Uncharacteristically, the new building of Scotland Yard on Victoria Embankment Westminster Bridge Road was widely deserted and devoid of detectives unloading archived case files and boxes for moving in its main room for today. The news about the abhorrent Taylors' murder had made its round through the old precinct and caused an uproar among detectives and more so, among prosecutors, a commotion which would worsen by the end of the day.

As of now, the 14th December 1888, legal representatives were busy dealing with the impending distribution of information since a public statement had to be released soon if not immediately that day and journalists would no question want to have a variety of answers the police force did not have, despite the murder having been discovered and reported several days ago and the Taylor's Club having been closed for investigation since yesterday.

(The rumors were everywhere. The journalists and newspaper reporters had been wildly speculating already. Time was running out like the lit fuse of a power keg.)

Even though gruesome murders in London were not unheard of, this case in particular would shake the very foundations of people's trust in justice, should Scotland Yard fail to fulfill its job and public duty and not manage to apprehend a freely roaming murderer who hadn't killed just one, but two highly respected gentlemen of English society, one of them nobility. What could've been the motive for this act, was it a personal vendetta or could the killer be mentally deranged?

Either way, such person must be tracked down and put behind bars for the safety of society immediately, this much was sure.

The silence in the new precinct, where Genshin had gone after his first message delivery, stood in stark contrast to the heavy business in the old precinct at Victoria Embankment, 4 Whitehall Place, where Genshin's day had started in the morning.

Genshin Asougi had watched today's procedures from the outside since their start like one would watch an ant hill startled by a stick, not because of choice but because none of the prosecutors or his colleagues had had the time to assign Genshin a task.

Sir Gibb hadn't been in the precinct lately due to responsibilities otherwise, and Chief Prosecutor Lord van Zieks hadn't been at work yesterday and today, while it usually was the norm for him to at least stop by his office or watch over one or the other hearing, ruling or matter his subordinates were currently occupied with, especially when there had been major incidents.

Now, Lord van Zieks was absent and the probability that he hadn't learned of the Taylors' murder yet existed, though it was a slim possibility. Genshin was rather inclined to believe that the chief prosecutor was occupied otherwise and consciously left the current matters for the police force to deal with as he was dealing with the problem accordingly as well, in his own ways. Not that Genshin had any ways of verifying that.

What Genshin hadn't been aware of as he'd been standing at the side of everyone weasling around and watching his fellow men run around Scotland Yard's offices, sending telegrams and yelling over each other in attempts to be heard in the general chaos, was that for people catching sight of him every now and then, Genshin was a pool of silence midst the height of pandemonium, a haven of tranquility that had anchoring effect.

For this reason, a fellow detective had approached and asked him to go to the High Courts of Justice to deliver a personal message to the Lord Chief Justice instead of taking a chance with anyone unrelated or trying to send a telegram at this busy time. This fellow detective believed that Genshin was the perfect candidate to make his way there undisturbed by the groups of journalists camping Scotland Yard because of three reasons:

One, nothing seemed to ever shake Genshin Asougi. He was calm and rational and always did the right thing.

Two, his status as foreign exchange student would keep him safe from the group of journalists currently camping Scotland Yard. They'd probably ignore him or be intimidated by the sword on his belt.

Three, the chief prosecutor seemed to be fond of Asougi. Which meant that Asougi had to be skilled, which lead back to reason number one.

Thus, equipped with a letter and a task to do, Genshin had left the old precinct, had taken a carriage to save time, had met a judge at the High Courts who had relayed his message to Lord Learmonth, and gone from there to the new Scotland Yard precinct by foot to see if he was needed there, since he was nearby anyway.

But new Scotland Yard was practically abandoned.

Considering that people were occupied elsewhere without that Genshin could think of any assigned task left for him to do, Genshin ultimately decided to use his time to open some boxes in the main hall and carry the archived cases into their designated halls here, sorting them into shelves by date. He worked alone, diligently, and in silence but for occasional muttering when he found something interesting to read over, enjoying the mechanical task while indulging his thoughts.

