Chapter Text
When Ranpo had been young, he was curious.
Constantly curious.
His mother knew everything, and he only went to his father if his mother wasn't around, usually out shopping.
His mother wasn't here right now, so he had to go to his father.
Ranpo knocked twice on the study door, and opened it.
Father was sitting there, looking over another case file. Ranpo hoped he could get a cold case file soon. It was boring, looking at the smuggling ones.
Father looked up. He pat his knee.
There was no need for words to be exchanged, not in their household.
Especially not since the star clusters on Ranpo's hands were bright, since they hadn't been there an hour ago.
"These," Father whispered, tracing the pattern of the stars, "represent wounds one of your soulmates has gone through."
Ranpo scrunched his face. "How many do I have?"
Father laughed softly. "No one really knows, it's always a mystery how many someone will get."
"Not even mother!?"
"Not even her. Your soulmates are unique to you, Ranpo. But their stars are the color of their eyes."
Ranpo traced the stars, studying their purple-gold vibrance. "They have pretty eyes."
Father pat his head. "Yes, I dare say they do."
Ranpo pouted. "How do I find them?"
Father hummed. "Well there is the fact that the stars are the color of their eyes." He teased gently.
"Faaathheeerr."
Father sighed. "The truth is, we won't really know. Not unless you see the color of their eyes, and scars where your stars are."
Ranpo frowned at his stars. "I need to find them quickly."
Father hummed softly. "You'll find them in your own time."
"No." Ranpo said, promised, fiercely. He clenched his fists, making the stars stand out in a stark contrast. "I will find them quickly."
~~~~~~~~~~
Atsushi whimpered as he was chained down again.
The headmaster glared at him as he stepped out of the cage. "Worthless boy. I'll be back in two weeks. You're to stay in here for the duration of that time."
Atsushi held back a sob. Two weeks? Will I starve?
"Someone will come and feed you. Eventually." The headmaster sneered.
The door clanged shut.
Atsushi was left alone.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ranpo huffed. He knew he was sent here as a last chance.
The police academy was getting tired of him. Because he couldn't follow their stupid rules.
Well screw them! He'd find the orphanage's stupid thief and he'd catch them all on his own, without those stupid rules!
Ranpo huffed, not listening to the person walking him around. It was blatantly obvious who the thief was, if the people just used their eyes.
Why didn't people just use their eyes?
Mother and Father used their eyes.
Why didn't anyone else?
Anyway. He knew who the thief was. It was obvious.
He didn't know who was in the basement.
He wanted to know who was in the basement.
So Ranpo did what any normal person would do.
He ditched his escort and started picking the lock.
~~~~~~~~~~
Hunger gnawed under Atsushi's ribs.
The person who was supposed to be in charge hadn't come by in three days with food. Only water. It only filled him up a little bit. He'd rather have food.
Someone was messing around with the door though. Maybe they had food?
Atsushi was really hungry. All he wanted was some chazuke. Or just some rice.
Anything but water.
Atsushi could hear the person cursing softly. It wasn't a voice he recognized.
Would they have food?
There was a rattling.
The door to the basement opened with a bang and a boy tumbled in and down the stairs.
"Stupid locks! Stupid old rusty lock! Should've been easier to pick! Stupid stairs! I probably have splinters now!"
He let a few other creative curses out, but Atsushi wasn't going to remember them. He would get in trouble.
He also didn't recognize this boy.
He was new.
He wasn't someone Atsushi knew how to read.
Atsushi ran to the corner farthest away from the new boy, chains rattling.
The boy went silent.
His head slowly turned to Atsushi.
Slowly, ever so slowly, his eyes started to open.
Pretty green eyes looked at Atsushi.
"Fuck."
Atsushi pressed himself farther into the corner away from the boy.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. Shit, sorry. Uuuhh, my name's Ranpo. Edogawa Ranpo. I'm a detective!"
Atsushi watched the boy silently, figuring this may be a trap.
"Okay, yeah, you're obviously too scared. Aaaahh, if mother was here, she'd know what to do."
Mother?
He's not an orphan?
Atsushi perked up slightly, slowly leaning forward.
The older boy, Ranpo, caught the movement. "Hmm? What caught your attention? Something I said? Uuhhh, Mother?"
Atsushi perked up more. That confirmed it. The boy wasn't actually from the orphanage.
Sure, there were a few kids that claimed their parents would come back for them.
