You suddenly awoke from what seemed like a dreaded nightmare; the anxiety that crept on to you turned your body hot, the fear that shot right through you caused your ragged breathing, the panic that caused your eyes to run up with tears sent you sweating. You hadn’t noticed when you sat upright almost immediately that you were in close contact of touching another’s face, features aligned with features; eyes were wide, breathing had turned slow, yet the same realisation had hit.
As your eyes fell shut with grace, you clenched at the wooly blanket carding in between your fingers, allowing him to continue his previous intentions.
Gingerly, a soft, cotton towel dabbed over each eye with care and steady touches as if cautious that any harder would break you. It soaked up the tears of panic, soaking up the fear and anxiety that stayed there for a short while as well. You felt the hand that had caressed your right cheek flinch when you leaned into it for a moment, then returning the warmth you had learned to envelop and accept when you had hugged him for the first time. Flipped over, the towel gently wiped across your forehead and behind your ears, making its way to your neck and nose, too.
Eyes fluttering open to meet the beauty of mystical green, worry had washed over him- worry dug its way into him. Luckily, it disappeared the moment you spoke, thanking him for the small gesture. He slipped his hand away, pushing himself off of the couch and standing properly. He was still in front of an audience, an audience of which was the deceased victim’s family members. Though, he watched you secretly, stealing glances for himself and out of cautious fret.
“Are-Are you all alright, Miss?” Mrs Ogami approached you on her knees, hand falling on your shoulder with concern. You could definitely see it on her face, you had definitely been out for a good hour or so. You pursed your lips and swung both feet off as you peeled the blanket off of them, hopping right back onto the case.
“Yes, I am fine.” Your body bent forward almost too quickly for her to comprehend, sending her into a panic when you suddenly bent forwards in a ninety-degree angle before her. “Thank you for looking after me. I apologise for the inconvenience.” After a few short seconds, you rose up with your head held high. Your eyes had turned stern, chin lowering at your temporary partner on the case only to earn a nod and an, “excuse us” towards the concerned mother. After acknowledgement, you two stepped outside of their home, ready to discuss what had happened and the reasonings.
Though, you had somewhat of a different idea and topic in mind.
“Ranpo, I-”
“I know.” You froze up for a moment, eyes dilating at his serious stare in your eyes. You could hear the heavy inhale and exhale escape him, your whole body tensing up. He knew? Well, you couldn’t exactly blame him for knowing, you were quite obvious when you would gaze deeply, star struck in his deep shades of green optics. They could seem like a valley of green in the sun in the light, and an evergreen forest of mystery in the dark, who knew what it held. “It seems like both were older siblings were abusive, right?”
Your hopes had fell with a loud crash, your stomach dropping at the words. It wasn’t what you were thinking. It wasn’t what you were hoping for. Your throat turned itchy and dry, the corner of your lips twitching upwards painfully in a lopsided, forced smile. Of course, you were just partners after all, “Y-Yeah! I wanted to mention exactly that, but looks like you beat me to it.” You pushed out a hurtful laugh, eyes shutting and lips shut tight as a cheek hurting smile erupted.
How stupid of him to not see your attempt. How blinding of the facts that you were made partners in the beginning. How dumb of you not to realize that without this case, you had nothing going on with him. How hurtful it was to know that you both started as strangers in competition to you wanting more than just a stare and a caress, more than just a hug.
You wanted him to know.
The cons of being an official worker; no personal ties with anyone.
“(Last Name)-san, wait!” Ranpo shouted, his hand reaching out towards your figure that was getting smaller and smaller by every step forward you leaped. You felt like you were running for your life, but you hadto know the truth. You had to know if the exact same thing- or if something similar happened to the younger Ogami brother. You could only hear your breaths and heartbeat as every other sound was drowned out by each other. Everything had slowed down, this new piece of evidence was a bigone.
You came quick to a halt at a stop, waiting for the light to turn green and for the pedestrian light to signal that you could walk. During that time, Ranpo managed to catch up, his hands falling to his knees to catch his breath. It was bright outside and it was hot, the sun’s rays felt like it burned through his poncho and his hat. He rested a hand on your shoulder, panting.
“What’s gotten into you? You just ran out.” He mentioned, recalling hearing the front door of the Kazuhiko’s home being opened and slammed. He remembered running to the hallway and not seeing any sign of you. It caused him great confusion, but he recalled the little girl you went to talk to. He recalled the noticing the girl when he first came in, the soulless eyes she had. He understood.
“I have to figure something out.” You were determined to find the truth. You were determined to find the connection. You were determined to put an end to the killings. You didn’t know how, but all you had to do was prove your theory right. You watched the countdown decrease in the other direction, your eyes swiping over all of that in front of you to the red hand that told you to stop and not walk.
“Then let’s figure it out together.” He insisted, his hand finding your wrist. You nodded at him, agreeing. “Let’s go.”
♕Ogami household ♕
Your chest became heavy as if something like a sack of potatoes had fallen on it, your stomach swirled with a little unease making it back to the place where your theory had all started. You could feel the warm air tickle the inside of your nose, filling your lungs gradually as it built up the courage to knock. Your throat became dry, your palms became sweaty, your knees began to shake. Your raised arm with your hand balled into a fist began to ache as you kept it there, mere centimetres away from the pine green painted door in midsummer. Your gaze trembled at the presence of the door before you, how hard could it be to just knock?
You dropped your arm, spinning around 180° in the other direction as you used your fingers to card through your hair. You had to admit, you were slightly frustrated with yourself, but you couldn’t understand why you were finding this so difficult. All you had to do was knock, go in there, ask to talk to the youngest Ogami and that was it, you find evidence or you don’t. But what was so hard?
