Kiyotaka and Aoi have finally confessed their feelings for each other and are now dating. One day, they learn of a string of thefts in Kyoto: someone is stealing Buddhist works of art from art collectors. Then Komatsu, the detective they met at Yoshida-Sanso Inn, comes to Kura to ask for help finding his missing daughter. The two cases turn out to be intertwined...

Aoi is now in her third year of high school, with entrance exams looming on the horizon. She and Kiyotaka are slowly and clumsily growing closer, but one day, Ensho—Kiyotaka’s nemesis—shows up and asks him to appraise a white porcelain incense holder. However, when Kiyotaka claims that it’s real, the counterfeiter denies it and leaves in an attempt to discredit him. Some time later, Aoi is approached by Ensho after school. Kiyotaka arrives just in time to save her, but then he breaks up with her, sending her into the depths of despair. Two months later, Aoi receives a phone call from the manager. “Kiyotaka came back from Hyogo,” he says. What will become of the two now?

Aoi has graduated from high school and successfully enrolled in her top pick, Kyoto Prefectural University. Kiyotaka has completed grad school too, and their relationship can finally deepen—or so they thought, but the owner orders Kiyotaka to learn more about the world by working outside of Kyoto! His first placement is at Shokado Garden Art Museum in Yawata City. One weekend, Aoi and Kaori secretly pay his workplace a visit to see how he’s faring, but as it turns out, an unexpected incident is awaiting them there!

It’s been a year since Aoi started working at Kura, and now spring break is full of excitement: a hot springs trip with Kiyotaka and Akihito, a book club party, and more! But at the same time, she is struggling to decide whether to tell Kiyotaka how she feels about him. One day, an editor shows up at Kura under the pretense of doing an interview for a magazine. Then, in the middle of the night, the master forger Ensho steals a Shino tea bowl from right under Kiyotaka’s nose. The next morning a written challenge from Ensho arrives—the mysteries continue in Volume 5 of Holmes in Kyoto!

It’s January, and Aoi has settled into her life at university. Meanwhile, Kiyotaka is training at Kotani Brewery, a longstanding sake brewery in Fushimi, Kyoto. But even though they aren’t far apart, Aoi hasn’t had a chance to see him yet. She has, however, been helping out the flower arranging club that her best friend Kaori is part of. Things seem quiet until the club leader, Ikumi, declares that she’s quitting, while over at Kotani Brewery, a family heirloom goes missing. Behind both of these events lie painful emotions that soon come to light. Then, Kiyotaka and Akihito join forces in a revenge play set in Hirakata Park!

It’s May in Aoi’s second year of university, and to celebrate her twentieth birthday, she and Kiyotaka take a trip to Kyushu on an extravagant overnight train. As they’re enjoying their vacation on rails, they run into Shiro Amamiya, one of the people involved with the drug cult in Ohara. He has two stolen hanging scrolls on him, which were supposed to have been sold at an overseas auction! In order to reclaim their friend’s paintings, Aoi and Kiyotaka find themselves taking on a new investigation. The mysteries continue in Holmes of Kyoto: Volume 10!