes and pretend that she wasn't interested in them at all in case the recent local hype had spoilt them and made them lazy. All eyes were fastened on Seiya the moment he stepped into the room; and next to Angela, Saki began to fuss with her camera like a maniac. Look, Akane-san! Saki enthusiastically shoved her new camera into Seiya's face, jamming her elbows into Angela's temple in her eagerness to get a close-up of the singer, and gushed about his fascinating eyes, which, in Saki's words, were "like Irene Adler's colour-change sapphire".

Angela, who had already studied Kou Seiya's photos before she attended the audition, had naturally noticed the idol's haunting, moody blue eyes, whose shifting colour conjured up images of the sea or the sky and could become as dark and chilly as a rainy night or as bright and intense as a blue fire. But what impressed Angela wasn't the glaring, girly gorgeousness of the kid (as a closet romantic, Angela preferred male actors with the sort of subtle, unobtrusive handsomeness that didn't burn and hurt)—Angela was awed by Seiya's absence of anxiety and fear, which most aspiring teenage actors displayed (or at least had to suppress) whenever they saw her. This amateur actor's smiling eyes, however, were gazing at everyone and everything with insatiable curiosity and pride. Here I am, world, and I'm going to express myself! Seiya might as well have said. Veni, vidi, vici! Angela wouldn't have been surprised if the boy had informed her during the audition that he had set out to conquer the universe.

Amiably waiting for Saki to take his photos, Seiya languidly let his eyes roam the room and returned the adoring smiles, all of which were directed at him. The deep black curls, which defied Saki's combs, and the long silky eyelashes gave the kid a rakish, womanizing look although his features were still delicate and far too noble for the role of a crook. The choreographer in Angela didn't fail to take notice of the boy's classical ballet dancer's body—the long neck and limbs and defined but slender muscles, to say nothing of his graceful carriage and easy movements, the result of a natural aptitude combined with great awareness and regular training. A Byronic hero with Dorian Gray's face and an angel's smile, who carries himself with aplomb, Angela thought. This was her Young Moriarty and Irene Adler's Godfrey Norton!

For a whole year, Angela had been searching for an actor and dancer who could be Lucifer as well as Michael, Apollo as well as Prodigal Son, the protagonist of Le Baiser de la fée as well as the Swan Lake prince, an honourable Young Sherlock Holmes as well as a manipulative Professor Moriarty. Angela wanted Kou Seiya for her series, but at the same time, she was afraid of messing up. A boy with a face like Seiya's shouldn't play Sherlock Holmes (it would only help perpetuate the myth that greatness went hand in hand with physical beauty); but Angela could also foresee that Seiya could ruin her series if she cast him as Young Moriarty, as the audience was easily seduced. Lucifer was said to have been the very seal of perfection and the most beautiful angel of all—but there were pragmatic reasons why the devil was seldom played by attractive actors in movies. James Moriarty, the personification of darkness in Detective Boy Holmes, would come across to the unsuspecting audience as "amusing" and "cool".

Your reasons for this audition, and a good reason why I should hire you! Angela barked, hiding her indecisiveness behind her strict Gushiken-sensei's voice since she sensed that she shouldn't show any sign of weakness in front of the crew.

I'm extremely talented, super-competent, drop-dead gorgeous, flat broke, and will do almost anything for money!

The many photos hadn't prepared Angela for the sound of his voice, and Angela comprehended for the first time in her life why Christine Daaé needed Raoul's help to free herself from the Phantom's spell. At the same time, Angela wasn't so blind that she couldn't see that Seiya, like the Phantom, was well aware of the perilous attractiveness of his voice. Smiling at her with divine nonchalance, the wayward kid acknowledged her astonishment and admiration, which she couldn't hide, with casual grace and took all for granted as if it didn't mean anything.

I see you're the proud one! Angela observed, looking Seiya up and down with her most condescending smirk pasted on her lips. And pride, my dear, is the deadliest of the cardinal sins!

