Baker Street

A twelve year old Toko Owari was waiting at the front of Aoba Elementary School for her younger brother Keitaro.

Having just turned eight, Keitaro was given a GameMate for his birthday and he was obsessed, even bringing it with him to school. This made Toko pretty annoyed, however, because even though she was the one who suggested the idea to her parents, it had caused Keitaro to ignore her so he could play his game instead.

Toko cursed the GameMate under her breath as she waited for her brother. He was taking his sweet time today, probably showing off his GameMate to all his friends.

But she quickly snapped back to reality as she saw Keitaro walk out, bawling his eyes out.

Immediately, she ran up to him. “What’s wrong!?”

Sniveling, he choked out, “S-s-someone t-took my G-GameMate…!”

“What!?”

“I-I hid it in my backpack earlier, but now it’s gone…!”

“Hold on, are you sure you put it in your backpack?”

“Y-yeah…”

Keitaro was quite meticulous for his age, so it really must’ve been true…

“That punk!” Toko clenched her fist. “Don’t worry, Keitaro! We’re getting your GameMate back right now!”

Reassured by her confidence, Keitaro finally stopped crying. He looked up at his big sister with hopeful eyes. “All right!”

The game was afoot. Toko began her investigation by checking the classroom, but alas, there was nothing. According to Keitaro, he had gone to the bathroom for a few minutes near the end of the day. That was probably when it was stolen. Without much else to go off of, she went outside and surveyed the school grounds, that was when she saw it.

In the grimy, fat paws of some punk kid was Keitaro’s sleek black GameMate.

“Hey!” She called out and ran up to him.

“What do you want!?”

“Where’d you get that?”

“My parents bought it for me.”

Possible, but didn’t seem too likely under current circumstances. Still, she needed more. “Mind if I take a look?” Without waiting for permission, she snatched the device.

“Hey! Give that back!” The kid tried to grab it, but Toko held it just out of reach.

“Looks like you’re playing Monster Collector. Strange. That’s the same game my little brother had in his GameMate. And yours is the same color too. And his mysteriously went missing.”

“That doesn’t prove anything!”

“Maybe this will then. Do you have a sister?”

“No! Of course not!”

“All right then.” Toko popped the back of the console off, revealing the batteries which were branded with shoujo anime characters. “Then where’d you get these rare Pretty Magical Guardian batteries? Curious how they look just like the ones I gave to Keitaro this morning.”

“Shut up! Give it back!”

But Toko didn’t listen, moving away while keeping the GameMate out of his reach. As he jumped to try and get it, he lost his balance, slamming onto the ground.

Standing over the kid, Toko threatened him, her eyes dark, “If you mess with my brother again, I won’t let you off so easy.”

The kid froze in fear and silently nodded.

“All right then!” Turning away, she tossed Keitaro his GameMate. “Here you go!”

“Thanks, Toko!” His eyes shone as he was reunited with his beloved game console. “You’re the best big sister ever!”

Smiling, the two walked home together.

***

221B Baker Street. Toko insisted on visiting this place, but from the outside, it just seemed like an old London apartment to Keitaro. Scratching his head, he turned to his sister. “So why did you want to come here again?”

“What do you mean!?” Toko looked at him in faux shock. “This was the home of the legendary British detective Herlock Sholmes!”

“You say that like he actually existed or something.”

“Of course not, but it’s still cool to come here!”

“Yeah, yeah… I didn’t know you were a fan, though.“

“Well, not really, but he was the original detective character! Without Herlock Sholmes, we wouldn’t have Inspector Konan or Chancy Blue.”

“I guess, but his stories are still super overrated. And every new adaptation that comes out sucks.”

“Even if that’s true, can’t you just lighten up a bit? I mean, Herlock Sholmes is still cool, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so…”

At the very least, the interior was a bit more interesting as it tried to faithfully recreate the setting from the stories. A charming experience, but it felt like a bit of a waste to Keitaro, especially since it would be the only tourist attraction they’d have time to see.

Keitaro and Toko were in London for a peace conference. The Coalition of the Seven Cities would be meeting up at Buckingham Palace to discuss how Paris would be divided. Keitaro didn’t like the idea of attending a big conference, but securing a chunk of Paris’s treasury would be a boon for their economy as well as rightful compensation for their war efforts. However, the conference would certainly be…competitive…

The Coalition was comprised of London, Berlin, Moscow, Japan, New York, Rome, and Istanbul. Each side would be trying to squeeze all they could out of the peace deal. Berlin and London would probably fight over who gets Paris, Moscow would want war reparations, and Rome and Istanbul likely want help to rebuild. It really was just maggots feasting on a corpse.

However, a peace treaty had to be signed. The Truce that held the Coalition together and stopped them all from killing each other could only be cancelled after Paris was defeated and a treaty was agreed upon. Somebody was bound to get burned, and the Coalition would fall apart maybe even just hours after the peace treaty is signed.

Keitaro was not looking forward to another war. But he had to start thinking and preparing. New sides would be determined within the walls of Buckingham Palace, and he had to be sure to bet on the right horse.