RANPO DIDN'T TYPICALLY bother with offering others help. It used too much energy and he never got anything out of it. Not to mention, it was completely and utterly boring.

But... for Y/N, he would.

The detective sat on his chair, legs propped up on the desk as he indulged himself in a lollipop, simultaneously playing Candy Crush on his phone while he waited for a certain co-worker of his to arrive. Ranpo started the next level, glancing at the number of moves he had—forty-five. Great.

He only needed one.

With a single swipe, Ranpo cleared the ninth level that day (proof of how bored he was), then looked over at the clock. He let out an "ugh" when he saw how painfully slow the second hand was moving. Where was his colleague? He'd been waiting for five minutes already. He couldn't take it any longer. He groaned and shut his phone, closing his eyes and setting his chin on the table in agony.

It was safe to say that Edogawa Ranpo was not a patient person.

However, just when the detective was sure he couldn't possibly wait any longer, Kenji walked in with his usual, bright smile plastered on his face.

"Good morning, everyone!" he cheerfully said, a chorus of greetings reverberating through the room in response as he began to make his way towards his desk.

The dark-haired detective's face lit up as he recognised the voice, and he lifted his head and called out the boy's name just as he passed by him, grabbing his attention. "Kenji!"

The blond came to a stop in front of him. "Yes, Ranpo?"

Ranpo leaned forward in his seat and placed his feet back on the ground, eyes opening. "Do you mind doing me a favour?"

—

His legs were going to fall off—Ranpo was sure of it. He'd been walking for at least an hour now.

Luckily for him, Kenji had happily accepted the favour he needed upon hearing about Y/N's situation. Unluckily for him, Kenji had decided that the best way to spread the word of Y/N's bakery was—

"We'll just take a short walk! Whenever I go out, I come across so many people that getting to the convenience store that's five minutes away takes half an hour!"

Ranpo wasn't sure that was something worth saying with a smile...

Regardless, that was how they had ended up here—walking through the market, being stopped by just about every other person that passed them...

... And here came another.

This time, Ranpo didn't suppress his groan.

"Kenji!" A balding man seemingly in his early forties exchanged a friendly high-five with the blond boy and jumped right into a conversation.

The dark-haired detective wasn't paying attention—he'd brought a family-size pack of chips with him (unfortunately, it was almost empty now)—until he heard the man mention a cake. Immediately, his attention moved away from the potato snacks to the conversation that was going on beside him.

"My daughter's turning sixteen tomorrow and last time I tried baking a cake, I almost burned the house down." The man sighed. "You don't happen to have any simple cake recipes from your village, do you?"

Kenji smiled politely and opened his mouth to tell the man about Y/N's bakery, but Ranpo jumped in before the boy could.

"A cake, you say? I recommend this bakery." He pulled out a business card he'd taken from the bakery from his pocket and held it up to the man, not giving him a chance to speak as he continued. "There's no need to waste your time baking a cake when you can get an amazing one from here," he rushed out, waving his hand in dismissal.

Yours would suck anyway was what Ranpo didn't add.

The man was a little overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of words from someone he hadn't even noticed had been there, but he managed a smile after a moment. "Thank you... uh... Who are you, exactly?"

"Edogawa Ranpo, the gr—"

"My co-worker," Kenji replied, the smile never leaving his face. "He's an amazing detective and has great taste when it comes to sweets."

The man nodded slowly, looking down at the business card then back up at Ranpo and Kenji. "In that case, I'll drop by this bakery tomorrow morning." He gave Ranpo a smile filled with gratitude, tucking the card into the front pocket of his pants. "Thank you for your help."

He tipped his chin down in an acknowledging nod before continuing to wherever he'd been on his way to (Ranpo deduced that it was the decoration store to buy balloons, streamers, and the like).

The two detectives he left behind did not finish their 'short' walk until noon.

—

Kyouka was much more helpful than Ranpo.

Just like he had said she would, despite apparently having made only brownies once before, she got the hang of baking quickly—so much so that Y/N was slightly jealous. She could have only ever dreamed of her first cake coming out of the oven as golden and airy as Kyouka's did.

But what she was probably the most envious of was the girl's photographic memory. Earlier in the morning when Y/N had given Kyouka the first recipe, she'd handed it back within thirty seconds.

"You don't want to make it...?" Y/N had asked with a slight frown.

"I've memorised the recipe," she'd replied, while Y/N tried to hide her shock.

It's one amazing person after another at the Agency, isn't it? she remembered thinking.

It was hours later when the girl let out a long, tired breath as she took the last batch of cookies out, placing the two trays on the countertop so that they could cool. She turned to Kyouka who, at that moment, finished decorating the previous batch of cookies.

Kyouka had asked her how she wanted them to be decorated, and Y/N told her that she could do whatever she wanted—she didn't mind.

