ᴅᴀʏʟɪɢʜᴛ || ʀᴀɴᴘᴏᴇ

• 14 •

"You guys finally made up?" Aya asked, a broad smile across her face and Bram looked approvingly at the two. Edgar was a little dazed from the sour sweet, but he was in an overall good mood. Ranpo was elated, this was all he wanted.

"I proposed to him!" He proclaimed, and Edgar shoved his face into his palms, and Aya let out a loud guffaw.

"And I thought my girlfriend in kindergarten was moving too fast!"

"He's being dramatic- your what?" Aya shrugged and turned her attention back to her Switch. Even Bram was surprised at this statement, and although he didn't show it often, he gazed at her with a certain protectiveness.

"Never mind! Go be gay in the bedroom or something."

"Aya!"

"Oh Ranpo! I've got a few manuscripts that need proofreading!" Edgar called, almost floating into the storage room. Ranpo was back in the office, however he wasn't allowed to work on any cases, so he chose to work on the cold case files hidden away in the storage area. It was in a separate room, and it was incredibly quiet. Ranpo was also positive he saw a mouse.

His and Edgar's relationship had blossomed on his days off, they would go to different areas of Yokohama (with the accompaniment of Aya and Karl) and Ranpo would eat delicious food. Edgar had returned back to normal with his feeding, once a week he would choose between going to go bars and nightclubs to find his victims. He had also got more skilled in leaving them unconscious, but not dead, something Ranpo was proud to boast about to Dazai.

On the day they didn't go out, all four of them and Karl would watch movies that neither vampires had seen. They had started off with the classic Twilight saga, which ended in an entire conversation about what vampires can and can't do.

"So what you're saying," Ranpo would say during a scene, causing the other three to groan loudly, "my blood doesn't smell any better than another humans?"

"Blood is blood, Ranpo."

"If your blood smelled nicer then he would've sucked on your neck a lot earlier!" Aya pointed out, poking the hickey on Ranpo's neck. They hadn't done anything sexual, despite what Aya presumes. In fact, Ranpo was complaining about Edgar's lack of skill in the kissing department and demanded to give the poor vampire a hickey tutorial. At first, Ranpo did one on Edgar (to his surprise, it actually showed up and blossomed into a purple colour - it disappeared within the hour) and Edgar tried to follow the steps. It left a nasty bruise but Ranpo determined it a success.

Skip to a week later and Ranpo's disciplinary leave was over but Fukuzawa was still mad at him. He had been directed to the storage room and that's where he stayed until Edgar arrived.

"Finally! I've been bored out of my mind in here. Honestly these cases are as easy as pie." Ranpo took the several manuscripts and placed them in front of him. Edgar once scolded him on the way he treats paper, so he's been taking better care of the way he handles the manuscripts.

"I'll be in the café talking to Lucy when you finish!" Edgar smiled and spun on his heel. He gave a small wave and exited the room. The door closed with a soft click and Ranpo leaned back on his office chair and kicked his legs onto the desk. He picked up the first manuscript.

It was a tragic evening for the family-

The brother did it. He flipped to the next one.

It was a cold and blustering night-

It was the ex of the wife. He did this for every manuscript, but the final one caught his eye. This one had no title, which was unusual for Edgar, as he always labelled his manuscripts. The first page was completely blank, the only writing was hand-written and it was Ranpo's name inside a red love heart. He was flattered. He flicked to the next page and began to read.