As he worked, his fingers lingered over a case folder in the box belonging to a certain "Atmey"; not the one who stole the crown jewels and was prosecuted by Lord van Zieks, but a serial killer ultimately found guilty of manslaughter.

Genshin flipped through the pages and skimmed over the final ruling. What caught his interest, other than that this page had an abundance of hand-written notes scribbled all over the page, were the underlined parts of the protocol.

Genshin pieced together that the jury had been judged biased and replaced with newly selected jurors in the middle of the trial, the neat handwriting at the paper's side suggesting that there might've been manipulation regarding the jurors' choice at work. Somehow, this handwriting seemed familiar to Genshin and made him read on, looking deeper into the case than he'd planned before taking the case file into hands.

Why did this handwriting seem familiar to him?

The sound of the Clock Tower chiming a later hour than Genshin had expected startled him. Was it really that late already? He'd wanted to be back in time for lunch at the dorms ...

Genshin put the case file back into the box at his feet without further looking into it. He closed the box, grabbed his coat from where he'd thrown it and wrapped his scarf loosely around his neck since he didn't depend on its warmth to hold off the harsh London winter weather. Furthermore, he quickly returned the box with the rest of case files into the main hall and turned to leave the precinct -

- when he was held back by a shout.

"Detective!"

Hearing that someone seemed to mean him, Genshin slowed his steps and on top of a flight of stairs leading up to the precinct's second level he spotted a person, who was currently making his way down the stairs with a constant clacking sound of his walking cane against the bare stone. Genshin recognized the prosecutor but was surprised that Vortex would be in the new precinct instead of working with the rest of the Yard. Ah well, it wasn't his place to question his superiors.

"Where are you headed?", Vortex asked, distracted during his descend, attention fully on a stack of papers he inserted in a file with his free hand, juggling with the folder, the sheets and an envelope without dropping them.

"I'll be returning to the dorms, sir." Genshin eyed the process and considered offering his help but decided against it. Knowing this man, he'd rather take it as insult because if Vortex was one thing, then it was a proud Englishman to the bones, full of lofty ideals.

Politely, Genshin waited until the man stood right before him before asking: "Is there something you need, sir?"

"Yes, indeed." Vortex's gaze snapped up from the papers he'd sorted the way he wanted, and he extended the neatly bound file to Genshin. Because his eyes had a sharp look to them and because of their blue color that reminded Genshin of porcelain, his request had the character of an order. "Take these papers and hand them to Mister Jigoku if you will. I'll expect them to be filled and completed by tomorrow morning. Mister Jigoku may return them personally to my office."

He waited until Genshin took the papers and stowed them away into the insides of his coat before lifting the envelope in hands between pointing and middle finger. There was no indication of sender or receiver written on it.

"Furthermore, wouldn't you happen to pass closely by Trafalgar Square on your way, namely Castle Street? I'd usually ask Detective Gregson for this kind of work but unfortunately, there's been a minor inconvenience regarding his work attitude. I'd rather prefer to have this letter delivered to Lord Learmonth's guests today by someone from the precinct. Would you be so kind?"

"His guests, sir?" This would be the second time someone related to Scotland Yard had sent Genshin as errand boy to deliver a message to Lord Learmonth. How peculiar that Vortex would be addressing his guests though; how could he be sure that someone was visiting?

"Yes", Vortex confirmed. The envelope joined the files in Genshin's inner coat pocket.

"What if Lord Learmonth isn't entertaining any guests, sir?", Genshin decided to ask a question for clarification.

The smile Vortex gave him now was genuine, not one of those liquid, quick ones Englishmen threw around like dicta or other fancy words.