Except... Kyouka's decorating wasn't exactly what Y/N expected. That wasn't to say that what she'd done looked bad though—rather the opposite. She'd iced little bunnies onto the cookies, using two chocolate sprinkles on each side of the mouth for whiskers.

"Oh my god..." Y/N trailed off at the sight of them. And then, "They look adorable. Their faces are so cute! Kyouka, you're a natural at this!"

"Thank you," she simply said, adding after a moment, "I like bunnies."

"Are you up to try one?" Y/N asked.

Kyouka nodded, and the two simultaneously picked up a cookie from the tray, biting into it. Y/N almost groaned at how good they tasted. She practically devoured the rest of hers in an instant and it took a little too much self control to convince herself to not take another.

Once she'd finished her cookie, she stepped back to really take a look at everything they'd made, the countertops littered with various pastries and cakes, biscuits and cookies, and all sorts of other goodies.

This would've been impossible alone.

"Kyouka, I can't thank you enough," Y/N said sincerely, turning to the young girl beside her.

"No problem," she replied. "I had fun today."

Y/N laughed. "I'm glad. I'd hate to keep you here doing something you're not even enjoying."

"At my old job, I was forced to do work I didn't enjoy—including assassinations."

It took Y/N a moment to process her words.

Including assassinations? What in the world?!

Y/N decided to just smile and nod, willing her expression to remain unbothered, even if she herself wasn't.

"That's, um... tough... ahaha..."

Hopefully, her words were a metaphor for something else.

The two spent the rest of the time chatting away while cleaning up, until eventually, Kyouka had to leave and Y/N was left alone once again, the sun having long since set.

She walked out of the cleaned-up kitchen, switching the lights off behind her, and dropped onto one of the seats besides the window.

The moonlight filtered through the double-paned glass in an ethereal way, scattering itself throughout the dimly-lit room, the only other source of light being the lamp that hung above the counter at the far side of the bakery.

Y/N leaned back in her seat, looking out at the night sky which was littered with faint stars, barely visible against the darkness they contrasted against—except one, whose light was a little brighter.

... Maybe that was S/N looking down on her.

A child's thought, in all honesty. Were people really just stardust trying to find their way back to the night sky, after all? It sounded nothing short of amusing when she put it that way—this wasn't a fictional world where the impossible became possible. And yet... it brought her comfort to think that way.

The corners of her lips rose upwards the slightest bit. It was a smile that was barely there, lit like the dimmer stars in the sky. Still, it was a smile nonetheless.

"I miss you loads, you know..."

Y/N leaned the side of her head against the window, gaze moving from the starry sky to the grey pavement. She couldn't count how many times she'd walked those steps with her sister...

"Y/N don't touch the cracks!" a younger S/N had once said with a gasp, pulling her hand away from her sister, horrified when Y/N had placed her foot on the gap between the two cement bricks. Y/N still, to this day, despite not actively noticing much herself, tended to not step on the cracks when walking.

She smiled sadly, shifting slightly as she pulled her legs upwards and tucked them against her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Tears were welling up in her eyes but she tried to ignore them and moved her attention to the table instead.

But S/N was everywhere.

The faint dent in the corner of the table that S/N had hit while running, resulting in the loss of her first tooth, or the tissue dispensers on every table that she'd helped Y/N pick last year—"It goes with the overall aesthetic"—or even the patch of paint on the opposite wall that just barely stood out if one was to squint hard enough—a result of the two sisters having to paint over with the closest shade they could find after a younger Y/N had crashed into the wall while trying to do a cartwheel with rollerskates, the metal wheels managing to scrape off a large chunk of the paint.

Y/N couldn't contain her tears anymore. She broke down.

"God, S/N," she whimpered, hot tears spilling down her cheeks. "Why'd you have to leave me?" Her breath hitched. "We were supposed to stay together through thick and thin." Y/N wiped her tears with the back of her hand, but more replaced them almost immediately. "This isn't fair."

But life never truly was fair, was it?

Y/N eventually gave up on wiping her tears, finally allowed herself to cry without holding back. It was like a dam whose walls had burst after endless flooding, unable to handle the pressure of the water any longer.

"I hope you're happy up there with Dad," she whispered. "I never got to meet Mum but she sounded like an incredible woman, so her too."

Y/N slid across to the centre of the seat and laid down, tears glistening like crystals now that the moonlight was directly hitting her face. She angled her head back the slightest bit to once again look at the sky, the star seeming a little more brighter now.

"I'll love you forever, S/N. Don't you dare forget that."

Though her words had been barely-audible, Y/N entrusted the moon to whisper them to her sister on her behalf.

And the sleep she'd gotten that night after tiring herself out from hours of crying, curled up in the corner of the upholstered bench of a booth while only the moon and stars watched over her, had arguably been the best in a long while.

─── ⋅✧⋅ ───

if it's not already obvious, i have no idea how bakeries work so just smile and nod

[edited, 04/03/23]