🌷 ℝ𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝔾𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕤 | Bungou Stray Dogs Oneshots

the adventure of the noble bachelor

(Inspired by the short story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that shares the title this chapter is from)

Ranpo is getting married today!

But, if I'm telling the truth, nobody thought it would happen. For the past several months, Ranpo had started talking about this special lady that he'd met, and for a while, she was the only thing he talked about. Despite this, however, nobody genuinely thought their relationship was that serious until three months ago he announced that she proposed to him.

You could only imagine our shock when we heard that our co-worker was actually about to get married, and we were very excited for him. Ranpo asked our president to be his best man, and our president was eager to comply. He also asked three other men at the Armed Detective Agency to be his groomsmen; Kunikida, Tanizaki, and me. It was an honour that Ranpo requested me, Kenji, to be one of his groomsmen, even though only a day before I had no idea what that was.

It was a glorious spring day, a day where the clouds were intermittently scattered throughout the crisp sky. The sun was hot, but the breeze was just soft enough to keep everyone at a delightful temperature, and the sakuras had all just bloomed, their delicate pink petals adorning the thin branches of their trees, making them look like cotton candy. Occasionally, their petals would flutter and dance to the ground.

To utilize this very spectacular weather to its fullest, our boss rented out an outdoor reception area for the ceremony. Ranpo and his fiancee were absolutely overjoyed with the location of this area. To take it to the next level, though, the ladies of the Armed Detective Agency - Yosano, Naomi, Haruno and Kyouka - decided to add their own feminine touches to the place and decorated it very grandly. In my opinion, it was the perfect place to be married in.

But I was surprised to learn that that beautiful outdoor area wasn't actually where Ranpo and his fiancee would say their vows. No, that would occur in the church. This incredibly breathtaking area would be where they eat food before the wedding. Kunikida told me that Ranpo's bride was from America, and in America, it was tradition to spend a couple hours visiting with people before you watch the ceremony, but I honestly think it's an excuse Ranpo took advantage of to get free desserts as soon as he could.

Since the boss had to travel pretty far to find the perfect place, we needed to book hotel rooms for everybody. It was only a few hours before the ceremony was to start, so everyone was dressing into their very fancy outfits. I don't think I'd ever worn a button-up shirt or a vest or a bowtie, but it was fun putting them on nonetheless and I thought I looked pretty good, but once I walked out of my hotel room, Kunikida came up to me and knelt down and basically re-adjusted everything I had put on.

After he finished situating my bowtie, he said to me, "Come, Kenji. It's time to go."

It's around a ten minute walk from the hotel to the reception area, and when we arrived, a few people from work were there setting up the table in which we would soon eat off of. Kunikida quickly left my side to give help wherever it was needed.

Ranpo and his fiancee didn't want the wedding to be really big. They wanted it just to be attended only by close friends and family. To uphold that wish, the fiancee only invited her parents and her two siblings as well as her bridesmaids. I knew they'd be there. In fact, they were one of the first few people who arrived. However, as time passed, I realized that Ranpo didn't do very well holding up his end of the deal. Not only did he invite his closest friends, such as the boss and Kunikida and Yosano, but he invited everyone from work and even invited that police dude Officer Minoura and three other police officers that Ranpo perhaps spoke with from time to time. Not only that, but he also invited that one person from the Guild, Edgar Allan Poe. I guess it was nice of him, but completely unnecessary.
As all of these people started arriving, I started feeling a little embarrassed at Ranpo's mistake. Ranpo's fiancee's family probably felt like strangers right now. I was relieved, though, when I watched them start to warm up to my co-workers and the police officers.