"He will. Verily, when you arrived to deliver the first message from Scotland Yard to Lord Learmonth earlier today, I was in a meeting with the Lord Chief Justice and happened to learn about the circumstances. I'm inclined to believe that the brothers in question have not declined their trusted companions' invitation. The matter is about how we shall tell the public that the Taylor brothers have been brutally murdered and that we won't rest until justice is served. And the guests in question are integral to the process, not just for the Lord Chief Justice, but everyone involved."

Vortex clapped into his hands. "We have no more time to waste, detective. Let us be on our respective ways. I have to make sure that the announcement is going according to plan. Excuse me."

According to plan?

Genshin wondered. If Prosecutor Vortex was involved in the legal process, why was he here on his own?

-x-

-x-

Approximately 9550 kilometres East of London, early in the morning, a different letter carrier came to a skidding stop in front of a dojo, heavily out of breath from all the running he'd done from the post station in the main city. He stopped in respectable distance, took off his top hat that threatened to fall off his head and wiped over the bald spot right down the middle of his head with a handkerchief.

Before entering the dojo, the postal carrier righted his top hat so that it would perfectly conceal his bald spot, making sure that the good hair growing left and right of said bald spot was straight down left and right of the top hat and not sticking out under the hat. He evened out the imaginary wrinkles in his coat and gave up at trousers' height, though they would've needed his hands' extra attention.

Only then he approached and climbed up to the shoji surrounding the dojo, hearing the sound of training swings from up close.

The letter carrier slid the entrance door aside, entered after taking his shoes off, and bowed to the front, giving a quick glance over the trainees. Etiquette would've wanted that he took off his headwear inside, but the letter carrier forgot in his hurry and in favor of his balding spots.

A small group of children circa the age of ten years were repeating swings with bamboo swords despite the early hour, red, concentrated faces all turned to a youngster in front who could hardly be much older than them: Asougi Kazuma, the dojo master's son.

Young Asougi observed everyone's stance and bamboo wielding with a serious face, arms crossed in front of his chest tightly, standing with his feet apart, a white hachimaki fluttering behind him. A strange phenomenon, because the shoji kept the cool December air outside the dojo and there was no wind blowing in this separated space.

"Hold your balance properly! Don't let your chest sway to the side! Use the sword as length of your arms! It's your greatest ally and you have to treat it with pride and respect!", the young Asougi bellowed.

The postal carrier looked around once more, past young Asougi, and spotted the instructor he was looking for, sitting at the far end of the dojo in seiza position with a young girl by her side. Quickly, he hurried along the edge of all trainees to not disturb their training process, made his way to the instructor, and dropped down onto his knees to be on eye-level with her.

"Asougi Hisa-san!", he addressed her reverently, bowing his head in a way that threatened to drop his top hat off his head. He reached up automatically and adjusted it. "I ran all the way from the Western mail station in Tokyo to here! I didn't stop as if chased by oni to be first here! The Yuki-onna tried kissing my lips and when I told her that my heart belongs to another, she tried reaching for my heart through my throat! Luckily, my heart burns passionately for you and your cause, and withstood the cold touch all the way to here!"

Hisa turned her head and lifted her lips into a polite smile. She kept her voice in a whisper to blend under her son's shouts, but Kazuma still threw them interested, but reproachful glances.

"Why did you run this fast, Shuhainin-san?", she asked and inhaled sharply when the postal carrier exclaimed too loudly: "A letter from England arrived this morning!"

"Father's?", Kazuma asked, taking a step into their direction. "Is it a letter from father?!"

"Yes!" The postal carrier fumbled in the folds of his upper clothes and finally produced a single letter. He extended it to Hisa with both arms, smiling widely against his will, watching how her hands trembled as she took the letter in her hands.

She turned it over to see her husband's handwriting on the envelope and covered her mouth, overwhelmed. It had been so long since she'd seen Genshin's handwriting.

Kazuma stopped where he was standing, battling with himself between abandoning his overseeing duty over the rest of trainees in the dojo and his curiosity for the letter's content. His sense of duty won, and Kazuma turned away abruptly instead of rushing to his mother's side as first initiated.