No, it isn't, Seiya returned, fixing her eyes with his serious, unwaveringly nonchalant gaze. The deadliest sin is stupidity! And you, my dear, he imitated her smirk, her gestures, her voice, and her manner of speaking so perfectly that Angela reddened and blanched, don't look so stupid that you couldn't swallow your pride and hire me!

Seiya's breathtaking insolence and his cheeky parting grin as he glided out of the room must have prepared Angela for the impertinence of his two older foster brothers although Taiki's brand of rudeness was just bearable. For a moment, Angela was tempted to offer Taiki the role of Young Sherlock Holmes without waiting until the audition since Taiki had everything she liked about Seiya and none of Seiya's annoying seductiveness and rebelliousness. Kou Taiki wasn't only elegant and handsome, he was also self-aware, confident, calm, and fiercely intelligent—the ideal actor to play the greatest consulting detective in British literature.

To Angela's anger, Taiki told her that he wouldn't star in the commercial movie for Galaxia's Golden Sunkissed Bun, much less in Detective Boy Holmes, without his two brothers. In return, Seiya and Yaten weren't going to accept the movie offer without him either. When Angela gave the stoical middle Kou brother a sample of Galaxia's Golden Sunkissed Bun to taste (it must have been her petty revenge for Taiki's comment that he would always support his siblings since he liked being on the winning side when she informed him that his youngest brother was an arrogant jerk), Taiki only grimaced.

Promoting such a singularly revolting dish will be a great challenge, he dryly commented as he gave her his civil, distant smile. But since we three like challenges very much and have often adapted to worse situations than this one, I can assure you we'll be fine.

Yaten's diva attitude, in contrast, wasn't only the tip of the iceberg but the iceberg itself. When he entered the room, the oldest brother, who was also the prettiest and best-dressed of the three, sneezed, yawned until tears brimmed in his eyes, and sighed simultaneously—managing to convey the impression that he would rather be anywhere but here. Since he had the loveliest face Saki had ever seen (Look, look, Akane-san! This is Irene's face—a face to die for!) and she found his frail, feminine looks refreshing (Look, look, Akane-san, the boy looks like a real princess!), Saki jumped into Yaten's way to take photos. But instead of being flattered by the attention, the jerk unceremoniously snatched Saki's new camera, took out the roll film, and smashed the camera twice against the wall.

Not while I'm yawning! Yaten hissed and narrowed his green eyes, looking the very image of a cat whose nap had just been disturbed by a stranger's unwelcome display of affection. Haven't you read the conditions my agent sent? You're allowed to take any photo of me for Naked, I can even get naked for you in front of the camera if you crave it, but no one, absolutely no one, idiot, takes a photo of me while I'm yawning!

Angela was about to dismiss Yaten instantly (thinking that the neurotic brat should consider himself lucky if Saki didn't sue him for his outburst), but Saki only grabbed the broken camera and the roll film and dashed like an athlete of Elza's level to her bag.

You're wonderful! Saki shouted after producing her spare camera. What a splendid, honest display of pure, undiluted, righteous anger! It's rare to find so much primal aggressiveness juxtaposed with such a nice, gentle face! If you don't want to share your precious yawning face with the rest of the world, please let me keep the photos of it for my own pleasure!

Like any sensible director would have done, Angela decided not to hire any of the Kou brothers. One should know one's limits, and these raw diamonds were too rough even for Angela's taste. But Saki, persistent as she was, begged Angela to reconsider her decision—even showed Angela the photos Saki had shot and the song Seiya had written. During a sleepless, starry, starry night, when Angela was in a jovial, mellow mood, Angela decided that there was a grain of truth in Seiya's statement since she could just swallow her pride and hire the three talented rogues.

x.

Galaxia's Golden Sunkissed Bun, despite its "singularly revolting" taste, sold surprisingly well and had just begun to revolutionize the young generation's untrained palate when a reporter overheard Kou Yaten calling the bun a "sugar-coated, honey-filled load of shit", which spelled the doom of the popular bun. (Luckily, Galaxia didn't dare to sue Yaten for fear that the ingredients of the buns would be analyzed in court.) That one, shouted Gushiken Akane—Angela's tomboyish choreographer persona—a few days later, when Three Lights auditioned for Detective Boy Holmes. Unless his acting stinks—she shot Seiya a challenging glance—I want him as Young Moriarty and Godfrey Norton!

