Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The police tapes hadn't been up for long when they had arrived.

The officers were trying to keep the civilians clear of the alleyway, a black fabric had just been put over the body, and the forensics team was still putting on their gear.

“Hey! No civilians past this point!”

Atsushi blinked at the officer who had blocked his path, but before he could try to explain, a stern voice commanded the man to stand down.

The silver-haired eighteen-year-old turned to see his coworker, Kunikida, walk up to them with a hastened step. "We are with the Armed Detective Agency. We've been given authorization to examine the crime scene in order to conduct our investigation. Do I need to present the proof to you, or are you going to let us do our damn jobs?"

The silver-haired teen let out a nervous chuckle as the officer got flustered and quickly allowed them to pass through.

Over the last few weeks, tension had started to rise within the Detective Agency due to several unsolved murders.

Each victim was found to be in peak health before their untimely deaths, with no medical records and clean backgrounds. They simply were alive one day and dead the next. To top it off, none of the victims seemed to be connected like those of a serial killer. Each had a different background, different lives, and even lived in completely different areas.

It was only after not being able to find a connection that the police requested the Agency's help, and yet…

"Anything Ranpo?"

"Patience Kunikida, I can't exactly think with all your talking."

Usually, Ranpo would be boasting about how he already knew the answer and how everyone else was an idiot for not seeing it. But ever since the previous crime scene, Ranpo has been antsy and off-put by something. He originally scolded the police for messing with the scene and blamed it on the forensics team, which is why the Agency decided to show up as soon as they got word.

Atsushi watched as Ranpo walked around the alleyway inspecting the ground, the walls, and even the body.

Right… the body .

His attention went to the covered body and his eyes turned sorrowful.

This makes the sixth victim .

A sixth person that, if they were connected to the others, would show no external injuries, no previous medical conditions, and only have signs that they were attacked via drag marks.

“Hey, kid!”

Atsushi was jolted out of his thoughts by Kunikida.

“Y-yeah?”

“Go talk to the police and see if there were any witnesses.”

The teen nodded and pulled out a pen and notebook and quickly went to work.

They remained there for an hour more before gathering again.

“Did you find anything Ranpo?”

The man crossed his arms as he frowned. "No, it's just like last time. Only this time we know for a fact that the idiotic forensics guys had nothing to do with it."

Atsushi heard a door open and turned to see officers and a medic team putting the body into the back of an ambulance.

A shiver went down his spine as he had a passing thought.

“It's almost like a ghost got to her…” He muttered.

He felt Kunikida go rigid next to him.

“What did you say?”

Atsushi blinked as he was surprised to have had Ranpo ask the question.

“Uh, I said that it was almost like a ghost got to her.”

Ranpo's eyes widened and after a beat, his face lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Time to get back to the Agency! We've done all we can here!”

The silver-haired teenager looked between Kunikida and Ranpo, awed by the latter man's change in attitude. "Um, am I missing something?"

Kunikida sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know for a fact yet, but it better not be what I think it is. Otherwise… there's going to be a lot of paperwork involved."

Paperwork?

“Come on Atsushi! Pick up the pace!”

“Coming!”

They then returned to the Agency Headquarters where Ranpo dismissed himself to see the President, leaving Kunikida and Atsushi to work on their reports and fill everyone else in.

After Atsushi finished recalling Ranpo’s reaction to his comment, the younger members started to theorize what it could have meant.

“Perhaps an infamous assassin? Sometimes people refer to infamous assassins as a ghost but in a metaphorical way.”

“What about an ability like Demon Snow? She's technically a ghost, right?”

“I don't think an ability spirit is a ghost. A ghost is something different,” Kyouka retorted.

“Ooo what if it was a real ghost?” Kenji added with a smile. “Back in my village, the elders often had many stories about vengeful spirits or malevolent ghosts that would haunt the living.”

They turned to Kenji with unsettled expressions. 

“Yeah, but aren't those meant to scare little kids into not going out at night and stuff like that?” Tanizaki commented unsurely. 

“Oh no, we all believe that ghosts are very real and should never be underestimated,” Kenji explained with a small smile.

“Do you believe in ghosts Atsushi?”

Atsushi chuckled nervously. “Well, I-”

“Everyone listen up.”

All present agency members immediately stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the president who now stood in front of his office.

“Due to new evidence brought to light from the recent crime scene, I am afraid that there is not much we can do from here. We are simply not qualified for these types of investigations.”

Atsushi furrowed his brow. Did that mean they were giving up on the case? Were they just going to drop it? But what if more people got killed because they couldn’t solve it? What if-

“What do you need us to do?” Dazai asked.

Athsusi blinked. Wait what?

The president looked stern.

“Kunikida,” he began as he handed over a letter he had had in his hand. “I need you to deliver this to Katai as soon as possible. Yosano, restock the infirmary of anything we may need. Atsushi, Tanizaki, and Kyouka, I need you to finish those reports from today and the previous cases and send them over to Naomi and Kirako. Kenji, Dazai, I need you two to go and investigate any recent sightings of anything unexplainable. Kenji, Dazai will give you more information as to what you'll be looking for. As for me… I'll need to call in an old friend.”

The older members of the agency went still.

“Are you sure? He only said to call if a situation gets out of hand.” Yosano warned, a certain look in her eye that he couldn’t quite pin.

“Tell me…” Fukuzawa turned with a scolding look, catching Atsushi off guard. “If six people dead isn't out of hand, then what is?”

The room remained silent but no comment was made.

“That is all, everyone get to work!”

The president returned to his office and everyone immediately set out to do what they were tasked with.

Atsushi had never seen the president that way before. Nor the other members.

A shiver went down his back.

Just who was this person the president wanted to bring in? were they dangerous? Are they on good terms? Based on everyone's reactions, he could only guess that this mysterious person had to be a force to be reckoned with.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

“WHOA! OOF!”

CLANK! CRASH!

“Ooowwww…”

The seventeen-year-old groaned as he stared at the tiled ceiling of his parent's basement.

“Danny?!”

Danny Fenton groaned again as he slowly pushed himself up so he was sitting upright.

He heard rushed footsteps and saw a flash of orange and teal dive towards him.

“NO WAIT I'M FI- OOOMMFFF!”

The wind was knocked out of him yet again as his parents barreled over him, his dad picking him up in one fluid motion and throwing him over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.

“Which ghost was it, honey?!”

“I bet it was that good-for-nothing Ghost X again!”
  

Danny finally managed to get his bearings. He closed his eyes as he focused on turning transparent and quite literally slipped through his dad's grasp. He landed silently on the tiled floor below and rubbed the back of his neck with an irritated sigh.

“It wasn't a ghost, I just lost my footing on the ladder and fell. And for the 100th time Dad, it's not Ghost X, his name is Skulker.”

His parents immediately put away their weapons, his dad pouting more than his mom.

Jack and Maddie Fenton. Both experts and inventors in the field of spectrology, or the study of ghosts/specters. While they do dabble in the study of the Gifted and their Abilities from time to time, they usually only study things that manifest themselves into spirit-like beings. Other than that, they were, in a way, ghost hunters.

"Sorry Danny, we just got really worried when we heard a loud sound and thought another ghost attacked you."

Like father, like son. Or in this case both of his parents. He got roped into his parent's research just by living with them. Though to be fair, most of it was indirectly in the beginning years of his life. It didn't become direct until he had a lab accident three years ago that caused him to develop ghost-like abilities.

His parents had built a portal to an interdimensional space called 'the infinite realms', or the ghost zone as called by his parents. Unfortunately, as cool as it was, a portal worked two ways, so after it had been turned on, ghosts and spirits alike started to appear more frequently. The ghost attacks that his mom was referring to was a common occurrence. Due to his uniqueness, many ghosts have tried to either capture him, kill him, or use him for their nefarious plots to take over the town and/or world. But due to his abilities, he's been able to hold his own for a while, even before his parents knew about his new uniqueness. Thankfully he didn’t have to take on the specters alone all the time thanks to his friends.

The teen couldn’t help but smile appreciatively at his mother. "It's alright Mom. I can understand the worry, especially since there haven’t been as many attacks lately."

"Speaking of which are you sure you don’t want us to leave some extra ecto-weapons behind?" his dad asked.

Danny turned to see his dad had picked up the box he had been trying to get down. His parents were almost done packing for their trip. They had been invited to a high-tech convention and conference where they were going to have the opportunity to show off all their newest inventions and share some of their research.

The teen turned to Dad with a confident smirk. "I think I can handle them enough as is. Giving us extra weapons is just poor sportsmanship."

The large man blinked before howling with laughter. “That’s my boy! I'll go put this with the rest of the stuff!”

His dad practically bounced back up the basement steps with excitement and pride.

“Was this the last of it, sweety?”

The teen couldn’t help but chuckle at his parent's antics. "Yeah, that’s the last of it, Mom. Did Dad remember to pack extra clothes?"

“Oh, I made sure he did. This was not going to turn into another Spitoon trip!”

He followed them outside to the RV, or what would be an RV if it wasn’t dressed head to toe in ghost-hunting tech.

His dad was working on putting the last box in the back, and his mom turned to him and hugged him.

