Archive of Our Own

"And there you have it!" concluded Sholmes, tipping his deerstalker with a grin, "I always recognise a kindred spirit, Mr Naruhodo!"

"Wow! Congratulations, Runo!" laughed Iris, clapping her hands together.

"Wonderful deduction, Mr Sholmes!" cried Susato with delight.

Everyone turned to Ryunosuke expectantly. He was still frozen like a startled rabbit in the middle of the living room. He wanted desperately to continue the dance, as usual - to yell "Hold it, Mr Sholmes!" and continue to course-correct the detective on every detail he got wrong. That was part of this little game they always played together, after all.

But Ryunosuke found himself unable to move. Unable to get out a single word.

(Everything Mr Sholmes just said... Could that all really be true?)

"I assume from your expression that I have, once again, hit the nail exactly on the head!" exclaimed Sholmes.

"Really, Mr Naruhodo? Nothing to say to that at all?" asked Susato with a small chuckle.

"No rebuttal? No course-correcting?" grinned Iris.

Ryunosuke's shoulders slumped. "No. Nothing at all."

They all gave him strange looks.

"I think I'll retire to my room now," he said stiffly, trying to contain the whirlwind of feelings flying through his mind. "Sorry..."

As he left the living room, he felt like all eyes were on him.

The deductions of that Great Detective were a bit of harmless fun - until they weren't, Ryunosuke realised. Perhaps it was dramatic of him to feel like one of the criminals he'd often danced around at a crime scene. But a secret had been exposed - and it wasn't even one he'd realised he'd been keeping until it'd been dragged out in the open for everyone to witness.

(I'm never attracted to people. I don't experience romantic feelings at all. How have I never noticed such a thing before now?)

Even as he lay on his bed, trying to sift through a tsunami of thoughts and emotions, he still tried to wonder if Mr Sholmes could be wrong somehow. After all, a completely correct Dance of Deduction was something rare to behold. Like a shooting star, or Iris managing to invent something without causing an explosion.

The only reason he was certain that the detective wasn't wrong... Is because he was absolutely certain, deep, deep down, that he was right.

Ryunosuke had never once had a romantic relationship, or an infatuation, or anything of that sort. He'd never laid eyes upon someone beautiful and felt his heart dance in his chest, or butterflies flit in his stomach, or even a fleeting flush of warmth in his cheeks. He’d never glanced at someone’s lips save for wondering what they were eating or drinking, and though he wouldn’t describe the entire population as unappealing to look at, he’d never found himself drawn to any particular pleasant features that made the others around him swoon.

Somehow, he'd never thought about any of it before. There'd always been something else to think about. Even before the whirlwind of events that had led him to London, he'd always managed to think of something else. His studies, perhaps. Or hobbies, like archery or shogi problems. He hadn’t had a wealth of exciting things going on in his life, not back then, but he had always found something other than his attractions to fix his mind on. To the point where he'd never even noticed he was doing it.

He had a gut feeling, in fact, that if not for Mr Sholmes pointing it out, he may never have noticed. Perhaps he could’ve lived the rest of his life without ever once considering that something was different about him. And he would’ve been fine with that.

(But now I can’t... Because I’ve noticed it now, haven’t I?)

There was a gentle knock at the door, followed by a quiet voice. "Naruhodo-san?"

"Susato-san?"

The girl slowly opened his door, and loitered in the doorway.

"I wanted to give you some time to yourself..."

(It's barely been five minutes...)

"BUT," she said with increased volume, as if trying to speak over his thoughts, "I couldn't help it. I was simply overcome with worry. Are you feeling alright?"

He sat up, and gestured vaguely for Susato to sit next to him on the bed. She closed the door behind her, and sat down. There seemed to be tears in her eyes.

"I'm fine!" said Ryunosuke, reflexively. It always hurt deeply to see his friend so concerned.

"Was it that deduction Mr Sholmes made?" she asked, cutting all preamble.

(Mr Sholmes has his deductions, but Susato-san has a talent for reaching the heart of a matter in mere seconds, doesn't she?)

"Yes," he admitted. There was no use in denying anything if he'd made his discomfort so obvious to everybody.

"Oh... I apologise for laughing, Naruhodo-san, I really do." She bowed, and since she was already sitting down, Ryunosuke feared she may tumble over straight to the floor. "It did not occur to me that you might want such things to be kept private... I am deeply sorry."

