#edogawa

⤷ 𝕴𝕿

was a normal day at the detective agency today. Ranpo, as usual, was noisily rustling a bag of chips he has been eating out of for the past 15 minutes. The dark haired detective had his feet propped up on his desk as someone approached him.

Looking up, Ranpo’s eyes fixed on Kunikida who had stopped at his desk. The blond held a couple of papers in his arms, some stapled together and others on their lonesome.

“Ranpo,” Kunikida cleared his throat, “There have been serval reports on a missing woman in the Yokohama area, and I’d like to see your view on the case. If you’re interested, that is.”

Still eating out his bag of chips, he turned in his chair to face his coworker with an amused smile; his feet falling from his desk. “Seriously!?” He exclaimed rather excitedly, “It better be something worth my time!”

“I wanted to ask you because I’m pretty sure you knew this woman if I am not mistaken. Not only that, but she has been missing for so long that her case had gone cold. All police have given up after almost a year.”

Kunikida continues, “But the woman’s family is relentless. They won’t stop until they get answers, even if she turns out dead in the end.”

With that, the blond spread out the papers in his arms on Ranpo’s desk scattered with empty candy wrappers and half-empty bottles of soda. The papers consisted of reports about your last known whereabouts, the clothes you were wearing, and a description of your appearance.

“Her case is very strange, in a way. She showed up to work that morning like she always did, but once she left the building, no one has seen her since. There was a witness testimony saying that she had entered someone else’s vehicle but there was no evidence to prove so.”

At his words, Ranpo reached into his pocket and pulled out his “special” glasses and pushed them up the bridge of his nose. He lazily ran his green eyes over and over the papers until his eyes landed on a picture. A picture of the missing woman in question.

A picture that made his blood run cold.

A small gasp escaped his lips as his eyes went wide in visible shock.

“What…?” He whispered, barely audible over the noise of rustling of paper filling the room as he brings the photo closer. The photo was attached to yet another paper, describing her appearance, profession, ect.

But something that he just couldn’t pry his lingering eyes off of was her name. His irises ran over the bolded text over and over again until the words didn’t even look like legible characters anymore.

“Kunikida…” he muttered almost silently, “Could you… could you tell me her first and last name?”

“Oh, her name?” He asked, confused. Surely Ranpo could’ve seen it already, but nonetheless, the blond replied.

“Her name is Y/n L/n.”

“…”

“Ranpo?”

“Oh- uh… sorry. I just…” He paused, desperately trying to gather his bearings, “I just lost my appetite.”

He crumpled up the half-eaten bag of chips and tossed them in the trash.

“So Ranpo, do you think you can find her?”

ONE YEAR AGO

“I am not going out with you, Ranpo!” You giggled at your best friend’s romantic advances, “Plus, I’m not even looking for anyone right now.”

“Really?” He tilted he head to the side as he pulled a sucker out of his mouth. He pointed it towards you in a playful manner.

“Well I can change that, Y/n! Just give me a chance, alright?” Before you could even utter a response, he began speaking again. This time, with the sucker I’m his mouth.

“You have work Monday-Friday if I am not mistaken… and you get out and hour early on days like tomorrow and Friday…” He muttered quietly to himself, but you still overheard him.

“When you get off tomorrow, I’ll be there pick you up for our date, got it?” He informed you.

Now that he’s bombarded you with the whole date idea, you can’t deny his offer now. He’s too stubborn to let you decline now.

“It’s a bit frightening how well you memorize things… especially my work schedule…” You muttered, not exactly sure if your words are genuine or not.

“Well I’m not called the ‘World’s Greatest Detective for nothin’!!” He exclaimed self righteously.

But even you knew that knowing all of those specific details about one person specifically may not solely rely on one’s “special ability.” But, you decided not dwell on it too much. You, yourself, don’t even have a special ability, so who are you to say anything about it?

But it isn’t wrong to have concerns over your privacy.

The next day, you woke up early as usual for another long, grueling, work day. At least you have a date with Ranpo to look forward to; well, the date you were practically forced into attending.

You got dressed in a nice outfit that was both appropriate for work and a date. Speaking of which, you still don’t know where Ranpo is taking you.

Knowing him it’ll probably be a movie theater or even a restaurant with a large selection of deserts on the menu.

Once the end of your shift rolled around, you left the building with your purse and your phone in your hand. As you were about to send Ranpo a quick text message asking him where he was, he came walking up to you.

