Archive of Our Own

The incident that had started months' worth of trouble for Luke had taken place on a surprisingly mundane afternoon, not too long after his and the Professor's strange adventure in Labyrinthia. And right there, before anything had even happened, he'd made the fatal mistake in this particular case. In his blissfully ignorant state coming off of a puzzling adventure, he had assumed that this was to be his respite break. And, well, you know what they say about assumptions...

Mr Wright and Maya were at the Professor's Office with them when it began. The Government had extended their overseas friends' stays on account of the trickery that had gone down with Labyrinthia, so that fortunately meant they had the luxury to relax a little with Luke and Layton. Or... Perhaps relax was too strong of a word...

"Nick," Maya whined, kicking her feet up from the sofa she was sitting on in exasperation, "I'm bored! Can't you stop fiddling with your badge or whatever and actually do something!?"

Slowly, Mr Wright looked up from where Luke could clearly see that he'd been examining a gold-coloured badge, not fiddling with it, and gave his assistant a rather deadpan look. Luke's mind was set adrift just looking at the colour of it, though. He was sort of compelled to glance quickly over at the Professor, thankfully still sitting organising puzzles at his desk, instead of listening properly. Just in case. 

"I thought I'd lost it when we were in Labyrinthia, Maya! I have to make sure it's alright!" Phoenix argued. 

Maya puffed out her cheeks, "You know it's not like, sentient, right? But you know who is!?"

"The Professor and Luke?" unimpressed, he retorted.

Luke jumped at the mention of his name and turned his attention back to the conversation. Unfortunately, zoning out had really left him out of the loop for quite how dire Maya's boredom had been, and quite what that was going to mean. 

"You know, Mr Wright, a true gentleman would never insult a lady like that," profoundly, he chided.

Phoenix blanched and stared at Luke as if he hadn't been expecting the boy to speak. Had he forgotten that Luke was even here? he huffed. That was a bit rude. Maya seemed to find it funny, though.

"N-Nick, a gentleman!?" she wheezed, cackling widely (Perhaps he really should have gotten her convicted for being a witch..), "Could you imagine? But he should still listen to the sentiment anyway,"

Mr Wright rolled his eyes, "I'll stop insulting you when you actually become a proper 'lady', then, Maya. I'm not the expert here, but I'm pretty sure esteemed ladies don't sit with their shoe-wearing feet up on the couch..."

Cringing, Luke gave another glance over at Maya and, yes, sure enough, she hadn't changed her seating position in the last few minutes. He'd wanted to tell her to maybe not get dirt all over the Professor's sofa like that, but had also been worried that it might be rude to tell a guest to change their customs. He appreciated someone finally telling it to her for him, because the Professor didn't care enough to either. Or maybe his logic was just the same as Luke's.

Maya took off both of her shoes and throw them at Phoenix, not even allowing him to recover from the first shot before the second came. He winced and rubbed his arm where he'd just been hit. Layton actually stopped what he'd been doing to watch at this point, seeming even vaguely intrigued by the bickering. 

"How about now, huh? Better!?" huffily, Maya demanded.

Phoenix propped his arm up on the sofa's edge to give the wall beside it a forlorn look, "I don't know... I mean, I'm pretty sure a proper lady wouldn't throw her shoes at someone either..."

Luke shot the Professor a look at that. Was he going to stop them? They had started to yell quite loud... And Layton's Office, although not particularly known for being very tidy, was at least known for the relative peace and quiet you could usually find in and around it... Impassively, though if Luke had to guess, he'd label it as curiously, the Professor just continued to watch, though.

"I bet Franzy wouldn't say that if I asked her for lessons," replied Maya, smugly.

"If you're so bored, why don't you just ask her now?" seizing the opportunity as he saw it (Probably a smart idea on his part...), Mr Wright suggested.

His assistant flopped dramatically backwards onto the headboard of the sofa, sighing loudly, "That's the problem!" she lamented, "She's busy..."

A most vexing puzzle, then! Mr Wright was busy doing little bits for himself, but Maya was bored out of her mind because her friend was busy... One was ready to do just about anything, but the other was clearly not interested... Hmm, well, if all he had to do was entertain them both, then he just had to find something that Mr Wright could get invested in. 

The Professor finally broke his watchful gaze on the other two to give Luke a wise nod. And there it was. The idea! (If only he'd known how disastrous of one it'd turn to be...)

"Hey, I have an idea, then!" cheerily, he announced.

"Oh, what is it, Luke?" sounding significantly calmer when he was addressing Layton's assistant over his own, Phoenix asked.

"If you'd like something to do, then how about a puzzle?"

Looking back, perhaps he'd need to revise his earlier words. His fatal error hadn't been just the ignorance rampant in assumptions, no, not really. Examining all the evidence would really just lead back to this moment. Why did he have to have suggested a puzzle...

"Okay," said Phoenix, slowly, "That could be fun,"

"I thought you agreed that you sucked at puzzles," slyly, Maya put in.

Oh, yes, Luke did believe Mr Wright had said something to that effect. Ah, well, he couldn't be that bad, right? Luke had never seen him completely fail at a puzzle, at least. He'd even seemed fairly decent at them the night they stayed at Rouge's Tavern!

"Oh, I'm sorry, would prefer to sit around and be bored?" Phoenix snarked.

Maya pulled a face, "Fine, fine... Did you have anything in mind, Luke?"

Luke gestured slightly to the Professor and nodded. Layton quickly took over from there.

"Why, yes. In fact, I have an excellent puzzle for you to try right here," smoothly, he elucidated, "A sliding block puzzle,"

Gingerly, Maya hurried over and took the contraption from Layton's hands. She stuck her tongue out as she attempted to even figure out how to open it up to see the puzzle itself. Luke cringed again. This was hard to watch... Demonstrating a patience that he hoped the Professor had never had to use with him, his mentor waited a whole minute before giving some further instruction. It was rather painful to sit through, actually. 

"You just press the switch on the side, Ms Fey," like the true gentleman he was, the Professor kindly added.

She looked shiftily around. Did she hope none of them had noticed? Well, they all had. That sounded a little mean, though, so Luke wasn't going to voice it out loud. He could guess that Mr Wright was maybe thinking something similar from the look on his face, though.

When the box clicked open, Maya rejoiced like she'd just won the lottery, "Hah! Got it!" she gloated, dancing around the room until she arrived back at the sofa.

"Okay, then... Let's see what this little thing has to offer..." hastily, Mr Wright retrieved the puzzle box from Maya and sat down with it. His assistant jumped back on the sofa and watched him like a hawk from above.

Luke was beginning to feel more bad for their sofa than anything.

"You ever done anything like this before, Nick?" Maya pondered.

"Not quite..." Phoenix admitted, "But I'm sure we can figure something out about it between the two of us,"

Quietly, Luke wandered over to the Professor's desk to wait beside him. His mentor generously offered him a seat on the chair that was there whilst he stood. Sitting down on a higher vantage point like this gave him just a little more height, so he could actually make out the blocky contents of the puzzle from here. Had the Professor known that would be the case?

"Do you think they'll be able to do it?" he whispered carefully.

The Professor hummed lightly, "It isn't too difficult of a puzzle, really, so I think even amateur solvers such as them shouldn't have too difficult of a time, my boy,"

"Well, everyone has to start somewhere," he agreed, "I'm sure even you weren't always this good at puzzles, Professor!" He certainly hadn't been...

Layton gave him a knowing look. In the background, Phoenix and Maya continued to squabble excitedly over how to start. Well, a good bit of trial and error was always going to be a good starting point, but it felt a little like cheating to be telling them that so early on, so Luke kept his mouth shut.

"Yes, well, it's always fine as long as I remember that every puzzle-" politely, the Professor vetoed.

"Has an answer!" toothily, Luke grinned,

He knew his mentor's catchphrase, of course. Even if he had always thought that it would sound a little better finishing with 'solution'. But there was a certain bit of fun out of going along with what the Professor preferred, anyway.

"Exactly, my boy," Layton nodded, "And that is precisely why I have faith that Mr Wright and Ms Fey will certainly get through this,"

Oh, he wouldn't be saying that in a little bit... But Luke had hung onto every word spoken there, at the time. 

As it turned out, after about twenty minutes of watching the duo randomly slide around pieced, mostly just hoping for the best, whilst every puzzle did have an answer, that answer was not necessarily for everyone to find. Gosh, they really were atrocious at this, weren't they?

"Nick, when I said Franzy was busy, I meant for the next, I don't know, like, ten minutes, not hour!" huffily, Maya complained.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry it's taking me so long while you stand around doing nothing!" mouth stretched out into a hard, unimpressed line, Phoenix retorted.

But... Maya wasn't standing around; she was lazing around, stretched out like a starfish, on the sofa still. And it certainly hadn't been an hour. Half an hour? Maybe at a stretch. And too long? Most certainly, but not quite a full hour. 

Luke had also observed the Professor burying his nose in a book he'd gotten off of the desk behind them not too long into the struggle. One might at first think that this was to ignore the pain of watching two people fail so badly at his beloved puzzles, but he was still murmuring disappointed comments under his breath whenever Mr Wright or Maya made a particularly egregious misstep in their solving process. It was a little too hard to make out exactly what was being said, but if the Professor was speaking this quietly, he obviously didn't want to be heard, so perhaps that was for the best.

"Maybe if I channelled some dead big-name genius, they could solve it for us!" now hanging upside-down off of the back of the sofa, Maya brightly proclaimed.

Mr Wright looked up from the puzzle box, his left eye twitching slightly, "You couldn't have thought of that twenty minutes ago!?"

