Ryunosuke caught himself fidgeting from foot to foot and forced himself to a stop with an effort. The Lord Chief Justice's office was just so imposing that he immediately felt small and insignificant when he walked inside, and not even extended periods of time spent waiting could dull his anxiety to boredom. Perhaps because the Lord Chief Justice himself was just as imposing. Not even six months banished from the courtroom had made Ryunosuke forget the stress of standing here.

And now he held his breath and waited for Stronghart's answer while the gears of the great clock ticked and whirred in majestic rhythm, a thrumming heartbeat beneath the silence. Although the mechanical sound was surprisingly quiet for the size of the gears, the steady, implacable tempo matched the formidable atmosphere perfectly.

Finally, Stronghart snapped his pocket watch closed. "Yes," he said. "You have permission to investigate the machine now that the Special Provision for the Protection of Science and Technology has been lifted. Just don't touch anything or interfere with the official investigations."

"Thank you! I'll get started right away. And thank you again for allowing me to resume practicing. I will do my very best on this case."

"Don't thank me. Lord van Zieks is the one who recommended you to the case."

Ryunosuke stared, quite certain he had misheard. "Pardon? Lord van Zieks?"

"Yes." Stronghart flipped open his pocket watch again, as if he hadn't just checked the time a few seconds ago. "I believe his exact words were something along the lines of 'This sounds like exactly the kind of overly convoluted case that bumbling, upstart Nipponese student would enjoy making a mess of.' I would have let you start practicing again shortly regardless, but he is the reason you've been assigned this particular case."

Ryunosuke winced and scratched at the back of his head. "Ah… That doesn't sound like a recommendation at all. He seemed surprised when he found out I'd be the defense."

He had the feeling van Zieks had made an irritated comment in passing that Stronghart had taken entirely the wrong way. If anything, it seemed like Stronghart had just given van Zieks one more reason to resent his learned Nipponese friend.

"Is that so?" Stronghart asked, indifferent. "It's as close to a recommendation as he ever gets."

Ryunosuke was not convinced, but he supposed Stronghart had known van Zieks far longer than he had. "Why would he recommend me? I'd think he'd want to keep me out of the courtroom for as long as possible."

"I'm sure he didn't tell me. You'd have to ask him yourself. Now, I'm two hours, forty-two minutes, and sixteen seconds late for my next meeting. As you can imagine, my schedule is tighter than ever with the Great Exhibition ongoing. I trust you can see yourself out."

And then Stronghart was gone, pocketing his watch and striding out of the office, already focused on his next engagement. Ryunosuke stared after him forlornly, still thrown entirely off balance.

He had gotten what he needed, which was permission to examine Professor Harebrayne's machine now that the special dispensation protecting it from scrutiny had been lifted. That was good. He would go right away and look for more clues to prove the entire thing was an elaborate hoax concocted by this Enoch Drebber character.

This extra, unexpected tidbit of information, though… That was quite baffling. Truthfully, the whole thing sounded like one giant misunderstanding, willing or otherwise, on Stronghart's part. Ryunosuke couldn't think of a single reason why van Zieks might want him assigned to a case, particularly the one for his old friend. Then again, he also couldn't imagine why van Zieks might want to prosecute the case against his old friend. Nor could he imagine van Zieks having any friends at all, really, especially one like Harebrayne who seemed so entirely different from him.

Honestly, the man was incomprehensible. Ryunosuke didn't understand him at all.

There was plenty to do and little time to dwell on the odd encounter. Ryunosuke studied Harebrayne's machine as closely as he dared, although it was quite distracting when van Zieks himself appeared and glared his displeasure. For just a second, Ryunosuke nearly worked up the nerve to ask about Stronghart's interesting assumption, but that glare was truly intimidating, and he was being ushered away from the scene much too quickly to avoid 'foreign affairs' problems when the Forensic Investigation Team arrived. Gathering the courage to ask about what Sholmes had said about van Zieks's brother had been trying enough, and he had little to show for his efforts.

And then everything moved so fast that he hardly had time to wonder at small curiosities. Tracking Drebber down to his workshop, finding the man hiding in his safe, realizing with horror that the second of his time bombs was blowing up any remaining evidence as they spoke…

It was only later, when Gregson had taken Drebber into custody and there was nothing left to be done besides hope the forensics team had been able to gather more evidence before the explosion, that Ryunosuke's mind turned back to the morning's meeting. Honestly, he wasn't sure why it bothered him so much. Maybe it was only because he had already been developing a curiosity about van Zieks after Harebrayne's fantastical assertion that he'd once been an entirely kinder man before something had changed. Sholmes knew something, he had to, but it had been difficult enough to drag the bare bones of the Professor killings out of him.

It wasn't any of Ryunosuke's business, it wouldn't change anything, but… Once his curiosity was piqued, it was hard to let it go.

He could have asked Susato for her thoughts—she had an uncanny knack for knowing exactly what he needed and helping him navigate complex social situations—but she had a harried look to her. Perhaps she was still frazzled by the time bomb episode in Drebber's lab, or maybe the unease had followed her all the way from the wax museum.

Instead, Ryunosuke made the impulsive, perhaps foolish, decision to take himself back to the Prosecutor's Office and see if he couldn't satisfy his curiosity on his own. It would also be a chance to get another look at van Zieks's strangely familiar apprentice, who even Susato thought carried himself much like Kazuma.

But when he arrived, neither van Zieks nor his apprentice was there. He hovered uncertainly in the doorway, considering his options. Somehow, this possibility had not occurred to him, even though there would be any number of things the prosecutors could be doing outside the office to prepare for tomorrow's trial. He'd been more focused on talking himself into coming than wondering if there was even any point.

He could wait, he supposed, but who knew how long that would take? Or he could leave, but then he might never work up the courage to try again. They would be back in the courtroom tomorrow, and if van Zieks was formidable outside of court, he was downright terrifying in it.

Against his better judgment, Ryunosuke drifted inside the office. He'd had the chance to poke around a little with Iris already, but under van Zieks's watchful, unfriendly eye. Maybe he could take a more leisurely look around now.

He eyed the imposing portrait dominating the far wall, examining the figure it depicted for slight differences. Van Zieks had said the portrait was not of him, and given what Sholmes had revealed about a murdered older brother… Ryunosuke could certainly see the family resemblance, but gave up after a few moments of puzzling. He didn't see anything to help him glean any other information.

Avoiding the bats roosting in the darkest corner, he looked first at the apprentice's low desk—no decoration, sparsely adorned with only such impersonal accoutrements as a pen and paper—and then again at the small-scale diorama of Harebrayne's machine and the Great Exhibition. He took his time examining the model, smiling at the meticulous care with which each detail had been constructed. Everything was just so much cuter in miniature. Then he remembered that it was, after all, a crime scene where someone had been killed, and perhaps deserved a bit more gravitas.

He wandered instead behind van Zieks's desk, a much more magnificent affair than his apprentice's low table. Paperwork lay stacked in neat piles along the edge, according to some system of organization that seemed tidy enough to appease even Susato. Ryunosuke truly didn't understand how any lawyer could keep things so neat, especially with such a spacious office to spread case files and evidence catalogs across, but he supposed van Zieks seemed like the type of man who liked to be in control and force everything into its rightful place.

Only one item seemed amiss: a scrap of paper left askew and unsorted in the otherwise empty center of the desk, as if it had been received, glanced over, and then left to deal with later when the recipient had to rush out in a hurry. It looked like the kind of thing Sholmes might center a great deduction on, and since it was Ryunosuke's job to correct those deductions, he felt justified in taking a peek.

We have located the foreign attorney and his companions at your request. They are unharmed. No injuries or casualties have been reported at this time. Investigations ongoing.

Ryunosuke frowned, fingers drumming nervously against the desk. The 'foreign attorney' was undoubtedly him. But why would van Zieks be checking in on him? Casualties from what?

It hit him in a blinding flash of clarity, and because he was not Sholmes, he skipped right over the speculation about secret investigations and assassination attempts. Professor Harebrayne's machine, of course. The explosion. He had been so shocked and worried that the evidence he needed was destroyed that it hadn't occurred to him that someone might have been hurt. But of course. The Forensic Investigation Team was supposed to have been there, van Zieks and his apprentice had been there, Ryunosuke and his posse had been there… There had been a number of people who had been at the scene at some point today, and if any of them had still been in the vicinity when the time bomb went off…

At least it sounded like no one had been hurt after all, and van Zieks had taken the matter into consideration where Ryunosuke had not. Still… He couldn't quite believe van Zieks might have sent out inquiries specifically about him. He supposed the hope might have been that he was too injured to continue acting as the defense. Van Zieks's motives had always been opaque and inscrutable.

"What, pray tell, are you doing skulking around my office?"

Ryunosuke jumped and spun towards the door. Van Zieks stood silhouetted in the doorway, eyes cold and mouth drawn into a tight line. Ryunosuke lurched away from the desk in a feeble attempt to conceal his prying.

"Lord van Zieks!" he said, laughing nervously. "I was just…ah…waiting for you?"

Van Zieks stepped into the room and started for the desk with slow, deliberate strides, gaze never straying from Ryunosuke's face. Ryunosuke scrambled back around the side of the desk at the man's inexorable approach, and they circled each other until van Zieks was behind his desk again and Ryunosuke was safely on the other side.

"Looking for something to give you an advantage in the courtroom?" van Zieks asked, voice low and smooth and dangerous. "Or simply on the hunt for personal correspondence? You do seem to have been doing your research on me. I suppose I should have expected such dishonorable, underhanded Nipponese tactics."

Ryunosuke winced. "N-no!" he spluttered. "Nothing like that. I wouldn't– You see, I came to ask you something else, but you weren't here, so I was just, ah…looking around a bit? You know, can't help myself sometimes!"

"I had noticed. You have a disgraceful habit of satisfying your curiosity at others' expense. There is no mystery to unravel in my office, so I would thank you to keep your filthy Eastern hands off of my things."

This was not going well at all.

"Not to worry! I haven't touched a thing! Promise! Not even the door handle, because the door was already open, you know, so I just…"

Finally, van Zieks's gaze flicked away, and Ryunosuke sucked in a relieved breath. He felt pinned and helpless under such a merciless stare. He could certainly see why the man was regarded as the notorious Reaper of the Bailey, even if he claimed not to be and the casks along the wall were supposedly filled only with wine.

Van Zieks plucked the note from his desk and gave it a cursory glance, skimming over the words one last time. Then he crumpled it in his fist and tossed it into the wastebasket beneath the desk.

"Do you have any idea how much of a hassle it would be for the defense to be incapacitated in the middle of a trial?" he asked, almost conversationally, if the conversation was being held during the coldest part of winter between people who hated each other. "The delays, the paperwork, the scrambling to find a replacement… It would be quite the headache. And likely start more ridiculous rumors that I've turned my attention to killing troublesome defense lawyers as well."

He fixed his cool gaze on Ryunosuke again.

Ryunosuke chuckled nervously over the pounding of his heart. "I see. Makes perfect sense. Of course it–"

"What do you want?" van Zieks snapped out, patience fraying. "I don't have time for games. I need to check on the investigation of the scene, take Mr. Drebber's statement, collate new findings in the record, and write no less than three separate reports. Kindly do not waste my time."

"Ah, that does sound like a lot. You know, perhaps I shouldn't bother you after all. I'm sure it could wait until another day, so I'll just–"

"You have already been caught red-handed, my learned Nipponese friend. It's too late to sneak back out unnoticed. State your purpose."

Ryunosuke was assailed by regret. Why had he thought this would be a good idea? This was why he should really discuss impulsive ideas with Susato first before acting on them. She was much better at telling when something was bound to go badly.

He felt his eyes darting all around the room, searching futilely for some means of escape, and forced himself to focus back on van Zieks's unamused expression with an effort.

"Well, you see… It's a little silly, but… I spoke with Lord Stronghart earlier, you know, to get permission to–"

"Get on with it."

"Ah, right, of course." Ryunosuke tried to bite back another nervous laugh. Van Zieks's eyes narrowed. "A-anyway, he said that you recommended me to this case, even though my courtroom privileges hadn't technically been reinstated yet."

A sudden stillness fell over van Zieks, a lull like the calm before the storm, and he sized Ryunosuke up coldly, warily, with eyes like a hunting cat. "I don't recall doing that."

Somehow, this reaction was even worse than if he had grown angry—well, angrier—and started slinging around insults again, because Ryunosuke didn't understand it at all. It meant something, but what?