"Don't stop swinging your swords!", Kazuma bellowed at the trainees who had lowered their bamboo swords to rest their arms.

Meanwhile, the little girl at Hisa's side leaned forward curiously, eyes trained on Hisa's face. "Asougi-san, why are you crying?"

Hisa quickly wiped at the corners of her eyes and sat up straighter, exhaling in an emotion caught between crying and laughter. She cleared her throat and smiled shakily, unaware of how hope and the sadness of departure painted her features in breathtaking colors not unlike the sun could paint rain clouds.

"I'm not crying, Susato-chan", Hisa whispered with a small laugh and brushed over Susato's hair, leaving the sealed letter on her lap instead of tearing it open at once as she wished to do. "You'll understand once you're older and found the person who makes you happy to just think about."

"But I have you and Kazuma and obaa-san ..."

Hisa brushed a loose strand of hair that had fallen from her carefully made hairdo behind her ear and turned to the expectant eyes to her side. "Thank you for your quick delivery, Shuhainin-san."

The postal carrier's facial features opened like a flower blooming, and he clasped his hands in front of his chest.

"You are welcome, Asougi Hisa-san! You are very welcome. Maybe it's good news from overseas too! Maybe Asougi Genshin-san will come back home soon? It has been five years and 274 days since your husband's departure to the Great British Empire on the glorious mission to represent our great Japanese Empire."

The postal carrier took off his hat, shoulder dropping. "It has been a long time."

"Indeed. A long time." Hisa folded her hands above the letter, and they sat in silence for a moment, both dwelling on their thoughts. Then, Hisa asked: "Has Mikotoba-san written a letter as well?"

"He has!" The letter carrier returned his hat on his head, remembering himself, and reached another time into his pocket. "He has."

This time, he pulled out another, more crumpled envelope, reaching it out to Susato.

Susato made no move to take it.

"Father wrote?", Susato asked, carefully, hesitantly. Her gaze snapped up to Hisa in search for guidance, and Hisa's smile grew sad again around its edges. This child had never met its father and only heard stories about him; Hisa only remembered him as a broken man after the death of his wife, persuaded to go study abroad with his family's friends. She felt great sympathy for him and hoped that Mikotoba Yuujin had overcome the greatest suffering – a feeling she could more easily imagine the longer she found herself separated from Genshin.

And the longer Kazuma didn't reunite with his father, the more she thought about it when she looked at Susato, the more she thought about it when she saw Genshin in Kazuma's face.

Hopefully, Genshin Asougi was going to return home soon.

Hopefully, Susato could think fondly of her father, some day.

"We can read it together later if you want to, Susato-chan." Hisa's fingers curled into the envelope on her lap, her heart beating into her throat. "Both letters."

It wasn't until much later in the evening, back in the privacy of their home that Hisa pressed the letter against her forehead with burning prayers to any god who was willing to hear her – for good news, and if not for them, then for Genshin's well-being and safety.

Her fingers barely managed to fold the letter apart and then, she had to put the closely written letter down because the sight of Genshin's elegant handwriting struck her core like an arrow, made her unable to go on. It had been so long. So long.

"Read it for me", she begged her son, reaching the letter over to him, "read it outloud."

Kazuma complied and sat down opposite to her and Susato, reading as they took in the news like dry sponges thrown into water. He saw the trembling of his mother's fumbling fingers, could read the hope held in her every breath as he held the letter against the candles' open flame to read the neat kanji better. His eyes followed the lines written by his father like a boat on a stream, shaken by the waters but unable to pause.

Once finished, he reread the letter, looking for information he might've missed saying outloud the first time.

Again.

Then together with his mother.

Genshin Asougi would not come home soon.

Subdued, Kazuma rose from his seiza position, took Susato's hand, and together they left the room quietly, leaving Kazuma's silent mother to herself. He knew what would come the next couple of days: sunken eyes that betrayed her soul's state, hushed words caught between pride and her longing for Genshin's return, quiet hours of doing nothing. She'd hug Kazuma more often and longer than usually, and sometimes she'd look at him with foreign eyes when she thought he didn't notice it.