As usual, he had a bag of candy in his hand. “Hey Y/n! You ready to go?” He smiled sweetly.

“Yeah, I just had a question,” you began and diverted your gaze away from him. “You know how to drive?”

Ignoring your useless question, he held you hand and led you over to his car. A nice one, in fact. But seriously, when did Ranpo even buy a car!?

“Ranpo, you didn’t answer my quest—“

“-Since this is our first date,” he spoke over her, “I wanted to take you to a nice restaurant nearby. It’s only about 20 minutes away.”

“This isn’t a date, Ranpo. Not a romantic one, at least.”

“But you did agree to go on it, am I wrong?” He flashed a sly grin your way as he drove further and further away from your work building.

You never knew that’d be the last time you’d see that place.

“Well- no! You pressured me into it!” You defended yourself.

“But you got in the car of your own will, correct?”

Damnit, he got you there. Well, that’s what you get for daring to argue with a great detective.

About 15 minutes later, Ranpo had offered you a sucker and of course you took it and began eating it with no hesitation. But you couldn’t help but notice that it had a slightly different taste than usual. Weird.

Suddenly feeling a bit tired, you leaned your head against the passenger’s seat window and contemplated if you needed to go to sleep a bit earlier to avoid this grogginess.

But that’s when you noticed it, the both of you speeding past the restaurant building. At first, you beloved it was your fatigued eyes playing tricks on you, but you recognized the surrounding area.

Perking up a bit, you turned toward your eccentric “friend,” “Ra… Ranpo, we passed the, uh, restaurant…”

But there was no response from him. Shocking, usually he always has something to say, but right now he’s silent.

Weird.

The last thing you saw before blacking out was Ranpo’s hand that wasn’t on the steering wheel lightly caressing your head.

PRESENT TIME

How long has it been?

How long has it been since you left this house? This hell.

It would have had to been at least 3 months, at least that’s what you think. He doesn’t like talking about that, or anything that has to do with you and the outside world, as a matter of fact.

Why did you have to show up to work that day? You ask yourself over and over each passing day.

You were rudely awakened from your thoughts by the sound of the front door unlocking. You gathered your bearings before running up the the door, your hands clasped together in front of you. You wore a beautiful sun dress he had picked out for you in your favorite color.

You may wonder, why aren’t you locked up in his basement with no source of natural light to be seen? Why is he letting you do as you please, for the most part?

Well, it is simply because you knew better than to defy him.

Ranpo believes that without trust, there’s nothing. He’s taught you that after your very first attempt at escaping.

But no need to dwell on the past.

The door swung open to reveal a quite lethargic and tired man. Noticing his… off behavior… you moved in closer to him.

“Ranpo, dear, is everything alright?” You hesitantly wrapped your arms around him and pulled off his hat.

“I’m perfectly fine, Y/n! You don’t have to worry your little head about me!” He placed a gentle kiss on your forehead that you desperately resisted to scrub off your face with soap and water.

“Although…” he pulled your hands up into his his as he stared deeply into your aching eyes. “Ever since your… hiatus… there have been many searches for you by the police; all of them ending up inconclusive due to my, not to mention, incomparable deduction abilities.”

Suddenly, a dull ray of hope lit up deep inside of your spirit. People out there are actually looking for you, there is a chance someone might save you from this hell.

“But, it seems they’ve left the case cold, or given up completely…” He sighed, “But of course, your family won’t give up until they know your whereabouts. Dead of alive. They just care way too much about you. That’s why your case was brought to me today.”

“How ironic.”

You didn’t know how to react. You didn’t know what exactly to say.

“Wh- why are you telling me this, Ranpo?” You palms grew clammy and you became filled with anxiety.

“I can’t let them find you, love. You know I can’t! If they do, I’ll never see you again!”

I know that.

You jerked your hands away from him, letting them form into fists by your sides.

“No… No Ranpo!!” You cried as fat tears threatened to streak down your cheeks and ruin your mascara. “You can’t ki- kill them! You said that if I do as you say they- we won’t be punished!! What did I do wrong dear, please tell me!”

Sighing, he comfortingly rests a hand on your shoulder, making you flinch. “I know. You haven’t done anything wrong. That’s exactly why I have to get rid of ‘em. And plus, I’m the only man- only person you will ever need or love. Is that why you’re doing this, huh? Don’t tell me you still love them?“

Grabbing onto his sleeve, you began to get desperate, “I do! I do love you! I just… isn’t taking the lives of the innocent… wrong? And there’s n- no way someone can solve a crime such an amazing detective!”