“Are you sure you'll be alright? I just don’t want you to be overwhelmed with having to deal with the ghosts and the lab while we're gone.”

Danny gave her a reassuring smile. “I'll be alright. Besides, all recent orders have been handled and shipped. And the ghosts don’t come around as often thanks to the new door on the portal.”

His mom didn’t look convinced.

He sighed and crossed his arms and gave her a serious look. “Between me, Sam, Tuck, and Valerie, the ghost situation will be under control. And if anything gets out of hand, I'll call you.”

His mom stared down at him for a moment more before sighing and giving him another hug.

“Alright then, in that case, we'll see you in a few weeks. Be sure to call us now and then to check in, okay?”

“Of course, love you guys.”

“Aww, we love you too sweetie!”

As soon as his mom let go his dad pulled him in for a bear hug, knocking the wind out of him yet again.

A few more farewells were exchanged and his parents took off.

As he walked back up the stairs he noticed the corner of some mail sticking out of the mailbox.

He raised an eyebrow before opening the mailbox and saw that there was only a single piece of mail, an envelope to be exact. 

“Huh, they must've forgotten to check it this morning.”

He grabbed it and went inside, making sure to lock the door behind him.

Danny went over to the couch and looked over the envelope noticing it was addressed to him, but with no return address, only a stamp with a picture of a city port.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he found the stamp familiar but was unable to identify it right away.  He cautiously turned the envelope over and opened its contents to find a handwritten letter. Upon opening it, two smaller objects fell into his lap. One was what looked to be a plane ticket, the other a USB drive. He looked at these objects curiously before deciding to read over the letter to see if it would offer any answers.

Danny,

It has been a long time since we have last spoken. While I would prefer to be writing to see how you are doing, I'm afraid I must keep this brief. We require your assistance on a recent case. Travel expenses have been taken care of. Within the envelope, you should have received a boarding pass that will take you directly to Yokohama. There we have arranged a hotel room for your stay. You also should've received a USB that contains data regarding our newest members and everything we've managed to gather on the case so far. You may choose to decline if you wish. At any point, if you feel that it is too big of a risk, or you feel unsafe, then we can arrange for you to return. The last thing any of us would want is for your safety to be compromised.  

Your Friend,

Yukichi Fukuzawa

The teen rubbed the back of his neck as he sat back and sighed, the letter now discarded to his side.

"Well, shit…"

Chapter Text

 
The weretiger yawned as he stretched in his seat.
 
 
It had been about a week since the President had given them their previous orders on the murder case. The Agency had been instructed not to pursue it until further notice, so they had been filling their time with other errands and small missions like escorting or delivering files to officials.
 
 
Atsushi had just finished writing up a recent report and decided to take a small break. As he looked around he noticed everyone else was just about doing the same, either writing reports or doing research. Dazai was asleep, making the tense Kunikida across from him mumble in anger as he typed a little more aggressively than normal. Kenji was working next to Tanizaki, Yosano was talking with Kirako about something, and Ranpo was snacking on his desk without a care in the world.
 
 
He looked around and wondered where Kyouka had gone before remembering she had an errand to run earlier.
 
 
Atsushi stood up to stretch when he suddenly felt a cold chill go down his spine.
 
 
What was that about?
 
 
“You alright, Atsushi?” Tanizaki asked.
 
 
Before he could answer him, the door to the Agency opened, and in stepped a boy who looked no more than seventeen years old.
 
 
Atsushi stared at the stranger with raven black hair. He had on blue jeans, a white shirt with red trimming, and a black sweater over it with red and white shoes.

He looks foreign.
 

A shiver ran up his spine as he locked eyes with his arctic blue eyes.
 
 
Kenji stood up and smiled. "Good morning! And how-"
 
 
Before the rest of his sentence could be let out, a green energy wave surged through the room, making all the lights flicker and the laptops go completely black.
 
 
Atsushi quickly got into a fighting stance, Tanizaki getting up from his seat to do the same.
 
 
“DAMN YOU!!!”
 
 
Atsushi jumped as Kunikida flung himself out of his seat and made a beeline for the boy.
 
 
His co-worker went to grab the shirt collar, but the boy somehow managed to dodge the man's attempt and used his momentum to send him flying into the closed door behind him.
 
 
While the rest of the younger members were frozen in awe, Kunikida didn’t miss a beat as he recovered and immediately began berating the shorter male.
 
 
“DOYOUHAVEANYIDEAHOWLONGIWASWORKINGONTHATREPORT?! NOWMYENTIRESCHEDULEHASTOBEREARRANGEDBECAUSEOFYOURDAMNABILITY!! YOUKNOWYOUNEEDTOSTARTASKINGPERMISSIONTOUSETHATDAMNTINGBEFOREYOUJUSTWALTZINTOAHIGHTECHAREA!!!"
 

The teen simply rolled his eyes and continued further into the room. He stopped by Kirako's desk and whispered something to her, pulling away with a small smile. The brunette stood up and walked away with a slight blush.
 
 
What… is happening? Atsushi thought as his eyebrow twitched.
 
 
"Hey ghost kid!"
 
 
Atsushi's jaw dropped as Ranpo walked over to greet the stranger. 
 
 
'Ghost kid' smiled brightly, "Ranpo! Good to see you!"
 
 
Ranpo smiled back and leaned against one of the desks. "So how's the family business coming along?"
 
 
"It's doing pretty good. Mom has been handling the numbers and shipping more since Jazz left, Dad's been working on making the orders, while I've been working on some new prototypes."
 
 
"Sounds like you’ve been pretty busy for someone still in school," Dazai chimed in with a knowing smirk.
 
 
The teen turned and rubbed his neck nervously. "Yeah, but honestly I prefer working in the lab than having to sit in a classroom for eight hours every day."
 
 
Dazai chuckled. "I don’t blame you there. How's your sister?"
 
 
"Probably touring college," Ranpo interjected, waving off the question. 
 
 
'Ghost Kid' sent Ranpo a teasing look. "Wow nothing gets past you, Sherlock. But yeah, she was headed towards Harvard last time she checked in."
 
 
"Harvard huh? Not bad. Are you still looking into going into the space program?" Dazai asked with a smile.
 
 
The raven-haired boy chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his neck.
 
 
"Wow, still that bad at math huh?" Dazai teased.
 
 
"I'm sorry but uh-" The entire room turned towards Atsushi. "Who are you?"
 
 
The room stilled and after a beat, Dazai was the first to move.
 
 
"Oh right!" He laughed before clearing his throat. "Atsushi, Tanizaki, Kenji, this is Daniel Fenton. He's a friend of ours from America."
 
 
"America?" Atsushi muttered aloud.
 
 
"Nice to meet you, Daniel, I'm Junichiro Tanizaki," Tanizaki smiled stepping forward to offer his hand, something he learned was common practice overseas. 
 
 
The teen winced. "It's Danny, and it's nice to meet you too." He offered politely while accepting the hand.
 
 
Atsushi took a step forward and offered his hand as well, copying Tanizaki. "My name is Atsushi Nakajima. Welcome to Yokohama," he greeted with a nervous smile. 
 
 
Danny smiled at him and shook his hand, however, something made the hair on the back of his neck stand up as his hand made contact with the raven-haired boy. Something in the back of his mind wanted him to run as far away as he could from the person in front of him.
 
 
"Are you alright?"
 
 
Atsushi blinked and saw Danny had raised an eyebrow. He quickly released his hand and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
 
 
"Yeah, I just spaced out for a second, sorry about that."
 
 
"No problem. And you are?"
 
 
Danny had turned to Kenji who then proceeded to introduce himself as well. "It's so nice to meet another friend of the Agency's. So what brings you to Yokohama, Danny?"
 
 
"Mr. Fukazawa invited me to take a look at a recent case you guys received."
 
 
It finally clicked in Atsushi's mind that the person in front of him was the person that the President wanted to send for.
 
 
But… he's just a kid…
 
 
"Nice to see you again Danny. How was your flight?"
 
 
The room went still again as they turned to see the President had emerged from his office. Along with the two office clerks, Naomi and Kirako.
 
 
The teen smiled as he started walking towards the President. "Not too bad, you'll have to thank Katai for me later."
 
 
The older man nodded. "I'll be sure to send your gratitude. Do you need time to settle in?"
 
 
Danny's smile dropped and the room suddenly felt cold. To say it unnerved the silver-haired teen would be an understatement. "No. Do you still have that conference room?"
 
 
The man nodded before turning his attention to the other members. "Will everyone please gather in the conference room? I'm calling an urgent meeting."
 

 
Everyone quickly made their way into the conference room. The president and Danny were towards the head of the table, with the following sitting across from each other; Dazai and Kunikida, Naomi and Atsushi, Tanizaki and Kenji, and lastly Yosano and Ranpo.
 
 
Once everyone was settled, the president brought everyone's attention to the board.
 
 
"This is what we know so far. There have been six murders within the last few weeks. Each showed no external injuries and with no previous medical records. Autopsies reported that each person was in perfect health at the time of their death and that there were no signs of toxins or poisons within the body. After attempting to examine each case thoroughly and trying to follow any leads via witness reports and visiting the victims’ homes, we still are no closer to solving this than the beginning. That was until Ranpo proposed that perhaps this was not the doing of an ability user or the average serial killer, but rather something with a more supernatural origin. That is why I have requested Danny's help on this case, as this would be his area of expertise."
 