But Ranpo-san's shoulders carried sadness when he talked about his mother. Everyone else carried denial, anger, and defensiveness.
Ranpo-san padded over the cage, crouching beside it. "Can you tell me your name?"
Atsushi hummed, his eyes flickering to the stairs. No one was there. And Ranpo-san didn't seem like someone to yell.
"Atsushi. Everyone else calls me worthless boy or monster though."
~~~~~~~~~~
Ranpo might be contemplating homicide.
There was a child in a cage who had obvious signs of neglect, emotional trauma, physical trauma, intentional starvation, and crippling anxiety, so the police could lock him up and throw away the key afterwards.
How was someone supposed to react to seeing a six year old in a cage? How was someone supposed to react to listening to the boy confess to people verbally abusing him?
Ranpo wished his parents were here.
They'd know what to do.
But they weren't here. So it relied on Ranpo's fourteen years old shoulders to get Atsushi out of the cage and into society.
He waltzed over to the lock. His hairpin was a little bent from the stupid rusty-ass lock upstairs, but it'll do.
"Well that's not very nice of them."
Ranpo thought he hid his anger well.
"You're mad." Atsushi stated, shrinking back.
Ranpo blinked at the boy. "How'd you know?"
"It's in your posture. Your shoulders. They're tight."
Ranpo lit up. "You can see!"
Atsushi gave him a strange look, but Ranpo was just happy.
There were other people in the world who could see! Finally! He found someone!
"Of course I can see. I have eyes?"
Ranpo just hummed happily as the lock gave, and he stepped into the cage. "Not what I meant."
He got to work on the shackles that bound Atsushi by the wrists and ankles.
"What did you mean?" Atsushi frowned.
"You can see. A lot of people can't." Ranpo frowned. "My parents could. I can. But sooooo many people can't. It's annoying, having to explain to everyone."
"Huh."
One shackle down, three to go.
"I'm just going to be brought here after you leave." Atsushi said softly.
"Who said you're staying with them?" Ranpo replied, getting to work on the next shackle.
~~~~~~~~~~
Yukichi eyed the newspaper stand, the past flashing through his head like a record player. It refused to leave the memories of bodies falling to his sword.
He hissed softly through his teeth as his nails pierced through the skin of his palms. It brought him back to the present, it grounded him in reality. There were ghosts still hovering, the blood still coated the ground.
His cell phone rang, pulling him out of the past completely.
The blood dissipated.
The bodies vaporized. Gone with the wind.
He answered the call, keeping his voice steady
"Fukuzawa."
Another guarding duty.
This was fine.
He was protecting lives.
He got to the location.
Someone was already dead.
"Stay out here, it could get dangerous."
Someone was outside. Young, by the sound.
"No. We've made it this far by sticking together."
An even younger person? Or just a higher voice?
"Then at least stay behind me. I don't want you hurt."
Two children entered the scene.
Why? Why children?
"Oh c'mon, he's dead?" The taller boy whined, as if there wasn't a evidence of a dead body right there. That was the first voice.
"Ranpo-niisan, you have terrible luck with jobs." That belong to the shorter boy, the younger voice.
"Shut it!" Ranpo(?) snapped, face flushing. "The last one wasn't my fault!"
The younger boy blinked up at him. "So you didn't intentionally expose the guy cheating on his wife?"
"I just showed her the proof!"
"Edogawa Ranpo." One of the police officers near Yukichi murmured.
Edogawa?
Yukichi could see it. In the curve of the boys nose and the shape of his jaw. He could see the Clairvoyant.
"Where'd he get the other kid from?" Another police officer whispered.
"Don't know. But look at the eyes."
"Oh shit. No wonder Edogawa has him by his side."
Yukichi frowned. The other boys eyes? Sure, they were an unusual purple-gold color, but-
"What are you doing here, Edogawa-kun?" The chief detective asked wearily.
"I was supposed to be here for a job interview." Edogawa sighed, his head falling to the side comically. The smaller boy giggled softly.
"But since I was with Atsushi all day yesterday and last night, you can exclude me from the list of suspects. I'll just grab my application and leave-"
"You can't!" The secretary panicked as Edogawa tried to enter the room. "These applications are a catalog of the murderer's movements!"
Edogawa slowly turned his head, studying the secretary, before turning to Yukichi.
Even though Yukichi couldn't see the boy's eyes, he knew that he was being observed, and rather thoroughly.