You had to do it, you had to finish the job you were sent here to do. Unwaveringly you stomped a foot down in the other direction, you were definitely determined that if you got this done, than you could finish the job. You took a step forward only to bump into what felt like a hand. Quickly, you backed up and touched your nose, your eyes wide and full of confusion. You took note of the hand and item in it, trailing it back to its owner to see Ranpo with a raised brow holding a lollipop.
“Take this, it looks like you need it.” He offered, waving it towards you. For a moment you were dumbstruck by the thing that he offered to calm you down, what could a lollipop do? You shook your head in denial, taking a step back away from him. “Take it.” He waved again, this time pulling the plastic wrapper off of the sweet candy. You could tell he really wanted you to take it, by the look on his face he wanted you to feel better. You dropped your shoulders in defeat and let out an exhausted sigh, taking his offer with a slight pout.
“Th-Thanks…” you pursed your lips at the feeling of your cheeks to the tip of your ears warming up. You couldn’t tell why, but suddenly your face began to feel hot. You broke your gaze from him, tentatively slipping the lollipop in your mouth as you stared off to the side. For a moment, you heard him cough. Shortly after the cough, it was followed by a couple of knocks. The candy was sweet and cherry flavoured, slowly melting in your mouth as you kept it in there; the sour taste dispersing over your tongue followed by a tad bit of sweetness.
Your attention travelled from the flower bush on the side of the walkway to the doorway the moment you heard the knob click. As the door was pulled inwards, it revealed a curious Ms. Ogami surprised by both yours and Ranpo’s appearance at her door yet again. You watched as Ranpo pulled off his medium brown hat, captured in his hand as he spoke to her. You could definitely agree that he was much more serious about the investigation and that he was more focused than last time. “Why do you need to speak to Azusa?”
Azusa…? So that’s his name… You thought, memories recollected from that one afternoon you asked for the boy’s name. Remembering that day gave you shivers, the eerie atmosphere and aura he gave off was unsettling.
“It’s part of the investigation. We need to prove one of our theories with him.”
“Oh…alright, come in.” She gestured, moving to the side to make room for the two of you. You watched as he bowed, following his actions you did as well, still holding the sweet stick in your mouth. “He’s in his room. Up the stairs and to the left, he should be in there.” You thanked her with a small nod and eye shut, trailing behind Ranpo as he went up first. You followed him all the way to the doors that were slightly cracked open. Your eyes met with his closed ones, both nodding as you somehow telepathically told each other to push the door on your own side to reveal the boy inside.
Both of you extended an arm towards the opposite door, your fingers slightly grazing the wood as you gave it a slight poke. You stopped yourself from pushing it open further once you noticed a pair of lemon coloured irises gazing intensely at you. You felt yourself freeze for a moment, paralyzed by the gaze set upon you; how the eyes almost seemed like they were glowing in the dim lit room behind them.
The moment you felt yourself release from the tense contractions, your throat erupted a shrill shriek that sent you throwing you arms around the nearest thing beside you along with a leg. You felt a hand tap your leg a few times, noticing what you threw your limbs around. With you arms wrapped around his neck and leg around his waist, Ranpo’s face was mere millimetres away from yours. Yet again you were caught by the close proximity you had with him. Yet again you could feel each other’s breaths fanning over, you could hear each other’s breaths. This time, not only was it that, you could feel your heart pound against your chest, as well as his from his ribcage. You were wondering when your eyes could meet the beautiful colour of his green ones again, oh, how lost you became in them; you could gaze deeply into them forever.
Sadly, you remembered your surroundings and what you came for, “S-Sorry…” it was more of a crestfallen sigh than an inhibited one. Your face turned away immediately as you untangled your arms from his neck and unhooked your leg from around his waist. Another cough escaped his lips, a hand slightly covering his mouth as his head turned away, too. It just so happened that you noticed the slight pink tinge on his cheeks matching the hue on yours. You peeked over at him with the corner of your eye, your head facing the opposite direction. Immediately your eyes swiped away once you made eye-contact with him, unable to stop the small smile that curled the corners of your lips up.
“Ah…Azusa, right?” The young boy nodded, the severity of his gaped stare unwavering. His eyes were wide and intimidating, your heartbeat settled a tad bit from earlier’s moment, but kept pounding due to the unsettlement you had from him.
“Your brother did something to you, didn’t he.” Ranpo already knew. There had to be a reason why Azusa was acting like this. There was no way that there was no reason he was so quiet. Ranpo knew that there was something this whole time, though he waited for you to catch up. Ranpo’s eyes never closed, his gaze lowered at the boy, a tense atmosphere surrounding the two. You could see that he understood Azusa and that he was sympathetic.
Azusa nodded, finally speaking. “He did.” Immediately you felt like your heart had been broken, the sound of his voice was so sweet and innocent, yet it was tainted by the actions of another. The innocence was lost long ago, and what was left behind was the body of a soul that haunted around in his life. It was as if he was stuck and permanently damaged by whatever was done to him by his older brother.
Your throat became dry as your lips quivered with anxiety to ask the next question, “What did he-” in the next moment, your heart tore. It was not broken, but torn. Torn into pieces that felt like they would never reassemble. Pieces that could never be bonded back. Your stomach churned, your eyes burned, your heart felt mutilated, your whole self felt the agony.
Your words were cutoff by Azusa lifting up his shirt, revealing the many injuries he had received in the past. The many stitches, burns, scars that would never fade. It was much worse than anything you or Ranpo could’ve imagined. Your vision became hazy with black, your vision getting smaller and smaller with every second you traced the injuries. Your knees felt weak, your body felt heavy, you were feeling light-headed, and as you were unable to hold yourself anymore, you said:
“He is.” Ranpo assured, his fingers intertwined with his own. His feelings were grim but, he did not express it. He was determined to deliver the news professionally just like you did. Now that you were a suspect, he couldn’t fool around like he did before. The weight was now on his shoulders. You felt like he was burdened with the weight, but he didn’t mind; this was something he should’ve done long ago.