 
Supernatural? Expertise?
 
 
"Danny, if you would."
 
 
Danny nodded and walked to the front of the board while Fukuzawa took a seat at the other end of the table with Kirako standing by his side.
 
 
"While some of you know how I prefer to operate, the newer members may not. So here's a short summary for you. First, while in public, you will only refer to me by my first name. My full name does not leave this building. Second, when I tell you to do something, just do it. The second you take to question it is the second that can get you killed. And, last but not least, do not stand close to me during a fight unless I tell you otherwise."
 
 
Atsushi blinked. That was… unexpected.
 
 
"Now about what I've uncovered-"
 
 
"You already found something?!" Kunikida asked incredulously.
 
 
"I had 18 hours to look over the case files," Danny deadpanned.
 
 
"Anyways, after looking over victims two, three, five, and six's case files I noticed a slight pattern with how the entity may have been targetting its victims. Something, I'm sure, Ranpo noticed but didn’t voice."
 
 
"Yeah yeah yeah just get to the good part already," Ranpo waved off. 
 
 
Danny sighed but continued. "The entity has been targeting its victims using areas that don’t have a lot of access to sunlight. That gives us an advantage during the day and a disadvantage at night. As for the acts themselves, the first was spontaneous, while the fourth was timed and calculated. There are a few theories given the signs and evidence, but I'll need to look at the most recent scene to play the elimination game to narrow our search. Fukazawa do you have a map of all the reported sightings in the area?"
 
 
Atsushi suddenly remembered the order that the president had given Kenji and Dazai. Had the president predicted that Danny would ask for them ahead of time? How many times have they worked together in the past?
 
 
He was brought back to the present as Kirako handed over a folder with a slight blush.
 
 
"Thank you," Danny smiled appreciately before opening the folder and skimming through it before pulling out a printed picture of a map.
 
 
"Can you put this on the board please?"
 
 
The clerk looked towards the president who in turn nodded his approval. She took out a laptop and quickly pulled the map onto the board behind Danny.
 
 
He turned and looked at it for a solid minute before nodding and muttering to himself.
 
 
"Looks like this just got a whole lot harder…"
 
 
Atsushi tilted his head as his voice sounded odd to him, like hearing an echoed whisper from afar.
 
 
"Harder how?" Atsushi asked.
 
 
The room looked towards the weretiger with either confusion or surprise.
 
 
"You can understand him?" Dazai asked with an intrigued look.
 
 
Atsushi blinked. "Well yeah, I mean, he was just talking to himself, but it was pretty clear to me."
 
 
Danny looked at him curiously before a small smirk appeared. "How do you feel about tea on rice?"
 
 
Atsushi blushed. "How did you hear about that?"
 
 
"Just answer the question," Danny said with an eye roll.
 
 
"Um… well… I guess I still really like it since it was something I grew up with, in a way."
 
 
Danny smirked and sent a knowing smirk to the President. "Got to admit, you never cease to surprise me Mr. Fukuzawa."
 
 
The president's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I'm afraid I'm unsure what you are referring to. Would you mind elaborating?"
 
 
Danny frowned and looked towards Ranpo, who in turn shared a look of boredom with him.
 
 
"They don’t see it?"
 
 
Ranpo shrugged. "Guess not, though I had my suspicions, I wasn't able to confirm anything until I saw you two interact with each other."
 
 
Atshsui turned to the others in the room who seemed just as confused as him. "Um… am I in trouble?"
 
 
Danny let out a bark of laughter before quickly calming himself and shaking his head with a smile. "No, Atsushi, you're okay. To sum it up, let's just say you have an affinity for the supernatural, and it may be due to your special ability."
 
 
"An affinity for it?"
 
 
"I can explain more later if you remind me. For now, let's adjourn this meeting. I need to investigate the most recent crime scene as soon as possible."
 
 
"Very well then. Given the circumstances, I will hand this case over to you Danny."
 
 
Atsushi's jaw dropped.
 
 
He was just handing over a case to a teenager!?
 
 
"Feel free to use any of our resources should it help your investigation. Please report back anything you find post haste, there are families that are requesting answers. Oh, and one last thing…"
 
 
The President gave the teen a stern look. "You are required to bring an escort at all times."
 
 
Danny frowned and had an intense stare-down with Fukuzawa. After a few beats, the teen sighed in defeat. "Okay fine!" He whined. Danny turned his attention to the rest of the table. "The sooner I see the crime scene the better. Dazai, Tanizaki, and Atsushi? If you aren't busy, I need you to come with me."
 
 
The weretiger blinked. "Huh me?"
 
 
Dazai smiled knowingly. "Sounds like a plan. Let me go grab a few things first. "
 
 
Danny nodded and the president dismissed them.
 
 
Atsushi saw Ranpo run up to Danny and seemed to want to show him something before the president stepped in his line of sight.
 
 
"Is something wrong, Atsushi?"
 
 
“N-no, I was just curious as to why Danny wanted me to come along?”
 
 
“Danny usually has his reasons… but it could be because he cannot read Japanese.”
 
 
His mind went blank. 

“Huh?”
 
 
The president didn’t comment further, rather he just left it at that and went back to his office.
 
 

 
 
The four quickly gathered what they needed and set out, Tanizaki leading the way toward where the most recent crime scene occurred.
 
 
At first, the walk was quiet, but eventually, Danny commented how Tanizaki looked like a student and they got onto the topic of how their education systems differed.
 
 
As they walked Atsushi thought more about their strange visitor and about what the president had said.
 
 
“Hey Dazai, what did the president mean by Danny couldn’t read earlier? He speaks it pretty well for being a foreigner.”

Dazai blinked before letting out a quiet laugh. He smiled and nodded towards the two boys in front of them. “Focus on everyone's mouth when they're talking.”
 
 
“Huh? But how does that answer my question?”
 
 
“You’ll see,” he said with a knowing tone. 
 
 
He turned and watched the two talk back and forth. At first, it didn’t seem like there was anything off, but it was when Danny went to comment on something, that his mouth moved and no sound came out. The weird part was that the sentence continued smoothly as though there were no interruptions at all. 
 
 
“His mouth moved but no sound came from it,” the silver-haired teen awed. 
 
 
Dazai nodded. “Right, that’s because Danny's special ability is in effect right now.”
 
 
Atsushi almost stumbled as they walked. “What? But how-?!”
 
 
“Remember that wave from earlier?”
 
 
Atsushi recalled the strange green wave of energy from when Danny had first entered the Agency’s office. He remembered seeing it, but not necessarily feeling anything amiss. Oh wait-

“Didn’t it wipe out all the electricity in the room?”
 
 
The other nodded, “That wave wasn’t just acting as an EMP, in fact, it was never intended to be one.”
 
 
Huh?!
 
 
“You see Atsushi, part of Danny's ability is that he's able to share his ability with people or objects surrounding him. In this case, he used his ability to have us understand his original language, which in this case would be English, even if it doesn’t sound like it. That’s why, unless you're looking for it, you wouldn’t notice right away.
 
 
“So he has a language ability?”
 
 
“Not exactly.”
 
 
They turned to see Danny giving them a smirk.
 
 
“If you're done chatting, there’s a crime scene to investigate,” Danny teased. 
 
 
Atsushi hadn't even noticed they had stopped right in front of the alleyway from before.
 
 
He got shivers staring at where he remembered the body had laid.
 
 
“Tanizaki.”
 
 
“Yeah, Dazai?”
 
 
“Would you mind using your ability to create an illusion of us not being here?”
 
 
“Uh, sure? But why?”
 
 
“I'll explain more later. For now, go ahead and replicate this alleyway to where people passing by won't see us and will simply see the alleyway.”
 
 
Tanizkai shared a glance with Atsushi before clearing his throat and turning around. 
 
 
“Light Snow.”
 
 
Atsushi watched as his ability surrounded them and then faded out, everything around them not seeming to change.
 
 
“Thanks for that,” Danny smiled before turning to the alleyway with a focused look. He began inspecting the walls and ground, oddly, similarly to how Ranpo did. Only, there seemed to be something different about the way the raven-haired teen did it that Atsushi couldn’t quite put his finger on.
 
 
“Got something.”
 
 
Dazai's expression suddenly turned dark. “Kunikida is not going to be happy about this.”
 
 
Danny let out a chuckle, his tone bitter, "And you think I am?  I'd rather be sorting shipments and dealing with Skulker than this."
 
 
Dazai's expression lightened. “Is that so? I’ll have to let Ranpo know.”
 
 
The teen rolled his eyes, “That’s not how I meant it and you know it, ass.”
 
 
“Um, I'm sorry to interrupt, but what exactly did you find?” Tanizaki inquired,
 
 
Danny got a knowing twinkle in his eyes before standing tall with a smirk. “Let's find out.”
 
 
He turned and faced the back of the alleyway. Two faint green rings of power surrounded him much like how Atsushi's ability did.
 
 
"Haunting in the Mist."
 
 
The rings pushed outwards, like the wave from back at the agency. Only this time, as they pushed out, they revealed glowing green spots and markings on the wall and ground next to Danny.
 
 
The waves of green disappeared, but the markings didn't.
 
 
“What is that?” Tanizaki asked with wide eyes.
 
 
Dazai hummed in thought as he approached the closest glowing green marking. "These are ectoplasmic residue spots. Usually, they can't be seen with the naked eye, or average eye, I should say. These kinds of markings can only really be seen by powerful mediums or psychics."
 
 
“Wait, psychic as in ghosts and stuff?” Tanizaki awed. 
 
 
"So Danny is a physic?" Atsushi asked with a frown. 
 
 
“Yes and no.”
 
 
Atsushi was startled as the teen in question turned to look at him, his eyes no longer an artic blue but a glowing acidic green exactly like the ectoplasm residue.
 
 
Danny smiled apologetically before turning back to the marking he was observing on the ground, and beginning his explanation. 
 
 
"'Ghost' is a broad term used for certain supernatural entities. I deal with the ones that are more spiritual in nature. My special ability allows me and anyone near me to see anything that has traces of ectoplasm. That includes the ghost or spirit themselves. However, my ability only works if there is no direct sunlight in the area I'm in."
 
 
 
Danny frowned as he rubbed his hand along the ground and managed to rub some of the ectoplasmic residue onto his hand. He stood up and turned to Dazai with a focused look. "Looks like it was only one, which does help narrow some guesses down. Based on the color and the way it dragged her, could be looking at a corrupted vengeful spirit."
 
 
"Corrupted?"
 
 
"Yeah, the ones we dealt with a few years ago were the norm. They attacked anything within the house as it was seen as a sacred place being desecrated. This spirit is killing without reason and without a stationary haunt. There's no family connections, no work connections, and no lovers quarrel between any of the victims."
 
 
"Alright then, how do you think we should go about this?"
 
 
Danny sighed as he wiped his hand on his clothes. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to track them easily, seeing as they are not attached to a haunt. I would try to track them using some of my equipment, but this is way too stale to use."
 
 
Dazai sighed disappointedly. "Well darn, I was really hoping we could solve this sooner. Oh well, best not to get bent out of shape about it. Let's go catch everyone up then shall we?"
 
 
Danny nodded and snapped his fingers, the green residue disappearing from sight. The teen's eyes also returned to normal just as Tanizaki let down the illusion.
 
 
As they began to make their way back Atsushi cleared his throat.
 
 
"So, the President wasn't joking when he said you couldn't read?"
 
 
Danny faulted in his step, making Dazai laugh at his expense.
 
 
The teen rubbed the back of his neck as he sported a bright red blush. "He said that huh? Well, it looks like the President and I need to have some words."
 
 
Atsushi shared a look with Tanizaki as they both attempted to hide their amusement.
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter Text

“You sure you're going to be alright?”

The teen rolled his eyes. "Yes Kunikida, for the hundredth time, I'll be alright," he grumbled.

He couldn’t make out the man’s eyes with the glare from his glasses, but he was sure the man was staring him down. The blonde sighed in defeat, “Alright then, if you need anything just call.” The man wished him a goodnight before dismissing himself.

Danny sighed tiredly as he closed the door to his hotel room.

It was at the President's insistence that he be escorted to his hotel. After the growth in threats over the years in Yokohama, the Agency didn’t want to take any chances that the teen's safety would be at risk.

He looked around and saw that it was a decent-sized room. There was a kitchenette, a small living room area (complete with a single couch and TV), and two doors. One door, which was left open, went to a small bedroom that was complete with a nightstand. The other door, which was closed, most likely led to the bathroom.

The teen walked over to his suitcase on the couch, which had been delivered there earlier, and pulled out a few clothes for pajamas.

He took a quick shower, threw on the white shirt and gray sweatpants he had picked out, and plopped down onto the couch. He frowned as he thought about the day’s events.

"What a mess…" he muttered out loud as he covered his face with his arm.

So much for summer vacation…

He felt a soft breeze rush by him and his hair stood up as he felt a presence nearby. He quickly rolled off the couch and leaped into a defensive stance.

Standing behind the couch was a person with dark gray eyes and black hair pulled into a bun. They wore a gray v-neck shirt, black pants, and a long flared black coat. The left sleeve appeared torn off, exposing their arm, and revealed they also wore reddish-grey gloves. The right glove was complete while the left glove was fingerless. 

“Hello, Phantom.” A deep heavily accented voice greeted.

At first, Danny was surprised that the intruder spoke English until the teen locked his eyes on a certain silver-haired man with a black cane near the window.

His eyes narrowed at the older intruder. "Mr. Hirotsu, good to see you again," he greeted calmly.

The room was still.

"So…did the Black Lizard stop by for tea? Or is this going to turn into an unpleasant evening?" Danny asked as his eyes flashed a bright blue.

The cloaked person now recognized as Gin, took a step back, while the older gentleman was unaffected.

"We're not here on official business," Hirotsu reassured.

The teen and the elder had a stare-down for a solid beat. 

Danny sighed in defeat and relaxed out of his defensive stance. He walked over to the kitchenette area, where both Black Lizard members followed hesitantly. He pulled out three glasses, pouring water for each of them.

"Sorry, but I haven't gone shopping yet. So the only thing I can offer is water for now,” the teen commented as he pushed the drinks towards them. 

"We appreciate it, though we can't be here long," Hirotsu smiled apologetically. 

Danny nodded in understanding before leaning against the counter. "Alright, what does Mori want to know?"

Hirotsu shook his head. "He isn't aware of your presence yet. We caught wind of you first and wanted to get any information before the boss decided to take a more… dramatic approach."

Danny raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Straight to the point, huh? Well, ask away, though next time I would’ve preferred to catch up first."

The man chuckled as he sat down on a nearby chair, while Gin remained standing.

"Why are you back in Yokohama? And why were you seen with the detective agency?" he started, his tone formal and polite. 

The teen shrugged nonchalantly. "The Agency asked for help on a recent case. They believed it may have had  more supernatural origins and wanted my expertise.”

Hirotsu frowned and his forehead creased. "I see… And how long do you plan to be here?"

Danny groaned in annoyance as the ‘mess’ from earlier was brought to the forefront of his brain. "Honestly, it’ll depend on how quickly we can find and catch the culprit. But with the way things are looking, well… let’s just say I’m not exactly optimistic."

The man smiled appreciatively as he stood up from the chair. He gave a polite bow, Gin following his example. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Fenton. I hope our next meeting will be as tame as this one."

"Yeah, so do I," Danny sighed tiredly before waving them off. "Now you two get going before you're missed or something. I'd rather have a few more Port Mafia-free days if you don’t mind."

The older man and young assassin walked towards the door, the latter giving a shy wave goodbye as they walked out. The elder stopped for a moment, "Daniel…"

Danny let out an annoyed huff, he just wanted to be left alone so he could finally sleep. "What?"

The man turned to him with a concerned frown. "The Port Mafia has been showing interest in those unsolved cases. Whoever or whatever it is? Get it before Mori does."

The teen's brow furrowed as he locked eyes with the old man. 

That can’t mean anything good.  

"Understood…” he replied with an understanding tone. 

The man nodded and then took his leave as well, closing the door behind him.

The teen walked over and locked the door, making sure it was bolted.

He stood there for a moment before letting out an irritated sigh as his eyebrow twitched. "And just when I thought this case was hard enough."

Atsushi yawned as he walked tiredly toward the brick building the Agency was in.

The previous night was semi-restless as his younger roommate had bombarded him with unending questions about their recent visitor.

He heard a chuckle next to him and turned to see the blue-eyed American giving him a sympathetic look.

“Sorry about this, Atsushi. I totally would've been fine walking by myself if Fukuzwa hadn't been so insistent.”

The weretiger shook his head with a reassuring smile. “It's no problem, Danny, it's not your fault anyways. My roommate was asking me all kinds of questions and we just sort of lost track of time.”

The other smiled appreciatively before also letting out a yawn. 

“ Damn it , you passed it,” He whined childishly. 

The silver-haired teen immediately began to apologize profusely. “I am so sorry I didn’t mean to-”

The other started laughing, causing a few people nearby to look on with confusion.

“Dude it's fine , I'm just messing with you,” he chuckled teasingly. 

Atsushi blinked before smiling apologetically. Admittedly, some jokes went right over his head.

They had just reached the entrance to the building when he noticed Danny start to go towards the staircase.

“Oh, Danny wait! Everyone wanted to meet up for coffee this morning,” he informed with a smile as he pointed toward the coffee shop doors.

The other teen stopped and raised an eyebrow. He looked towards the coffee shop and back to Atsushi before shrugging and following him in.

“Morning!” The silver-haired teen called in as he held the door for Danny.

Dazai and Kunkida were seated at the bar top, Yosano and Ranpo were at one table, and the Tanizaki siblings were seated at another table next to them.

“Hey, morning Atsushi!” Junichiro greeted.

The blond adult frowned in concern. “Hey, kid, where's-”

“I'm right here, stick-in-the-mud,” the American teen announced as he yawned again, falling in behind Atsushi.

