summary: Looking at an old legal history book, Kristoph points out a pair of figures to his protege Apollo, and suggests there might be something familiar about them.
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“Come here, Justice, have a look at this.”
“Hmm?” Apollo hurried over to Kristoph’s desk, where his boss had a large, hardcover old book spread open, with several pictures interspersed through the dense text. “Is this a law book, sir?”
“Sort of. It’s a book about the history of the law. Here– doesn’t he look familiar to you somehow?”
Kristoph pointed a manicured nail at an old photograph, posed almost like a painting, of a forbidding and intense looking man in a cape, with a scar across his nose and a high collar.
“Ah… he looks a little like Dracula?” Apollo offered, embarrassedly.
Kristoph laughed and shook his head, pulling down his glasses as he peered slyly at Apollo over them. “Well I suppose. But I was thinking there was something about him that reminded me of you, Mr. Justice.”
“Of me? You’re kidding! For one thing he looks like he’s about seven feet tall, and uh, German, maybe?”
Kristoph waved a hand. “I don’t mean the features, Apollo. Look at his expression. That intense, dubious stare. I swear you make the same face when someone says something particularly stupid to you.”
“I guess…"Apollo rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the picture. He supposed he did make a face a little bit like it sometimes. His eye was drawn to another picture on the page, of a little Japanese man with a big smile. "But if you think that looks like me, you must think he looks like you, huh, sir?”
Kristoph followed Apollo’s gaze, his eyebrows raising. “Ryuunosuke Naruhodo? Well, I won’t turn down the comparison– he was a very famous defense attorney. Changed the face of law. Actually he worked with your friend up there– Mr. Barok Van Zieks. Why do you say he looks like me?”
Apollo glanced teasingly at his boss. “It’s the smile, sir. It looks a little like yours.”
“Hmmm…” Kristoph tapped his finger next to the picture. “There were rumors they were lovers, you know. What do you think, Mr. Justice– have we served at the bar together before?”
“Huh?” Apollo’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head at the suggestion, and he flushed.
Kristoph laughed, and looped his arm around Apollo’s waist. “I’m only teasing. But it’s a romantic notion, don’t you think? Of course, Van Zieks was a prosecutor. Do you think you’d ever serve the other side of the aisle?”
Apollo leaned into Kristoph, feeling like he couldn’t take his eyes off the pictures now. “I don’t know.”
Kirstoph pointed out another picture on the page– Van Zieks and Naruhodo among a small crowd of other people outside a large and grand building.
“This is the two of them and the rest of their coterie at the ballet– Swan Lake in 1911. Imagine being there, back then?” Kristoph chuckled, and leaned on him. “Help me up, Apollo. I’ll turn on some Tchaikovsky and see if it awakens anything in us.”
Apollo shook his head and did as his boss asked. He was in one of his funny moods, and it was unlikely any work would get done for a while. But that was alright with him.
A few minutes later as the sounds of Swan Lake filled the office, Apollo looked at his boss’ smile, and felt strangely nostalgic.
