Whatever Remains (Somewhat Improbable) - SpaceWall - 大逆転裁判 | Dai Gyakuten Saiban (2025)

"Objection!" The word was out of Susato's mouth before her hand could come up to stifle it, and everyone else flinched back in surprise at the force of her shouting. Mr. Sholmes and her father collided with each other, and nearly fell over.

Iris, before her, looked up at Susato with betrayal and humiliation burning across her face. It wasn't the first time Susato had seen that look, and it made her feel like melting through the floorboards now just as it had then.

"Are you saying I can't call Hurley my-"

It had been an awful few days. None of them had really slept, and it was safe to say that nobody's powers of deduction were at their best.

"No, Iris." Susato knelt so she could look her little sister in the eyes, and tried for a reassuring smile before she looked up at her father and Mr. Sholmes. "I'm sorry. I won't keep this a secret, not from her."

"Susie…"

She searched deep for the resolve that had carried her through her own day in court as a defence attorney, not so long ago. That day, it had been the fact that she knew Rei and had faith in her and loved her that had led her to pursue the truth. Today in court, she had helped Ryunosuke pursue truth in court not only because they believed in Lord van Zieks, but also, in the end, because they both loved Kazuma. Iris had helped fight for the truth for Susato's brother today. It would have been the height of discourtesy, as Lord van Zeiks often said, for Susato not to fight just the same for her sister.

"If you really don't want to know," Susato said, "I promise I won't say anything. But I do think you should know that I know, and that if you ever do want to know… I promise I'll tell you."

"Susato-san," Ryunosuke said, warningly. He was thinking, no doubt, of the grave warnings they'd been given of Iris's prospects if the truth were revealed. But there was a difference between truths revealed in open court and those revealed only to a closed circle. They'd all seen that today.

"Kazuma-sama reminded us, didn't he?" Susato turned to look up over her shoulder at him. "Lies of omission are still lies. And I won't lie to my little sister."

"!" He jerked back a moment, but Susato knew she'd struck a hit, even without throwing him to the ground. Ryunosuke loved the truth.

Iris's eyes had grown impossibly wide and wet with tears. "Susie, I can't…"

"If you want to know," Susato said, "then you can. It won't always be nice, or easy, but you can. And no matter what you say, Mr. Sholmes will still be your father. And I'll still be your sister. And Naruhodo-san will still be your brother."

"I promise," Ryunosuke said, rather wetly.

"Oh…" In a flash, Susato found she had her arms full of sobbing ten-year-old, and through Iris's hair, she glared daggers at her father and Sholmes, daring either of them to say differently.

"Wait!" For a moment, despite how all this had started, Susato had forgotten who else was here. Gina continued, "You all know? And you're lying to her? I said it, Iris. Adults are no good, dirty, rotten-"

"We only just found out," Ryunosuke protested, but it was too late to avoid an orange blast from the smoke gun.

"Susato," her father said, "that's enough."

She had so many things to be angry with him about. And she'd tried to forgive him. Really, she had. But maybe she wasn't all the way there yet.

"No." Susato said, "it's not fair. To Iris, or to anyone else."

It wasn't fair to her father, who'd held Iris in his arms the moment she was born, who Iris thought was nothing more to her than Mr. Sholmes's long-ago partner. It wasn't fair to Lord van Zieks, who'd gone home alone after what must have been an unimaginably awful day. It wasn't fair to Susato and Ryunosuke, who had to live with the guilt of keeping someone else's secret.

And it wasn't fair to her mother that this brilliant girl had been given her name and didn't know a single thing about the woman who she was named in honour of.

"I don't know what to do," Iris whispered, and Susato did her best to hold her closer and tighter still. She shifted her glare to Mr. Sholmes alone. It took him only a moment to deduce what she was so angry about, and when he did, he stepped away from her father, and knelt down beside her and Iris.

"As it happens," he said, casually, "Miss Susato has made some very fine progress in the art of deduction. She is entirely right. I have… perhaps, not entirely yet adjusted to our change in circumstances yet. A great detective must sometimes tell great lies, but, not so unlike our dear Mr. Naruhodo, a detective's purpose is also to reveal great truths. There is a way, now, for you to know this one. If you wish."

He reached over and gently pried her from Susato's arms until she was sobbing on the vest he wore beneath his great detective's outfit.

--

"I don't want to find out tonight," Iris told Hurley, after they'd polished off the last of the dinner, and he'd come to tell her goodnight. "We've done too much today."

"Yes, we did do rather spectacularly," he mused. "Though I'm afraid I'll have to keep you under a strict guard from now on. It's only a matter of time before Her Majesty sends someone to take you away and set you up as her personal master tea-maker."

Iris couldn't hide a little bit of giggling. Her father was so silly sometimes. "If Vicky wants, we can have tea again. You never did finish that deduction about Bertie."

Hurley scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Perhaps it's best if neither of us returns to the palace for a little while, Iris."

