Part 3

Episode 17

Breakfast was kind of stressful. Junko tried to get Kyouka to talk to her, but her reactions consisted mostly of angry glares. So when Junko suggested they go ahead to the office without her, Atsushi didn't object. He did feel like something was amiss, perhaps it'll just take him a while to get used to the new arrangements.

But at any rate, when Junko arrived at the office, it was a few minutes after Atsushi and Kyouka already left.

"Good morning~" she yawned as she greeted Osamu, Doppo and Ranpo.
Doppo and Osamu replied with a synchronised "morning," but Ranpo just stared at her.

"Something wrong, apprentice?" Ranpo moved from side to side in his seat.
"What? Oh, sure... I mean, no, I'm good. Just... very, very tired." she yawned again and gently rubbed her eyes.
"Didn't get enough sleep, sweetie?" Osamu turned around to look at her, his cup of coffee still in his hand.
"Guess not." she said and lazily stretched her arms.
"Is it national telling-the-truth-day?" Ranpo snickered.
"What?"
"Never mind. Just take a nap if you need."
"That's not a bad idea, I just might do that later... Any cases for me?"
"God is with the president right now, nap now, work later."
"Ok but – "
"Tatatatata — " Ranpo didn't let her finish, he pointed at the couch, "nap now. Work later."
Junko bowed. "Yes sir." she said, laid down on the couch, curled into a ball and immediately fell asleep.

"Nice going, captain nap-time!" Osamu gave Ranpo a cheerful thumbs-up to receive an equal thumbs-up from Ranpo.
"Could you focus on your own job for a second, Dazai?" Doppo growled at his distracted partner.
"Nah, coffee now, work later." Osamu put his feet up on his desk and sipped his coffee. Doppo just glared at him angrily.

Fukuzawa's office door opened and out came Kirokugakari with her usual angry scowl.
"Guess what? That brat fucked it up." she groaned and jumped to sit in Ranpo's lap.
"You mean fuzzed up?" Osamu corrected her, she just snorted at him.
"Who, the new girl?" Doppo asked.
"No, the tiger baby. He let her go off the rails. He knew she was new and still let her act on her own. What a dumbass."
"What did the girl do?" Ranpo inquired.
"She tazed the judge."
"You're kidding."
"Yuki is trying to fix it. Kunikida, take Kenji and go to them, just in case."
Doppo nodded, got up and left without questioning it, the fact that he was not ordered to go with his regular partner was a gift horse he was not going to look in the mouth.

"Why is Furuta sleeping? Wake her up, she has work." Kirokugakari glanced over to the couch.
"Nooo, but she's so cute when she's sleeping!" both Osamu and Ranpo said together, which very much irritated Kirokugakari. She grabbed a pen that was on Ranpo's desk and threw it at Junko.
"Nooooooo" both men cried out as it flew through the air.

"I'm up, I'm up!!!" Junko jumped up as the pen hit her.
"Furuta, the tiger baby didn't give me a report this morning. Anything out of the ordinary I should know about?" Kirokugakari asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Uh... had breakfast with Kyouka-chan today, that was nice." Junko fidgeted a little.
"D'ja have fun?"
"Sure."
"What did you eat?"
"Roasted fish and miso soup."
Kirokugakari looked up at Ranpo. "What did she actually eat?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.
"Just as she said. You are on a roll today, apprentice." Ranpo flashed Junko a naughty, toothy grin.
Junko lowered her head, embarrassed.
Kirokugakari didn't like the fact that Ranpo's attention was not solely dedicated to her and subconsciously wriggled around a bit. Ranpo noticed that and wrapped his arms around her waist. That seemed to appease her.

Kirokugakari then opened her book and started writing, without looking at what she wrote. "So, why were you so late, Furuta?"
"Oh, Atsushi-san and Kyouka-chan are hitting it off really well, but she doesn't really like me... I figured it would be easier for the both of them if we didn't walk together." Junko answered simply.
"So considerate. Isn't she just precious?" Osamu stared at Junko with stars in his eyes. She smiled back at him with a quick "thanks".
"I don't care about all that." Kirokugakari groaned, her hand still tirelessly writing. "I just wish they'd hurry it up, I'm still trying to figure out how we can recruit the girl. It's difficult, what with her previous employer being Akutagawa and all that."
"At least you found a way to go around the phone problem, that's a good start." Junko remarked.
"I just changed her plan. It's not like this actually solves the problem. She will still need that stupid phone to activate her ability."