“Please just tell me… you won’t murder them…” you diverted your gaze to the ground, your hands refusing to release their strong grip on him.

“I won’t. I promise I won’t.” Pressing a soft kiss onto your lips, he left the room.

You wanted to flinch at his kiss, but the overflowing anxiety and fear building up inside of you was enough to distract you. Was he telling the truth? Only God knows.

They only thing you can do is wait it out.

Well, that’s what you thought you had to do. Because when Ranpo arrived home from “work” the next day, the crimson spatters on his outfit was enough to let you know the answer to your question.

Looking over him, you felt… you felt betrayed, in a way. Stumbling back, you hit the kitchen table, tears running down your face, causing your mascara to come down in dark streaks.

“Y/n, I know I- I lied to you but please just remember…” he reached a bloody hand out to your cheek, smearing blood on your skin.

He pulled you in closer with his free hand around your waist, “…I did this for us. For you! Because I love you.”

Without a second thought, he brought you into a forceful, yet passionate, kiss.

Do you, Ranpo, you thought.

Do you really love me?

back to title page

Ranpo laid on the agency's couch, mountains of candy wrappers stuck to the cushions and under his body. The collar of his shirt unbuttoned a tad and face flushed. Pink and golden hues catching the bit of drool leaking from his mouth. It was sunset and the boy had slept through his break, and into the afternoon, now late evening. Being a clerk and assistant to the ADA you just got off your shift, busying yourself with tiding up the mess the agency members previously created. But the Ranpo was sleeping, and it proves quite difficult to pick up melted chocolate from his vest. After at the very least thirty minutes of making barley any progress you slump on the couch near the detective, choosing instead to flick off some crumbs off his hair. Groaning he rolls over, his cheek resting on your lap, and nose nuzzling into your inner thigh, forcing a shiver through you.

"Ranpo?" Your voice a whisper all while tapping your knuckle's gently against his face to wake him. "Ranpo? We're going to close soon.." He pouts, lip jutting out and hands choosing to grip your leg tightly as if a baby.

Running over exactly what you wanted to say, you brought up a deal he couldn’t pass, “If you solve 10 cases every work week then I’ll treat you to whatever you want as long as it’s ¥4,500 or under. I’ll keep track of your monthly average, and if you exceed 40 cases solved in a month I’ll treat you to something worth ¥10,000. What do you say?”

There was a pause as Ranpo considered the pros and cons of this deal, and skeptically he asked “What do you get out of this?”

You hadn’t considered him to ask that. Either he would have agreed or disagreed, not dive into your intentions. Ironically, you felt that your reasoning was somewhat childish, so you hesitated before coming clean, “I just want to help people.”

Ranpo blinked before a smile spread across his face, “Okay! Nothing the world's greatest detective can’t handle.” He leaned back in his chair, arms resting behind his head.

“Oh!” You blinked, surprised he had actually agreed. “Cool, great. We’ll start next month so it’s easier for me to keep track.”

What became a simple agreement between co-workers shifted into a friendship. At first you thought you’d just give him the cash at the end of the week to spend on whatever his heart wanted…yeah you hadn’t thought that part through. When you tried to give Ranpo the cash at the end of the first week, he whined, complaining about how he needed someone to guide him to his favorite candy store. So not only were you giving him an allowance, but you had also become his go to guide. At first you were a bit annoyed, yes you had no grudges against the black haired detective, but all you wanted to do on a Friday evening was to rest in bed. 

Although it was an annoyance at first, your time together had grown on you. You got to know Ranpo better, and although he was very childish, arrogant, selfish…you get the point, he was also quite entertaining. You two worked together, but you hadn’t really interacted with him except for the meetings or greeting as you’d pass by. You felt yourself glued when Ranpo would tell you of his past cases, hands moving around while still holding his spoon with melting ice cream dripping onto the table. 

It didn’t take long for feelings to start forming. This agreement had gone on for 3 months at this point and you found yourself excited for the weekly outing you two shared. His childishness that had endeared you before was your downfall. Ever since you got to know each other better, Ranpo had begun pestering you more. Whether it be poking you for more snacks, or requesting you to join him during his cases, he never failed to gain your attention in one way or another. Which gained the attention of your fellow co-workers.

Dazai drawled your name, moving his chair to join you at your desk. You barely gave the bandaged detective a glance, continuing the report you needed to finish about you and Ranpo’s last case. Dazai disregarded your disinterest and continued, “Why haven’t you offered me a reward for getting work done?” A pout rested on his lips as he stared at you with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

You quickly shut him down, “You wouldn’t do the work.”

He found a way to make himself look even more pathetic as he whined, “You’re so mean! Ranpo gets to hang out with such an attractive person while the rest of us are just chopped liver.”

You stared at him blankly, unsure what his motivations could possibly be, “You just want free food.”

Dazai leaned back in his chair, hand resting over his chest in a dramatic gesture, “You wound me! Is it really such a shock that I may want to spend time with you, Belladonna?”

You squinted at him, very aware that he only used that pet name when he was trying to woo someone, or in this case to bring your defenses down. And even though you knew he was up to something, you felt yourself give in. It’s been a long week and useless bickering wasn’t going to finish your report. 

“Do you want to join us or something?” You asked exasperatedly. 

“You’re inviting little old me?” Dazai asked with a dramatic gasp, a smile replacing his previous pout. “Oh I don’t know…”

“You’d have to ask Ranpo,” You grumbled, turning back to the half finished report. “And you have to pay for yourself.”

Little did you know, Ranpo was watching your entire interaction, a frown painting his features. He wasn’t sure why, but the thought of Dazai encroaching on your shared activity didn’t settle well. He was a selfish man, and you had become a treat all on your own. He wanted your attention on him, and although he knows it’s impossible for you to focus on him at all times, it didn’t stop him from wanting it. The thought was foreign to him, as he only really cared about the President’s praise or Yosano’s opinions, but you had managed to wiggle your way into his life and now he also cared about having your attention, praise, and opinions. 

When you had brought up Ranpo, Dazai looked over to said man, a pleased grin on the brown haired detective's lips. Ranpo’s frown grew, unsure why Dazai seemed so pleased. No way was he letting the lesser detective spoil his treats. 

“Oh Ranpo~” Dazai sang, only to be cut off.

“No.”

The sternness in Ranpo’s reply stunned you into tuning back into the situation. You watched in slight shock as Ranpo glared over at Dazai.

“You’re both so mean,” Dazai whined, but finally dropped the subject, sending you a smirk before returning to his desk. 

You glanced at Ranpo once more, only for him to have returned to his normal self, opening a bag of chips as if nothing unusual just happened. That was only the start to his unusual behavior towards you. You knew your doting on him would clue him in on your feelings, but you hadn’t expected him to reciprocate. Yes your agreement had started because you wanted to help people, but it had turned indulgent as you enjoyed your time with the detective. What you hadn’t expected was for it to become indulgent for him as well. 

The next sign was how the seemingly touch adverse man had turned into the clingiest motherfucker you had ever met. You didn’t mind until it started to intrude on your work. It started with small things, holding your hand as you walked the streets together, resting his head on your shoulder while you sat on the bus. Small things you could easily mistake as friendly (which you had), but the gestures started to blur some lines. Hugs that lasted longer than you could brush off, getting piggy back rides from you (if/when possible), cuddling with you on the break room couch when you both had a break. Dazai had found it his new goal in life to tease you as much as possible (it seemed that Yosano had taken up the same practice with Ranpo). Finally you both had breached gestures that clearly couldn’t be waved off as friendly. Ranpo had decided that the best seat in the office was your lap (you couldn’t suppress the embarrassment you felt as everyone in the office stared at you both), or how he’d insist you sleep over (you basically live in his dorm at this point).

The biggest sign of how Ranpo felt about you was when he offered you your favorite snack. Not only was it a snack, something he guards with his life, but it was your favorite, something he deemed worthy enough to know. Such a small gesture managed to warm your heart. There was only one problem…neither of you seemed to be able to open up about your feelings for the other. Your agreement had fizzled, as Ranpo settled for receiving your praises in exchange for his work, but you still would buy him an ice cream or some candy as a reward. 

The lines of your relationship continued to blur more and more. It wasn’t until finally Ranpo had introduced you as his partner, and no, not as a work partner. At first you became flustered, a label finally falling onto your relationship, and soon Ranpo had followed as he realized what he let slip. He thought of you both as together, and a wide grin adorned your face. Hoping to get through to him that it was okay as you wanted the same, you had pressed a kiss to his cheek…which only seemed to worsen his flustered state. 

At the end of the day…none of your co-workers were shocked. In fact, when Ranpo had declared your status to the office (much to your dismay), Dazai just had to quip, “Wait, you weren’t before?”