Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As Ryunosuke stands behind the defense desk, as he sees the contradiction that Jezaille Brett has left in her testimony, as he feels the sudden rush of adrenaline, like a predator about to catch its prey, he hears Him speak for the first time. 

“We’ve got you now!” He says, with triumph and excitement and passion that reflects exactly what Ryunosuke feels in that moment. Ryunosuke knows better than to look over at Hi m, but He is standing so close to Kazuma that it isn’t hard to find a moment.

The man is a little taller than Kazuma, though this is a fact Ryunosuke has noticed long ago. He stands with his arms folded. His hair and the white tie around it billows like Kazuma’s ribbons. There’s a fierceness, a conviction, and strength in his eyes like Ryunosuke has never seen before. He’s never looked more alive than he does in this moment. 

But Ryunosuke knows better than to look for too long, and he has a trial to win. 

It is, after all, rude to stare at the dead.

oOo

The world’s a lot more haunted than you think.

This is a fact that Ryunosuke is very familiar with. The streets are so much more crowded when you can see all of these hauntings, all the spirits that are sticking around. Oddly enough, it doesn’t make the world much louder. Over the years, Ryunosuke has learned some undeniable facts about ghosts, and rules about interacting with them. 

Spirits are tame, for the most part. They quietly haunt someone or something or someplace. If Ryunosuke was to hazard a guess, he’d say they were created by strong emotions. Hate sometimes, or fear, or sadness. Mostly, though, Ryunosuke thinks it’s love. That’s what it looks like to him. Family members haunting those still living. A lover, relationships cut off too quick leaving messy ends, who follows his love even after she has found another. Children trying to cling to the legs of parents who can’t see them anymore. A mother who stays next her son, watching with warm and soft eyes. It’s heartbreaking in a lot of ways, but the sadness of it has also become somewhat dulled after so many years - his entire life - of seeing this. Ryunosuke tells himself, over and over, that there’s nothing to be done about the matter. The ghosts will only leave once they’re satisfied. 

Kazuma has a ghost who follows him everywhere. This isn’t a surpring fact. They have a resemblance, and Ryunosuke figures the man is probably Kazuma’s father, although he has the sense not to ask about it. There’s a lot of ‘rules’ about spirits, and one of the main things about that is not to let people know you can see them. It makes it very hard to ask about them without giving yourself away.

The Asogi Ghost has good manners for a spirit. A lot of ghosts stay very close to whoever they’re haunting, but whenever Kazuma talks to people, the ghost steps a respectful distance away. It makes it easier to talk to Kazuma in that regard. He’s also a quiet ghost, like most are, and Ryunosuke pretends he can’t see him staring at Ryunosuke with intelligent and focused eyes. Despite the fact that there’s nothing much the Asogi Ghost could do if he decided there was something about Ryunosuke he didn’t like, it still makes Ryunosuke straighten his back and put on his best appearance - at last until he became too wrapped up in whatever he is saying or doing with Kazuma and would relax. The Ghost seemed fine to just watch. 

With Kazuma’s death on the S.S. Burya, his Ghost goes with him.

oOo

Ryunosuke has no ghosts. No matter how often he looks over his shoulders, there is nobody who sticks around him. Maybe it’s because his parents thought him safe, and their work done, and left him. 

He tries not to think that it’s because they don’t love him. 

oOo

That first night after Kazuma dies, Susato actually ends up sleeping in Kazuma-now-Ryunosuke’s cabin. She sleeps in the bed and Ryunsouke intends to sleep on the floor, but he doesn’t get any sleep that night. Instead, he spends most of his time staring around the room, as if if he looks carefully enough, long enough, Kazuma will appear. 

Kazuma was both Susato and Ryunosuke’s friend. Surely he would be here, surely he loved them enough to stick around. Didn’t he?

He doesn’t show up. 

It’s just Ryunosuke and Susato in the room the entire night, with Kazuma’s body somewhere below deck. His ghost is nowhere to be found. 

Ryunosuke keeps looking. 

oOo

When he is younger, at the perfect age where he is no longer shy, is so inexperienced in the world, and old enough that some things about him can’t be brushed off as him just being an odd child, Ryunosuke makes the mistake of talking to ghosts. 

Usually, the ghosts are just surprised and a little uncomfortable at the fact that they are being seen by a living human. There’s two ghosts, however, who speak of things like ‘unfinished business’, who jumped at the fact that Ryunosuke could see them. The first had been an old woman who followed her daughter around. 

“Little boy,” She’d said, kneeling down after Ryunosuke had asked her why she was so sad and confirmed it was indeed her he was asking, “My daughter refuses to visit my grave.”

“Does she not love you?” Ryunosuke asked in the way that only a wreckless child could, zero malicious intent behind the otherwise rude words. The old woman had actually laughed and moved as if to ruffle Ryunosuke’s hair, a gesture like the smallest of breezes.

“She does not visit because she loves me so much. She doesn’t like crying, and she knows that’s exactly what she’ll do at my grave. So instead she tries to stay away. She cries at night over it, though. I just want her to get it all out at once,” The old woman explained. Then seemingly struck with an idea, she canted her head forward and asked, “Little boy, will you help me? Will you get my daughter to visit my grave?” 

Ryunosuke considered it for a moment and then nodded, because he didn’t have anything else he needed to do or anywhere he needed to be for a little while. 

He then went up to the daughter, hands in front of him politely, and asked, 

“Excuse me, ma’am, can you help me?” 

The daughter seemed surprised by Ryunosuke’s sudden interest in her but otherwise nodded. 

“Whatever with?” She asked, kindly and softly. Yes, Ryunosuke could see the saddness the old woman had talked about. 

“I need to go to a cemetary, and I don’t want to go alone.” He said, the old woman next to him and whispering in his ear what to say. 

“A cemetary?” The daughter repeated and Ryunosuke nodded. 

“My parents are dead.” He said, an explanation and a lie at the same time. The daughter put a hand to her heart. 

The old woman gently directed Ryunosuke to take the daughter’s hand and start leading her away. The daughter was a kind woman, and despite her initial surprise, she did let herself be lead to the cemetary, not knowing that Ryunosuke was folloing her own mother. The daughter paused at the threshold of the cemetary, feet glued to the ground, and Ryunosuke gave her hand a little tug. 

“I-I’m sorry, but this is as far as I can go with you.” The daughter apologized. Ryunosuke shook his head.

“But the next part is the hard part, and that’s what I wanted you help with.” He repeated the words as the old woman said them again.

For a moment, it seemed the daughter would continue to refuse. But then, little by little, she went forward again, hand still held tightly in Ryunosuke’s, but she’s holding onto him now, not the other way around. Ryunosuke continued forward, not saying another word, following the old woman to a headstone, a stone taller than Ryunosuke’s not very impressive stature. The old woman had set herself like she’s leaning on it, and then the daughter put a hand to her mouth. 

“Ma’am?” Ryunosuke asked and the daughter shook her head, falling to her knees, sobbing. 

“There there, it’s alright.” The old woman mimed rubbing circles into the daughter’s back. She waved Ryunosuke over and then, hand laid on top of his own, had him take up in the action in the physical world. 

“It’s okay.” Ryunosuke told the daughter. 

“I-I…” The daugther tried to get words out but the sobs were too much of a blockade for that. 

“Crying is alright,” The old woman and Ryunosuke said, “It’s alright, it’s going to be alright.”

And then, like fireflies had been clumped together and now fly away, the old woman fades into bits of fading lights. The daughter continued to cry, she did for a very long time, and by the time she was done and stood back up, moping the tears off her face, she looked just as sad. Ryunosuke hoped she’d get better and then left. 

oOo

If Ryunosuke thought that Japan had a lot of ghosts, it doesn’t prepare him at all for Britain. 

Spirits walk the streets almost as much as living people. Most of them follow someone, but there’s a few who seem to go without any aim, phantoms that the cold winter sun shines right through. He doesn’t let it bother him, of course. There’s more people in Britain than in Japan, so it makes sense that there’d also be more ghosts. 

When he and Susato arrive at the Old Bailey and go through their first trial, however, there's a ghost that sticks out to him, that he has to stop himself for looking at too openly. The distance between him and them had made that task fairly easy, as the ghost stuck close to his person. 

It's a man, proud and tall, next to Barok van Zieks behind the prosecutor’s bench. He looks so similar to him, they’re unmistakable as family, and for a moment Ryunosuke thinks the man is Barok’s co-council. It isn't until Barok casts his cape aside and it goes right through the other man that it’s clear the man isn’t alive. He stands, quietly, next to Barok, only nodding or shaking his head. He has sad eyes, a common feature of ghosts, and if nothing else he always shakes his head when Barok says something derogatory towards Ryunosuke and Susato. 

He isn't surprised, or pleased, or dismayed by the results of the trial. They simply are what they are to the van Zieks Ghost, it would seem. 

In the Defense antechamber, after the trial, the ghost is there. He’s strayed far enough from Barok to stand off to the side, staring at them, and then draws closer. And he speaks words that he intends for no one to hear, said softly, mumbled in the way of a ghost who hasn’t had to speak to another in a while. They never forget how to speak, but his words and tone have the cadence of someone still a little unsure if they’re doing it right. 

“So it’s true,” The van Zieks Ghost whispers, “He died on the trip here. Naruhodo and Mikotoba… I pray the past does not repeat itself.” 

It’s ominous when Ryunosuke hears it the first time. In retrospect, he will know it as the gentle and fervent wish he had tried and perhaps failed to bestow upon them. 

oOo

The second ghost Ryunosuke tried to help was a ghost who had stuck around for hate, not that he’d known it at the time.

“I need to talk to my son again.” The man, not old but not young, had implored upon Ryunosuke when he’d realized that he was being seen and heard by someone still alive. 

“You just need to talk?” Ryunosuke frowned, feeling sad for him. It was very sad, after all, that all of these ghosts sticking so close to the ones they care about can’t do anything for them. All they can do it stay nearby, and watch, and then when they are finally satisfied, finally no longer worried, they can finally pass onward into the next realm. That whole concept, Ryunosuke tries not to think about too hard. 