"Oh! That's not it," he blurted out. He put a hand to his chin in thought, and then added, "Well, that might be part of it, I suppose. To tell the truth, Susato-san, it is not something I'd ever considered myself before Sholmes brought it up."

"Oh!" She brought a hand to her mouth. "I had no idea! I thought that you had discussed it before..."

Ryunosuke frowned a little. Something struck him as odd, suddenly.

"I want you to answer this honestly, Susato-san..."

"Oh dear..."

"Please tell me... Did the rest of you already know?”

"Ah... Well..." Susato averted her gaze, and bit her lip.

(...Is it just ME? Am I the only one who didn't notice my own feelings?)

"Well," repeated Susato, bringing a hand to her face in thought, "We have spent a lot of time together over the last months, Naruhodo-san."

"...Yes?"

"And I must confess... I never noticed you expressing any particular affection towards women. Even those who everyone else found to be rather beautiful."

"Oh..."

"And – i-if you'll forgive my bluntness, Naruhodo-san - I initially believed that your affections may lie in... other directions, if you will."

"...Ah. I see."

"I wasn't looking for such things, of course!" she added quickly, starting to tremble a little, "But it did strike me. However, as we came to know each other better, I never thought you had any particular affinity towards anyone else either. Well, except for-" She bit her lip again. "A-anyway! I remembered a certain passage from 'The Adventures of Herlock Sholmes', from 'A Scandal in Bohemia'. Do you recall?"

"I think you overestimate everyone's ability to recall book passages from memory, Susato-san," said Ryunosuke with a small smile. It didn't feel like the time to admit that he'd only skimmed the copy of that book she'd given him.

Susato had a certain sparkle in her eyes as she pulled that hefty blue tome from within her kimono. She licked her finger, sifting through the pages. She tapped a page, and started to read it out loud:

"It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. [...] Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his."

"That doesn't sound like the Herlock Sholmes we know at all," Ryunosuke felt the need to point out, "I don't even know where to start-"

"Yes, yes, I know," said Susato, slipping the book back into her kimono. "Iris has often said that the version of 'Herlock Sholmes' she writes in her stories is merely a character inspired by the man himself."

"...That explains a great deal, actually. But I'm afraid I've lost the point you were trying to make."

"The point is this, Naruhodo-san: When I read that passage again, it did begin to occur to me... Could it be true? Perhaps not as 'grit in a sensitive instrument', or as a disturbance to any 'cold, precise' mind - because as you said, that doesn't match what we know of the man at all. But... could it be true that one can simply not experience that kind of love? Those feelings of attraction that draw people to one another? That is what it made me wonder."

"...So have you ever asked Mr Sholmes about it?"

"I believed it to be an overly sensitive matter. But I did speak briefly with Iris-"

(Not too "sensitive" for Iris, then. Though I suppose she did publish it in a book.)

"-and she said that while she made up parts of it, as I suspected, the core of the matter was true. Mr Sholmes has actually mentioned it to her on more than one occasion. He is never attracted to people. He never experiences feelings like that. There is no reason or logic... That's just how he is, and always has been." Susato closed her eyes. "I thought the same was likely true of you, Naruhodo-san. I simply assumed you were keeping it to yourself, and wished to respect that."

There was a long pause.

"Thank you for telling me, Susato-san," said Ryunosuke, finally breaking the silence. "You do seem to have a talent for deduction yourself."

"I promise it wasn't my intention to pry in your affairs. Today, when Mr Sholmes brought it up... I thought you already knew, and you were just playing a part of the performance."

Ryunosuke brought a hand to his chin in thought once again. "That makes sense, what you said about him. Didn't he say he recognised a 'kindred spirit'?"

"Exactly! And I imagine Iris saw in you what she also sees in him. So to answer your question of if everyone else already knew..."

"...The answer is yes."

Susato nodded.

"Well..." Ryunosuke slumped a little. "I'm not sure what to make of all that."

"I think that is completely fair. I imagine it would be something challenging to discover about yourself in the best of circumstances... Let alone in front of the rest of us." Her expression hardened a little. "Would you like me to confront Mr Sholmes about this? I would be glad to. I think it was wrong of him, even if he thought-"

"No, no, that's fine," said Ryunosuke, with a small laugh. Though it was touching to know that Susato was willing to give her hero a good telling off on his behalf, the girl wasn't his mother, and didn't have to take on responsibilities like that. Of course not. "You can talk to him if you want to, but not on my behalf. I'll mention it to him myself, alright?"

