.

Part 1

Working under Lord van Zieks is not easy, even if there had somehow been a way to set aside all the history hanging over their fraught partnership. He is abrasive, cold, often rude or condescending. He goes over Kazuma's work with a fine-tooth comb and rips it to shreds: covering reports in nitpicky corrections, questioning every assertion and argument, and meddling in the courtroom if he doesn't like the direction things are taking.

In all fairness, he is a capable mentor. He is hard on Kazuma, yes, but in a way that will push him to be better. He does not accept work that is not up to his exceptionally high standards because he expects better. He does not spoon-feed Kazuma the answers, but asks careful, leading questions to prod him in the right direction so that he can draw his own conclusions. He listens when Kazuma speaks and considers a point fairly if it is well-made. He offers his corrections first behind closed doors or in Kazuma's ear rather than announcing them in front of bystanders.

Kazuma respects him before he likes him, even if grudgingly. It's only that van Zieks is so quiet and withdrawn on any matter not directly related to their cases that it's difficult to guess his thoughts or understand him at all.

But perhaps Kazuma is too. Outside of their work, there are only two things holding them together, and their names are Genshin Asogi and Klint van Zieks. Neither of them dares risk resurrecting those ghosts.

When van Zieks sneers at a half-baked theory or hands back a report littered with corrections or even just has a cold look in his eyes that Kazuma doesn't like, Kazuma looks at him and thinks, This is the man who wrongly sentenced my father to death. This is the man I have hated more than any other. This is the man I almost managed to punish, but who escaped my grasp in the end.

But as the days pass, there are also times when van Zieks brusquely sends him home early because he looks tired or acknowledges a well-formed argument with a simple good job or rests his hand awkwardly on Kazuma's shoulder for a moment before dropping it away, like it's something he's terribly uncomfortable with but thinks he ought to do, and then Kazuma looks at him and thinks, This is the man I nearly sent to his death. This is the man I was so convinced was guilty that I would have happily sent him to the gallows without a shred of evidence. This is the man who suffered too, but accepted the ugly truth with grace once it was proven and agreed to continue my apprenticeship even after I dragged his name through the mud and tried to kill him.

These thoughts are even more uncomfortable than the last. Kazuma is accustomed to living with anger and bitterness and the tantalizing poison of vengeance, but he does not like the guilt. Van Zieks never once brings up Kazuma's persecution of him during that godforsaken trial except in the occasional meaningful caution to keep his emotions in check if he begins to lose his way at the bench. It is perhaps the most obvious kindness he grants Kazuma, who seizes on it eagerly and pretends as if the entire unfortunate incident never happened.

Although the past still occupies Kazuma's thoughts to an unhealthy degree, he is content to let it rest for now. He still burns with the need to do something, but there is nothing more to be done. Stronghart is imprisoned and awaiting trial, most of his underlings are dead or facing charges of their own, and van Zieks is…more or less innocent. If anything, van Zieks is guilty of no more than Kazuma is, except that he at least had a confession and evidence, however falsely planted, to rely on.

That does not make it easier to forgive him, really, but Kazuma no longer feels the need to exact some kind of righteous vengeance besides the occasional barbed comment or thinly veiled insult. And he knows that if he did want his revenge, he could have it.

Van Zieks has already offered to publicize the truth and resign from the Prosecutor's Office. Kazuma had told him not to, but he knows that if he changed his mind, van Zieks would regard him with those flat, cold eyes, nod once, and see it done. Part of Kazuma does want to see the truth come out. He wants his father to be vindicated and the true criminal's good name tarnished instead. But the public never knew Genshin Asogi as the Professor, and Klint van Zieks is long dead along with him.

The only possible good publicizing the truth would do is twist the knife in van Zieks's heart, and Kazuma sees that his lifeblood is dripping out of that wound already. He sees it in the way he occasionally catches van Zieks staring blankly at the empty expanse of wall where his brother's portrait used to hang, hears it in the loaded silences when van Zieks's eyes are clouded over and his mind far away, feels it in the tension supercharging the office while van Zieks tries to awkwardly puzzle out how to make his penance to Kazuma for the mistake he was manipulated into making a decade ago. It is not as satisfying as it probably should be.

The people who did think Genshin Asogi was the Professor already know the truth now, and Kazuma gets a taste of what would happen if he let van Zieks publish the truth by watching how the judiciary reacts to it.

Some people have offered van Zieks condolences laced with pity or made apologies for the sham of a trial he was subjected to or assured him that they'd always known he was an upstanding prosecutor who never could have been a mass murderer. Van Zieks tolerates these awkward overtures with grim fortitude and then avoids those people going forward, or at least ensures they will never be able to catch him in any personal conversation again. Other people whisper behind their hands, suspicious gazes following him as he passes. Kazuma has overheard whispered speculation that van Zieks must have known something about his brother's crimes, that perhaps he was even complicit, that perhaps he somehow is the Reaper after all and had taken up that mantle to continue the Professor's work, that maybe he had been innocent of those crimes but could go off the rails now that he knows the truth, that maybe there is nothing wrong with him at all but it would have been better if Stronghart had been allowed to continue his unorthodox methods of upholding justice, that he could not be trusted and should resign into notorious obscurity.

There is gossip about Kazuma too, about the assassin exchange and his conduct in the trial and his father, but he has few connections here and doesn't much care what people think. He is more interested in seeing how savagely the judiciary can turn on one of its own.

To his credit, van Zieks is as unflappable and impassive as ever. He ignores the whispers and the stares and does not retaliate. If anything, he is more coldly unapproachable than ever, radiating an aura that keeps everyone at a distance. He might not be the Reaper, but he still wears that persona like armor.

He throws himself into his work, guides Kazuma when necessary, and disappears somewhere inside himself.

He also picks up a new project, so covertly that Kazuma has no idea what he's up to until one day he's looking for a case file and stumbles across a pile of reports he doesn't recognize.

"You're investigating the judiciary?" he asks when van Zieks comes striding into the room a few minutes later, back from some meeting he didn't see fit to bring his apprentice to.

Van Zieks takes one look at Kazuma standing over the ornate desk, files in hand and spread all across the surface, and scowls. "What, pray tell, are you doing digging through private files?"

Kazuma will not be deterred so easily. He shakes a file in his mentor's direction and scowls right back.

"No wonder you've been coming early and staying late. There are nearly a dozen files here. How many people are you investigating? Did the Lord Chief Justice put you up to this?"

He has only met the new Lord Chief Justice on a couple of occasions and not for long enough to form much of an impression of the man, but suddenly it's making sense why van Zieks seems to have so many meetings with him.

"It's officially sanctioned, yes." Van Zieks crosses the room to snatch the folder out of Kazuma's hand and begins tidying up the mess his apprentice has made of the desk. "We don't know how deep Lord Stronghart's corruption reached. But it is none of your concern. Focus on your assigned work and stop prying into affairs that don't concern you."

"I could help."

This is, perhaps, less out of a genuine desire to assist van Zieks than out of curiosity to see exactly how corrupted this supposedly faultless judicial system really is.

"You will not," van Zieks says with finality. "You may return to your assigned tasks."

Kazuma is not surprised—van Zieks would not have gone to such pains to keep what is obviously an extensive amount of work out of sight if he had wanted assistance—but he is not willing to give in so easily.

"Does anyone else know what you're up to?"

Van Zieks looks up at him, and there is a muscle jumping in his jaw, a new tension lining an otherwise blank face. "No, and I would ask that you don't go spreading it around. These are meant to be discreet investigations."

"I could–"

"No. You will not interfere. I have enough on my plate already without having to supervise you here too. You would only get in the way." Van Zieks pauses, gloved fingers tapping against the stack of reports he is collecting. "It's possible that they will come to light even without your meddling. There may already be suspicions. If so, I will make no friends."

"You already don't make friends," Kazuma says, unimpressed. "Neither do I, really. Not here, at least. I don't care."

Van Zieks sighs through his nose. "They are already my enemies. It does not matter if they dislike me more than they already do. You are still in a precarious position, being a foreigner, and although you do not have many friends here, you do not yet have many proper enemies either. You should strive to keep it that way."

"I don't care if they like me or not."

"There may be…repercussions. Stay out of it. This is a state affair, and we don't need it to become an international scandal."

"What kind of repercussions?" Kazuma asks, intrigued.

Van Zieks only shrugs. "I'm sure I'll find out."

This sounds more ominous than Kazuma had been anticipating.

"Maybe it's not such a good idea to be involved yourself. Don't you think things are already hard enough without inviting more trouble?"

Van Zieks's lips slant into a grim facsimile of a smile. "What else can they do to me?"

Kazuma thinks this is quite foolish. He thinks there is probably a lot that a corrupt official with a skewed moral compass could do.

But although van Zieks is many things, he is not a fool. He must know that too. No, he is saying something else entirely: things are already so bad that he can't think of a revenge that would make them appreciably worse. He is already miserable enough that it doesn't matter what else is done to him. While Kazuma thinks that might be overly dismissive too, it's a sobering thought.

Kazuma is so wrapped up in his frustration at being so handily dismissed and barred from secret investigations that he does not fully appreciate what else van Zieks has said until later. And then he knows the man truly isn't as foolish or dismissive as he seems, because what van Zieks has more or less said is that he has kept Kazuma in the dark to keep him clear of whatever repercussions he is expecting. He is protecting Kazuma. And if something is potentially bad enough to warrant that protection, he must understand that accepting this task has opened him up to something dangerous, or at least thoroughly unpleasant.

