Archive of Our Own

As snow continued to fall over the chilly yet still bustling streets of London, Naruhodō Ryūnosuke watched quietly from his comfy attic window, somewhat in awe in regards to the current weather he was witnessing. He had never seen so much snow fall before in either Japan or England, and it was all coming just in time for the upcoming Christmas holiday. The snow would probably ensure that he and his legal assistant, Mikotoba Susato, would likely have no court cases to worry about for the next few days or so, which Naruhodō found as something of a relief. He was more than ready for a little break after the pair of them had just finished up another rather complicated trial that they had eventually managed to win, and he felt that the universe was finally throwing him a bone in that regard.

A knock at the attic door then interrupted his wandering thoughts, and Naruhodō turned to see Susato standing in the doorway with a sweet smile on her face. “Dinner is ready, Naruhodō-sama,” she said as she bowed her head like she tended to often do, “I can only imagine that you’re hungry after a long day like today. I know I am.”

“Oh, I definitely am too,” Naruhodō agreed as he pushed away from where he had been leaning on the window and started walking towards the door to meet up with her, “That was certainly quite a case that we wrapped up today. It really took a lot of effort in order to find the full truth of the matter."

“Yes, indeed,” Susato agreed with a small nod as the two of them started walking down the stairs together, “But at least it is seeming now that we will be free for the holidays.”

Naruhodō was glad that Susato shared in his sentiment of wanting to have a short break from the courtroom, and it seemed that that would start off with a wonderful dinner made by the ever reliable Iris Watson, as there was a collection of delicious smells wafting from the main room. The rest of the daily residents of 221B Baker Street, which included Sherlock Holmes, Mikotoba Yūjin, Murasame Haori, and Asōgi Kazuma were all already downstairs waiting for the defense duo, and there were several plates of food on the table simply waiting to be dug into. The moment Naruhodō and Susato joined the group, everyone began to enjoy the meal together, chatting away merrily as they did so.

After a few minutes of everyone discussing what had just happened as well as the upcoming holidays, Iris in particular then giggled quite giddily, which drew everyone’s attention. “Sorry. I just thought of something, and it makes me so very excited to think about,” she explained when she realized that there were a lot of eyes on her in that moment, “This is the first time since we met that all of us here will get to spend Christmas all together!”

“Oh goodness me. Have we really never been gathered all together for the holidays before now?” Susato asked, sounding quite shocked as she tried to consider the prospect.

Everyone else then tried to think about it too in an effort to put the pieces together for themselves. “Well, let's see here…you, Mikotoba, and Naruhodō all left in early November of 1900, which was the same year that we all met. Meaning that it was just Iris, Mr. Asōgi, Miss Lestrade, and myself here that year while you all were on the boat sailing home,” Holmes noted, counting on his fingers all the while, “It was relatively the same in 1901, except you three would have been back in Japan by then. And then in 1902, Mr. Asōgi was back there with all of you while the rest of us were here. So I suppose that Iris is indeed right about this being our first time all together in the same place.”

“It does seem a little bit strange to consider those details from back then given how natural it feels for all of us to be together now,” Yūjin commented thoughtfully, but then he smiled, “With all of that said though, I suppose that we will just need to take advantage of this opportunity we have and make this holiday special.”

This seemed to get everyone’s attention in a different kind of way, as they started thinking about the occasional grandiosity of the Christmas season and what that would potentially look like for them as a large group, which had never been on the table before. It was certainly going to be something of a big project for them to organize something for the holiday for so many people, but no one doubted that it would be ultimately worth whatever effort it took. “Oooo! This will be so fun!” Haori then piped up, her excitement very apparent, “Will we be having some sort of celebration here?”

“I’d love to have a party with all of us here!” Iris exclaimed, thrilled at the idea as well, “But what to plan in only a few days? Hmmm…”

Holmes chuckled as he listened to them talk. “Take your time, my dear girls,” he said lightheartedly, “We’ll more than likely be cooped up here for the most part over the course of the next few days due to the continuous snow, so you’ll likely get a lot of input from us other residents once you start having ideas.”

Yūjin gave Holmes a bit of a scolding look for his somewhat sarcastic tone, but the detective took it in stride due to how everyone else seemed to be thinking about the suggested notion more and more. However, Susato then let out a loud and excited gasp as she snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it!” she exclaimed loudly as everyone turned to look at her.

Asōgi chuckled at his sister’s great level of unbridled enthusiasm, as he had seen this sort of thing from her many times before while growing up with her and he just knew that she was already plotting something out in great detail. “Well, don’t keep us in the dark then,” he said as he casually leaned back against the couch, “Tell us what’s on your mind, Susato-chan.”

Susato nodded as she steadied herself with a few short breaths, but her energetic smile never left her face. “Since this is the first time that we’ll all be together like this, I think that this is a perfect chance for us all to be able to share our many Christmas traditions with each other!” she explained gleefully, “We’ve sort of been combining traditions together bit by bit over the years given how we've all gradually started coming to live together on the regular, but this time we could all share something personal as a big amalgamation of sharing and giving!”

“What a great idea!” Haori exclaimed in immediate agreement with her girlfriend, “We’ve always shared traditions with each other depending on who we have time with, but doing that with such a large group like this would likely keep us busy and having fun for hours!”

“Ooo! I’ll invite Ginny and Lord Van Zieks over for the night as well, since I wouldn't want them to miss out and I’m sure that they could each offer their own traditions too!” Iris added on, as she was clearly already latching onto the idea as well, “I think that all of this sounds so wonderful! It’ll be so much fun and relatively easy to put together since we all know what we'll each need!”

Yūjin chuckled, a now pleased smile on his face. “Well then, I suppose that settles things,” he said, knowing that there wasn’t much point in arguing once all of the girls had jumped onto an agreement train, especially when he didn’t have any other ideas himself, “I must say, I also think that it sounds like a very enjoyable idea. And it shouldn’t take too much time to plan as long as we can gather the proper supplies from stores around town.”

Everyone in the room then started chattering more about the idea of sharing their holiday traditions, as it was pretty universally agreed upon that they liked the idea and would love to go along with it. However, Naruhodō wasn’t feeling quite the same kind of excitement as everyone else. The whole suggestion of sharing traditions had made him start to think about his past, which wasn’t particularly pleasant as he tried to dig past the many long years that he had spent alone in order to reach the time of his life when he was happily living with his mother. However, even when he did finally get to that point of his memory, his mind was drawing a blank when it came to Christmas and what he enjoyed from that time of year.

Naruhodō was then snapped out of his thoughts when his arm was nudged slightly, and he turned to see Asōgi looking at him with slight concern. “Are you okay, Ryū?” he asked a little cautiously, “You seemed to be zoning out for a moment there.”

Not wanting to worry his husband unnecessarily, Naruhodō simply smiled back at him a little sheepishly. “Sorry about that. I was just thinking,” he said, hoping that he sounded convincing enough, “It somehow feels like forever since I last thought about Christmas, so I was just trying to come up with a plan for myself.”

Thankfully, his explanation worked and Asōgi seemed to accept it with a nod of acknowledgement. “Serious as ever, aren’t you?” he asked in a teasing manner as he bopped Naruhodō on the nose, but then he smiled at him reassuringly, “Try to not worry too much about all of this though. We’ll have plenty of time to get everything ready before Christmas Eve, so it’s perfectly okay if you don’t have a plan immediately.”

“Right,” Naruhodō agreed as he nodded in return, and he did genuinely feel convinced by Asōgi’s words as he patted him on the back. Though he had initially worried about Susato’s suggestion due to how he wasn’t able to immediately think of something to contribute to it, he did feel a bit more reassured that he didn’t have to have an answer for it right away. As Asōgi had said, he had some time to think about what he wanted to do and what he needed to gather in order to make it all happen. So there was no need for him to be too anxious, since it was easy for him to think that, as was per usual for their particular group, everything would be alright.

Naruhodō was not alright. Christmas Eve was finally upon 221B Baker Street and everyone else was starting to get ready for their celebration, but over the course of the past few days, Naruhodō himself still hadn’t managed to think of any traditions from his past that he had to offer. Though the details were generally being kept secret for the time being for the sake of the surprise, Naruhodō had still caught glimpses of everyone else buying the materials they needed in order to put things together for their own traditions, and he had heard a lot whispers about how excited they were for everything to be coming together.