Akane firmly believed that every kid deserved a chance in life—and a boy like Seiya should learn that pride came before the fall. When she started her dancer's career at the tender age of ten, Akane resolved that she would live up to her name and become the guardian angel who helped the lost souls find their rightful place in the world. Society, a cruel and despotic teacher, always destroyed the exceptional talents that couldn't fit into it. Wherever mediocrity thrived, genius, as a rule, would die. Literature was swamped with examples of them—the most gifted, most beautiful souls that should have stayed in heaven but eventually lost to their own passions when they failed to control themselves. It wouldn't be easy but Akane was sure that she would succeed. After all, Yukiko's son Shinichi, too, was a spoiled brat of the worst order until she met him.

x.

Akane soon had to admit that Three Lights were a lost case. There were too many reasons to count, but the greatest obstacle was their total lack of interest in adapting. The rascals didn't need anything but the fee and didn't trust anyone apart from themselves. They didn't make the slightest effort to socialize (dragging them to parties was worse than pulling teeth!); they mocked everything what Akane and the crew deemed normal and rational; and they were all openly, unabashedly in love with their eternally absent, eternally elusive foster sister, whose nanny sometimes sent photos of the family dogs: the Miniature Poodle Yaten, the Border Collie Taiki, and the Doberman Pinscher Seiya.

Once Akane asked Seiya about his free Sunday with his sister, and Seiya told Akane that Taiki (the Border Collie), who had taken after Seiya instead of his namesake, had herded the cooks and eaten all the rice. While Seiya narrated the story, Seiya was glowing with pride as though the canine were his and his sister's lovechild.

In the breaks, Taiki was glued to his laptop to stalk the chats of two anime fans on Livestream. And the only explanation he offered Akane when she asked him why he would waste his rare free time in such a manner was that reading the gossips of the two Gintama fans was "interesting".

One day, Yaten, who ignored anyone who wasn't part of his family, returned to the set with a black cat, whom he had lured away from the neighbourhood because Seiya, who had randomly lied to the reporters, claimed that Three Lights had a pet. Yaten doted on the vicious kitten as though it were a queen, and it took Akane some effort and time to convince him that he should return it to its rightful owners.

The three idiots (and most probably their foster sister as well) behaved as though they had been raised on another planet, which was governed by other laws. If they hadn't been so absurdly talented, Akane would have fired them right away! As things were, Akane stuck by them through thick and thin and watched in horror how they—or rather Young Moriarty—hijacked her Detective Boy series.

The trouble started with "A Scandal in Bohemia", with the John-Mary love scenes and the nasty camera operator (Takeo Shiro's son, who was talented but slightly sadistic, savoured the two inexperienced actor's nervousness like a tasty dish and taunted them about their inadequacy whenever possible). Despite Takeo Junior's abusive behaviour, which Akane had to tolerate since Shiro, who was an important sponsor, adored his offspring, Noriko and Yaten did fairly well considering their lack of experience. After a thousand failed takes (which were fairly good but not good enough) for another love scene, however, Taiki and Seiya dropped the bomb on Akane.

Yaten, is it true that you're only fifteen? Akane pulled at her hair until she ripped off her favourite headband. Why did you lie to me about this? Fifteen—my ass! Fifteen! Three Lights had hidden their real age well until Taiki and Seiya, upon discovering that those R-rated scenes would be illegal if the actors were underage, decided that Yaten could no longer "suffer the torture of filming the redundant John-Mary scenes". We've wasted weeks and weeks on these thousand-and-one clips and now I'll have to throw out all of them! We could even be sued for this now that we've already aired a few—no, come to think of it, I should sue you!