Kazuma doesn't know what to expect from it either. Van Zieks already suffers vicious rumors and ostracism and bloody attacks in the streets. What else can be done to him?

Kazuma does not know, but he starts paying more attention. He has not made much of an effort to befriend the other prosecutors and students, but he begins lingering with them for a few minutes in the hall here or there. A few minutes of chitchat won't kill him. He keeps his ears open and listens for rumbles, any sign that van Zieks's activities are under suspicion. He doesn't hear much beyond the normal rumors, but he keeps his guard up and his eyes open.

It still takes him by surprise.

They are returning from a late lunch, debating some trivial point on a case they are working, when van Zieks's voice trails off and his footsteps falter. He narrows his eyes, staring down the hall at their office.

He holds out a hand, barring Kazuma's way. "Wait here," he says in a tone that brooks no argument.

"Why?" Kazuma asks, but he stops walking and crosses his arms over his chest.

Van Zieks does not answer, only continues down the hall at his normal brisk pace. As he approaches the door to their office, he hesitates, hand hovering over the knob.

It finally hits Kazuma what has unsettled his mentor: when they went to lunch, they had left the door open. It is closed now, and could be hiding anything. Someone has been there in their absence.

"Wait," he says, starting after van Zieks at a jog. For all he knows, an assailant could be waiting behind the door. While van Zieks is a capable swordsman, the two of them stand a better chance together.

But van Zieks is already twisting the knob and flinging the door open, and everything explodes in a flurry of movement. Something hurtles out of the room in a large brown blur, slamming into him at full force and sending him crashing to the ground. He yelps in surprise, a breathless sound that is nearly lost beneath a sudden frenzy of barking.

Kazuma bites out a curse and runs, already tugging his saber from its sheath. The shape on top of van Zieks has resolved itself into a large hound, massive paws pinning down his chest as the beast bays and lowers its maw towards his face and exposed neck. Kazuma is sure, for a terrifying moment, that he is about to watch van Zieks get torn to pieces in front of his eyes in a twisted parody of his brother's kills. Maybe there was a time he would have considered it justice, but now it makes his stomach turn over and his heart jump into his throat.

"Stop!" he yells in a vain hope to startle the animal away. "Get off him!"

He reaches for the plain leather collar around the hound's throat with one hand, trying to yank the animal off the prone man beneath it, and whips his sword around in the other, looking for the best angle of attack. He is stymied on the first count. Tugging at the beast is like pulling futilely at a brick wall, and he realizes it was a mistake to try at all and the wasted seconds might have made him too late.

"Down!" van Zieks barks, voice strained but firm.

Before Kazuma has the chance to launch his attack, the hound hops off van Zieks and sits beside him, regarding him with liquid brown eyes, its tail brushing side to side along the ground.

Despite Kazuma's fears, no blood pools across the floor, and van Zieks's throat seems to be in one piece. But before he can feel a stab of relief, he catches sight of his mentor's face.

Van Zieks has levered himself into a sitting position, one hand fisted over his chest, and is staring at the hound with the most raw, stricken expression Kazuma has ever seen him wear, except, perhaps, for when his brother was accused of being a serial killer. It is not quite fear, although it has an edge to it. It is one part black fury, one part stunned disbelief, and entirely grief and pain and something broken.

Kazuma wants to take a swing at the hound, but for now it has given up the attack and only sits there like an imposing gargoyle. He levels his sword in its direction and keeps an eye on it, but doesn't strike just yet.

"Lord van Zieks?" he asks. "Are you unharmed?"

Van Zieks looks up at him, and his ravaged expression is even more terrible to behold head-on. He stares at Kazuma like he's never seen him before.

Doors are opening and slamming all up and down the hall, footsteps pounding against the tile. People call back and forth in confusion, trying to see what all the commotion is about.

"Are you alright?" someone calls.

"Someone restrain that beast before it kills someone!"

"Get the Lord Chief Justice or the Yard or someone. Who on earth could possibly do such a thing?"

Van Zieks stiffens. He rises to his feet slowly, a blank expression falling over his face like a curtain. When he adjusts his coat and turns to face the other agitated prosecutors gathering farther down the hall, the devastation has been wiped from his features as if it had never been there at all. He is all cold business again.

"Everything is fine," he says curtly. "Pray forgive the disturbance. You may all return to your work." He snaps his fingers in the hound's direction and adds, "Come. Heel."

It rises and follows him into the office, sticking close to his side. Kazuma follows after, completely flummoxed.