Though he was the one questioning, you were still there, sitting to the side. You were a tad bit unhappy due to the fact you were still feeling down and that you had to go. But, there was a part of you that was happy because of Ranpo for what he did an hour or so before.
You could remember him telling the officer who labelled you as a suspect wrong; the way he explained his theory and reason, he was definitely trying to hurt his ego, maybe his feelings, it worked. You could remember Harushi declaring you as free-to-work, but made sure tabs were still stuck on you, he was pretty fair. You could remember Ranpo pulling you out of the conference room, holding your hand as he told you that he was going to go to the victim’s house with you and not without.
Your eyes cautiously watched how he handled the situation, and to be honest, he didn’t seem as selfish as other’s said he was. Rather, you saw a man who deep down did care for other’s he just needed something trigger it. Though, what was histrigger? You could tell when you first met him, his ego was kind of through the roof, but now? It seemed like he had made himself “equal” to understand others.
You heard a faint gasp, one coming from behind you near the living room’s door way. You turned your head a small bit, your (Eye Colour) orbs peering out of the corner of your eye to check carefully who was there. You noticed a small girl who was watching her mother cry, her face alarmed to why her mother was crying. “Ranpo,” you called, gaining his attention. You gestured your head towards the direction of the young girl, indicating to him that you were going over. He nodded as the woman fell to his feet, crying into his leg.
You spun around, heading to the little girl’s direction. She immediately noticed you and ran away, causing you to jog a little towards her. Once you came into the open hallway of her home, there she stood, her eyes focused on you. You noticed, just like the boy at the other home, Ono’s little brother - their eyes were the same, big and round but, empty. It was as if the light had burned out long ago, she stared at you the exact same way he did.
You could feel your skin crawl with the same feeling as before. What were these children doing? Why were they like this?
“Is my brother dead?” She asked, her huge eyes boring into your soul. You felt your breath hitch in your throat, you nodded instead. Your throat felt dry as if talking to her made you terrified. But, something you noticed was the deep similarity that ran through both the little siblings of the two victims. Had the two victims had something in common? Or was it a pure coincidence?
“Good.” Your eyes widened immediately, your jaw dropping as your stomach churned. It was sickening to hear such a young child say something as grim as that. You could almost feel as if something was breathing up your neck, swiftly whipping your head around, nothing was there. Was all this in your mind? What was this little girl doing? Why would she say that?
You gulped down the dry and painful lump in your throat, huffing out heavily as you panted, “Wh…What do you mean,’good’, little one?” You took a step forward and she didn’t flinch one bit. The dead look she had made your heart clench with pain, a child so young lost the light in themselves in a young age? You could have never imagined.
“My brother hurt me.” Hurt? What did she mean hurt? In what way? Isao? What could he have done? He seemed so nice.
You couldn’t understand, thatwasn’t the man you met. Isao seemed like he could never hurt a fly. Well, maybe if he was supremely pissed, but otherwise, it seemed rare of him to inflict any type of pain upon another. You tilted your head, opening your mouth again in hopes to question her again. Oh, the worry in your eyes, you crucially wanted to know the truth.
“Anri-chan! Come here!” A desperate cry from the other room you had just emitted from alerted you that it was her mother. Shortly after she was called, she ran off towards the living room, putting on her worried face to mask the soulless one she revealed to you. “Wait!” You reached out, following her with your arm. But, you did not follow, standing in the dark and open hallway of their home.
“Hurt”…what could that mean…if she and the other little boy had the same look in their eyes and same facial expression…could that mean Ono has hurt his younger sibling, too?
“His name is Kazuhiko Isao. He’s twenty-four. He’s a coffee shop owner; his life seemed relatively normal, he was a single man. He was with Detective (Last Name) when it happened, and she claims that there was nothing wrong with him and that it suddenly happened. Other people supported that it was exactly what had happened,” What had he meant by “supported”? Did he not believe you? Why was this officer building up that you were a suspect? Though, not that you really cared, at least not now. His voice was one of the many in the background, you were tuned out.
Every few seconds, the same scene would play over and over in your head. You just wished it would go away. You did not want to see it again and again, encoring in your head like it was trying to tell you something. Even if it was, your mind was still in shock so you couldn’t catch anything that would stand out. All you could feel was the sorrow eating you alive, you could already feel all the emotions of his family.
Ranpo couldn’t keep his eyes off of you, he was worried. You had been staring glassy-eyed at the table for the past fifteen minutes with your head hung low, completely unresponsive to the environment and reality surrounding you. You looked pale, you looked like you wanted to throw up and at the same time, you looked like you wanted to cry. Even if he hasn’t known you for that long, he didn’t like seeing you upset. Oh, how his motto was “As long as I’m fine, everything’s fine.” but, everything was not fine. Somehow, whenever you were sad, you managed to make others sad along with you.
“(Last Name)-san,” He called, sliding over deliberately in attempt to grab a hold of your attention. However, you did not respond.
“(Last Name)-san.” He was now next to you, leaning over the table in hope to come into your vision so that you could see he was calling you.
“(Last Name)-san,” Ranpo finally urged himself to physically grab your attention. He placed a hand on your shoulder and shook you a little, succeeding as you snapped out of your thoughts. You whipped your head to observe beside you, coming face-to-face with him so close that you you could feel each other’s breaths. You raised your brows in confusion, lost to why he seemed like he was so concerned about you. It wasn’t like you minded that he was concerned, but the look in his eyes hurt you, he was so worried about you.