“Yes. After I died… there were many things I wanted to say to him. Now, I fear I’ll never get the chance. But with your help…!” The man reached forward as if to grab Ryunosuke by the shoulders, but of course his hands slipped right through him. 

“I can help you.” Ryunosuke offered, and the man smiled kindly and patiently.

“Thank you, young man, your help would be much appreciated.” 

The man guided Ryunosuke to his son, and Ryunosuke fidgeted nervously, but finally said to the son,

“Your father wants to talk to you.” It was clumsier than when he’d tried to help the old woman. The son, who was a full grown man himself, naturally dodn’t believe Ryunosuke at first, but the man gave Ryunosuke some facts about the son he couldn't possibly know otherwise. Slowly, the son came around, looking over Ryunosuke as if he would suddenly be able to also see the ghost of his father. 

“Come with me.” The son said and Ryunosuke followed. The man hummed as they went, already looking happier. It’s as they went to the son’s house that Ryunosuke wondered if perhaps he should keep doing this, helping ghosts. Not all of them, but these ones who really needed just one thing. The man was the first ghost since the old woman who, when Ryunosuke had asked and managed to get a response, had a solid and single thing they knew they needed to do before they could leave. 

The son’s house was nice, and he told Ryunosuke to sit down before coming back with some food that he offered to Ryunosuke, mostly fruit with a little dull knife to cut them up with. Ryunosuke ate a few bites of fruit and then the son asked, after letting out a shaky breath, what his father had to say to him. 

“He says,” Ryunosuke started, and then the man leaned close to Ryunosuke’s ear, whispering, “That he wants to know how you’re doing. With your own words.”

“I’m doing well.” The son replied. He talked about a girl he was hoping to marry, and his house, and his job. None of this seemed to satisfy the ghost of the man, who sat forward. 

“He also wants to know how it… ‘feels’?” Ryunosuke repeated, a little confused on the phrasing. The son looks confused, but also on guard at the question.

“How does what feel?” The son asked. 

“H-how does it feel to have h-his blood on y-your… your hands.” Ryunosuke relayed, now staring at the son with new eyes. In this moment, if Ryunosuke had any sense, he would've run, but he also swore he could feel the ghost of the man holding him there, willing him to stay. The son reeled back as if struck but then leaned forward, suddenly angry. 

“If feels worth it after what you did to my mother - to your wife!” The son spat. Ryunosuke leaned forward, mouth continuing to repeat the words of the man. 

“She got what she deserved - and-and-and you will too…!”

Ryunosuke’s hand shook, spasmed, and then slapped forward, grasping the small and dull knife between his fingers. He cried out in shock and pain as he surged forwards, towards the son. 

But Ryunosuke, luckily, was only a boy, and the son was able to easily disarm him. The ghost of the man was gone after that, gone in a burst of light. In a few minutes, the son would tell Ryunosuke softly but firmly to leave, but for the moment he at least had the kindness in his heart to hold Ryunosuke, hold him exactly like he needed right now, as Ryunosuke cried onto his shoulder, shaking, opening and closing his hand to make sure he can, that nothing and no one else is forcing the action upon him.

Ryunosuke stopped talking to ghosts. 

oOo

Neither Iris nor Mr. Sholmes carry ghosts with them, and it makes 221B Bakerstreet that much nicer of a home. There is no fear of slipping up, of mistaking somebody. 

At least, that’s the way it is for the first two weeks. 

It’s tea time, and Iris is going through her usual motions with it. She prepares five cups, always prepared for an extra guest, should one come. As they sit down, little snacks set out on the table, Ryunosuke looks up, does a double take, and almost shouts in his surprise, 

“L-Lord van Zieks!” 

Too late to stop himself, he realizes that the man’s hair is a shade lighter, his suit a bright red that he’s never seen Barok in, and he’s lacking the distintive scar. Without a doubt, the man standing in 221B Bakerstreet is not Barok, but the van Zieks Ghost. Somehow, this is ever stranger than.

Ryunosuke wrenches his gaze away, praying he’s done it in time before the ghost has noticed him staring. The three living people in the room are staring at him, and he does his best to recover, stuttering out, 

“H-has anybody heard from him? I’ve heard- I mean- he hasn’t been in court since my last trial, right?” Ryunosuke says in what he hopes sounds like convincing curiosity.

“Mmm, indeed, although the Reaper has previously only been known to take on the more high-profile cases, only your own being the exception. It’s not really a surprise.” Sholmes seems to brush off any strangeness about Ryunosuke’s sudden question, and with his nonchalance Susato and Iris also settle down. 

“I think he doesn’t want to be in the middle of a case if you take another on.” The van Zieks Ghost says it loudly for a ghost, at a normal conversational tone at least. The very notion that Barok is simply lying in wait for Ryunosuke to get another case is almost enough to make him want to run all the way back to Japan. But he has unfinished business here, Kazuma’s unfinished business, and thus nothing can stop him from pursuing it. 

The van Zieks Ghost sits, or pretends to sit, right in front of the extra cup of tea Iris prepared. 

“And how has your day been?” He whispers, staring at Iris, “I’m sorry I haven’t visited often. Barok has needed me, I know you’re always safe here with Herlock.” 

Iris, of course, doesn’t reply, instead seeming to consider Ryunosuke’s question. 

“I wonder if maybe Mr. Reaper is just busy. He must have been doing something for the last five years, so it makes sense he’ll be trying to continue that work, right?” Iris muses, taking a sip of her tea. 

Ryunosuke isn’t able to relax until, a few hours later, the van Zieks Ghosts rises, thanks Iris for tea he wasn’t able to drink, bids the rest of them goodbye with words he must think falls on deaf ears, and walks right through the door from whence he came. 

oOo

There are a lot of unremarkable ghosts Ryunosuke sees. Sometimes, their presence gives him little hints for things, but for the most part they’re just what they’ve been his entire life; the ghosts stick around those they love and occasionally those they hate. 

Gina has a man who walks behind her. 

Thrice-Fired Mason stays close to his son. 

Olive Green's fiance compliments her art from beyond the grave.

The over population becomes normal, just like it had been in Japan. 

This normalcy, that balance, all shatters with the Odie Asman case. 

oOo

The Asogi Ghost haunts Barok’s masked apprentice. 

Ryunosuke can’t say that, can't present that evidence. All he can do is call out to Kazuma, to the man who doesn’t remember him, who doesn’t say a word, as silent as any of the other ghosts that haunt London. Kazuma’s ghost has never looked more sad, silently following around the masked apprentice. Well, mostly silently. He does talk on one occasion. 

The van Zieks Ghost has a huge portrait in Barok’s room, and finally a name to put to the face. Klint, Klint van Zieks, a deceased elder brother to Barok, a man who was once a prosecutor. 

And ghost talking to the Asogi one. 

“I thought he might remember something today.” The Asogi Ghost says to Klint. Ryunosuke feigns admiring Barok’s hallowed chalices for a little longer. 

“Really?” Klint hums. 

“Naruhodo and Mikotoba recognize him, even with everything, but… I suppose it isn’t enough.” Kazuma’s ghost sighs. 

“Give it time.” Klint says. 

“I’m usually so patient, I suppose it comes hand in hand with our current, ah, state of being. Still, I find that patience wearing thin… don’t you? Does this never get to you?” 

“C’mon Runo, we should go see if Toby and Gina have found anything!” Iris has been willing to let Ryunosuke burn time in here, but now she’s starting to get a little antsy. 

“You know it does, but what can I do besides be by his side?” Klint sighs very sadly. Ryunosuke feels bad for eavesdropping, but still, it’s with reluctance that he lets himself be led out of the room. 

It’s possible the two ghosts have simply become acquainted since the masked apprentice has been working under Barok, but there’s something about them that makes Ryunosuke sneak one more direct look at them before he leaves the prosecutor’s office. They are sitting - or pretending to sit - on Barok’s desk, so close to one another. Klint’s hand is set on top of one of the Asogi Ghost's hand, and Ryunosuke catches the moment that the Asogi Ghost rests his head on Klint’s shoulder, eyes closed and looking tired. 

Ryunosuke hurries out after that. 

It’s rude to stare at ghosts, he reminds himself the entire way out of the building. 

Would ghosts grow so close after only a couple months of knowing each other? 

Ryunosuke doesn’t have an answer, and if he doesn’t then nobody does. 

oOo

There’s one moment, and that’s all it takes. 

See, most ghosts would’ve brushed it off, but the Asogi Ghost and Klint are sharp and smart. That much is clear. 

Barok unlocks the mask from the wax figure of the Professor. 

The Asogi Ghost's face is underneath. 

And Ryunosuke, in his shock, forgets all the rules, and whips around to stare right at the ghost of the man. 

Their eyes meet. 

And the ghost now Knows. 

oOo

Ryunosuke and Susato walk back to Bakerstreet after the Odie Asman case. They don’t talk, but the movement of feet on pavement gives them time to think, and the presence of the other is a comfort they both desperately need. 

Kazuma is really here. 

Kazuma remembers them.

Kazuma walked out of the court room after what had barely deserved to be called a conversation. 

There’s also some things about that Susato doesn’t know. For instance, she doesn’t know how strange it was to watch Kazuma walk out of the room alone, his ghost staying back.

She also doesn’t know that they are actually a group of four on a London night, not two. 

“He hasn’t looked at you since.” Klint says. 

“But he did look right at me. He recognized me from that wax work. Has he… has he been seeing me this entire time?” The Asogi Ghost wonders out loud. 

“If he could see me as well, then… I’m afraid I might have some explaining to do.” 

“Oh?”

“You know I visit Iris regularly.”

“ Oh. ”

“Yes, oh. ”

Yes, that is something that Ryunosuke would like to know about. But not right here, and not right now. 

Herlock and Iris are already asleep by the time they arrive home. Susato bids Ryunosuke good night but, just before she enters her room, she turns around and wraps her arms around Ryunosuke. It’s hard to tell in the dark, but he’s fairly sure she’s crying. He wonders if they’re tears of relief, or confusion, or of hurt, or something else. He wonders if she even knows what she’s crying about. He holds her until she loosens her hold on him, bids him a second ‘good night’, and closes the door of her room. 

