~⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡☆⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡~
Y/n POV:
"You want me to WHAT?!" I shout, wondering if I heard correctly.
"I want you to wear a maid dress along with Kyouka-chan," Yosano says with a blank face.
"And why would I agree to that?!" I say, wondering how she could just ask that of me like it's no big deal.
"Because I want us to be twins," Kyouka says as she walks into the office in her outfit. "Pleaseeee," Kyouka pleads, putting on her puppy dog eyes.
'No. Don't do that. I won't give in. I won't. I refuse.'
Kyouka continued staring at me in hopes of getting me to agree.
Unfortunately, it worked.
Yosano brought me into a separate room to get dressed in, only her and Naomi being allowed in the room. Kyouka stayed outside, entertaining everyone. Well, everyone except Kunikida, who was busy with his work.
'I'm surprised he agreed to this. Well, then again, he probably just gave up.'
I could hear everyone fawning over her, which is fair since she looked very adorable. When I was done getting dressed, I heard Atsushi's voice, meaning that he had finally returned and was feeling better.
"And off you go!" Yosano shouted as she pushed me out of the room and into the main office.
At the same time, Ranpo had burst through the main entrance with a mountain of snacks, more than the amount of snacks he bought last time. As soon as he laid his eyes on me, my face began to heat up as all of his snacks fell out of his arms.
"H-Here, let me help you," I say, walking over to Ranpo to help pick up the snacks he dropped. "If you were going to get snacks, you should've taken me with you to help you carry it all. I wouldn't have minded."
Ranpo didn't respond, which I found strange. As we were both crouching down, I looked up and saw him looking straight down.
"Ranpo? Is everything alright?" I ask, lowering my head to try and see his face, but he turned his head away from me.
"I'm fine," he quietly replied.
He walked over to Yosano after putting down his snacks and whispered something to her. The two of them then went into the next room.
"Did I do something wrong?" I ask no one in particular.
"Not that I'm aware of," Tanizaki says.
"No, you didn't. Ranpo is just in a weird and confused state right now. Don't worry too much," Naomi says, placing a hand on my shoulder for reassurance.
"Well, if you say so," I say, bringing the snacks in my hand over to the table that Ranpo had placed the other snacks on before he left.
If I'm gonna be honest, I don't exactly believe them. A part of me wants to, but I can't bring myself to do it. I mean, he wouldn't even look at me. I must've offended him somehow.
I decided to arrange the snacks to pass the time, since they were all just piled together. In the middle of my organizing, I noticed a familiar snack; the very same snack that Ranpo had bought me the first time I went to get snacks with him.
'Did he get this for me? Wait. Did he remember?'
"I got that for you," I hear a voice say behind me, causing me to turn to reveal that the voice belonged to Ranpo.
"You... remembered?" I asked.
"Yes, I did... I mean, I am the greatest detective in the world, remember?" Ranpo replied, seeming slightly nervous and with his head slightly lowered.
"Thank you, Ranpo," I say.
"For what?" Ranpo asks, lifting his head up to look at me.
"For remembering, and for getting it for me. It made me really happy," I answered, giving him a closed eye smile.
Ranpo POV:
'Oh no. This is bad. My heart is pounding like crazy. She looks so cute... Wait, what am I saying? What is this feeling? My face is heating up. I don't know what to do.'
Without warning, a cup of cold water was splashed on my face.
"Hey! What was that for?!" I shout at whoever splashed me with water.
"Sorry, but you were overheating. I had to cool you down somehow," I hear Yosano say while I'm wiping my face with my hands.
"Ughh. Anyways, this is the snack I told you about earlier. It changes color when you mix it," I say, grabbing said snack and handing it to Kyouka. "Go ahead, mix it. First, open the bag, then put the two powders in the container, and add some water. Next, mix really well. It's important to put your feelings into it. Okay? Mix, mix, mix, mix, mix, mix, mix. And look, how strange!"
Kyouka looked astonished at the color-changing candy she had mixed.
"But I'm the one who gets to eat it," I say before munching on the candy.
Y/n POV:
'...I was not expecting that.'
"How childish," I hear Tanizaki say.
"Ranpo-san, you're a terrible person!" Naomi shouts.
"Well, it's just like him to do that. So, who called her over to the Agency?" Atsushi asks.
"It was me," the president says as he makes a sudden appearance at the main entrance of the office.
"President!" Atsushi exclaims.
"Any movement from the police?" the president asks.
"Thanks to the Port Mafia's attempts to erase her identity, they haven't tracked down who she is yet," Kunikida answers.
"But she'll be a wanted fugitive soon," the president states.
Kyouka then walks up to the president and says, "Please let me stay here. I'll do anything."
"I don't recommend it. It's not because you were with the Port Mafia, or because we don't have work. But don't do it. It's not easy, the world we live in," Kunikida says.
"Besides, if you stay here, the Mafia will find you eventually," Atsushi starts.
"Does that really matter though?" I ask, cutting him off before he could finish speaking.
Everyone turned their attention to me, shocked by my interruption.
"She's not the only one who has people looking for her; Atsushi has a bounty over his head, and I'm being used as a bargaining chip for whatever number of people. But Atsushi and I are allowed to stay here. What's the difference between us and her? Why can we stay but not her?" I ask.
"Akutagawa said that I could do nothing else but kill people. I want to prove to myself that he's wrong," Kyouka joins in.
"President. I would also like to ask on her behalf," Atsushi says, bowing down to the president.
"Me as well," I say, bowing beside Atsushi.
"Please," Kyouka pleads.
Silence.
"Please..."
More silence.
"...please."
"Very well," the president finally says.
"What?!" everyone else exclaims.
"I'll take her in," the president says. A few seconds later, the president calls out to me: "Y/n."
"Yes, president?" I say in response.
"Come meet me in my office. There is a matter of discussion I must have with you once you finish changing back to your regular clothes," the president says.
"Yes, sir. I'll be right there when I'm done," I say heading over to the other room where my clothes were.
I grabbed my clothes that I had folded and placed neatly on the counter beforehand and began changing, after I had closed and locked the door. My outfit consisted of a short sleeved purple blouse under a black cropped jacket, a black choker necklace with a single black gem in the front, black fingerless gloves, black pants, and black boots (A/n~ or whatever you want, doesn't really matter).
After I finished changing, I headed over towards the president's office, knocking on the door and waiting for permission to enter.
"Come in," I hear the president say.
I opened the door and walked in, bowing slightly before closing the door behind me.
"What did you want to talk to me about, president?" I ask, standing in front of his desk.
"Ranpo informed me of Dazai's recommendation for you to become a member of the Agency. Dazai had written a letter before his abduction listing all the reasons why he believes that the Agency will benefit from adding you as a member. I also asked the other members for their opinions about the matter and they had pleasant things to say about you and your potential. I brought you here to formally invite you to join us and become an official member of the Armed Detective Agency," the president says.
'Is this real?! I got accepted?!'
"Oh my god! Thank you so much! It would be my honor to become a member of the Armed Detective Agency!" I exclaimed with pure joy.
"That's wonderful to hear. And you have already passed our entrance exam so you don't have to worry about that," the president added.
"Entrance exam? What entrance exam?" I asked, confused on what exam he was referring to.
"Every member of the Agency has to take an entrance exam. The exam looks different for everyone based on a number of circumstances. Your exam was a last minute decision I made where I had Kunikida test what you would do when given the choices of escaping with Atsushi or staying behind to help protect Kyouka. You showed great courage when you assisted Atsushi in his fight against the mafioso, despite the physical disadvantage you had. You put yourself at risk to help lessen Atsushi's injuries and make things easier for him. That proves that you have the heart and courage to join us," the president explained.
"I appreciate the kind words, and I'll do my best to get stronger so I can protect the Agency!" I exclaim, the president simply nodding in response with a small smile on his face.
~
"Excuse me. We're from the city police," I heard a voice say.
"Oh, welcome," Kenji says, greeting the two officers that I met during Ranpo's previous case.
"Oh? Minoura-kun, your subordinate was arrested a little while ago, right?" Ranpo rhetorically asks.
"We're here today on a different matter, detective. We have a case," Minoura states.
~
"They left as soon as they were done talking business, without even sitting down for tea. I guess policemen in cities are busy," Kenji says.
"Where you're from, do police have lots of free time?" Kunikida asks, taking a moment to stop typing whatever he was typing.
"Everyone knows each other in my village. A policeman's job would be fixing the well's pump, rescuing cats from chimneys, and tasting the year's first watermelon," Kenji explains.
"What the... What happens if anyone commits a crime?" Kunikida asks.
"The perpetrator would get tied up and thrown off a cliff," Kenji casually says.
"Pftttt— cough, cough" I nearly spit out water after hearing what Kenji said, causing me to cough repeatedly.
"Are you ok?" Ranpo asks me.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," I said, taking a moment to catch my breath and relax my chest.
Without warning, Ranpo reached over and placed his hand under my chin near my jawline. I turned to him, confused by what he was doing.
"Ranpo...?"
"Your heartbeat seems to be accelerating. Are you sure you're alright?" Ranpo asks, making me realize that he was just checking my pulse.
When he asked me that, my face began to heat up. I quickly grabbed his hand and removed it from my neck.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm completely fine. Promise," I say, trying to hide my nerves but to no avail.
