On Valentine's Day, Asou Akiya purchased the building that housed the Café Uzumaki.
This four-story office building—the future location of the Armed Detective Agency—was quietly transferred into Edogawa Ranpo's name as a gift for the child.
The property's owner was not particularly willing to sell.
Unfortunately, the buyer was one of Yokohama City's local powerhouses.
"May I ask why you want to buy this place?" the owner asked. "As an investment?"
"No."
Holding Randou's hand, Asou Akiya managed romance and long-term planning simultaneously.
He exchanged a glance with his lover.
Randou understood exactly why he wanted to buy the building.
Fukuzawa Yukichi needed an office.
"It's for our child's future."
With an office building secured, the probability of Edogawa Ranpo returning home to "ambush" them would decrease considerably.
At the very least, they would no longer need to panic and throw on their clothes whenever they wanted to be intimate at home.
Making use of his status as a Port Mafia employee, Asou Akiya completed the purchase and gave his assurances to the previous owner.
"Please rest assured, sir. I won't drive out any of the current tenants. In the future, a detective agency will be established here to uphold justice and order. I swear that I will never again use the Port Mafia's name to interfere with this place in any way. If I've caused you any trouble, I sincerely apologize."
The owner was a good man.
Otherwise, Fukuzawa Yukichi and Edogawa Ranpo would never have chosen this location in the first place.
After hearing Asou Akiya's promise, the owner had little choice but to believe him.
Looking at the pair helplessly, his gaze lingered on their clasped hands.
Love created families.
Families brought children.
And even members of the Mafia would not wish for their children to walk down the wrong path.
"I hope you'll keep your promise."
"My building is in your hands now. Please cherish every brick and every tile of this place."
Once the contract was signed, the owner looked at the extraordinarily generous purchase price and felt much more at peace.
The Mafia really is rich!
Asou Akiya put away the contract.
The Armed Detective Agency's building secured!
All that remained now is a dormitory building.
On second thought, he decided to leave that problem to Fukuzawa Yukichi and Edogawa Ranpo.
The two of them needed goals to work toward, after all.
"Randou, now that this is settled," Asou Akiya said, "let's go look for a school while we're out shopping."
Randou looked intrigued.
"And today's date plan is...?"
"According to the normal progression, shouldn't we be going to places like a movie theater, a Ferris wheel, or a couples' restaurant?"
Asou Akiya laughed.
"That's too boring. Besides, our time together is precious—we should spend it on meaningful things."
He grabbed Randou's hand.
"Come on! Let's get the children completely sorted out! We'll make sure they have lives of their own, and once they're adults, we can let them become independent!"
Randou liked that aspect of Akiya.
When it came to taking action, he was always decisive and efficient.
"Let's go."
A family was something that required both of them to build together.
On Valentine's Day, the forcibly evicted Edogawa Ranpo was walking beside Fukuzawa Yukichi.
With candy in his mouth, he confidently declared:
"There will definitely be a case today!"
Fukuzawa Yukichi: "..."
When those words came from the mouth of the Great Detective, it was difficult not to believe them.
Nakahara Chuuya was accompanying them today.
His small stature made him inconspicuous in the crowd. The hood of his sweatshirt concealed his hair, and his green eyes had reverted to their natural blue.
Wearing colored contacts for extended periods was bad for the eyes.
Ranpo had said there was no need to hide from Shibusawa Tatsuhiko today, so Chuuya had stopped wearing them altogether. Let the other man wonder why he had ever worn colored contacts in the first place.
Couldn't it simply be a personal hobby?
Nakahara Chuuya walked with his feet turned slightly outward, waiting for a case to appear at any moment.
He had never participated in solving a case before.
At most, he had witnessed scenes where Ranpo casually announced the solution to a mystery while standing amidst a crowd.
It felt rather novel.
Two bodyguards and one detective?
No.
Nakahara Chuuya glanced sideways at Shibusawa Tatsuhiko—the same person he had once punched until he cried.
The boy's expression was cold and composed now, completely unlike the vulnerable state he had shown before. His patience was remarkable as he obediently acted as Ranpo's attendant.
As far as honesty and keeping one's word were concerned, Chuuya actually respected him quite a bit.
Provided, of course, that the other boy stopped looking at him with those strange, inexplicable gazes.
Every time it happened, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
Walking through the crowd with them, Edogawa Ranpo finished his candy.
His mouth, however, did not stop moving.
"That couple on the left—the boyfriend is cheating."
"That couple on the right—the girlfriend doesn't actually like the guy at all. She's buried under a mountain of debt."
"Oh, that's a married couple. How awful. They're both fooling around behind each other's backs and don't love each other in the slightest! A relationship like that would be better off ending in divorce. They think they're doing it for their child's sake, but all they're doing is hurting the child!"
Feeling the gazes converging on them from every direction, Fukuzawa Yukichi broke out in a cold sweat.
The Silver Wolf nanny reacted with lightning speed. He snatched the candy from Nakahara Chuuya's hand and stuffed it into Ranpo's mouth.
Then he turned to Chuuya and said,
"Chuuya-kun, my apologies. He needs sugar."
Nakahara Chuuya froze.
"Uh... it's fine."
Once Ranpo's mouth was occupied, he would stop spouting nonsense in public.
However, neither of them had expected that even after silencing Edogawa Ranpo, there was still Shibusawa Tatsuhiko standing beside them.
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's indifferent voice rang out.
"As for that married couple—the wife has an illegitimate child outside the marriage. The husband has three lovers. The items he's wearing came from different mistresses. He climbed his way up by living off women. He refuses to divorce his well-connected wife because he would lose everything if he did."
Ignoring the married couple, whose faces had turned green and who looked moments away from a breakdown, Edogawa Ranpo turned to look at Shibusawa Tatsuhiko.
"There's nothing wrong with living off someone else as long as there's love!"
"Is that so?"
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko found Ranpo's logic somewhat puzzling.
Ranpo mumbled around the candy in his mouth,
"How boring. Hurry up and let a case appear already. On such a wonderful day, there should at least be a few crimes of passion, right?"
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko replied in a detached tone,
"I can create one if you'd like. Do you need me to?"
Ranpo lifted his chin proudly.
"I want naturally occurring cases!"
Fukuzawa Yukichi's gaze darkened.
Is it just my imagination?
The way these two are talking is seriously wrong!
Nakahara Chuuya's actions immediately proved that his instincts were correct.
"What kind of nonsense are you two talking about?!"
The orange-haired boy nearly exploded in frustration.
"If you want to solve cases, then go to a police station! You're out here walking around on the streets—have some consideration for all the couples around you!"
"Just shut your mouths and behave yourselves!"
Edogawa Ranpo earned himself a punch from the little orange cat.
Clutching his head, he complained,
"So violent."
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko immediately took half a step backward, remembering the pain that had once blossomed across his abdomen.
"Indeed," he agreed. "This person is far too violent."
Nakahara Chuuya clenched his fists and brandished them threateningly.
"Shut up!"
Fukuzawa Yukichi smiled.
Well done, Chuuya-kun!
Following the route their guardians had taken, Edogawa Ranpo darted into Café Uzumaki, ordered several cups of coffee, and then happily emerged from the café.
Tilting his head back, he looked up at the four-story office building.
If my guess is correct, this will become our workplace in the future.
"What are you looking at?" Nakahara Chuuya asked.
"Nothing."
Ranpo bit down on his straw and drank coffee as though it were milk.
"..."
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko remained silent.
He carefully analyzed what might be special about the building, yet no matter how he examined it, it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary office building.
There was nothing remarkable about it.
The red brick exterior simply showed the wear of age.
Fukuzawa Yukichi emerged from the café carrying a paper bag and distributed coffee to the other two.
"You should have some as well. He ordered ten cups in ten different flavors."
As he said this, Fukuzawa Yukichi felt a slight surge of irritation.
He wanted to lecture Ranpo about wasting money.
Unfortunately, Edogawa Ranpo had already run off in advance, successfully escaping a scolding as he skipped along the street, admiring the scenery around him.
