Kunikida's little sister

A Bomb and an Old Friend

The agency was having an emergency meeting. My brother was standing in front of the whiteboard with Yosano, Atsushi, Fukuzawa, Kenji, and I sitting at the table and Harunochi standing behind Fukuzawa.

"A mysterious criminal is threatening to detonate a bomb somewhere in the city. Not only that, but they launched a smear campaign against our agency," Doppo said.

"Sounds like we're trapped between a rock and a hard place. Do you have any information on where the bomb might be?" Yosano asked.

"Emi has been looking into it," he replied, making everyone turn to me, who was sitting to the right of Atsushi.

"I haven't found where it could be yet. I just know some of the places that it isn't, but Shiro has been flying around and asking the other birds and the mice and rats have come up empty-pawed for the time being," I said, pausing the snacking that I was doing with some gummy worms. And then everyone turned their attention back to Doppo as I started snacking again.

"The only thing we have to go off of right now is the message left by the perpetrator. Here it is - 'Greetings. I hope that the Armed Detective Agency and its members are fairing well. Forgive my impudence, but I have placed a bomb capable of causing mass destruction at a certain location here in Yokohama. Since you claim to be an agency that secures public safety, I request that you locate and disarm the bomb as soon as you can. You only have until sundown. I wish you the best of luck. I have full faith in your abilities. Respectfully, The Azure Messenger.'"

"Strange signature... Who is the Azure Messenger?" Fukuzawa commented.

"We don't know yet."

"This bomb could ruin us. It's rigged specifically to make our team look bad. He's setting us up so that if we fail his challenge, everyone will hold us responsible for the damages instead of them. Our failure to stop the attack would spread like wildfire," Yosano said.

"The bomb could be anywhere. The office staff has been scouring the city for it. But there are too many possibilities..." Harunochi said.

Kenji raised his hand before saying, "Hey, I bet Rampo could help. Have any luck in getting in touch with him?"

"It seems he's still busy with the case in Kyushu. I asked him to contact us as soon as possible, but we need leads right now."

"Did you get any information from that taxi driver?" Fukuzawa asked.

"Unfortunately, no. He denies any knowledge of the bomb. I believe him - I don't think he's the type to try to blow up Yokohama," Doppo replied.

"Okay, then, listen up. This is a cowardly act. Someone is endangering lives just to bring down the Armed Detective Agency. We have two objectives; uncover the Azure Messenger, whoever this person is, and disarm the bomb they set. The bomb takes priority because of its deadly potential. If we can't find the bomb, it will destroy innocent lives as well as the hard-earned reputation of our agency. Everything is at stake for us on this case, it's a full test of our skills as a detective agency," Fukuzawa said and we all stood up.

~time skip~

I was in the cafe eating some of my favorite Powdered Devil's Food Cake. (I have never had actual devil's food cake because my grandma doesn't like it but we use the mix along with a couple of eggs, I think, and a small container of cool whip. I'll write the recipe and instructions in the next chapter because this stuff is the best, as long as you don't choke on the powdered sugar that is.) I sat across from Atsushi at the booth behind Dazai while I was waiting for Doppo to come down after he finished his call. And he finally sat next to me soon after I finished my slice of cake.