"Okay." Honestly, watching from there hadn't been as fun as actually helping solve cases herself. "But if I do want to know about my other daddy, someday… ?"

"Yes, Iris. My solemn promise as a great detective."

"Even… if it's just tomorrow?"

She didn't like knowing Susie and Runo knew something about her that she didn't know about herself. It was even worse than Susie knowing about the Hound of the Baskervilles and not telling her why.

Actually… "And does this mean the Hound of the Baskervilles can be published now?"

"!"

"It is this case, right? The one we solved today. The notes were messy, so I didn't realize at first and I know I got stuff wrong, but this is it, isn't it?"

It was rare for Hurley to ever be quiet, unless he was really sad or working hard at Madame Tusspells. But this time he was quiet for nearly thirty whole seconds before he said. "This is the case, yes. But do you think it should be published now, Iris?"

She remembered seeing how upset everyone was in their projection of the courtroom. Iris had wanted to see even just a few of her father's words, his signature, so badly that she'd stolen a whole autopsy report. But Mr. Reaper and 'Sogi had been waiting for just a few more words from their people for ten whole years, and they'd had to hear them there. In front of everybody.

"Maybe not right away."

"I can see you've made an excellent deduction," Hurley said, "and yes, Iris. I will tell you even if the day you pick is tomorrow. In some respects, that would be more convenient."

"Because Professor Mickey is still here?"

"!"

"You did tell me the notes he wrote were my father's. There is a reason why, right?"

"Yes." He kissed her forehead. "A great detective always has reason. Goodnight, Iris."

"Goodnight, Daddy."

--

Ryunosuke looked down at his plate of bacon and eggs. It looked kind of like a smile, quite possibly the only one in the entirety of 221B this morning.

And to think, the only reason to smile was if you were already dead meat.

Susato stepped on his foot. Hard. Ryunosuke regretted the time he'd agreed to go with her to buy that pair of sturdy leather boots.

"You want us to explain?" He clarified. Iris was looking nervously and hopefully at the pair of them. "Are you sure?"

"You promised, didn't you?"

Susato had promised, at least. And maybe that was enough for both of them.

Ryunosuke slid his plate away with regret and asked, "were you listening to the whole trial, or just to some of it?"

"Well… we only went to Buckingham Palace after Daddy got back, and then when we first got there I made tea, but I heard the whole end, about what really happened with the Hound of the Baskervilles."

"!" Susato flinched, but recovered herself quickly enough to say, "then you already know the start of the story."

Iris was impeccably clever. She only needed to be pointed to the evidence, as Susato and Ryunosuke laid it out, before she understood for herself. Then she spun around to where Sholmes and Professor Mikotoba were sitting nervously together on the couch and asked tremulously, "you brought me to Hurley?"

Professor Mikotoba was silent, but Sholmes said, "just one more step in the deduction, Iris," and let his gaze slide down to the chest before him.

"You wanted to be my father?"

"I had made a promise," Professor Mikotoba said, an uncommon wetness in his voice. "But when I was called back to Japan… they would have asked too many questions about where a Japanese man had found an English baby with an adorable fuzz of red hair."

Susato said, "Iris – our word for 'Iris' – is my mother's name."

Iris spun back to look at her. "Is that… okay?"

Ryunosuke really was an intruder here. This was a family – Kazuma's family, in many respects – and he was here in a borrowed place. Again.

"I already said, didn't I? You're my sister. If my mother had known you…" She turned her face quickly away.

Susato buried so much so deep. Without much thought, Ryunosuke reached out and she grabbed his hand as tight as she would have for a Susato Takedown, leaning close against him.

They'd all gone quiet, so it was left to Ryunosuke to say the last of it. "Lord van Zieks is your uncle, too. He knows that now."

"... but he didn't come to dinner."

This is probably exactly why he didn't come to dinner. "He'll come when he can."

Ryunosuke was sure of it. Nobody said no to Iris for long. Not even 'Vicky.'

Barok had visited Baker Street before, naturally – there had been a murder just next door, after all – but it was not until he was most of the way up the stairs, having been admitted by a rather nonplussed landlady, that he realized he had also set foot in the apartment itself.

In his mind, when he recalled that day, they had been visiting one of Asogi's compatriots, not any kind of great detective. Klint had been there too, briefly. He'd had to leave shortly to return to work.

A few days later, what was left of the Professor's second victim had been found.

Barok clenched his fist, itching for a hallowed chalice to crush in it. He'd had to stop doing so, mostly. The wine staining his gloves felt too much like blood.

Instead, he raised his closed fist, and knocked on the door to the apartment.

"Come in!"

They were fools who were clearly incapable of protecting his niece. He wasn't even expected, and that idiotic 'great detective' had left the door unlocked.