With silent feet, Ryunosuke retraces his path back down and outside. He sits down on the steps of 221B Bakerstreet. Klint and the other ghost have followed him the entire time, but it’s only now that Ryunosuke allows his eyes to look at them again. 

“I’m Ryunosuke Naruhodo,” He introduces himself. Despite their earlier chattiness, the two ghosts seem reluctant to talk now, and so Ryunosuke further prompts, “You wanted to talk to me, didn’t you?”

“Yes, of course. I believe you already know my name, but I am - or I suppose I formerly was - Klint van Zieks.” Klint bows deeply. 

“And I am Genshin Asogi.” Genshin bows his head forward, finally a name to the ghost. 

“The Professor.” Ryunosuke says, giving the man his title as well. Even after the long walk from the Old Bailey to Bakerstreet, the whole thing swirls uncomfortable and uncertain in the pit of Ryunosuke’s stomach. 

“No.” Klint says, turning his head away, “He isn’t.”

“But, the wax figure-” 

“A complicated story. The details don’t matter, what does matter is that the true title - the true Professor - is me, not Genshin.” Klint’s voice is empty as he says it, his eyes far off. 

“Wh-what? The four victims-”

“Killed at my order. My hunting dog, Balmung, ripped their throats out. A loyal dog.” Klint recounts. 

“And Klint killed by my hand.” Says Genshin, like finishing a script, the ending lines of a well-told story. 

A story not told at all, though. Not as far as Ryunosuke is aware. 

“A lie.” Is all Ryunosuke seems capable of saying about the subject. 

“A terrible lie, told for ten years too long.” Klint agrees.

There is nothing said between the three men for a moment as this knowledge tries to fit with all the rest of the confusing and unsettling knowledge that Ryunosuke has had foisted upon him in the past day.  Was it this lie that had caused Barok’s great hatred for all Japanese people? This lie that had brought Kazuma all the way here from Japan? And this lie… just how much else did it cause? 

“But if you can see us…” Klint holds his chin in his hand in thought, “Perhaps you can finally make this right.” 

“Ghosts aren’t real.” Ryunosuke reminds them. 

“You are talking to us right now.” Genshin points out. Ryunosuke sighs and shakes his head. 

“I mean to the general public, and definitely to the court system. You can’t put a ghost on the stand. I… I agree that the truth should come out, and I don’t like the idea of standing here knowing this and not telling people, especially Kazuma and Lord van Zieks, but… I mean, Lord van Zieks, if the other Lord van Zieks-”

“You can just call me Klint. I’m not a 'lord' any longer.” Klint says. 

“Klint, I think if I went up to Lord van Zieks and said that I was being contacted by the ghost of his brother to tell him that his brother was real Professor, he would probably kill me on the spot.” Ryunosuke says. 

“He has a point.” Genshin nods. 

“Barok wouldn’t kill him!... but you are right that he wouldn’t believe it so readily. No, what we need is to find a way to get the Professor case into the public eye again. All this time, you would’ve thought I would’ve had the time to think of a plan, but the very concept of this happening,” Klint gestures to Ryunosuke, “Well, it’s beyond anything I would’ve expected.” 

“Truly, if I had known before you could see me, I would’ve had much more to say.” Genshin adds. 

“I don’t talk to ghosts. It’s a rule.” Ryunosuke defends himself. 

“A rule?” Klint repeats. 

“It’s… I mean, I would look crazy if I tried to talk to ghosts. I came out here just so that I don’t have to worry about anybody in there waking up and find me talking to myself in the office or the living room.” Ryunosuke waves his hand at the building behind him to encompass Iris, Susato, and Herlock. 

“I suppose it isn’t our job to police you on how you use your abilities,” Genshin hums, “But you will still help us in this? With finally revealing who the real Professor was and freeing all those involved from the traitorous lie?” 

“I will,” Ryunosuke nods, a feeling settling in his chest, like he’s just shaken hands with the devil, “But I’m still alive, and I need rest tonight, after everything that has happened, and time to think.” 

“Of course,” Klint bows his head, “Take all the time you need.” 

Ryunosuke watches as the two ghosts walk down the street, talking to each other as they go. He stands, and is glad that he was sitting before. It hopefully made it hard for the ghosts to realize he is shaking. He’s still shaking as he goes back inside and climbs the stairs to his room. He closes the door behind him, the little click of the wood meeting the doorframe to assure him it is indeed closed. He collapses on his bed, staring out the window to the night sky beyond. 

He shouldn’t be reacting like this. Rules are only rules because he made them that way. He only doesn’t speak to ghosts because he decides not to. 

Ryunosuke looks at his hand, opening and closing it. It does so at his command, because of course it does. 

He has too much to think of. 

oOo

“Most importantly, we need Klint’s will.” 

Another night, but this time with Ryunosuke sitting on the floor of the balcony. Klint and Genshin sit with him, Genshin on the railing and Klint cross-legged across from Ryunosuke. 

“Klint left a will?” Ryunosuke asks, rubbing a hand down his face. Seven days now of late-night meetings with the ghosts. They are, well, surprisingly good company, although the repeated late nights and usual morning are started to drain on Ryunosuke’s stamina. 

Genshin reminds Ryunosuke of Kazuma, which is of little surprise. It makes him miss his friend’s presence even more. Kazuma had said he’d explain, but no explanation was to be seen. Genshin refused to speak of it, loyalties of course lying with his son, even now, even with all of this. Ryunosuke can’t fault him for it, but each evening he still asks what Kazuma is up to. The answer is always the same, that Genshin can’t tell him. But Genshin can tell him that Kazuma is still alive, if nothing else. Kazuma is thinking of him and Susato. Yet Kazuma has a reason to keep his distance. 

Klint, on the other hand, is something else altogether. He is and was a man of good humor, it seems. He has a nigh-constant sort of smile with a joke that matches up with any witty remark that Genshin has put out, and vice-versa. If it wasn’t for how light slides through them and they glide over the ground, perhaps they could be alive. But Klint is no fool, either, and when the subject matter demands it, a cold and hard look that matches that of his brother falls over his features. He had once been the Director of Prosecutions for a reason. It shows in how he sets the evidence down. 

“My extortioner,” Klint all but spits out the word, a darkness over his face, “Would be the key to revealing this. But I fear what sort of problems it may bring to Barok and Kazuma. At least you don’t work so closely with him, but Barok and Kazuma are almost always near him, more so since Courtney was jailed.” 

“Lord Stronghart.” Ryunosuke says. The idea that all of this - both half the killings of the Professor and all the work of the Reaper - had been orchestrated by Lord Stronghart was enough to make Ryunosuke’s blood run cold, but it had also been one of the first things Klint and Genshin had told him. 

Their evidence is, so far, rather lacking in the ‘physical’ deparment. There’s the fact that the attacks on the other Professor victims didn’t match how Klint himself was killed. Professor Mikotoba is supposed to come to Britain for a conference, and Klint suggested that, seeing as Mikotoba had been present at Klint’s autopsy, he might know something. There were a few other leads to follow - Gregson had pushed for the autopsy that had lead to Genshin’s conviction, so he probably was in all of it, but if they could get him to flip they might be on to something. Sithe wasn’t likely to change her mind, however, far too loyal or too scared of Lord Stronghart. John Wilson was, naturally, out of the question, long dead by now without even a ghost sticking around. 

“So your will cites Lord Stronghart as your reason behind the killings?” Ryunosuke asks, getting back to the subject at hand. Klint nods, but there’s a shrug that accompanies it. 

“It admits that he was the one who encouraged and pulled the strings behind the later ones. I openly admit and carry the blame for the others as well, and make it clear that my duel with Genshin had been by my own choice.” Like whenever he mentions the duel, Klint’s form flickers for the briefest moment, a darker red marring his uniform, sliced cleanly through. It disappears again to how he looked in life.

“Where is it now?” Ryunosuke asks, “Surely if they’d found something like that, they would’ve gotten rid of it, or it would’ve come to light in the trial?” Genshin took it from there.

“I took it from the scene with me. I… foolishly held onto it instead of presenting it. I had hoped that, with time, the fear of the Professor would fade with 'his' last victim being Klint. A terrible and unsolved series of killings, but the danger was over by then. A last gift to Klint even after his death, that his name and legacy would be preserved and his family would not need to suffer from the outcome.” Genshin admits with great shame, folding his arms and leaning backwards on the railing. Any living person would’ve fallen over with how far back he went, but he just slowly tips forward again. 

“So where is it now? Do you know?” Ryunosuke presses and Genshin nods. 

“I have left it in Karuma. It was my final weapon, hidden in my treasured blade. So long as the possibility of it getting out existed, they had to let me go… or so that had been the plan, the deal we struck. It seems other plans were already in order. No matter, it is with Kazuma now.” 

“Great.” Ryunosuke sighs. It may as well be an ocean away, then, for how close he’s been with Kazuma. 

“We have waited this long, have patience, Naruhodo. With time, the truth will come to light.” Genshin reminds him, as if Ryunosuke needs reminding. 

“I know, but… I hate having this knowledge and not having a way to use it.”

“And that’s why I’m glad it’s you that can see us,” Klint smiles, “You remind me of Genshin, in a lot of ways.”

“ I remind you of Asogi-sama? Not Kazuma?” 

“Not that Kazuma doesn’t, but you do too. In some ways, I wonder if some of him lives on through you. You can’t see yourself in court, but the look in your eyes… yes, it reminds me so clearly of Genshin.” Klints says, looking off into the distance for a moment. 

The hour is late, and Ryunosuke is only human. Both Genshin and Klint say they’re going to stick around for the evening. They’d like to see the arrival of Judge Jigoku and Professor Mikotoba with their own eyes, and it would be easier done sticking close with the two who would set out to see them. 

Genshin stays in the office. There’s a law book that Ryunosuke left in a beam of moonlight for the ghost to read if he got bored, and he’s bent over it, perusing the words. Klint, on the other hand, Ryunosuke catches going downstairs. He whispers after him,

“Checking on Iris again?” 

The ghost freezes and looks over his shoulder in a way that can only be defined as sheepish. 

“I suppose I’m not as sneaky as I think I am. No, of course not, not if Genshin caught on to me back then.” 

“Will you tell me why you do that? Why you come here, looking at her?” Ryunosuke asks. Klint sighs. 

“Genshin keeps his son’s secrets, and I have this one to keep.” He says like an apology. 

“It’s not… I understand the pain of knowing a terrible man went free because of failure to do your job correctly in court. I don’t agree and don’t condone the murders you commited, but I think I can understand what led you to that. I can make peace with that. But Iris, she’s just a child. I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t like you staring at her, especially when she’s vulnerable, if you’re, uh, if you l-”

“OH! No, God, no, what do you take me for?” Klint splutters in indignation. Above them Ryunosuke can hear Genshin laughing loudly, apparently having listened in on their conversation, “God no. I wish I could tell you the truth now, if just to win back the standing I had with you! But… no, some secrets must be kept, if only for a little longer. But I will say I watch over her like I watch over Barok. I want to assure myself that she is healthy, cared for, loved.” Klint says. Ryunosuke stares at him a little longer, as if staring long enough will let any lies materialize physically before him, so that he can know for sure. Nothing of the sort happens, and it comes down to trust. 

“I don’t want you watching her while she sleeps.” Ryunosuke affirms anyway. Klints looks down sadly. 

“I understand your reasoning behind the request. Very well, just tea time then.” He nods. He casts a look towards Iris’ door and then makes his way back up to the Office to join Genshin.

oOo

The next day, everything goes to shit.

Chapter Text

Well, a step back first. Before everything goes to shit, or maybe right when it only just starts to go to shit, Ryunosuke and Susato meet up with Judge Jigoku and Professor Mikotoba at the hotel they’re going to be staying at. Genshin and Klint tag along, Genshin of the two of them seeming even more excited at the prospect of seeing his friend again. 

“I suppose I took it for granted, seeing him constantly over the last ten years as he watched over Kazuma. I do believe I’ve missed him.” He says. Not a single word passes his lips about Jigoku, however, which Ryunosuke reserves judgement on, but it makes him all the more nervous to see the man in the flesh, outside of a courtroom. 

The hotel is grand and extravagant. Both he and Susato look around with awe. And then, there, at the receptionist’s desk, are the two Japanese men. Ryunosuke lifts a hand to wave and then pauses at the surprising third member of the group. 

“Father!” Susato is already shouting and running forward, both Mikotoba and Jigoku turning at the voice, smiles warm and delighted to see them. Still, Ryunosuke can’t help but to stare at the third man, who turns around slower, arms folded and frowning. 

“Inspector G-” Ryunosuke starts to call out, but then his mouth feels like he’s shoved it in snow, so icy cold. 

“Shh, not a word.” Genshin reprimands him, his ghostly hand over Ryunosuke’s mouth. Once he seems certain that Ryunosuke won’t say anything, both he and Klint approach the group of three with Ryunosuke uncertainty tagging along. The two ghosts are deathly (ha) serious. 

“Ah, and Naruhodo, I’ve heard all about how you’ve been doing from Susato’s letters!” Mikotoba, completely unaware of the strange reactions of the ghosts. 

“H-hello, Professor Mikotoba.” Ryunosuke bows to him and it gets a chuckle out of the man. 

“I suppose it would be you, come to see me to hell.” Inspector Gregson says. His arms are still folded and he’s looking right at Genshin. 

“Not just yet, old friend.” Genshin shakes his head. 

The penny drops. 

It hits Ryunosuke with the speed of a bullet, and he physically stumbles in his surprise. 

Gregson is dead.

Gregson is dead. 

Gregson is a ghost and is dead and is right here.

“Naruhodo, are you alright?” Mikotoba asks, both he and Susato giving him looks of concern. 

“Y-yes, I’m okay.” He replies unconvincingly. 

“I imagine that must be my fault. Ha! Don’t tempt me to call you guilty again!” Jigoku jokes, a big and boisterous laugh that comes straight from his stomach filling the air. He even has his mallet and bangs it into his hand. 

“If anybody deserves a guilty verdict, it’s you.” Gregson grumbles, pulling his hat down. 

Ghosts are usually so quiet, the two conversations are almost too much for Ryunosuke. He decides, though, that Klint and Genshin will fill him in if it’s anything important that they get from Gregson, or pull him aside to talk to Ryunosuke later. 

He needs to focus on the living right now. He’s Ryunosuke Naruhodo, and he does not see ghosts, he reminds himself desperately. 

oOo

Ryunosuke manages to find a moment, after they return back to Bakerstreet, to step away from Susato. There’s more work to be done, because there’s always work. The disappearance of a warden was going to take precedence-

Except it shouldn’t, because Gregson is dead.

Gregson is dead, and Ryunosuke can’t say anything about it. 

He hasn’t so far. He’s pretty sure that Susato has picked up on his odd mood, but she hasn’t said anything yet. Klint, Genshin, and Gregson are still quickly hanging around him, still quiet. Ryunosuke figures something must have been said amongst the three, but he doesn’t know what. Finally, however, he has a moment, just a moment, where he’s in his room. He’d told Susato he needed to make sure he was well prepared for any investigating they might have to do, and she’d given him an odd look, but let him go. 

The door has barely closed before Genshin announces, 

“Seishiro killed Gregson.” 

“God…” Ryunosuke runs a hand down his face, leaning against the wall for support. 

“So he can hear us.” Gregson says.

“I wouldn’t lie to you.” Genshin replies calmly. 

“Seems fair to play some kind of joke on the newly deceased. ‘Specially after what I did to you.” Gregson tugs on his hat again, looking away. Genshin tenses at the reminder, but is still staring resolutely at Ryunosuke.

“That’s not our worry right now. What we need to know is what happened to your body. There’s not much we can do until we can prove you’re dead.” Klint says. He’s slowly stepped to stand between Gregson and Genshin, a hand resting casually on the sword on his belt. Ryunosuke wonders offhand whether a ghost can actually attack another ghost, and then decides he’d really rather not find out. 

“I’m afraid I’ll be no help there. Jigoku killed me after the ship had left port, so it’s possible he tossed my body overboard at some point.” Gregson grumbles. 

“But weren’t you there?” Ryunosuke asks. It’s actually Klint who shakes his head. 

“I would’ve thought you’d known, but ghosts don’t typically manifest right away. There’s a day or two where your - I don’t know how to put it exactly - where you’re not you just yet, and you’re not really… still here, I guess. Less of the spirit of a dead man sticking around, and more of their spirit being pulled back here by something.” Klint tries to explain. Ryunosuke isn’t sure he gets it, and imagines he probably won’t get it. Maybe it’s something only those who are already dead really understand. 

“Point is, sunshine, I don’t know where my body is.” Gregson reaffirms and Ryunosuke hisses a curse under his breath.

“What is keeping you around anyway?” Genshin asks curiously. Gregson closes his eyes, no further explanation needed. It seems haunting was so ingrained that even a new ghost knew it. 

“... Lestrade.” He admits.

“Love again.” Ryunosuke says. It’s nice to know for sure that all three of the ghosts he is currently acquainted with are ones here for those they loved and cared about. 

“I-I just need to make sure she gets on alright without me. The poor lass didn’t have anyone before me, and now…” He trails off. 

“She has us.” Ryunosuke assures him. 

“But the Reaper’s still out there, in all the ways that matter.” Gregson’s hand stuffs into the pocket of his coat, probably looking for the fish and chips he used to keep in there, and he comes back empty handed. 

“I can go with you to check on her.” Klint offers. Gregson shakes his head.

“I can do it on my own.”

“But you’ll be coming back.” Genshin levels Gregson with a hard look. Gregson holds the brim of his hat. 

“... yea, I’ll be back. I’ll help you with your investigation.” He says.

Gregson tries to open the door to Ryunosuke’s room, remembers he can’t, and walks right through it instead, hands still stuffed into his pockets. 

“Will both of you be able to work with him?” Ryunosuke asks. He is, by now, well aware of Gregson’s hand in this entire mess that they’re now trying to clean up. He wonders how much Genshin and Klint said to Gregson before. Had they told him the truth of it all? They must have.

Klint and Genshin share a look that seems to be an entire conversation, and Genshin answers for the both of them.

“At the end of the day, Gregson was a puppet of Stronghart’s. That doesn’t remove him of all liability, but he was a decent enough Inspector, and this isn’t about our personal feelings in the matter. This is about finally revealing the truth.” He says with conviction. Ryunosuke nods. 

“Right.” 

He gives his head a shake, turning back to the door. 

He’ll have to go back to pretending he doesn’t know about this, about Genshin or Klint or Gregson. Not until they have solid evidence to back him up. 

Seeing Susato’s face on the other side, excited to be doing something, even if it revolves around a woman’s missing husband, feels like a punch to the gut, but he puts on his best face.

It must not be enough, because she does ask him, on the way to the prison,

“Naruhodo, are you feeling alright?” 

“Y-yeah, of course I am!” He hopes it sounds genuine enough. Susato gives him a little frown.

“You know you can talk to me, right?” 

“I know.” He says.

When this is over, he decides, he’ll tell her about what he knows, about what he sees. But not right now, not yet, not when this knowledge would just weigh on her like it weighs on him. Evidence is everything in a court of law.

oOo

“It’s possible we might be able to turn this towards our plans.” Klint muses. 

They’re just returning from the prison. Ryunsouke cuts his eyes over to Klint to let him know he’s listening. 

“If we can manage to find Mr. Dayley, he might know some things that would be of use. He was, after all, let go because of me.” Genshin says. 

“THE BASTARD!”

Ryunosuke jumps at the shout, hand on the doorknob to Bakerstreet. 

“Is everything alright, Ryunosuke?” Susato asks, brow furrowed in worry, and Ryunosuke opens the door and goes inside, casting another look over his shoulder to Gregson, the one who had shouted and was now barreling towards them at top speed. 

“Hello you two, welcome home!” Iris hops over, “I made some scones for you.”

“Oh, so that’s the delicious smell.” Susato smiles. 

“Yes, greetings my dear fellows!” Sholmes says, hair a bright and eye-searing shade of blue. Ryunosuke wishes he could ask about it, but at the moment the ghost of Gregson comes through the door, spots Ryunosuke, and is upon him,hand trying to grab Ryunosuke’s shoulders to shake him and finding no purchase, only a chilling breeze.

“Naruhodo, you need to fix this!”

“Back off of him, he can’t talk to you when other people are around.” Klint reprimands, pulling Gregson away from Ryunosuke, “What happened?”

“Truly, Mr. Naruhodo, have you not noticed yet what has changed about me since you last saw me?” Herlock asks, flicking his hair to accent the point. 

“Hurley, maybe he’s too busy thinking about the case.” Iris tells him. There’s something odd about her voice, though Ryunosuke doesn’t get a chance to put his finger on it, because then Gregson reveals,

“That bastard Jigoku is using my corpse to frame van Zieks!”

Like she’d been waiting for that, the door slams open and Gina sprints in, tears tracing down her cheeks, looking completely distraught. 

“Sholmes!” She shouts in desperation. 

“He’s doing what to my brother?!” Klint growls, angrier than Ryunosuke has ever seen him.

It’s all so much noise at once, the ghosts’ loud conversation and Gina sobbing as she explains the crime scene she’d just come from, the sight she’d been forced to see of a dead body. Ryunosuke wishes he could just cover his ears and shut it out, but there’s also an emergency happening right now as the rest of the world has realized that Gregson is dead. 

“Quiet,” Genshin tells Gregson and Klint, “We can talk later.”

“We’re ghosts, what does it bloody matter how loud we are?” Gregson grumbles, but at a quieter volume this time. 

“Gregson… what is the point of being a detective, of knowing so much, seeing so much, if I couldn’t prevent this from happening?!” Sholmes cries out, hunched slightly as if trying to hold and physically grapple with his own overwhelming gift. 

“Ryunosuke can hear you!” Genshin snaps. 

“I need to be by my brother’s side right now. I’ll be back.” Klint says, that same raging expression upon his face, and then like mist he suddenly, all at once, fades away. 

Ryunosuke, of course, has no time to ponder about this, because Sholmes and Gina are already running out the door, each with their own investigating that needs to be done, and Iris is informing Ryunosuke and Susato that she’s called them a hansom for their transportation to the crime scene all the way on the other side of town. It’s all just a little too much in too little amount of time, on top of everything else that the last week has been going over, and Ryunosuke feels like he’s on the edge of something bad, his breaths coming shorter, and then,

Like a cool mist,

A drink of cold water, 

Something sweeps through him.

If he could’ve, he would’ve gasped and reeled backwards at the sudden feeling, but he doesn’t. Instead, he draws in a long and calming breath, and his voice says,

“Ms. Susato, let’s go right away.” 

Some part of his brain recoils at what is happening, and his steps that had been going to the door halt, stutter, disconnect. But some other part is thankful to have a moment, a second, a small sparkling and fleeting sight of infinity, to be away from what had been happening, and his feet move again without his control. There’s something like a hand going through his hair, a voice that isn’t there telling him it will be okay with the kind of warmth only a father can give. Or, Ryunosuke assumes it is. 

And then, once he, Susato, and Gregson are in the hansom, the cold chill leaves and Genshin rematerializes to float alongside the cabin. It takes Ryunosuke coughs as control of his body is suddenly his own responsibility, the emotions in his chest confusing and unsure. The brief moment of strangeness doesn’t go unnoticed by Susato. 

“Ryunosuke,” She says, turning so that she’s facing him as much as she can. She takes his hand in her own pleadingly, “Will you please tell me what’s been going on with you?”

And Ryunosuke finds he can not deny her this any longer. 

“Wh-what the hell did you just do?” Gregson demands in the meantime, slack-jawed. Genshin shakes his head as if also trying to remind himself what his current state of being was supposed to resemble. 

“I’m… not sure.” Genshin admits, seeming unsettled by what had just happened. Ryunosuke knows, or thinks he knows to at least some degree, what all that was, but first, he has to tell Susato,

“I can see ghosts.” 

And the ride to The prison is spent with Ryunosuke explaining to Susato ghosts, and rules, and Klint and Genshin and Gregson. Susato stays quiet throughout it all, patient and with her judgement reserved. When he is done speaking, he waits for what Susato’s verdict on the matter will be. He’s laid it all before her, evidence before the jury. The ghosts are silent as well, as if also holding their unneeded breath, and it makes Ryunosuke, for a moment, long for when the silence of ghosts was the norm. 

Finally, she says,

“You’ve been distracted, recently. And sometimes I think I can hear you talking to yourself at night. You’ve been awake late, but we haven’t had any cases recently that would cause that. And right now, you have that look in your eyes, the look you get in court. I… it’s so much, Ryunosuke.” She says, and Ryunosuke knows how she feels. How would anyone be expected to believe in ghosts, and then in such corruption and injustice within the judicial system, a lie told explicitly and implicitly? Then she reaches over and she grabs his hand, holding it, giving it a squeeze, and with tears in her eyes she says, “You knew Gregson was dead earlier, didn’t you? You seemed so far away when Gina came in, and so unsurprised, and what you just said…”

Ryunosuke nods. He gets ready for anger, for fury, for demands of why he hadn’t told her earlier. 

But instead he gets arms pulling him into a hug. 

“I’m so sorry you couldn’t tell me.” She says, with understanding. 

And Ryunosuke has spoken to ghosts before. He’s tried to convince people ghosts were real when he was little and was met with backlash against it. And now he has somebody telling him it was so sad he couldn’t tell her, but not blaming him for it. Just being sadly understanding of the whole situation.

Gregson is dead.

And Ryunosuke cries.

oOo

By the time the hansom arrives at the prison where they’ll hopefully meet with Barok, Ryunosuke has had time to dry his eyes and pull himself together, as has Susato. 

“Can I have a minute?” He asks Susato before they go in. 

“Is it… to talk to the ghosts?” She asks in a whisper and Ryunosuke nods. He doesn’t want to admit that he’d feel stupid doing it in front of her. 

“Alright, I’ll wait just inside.” She gives him a small but honest smile and then goes into the prison lobby. 

Before Ryunsouke can say anything, however, it’s Gregson who speaks. He’s looking away and is tugging on his hat as he says,

“Listen, Sunshine, I should apologize about before. I… I s’pose I let my emotions get the better of me. You still have, hm, things and people besides us here.” He says.

“It’s alright, Inspector. It was just a little overwhelming at the moment. But I want to know what happened to Klint. He… he’s still around, right? He didn’t pass on?” Ryunosuke asks, Gregson looks just as curious for the answer as Genshin explains.

“It’s a little trick he’s picked up on, apparently. I’ve never had reason to use it before, but seeing as he will sometimes split his time between Barok and Iris, he’s found that those people who he is haunting - who ground him to this place - he can manifest next to when so desired. I myself can still sense Kazuma, the direction he’s in. I believe I could do it if I tried, but I’m not so sure I could make it back here in good time.” Genshin closes his eyes and Ryunosuke wonders what he feels, if just like that he can know how Kazuma is doing. Does Kazuma know about any of this yet? What does he think of it all? 

“And what did you do to Naruhodo back there in the house? You were completely gone for a moment!” Gregson asks. Genshin now looks uncertain.

“I’m… not sure. I knew I wanted to help Ryunosuke to move onward, and I reached out and-”

“And you possessed me.” Ryunosuke fills in. The handle of the small knife from all those years ago still feels like it left an impression in his hand, and he opens the small fist he’d formed to remind himself that he doesn’t have it.

“Possession is a real thing?!” Gregson says, still so new to all of this and surprised. 

“It seems as likely as anything.” Genshin hums.. 

“We shouldn’t focus on that. We have other things.” Ryunosuke declares for them.

“Yes, you’re right,” Genshin nods, “You have a case to take.” 

Like she said she would be, Susato is waiting for them right inside the prison. 

“Everything alright?” She asks and Ryunosuke nods. She doesn’t press him for details, though if Ryunosuke had had anything useful to offer her he would’ve now that he had, for the first time in his life, somebody to confide all of this in. Even if, despite her words, she didn’t believe him, at least she would entertain his seemingly wild story. 

They’re directed to Barok’s cell and the man is sitting against the wall, reading a piece of paper. Klint is in there with him, leaning against the opposite wall, and looks up at their arrival. 

“He won’t take you,” He tells them grimly, “He is too scared, and too worried for your own fate.” 

“He can’t be serious.” Genshin says and Klint shakes his head.

“Deathly so. I believe he’s already accepted that this is his end. He’s just… given up.” Klint punches at the wall, his first only stopping because he expects it to at the wall. There’s no satisfying sound of flesh hitting stone, the ghost gets no pain, no kind of reaction, and he lets out a sound of frustration. 

“Lord van Zieks.” Ryunosuke says. Even though Klint said this would be impossible didn’t mean he wouldn’t try. 

“The last place on earth I’d like to be, with the last person on either I’d like to see.” Barok’s voice is a fierce and upset rumble, like even saying these words to Ryunosuke is the highest offence. 

If looks could kill, Ryunosuke would be dead. Or… perhaps not. It seems as if there is something lacking about Barok’s glare now, something not quite so harsh. Klint had said that Barok has ‘given up’. 

No matter what Ryunosuke said, Barok would not listen. He turned down their offer to represent him, to defend him in this. 

“Lord van Zieks, please, let me advocate for you!” Ryunosuke tries one final time now that he has all but dismissed them.

“Barok, they want to help you!” Klint shouts at his brother, face stricken. He’s come to stand next to Ryunosuke now, joining the group again, one hand gripping the bars of the cell desperately.

“... I trust no one. Not Scotland Yard, not the judicial system, and certainly not-”

“Dammit, Barok!” The cold slips in like a mouse through a crack in the door, sudden, unexpected, and unwanted, but Ryunosuke is taken by such surprise he can’t help it as he bangs his fist against the iron bars futilely. The next words still come anyway, “I know, I understand, Barok, I know you’re hurting, have been hurting for years now, but you need to give trust at some point or this is going to destroy you from the inside, just like it did m-” 

The last word is cut off as suddenly as it began. It’s just Ryunosuke again. Klint is gasping, even though he has no need for air, and Ryunosuke holds onto the metal bars for support. 

“... just like it did Klint.” He finishes the thought anyway. 

“... how dare you suppose to know anything about my brother.” Barok growls at them. 

“I’m sorry, I, I don’t, I didn’t mean,” Klint stutters. Genshin is at his side, supporting him, but Ryunosuke keeps his eyes on Barok. 

“No, I can’t know him,” Ryunosuke lies, “And I can’t expect you to have faith in the system. In my time in London, I have seen it fail before, even at my own hands. But you trusted me with the life of your friend before. Please, trust me with your own life. I’ve faced you in court, and given the same situation… I would trust you to prosecute me.”

“You seem to have mistaken our roles here. If you were on the stand for murder, I would do my best to get you the guilty verdict.” Barok hisses. 

“You wouldn’t.” This time, it was Susato who spoke up. 

“What?” 

“You wouldn’t, because that’s not the man you are. You would do everything in your power to get to the truth of the case. If that meant Ryunosuke was guilty, then that would be the verdict. But if he was innocent, you would work with the defense to prove it.” She says with pure conviction in her own words. Barok stares at them and then turns his head sharply away. 

“... you’re both fools,” He spits out, “Fools after how I’ve treated you.”

“Maybe.” Ryunosuke readily admits. 

“... my brother… would not want me to meet my end just yet,” Barok whispers almost too quiet to hear. His hand goes up and cups his prosecutor’s badge, “... Mr. Naruhodo… would you please… stand as the defense for me in court?” He requests, eyes closed.

“Of course, Lord van Zieks. Thank you.”

Nobody says anything as the papers are handed to Barok and he signs them in silence and sends them on their way.

Klint stays behind, and Ryunosuke understands. The ghost has to be there for his brother, now over all other times. 

oOo

Kazuma is at Lord Justice’s office. 

Kazuma is going to be prosecuting Barok.

“I want you to be there, Ryunosuke, on the other side of the courtroom from me. I trust no one else to be the defense in this case.” He says, with honesty and trust and love. 

And yet Ryunosuke can’t find it in himself to trust that back. Something holds him back from it. 

“My son… where were you?” Genshin murmurs, staring at Kazuma. 

“Before the trial, there are some things I need to tell you.” Gregson says.

“Kazuma, you trust me, right?” Ryunosuke finds himself asking.

“You kept Karuma and Susato safe for me when I couldn’t, you’re my best friend, and from what I’ve seen you’ve become a brilliant lawyer. Of course I trust you.” He says, but the off feeling doesn’t go away.

Kazuma is standing right in front of him, and Ryunosuke still misses him.

oOo

The answer to Genshin’s question of ‘where Kazuma was’ is explained at night. 

There’s a trial - Ryunosuke’s most important trial yet - in the morning, and he should be getting a good night’s sleep, but first there is this. There is what Gregson knows. Susato at first also wants to stay up and hear about it, but he promises her he’ll tell her in the morning what is said. It saves him from having to break up the conversation to explain half of it to Susato. 

Everything gets worse, it would seem. 

All this time, Gregson was the Reaper, or he at least was one part of it. And Kazuma… the other night he had acted as the other part, had been sent to assassinate Gregson. An action Gregson said he didn’t blame Kazuma for and that Ryunosuke noticed didn’t seem to surprise Genshin at all. He just looked grim with the knowledge presented before him.

“... was that his whole reason for coming here to London?” Ryunosuke asks. He’s had to sit down somewhere, the knowledge making his head spin. It makes him sick… but also doesn’t it make some sort of sense? The fact that Kazuma had come here with the mission to murder someone, someone who Ryunosuke had become so well acquainted with… and then that he’d insisted Ryunosuke come along. The words of ‘Ryunosuke, you’ll make a great lawyer’ play over and over through his head. A sick taunt. A lie? And unbearable truth?

“Why would you do that, Tobias? After everything, turning into the Reaper…” Klints sighs in disappointment. Gregson removes his hat and holds it to his chest. 

“It was all I could think to do.” Gregson says. 

“What do you mean?” Klint presses and Gregson shakes his head.

“... you couldn't see yourself, Klint. How prosecuting slowly ate at you, destroyed you from the inside out. All I could think to do was try and keep your brother from that same fate… perhaps it wasn’t the most rational thought, but with Lord Stronghart asking me to do it, and seeing how broken Barok already was from your death and Genshin’s betrayal… at the time, the choice had seemed easy.” Gregson explains. 

“The road to Hell, as they say.” Klint sighs. 

“Indeed.” Gregson nods. 

“Now, I must be rejoining Barok. However, hearing from your own mouth the truth…. It’s something I’ve wanted to hear for many years now. Thank you, old friend.” Just like before, Klint disappears. 

“I should be by Kazuma’s side as well. I’ll see you in court tomorrow.” Genshin shifts, but before he can disappear as well, Gregson grabs his arm. 

“Asogi, first… I think I have an overdue apology. I did what I thought was right at the time, but if I had been stronger, if I had challenged Lord Stronghart more-”

“Gregson, there’s no need for this. What you did wasn’t right by any regards, and the effects of it are felt even to this day. I won’t lie to you and say I don’t blame you in the slightest, nor that I haven’t carried some form of resentment for all these years. But grudges are also pointless in death, and bad decisions are often made in the heat of grief.” Genshin says and Gregson looks away guiltily.

Then Genshin fades away to where Kazuma is. Ryunosuke wonders if Kazuma is already sleeping, or if the trial tomorrow is keeping him awake as well. 

“‘Fraid I can’t do that same fancy trick, but I’ll be returning to Gina.” Gregson puts his hat back on his head. 

“Good night, Inspector.” Ryunosuke gives the ghost a short bow. 

“... it was supposed to do good for London. It seems I was just a blind fool after all this time.” 

Gregson walks through the door, his last words left. For all that Gregson has done, Ryunosuke supposes it still must be hard to be here now and know that he’s been manipulated, and that the man he’d worked so hard to convict had been innocent. 

“... Runo?” 

Ryunosuke jumps at the sudden voice. Iris stands in the doorway to his office, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

“I-iris! How long have you been standing there?” He asks. 

“Runo, can I sleep in your room tonight?” She asks with a big yawn. 

“S-sure, but, uh, why-”

“Susato and Hurley are already asleep. I don’t want to wake them up. But now that Gregsy, he’s…” Tears well up in her eyes and Ryunosuke rushed forward, pulling the little girl into his arms. 

“Sh sh sh, it’s okay.” He whispers as she holds onto him. 

“Runo, don’t you feel it too?” She asks, the tears clogging her throat, “There’s something… something bad coming up, and you and Hurley and Susie are running right into the middle of it!”

He does. He knows exactly what she means. He feels like he’s standing at the precipice of something with no choice but to step off, unsure if he’ll survive the fall. 

It’s terrifying, and yet, he feels it’s his job, as the only one who knows everything, the only one holding the torch amidst all the darkness, to plunge onwards and destroy the beast at the heart of this with his own hands. 

“Promise me you’ll be safe, okay? I don’t, I don’t want to see…” She trails off. 

“Hey, it’s going to be okay Iris. We’re going to be okay.” 

“Promise?” 

“Of course I promise.” He says. She’s not a small child, already ten years old, but with care he’s still able to carry her to his room and sets her on his bed. He has an extra blanket and lays it on the floor. Not the most comfortable way to sleep the night before a trial, but over the past months Iris has truly managed to get him wrapped around her little finger. He wonders if this is what having siblings islike, having a family here in this building. 

He thought that with everything going through his head, he would never get some sleep. But slowly, sleep claims him. 

oOo

You see, the main problem with being a lawyer is that evidence, in a court of law, is all that matters. It’s everything. 

Maybe it would be different if Ryunosuke was a witness to all the knowledge he is now privy to, or if there was a jury who could take things other than just evidence into account. But there is nothing of either of them. 

There is just the judge. There is Kazuma fighting him the entire way. And there are ghosts.

Genshin, as ever, is at Kazuma’s side. Klint takes the stand whenever Barok does as if on trial himself. Gregson sadly watched Gina, like his inability to communicate with her or comfort her has only just occurred to him.

And there are ghosts Ryunosuke has never seen before.

Ghosts who stand in the gallery as if members of the Judiciary themselves. Who come to the front of the crowd. Who mingle amongst the empty juror seats shaking their heads and tutting. Did they also feel it, that something is coming, something is going to happen in this case that is going to be monumental?

If there is something, it’s not in today’s trial.

It’s one thing to have knowledge, and another altogether to be able to present it to the court, to lead them to the knowledge in a way that sounds reasonable. There is also the matter of how to turn this case around in order to reveal the truth. Something in Ryunosuke knows, somehow, that this is it. This is the chance, the trial, that could reveal it all. Who murdered Gregson, in a sense, doesn’t matter. It’s the whys they must reveal.

But not in the first day of trial. 

oOo

He takes no ghosts home with him that day.

“I don’t think there’s more we can do at this time.” Genshin tells Ryunosuke in the defense’s antechamber afterwards. 

“I’ll be staying by Barok tonight. I think he needs it.” Klint says. 

“If you need my help at all, I’m happy to give it. But right now Gina is my priority.” Gregson follows Gina out as she goes to conduct further investigation. 

Ryunosuke feels almost lonely without them, but he also knows it’s their nature, in the state they’re in. Ghosts are wont to haunt, it would seem, and while for a moment the three had gathered around Ryunosuke, he wasn’t who they were haunting. The love that anchors them here lies in others. Unfinished business, unsaid words, unsoothed worries and fears. 

Do those people, do they feel anything? Does some part of them feel the weight of another pair of eyes catching them? Does the love do anything? Does a ghost sitting with Barok in a dark and small cell make the fate any lighter? 

Ryunosuke doesn’t know, he’ll never know. Even if he himself was haunted, he’d see them, and whatever effect being haunted might have would be corrupted by the knowledge. 

oOo

Deduction comes hand-in-hand with the Sholmes home. 

Sholmes and Iris practically breathe it, and not a week has gone by since Ryunosuke has lived here that there hasn’t been some dance, some deduction. It’s a familiar song now, a dance that he learns the steps of, bit by bit. And the residents of the address encourage it, smiling and pleased everytime Ryunosuke gets something right. Six months without the work of law to keep him occupied, despite the business of study, had also caused him to delve further into the art. 

He blames this for the deduction he reaches after it’s revealed that Dr. John H. Wilson is not Iris’ father, and despite the possibility put forward, Professor Yujin Mikotoba isn’t either. 

Sholmes and Mikotoba are running out the door before more can be said, but Ryunosuke’s mind is running a million miles per hour. Is this how Sholmes feels when he makes his deductions? Where he has the beginning of it, and the end of it, but the middle parts that make it all make sense and come together, make it sound rational to anybody listening, is missing? 

Fact: Iris does not know who her parents are.

Fact: Klint van Zieks comes regularly to check on her and watch her. 

Fact: Ghosts often haunt those they love, most commonly family members. 

Fact: Klint van Zieks watches Iris with warm and soft eyes and a gentle voice whenever he talks in her direction. 

Alone, these facts mean little, and together they still don’t mean much. And yet and yet and yet, as if Ryunosuke has spun his way across the dance floor, even without a partner, he’s come to an answer:

Iris is Klint Van Zieks’ daughter. 

oOo

For all that can be said about the trial, there’s a startling lack to be done. 

Ryunosuke is still lacking in evidence.

There is really only one thing of note, of that second day of trial, for someone who can see ghosts. 

The ghosts are practically swarming the gallery now, like bees searching for a new hive. But if they are bees, then the queen bee is clear to see.

He’s a man, tall and built, with the same imposing presence as Stronghart. In fact, if anything, his presence is more severe, more channeled. Ryunosuke has heard the rumors that the Old Bailey is haunted, and it is. There are several ghosts, but this one, this is the one that stands out the most of all of them, who seems to hold some kind of power in the building. If the rumor of the haunting was caused by some particularly present or powerful ghost, it is this one. 

Ghosts that haunt a specific place are rarer than those that haunt people, and this one without a doubt is bound to the Old Bailey. 

When Lord Stronghart sits in the judge’s seat, the Ghost of the Old Bailey stands next to him. Not in approval, but as if he is the one watching over the proceedings, not the Chief Justice. 

Ryunosuke swears he looks right at Ryunosuke and nods at him. What that means, and if it’s meant to be seen, is unclear. 

From the stand, Klint bows respectfully to the Ghost of the Old Bailey and receives a nod as well. 

The trial progresses, centimeter by terrible centimeter, like pulling teeth, like whatever beast that lay in the darkness refuses and struggles, unwilling to come into the light. 

oOo

Another day of trial done. 

Jigoku subpoenaed and on his way to give testimony about what happened aboard the SS Grouse. 

So close, and yet still so far from proving anything. Still, the trial’s focus is on Gregson’s murder. The Professor case practically oozes off it, like the blood of the victims is still wet after all this time, but they can’t seem to quite reach what they’re going for. And Kazuma…

Kazuma trusts Ryunosuke to help him get Barok van Zieks a guilty verdict and prove he’s the Professor. 

He does not trust Ryunosuke in the way he’s supposed to on the other side of the courtroom. He doesn’t trust Ryunosuke to find the truth with him, whatever that may be. 

That night, Klint and Genshin follow him home. Genshin practically lights up upon seeing Mikotoba. The living sit around the ancient chest that holds Mikotoba’s old case reports, better and nicer than any dining room table. There’s just the right amount of seats for the five of them, with Sholmes and Mikotoba sitting next to each other on the fainting couch. 

He’s sure Susato and Iris have noticed, even if they haven’t said anything. How close the two men are sitting. How their hands, whenever they’re not busy with food and drink, tangle in each other, or ghost over the other. Casual touches on the back, the arm, the shoulder. Mikotoba wiping a spot of food from Sholmes’ mouth. Sholmes trying and failing to steal pheasant from Mikotoba’s plate.

Behind them, in the midst of Sholmes’ mess, Klint and Genshin sit, talking and laughing, smiles edged with the sadness of the situation that still exists. Their living family is at each other's throats, while the ghosts enjoy that even in death they are friends. Their company is all they need, or so it looks from the outside out for the moment. 

Kazuma has been in Britain for two months. He has had his memory back for nine days. 

Ryunosuke is still alone, is still without his partner. 

He misses him greatly.

But Iris is sitting in her comfy little armchair, swinging her feet and playing with the little pink felted bear charm. And Susato is sitting next to Ryunosuke, with the sweets on her plate, and Ryunosuke has never felt more confident than when she’s there with him. He thinks, if he could have anybody - absolutely anybody - at his side in court, he’d pick Susato every time. 

“But miraculously, the man did indeed appear to have vanished!” Sholmes is saying loudly, the story flowing easily from him, even if four of the five people had been present for it. 

This is what a home is. This is what love is.

If something happened tonight, if Ryunosuke was shot by a sniper, or poisoned, or went to sleep tonight and didn’t wake up, he has a reason to stick around. He has a family right here, a family he would miss, a family he would gently haunt over, watching over, worrying over, caring for in whatever way he possibly can. 

He wishes this moment would last forever.

The night wears on, people tuck in for the night. Ryunosuke stays downstairs. Susato is the last person to go to bed before him, stopping on the stairs and looking back at him.

“... are you going to talk to the ghosts?” She asks. She’s been mostly quiet about them, respecting his privacy on the matter. 

“It’s just Klint and Asogi-sama right now, but yes. There are some things I’d like to say before I go to bed.” Ryunosuke says. 

“Where are they?” She asks. Ryunosuke points to where they are standing and she turns and bows. 

“Lord van Zieks, Asogi-sama, thank you for your help with this case. It has been an honor to work with you in whatever manner I have been able to.” She tells them honestly. Genshin and Klint return the bows. 

“Please, Ms. Mikotoba, it’s been our honor.” Genshin speaks for both of them and Ryunosuke relays the message to Susato. She accepts the words with a nod and then, to Ryunosuke again, says,

“Good night, Ryunosuke. Don’t stay up late, I feel we’ll have a long day tomorrow.” 

Now that it is just the three of them, Ryunosuke all but collapses into Iris’ armchair. Genshin and Klint take up the spot that Mikotoba and Sholmes had been in before. 

“We need to make the connection to the Reaper as a whole tomorrow. We’re very close, now that Kazuma has admitted to having been working on the Reaper’s orders,” Genshin says, face carefully calm at the mention of his own son’s mission to commit murder, “If we can get Karuma admitted as evidence, if nothing else comes from this case as a whole, you can get Klint’s last will and testament.” 

“It just all doesn’t sit right with me.” Ryunosuke sighs. 

“The case?” Klint asks. Ryunosuke shakes his head.

“The way the trial is conducted. Closed, with no jury, with the public not allowed to view it.” It reminds Ryunosuke too strongly of when he himself had been on trial. Apparently he’s not the only one with such history, and Genshin says,

“Like my own trial ten years ago.” 

“It’s the idea that the public are better off not knowing these things. Think about how much corruption has already been revealed, just about Tobias. What corruption we plan to unearth if we can bring the truth about the Professor and all that surrounds it into the light. If the public found out…” Klint trails off. 

“Simply the name of the Reaper, Barok’s presence, has brought crime in London down. But is it worth it if it’s all built on a lie? There were rumors, back when I was still alive, about great changes to the justice system to reflect the amount of crime, but they were put off thanks to the Reaper.” Genshin muses. 

“If it can be destroyed by the truth, shouldn’t it?” Ryunosuke says. 

“In theory, yes, but in practice… I’m unsure, people aren’t predictable.” Klints sighs. 

“I wish this was like any other trial, that there was a jury, that it was open, that the truth could really be revealed. For all we know, all of our hard work will be for nothing tomorrow. A closed trial with the judiciary kept the secret of Genshin’s identity for tenyears, what’s to stop them from keeping Klint’s identity as the Professor any less closed?” Ryunosuke rakes a hand through his hair. 

“We can only hope, I suppose, that something has changed since then.” Klint says. Ryunosuke nods. 

The pitter-patter of bare feet on hardwood makes Ryunosuke look up. Iris is standing in the doorway, still very much awake. 

“Iris, why aren’t you in bed?” He asks, standing up. He himself really should be sleeping as well. Nothing useful has come from this conversation, not really, but knowing that Klint and Genshin share a lot of these thoughts, have considered these things as well, is a comfort. 

“...” She doesn’t say anything, just goes over to where Ryunosuke is and sits on the ground next to him, leaning against the chair. She stares off into the far side of the room and then her hand reaches up until she finds Ryunosuke’s, holding it. 

“Iris?” He prompts again. 

“... Mr. Asogi died after a closed trial.” She says, voice so clear in the quiet of the night.

“Yes, he did.” Ryunosuke says at the same volume. 

“Will all of you make it out of there? You, and Lord van Zieks, and Mr. Asogi?” She asks, in a way that is somehow both young and innocent but old and wise at the same time in the way that only Iris seems able to pull off. Ryunosuke supposes it comes with being so young, and also being so brilliant. Was Sholmes like this when he was a child? With no blood relation, she is still at least unmistakable as one of her father’s daughter. 

“... I can’t make promises. Kazuma has admitted to being hired to kill a man, even if he didn’t. I don’t know what else might come to light in there.” He admits. She gives his hand another squeeze. 

“I’m glad you’re my brother now, Runo.” She tells him. 

“It’s a title I’m proud to have.” He says honestly. 

Klint smiles, soft and warm and content at seeing the two of them close, comforting each other. Ryunosuke has never been more sure of deduction than he is about Iris’ parentage. After a few minutes of Ryunosuke sitting there with his eyes closed and Iris staring at the other side of the room, Ryunosuke gets up and leads her to her room. He tucks her in and then, on a whim, kisses her forehead. That’s what you’re supposed to do to younger siblings, right? Or perhaps it was supposed to be for children even younger than Iris. 

Perhaps it doesn’t matter, not with their family. 

He goes to sleep, ready for whatever is to come, knowing that he has his family behind him the entire way. 

oOo

It’s turmoil, it’s a tempest, a hurricane, a maelstrom. 

It’s so much and not enough.

The Ghost of the Old Bailey still stands next to Lord Stronghart. Genshin and Klint have taken to the defense bench this time, to have Ryunosuke’s back through fair or foul. 