Oh. Oh dear. They were actually serious about this? He wasn't sure where exactly calling back the dead fell on the line of explicable and magical, but he did know that it would definitely be classed as cheating in this context. he spared a quick look at the Professor who was now staring, once again, at the two. Ah, yes, Luke had better intervene before things got a little messy here.

"S-Sorry, Mr Wright! But that's got to be cheating! You're supposed to solve the puzzle using your own skills," sheepishly, he interjected.

"It is my own skill..." Maya grumbled.

"I think he means our mental skills," rather too loudly to be considered an actual private comment, Mr Wright hissed.

His assistant groaned, "I think we're in short supply of those, Nick..."

"Ugh, don't remind me..." but when he noticed Luke and the Professor watching his face turned shady and he sat up a little straighter, "Just discussing tactics!" lying as if the entire conversation hadn't been audible to everyone nearby anyway, he announced.

Luke saw the Professor rub his temples in vexation behind the cover of the book.

It would be a further fifteen minutes before any actual breakthrough for the not-so-dynamic duo. And, unfortunately, he meant breakthrough not in the colloquial sense of figuring something out, but more that they'd reached the Professor's breaking point and were about to find out what happens when someone was careless with his puzzles.

"Hey, I've really got it this time!" Maya exclaimed, vaulting herself off of the sofa and up to hovering over the puzzle, practically buzzing. 

Luke was doubtful, but still remained optimistic for her having actually figured out the trick to this one.

"Okay, shoot, then. What have you got?" melancholically, Phoenix questioned.

Maya grinned like a madman (Once again, were they sure she was alright to have been let free in that one trial?), "You know what my sis always used to tell you to do in court?"

"What? You mean-" the point where it dawned on Mr Wright exactly what his assistant meant was obvious for anyone watching, "Maya, are you saying that we have to turn this around?"

They were wearing matching grins at that point and Luke was beginning to become apprehensive about where this was going. Fortunately, the Professor's more observant eye had caught on to what was about to happen. He shut the book and readied his stance just a small, almost indiscernible, amount. 

"You bet I am!" heartily she agreed.

The moment where Mr Wright followed Maya's sister's supposed 'advice' and flipped the Professor's precious puzzle box right around until its open surface was facing the floor and its contents began to unceremoniously tumble out was a moment of agony, globally, for all puzzle lovers. Luke was sure a look of pure abject horror had befallen his face when he saw the first block nearly go bouncing onto the carpet, certainly not made to be saving fragile puzzle pieces, and potentially get scratched, or worse, dented. 

Luckily, as he'd stated before, the Professor was quicker than him and had already determined what Mr Wright and Maya's crazy plan had been. So when the box began to spill its metaphorical guts downwards, he made a streamlined dive for the floor, miraculously managing to catch all of the loose pieces in a single hand. 

Mr Wright froze, "Oops...?"

The Professor got up slowly and began to dust himself off. He handed the puzzle pieces and box, freshly retrieved from Maya, back to Luke before turning to the culprits.

"Well," he stated steadily, the disappointment and perhaps anger that should have been evident in his voice being hidden by his gentlemanly guise, "I think that's rather enough of that, wouldn't you agree?"

Luke slotted each piece carefully back into the box (Shuffled so as to not leave the puzzle solved, of course.) and gently pressed it shut. 

"Yep!" Maya squeaked, "Definitely enough! I, uh, think my phone might be ringing, anyway!"

Layon regarded her coolly, "You'd best go check that now, wouldn't you, Ms Fey?"

The spirit medium didn't so much as offer a word of agreement before booking it out of the office and into the little hallway outside. It didn't sound like she was talking, though, so her phone probably hadn't actually been ringing. Luke sighed quietly to himself.

"I should probably go with her to make sure she doesn't have any more crazy ideas, right?" Phoenix stuttered. 
 
Gravely, the Professor nodded, "I think that would be for the best,"

With both of their troublesome guests gone, he strode calmly back over to Luke and the desk and slumped into the now vacant chair. It had only seemed fair to let his mentor have it back, after all. 

"We agreed that everyone has to start from, er, somewhere, right? Even if that somewhere would probably be in the negative section of a number line..." uneasily, he tried.

The Professor looked back up and shook his head stiffly, "But unfortunately for those two, multiplying a negative number by a positive still yields a negative in the end..." he took a long, drawn-out breath, "So they may yet remain a bit of a lost cause for now..."

Luke grimaced. He could certainly say that again...

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Involving Barnham in the matter had also been far from the best of ideas, but at least that one hadn't been Luke's. No, apparently the Professor had just been so desperate to not be let down by his new companions that he'd taken to asking another one of them to try the puzzle box. Luke would have probably just asked Espella, because at least she'd watched them solve puzzles before, but his mentor had been insistent that they should give Barnham a try. Maybe Layton was just worried about Espella's mental health and thought that possibly failing a puzzle would be too much for her. 

But, alas, that meant they had spent the better part of a morning driving down, and then being taken across the water, to Labyrinthia. It had been about a week since the incident first began with Phoenix and Maya, and the two had since crossed back to their home overseas. They planned to stay in contact, at least, but it meant that there hadn't been time to train them in the art of puzzles, hence the impromptu trip back to a town that could quite easily be called a puzzle in itself. 

Barnham had an office now, actually, it would seem. A rather well-known office, in fact, as when they'd asked some locals about him, they had immediately been pointed in the right direction. Other than that, he hadn't changed much since he'd taken them back to London. He still wore obnoxious, brightly coloured outfits that made you actually miss the medieval armour, and was capable of going off on rather verbose tangents. Like what had happened when they'd first greeted him, for instance.

"Mr Barnham," the Professor had started, "A pleasure to see you again,"

The, uh, well, Luke didn't really know what Barnham did nowadays, so he was just going to continue calling him an inquisitor for the time being. The Inquisitor stood up at his desk and waved them in. 

"Sir Dark Hat!" he looked at Luke and hesitated. Oh, of course, he'd never actually received a silly title from Barnham before, "Little... Blue Cap! Pray, what brings you to my humble abode?"

"Business of sorts, you could say. Nothing official, though," Layton answered.

"We've got a puzzle for you to try!" brightly, Luke piped up. 

Barnham hummed thoughtfully and strode back over to his desk to examine some things. He took his next monologue whilst he did that.

"A puzzle you say? Well, I suppose I could make time for such mental gymnastics..." he took their lack of response as a pass to explain why, "Things have been very busy here, you know! I've been helping out here and here, lending a hand at the Bakery, but, as you could maybe tell from my sign, I've mainly been running a taxi service, see. It makes for an excellent business front whilst I continue my actual career pursuit!"

"And what would that be?" politely, the Professor indulged him. (Weren't they here for the puzzle and not Barnham's career, though?)

The Inquisitor cleared his throat as if to give himself a fanfare of sorts, "I've put a request in to become an official prosecutor! They said I have to look into and actually become acquainted with modern-day law, of course, but I am optimistic about my success!"

"Oh, so you've been studying?" Luke translated.

Barnham shot him an odd look, "Studying? That's for school children, Little Blue Cap! No... I've been reviewing unsolved cases and giving my opinion on them,"

He held up a sheet of paper and thrust it in Luke's face. The boy squinted at it, only just about able to make out the words due to the close proximity of the writing to his face. It was an opinion piece alright... There were some logical points in there, but a lot of that was Barnham's rather familiar brand of theorising and strange statements. 

"Very... thought-provoking," he managed.

"Indeed," Barnham agreed.

"Well, anyway, you said you had time for the puzzle, so how about it?" dismissed Luke.

The Inquisitor looked mournfully at his mock prosecutor's reports before sighing and agreeing. Layton handed him over the puzzle box.

"Please, please, take a seat," he flapped his hand grandly in the air as he paced over to his desk chair and sat down to try the, as he put it, mental gymnastics. 

The thing was, Barnham didn't actually have any extra seats in his office. It was a rather small and undecorated room, likely due to still being quite new, and as a consequence, the only chair was the one that the Inquisitor was residing in by the desk. Luke plonked himself down onto the floor and watched the Professor grimace before doing the same. Well, at least it was carpeted so that it wasn't too uncomfortable...

When Barnham at least managed to get the box open on his own, Luke grew cautiously optimistic. The Professor still sat with the same grim expression, but that hadn't seemed to leave his face this whole time. Although, no matter how much better Barnham may be at puzzles than Mr Wright or Maya, he was still nowhere near as entertaining, having only himself or maybe Constantine, at a stretch, to bicker with. Luke sort of wished he'd brought a puzzle of his own, or perhaps a colouring book, now.

Instead of just sitting there boredly or complaining (Because that would be much too reminiscent of how this had all started... Too close for comfort...), he opted to gauge his mentor's thoughts on the situation, "How would you rate his chances, then, Professor?" he whispered.

Layton waited a moment before responding, either milling over the question in his head or deciding how to phrase his next sentence. After all, something too scathing would be most ungentlemanly.

"A true gentleman would never say he doubts his fellow man's ability to solve a puzzle," slowly, he prefaced, "But I wouldn't say I have too much faith in our dear Mr Barnham,"

Luke tilted his head to the side curiously, "If you don't think he's up to it, then why didn't you try giving it to Espella or... Or maybe Eve, instead?"

A little huff left his mentor's mouth, one that would have been a scoff in anyone else's voice, "Ms Cantabella spent a remarkable amount of time with Mr Wright, did she not? I'm afraid she may have picked up some of his worse habits. It'd be simply too risky, my boy," solemnly he tapped the rim of his hat, "And as for Ms Belduke, well, I presume you mean Ms Belduke as opposed to Eve the cat,"

"I couldn't imagine Eve the cat even being able to move the pieces, really," his apprentice giggled.

