THERE WAS SOMETHING special about mornings after a night of rain.

Maybe it was the raindrops that clung to the leaves on the trees and mixed with the morning dew, or the droplets of that covered the windows of parked cars and buildings, or even just the puddles that lay in the middle of footpaths—to Y/N, they were all equally such a refreshing sight.

Y/N awoke to the pitter-pattering of the gentle rain on her window, creating a rhythmic symphony. The clouds were a light shade of grey and they veiled the azure sky above, but in some places where the sun managed to shine through the ring of clouds, it was almost like a golden halo of light shining down on Yokohama.

The girl sat up in bed, yawning as she stretched her arms outwards, a little stiff from how soundly she had slept.

Getting out of bed took a while because her bed had just been that comfy, but eventually, she managed to get up and headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth, coming back to clean up her bed and then go and make herself a nice breakfast.

On her way to the kitchen, Y/N didn't see S/N anywhere—including the lounge (though her bear was still seated on the sofa, just as she'd left it last night), which was a little bit of a shocker to Y/N, considering her sister always woke up early solely so she could watch her favourite show.

She came to the conclusion that S/N had gone off to work extra early today, and it'd probably been some kind of important meeting that'd called her.

Not thinking too hard about it, the girl turned on the TV and watched the Morning News—she hadn't bothered to switch the channel—while she prepared her breakfast. She'd settled with fried eggs and sausages, with a glass of orange juice. (And then, after it all, a bar of chocolate, because she couldn't go the day without something sweet in her system.)

While she ate, her eyes caught a piece of folded paper that was tucked beneath the tissue box. Curiously, Y/N reached over and picked it up, opening it up.

She knew what it was immediately.

The agreement to sell the bakery, with only one thing missing—her signature. Y/N sighed and lifted the tissue box, placing the paper back where she found it and continuing on with her breakfast, trying to ignore the way her stomach churned knowing that very soon, the bakery would be no more.

Once she was done, she got ready for the day, making sure to grab her umbrella before she left.

The walk was nothing short of pleasant, the earthy scent of petrichor momentarily calming Y/N's nerves, and the pitter-patter of the rain bringing about an unexplainable ease.

But that ease was short-lived.

Because nothing—absolutely nothing in the whole world—could prepare her for what she was met with when she reached the bakery. At the sight of the shattered windows and broken glass, Y/N's heart rate increased exponentially.

What on earth happened here?

For a moment, she suspected the storm outside to be the perpetrator, but after seeing all the other shops on the street still intact and perfectly fine, she grew terribly nervous.

Biting her lip anxiously, she inserted the key into the door of the bakery, turning it. A click indicated that it had unlocked, and Y/N pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The first thing she noticed wasn't the dirty footprints on her usually-spotless, marble tiles, or the money strewn all over the counter, or even the bloody knife—the one she specifically used for cutting her cakes—on the ground.

No. What caught her attention first and foremost was no doubt the dead body in the middle of the bakery.

Y/N heard a scream, and after a moment, she realised that it had been hers. Because as she looked more closely at the H/C hair of the victim, the shade almost the same as her own, and the familiar slope of the victim's nose, along with the rest of their features—

"S/N!" Y/N rushed forward, eyes widening in sheer horror.

There was no doubt about it... the body in the middle was her beloved sister.

Y/N stumbled to her knees, grabbing her sister's shoulders and getting thick blood on her hands in the process. She placed two fingers beneath her jaw—her skin was as cold as ice—searching for a pulse that wasn't there.

But of course she wouldn't find it. She could stay there as long as she wanted, but she wouldn't find it. The sheer amount of blood on the tiles was enough of an indication of that.

"S/N!" Y/N cried out, her throat tightening like someone had wound a rope around it. "H—how did this happen?"

Her sister, who answered almost all of her questions and didn't like to keep things from Y/N for too long, did not respond.

A sob racked through Y/N's body at the silence she was met with.

"S/N, please," she whimpered, tears spilling out of the corner ofher eyes. "You can't—you can't leave me too."

But S/N had already left.

The stream of tears turned into uncontrollable crying as Y/N stayed like that for god knows how long, clutching her sister's body in her arms while crying and begging to whoever was up there to give her her sister back.

She couldn't lose her. Not this soon. First, it was her mother, then, her father, and now, her sister.

Briefly, Y/N wondered if she was cursed. Was her love that disastrous that everyone it touched, it killed?

This is life, her conscience reminded her, but it was the absolute last thing she wanted to hear.

"No!" she sobbed. "I don't care! I don't give two shits!"

In that moment, she desperately wanted someone to hold her while she cried. The comfort that came when surrounded by someone else's warmth was the only thing that had been able to calm Y/N down back when her father had passed away. That warmth had been S/N's.

But now who would comfort her?

The girl's agony began to slowly morph into rage. Who had done this? Who had dared to take the life of someone like her sister—of someone at all?

She wanted answers. She needed them.

Through her blurred vision, Y/N fumbled for her phone—her finger's left a trail of blood behind until she could barely even see the screen properly—and called the first person she could think of.

Ranpo picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?"

At the sound of his voice, the little composure Y/N had managed to build broke away, and she broke down all over again.

"Y/N?" Ranpo grew concerned when she didn't reply, unable to form words due to how hard she was sobbing. "Y/N, can you hear me? What happened?"

Y/N could do nothing but wail harder, barely able to breathe properly because of how hard she was crying. "M—my sister..."

The detective, who'd suspected this coming from the start, didn't need to hear any more than that to know what had happened.

"Stay put, Y/N," he said softly. "I'm coming."

—

Edogawa Ranpo arrived at the crime scene within five minutes.

He looked around at the police officers in the bakery and figured someone out on the street must have eventually reported the broken windows and glass, considering poor Y/N could barely form words.

Speaking of Y/N, she was sitting on the ground in the corner of the bakery with her hands over her face, her friend—Yuriko, was it?—beside her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Y/N!" Ranpo called out to her as he began to make his way towards her.

The girl lifted her head and met his gaze with teary eyes as she stood up almost immediately. The moment he was close enough, Y/N wrapped her arms around his waist, unable to compose herself at all. The detective was caught off-guard by the act, but he eventually placed his own arms around her, unsure of what else to do other than respond to her hug.

Was this how it was supposed to be when you lost someone?

Ranpo was unfamiliar with this type of reaction...

"Ranpo." Y/N's voice was muffled half by his coat, and half by her dry throat. "My s—sister is..."

He looked around at the crime scene, and pressed his lips together in a tight line. "I know," he whispered solemnly. "I can't do anything to reverse it, but if it can bring you some peace of mind, I can at least figure out who did this."

Y/N nodded, sniffling.

"Alright. Calm down first," he told her, hesitantly rubbing her back in hopes of comforting her.

It was easier said than done, but after a few minutes, Y/N had willed herself to stop crying—at least until the culprit was identified.

The police officers—there were three of them—gathered near the area where Y/N, Ranpo and Yuriko stood. The officer-in-charge looked down at the notebook in his pen, then over at Y/N.

"We've been unable to come up with any suspects, but maybe if we investigate a little more, we can get a lead," he said to her. "We're sure we can find the killer within a few days."

Y/N opened her mouth to thank them for their help, but from beside her, Ranpo spoke before she could.

"A few days?" He waved his hand in dismissal. "Well, I can find the killer within seconds."

The officer-in-charge raised a brow. "And who might you be?"

"The greatest detective in the world, Edogawa Ranpo, of course!"

"Look, kid," the officer said. "Why don't you leave this to the professionals? This isn't a game. We're dealing with the death of someone here."

"Wait," Y/N interrupted, wiping her eyes dry with the back of her hand. Perhaps these people didn't know about the Armed Detective Agency. "Maybe, you can give him a chance."

The officer looked beyond hesitant, but eventually, gave in and sighed, giving Ranpo an unenthusiastic nod, clearly underestimating him.

Y/N turned to Ranpo as he pulled his glasses out of his inner pocket and pushed them onto the bridge of his nose, staring at the ground in exceptional concentration for a good twenty seconds as though he were reading an invisible book before understanding flashed in those emerald eyes of his.

"I see."

"Did you figure it out already?" Y/N asked in disbelief. She didn't understand how he could solve a case so quickly—had it not been a bluff after all he'd said he could figure it out in a few seconds?

Ranpo tipped his chin down in a nod, answering her question silently.

"The killer..."

The detective's gaze passed over all of the officers in the bakery, slowly enough that each of them looked a little surprised, perhaps thinking that he would accuse them, only for his eyes to move to the next person.

Then, they landed on Y/N, and they stayed there for a lot longer.

Those few extra seconds felt like an eternity as Y/N tried to decipher why he was looking at her, of all people. Surely, he didn't believe she murdered her own sister, did he?

Ranpo tilted his head up the slightest bit, green eyes to meeting her E/C ones.

Y/N almost lost her cool then and there at the accusation she felt coming, until at the last second, he whirled around and pointed his finger straight at Yuriko, who couldn't keep the shock off her face. She looked down at the finger he pointed at her as though it were a sword that had impaled her, then back up at him with her jaw dropped in surprise.

Ranpo's signature smile-borderline-smirk stretched across his lips.

"The killer is you."

─── ⋅✧⋅ ───

i think everyone saw that coming lol

[edited, 01/12/22]