"I can't believe it listens to you." He watches it warily, hand still gripping the hilt of his saber. "I thought it was going to tear your throat out."

"She's well-trained. Although probably lacking some quality to make her a good hunting hound. Otherwise, this would be a very expensive prank."

Van Zieks's voice is flat and cold, but something in his tone rings hollow. Kazuma tries to get a look at his face, but van Zieks keeps his back to him.

"Are you–?"

"Go notify the Lord Chief Justice of this incident."

This does catch Kazuma by surprise. Van Zieks usually prefers to avoid reporting incidents unless there's a compelling reason to. He prefers to keep his troubles out of the public eye…and the papers. Kazuma has a half-baked notion that it is because it lends him a somewhat invincible air, like even attacks in the streets are not worthy of his attention or dangerous enough to warrant acknowledgement. Some lingering part of the Reaper's legendary, vaguely inhuman persona, perhaps.

"Really?"

"It's not going to be a secret, given the number of witnesses. Better he hears it from us first."

This sounds like a flimsy excuse. If van Zieks really cared about damage control, he would do it himself rather than trusting Kazuma with it. No, van Zieks is just trying to get rid of him.

Kazuma doesn't like it, but he mutters his assent and backs out of the room, closing the door behind him. He lingers in the hall, watching the other prosecutors discussing the incident in hushed voices before drifting back to their offices. He listens for any sign that the hound is going back on the attack, but all he hears is silence.

Finally, when he has no more excuse to loiter, he starts down the hall. If he does not trust the hound to behave itself, perhaps the best thing to do is complete his task quickly and return.

He is only halfway down the hall before he hears the faint sound of glass shattering behind him. He doesn't think twice, just spins on his heel and runs back the way he came.

When he throws open the door, though, the hound is still lying on the far side of the room, ears pointed back, watching the carnage. Van Zieks has opened up the display case behind his desk and is snatching up the chalices inside one by one and throwing them at the wall with excessive force. Glass rains down, littering the floor in a glittering, jagged carpet.

"Lord van Zieks?"

Van Zieks looks over his shoulder at Kazuma, and that ugly, raw look is back on his face again. "Shut the door," he snarls.

Kazuma steps into the room and shuts the door behind him before anyone else has the chance to wander by or peek inside. Van Zieks turns away, grabbing the entire case on either side and shoving it over. It crashes to the tile in a hail of splintered wood and broken glass. The remaining chalices pitch out of doors swinging on broken hinges and smash on the tile. He snatches up a glass paperweight from his desk and hurls it at the wall for good measure.

For a moment, Kazuma thinks he might swipe everything off the desk too, but van Zieks only stands there in the middle of the wreckage, hands clenched into fists at his sides, shoulders hunched, breathing heavily. Kazuma has never seen him so undone. He has seen van Zieks throw chalices and bottles around out of frustration or anger before, of course, but it is always calculated, controlled. Even when emotions run high, van Zieks is never so recklessly out of control as this.

"Lord van Zieks?" Kazuma asks again, more cautiously this time.

Van Zieks draws in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. It sounds ragged and unsteady. His hands, even strangling themselves into fists, are shaking.

But when he turns back to Kazuma, his expression has been wiped clean. There is something too bright and brittle lighting his eyes, something too tense lining his jaw, but he looks more like himself again.

"I take it you have not talked to the Lord Chief Justice," he says, and his voice has only the slightest waver before flattening back out to an emotionless drawl.

Kazuma cares not one jot about that. "Are you…? I'm sorry. That was a twisted, despicable thing to do."

His throat feels strangely thick, as if seeing his mentor so undone has shaken something loose in himself too. For all he has ever hated van Zieks and wished him ill, he would never have dreamed up such a sick scheme. This isn't justice, just torture. This is kicking a man in the chest when you know his ribs are broken, twisting the knife when it has already buried itself deep enough.

"Well, I expect it amused someone," van Zieks says. "It has a kind of symmetry to it."

"You think it was 'repercussions' for your investigations?"

No one outside the judiciary would know exactly what such a gesture would mean to him. Kazuma can put two and two together.

Van Zieks barks out a harsh sound that's nearly a laugh. "I think it's a warning that there will be repercussions if I continue pressing forward."

The hound whines softly, and Kazuma shoots it a wary look.

"You don't think they'd really–?"

"I don't expect they'll stoop to such crude, criminal measures as bodily harm," van Zieks says briskly. "Although I've been wrong before."

"Then–"

"It's a warning that someone will leak the new findings of the Professor case to the press if I don't cease and desist, I'm sure."

Kazuma starts in surprise, looking at the hound with new eyes. He would not have made that connection himself, perhaps because the matter has not been weighing so heavily on him, but now that van Zieks has pointed it out, he can see the simple elegance of sending a harbinger to deliver the threat.

"You don't really think someone will publicize it? Even though it was a closed trial and the Lord Chief Justice forbade it?"

Van Zieks looks briefly startled, as if surprised by Kazuma's naïveté. "On the contrary, I have been waiting for it. I am not a criminal mastermind, but if I were, and I wanted to break a man, that's how I would do it. It's the timebomb the judiciary can hold over my head if they feel the need to try bullying me. I am not quite so creative, though. This inspired piece of theater exceeded my expectations."

"That's terrible," Kazuma says. "You won't…actually resign if the story makes it out, will you?"

"I haven't decided yet. There's still a great deal of work to be done."

"Maybe you should let someone else do it. Have you considered just…stopping? I'm sure the Lord Chief Justice could find someone else to assist with this project."

Van Zieks only shakes his head. "I'll see it through. I have a useful network of connections from when I was investigating Inspector Gregson, and I'm becoming more proficient at extracting information from Lord Stronghart. No one else has quite my skill set."

"You've been talking to Lord Stronghart too?"

"When the occasion calls for it."

"Maybe I could also–"

"No," van Zieks says sharply. "I do not advise engaging with him. He is an impenetrable wall half the time, and the rest of the time he hits where it hurts. You are too easy to rile. A man with nothing to lose is a dangerous opponent." He smiles thinly. "It's why we are evenly matched."

"But–"

"No. Stay out of it. You are not to be involved in any aspect of these investigations, am I clear?"

Kazuma glowers at him. He loathes being chastised and restrained. But it occurs to him that if the truth of the Professor case were to come out, it could drag him into the spotlight too. It might not be such a bad thing for him…unless someone is holding a grudge and chooses to present the narrative in a more skewed light. As long as he stays out of it, van Zieks will take the brunt of the fall. And if van Zieks has been expecting this eventual outcome from the beginning, that would be a very good reason for him to ban Kazuma from the investigations.

Kazuma does not want to read too much into it, but it softens his heart just a little.

"Who do you think is behind this?" he asks.

Van Zieks regards him suspiciously, not yet convinced that he has truly dropped the topic. "I don't know."

"Who are you investigating? It's probably one of them."

"Everyone, or near enough."

"Everyone?" Kazuma repeats, taken aback.

"More or less. Some have already been cleared, but there are still a number of open investigations."

Of course. Everything involving van Zieks requires the most difficult option. There is never an easy way.

"Well, perhaps if we can discover the hound's owner…" Kazuma looks back at the dog still watching them from the other side of the room, its muzzle now resting on its paws. "What will you do with it?"

"I haven't decided yet." Van Zieks is staring at it too, and his eyes have a hollow look to them again. "Go find a broom so I can clean up this mess. See if you can find water and something for the dog to eat as well."

"Shall I talk to the Lord Chief Justice too?"

"No, there's no need. He will hear about it regardless. I just wanted you to leave."

"Yes, I figured that," Kazuma mutters. He hesitates, glancing back at the hound. "Do you think you can keep that thing under control?"

Van Zieks turns away, looking out the window. "Yes. She is trained and seems obedient. Go."

Kazuma harbors his doubts—the dog is massive and looks like it could rip a man open in a heartbeat if it decided to—but he hears a brittle edge creeping back into van Zieks's voice. He leaves, closing the door behind him and setting off on his errands.

The broom is easy enough to find, as well as a bowl and jug of water. He is not entirely sure what the hound will eat, but raw meat seems like a safe bet. That requires him to scavenge farther afield…which might have been the intention behind the request. Van Zieks needs time to collect himself, away from prying eyes. At least, Kazuma doesn't know why else he would care enough to fuss over the beast's diet.

Kazuma is on his way back, juggling too many things in his arms at once, when he runs across the Lord Chief Justice heading in the same direction, face like thunder, snapping at the man hurrying along beside him. Lord Ashbourne has always seemed mild-mannered before, and Kazuma has never seen him so worked up.

"This is an outrage. I want to know who is responsible. Call in Scotland Yard to investigate at once. And inside the office itself! It can't be allowed to stand." He catches sight of Kazuma, frowns, and dismisses his companion, shooing him off in the other direction. "Mr. Asogi. Dare I ask what you're doing?"

Kazuma supposes he must look very strange with his collection of disparate items threatening to topple to the ground. "Just running an errand for Lord van Zieks."

The other man's frown deepens. "And how is he? I heard he was not injured in the attack?"

"No, he's unharmed. You are not on your way there now, are you?"

"Yes, I will speak to him and see if he has any additional insight."

"Perhaps you might…wait until later?" When Lord Ashbourne's eyebrows lower, Kazuma adds, "Lord van Zieks was very…upset. I don't think he'll thank you for approaching him before he's had a chance to compose himself."

