Archive of Our Own

It was a very cold morning for the city of Tokyo as the winter's snow glistened on the streets that it had so completely covered. Many citizens of the city were grumbling their way though the white drifts of wet frozen powder as they attempted to reach their intended destinations in order to continue their daily lives to the best of their ability, despite how troubling the current weather was. The only respite the people had was that the snow had stopped falling for the time being and was at least not continuing to pile up and potentially make their current struggle for transportation and warmth even worse.

In the winter sky, an owl whose feathers blended in perfectly with the white wonderland below it flew over the near-frozen town, making its way to a small house just outside the most bustling area of the capital. The snowy bird’s destination was the residence of the Mikotobas, where forensic pathology professor Mikotoba Yūjin and his 16-year old daughter, Mikotoba Susato, lived. The two of them were currently preparing for their day, shivering all the while due to the intense cold around them, though neither of them had the energy to comment about it just yet.

The white owl came finally to land just outside of the least snow-covered side door of the house and started emitting light screeches, which was quick to draw Susato’s attention. She walked over to where she heard the noise coming from and slid the door open just enough for her winged guest to hop inside and join her and her father in the warmer environment, but even the small amount of cold wind that came rushing into the house while the door was open was enough to make Susato’s entire body shudder.

As she watched the owl shake off the bits of snow that had stuck to its wings during its flight, Susato narrowed her eyes somewhat playfully. “You know, Haori-sama. You’re already lucky enough to be able to transform into an animal with at least decent resistance to this cold,” she said to the bird in a fake scolding tone, “Do you have to disturb the peace of my house by shaking the snow off of yourself in such a way?”

The owl turned to look at Susato for a moment with wide eyes, but then its small form began to morph and change, stretching out and changing color until another 16-year old girl was standing where the owl had once been, her piercing yellow eyes having now shifted to a soft gray. She was now Murasame Haori, her human self, once again. “Sorry, Susato-chan,” Haori finally said as she rubbed her hands together, “But I’m afraid a decent resistance doesn’t grant a complete immunity. Especially when it’s THIS cold out. I was worried that my wings would freeze up while I was flying out there.”

“That I can understand,” Susato admitted as she felt another chill run down her arms, which she tried to counter with rubbing her hands together just like Haori had done, “Do you think we’ll be able to make our way to the university without too much trouble?”

Haori shrugged somewhat. “Depends on your motivation to get where you wanna go, I guess,” she said nonchalantly, “No one without an animal form is having a good time, and even those that do have one are struggling quite a bit. Especially given how wearing warm clothes don’t really carry over with our transformations.”

Susato nodded in understanding and then gestured for Haori to join her at the dining room table. Her father, Yūjin, was pouring a few cups of freshly made tea, and the steam rising from them looked strangely appealing due to how it implied to contrast with the current weather of the outside world. While Haori made her way over and started chatting away with the professor, Susato couldn’t help but feel slightly envious of her girlfriend for another brief moment. In a world where many, many people could transform into animals at will, some people just had certain advantages at certain times of the year, particularly when it came to the weather. And Haori currently had much more luck as a white, wintery owl than Susato herself did as a sleek, black mare.

Wanting to get her mind off of the dread she felt about the inevitable walk out in the cold she was going to need to make, Susato stood up and walked off to a different part of the house in order to make sure that her adoptive brother, Asōgi Kazuma, was awake. While he was a dedicated and hardworking law student that could normally handle himself in regards to getting ready for a day, Susato knew that he hated both early mornings and the cold with a passion, so she wanted to make sure that Asōgi was handling himself decently that morning and was able to get up without any trouble.

However, Susato was in for a wave of disappointment when she opened the door to her brother’s room, only to see a large, dark gray wolf snuggled under the blankets of the futon, looking as happy as could be while clearly still asleep. Now a bit irritated, Susato walked over to the bed, knelt down, and flicked the large canine’s snout without hesitation. “Kazuma-sama! Wake up!” she snapped as she did so.