"Not too much different to Ms Fey, then, eh? But back to Ms Belduke. As I was saying..." Layton shook his head slightly, "My reason for not wanting to disturb her plays into another reason for not bothering Ms Cantabella, I suppose. I think that we should perhaps give them some space, is all, Luke. I wouldn't want to bombard them all too much after what must have been such a harrowing ordeal as that last trial,"

Puzzles were the one true constant in all of Luke's time with the Professor, so it was a little hard for him to imagine not wanting to do one, but he did understand where his mentor was coming from. He had basically assumed as much earlier, hadn't he? 

"And Espella'll probably want some time to spend with her Dad and Eve anyway, right?" cheerfully, he added.

"Indeed, I should think so," concurred the Professor.

It was fortunate that their little conversation was mostly complete, because Barnham chose that moment, just after Layton had finished talking, to let out an effortful grunt and begin to look most aggravated.

He stuck his face right up to the puzzle, only just allowing the room for his hand to still slide in and try to move the pieces about, and scrunched up his brow. Luke hadn't seen him look this confused since Mr Wright had first tried to suggest that Jean Greyerl was a witch! 

"How on Earth does this blasted thing...?" he mumbled aloud.

Well, referring to the puzzle so rudely hardly seemed necessary... Luke had gotten annoyed at some tricky puzzles before, of course, but he'd never resorted, and never would resort, to calling them names! The Professor was surely quaking in his boots with anger behind his gentlemanly image. He still seemed fairly stoic, but Luke could imagine the rage stewing underneath, If this was enough to get his gears grinding, then it would certainly be grating on Layton too, after all. 

Then Barnham tried something that even Mr Wright and Maya hadn't thought of; he simply reset all the pieces back to their starting positions and began all over again. Only to move the same first piece in the same wrong direction, though, of course... Well, the Inquisitor wasn't really the sharpest tool in the shed, if Luke was being honest. The Professor seemed to share the same sentiment.

"Now, see there, my boy," he grimaced, "That's the kind of error I'd expect of someone who'd stand around monologuing to his dog rather than using that valuable opportunity to run whilst his foes left him alone,"

"A real rookie error, then..." sagely, his apprentice nodded along.

It took Barnham another ten minutes to realise this error though, further cementing his... how to put it nicely... Subpar puzzle-solving skills. Everyone had always used to be saying that Barnham's brain was as sharp as his sword, but if that was the case, then Luke was pretty sure his sword wasn't going to even be able to cut through butter.

Maybe he was being too harsh on the Inquisitor... Mr Wright and Maya hadn't been particularly any better, but maybe he also thought that Barnham deserved it, just a little bit. He had tried to burn Maya alive... And Espella. Twice.

"I wish I could send you to fire..." aggressively, he told the puzzle, rather conveniently in timing.

Luke looked over at his mentor, concerned. Was the puzzle box really any safer here than it had been with Mr Wright and Maya?

"If you could perhaps refrain from insulting my equipment, Mr Barnham," coldly, Layton asked.

Barnham's head shot up and he gave them a sheepish look. 

"My apologies, Sir Dark Hat, I was not thinking," hastily, he replied.

"It would seem that way, yes," the Professor retorted, rather wryly.

Ouch. That must surely sting, right? The Professor may not typically carry one on his person, but his sword was certainly seeming quite sharp right about now. 

Barnham, either oblivious to Layton's dry insult or just choosing to ignore it, settled back down and got back on with the puzzle. Fortunately for him, the Professor was evidently feeling merciful enough today to allow him to continue, even despite his rude and violent comment, defiling the sanctity of a good puzzle. 

But it was not to continue.

To the Inquisitor's credit (And Luke and the Professor's if you really thought about it...), he made it longer than Mr Wright and Maya. But he still didn't solve the puzzle. And the afternoon still ended in disaster. 

Just as Luke had been beginning to doze off a bit (It had been a long afternoon of sitting around, really...), two things happened simultaneously. One, Barnham reached the end of his attention span for this puzzle, and two, the Professor reached his breaking point (again) of letting the Inquisitor mess around with the puzzle box. Neither of these were good, of course, but when Luke was startled awake by Barnham's shrill hurling of abuse at the puzzle like he was a spoiled child rage quitting an online game, he was firmly on his mentor's side, so one was most certainly worse than the other. 

"Have I been tricked this entire time!? Are you even solvable!?" loudly, Barnham seethed, taking to poking the box with a pen from his desk's pencil pot, "Have you been cursed by a witch!? Are you a witch in disguise!? They told me witches weren't real, but-"

"That's enough," authoritatively, like they were back confronting the Storyteller in his tower and not just mundanely sitting around in Barnham's office, the Professor ordered. 

But the Inquisitor was too far gone to listen to reason. With a furious glint in his eye, he swept up the puzzle box easily into one hand, strode confidently towards the window, and- Layton sidestepped in front of him. And you know what no one actually says but Luke thinks they really should? Hell hath no fury like Professor Layton when someone is threatening his puzzle.

"I said," primly, the professor continued, "That is enough,"

He rested his hand on Barnham's wrist, the offending one that had the hand that was holding the puzzle hostage attached to it, and ripped it tightly, refusing to let go until, eventually, that raging gamer energy left the Inquisitor. He frowned slightly as Barnham reluctantly handed the puzzle back over, but Luke didn't miss the pleased little nod he gave when the box was first sighted back in his custody. 

"I rather think I've had enough of puzzles for today, Sir Dark Hat," grimly, Barnham stated.

Luke ran up to the area that had nearly become a crime scene, "I don't think you're getting another puzzle this afternoon, anyway!" huffily, he responded.

The Inquisitor winced, "Perhaps that is for the best,"

"And perhaps we'd best bid you farewell now, then, Mr Barnham," coolly enough, the Professor put in.

It was to be a rather abrupt goodbye, then. Well, it had been practically hours now, and if Luke was going to actually get to bed at a reasonable time (His parents would not be pleased if they heard that the Professor had been letting him stay up...) they would have to start heading back to London soon, anyway. 

"I, er, I'm sorry for nearly ruining your puzzle, Sir Dark Hat, but I must concur anyway. My services shall surely be soon required elsewhere," Barnham managed.

"Say hello to Eve and Espella for us if you see them and we'll call it even," diplomatically, Luke proposed.

"A deal it is, Little Blue Cap," sincerely, the inquisitor agreed.

The Professor wore an expression that very much suggested that he would not be dropping the issue just because Barnham did them a favour or two, but like the true gentleman he was, didn't voice any such concerns. It was impressive how polite Luke's mentor could be, even when brimming with unbridled rage like he must have been at that point.

"Then we bid you goodbye, Mr Barnham," Layton tipped his hat.

He then started to herd Luke towards the exit to the office, hand still tightly clamped on the puzzle box. And Luke knew how tight that grip could be... Sometimes, when they had to cross an especially busy road in London, the Professor would grab his hand or wrist like that as he guided Luke across. If puzzles really were sentient, he would certainly feel sorry for this one.

"Until next time," the Inquisitor waved as they left. 

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Back in the Laytonmobile on the way back to London, things had seemed to look up. After all, the strange puzzle business and their friends' ineptitude toward said business was behind them now, right? Luke had certainly thought so as he hummed away happily to the radio from the front seat. Even his mentor seemed that bit cheerier!

"I think we need something stimulating after that monotony, wouldn't you agree?" warmly, quite the contrast to his earlier frostiness with Barnham, the Professor commented as he drove. 

"Oh, I would agree," Luke nodded, "It's been most monotonous,"

"How about a solitaire lesson when we get back, then, my boy?" 

Oh, goodie! Luke grinned. Solitaire lessons with the Professor were the highlight of any day for him.

"I'd like that!" excitedly, but not too excitedly, because a proper gentleman wasn't too undignified, Luke jumped at the opportunity.

Layton hummed, pleased at the response, and had a small, satisfied grin resting on his face for the rest of their drive. But this escapade didn't end with a nice game of solitaire. Oh, no, far from it, in fact. But that really should have been predictable at this point.

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What came next was just perfectly predictably unpredictable for Luke, who had apparently been thrown out of the loop as of late. He had rather forgotten about the puzzle failures at this point, only thinking of them as strange anecdotes to maybe tell to Flora or the likes. But that was his second pivotal error of the case. For you see, it meant that when someone called the office phone some matter of months after either of their visits to Labyrinthia, Luke was unprepared...

He frowned at the receiver as it flashed up with a prompt saying 'Unknown Number', but still continued to ring anyway. He'd tried leaving it alone until it finished ringing once, but that hadn't worked, because the other person must have been just insistent on getting through to them. 

The Professor would probably tell him to leave it and 'A true gentleman would never pick up calls from a strange number, Luke' (He was pretty sure that last one was only because he was a child, though, because he'd seen his mentor pick up the phone and be surprised by some new person calling him many a time), but he was alone with the phone right now, and it was going to get terribly annoying if he simply did nothing... He did a quick once over outside the window to check that the Professor wasn't reaching close proximity to the office once more (He had left to go walk to the shops; they had run out of milk for tea...) before gingerly sliding the phone off of its stand.

"Hello...?" tentatively, he practically whispered into the microphone, L-Luke Triton, Apprentice to Professor Layton, here,"

He was nervous, yes, but this could be anything! It could be a cry for help! It could be an exciting new case! And he wasn't going to find out what by immediately hanging up...

"It's just Luke! We're fine!" distantly, someone called out on the other side.

"Uhm, hello? If this is a prank call, I will put down the phone!" he threatened, finding his footing a little bit after at least confirming that someone was trying to do... something here. 

"Ah! Wait, Luke, it's just me! Phoenix, er, Mr Wright, remember?" hastily, the caller rushed to inform him. 

