"…"
Four pairs of eyes meet each other, two of them express the utterly surprised look while the other two don't seem to express any particular emotions.
"Welp, see ya later in the afternoon ~'
"We'll be back by noon, please don't worry."
With a cheerful goodbye, Ranpo dips the place with his so-called "new assistant", or "babysitter" to be exact, one that no one ever heard about until this morning.
As Ranpo quickly departed, his new babysitter quickly bowed with a delighted manner before follow-up right behind Ranpo.
It's so sudden that one might suspect that he pulled some random guy and asked him to be his "babysitter" at the spot.
But nope, the guy just casually announced his role with Ranpo, implying that he was really into this matter.
"What in the name of god is this…?"
The golden hair tied into a ponytail with green-grey eyes, wearing a standard office vest with light tone, gasps in awe, as he sees both of them slowly disappear into the street.
To see someone other than the Agency to take the job is truly a miracle, not lesser than Moses splitting the Red Sea in the Exodus.
"Oh my…"
The short-haired, magenta eyes woman with a butterfly accessory, wearing a simple dress, covered her mouth with a clearly surprised look.
She never expected Ranpo, the man that was too lazy to even make a proper conversation instead interested in it, actually found someone willing to go with him for a whole day.
Although this is a good thing, considering that they have other matters at hand, especially that little girl who's involved with the Port Mafia, they still feel a bit uneasy about this.
"Well… It's Ranpo after all, he can easily escape any trap with ease…"
With certain words which feel not that reliable, Kunida turns around toward the Atsushi duo that are still waiting for his escort…
"So, what's his deal?"
With a slightly agitated look, she leers at Ranpo who looks at her with a surprised look around while questioning me. I then explained the whole deal with him last night, but she doesn't seem to get over that story yet.
Honestly, considering that he's willing to give me assistance after all this, I don't see any problem taking care of him for today.
"Your matter involving this kid also?"
Ranpo asked me with a slightly surprising tone as I just finished explaining with her.
"She's being hasty."
"That explained."
"WHAT?!"
With a quick word of mine, Ranpo immediately understood the situation, leaving her to widen her eyes in shock.
She doubts that her actions would be that childis—Oh wait, it is… She's the one to take that mission without asking anyone first…
"So, could you explain in detail your mission here with me?"
And with that, Ranpo officially opened the conversation, eyes pining on me eager for an answer.
"In short, we need to beat up your old guy's friends squad to get rewards."
"Oh…"
Ranpo slightly gasped at my casual answer, but he quickly took back his posture, albeit with a hint of unease.
" Speaking like that, I assume that you have a plan to take them down right?"
"Not a single one pops up in my head."
Ranpo once again at a loss of words. He's probably thinking that what am I thinking right now, to challenge the Hunting Dogs with just a bare hand like this…
I mean, most normal would react the same way as Ranpo when listening to my out-of-the-Earth statement.
"Nice! I like ya more and more now!"
Ranpo gives me the brightest smile I ever seens, as he's clearly intrigued and excited by this revelation.
Solving cases is one thing, but fighting head-on with the most elite squad of the whole Japan? Now that's what he called "interesting", and he certainly won't miss this once-in-a-lifetime event!
"Well then, I suppose you wanted to make a case involving the members right? After all, you couldn't just barge in without knowledge of the Hunting Dogs capability."
Ranpo asked again with the same smile, which made me start to frown.
Although I did know about the Hunting Dogs abilities, and have some ideas to fight them, it seems like I have to slightly adjust my request to the Agency. Trying to be careful against the modified being wouldn't hurt anyone, would it?
But then, I started to remember Ranpo words earlier… and doubted my chances the Agency would follow with my request.
Like, who would accept the request of the most elite division of Japan police military forces, and even their leader is the Agency leader's long-time friend. They will surely warn the Hunting Dogs about my intention, and my sneaky actions would be blown to pieces…
Snap!! I didn't think this through with this!!
Welp, it's not like I did make a proper plan with this in under a day… But still, how can I overlook that fact?!
The relationship between Fukuzawa and Fukuchi is one of the plot points of the recent arc, and I somehow forgot it?!
Seems like my curiosity got the better of me… Curse my personality!!
"From the look of it, I assume that you already forgot the boss relationship?"
"… Yes."
Ranpo then let out a laugh, like mocking my own plan, which made me want to dig down and stay there for the rest of my life. Aya still looks confused between us, probably still can't follow our conversation at all.
How embarrassing, making a fool out of myself in front of the greatest detective in the verse…
"So… what will we do today?"
Aya, after watching his agony with confusion, finally decides to speak up. She doesn't want to see Jouno quiver like this anymore, not to mention the two of them keep everything to themself without her participation, it's like she isn't even her.
I wanted to take part in this too!
Her impatient actions seem so obvious, to the point of calming me down from my own agony. That's right, he can't afford to show his immaturity before Aya, who just went through a horrific experience yesterday…
"Let's have breakfast first, then plan the whole day. Deal?"
"Agree"
"Deal."
I proposed an obvious option to both of them, and they immediately agreed with my idea. With that, we set foot to the shopping street that's relatively close to here
"Anyway, you got the money right, Ranpo-san?"
I asked Ranpo with a cautious tone, and the man in the question then looked back. Although I could be just worrying out of nothing, I'm pretty doubtful of this carefree guy.
"I thought you were gonna treat me to this one?"
Ranpo answered me with a question, and I immediately knew that we're screwed.
Both of us looked at each other with unspeakable awkwardness, and then slowly switched the target to small Aya, who already got the deal of this.
"Fine! I'll treat you this one time then…"
With a dissatisfied look, she turns to lead us both with a grumpy attitude, which I can't really blame her anyway.
In the end, we settle with a simple instant ramen, the only thing Aya can buy with her money, and slowly eat the salty noodles for the meantime. Not exactly exciting in Ranpo's book.
After that, Aya proposed to visit all the historical locations in the city, which neither me nor Ranpo declined.
And now, we're currently on the way to the second location, where I started to think of looking for a temporary job.
Like the old saying, without money, you can't really do anything. I need money to gain some ground against the Hunting Dogs, and to stock up "necessities" for the gloomy future ahead…
But… a job huh…
I can't make any application papers based on non-existence identification, so the normal job is off the list.
I could have asked the Port Mafia for some fake papers, but I don't want to involve them any time soon.
The organization is basically a mental hospital, containing some of the most crazily dangerous Abilities users in the verse, where I can die at any given moment.
Who would want to work with that?!
So after considering all the options, I only got one place to apply for…
"Ranpo-san."
Ranpo, now seemingly not that intrigued by the morning, turned his head to me.
If I gotta take a job, I guess I should take the best one. After all, this is literally my only chance to do it considering the timeline.
"May I ask for a job at the Agency?"