The wolf jerked up due to the disturbance of his muzzle and shook his head in a bit of a daze before turning to look up at Susato in bewilderment as she stood back up to her full height. Susato put her hands on her hips and stared down at her brother without saying a word to him, and after a moment, Asōgi transformed back into his human self, still frowning. However, he then quickly wrapped his blanket around himself when he felt the cold air around him. “Ugh...Good morning to you too, Susato-chan,” Asōgi murmured sulkily as his body shivered, and he rubbed his nose slightly through the blanket, “You couldn’t have found a better way to wake me up?”

Susato seemed to think about it for a moment before she shook her head. “Maybe, but I’m not in the mood to figure out one of those better ways,” she said in a much more playful tone, but then she frowned once again, “This sort of cold doesn’t exactly leave me in much of a mood for nonsensical delays like oversleeping.”

“Fair enough,” Asōgi said as he tried to take in the last bits of heat and warmth that he could manage to extract from the blanket before he had to leave his bed, “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

Susato nodded in acknowledgement to his words and then she immediately turned on her heels, making her way back out to the kitchen and sitting herself down at the breakfast table with Haori and her father, joining in on their conversation about their recent work in his laboratory while they sipped on warm tea and ate their breakfast. Asōgi joined the three of them just minutes later, but he was clearly still quite grumpy due to the cold, as he was constantly shivering and was making no attempts to hide his frustration about that.

“Look on the bright side, Asōgi-sama,” Haori said with an encouraging smile, “This sort of cold will prepare you for some of the weather you can expect while you're in Great Britain, as I’ve heard they also get some particularly cold winters. And unfortunately, I think they get this sort of weather much more commonly there than we do here.”

“Oh great. So much to look forward to,” Asōgi mumbled as he sipped his tea.

Susato lightly punched her brother’s arm. “No need to be so pessimistic, Kazuma-sama,” she said in a bit of a scolding tone, “I know that you’ve been looking forward to this trip for many years. So don’t let one potentially negative element spoil the prospect of it for you.”

She was referring to the fact that in just a few days, she and Asōgi would be departing from their home country of Japan to travel to the developed, western country of Great Britain and seeing its capital city, London, which was noted to be the center of the world. They would be studying the country’s legal affairs and workings together in hopes of returning to Japan with what they had learned and helping aid in the development of their own country’s very young and inexperienced judicial system. It was something that Asōgi had been talking about and working towards for years, and Susato didn’t want something so petty to interrupt the grand time that she was expecting the trip to be, especially since she knew he was just as excited about it as she was. Thankfully, Asōgi nodded in agreement with her words, so it seemed that particular worry was dealt with, at least for the time being.

After a few more peaceful minutes, the three young students all stood up from the table and made sure they were ready to go and ready to make their way to the university for the day, as it wasn't going to be easy with the cold. “I’ll meet the three of you there later,” Yūjin said as he watched them gather themselves, “I have to finish writing up a couple of reports that I need to bring up to my lab, so I’ll make my way over there probably in the early afternoon.”

“Of course, Father,” Susato said with a polite bow of her head, “Please be safe while you venture through the cold on your own.”

“You three as well,” Yūjin said with something of a playful look, “This sort of weather will freeze a youth like you just as easily as it would an old man like me, so be sure to take proper caution.”

Susato frowned at her father’s poor attempt at dad humor while Asōgi snickered under his breath and Haori tried to protest that the professor wasn’t actually that old. The three students then gathered up their things and prepared themselves to face the bitter cold that awaited them, though no one was looking forward to it in any capacity.

Despite Asōgi’s deep hatred for winter, he quickly found his attention drawn away from his complaints about the weather once he arrived at his university and met up with his partner and secret boyfriend, Naruhodō Ryūnosuke, who always helped to brighten Asōgi’s day just by existing. And due to a lot of pestering on Asōgi’s part, which even included the subtle threat of dropping out of the exchange program, Naruhodō would be joining him and Susato on their study abroad in Great Britain, though he was going as an English student rather than a law student, much to Asōgi’s not-so-quiet disappointment.