However, every time Naruhodō would try to think back to any point in his past in regards to Christmas, he was never able to think of anything that was even remotely personal to him. Even he and his beloved mother never had anything specific that they liked to do every year, as they essentially just did whatever was available for them at any given time given their inconsistent finances during those years. After her death, Naruhodō had then been alone for a decade with no one to share the holidays with, taking care of only himself and never really doing much in terms of celebration. Then after he finally started having his friends and family around him, he had essentially just latched onto their traditions and played along with them. But all in all, he still had nothing from his own past that he could pin down for potential use.

Now Naruhodō was alone in his attic room of the abode, pacing back and forth as he debated what he could possibly do, but he knew that his available time was slowly running out with every moment he wasted. He couldn’t hide in the attic forever, but he was now very fearful about how everyone else would likely be disappointed in him due to having nothing to share. Christmas was meant to be a time of giving and sharing with people around oneself, but Naruhodō was suddenly realizing just how inept he was when it came to doing that. Even when he finally had people to spend the holidays with, he had only ever benefited from what they had to offer him without offering anything back to them in return. And if that was true, then did he really understand anything about Christmas at all?

After pacing around for a little bit longer, Naruhodō finally stopped and let out a sad sigh. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t think of anything he had to offer in terms of a tradition to share, and it made him feel absolutely awful to think about how he had pretty much leeched off of so many other people for so many years during what was supposed to be a special time. The guilt he now felt from that realization was weighing upon him very heavily, and his heart just couldn’t take it anymore. Because of that, Naruhodō instead fetched his winter coat, hat, and scarf in order to dress himself to go out, though he had no intention of letting anyone else in the house know that he was leaving.

Naruhodō then grabbed a pen and paper and started writing a note for whomever would next come up to the attic, hoping that it would be clear enough for everyone to understand why he had made the decision he did. Maybe it was a little extreme of an action to take, but he just couldn’t bear to face the dissatisfaction that he feared his friends were going to feel towards him regarding everything for their holiday, especially as they started to piece things together for themselves about how he had unabashedly indulged in their traditions in the past without thinking of how to give back to them.

Once he was done writing and made sure that he was comfortable in his winter clothes, Naruhodō pushed open the window to the attic and gazed down at the snow-covered street below. He knw that as long as he was careful and quiet, he should be able to climb down without too much trouble. The sun had also gone down at that point due to it being winter, so he would hopefully be able to slip away into the darkness. Once he had gathered up the courage to not worry about the height he was scaling from, Naruhodō tightly tied a bedsheet to his currently cold and unlit furnace and then tossed it out of the window in order to use it as a rope, and he then exited the room in the same way moments later as he started to climb down the wall. Though he worried at every moment that the sheet would tear and thus make him fall, it thankfully held firm long enough for him to reach the ground safely, much to his relief.

With his feet now back on solid ground, Naruhodō looked up at the window that he had just exited from, hesitating for a moment as he thought about whether or not he was really doing the right thing. However, he shook off those doubts in only a moment, as he could easily tell himself that he just couldn’t bear it of he ended up ruining the holiday for everyone else. With his mind made up, Naruhodō made his way out of the little alleyway beside the house and then started making his way down the sidewalk. The chill of the winter wind still bit through his warm clothes somewhat, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. Especially if it was for the betterment of those that he cared for the most.

221B Baker Street being alive with a fervor of activity wasn’t necessarily an uncommon occurrence, but there seemed to be something a little bit extra about just how much energy seemed to be present in the home for the Christmas season. With it being the first time that everyone was all gathered together in such a way for the occasion, everyone was excited to see how the night would play out. Gina had arrived fairly early on in the day along with little Toby due to her excitement to spend some time with her friends throughout the whole day, while Barok had been a bit more punctual so as to arrive to the exact letter, though Iris had been there at both respective times in order to welcome them both with a great amount of enthusiasm.

Due to how many traditions and creative projects that everyone was bringing together, a stack of boxes to separate the different collections of items was starting to be made in one corner of the main room, which only further fueled the anticipation of seeing what everyone had in store for the night. On top of everything else, Iris and Susato were directing everything around the house with an unparalleled sense of efficiency in order to make sure that everyone stayed as organized as possible, and no one else dared to question them about anything they were saying since they knew the two girls had everything handled.

“I was thinking that we could start with a few of the tradition-related activities before the main meal in order to have some fun after all the setup work we’ve done,” Iris said to Susato as they continued to watch everything around them gradually fall into place, “Then we can take the time we need to start preparing food, with the rest of the activities being scattered in between the cooking times!”

“That sounds perfect!” Susato said as she clapped her hands in delight, “That way, no one will get too bored or feel like we’re ever just sitting around for too long.”

Haori chuckled as she approached the duo of planners. “Always keeping things on a straight line, I see,” she said, though she wasn’t teasing them at all, “It’s definitely for the best that you’re both on top of everything. I may be able to keep a lab and a bunch of reports organized, but there’s no way that I’d be able to put together a party like this.”

Gina then butted in between Iris and Susato, putting her arms around both of them. “That’s why we leave things like this to the peeps that are actually good at doin' ‘em,” she said smugly, “I gotta say though, this is a lot more than I’ve ever seen for a ‘oliday before, even in comparison to the other Christmases I’ve spent ‘ere in the past.”

“Well, we wanted to make this really special!” Iris said giddily, “We wanted to do more than just sit around for a big meal on a night like tonight, especially with so many people here! It should be fun!”

“I think that you will find a certain sense of ease in your motions of completing that task,” Van Zieks commented as he passed by carrying a box, “When many people are gathered together like this, it will almost always be easier for ideas to be collected and bounced off of each other.”

As Iris nodded in response to the prosecutor’s words, Susato, Haori, and Gina all looked at each other quietly for a moment and then shared a secret smile between themselves. Even though Iris was currently still unaware that Van Zieks was her biological uncle as far as they knew, they were already getting along decently enough. And though they knew that he would never admit it aloud, it was clear that Van Zieks was happy to have chances like these to spend time with her, which was undoubtedly what had caused him to agree to attend the event so quickly.

Holmes then cleared his throat from behind the girls as he suddenly appeared in their vicinity, and all four of them turned to face him. “Do forgive my interruption, my fair ladies. But I believe that we are getting close to being able to begin with the festivities,” he informed them, “The cider is also almost done, so we may want to start gathering everyone here.”

Though the main Christmas meal was being held off for a little bit, Yūjin and Asōgi had insisted on making their favorite apple cider for everyone to enjoy since it was just perfect to counter the cold of the snowy outside. They had both looked so eager and passionate in their suggestion that no one could possibly say no to them, and they were glad that they didn’t considering how wonderful the warm, fruit smell currently wafting from the kitchen was.

After acknowledging his words, Iris then spoke up again. “Well, I’m gonna run upstairs and get Runo to let him know that it’s time for him to bring his stuff down,” she said, then she turned her attention to the other girls around her, “You all make sure Holmsies doesn’t do any of the wrong things with the fireplace.”

This comment made Susato, Haori, and Gina all laugh as Iris walked away from them, though all three of them couldn’t help but immediately glance over at Holmes to make sure that he wasn’t about to do something crazy. Thankfully, the detective seemed to be only worrying about his violin’s tuning at that moment, so Haori felt safe enough to go check up on Yūjin and Asōgi in the kitchen while Susato and Gina kept watch over the main room. Just the whole atmosphere of the abode at that moment helped to fuel the warm feelings of Christmas that everyone knew and recognized from their happy memories of the season, and that only continued to make everyone excited for the rest of the night and what was to come.

A few moments later, Yūjin, Asōgi, and Haori all appeared from the kitchen holding cups of hot cider, distributing them around to everyone in the room to their shared delight. Even Barok seemed to smile just a little as he was handed his mug, but his expression changed immediately as he caught sight of Iris appearing in the doorway of the main room once again. But as everyone else soon saw, she didn’t look happy at all, with her face being completely pale.

Immediately realizing that things were serious, Holmes quickly set his mug down and walked over to his daughter. “What’s wrong, my dear?” he asked as he knelt down beside her, knowing right away from the look on her face that something wasn’t right.

“It…It’s Runo…” Iris stammered, “He’s gone.”

“What?!” Asōgi was immediately at attention when he heard her say those words, though everyone else was essentially right behind him with their own shocked reactions, “What do you mean he’s gone?!”

Everyone started looking at each other as though that would somehow give them an answer to the raised question, but it seemed that no one knew what quite to say. “I don’t understand…” Susato finally managed to stammer out weakly, “Why would he do such a thing? Especially tonight of all nights?”

Iris, who now looked to be on the verge of tears, revealed a folded up piece of paper in her hand, which she then held out to Holmes. Holmes took the paper from her and read what was written upon it quietly to himself, but he then let out a disappointed-sounding sigh. “My dear boy…” he murmured sadly through his exhale, “Why must you continue to conceal the damages that have been done to your heart?”

“What do you mean, Holmes?” Yūjin asked his partner as he attempted to help most of the younger people in the room calm down a certain amount, “What does that note say?”

Holmes stood up and turned around to show everyone the quite troubled look on his face, but then he simply decided to just read the note in its entirety so that he wouldn’t potentially miss anything important in a crappy attempt at a summary. After all, it wasn’t his own feelings being put out on display here, so he knew that he couldn’t twist them around.

“To my friends,

As Christmas has slowly but surely approached us, I have come to realize that I am truly unable to take part in these celebrations with all of you. While I at first believed that my memory was simply failing me when it came to recalling potential traditions of mine, I was soon met with the reality that I truly have none that I hold close to my own heart. I was merely relying on the ability to latch onto the celebrations of others in order to satisfy myself for the holiday for all of these years, which I’ve only now come to see was very wrong of me to do.

With this Christmas celebration coming together and traditions being meant to be shared, I felt that it would be wholly improper for me to take part in the festivities when I ultimately have nothing to contribute in return. In this time of giving and sharing, it would not be decorous for someone who does nothing but take to be participating, as I know just how special all of you wanted this first time celebrating all together as a family to be.

Please don’t worry about me. I’ll find a hotel to stay in for tonight so that I don’t have to just sit in the attic and take up unnecessary space in your minds. Just focus on having fun with your party and I’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning. I do at least hope that this can serve as an adequate enough Christmas gift to all of you.

Yours,

-Ryūnosuke"

Holmes lowered the note from his face the moment he was finished reading it, as he just couldn’t bear to look at it anymore due to his own stirring emotions. Looking up though, he could see how everyone’s initial shock had turned to sadness and even horror as they tried to process everything that they had just heard. It seemed that no one could look up at that moment, with even Van Zieks looking solemn about the matter. “Poor Naruhodō-sama…” Susato finally said once again, her voice still being weak and quiet, “To think of what must have been going through his mind that would lead him to make such a conclusion…”

“He has shared a lot of information from his past with us that he hadn’t before, but I suppose that there was still more hiding beneath the surface,” Yūjin said, though even his calm voice couldn’t hide the sorrow that he too seemed to be feeling in that moment, “If I had to guess, he likely did not believe that he was ready to share his feelings about this matter with us and therefore did not know what else to do aside from walk away from the potential confrontation.”

Everyone was generally able agree with Yūjin’s sentiment, but it was still hard for anyone to know what exactly they could say in response to it. Especially since all of them now felt guilty that Naruhodō had still managed to keep everything related to his feelings a secret so well, which they knew was partially due to how absorbed into planning for the holiday they had all been for the past few days and they thus hadn’t noticed any of the potential signs that may have been present. The whole atmosphere of the home had seemed to grow cold in an instant, as though the fact that they were now missing someone of the family had taken away from the happiness of everything.

Eventually though, Asōgi pushed past Holmes and ran up the attic stairs in order to fetch his own winter clothes, as he wasn’t going to waste another moment just standing around. He knew that Naruhodō thought that he had a plan for himself, but the truth was there was no way to guarantee that he would really be safe out in the dark and cold by himself. There was also no way in hell that Asōgi was going to just leave his dear husband alone to his own devices in a situation like this, especially not when he was clearly upset and most likely not acting the most rationally. The attic was freezing due to how the window had been left open for so long, but considering they would need to go out into the cold head on in order to find Naruhodō, Asōgi wasn’t going to let that or anything else stop him.

Susato and Haori then both burst into the attic as well, and Susato hurriedly walked over and closed the window. “Do you have any idea where he might go, Kazuma-sama?” she then asked as she and Haori also started to put on their winter clothes, “Even if Naruhodō-sama says that he has no traditions that he holds close to his heart, do you think that there might be something that he considers special to him around this time that might give us any hints about where he may go?”

“I can’t say that I entirely know for certain,” Asōgi answered in somewhat of a grumble, “But just based solely off of what I know Ryū likes when it comes to holidays in general, I would assume that he’s probably going to either go somewhere that has food or somewhere that has lights. He always thought that the lights of Tanabata were beautiful…”

Sensing his drop in tone, Haori walked over and placed a comforting hand on Asōgi’s shoulder. “Don’t solely blame yourself for this, Asōgi-sama. This is truly a matter that involves all of us, so therefore we’re all going to work to make things right,” she told him firmly, “We will find Naruhodō-kun before long, especially with so many people out looking for him. After all, he’s family.”

Asōgi was quiet for a moment as he considered what she had said, but then he nodded in agreement with Haori. As a husband, he couldn’t help but generally feel that most of the burden for the situation fell on him. However, he knew that Haori was right about how this was ultimately a family matter, and he wasn’t the only person among them that Naruhodō was important to. So he simply swallowed his current feelings down and decided to stay focused on the present, fully getting himself prepared to go out and then making sure that the girls were right behind him as they all went back downstairs.

Sure enough, Holmes, Iris, Yūjin, Gina, and Barok were all dressed to go out as well once they arrived back down in the main room, and Holmes gestured for the other three to join the group as they discussed what they would need to do next. “Alright. So here’s how things will work as we split up in order to cover the most ground in as little time as possible,” Holmes said as everyone gathered close around to him, “Mikotoba. Lord Van Zieks. You two have connections. I want you both to scour any of the bigger and better hotels in the area just in case Mr. Naruhodō decided to splurge while doing all of this.”

“We will see what we can do,” Yūjin said in acknowledgement, while Barok simply nodded his head in agreement with the detective’s words.

Holmes nodded back at them and then continued with his orders. “I myself will look around at cheaper hostels and boarding houses in the area just in case I am wrong about the first assumption,” he said, “Miss Haori, I would like you to accompany me if you would not mind.”

“Of course I will!” Haori said quickly, though she had to hide a certain sense of excitement that she felt about being able to investigate alongside the Great Detective and remind herself to stay focused, “I will do whatever I can to help!”

“As for the rest of you…” Holmes said as he gestured to Asōgi, Susato, Iris, and Gina, “All of you look for places along the streets or around town that you think he may have gone. But none of you go off on your own, as it is too dark and potentially dangerous for that. And to whomever ultimately finds Mr. Naruhodō first, contact the rest of us and stay where you are until we all gather together again. Is that understood?”

Everyone affirmed their understanding about what they had been told, and Holmes then immediately gestured towards the front door with an authoritative point. One-by-one, the group filed out of the abode and made their way out onto the cold and snow-covered streets, and once everyone had gathered their bearings outside, they all split up from one another as had been previously decided and started their search for the missing Naruhodō, leaving all of their previous plans behind without missing so much as a beat.

Yūjin quietly considered himself to be somewhat lucky that he was able to wait within the warm lobby of a fancy hotel during their searching escapades, though it didn’t do much at all to ease the troubled feelings that were currently overtaking every crevice of his thoughts. Thanks to Van Zieks’s many quiet connections around the city, he had been able to convince the owner of the Great Waterloo Hotel to call around to all of the other expensive hotels in London that they were in connection with to search for any guests potentially matching Naruhodō’s description, meaning that all they would need to do was wait and see what was reported back to them from those calls. However, they were still left within a certain sense of limbo as they waited for any word, which left the two men alone with only their uneasy thoughts.