"Of course!" he said. "To be honest, it sounded more like you were insulting me and he entirely misunderstood. Although I suppose he would have to be rather oblivious to miss it, if even I could tell! Either that or maybe you made him angry and he– Oh, but that's silly. Anyway, I don't know why you'd ever want to recommend me to anything, much less this case, but I was just a little curious, I suppose."

Van Zieks said nothing at all, merely regarded him with a cold but strangely pensive air, and Ryunosuke felt his anxiety skyrocketing. He had never been able to let an awkward silence stand without filling it.

"But then again," he babbled, "I don't know why you'd want to prosecute this case either, really, if Professor Harebrayne is your friend. He speaks very highly of you, you know."

If he had intended this last as damage control to try softening the unfriendly prosecutor, it did not seem to have the intended effect. Any effect at all, really.

Van Zieks regarded him a moment longer and then turned away to take up one of the glass chalices in the case by the window. He filled it with wine slowly, deliberately, and left Ryunosuke shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"Every case needs a prosecution and a defense," he said finally, swirling the wine in the chalice thoughtfully and then taking a small sip. Astounding! He almost never drank anything at all in the courtroom, only tossed chalices and bottles around with abandon. "If I did not do it, someone else would."

"Well, of course. I only thought… It seems that either you win and Professor Harebrayne is convicted of murder, or you lose and the Reaper kills him instead. It seems like there is really no way to win at all."

"Let me handle the Reaper. You need only concern yourself with the defense."

"And that's another thing!" Ryunosuke said, warming to his theme before stopping to consider whether it was a good idea to press on. "You said the case needs both a prosecution and a defense, but it seems like so few defense lawyers are willing to face you in court because of the whole Reaper thing. I'd think that would lower the quality of the defense he might be able to get. Sometimes it seems like I'm the only one who–"

He cut off abruptly, mouth hanging halfway open as he stared at van Zieks with wide eyes, a half-formed notion coalescing in the back of his mind. Van Zieks regarded him overtop his chalice, gaze steady and unwavering, and took another sip.

"On the matter of Lord Stronghart," he said, "the man likes his games. Whether he thinks he is doing me a favor or thinks he is spiting me, the results are the same."

Ryunosuke was not entirely sure what to make of that. Was van Zieks admitting that he had nudged Stronghart into assigning Ryunosuke the case, or merely saying that Stronghart had misinterpreted his comment either maliciously or unwittingly?

"I…see." Ryunosuke did not see. "Still, I don't understand why you'd take the case. Or take the line that the machine worked, for that matter. All the experts say there's no way the science would have worked. It seems odd that you'd base your entire argument off it."

"Careful. It's borderline unethical for the prosecution and defense to discuss case strategy outside of the courtroom."

"O-oh… Sorry. I guess so. It just seemed odd, is all. You have to know it couldn't have worked."

"How should I know that?" van Zieks asked with a sardonic edge, sipping at his wine. "I'm not a man of science. I'm sure I wouldn't have the first idea of what might or might not work."

"I don't believe that at all," Ryunosuke muttered before he thought better of it.

Van Zieks was a clever man, and for all the blinding brilliance he showed off with dramatic gestures in the courtroom, he also had a quiet air of cunning slithering beneath the surface. Another level of shrewd intelligence and savvy that he deliberately did not draw attention to. He would not have drawn up an argument on an obviously false premise without reason, but his motives were as murky as ever.

He merely shrugged. "Albert was always a brilliant scientist, and his theories are quite clever, even the more outlandish ones. Why not give him the benefit of the doubt?"

That…wasn't quite right either. Perhaps he was giving an old friend a chance to prove himself out of respect. But still… The science had been declared unsound by all but Harebrayne himself, and Ryunosuke highly doubted van Zieks would have built an entire case off such an assumption without doing a little digging in advance to make sure the whole thing wouldn't collapse from shaky foundations. And besides…

Ryunosuke had debated with himself throughout the entire trial whether it was his duty to protect his client by letting him keep his research safe or by declaring his work a trick to prove his innocence. Harebrayne himself had not made this decision easy, downright sabotaging the defense just to protect his research. When Ryunosuke had finally committed to declaring the machine a trick, van Zieks had made a curious comment about him finally opening his eyes before giving Harebrayne a blunt nudge to agree to the examination of the device. For all van Zieks had argued that the machine had worked, he had not actually tried to shield it from losing the protection of the special provision. He had waited until Harebrayne was finally worn down enough to accept the truth before letting it be shoved into the open.

