| little gimmick

—coroner's forensic laboratory, london.
—1874.
—11:34 am.

"move or else i'll chop your head off in no time!" mashiro scoffs as she holds the butcher knife on her hand, her voice muffled under the thick layer of the leather mask. yaning steps back, grimacing.

"calm down ms. sakamoto, if you do so then you have to think about your murder case in the future, yeseo will be sad." yaning shrugs, a vicious smile on her lips.

mashiro huffs, placing the knife on the wooden table beside the row of jar filled with unearthly human parts from different victims of murder.

"what do you need then detective? hurry up because i do not have the time all for you." mashiro's voice calms down, but still had poise on it. yaning shakes her head, sighing. "just the usual, i need the autopsy report for the murder case shen xiaoting is holding, and mind coming with me to ms. choi's office?" yaning inquired.

mashiro held her head up, looking at the taller girl, contemplating.

was officer cai bing not with her today? it is very unusual. mashiro thinks.

"where is your companion?" mashiro asked, pulling her mask off as she looked at yaning who smiled. "ah cai bing, she is with ruiqi, you know, ruiqi is in a bad condition after the incident and needed assistance." yaning laughed.

"i don't care about your bibliography or the magazine with your fictional adventures on it." mashiro huffed, looking away. yaning grimaced, faux hurting as her expression turned sour.

"you are one mean of a person ms. sakamoto, you know how myah worked hard for that piece of magazine that tells the amazing story of my adventures as the great detective! even yeseo loves it, you can ask ms. kawaguchi too." yaning beamed, her smile so teasing, ticking off every patience left in mashiro.

"acting as if you didn't almost get myah arrested for a crime she did not commit." mashiro countered back, snapping her head to the other direction.

yaning grimaced, a real expression of pain this time.

"t-that! that was my job! would i be ruining my own reputation, ms. kawaguchi's, xiaoting's just because i sought the truth?" yaning sheepishly scratched the back of her head.

mashiro snickered, turning her head towards yaning. "but during the trials, it was yurina and ms. shen who actually sought the truth."

"but if it wasn't for me no evidence was to be presented! i still played the biggest role out there!" yaning puffed out her chest in arrogance, steering the anger inside mashiro more.

"you know what? here is the autopsy report you have been asking for, you can go and leave now." mashiro placed the autopsy report on the table, her back facing yaning, as she huffed and crossed her arms.

"what? not to be rude, but you are suppose to come with me to ms. choi's office." yaning stood there, confused. mashiro didn't took her words seriously as she walked over the shelves.

"i don't think you'll be needing my help, you can go and ask ms. shen to do that task for you, yes?" mashiro looked back, a smile on her face, deep dimples protruding.

"no, xiaoting is busy with the trial, you are the only one who can go with me to the office." yaning marched over next to mashiro. mashiro sighed. "you are a grown up, no? so being lost in london while looking for ms. choi's office is an impossible event to happen." mashiro's voice was more calmer, her smile not fading.

"but, i'll treat you in a lunch if you do so, i have no idea about ms. choi's office— it is usually cai bing who comes to that office and meets her." yaning replied.

"lunch? are you ridiculous? you do not have to bribe me just to come with you, we are not even acquainted." well, they are acquainted yes, but close? no, mashiro doubts she will be close to yaning.

"oh ho ho, yes we are. yeseo likes me and admires me! we are acquainted starting from the day we met on the port from japan to london." yaning smiled, her cheeks flushed.

it must be the cold temperature.

but they are inside a laboratory of a coroner.

it doesn't matter.

"stop assuming things, and fine— to get this case through i will come with you." but before yaning could thank mashiro, she continued her sentence.

"but! you should refrain from talking to me or bugging me off in the ride, shall we go now?" mashiro walks out of her office, leaving the detective standing in front of the shelves.

—briar road, london.
—1874.
—10:56 am.

now that yaning thinks about all the things that happened last year, this was the same road where a woman was stabbed in the back by a mysterious person who people believed was her friend, huang xingqiao.

though, a lawyer and his assistant, kawaguchi yurina claimed and proved that xingqiao was innocent, she wouldn't lie that it brought a traumatic experience to her, ruiqi and xiaoting who was tasked to prove their friend was indeed, guilty.

but it's all in the past now.

"should we ride a horse-drawn omnibus to ms. choi's office?" yaning asked, to which mashiro flinched.

oh right, last year too, mashiro, yurina, xiaoting and yaning worked in a case involving a horse-drawn omnibus too. it was the first case yurina and mashiro had in london, the defendant was proven guilty though myah was involved in the case and was suspected too, yurina proved the young bibliographer was innocent.

so too the defendant, but he died after the trial when a fire broke out inside the omnibus, the death was still a mystery.

