Fu Hua was still trying to process the last few hours as she made her way back to Baker Street. It was… difficult for her to wrap her mind around the situation. Ritsuka was her; he found her at long last after centuries. A true meeting between them as he promised that night.

…But it wasn't the same Ritsuka from that time. Not yet. He was still green in his role as Chaldea's Master— compared to the one she came to know, of course. This Ritsuka… his eyes were much younger and didn't hold that same warmth she grew to yearn for.

She knew she should be grateful for the chance to meet like this— to be able to be with him and others at the same time. However, the same thought she had back then kept returning: 'Why couldn't it be an older him?' The long-lived soldier shook her head again, trying to banish that thought again. It was unfair to this Ritsuka, even if this one didn't fully reciprocate her feelings.

Soon enough, she returned to 221B Baker Street and knocked on the door before letting herself in. As soon as she entered the sitting room though— "FU HUA, WHAT'S YOUR HUSBAND'S NAME?!"

"Huh?!"

Somehow, Holmes was able to brush off the killing glare Fu Hua was shooting at him. She did not take kindly to his idea of a mystery for Chaldea to solve. "Oh lighten up, my dear friend. You rarely get the chance to speak about your beloved. See this as an opportunity to ramble about him," he smiled before saying that it was time for him to turn in for the night.

"I swear, that man…" Fu Hua grumbled before glancing back to see the eager faces of Romani and Mash. Mordred was just rolling her eyes while Ritsuka… well, he was trying his best to not be here at the moment. It was cute. "Is Holmes really that famous?"

"In a way… yes," Mash nodded before Doctor Roman cut in.

"Okay, so give us a clue. Any clue that could let us figure out the truth!" Their excitement, though annoying, was also oddly endearing.

However, Da Vinci then replaced the Doctor to share her observations. "I find it odd to be truthful. Holmes expects us to figure out his name without you telling us? How is anyone supposed to deduce that?" It did sound like a wild goose chase. Without knowing what her husband's name could be, it was impossible to figure out who it actually was.

"Well, we know his last name at least."

"We do?" Ritsuka blurted out at Mordred's offhanded remark.

"Yeah? It's Fu-something, isn't it?" The light dying in Ritsuka's eyes was barely noticeable had one not been paying close attention.

That light would quickly return though with what Mash said next. "Mordred, Eastern name customs are not the same as Western custom. It's irregular for a woman to take her husband's surname upon marriage there."

"Oh really? That's my idea out then," Mordred shrugged, not really caring all that much. She didn't have any stake in solving this mystery. Those who did, on the other hand, looked dejected as their one clue was taken away.

…She knew it was a terrible idea— that she should keep her mouth shut — but seeing them so upset didn't sit right with Fu Hua. "You're not far off the mark, actually."

"What?"

All eyes were back on her but Fu Hua managed to keep her usual calm demeanour as she began explaining. "I wasn't born with a last name. It was… not a thing my people did."

"So you did take your husband's last name?"

"Not exactly. I wanted to, but my comrades at the time thought the name sounded too long. They didn't know about him and believed I came up with it on my own and gave suggestions to make it sound better." It was a far distant memory at this point, one she could barely recall anymore…

"Huh, so it is Fu-something? Damn, I'm a genius."

"Fu is derived from his surname?" Da Vinci hummed, processing that nugget of information.

Fu Hua nodded before glancing from the corner of her eye at Ritsuka to see his reaction. As expected, his face was fully red at this point and she could imagine the smoke coming out of his ears. A part of her briefly considered mentioning this was before that night but she didn't want to kill Ritsuka from embarrassment. "Is that all? I'd like to return to my room to recuperate if so. Will you be staying for the night?"

"We—"

"Unfortunately, I think it's better we head back to Dr Jekyll's. I'm sure he's worried sick about us by now." Da Vinci quickly decided for them, stopping Ritsuka from whatever he wanted to say.

"Right, we've been out so long," Mash agreed. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Fu Hua. Thank you for your assistance today and hopefully in the near future."

"Likewise," Fu Hua replied with a curt nod. As the three began shuffling out of the room, she felt herself tense up as Ritsuka walked past… and paused.

"...Fu Hua?"

"Yes?"

"Your husband… is he really in the city?"