Susato nodded slowly. "Of course. Did... Did this conversation help you, Naruhodo-san?"

Ryunosuke nodded. "Yes. I still need some time to think, but... You've helped me understand some things. Thank you."

Susato bowed again, but as she began to stand, Ryunosuke felt something tugging at the edges of his memory.

"H-hold it! I mean, wait! There's one last thing..."

"Oh! What's that?"

Ryunosuke took in a breath. He felt that he could regret asking about this. "When you said that my attention could be in 'other directions'..."

Susato's eyes widened.

Ryunosuke was starting to feel like he was in the courtroom now, pressing Susato about an earlier testimony. But he knew this would weigh on his mind. "You said nobody 'except for-' and then changed your mind. You were about to say a name, weren't you? You were going to say someone's name."

She stared at him, her expression rapidly growing in unease. "Naruhodo-san..."

Ryunosuke found himself starting to tremble, for reasons he struggled to understand, as he was the one asking these questions. He thought he knew the answer, but he had to be sure. He had to be sure. "Susato-san, please... Could you please tell me what that name was going to be?"

The Great Detective's deductive techniques did hold some merit after all - because as he asked that, he saw Susato's eyes momentarily glance down. As he followed her gaze, it landed on the katana he carried by his side.

Susato saw that he'd caught her glance, and simply nodded sadly. Neither of them had to say the name out loud.

(Kazuma.)

Ryunosuke's best friend and a dear friend of Susato’s as well, who'd lost his life on the steamship here. The man Ryunosuke had spent the better part of those last few months with, before the events leading to London had turned his life upside-down. The man who had decided to stand up for Ryunosuke when nobody else would, who had never given up on him, and who had driven him on the path to becoming a lawyer.

(Kazuma Asogi.)

Ryunosuke's best friend, who he had spent so much time with. Who had first met Ryunosuke by aggressively confronting him about something to do with a speech and a tongue twister, and who had stayed by his side since then. Who had helped by studying alongside him at university, who had shared books and shared banter, who had challenged him to archery and swordplay, and who had confided in him his dream of revolutionising the Japanese legal system. The man with whom he'd shared many walks, and many secrets, and many inside jokes and laughter and fun. The man who had convinced him to come to London in the first place - smuggling Ryunosuke into his trunk aboard the ship - and the man who Ryunosuke now carried the soul of every single day, determined to continue his legacy.

(Kazuma Asogi...)

Ryunosuke found that tears had crept into his eyes without permission. He wiped them with his sleeve. Not now. "Sorry, Susato-san... I just need to ask..."

"I know what you're going to ask, and..." She glanced aside, tears filling her eyes as well. "I am not sure I can give you the answer you want to hear."

"I'm going to ask anyway."

"Of course."

Ryunosuke gripped the katana tightly, rubbing a thumb against the headband that Susato had tied around it that day. "He was my best friend in the world, you know. Did anyone else see our relationship... differently?"

Susato took in a sharp intake of breath, and finally managed to look her friend in the eyes. "I... I cannot speculate as to others. And I never wished to speculate myself, either. But the way he spoke about you... You two were 'partners' in some sort of manner, were you not?"

(Partners... Yes. That's what we always said...)

Ryunosuke nodded. "In some sort of way, I suppose that's true. Did he..." He took in a careful, deep breath to stop the tears. Not now. He could cry later. "Did he... Feel differently about it all, I wonder? When I called him 'partner', I was referring to my best friend. Did... D-did he...?"

Susato ducked her head again. "I confess I do not know. It isn't something I ever asked him about."

"And now we'll never know..."

"No... I suppose we won't."

There was a long silence.

Susato buried her head in her sleeve, still turned away, and Ryunosuke saw her starting to tremble.

Ryunosuke reached out an uncertain hand, and placed it gently on her back. "It's alright to cry, Susato-san. It's always alright."

Susato sniffed. "I... This conversation was about your feelings, Naruhodo-san. I do not wish to override them with mine. That is a selfish thing to do."