You eyes followed his arm to his hand that rested on your shoulder, instantly you assumed that he was trying to call your name, but you did not respond. You felt bad for not paying attention, you felt bad that Ranpo was agonised by your despondency. You gently placed your hand over top of his, leaning onto it a little. “I’m sorry, Ranpo…for making you worry about me.” Your eyes were too focused on his hand that was for comfort on your shoulder to even be aware of Ranpo’s reaction.
His heart was fluttering, of course he knew that this wasn’t a time to feel that way, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t exactly know how to comfort you, due to usually being worried about himself, but he knew he wanted to at least try. He steadily began to flip his hand on its back, your palms touching once again, he held it, his thumb rubbing small circles on the back of yours. “You don’t have to study him, we can handle it from here. Go home.” He was abrupt with his speech, but he was serious. He didn’t want you doing anything you didn’t want to.
“No…I have to.” Rejecting his suggestion, you pulled your hand away from his, balling your hands into fists as you placed them in your lap, once again lowering your head. “I’m a suspect, right? I have to prove that I’m not or…” You paused, closing your eyes unhesitatingly. Ranpo could feel anxiety pit in his stomach, he had a feeling he knew what you were going to say next, “…maybe I shouldn’t be here at all.” you were right, as a suspect you weren’t allowed near any evidence or to be present in any discussions.
“You’re a detective, (Last Name)-sa-”
“But, I’m also a suspect.” He hated that word. He hated that word being used on you. He hated the officer that labelled you as one, he really did. He did not believe one bit that you were a suspect, he could see it. His ability may not had been useful in the beginning of the case, but he could see that you were definitely not a suspect - heck, you weren’t even an ability user.
“I can detect that you are not one. I’ve deducedthat you aren’t.” He was dead serious, how could you believe the stupid officer? You were a professional for God’s sake, you had to know how to defend yourself against accusations, right? So, why weren’t you?
“Thank you, Ranpo…but,” You gave it a pause. Ranpo flinched as his eyes made contact with yours, noticing that the light in your eyes had faded and all he could see was the hopelessness that brewed inside of you.
You sat on a bench with your arms crossed over your chest, holding onto the blanket that was gently placed over your back to cover you up. You were currently being cared for, looked after, since you were the one who witnessed Isao’s death. You were traumatised for dear life; you’ve seen many deceased people, brutal or not, but you’ve never witnessed an actual one. Isao’s death was tragic, he seemed like a nice guy, why was he a victim?
Your cheeks were wet from crying for many different reasons that you couldn’t pin-point; could it be because you witnessed a tragedy? Because you knew Isao? Or because you couldn’t stomach the reality of cruelty? There was a true terror in your eyes, all of this was too much to handle. The pure horror of watching people cover Isao’s body, he was someone you knew. Even if you knew him for a short while, he did give off an amazing first impression that you would surely remember.
“(Last Name)-san!” A familiar voice called. Through your somewhat disrupted vision was Ranpo. You watched as he ran over to you, a concern look on his face; though his concern had a hint of sombreness to it, almost as of it was a tad bit of anger that he had built up inside of him because you were involved.
“R-Ranpo…” a relieved, but exasperated such escaped your lips as your face began to twitch again. You bit your bottom lip to sustain the feeling of your eyes burning yet again. You were going to cry again. “O-Oh, god…” you dropped your face into the palms of your hand, sobbing again. It pained you to even try to talk about it and seeing Ranpo? A person who you were more personal with? It hurt like hell to even look at him. No one’s ever seen you cry, it was embarrassing.
Ranpo reached into his brown poncho, sifting through his pockets for a bit. He pulled out a napkin he had grabbed from the last restaurant he’s been to, kneeling down on one knee in front of you. “(Last Name)-san.” He voiced, every ounce of aloofness dropping. You peeled your face out of your hands, giving Ranpo a trembled look. He offered the napkin in his hand suggestively, he felt sympathy for you.
You gasped as you took the paper napkin from him, your face falling back into the palms of your hands. A wail came from deeply within your chest. A quiver made your whole body shake. A feeling of pure fear made you cry. “I-I knew him…!” You bawled, your face falling into your lap with your fingers intertwined above your head as if you were shielding yourself from something.
Even though Ranpo was a man who only cared for himself, it wasn’t like he was like this all the time. He knew he had to care for others. He had to be serene when dealing like a situation like this. He had to be strong and competent to finish this case, especially when the second body appeared. He had to admit, he felt like the mystery was ending in a cold case; he felt utterly useless he hadn’t been able to be of much help nor solve it either.
“I’m going to see the body,” He gingerly placed his hand on top of yours, rising in the spot before he spun around towards the direction of the body. “I’ll be right ba-” he was halted on the spot, he could feel something odd tingle in his stomach as his cheeks began to heat up. It was an odd feeling he had never really felt before, never really experienced. He couldn’t determine what exactly it was, but he knew a similar feeling or emotion to it.
“R-Ranpo!Please don’t leave me…” you had grabbed his index and middle finger, you managed to catch him just before he could leave by the last breath. He peered over his shoulder, his whole body reacting to his gasp-filled wince, his bold green eyes widening to the sight he had before him. He could see the desperation in your (Eye Colour) eyes, the comfort that you needed. You fingers eventually pulled him delicately over, his body falling smoothly over back to you. You intertwined your fingers with his, palm against palm as you buried your face into his stomach, wrapping an arm around his back.
A few days after studying the victim, there was no clear motive of what the trigger was. The man’s life was perfect in every single way. All of his co-workers, family, friends and acquaintances spoke highly of him like he had done nothing wrong. Was there really no motive? Was he just a unlucky random being who happened to cross the path of a cold-blooded killer? Could this all just be a mishap? Was this the end?
You felt like this mystery was a case gone cold.
There was no evidence to support your theory. There was nothing you could push against anyone, the killer was an unknown person. There was nothing that could continue this case.
You stared yourself in the mirror; you worked much harder than you should’ve. You could see the stress taking a toll on your physically. You were beginning to develop eye bags, dark circles even. You weren’t even eating properly. You mostly snacked on little small and un-filling foods that Ranpo gave you, when was the last time you had a proper meal? You couldn’t even remember.
Your body ached from staying up late. You only got a few hours of sleep. Your head was throbbing, you were yawning a lot more, falling asleep more easily. But, it wasn’t like you were the only one who was working hard. There were others as well, like Ranpo. Even though he was laid back more than you, you could tell he was beginning to stress as well. He’s been having more of a puzzled look on his face, which didn’t seem normal, you thought.
You lifted the faucet handle and directed it to the cold temperature. You rested your hands at both sides of the sink, leaning forward and staring down at the running water that swirled into the drain. Your eyes just strained from how little sleep you’ve been getting, you were sure that if you drank too much caffeine as well, that it would mess with your vision.
Oh, how hard this job had become for you.
You cupped your hands together and placed it under the ice water, giving you chills for a moment as you slapped it into your face. Your hands dragged down your face, drowsily staring into the mirror again as it felt like it would only making even more exhausted. You let out an exasperated sigh, pulling a towel off of the heating rack next to you to wipe your dripping face.
You grabbed your phone, hotel key, badge and wallet; planning to head out of the hotel for a relaxing drink at a café or restaurant. You swung open the door to your room, leaving immediately since you didn’t have to worry about your room, the door was heavy and closed by itself. Oh, the luxury of one less thing to do.
You groggily made your way down the hall, stopping at the elevator and pushing the arrow that pointed downward. You heard a ding as the doors to one of the two elevators opened. Out came a man that seemed awfully intimidating; he was tall - about six feet, maybe? You thought. He didn’t look very pleased about anything, a scornful look on his face. He stopped for a moment and gave you a stare down, making you take a step back before he huffed and walked off.
What was that about? You inquired mentally.
You quickly trotted into the elevator before it could close, another man in there as well. “Going down?” He asked with a dear smile on his face. You nodded with a smile as well, you couldn’t help it, his smile was attractive. You spun around next to him, facing the closing doors. Everything fell silent, the sound of the elevator moving down was the only thing you could hear.
Suddenly, you felt a familiar feeling in your chest as it erupted to your mouth; a yawn. You discreetly turned away, but unwilling to cover your mouth, you pursed your lips closed, causing your whole body to tremble. “Haha, tired?” You snapped out of your little self-time, your head making a small movement to look at him. Through your somewhat teary-eyes, you nodded, smiling in defeat as he caught you.
“Hm…I own a café and I’d say, we make pretty good coffee. I’m on my way there now, wanna tag along?” You didn’t waste a second taking up his offer. He was kind to you, you weren’t going to pass up his generosity by your persistence. He had rather beautiful brown eyes and light brown hair, a sweet smile too. Even though he didn’t seem like a café owner (you had to admit, the leather jacket and dark clothing threw you off), he was one.
“Okay~ Come on.” He gestured for you to follow him as soon as the doors swiped open. You could only nod, following the man. Once you headed out the entrance of the building, you followed him onto the streets. Eventually, you found out his name was Kazuhiko Isao. He was somewhere around your age and incredibly sweet.
“We’re almost there.” He reassured even though he had been guiding you for a short bit. He turned around with another heart-throbbing smile, this time showing some teeth. “You know, you’re an attractive woman. What are you doing in Yokohama?” Your cheeks burned with embarrassment, shyly you lowered your chin as you followed.
“U-Uh-”
You stopped yourself from continuing any further as you heard him chuckle, once again turning around, “Ahaha, I’m sorry. Did I move too quickly? I just mean I haven’t seen you around before, that’s all.” It wasn’t that he moved on too quickly, no - it was that compliment of his that threw you off. You didn’t receive much compliments that were straight to the point, you received more flirtatious ones. Seeing he didn’t mean to come off as flirtatious or seemed to be trying to charm you, you answered willingly.
“I’m actually here to-” You were cutoff by a mound bang; a pistol. You could feel something like thick liquid splatter all over your face as that thick liquid was red.
How your body froze in place as your stomach churned. How your eyes widened as you felt like throwing up. How your jaw dropped at the sight of Isao’sbody dropping to the floor. The sound of the pistol hitting the ground was the sound of metal hitting something. The sound of screams in terror surrounded you. The sound of yourself gasping desperately for air.
As soon as the files came in, minds began to focus on work. There were a few files spread out between groups to see if they could find out more about Ono. A man murdered in the streets in broad daylight assumed as a suicide, there were still hidden facts about him. The family that he belonged to loved him dearly with the unsolved behaviour of a younger sibling. No one spoke lowly of him, yet he was taken by death itself.
He seemed like a rather successful man; a CEO of a company, a business man. He was strong in persuading people to get them to work for him. His company was one of the highest worldwide, a wealthy one. Could the killer be after his money? Success? Could it be one of his working members?
You grabbed your chin and rested it upon the table, puzzled about what someone could want from him, or what he did. In your eyes, he seemed like an innocent man that was living his life the way he wanted; from scratch to success, he earned his way into making a living in this world. But, you knew all innocence came with a price and that no one was free of any consequence.
Your attention was dragged away by an officer running in towards Harushi, whispering something in his ear and holding a file in his hand. Curiosity piqued your interest and waited for Harushi to speak for more information.