"But isn't that special-grade assassin the culprit? Why are you saying it's someone else?"
Panic flashed over the secretary's face more. "Well someone had to hire the guy! These applications are important!"
Edogawa turned to look at the younger kid.
"Atsushi, wait by the desk for me. I'll be done in a flash."
The boy nodded, and started walking over to the desk.
"Hey! You can't-"
"Atsushi won't disturb any of your papers, look." Edogawa sighed, waltzing straight across, unlike his brother? No, not a brother, the police would have known.
And it was true, not a single paper was displaced with the route Atsushi took.
Edogawa, on the other hand, walked straight across to the windows.
"My application was written with heavy paper, and has a stamp, so I'll find it easily. 'Scuse me!"
He hefted the window open.
It was still windy.
The papers blew around the room, flying far and wide.
All except one.
"Ah ha!"
Edogawa closed the window and picked up his application.
Yukichi shook his head at the odd display.
The secretary scrambled to collect the papers.
Edogawa looked at the application in his hand. "They're all here."
The secretary froze.
"You're the murderer, ain'tcha? And you hired the master assassin to cover it up?"
Atsushi nodded. "His shoulders are tense with guilt."
The secretary snapped around, staring at the two boys, before turning to order Yukichi around.
"Fukuzawa-san. I demand you escort these boys off the premises! They're making a mess of the investigation!"
The aura around Edogawa got dark, when it had only been jovial before. "Watch it. Atsushi has done nothing wrong."
Yukichi faced the older boy. "The director had fingerprints on him from the assassin. Showing that the assassin was hired for murder."
Edogawa sighed, walking over to the desk and hopping on it. Atsushi stayed to the side of it, easily orbiting to Edogawa's side.
"You're overlooking something. The assassin behind you is wearing gloves. Why would he come here and not wear gloves for the murder, then wear gloves afterwards for getting caught? It makes no sense."
Yukichi spared a glance behind him.
Yes. The red-haired assassin was indeed wearing gloves.
"The only possible way for the assassin's fingerprints to have been on the director is because the secretary took them to place them there."
"That is ridiculous! For what reason would I have the assassin's fingerprints!?" The secretary huffed and puffed, still holding his stack of paper.
"Obviously because you wanted him to be the fall guy after you found a suitable murder suspect in the hundreds of applications." Edogawa sighed, kicking his feet. "Because you hired the assassin."
A clatter behind Yukichi and growing bloodlust made him turn.
The red-haired assassin had broken his chair. "I have no intentions of fighting."
The same monotone face and same deadpan expression.
Yukichi merely grit his teeth and attacked.
It was all for naught, it was like the assassin could see everything one step ahead.
The assassin got his guns and used Yukichi's own move to send himself flying into the room.
"Shit!"
The older boy scrambled in front of the younger, shielding him as the young red-haired assassin launched himself through the air.
Yukichi remembered something that was said, right before the boys entered the room.
"Stay out here. It could get dangerous."
"No. We've made it this far by sticking together."
"Then at least stay behind me. I don't want you hurt."
"DON'T DO IT!" Yukichi yelled, getting to the door.
BANG BANG
The secretary dropped, dead.
"There is no forgiveness in this world. Only revenge."
Edogawa stood fast in front of the younger, the furrow in his brow highlighting his determination.
Yukichi could respect him for that.
The assassin crouched, placing his guns on the floor. "As I said, I have no intention of fighting."
The police, who had stood useless around the room the entire time, finally sprung into action.
Yukichi kept his eyes trained on the two youngest in the room.
Edogawa seemed to be patting down Atsushi, checking him over.
"I'm okay, really Ranpo-niisan. He was only after the secretary."
Edogawa let out a sigh. "Just let me, Atsushi. For my own sake of mind."
Atsushi hummed, and let him. "Not for too long. We have to get going if we want to hit that sale for food."
"Oh yeah. That is nearby here, isn't it?" Edogawa murmured, finally resting a hand on Atsushi's shoulder and the other ruffled the silver hair.
"Mhmm! I'll be able to buy some good food! Like beans and mushrooms!"
"Ick, Atsushi no." Edogawa whined.
"Atsushi yes, you need to eat your greens!" The boy stamped his foot.
Yukichi sighed. He was going to regret this. He knew he was.
He stepped forward, towards the two children.
"Are you two hungry?"