Even after Karuma is submitted as evidence, as Genshin directs Ryunosuke to twist the head of Karuma and get the will, there’s still hesitancy. Play this card too soon, and what if Lord Stronghart somehow destroys it, or deems it inadmissible as it isn’t relevant to the case? In a way, Kazuma’s blind anger and vengeance towards Barok is the blessing they’d been waiting for as, through his insistence that the trial continue, that they reveal the true identity of the Reaper, they’re able to bring it right to what they need, what they’ve needed all this time. 

The will is presented. 

The evidence is irrefutable. 

Then, it takes a turn for the worst. 

The judiciary, the gallery, what had been used to continue the trial, turn to support Lord Stronghart. 

“... you do not see it, do you?” Genshin says, voice low and dangerous. Ryunosuke hears him, is the only living person in the room that hears him. 

And he repeats the words. 

“What?” Lord Stronghart says. Genshin shakes his head and Ryunouske mirrors the action.

“You do not inhabit the darkness,” They say, “You have become the darkness. You have become the evil that lurks in London, the darkest of its depths. Does this make you proud?” Genshin - Ryunosuke - does it matter which - demands.

“I do what has to be done, I am the only one who can do it. It is to preserve justice in our great Empire.” Lord Stronghart insists. 

“No, it’s to preserve yourself. You have become blinded by it, you have become corrupted, just like Klint had once been, but to a far deeper level, to be consumed by it. If it takes dismantling what you believe the law and justice to be in order to restore the system to what it is, so be it. Justice is not this. It is not closed doors, and secrets, and the aristocracy lying to the public and calling it truth and necessary. Do the citizens you claim to do this for not matter? Where are your jurors, Lord van Zieks? Where are the people in the gallery, the citizens in London? This secrecy, this so-called need to inhabit the darkness is what destroyed Klint, and mark my words it is what will destroy you.” They say, thoughts and ideas merging with each other. 

When Genshin steps back, steps away from Ryunosuke, Ryunosuke has to keep himself up, holding onto the bench. Even prepared for it, even willingly letting the possession come on, the jolt of being just himself again is almost painful. 

“Ryunosuke?” Susato asks in concern, but Ryunosuke waves her off and straightens. The gallery is silent, all eyes on him. He can feel Barok and Kazuma’s boring gazes, as if they realize that something has just happened right there. The Ghost of the Old Bailey nods sagely, as if to tell them they had spoken well, and he deemed them fit to be the ones who had said it. 

“I couldn’t have said it better myself!” 

Sholmes voice rings clearly. 

He materializes, and for a moment, a heart-stopping and terrifying moment, Ryunosuke thinks he’s a ghost as well. But then Lord Stronghart demands that the bailiffs seize the detective, and Ryunsouke knows he’s not the only one seeing the man, despite whatever is going on. A projected image, Sholmes explains in words that Ryunosuke can barely parse. 

“And naturally, the reverse is true. Can you imagine, an entire room projected?”

“Y-you don’t mean…!” Susato gasps. 

“Would you like to give a guess of where I am right now?” He asks, in the infuriating but brilliantly Sholmes habit of his to draw things out. 

“You will stop this at once!” Lord Stronghart orders, orders that have no effect on the detective. 

“It’s a lovely little park. I believe you’re acquainted with it, Mr. Naruhodo? McGilded park. We’ve managed to gather quite the crowd for this demonstration of my newest invention. The crowd is taking quite a turn though, I must admit. I’ll have to go, because we’ve started on our way to the Old Bailey!” Sholmes announces. 

“Hi Runo, Hi Susie, we’ll see you soon!” Iris flickers into view for just a moment and then disappears with Sholmes.

“Bailiffs, you’re not to allow anybody in!” Lord Stronghart roars. The bailiffs jump and then salute. 

“You’ve been running from this for too long now, Stronghart.” Klint folds his arms. Ryunosuke repeats the words. 

“You,” Stronghart points his staff at Ryunosuke, venom in his voice. 

“For years, I’ve watched you do this,” He continues, “Make a mockery of the justice system, puppet around those I had cared about, destroy things so that you could build your own personal empire on top of the remains,” Klints hand finds the sword, resting there, “I had accepted it for what it was at the time, at the time believing there was nothing I could do.”

Klint walks towards Stronghart, purpose in his steps. 

The man looks confused. Let him be confused. God willing, let him be scared . 

“I let you - I allowed you - to use me for your own purposes, to drag me further in the darkness and depths. But now, now I will do what I should’ve done all those years, what I should’ve done when you first began to extort me, take advantage of me. Who the final victim of the Professor should have been.”

The sword slides easily out of its sheath, and Klint surges forward, ready to strike. 

Before the blade can hit its mark, it’s stopped by two others. He’s confused for a moment. 

“I can’t allow you to do that.” 

Barok, who had spoken, keeps his sword where it is. His gaze is steady, holding his ground. At his side, holding the other sword, is the young Asogi. 

“After all he has done to you, Barok? After everything?” Klint asks, voice low. 

“... I understand what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling… K-Klint.” Barok wavers at the end of the sentence, shutting his eyes, “But I can’t allow you to do this.”

“Barok!”

“Not with Naruhodo’s hands!” Barok eyes fly open again, the steely resolve, and 

And

And Klint should not be able to hold a sword. He should not be able to speak to Barok. 

He isn’t Klint at all. 

It’s like plunging into an icy lake. The sword clatters to the floor and Ryunosuke follows it. He can distantly hear Klint, Klint the ghost, Klint separate from him, making noises of distress and confusion. 

“Ryunosuke!” Kazuma is there, Kazuma is within arms’ reach, Kazuma is hauling Ryunosuke to his feet while Ryunosuke tries to remember how to breathe, how to move his limbs. It had been so sudden, so painful. 

“I-I don’t, I don’t know what, I, there was,” Klint is no better than Ryunosuke, his form scattered about like it’d been put into a blender, slowly forming the ghost again, with Genshin as his side as always. The gallery is whispering. 

Had they just ruined this, in the final moments? 

Lord Stronghart doesn’t speak at first, just stares as Kazuma helps Ryunosuke get back to the defense bench, where he passes him off to Susato and then returns to his side of the courtroom. Ryunosuke can feel himself shaking, shivering. 

“Well-” Lord Stronghart begins to say.

But he’s too late. 

The doors that lead to the witness antechamber burst open. People - citizens - flood into the room, led by Sholmes and Iris. They climb up into the gallery, joining the judiciary. Six take up the juror seats. 

“This is my courtroom, what do you think you’re doing?!” Lord Stronghart howls. 

“I think you’ll find it isn’t, not any more,” Sholmes declares, “Now, dear jurors, what is the verdict you have reached on the matter of our dear Chief Justice?” He points to the six jurors and as one they light the flames. 

“Stop! I will have order!” Lord Stronghart bangs his staff down, but nobody is listening to him. 

“No, you will have justice!” The Ghost of the Old Bailey declares. 

There’s stunned silence. Lord Stronghart’s eyes are wide with unmistakable shock, confusion, and fear, and his head slowly turns to look at the ghost. 

“Jurors,” Says the Ghost of the Old Bailey, “With the power once vested in me, as your previous Lord Chief Justice, take up your flames, and give his man the sentence that he deserves, that the truth has made clear.” 

The flames fly into the guilty side of the scales to the uproarious approval of the crowd. 

The Ghost of the Old Bailey bursts like a falling star in the atmosphere.

That’s about what Ryunosuke passes out. 

oOo

There are a lot of things to be said, but so little time to say them. 

How is one supposed to take a life and reveal only the important parts? It’s simply not possible. 

221B Bakerstreet is filled with people when Ryunosuke comes to. Sholmes, Iris, and Susato are there, of course. But there’s also Gina, and Kazuma, and Barok himself. 

They do not demand answers, but Ryunosuke gives them anyway. He explains that there are ghosts, he explains what he knows (or most of it), and he tells them that Gregson and Klint and Genshin had been there. They do not press him for further details, and he does not offer them up. Maybe one day, but right now he still feels cold in his bones. 

He thinks about Mikotoba’s request for him to return to Japan. 

Perhaps it was Kazuma who had supposedly died on the S.S. Burya, but maybe this whole time, the ghost had been Ryunosuke. 

Unfinished business, sticking around because of love, a mirror of something that had been.

But Ryunosuke… he is done being a ghost. He’s ready to be something real again. 

oOo

“Did you tell them?” Genshin asks.

Ryunosuke shakes his head. 

They’re on the balcony again. Gregson isn’t there, so it’s just Ryunosuke, Genshin and Klint. They’d been keeping their distance for a bit, giving Ryunosuke space. 

“I'm fairly sure they think both of you moved on with the Ghost of the Old Bailey.” He tells them. 

“If only it were that easy. But in the face of the new… I still worry about Barok.” Klint admits. 

“And I, Kazuma,” Genshin nods, “Perhaps soon, I will finally be ready. But not just yet.” 

There’s a quiet moment, and then Klint says,

“Ryunosuke, I owe you an apology.” 

“You do. But I also knew what I might be getting into when I first talked to you.” The feeling of a small knife is now replaced by the phantom feeling of Karuma’s hilt. Ryunosuke doesn’t want to just live in fear, though. He is more than that, and this ability of his is more than that. Spirits are volatile and dangerous, speaking to them even more so. But they were also why he was able to reveal the truth of the Professor, to do some good, to right what had been wrong for so long. Ryunosuke does not forgive Klint, but perhaps he doesn’t fully blame the ghost either.

“I… I’m not sure what came over me, there.” Klint goes on, closing his eyes as if trying to put himself back in the moment, to try and understand it himself. 

“We all have demons in us,” Genshin says, “I suppose even us ghosts still do.” 

Silence again. 

“... I wish I could be brave like that.”

All three of them flinch in surprise. Iris walks onto the balcony and stands next to Ryunosuke.

“Iris,” He sighs. Don’t growing children need rest? 

“I’ve always been afraid to talk to them. I’ve heard about all that scary stuff before, like what they say happened to you before we got to the Old Bailey.” Iris continues. 

“... Iris?”

She smiles, unmistakably, at Genshin and Klint, and clasps her hands. 

“Thank you for your help with the case!”

oOo

And maybe that’s what family is all about: not being alone.