Mr Wright? Well, of course Luke remembered him, but why was he calling the Professor's office really cryptically on such a random day? And he could have sworn that they had gotten his number already, so why was he calling from a different phone? 

"I remember, don't worry," Luke assured, "You just confused me calling from a different phone, is all,"

"Yes, well, I didn't trust him to do it by himself," another person, presumably the one whose phone it was, cut in.

"Do what by himself?" he frowned, "Also, sorry, but who are you exactly?"

Calling someone out of the blue and cryptically saying it was because you didn't trust an entirely different person to do 'something' wasn't really the done thing, right? This just all seemed most peculiar. 

"Miles Edgeworth, prosecutor," stiffly, the other man answered.

"He's an old friend of mine," Mr Wright sighed.

He sounded sort of like the Professor, actually. There was a tone some people acquired that sounded kind of 'gentlemanly'. Luke hoped he would sound like that one day. But also, the only person Luke knew that was even close to being a prosecutor (or maybe he even was one by this point...) was Barnham, and he wasn't exactly a shining example there. It must be the character, rather than the occupation, that defined the gentleman, then. 

"Nice to meet you, Mr Edgeworth!" he grinned.

"The same to you I suppose, Mr Triton, but I'm afraid this is all important business," courteously, the prosecutor informed him.

"Oh, do you need me to get the Professor, then? He's out right now, but I'm sure if you just wait a little, he'll be back in a jiffy!" assuming that this was case-related or otherwise some sort of grown-up thing, Luke asked.

Hopefully his mentor wouldn't ask why Luke had picked up the phone if he did hav to hand it over to him in a bit... Though, if there was a promise of a good case, then maybe Layton would get distracted and forget to ask. At the very least he hoped that his parent wouldn't find out he'd been picking up strange calls...

"No, that's alright, Luke!" nervously, Mr Wright laughed, "You can just, er, relay this to him later,"

"Okay, then," that was a point for the side of the Professor not finding out about the specifics of this situation, "What sort of thing is it?"

"Well, it's not exactly a thing per se... That would make it sound small or insignificant, but, uh... Though, if we're using 'thing' like a euphemism-" Phoenix rambled on.

What? That was a more detailed analysis of the use of the word 'thing' than Luke would think anyone would need to hear ever... Was that even the important part of what he'd asked?

"Stop stalling, Wright," Mr Edgeworth practically seethed.

"I'm trying my best here, but it's natural!" Phoenix complained.

"Yes, I do suppose you do this rather a lot in court..." his friend bit back.

He huffed, "Hey! You try going up against Franziska and see what you do!" 

"I have gone up against her actually, and I have seen what I'd do - it was not quite the same as you," dryly, Edgeworth retorted.

Luke listened in fascination at their strange bickering. It was similar in substance to the kind Mr Wright and Maya engaged in, but yet still rather different in a bit of a strange way. Sometimes, Mr Wright would sound genuinely exasperated by Maya, but here he sounded more fond and perhaps something else that Luke couldn't quite place.

Enough was enough though, and he didn't have all day if he was to get this over with before the Professor got back, "Sorry to interrupt, but I believe you were trying to tell me something,"

"Ah, indeed," Mr Edgeworth coughed, "Verily. You see, Mr Triton, he's been sending all of his recent mail from your office off to me, and I'm not sure how many more random blocks and bits of paper my office can take before it overflows," wryly, he remarked.

Post from Layton's Office? What exactly had the Professor been sending?

Mr Wright was back to bickering immediately, "You could just take them home, you know..."

He was handily ignored, "If you could perhaps request your mentor to stop sending these puzzles under the pretence of their intended recipient not making good use of them, then, I'd be much obliged,"

Puzzles?

Wait...

No... The Professor hadn't been... Had he?

"P-Puzzles?" faintly, Luke repeated. 

"Yes, Mr Triton," grimly, Mr Edgeworth confirmed, "Wright has been receiving a package containing a puzzle every week for the last... Hm, how long would you say it's been, Wright?"

"Two months, thirteen days and four hours," Mr Wright answered, easily before hastily adding, "Not that I'm counting or anything,"

"Yes, well, he's been receiving them for about two and a half months now and has had every single one reposted to my office. He hasn't even opened the box on the last few, just sent them straight back off," Edgeworth expounded.

No... Had the Professor really been expecting Mr Wright to actually participate in solving them? There were so many better people those puzzles could have been gifted to! But Mr Wright... He had nearly damaged one last time! And he'd been sending them off this time!? Oh, gosh, Luke was having trouble processing it! He could only imagine the ensuing carnage that would occur if his mentor caught wind of this...

"So... The Professor's been sending you puzzles for the past two months and you've ignored all of them," weakly, he affirmed.

"Two months, thirteen days and four- uh, nearly five hours," Phoenix corrected, "But otherwise, pretty much... I don't know how much more I can take, Luke! I just don't think I have the constitution for puzzles..."

"At least you're not the one doing them..." Edgeworth countered.

This was so inconceivably bad... 

"Then you have been, Mr Edgeworth?" struggling a little to find the last scraps of hope, Luke asked.

Perhaps if Mr Edgeworth had simply been doing the puzzle in Mr Wright's place, everything would still be okay! Someone would have still been making good use of them, so it wouldn't be the end of the world. Then they could just get the mailing address changed to be Mr Edgeworth's instead of Mr Wright's! Sure, the Professor might still be a little disappointed, but not mad, at least. 

"Oh," the prosecutor paused, "I did them at first. But I've been rather... busy as of late, and then I was out of the country, and really, I just didn't have the time to be trying puzzles. I'm sure you understand,"

Luke was so horrified he could cry. Just think of it... A stack, probably left off in the corner, of completely untouched puzzles with no one around to even try them! But one thing remained clear above all else.

The Professor could not find out about this.

And, to be fair, Luke had never actually said that he would relay the message as Mr Wright had asked... A true gentleman probably shouldn't lie, but if they never directly asked for his opinion, well, whether lying through omission was still lying was a debate for a reason... 

"Yeah, that's the thing, Luke... I was kind of hoping that we could just... send them back? We're clearly never going to use them, but puzzles are kind of your and the Professor's whole thing, right? It couldn't hurt to just keep them in your collection," Mr Wright added.

"Ah!" he squeaked, "Well, er, actually, I'm pretty sure they must be doubles! Yes! I'm sure the Professor only sent you doubles of the ones we have, so really, there's no need to send them back!"

"Really? Well, okay then... What do you suggest we do with them?" Phoenix asked.

Luke wracked his brains. What was a suitably gentlemanly thing to do with a bunch of excess puzzle evidence like this... What would the Professor do? Aside from just keeping the puzzles himself, of course. Luke couldn't have them sent back without his mentor finding out, and mailing them directly to his house would only serve to make his parents suspicious. And they might just show them to Layton without consulting him first!

"Why don't you... donate them to a charity shop? Yes! Then they could be used to train the minds of aspiring puzzle solvers all over the city!" he reasoned, "But if you don't want to do that..." it was a technique he'd seen a few people, including the Professor, try over the years, throwing shade like this, "Perhaps you could use them for an office party or the likes,"

"Ah, no, I'm sure we could find a good charity shop, right, Edgeworth?" hastily, Mr Wright backtracked.

"Quite right, Wright. I believe there's one just down the road from the Prosecutor's Office, in fact!"

An awkward silence followed. Luke twiddled his thumbs under the phone and tried to look anywhere but at it.

"But, uh, you will tell the Professor to stop sending them, right?" Phoenix implored.

Blast...

"Uh..." Luke began to bounce on the spot a bit, "How often did you say you get them?"

"Once a week," quickly, Mr Wright answered, "Every Friday,"

Ah, and today was a Thursday... The Professor had probably sent at least the next one off, but with how organised he was, and how far they had to go, it would be easily believable that he'd sent the next two weeks' worth already. That would give Luke one week to figure out how to sort this out before things got ugly.

"He's probably got the next two weeks' set going already, but I can try and intervene for the week after," uncertainly, he agreed.

Crikey, he'd really just lied through his teeth there, hadn't he!? He was in deep, now... As long as his parents never found out; they might think he'd been learning the wrong thing from the Professor!

"Alright, thanks, anyway" replied Mr Wright.

"Yes, for getting these blasted things out of my office, you have my gratitude too, Mr Triton," Mr Edgeworth concurred.

Luke had to physically cringe at that. Blasted... things? Gosh, if the Professor ever heard puzzles called that... it was definitely for the best that this conversation was never going to be mentioned again, if Luke could help it. he just needed to figure out how to intercept the puzzles Layton was sending out...

"Yep! Always happy to help!" a little shrilly, he laughed before abruptly hanging up. 

Looking down at the phone in his hands, he had a rather strange urge to just huck it out the window or the likes, rather similar to what Barnham had been planning to do with the puzzle box, to destroy all evidence. Or maybe just because he was a little stressed. 

Carefully, he put the phone back on its stand and wiped it over with a tissue, just in case he'd left obvious fingerprints. Then he began to pace the room. 

All he had to do was stop the puzzle delivery, then. Could he maybe tell the professor that Mr Wright had changed address? No... That would be too easy to disprove when some poor stranger ended up with boxes of puzzles. A stranger ending up with and probably not doing the puzzles wasn't really any better than Mr Wright and Mr Edgeworth having them... He tried to think if there was anyone he knew who he could maybe involve.

He didn't trust Flora not to spill everything to the Professor, honestly. And he wasn't sure what she'd actually do to help, anyway. If he knew any of the professor's students well enough, he could maybe ask them, but he didn't. And, as stated many times already, his parents were definitely off of the table. Maybe someone he met in Labyrinthia, then? Eve had been pretty good at pulling strings as the Great Witch, so maybe she could do... something? But then Eve might want to involve Espella (They were very close, after all.) and, like Flora, Luke didn't trust Espella to keep her mouth shut. 

