LogFAQs > #957437962

Unsurprisingly, we pick up the day after the McGilded trial, and we're told that he apparently was the one who perished in the fire. But I'm almost certain that wasn't really him, right? Charred body and all? In any case... we're actually not working that case. (And tbh, I'm kinda glad to be rid of it - it was a cool case, but there was so little evidence for it, and it was an insanely long trial.)

Anyway, it was a nice night at the hotel we finally found, but by god it bled us dry. So again homeless, we visit the Chief Justice of the land, who is evilly impressed by our performance in a case we "couldn't lose." He assigns us a new case, and afterward we chat a bit... we tell him that Asogi wanted to achieve something specific, which amuses Stronghart and apparently shocks Susato. That makes me mildly suspicious of Papa Mikotoba once again - perhaps he gave Susasto some specific instructions?

Stronghart departs and leaves us with Inspector Gregson of Scotland Yard, who by god eats those fish and chips aggressively and who I assume is something of the Lestrade of this? The chips look good, but in that endless quantity... there's a fun gag where Ryunosuke attempts to woo Gregson by asking him about the weather, and Gregson responds that you can't just fix any British conversation by talking about the weather. Susato steps in, and her charisma - even asking about the weather - seems to do the trick.

Gregson is an interesting type of character for AA. He's not suspicious like Badd, playful like Gumshoe, ridiculous like Fulbright, or friendly like Ema. Instead, he's actually mostly professional, and despite working for the cops, only mildly antagonistic toward us - more disdainful, really, but not enough to attack us. But he's got his own angels and demons in his relationship to Holmes and Watson; he enjoys the fame (and royalties) but despises the notoriety and appearance of incompetence. Ah, the issues with unwanted celebrity.

We're filled in on a case that happened on Briar Road. But more eerily, we learn that Van Zieks's notoriety does not come solely from winning cases... but also because even the defendants who get off not guilty wind up meeting their maker soon afterward - and while some meet violent ends, others succumb to disease within the year. Yikes. That's not what I expected about the Reaper of the Bailey - though it seems that it's not defense attorneys who should be as terrified, but rather defendants themselves. Susato gives us an out not to take the case, so when we do, we ask her for her help. "Did you really think you had to ask?" Aw.

Off to the crime scene, where we learn for the first time just how tough it is being a London Bobby, having to march twenty miles a day on foot - this tables Susato's fangirlism regarding wearing the helmet (she "relinquishes that dream" to us). We also see a decrepit house with bricked-up windows and a miserable-looking bike (Ryunosuke needs to go biking sometime!). In the distance is the CRYSTAL TOWER, guaranteed to be the setting of G1-5. Notably, we are not allowed to investigate the actual site of the murder, to see where the body fell, examine bloodstains, and the like.

The defendant, whom we meet at the jail, is Soseki Natsume. The guy is Japanese! A grad student of the English language, though he much prefers English literature. And he's also a classic AA character - a blend of entertaining and exasperating; he's insanely twitchy due to having a rough time being a foreigner, and due to his love of poetry he loves Active! Alliteration! Animatedly! A lot! complete with Ginyu Force poses. (My favorite one is the one where he forms a "7" shape with his arms.) Anyway, his story doesn't seem particularly great in terms of innocence: He was the only dude on the street with the lady (who isn't dead, at least), and then she collapsed and he ran off. He was discovered by HERR LOCK SHOLMES.

Now apprised that Sholmes was involved, we head to his actual address, which Susato of course describes as the most famous address in the world. And we are greeted by the inventor girl from G1-3, who gets a name... Iris Watson. And some sugary-sweet music. Shocker: Japan has turned an old dude with a doctorate of medicine into a ten-year-old girl genius inventor whatever. This is easily my least favorite development of the case so far, though Sholmes's notoriously cluttered office is a ton of fun. My favorite item is the Great Analytiscope, which took a year to develop and then fell by the wayside without ever having been used because hey, what does Sholmes actually need to analyze? The one cool thing is that Iris walks us through a Logic and Reasoning segment where she explains how she guessed Naruhodo and Susato's identities, so that's neat.

The upshot of this is that Iris provides us with a five-pence note to give to Gregson as royalties, and in his absolute worship of Iris (that fivepence pays for a month of fish and chips!), Gregson allows us to head up to to residence of Natsume... which is the condemned-looking brick building.
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness