Under the shrouding fog zone, all ability users were destined to suffer a calamity they could not escape!
Probably—?
At the center of the fog zone, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko did not see Edogawa Ranpo's figure. Instead, an expression of disbelief appeared on his face, as the one who emerged before him was Fukuzawa Yukichi—someone the records clearly listed as a non-ability user.
Fukuzawa Yukichi had rushed in to protect Ranpo, yet now Ranpo himself had disappeared!
The "Silver Wolf," who had long walked the path of slaughter, would never misread killing intent. He saw it clearly—the mist had appeared suddenly, and it was the effect of the opponent's ability. After losing to Edogawa Ranpo, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko had flown into a rage and activated his ability, intending to kill Edogawa Ranpo!
"Where did you take Ranpo?!"
Fukuzawa Yukichi drew his sword and threatened him, only to see Shibusawa Tatsuhiko stagger back as though struck by a shock, avoiding the blade's edge. With a shaken expression, he said, "He's not here… impossible…"
Losing to the twenty-four-year-old Asou Akiya, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko could accept it as a matter of insufficient skill and an ability level not high enough.
But losing to a fifteen-year-old Edogawa Ranpo—
He could not accept it!!!
He had always taken pride in his intellect and his ability, looking down on others, believing himself to be naturally favored by fate and born from a far higher starting point. He was not so arrogant as to believe he was unique in the entire world—but at least within Japan, wasn't it reasonable to think so? Even Shibusawa Eiichi had once told him: Child, your talent surpasses all others of your generation in Japan.
"Fukuzawa Yukichi, why are you here as well?!"
Seeing the former government "Silver Wolf" here, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko felt a surge of absurdity. Is his ability bugged?
The person who should have appeared was not there, and the person who should not have appeared had shown up instead.
What on earth is Draconia doing?!
Fukuzawa Yukichi said angrily, "That's what I should be asking you! Hurry up and deactivate your ability!"
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko ignored his rage. His figure was swallowed by the mist. The thick white fog caused Fukuzawa Yukichi's sword to miss its mark, and he could only hear Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's echo fading within it:
"I'm going to find him… he must be inside my Dragon's Breath… I don't believe it…"
Don't believe what? Fukuzawa Yukichi was filled with question marks.
The next instant, the silver-haired man had no time to pursue him further—he narrowly avoided a lethal strike driven purely by instinct!
He turned sharply toward the direction of the attack.
"Who are you?!"
The mist churned violently, and the surroundings suddenly became clearer. From midair, a swordsman leapt down—his appearance strikingly similar to Fukuzawa Yukichi's own, as though he were staring into a mirror of himself.
Silver hair, kimono, expressionless face, hollow and indifferent eyes, sword in hand—and a crimson jewel embedded in his forehead!
Fukuzawa Yukichi engaged in combat with the silver-haired swordsman. Steel clashed against steel, the ringing of blades echoing through the fog. The familiar techniques and habits made him once again feel as though he were fighting "himself."
The two were evenly matched—neither gaining the upper hand!
"So this is Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's ability?" he thought, drawing on what he had learned from the detective. "A humanoid ability that creates an identical version of a person? And uses it to attack anyone within the ability's range?"
If that was the case, then Fukuzawa Yukichi had nothing to worry about. Even if Ranpo was facing a mirror image, he would still be Ranpo.
A combat power of exactly five at best!
This was the weakness of intelligence-types.
Imagining two cat-like geniuses fighting each other, he almost laughed out loud. He raised his arm to block another merciless strike from the humanoid ability and said calmly:
"It's been a long time since I've had such high-intensity combat. This is a good opportunity to test myself. However, I'm short on time—let's end this quickly."
The master of the fog zone wandered everywhere, as Shibusawa Tatsuhiko searched for Edogawa Ranpo's figure.
The more he searched, the more frustrated he became.
Not here, not there—the other party must have remained outside the fog zone.
Within a range of several dozen meters, he had already searched the entire misted area. The only ability user drawn into "Dragonia" was Fukuzawa Yukichi, and that man likely did not even realize he possessed an ability at all.
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko returned to his original spot and slowly came to a halt. Suddenly, he recalled Asou Akiya's expression at the time. When Akiya mentioned Edogawa Ranpo, there had been a clear, amused smile on his face:
"I have a child at home whose intelligence surpasses yours. If you don't believe me, go and find him yourself. He will be the kind of 'kindred spirit' you are searching for."
The dead are called corpses. Only the living can be called kindred spirits.
Edogawa Ranpo's ability, "Super Deduction," held higher priority than "Draconia."
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko fell silent.
He reached up to touch the hair ribbon, biting his teeth lightly, feeling an unprecedented sense of unwillingness.
"I will grow…"
The growth of "Draconia" required large quantities of ability crystallization—items obtained only when an ability user died within the fog zone. He had no intelligence network on ability users; hunting them alone was clearly inefficient. The best method was to have the government invest resources in cultivating him.
"I will not be weaker than your child…"
This time, he was finally willing to accept working for the government.
"Besides, Edogawa Ranpo is not your son, just someone you happened to adopt by chance. I didn't have a suitable teacher to guide me, which is why I fell a step behind him."
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko covered his face. From between his fingers, he said unwillingly, "I lost."
The fate of the world of Bungou Stray Dogs shifted. The proud and arrogant "White Qilin" bowed his head in defeat, adding a brilliant line to the record of the great detective Edogawa Ranpo!
The ability "Draconia" was deactivated.
Fukuzawa Yukichi, who had been locked in a hard-fought battle, returned to reality.
Meanwhile, in the outside world—rewinding five minutes earlier—Edogawa Ranpo had been treating Shibusawa Tatsuhiko with the highest level of attention, fully prepared to roll up his sleeves and deal with this white-furred chinchilla-like ability user. He paid no attention to Fukuzawa Yukichi's attempt to protect him, instead watching excitedly as mist rose from the ground.
"Is this your ability?"
And then, he personally witnessed Shibusawa Tatsuhiko and Fukuzawa Yukichi disappear.
Catatonic cat.jpg
Edogawa Ranpo stood alone at the crime scene, looking around in all directions. His expression shifted from confusion to shock to total panic in just five seconds. The boy stomped on the ground in frustration.
"Where did you all go?! You're not allowed to abandon Ranpo-sama like this! I want to go in there too and play—!"
"Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, your opponent is me! Don't you dare bully Fukuzawa-ossan!"
"Get out here already!!!"
Edogawa Ranpo panicked.
This situation was beyond expectations—seriously beyond expectations!
[Where did my babysitter go???]
He was an ability user, but Fukuzawa-ossan was not. So why did Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's ability take a normal person away as well? Was this part of Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's "scheme"?
Ranpo's first instinct was to call for help from his guardian.
"Akiya! Pick up the phone!"
Asou Akiya, who was working at the Port Mafia, took a short break. He picked up his thermos, blew lightly on the steam rising from it, and took a satisfied sip of hot water infused with slices of ginseng, angelica root, and goji berries.
"Ranpo and Tatsuhiko should be fighting by now."
Asou Akiya smiled. "Ah, what a pity. I can't witness such a wonderful legendary scene."
A black cat and a white chinchilla fighting—there must be cat fur flying everywhere.
Would they come to blows physically?
Ranpo's hand-to-hand combat skills really aren't great.
"Ring ring ring—" the phone rang. Asou Akiya paused, then picked up Ranpo's call.
From the other end of the line, Edogawa Ranpo's voice came through with a crying tone: "Akiya, Fukuzawa-ossan is gone! I can't find them! They stopped playing with me!"
Asou Akiya quickly set down his thermos and swallowed his hot water, clearing his throat.
"Don't go too far. Just wait for them where you are."
"Don't cry, don't cry."
"Be good. Fukuzawa-san just can't make any sound right now. He'll be back with you soon. Don't underestimate Fukuzawa-san, his swordsmanship is very strong—hm? You're asking why they disappeared? That's a long, long story—oh, I can hear movement on your side now. Go ask them yourself!"
Asou Akiya quickly hung up the phone, then collapsed onto the desk, bursting into thunderous laughter as he pounded the table.
"I'm dying of laughter—"
"Fukuzawa-san, you're seriously too unlucky!!!"
"As expected of a top-tier cat-repelling constitution!"
During the catfight-like chaos, the Silver Wolf ended up as the only casualty, his face covered in scratches.
Beside Edogawa Ranpo, Fukuzawa Yukichi reappeared, slightly disheveled. He barely restrained the motion of almost drawing his sword at Ranpo.
"Ranpo?! Are you alright?!"
Ranpo snapped his phone shut and lunged at him.
"Fukuzawa-ossan!"
Fukuzawa Yukichi caught him in a flurry of panic.
After confirming the troublemaking child was unharmed, Fukuzawa turned his gaze toward Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, his eyes cold and sharp. Yet Shibusawa completely ignored him, his expression listless, and calmly delivered what he considered good news:
"Fukuzawa-dono is an ability user. My ability only drags ability users into the mirrored reality fog space."
Then he asked, "Ranpo-kun, did you use some kind of technique?"
Upon hearing that he himself was an ability user, Fukuzawa Yukichi reflexively looked at Ranpo.
This is bad!
Ranpo is not an ability user!
Is the lie going to be exposed now? What should he do? Is there still time to call for help from Asou Akiya?!
Ranpo stubbornly maintained his persona, lifting his chin proudly.
"My greatest technique is confidence!"
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko shook his head.
"I'm asking about your ability priority ranking—"
The aloof, high-and-mighty "snow country fairy" rare showed a hint of difficulty in speaking.
"Why is it higher than mine?"
Ability priority ranking?
Ranpo, who had just grasped a new term, felt as if enlightenment had struck him like a thunderbolt—suddenly everything clicked into place!
That's right—his ability was stronger than Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's, which was why he was unaffected by the other's power!
"Hahaha—this is my innate talent!"
"I see."
"So you admit defeat, right? Right?!"
"Mm."
"Then become Ranpo-sama's underling! I just happen to be short a tea-fetcher and errand runner!"
"I refuse."
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko cast a cold sideways glance at the exhilarated Edogawa Ranpo.
Then he noticed Fukuzawa Yukichi's reaction and found it somewhat unexpected.
"Fukuzawa-dono?"
Fukuzawa Yukichi's body stiffened and trembled. His expression was wooden, as though he had suffered severe psychological damage within the world of "Draconia," desperately forcing down something that looked very much like pain.
"I'm fine… my stomach just hurts."
This world…
Has it already been taken over by chuunibyou?
Just as Shibusawa Tatsuhiko prepared to leave this troubling place, he was suddenly called back by Edogawa Ranpo.
"I know you're not convinced. Let's make another bet!"
"What?"
"I have a subordinate. He's playing around in the open-air slums. If you can defeat him, I'll acknowledge your strength. But if you lose, how about becoming my errand boy for a month?"
"Is he strong? What's his name…?"
"Nakahara Chuuya."
Edogawa Ranpo's smile bloomed brilliantly, as though a field of black sunflowers had opened up behind him.
Akiya, I've properly helped you teach this guy a lesson!
"He's super strong!" Ranpo pointed at his own face and said indignantly. "He even bullies me all the time! He goes too far—disrespecting his superiors like that! You absolutely have to go and defeat him for me!"
If Chuuya lost, Ranpo would get to go home and laugh at him.
If Chuuya won, then Ranpo would gain an underling for a month.
A win-win! Perfect!
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko stared at him in silence for a moment, then finally yielded to his own unwillingness.
"…Fine."
One person might be an exception, and two could still be dismissed as coincidence.
But he refused to believe there could be a third person in Yokohama whose ability surpassed his own!
Meanwhile, in the slums of the reclamation district, Nakahara Chuuya had just been casually "booked" into a fight with a complete stranger. He rubbed his itchy nose and felt certain that Ranpo was out there somewhere slandering him.
After all, aside from Ranpo, who else would curse someone behind their back like that?