The train of thought about Labyrinthia only led him to another horrifying conclusion, in the end. See, if Mr Wright had been receiving weekly puzzles from the Professor, likely as a consequence of him failing the puzzle box so abysmally, then who was to say the same wasn't also being done to Inquisitor Barnham? And if that was the case, then Luke would have two sets of parcels to cover up! He needed to find out if Barnham was involved or not as soon as possible!

His plotting time there was cut to a premature end when the Professor returned, however. His mentor strolled right through the front door of the office, shopping bag in hand. He must have already put the milk away downstairs, because the bag looked to be noticeably empty. Luke smiled cheerfully at him and tried not to look suspicious, despite the fact that he was standing in possibly the most awkward way possible in the middle of the room.

"Hello, Professor, did you have a nice trip?" a little strained, but still as polite as he could manage, Luke asked.

"Indeed, my boy. It was pleasantly quiet," he chuckled a little to himself and walked up a little closer to his apprentice, "I hope that's not because all the action was happening here, instead," 

Luke froze, "Oh, er, well... Not really... Mr Wright called, though," semi-casually, he mentioned.

He couldn't just straight-up lie to his mentor's face and say that nothing had happened! For one, that was a most improper thing to do, and for a second, it would be really obvious, because Luke wasn't particularly that good at lying, especially not to the Professor.

"Hmm? I trust he's well?" Layton asked.

"Yes, he seemed fine," vaguely, Luke agreed.

Once again, was it really lying if it was more just omitting parts of the conversation? Because other than the puzzle issue, Mr Wright had seemed fine!

"Excellent to hear, as always" the Professor nodded, "Now then, can I interest you in a nice cup of tea, my boy?" kindly, he asked.

Not if he wanted to keep planning how to solve Mr Wright and possibly Barnham's issue...

"Oh, er, not today, Professor," hurriedly, he denied, hoping he could come up with a suitable reason whilst he spoke, "I... have a project to work on today,"

"Ah, well, then, don't work too hard on it, will you? I wouldn't want you to wear yourself out," eyes twinkling, his mentor commented

But Luke was already halfway out of the room at that point, "Yep! Will do!" distantly, he acknowledged. 

He didn't hear his mentor's response. But honestly, if he'd stayed in there any longer, he might have cracked under the pressure! And he knew the Professor would be just crushed to hear the truth.

No, Luke was going to solve this on his own. After all, what kind of a puzzle solver would he be if this was a conundrum he couldn't?

+-+-+

As it turned out, the primary issue that he had to tackle, otherwise known as figuring out the scope of his issue by determining Barnham's level of involvement, was easier said than done. Because apparently Inquisitor Barnham had never gotten around to buying a phone. That meant if Luke wanted to ask him about the puzzles, he would have to go to Labyrinthia. That was a problem that had taken him a solid day to crack because, well, he could hardly just ask the Professor to take him and his pool of other options was rather small.

But he wouldn't have the right to call himself Professor Layton's apprentice if he'd just given up there... No, no, Luke had done his research until he found someone who was willing to drive him out to Labyrinthia for the day. And that someone? Stachenscarfen. 

The man had apparently heard about Labyrinthia in his travels since its secret status was revoked after Luke and the Professor's visit, and was determined to see the place himself to educate the people on puzzles (A noble pursuit, but not really a necessary one if Luke remembered the townfolk correctly) or possibly just to investigate in general. He had been a little unclear... Maybe he just really wanted to keep a certain sense of mystery running about him...

Well, whatever the case may have been, he'd agreed to give Luke a lift to Labyrinthia, and then back to London afterwards, for a day, so that they could both go about that business there. The rest had been as simple as feigning illness. The Professor simply wouldn't hear of him trudging around ill all day (A fact he'd learnt from experience...), so all it would take to shake him off of Luke's tail was to cough a little at breakfast and then, boom! He was supposedly at home, with his parents, resting! (He had left a puzzle of a clue on the Professor's desk hinting at where he'd actually gone, in case something happened and his deception was revealed, though.)

The point of all that was really just to explain how he, a mere child, had managed to slip away to Labyrinthia and land himself in Barnham's office again, just like he currently was. It had been, in his opinion, a rather deviously clever plan, though. 

A more relevant fact to establish would perhaps be that Barnham's Office had honestly not changed in the slightest since Luke had last been there. Even the Professor's Office changed a bit every month or so as he gained new souvenirs and projects to work on, but the Inquisitor's room was just as blank as ever. Luke seriously doubted that that was because he hadn't had the time to set up anymore, though. If he had to guess, it was probably for the same reason that Barnham didn't actually have a phone. 

Constantine was in the office with them, however, so that automatically got Barnham some merit. If Luke had the time, he'd certainly be going up to go have a chat with the dog, but, alas, he was on a strict time schedule here. If he was late when Stachen was set to drive him back... Well, he'd rather not think about that. 

"All alone today, Little Blue Cap?" Barnham greeted, from his desk once again, "Don't tell me... Was Sir Dark Hat once again imprisoned in a golden form!?"

"That's not very funny," Luke glowered.

Even if the Goldor spell and its effects of turning Layton to gold had been fake, the ramifications of such a spell certainly hadn't been. In fact, he was quite sure that if someone simply made another gold statue of his mentor to commemorate his many great feats, he would practically die of fear! It had been a very long two nights thinking that the great Professor was dead. 

"Ah, my apologies, I attempted to simply jest, but it appears I struck a nerve," sighed the Inquisitor.

"I forgive you, I guess," Luke shrugged, because he didn't really have reason to believe that Barnham thought otherwise, especially not when had seemed genuinely remorseful in court during that dreadful trial of Maya's, "But, yes, I'm here on a bit of a special mission, Inquisitor Barnham,"

The Inquisitor placed down the writing instrument that he'd been holding and looked up curiously, motioning for Luke to approach. Which the boy did, participating in such an important undertaking and all that.

"May I inquire as to what that would be?" politely, Barnham asked.

"Why, yes, you may," smiling a little at the confusion he knew this would cause the other, Luke grinned.

"Are you, ah, going to tell me what?" delightfully lost, the Inquisitor responded. 

Oh, yes, Inquisitor Barnham really wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed indeed... Maybe that was a little endearing at times, though.

"Maybe," Luke hummed, propping himself up so that he was leaning against the desk, "But you only asked if you could ask in the first place,"

Barnham groaned as he realised what just happened, "Fine, then, would you please tell me what your mission is, Little Blue Cap?"

Sometimes people just made it too easy... Luke was well aware that this was certainly a habit he had picked up from the Professor, but that was far from something that was going to make it stop. After all, if he was going to be both a gentleman and a puzzle solver, he would have to use his wit and intellect to taunt people a little more subtly, just like his mentor did. A true gentleman would never directly insult someone, of course, but if the other person doesn't even realise that they're being insulted, that sounded like fair game to Luke. So long as they probably deserved it (Like Barnham), anyway.

"I'm here to find out more about puzzles, Inquisitor," solemnly, he began.

"Oh, is that it? I was expecting something a little more dramatic with that intro... And I'm afraid that I really don't know much about puzzles anyway - you might perchance already know that, though," somehow, Barnham responded almost boredly to that.

Honestly! Who could be bored by puzzles!? Even if he was bad at them, that was no excuse!

"I think you misunderstand me," channelling all of his inner-gentleman energy, Luke responded calmly.

"I'm not quite sure what there is to misunderstand," Barnham frowned.

"Well, you see, when I say puzzles, I don't just mean any puzzles, Inquisitor Barnham. No, I mean..." he turned around and stood as tall as he could manage to point directly at Barnham, just like the Professor or Mr Wright would do, "The puzzles that you've surely been receiving in the post!"

"Oh, those," Barnham finally clicked with what Luke was saying and gave a vague point to the top of a drawer in the corner. It wasn't hard to see what he was indicating at, though. "They're over there," he dismissed.

Luke hurried over to gauge how bad this was, but really just ended up cringing himself. This had to be the largest stack of unsolved puzzles he'd ever seen! The Professor would surely have a fit if he were ever to lay eyes on it! It was fortunate, then, that he hadn't involved his mentor in this particular case...

"You haven't even tried at any of them!?" dismayed, he exclaimed.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, after the debacle with Mr Wright, but this was a whole other level of terrible! He'd been optimistic before this!

Barnham shrugged, "I've been busy," he went back to writing.

Stumbling hurriedly back over to the desk, Luke tries to stand tall enough on the tips of his toes to see what the Inquisitor was doing. His writings didn't seem to be court papers or tax forms or any other kind of grown-up paperwork that he could understand an adult like Barnham doing, but that did raise the question; what exactly was he doing? 

"Why?" petulantly, Luke asked.

"Trying to get a position at the Prosecutor's Office takes a lot of time," vaguely, he answered, "It's a very taxing job,"

Mr Edgeworth didn't seem that taxed when Luke had spoken to him, and he was a prosecutor... Surely the job hunt wasn't harder than the job itself? And that paperwork certainly wasn't like the opinion pieces he had been forced to read from Barnham before!

"Okay, but that doesn't look like what you're 'busy' with right now," unimpressed, Luke held his ground.

"This? You would be correct there, I suppose. It's my poetry," beamed the Inquisitor.

His... Poetry? Barnham wrote poetry? Luke leant over the desk to try and read it again. The handwriting was a little hard to decipher due to the cursive, but... He winced. Ah. This was not particularly good. The Professor could certainly do better.

"Poetry, huh? That sounds like a fun hobby," politely, Luke avoided the question of said poetry's questionable quality. As any true gentleman would. Remember, he couldn't directly say it was bad...

