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Chapter Text

○ Chapter 1 - [Ranpo]

When Ranpo regained his senses he immediately understood two things: the first was that he didn't feel any kind of pain, not in the hand that had been pierced by Shintō Amenogozen, Fukuchi's sword, nor in the back of his head, from the blow to the back that had almost ruined his plan.

He remembered running, as he had never run before, in search of the red-haired girl and the vampire king, he remembered the deal he had made with the latter and then nothing.

He must have fainted from overexertion and subsequently been treated by someone while he was unconscious. Although this was the most likely hypothesis Ranpo immediately discarded it, the only person who could have healed him so completely was Yosano, but everything from the absence of the sounds of medical machinery in a hospital or infirmary, to the knowledge that Yosano probably wouldn't have healed him for a simple hand wound and a concussion, led him to find an alternative explanation.

The second realization occurred in the moment in which he gained enough awareness to open his eyes.

What he saw, although being shocking, immediately made his current situation clear to him.

𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦

Did he, a non-ability user, just time traveled? What a joke, he could almost have thought he was in one of Poe's books if he hadn't recognized exactly where he was.

He was lying on a bench near the port of Yokohama, far enough from mafia territory and in a quiet, although unguarded by the police, area. His fourteen-year-old self made sure of that.

This thought brought him back to the reality of the situation, he was now fourteen year old, in the past and had no one to rely on. It was like being again in the situation of being accused of terrorism, he was alone and on the run again.

However now he could change everything, he was, after all, the best detective in the world (or he should have been, he had to be better, so his family wouldn't be hurt), and no one could beat him in a long game of chess (maybe Dazai could succeed in against him in the future, but now, with the past Dazai, this would no longer be possible).

"Then I will save you all," he said, looking at nothing in particular, "from this day forward you are all under the protection of the greatest detective who ever lived, and now I will rewrite the future so that we can all live in a peaceful world, together."

With that said, with a slight bounce in his step he set off in the direction of a certain crime scene, mentally preparing himself to meet his father again.

After all, this was the day he met Fukuzawa Yukichi for the first time and he couldn't ruin it.

(He should do something for a certain red-haired assassin too, after all Dazai would be sad if he lost his friend again, wouldn't he?)

.

○ Fukuzawa

As an assassin and swordsman Fukuzawa had always had a very high perception of the space that surrounded him and of what was happening around him.

However, all this did not help him in any way to understand how it was possible to wake up in a hotel room in which he stayed for a month more than twelve years before, when a blink of an eye earlier he was still on the airport landing strip holding the dead body of his friend.

(the friend he had abandoned to himself. The one who sacrificed himself to achieve world peace, a crazy but noble sacrifice. A fitting description for Gen'ichirō actually).

Looking at his notes he realized that today was the day.

The day he met his son for the first time, the day he met that little green-eyed genius known as Ranpo Edogawa.

There was no time to back down or doubt now, Ranpo was all alone, the younger and distrustful version of the genius he had come to know and love like a son was lost in this cruel world thinking that everyone is lying to him. He couldn't abandon him.

He would never disappoint Ranpo again, he told himself, they would re-establish the agency, and make it stronger than before, he would make sure of that. For now he had a killer to find and a young genius to meet.

He hoped he didn't sound too suspect, after all if there was anyone who could deduce time travel out of all the possibilities it would be Ranpo.

.

○ Yosano

Yosano woke up in a completely white room.

Everything, from the padded walls, to the floors, to the simple bed placed at the side, was blindingly white.

That sight alone made her think of only one possibility.

𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘪

It had to be him, but how? Had Mori taken her back as part of the deal with Fukuzawa and locked her in that room she hadn't seen in twelve years?

No, impossible, Fukuzawa wouldn't give up on me or on any member of the agency. Ranpo would never accept such deal. So what other possibilities were left?

She started to get up, wanting to search the room for possibility of escape and, god forbid, hidden cameras, when a sudden pain in her back obscured her vision at the slightest movement, forcing her to fall to the floor and hit her injured back again.

She didn't remember being hit in the back, and even if she had she could have used her ability to heal herself, so why was she in so much pain?

She looked down just enough to look at her torso and all the air left her lungs. She was wearing a white lab coat, her wrist was wrapped with a medical tag from which she read with barely concealed horror some words she never thought she would see.