"If anyone else had prosecuted," Ryunosuke said slowly, quietly, "Professor Harebrayne would have been declared a fraud from the start."

With both the prosecution and defense maintaining the entire affair a farce, the science flawed, the machine a trick, the special provision would have been lifted straight away. Long before Harebrayne was ready to accept it. It seemed a small kindness, to hold out until he was ready to do it on his own terms.

Van Zieks's expression gave no indication of whether the guess hit close to the mark. "You will still have to prove it was some elaborate hoax, if that is what you are maintaining, and it will be difficult now that the machine has been destroyed before all its secrets could be revealed."

Ryunosuke imagined this held a quiet note of warning. His heart sank. They had been so close to uncovering the truth of the machine, and thanks to Drebber… He would have to fight for every inch in the courtroom again, piecing together the story from what fragmented evidence they did have.

"You're still going to insist that it worked?"

"I am not going to discuss strategy with you outside of the courtroom. Surely, that must be standard even in your backwater country's underdeveloped legal system?"

"Ah… I guess I wouldn't know," Ryunosuke mumbled, having had no experience with Japan's legal system outside of the time he'd defended himself in Dr. Wilson's murder. It hadn't exactly left him much time to learn the ins and outs of the system. "Still, I wouldn't think most prosecutors would willingly take on a case they intended to lose."

Van Zieks's eyes flashed with sudden wrath, and his voice was sharp when he said, "I do not 'intend to lose'."

Ryunosuke stepped back automatically, startled. Van Zieks's position had been unclear from the start and he'd certainly been fighting in the courtroom like he intended to win, but Ryunosuke had begun to assume that because he had apparently been friends with Harebrayne, maybe…

"O-oh," he said. "Sorry. I just assumed–"

"A lawyer's job is not to win or lose," van Zieks said. "Not really. Even an incompetent fool can win every now and again. The outcome should be based not on our tenacity or skill, but on whether the defendant is actually guilty or not. Our job, my learned friend, is to uncover the truth. There have been times I have acted as the prosecution against innocent parties, and there will be times you defend guilty clients, even though you have proven lucky in that regard thus far besides that old shyster McGilded. Every case is meant to have both a prosecution and a defense because they balance each other. I will create a narrative to explain how the crime may have occurred based on available evidence, and you will look for a way to disprove my theory and put forth your own. I will shoot down your wild conjecture, and you will look for flaws in my argument. Both roles are necessary, even when the outcome seems obvious. The state needs to be able to prove the defendant guilty, and the defendant needs the chance to prove their innocence if they are not the guilty party. If the prosecution and defense are unbalanced, if one is considerably more skilled or charismatic or intent on winning or losing regardless of the truth, then the truth is less likely to be uncovered and the trial becomes a charade.

"Do not accuse me of failing to do my job. I will explore every avenue, tear apart your baseless conjecture, and search for the narrative whereby Albert may be guilty. Do not expect me to roll over and let you have your way. The truth will never come out like that. We will explore every possibility, you and I, and follow this path to the bitter end, no matter where it may lead us. By the end, there will be no doubt whether he is innocent or guilty, because we will have left no stone unturned to potentially conceal the truth. Do you understand?"

Ryunosuke opened his mouth, closed it again. He had never heard van Zieks speak so openly on the subject—or on any subject, really—and this insight into his guiding philosophy was…enlightening, perhaps. The focus on uncovering the truth overlapped with Ryunosuke's own ethics and understanding of how he should approach each case. The explanation of the role of the prosecution and defense within that context, the insistence on doing the best job possible regardless of whether one found oneself on the right side of the courtroom, the dissection of the dynamic between both sides and how by working against each other they were, in a way, working together towards a common goal… That wasn't something Ryunosuke had read in any book of law. Perhaps if he'd had a proper education on the subject, a teacher would have explained it to him one day. He would not have expected van Zieks to be that teacher, but he thought he understood, at least a bit.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to insinuate that you weren't doing your job. You've always given brilliant performances. I was just having a hard time understanding your angle here."