“Here, Dr. Mikotoba,” Van Zieks suddenly said as he broke the silence, and Yūjin looked up to see the prosecutor offering a cup of tea out to him, “You look quite stressed.”

Yūjin accepted the cup being offered out to him, and it was only then that he realized that his hands were shaking. However, the warm, albeit bitter tea did help just the slightest bit, and he would take anything that he could get at that point. “Thank you, Lord Van Zieks,” he said gratefully, “Please do forgive me for the fact that I have not been very talkative so far.”

Van Zieks shook his head. “There is no need for you to apologize to me for any of this,” he said as he sat down in the other nearby chair, “It seems that it is difficult for anyone to know what to say in an unexpected and complicated situation such as this, even for those who are much closer to Mr. Naruhodō than I am.”

Yūjin set his teacup down as he eyed the prosecutor curiously. “I hope this is not too forward of me to say,” he said somewhat cautiously, “But would I be correct to assume that you do care for Naruhodō-kun more than you would typically express?”

Van Zieks nodded just enough for Yūjin to see, though his face remained stone cold. “I am aware that the relationship I have with Mr. Naruhodō is very different than that of anyone else living at your Baker Street home on the regular, but I have never forgotten the good he has done for me and the empathy he has always possessed for others,” he explained in a strangely whimsical voice, or at least as whimsical as Van Zieks’s voice could possibly be, “I know that he is a good and honest man, and it is very unfortunate to hear about the unpleasant thoughts that apparently course through his mind.”

“I see,” Yūjin said quietly as he nodded his head in return. He could still recall the fateful trial from years ago as clear as day, in which Naruhodō had defended Van Zieks until the bitter end against all odds, even going up against what was essentially the whole British judiciary at that time. It was the event that had showed Yūjin just how much Naruhodō had grown as both a lawyer and a man, but that had then ultimately only been the start of something so much bigger. At least for Yūjin personally.

“What about you, Doctor?” Van Zieks then asked curiously, “I know that you are Miss Susato’s father more than anything, but I would assume that you have come to nurture some sort of relationship with Mr. Naruhodō as well.”

Yūjin couldn’t help but stare down at his lap as he thought about all of the details that could come along with that question. “Well, the truth is…I had more of a relationship with his mother back when we were young. Genshin and I both did,” he explained to the prosecutor, “However, I was unaware of their familial connection until about a year ago, and I was forced to confront the fact that I too had been involved in pushing Naruhodō-kun into something of an isolated corner for a long time due to how I had always been prioritizing my own children. And as I think you can gather, that went beyond what would likely be considered normal.”

Even though he had long since been forgiven for his initial lack of knowledge about Naruhodō’s lineage, Yūjin still couldn’t help but feel ashamed of himself every time he thought back on it. Especially when he thought about his old friend and how much he missed her. However, Van Zieks had noticed his withdrawal and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “We are all only human, and that means that we sometimes make mistakes,” he said calmly, “That is why a good man will learn how to atone for those mistakes as he carries on with life, especially for the sake of those that we truly care about.”

Yūjin looked back at him quietly for a moment as he processed his words, but then he nodded once again. “I suppose that you are right, Lord Van Zieks,” he said with an exhale, feeling just a little bit of the weight lift off of his shoulders thanks to the reassurance, “I suppose that you feel that way from time to time as well?”

Van Zieks nodded right back, as it seemed that was the only way they each knew how to show their affirmation. “Kazuma Asōgi and I will never truly be friends, but we have taught each other a great many things in the time that we have spent working together. Especially as we each work to improve ourselves after what we know we did wrong,” he explained with almost a chuckle, “However, the only thing that we both agree on completely is that it was Mr. Naruhodō who helped us to see the light. Perhaps it is in poor taste to say, but him not giving up on us is what led us to the truth. And that in turn steered us towards finding our own better paths for the future.”

“I suppose that it really just goes to show that all relationships we have with the people around us matter to at least some degree, even if we do not always see it at first,” Yūjin then said, though he then stared down at his lap once again, “Nevertheless, I do hope that we will be able to find Naruhodō-kun soon. I am very concerned for his well-being as well as his current emotional state.”

“Mr. Naruhodō at least has enough wits about him to handle himself while out on the streets, so I reckon that he will more than likely be perfectly fine once he is found,” Van Zieks commented as he looked back at the desk of the hotel lobby, where he could see that calls were still being made in that moment, “We just need to find him, though all we can do for now is simply to wait.”

Haori couldn’t help but sigh disappointedly to herself as she and Holmes exited the third boarding house that they had tried to look through, as there was unfortunately still no sign of Naruhodō. And as the two of them stepped out onto the cold streets of London once again, it could be seen that the still falling snow had already mostly covered up their previous footprints. So her and the Great Detective were back to the drawing board once more, with no real clues and still not much else to go off of.

“Are you holding up alright, Miss Haori?” Holmes then asked, breaking the silence as they walked, “Is the cold bothering you at all?”

Haori shook her head as she adjusted her shawl. “No more than usual,” she answered, but then her face twisted into a look of determination, “Plus, I do not wish to feel like I am giving up for any reason while the job still isn't done. So let’s just keep pushing on!”

Holmes chuckled when he heard this from her. “You’re definitely Mikotoba’s student, alright,” he commented with a smile, “Back when we were younger men, he would say similar things about the cases that we worked on together.”

“Really?” Haori asked, unable to hold back her curiosity since she was still being caught up on her mentor’s past adventures as the famous partner of the Great Detective.

Holmes nodded, a little smile still present on his face. “You wouldn’t always suspect it given how much calmer and more dignified he is than I on a daily basis, but he could get quite excitable when it came to our investigations of those days,” he explained, “And he would say phrases that would sound very similar to what you said just now when it would seem that we were in something of a tight spot.”

Haori couldn’t help but smile a little proudly at the comparison made between her and her respected mentor, but then she realized something from looking at Holmes’s expression while he was talking. “You’re trying to cover up your own feelings about all of this, aren’t you?” she asked cautiously, hoping that she wasn’t overstepping her boundaries by doing so, “The way you took charge of the situation so quickly and have clearly been trying so hard to stay calm when the rest of us were in shock…It just makes me wonder what you really feel.”

Holmes’s face then fell, which immediately told Haori that she had been right on the money with her assumptions. “While a great detective must of course always be aware that there are times when he will not pick up on every detail of a given situation, he is still only human,” he explained glumly, “And as such, one’s emotions are not always forgiving when it comes to what is missed about more personal matters.”

Haori’s face softened considerably as she thought about what he was saying. “You care a great deal for Naruhodō-kun, don’t you?” she asked.

Holmes turned his head away slightly, though he kept his face firm so that he wouldn’t let his emotions show too prominently. “When someone comes to be under your care that you feel a certain emotional responsibility for, you try to be the best curator of protection and support that you possibly can be,” he said quietly, and then he seemed to go completely silent.

At first, Haori almost wanted to giggle at how Holmes was playing quite the game of verbal gymnastics so as to not truly say out loud that he felt like something of a father figure to Naruhodō. But she quickly stopped herself when she realized that it was probably not a subject that had been spoken of much before, and Holmes likely wasn’t entirely ready to be diving into the details of that just yet, at least not with her. At the same time though, she understood the general feeling that he was talking about, as Yūjin wasn’t exactly subtle about how he felt the same way towards both her and Asōgi even though they weren’t his children by blood.

“Well, ummm…” Haori said as she cleared her throat and tried to find her voice again, “I am sure that Naruhodō-kun appreciates everything you do and have done for him. Knowing him, it is most likely himself that he doubts in this case.”

“Yes…And I myself have seen plenty of evidence that corroborates that sequence of events,” Holmes admitted, and he really did have plenty of experiences from his many years of knowing Naruhodō that he knew he could look back on in order to validate that point, “Regardless of the setup of what led to this happening though, I do feel that there are likely many things that I can do differently from now on in order to prevent anything like this from occurring again.”