Barnham nodded sagely, "Oh, it is, Little Blue Cap. I was sceptical when Ms Cantabella first suggested it to me, but I think me and Constantine have had a lot of fun with it,"

The dog in the corner had a face that very much indicated that the opposite was true. Luke tried to imagine the Inquisitor doing poetry recitals. He shuddered; he would probably feel the same way in Constantine's place.

"Just don't rush to publishing, alright?" trying to phrase this as just some friendly advice, he warned.

"Don't fear, it is as you said - 'tis simply a hobby," dismissed Barnham.

Maybe he'd have to have a little word with Espella about what she told the Inquisitor... And maybe he'd have to see if this bad poetry thing was as contagious as bad puzzle-solving skills. Once he'd fixed his current dilemma, of course. Don't get him wrong, if Espella was finding writing for herself a good way of coping with her trauma, that was all well and good, but she probably shouldn't go around telling everyone to try it, lest they end up with more Barnhams in this world. 

"But this is also what's been keeping you too busy for puzzles?" a tad disappointedly, he confirmed.

"It could be said that rather a large portion of my free time is spent working on it, consequently meaning I haven't had even a spare second to try those puzzles that Sir Dark Hat seems to have been sending me," verbosely, and painfully slowly, the Inquisitor conceded.

"And you didn't think to try and tell us about this!?" exasperatedly, Luke cried.

It wouldn't have been the best for the Professor to find out at all, but perhaps if Barnham had informed him of his inability to complete the puzzles at an early stage, with an actual reason (Even if that reason really was just that he was busy...), then it would only be mildly upsetting at worst, not soul-destroying like Luke suspected it would be now. This just meant he now had two tracks to cover when dealing with these puzzles... Oh dear... This was going to require some more thinking...

"I don't have a phone," pointedly, Barnham remarked, "And it's surely obvious that I don't have the time to be driving down to London and back,"

"And you couldn't have just sent a letter!? Or maybe even have straight up sent the parcels back with a note explaining why?" he protested.

"Oh!" the Inquisitor exclaimed, "You know, I hadn't thought of that! Perhaps you could help me begin to forge the necessary writing now," 

Luke's eyes widened. Couldn't he see that it was much too late for that now!? If he only admitted to ignoring the puzzles three months in, then the Professor would be beside himself! And, as his apprentice, friend, and a gentleman-in-training, Luke couldn't stand for that!

"Uh, no, that's okay!" rashly, he yelped, "Now that you've told me anyway, I might as well just save you the effort and deal with it myself, right?"

Barnham grinned, "How marvellously efficient! That would be a splendid idea, Little Blue Cap,"

"Er, thank you," stiffly, he responded. 

He'd found out what he'd come to Labyrinthia to find out, now, hadn't he, so what was he to do? Staying with Barnham could result in some kind of poetry-related incident, and Luke didn't need more incidents to worry about, but if the Professor or his parents found out that he'd been wandering the streets of a busy town on his own, they wouldn't be best pleased. And, admittedly, he could see why they might be about something like that; Labyrinthia was likely not going to be the safest place. But then... it also wasn't time to leave...

"You're most welcome," the Inquisitor nodded, "In fact, is there anything else I can do for you, seeing as you have saved me some amount of time,"

Luke thought about it. Was there anything Barnham could really do for him? Well, he was a semi-responsible adult, so if Luke wanted to go somewhere...

"Could you spare a moment to take me to the Bakery, then, Inquisitor Barnham?" a little happier at the thought of a more relaxing afternoon, he grinned.

"We can set off at once, if you'd like," Barnham offered, "I have some business to take care of there myself, actually,"

The sooner the better, right? If he was going to be in Labyrinthia, he might as well try and spend some time with the people he knew there! And if caught Espella at the bakery, he might actually be able to give her a warning about the Inquisitor's poetry... And it was nearing lunchtime, so he could really go for some Patty's bread... 

"I say that it couldn't hurt to go now, then!" heartily, Luke took him up on his suggestion.

Barnham stood up from his desk and stretched for a moment before whistling to Constantine and heading for the door. Luke followed hurriedly, not wanting to be left behind.

"Hence we shall depart for Ms Patt Eclaire's Bakery!" profoundly, the Inquisitor announced.

Despite everything that he'd found out from Barnham, Luke had a bit of a skip in his step as they left. It was a wonder what the promise of some nice pastries could do to you, really. Maybe they'd even help him think of some actual solutions to his growing problem here, as well...

+-+-+

When Luke arrived back at Layton's Office after being dropped off by Stachen in the early evening, the Professor was waiting. He seemed worried, too. That was probably fair enough... It was nearing sunset, and no one he knew that well could possibly have known where his apprentice had gone... It was probably time to be a true gentleman and own up to his misgivings, then...

"Uhm, hello, Professor," timidly, Luke waved.

His mentor tipped his head down to get a better look, but as his hat slipped down a bit with him, it was still quite difficult to get a good look at his expression, and thus gauge how much trouble there was going to be.

"Ah, Luke, feeling better are we?" a little wryly, Layton remarked.

"About as good as this morning, actually," Luke winced, "And I... Wasn't actually feeling particularly ill this morning..."

The attempt at humour could have been a good sign, but it also could have been one of those silly things adults did where they were annoyed, so they would poke fun at the bad deed you'd done. Perhaps it was meant to lull you into a false sense of security, thinking that it was all fine. He just thought it was rather confusing.

"Hmm," the Professor hummed, "I had thought as much. My suspicions were only truly confirmed when I got a call from the Triton household asking how you'd been recently - I knew at that point that you couldn't possibly have gone home like you claimed you would,"

Yes, his parents choosing the worst possible moment to have a friendly check-in was certainly not going to help his case...

Luke sighed, "I'm sorry about that, Professor... I wasn't actually ill, like I said, so I didn't really call them to pick me up..."

"I believe the puzzle you left me to hint at your true whereabouts spoke for itself on that matter, my boy. But I must say..." he crouched down to meet Luke at his level, "Labyrinthia? You know you could have asked me to come, if you really missed the place so much,"

Ah, so that was why his parents weren't here already, ready to completely chew him out for being so reckless. 

"I know," he fidgeted and looked away, "But... I thought you'd be busy with a lecture..."

It wasn't a complete lie. He had assumed that the Professor would just get on with some teaching at the university whilst he was gone. But that was far from being the real reason, as quite evident by this point, and if he actually had simply wanted to visit Labyrinthia, he probably would have asked his mentor anyway.

"Never too busy to make time for you," quietly, Layton assured, "I'm sorry I made you feel as though that was not the case,"

"Oh, no, Professor, I didn't think that! And, really, I should be the one apologising! I know I shouldn't have tricked you like that..." sheepishly, Luke admitted.

"Well, if you've learnt your lesson, I see no reason to continue dwelling on this. How about we leave matters here and get a cup of tea? You can tell me what exciting adventures I missed out on," his mentor suggested.

He'd learnt his lesson, yes, but he had always known it wasn't exactly the right thing to do... In that case, he couldn't promise he wouldn't do it again, no matter how much he wanted to. Especially not whilst the puzzle business was still going on... He couldn't repay the Professor's kindness here with such a heartbreaking story! His resolve to fix this himself was only strengthened by this, in fact!

"You never know, perhaps your class was actually more interesting than my trip, anyway!" cheerily, he responded. 

Layton watched him carefully, "Hm. Perhaps. But we'll have to discuss to find out, won't we?"

Luke couldn't tell him about the part with Barnham, obviously, but the rest of the afternoon was fair game, so yes, they would just have to discuss! To be honest, knowing the Professor's lectures, he wouldn't be surprised if at least one remarkable happening had occurred today.

"Indeed we shall," sagely, he nodded.

The Professor had just begun to walk through the front room, but after a short moment he stopped rather abruptly and turned bashfully back, "Ah, just one more thing, though,"

"Huh? What is it?" worried that he had been caught out after all, he answered.

"I think it would be for the best if we didn't mention today to your parents, my boy," grimly, his mentor stated.

Luke froze before beginning to nod vigorously. He would surely not see the light of the outside world for months if his mum or dad ever found out about what had happened! And if someone as smart and responsible as the Professor was willing to help him cover that up, he was hardly going to refuse...

"I think that would be a very good idea, Professor," seriously, he concurred.

Layton smiled thinly, "Excellent. Now, how about that tea, then..."

He followed his mentor out of the front room and into the pantry like a happy little duckling. Even if today had yielded him some dangerous results, he was still all the better for it! The Professor was willing to cover for him, he'd got to visit his Labyrinthian friends, and he'd gotten the information he was after! An all-around success, really.

+-+-+

True success was a little harder to achieve, though, apparently. After two whole more days of thinking, Luke was still nowhere closer to coming up with a coherent and reasonable plan. He was just a kid! What was he supposed to do? But he would be letting his mentor down so badly if he just admitted the truth now...

The Professor had papers to be grading at this very moment, though, so he needed to hurry up and use this time to think productively! He wouldn't want anything to seem off with him when he was with Layton, so he had to get the hard stuff out the way now...

Saying he was alone wasn't quite accurate, though. It was raining outside now and, whilst he was taking the recycling out earlier, Luke had spotted a little mouse, quivering and shivering with a soaked coat. He'd taken it in with him. Some would say that that hadn't been a good idea, because it could have some kind of illness, but he hadn't been having many good ideas recently, anyway... And he really couldn't bear to leave the poor thing out there...

He sat on the rug surrounding the table he'd left his new little friend on, quietly brainstorming ideas aloud. Animals sometimes ended up having better insights than people, honestly, so perhaps he was also curious to see what the mouse had to say. Also, he could be certain that it was safe to confide in the creature, because the chances of it ratting him out (Heh.) to the Professor, were so inconceivably low. No one had invented technology that could let animals speak to people as far as he knew, anyway. 