Why should it make a difference for her, Yaten asked Akane in surprise. Being fifteen was "such a pain" while being eighteen meant having the freedom to decide over one's own life. Three Lights didn't lie about their age to ruin Akane's series—they only lied so that they wouldn't have to cope with the bureaucracy.

You mean I wouldn't have had to do these love scenes at all if you had known that I was fifteen? Yaten exclaimed when it finally dawned on him what Akane was saying. Despite his intelligence and his diction, which revealed a cultured upbringing, the boy knew nothing about film ratings.

Where are your parents? Akane demanded, whereupon the kid gave her a blank look. Any mentors or relatives? Apart from Kenji, you three must have someone who is in charge of you!

No one was in charge of them, Kenji admitted when she broke into his apartment that night and threatened to sue him if he didn't let her talk with the parents of the brats. The millionaire parents didn't want to know how their kids were doing—after locating them, Kenji had tried to contact them more than once but all to no avail. As for Three Lights' age, Kenji would never have guessed that they were only fifteen since they had faked their papers. Now Kenji and Akane would have to rack their brains for a way to clean up the mess and send the three boys to school.

Naturally, Akane could have sued the Kou couple for kicking out their kids and replacing them with dogs—but Akane neither had the money nor the time, nor the motivation to do it, especially not when the people she had to fight against were the type of millionaires that possessed a whole isle. Three Lights had become famous and popular in the meantime and could take care of themselves. Hence Akane had to swallow her pride again and let the remaining John-Mary love scenes go by the board without as much as a farewell.

The love scenes, however, continued to haunt the set. Real problems were always directly or indirectly connected to the evil influence of money, or romantic love, or power, or (like it was in this case) a mix of all the three. It must have been love, which started it: Okamachi Noriko was entertaining an epic unrequited love for Kou Yaten—and the explicit love scenes they had done together seemed to have blinded Noriko to the vast gulf between them, which Noriko would have seen and felt if she hadn't been encouraged by the fact that the gloomy Light had been simulating marital delight with her so often.

Yaten, do you have plans for Saturday night? Alice has given me free tickets for her next concert, and I wondered if you and your brothers are interested in jazz…

Seiya is over there! Yaten yawned and indicated his youngest brother (who, lounging in the Green Room, was working his charm on Alice, the series' Irene Adler). I'm only warning you that you don't stand a chance! Itsuki-san already crashed and burned when she tried although she is a much better match for him than you.

Blinded or rather deafened by her consuming infatuation, Noriko laughed and fiddled with her long, dark auburn hair.

I actually wanted to ask you if you have the time to go with me. Let's make this a date! You really owe me one after our "partnership".

From the nearby bench where Akane was sitting with Taiki, who was trying to memorize the hundred-eighteen-thousandth (or was it the hundred-nineteen-thousandth?) digit of pi, Akane could discern the flicker of compassion in Yaten's eyes during his moment of hesitation before he flipped his hair and sighed.

Listen, I'll tell you the ugly truth now so that you won't lose time over something so hopeless and dumb! I don't like you at all—our "partnership" was only well-simulated! I don't think I could manage even an ounce of interest in you and your fussy, cutesy style even if I wanted to try—which I don't! If someone pointed a gun at me and forced me to make a choice, I'd rather take an old, deaf and dumb hag who doesn't smell like a giant bag of cotton candy and vanilla ice like you always do. So stay away from me, let go of me, and forget about me, for heaven's sake! And do weigh up the pros and cons the next time you feel this unfortunate urge to ask someone out so that you won't publicly embarrass yourself like this!

A few minutes later, when a tearful Noriko was trying to convey her impression to Yaten that his dismissal was "the rudest rejection ever" and that he couldn't seriously mean all the things he just told her, Seiya arrived on the scene.

Here, for you! murmured Seiya in his Godfrey Norton voice and, presenting Alice's sapphire ring with a flourish to his oldest brother, who was now staring at the unexpected present with a lovestruck expression on his face, added, Irene!

