Chapter Text
The young man quickly pushed his way through two gentlemen stood together chatting on the pavement.
He quickly shouted back a quick and near-breathless apology in response to the plethora of oaths they were shouting at him for nearly sending them into a puddle.
He looked back for a brief moment. Anybody following me? No? Good.
He was almost there now.
And it'd be the worst possible time to get captured. Not now.
As he got to 221B Baker Street, he rattled the knocker as loudly as he could. The brass plaque showed that he had - for once in his life - managed to get the address right.
Herlock Sholmes Consulting Detective
- & -
Ryunosuke Naruhodo Legal Agency
After what felt like almost an eternity later, the door was answered by the landlady, one Mrs. Hudson. She was promptly brushed aside and nearly knocked off her feet as he went charging up the stairs behind her like a man possessed.
"Hey!" she cried. "What're you...? What are you doing?! You can't just go up there! Come back here! Get back here right now!"
The calico cat lying on their favourite spot on the staircase continued to lie there, lazily, and remained entirely undisturbed by the ongoing fracas as the man stormed up the stairs past them.
Ryunosuke Naruhodo sighed as he began to tuck into his breakfast.
The first post of the day had came and went, and once again there wasn't any correspondence for him. Nothing from any representative of the Japanese government—not even a telegram to say they'd received his latest report—and nothing from Kazuma, who was mired in work at the Crown Prosecutor's Office.
For Mr. Sholmes, however, there was the usual stack of letters and telegrams.
"Look!" cried Iris. "The French president wants your help in catching the gentleman thief Larsene Aupin. Apparently, he's planning on stealing the Lona Misa."
"There's also this, Mr. Sholmes," said Susato. "Colonel Warburton is requiring your assistance"
Even after the recent incident with the Lord Chief Justice, cases that actually required Ryunosuke had been very few and far-between of late. There wasn't even any of the boring stuff to do, like drafting up wills and contracts or studying up on the law.
"Oh do cheer up, Mr. Naruhodo!" said Sholmes, hitting the young defence attorney a friendly slap on his back that nearly made him choke on his bacon and eggs. "I'm sure something will crop up sooner rather than la—"
Sholmes didn't even get the chance to finish that sentence before the door to his suite swung open with a crash, almost being pulled off its hinges for no less than the 15th time in its lifetime. A young man nearly fell through the doorway with Mrs. Hudson in hot pursuit behind him, dangerously armed with a wooden spoon and a whip-like tea-towel.
He was a tall young man - just a few inches over six foot - with fiery red hair, a red suit and tie and a red bowler hat with a black band around it.
Sholmes put the morning post down on the table and wandered into the living room with a piece of toast still in his mouth. "It's alright, Mrs. Hudson, I'll take it from here."
The landlady immediately seemed to have been disarmed from using her lethal weapons (that Sholmes himself had been on the receiving end of on many an occasion) and promptly left them to it.
Sholmes flicked his blond fringe with the tip of his finger and pointed at the young man, who was still trying to catch his breath.
He brandished a new copy of Randst Magazine proudly, bearing the headline "HERLOCK SHOLMES outwits a German spy! Dr. Wilson's latest piece Exclusively for Randst."
"I'm the legendary Herlock S—"
"Sorry, are you the lawyer?" asked the man.
"—holmes. Er, no...?"
As soon as he heard the word "lawyer" mentioned, Ryunosuke quickly turned his head. He got up from the table and entered the living room, followed by Susato.
"Er, I'm the attorney?" he said. He cleared his throat, realising how unsure he sounded. "I'm Ryunosuke Naruhodo. Is there something, er, I can help you with?"
"You can," replied the young man with a sniff as he straightened himself out. "I'm on the run from the police, and I'm in need of some rather urgent legal assistance, given that I'm technically considered to be under arrest on the charge of murder."