Holmes of Kyoto: Volume 19 Part 1 by Mai Mochizuki

Author:Mai Mochizuki
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 1: That Which Changes and That Which Doesn’t

1

The antique store Kura seemed to never change—it was actually the opposite. The antiques didn’t stay there forever; they’d find their way into someone’s hands, and at some point, other items would come to take their place. The storefront display changed every month.

However, there were some things that remained the same. The Shino tea bowl, the antique doll, Ensho’s painting...each item was filled with memories. Then again, that must’ve been true for every item in the store. They all contained someone’s memories. Thinking that made me want to straighten my back.

Today, I was working at Kura again. As my hands moved, I sneaked a peek at the counter, where Kiyotaka Yagashira sat. The handsome young man was dressed in his usual attire: a black vest over a white shirt, black slacks, and arm garters. He was doing the accounting, but he noticed my gaze immediately and smiled.

I returned the smile and went back to work. As I looked down, I gulped and thought, He really is perceptive enough to be nicknamed Holmes. He caught on to every small motion or implication a person made, and sometimes, he guessed what they were thinking to the point where you’d wonder if he was a mind reader.

However, he wasn’t like that 24/7. His exceptional powers of observation only kicked in when he had his antenna pointed at someone or something. When he was focused on something else, such as reading or studying, his perceptiveness was halved—still sharper than the average person, but not so keen that he would notice my gaze while he was looking down at the account book. Recently, something had changed. If I so much as looked vaguely in his direction, he would react immediately. He was definitely being more conscious of me than usual. In other words, he was aware of my persistent glances.

Perhaps he knows what I’m thinking...

*

He closed the account book and looked at me. “You’ve been sneaking glances in my direction as of late. Are you plotting something?”

I flinched at his stern voice.

“Surely you aren’t doing what Aigasa did, are you?” he continued, not showing me any mercy. “Can I take your silence as an admission of guilt...dad?”

So he did realize. I raised my head, resigning myself to my fate. “Well...” I scratched my head and laughed as if it wasn’t a big deal. “I received a request to write a contemporary novel, and I decided to accept.” In other words, a novel taking place in modern times.

“That’s unusual for you.”

“Yes, it’s been a while.”

I, Takeshi Yagashira, mainly wrote historical novels. They were quite popular too, so I rarely received requests for stories set in the present day. Even when I did, I would say, “I think there’s more demand for my historical novels right now,” and stick to promoting my specialty. However, I’d recently had a change of heart. I’d started thinking that it might be nice to write something different, and that was when the contemporary novel request had come.

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