Bandages and Salt (PJO X BSD AU)

Chapter Sixty-two

Dazai looked at Ranpo, not bothering to mask his impatience - there was no need when the other would have been able to read it anyways, and there was no need when it was the three of them, to some extent at least. "Spill," he said plainly, not with the emotionless voice that he might have used in his mafia days, but something akin to it.

"Since the original idea was to guess your past occupation," the older detective started, shoving a hand into his pocket to try and find something and coming away with the prize of two candies. The eldest of the three immediately gave one to Dazai upon seeing the color, and the younger took it greedily - he never did outgrow his and his mother's love of blue foods, and Ranpo noticed the pattern easily after seeing which sweets the former mafioso never turned down even on days when food seemed an unbearable thought. Today was one of those days. "-they've decided to guess things about you instead," the eldest explained in a slightly more bored tone than normal. "Whoever guesses the most correctly wins."

Yosano leaned forward conspiratorially, though the Agency doctor did nothing to quiet her voice. "He's just miffed because he's not allowed to play."

Dazai smiled just as sharply as his senior at this new bout of information, but knew better than to say anything and risk the candy being taken as he was opening it - it wouldn't be the first time that the older man had let someone have one of his sweets and then take just before they ate it, though normally those occasions were reserved for the color changing powdered candies that one eats on a stick.

"It's Dazai," the older detective whined as if that meant anything, all three of them knew that it did. "If everyone was going to have the same fair chance even with me playing, this would be it."

Dazai and Yosano glanced at each other once more as each wondered if this was just another con to get more money for sweets. It wouldn't have been the first time that the eldest had argued his way into playing something with prizes on the line, though the other contestants normally didn't know the detective as well as them. Thankfully neither had to say as much because another spoke first.

"Dazai, is your favorite color blue?" Tanizaki asked, his eyes alight with a surety that made the man in question want to push the red head away more than he usually did. Sometimes Dazai found it hard to see flashes of red hair in the office and not think of another. It was easier not to look at the boy at all.

"It is," the older Agency member replied easily, his voice going back to the jesting tone that took around all others not seated at the bar.

The younger detective smiled and nodded to Kyouka to mark something on a paper that she had in front of her with all of the names of those playing. Dazai assumed that she wasn't choosing to participate because Atsushi was and he was the one that usually bought her the things that she liked.

"Is it because that's the color of your ability?" The elder Tanizaki sibling continued eagerly.

Do you keep going until you get one wrong? The former mafioso wondered.

Dazai thought for a moment about how to answer, but figured that Ranpo was bound to be called in as a human lie detector anyways regardless of how he did and decided for the truth. It had the added benefit of being something that the younger wouldn't have guessed.

"No," the man answered flatly, drawing one or two looks and an especially disappointed one from the red head. "My stepfather said that there was no such thing as blue foods, so my mother bought only blue candy out of spite," he explained, closing the question.

Ranpo raised a brow at the strange bout of honesty, but Dazai just went back to eating his candy and waiting for the next question to come, pleased to be getting away with giving only half an answer.