“Well, a good morning to you too. Late night?” Dazai teased.

“Something like that,” Danny sighed.

“Where’s Kyouka and Kenji? Atushi inquired after noticing their absence,

“Oh, Kenji mentioned something about talking to some people he knows about where some recent supernatural activity has been going on,” Junichiro answered. 

“Any idea where they went?” Danny asked, his tone seeming hopeful.

“Nope,” Dazai responded, popping the p.

The teen's eyebrow twitched. The silver-haired teen watched as the other sighed and grumbled to himself, “Guess we’ll have to wait then…”

The cafe owner came from out back and immediately noticed the two, making sure to offer a gentle smile.

“Ah good morning, and to you as well Mr Fenton. It's been some time.”

Atsushi’s eyes widened as he looked between the two. Does even the owner know Danny?!

The American smiled brightly in return. “It has been a while, how have you-”

“Hey! I found the….straws…”

Lucy had come from the back and had stilled upon seeing the two by the door.

Atsushi smiled at the girl and gestured politely to the other teen. "Morning Lucy, this is-”

"Hello, Lucy… it’s been a while."

The weretiger blinked.

The girl in question dropped the box of straws that were in her hand as she stared at the American.

It was quiet in the cafe as they all watched the scene play out. 

A look of contemplation crossed Danny’s face before he let out a defeated sigh. “Lucy-”

“Get out.”

Atsushi turned to her with a confused frown. “What? Why?”

“Get out!”

The silver-haired teen was startled and started waving his arms frantically in front of him defensively. “Wait! What did I do?! Did I offend you again?! Is it something I did?!”

Lucy’s brow twitched in irritation. “No! Not you you idiot! That- that thing next to you!” She pointed at Danny accusingly. “I want that thing to get out of here!”

The room's temperature dropped significantly, so much so that the windows started to fog over.

Atsushi’s eyes widened as a cold chill sent up his spine, and the feeling of wanting to run came back. 

What’s happening?

“Danny-”

The weretiger turned to see Kunikida, Dazai, and Yosano had stood up from their seats and were eyeing them wearily but also warningly.
 

He looked next to him to see that Danny’s eyes had turned bright green, and without missing a beat, his ability shot outwards in a wave again. And like a mirage, the figure, or doll, of Lucy's special ability appeared behind the girl.

“ Hello Anne ,” Danny greeted nonchalantly, the calmness making shivers go down Atsushi’s back. 

Lucy immediately put her arms out and stood protectively in front of the Ability spirit. “You leave Anne out of this!”

The doll bent down closer to the girl with a frown.

“No, he’s not being nice! He’s just trying to trick you again!” the girl retorted. 

Danny frowned but remained silent.

The silver-haired teen looked between the two and forced himself to step between them. This wasn’t the place to fight, nor was it a good time. 

“Lucy,” Atsushi addressed calmly. “Danny is helping the Agency with a recent case, he's-”

“I don’t care!” She cut off angrily, her fear beginning to show more and more. “You haven’t seen it! You don't know what that thing is!”

Kunikida slammed his hand down on the table. “That’s enough! Both of you stand down!”

Slowly, Anne faded from view and the room's temperature started to warm back up as Danny’s eyes returned to their icy blue.

The American turned without another word and went to leave the coffee shop.

“Danny wait, we can talk about this,” The silver-haired teen urged. 

The other turned to him, his eyes unseeing, almost dead-like.

“I'll meet you guys upstairs. Enjoy your coffee.”

The door closed leaving Atsushi unsure what to do.

“Lucy, that was uncalled for,” Yosano scolded behind him. 

He turned around to see the redhead scowl at the doctor. “I did what I had to do to protect you! All of you!” the girl shot back angrily. 

“Was it to protect us? Or was it to protect yourself?” Dazai challenged. 

The girl’s eyes widened as she took a step back. Her expression changed from anger to fear, to guilt. She sat down at a table as she rubbed her arm.

Atsushi frowned at the girl. “Lucy, what did you mean when you said he tricked Anne before?”

She sighed and took off her waitressing hat and stared at it in her lap.

“Back when I was with the Guild, we sometimes did recruitment missions. When we were still in the States, Luisa had managed to get word about a potentially powerful ability user. So we took a visit there and asked around. Eventually, we ended up having to speak to the specialists around there and that’s when we found the Fentons. It took a while, but we eventually found out it was- him .”

“Let me guess, Fitzgerald wasn’t going to take no for an answer and put a bounty on him instead,” Dazai concluded as he crossed his arms.

She nodded her head. “At first, it was Mark and Huckleberry, then Lisa and Hawthorn…”

“No way all of them?!” Junichiro was awed, sweat forming on his brow.

Atsushi's eyes widened as he realized what she meant. “Wait, you mean he took down all of them?!” 

She winced and nodded. “Fitzgerald got impatient and sent me and Lovecraft, hoping to at least capture him in Anne’s room, but…” her eyes widened in fear, her grip on her hat tightening. “We managed to get him into Anne’s room, but right when we thought we had the upper hand, he started to talk to Anne in some weird language. I was in too much shock and before I knew it, they both attacked Lovecraft. I had to quickly cancel my ability before he was taken away. Afterward, he froze Lovecraft and convinced Anne to keep me from following him while he escaped. Fitzgerald called off the bounty after that.”

“So he can speak with Ability spirits… how interesting,” Yosano mused in awe.

Atsushi’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Wait froze? I thought his ability only allowed him to see ghosts and stuff?”

The adults stilled.

Lucy scoffed. “You think Fitzgerald would waste his time with someone who could see dead people?”

“Lucy-” Kunikida warned with a look.

She sent a glare of her own and turned back to Atsushi out of spite. “Daniel Fenton is registered as one of the most powerful ice ability users in the States.”

The room went silent.

Atsushi blinked. “Wait, what?”

Ranpo cleared his throat gaining the room's attention.

“It would be best if you took a lunch break, sir,” He addressed the café manager with a strange calmness.

The man only smiled politely and nodded before walking over to the door and flipping the sign to closed. He beckoned Lucy over and together they left for the back.

“Atsushi, please sit down. This is going to take some explaining,” Ranpo invited as he got up from the booth. 

He was startled by Ranpo's change in attitude but didn’t question it as he found a seat across from the Tanizaki's.

“Kunikida will give you guys the run down while I go check on Danny. Anything that is said in this room stays in this room, got it?”

The younger members nodded.

“Good, now if you'll excuse me.”

Ranpo left swiftly without another word.

Kunikida cleared his throat, gaining their attention. “Right then. What we're about to tell you is top secret, even government officials don’t know about this.”

Suddenly the situation felt a lot more serious than the weretiger originally thought.

“What you experienced yesterday was true. Daniel does have the ability to speak to and see ghosts or spirits. However, that is not his only ability.”

The younger members frowned. 

“What do you mean sir? Are you saying he has multiple?” Naomi asked.

“Exactly right. Two to be exact,” he confirmed grimly. 

The newer members' eyes widened. 

“Two abilities? Is that even possible?” Tunichiro awed. 

“We couldn't believe it either until we saw them both with our own eyes. If our lives weren't on the line at the time, I’m positive we still wouldn’t have known about it,” Dazai commented seriously. 

“So what exactly are his abilities?” Atsushi inquired. 

“Well, the one you two saw was Haunting in the Mist , that one isn’t well known and is technically a secret. As you know, it allows Danny and those around him to see ghosts or the residue of one, but only when there's no direct sunlight,” Dazai explained. “His other ability, the ‘legal’ one for lack of better words, is Between the Woods and Frozen Lake . This ability allows him to take water molecules and freeze them instantaneously. The reason why this is so powerful is that he can change the form into whatever he wants, whether it be a piercing icicle or an entire dome made of rock-solid ice.”

They stared in awe at the older member.

“That’s incredible. But why keep his other ability secret?” Junichiro asked, breaking the brief silence. 

“If the government found out that a person can have two abilities, what do you think would happen?” Yosano grunted crossing her arms. 

They didn’t have to answer, because they already knew experimentation on ability users wasn’t unheard of. 

“Okay, but I’m still having a hard time understanding something…” the silver-haired teen admitted. 

“What's on your mind Atsushi?” Dazai encouraged. 

“Why would Lucy see him as inhuman? I mean, having two abilities just means he's a powerful ability user.”

The adults looked at each other and came to a silent agreement.

Dazai sighed with an apologetic smile. “That, unfortunately, would be up to Danny to share. We’ve sort of been sworn to secrecy in that regard.”

The weretiger was disappointed, but he understood wanting to let the teen have his privacy.

Danny smiled appreciatively as Ranpo handed him another bag of snacks as they sat on top of his desk.

“So this one might have a strange taste at first, but the more you eat the better they get,” Ranpo commented. 

The other opened it and tried one, his eyes widening. “Huh, that does taste kinda odd…” He tried another and nodded. “But I can see the appeal.”

Ranpo started to rummage through his snack stash again, rambling about the newest finds.

When they first met, the teen didn't quite get along with the detective. Mainly because of logic versus the supernatural. But after Danny had brought some 'American' snacks with him on the vengeful spirit case, the two found something in common and worked things out. They’ve been friends ever since.

“Oh! I bought these since you liked them last time.”

Ranpo put a small pouch of candy next to Danny, to which the latter nodded his thanks.

“Sorry, I didn’t bring anything with me this time around. The call was kinda last minute,” the teen smiled apologetically. 

The detective waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. I figured that would be the case, so I bought plenty for the both of us.”

Danny stared out the window as his thoughts wandered to the interaction in the café.

“You know it's not true, so why put any thought into it?” Ranpo stated.

Danny frowned as he turned away from the window to see the other with a bored look. “Because it doesn't matter what I say or do, that girl will always think I'm something other than human.”

Ranpo leaned back with a sigh, his eyes closed. “Last time I checked, she wasn’t the one in charge of what or who is deemed human or not.”

The raven-haired teen's eyebrow twitched. Within a beat, he swept the other's hand from under them and Ranpo flipped backward off the desk with a loud thump.

“HEY!” the other whined. 

Danny smirked as he threw more chips into his mouth. “Well, maybe you should’ve been paying better attention,” he teased.

“And maybe you shouldn’t be talking with your mouth full.”

Danny and Ranpo looked over to see Kunkida standing at the door.

The two snackers sighed in exasperation. “Whatever Kunkida,” The two synced.

Kunikdia's brow twitched as he walked over to his desk. “As if one wasn’t bad enough, now there's two of them,” he grumbled. 

“That’s a bad thing? I wouldn’t have to work for the rest of my life!” Dazai stated dreamily.

“You have a life?” They synced again.

Dazai immediately deflated. “Ouch…”

Danny caught Atsushi staring at him from across the room. He had been since he entered the room behind Dazai and it was starting to get uncomfortable. A lightbulb went off in his brain and a small smile appeared. 

He let out a chuckle as he got off the desk. “You know, if you keep staring like that, my girlfriend might have some competition.”

Atsushi blinked and flushed a bright red. "What?! No, I'm sorry that’s not-" he went to take a step back and instead slipped on a small patch of ice. "-OMMF!"

The teen slowly got up and blinked in confusion.

“How did you-?”

“You weren't paying attention,” Danny explained with a chuckle as he held out his arm to help him up.

“Oh- uh… thanks- or sorry?” he mumbled as he was helped off the ground. 

Danny waved him off with a reassuring smile.

“Are you sure it's okay to be using your ability like that?” Junichiro asked as he walked up to them.

The teen shrugged. “I already guessed that you guys were being filled in after what Lucy said. Ranpo coming up here to distract me with snacks all but confirmed that.”

“To be fair, I did want to show you the new stuff,” Ranpo defended.

 Danny rolled his eyes at the detective before turning back to the newer members. “So what do you want to know?”

Atsushi blinked. “Well uh… would you mind explaining how you made the- where'd it go?”

The raven-haired teen chuckled before pointing towards the ground. Without much thought, a small trail of ice appeared from Danny's foot to about where Atsushi had slipped.

The silver-haired teen’s eyes went wide with awe. “That’s amazing! What else can you do?”

Danny smirked as he held out his hand and a snowball formed in his palm. He carefully tossed it to Junichiro who caught it with ease.

“Wow, it's actually really cold,” the Tanizaki sibling commented.

Danny shrugged. “It'll stay frozen for a few hours, so feel free to mess with it until then. Any more questions before we get to work?”

“Um, I have one. How have you kept two abilities from the public, wouldn’t someone have found out by now?” Naomi asked as she walked up to join her sibling. 

“I can actually answer half of this,” Dazai cut in. “You see, even though Danny doesn't intend to send out EMPs when his ability activates, it works in his favor since it'll take out any kind of camera, listening device, or recording device. He also doesn't have a digital footprint the same way other people do.”

Danny nodded. “That is one part of it. The other is that I was born with Between the Woods and Frozen Lake , while Haunting in the Mist developed later on. My parents found out a little before I met the Detective Agency so they've been a huge help in keeping everything secret too.”

“So how did the Guild find you?” Junichiro asked with a confused frown.

“Luisa. She apparently found me through one of her contacts in Illinois. They had been keeping an eye out for ability users and I just so happened to have had a power mishap at a school sports event.”

“‘Power mishap’?” Atsushi frowned.

“I snapped and accidentally took out the entire block's plumbing,” he shrugged.

The three teens paled.

He heard a stifled laugh come from Dazai. “Guess you could say… your school life went down the toilet.”

Danny's brow twitched. “Dazai, I will kick your ass, I don’t care that you’re older than me.”

Dazai chuckled and went to ruffle his hair. Without a second thought, Danny grabbed the man’s wrist and judo-flipped him. The older male was left groaning on the floor as the younger members stared in awe and the older members were unfazed.

“To be fair, you should've seen that coming,” Ranpo commented boredly.

“Are you alright, Dazai?” Atsushi asked unsurely. 

“He'll be fine,” Danny and Kunikida stated flatly.

“What did we miss?”

Danny turned to see Kenji and a young girl, probably around fourteen years old, close the office door behind them. 

She had blue eyes and long dark hair which was pulled into low twin tails with matching flower pins. While she did have on a red kimono, which seemed odd given her age and where they were, the most notable thing to Danny (given his past encounters) was the cellphone and small rabbit doll both attached to her necklace. 

Kenji went to stand by the secretary’s desk while the girl started to walk to the rest of the group with a curious frown. 

“Oh hey, Kyouka. You didn't miss much, just Dazai being Dazai,” Atsushi nervously laughed.

The girl's eyes met Danny's and she went to bow her head before correcting herself and offered her hand instead. "You must be"

Danny saw the glimmer of metal and instinct took over as he immediately flipped backward, narrowly missing a blade aimed at his head.

“Demon Snow?!” Voices exclaimed. 

The teen kept his expression neutral as he observed the ability spirit now protecting Kyouka. 

She had long grey hair that was half up in a bun, while the rest went down to the skirt of her white kimono, and layered bangs closer to her face. Her eyes were pupilless glowing yellow and she had two straight red lines coming from the bottom of her eyes down her face with no mouth in sight, almost like she was wearing a mask. She also had pale white skin with a blue and purple aura, her sword sharing in the aura as its end was pointed at him in warning.

The room started moving again, but Danny didn’t dare take his eyes off the spirit as those around him began to panic. 

“Kyouka call her off!” Junichiro yelled. 

“She’s not listening! Demon Snow stand down!”

In the corner of his eye, he saw Atsushi's arms transform into white tiger claws and sent a glance to Dazai. 

Danny could taste his stomach in his throat as his nerves spiked. ‘ Not like that! That’s just going to aggravate her more!’ 

But before the other could intervene, a calm voice rang out over the room. 

"Everyone stand down."

Without having to look, Danny knew the President had come out of his office and was standing not too far behind him.

After a moment of silence, he heard Fukuzawa grunt in affirmation. "Danny, you're clear."

Danny didn’t bother to nod as he kept eye contact with the spirit.

“Demon Snow.”

The spirit's eyes widened in surprise but she remained tense.

He chanced a look at the confused and fearful look in the girl's eyes versus the spirit. He quickly thought of a possible conclusion and decided to test it.

“You were told to protect her right?”

The spirit's gaze hardened as she pulled Kyouka behind her more.

He slowly offered a placating gesture with his hands. “ I will not harm your charge, you have my word.”

She seemed surprised by the use of the word ‘charge’.

Danny chanced a look at Kyouka again and recalled the phone hanging around her neck was mentioned in her file.

“ You've taken care of her all these years, and you’ve done such a good job keeping her safe. ”

Demon Snow’s widened and the sword was lowered a little.

He decided to take the chance to walk closer, but her sword immediately came back up.

“ Don’t ,” the spirit whispered.

He felt shock go through the room when the spirit talked.

Danny immediately stopped and smiled apologetically. “ Then I won't. Would you be willing to hear me out?”

She was silent for a beat before nodding reluctantly.

“ I am not your enemy, nor am I hers, ” he started gently. “ I am here to help solve a case with her friends. I'm here to stop a vengeful spirit that is taking others' lives needlessly and without cause. ”

“ How can we trust you ?” She asked unsurely.

How can she? Danny thought. There wasn’t much he could use for proof, especially since he wasn’t sure if the spirits around Yokohama would even know his name. He looked between the girl and the spirit and came to a decision. He couldn’t leave them like this, so if there was even a slight chance, he’d have to take it. 

He slowly started to walk towards the spirit, her guard going back up. But he didn't stop, instead, he walked right up until the sword was inches from his face.

The teen slowly raised his hand, Demon Snow seemed confused by this action but did nothing as she watched.

He reached the handle of the sword where the spirit’s hand was and gently placed his hand on top of hers.

Her eyes widened in awe. “ Who are you? ” She whispered in disbelief.

“ I am the one they call ‘Phantom’, ” He answered, his eyes flashing bright green.

Demon Snow's sword fell to the ground in shock and she shakily touched the hand on top of the other one as though to check to see if he were real.

“ You're real?” She inquired in awe.

“ As real as you are ,” he confirmed, gently pulling his hand away with a soft smile. “ May I speak to your charge?”