- AKIKO YOSANO - 13 YEARS OLD

Now everything made sense. Mori hadn't rearranged her old room as a form of torture, this was her old room, the one where she had been locked up for years after the war, before Ranpo and Fukuzawa entered her life, bringing with them a light that she thought she had lost forever.

S𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯

The thought was accompanied only by panic and anger.

𝘞𝘩𝘺?

What was the reason of this twist of fate? Sure the future was uncertain and seemed to be falling apart, but it was theirs. They would survive as they always did.

And if anyone from the agency tried to get themselves killed, well, she would just heal them, over and over again.

𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩

A noise brought her out of her thoughts. The door was opening. She didn't look up to check who it was, she wasn't sure she could control her reaction if it was Mori.

The first thing she saw was a pair of white shoes approaching her, then the person lowered himself to her level, searching for her eyes.

"Time to take your medicine, little angel," a familiar voice teased her.

She looked up, locking eyes with the doctor's, who was glaring at her, as if she were a mere doll only capable of following orders.

"No" came out in a voice that she barely recognized as her own, it was hoarse from disuse and dehydration, very different from the voice any thirteen year old should have.

"Angel" he said with a warning tone "we already had this discussion, this pills are only for your health, you can't not take them"

"Good for my health" he said, those pills only served to make me unable to think and increase my constant muscle pain, they were another piece of Mori's plan to keep me under his control, without autonomy or a chance to escape.

When she didn't answer his question he let out an annoyed sigh near her ear.

“Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way then,” he said, bringing his hand with the pills to her mouth, as if to force her to swallow them.

A rush of adrenaline went through her, she knew she couldn't escape, her legs may not be able to support her weight, but she wasn't going down without a fight.

With all the strength she had in her arm she took the scalpel she had seen protruding from the doctor's pocket and pushed it through the hand that was holding the pills.

"Damn it! ARE YOU CRAZY GIRL!?"

The doctor fell to the floor clutching his injured hand, but she wasn't done, she took out the scalpel and then stabbed his hand again, and again, and again, until she heard the door open again, hands pulling her away from the doctor and a syringe sticking into her neck, sedating her.

Her last coherent thought before blacking out again was of Ranpo, she couldn't wait for her brother to come back and save her from this place.

She would hold on until then, this hell didn't break her the first time, she didn't think the second time could be any worse.

𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦

...

Chapter Text

○ [Dazai]

Dazai won, he just beat Fyodor at his own game. Dazai made him believe he had prevailed until the last second and then demonstrated how useless his supposed god was and how he had failed his so-called divine mission simply by not trusting his colleagues and finally winning in a way that Fyodor could never have understood or predicted.

People were just pawns to him, disposable, made to be controlled, manipulated and directed into specific missions whose outcomes were predetermined from the beginning.

Dazai had also been like this once, he had no remorse for sacrificing his subordinates, sending them on suicide missions just because they were considered replaceable.

Then he met Chuuya, who considered every member of his team important, even friends.

He met Odasaku, a low-ranking mafia grunt who should have been on the list of people he considered expendable. After all, what use could one ever make of a mafioso who doesn't kill?

He was obviously wrong, now he could admit it without having to maintain the act of being an infallible entity, a demon superior to humans.

Dazai could now admit that trusting his colleagues, his subordinates, without depriving them of their freedom of action, but planning while taking into account their possible decisions and their emotions, was not so bad.

Who could have predicted that the day before he was arrested by one of the hunting dogs, he had secretly entered Chuuya's apartment, in the heart of mafia territory, just to annoy his ex-partner into accepting his plan.

No one would have suspected in any way that he had sent a letter to Mori, a person for whom he had never hidden his dislike (and sometimes poorly concealed respect; keeping the port mafia together was a full-time job after all; Dazai didn't miss at all the endless paperwork and reports that he had to fill out every day; he hopes that Mori drowns in the paperwork one of these days), sending vague instructions accompanied by some red contact lenses, vampire teeth from a Halloween costume he found in a small shop nearby the agency, as well as a super attack glue.

(The costume was recommended for fourteen-year-olds, and, considering the slug's height, it would have been perfect, the glue, on the other hand, was of an industrial type, so Chuuya probably wouldn't have been able to detach the fake canines for a while after the end of the mission. Well, the chibi deserved it for shooting him)

Finally, not even Fyodor could have foreseen that, without any contact or planning, Ranpo would contract with the vampire king, who, free from Fukuchi's control over his ability, would agree to help the agency to stop the total destruction of world governments and revolt the vampires in the prison against Fyodor.