“I think all of us feel that way to at least some degree,” Haori agreed with a nod, but she tried to keep her head up, “But that is why we are all out here now, right? To try to make things right.”

Holmes nodded back at her, but then he sighed once again. “I do apologize for burdening you with my feelings, my dear girl,” he said almost disappointedly, but then he too started attempting to straighten himself out, “But I also thank you for your empathetic ear.”

Haori smiled at the detective kindly. “No need to worry about that, Holmes-sama,” she said sweetly, “After all, are we not currently trying to teach each other that our feelings matter and are not burdens on each other if they need to be heard?”

Holmes was quiet for a moment, but then he smirked, chuckling slightly as his typical detective look began to return to his face. “Right you are, my dear,” he said in agreement, but then he cleared his throat and straightened himself out in full as he finally picked his head back up, “But the rest of this discussion can wait for another day. For now, we must hurry to our next location and continue with our search!”

“Yes, of course!” Haori said, allowing her seriousness to take precedence within her mind once again. As Holmes had just said, everything else that she felt at that moment could wait until a later time until they reached the end of their current predicament. So that’s where she was going to direct her focus and make sure that she saw it through until the end.

While Gina was ultimately glad that she had left Toby back at 221B Baker Street in order for him to stay warm and safe on a night like this one, she now wished that she had brought him along in order to aid with the search for Naruhodō. London was a bigger place than it often seemed, but she knew that her puppy’s keen nose would likely be able to at least put them on the right track even through the cold and snow. However, since she had left him at home along with Wagahai, it was up to just her, Susato, Asōgi, and Iris at that moment. And so they were hurriedly moving along from place to place in attempts to find clues regarding Naruhodō’s whereabouts, though they hadn’t had any luck so far.

“How are you holding up, Gina-sama?” Susato suddenly asked her, breaking the silence of her thoughts, “Are you cold?”

Gina shook her head in response. “Nah. I’ve survived worse weathers with less on me durin’ my past years. So don’t ya worry ‘bout me one bit,” she reassured her friend, but then she frowned, “I’m worried ‘bout Oddo though.”

Susato nodded in agreement. “We all are,” she said rather flatly, “But we must stay optimistic so that Naruhodō-sama knows that we are acting simply out of concern for his well-being. Given the emotional state that he is likely in currently, we do not need him having any other potential misunderstandings.”

“Ah yeah. You’re right 'bout that,” Gina agreed, but then she turned to Susato curiously, “Ya know though. I know that I’m probably missin’ some of the details that the rest of ya have likely got in your ‘eads 'bout all of this, but I thought that Oddo had a solid thing goin’ on with the lot of ya. He seemed to be goin’ pretty good durin’ all the times I’ve seen the lot of ya ‘ere up till now.”

Iris sighed sadly, as she had overheard the question. “Runo has a bad habit of not talking about things that aren’t going right with him at any given moment. He thinks that he has to pretend that things are always going okay with him,” she explained to Gina, “He was kind of backed into a corner this time, but he ran away rather than tell us why he felt that way.”

Gina’s eyes widened as she processed this. “Maybe it’s just me, but that just seems so strange to 'ear. Oddo never seemed like the type to play tough to me,” she commented, but then she shrugged her shoulders, “Though maybe that was just because I was always way worse when it came to doin’ that, and he was usually the one helpin’ me out.”

“That’s just always been the case with Ryū,” Asōgi chimed in in a neutral tone of voice, “He’ll do pretty much everything in his power to try and help others with their problems and encourage them to not bottle their feelings up, but he then won’t speak of his own emotions to anyone until he’s essentially being beaten over the head by life to do so.”

“But we still couldn’t have expected anything like this. Or at least, I couldn’t,” Iris added glumly, her feet dragging along the pavement as she stared down at the ground, “I feel like I must have really missed something big if I didn’t realize how he might have been feeling before all of this happened.”

“This is not a matter of anyone truly being at fault. I know that it might be somewhat hard to believe given how we all think sometimes, but it is true,” Susato said somewhat sternly to everyone else around her, “While it is undeniable that we were all a bit too wrapped up in our excitement for the holiday and were therefore not paying the most attention, Naruhodō-sama also did not speak up about anything he felt and allowed it to boil over within his own mind. While we of course must clear up these misconceptions in the best ways we can, Naruhodō-sama must also come to accept that we are sincere in our words and that he can confide such emotions to us as his friends and family should he ever need to.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment as they simply continued to walk along the street, but then Gina chuckled somewhat. “Heh. This is why you’re the smart one, Sooze. Ya always know the best stuff to say to the rest of us,” she said, “But yeah, you’re right. And that kinda goes along with what Sogi said earlier too. We shouldn’t have to beat stuff into Oddo’s head all the time in order to get him to talk.”

“Maybe we should get someone other than you to say that to him,” Asōgi teased, which caused Gina to punch him in the arm while Susato and Iris giggled, which in turn offered them all a brief moment of levity amidst everything that was happening.

However, everyone’s focus then shifted back to where it needed to be, as they knew that they needed to focus on the current situation at hand. However, Susato’s words had left a strong impact on everyone because they all knew that she was right, even if some guilt was still present within all of them. Like they had with previous experiences, they had to leave the choice to accept the words they would say up to Naruhodō and hope that he would be able to understand them and where they were coming from. He could no longer be pulled along through such difficult times like a powerless puppet on strings, even if it hurt them to think that their loved one might potentially push them away.

Despite the slight worry that existed though, Asōgi was optimistic about everything, because he knew that his husband was a smart man and that he loved him. There was no reason for him to doubt that he would listen to them, and he was sure that they would be able to clear up the misunderstanding that had happened on this night without too much trouble. Before they got to that point though, they needed to still find Naruhodō, wherever he was in the city. And what Asōgi wanted more than anything was to have the knowledge that his lover was safe and unharmed, as that would be more precious to him than anything related to Christmas.

Naruhodō really had no idea where he had intended to go or what direction he had really intended to walk in after he had left 221B Baker Street, but after catching one of the few carriages that had been running on that holiday night, he had eventually found himself in Paddington Gardens after not too long and had just decided to stay there. The gardens had actually been decorated with a great deal of Christmas lights along the fences and trees, which made the park look truly alive with light and color, even during the night.

As he continued to walk through the gardens, Naruhodō actually felt happy as he looked upon the many strings of beautiful lights around the entire place and saw how they reflected on the crystalline white snow of the street. It honestly helped to distract Naruhodō from the previous feelings of anxiety and sadness that he had been dealing with before, and he hoped that what he had done had ultimately helped everyone else to feel the happiest that they could be on that evening. However, he was really starting to feel the cold biting at him after being outside for over an hour at that point and he was starting to get hungry, so he figured that it was probably about time for him to leave the park and find somewhere to stay for the evening.

However, Naruhodō didn’t get very far when a voice suddenly rang out through the garden and broke the silence that had accompanied him for so long. “Ryūnosuke!”

Naruhodō was surprised to hear his name being called, but he barely even had time to completely turn around before he was suddenly having the breath squeezed out of him by Asōgi, his arms wrapping around him and holding him quite tightly. At first, Naruhodō’s shock and the fact that he could barely breathe prevented him from speaking or even moving his own arms. “Kazuma…?” he finally managed to gasp out, though it wasn’t much.

Due to the fact that he didn’t respond, it seemed that Asōgi hadn’t really heard him due to how quiet his voice had been. But he did eventually loosen his grip and gave Naruhodō a tender kiss on the cheek. “Thank goodness you’re alright, Ryū,” Asōgi then said with a relieved exhale, but then he frowned, “You’re so cold.”

“Well, ummm…It is cold out here,” Naruhodō said, unable to think about how he was really supposed to respond to a comment like that at first, but then he managed to somewhat gather his thoughts, “But Kazuma…What’s going on? Why are you-”

“Runo!” Iris’s voice interrupted Naruhodō’s attempt to talk, and Asōgi stepped aside to allow the little girl to throw her arms around him as she approached, and she buried her face in his chest in relief, “Oh, you’re okay! I’m so glad!”

