240 SECONDS!

maybe they manage to prevent the murder through time travel in the end, but they also have to somehow trick the antagonist into thinking that nothing changed... like fake the victim's death somehow. along the lines of [REDACTED] visual novel i will not share because of major spoilers, lol.

"Well, investigator - here's to a well-solved case! It's on me, baaaby!"

Cabanela's spirits are clearly high as he cheers in victory - but then again, it's difficult to find a time when the man in question doesn't seem to be in high spirits. Perhaps that's no surprise, coming from someone who's been often described as "dancing through life" - at least from the perspective of an outsider looking in.

But in reality, Cabanela is a man like any other. His doubts, flaws, and anxieties may be hard to spot, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Still, though... for one night, Cabanela thinks it wouldn't hurt to forget all that for a while - especially with the culprit of today's crime already in custody, and the success of his temporary partnership with Shi-Long Lang, which is certainly worth celebrating.

"But I must say, you're certainly as impressive as they told me. Maybe I should take a page out of this Lang Zi's book myself!"

outside of me wanting it because they're my respective favorites and because of how different they are (cabanela would inevitable irritate barok so much and it would be SO good!!), i'm like... also thinking about my respective headcanons for them post-canon?? specifically, how in the new timeline, cabanela doesn't know about the events of the game because jowd and sissel kept it from him in an attempt to protect him. and also because they thought they probably wouldn't be believed, but!

it's not really very similar to barok's situation of being in the dark about the truth of the professor case for so long... after all, the circumstances are super different in the end. but I still really enjoy the parallel of both of them (cabanela and barok) having a secret kept from them from a loved one in the name of their own protection??? with klint keeping the secret of the professor's identity from barok, and cabanela being kept in the dark about the previous timeline by jowd post-canon.

IT'S ADMITTEDLY A VERY FORCED and not particularly strong parallel, especially since it's entirely headcanon-based on cabanela's part, but like... i just like the idea of them bonding over their frustrations of having had important secrets kept from them. also there's something to be said for their relationships with reputation - barok's having his ruined and going along with it for the sake of london, cabanela trying to achieve a "spotless record" to save his friend at the cost of being believed to be a selfish man and not being understood by anyone... idk.