“One successful trial doesn’t mean that I could suddenly become a lawyer, Kazuma,” Naruhodō protested, as he and Asōgi were talking about that particular subject once again while they were sharing lunch, “Besides, I thought I was going to throw up the entire time. Not to mention how much I was sweating and how my eyes were constantly darting around the room. That doesn’t exactly scream “prime lawyer material” to me, and I think a lot of people would agree with me.”

“You act as if any opinion of the majority would be able to sway me in any fashion,” Asōgi said with a laugh, “Besides, you made that old prosecutor so flustered that he turned into a weasel right in front of everyone in the courtroom. It took all of my willpower to not just burst out laughing in that moment.”

Naruhodō rolled his eyes, but he was unable to hold back a smile of his own. “Let's not forget that you were the one who then swung a sword at him, which made him transform again,” he recounted, “I think that flustered him way more than anything I said during that whole trial.”

The two partners were referring to an event that had occurred about a month prior, in which Naruhodō had been falsely accused of the murder of a visiting British professor and was then put on trial for it. The trial was clearly intended to just be some sort of kangaroo court in which they would convict Naruhodō as quickly as possible in order to appease the Great British Empire, but Naruhodō had stepped up to be his own lawyer in an effort to fight against this unfair fate. With Asōgi at his side, they had managed to expose who the real killer was and thus prove Naruhodō’s innocence. However, that was exactly why Asōgi thought his partner had all of the talents and qualifications to be a lawyer himself if he set his mind to it. If he could win such a serious trial like that, one which couldn’t be more blatantly set up to be against him if someone tried, then he could probably win essentially any trial. However, Naruhodō would always decline the sentiment whenever Asōgi brought it up or even hinted at it.

After a few moments of silence, Asōgi leaned back on the set of stairs the two of them were currently sitting on as he started to ponder something. “Hmmm...How about a different sort of something you could do for me?” he then said aloud, “In regards to this upcoming trip, I mean.”

“Sorry?” Naruhodō asked, looking confused.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Asōgi clarified, “I’ll totally drop the question of you becoming a lawyer if, at some point on this trip, you finally show me your animal form.”

Despite having known each other for several months by their current point, Naruhodō had never once shifted into his animal form ever since Asōgi had first met him. At first, Asōgi thought that meant that Naruhodō was someone who couldn’t transform, but then one day, he had heard Naruhodō make some sort of roaring noise that Asōgi couldn’t identify when he was angry at someone in their speech class, meaning that he did indeed have an animal transformation hiding under some invisible lock and key. Naruhodō later admitted one day that this was true, but he had clammed up when Asōgi asked him what his animal form was, which quickly told Asōgi to be careful and to not push that subject too much. However, time had passed and they were dating now, and Asōgi couldn’t deny that he really wanted to know the answer to that question.

Naruhodō hesitated to answer to answer the question, looking a bit unsure and making Asōgi wonder if he had maybe overstepped his boundaries. However, Naruhodō then let out a deep exhale and he finally nodded his head. “Alright. It’s a deal,” he agreed, "Though I may need some time to feel confident enough to do it. So I hope you can understand that."

Though he was internally celebrating this answer, Asōgi kept his glee to himself and instead simply sat up while still looking calm and collected. “Right on, Partner,” he said as he happily squeezed his shoulder, but then he decided to change the subject since he could tell that was what Naruhodō wanted, “This is really gonna be an exciting trip.”

“Y-Yeah,” Naruhodō agreed with a sheepish smile, “I still can’t believe that you pestered the government into making them allow me to go with you.”

“Do you really think I would let my partner not only miss out on seeing the world’s center of cultural development but also be left here in Japan alone without me?” Asōgi asked in a tone of voice that seemed to indicate that he was almost offended by the very idea of his own words, “I wouldn’t go without you, Ryūnosuke. Even if I had to smuggle you in my suitcase in order to accomplish taking you along.”

“Oh yeah, because I’m sure THAT would go fantastically,” Naruhodō said sarcastically, “I’m pretty sure the first thing that would happen upon the steamship arriving in Great Britain under those circumstances would be that judicial assistant of yours being taken to court for killing us both. I know that she’s not one to fool around when it comes to such serious matters.”

