After lingering impatiently on the corner for a few seconds, Sherlock was relieved when the young man finally seemed capable of moving once more. As brief as the time he had been waiting had been, it was time wasted that the suspect was using to get further away from him. There was absolutely no way he was going to elude capture by Sherlock himself but the notion of him roaming free irked Sherlock immensely, especially when he was currently idle. “Good, now we have got that sorted and all the trivial formalities out the way we can leave. Time is something that I have but I would rather not squander when I could be bringing that man to justice, be it by violent means or not.”
Slowing up his pace a tiny bit to allow Hakuba to catch up, Sherlock moved his attention to his recent companion. “What makes you be such an attentive member of the public? As suspicious as the men I am after look, I doubt any normal person would take more than a few seconds notice of them, much less note down their distinct facial tattoo, the time they appeared and the direction in which they went.”
There was a momentary wince to the polite smile that Hakuba wore as he assured himself as had been expected: no, the great Sherlock Holmes had not heard of him, ‘celebrity’ detective or otherwise. But that fact also came as sort of a boon: If he weren’t familiar with him, then he likely wasn’t aware that he’d worn one of those deerstalker caps for the papers and magazine articles, imitating Mr. Holmes himself. Such was his relief! Instead, he could focus on impressing the man through demonstration, leaving pre-biased reputation at the door.
This seemed of particular importance now more than ever, as his idol was a tad more… harsh than he’d originally expected.
“Understood; my apologies. To answer your questions, I’m a detective likewise, though an amateur yet,” Hakuba explained as they walked. He kept pace, extinguishing the cigarette at the zebra crossing between them and the building they were to enter for the security footage, grinding it against brick before disposing of it in the bin. “And there’s a man that I’m looking for with a similar mark. He’s not likely to be through this area today, if the pattern I’ve notated is correct, but it was as good a spot as any for a smoke.”
It was with conscious effort that he tried to keep his responses as quick and efficient as his step, not wanting to delay Mr. Holmes any further. The last thing he wanted to do was to be a burden. Especially when there was so much he could learn.