Van Zieks stared down into his chalice blankly, slowly swirling the crimson liquid around in circles. "Many lawyers have forgotten these things," he said, sounding distant rather than angry this time. "It's made their ethics abominable. They come into the courtroom determined to win, no matter the facts or the cost. But you are just young and inexperienced, I suppose. Perhaps you escaped the worst of it because you were not classically trained. Although, truly, I would not advise announcing your doubts so baldly as you did against McGilded. There are more subtle ways to get at the truth, without compromising the underlying tenet of defending your client. You may consider this a lesson."

"Oh… Thank you? Only… That seems a little risky too, doesn't it? If you're too good at your job and the defense is weak but their client is innocent, isn't it more likely to end up convicting an innocent person?"

A faint grimace pulled at van Zieks's lips. "The system is not perfect, even here. It works beautifully if the prosecution and defense are balanced, but when they are not… It opens up room for error, yes. Sometimes you must make discretionary adjustments: abandon an argument the defense is incapable of dismantling themselves, nudge the defense along when they are missing what is right underneath their noses, subtly offer an alternative explanation… These are dangerous too, in their own way, because you are relying solely on your own judgment even though you don't have your counterpart to double-check. So I expect that you will do your job as well to spare me the effort of doing both."

Ryunosuke stood up straight, his confusion and anxiety hardening, once again, into determination. "Yes, of course!"

"On that note, don't you have work to do in preparation for tomorrow? I do, regardless, and you have wasted enough of my time."

"Oh, yes, of course. I'll be on my way. Thank you for your patience."

Van Zieks's eyes narrowed, like he sensed mockery in the sentiment but wouldn't lower himself to acknowledge it. Ryunosuke didn't mean to mock, although perhaps 'patience' had not been the best choice of words. Van Zieks had given him a lot to think about. More questions than answers, really, but he'd always been that way.

Ryunosuke turned and headed for the door, not wanting to press his luck. Despite the rocky beginnings, this was about the most cordial conversation they'd ever had. Or, at least, the first where van Zieks had deigned to so openly treat Ryunosuke as a fellow lawyer rather than merely a nuisance. No need to spoil whatever it was he'd gained.

"One last thing," van Zieks said abruptly, and Ryunosuke startled and turned back to see the prosecutor watching him with a guarded expression. "Since you have been so shamelessly invading my space and enquiring after personal matters, I assume you would not object if I asked you a personal question as well?"

Ryunosuke blinked back at him, caught off guard. He had no idea what van Zieks might want to know about him on a personal level. It seemed beneath the man to ask.

"Um, I suppose not? What is it?"

Van Zieks didn't answer immediately, mouth pressed into a thin line and fingers tightening around the stem of the chalice as he considered his next words. Finally, he said, "My understanding is that you are a replacement for a student of law who did not survive the journey to London."

Ryunosuke's heart squeezed tightly in his chest, and he felt his shoulders hunching and had to straighten back up with an effort. "Yes," he said in a low voice. "I was accompanying a friend of mine. He was a brilliant defense attorney. Unfortunately, there was…an incident on the steamship. He didn't make it."

He still couldn't think of Kazuma without feeling all the air knocked out of him and wishing things had been different.

"My condolences," van Zieks said, and while he still did not sound particularly friendly, the words did ring surprisingly genuine.

"Thank you."

"The sword you wear… Did it belong to him?"

Once again, Ryunosuke felt caught off guard. How would van Zieks even guess a thing like that? Was it really so obvious that he had no idea how to wield a sword, even though he'd never had to prove it?

"It did, actually. Why?"

Van Zieks pursed his lips, as if this was an answer he did not like. "What was his name?"

"Um, Kazuma?" Ryunosuke said uncertainly. He had no idea why van Zieks would care about that either, especially given his blatant disdain for anyone Japanese. "His name was Kazuma."

"His family name."

"Oh. Asogi. Kazuma Asogi."

Van Zieks blew out a short, sharp breath, and his gaze flicked away from Ryunosuke to settle on the low desk on the other side of the room. "Yes," he said grimly, voice low enough that he was talking to himself more than anyone. "I thought so."

"Sorry, you did?" Ryunosuke asked, flabbergasted.

