The Adventure of the Century-Long Turnabout

The Great Team

September 16, 4:00 pm

Baskerville Manor, England.

A century ago.

Ryuunosuke Naruhodou, a japanese man almost turned into a british gentleman after years of living in London.

He had solved all kind of cases over his years spent in the court, some people even called him "The Great Ace Attorney". Even if that title sounded really cool he still blushed every time he was called like that, for him it had been all so surreal, in mere months he was turned into an attorney and then his life changed completely. One of the things that happened and he will always be glad is metting all of his friends; Sherlock, Iris, Gina and his dear Susato.

Susato has been with him since the beggining, always saving him and being the best company he could ask for. Over the years their friendship turned into something more, something deeper and beautiful, even after years he still looked at her and couldn't help but smile, feeling a pleasant warm wrap around his heart.

" Earth calling Mister Naruhodou, are you there?" Sherlock's voice forced Ryu to stop staring at Susato and turn red as he looked at the laughing detective, he loved to mock him. "Ohhh c'mon, why you keep turning as red as a tomato? You have been together for years."

" I-I just..."

" Love is soo weird." Sherlock put a hand on Ryu's shoulder and smiled. "Now, let's focus on the case at hand ok?"

Ryu nooded. He hasn't even seen his client yet but Sherlock insisted in him granting his defense, the defendant was a man by the name of Henry Baskerville, a very nervous but rich man that was a former client of Sherlock. Iris had written that story as "The Hound of the Baskerville" but they didn't publish it because that case was still a nightmare for Henry.

In a few words, the Hound case was investigating a monster that was believed to hunt down the Baskerville family, at the end the monster ended up being real but was a fabrication of a criminal who wanted to inherit all of the Baskerville's fortune. Unfortunately, seeing the actual monster scarred Henry for life.

This time, Henry had been acussed of murder. It happened at his mansion, he had invited a man to dinner but they found him dead just a couple of hours after, the only ones at the mansion were Henry and his two butlers and it was raining really bad at the time so nobody could have entered the mansion. Everything pointed at Henry and everyone in town believed that he had finally lost his mind and killed the man, but Sherlock insisted that he could be innocent and asked for Ryuunosuke's help.

" So, how did the victim die?" asked Ryu.

" Poison, but I already checked the food and it's clean, it must have entered his body in other way. We should check everything in the mansion carefully. I will go upstairs, call me if you need me Mister Naruhodou!" before Ryu could say something Sherlock had dissapeared, leaving him and Susato in the big dinning room.

" Naruhodou-sama, Susato took the freedom of reading the findings report and the poison that killed the victim is called atroquinine, it's a strong and not so hard to find poison, however, it can only kill if it's ingested." Ryu loved to look at her eyes when she talked of her notes, she was very smart and even if she was very composed her eyes always shine when she can show the results of her studies.

" Atroquinine...that one's new for me. But if it wasn't on his food he had to eat something else that contained it."

"But according to the butlers they ate all together and since then they just saw Mr. Henry giving the victim a tour around the mansion. They found the victim the morning after in a chair at the library."

" That's very strange, we should check the library then."

" Uh...Mr. Narudo?" an old voice called his attention, it was one of the butlers.

" The name is Naruhodou but it's all right."

"Oh, sorry. There's someone in the lobby who wants to see you, he says it's important."

Ryu and Susato looked at each other, he wasn't expecting anybody and he had to finish the investigation soon so he could see his client.

" Can you tell him if he can wait for me, please? I'm going as soon as I finish looking for something."

" Oh, there's no need to worry Mr. Naruhodou, this will only take a second" a man entered the dinning room so suddenly that it made Susato flinch, the man looked old but was dressed elegantly, his features made him look sharp but also...cruel. A shiver ran down Ryu's spine. " My name is James Moriarty, pleased to meet you. You are Mr. Ryuunosuke Naruhodou, I presume."

" Yes, that's my name. And she is Mikotoba Su—"

" No need for that, I just needed to know if you are the right person. Now, Mr. Naruhodou, listen carefully." The man looked at Ryu the way a shark look at its prey, his gaze cold and piercing. " Drop this case, I don't want you here. This is the only warning you will get, stay away from this manor before its curse takes over you, you already stepped on it but it's not too late."

" W-what do you mean with that?"

" If you're smart you will now go home, I assure you that Mr. Baskerville will be okay, the court can assign him a n attorney if you don't defend him. In two days from now you will wake up in the morning and read about his acquittal in the papers, you have my word. Now, Mr. Naruhodou, goodbye." Then the man dissapeared, neither Ryu or Susato went after him, they just stayed there, trying to know what exactly that man wanted to say.

" Naruhodou-sama, are you okay?" asked Susato looking at him with worry.

" Yeah, I just...that was weird."

" Do you think he's dangerous?"

" No, he warned us about a curse...must be one of the neighbors"

" Recently someone moved to a house close to here, I haven't seen them but looks old enough to keep believing in the Baskerville curse." said the butler, putting Ryu at ease.

" Something's wrong?" the sudden question by Sherlock scared Ryu, he had appeared out of nowhere.

" Ahhhh, Mr. Holmes!" Ryu composed himself while Sherlock laughed "Yeah, a neighbor told us to stay away from here or a curse would fall upon us."

" Oh, yeah, the neighbors are so strange. Don't worry Mister Naruhodou, there's not such curse!"

" I know that already...now, you want to go to eat? I'm tired."

" I can prepare you something if you want, you're helping Master after all." Offered the butler.

" Oh no no, thank you, there's no need. I need to check out some things back in Baker Street so we're going there before the night comes."

Without further delay, Ryuunosuke and company left the manor. However, Ryu couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong...