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The moment Ranpo saw the new recruit, he knew that he wasn’t supposed to be there.
Not because of all the former assassin nonsense, no. That didn’t matter. Yosano was technically a war criminal, and who even knew with Fukuzawa, so it wasn’t as though they cared about that sort of thing at the Agency.
No, the problem wasn’t something Ranpo could voice. It was something that he could just tell.
On paper, the new guy looked fine. He wanted to help orphans and he had turned his life of crime around. By all accounts, a great new recruit who was just a little dodgy on who he said recommended him to the Agency.
And yet, Ranpo still couldn’t shake the feeling that this guy was not supposed to be here.
Nothing specific stood out. It wasn’t anything that Ranpo could explain. There was nothing in his eyes, no trail of clues for Ranpo to dramatically highlight while he led the normal people to his conclusion. But Ranpo could still tell that this man was not supposed to be here. He should be in a different organization, and soon, he should be dead.
Ranpo could tell Fukuzawa. Fukuzawa would never go against Ranpo’s word, not in such a sensitive manner as a new member to the Agency would be. No one had joined since they saved Yosano years ago.
However… Having another member would really help with their case load. Plus, with his ability, the guy was practically un-killable. With the Mafia’s change in attitude recently, it could be a real help.
More than that, though, Ranpo was curious. He wanted to see more of this guy. He wanted to know why he wasn’t supposed to be here. Plus, Ranpo owed him for helping out with that first case before the Agency had been created. Ranpo hated owing people.
So, with Ranpo’s nod of approval, Oda Sakunosuke joined the Armed Detective Agency.
Despite his vast array of knowledge, Ranpo had no way of knowing how much he had just changed all of their lives. One day, in the future, when asked if he would do it all again, Ranpo would answer no. And one day, he would answer yes.
===
Nothing went wrong with Ranpo’s first mission with Sakunosuke, per say. They had- well, Ranpo had- figured out the culprit easily enough, and then Sakosunose had caught them. Everything had gone perfectly orderly, and Ranpo had reported as much to Fukuzawa.
Nothing went wrong, but something felt wrong.
Ranpo had gathered all the clues, but it felt like something had been in the way. He’d gotten around it, obviously, because he was the coolest and the best, but that didn’t mean he didn’t notice it. Oda wasn’t purposefully getting in the way, either. Ranpo would have been able to tell if he was. It was something subtler than that. Something quiet that made Ranpo’s skin itch.
The next mission went the same way. Perfectly fine, on paper. Everything worked as it was supposed to. Ranpo solved the crime and Sakosunose followed his orders.
It was too perfect, really. The criminal was arrested with little fanfare. They didn't even try to run. All in all, a perfect case on Ranpo's perfect record.
So why did everything still feel so wrong?
Ranpo stared after the police car as it drove away. For some reason, he was still expecting for something to go wrong. For anything to go wrong. It's almost as though he wanted it.
“Do you have something against me?” Oda asked. Ranpo jumped, but he pretended as though he hadn’t. He hadn't even heard the man approach.
“Why would I care enough to have something against you? You’re just the newbie,” Ranpo said, not looking at him.
“You’ve obviously got some kind of problem with me,” Oda said.
Ranpo sat up a little, but his eyes were still closed. “Why do you think I would have a problem with you?”
“You kept on staring at me as though you’re trying to figure something out,” Oda said. “I’ve told you about my past. I’m not keeping any secrets.”
“My job is to figure people out, Oda,” Ranpo said. “But you… there’s something off about you.”
“Off?” Oda asked dryly, raising an eyebrow.
“Off,” Ranpo repeated. “There’s something that’s been off ever since you joined. Things are shifting. It was too easy today.”
“Too easy? Isn't that a good thing?”
“It's not. Everything always has to go wrong somewhere.” Ranpo shook his head.
“That’s very vague. And unhelpful,” Oda said.
“Well, that’s all I’ve got for you,” Ranpo said stiffly.
“So you just don’t like me,” Oda said flatly. “I’ve seen the way you act with Yosano and Fukuzawa, and it’s very different than how you act with me. I don’t care if you treat me the same way, but if I’ve done something wrong, I would like to fix it.”
“I don’t like that I can’t figure you out,” Ranpo corrected. “There’s a difference there.”
“How so?” Oda said.
Ranpo stared off into the distance for a moment. “An important difference. Trust me.”
“I do trust you,” Oda said. “As my superior and a detective, I trust your information. Which is why I would appreciate if you would tell me if something is wrong.”
Ranpo was silent for a long minute. What was he supposed to say? Sorry, your vibes are off so I hate you. Sorry, there’s something instinctively wrong when I look at you, as though something in the universe broke. Sorry, it’s a problem I can’t put into words and have no idea how to.
“Come on,” Oda said. “Let's get back to the Agency.”
Ranpo rounded his shoulders. “Yeah. Let's go.”
===
The next few days felt much the same. There were very few problems that the Agency was usually swamped by. Everything kept going well and Ranpo hated it.
“Yosano, have you noticed anything off about the new guy?” Ranpo asked. The two of them were the only ones in the Agency, since Oda had left already and Fukuzawa was shut up in his office.
“Off?” Yosano asked, looking up at him. She knew exactly what Ranpo’s hunches could mean. “Off in what way?”
“Nothing… bad. Yet,” Ranpo said. “Just… there’s something wrong.”
“You think he’s hiding something?” Yosano asked.
“No,” Ranpo said. “That’s the problem.”
Yosano silently raised an eyebrow. Ranpo sighed dramatically, unnecessarily. He acted as though explaining things out loud was a chore, but it helped in times when he had no idea what the problem was.
“I think my Super-Deduction can tell that something’s going on,” Ranpo said. “Something bigger than him. Bigger than the two of us, too.”
“Is this something we have to be worried about?” Yosano asked.
“I can’t figure that out,” Ranpo said. “Which is what makes me concerned.”
“You can't be perfect all the time, you know,” Yosano said. “You can make mistakes.”
“I don't make mistakes, you know that,” Ranpo snapped.
Yosano rolled her eyes. “Fine, then, call it a misinterpretation. You didn't make a mistake, you're just thinking about it wrong.”
Ranpo furrowed his brows. That idea could have some merit, as loath Ranpo was to admit that he could ever make any mistake.
“Just keep an open mind,” Yosano said, waving a hand. “Maybe you'll see more than you imagined.”
===
“Ranpo,” Fukuzawa said. “Do you trust Sakunosuke?”
Ranpo paused. They were in the meeting room of the Agency, narrowing down the location of the hideout of their latest murderer. Ranpo had figured it out half an hour ago, but he was too bored to actually tell anyone. Eventually, Fukuzawa kicked everyone else out of the room to make Ranpo actually work.
“What?” Ranpo asked.
“Do you trust Sakunosuke?” Fukuzawa repeated. Ranpo didn’t meet his eyes.
“Yeah, I guess. You trusted him enough to hire him.”
“That’s not an answer,” Fukuzawa said.
Ranpo fidgeted. “There’s something off about this whole situation.”
“What do you mean?” Fukuzawa asked. If it were anyone else asking, Ranpo wouldn’t answer them, but Fukuzawa was different. Fukuzawa always listened to Ranpo’s most outlandish claims. He had for years, ever since he had made the decision to take in Ranpo when he was a cocky child. He owed him an explanation, yes, but he also chose to give one.
“Things weren’t supposed to play out like this.” Ranpo drummed his fingers on the table. “Oda wasn’t supposed to join the Agency.”
“You signed off on his hiring,” Fukuzawa pointed out.
“It’s not my opinion that he shouldn’t be here,” Ranpo said. “He’s good at following orders and is dedicated to helping people and all that crap. I don’t have a personal problem with it. He just isn’t supposed to be here.”
Fukuzawa frowned. “How do you suggest we fix that?”
Ranpo leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think it’s anything we can do on our end. Things have already been set in motion from someone else. Too much has been changed in order to just fix it.”
“Is it the Mafia?” Fukuzawa asked.
Ranpo pursed his lips. “No… they wouldn’t benefit from this change. I can’t make heads or tails of it.”
To be honest, Ranpo hardly knew what he was saying at all. He knew it was true, he could feel it in his gut, but he couldn’t point to any solid evidence. But something had changed from how the world was supposed to work, and it had something to do with Oda Sakunosuke.
“Is it going to put people in danger?” Fukuzawa asked.
Ranpo didn’t answer for a long time. There were a lot of variables to put into place, years worth of decisions he had to predict. Of course, it was light work for someone as amazing as him, but it was still time consuming.
“It will hurt someone,” Ranpo said slowly. “But I don’t think it’s anyone we have the capacity to save. Not anymore.”
Fukuzawa nodded slowly. “Thank you, Ranpo. Let me know if any new information arises.”
“Of course,” Ranpo said, because that was his job, and as much as it occasionally bored him, this case, at the very least, was intriguing.
“Now, about where that suspect was hiding…?”
About doing his job. Ranpo took back everything and would be leaving immediately. Stuff like this was so trivally boring that anyone could figure it out.
“Make Oda do it.” Ranpo called over his shoulder as he pushed his chair back.
“Ranpo!”
===
Ranpo should have known things were going to well. They had been going too well for too long for nothing bad to happen.
It was Ranpo’s fault. He had miscalculated what the suspect was willing to do. From his predictions, they should have turned themself in when they got caught. It’s what Ranpo’s Super-Deduction pointed him too, and he was never wrong.
Well. That’s what he liked to say. He knew he was very rarely wrong.
He stared at the burning building, knowing that this was one of the times that he had been very, very wrong.
The death count wouldn’t be high. The building had been abandoned, and the suspect only had a few hostages. That didn’t mean that it weighed any lighter on his shoulders.
To top it all off, Oda had gotten shot before the suspect set the building on fire. The former assassin was leaning against a car next to Ranpo, tying off a bandage around the bullet wound. They were going to need to go to the hospital soon, though it wasn’t anything particularly fatal.
“You know,” Oda said, after a long, but not uncomfortable silence. “It isn’t your fault.”
Ranpo’s eyes jerked up to meet Oda’s. “What?”
“You can’t blame yourself every time something goes wrong in a case,” Oda said. “Just because you’re our best detective doesn’t mean that you’re our only one, and it doesn’t mean that you can save everyone.”
“I’m our best detective,” Ranpo snapped. “It’s my job to make sure that everything works out. I’m supposed to know everything. No one is supposed to get hurt.”
“Ranpo, I’m fine,” Oda said. “I’ve been shot before.”
“That’s not reassuring,” Ranpo said.
“What can I say that will convince you that it’s fine?” Oda asked.
“Nothing, because it isn’t fine!” Ranpo said. “If you hadn’t fixed my stupid plan, then you could have died!”
“I knew that when I signed up,” Oda said. “It wouldn’t have been your fault. Blaming yourself is hurting you worse than the injury I got.”
Ranpo turned away, glaring at the ground. He didn’t care if Oda said it wasn’t his fault. Ranpo was in charge of every mission. He was supposed to flawlessly figure out the trick every time. It wasn’t fair that Oda had gotten hurt because Ranpo was the one that screwed up, and it wasn’t fair that even though Oda had been the one to get hurt, Ranpo’s chest still felt like it was about to burst.
Oda sighed. He did that a lot, Ranpo noticed. “I don’t know how to get through to you, but we have to get back to the Agency to tell the others about what happened.”
Ranpo didn’t say anything. He didn’t move. How could he, when he was going to have to look Fukuzawa in the face and admit to being a failure? How was he supposed to stand before the man who ad given him everything and tell him exactly why he wasn’t worth it?
Oda started walking away. Ranpo caught his sleeve before the had the chance to think about it.
“Wait.”
Oda looked back at him. There wasn’t blame in his eyes. Ranpo was horrible with people, and even he could tell that there was no blame in Oda’s eyes, even though he should be in pain and he should blame Ranpo for all of it.
“I don’t… know the way back on my own,” Ranpo said as some form of excuse.
“I wasn’t just going to leave you here,” Oda said.
“I knew that!” Ranpo said too loudly. He was still holding Oda’s sleeve. He didn’t let go of it. Oda didn’t pull away.
“Come on, then.”
“Wait,” Ranpo said again before Oda could start walking, dredging up the strength to keep talking. “I need to say something to you.”
Oda didn’t say anything. He just looked at Ranpo innocently, as though Ranpo had never done anything wrong. As though everything was fine.
“Once, I told you that I didn’t like that I couldn’t figure you out,” Ranpo said.
“I remember,” Oda said, despite the fact that Ranpo had said it months ago.
“Well, I figured you out.” Ranpo said. “You’re a self-sacrificing idiot who doesn’t know when to stop.”
Oda had gotten shot because he stepped in between the suspect and Ranpo. Ranpo would never be able to shake that image from his mind.
“Gee, thanks,” Oda said.
“And you’re a good person who gave up everything for a chance to save others,” Ranpo finished. “So, there.”
Oda smiled gently. “Thanks, Ranpo. That means a lot, actually.”
“Well, don’t get used to it!” Ranpo yanked Oda forward. “Come on, back to the Agency!”
Oda coughed as he was jerked forward. “I did just get shot, you know.”
“Eh, get over it. Yosano will fix you up in a heartbeat!”
“The Agency is the opposite direction.”
“You’re the one who’s supposed to be leading here!”
“You were the one who started running without warning!”
It took them long enough to get back to the Agency to earn a thorough lecture from Yosano about getting shot, but Ranpo thought it was worth it. Oda smiled at him again, and Ranpo thought that the world made a little more sense.