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There has always been that old saying: "They say that hindsight is 20/20." In this case, I'm able to agree with them a hundred and ten per-cent, whoever "they" might be. And they're fairly accurate in that regard.
It happened on a fairly quiet day by the usual standard of 221B Baker Street. Mr. Holmes and Iris had went out to investigate a particularly strange-sounding case involving a scone, some poisonous butter and some sunken parsley, while Susato had went out to meet up with the newly appointed crown prosecutor Kazuma Asougi, Q.C
Ryuunosuke Naruhodou and I were left with the entire flat to ourselves for the day.
I had temporarily commandeered Iris's typewriter; helping him to type up some of his old case files, notes and paperwork (though I must say Susato already does a fantastic job.) Ryuunosuke, meanwhile, continued to work with good old fashioned pen, ink and paper in order to draw up the brief of an upcoming trial.
Although the two of us were sat opposite one another in the law office that takes up Holmes's attic space in silence, we were certainly enjoying each-other's company by the warmth of the stove and the tea and cocoa flowing like the river Thames in a storm.
All with the promise made to each-other that we'd head out to the nearby Criterion Café for a nice dinner when we finished everything up.
All was well.
Well, until it was interrupted by the strangest and most frightening sound.
Whirr...
"Did you hear that?" he asked.
"Mm?" I hummed, looking up from the typewriter. I could hear it much better without the sound of the keys going.
Whirr...
"There!" he cried. "There it is again!"
"Probably just the wind rattling something outside."
Whirr...
He put his cap back on his pen again and sat it down before he stood up from his chair.
"No, it's definitely coming from in here," he said.
I agreed. It sounded far too close to be the sound of anything coming from outside; within the room for sure. "And it's definitely quite annoying," I added as I stood up from my desk to help him find the true source of this mysterious noise.
He removed his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves until they were just past his elbows. He meant business, and somehow managed to look even more handsome than before. And heroic.
Well, that's what my chain of thought was up until he turned and immediately found the sound of the noise behind him all this time. He yelled and immediately jumped up on the table, knocking his papers aside in the same stroke.
"Ryuunosuke!" I yelled, my heart almost being set sideways out of my body and out through the window from his scream. "What the devil?!"
"M-Mouse!" he exclaimed.
On the floor in the shadow behind his chair, was the silhouette of a mouse, its ears wiggling, its tail in the air and its eyes a glowing red.
Whirr... "Squeak squeak!" Whirr...
"A mouse?! How the hell did that manage to get in!" I said.
I've seen plenty of mice and rats when staying in less-than-reputable flats across London in my time, and it really isn't as scary or horrifying the thirtieth time as is the first or second time.
"Ah well, it's not harming anyone as far as we know, we should be fi—"
Before I could continue in saying anything, Ryuunosuke jumped off of the table and charged for the broom that he had been using yesterday to sweep the floor. He grabbed it and ran quickly towards the mouse screaming like a lunatic and swinging it like a man possessed.
"Banzai!" he cried.
He began to smack and knock the mouse about the floor with the working end of the broom, knocking and whacking it and bumping it about.
Everyone else must have returned home and heard the resulting noise because there came a stampede of footsteps up the stairs and the cry of "Narudy! What are you doing?!" from Iris.
"Iris?!"
"Narudy, what are you doing to Basil?!"
"Basil?!" I exclaimed.
"Yes! Basil! Basil of Baker Street!" said Holmes. "Iris and I worked hard on that one, Mr. Naruhodou. Why did you feel compelled to destroy it?!"
Now we could manage to get a clear look of the mouse in the daylight. It wasn't a mouse, per-se. It was a bronze metal shell with two silver ears, a long crooked metal antenna for a tail and two glowing red lights for eyes. Except now the eyes had been broken, the tail had snapped off and several cogs had fallen out of the casing.
"How dare you, Naruhodou-sama!" said Susato, still in her cloak and looking ready to throw Ryuunosuke out the window.
"Would someone like to clue us in?" I asked.
"Mr. Basil is, well, was my newest idea!" Iris said, shooting Ryuunosuke a glare. "He's an automatic vacuum cleaner."
"Yes. Brilliant Automatic Special Intelligent cLeaner. B.A.S.I.L. B.A.S.I.L of Baker Street!"
"Holmes-san, do you need to say it multiple times a minute?"
"I wanted an automatic vacuum cleaner so we could afford to give Mrs. Hudson an extra day off a week so she wouldn't be so tired to have fun all the time. And give Wagahai something to chase around when we're all out working or running errands."
"I thought it was a rat! You could've at least told me before I took into it with the broom."
"B.A.S.I.L murderer!" cried Holmes. "I must call Inspector Lestrade at once!"
"Holmes-san!"
"You've really done it now, Naruhodou-sama! I'm sure Kazuma-sama will seek the death penalty!"
"Susato-?!"
"Yes! Justice for B.A.S.I.L! Or at least the cost of replacement parts," I said. I couldn't help but feel like I needed to join in on this new social justice movement.
"Fine..." sighed Naruhodou, reaching for his wallet. "But I still don't think this whole robotic vacuum cleaner thing is going to catch on..."