But Luke's little gift was going to allow him to understand every word the mouse said, if he concentrated hard enough. He ran his hand through its fur (Yes, yes, he'd wash his hands later...) contemplatively.

"I don't suppose you know anything about puzzles," gently, he told it.

The animal started to ruffle its ears before squeaking slightly. Luke rested his chin on the table and watched it carefully. If he understood correctly, the mouse couldn't have less of a clue what a puzzle even was. But it was hungry... He would have to find it some crumbs to snack on in a little bit.

"Have you ever had to lie to your..." the closest equivalent he could find that the little thing would understand was family. He supposed that was accurate, in a way. The Professor certainly was a bit of a parental figure to him, even if he wasn't really Luke's dad. (Not that he was going to admit that to his mentor's face... The poor man might start crying right then and there...) He swallowed and tried again, "Have you ever had to lie to your family?"

The mouse looked up inquisitively.

"They're missing? I'm sorry to hear that..." sympathetically, he nodded at them.

It chittered away at him a little more, explaining that things had mostly been too simple for lies and deceptions when it had been with its family, anyway. Gosh, if only human lives could be as simple as mouse ones...

"It's just that I've found out some rather upsetting news that the Professor, he's the tall man in the dark hat that passed by earlier, would find most disturbing, and I really don't want to make him sad... But I just can't figure out how to fix the issue on my own!" still speaking in a slightly hushed voice in case his mentor was listening out, Luke ranted. 

It was strangely therapeutic venting to a mouse.  It wasn't going to do anything with this information, and he'd stated already, animals had some real gems of wisdom if you bothered to give them time. That probably wasn't a tip most people could use, though... 

"You'd ask your friends for help?" absently, he stroked its head again and chuckled bitterly, "Yes, I'd like to do that, but I think they'd think me crazy for not just talking to the Professor! Most of them don't really understand puzzles, either..."

He knew plenty of people from his time adventuring with Layton, of course, but none of them really seemed to fit the bill of a good candidate for helping with this conundrum... And some of them would be rather hard to contact, especially after he was under a little closer surveillance (Subtly, but Luke wasn't stupid; he had noticed.) since his stunt sneaking away to Labyrinthia.

The mouse squeaked some more and shook its head.

"You're really hungry?" Luke chuckled, "I suppose I can try and find you some bread or something now, if it's that bad. Would you like that?"

From the seems of things, the poor thing was half starved and would very much like that. He probably should have just fed it as soon as he'd brought it in, obviously. For as kind a soul as it was, it wasn't going to be very inclined to help him with, as it seemed to have put it, his 'silly human issue' whilst it had bigger problems of its own.

Luke sighed. Or maybe some animals were just more insightful than others, and this particular mouse fell into the latter category. 

+-+-+

Luke had been dusting the tea set when the Professor had started acting weirdly. He'd observed Luke carefully for a moment (Normal if he was deep in thought or considering whether), and then strode purposefully over, crouching next to him. He seemed contemplative, possibly over what to say right then, as the dusting continued.

"Luke, my boy," he said after a while, "You know that you can talk to me if something's bothering you, correct?"

How did the Professor know that something was wrong!? Luke had been sure he'd been behaving perfectly normal all day, specifically for the purpose of throwing Layton off of the trail whilst he thought! Was that it? Had he been being too normal? His mentor had always been able to pick up on the subtlest things whilst they were solving mysteries...

And then it hit him; this tea set, it was the third time he'd cleaned it today. As it turned out, Layton's Office never really did have that much that he was allowed to clean at the moment, so when he'd tried to keep himself distracted and seeming perfectly normal with busy work, he must have accidentally started repeating jobs! Crickey, that was a bit of a big mistake... No wonder the Professor had noticed...
 
At least he hadn't moved one cabinet over and begun trying to dust Layton's hat collection or something. Now that would not have gone down well... Specifically, it would have immediately given the game away. Although, that seemed to have already happened, so maybe finally getting to see the prized set of hats that he knew the Professor had accrued over the years would have been a fair trade-off. 

"H-huh!? Something bothering me? You must be mistaken!" rashly, he tried anyway. Perhaps his denial would scare his mentor into being unwilling to press any further.

He had no such luck, though, "Is that right?" Layton frowned, "Well, if that's the case, then is there another reason you've been quite so obsessive in cleaning today?"

Could he claim something silly like wanting to be thorough since his new mouse friend was still about? (He'd kept it around since yesterday, just to make sure it was definitely alright.) No, that would be too easy of a lie to see through: Luke had brought many animals back to the Office over the years, but had never gone this crazy about cleaning up after them before. 

He hated lying this much, as well. He usually tried his best to be honest, as any true gentleman should, but ever since he'd received that call from Mr Edgeworth and Mr Wright, it had just been one bare-faced lie after another! He hoped he wasn't being corrupted or something... It would be simply dreadful if he lost his way because of something as silly as Mr Wright and Barnham's incompetence...

"I..." he trailed off, not quite sure how to respond.

The Professor sighed and led Luke away from the tea set and over to the desk, ushering him into the chair there. This felt a little like an interrogation, now. But he'd survived one of those before during Maya's trial! And although Mr Wright was more scatty and much less of a puzzle solver than Layton, he was still no complete fool; he had looked deep into Luke's testimony. 

"Is there something wrong, then? I had been rather hoping that I was mistaken in this instance, but if the case is otherwise, please, allow me to try and assist you," carefully, the Professor asked again.

He could give up and just own up to everything here. that would seem to be the right thing to do, but taking into the fact the severe emotional damage that it would cause his mentor, was it really even moral? 

"I can't tell you..." miserably, he mumbled.

Layton took that in stride like he did most things, honestly. There was a brief moment where his eyes broadened a little, but that was it, really. For the most part, his face just remained warmly watching Luke.

"Was it something I did, then?" in an uncharacteristically subdued voice, the Professor questioned.

"N-no! Of course not!" fervently, Luke insisted.

"Hmm," his mentor scrutinised him, "I must say, my boy, this is quite the puzzle you've created. You admit that something has been bothering you, but that something is not something you can share with me? And also that the reason you cannot share has nothing to do with anything I've done?"

Lightly, he nodded, not quite wanting to speak or may eye contact at that point. The Professor was at the cusp of the truth really, ever so close to figuring it out. And yet, maybe if Luke just kept quiet for a bit longer, this could all blow over.

"Then, perhaps, is it something you feel I too would be upset by?" evenly, Layton deduced.

Luke sighed, still avoiding looking the Professor in the eye, and began to swing his legs back and forth, "How'd you figure?" softly, he asked.

"Well, it is the piece that fits all the gaps, is it not?" his mentor answered.

Even if he had been figured out now, was it still that good of an idea to come clean? Stubbornly, Luke clung to the secret of the puzzle like it would jump out of his arms (Or perhaps more accurately, mouth) if he let his grip loosen at all.

"I can't get anything past you, Professor," weakly, he smiled. 

Layton returned his look wryly, "It comes from years of practice,"

The jig really was up, then... It was funny, with the way his heart was racing, it was like he hadn't even processed what was happening.

"I guess you want me to tell you what's been going on after all, then..." deeply, Luke sighed.

"If you would be so kind, my boy. It's unfitting to see you as unspirited as this," the professor agreed, rather insistently.

He should probably be trying to think of a way to break the news softly, then. Perhaps an introductory spiel? He must have learnt something from Barnham's rather roundabout way of speaking! And besides, if it was for the Professor, he would surely be doing the best that he could! He couldn't let his mentor down by ruining the delivery here... Not after he'd spent the past few days trying to hide the information that he was about to reveal.

"Well..." awkwardly, he began, "You remember when I said Mr Wright called the other day?"

"Whilst I was out at the shops," Layton bobbed his head up and down as a short nod, "I recall,"

"He did call, but... It wasn't actually his phone that he was calling from. His friend, Mr Edgeworth, had scheduled it and they called from his office phone. I think it could be called... an intervention of sorts," gradually, he struggled through.

That probably made things sound much worse for Mr Wright than they actually were. Luke winced. He hoped the Professor didn't get the complete wrong takeaway from that...

"I'm afraid I don't understand, my boy. What was Mr Edgeworth intervening against?" his mentor frowned.

"So, uhm..." this was the hard part, "You know how you've been, er, sending puzzles over?" when Layton acknowledged that to be true, he continued, "Mr Wright... He hasn't even been trying them. He sent them all to Mr Edgeworth instead, and then, because Mr Edgeworth is a very busy man, they never got solved! They were all just sitting there, from the sounds of things! It's nightmarish to imagine!" his clipped speech devolved into stutterings wracked with small sobs.

Oh, great... Now he was crying too... What was the Professor going to think now? He had never liked seeing Luke cry, so this surely was not going to make anything better. 

When he looked up, his mentor had a strange sort of pinched expression on, but he didn't seem overtly maddened or upset. Barnham's part to play in this surely wouldn't help, then, but he couldn't very well leave that out now... Some optimistic part of him was still hoping that the Professor's subdued reaction was all that he was going to be getting from this. 

"And did you..." Layton hesitated, "Advise Mr Edgeworth on how to proceed?"

Tearfully, Luke nodded, "Yes, he asked me if he could send them back, but I told him it'd be better if he donated them to somewhere where they might get used by some fellow puzzle fanatics,"

The Professor smiled thinly, "That seems like a very wise decision,"

Luke wondered if he was just being indulged because he was upset or if his mentor really thought so.

