RANPOE Yuri!!! On Ice AU (kind of)

The Beginnings - Ranpo

"This suuucks!!!" the young Hirai Tarou whines, slamming his hands down on the keys of the instrument.

His tutor flinches. "Ah! Master Hirai, please be gentle with the piano. You've got to stop rocking so much, good posture is central to good music. I promise that playing will get easier with practise."

"It isn't hard. It's just boring." He squirms impertinently, but it's true. He played the piece perfectly. "I want to go outside!"

"And you may do so when our lesson is finished." The tutor urges, trying, with little luck, to still the boy. She ducks a flapping arm, readjusting her glasses, and placing the boy's hands back onto the ivory keys.

"It's not OUR lesson, it's yours. I never wanted to play the stupid piano anyway." Ranpo huffs, turning away petulantly.

"Master Hirai! Use kind language, and-"

"You not mummy, you can't scold me. And call me Ranpo, you have to call me Ranpo!" The boy corrects her, referring to the protagonist of his favourite detective novel series.

"Ah, be that as it may, the piano is a refined art that has been practised for centur-"

Ranpo slams his small fists down on the leftmost keys of the instrument, producing a bellowing, groan-like sound that would horrify any pianist and delight any child.

"Master Hirai! Stop at once! You-"

"Moo! Mooo! Moooo!" The boy hops off the bench, imitating the bovine as he skips from the room.

He collides with his mother in the hall.

"Mummy, mummy, Ms. Natsume-sensie is a big meanie!"

Hirai Tohru chuckles at her son, she knows that the piano tutor is likely several degrees less intelligent than him, and she also knows it's imperative that he doesn't realise that fact.

"I know, Ranpo-chan, I know, but music is an important part of a well-rounded education, after all, you do want to be smart like Otouchan and I, right?"

Ranpo nods vigorously.

"But can't I do something else?"

"What would you like to do?" She asks, sensing a request she cannot accept oncoming.

"Be a detective."

Mrs. Hirai chuckles again, "Not yet love, you're much too young as yet. Is there anything else, anything at all?"

Ranpo pouts briefly, puffing his cheeks, then taps his chin in consideration, looking very grown-up if you ask him. "I dunno, just anything else. . . . like football!" He says the first things that come to mind, probably because the latest Detective Edogawa case concerned the death of a popular fictional footballer.

Mrs. Hirai cringes. She and her husband have never been fans of sports. "No, Ranpo-chan, that's far too dangerous, you could get hurt, my sweet. Sports are for people who would rather work their bodies because they can't work their minds. J Just go finish your lesson and think of something else. We can go to the park when Otouchan and I get back from errands, okay?"

Ranpo nods again. "But do I haaave to?"

"Yes. If you want to switch instruments, you can, but you've got to play at least one. Now go and apologise to your tutor, I'll be asking her if you did."

"Ooookay."

-

Begrudgingly, Ranpo apologised to Mrs. Natsume. She left promptly after that.

Mr and Mrs. Hirai never came back.

-

Being private people, the Hirais hadn't told anyone that they had a son, so the young boy was all alone, but faithfully, he stayed, waiting.

After a month of waiting for his parents' return, the house was becoming unbearable. The weather had started to turn from pleasant fall to chilly winter and with no one to pay the bills, the large country estate was rapidly becoming akin to Superman's Fortress of Solitude, and on top of that, the pantry and refrigerator were nearly empty, only a few granola bags and Tupperware of old rice remaining.

With a heavy heart, the boy began to pack his possessions into his father's large suitcase. He never had many toys, nothing could keep him entertained for too long, but all his books made the suitcase easily heavier than him.

Sniffling back tears, he left his parents a note in colour pencils, apologising and explaining why he was leaving. He reached up as high as he could and suck it on the refrigerator with his favourite ice lolly magnet.

And off he went.

(A/N: this is the last chapter in the third person, the rest will be in the first person. Happy reading!)