Thank you! Yaten, who never said anything nice or enthusiastic to anyone, threw his arms around Seiya's waist, ignoring Noriko, who was staring at the two of them in speechless incredulity. Seiya, I'm touched! Thank you so much for buying it for me! I'll never forget what you've done!

x.


"You know what..."

(Saturday, November 3rd 20xx, from different points of view)

x.

"You know what, Angie-Akane, I think the crisis on the set of Detective Boy Holmes would never have blown up like it did if Takeo Junior and his friends hadn't started to bully Yaten," Saki tells Angela after ordering their snacks. "But I admit I was rolling on the floor laughing when I learned about the rumours! I'd have sacrificed my best camera to get a close-up of Yaten's face when he read in the news that two of the Three Lights were gay!"

"I know Seiya only defended his brother—but I still pity Takeo's son."

"How could you! I, for my part, don't pity the cretin at all!" After taking photos of the potato chips the waiter has just brought, Saki begins to stuff herself. "You know," she declares as she is chewing on the potato chips, and Angela almost admires her for talking with her mouth full without looking in the least disgusting, "I don't buy this 'losing yourself in a role' theory! I think Seiya has always been Young Moriarty whether he played the part or not although it was easier for him to explode when he was playing such a dark role! He disliked being controlled—and like most mentors who care too much about their students, you've tried too hard to control him."

"Well, then we can relax because I'm not trying to control him now!" Hurt by Saki's remark, Angela changes the topic. "Why did you tell the reporters that Reunion in Venice was a working title?"

Reunion in Venice, which will illustrate a second chance meeting between Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler in La Serenissima, the city of love and death, was supposed to be a series of romantic shots, Saki explained. She got the idea when she talked to a fanatic Sherlock Holmes fan, who went into a rage when she suggested that the great detective might have been in love with Irene Adler. "It was clear as day to me after reading the story, especially if one considers the Victorian writing tradition and Watson's voice—but those fans try to deny the very possibility of it! 'The naked truth about Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes!' That would be a great theme for a Venetian photo series in Naked, you see!"

Sherlock Holmes, upon encountering his ideal woman again, would have to struggle with unfamiliar romantic feelings, which he couldn't accept because they didn't fit into his rational world view. Here she was, again: the woman, who was now married to another and thus completely out of his reach, radiant and unobtainable like a forbidden jewel, whose strange, shifting colour he would love to explore! Saki wants to see Seiya as Sherlock Holmes and Yaten as Irene Adler—this outrageous, incestuous choice excites Saki so much that she can hardly focus on anything else. And yet… She can't tell why she is dissatisfied with the title, Saki admits in frustration. Every time she says it aloud, she has the feeling that something is off although she can't tell what.

"A 'reunion' sounds like a meeting between close friends or ex-lovers, which Sherlock and Irene aren't," Angela explains, wondering why things which are so obvious to her are often overlooked by Saki and vice versa. "If Watson and Holmes or, in the case of The Phantom of the Opera, Erik and Christine met each other again—well, that would be a 'reunion'! Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler don't know each other at all—they've encountered each other before and admired each other's skills, but they haven't seen the other person's true face before she disappeared. Instead of 'reunion', you'll have to choose another word! A word which means 'a chance meeting'."

Another word for "chance meeting"? Saki pulls out her mobile phone to search her thesaurus app. "Certainly not 'contact', 'rendezvous', or 'tryst'… There is only one word which fits like a glove! You're an angel, Akane! I'm going to replace 'reunion' with 'encounter' since it sounds so much better!"

"But 'encounter' is dangerously ambiguous, isn't it? It conjures up images of, well, you know, encounters of another sort…"

Saki laughs and shakes her head at Angela's hesitation, murmuring that she likes the tough and wild Akane persona so much more than Angela, the prude, and declares that it's exactly the reason why she will chose it. "'Encounter' leaves all the options open—that's the beauty of it!" Giving in to her enthusiasm, Saki throws her arms into the air and cries in her loud, boyish voice, "That's it! Naked's autumn photo series will be Encounter in Venice!"

x.


A/N: Someday I will study that grammar book… *weeps*