"Maybe... But it doesn't end there!" hastily, he added, determined that, if he was going to confess, he was going to confess everything, "You know how I snuck out to go to Labyrinthia?"

"Ah, yes, the trip that certainly didn't happen if it's anyone besides ourselves asking," teasingly, Layton asserted.

He laughed wetly, "Yeah, that one! There was a reason for that visit and why I didn't invite you, Professor. I didn't tell you about it before, but... Before I went to Patty's Bakery, I stopped by Barnham's office,"

"Well, I doubt you found anything particularly inspiring there..." disgruntled, the Professor remarked.

"You can say that again..." Luke huffed, "He hadn't even so much as glanced at the puzzles you sent him, Professor! He just said he'd been too busy job hunting and writing poetry, which, for some reason, Espella told him to try!"

Now that he was letting it all out like this, his confession was turning more into a bit of an aggrieved rant. But, with the nonsensicalness of it all, who could really blame him for getting impassioned when speaking?

"Oh dear..." Layton shook his head, a sort of dark expression falling on his face as he gripped the rim of his hat tightly, "It would seem our friends have let us down rather severely, then,"

"Yeah... And, I'm sorry I tried to hide it from you..." sombrely, Luke apologised.

The Professor held up a finger and watched his apprentice, "Nonsense! I do quite understand your caution. However, I do still feel compelled to ask... What of Ms Fey?"

"Maya? What about her?" rather confused, he affirmed.

Luke had just assumed that her only involvement in all this would be shirking off th puzzle duties with Mr Wright. If the professor had just been sending them to Mr Wright's office, and Maya worked at Mr Wright's Office anyway, why would he think anything else?

"I had been sending her out puzzles as well - her village is quite remote, so I doubted that she would find the time to consistently venture off to Mr Wright's to simply assist him with his puzzles, so I sent her her own," Layton explained.

Then he hadn't checked in on Maya! She probably wasn't going to have done any better than the other two, but this was still an opportunity! They were still uncovering more in this mystery, and there was always a certain thrill that accompanied that.

"I never asked her!" wondrously, he exclaimed.

"Get the phone, Luke, quickly," gravely, the Professor ordered.

Luke did as he was told and hastily fished the phone off of its stand, hurrying back into his mentor's office with it as quickly as he could manage. Layton nodded in approval and typed out Maya's number for him. They both waited in a moderate silence, the only audible sound being the sharpness of their breaths. 

When Maya picked up, the phone was handed back to Luke so that he could continue his mission himself.

"Uh, yeah, wassup? This is Professor Layton, right?" lazily, the medium greeted.

"Not quite, Maya. It's me, Luke, but the Professor is here, too," swiftly, he corrected her.

"Oh, hey, Luke! You got a reason for calling, or did you just wanna hear the sound of my amazing voice?"

This was it... Here, he would find out the deciding factor that could change everything about the way he and the Professor viewed their overseas friends. Come on, Maya, silently, he prayed.

"I do, actually, and it's rather serious. I need you to tell me if you've been solving the puzzles the Professor's been sending you!" urgently, he inquired.

"Huh? Puzzles?" curiously, Maya affirmed, "Of course I've been doing them!"

Luke guffawed and stared at the phone in disbelief. Out of the three of them, Maya really wasn't the one he'd have expected to have actually been keeping up with the puzzles. She hadn't even seemed that interested the first time! And wasn't she the head of a village or something? How was Barnham busier than her!?

"You have!?" he laughed in shock, eyes probably comically wide.

"Uh, yeah? My little cousin Pearly's really taken to them, so we do them together every week. Were we not supposed to have?" confused, Maya answered.

He regained his composure a bit after that, feeling a little bit embarrassed to have been acting like that in front of the Professor. Layton hadn't exactly commented on it, but he surely wasn't pleased by Luke's rash behaviour when talking to an innocent lady. 

"No, no, you were," quickly, he denied, "But neither Mr Wright nor Inquisitor Barnham have even tried!"

"Just Mr Barnham, Luke," Layton corrected in the background. 

Maya gasped dramatically, "Nick didn't even try!? That puzzle-avoiding fiend! You and the Professor give him a good scolding, yeah? And put in a bad word or two from me!"

Luke held the phone down at turned to the Professor, "Maya wants us to give Mr Wright what's coming to him,"

Layton smiled thinly at that, "That we can do, my boy,"

"He says that we'll definitely do it," evilly, Luke chuckled.

But then Maya upstaged him with an even more sinister cackle of her own (Did he even have to say it again? Sometimes Maya really did seem like an actual witch...) She must really prioritise tormenting Mr Wright...

"Great! I'll yell at him for it when I get the chance too... Then we'll double-team him into admitting that I beat him at something! Or, er, that he was wrong to disrespect the sanctity of puzzles!" she corrected before mumbling presumably to herself, "That is the motive here, right?"

"Indeed, Ms Fey," Layton interjected, "Mr Wright has undermined the importance of a good puzzle and, as such, he must pay dearly. So too, must Mr Barnham,"

There wasn't much of a hint in the Professor's voice that suggested he was joking, either... Good. Luke grinned in knowing that the ones who had inadvertently created his torment for the past few days were getting what was coming to them. Even if it maybe wasn't all their fault...

Maya gasped delightedly, "I can stick Franzy on him! She hardly even needs an excuse to whip Nick anyway!"

"Wh-whip!?" Luke's wide-eyed look must have been priceless.

"Oh, yeah, and she really knows how to use it too!" gleefully, the medium laughed.

"Normally, I'd advise against physical violence, Ms Fey, but in this instance... I suppose I could turn a blind eye if something of the sort just so happened to occur to Mr Wright," impassively, the Professor put in. The menacing glint in his eye sort of gave him away there, though.

You know, if Layton had always been inclined to take revenge like this, then maybe Luke should really have told him about the puzzle thing sooner! This was actually sort of fun! And vindicating. 

"Okay, okay, I'm gonna go call her and tell her all about this, then. It's been really fun speaking to you two, though," still cackling, Maya said in way of her goodbye.

"Bye, Maya!" Luke got in before the Professor's sinister response.

"Yes, it's been a pleasure doing business with you, Ms Fey..." he laughed, a deep rumble that was a lot different to Layton's usual light, polite chuckle.

Maya hung up swiftly after that, just as she said she would.

But... Even if the problem was mostly solved, and the Professor could handle most of the hard parts for him, now, there was still one little piece missing from the edge that only Luke could fill. Because he was feeling a little guilty now about holding back for these past few days like he had... It had been cowardly, even if it did come from a place of love.

"Hold on, Professor... Before we do anything else, there's something I'd like to say first..." tentatively, Luke uttered.

"Hmm? And what would that be, my boy?" curiously, his mentor prompted.

"I- I'm sorry again that I lied to you so much, Professor... I know it's not particularly gentlemanly to do so, and I know I shouldn't have tried to hide your business from you at all, but I promise I didn't mean anything bad by it..." he looked at his feet and began to shuffle uncomfortably on the spot, "You're not too... mad, are you?"

Layton bent down and rested his hand gently on Luke's shoulder. It was a reassuring weight. Well, he'd owed up to his mistakes now, so... So everything was going to be alright, right? That was how things were supposed to go once the moral of the story had been reached.

"I am somewhat infuriated, Luke," slowly, his mentor elucidated and Luke's heart fell at those first few words, "But not at you - I can promise you that... Mr Wright and Mr Barnham, however? Well, I would say that they don't know what's coming their way!"

He couldn't resist going in for a hug at that. It was always so nice when all's well that ends well, wasn't it? Layton patted his back, a little stiffly as was customary for him, but no less tenderly than a father. He really loved being the Professor's apprentice. He really did.

"Th-thanks, Professor..." all wobbly and small, Luke smiled.

"That's quite alright, my boy," curtly, Layton nodded, "But if that is all, I believe we have some revenge to be plotting,"

Luke straightened up and gave his best evil smile, "That we do..."

+-+-+

A week after Luke's confession, the fallout of the puzzle debacle was clear.

The puzzle packages had stopped being sent out to everyone save for Maya, who had continued doing with her cousin, just as she said she would. In that regard, the sanctity of puzzles had been restored and all was right in the puzzle-solver community, even if this would always be a story to be remembered.

Thanks to his gross negligence on the proper way to treat a good puzzle, Mr Wright received a bill in the post from the Professor, asking for the money he'd spent on finding those puzzles back, instead of the next set like he was set to get. No one, not even Luke, could figure out how Layton had managed to switch the box's contents after it had already been mailed out. That was a mystery that no one particularly wanted to even try and solve, though.

They'd struggled to find a punishment for Inquisitor Barnham that was both suitable and unique, at first, but the key part of that sentence was the 'at first' bit. After only a short while of thinking, Luke and the Professor had opted to pay the dear Inquisitor a visit... Once there, they had confiscated all of the unused puzzles and simply left after only one more thing. Luke grinned at the memory. See, he and his mentor had dropped a nice hint to Patty Eclaire about what Barnham had done, and then Luke was pretty sure he could still hear her yelling from London...

So, then, in the end, everything really did turn out pretty well, even if Luke had been quite worried about it for a while. Even better, now he goes to sit down with the Professor every day over a nice cup of tea and discuss local happenings, just to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. If you asked him, that was about the best deal he could have gotten out of this, since he first made that fatal error. 

It would make for a pretty good story too, come to think of it... Much better than anything the Storyteller produced for Espella, anyway. And he didn't need hallucinogenic ink to make people think that!

Maybe one day, then, Luke would tell it to someone. Only once he'd gotten over the last lingerings of the worry it had all caused him along the way first, though. 

...And on second thoughts, perhaps he'd want to make his new mouse friend his first live audience, anyway. Animals did sometimes give fairly useful insights, after all.