“Okay, thanks. Ahem,” he cleared his throat, loosening the tie around his neck to have better access to air. “our deceased victim was a married man, and usually we’d assume from past cases that the unsub would go after unfaithful men but,” he, too was concerned about his theory, “he was a happily married man with three kids. One of our officers had gone and talked to the widow, and she knew nothing about any affairs. She’s positive that he wouldn’t, and hasn’t cheated either.”
“He also has a scrub-a-dub clean record.” Ranpo added, tossing one of the files to the middle of the table. He allowed his face to rely on the support of his palm, completely beat. It was frustrating for him, defeated to why he couldn’t figure this case out as easily as he could. He also was supremely concerned as to why his ability wasn’t working either.
You sighed heavily, slouching back in your chair. You closed the case file and tapped it a few times with your fingertips, drumming them to help your thoughts train through. The pieces didn’t match. He was a successful business man of a wealthy company, a happily married man and a proud father of three, his record was squeaky clean.
After your strange encounter with the younger Ogami sibling, you couldn’t get your mind off of him. You had expected the usual crying boy in your arms as they exclaim how they wished they treated their sibling better and a re-do. But, this boy seemed to not feel any of that, he had a vacant stare that made him see rather pleased behind those experienced eyes of his. Why did he react like that? Was he happy that his brother was dead?
Completely lost in the world of wonder, Ranpo noticed. He cocked his head to the side, musing on how he could get you to snap back to reality. You hadn’t to be seen paying attention to whatever the men around the room were discussing, leaning in your chair slouched and glassy-eyed. He reached over slowly so that he wouldn’t shock you so suddenly. And then-
“OUCH!” You jumped out of your seat and held the side of your torso, feeling the stinging sensation of a pinch. “What was that for, Ranpo!?” you barked, everyone spectating settled down in volume. Waiting for what was to come next. You rubbed the spot he pinched over and over, the pain lessening over.
“You’ve been out of it since we left the house, is something bothering you?” As easy as it was for Ranpo to find out what was bothering a person, he couldn’t see what was pestering you. It was like there was an invisible wall between you and him, unable to recognize what each other was feeling. He awaited your answer, quickly perceiving that you wouldn’t answer him directly.
“This is highly unusual, unlikely even but…could the killer be a child?” Yet again, you received judgement looks from those around. To blame a child meant you were running out of options in your book. You were a tad bit desperate, remembering slightly of what Ranpo told you. No one was out for Ono in the first place. Dealing with this case was harder than any other case in the world you felt.
Soon enough, others began to agree with you. They remembered the last time they made fun of you, you were right, at least the Chief Inspector agreed with you. They nudged each other and chirped many ’maybe she’s right’ statements.
Harushi approached you and stopped all the chatter going on in the room, questioning your theory. “What makes you say that, Detective (Last Name)?” You took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. The picture of the boy’s eyes displayed itself in your mind, his eyes seemed to lost the light of day a long time ago.
“Well, the killer must be an ability user, right?” You asked rhetorically, them agreeing with you. “There was a boy in the house who didn’t look upset, but satisfied with his brother’s death. Possible that he has no remorse? He could have a cruel-” You were suddenly cutoff by Ranpo, his face solemn from your accusation.
And there were those eyes again. The ones you first met with slight dislike running through them, the ones that challenged you, now the ones that seemed disappointed by how quickly you assumed that it was the young boy.
“It’s not the boy.” Ranpo was one-hundred percent sure that it wasn’t the boy. Not only was there nothing really to pin on him rather than his reaction, but there’s no evidence at all. Ranpo expected more, he couldn’t understand why you were jumping to conclusions. “You don’t know what he’s been through. If you had looked at him properly, you could tell he’s been through a lot. Lost a lot. That is why you should never assume by who reacts differently than most.” He lectured, defending his claim. Shortly, officers realized that he was right.
You dropped your head in embarrassment, closing your eyes. “You’re right, I’m sorry for my reckless accusation.” Even though you had been proven wrong, you still knew it was right for you to apologize for misleading the others. You were just desperate, afraid that this case would run cold. “I’m sorry, everyone.”
“You were just desperate, it’s still early in the case but, we all begin to lose it at some point.” Harushi reassured, patting your back. He cleared his throat to gain the attention of everyone in the room, standing tall and strong. “Thanks to Detective Ranpo and (Last Name)’s work, our technical analyst will be coming in shortly with more information.” Everyone nodded, now waiting patiently.
Now that they managed to identify the victim, Harushi wasted no time in handing out orders to his officers. One by one, pairs by pairs, they exited the room of testimony items. Staring longer at the board, you noticed how difficult this case was going to be already, there was not much to go off of than a few pictures, a weapon and identity.
“You look puzzled.” it was blank stated by the male standing next to you, an officer. You came out of your thoughts and snapped your head towards him, your hand under your chin releasing in the process. He was tall and seemed somewhere around his early thirties or so, striking a conversation with you.
“O-Oh, yeah…looks like a difficult one.”
“Not much to go on, huh?” You nodded, rubbing the back of your neck anxiously and agreeing with his quizzical speeches. You didn’t interact with anyone much on missions like this, you were rather considered a work partner than anything else. You averted your eyes elsewhere, attempting to find something to take your mind off of him or to take you away from him. It wasn’t that you were anti-social, but you could feel that he wanted something more from you just by the look in his eyes, something rather obscene,lewdandsalacious.
