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Nakajima Atsushi thought this was a terrible idea.
He wasn’t wrong.
Dazai Osamu and Ranpo Edogawa stared at the showcase. It was full with candy of different colors and shapes, and very cute plushies arranged in rows. If you looked hard enough, you could almost see the sparkles that came from the eyes of the two men. They appeared as though they were little children.
Am I really the most mature here? Atsushi asked himself, a nervous smile and a drop of cold sweat on his face.
“C-Come on guys…” He stuttered, “We have to get going…”
The other men didn’t hear him, or chose to ignore him. Another drop of cold sweat went down his forehead. At this pace, they’d never arrive at the crime scene. Then, Atsushi had an idea.
“If you want candy, why don’t you buy some…”
“Atsushi, do you think that we’d be staring at the candy store’s showcase if we could actually buy anything?” Answered Ranpo.
Dazai smirked at Atsushi, “Yeah, we’re broke.”
Of course they are.
“So then, can we maybe move on…”
Ranpo frowned, “But look at the candy, it looks so yummy!”
I get the feeling that he really wants some candy.
“Atsushi is right, my dear Ranpo, as much as I’d love to admire the plushies as well, we really must be on our way.” Claimed Dazai.
“Hmn…” A little reluctantly, Ranpo nodded.
Atsushi let out a sigh.
The three of them were currently inside Yokohama’s biggest shopping mall. Contrary to what one may think because of their behavior, they were actually there for work reasons. It was common knowledge at this point that there had been a murder in the mall earlier in the morning, as it was already on all the news. For some reason, the presence of the Armed Detective Agency was required by the police.
No one at the agency really knew why this was, but it appeared that there might have been more to the murder than the news may have leaked. Right now, the official story was that a crazy man had taken a gun to the mall and killed a woman before being apprehended by the local guards. The man was currently detained, but was still in the mall, awaiting the arrival of the detectives from the agency.
If this were a normal case, either Ranpo or Dazai would have been sent to deal with it, but it was Chief Taneda Santouka from the Special Division For Unusual Powers’ direct orders to President Fukuzawa Yukichi to send both Ranpo and Dazai. This led to various suspicions that something else was really going on.
Atsushi sighed. He was being sent there as well to supposedly learn from the best detectives at the agency, but the white-haired boy suspected that he was also sent in order to keep an eye on Dazai and Ranpo. Whoever’s idea it was, Atsushi agreed with them.
The weretiger looked in front of him. Ranpo was busy stopping at every shop’s showcase, and Dazai was… Atsushi blinked. Where did he go?
“Would you like to join me in a double suici-” The bandaged man was cut off by Atsushi.
“I am terribly sorry for him.” He bowed to the unfortunate woman before dragging a whining Dazai back to Ranpo.
Another blink. Where’s Ranpo?
They found him admiring the automatic stairs.
These two were really getting on Atsushi’s nerves. In the end, he ended up grabbing the two men by their arms, and literally dragging them to the crime scene.
When they arrived, the police had set up the crime scene tape, and there were still some onlookers, although most of them had already left, since it had been a couple hours since the actual murder.
Detective Minoura was tired. He had been called to the crime scene earlier, and was currently awaiting the men from the Armed Detective Agency who were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago.
Secretly he hoped they sent Ranpo Edogawa. He had worked with the man before, therefore he could vouch for his amazing work. In fact, he had once witnessed the man solve a case in under five seconds.
That’s when the detectives arrived.
A white-haired boy he recognized as Ranpo’s assistant dragged two grown-ass men by the arms. One of them was Ranpo Edogawa. He chewed on a lollipop (he had taken it from his pocket). The other man was covered in bandages, and he remembered was Ranpo’s coworker. He seemed to be deep in a conversation with the white-haird boy (who was ignoring him for the most part). He understood the theme was something having to do with suicide.
Never in his more than 20 years experience as a detective had he ever seen anything like it.
“Ahem.” He coughed, to catch their attention. The three looked at Minoura. All the policemen who were around did as well, leaving their astonishment for later.
Minoura looked at Ranpo, “I thank you for having come to investigate the crime scene.”
“Eh, no biggie.” Ranpo brushed it off, pulling the lollipop stick out of his mouth and throwing it away, “However, I am interested in why exactly you need us to investigate?”
Minoura sighed, “You see, there’s more to it than what has been told in the public news. I think it will be easier if you just tell me what you know.”
Dazai stepped forward, “We know of a man that entered the man earlier today illegally carrying a gun, and murdered a woman, both of their identities unknown to us.”
“I see.” Minoura frowned, “Well, let me tell you the whole story as we know it. The man used to work with this woman, both of them engineers. They were confirmed to be lovers at some point, however they split, and never talked again. If this were a normal case, we’d file it down like the man killed his ex out of spite or similar, yet several witnesses confirmed that after shooting her, the man apologized. During interrogations, he cried, and said that he didn’t want to kill her, which was odd as he carried a gun. Various psychologists that are in the police determined that he was alright in the mind, and furthermore confirmed that he telled the truth. What we want to know is who’s really behind this.”
Ranpo and Dazai listened to the man carefully, and after he finished, they looked at each other. They seemed to have a private conversation, and came to an agreement.
“We’ll tell you who the actual murderer is…” Started Dazai.
Ranpo continued, “If you buy us candy and a plushie!”
It was again that Minoura thought that never in his +20 years of experience he would encounter such a moment.
“...Okay.”
☆☆☆
Atsushi, Dazai and Ranpo walked back from the shopping mall.
“So then…” Said Atsushi, “The murder was actually the woman’s wife?”
“Indeed.” Confirmed Dazai.
Ranpo smirked, “The wife’s ability was to take the consciousness of a victim for five seconds. She controlled the man twice, once for him to take the gun, which he later didn’t know he carried, and a second time to make him shoot the woman. The reason was the wife thought the woman was cheating on her with the man, when actually she had already left him, before even marrying the wife.”
“That’s… Kind of messed up.” Shivered Atsushi.
Dazai nodded, “It is.”
Then, Atsushi stopped for a second, “What I don’t understand is why Chief Taneda had the President send both of you…”
Ranpo and Dazai frowned.
“There’s more to it even.” Simply said Dazai.
Atsushi guessed that he wasn’t going to learn anything else today.
Ranpo smirked, “Well, at least I got candy and pictures of the Detective buying it for me!”
“Yeah.” Agreed Dazai, “And I was able to buy several packs of bandages, besides the plushie that Detective Minoura gave me.”
Ranpo looked at Dazai, “Wait, you had money the whole time?!”
“You already knew, Ranpo.”
Atsushi watched as both of them quarrel. They were Yokohama’s most brilliant minds, yet they also were just like kids.
☆☆☆
Dazai and Ranpo were at the agency. Everyone else was there as well, but both of them were at Ranpo’s desk, Ranpo eating sweets as always, and Dazai just lazying around.
“So it was Fyodor?” Ranpo asked.
Dazai’s smirk momentarily faded, but then it returned, as if nothing had happened.
“I’m positive.”