Rue 20

Rue-Grace, clear vision

Edoka high

12:00

library
Isabelle's pov

"I'm sorry," Saguru said for the millionth time.

"Don't apologize, you did nothing wrong. You know what your problem is, you worry so much about what other people think, that you forget to be yourself. Other people don't care as much as you think, they're more concerned about what other people think about themselves," I said, sitting down.

He sighed and took a seat. We sat in silence for several minutes.

"My father wanted to meet with everyone again, this afternoon before he leaves tomorrow evening," I said, breaking the silence.

"Where?"

"Oh he wanted to meet at your mum's cafe, same time,"I answered.

"Alright, are you going to be there?"

"Well yes, my father wants me to be there, but Rose can't come for obvious reasons," I said, with a chuckle.

Saguru smiled, and that was that about that.

Chess Cafe 3:15

Father and I stood outside the cafe. We weren't waiting, father was simply making sure I looked presentable, fixing flyaway hairs and straightening the bow on my shirt.
I wore a white Edwardian blouse that had a neck ribbon that I pinned into a bow with a cameo, over the blouse I wore a plaid navy pinafore that went down to my ankles just showing my navy shoes and white stockings. My hair was left down but had two strands from either side in the front pulled together in the back and tied with a navy ribbon to keep out of my face.

We walked into the building, Saguru greeted us at the door. The shop consisted of two floors the first with the kitchen, washrooms, and main seating. The second floor which was mainly a loft that overlooked the rest of the shop, it had one large table and the rest of the walls of the loft were covered with full bookshelves.

Saguru led us up to the large table in the loft. The table was set with fine china and a three tier cake stand filled with finger sandwiches, scones, and desserts. At the table sat the same people who I had met only days prior, but among them sat three new people, all of which I knew. The new people who joined us were Saguru's father, Aoko Nakamori, and Kuroba Kaito.

"May I ask what brings you here,"I said to the cheeky boy.

"I came with Nakamori-san, was hoping I'd get the chance to meet Rose Adler,"He said straitening up as he saw my father.

"Well I'm afraid you've been misinformed. Miss Adler had other plans for this afternoon and was unable to attend,"I replied.

"This a mate of yours?" Father asked placing his hand on my shoulder.

The sudden gesture caught me off guard. I put on my poker face,"There's a difference between friend and acquaintance, the two divided by a river of uncertainties that can only be overcome by a bridge built of bonds of trust. No, I dare say, he has not yet proven that trust."

"I see. . . Well then gentlemen," Father said turning to Mouri and the Inspector,"I'd like to introduce you to my daughter Isabelle, she came here to Japan to study abroad."

"It's a pleasure to be at your acquaintance," I said with a bow.

I took a seat, Saguru sat to my left Father at my right.

"You and Saguru seem to know each other well," Conan said.

"Yes, we've known each other since we were very young,"Saguru said.

"What exactly is your relationship?" the boy asked, this gained a smirk from Kuroba-kun and everyone else's attention.

Saguru paused not really knowing what to say.

"As Irene to Sherlock, so am I to Saguru,"I said.

"Can you elaborate on that?" the inspector asked.

"Irene Adler was considered Sherlock's only intellectual equal, right," Ran said.

"That's quite a large claim, but can you keep it," Mouri-san said.

I raised my eyebrow,"Hand me your mobile phone,"I said.

He paused looking confused, reluctantly he handed it over.

"Oh you're quite the character,"I said as I inspected it.

"What're you going to do with it?" He asked, confused.

"You're divorced aren't you,"I said,"But not only that you have a bad drinking habit and are a heavy smoker."

He looked at me gobsmacked.

"Well tell me am I wrong?"

"No you got that just about right, no actually spot on,"Ran said,"But how did you know?"

Everyone looked at me with curiosity.

I laughed,"It's really quite simple. If you look at his left hand you'll notice a light mark around his ring finger, this is a mark left by a wedding ring. Since the ring is not being worn this means that he is not currently on good terms with his spouse. I can tell Mouri is a smoker due to the cigarette ash on his cuff, and the fact that he smells heavily of cigarettes,"I explained,"Now often times people will plug in their phone overnight to charge, right? Right. There are scratches around the charging socket, which makes sense if he had a drinking habit. If he were drunk at the time each night when he plugs in his phone, he may find it hard to plug in due to hand tremors therefore scratching the case around the port."

"That was amazing,"Aoko exclaimed.

I laughed,"Please don't patronize me."

"I think that title well suits you,"The superintendent complimented.

I smiled sheepishly,"Cheers."

Kaito and Conan both looked at me strangely, curiosity and suspicion.

"I thought Sherlock and Irene were more than friends though,"Kaito said.

"I thought I was some sort of non-human being completely incapable of human emotions,"Saguru retorted with a blank face,"My life is not an open book, some things I'd like to keep to myself. There are a lot of things you don't know about me and to be quite frank I'd like to keep it that way,"He said politely.

I finished my tea as the adults conversed talking about something I didn't have the energy to care about. I excused myself from the table and walked over to the bookshelves. They were filled from top to bottom with pieces from English writers, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Conan Doyle to name a few.

"I'm sorry about what they said this morning,"Aoko said as she walked up next to me.

I turned to look at her,"Don't apologize for something you didn't do. Besides I've already forgiven them,"I replied.

"But why what they said was-"

"Resentment never helped anyone, it would do me no good to linger on negative words thrown absentmindedly. Jealousy can make people turn sour and their actions become unpredictable, if I were to resent them I'd be no better than themselves,"I said, wholeheartedly.

"I think you're really pretty,"Aoko said.

"Thank you, you have a kind heart, I'd love to get to know you better,"I responded.

"Yeah, here's my phone number,"She said giving me a slip of paper,"Isabelle, are you and Saguru. . . dating?" she asked lowering her voice.

I paused,"It's a more recent thing really, just don't bring it up around my father we haven't really told him yet. If he found out he's to do one of two things, one he'd completely disown me and end it right there, or two he'd reserve the nearest wedding hall and have us tie the not in less than a week."

Aoko laughed. From the corner of my eye I saw Watson sitting on his perch, he perked his head up. Aoko must have seen it too because we both turned to look at him. We walked over to where he was perched still looking around.

"Why is there a hawk in here?" Aoko asked

"This is Watson, Saguru's Hawk,"I answered.

I gently teased his breast feathers upward, Watson affectionately nipped my finger. He began making clicking sounds and looking around again. Watson flew over to the top of the stairs. He looked at me then over in Saguru's direction. Saguru was still at the table talking with the adults.

I looked back at Aoko, "Think he wants us to follow him?" I asked, rather confused.

Aoko just shrugged.

We began following Watson, he'd fly several meters in front of us and wait for us to catch up. He finally stopped in a dimly lit hallway near the back of the shop, in the hall were three doors the lady's room to the left and the men's room to the right then at the very end of the hall was what appeared to be a cleaning cupboard. Watson waddled down the hall stopping in front of the cupboard door. He looked back at us and clicked several times before scratching the door with his beak.

"In here?" I asked, my hand hovering over the door knob.

Watson clicked as if to say 'yes' and scratched the door once more.

"You're a strange little bird,"I said as I turned the knob slowly.

Aoko popped her head over my shoulder(it wasn't very hard for her considering the fact that she was a bit taller). I opened the door.

Aoko screamed and we both stumbled backwards on the floor.

Saguru walked into the hall,"Is everything alright, I noticed you left, and then somebody-"

I pointed inside the cupboard at the dead man.

"Oh my God," he exclaimed as more people rushed over to see what the commotion was about,"First of all, are you two alright?"

Aoko was unconscious, other than that fine, I nodded.