Though still confused about the general situation, Naruhodō patted Iris on the head to try and comfort her. “Yes, Iris-chan. I’m fine, I can assure you,” he said as she pulled away from him, “But what exactly is-”

“Naruhodō-sama!”

“Oddo!”

Naruhodō barely had time to react before both Susato and Gina had their arms around him too, except their combined superior strengths had caused them to pick him up off the ground as through he were nothing but a rag doll. Naruhodō did his best to return the affection that they were giving him, but his mind was still racing at that moment since he had barely gotten as much as a word in ever since the four of them had shown up. And once his feet were set back on solid ground, he tried again. “Guys, I really am glad to see all of you. But what’s going-”

“I need to call Holmsies!” Iris suddenly blurted out as though she had just remembered that particular detail, “Susie, do you have your personal radio on you too? Can you call your daddy?”

“Yes, I do! I will do that right away!” Susato agreed almost fiercely, “Hopefully everyone else will not be too far away from where we currently are!”

“They better not be! I’m freezin’ my toes off!” Gina grumbled, unable to hold back her complaints about the cold any longer, “I’m really ready to 'ead back ‘ome.”

“Do not fear, Gina-sama,” Susato reassured her friend, “Soon we will be-”

Everyone jumped due to the unexpected snap, and Naruhodō quickly put his hand over his mouth as though he hadn’t expected himself to yell in the way that he had. However, everyone was looking at him now and had stopped talking, which finally gave him the opportunity to speak that he had been trying to get. “I’m sorry,” he said gently at first, hoping to not confuse anyone and make them think that he was angry when he really wasn't, “But can one of you please explain to me what exactly is going on? What are you all doing here?”

Asōgi, Iris, Susato, and Gina all looked at each other for a moment as though they didn’t know how to answer that question at first. However, they then turned back and Iris spoke up for all of them. “We came looking for you, Runo,” she said in a much calmer tone of voice, “We were so worried about you after we realized that you had left home.”

Naruhodō’s eyes widened when he heard her say that. “Oh no…” he said in concern, “Did you not end up getting my note? It should’ve told you everything about what I was up to. But I suppose if it blew off of the table with the window being left open when I left, you may not have-”

“We did get that note you left, Ryū,” Asōgi interrupted gently, “And it did tell us everything that you thought you were doing for us. But that’s what made us drop everything and come out here to find you.”

“What?” Naruhodō asked, genuinely surprised, “But your plans to celebrate tonight…”

“Our plans to celebrate tonight were meant to involve our family. Our ENTIRE family,” Susato said firmly, but then her face fell somewhat, “When all of us realized that you had left and that we had missed the signs of your feelings starting to boil over, we could not help but feel a certain sense of guilt about if whether or not you were alright. Especially since we did not know where you would potentially be going.”

Naruhodō was quiet for a moment as he processed everything that she'd said, but then he sighed. “I didn’t mean to make all of you worry about me like this,” he finally said in a sad voice, “I just…I really didn’t know what you would all think if I told you that I had no traditions to share. I was afraid that…that you’d think it was pathetic that not even Christmas had a place for someone like me.”

Everyone looked at Naruhodō sadly as they listened to his reasoning. “So…that’s why you left?” Iris asked almost timidly.

Naruhodō nodded. “I thought that if I couldn’t share anything in the way that was asked of me, then I could at least do you all the favor of staying out of the way,” he explained, “I thought I was doing what was right for the rest of you…”

All four of them then moved around Naruhodō and hugged him altogether to try to give him some comfort, which he accepted without much protest, not that he could really move even if he had wanted to given how he was surrounded. When they all eventually pulled away though, it was Gina who then spoke up first. “You know somethin’ though, Oddo,” she said gently, “Christmas is really what ya make it more than anythin’.”

“Hmm?” Naruhodō asked curiously, not fully grasping what she meant by that.

Iris nodded her head in agreement. “It can be easy to forget when we have customs that have gone on for a long time and we've gotten used to doing them year after year, but every tradition has to start from somewhere,” she explained as she held Naruhodō’s hand, “And if you don’t have any from the past, that’s when you just make new ones instead.”

Susato then took Naruhodō’s other hand into hers as she gently smiled at him. “No holiday is truly so rigid in its principles of how to celebrate,” she said, “If you had told us about all of this and how you were feeling, then we could have figured something out to do for you. And like Iris-sama said, we can always make new traditions.”

“We would never ask you to leave. Especially not if that meant you going out on your own where we couldn’t find you,” Asōgi added as he rubbed his husband’s shoulders, “Besides. Even without traditions, you’re still part of our family. It doesn’t really matter who gives what and how equally divided things are. It’s about spending time together more than anything.”

“Oh, so NOW you’ve learned that lesson for yourself?” Susato teasingly asked her brother, which made everyone laugh, including Naruhodō. Asōgi rolled his eyes as his cheeks flushed pink, but he ultimately smirked and took his sister's comment lightheartedly, especially since seeing Naruhodō’s smile helped to alleviate everyone’s feelings somewhat in general.

After a moment, Naruhodō took a deep breath to steady himself. But then he frowned again. “I’m so sorry, everyone,” he said sadly, “I hope that I didn’t ruin anything tonight because of my misguided attempt to do right by you.”

“Nonsense. We didn’t even get started with anything yet, so there’s still plenty of time!” Iris said with a cheerful smile, “Besides, it’s not like anyone here is REALLY going to hold anyone else to a strict bedtime tonight. So we could have all night to keep celebrating if we wanted to!”

“Plus, we knew that you would more than likely understand the full situation just as long as you gave us the chance to talk to you about all of it,” Asōgi added, “We just had to find you. But now we can all go home and celebrate together.”

Naruhodō smiled in a touched manner, nodding in agreement and making everyone glad to see that things were ultimately shaping up to be just fine. With that matter settled, Iris and Susato walked a short distance away in order to contact everyone else just as they had mentioned they were going to before. “I’ll leave ya two boogers alone for a moment,” Gina then said to Asōgi and Naruhodō with a wink, “I bet that ya probably got plenty of couple sap to say to each other.”

With that, she waltzed off as if she owned the whole park, much to the two young men’s amusement. However, she was right that they wanted to talk to each other alone while they had the chance to, and the two then hugged properly once they could. “I’m sorry,” Naruhodō said again.

“I know,” Asōgi said as he held him back tightly, but then he was the one to sigh, “But you could have told me about all of this. We promised that there would be no more secrets between each other, remember?”

“I know,” Naruhodō said right back as they pulled away from each other a little, “I just didn’t know how to approach this because I’d never had to face these sorts of feelings before. And I guess I ended up panicking instead.”

Asōgi shook his head as he caressed Naruhodō’s face lovingly. “You have a tendency to try and pretend that everything is always alright with you even when it’s not,” he said, “I just know you well enough to usually know whenever you’re feeling down or trying to hide things most of the time. But I didn’t understand what was going on with you this time due to you hiding from all of us while all of us were quite absorbed into getting excited about Christmas, and then it was only that note that told us what had been going on with you these past few days."

Naruhodō nodded his head in understanding. “I was wrong for that. I should’ve trusted all of you more,” he said, and then he looked up, “Can you forgive me?”

Asōgi smiled, as he could see that Naruhodō was unconsciously giving him his puppy-dog eyes as he looked up at him, though he knew that his words were sincere. “Of course. Just as long as you can forgive us too for getting a bit swept up in our holiday plans,” he answered, “But let’s not let there be a next time for this sort of thing, okay? I love you.”

“Okay. I love you too, ” Naruhodō said with a bit of a chuckle, and the two then kissed one another tenderly. The warmth provided by the shared affection of the moment was enough to almost lift some of the cold out of the atmosphere around them, and both of the young men were silently relieved to be back with each other for their own reasons.

When they then pulled away from each other in full, Susato, Iris, and Gina returned to the vicinity with the report that Holmes, Haori, Yūjin, and Van Zieks were all on their way to join them in the park, and they would all head back home to Baker Street once they were all in the same place again. In the meantime, Naruhodō began to lead everyone else through the gardens in order to show them his favorite of the lights that he had seen before, much to their delight. It seemed that the three girls were all taking turns pushing and pulling Naruhodō every which way as they went along, but all it did was make him smile more because he knew they were simply trying to involve him. It made him feel stupid that he hadn’t gone to them about his feelings earlier, but he supposed that he would just need to do well to remember that for the future.