That didn't make sense at all. How would van Zieks have any idea that Kazuma even existed, much less guess at his fate and that of Karuma? And now Ryunosuke looked at that low table too, where he had seen a man in a cloak and mask who moved surprisingly like an old friend. Even Susato, on seeing the apprentice for the first time, had immediately thought that he held himself like Kazuma always had. But what would van Zieks know about any of it?

Van Zieks's gaze snapped back to Ryunosuke's face, his expression shuttering completely. "That will be all," he said coldly. "You may go."

"But–"

"Get out. I have more important matters to attend to."

And so Ryunosuke scurried from the room, bursting with questions that had no answers and wondering what, exactly, was brewing in van Zieks's clever, cunning mind.

The rest of the trial took so many unexpected twists and turns that Ryunosuke was left with whiplash. He had to fight for every inch, take several leaps of faith, and indulge lines of conjecture until they finally coalesced into the truth with evidence to back it up. Van Zieks did not make it easy, calling out conjecture and demanding evidence every step of the way, but in all fairness… He had allowed Ryunosuke to keep pressing the case after what had seemed to be the trial's natural conclusion and called Sithe to the stand against direct orders from the Lord Chief Justice himself. Once or twice, Ryunosuke had fancied he felt a subtle nudge redirecting his attention, but he could have imagined it. Regardless, van Zieks had been right in the end: they had turned over every stone and explored every dark corner to uncover an unexpectedly convoluted truth, and there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that Harebrayne could be anything but innocent.

This victory was hard-won and tasted all the sweeter for it, although there was still a bitter edge from Harebrayne's distress at having his research declared fraudulent. But the man was nothing if not brightly optimistic, and Ryunosuke thought he would be okay. He was already talking about sightseeing and touring the rest of the Great Exhibition, as if already on the hunt for his next great hypothesis.

At least until van Zieks appeared and neatly squashed that idea.

"When your acquittal is made official, you must go straight to Dover. I'll accompany you. From there, you will cross the Channel and return to Germany. I have already purchased the tickets."

Ryunosuke frowned. Van Zieks had already purchased the tickets? Then he must have expected to lose after all, to have taken measures before the trial was even concluded.

Van Zieks threw him a look of immense exasperation. "Do try to keep up, my learned friend. I would not have entrusted the defense to you otherwise."

Ryunosuke nearly jumped out of his skin. Could even van Zieks read his thoughts now? He had come to expect a certain degree of mindreading from Susato, but he didn't think van Zieks should know him well enough to do it himself.

And was that as good as a confession that van Zieks had at least some hand in arranging both the prosecution and defense?

For all he seemed merciless and implacable in the courtroom, the man was incomprehensible. Although Susato did clear up one mystery when she put together the pieces to realize the intention behind enquiring after Soseki's well-being and shipping Harebrayne off to Germany.

"Let me handle the Reaper," van Zieks had said, and it seemed like he did, in fact, have it all planned out. Ryunosuke had been entrusted with the defense—he wasn't sure if he should feel flattered, if van Zieks had come to regard him as a worthy enough opponent to balance him in the courtroom, or if he was only reading too much into it—but van Zieks was handling everything else behind the scenes. It seemed they had briefly shared custody of the same troublesome client.

Then, just when he thought that maybe he was starting to understand at least a little, van Zieks paused before ushering Harebrayne out and asked Ryunosuke to meet him back in the courtroom in ten minutes. They had matters to discuss.

Van Zieks didn't quite leave behind the air of impending doom that often followed him wherever he went, but perhaps only because Ryunosuke's curiosity for once outweighed his unease. What could van Zieks possibly have to discuss with him?

The entire sordid story, apparently.

"I suppose I might as well tell you before you get too comfortable snooping around and doing your research," van Zieks said when they reconvened in the courtroom. "I'm sure you've wondered where my animosity towards you Nipponese comes from."

Ryunosuke could hardly believe van Zieks was finally revealing the truth of the mystery they'd been poking at mostly unsuccessfully. He listened with fierce curiosity and sympathy as the story of the Professor unfolded.

But when van Zieks produced the key from his pocket and unlocked the waxwork's mask, he was not watching Ryunosuke but his own masked apprentice lingering silently on the sidelines. And when Kazuma Asogi revealed himself, memories flooding back all at once, Ryunosuke couldn't help but notice that van Zieks did not look surprised at all.