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko accurately selected the flavor he wanted.
A cup of hot coffee in winter was quite pleasant.
[The taste... of humanity.]
Compared to Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, Nakahara Chuuya's thoughts upon drinking the coffee were much more straightforward.
[It's delicious!]
The genuine non-human Arahabaki remained as down-to-earth as ever.
...
On February 17th, Mori Ougai finally succeeded in using his birthday as an excuse to coax the emotionally withdrawn Yosano Akiko out of the clinic.
Holding the girl's hand, he took her to an amusement park and bought her a balloon that children loved.
In this way, he spent the twenty-ninth birthday of his life.
At present, Mori Ougai had put a little effort into tidying up his appearance.
The beard was gone.
His hair was clean and neatly groomed.
Over the past few days, he had stopped receiving injured patients in the middle of the night, and much of the puffiness beneath his eyes from chronic sleep deprivation had faded.
In an instant, he seemed ten years younger.
He looked like a mature and dependable older brother with an upright posture, leading along his frail younger sister by the hand.
"Akiko, the war is over."
"..."
Yosano Akiko's numb gaze drifted across the adults and children in the amusement park.
Every person wore a smile on their face.
Yet behind those smiles might lie family hardships, burdens, and unseen sorrows.
Yokohama City—
A treaty port used as part of the postwar reparations after Japan's defeat.
The traces of chaos had gradually been covered over during these past years.
Convenient public services could be found everywhere.
"No..."
Yosano Akiko could still hear the roar of artillery and gunfire echoing in her ears.
With profound sorrow, she said,
"The war... isn't over..."
"They died for nothing..."
"It was all meaningless..."
Japan was defeated.
Japan was defeated.
Japan was defeated.
Yosano Akiko covered her ears.
The butterfly hairpin in her hair seemed as though it might spread its wings and fly away at any moment.
She wanted to cry until her heart tore apart.
Yet when the emotions reached her lips, all that emerged were quiet, broken sobs.
She no longer even knew for whom she was crying.
After all...
What she had cared about most was the honor, humiliation, rise, and fall of her country.
Mori Ougai gently stroked her hair, feeling the trembling of her body and the fear that gripped her.
Ah.
The effect is still minimal.
Am I not approachable enough?
He found himself wondering whether his acting skills had deteriorated.
Otherwise, why was Akiko still so unwilling to lower her guard around him?
Why did she continue treating him as though he were some terrifying flood or ferocious beast?
...
One month later.
March arrived, and Shibusawa Tatsuhiko finally stopped trying to visit Asou Akiya's household.
After changing his approach, his relationship with Edogawa Ranpo had improved in a strangely unexpected way.
Although he had nearly exhausted all the patience he would ever possess in this lifetime and had been worn down to the point of losing his temper by Ranpo's antics, he could genuinely feel that whenever they managed to hold a normal conversation, Ranpo was happy.
In this world, filled with ordinary people, only the two of them could glimpse traces of the future.
And beyond them is Asou Akiya, standing even higher than they did.
Through the information he had gathered and through the people surrounding Asou Akiya, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko once again became convinced of the Analyst's capabilities.
The testimony of a single person might be unreliable.
But comprehensive information from every angle, however, could not be wrong.
"Akiya is better than me! He's the person I'm going to surpass when I grow up!"
That was Edogawa Ranpo bragging.
"Yes, Akiya-san's analytical abilities surpass even Ranpo's. He's a steady and dependable person."
That was Fukuzawa Yukichi, who had received Asou Akiya's help on numerous occasions.
"Of course Akiya-san is better than Ranpo! Every time this guy causes trouble, Akiya-san is the only one who can keep him under control!"
That was Nakahara Chuuya, who trusted his father completely.
As time passed, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, having endured relentless brainwashing from all three of them, gradually came to believe it without question.
With a genius like Edogawa Ranpo—a strategist capable of reducing others to a lower dimension—standing before him, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko had never once managed to defeat him in deduction.
And Asou Akiya was an "adult" who was even more formidable than Edogawa Ranpo!
Tokyo.