Ryunosuke stared at her. That statement troubled him more than anything else so far. "No," he said firmly, "I just told you, didn't I? Its always alright. And I know you were very close to Kazuma as well." He found himself starting to tremble a little as well, now that he'd said the name out loud. Uh oh.

"Kazuma-sama..." Susato whispered softly.

And then, finally, she broke down and erupted into tears. Ryunosuke kept his hand on her back, stifling his own sobs with little success, before giving in as well. Susato leant towards him a little, and the two sat on the bed together, crying beside each other for the first time, and remembering. Always remembering.

Ryunosuke was remembering his best friend, and wondering if he could ever think of him, or of them, the same way again, now that he couldn't think of himself the same way again. Susato was remembering things Ryunosuke didn't know, and he wouldn't ask, because those things were for her, and she'd tell him if she wanted to.

The feeling of grief was a loss so great that it felt the well of tears could never run dry. It was a feeling the two were very familiar with - having let out their feelings in their own time, on their own terms, and completely alone. Even in the comfort of someone feeling the same as yourself, that well never really dried. They knew that they simply had to choose to stop, and to get up, and to keep on going with life. So, when that time came, as it always did, the two separated from each other, wiping their eyes.

"Don't apologise for crying," said Ryunosuke pre-emptively. "Please don't apologise for that, Susato-san."

Susato bowed again. "Then I won't. Thank you..." She got to her feet, brushing down her kimono. "I will leave you to yourself now, Naruhodo-san. I know there is much on your mind."

"You're a good listener! But you don't always have to listen, you know. If there's ever too much on your mind, you know where to find me." He scratched the back of his neck. "Don't worry if it's, um... a sensitive matter, or anything. I'll listen to you. Of course I will."

Something flickered across Susato's face for a second, and then she replaced it with a warm smile. "I shall bear that in mind."

When Ryunosuke eventually returned downstairs to the living room of 221B, Susato was still in her room. But he was sure that she was alright.

"Runo! You're back!" squealed Iris, running towards him and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I was just upstairs, Iris!

Iris' eyes watered as she detached herself from him. "I know, but you seemed ever so upset... And then Susie followed you too..."

"Miss Susato is fine! We just had a conversation, and now she's retired to her own room. I'm sure she'll be down shortly."

"I heard you crying..."

"You did?"

Iris nodded. "I was trying to hear your conversation from downstairs..."

(...Which she admits without a shred of guilt.)

"Don't worry, I don't understand Japanese," Iris reassured him, as if that helped. Maybe she thought it did. "But I heard that you cried! Hurley told me not to go upstairs, though. He said it was something between you two."

"And I think you should bear that one in mind, Iris. You shouldn't eavesdrop... You have no idea what we could've been talking about."

"Yeah... I suppose you're right. I won't do it again." She bit her lip. "Was it about Hurley's Dance of Deduction?"

Ryunosuke sighed heavily. "...Yes. Yes it was."

"You should've said, my dear fellow!" declared Sholmes, who was pouring chemicals on the other side of the room, and apparently had a penchant for eavesdropping as well.

Iris pulled Ryunosuke over to the sofa by his hand, and Sholmes sat opposite them.

"Should I make everyone some tea?" Iris suggested.

"Excellent plan, Iris," said Sholmes, and the little girl rushed off to the kitchen.

Ryunosuke opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Sholmes starting first.

"Sorry that Iris was trying to listen you both. I found her curled up at the bottom of the stairs."

(...A genuine apology? Straight away?)

"It's fine!" Ryunosuke spluttered, but it wasn't, and he was lying. "She said she doesn't even know Japanese."

"She doesn’t, as far as I know. But I told her it was wrong, and I think it got though to her."

"Thank you..."

Sholmes being this serious was almost unnerving. Ryunosuke never thought he'd want the man to start dancing round the room or ramble about random inventions.

Sholmes brought his pipe to his mouth. "I feel as if my deductions earlier may have upset you both, is that right?"

Ryunosuke shifted uncomfortably. "...It upset me, I admit. Then Miss Susato rushed to see me because she was worried. It's all fine now," he assured.

...But it wasn't, and he was lying.

"I never like to be the first to admit that I'm wrong, Mr Naruhodo."

"Yes... I'm well aware of that."

"But if my deductions were wrong, you should have said something! You usually jab that index finger of yours at me and shout 'Hold it, Mr Sholmes!' at the top of your lungs!"