"If you say so, but can you let go of my hand now," he says, making me realize that I never let go of his hand.
"Oh, right. Sorry," I say, removing my hand and mentally kicking myself in the head out of embarrassment.
"Kunikida-san, what should we do about that request from the city police?" I hear Tanizaki ask.
"Hm?" I hear Kunikida hum, rolling his chair over to see Tanizaki's laptop. "A moving car blew up for unknown reasons."
"It'll be a challenge. The police have given up on it," Tanizaki says.
"Y/n, want to give this one a try?" Kunikida asks me.
"Hm?" I hum in slight confusion since I wasn't expecting him to mention me.
"Sorry, she's busy helping me. You can have Atsushi go instead," Ranpo says, interrupting me before I could even think of a response.
"Oh, okay then. Atsushi, are you up for the task? You'll be shadowing another agent to learn the ropes," Kunikida says.
"I got it," Atsushi says.
"What are we working on, Ranpo?" I ask since he never mentioned the two of us working on anything yet.
"Finding your brother," he said.
"You found him?!" I ask, hopeful that his answer will be yes.
"Not exactly. We have narrowed it down to three possible locations. I want you to help decide which location you want to check first," he said, walking over to the meeting room and gesturing for me to follow him.
On the table was a map of the city, with a few locations circled.
"The first location is an abandoned warehouse, the second one has several hidden vaults that stretch underneath a line corporations, and the third one is an underground hideout used for black market trades," Ranpo explained.
I carefully observed each location and the surrounding buildings as well. I noticed that if I drew three lines connecting the three locations, it would make a perfect equilateral triangle.
'Hmm. Is there a location that's in the center of the triangle?'
"Ranpo, what building would be in the middle of these three locations?" I ask.
"There is no building there... but there is an old train station that was closed down a few years ago," Ranpo explained.
"Is there a possibility that he's actually at that train station and not any of these three locations?" I ask.
"There is a possibility. Do you want to risk it and check there, or do you want to check one of the three locations? Because once we enter one of them, they'll know that we're looking for him and they'll transport him to a different location," Ranpo says.
"Well, can you tell me how you found out about these three locations in the first place?" I ask, wanting to know more about the locations.
"We had eyewitnesses inform us of strange cloaked figures entering these locations who had the same rat symbol you showed us earlier. For the underground locations, they were seen entering through sewer lines," Ranpo explains.
"Then I'd like to search the train station. Whoever is behind this doesn't seem like the type of person to make such a sloppy mistake like that," I explain.
"You got it. Let's head over there now," Ranpo says.
"Ranpo, wait," I say, grabbing onto his wrist.
"What is it?" he asks.
"Where would you have chosen to look?" I ask, unconsciously wanting him to agree with my choice.
"...I would've chosen the same place you did. I just wanted to test your detective skills. Also, I want you to be more confident in your decisions. You don't need my approval to prove how talented you are," Ranpo says.
My whole body froze; I didn't know what to do, how to react. My heart is beating so fast and so loud. Well, at least I think it is.
'What is this feeling? It's hurting my chest but it's also warming me up inside and it feels nice. This is weird. Am I sick? No. Don't be stupid. It's fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine.'
I let go of Ranpo's wrist after realizing that I hadn't let go again.
"Sorry, um... can you head on downstairs? There's something I need to do first," I say, averting my eyes from meeting his.
"Uhh, sure. How long are you going to be?" he asks.
"Oh, not that long. It'll be real quick," I say.
"Ok. I'll head down now," he says.
~
"Dr. Yosano?" I say, peeking my head into the infirmary.
"Yes? Is there something wrong, Y/n?" she asks as I make my way inside.
"I don't know. I had this strange feeling that hurt but also felt nice at the same time. I don't know what's happening to me," I say, receiving a muffled chuckle in response.
"That's actually hilarious. You're both so oblivious," she says, failing to hold back her laugh.
"Both? Who's the other person you are talking about? Also, what's so funny?" I ask, confused by what's happening.
"That's not important right now. All I can say is that there's nothing wrong with you. You're going to have to figure out what this strange feeling is by yourself," Yosano explains.
"You mean, you can't tell me what it is?" I ask.
"No. It may not seem like it, but only you can know what it is," she says.
"Well, if you say so. Anyways, I better get going. I don't want to keep Ranpo waiting," I say, making my way towards the door.
"A word of advice: try to see if this strange feeling happens around just one person or multiple people. It'll help narrow down what it is that you're feeling," she says.
"Ok, thanks. Bye," I say, exiting the infirmary.
Yosano POV:
'Those two are so helpless. But... I think they'll be able to work things out.'
~⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡☆⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡~