ᴅᴀʏʟɪɢʜᴛ || ʀᴀɴᴘᴏᴇ

• 7 •

"You're not going to ask why I ran away from America, despite it being a lot larger than Japan?" Edgar asked, Ranpo threw his back and yawned. Ranpo and Aya were watching TV whilst eating some ochazuke that Edgar had prepared. He was a surprisingly good cook, despite not eating human food.

"I've heard of The Guild, Poe." Ranpo sighed and placed his glasses on his face, Aya was happily munching on some rice. She gave a worried glance at Edgar, watching his expression morph into discomfort. "I know you turned into a vampire because of them, back when they had dragged you to Ireland to conduct an experiment. You were actually born in 1895, the Guild's leader at the time kidnapped you at the age of twenty eight and since then, you've stayed the same physically. You escaped to Japan after a journalist survived your attack, poorly executed on your part, and they were able to identify you. Japan back then wasn't on good terms with America, so you decided hiding there would be your best bet." Ranpo explained, throwing the glasses onto the coffee table in front of him.

"I guess I expected nothing different from the best detective in Japan." Edgar mumbled, exhaling heavily and walking out of the door, not even bothering to bring his coat. Ranpo was confused, he had asked him to answer it right?

"What's his problem?" Ranpo scoffed, setting his bowl aside for some sweets.

"Sometimes you're too much of a smartass Ranpo. You need to think about how he feels." Aya had said, collecting the bowls on a tray. Ranpo was lazy, Aya did most of the housework whilst she was missing school. "He's very sensitive to his past and you decided to use your ultra seduction or whatever on him. He wanted you to ask so he could tell you himself."

"Language child." Bram scolded, but his eyes were soft. "I agree with Aya, sometimes all you need to do is listen." And with that, Aya began to wash the dishes and Bram fell asleep.

"You're from The Guild? Never heard of 'em." Kenji said, his eyes twinkling at the sight of a real American man (Kyouka had pointed out that Edgar was also American and his eyes grew even wider).

"I'm the leader of The Guild." Fitzgerald corrected, his fake smile growing even faker. It was overly friendly, just teeth and no gums. His eyes didn't crinkle at the sides like a real smile. "And I'm here to collect my property."

"He's not your property, he's a real living being." Kunikida scowled, impatiently tapping his feet. Fitzgerald laughed.

"He's a vampire. He's not living nor dead. Therefore, he belongs to me." Edgar peeled the skin from his fingertips, no blood in sight.

"He's not going anywhere, he's staying with the ADA until the case assigned to us is solved." Fukuzawa replied calmly, stern and cold. "Especially if you talk about him like he's just another house on your land." This causes Fitzgerald to falter slightly, he recovered with a grin.

"I'll offer you a lot of money. How does eight million dollars sound?" Ranpo spurted out his drink and his eyes were wide in shock. Eight million dollars? Imagine what they could do with eight million dollars. They could all move out of their run down apartments, Atsushi could get a bed that wasn't a closet, Kunikida could buy so many fountains pens (the expensive kind). Hell, even Kenji could use the money for his farm! Everyone fell silent as they imagined the sound of eight million dollars falling into their pockets. They didn't even notice Edgar quivering in the corner, Karl mewing quietly.

"No." Everyone snapped their heads towards Fukuzawa, even Fitzgerald was surprised. "We don't care for money, we are fine with what we have."

"How about ten million dollars?" If Ranpo's mouth could drop lower it would hit the floor. Really who wouldn't betray someone for ten million dollars?