As they continued to walk along the park trail, everyone’s moods lightened up more and more as they gazed at the beautiful lights all around the place, and a nice dose of Christmas spirit finally seemed to be present among the group again. “Man, I really wonder just 'ow people manage to put all of this together,” Gina commented as she looked around, “All this glitz seems like it’d take months to put together, yet I think that they did all this in like a week or so.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Susato asked with a little giggle, “I feel like that even now every time I attend festivals in Japan and see all of the decorations that are set up for them around town.”

“But that’s just part of the charm of it all!” Iris said giddily, “And it’s all the better when you’re just a casual enjoyer of it and not responsible for cleaning anything up!”

This comment made everyone laugh, though they had to agree with the sentiment in general since none of them enjoyed putting things away even with the effort it took to get everything out and set things up. A few moments later, a call of Susato's name led all of them to meeting up with Yūjin and Van Zieks as they approached them, which only made the group of people bigger. “It is fortunate to see you in good health,” Van Zieks said to Naruhodō once they were all settled together, “I hope that any misunderstandings have been cleared up by now.”

“Don’t worry. I think it’s safe to say that they have been,” Naruhodō admitted somewhat sheepishly to the prosecutor, “Sorry for dragging you all the way out here.”

“It’s alright, Naruhodō-kun,” Yūjin said as he placed a reassuring hand on Naruhodō’s shoulder with a smile, “We’re just glad to see that you’re alright.”

Naruhodō smiled back at the professor, but he didn’t have time to even think of anything to say in response to him before someone else had thrown themselves on him yet again, interrupting his thought process before it had gotten very far. This time, it was Haori who was there, and she let out a big sigh of both relief and exhaustion as though she had just sprinted a mile in order to get there. “Thank goodness you’re alright, Naruhodō-kun,” she said through her somewhat heavy breaths, and Naruhodō decided to not even bother trying to come up with a response and instead just returned the embrace that she was giving him. When they pulled away from each other, Haori gave him a bright smile that showed her joy and repose, and Naruhodō simply smiled back at her, never more glad to be wrong about something he had once feared.

“HEADS UP!” came an abrupt yell that disturbed the peace, and a snowball suddenly smacked Yūjin directly in the face just as he turned around in order to acknowledge the call, which made him stumble back slightly.

Everyone then turned to see Holmes standing a short distance away and laughing due to what he had just done, dancing around in place slightly like the gremlin he was acting to be. Though it stunned the rest of the group for a few moments, Susato was quick to snap out of her state of mild shock and began gathering snow into her hands. “The Mikotoba Clan will not take this offense laying down!” she shouted as though it was a declaration of war, which immediately told Holmes what kind of trouble he was in, and the detective quickly had to break into a sprint as Susato then started chasing him around the park.

Before anyone knew it, snowballs were flying between everyone in a massive free-for-all snowball fight, and no one was going to be spared. Even Van Zieks was somehow involved in the ordeal, mostly protecting Iris and keeping some of the powdery barrage away from her. For the most part though, no one was safe from getting pelted with snow bit by bit, with some people like Gina, Holmes, and Haori being a lot more intense about the ongoing battle than others. Under the colors of the strings of lights that ran through the whole park, the scene of the snowball fight happening in those moments seemed to help with capturing a very warm and loving atmosphere for the family once again, even in the most unlikely of places.

As Naruhodō searched through the attic shelves in order to find what he was looking for, he was already reflecting on what had gone down ever since the group had returned home to Baker Street, as well as just how much fun he had been having. First, everyone had worked together in order to make a massive feast of both English and Japanese holiday foods, all culminating in a dinner consisting of ham, roasted potatoes, steamed vegetables, roast chicken, cream stew, Christmas pudding, and strawberry shortcake. There were still plenty of leftovers after everyone had eaten their particular fill for the night, which would ensure that everyone would have the ability to eat as much as they wanted in the coming days, and then they essentially jumped straight into participating in everyone’s various traditions.

Van Zieks had started things off by offering a toast to the season while everyone was still sitting at the dinner table together, with glasses of wine for most people or glasses of cranberry juice for those who either didn’t like alcohol or couldn’t legally have it yet. He had brought a collection of finely made chalices for everyone to use for the toast, which many people found at least a little bit amusing considering how many chalices of the sort they had seen smashed in the courtroom over the years, but they couldn’t deny the pristine quality of them.

When everyone was done eating, Van Zieks helped Holmes fetch a Christmas tree that had been stuffed in his closet for the past few days, and Iris brought out a collection of boxes that contained lights and ornaments for everyone to decorate said tree with. What was even better was that after the tree was all set up and fully lit up, the lights that adorned the branches were bright enough to essentially light the whole room without needing to rely on candles or anything else electrical, which only contributed even more to the providing of a warm ambiance.

Keeping up with the decorating mood, Yūjin and Susato then brought in small wreaths for everyone to customize while Haori brought in a lot of colorful paper, scissors, markers, and glue in order to make paper charms. Once people were done with those, everyone’s personalized wreaths were hung up around the house wherever they could find a hook of sorts, while their paper charms were hung on the Christmas tree along with the other ornaments. It made the whole inside of the house look somewhat crowded given all of the various decorations that were set up around it, but no one really cared since it made a nice, festive view. Though they did still have to be mindful of the fire hazard chances, no matter how low they objectively were, especially with Holmes being present in the house.

Gina had then led everyone in some singing of carols, as that was apparently what the orphans in the East End did every year on Christmas as a means of bonding with each other. The songs that she knew were a bit less traditional than anything related to the country’s religion or general holiday cheer, but they were sweet and meaningful nonetheless. It was an upbeat and fun affair to try and keep up with the songs, even though Gina had been getting a tad frustrated with having to teach people the lyrics multiple times.

Asōgi then broke out what was involved with his biological family’s traditions that he held close, which involved painting masks and coming up with short, silly skits for the purpose of making people laugh. No one outside of Iris exactly had much script writing experience, but Asōgi encouraged them that the point of the activity was that the skits were ultimately more fun to watch when they were narratively worse, so everyone just threw their all into whatever ridiculousness they could think of for the sake of entertainment in the moment, which was a great success.

However, that was what had led Naruhodō and Susato to where they were now. They had run out of paint downstairs after all of the decorating that had gone on so far during the night, so the two of them were searching around the storage parts of the attic in order to look for more. Since Naruhodō had previously used the attic as a space to paint in the past, he just knew that some extra supplies had to be around the place somewhere, so all they had to do was find it.

“Here, Naruhodō-sama! I found it!” Susato finally called out after a few minutes of searching, and she showed the paint supplies she had found so that he would be able see it for himself, “Let’s go back down and join the others now.”

“Alright,” Naruhodō answered, but he didn’t get very far when he felt something shuffle under his foot unnaturally. He looked down and saw that the plank of wood his left foot was currently putting weight on seemed to be moving around in a way it wasn’t supposed to. Unable to contain his curiosity, Naruhodō knelt down in order to take a look, removing the loose board from its place. And when he saw what exactly was inside the little hidden space, he let out a little gasp of awe.

Now equally as curious herself due to hearing the noise from him, Susato temporarily set down the paint supplies and turned around. “What did you find there, Naruhodō-sama?” she asked.

She walked over to that part of the room just in time to see Naruhodō lift a small box out of the secret passage in the floor, a smile now present on his face. “I completely forgot about this!” he exclaimed, though there now seemed to be excitement building in his voice as well, “Wow, I can’t believe it’s been so long…I didn’t even remember about this secret hiding place that Iris-chan showed me back then. I must have really lost my head as of late.”

“It is a nice little box,” Susato said as she knelt down to look more closely at it, as an interesting pattern had been painted onto the wood, “But what exactly is inside of it?”

“Look,” Naruhodō said as he opened the box slightly in order for her to see, and when Susato laid eyes on what was waiting inside, she also let out a little gasp. The two of them then looked at each other for a few moments before they each gathered their bearings and made their way downstairs together, with Susato holding the paint supplies and Naruhodō holding his newly discovered box.

