Constellations Strung With a Shooting Star | Sherliam

Chapter Two

William was lost in thought. Again.

He pays as much attention as he needs to his surroundings, but his thoughts are clouding most of his head. Even after the planning had been done, he still feels required to review them and follow up with what stage they were on.

It was the first night on the Noahtic, the night that things would finally be set into motion.

Small steps were already taken towards following the script William wrote. The man destined to die by Lord Enders' hands had already been getting on his nerves. Soon, that very night, he'd die. And that would only be the very beginning to it.

That would be a short summary to the events of the night thus far. So what did William have to do now? Well, nothing in particular, at least not until he had to step in and witness the murder. He had time to himself, in which he felt inclined to use methodically and carefully. And walking happened to get his thoughts running a bit more actively, so no harm in that.

All was peaceful until he was walking up to a spiral staircase.

Since he was lost in thought prior to, his gaze was more focused towards the ground. But as soon as he approached it, his attention was grabbed. So now, he steps back, looking up at it at a better angle. A full scope of it.

In that moment, a group of voices also happens to catch his attention. "All right, what about that man?" And he immediately feels as though the question referred to him. "Think you can guess his line of work?" He glances over to the side, noticing a small group of women surrounding one man; said man being the one their questions were directed to.

The man who has all this attention clearly wasn't a noble, just judging by appearances.

Shoulder-length black hair ties into a tight ponytail in the back, and underneath the lighting it also seems to nearly highlight in deep blue. His notably sharp eyes reflected the same dark navy blue. And underneath a partially buttoned up jacket lies an also partially buttoned simple white shirt. Such exposed a less-than-proper amount of his collarbone. Unless nobles were suddenly so carefree, that was not a noble by any chance.

A curious look paints William's face, which grows even more so when he hears the man's reply. "What? Can't figure it out?" A mixture of a laugh and a scoff follows, "It's easy!"

While William was just about completely sure that the man couldn't possibly get it right, he felt oddly intrigued. He waits for whatever his answer would be, the same expression still on his face.

The three women surrounding him giggle, and one asks what it is if it's truly so easy. Just by the tone of her voice, one could tell how high her expectations were. Had the man already done this right multiple times? Certainly that was the case.

"I reckon he's..." A brief pause, all so that the ravenet man can run a hand through his hair, "a mathematician."

William's eyes widen just a bit, but his expression doesn't fully portray the real amount of surprise he actually feels. Only a very minor portion.

William James Moriarty was stunned.

So much so that he doesn't even form an immediate response. One of the girls gets to it first. "How do you know?" She got to asking for that before he even did.

The black haired man grins and clicks his tongue, "Huh? Elementary, m'ladies. It ain't that hard to figure out, really."

One of the ladies then glances at Moriarty, and walks up to him. She bows her head just a little politely, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, sir, we're in the middle of a bet."