"yes..." mashiro answered, her voice raspy.

"alright, i'll call for one." yaning smiled, her eyes hovering over an empty carriage, waving her hand.

the omnibus stopped in front of them, the man looked at them and smiled.

"oh ho! where can i take you detective fu?"

"the old bailey."

the ride inside the omnibus was quiet, no one dared to utter any word.

yaning wanted to at least ease the tension yet she was afraid mashiro would leave any moment.

until they got in the old bailey, or the court building of london where choi yujin resides most of the time as a forensic scientist and detective who is always fully booked.

"now, can you show me the way to ms. choi's office?" yaning inquired, her smile si sweet and genuine, yet mashiro nodded and started walking.

the silence was awkward, not very much people are inside the court building, they past through different rooms until they got to the end of the third floor and they stopped in front of a door.

mashiro knocked and a muffled voice rang. "come in!" mashiro then twisted the knob and entered, followed by yaning.

there yujin was writing on a paper with a fountain pen, occupied with papers.

"good morning ms. choi, i am with detective fu, it seems like she needs to discuss some things about the latest case." mashiro looked at yaning who bowed and nodded.

"right, about the case, i also want to ask for permission to be able to investigate it as a detective." yaning stated, eyes hovering over a ton of papers in the table.

yujin sighed. "i guess this is the right timing, kim suyeon and guinn myah are in a lot of trouble as of this moment, not only the murder scene was to be investigated but also the omnibus from last year and detective su's state, i don't have any choice but to give you the permission to investigate through." yujin stood up and picked a permit from her table, signing it.

right, ruiqi isn't in a good condition now.

"that's too bad, this is the second time myah has been involved in a case, and it's related from the case last year." mashiro muttered.

"here. you can always come here if there is a question to be asked, i should say i leave it to your hands, i'll see you again next time." yujin sat on her chair again while yaning and mashiro looks at each other.

"also, xiaoting wouldn't be standing at the court as the prosecutor's apprentice, she was replaced by another one." yujin added, to which surprised mashiro but yaning nodded.

"thanks for that, trust that the investigation is in worthy hands." yaning bowed once again and left the room with mashiro tailing after her.

"wait! but you told me ms. shen was busy with the trial? why was she replaced then?" mashiro asked, marching over to yaning who stopped and turned to her.

"we can discuss that during our lunch right?"

—la carneval, london.
—1874.
—12:30 pm.

"so, about ms. shen getting replaced by a new apprentice, what does that mean?" mashiro asked, as they sat on the same table, waiting for their orders to come.

yaning leaned on her chair, fiddling with her compass. "have you not heard? ms. kawaguchi and xiaoting are still in japan, since the start of this year."

mashiro shook her head. "i have no idea about that!" yaning laughed. "i lied when i said xiaoting was busy with the trial, when kim suyeon took a port back here to london, xiaoting took a port too to japan secretly after ms. kawaguchi left to go back in japan." yaning shrugged then.

"i don't know why xiaoting did that, or for what reason. she just did. but they'll be back this month, it'll be too late for them to catch up in this case— nor xiaoting has no idea about ruiqi's condition right now."

mashiro looked at the waiter as their food was served. "honestly, i could've asked hsinwei to guide me to ms. choi's office, but i'd rather choose you." yaning grinned, her ears red as she drank a glass of carbonated water.

mashiro stared at her.

"and for what business did you do that?" mashiro asked, her eyes watching every movement of the older girl.

yaning snorts out a laugh.

"you told me we weren't acquainted, correct? but of course as your colleague, it is an honor to be at your acquaintance." yaning smiled, masking a thick smile under her flustered face as mashiro's gaze fell over her.

"whatever you mean about that, i hope this case gets finished as soon as possible, suyeon and myah are in grave danger." mashiro muttered looking at her lunch a frown on her face.

"of course! you can leave that to me anytime, you can trust you know?" yaning smiled once again, a genuine one. mashiro looked at her, smiling back.

"i do trust you."

yaning flushed, unable to response, but she chuckled and looked down on her lap. "o-of course you should."

mashiro laughed.

it was a genuine one.

and yaning would like to admit that it made her heart swarm with butterflies and flowers bloom.

it may not just be mashiro's acquaintance that she wants.

she may not understand nor know herself to understand what she feels for mashiro.

whatever it was, she was in for the challenge to find the truth beneath it and treasure it.