“HA!” Asōgi laughed very loudly, remembering his adoptive sister’s somewhat irritated attitude from that morning, when the only thing they had to worry about was the cold, “I’ll definitely have to tell her you said that. She might find it funny.”

Naruhodō chuckled in return before stuffing his mouth with food once again, making his cheeks puff out like how a little hamster’s might look, which Asōgi always found rather adorable. After a moment though, Naruhodō swallowed and then leaned his head on Asōgi’s shoulder with a smile that was so cute that Asōgi just wanted to melt on the spot. “I am excited,” Naruhodō then admitted, “To go to Britain with you, I mean.”

“I knew you would be,” Asōgi said in a somewhat smug way as he then shifted his arm to better hold his partner close, “Just a few more days and we’ll be on our way.”

Kazuma was more than a little disappointed that he and Naruhodō had to be settled in different cabins on board their steamship to Great Britain, but he supposed he shouldn’t be too surprised that that was the way things had to be. The ship's first-class cabins were clearly only meant to accommodate one person, given the singular bed and small wardrobe, but Asōgi would’ve made the argument for he and his partner to share anyway if he thought he could’ve gotten away with that. However, he also knew that Naruhodō definitely would’ve refused that course of action, especially considering how he already feared the Russian sailors that made up the crew of the steamship, and though Asōgi wasn’t afraid of them personally, he could agree it was probably better to not mess with them.

They had departed from Japan early in the morning, and the trio of students had agreed that they would spend the first few hours of the voyage getting everything set up and unpacking whatever was necessary to make their cabins their own. Then they would meet up later for dinner so they could talk some things out. However, mayhem had broken out on the boat at some point in the early afternoon when it seemed that all of the people who underestimated their ability to handle sea travel had some sort of simultaneous mental breakdown, causing a large outbreak of people running around the ship in their animal forms. This in turn had caused the sailors to have to run around all over the place, handling everyone and making sure nothing important on the ship was damaged by rampaging animals.

While the whole chaotic ordeal had been rather entertaining to listen to, the sailors had ordered that no one else leave their cabins while they sorted everything out, meaning Kazuma had been left with no company from Naruhodō and Susato for the entire day, which wasn’t the best way to start their journey to Great Britain in his not-so humble opinion. But it at least gave him some time to catch up on the sleep he’d missed the previous night due to having to wake up so early in order to catch the ship, so he supposed it wasn’t all bad, even if he was disappointed.

Now though, Asōgi had eaten his lonely dinner and had gotten used to the shower in his cabin’s bathroom, and he was now left with nothing to do except sit around at his desk and try to study a little bit, though he wasn't having much luck. It wasn't that he didn’t like to study or that he didn't consider it to be important, but he didn’t like the idea of having to spend a majority of the voyage studying alone, which it seemed could potentially happen if there were continuous problems with people's animal transformations and the sailors reporting for people to stay in their rooms while they handled such issues. Maybe he’d have to smuggle Naruhodō into his room for some company after all, and maybe even Susato as well, since she’d probably at least understand why he would want that.

Suddenly, Asōgi heard a faint noise from behind him, and he turned to discover a folded up piece of paper now resting on the floor beside his bed. Given its position on the ground, it was more than likely that the note had been slipped through the small vent that connected his cabin to the one next door. Knowing that Naruhodō was there, Asōgi smiled and then got up to see what his partner had potentially written down, as it was clearly too important to be held back by the sailor’s orders of staying put and just had to be shared through a vent note.

Dear Kazuma, I have a feeling that you’re probably as bummed out as I am that this first day aboard the steamship wasn’t exactly a group experience for us due to all of the insanity that went on. The steward told me that this is apparently a pretty regular occurrence for them to have to deal with though, especially for people who are new to sea travel, and this sort of chaos likely shouldn’t be too much of a problem in the coming weeks. Or at least, it shouldn’t be to this extent. I’ll come by tomorrow morning after breakfast and you can tell me how it was from your perspective, and maybe we can have a laugh about it. Longing to see you soon. -Love, Ryūnosuke

A small chuckle escaped from Asōgi’s mouth as he read over the note again, feeling a small sense of relief from his partner’s reassurance that this sort of separation wouldn’t be the norm for the rest of their journey. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to send Naruhodō a response, as the space between the bars of the vents was quite small, and unlike his partner, he didn’t have skinny enough wrists to push something through, and his rather large wolf paws wouldn’t help him in that regard either. So he’d simply have to wait until tomorrow to see Naruhodō, which was okay as long as he had the promise that it would happen. And he knew for certain that he would definitely be asking his partner if he’d be willing to spend a few nights together with him, as in his opinion, a lonely bed was the only thing worse than a cold one.

Unexpectedly, Asōgi’s peaceful breakfast was interrupted by a loud knock on his cabin door, which made him frown as the finished the bite he was currently chewing on. If he was still eating breakfast at that moment, then surely Naruhodō and Susato would still be too. Also, both of them loved their food for one reason or another, so they would both definitely take the time to enjoy what they had rather than rush to get it over with. This ultimately meant that neither of them should be at his door just yet, no matter how much they may have wanted to see him. Though he felt confused, Asōgi nevertheless stood up and undid the lock of his cabin door before pulling it open to see who was there at such an early hour.

Suddenly, a blur of light brown rushed past his legs faster than he could even see, and Asōgi was taken aback. “Hey!” he shouted as he released the door and let it fall back into its shut place. When he turned to get a better look at whoever had just rushed into his room, he saw a fox standing beside his bed, its coat being the color of a sandy beach, as if its colors had been muted somehow.

Asōgi wasn’t sure if this person was friend or foe, but he quickly decided that he wasn’t going to wait to find out, and so he quickly shifted into his wolf form, growling a warning at the intruder to his space that he wouldn’t be afraid to fight if he had to. The two canines stared at each other for a moment, but then the fox finally reacted and transformed back to its human form: A man somewhat older than Asōgi with very platinum blonde hair and a jacket that was a tanner shade of brown than the fur of his animal form. Now on two feet, he brushed himself off slightly before looking back at the still guarded Asōgi.

“Terribly sorry, my dear fellow,” the man finally said, the strong accent in his voice clearly indicating he was British, “I just had to be sure that I could make my way in before you potentially jumped to any improper conclusions about my presence. Detective work isn’t always something that allows for common courtesies, as unfortunate of a truth as that is.”

Asōgi was silent for a moment, still not sure who this man was or what he maybe wanted from him. And though he rested his attack stance, he remained in his wolf form just in case he might need to spring into action while this person was in his room. Though he hoped that wouldn't end up being the case.

Fortunately, the man seemed to realize what was bothering Asōgi. “Ah! Silly me! I haven’t even introduced myself yet,” he said, and then he gave a very theatrical bow, “Sherlock Holmes. British consulting detective, at your service. And I must say, it’s a pleasure to finally met you in person, Kazuma Asōgi. I’ve heard some very charitable things about you from a colleague I know in your homeland.”

Though Asōgi was surprised to hear the man speak his name, his curiosity now overtook his worry or potential anger. He knew the name Sherlock Holmes from Susato and Yūjin, as they were both big fans of a series of stories that starred the detective. But the man somehow knew who he was? And he was now standing before him for one reason or another? Now quite interested to hear more about what was going on, Asōgi finally transformed back into his human form and was almost immediately asking questions. “How do you know who I am? And what exactly do you want from me?” he asked, hoping that he didn’t sound too accusatory.

“Ah, yes. Excellent. You truly are keen to looking into the heart of a mystery,” Holmes said as he pressed a finger to his temple thoughtfully, “Well, like I said before. I know you due to having a colleague in Japan with whom I share correspondence. Your name is apparently quite well-known around the city of Tokyo, though that’s nowhere close to my level of worldwide fame.”

His bragging smirk alone was enough to make Asōgi consider strangling the detective, but he knew that that definitely wouldn’t end well, especially when considering if or when Susato found out her hero was on board, meaning that doing anything against him would be something he would never live down. Plus, Susato would likely toss him into the ocean on top of that. So he instead just folded his arms and nodded his head. “I guess I’ll take whatever aspect I can get from that as a compliment,” he said, unsure of what else to say without showing any emotion.

“Splendid!” Holmes said as he looked rather pleased with himself, but then his expression quickly became more humorless, “With all that said though, Mr. Asōgi. I’m afraid I’m here to speak to you about a much more serious matter.”

“I honestly almost hoped you’d say that,” Asōgi responded, relieved that the detective hadn’t come by just to mess with his head, “Is this about my exchange trip?”

“If the pieces of information I’ve gathered so far are going in the direction that I think they are, then yes. It is,” Holmes said, and his expression suddenly became somewhat cross, “I’m unsure of what you might know about this whole situation, Mr. Asōgi, but my recent investigations have been leading me down a path that is telling me that there is something very sinister connected to your upcoming visit. Something that could potentially be connected to a very dark secret from the past.”

Asōgi froze, as there was much more truth to that statement than Holmes seemed to know, at least concretely speaking. There was something about his part of the study abroad that he hadn’t told Naruhodō or Susato about yet, mostly because he really didn’t know how to talk about it, as it was something truly terrible. And even though he had been essentially backed into a corner when it came to accepting that terrible something, he had still ultimately accepted it. Asōgi not only worried for how the two of them would potentially react to hearing about it, but he even wondered if they might possibly be in danger from outside forces if he did ever tell them about it. Or worst of all...What if they abandoned him because of it?

“What is it that you’re asking of me?” Asōgi finally asked after a moment, not wanting to leave the detective in silence.

Holmes looked up. “My current knowledge of what may potentially be afoot with all of this is limited, and my ability to tell you about what I do know could bring us into multiple sorts of trouble if I explained it at the wrong time,” he admitted, “But if there is something you perhaps know about what I’ve said, concretely or not, then there’s only one thing I can ask of you: Leave the past alone if you don’t understand what you’re getting into.”

“What if there’s something I need to know no matter what? Something that's truly important?” Asōgi asked cautiously, as there was indeed something else connected to his reasoning for becoming an exchange student that he just couldn’t let go of, no matter what dangers existed in the country that awaited him.

“Then I advise for you to have the absolute utmost of caution,” Holmes answered dryly, though he didn't seem very happy, “Don’t be reckless, and don’t pursue anything clouded by even reasonable doubt. I don’t want you getting hurt, and I'm sure there's other people who feel the same way about that.”

Asōgi paused for a moment, curious as to why this Great Detective of all people would be so concerned about him. However, he could sense the man’s earnest concern as he spoke, and Asōgi knew there was truth to what he was saying about the past being both complicated and dangerous. So he simply nodded his head in response once again. “Alright then. Thank you for your warning, Detective,” he said, but then he was the one who appeared serious, “Tell me something though. Will a day ever come when you'll be able to tell me what you know about this?”

Holmes thought about it for a moment, but then his eyes seemed to brighten. “I say. How about you stop by my abode in London once we arrive?” he suggested, a more jovial tone returning to his voice, “Not only is that a safer place to talk, but I even have some extra living space available in case you should be unable to acquire cheap housing elsewhere.”

“I’ll consider that offer as well,” Asōgi agreed, unable to deny that he was now more than curious about this detective and what he could potentially know about the truth he was hoping to pursue, “You should probably go for now though. My friends will be here soon, and I don't want things to look suspicious.”

“Very well then, but you can’t stop me from meeting them too eventually,” Holmes said as though he were making a promise, “When a Great Detective sets his mind to something, nothing will stand in his way!”

After making his grand declaration, Holmes shifted back into his sandy fox form, and the moment Asōgi had the cabin door open just wide enough, he zoomed out just as quickly as he had zoomed in before, turning and disappearing down the hallway in an instant. Asōgi couldn’t help but chuckle somewhat as he watched him go, but then his mind trailed back to their brief conversation, and he frowned as he considered everything that they had spoken of. What did the detective know? And was it possible that what he had become involved with, both related to the exchange and not, was actually much darker than he ever could’ve expected?