"What can I do for you?" Sholmes said solicitously from the couch. "No, don't tell me. I can deduce it simply from your appearance. You have come here today looking for someone. Someone dear to you, not a foe." With great indignation he turned away and called, "Iris! It's another 'missing person.'"

"Remember mankind's greatest struggle!" Barok's niece called back, and then she appeared, holding a tray with a teapot and several cups on it. Barok's presence startled her nearly as badly as her appearance startled him, and before he knew it he was lunging forward to steady the tea before some disaster occurred.

Iris let go completely, leaving the tray in Barok's hands, and turned to Sholmes to demand, "Daddy! Why didn't you just say?"

Sholmes doubled over laughing.

"I am not here to employ your services," Barok snapped at the man, incensed. "Nor would I ever do so."

"You wouldn't need to," Iris confided. "He likes solving cases too much to say no to a good one, and I bet you have lots of good ones, Mr…"

She failed to finish the sentence, as both of them recalled what she had called him upon their earlier meetings.

Submitting to the indignity, he said, "my name is Barok van Zieks. I would in this instance forgive you the discourtesy shortening it."

Iris looked to Sholmes for guidance. "I can say what I want in private?" The detective nodded, and she turned back to Barok and said, "Is Uncle Barry okay?"

"!" It was Barok's turn to nearly upset the tea, it seemed.

Iris looked immediately shame-faced. "I mean, it could be just 'Barry,' or 'Rocky,' or-"

It was evident as she rambled that Miss Iris had already given a great deal of thought to what she wanted to call him.

"You told her?" He demanded of Sholmes. After all those days worrying about how Barok could face her, knowing it was for the best that he speak not a word of what he knew in her presence.

"Susie told me," Iris corrected. "She said we were done with lying, now. At least… not to family."

Perhaps they were. Or perhaps they ought to be. If Klint had only said, even if he'd only mentioned his wife was expecting a child-

"'Uncle Barry' would do in private," he said, "and if you would forgive my discourtesy in calling you 'Iris?'"

Her smile brightened the entire room. Klint's had been like that once, Barok thought, though he doubted his memory now more than he ever had before.

"Well!" Somehow, Sholmes had found time to put on his coat and hat. "I shall have to leave the two of you to it. The game is afoot, Iris. I have an urgent case that requires my attention. A missing person, I believe."

He was gone before either of them could say anything, clattering down the stairs as the door swung closed behind him.

Iris laughed and confessed, "he's just going so we can be alone. If there really was a good case, he'd want us to come too."

Us.

Barok at last found clear space upon which to set the tray, and accepted a cup that was poured for him. The delicate china seemed uncommonly fragile, as did the curious little girl before him. A single misplaced word…

"Will you tell me about him?" She asked, nervously. "I mean, Susie and Runo and Professor Mickey all did their best when they were explaining, but… you really know."

"I do." Or he'd thought so, anyways. Perhaps only Genshin Asogi had ever really known his brother.

"I wish there was something I could do," Iris said, "I mean, I became a doctor of medicine for Mr. Wilson – I mean, really for Professor Mickey, but I didn't know that yet – and I write for him and Hurley, and of course I'm an inventor and a scientist like Hurley too. It's nice to understand someone like that. But now I don't know…"

Barok had become a prosecutor for Klint, had become the Reaper of the Bailey for Klint. And those things had made him feel closer to his brother, but that felt grossly inappropriate to say now. He searched for another answer. Klint had liked hunting, which was a worse answer. Dogs. He'd liked the martial arts, though clearly Asogi had been his better in them.

"He liked novels," Barok said, eventually. "He never had as much time to read as he would have liked, but in the evening, with your mother… that was something the two of them enjoyed together."

"Do you think he'd like my stories?"

Klint had never favoured the sort of melodramatic serials that Sholmes seemed to live in Iris's stories, but, "you have a gift with words, Iris. From what I know, the Sholmes made on your typewriter is better-spoken than the real thing."

She blushed at the praise, and Barok found himself wracking his brains to add, "he was a skilled rider, and played the pianoforte with some talent, and spoke French, German, and, I believe, more than a smattering of Japanese."

Klint had been good at nearly everything he tried his hand at, in truth. Barok had never truly been able to keep up. And then he had married someone for her wit, despite her lacking family connections. It was no great surprise to learn that his and Lady Baskerville's daughter was so gifted as this child clearly was.

"Well, I'm not very good at music," Iris confessed, "Hurley tried to show me, because it makes his brain quiet to play, but it doesn't work for me, so I mostly cook instead. And I know Latin, and I'm working on Japanese now so I can make sure my letters to Runo and Susie end up in the right place! But I've never tried riding a horse before."

If Klint had raised her, Barok was sure she would have been out riding before she could walk.

"I could teach you, if you would be amenable to the suggestion."

There was that brilliant smile again. "I'd like that a lot, Uncle Barry."

Whatever Remains (Somewhat Improbable) - SpaceWall - 大逆転裁判 | Dai Gyakuten Saiban (2025)

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