“She doesn’t like you very much. She’s disgusted by you and won’t say anything to be nice.” Both of you turned your head towards whoever said that, discovering it was the other detective who stated exactly how you were feeling. Your eyes widened at Ranpo, jaw falling slightly open as somehow he managed to verbally speak your feelings. The other officer that was slightly hitting on you, narrowed his eyes at him, hating him for calling him out on it. “Me, however,” he pointed at himself with his thumb, a smile of recognition coming into play, “will say,” he paused, his sharp and bone-chilling eyes piercing into the officer’s, “you’re an unfaithful married man and a pervert.” Ranpo pointed blankly, his smile falling into a disgusted pout. “Must I need to continue.”
“E-Er…” The officer pursuing you took a look around at all his fellow colleagues, receiving judgement from them as some gave grimaced looks. Obviously embarrassed by his behaviour, he uttered a quick apology and left, not looking back at the two of you. Your shoulders dropped, feeling relieved that Ranpo had stepped in to save you.
“Thank you, Detective Edogawa.” You bowed, respecting your saviour at that moment. There was a small, hassled sound that emitted from Ranpo’s lips, one that sounded like he disliked the sound of his surname being used.
“Just call me, Ranpo. Okay?”
You pursed your lips for a split second, observing the male as you rose your head. In others’ perspective he seemed like a great detective, an intelligent one. But, in your eyes, he seemed similar to a child. Your eye twitched at him swaying and swinging his body around, was he really a detective? Or a child?
“Oh, by the way,” pulling you out of your thoughts, he grasped your attention. “we have to visit the victim’s family.” You instantly changed your feeling to one that was appropriate for work, becoming dour in behaviour. This was no matter to be messing around.
♕the victim’s house♕
You stood at the door next to Ranpo who had his arms crossed behind his head, a lollipop in his mouth. In the car, you had discussed with him about what you were going to say to the family, explaining what you did on a usual basis on any given case. You took a deep breath, mentally preparing yourself for what was to come.
“Nervous?”
“Kind of.” You huffed as you pulled the cherry lollipop straight out of his mouth, earning a whine from the twenty-six year old man. You gave three hard knocks on the oak-wooden door of the home, waiting for someone to answer it. “I do all of the talking, you just sit and look pretty, okay?” you made sure he agreed just before you entered, the last thing you needed was for him to make everyone scream and cry from his deductions.
Shortly after, a woman arrived at the door, opening it hesitantly as her mind ran thoughts about the two strangers on her doorstep. “Yes? Do you need something?” For a moment, she seemed troubled by you two, then she became eased by seeing your faces; she’d say you two looked rather friendly.
“Mrs. Ogami?” She nodded, verifying that she was indeed in fact, the victim’s mother. “I’m Detective (Last Name), National Police. This is my…” you took a glance at Ranpo, who was completely uninterested in your conversation as he was blowing fake bubbles into the warm air. You bumped him with your hip for him to pay attention, resulting successful, “partner, Detective Edogawa.” You showed her your badge, waiting for her response. She dropped her head to the side, sincerely confused why two detectives came. Had someone in her family done something wrong? Illegal?
“Honey, who’s that at the door?” a male voice came from inside, already you had thought it to be the husband of Mrs. Ogami. The male speaking revealed himself, holding his wife close to him as he became concerned as well. “They’re detectives from the National Police.” You immediately predicted that Ranpo was going to speak, before he could, you kicked him lightly. “National Police? Why…”
“May we come inside?” It was more of a request than a questioned. Luckily, they allowed you inside their home, guiding you to the living room. On the way in, it was a rather large home, one of which would belong to successful people. Further down the hall, you noticed a boy standing on the top of the stairs, staring down at you directly. A younger sibling? you asked yourself.
“What is this about?”
“You may want to take a seat for this,” You gestured towards the couch for them to be seated, which they obeyed and sat down, awaiting your news. “we…found a body early noon yesterday and identified him as your son, Ogami Ono.” You could see their concerned faces turn distressed, the colour in their faces paling as they seemed to search their minds the last time they saw their son.
“A-Are you sure i-it-it’s him? I-It’s no-not some-some-someone-”
“Yes, we are positive it’s him. I’m so sorry, Mrs. Ogami, Mr. Ogami. We were unsure until this morning since he didn’t have his wallet or any sort of I.D. on him. Dental records was how we determined it was your son.” You hung your head low, eyes drooping as you tried to sympathize how they were feeling. What hurt you the most on this job was to tell families about their dead members.
“Ho-How did he-?” Mrs. Ogami was interrupted by her tearful hiccup, covering her mouth as tears began to well in her eyes.
“A trigger of a pistol was pulled in his mouth.”
“O-Oh, my-” Mrs. Ogami dropped to the floor, her eyes covered by her hands as her screams were fully audible all around. She cried out her pain in a way that made you feel like crying, but you had to hold it in, you had to be strong and professional. Mr. Ogami shed tears as well, attempting to stay strong and console his wife. You could tell he was trying just as hard than you.
“Mr. Ogami, do you know anyone who might’ve been out for your son?” Ranpo led on, finishing up what needed to be done, he lowered himself down to their level on one knee. He gestured for you to take a moment and walk away, also reminding you that there was a little boy in the house as well.
Leaving Ranpo to deal with the grieving parents, you sought out to search for the boy, finding him in the same exact spot you saw him in the first place. You bit your tongue, asking yourself if you should deliver the news to the poor younger sibling of the dead man. You took a step up the stairs, putting on a friendly face for him.
“My brother’s dead, isn’t he?”
Appalled by his question, he already knew. You gazed up curiously at the boy as to why he didn’t react the same way as his parents. Instead of answering his question, you changed the topic at hand, “What’s your name?”
“He’sdead, isn’t he.” the boy became stern this time, eager to find out if his older brother was truly deceased. You stepped back down, feeling queasy about the boy. You nodded to end your conversation, giving him the confirmation he came looking for in the first place. The boy’s face dropped blank as he got up and ran away to another room above, giving you chills about your eerie encounter with him.
❥ He’s all for knuckle and fingertip kisses. It’s a sign of his affection that shows how devoted and loyal he is to you. You’re his one true love, he’ll be as dedicated to you than anything (he treats you like royalty).
❥ He enjoys kissing your stomach while cuddling. He knows it tickles and makes you laugh, so he goes for it. He also blows into your stomach, making you try to escape, which makes it futile since he just holds you down.
❥[Him] To be honest, he likes his muscles being kissed. He admits he’s a show off, but only to you. He’s supremely fit and slightly buffed, he’s proud of his strength and wants to know that you care about it(him) too.
nsfw under the cut.
slight nsfw
❥ Thigh kisses, he knows how sensitive your inner thighs are. He’ll pepper from feather-light to dark markings. Depending on his mood will fathom his kisses.
❥ French kisses are his expertise. He’s skilled in the arts of tongue and will make you melt within thirty seconds. He could go on and on while kissing you like this, so pucker up and get ready to become putty.
❥[Him] He loves for his torso to be kissed. From his chest down to his abs (or groin, works either way for him). Kiss him softly or kiss him harshly, no matter the pressure he can take it and turn it into his own pleasure. He just loves it when you give him attention there.
Dazai Osamu
sfw
❥ Shoulder kisses, he just loves them. He’ll kiss you on the shoulder when they’re bare, and he does mean this affectionately (however you react will determine what happens next). It’s since your shoulders are almost always covered up, it’s not often he sees them, so on instinct, he kisses them.
❥ He drops a few kisses on the top of your head at times as a tease and an act of affection. He knows he’s taller than you and loves to tease even if you may not be that much shorter, or you are. As an act of affection, he’ll rub the top of your head and plant a kiss, whispering his “I love you” as he pulls you in for an embrace.
❥[Him]He loves it when you kiss his cheek. As much as he could admit that any kiss is his favourite as long as it’s you, cheek kisses are his weakness. To make him the happiest man on earth (and make him like a little happy puppy), kiss his cheek and play with his floofy hair (almost like floppy ears to say) and he’s all yours.
slight nsfw
❥ He loves to kiss in between your breasts (mostly because he likes to smush his face into them). He’s real concentrated on getting in between your supple mounds and if kissing is his way in, he’ll do it (after his many flirty kisses, he’ll just lay there, without a peep because he’s in heaven).
❥ He likes to kiss the underside of your thigh, near the ass. To do so, he’ll lay you down gently and raise your legs over his shoulder, gently nipping at the tender skin.
❥[Him] He quite likes his legs being kissed. From his shins up to his thighs (inner thigh kisses works wonders on him), he’s bound to let a soft moan out. Bandages or not, he loves the kisses anyways.
Edogawa Ranpo
sfw
❥ He absolutely adores Eskimo kisses. He finds it adorable whenever he greets you with one, just to see how you react. You may be a little startled at first, but this man is all about physical affection (the very cute kind).
❥ He likes to kiss your jaw. He just loves kissing you in between your cheek and neck, so he aims for the jaw. He won’t kiss it once, he’ll kiss many times while making cute noises to make you laugh.
❥[Him] He loves to be kissed on arm. He loves it especially if you kiss from the fingertips up to his lips (like in the Addams Family, Morticia and Gomez). He’s ticklish in most places and finds it fun to laugh with you.
slight nsfw
❥ He loves to plant kisses on your neck. He knows how much you writhe against him when he does that, so he does it often. Having your fingers in his hair is his main goal (since he loves the little tugging you do).
❥ He likes to kiss the top of your breasts near your chest, he’s still quite shy about full-on sexual contact so he does so. He also notices the little gasp you do when he kisses there so he does it often to hear it.
❥[Him] Though hickeys on his back are a thing (relating to last post), his back is actually quite sensitive. If you so happen to run your fingers up his bare back, he’ll shiver at your touch. Kissing him on his back results in a moaning and panting mess of your name being called overandoveragain.
“Can you do Fukuzawa [finished]and Ranpo nsfw headcanons?”
another set of combined requests;;
nsfw under the cut.
❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥
❥ He has to lay down when receiving oral. His body, nor him, can take how good it feels to have your mouth wrapped around his dick. It’s just a faint memory the last time he got a blowjob from you, that his arms gave out and he ended up moaning his heart out until his throat hurt. It’s especially when you take him whole, he has to bite his hand or bite something to keep him from groaning too loudly.
❥ He’s more for being ridden than anything, he’s kind of lazy (even though he’s having the time of his life) and prefers to have his lover ride him where he has the best view of them. God, does he love watching his hot mess bounce up and down on his cock as he’s just losing his mind. He could never stray away from you after that.
❥ One of his kinks are orgasm denialonyou(he actually hates it on him). With his skillful tongue from his so-called “experience” (only the candies he licks), he could have you as a panting mess before orgasming. Plus to add with denial? You’re surely in for a night of begging and screaming.
❥ Though in the bedroom he’s a different person from outside of it, if you try to get frisky with him, he’ll become not only baffled, but flustered by your actions. He’ll get turned on for sure, but he will attempt to stop you (only to “un"willingly follow you into a closet or go home "not feeling well”).
❥ He doesn’t like hickeys being placed on his neck, and chest area. The only places he’ll allow are on his inner thighs and his back. He just wants them out of view so no one sees, he just gets so embarrassed when a fellow colleague asks him about it (“Did (First Name) do that to you~? My, my, how…mean of her!”).[y'all already know who-]
remember when all ranpo had to do was go ‘didn’t you lose a fight to dazai ’ and chuuya quite literally hit the roof and got his dumb self trapped in a fucking book because I remember