Fu Hua was taken aback by his quiet question. It was clear he didn't want the others to hear and, after a moment of thought, she replied as quietly— "No, he isn't."

As soon as Ritsuka lay down on the sofa, the day's events fell on him like a pile of bricks. "So… tired…" he muttered to himself.

"Get some rest, Master," he heard Mash say as she stood over him.

"You know, we forgot to ask Fu Hua about the sword in the excitement," Romani remarked to which Da Vinci retorted by asking whose fault that was. "He-hey! She's the one who started going off about her husband!"

Ritsuka didn't react to the mention— being too physically and mentally exhausted to do so.

"Well, we can ask her about the Key of Domination next time. Right now, the identity of her husband is more intriguing to me," the Caster smirked.

"Why? You don't want an autograph like those two, right?" Mordred asked.

"No, I don't; I just like a good mystery. But as I said earlier, it's odd," Da Vinci parroted her earlier words. "Holmes expects us to figure it out solely from Fu Hua's clues. No name can be guessed from description alone and he should know that. That means…"

"We already know his name?" Mash completed that train of thought. "I guess it's possible?"

"Then let's lay out some clues, shall we? What was the line… when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth? Of course, if we're wrong and it's someone we don't know…" Da Vinci trailed off before clearing her throat. "Let's start from the beginning. We can logically assume our culprit hails from the East like Fu Hua herself. She only came to London a few years ago and we can assume they were already married then."

Ritsuka moved onto his side, hiding his face away from the others as they slowly put together the pieces.

"Next, her husband is barely around. Whatever he works as, it keeps them separate but he is now here in London for said work."

"And for some time too," Mash added. "Fu Hua said that she didn't think he'd actually be here though…"

"So a type of job that makes her believe they can't see each other… It can't be…"

"You have a theory, Da Vinci? From only two clues?" Dr Roman asked in disbelief. Da Vinci replied that she had the start of one.

"Fu Hua already knew of Chaldea— someone told her, and it has to be someone she trusts deeply. Most people would naturally have doubts about what we do solely from stories, especially in this time period. Holmes and Fu Hua had been working together for years and he thought she was making us up," Da Vinci continued breaking down what they knew. "So I believe we can safely assume that the person who told her about Chaldea is none other than her husband."

"Then how does Mr Fu-something know about Chaldea already?"

Ritsuka was sure he was sweating bullets at this point.

"That's where we get to the fun part. I think we can also assume her husband sees us positively. After all, Fu Hua and Holmes were mostly willing to help us based on his words alone. I'd even go as far as to say… he might actually work for Chaldea." Ritsuka could basically hear the grin on Da Vinci's face. He could feel the gazes on his back as he continued pretending to be asleep.

"Wait… you don't mean—?"

"Well~ what else do we know about Fu Hua's husband? He's apparently similar to a certain someone here. And that reminds me, isn't it strange how someone was quick to trust her? That someone wanted to visit Baker Street without knowing it was the home of Sherlock Holmes? It was as if… he wanted to come here to see someone else."

"Da Vinci, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Mash was putting two and two together too.

"And if I remember correctly, that certain someone was quick to shoot down the idea of Holmes and Fu Hua being involved with each other. As if he already knew Fu Hua was lovingly married to someone."

"...Oh, I get it now…" Mordred was definitely smirking now too.

"Of course, the only discrepancy was that someone was curious about our culprit but surely, he has something to defend himself. Isn't that right, Fujimaru Ritsuka?"

Complete and utter silence fell on the room. Ritsuka kept still for what seemed like an eternity. However, he knew he could not run forever and so— "...I am not married to her yet."

"EXPLAIN!"

A/N: Yeah, I was super motivated to write this chapter just for the ending. Hopefully, it's one that has a logical throughline for them to go through when they did not know at all Ritsuka and Fu Hua had a more intimate connection. Also, first time Fu Hua had a POVish spotlight cause I felt it made more sense at the start and we can get a bit more insight. I wanted this to be solely from Ritsuka's POV(ish) but eh, plans changed as usual. This whole thing is a result of that.

Oh yeah, that idea about Fu being from Fujimaru was something I thought of for the main story, but ended up scrapping it cause of lore reason.

Anyway, see y'all next time!