(At the top of my lungs? I didn't realise I did that.)

Ryunosuke took in a deep breath. "The problem was the opposite, Mr Sholmes. You were right. You were right about all of it."

"Well, of course. My powers of deductive reasoning are second to none. Then what was the problem?"

Ryunosuke fixed him with a look, trying to keep his emotions from boiling over. “I didn't know, Mr Sholmes. I didn't know about any of it. You made a spectacle of telling us all something I didn't know about myself."

Iris walked in with the tea and froze in place, staring at them both with wide eyes.

"...Iris? Is something wrong?"

Sholmes turned to face him directly, ducking a little under his hat. "Neither of us have ever seen you with an expression that intense outside of the courtroom, Mr Naruhodo."

"Ah... Sorry..."

Iris sat down next to him, and silently passed him his tea.

Sholmes shook his head. "Don't apologise. Clearly, I made an incorrect assumption. A terrible mistake. Not in this deduction, but in another."

"Thinking that you already knew, Runo," said Iris quietly.

"Susato said the same thing." Ryunosuke stared down at his cup. "I suppose it was obvious to the rest of you, the way she laid it all out like that... But it was never obvious to me."

"I deeply apologise, Mr Naruhodo. I know I can get carried away on the train of deductive reasoning from time to time. I often wind up revealing information that people don't want others to hear."

(I'd noticed THAT much. I've just never been on the receiving end of it.)

Ryunosuke slumped in his seat slightly. "Yes... I suppose that's all you can say, isn't it?"

"Now, onto the next question," the detective said, picking up his tea.

"Sorry?"

Sholmes looked him in the eye. "How are you faring now?"

Ryunosuke sighed. "Well... I accept your apology, if that's what you mean."

Sholmes shook his head again. "The rest of us had concluded, in any of our own ways, that you are a person who does not experience romantic feelings, or any attraction to others. But you said yourself that you have only just discovered this."

"Yes. That was very clearly outlined to us all," said Ryunosuke, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"What Hurley is trying to ask," chipped in Iris, "Is how are you feeling? About everything?"

"Indeed. Thank you, Iris." The detective took a sip of tea, closing his eyes. "How do you feel about this new perception of yourself?"

"You're... You're really just asking me how I'm feeling?"

"Please, Mr Naruhodo. However Iris wishes to characterise me in her stories, you must understand that I am not really a calculating and logical machine. Emotion has never been grit in a sensitive lens."

(A "sensitive instrument", I believe. Though I suppose he didn't actually write it.)

Ryunosuke sighed again, and Iris gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Where could he even begin? His mind had been an incomprehensible jumble of emotions all day long. He didn't even know how he actually felt about any of this.

So he closed his eyes, and thought. And thought. And while he thought, everyone else stayed silent.

Finally, he opened his eyes, and began to stutter out some sentences.

"It... It's hard to articulate. Until now, I was always content to sit in my own corner, while everyone else had all these feelings around me... But I never knew that it wasn't by choice. I never knew that it was something I could never understand. Something I could never be a part of. And then, suddenly... That corner I was happy spending time in... It starts to look more like a prison. There's a wall between me and everyone around me. It's always been there, I suppose, but I never noticed it until now...”

As he trailed off, he felt as if his incoherent rambling didn't even make sense to himself anymore, and felt sorry for Sholmes and Iris.

But Sholmes was just nodding along.

"I assume you have already gathered that I am the same as you, in regards to my attraction to others?" he asked.

Ryunosuke frowned slightly. "Assumptions are what got us into this mess in the first place. So I'll ask you directly: Is that the case?"

"Yes. I'm rather open about it, in fact. I make no habit of acting like I'm something I'm not. Actually, if I ever pretended to feel those affections, I'm sure people would only laugh!" He let out a few hearty chuckles to illustrate that point, and Iris giggled a little as well.

(...HAS he tried to do that before, I wonder?)

"So you're the same way," Ryunosuke concluded, "and you always have been. And it’s never bothered you at all."

"Now, now, slow down. Unlike you, Mr Naruhodo, I was never surrounded by friends who could deduce my feelings for me. I had to do it by myself. And accepting such a thing... Such a difference... It is no easy task. Not for anyone." He stared down into his cup, with a look of concentration Ryunosuke didn't even recognise. "That feeling you described of being trapped behind the wall... One could say it never truly leaves you. You simply learn to grow with it."

