Chapter Text
The rain is still pouring.
I am in the middle of a dark forest I don't know how to get out of.
There is no way but to wait until it clears up.
Suddenly, a silver wolf approaches me.
I flinch, scared of this wild animal.
However, it doesn't seem to be hostile.
It holds up its paw, and I see that a thorn is stuck in it.
Carefully, I pull it out.
At that moment, it is as if a miracle has struck the forest.
The rain stops, and it clears up.
The sun breaks through as well.
I feel like the silver wolf knows the way out.
I stand up and follow it.
'Ah...' Ranpo suddenly wakes up after that dream has come to a sudden end.
'That was a nice dream...' He grabs the notebook next to his bed. In it, he has been writing several dreams down he had in the past few days. 'Ever since we defeated the Rats, these dreams are a lot more interesting...' he idly thinks, before getting dressed and going downstairs.
'Hey, Ranpo.'
Everyone seems to be awake, making him the last to. 'Hey, Dazai.', he greets back. 'Do you have any answer back from the Government?'
Dazai nods and looks up from his phone game. 'Yes. The Book is in safe hands now. Ango has made that sure.'
Once the Buraiha was assembled again, Ango went back to his place in the Government. He directly promised to take care of the Book Dazai and he retrieved from the Rats' catacombs.
'So...', Ranpo sits down next to him on the sofa. 'How are things?'
'Oh, nothing much besides what I mentioned.', he says. 'I called some people to move stuff from Odasaku's old house.'
'Ah, yes.', Ranpo recognizes. Odasaku has chosen to join the Agency, but doesn't want to go back to the old house, since it stirs up too many memories. So everything has to be moved into the Agency building. 'Also, I had a really cool dream last night.'
When he says that, Fukuzawa turns to face him. 'Tell me.' he orders.
He does so. 'It was pretty. I like it.', he says. 'I wrote it down already.'
That afternoon, he and Kenji go to the room where Odasaku is supposed to move into. The only thing filling it are lots of boxes, and the furniture.
'Oof. Pretty dusty in here, isn't it?' Kenji moves his hand to his mouth.
He nods. 'Yeah. That may be a first thing.' Ranpo grabs the top box and wants to open it, as Odasaku halts him.
'That's fragile stuff. All the top boxes contain fragile stuff. Let's put those aside and start with the bookshelf.'
'You've got a lot of books, don't you?' He opens the boxes one by one to find out which one contains the books. It doesn't take too long before he finds the one, as it is full of books.
'We've got a lot, yes.', Odasaku says. 'We're not too strict as to how they're ordered. The only thing we want is that you'd put the books with slice of life themes about where we can easily grab them.'
'Okay, I think I can work with that.' Ranpo shrugs and first takes out all of the books before placing them on the shelf, which Kenji is starting to dust off.
About half an hour later, he is done with the books. '...oof. That was exhausting.', he says. He has discovered that Odasaku likes to read books with a lot of pages. 'Do you have a chair or something? I think I may want to sit down...'
Kenji, who is currently sitting on the only chair in the room to observe the windows, stands up. 'Oh, yeah. Do that. I'll move.'
Ranpo gladly takes his place, leans back and closes his eyes for a moment. As he does so, flashes of light appear in front of his eyes.
'Ah...!' he mutters, accidentally alerting Odasaku.
'Are you okay?' Ranpo hears.
'Y-yes, I guess so?' He opens his eyes again. 'I think I'm okay.'
'If you need to go back, just say so.', Odasaku is flexible as always. 'Kenji and we can do it too. We'll just need to do a bit more.'
'No, no, that's not needed.', Ranpo wants to prevent that they think that he is useless. 'What's next?'
But Odasaku does not want to let the topic go. Suddenly, xir tone changes to a stricter one, similar to the one Ranpo and Kenji have heard so many times before.
'Edogawa Ranpo. We know something is wrong with you. You saw something there you were not supposed to see. What is it?'
As soon as Odasaku makes that tone at him, Ranpo knows that that is a leftover from a few days ago, and that he has to answer.
'...flashes of light. Nothing more, nothing less, okay?'
'Hey, it may just be strain...', Kenji suggests. 'No need to talk to him like that.' But Odasaku stays skeptical.
'Keep it in mind.', xe says. 'Let's get back to work.'
After the cleanup, Odasaku goes to talk to Dazai.
'We're worrying about him.', Odasaku explains. 'There are hints that ever since he got in contact with the Book, he hasn't been the same.'
Dazai slowly nods. 'It's the dreams, isn't it.', He moves his finger to his chin. 'The Book is safe. But it is true that I needed him to find it in the first place. He talked to me about stuff like timelines and universes, and before he did so, I thought I was the only one to know about their existence.'
'But we do too.'
'You do?' Dazai frowns. He never heard this before.
'Being resurrected in the wrong way by the very same Book does that.'
'Would that mean that Ranpo has some sort of connection to the Book?'
Odasaku shakes xir head. 'We don't think so.', xe says, 'We know effects made by the Book when we encounter them.'