Everyone in the main room either turned or looked up when they heard the pair come back, and while Susato placing the painting supplies down on the table was silently acknowledged and thanked, the box now present in Naruhodō’s hands soon gathered everyone’s eager attention. “What do you happen to have there with you, Mr. Naruhodō?” Holmes eventually asked curiously, speaking for everyone, “Did you find something interesting up there in your upper room sanctuary?”

“I did actually,” Naruhodō said, still smiling as he spoke, “I completely forgot that I had this since it ended up being hidden in the floor for years, but I guess it ended up coming back to me tonight.”

Everyone gathered around the table as Naruhodō set the box down upon it, and then he opened it up in full in order to show everyone what was there. Inside, there was a collection of spheres that looked as though they were made of hardened clay, but they had all been painted with a variety of beautiful colors. Looking closer however, Haori then noticed something. “Wait a minute…” she said as she reached out and cautiously took one of the spheres into her hands. It was light yellow in color with a pattern of light blue forget-me-not flowers that she recognized from her favorite kimono, almost as if it had been used for an inspiration of sorts. “Are these…representative of all of us?”

Naruhodō nodded his head. “I made these back in 1900 during the time when I was prohibited from standing in court,” he explained, his smile then almost turning glum, “I was sad during those days because I wasn’t confident in my identity and I didn’t really know what to make of myself without the courtroom. But thinking about the people that I cared about the most helped me to feel a sense of hope, and I was able to smile again. So I made myself reminders of sorts in the form of these spheres.”

“Naruhodō-sama showed me these when we had some free time in the days before what was supposed to be the International Forensic Science Symposium, and I told him about you, Haori-sama, and you as well, Father. Since he then decided to make some of these for you, I gave him suggestions for what I believed would be the most fitting for you,” Susato added with a sweet smile, “We ended up forgetting all about these though due to everything that happened in between then and now, especially since they ended up being tucked underneath the floorboards for so long.”

“But I found them again by pure luck,” Naruhodō concluded, “And I now want all of you to have them.” He and Susato then began to hand the spheres out, showing everyone what he had been thinking of them during that particular time of his life. Those who were Japanese understood Naruhodō’s usage of the language of flowers in his creations, and though they had to explain it to those who were English and didn’t understand it in the same way, they all seemed to like what they were hearing.

Susato and Haori’s spheres matched with their most prominent kimonos, with Susato’s being pink with magenta cherry blossoms while Haori’s was pale yellow with light blue forget-me-nots. Yūjin’s was navy blue to match with his favorite English suit, with a pattern of pale yellow daffodils on it that represented the respect that his daughter and now son-in-law had for him. The notion clearly moved him, which could be seen in the way he smiled. Holmes then smiled in a similar way as Yūjin explained to him how the golden honeysuckle painted upon the light brown base of his sphere represented generosity, though he tried to keep his emotions as subtle as he could manage, as was usual for him.

Naruhodō initially seemed sheepish when he explained to Van Zieks that the purple ericas on the dark teal base of his sphere represented solitude, but the prosecutor actually seemed somewhat amused by the explanation and simply accepted the sphere with a nod and the tiniest of appreciative smiles. Iris was delighted to hear that the pale pink flowers on the white base of her sphere were the iris flowers that she was ultimately named after, and Gina looked pleased when she heard that the pink peonies on the green base of her sphere represented bravery, which Naruhodō had decided were perfect for her after her fateful and quite difficult trial from all those years ago.

Asōgi smiled in a touched manner when he saw the red camellias on the black base of his sphere that represented the love for him that he knew that his husband had never let die, and it seemed obvious for everyone to see the white chrysanthemums on the blue base of Naruhodō’s sphere that represented truth, something that was clearly important to him. In fact, it could generally be agreed that that prospect applied to him moreso now than it had back then simply based on everything that had happened during the time between, but that ultimately mattered very little since it was fitting for him either way.

Once everyone had a few moments to look the spheres over and enjoy them, Holmes and Yūjin cleared some space on the mantle so that they could all set them up somewhere, and everyone then set the spheres up in a line over the fireplace so that all of their various patterns and colors could be seen together. With that little matter settled, Iris, Susato, and Haori all went off into the kitchen in order to make some hot chocolate for everyone, leaving the rest of the group to either add a few more last-minute details to their painted skit masks or just relax a little bit. As such, Van Zieks sat down with a book, Yūjin simply watched Holmes and Gina finish painting their masks while asking questions about what they maybe had in mind for them, and Asōgi and Naruhodō stood a little off to the side of the room together with their arms around each other, enjoying the night in a temporary quiet peace.

However, the couple wasn’t silent for long as Asōgi squeezed his husband’s shoulder in order to get his attention. “Well then, I think it would be fair to say that you’ve finally found your tradition,” he said with a smile.

“Huh?” Naruhodō asked a little puzzledly, “Do you mean those spheres? I don’t think I could keep making new ones every year for people to enjoy. I’d run out of ideas before long.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Asōgi said as he shook his head, though he was still smiling, “Traditions aren’t always about making something new for every holiday that comes and goes. Sometimes it’s about treasuring what we already have and remembering the happy feelings that come along with that.”

Naruhodō thought about what his husband was saying for a moment, but then it seemed to click in his mind. “So setting them up on the mantel like that every year…” he said with a newfound sense of hope, “That’s enough?”

Asōgi chuckled with a slight roll of his eyes. “Just us being here together as a family is enough. And that means you too,” he answered quite matter-of-factly, “We just do all of these holiday activities because they’re fun to share and do with a group of people, and they make us happy. If you personally express your care for us in that simple but colorful way…then it’s enough. Because we all know how you are, with all your kindness and empathy even with you occasional lack of brains.”

Naruhodō puffed his cheeks out angrily as he felt his cheeks burn slightly from the minor diss at the end of his husband’s little speech, but when Asōgi started laughing in response to his face, he couldn’t help but laugh along with him because he knew that he was ultimately right. The two then shared a warm kiss, and something about this one along with the embrace of the holiday that they had finally managed to achieve made it feel a little extra special. Even if that meant that everyone was being a little extra sappy in that moment, it was still very much a welcome notion.

The peaceful moment was then interrupted when Holmes suddenly let out a roar-like noise to go along with his newly painted mask, startling Susato and Haori as they were coming back into the main room. However, both girls happened to have free hands in that instant, and Holmes quickly ended up getting dual-thrown to the ground in their moment of fright. The two of then then realized it was just him that was there rather than a monster, and though both of them seemed a bit angry about his little surprise and like they were maybe about to tear into Holmes for his little stunt, no one had any time to respond at all before Van Zieks suddenly started audibly chuckling at what he saw, which shocked everyone else in the flat too much. Thus, nothing else ended up being said in that moment at all.

Iris then emerged from the kitchen with a rather large tray of steaming mugs, and though she was initially surprised to see Holmes sprawled out on the ground the way he was, she shrugged it off once he flashed her a thumbs-up to let her know that he was fine. Satisfied, she then started walking around the room, with Susato and Haori helping her pass out the freshly made hot chocolate to everyone. The mini marshmallows floating on the top of the cups and pleasant smell of the warm beverages helped to make everyone feel excited once again, and it further signified that their celebration showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Once he was back on his feet and everyone was settled with their drinks, Holmes raised his mug high with a pleased smile on his face. “Merry Christmas, all of my dear fellows,” he said happily, “Here is to our continued adventures and to always sticking together.”

“Here, here!” everyone said in response, and they all then sipped their hot chocolate together. However, it had been greatly underestimated just how hot the drinks still were, and it was clear that a lot of people in the room were about to end up with burnt taste buds. No one was too bothered by that after the initial moment passed though, and the laughter of everyone that then filled the room as they began to chat again only filled Naruhodō’s heart with joy as he leaned his head on Asōgi’s shoulder once again. Before, he hadn’t always felt a special connection to Christmas as many people around him typically seemed to due to just how long he had been alone. However, he now felt as though he finally did understand the spirit for the season, and he wasn’t going to forget just how lucky he was to have his wonderful family ever again.