The Shibusawa family estate.
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko had changed into a traditional Japanese kimono and was sitting formally in seiza opposite an elderly man, his face expressionless.
The elder was none other than the renowned Shibusawa Eiichi, a figure whose name carried immense prestige throughout Japan.
Amid the tranquil sounds of flowing water from a nearby stream and the fragrant aroma of tea drifting through the air, Shibusawa Eiichi—who was effectively Tatsuhiko's grandfather by generation—studied his younger relative.
The boy seemed to have acquired a faint trace of worldly humanity during his time away.
At last, the old man spoke.
"Tatsuhiko, how have you been enjoying yourself in Yokohama recently?"
"I'm very happy."
A chilling expression surfaced within Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's crimson eyes.
Shibusawa Eiichi appeared not to notice the unsettling look in his eyes at all.
He remained completely unaffected.
Having extensively studied books from across the ocean, from another nation, his character embodied both the Confucian virtues of tolerance, benevolence, and empathy, as well as the shrewdness and cunning of a seasoned businessman.
Among Japan's Zaibatsu, he was a firm member of the anti-war faction.
He had never intended to cultivate Shibusawa Tatsuhiko as his successor.
The boy's path should belong to that of an ability user.
The world's greatest ability users were all individuals with striking personalities and the strength to follow their own convictions without compromise.
Not suppressing Tatsuhiko's unique and unconventional nature had always been Shibusawa Eiichi's philosophy.
At the same time, it was also the source of some lingering concerns.
With each passing year, he found himself understanding his grandson less and less.
Lowering his gaze toward the teacup before him, Shibusawa Eiichi suddenly smiled.
A tea stem stood upright in the water.
Traditionally, that was considered a sign of good fortune to come.
"Tatsuhiko, if there's something you want to do, then go and do it."
"You're grown up now."
"I shouldn't be restricting you any longer."
"...Understood."
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko glanced at the old man.
Compared to ordinary people, this elder possessed a broader and more open-minded perspective on life.
Wearing a hairstyle that could almost be described as delicate and attractive, Tatsuhiko's appearance had softened considerably.
In a calm voice, he said,
"I met a man whose intellect surpasses my own, and whose ability is unaffected by mine."
"He wrote a book for me."
"He advised me not to surrender myself to the emptiness within my heart, because it would eventually consume me."
"But I don't know what I should do."
"Should I regard him as an enemy, or as a friend?"
"Can your ability give me an answer?"
Shibusawa Eiichi's ability is Harmony of Morality and Profit.
Its effect was a support-type ability.
By spending a certain amount of money, it could exchange that cost for a faint trace of fortune hidden within fate itself.
The effect was extremely weak.
Most of the time, it was impossible to tell whether it had activated at all.
However, it helped its user discover more opportunities and find a point of balance between profit and moral righteousness.
After listening to Tatsuhiko's account, Shibusawa Eiichi asked,
"How old is he?"
"Twenty-four."
Shibusawa Eiichi contemplated the answer for a moment before asking another question.
"Do you believe he is capable of guiding you?"
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko replied,
"I don't know."
After activating his ability, Shibusawa Eiichi gained a faint sense of intuition about the matter.
With a kindly smile, he said,
"Then follow your heart."
"As it happens, you've already chased away so many teachers."
"At the very least, it's time for you to have a new one."
He set down his teacup.
The soft sound it made was enough to draw Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's attention.
It did not startle the birds perched in the courtyard outside, but it did stir something in the boy.
Shibusawa Eiichi's crimson eyes remained fixed on him without blinking.
He wanted to hear Tatsuhiko's answer.
Then the elder offered a judgment born from years of experience.
"Go become his disciple."
A man who was more intelligent and more capable than Shibusawa Tatsuhiko was someone worth recruiting and investing in on behalf of the Shibusawa family.
However, he had absolutely no idea that he had just been thoroughly misled by his grandson.
That man was a member of the Port Mafia!
And furthermore, his strength had absolutely nothing to do with supernatural powers or conventional combat prowess!
Tatsuhiko had successfully tricked his grandfather.