Demon Snow’s widened as she turned to Kyouka with a conflicted look. The young girl was clearly confused but stayed silent during their exchange.

The spirit looked back at him and nodded. “ You may, but a favor?”

He nodded with an encouraging smile.

“ Speak to her for me? ”

He smiled sympathetically and nodded. “ If that is what you wish. ”

She nodded and looked back at Kyouka with apologetic eyes before disappearing from view.

Danny let out an audible sigh of relief when he was sure she dispersed.

“What… just happened?”

“That Atsushi was Danny's work in action,” Dazai stated proudly. 

Danny didn’t have the energy to roll his eyes at the man’s antics, he was still trying to calm his racing heartbeat. 

“That was so cool! Can all Americans do that?” Kenji awed, now joining the rest of the group. 

“Um excuse me?” A soft voice called out.

Danny smiled at the young girl. “You must be Kyouka, glad to finally meet you.”

“Um thanks, are you the guest from America?”

He nodded. “Yep, my name is Danny.”

“Dan-knee? Did I say it right?”

‘ Someone’s a little socially challenged ,’ he thought with a chuckle. 

“Yeah, you pretty much got it. And before I forget, Demon Snow would like for us to talk sometime,” he smiled encouragingly. 

“So she did speak?” Kunikida asked, bringing the attention back to Danny. 

“Do all spirits speak?” Junichiro inquired.

The raven-haired teen rubbed his neck. “Not always, I was honestly surprised when Demon Snow did, she didn't seem like the type that could. She speaks fairly well considering the circumstances, but even if she didn’t, the silent spirits communicate in different ways too.”

“So how come we couldn't understand you?” Kyouka asked with a frown, her tone a little disappointed. 

“That would be because they were speaking a dead language. Thus only those who have passed, are a spirit or are in tune with the spiritual realm can understand or speak it,” The President answered.

“Wait, so Atsushi, could you understand them?” Kenji inquired with an excited smile. 

Danny froze as he eyed the weretiger. ‘ Shit, I totally forgot that he could understand me!’

“Well, I couldn't really make out what Demon Snow was saying, I just got bits and pieces. Same thing with Danny too. I think they were talking too fast for me to really catch anything.”

He internally let out a breath of relief. ‘ So maybe he didn’t catch the name drop after all …’

“How interesting,” Kunkida remarked out loud as he seemed to get lost in thought. 

Fukuzawa cleared his throat. “Yes, well I think that’s enough excitement for one morning, everyone, back to work, please. Danny, do you have time to meet me in my office?”

‘Dammit.’

The teen steeled his expression as he nodded and sent an encouraging smile to Kyouka. “She does care deeply for you, sometimes it just requires a bit of patience to get to know someone,” he offered. 

The young girl thanked him quietly and walked over to join Atsushi. After that, everyone split up and got back to work.

The raven-haired teen walked over to the President’s office and closed the door quietly behind him. 

“What’s up?”

“What happened?”

Danny stopped himself from wincing. ‘ Oh yeah, he definitely knows something. ’

“You're going to have to be more specific, I’ve had an eventful morning,” he stated with an amused and innocent tone. 

“Last night.”

‘Shit.’

“Last night?”

Fukuzawa’s eyebrow twitched. “I was told you seemed tired this morning and were kept up last night. What happened?” he demanded more than asked. 

Danny decided to drop the innocent act as he rolled his eyes in irritation. “I can handle myself you know.”

“I'm well aware. But I promised that I’d keep you safe and I intend to keep that promise. Whether you appreciate it or not.”

The teen groaned and reluctantly told him about the events of the previous night with the visit from the Black Lizard. 

“I see, and this was a threat?”

“A warning, not a threat. A threat is when you're given options. I wasn’t given one, so it’s a warning.”

Fukuzawa's mind wandered to a particular detective but quickly brought himself back.

“Any ideas of what they could be after?”

Danny shrugged and crossed his arms. “I was going to ask you the same thing. Why would the Port Mafia want something they can’t touch? Ghosts can't really be forced into doing stuff, and the only you could convince them to do something is to make them believe it’s for their own interest.”

“Perhaps they're using it as a lure.”

The two turned to see Ranpo walk into the office.

The President sighed. “Knocking is preferred Ranpo, we've been over this.”

“Yeah but I already knew what you two were talking about, so it’s fine,” the detective said waving him off. 

“A lure is a good idea,” Danny continued, ignoring the other’s antics. “Use the vengeful ghost to try to gain the attention of the person you want. Fishing 101.”

“Yeah except you’re the fish,” Ranpo reminded. 

“Ugh, fine but I consider myself a blue tuna, at least they pay well,” Danny groaned. 

A lightbulb seemed to go off at the same time as Ranpo and Danny both looked at each other.

“The bounty?” Danny voiced unsurely. 

“Nah, too cliché. Plus after you wiped the floor with them I'm pretty sure Fitzgerald wouldn’t try that again.”

“I don’t know the guy is pretty persistent.”

“I think they're just going with the 'want more power' cliché,” Ranpo stated boredly. 

“Oh, and that’s less cliche than my idea?” Danny accused with a raised brow and crossed arms. 

“No, it’s probably more cliche and sounds like something Mori would definitely do. Thoughts boss?”

The two turned to the President who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in the same room as them.

He cleared his throat as he held his hands together on the desk. “Mori, as we know from last time, is well aware of your unique situation and may just be wanting more manpower. However, we have known the Port Mafia to sometimes kidnap ability users for their bounty, such as Atsushi in the past. I believe either theory is plausible. For now, let’s focus on the case at hand and we will continue to have you be escorted. I think for extra safety, we should also start having someone stay with you at night, just until we finish solving this murder case.”

Danny was about to object when the President's phone rang. The other quickly picked it up and waited. His expression turned stern and he thanked the person on the other end before hanging up.

“There's been another murder.”

“Where?” Danny asked, shooting up from his seat with an angry expression.

“Only a few blocks east of here, we-”

Danny turned on his heel and made a beeline for the door.

“Daniel! Ranpo, go with him, grab-!”

He didn't hear the President finish as he quickly ran out of the office. 

Chapter Text

Atsushi, Junichiro, Kunikida, Ranpo, and Dazai got there as fast as they could.

The silver-haired teen heard shouting from nearby and as they turned the corner they saw Danny scowling at an officer preventing him from proceeding any further.

Atsushi frowned. 'How did Danny get there so fast?'

His thoughts, however, were interrupted by Kunikida. "Hey, kid!"

The American turned towards them, his scowl still present.

"About time!" The teen retorted.

Dazai dramatically sighed, "We got here as fast as we could, sadly there's a thing called 'traffic' and 'walls' that blocked our way."

Danny rolled his eyes, he clearly wasn't amused at whatever inside jab was mentioned.

Kunikida walked up to the officer, clearing his throat. "Stand aside, he's with us."

The officer raised an eyebrow but didn't question further as he let Danny and the others pass.

Atsushi watched as Kunikida and Ranpo started to shoo the officers away when something caught his eye. He turned back to see Danny kneeling next to the covered body.

"Anything yet?" Dazai asked as he joined the weretiger.

Danny shook his head and continued to look around.

"But it was here, there's still a faint scent of ectoplasm."

Atsushi heard hushed muttering, turning to see Kunikida and Ranpo debating about something.

He heard a small gasp and whipped his head back to see Danny's eyes wide and his head turned towards the dark alleyway, his breath fogging up in front of him as though it were cold outside.

"It's still here," The raven-haired teen breathed as his brow furrowed.

A cold breeze went by Atsushi when Danny suddenly took off down the alley.

"Kid wait! Atsushi, Tanizaki! Go after him!" Kunikida ordered.

"Right!" They synced.

The weretiger quickly took off in the same direction as Danny, Junichiro right behind him.

The longer they followed the teen into the stretched alleyways, the more the distance between them became apparent until they could barely keep up.

'Dammit! I'm going too slow!'

Atsushi quickly activated his ability, transforming his legs to gain extra speed.

"I'll catch up! You get there when you can!" he called out to Junichiro.

He finally managed to gain some speed and almost caught up with Danny, when the latter quickly turned a corner. The weretiger used the wall of the alleyway to spring off of it to quickly change direction. But when he turned, he saw Danny standing still in the center of a dead end.

Atsushi dug his clawed feet into the ground to slide himself to a stop.

"Did you-?!"

Danny had slapped a hand on his mouth and shot him a warning look. Atsushi took that as a sign to stay quiet and nodded, the other slowly removing his hand.

The American looked around for a minute before gaining a stern look.

"Haunting in the Mist."

A familiar green wave shot outwards throughout the dead-end alleyway right as Junichiro had managed to catch up. The hair on the back of the silver-haired teen's neck stood up as the walls turned a deep purple and a dark aura seeped from the ground.

There was a deep rumbling as though someone was laughing, making the two younger members tense up. Yet it only seemed to enrage Danny.

"No utilas kasigi! Who are you?!" (No use hiding!)

The deep laughter turned into a growl, Atsushi and Junichiro both taking a step back.

"How do you konas nian lingvon?" the invisible voice seethed the walls seeming to grow darker. (How do you know our language?)

Danny took a challenging step forward. "I ask the questions here! Who are you kaj kial you kill senbezone?!" (Who are you and why do you kill needlessly?!)

The rumble of a growl turned into an audible menacing laughter. "I don't answer to you, homa. Nia komerco estas nia propra! Now leave aŭ dividu ilian sorton!" (I don't answer to you, human. Our business is our own! Now leave or share their fate!)

The weretiger watched as Danny's stance widened into a defensive stance, to which he shared a look with his coworker and they followed suit.

"I'd like to see you try."

The growl returned and out of the furthest wall, a figure began to appear from ten feet up. His eyes were glowing a dangerous red, full of bloodlust. His skin was an unnatural green with long black hair tied back in a long pony. He wore a white baggy T-shirt and a pair of dark jeans and black shoes. But the most off-putting thing about the ghost was that a part of his jaw was mangled and torn, exposing some of the razor-sharp teeth that lay hidden underneath.

The ghost let out an outraged roar as his fingers grew into claws. He then lunged towards Danny.

Instinct took over and Atsushi quickly tackled the American to the ground while Junichiro activated his ability to hide them.

But just when he thought they were in the clear, the ghost's head turned 180 degrees and made direct eye contact with them. A sadistic grin crossed its face showing off its sharpened teeth and he dove for them again. This time straight for Junichiro.

"Oh crap!"

Junichiro tried to jump out of the way, but the ghost managed to catch his leg, causing the teen to tumble to the ground.

"Junichiro!"

"I'm alright! It's just a scratch!" He quickly reassured.

Atsushi let out a breath of relief when he suddenly yelped in surprise as he was thrown off.

He quickly turned and watched in awe as Danny shot up to his feet, grabbed the ghost by its shoulders, and threw it into the nearest wall. The wall cracked from the shear force of the throw.

The ghost cried in outrage while Atsushi turned to the small American teen in disbelief.

'What just happened?!'

Before the weretiger could ask, the ghost was on its feet (floating?) again and glared daggers at the raven-haired teen.

"Who are you, homa?!" (human)

The teen chuckled as he readied his fists. "Now you want to know?"

The ghost growled once more before lunging forward again. Danny's eyes suddenly glowed blue and shards of ice blocked the ghost's taloned hands. The ghost grew more enraged and began to swing wildly in an attempt to get the teen. But the other seemed to be in his element as he continued to expertly dodge, block, and attack the ghost with ice.

Soon the entire dead end had ice crawling up the walls, shattered shards scattered across the ground, and ice protruding from the ground or walls.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!"

The ghost's red eyes turned to Atsushi and with a toothy grin dove towards him.

Atsushi's eyes widened as the world slowed around him. He wasn't going to be able to move quickly enough. He felt fear tighten in his chest and went to shield his face as the ghost's blood lust smile inched closer. He shut his eyes and waited.

"AAAARRRGGHHHH!"

Atsushi opened his eyes and gasped as he stared at the figure standing protectively in front of him.

They had white hair that gleamed like snow, a black jumpsuit with a white collar, white gloves, a white belt, and white boots. His whole body had a faint white aura that radiated power.

"YOU!?"

"Looks like I do have a reputation... Now you want to surrender peacefully, or do I have to kick your ass first?!" The voice of the person in front of him had an unnatural echo that commanded presence.

The ghost growled in outrage. "You have no business here!"

The person in front of him took a step towards the ghost, making the other back up unsurely. "You made it my business when you started killing needlessly! This is no sacred ground nor were any of your targets connected! Which means that you're working for someone! Who!?"

The ghost spat at the person. "We don't answer to you, halfa!"

The person in front of him growled dangerously and it felt like every hair on Atsushi's body stood up. "I'll give you one more chance, who are you working for?!"

The ghost cackled madly before lunging towards the person.

A glowing green shield appeared in front of him, surprising both the ghost and the weretiger.

The person then shot forward and sent his own punch, sending the ghost flying into the building across from them, cracks appearing in the wall from where it collided. Just like Danny's punch did, Atsushi had noted.

The ghost quickly regained itself, but before the figure could react, the ghost shot towards the ground and disappeared.

Atsushi stared blankly at where the ghost fled into the ground.

'What just happened?'

He heard a frustrated sigh and looked up to see the person turn towards him. "Are you alright Atsushi?"

Atushi's breath hitched as his instincts screamed at him to run as he locked eyes with the stranger.

His eyes were glowing green just like the ectoplasm.

Phantom let out a frustrated sigh.

'We were so close! And just when I thought I'd be able to go home early…'

He turned to see Atsushi staring at the ground where the ghost had fled. The poor kid looked paler than a ghost.

"Are you alright Atsushi?" he asked, offering a hand.

The teen's breath hitched as he made eye contact with him, his fear becoming more and more apparent.

He seemed to struggle to open his mouth to speak.

"What are you?" he asked shakily, his eyes wide in fear.

Phantom winced as his helping hand lowered.

"Atsushi!"

He turned to see Junichiro limping towards his friend, eyeing the white-haired ghost cautiously.

"Hey are you alright?" he asked his friend.

Atsushi seemed to finally snap out of it. "Yeah I'm okay but where is-"

"Are you alright?!"

The three turned to see Kunikida and Dazai running up to them, Ranpo following leisurely behind.

"What happened?" Kunikida asked as he looked around cautiously. "What the hell did you do to this place, kid?!"

Phantom let out an irritated sigh as he crossed his arms. "The ghost decided it didn't want to come quietly," he replied curtly.

He didn't have the patience for Kunikida right now. He just lost their number one suspect if not their only lead.

"And Phantom?" Ranpo asked with a raised brow.

The teen turned towards Ranpo with a frown. "The guy caught me off guard and went after Atsushi. It had the intention to kill and I wouldn't have made it in time otherwise."

Dazai chuckled as he helped Atsushi up. "Well, then I guess it's a good thing you were here then, huh Danny?"

Atsushi's eyes were wide as flipped around to the teen again. "Wait, Danny?!"

The teen's brow twitched as he scowled at Dazai. He hated it when the guy did that… but he always had a good reason. Phantom sighed defeatedly, "Whatever. The sooner we got this out of the way the better."

He allowed his transformation rings to appear around his waist and split into two as they traveled in opposite directions. They slowly transformed his white hair to black, his clothes back to his t-shirt and jeans, his boots to his red sneakers, and his green eyes back to blue.

He looked over to see Atsushi and Junichiro both staring in awe.

"Take a picture it'll last longer," Danny quipped hotly as he walked over to where the ghost disappeared.

"I'm guessing the ghost got away?" Ranpo asked boredly.

Danny shot the detective a warning look as he kneeled on the ground for a closer look. "He escaped using intangibility; dove into the ground before I could get the thermos," he explained.

"Alright then. Were you able to piece anything together before it escaped?" Dazai asked as he inspected one of his ice shards that was protruding from the walls.

The teen sighed and stood up. "Yeah, he's not working alone. The bloodlust is practically radiating off that ghost. Whoever is helping him or is behind this is feeding into his natural bloodlust and it's making the ghost stronger."

"Is there any way we'd be able to track him?" Kunikida inquired.

Danny crossed his arms, "There lies the problem. If we're right and there is more than one ghost-"

"-Then it'd be harder to pin him down and it won't stop the killings," Dazai concluded seriously.

Danny nodded.

"So we find the person or people behind it. Is there anything left here that can help us in our search?"

The teen shook his head. "No, these guys are good at making sure there's no evidence left behind. Even if I had an ectoplasm sample I wouldn't be able to track him down without the proper equipment."

There was a collective sigh.

"So we're back to square one," Kunikida concluded with a scowl.

Danny frowned, "We can try patrolling, but it'll have to be at night so we don't risk me being seen."

Dazai shook his head. "Sorry kiddo, we can't take that chance with how active the Port Mafia's been lately."

"Well what if he teaches us how to track ghosts?" the silver-haired teen suggested nervously.

The raven-haired teen rubbed his temples. "It's not that simple Atsushi, my ability allows me to track ghosts but it only activates if I'm close enough. And with how you and Junichiro reacted to this one, I'd rather you guys not be left alone with one at all."

The two teens looked away shamefully, the group going silent again.

"Well… training is a good idea. And while you can't teach them how to track, there is another option," Dazai offered with a mischievous look.

Danny's eyebrow twitched as he understood the implication. "How is that going to help, other than to appease your curiosity?" he challenged crossing his arms again.

The older agent smiled and shrugged, "I didn't say it would, but if they went on patrol with you and knew everything they needed to, then it might just allow you to capture the ghosts a little easier once you find them."

The teen rolled his eyes at the man's antics and locked eyes with Ranpo as he silently asked his take on the idea.

The other shrugged and put his hands behind his head boredly. "Personally, I think it'll be better in the long run in case things go south. But you're the expert here, so it's your call."

Danny's eye twitched again as he huffed irritably. Sometimes he really hated the Agency's antics… but they both made valid points.

"Alright fine. But we need to find a safe place to do so."

Dazai smiled victoriously. "Well alright then! I'll make sure to let the boss know. As for a place, I already had a great location in mind."