AH GEEZ! What was gramps thinking of allowing Ensho into his New Years party?! The guy is a total nut job! Yet despite that, whether we like it or not, this guy also got the brains and knowledge of the works, which I guess it is expected of a counterfeit artist to some extent. He was the one who ended the treasure hunt faster than anyone could have expected, unraveling Holmes puzzle that required an immense amount of knowledge. There was no way in hell anyone, not even Aoi or Akihito, not even myself was going to figure it out. I had a couple of ideas, but I wasn’t even remotely close to solving the riddle. And I must say as a writer, I am quite inspired by it. It makes me want to learn more and figure out how to craft my own puzzles like that. It sounds like a fun challenge to put together.
With the treasure hunt quickly resolved, Ensho introduced a new challenge, one of course prepared for Holme exclusively. The challenge was to identify whether or not the antique is genuine or fake. If it’s fake, he must destroy it. On top of that, the guy loves to get into Holmes head, so there was a lot of mind games going on, especially during the last article, an ukiyo-e by Sharaku, “Ichikawa Omezo”. Holmes identified it as a fake and destroyed it, but Ensho bluffed and said it was a fake, and to his delight, instilled that speck of doubt within him. Holmes for a moment there was stunned, and actually doubted himself, and that was when I freaked out thinking he really did mess up and destroy the genuine piece. That would have been one hell of a humiliating defeat had it actually played out that way. Instead, since it was a bluff, Holmes identified the fake correctly and emerged victorious.
But even after that, the two were getting physical and both were looking to pick a fight. It was pretty funny, yet pathetic that it had to be Aoi of all people to break them up. She ran in there like a champ and shoved him away like, “ENOUGH YOU MORONS!” And for God’s sakes, Seiji, you invited the guy here, it should be your responsibility to put him in place! It’s rather ridiculous how often Holmes grandfather and others drag him into all sorts of affairs, hell today, we heard him even admit that he was getting sick of it!
In all, really not a lot happened today. I wouldn’t say the episode was boring (which surprises me a bit considering how linear it was), but it wasn’t particularly memorable either. I was entertained how Aoi decided to ask Holmes to show her his room since she had him over in hers last time. It was quite endearing to see another side of him, where he is anything but the perfect, crisp and tidy appraiser that works at the shop. His room is absolutely littered with books, as his favourite thing to do is read. It was really cute how he proudly shared his special is the ability to reach into a stack of books and imeaditely find the book he wants (which is impressive considering how many books he has). Another interesting tidbit was when Akihito decided to rudely intrude Holmes room to look at the thing he had hid under the books when they first arrived. Akihito was convinced that was the treasure, or at least used it as an excuse to barge in, only to discover it had nothing to do with the hunt. Instead they discovered Holmes had the counterfeit fan repaired after it was ruined during his confrontation with Ensho at Genko-an Temple temple. For a guy who absolutely hate fakes, it is rather intriguing to see how he can’t let the fake go. Perhaps it’s something he is holding onto as a reminder of his loss, and why he absolutely cannot afford to fail again.
The last thing I guess I want to quickly point out, was how it’s great to hear that Aoi will actually be graduating from high school soon! FUFUFU~ She won’t be a high school student for much longer now! Oh and it was super cute how she wants to drink Holmes’ Black Coffee. They think it’s because she wants to ‘grow up’ faster, but hey, the girl is old enough, and besides the only reason why she wants to try it is because she wants to taste Holmes’ blend of Black Coffee! Heehee!