'Hmmm...', Dazai holds up his index finger then. 'You need to go talk to Fukuzawa. I'm sure he'll lend you some more information.'
'Fukuzawa? When you mention his name, we vividly remember that he called us a coward back then.', Odasaku still has some trouble seeing the Agency members and Fukuzawa as friends and not as strangers or enemies. 'But we'll try.'
'I'm sure he won't call you a coward again.', Dazai assures Odasaku. 'You're different now.'
'You bet we are.'
As Odasaku walks back to the living room, Kunikida immediately approaches xir.
'Have you heard? One of the teachers at the university has been struck by lightning!'
'Lightning? Huh, that came out of nowhere, huh?', Odasaku recalls the flashes of light Ranpo has been seeing. 'How did it happen?'
'Well, it wasn't exactly lightning.', Kunikida clarifies. 'It was an electricity pole that malfunctioned. There was this enormous zap making it look like it was lightning. But essentially, electricity, lightning...they're the same, right? I used to be a math teacher, I'm not good at biology.' Kunikida holds up his hands.
'That's terrible to hear.', Odasaku now knows that the hunch that Ranpo may not be entirely the same since he encountered the Book, may be true. 'But thank you for telling us. Oh, and when did it happen?'
'Not that long ago, I guess...', Kunikida checks the time of the message. 'About fifteen minutes ago, when you were all busy cleaning up.'
'Oh, okay. Excuse me, where is Fukuzawa?' Odasaku decides that xe needs to talk to Fukuzawa immediately.
'He should be hunting.', Kunikida answers. 'I recall him going out to go hunting.'
'Ah...should we wait for him to come back?' Odasaku thinks that the plan could be put on the backburner for the foreseeable future - literally.
'I don't know. Did you even hunt today?'
Odasaku falls silent. 'Well...'
'Let's go, then.' Before Odasaku can continue, Kunikida already prepares to head out.
'Okay...'
They find a barrier not that long after. 'Say, Odasaku, what do you think is happening to Ranpo?', Kunikida asks. 'I've heard from Dazai that you're worrying that the contact with the Book has been leaving an impact on him. What are you talking about, exactly?'
'That's true.', Odasaku says as Kunikida kills another familiar. 'He knows things he shouldn't know.', Xe explicitly decides not to go into detail, as xe surely doesn't need everyone knowing it. 'Things only Dazai and we know. Dazai says that it is somehow connected to the Book. You know, the one he and Ranpo encountered back at Fendthope.'
'I think I know what you mean. Go on.' Kunikida throws a grenade to some other familiars and then runs deeper into the barrier as soon as he knows sure they're dead. Odasaku follows him.
'Ranpo mentioned knowing those things there. Dazai was surprised.', Odasaku foresees another familiar approaching xir from behind, and xe quickly turns around. As xe does so, a quick flash of an eye opening and closing appears, before it is killed. 'But he didn't go much into it. After all, there were more pressing matters at the moment. But Ranpo now says that he has strange dreams recently, and he mentioned that he didn't have those before the Fendthope incident. On top of that, you told us of that university teacher being struck by electricity. Around the time that incident happened, Ranpo told us he was seeing flashes of light in front of his eyes. So...' Xe shrugs and holds up both hands.
'Hm-hm. I know where you're going.', Kunikida nods quickly. 'The exposure to the Book. So what are you planning to do?'
'Well, we wanted to ask Fukuzawa for details.', Odasaku sees that they are getting deeper and deeper into the barrier, and that it may not last long before they arrive in the last room. 'Oh, and by the way, we're almost there.'
'I'm aware.', Kunikida knows that already, courtesy of veteran experience. 'And that is why you wanted to talk to him. That's clear.'
'Exactly.'
Not long after, they enter the last room. 'Time to go to work.' Kunikida chooses position, knowing that Odasaku will work around it no matter what.
At another part of Yokohama...
'Ugh. This is the sixth time already.'
'Quit complaining. We have no choice but to show them who really rules Yokohama.'
'Again?'
'Shut up.'
'...'
Three Puer Magi are about to initiate another battle against a gang. It hasn't been long ago since Yokohama has been caught in a gang war. The strangest thing is that not even the mafia knows how the war was initiated, but they have been fighting several gangs for the past few days. But these Puer Magi are not from the mafia.
'I'm so fed up with it already. Do it now.' one of them growls. They are surrounded by enemy gang members, and they don't intend to spend the entire day fighting them. They all transform into magical form, slightly distracting the gang members.
'Seems like you haven't seen contracted people transformating before, huh.', a Puer Magi with a violet Soul Gem snarks. 'Well, then you're in for more surprises on your last day.'
A man with a blue Soul Gem walks up to them. 'You're ready?'
'When you are.' The black-haired Puer Magi gives him a mischievous smile. Instead of replying, he lightly touches the fuchsia Soul Gem of their third member. It immediately starts overflowing with taint. And then...
'Whoah, what the fuck?'
'What the heck...is that thing?'
The man smiles evilly. 'Let's go.'