She's stay home instead of accompanying him to the dojo.

And afterwards, Hisa'd have the answer letter for Genshin finished, would tell him in ink that they were fine, and they were proud of him and his achievements. That they waited patiently for his return.

Not a single drop of ink about how the distance between their hearts made her weak and sick and vulnerable to little things.

How the longing ate away at her. How heavily she missed him.

"Your father isn't coming back home?" Susato reached up and pulled at Kazuma's sleeve once they were out of earshot.

Kazuma turned his head and reached out to pat her head the way he had seen his mother do, then smiled, standing a bit taller with pride. He missed his father too. But he knew that this mission was very prestigious and important.

"Father is on a mission in England, Susato-san", he explained something he'd told himself many many times, basically every time he missed Genshin. "He and your father and Jigoku-san are representing the Japanese Empire abroad and can't come back before their mission is done."

"But is he going to come back soon? I think my father might come back home soon. He wrote a letter too." Susato kept clinging to Kazuma's sleeve without noticing. "Hisa-san promised we'll read it together."

"We can. I can read it with you." Kazuma pressed his lips into a thin line, then turned the corners of his mouth into a smile. "Let's go, Susato-chan. Let's read your father's letter together."

-x-

-x-

When Mister Vortex had called Lord Learmonth's guests integral for the public announcement, Genshin had assumed the ones concerned had to be officials and considering Klimt van Zieks' recent absence from the office, he estimated the probability to be high the people in question were related to the chief prosecutor somehow.

At the same moment that Genshin turned the corner and was able to see the short flight of steps reaching up to Lord Learmonth's front door, Klimt and Barok van Zieks stepped outside, proving Genshin's suspicions correct (a nice feeling for a detective). However, his initial happiness was snuffed out in an instant like the end of a cigar against an ashtray when he saw their grim, troubled facial expressions.

A carriage stopped at the curb and the coachman, who held one arm angled strangely against his side, jumped off onto the pavement to open the coach door for the gentlemen, which Barok immediately disappeared into.

Genshin hurried his steps and opened his mouth to shout out for them to wait – and as Klimt reached to climb into the dim darkness after his brother, he happened to turn his head to look down the street at the same moment, halting in surprise as his eyes met Genshin's before Genshin could speak up.

"Asōgi", Klimt said, and his voice didn't sound like him just as much as his face seemed to be a stranger's. He put his leg back onto the pavement but held onto the carriage door, turned to Genshin but didn't seem to be really present, as if he'd lost a part of himself somewhere along the way or as if his thoughts were shattered, scattered into all four directions.

"My lord!" Genshin stopped in front of Klimt and suddenly found himself at a loss for words, having forgotten what it was he'd come here to do in the first place. How many days hadn't he seen Klimt again? Wasn't it just two days, and yet Klimt looked changed, sick, too pale, his eyes clouded with dark thoughts and confusion. Genshin felt something inside of him shatter as well from that look in Klimt's face. Ever since Mikotoba Ayame's death and the grief in Yuujin's face, Genshin couldn't stand to see anyone dear to him like this. "You've heard the news."

The words tumbled off Genshin's lips as a statement, not a question, because he knew he was right about why the chief prosecutor and Barok had been at Learmonth's residence, and why Klimt looked as worn out as he did.

Klimt closed his eyes for a moment.

"Yes." He nodded, averting his head, and lifted a hand to his face, covering half of it behind his palm. He looked downright haunted and Genshin lifted a hand, reaching for him instinctively. "Yes, I've heard."

"Klimt?" Barok's head appeared at the carriage door, his face a mirror to Klimt's, and Genshin halted in his movement, unsure about what he'd wanted to do. His eyes snapped to Barok. "Detective Asōgi. Why are you here?"

Barok's tone wasn't too friendly but not meant as an affront to Genshin, rather they were the aftertastes of Barok's emotional state, between doubts and insistence on brotherly trust, the shock and mental toughness. Barok found it just as hard to keep the storm behind a neutral face.

Looking at him, Genshin remembered.

"Ah … Right. I forgot." With heating-up cheeks, Genshin frantically pat down his coat and reached inside, producing the letter he was supposed to deliver for Vortex, murmuring to himself how in the world could it have slipped his mind? He extended the letter to a blankly staring Klimt who looked at the envelope as if Genshin was showing him a pebble from the road he'd picked up and expected him to know what for.

"Mister Vortex asked me to deliver this to you", Genshin explained, holding out the envelope.

If anyhow possible, Klimt grew paler. He took the envelope and hid it in his coat like something shameful, fumbling at his light-colored coat's hemline nervously. His eyes wandered around and fixated on the ground.

Genshin opened his mouth to ask and Klimt asked at the same time: "What did -", and their eyes met and both fell silent again. Klimt averted his eyes first, fingers still at his coat. The look of distress deepened the lines of his face.

"Please. Go on." Genshin found himself kneading his own fingers and placed a firm hand on Karuma to stop it.

Klimt cleared his throat. He seemed to waver, but when he lifted his gaze from the pavement again, he met Genshin's eyes properly this time.

"Where are you headed, detective?", Klimt asked, passing over the exchange and jumping to small talk. At least Genshin believed this had to be small talk.

"To the dorms. For lunch. You?"

"I …" Klimt turned his attention to Barok who'd been listening passively, but Barok was staring darkly at nothing in particular as he hung half out the carriage door. Klimt lifted his gaze to the coachman next who waited patiently for directions. "I need to … Nowhere remarkable. Scotland Yard, later. I need to think. I need to ..."

Klimt's voice trailed off and he returned his scattered attention to Barok, passing on the question with forced voice: "Barok, what will you do now?"

They needed to talk about the case. They needed to prepare for the upcoming announcement. Factually, Klimt should be headed to the precinct and oversee the procedures; and he would do so in due time because a Van Zieks fulfilled his duties and placed himself over his emotional turmoil in order to serve Justice no matter how difficult it was.

Both van Zieks brothers knew it.

"I'll look into the murders like Lord Learmonth asked us to", Barok answered.

"Where will you start?"

"..." Barok shook his head lightly. "I'll see. There must be reports. I need to meet with somebody before that. I … Scotland Yard, yes. Later."

Genshin looked back and forth between the brothers, caught in the strangeness of the situation. He'd only seen them interact twice before – one time at the hospital, one time during their goodbye for the German exchange students –, but they'd never been this … out of it. Somehow, their stiff interactions surprised Genshin. Somehow, they screamed at him in their wrongness.

Had the information about the murder shaken Klimt and Barok so much? Genshin hadn't thought that the brothers had been this close to the Taylors. Especially Klimt hadn't given him that feeling. The way he'd talked about the doctor had been friendly, but could it be enough to throw him off this much?

"I'll meet you at Scotland Yard later this afternoon then. Do what you need to do." Klimt took a step back and shut the carriage door, locking himself out.

A new level of alarm entered Barok's eyes. "Klimt? What … where are you going?"

For the first time during this exchange, they looked at each other consciously. Klimt hit a flat hand next to the carriage door, curled his fingers against the even surface, and hit his knuckles against it lightly. He turned away his head.

"I want to have a word with Asōgi. I need to have Elisabeth's letter delivered too. You go on ahead. We'll reconvene later."

Klimt took a step back, seemingly considering adding something else, but ended up gesturing Genshin to follow him without another word to Barok, who had leaned out the closed carriage door with a conflicted facial expression.

When Genshin followed Klimt reluctantly, he heard Barok tell the coachman to bring him to 221B Baker Stree before disappearing into the carriage again.

He felt like he'd witnessed something he shouldn't have.

-x

-x

Ann.: I figured I can leave the next planned scenes for another chapter.