"How depressing..." Ryunosuke muttered, not fully aware he was saying it out loud. "It never occurred to me that you could've struggled with the same feeling...”

Sholmes blinked. “And you assumed immediately that this had ‘never bothered me at all’. Whatever gave you that idea?"

(...Your emphatic sense of confidence in everything else I’ve ever seen you do?)

But before he could say something to that effect out loud, Iris interrupted.

"It sounds like everyone should just stop making assumptions about each other," she pointed out, ever observant.

“I suppose that’s no more deductions, then," said Ryunosuke, with an exaggerated sigh.

Iris gasped. "Oh, really? In that case, we definitely need to continue. Sorry."

Ryunosuke laughed at that. "I won't ask either of you to change, you know. Just to have a little more thought, if possible."

"Indeed. I will not forget the mistake I made today." Sholmes raised his pipe to his mouth, then put it down again. "I believe I've solved that mystery, too."

"The mystery of why you need to keep exposing secrets to random people to demonstrate your deductive prowess?"

"No... I believe I may have just been lonely."

Both Ryunosuke and Iris stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Mr Naruhodo... We are on the same side of that wall, you and I. Perhaps I was simply too excited to see someone else standing there with me."

Mr Sholmes had now, alarmingly, said several entirely sincere things in a row. Ryunosuke, although touched by this, was also starting to fear that the man was about to drop down with some sort of high fever.

"Well, I'm glad that I don't have to think about any of this," said Iris matter-of-factly, hopping to her feet to scoop up everyone's empty teacups.

"Yes... You're still a bit young, aren't you? And I suppose you must find peers of your own age rather boring."

"The curse of being a genius, I'm afraid," said Sholmes sympathetically. "You may find that they never quite catch up!" He threw his head back in a laugh.

Iris frowned at him. "Runo and Susie are VERY clever, Hurley! That isn't nice to say!"

"Now, Iris, why did you immediately assume I was referring to them?" Sholmes asked, a little glint in his eye. "I never mentioned anyone, did I?"

"Ah! I'm sorry!" she yelped, and scurried back to the kitchen.

"That wasn't very kind, Mr Sholmes."

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed already, my dear fellow." He struck a pose. "I have something of a penchant for mischief!”

Ryunosuke couldn't help but smile.

(...And he's back.)

"But really... If anything weighs on your mind, remember that you have someone to talk to." The detective flicked the top of his deerstalker. "You're not alone in any of this, my friend. You share something in common with a Great Detective!"

"Yes... A bizarre thing to have in common with you, Mr Sholmes. Not something I could ever have predicted."

(Then again... If you'd talked to me some months ago, I never would've thought I'd become a lawyer. I never would've thought I'd lose my friend.)

(...And if that hadn't happened, I never even would've known of Susato-san, who is now one of my greatest friends in turn. I never would've lived with an eccentric detective and a genius little girl, investigating the streets of London... So what on earth COULD I ever predict?)

Ryunosuke thought about everything some more. He thought about it as Iris scuttled back from the kitchen with more tea and more apologies, because she had accidentally ended up eavesdropping again. He thought about it when Susato came downstairs, and they all talked, before proceeding to spend the evening together with a game of cards, teasing and laughing the whole time. He thought about it as the sounds of the evening died down, leaving Iris at her typewriter, Sholmes mixing chemicals, and Susato sitting in the corner with her nose in another book.

Ryunosuke would never get closure on Kazuma, and that's something he'd have to accept, even if it continued to play on his mind for years to come. Perhaps the two had made incorrect assumptions about each other - assumptions that couldn't be taken back now. Or perhaps that wasn't true, and the two had always been on the same page, and if Ryunosuke had the chance to tell his best friend all this now, he too would simply laugh, reassuring him that he'd known all along.

There was no way to ever find out.

But now he knew for the future.

The more Ryunosuke thought about it, and thought about his life, and about his feelings, and about everything that had led him to where he stood now... That wall he’d described felt less like just a wall. Perhaps, somewhere else, there was a door.  A door he’d also failed to notice all his life.

And now that he could see this door... he could move on to new adventures. Adventures on his own terms, in his own ways. And adventures he never could have predicted.