The Stray Kids of Edogawa Rampo

Challenger

CHALLENGER

"Insert coin to continue..."

L A N C E Useda

December 9, 4:17 pm.

Oedipus HQ.

I never saw this coming. Ever since I've been with Twelve and experienced the life that he's living, I've always thought of the possible worse case scenario that can happen. I've always been prepared and anticipating that the worse is yet to come. I always see it. My mind is probably filled with negativity that I've been too much of a psychic-pessimist. But now, I can't believe that something I overlooked can shock me to the core. I can't believe that I overlooked something. How?

How can I never see this coming?

I, Hiro and Zen, mukha kaming binuhusan ng malamig na tubig. It's like we rapidly ran out of blood and turned white as a sheet. It's just a name, I know. It should not bother us to this extent. But the connection is surreal, Edogawa Rampo and Edgar Allan Poe. Is this just a coincidence?

Or someone out there knows about the existence of our adopter and is actually mocking us?

"Edogawa Rampo..." Hiro started to whisper, as if he's talking to himself. "ED-GAR-A-LLAN-POE. E-DO-GA-WA-RAM-PO. It really is the Japanese verbal translation. Not precise but so close you can figure it out."

"Japanese verbal translation isn't really meant to sound precisely as the English word. Additional syllables and vowels can be inserted too. But you can't simply ignore this detail," Twelve explained nonchalantly. Bumangon siya sa pagkakahilata at nag-unat.

My jaws clenched at the thought. I can't help but to be tensed. Coincidence lang ba talaga 'to o kami talaga ang target ng Edgar Allan Poe na 'to? Could it be that he's using this alias because he knows that we are Edogawa Rampo's stray? If yes, what is he up to? What does he want? And why is he resorting to terrorism? Kahit alugin ko ang utak ko 'di ko mahanapan ng posibleng sagot ang mga tanong ko. Edogawa is a private person, a mysterious man hiding in an alias. Alias that only his stray kids know. Kung may ibang tao mang nakakaalam, paano? Paano niya nalaman?

"Oh, ano naman?" Ash asked all of a sudden, he's having his long bangs tied up above his forehead. "What's the connection with the Japanese Edgar Allan Poe to your confident intuition that this is not a bomb threat?"

Von sighed in annoyance, "Kahit kailan 'di ko nagets kung paano tumatakbo ang utak mo, Dose. But I can't really get what you mean this time. The admin behind the page might be someone just around your age and—"

"Someone around my age can be a bomb expert with high deduction prowess and is physically immune to poison. Give me twelve apples and I can kill twelve people with apple tea, Von. And I'm just 18," Twelve cut Von's mid-sentence. "If our existence is possible, we definitely can't go around underestimating kids nowadays."

Von just shrugged and relaxed on his couch in defeat. Everyone knows that Twelve got a point. If there's more kids out there that can be potentially talented as this agency, they will always be a tough enemy. Zen glanced at me with a puzzled and amused look.

"Hindi nila alam?" he mouthed. I shook my head.

"Hoax or not, let's take this case seriously. For two reasons," Mia talked after the short silence. "Firstly, because of what Twelve said. We can't go around underestimating anyone. Every person, with or without a professional mind and capability, can kill or 'cause terror. Let's not overlook that. And more importantly, we need to focus on this case because the ATC itself assigned this task to us. We can't disappoint them and ruin our image as an autonomous private agency."