Mafioso, No More (Book 2)

04

3rd POV

The brunet looked at the greatest detective with an act of bewilderment. The statement definitely caught his attention.

"Trickster, you say?~" Dazai displayed an amused grin on his face. "Did a man of your highest intellect and brilliant deductive skills in solving difficult cases has finally been outwitted by someone from our enemy organization? It makes me want to meet the person~"

The snack lover put an enormous amount of potato chips in his mouth and chewed them soundly before addressing the taunting remark he just received from the beanpole.

"I told you, that the man is a trickster. I'm sure that French Illusionist pulled some strings to get out of the book." Ranpo deadpanned and pondered for a second. "Or maybe....he was not trapped in the book from the beginning." He mumbled.

The genius detective blinked his eyes twice and chuckled. "I was not aware that Poe-san was a part of this mission. Please do the honor and elaborate~"

The beret hat detective grimaced and made a 'tch' sound. Interrogating someone is a part of his job not the other way around. However, the brunet seems to be enjoying his current predicament.

Considering that the other people in the room was not informed about the role of the mystery lover during the unpleasant battle, everyone was eagerly waiting to hear about the story.

Ranpo glanced with an empty expression at the young orangehead detective who was frantically waving his hands. Of course, he knew that Tanizaki wouldn't tell a single soul about the author's involvement in the case. In fact, the young ginger was even grateful for the assistance they did once offer.

The snack lover crossed his arms over his chest and made a huge sighed. "There was a miscalculation on my part. I was confident that Poe trapped that French Magician in his book."

"Oh, tell us what happened then~" The beanpole wittingly stated.

Ranpo rolled his eyes and brought out another pack of chips to munch. "Sure, I'll chip in your request. I'll give the summary for your delightment..."

*Flashback*

The greatest detective immediately requested the aid of the Yokohama Metropolitan Police Department about the pressing case and met at one of the lesser crowd and secluded areas of the Yokohama Park.

Inspector Minoura and Kitamura were already waiting at their rendezvous point when he arrived. Other security personnel were task to patrol and survey the areas. 

Ranpo just didn't expect that there's another person to be present in the police team.

That dark brown mullethead with purpleish undertones that cover those pair of dark circled amethyst eyes. The white mandarin collar button-up shirt with a white loosely tied ribbon around the person's neck partnered with a black vest under an open cream colored tailcoat and those thigh-length black cape. 

He couldn't be mistaken. Why is the racoon man even here?

The novelist's demeanor brighten up upon spotting the beret hat detective. He hastened his footsteps approaching his number one rival.

"Ah! Ranpo-kun! You're finally here! It's been a while since we last saw each other. I'm glad you're doing well." Poe greeted.

Instead of responding, he sprinted towards the police inspector. "Minoura-san...what is he doing here?"

The officer scratched his head and made an apologetic smile. "Poe-san just happened to be with us. He somehow lost his pet Karl along his way to his hotel room. So Kitamura offered him some service."