He doesn't know what he'll walk back into when he reaches the office, but he's sure he'd rather see it for himself first. Van Zieks is already like a wounded animal, prone to snapping if pressed.

Lord Ashbourne does not look pleased, but understanding has lighted his eyes. "I see. I'm sorry to hear it has affected him so profoundly. You may pass along the message that I will speak to him before the end of the day, but I will allow him a few hours first. You may also assure him that investigations are ongoing as we speak."

Kazuma hesitates, glancing up and down the hall, and then lowers his voice. "He seems to think this was a warning that someone he is investigating will leak the full findings of the closed trial to the press if he continues on this path."

"He is probably right," Lord Ashbourne says grimly. "I will reiterate the demand for secrecy. He has seemed cavalier about the possibility, but it would be profoundly damaging, both to him and the work he is doing here."

"He said he's been expecting it."

"Yes. He only says that the truth is bound to come to light eventually, whether we encourage it or not." He sighs, running a hand down his face. "Sometimes I think I should not have placed him in this position, but he is the best man for the job. Well, do not let me keep you, Mr. Asogi. Only… I understand that your relationship with Lord van Zieks is…complicated, but if you might watch his back, so to speak, you would have my gratitude."

Kazuma nods. He is already doing that, at least when the mood catches him.

He bows awkwardly, the broom catching on the floor and water threatening to spill from the jug, and excuses himself. All is quiet when he reaches the office. He maneuvers the door open with his elbow and kicks it shut again behind him.

Van Zieks crouches behind his desk, carelessly sweeping up broken glass with his bare hands, his gloves lying discarded on the desk.

"What are you doing?" Kazuma demands, aghast.

Van Zieks does not even look up, only tosses his handful of glass into the wastebasket. "Cleaning up."

"With your bare hands?"

"You were taking too long."

Kazuma utters a guttural sound of frustration and hurries across the room, tossing the broom to the ground and the dog's rations onto the desk. He fetches the medical kit that van Zieks keeps to patch himself up after attacks in the street. Glass crunches underfoot as he marches over and crouches down beside his mentor.

"Well, stop," he says. "You're only going to make a bigger mess if you bleed everywhere."

"The floor is tile. It wipes clean."

Van Zieks is truly the most frustrating man Kazuma has ever met. He continues plucking shards from the floor, blood dripping through his fingers. When he tosses them into the trash, Kazuma grabs his wrist and holds it firmly, fumbling with a rag to wipe off the blood.

"Not even gloves?" Kazuma grumbles.

"I wouldn't want to ruin them."

"Better to slice open your hands, I suppose."

"Skin heals itself," van Zieks says flatly. He tries to pull away, but Kazuma hangs on stubbornly. "Let go."

"No. We have a broom now. Let me patch you up, and then we can clean this more efficiently."

He worries van Zieks will lash out at him, but he only regards Kazuma dully as he works, eyes empty. Kazuma wipes away the blood and wraps bandages around shredded palms and fingers. Van Zieks has not been careful, and his skin is littered with cuts. They are mostly small and thin, but a few have gashed deeper and bled a fair amount. There are probably splinters of glass stuck in his skin too, but Kazuma will leave van Zieks to pick those out on his own time.

He is frustrated with this ridiculously masochistic display, and with the way van Zieks does not seem to care at all.

"I ran into the Lord Chief Justice," he says as he finishes cleaning up and van Zieks flexes his bandaged fingers. "He was on his way here, so you're lucky I told him to come by later instead of letting him walk in on this. He said that he'll see you before the end of the day, though."

Van Zieks grimaces and rises to his feet, rounding the desk and leaning down to pick up the broom. He sweeps it across the floor in brusque strokes, glass tinkling.

"I see," he says. "I will clean up here. You can feed the dog."

Kazuma shoots a wary look at the hound. It does not seem to have moved at all in his absence, although it watches their every move.

Van Zieks pauses his sweeping to regard Kazuma, and then thrusts the broom at him. "Here. I will feed the dog."

He brings the water and meat to the dog and puts them beside it without fear. The hound watches, head tilting.

"Go on," he says. "Release."

The hound bounds to its feet and laps greedily at the water before tearing into the meat. Van Zieks stands motionless, arms folded over his chest, and watches it for a long time. Kazuma sweeps the broom back and forth halfheartedly, but he is watching van Zieks.

Finally, van Zieks stirs and turns away from the dog. He drifts back to his desk and holds out a hand for the broom.

"I'll finish up here. You may return to your work."

Kazuma casts a dubious look at his bandaged fingers and begins sweeping more vigorously. "That's alright. I'll get it."

Van Zieks sighs. "There's no need to fuss."

Kazuma has no intention of playing doctor again if van Zieks bleeds through his bandages, and certainly doesn't trust him to be gentle on his injuries. He scowls and keeps sweeping. Van Zieks blinks at him for another few seconds and then lowers his arm slowly. He glances back at the hound, looking vaguely forlorn.

When Kazuma has safely deposited as much glass as he can into the trash—managing not to hurt himself in the process, because he is more sane than his mentor—he retreats to his own low desk on the other side of the room. The only problem is that the hound is too close to his station. Hopefully, it is satiated after its meal and less likely to go on the attack, but he keeps an eye on it anyway. Perhaps van Zieks notices, because he spreads his cloak over the floor near his chair and calls the dog over to lie down on it. Kazuma doesn't know why he'd bother surrendering his own articles to the dog, but then he remembers that there could still be remnants of glass on the floor. Then he wonders why van Zieks should care, after the beast nearly ripped his throat out.

Kazuma goes through his tasks slowly, but his mind is buzzing with the drama of the day and he finds it difficult to concentrate. Van Zieks is utterly silent except for the faint scratching of pen against paper and the rustling of pages as he thumbs through reports. He seems entirely focused on his work as usual, but his silence is somehow heavier and more deafening than ever.

Kazuma does not dare break it, so he fiddles around with his own work until a knock comes at the door an hour or two later. The hound raises its head, ears pricking. Van Zieks's mouth tightens into a faint grimace, and it seems for a moment that he will send their visitor away.

"Come in," he says instead.

The door opens to reveal the Lord Chief Justice. If anything, van Zieks's obvious displeasure only grows at the sight of him.

"Lord van Zieks," the man says, inclining his head in greeting. "Mr. Asogi. I wanted to check in after this afternoon's incident. We are already investigating, and Scotland Yard has been called in. We will uncover the perpetrator of this outrage. In the meantime, I wondered if you had any thoughts on who might be responsible. And on a more personal note, I wanted to be sure you weren't too rattled."

Van Zieks sighs through his nose. "Mr. Asogi, you are dismissed. You may leave early today."

Kazuma nearly laughs. Van Zieks wants to send him away now, after he's already witnessed everything else?

"That's alright," he says. "I still have work to do."

"That was not a request. It's been a trying day. Take the rest of it off."

"I'm perfectly fine."

"Go home. We will reconvene in the morning."

"But–"

"Get out!" van Zieks nearly snarls, the last of his patience snapping. His eyes flash, and his hands are fisted and trembling again. A spot of red has begun to bleed through his left glove.

Lord Ashbourne's eyebrows draw together at the sight of his discomposure.

"Very well," Kazuma says stiffly, rising to his feet and starting for the door. "You may wish to change your bandages before you ruin your gloves after all."

"What's that?" Lord Ashbourne asks, concerned. "I thought you were uninjured in the attack?"

Kazuma smiles thinly as he departs. He can feel van Zieks's annoyance following him out. Well, let him seethe. That's what he got for kicking Kazuma out like a misbehaving child.

Still, van Zieks was right about one thing: it has been a trying day. Kazuma doesn't realize how worn thin his nerves are until he finds himself jumping at every noise and shadow in the streets. When a dog barks in the distance, his heart nearly stops.

That night, he dreams of monstrous hounds with red eyes and bloody fangs crashing through the woods behind him as he runs and runs, panting with exertion and fear. He trips and falls, palms slamming into the ground. The toes of shiny boots encroach on the edge of his visual field, and he sits up to look up, up the long legs and elaborate, decorated jacket. Up to the face shadowed by distinctive purple-gray hair, the mouth slanted in a razor-thin smile. He can't even tell which of the van Zieks brothers it is. And then the hounds are on him, baying in triumph and slamming him back to the ground, jaws gaping wide.

He wakes in a cold sweat, gasping for air, and spends the rest of the night staring out the window.

Since he can't sleep anyway, he goes to the office early. He even manages to beat van Zieks there—a feat he has been unable to accomplish for weeks. Van Zieks always seems to be at the office or out at meetings or on investigations. The man works around the clock, as if he has no life outside the Prosecutor's Office, and sometimes it seems like he spends nights there as well. Kazuma thinks it unwise, but he is not friendly enough with his mentor to say so.

He takes advantage of the empty office to give the floor another good sweeping before returning the broom to the closet he found it in. There's no new glass littered about and he doesn't notice anything else broken or missing, so hopefully that's a good sign. He'd been half expecting the office to be in disarray after van Zieks's meeting with the Lord Chief Justice.

He has half a mind to see if he can uncover anything else about the investigations into the judiciary, but he can't find the files on the desk or in the cabinet. One drawer of the desk is locked, and he regards it with annoyance. If he had to take a guess, he would say that van Zieks locked away all the relevant files to keep his apprentice from getting into them again. Either that or everything is under lock and key because there are concerns about someone else breaking into their office and causing trouble.

Thwarted, he returns to his own desk and rereads the scatterbrained notes he made the previous day. They are truly shoddy work, even worse than he remembers. At least he has the chance to revise them into something presentable before van Zieks arrives and tears them to shreds.

He makes a considerable amount of progress before he hears the familiar, clipped ringing of boots in the hall. Van Zieks is…not early today. In fact, he is nearly half an hour late, and Kazuma wonders if that's an indication that he is still rattled.

He looks to the door just in time to see van Zieks stride into the room. The hound trots along at his side as if it belongs there.

"What is that thing still doing here?" Kazuma asks, aghast. "I thought you were going to turn it over to Scotland Yard?"

"She will remain in my care for the time being," van Zieks says flatly. He sits at his desk and begins shuffling through papers without glancing at Kazuma. "Down."

The hound flops onto the ground at his feet, tongue lolling. Kazuma could scream with frustration. He sees no reason why this creature should still be here, and he wants it gone. He certainly does not want it making itself at home in his office.

"Can't you get rid of it?"

"She stays, for now."

"But why? Someone deliberately used it to hurt you, and what makes you think that it will listen to you forever? What if its owner gives it a command and it attacks you after all? Why would you even want it around? I saw how upset you were–"

"If you have the time for chitchat, I assume you are finished with your report," van Zieks interrupts. "Bring it here so we can discuss it."

"But–"

"This is not up for debate. This is my office, Mr. Asogi. If I say the hound stays, then she stays."

This heavy-handed assertion of authority rankles even more, but Kazuma knows it's a fight he won't win. He presses his mouth shut, but he isn't giving in just yet, only biding his time. He casts frequent mistrustful glances at the dog, but it remains obediently at van Zieks's feet. For the time being, at least. Although van Zieks has handled it expertly so far, Kazuma is not convinced that it will always listen to him. It's not even on a leash. The only thing keeping it from attacking someone is van Zieks's commands. That is a thin comfort.

Van Zieks invites him to his midmorning meeting with the Lord Chief Justice.

"He asked that you attend. It will be going over our current case. He said that he wants to assess your progress."

He does not sound pleased about it, which is enough to pique Kazuma's interest.

Van Zieks strides briskly through the halls, the hound trotting along obediently at his side. Kazuma trails half a step behind and observes the reactions. The whispers that follow them through the halls are louder now, and the glances linger longer. Everyone stops to watch van Zieks and the hound. Everyone seems to have something to say about it, although not loudly enough for van Zieks to hear. And everyone keeps their distance.

The Lord Chief Justice himself does a double take when they walk into his office. "Has the Yard not offered to take the dog off your hands?"

"She has been released into my care," van Zieks says tonelessly. "This was an expensive gift, after all. It would be discourteous to reject it."

Lord Ashbourne opens his mouth, closes it again. When he finds his voice, he says, "Don't you think the office is an inappropriate place for it?"

"On the contrary, the office is the perfect place for it."

"…I understand that you are making a statement, but are you sure about this? It will only make everyone talk more."

Van Zieks tilts his chin up in defiance, a hint of a sneer curling his mouth. "Let them talk. They will do so regardless. The dog is under control and poses no risk."

"I trust your judgment and owe you a favor or two, so I will not speak on it if you do not wish, but…" Lord Ashbourne hesitates, a troubled furrow creasing his forehead. "I would not like to see you further persecuted. And if the Professor findings are leaked, I can only imagine the public backlash if you're walking around with a hound."

Van Zieks only stares back, gaze unwavering. "I know."

"And the message you're giving to the mastermind…"

"I will not be bullied into silence, My Lord. Let them leak the story if they will. It would always have come out sooner or later. If it is my only weakness, then let it be played out now instead of being held over my head. And if the threat lacks teeth, then let it die unacknowledged. Either way, I press on."

A shiver runs down Kazuma's spine. There is something both courageous and formidable about van Zieks's implacable resolve. This is a man who means every word, who has chosen his path and dedicated himself to it no matter the adversity or repercussions. Perhaps a man who is tired of being threatened, of holding his silence and letting himself be used as a scapegoat and tool. The kind of man the judiciary needs, perhaps. The kind who will relentlessly pursue the right path regardless of reprisals. Stronghart blackmailed and bullied and manipulated his accomplices into perpetuating a tangled web of crimes. Van Zieks's silence and inaction will not be bought in the same way. He will be the one to do the right thing despite the consequences.

Kazuma still thinks that keeping the hound is foolish, but in that moment, he respects his mentor more than ever.