The latter's distrust of his own collaborators had been his ruin, after all, if he had not rejected Nikolai's offer, a variable he could not control, to fly the helicopter, he would probably still be alive and would have won their little escape game.

In the end, Fyodor had lost, and he had triumphed. That was the reality of the facts.

The reality of the facts, however, did not seem to want to adapt to the reality under Dazai's eyes.

Dazai, in fact, was looking at the panorama of Yokohama while standing on the edge of a bridge.

(The same bridge from which he had jumped the first time he met Atsushi-kun.)

The autumn wind whipped his hair, and the rushing water of the river beneath him attracted him and made him reflect.

It had now been over an hour since he had woken up in the past, and he still had no idea how any of this was possible.

Drugs couldn't have created such a powerful hallucination, an ability couldn't have affected him in any way, especially considering that his own ability, No Longer Human, was always active.

Only one possibility remained.

The book.

But Dazai knew that even this idea should have been impossible, after all, the only one who had used the book in its entirety and not just one mere page was himself.

Well, maybe not himself, but a version of himself that was like him, longing for something to fill the void, something to make him feel at least a little alive.

(And he had found that, in Oda Sakunosuke, a good man destined to die in any reality, he came into contact with Dazai, a real twist of fate, right? Not being able to get close to the person for whom you created infinite realities)

(It was a minor detail, at least according to Dazai, that in every possible universe Chuuya was always with him, the red head was too loyal for his own good)

𝘋𝘢𝘻𝘢𝘪 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘶𝘺𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘋𝘢𝘻𝘢𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵; 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

He didn't find any logical explanation in the end, just that he was in the past and that he still wanted to die, and no one could or knew how to stop him.

That was why he had gotten onto that bridge and why he was barely balancing on the edge. Everything was gone, everything he had tried to achieve in these years, his collaboration with Chuuya, the time spent with Odasaku and Ango at Lupin, his relationships with all the members of the agency, who saw him as a good person even though they knew everything he had done.

Now everything was lost, in a future (past?) that he would no longer be able to experience.

What was the point of doing everything all over again, like a puppet moved only by the strings of an already pre-established destiny?

Now he was just a 10-year-old brat living on the streets. He wasn't the demon prodigy; he wasn't on the run; he wasn't one of the agency's sharpest detectives; hell, his name wasn't even Dazai Osamu now; he created that alias only in the future, after being found by Mori.

"I can't do this anymore" he whispered to himself. "Sorry, Odasaku. I hope you have a full life without ever knowing me"

𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘶𝘺𝘢, 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸.

Dazai took a step forward, and gravity took him under its control, causing him to fall into the river.

His last coherent thought before being swept away by the current was about the future. "This is the last time, the last time I'll try to kill myself, and if I fail, if someone unfortunately saves me, then I will keep my promise, I will save everyone"

𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦.

The undaunted current continued to flow, carrying Dazai's body with it.

.

○ [Ranpo]

Ranpo had just arrived at the S&K CORPORATION headquarters and now found himself in front of a reddish-brown brick building relatively close to the harbor.

As he entered, he saw yellow crime-scene tape surrounding the ground right under the president's office.

He remembered having been there before, but his main focus was more on the loss of a possible job opportunity than on observing the surroundings.
Now he looked around, walking slowly, as if he feared what he would encounter in the building.

(He was smart enough to know that Fukuzawa wouldn't leave him alone, with or without memories of the future, but that didn't stop him from extending the walk to the office as much as possible)

Finally, taking a deep breath and adjusting his hat, he entered the building and made his way into the elevator to the president's room.

Before entering, he listened to the voices to find out at what point in the conversation the president and the secretary were.

He could hear Fukuzawa's voice talking about transporting the assassin to a safer place and realized that this was the moment of his entrance.

(He just hoped he wouldn't screw it up)

"Greetings!" he said with an energetic and carefree voice.

Hearing this, both Fukuzawa and the secretary turned to look at him.

While this was happening, Ranpo took a second to look around. The office was big enough to fit a good amount of people. But instead of people, the place was filled with documents. The desk and floor were drowning in a sea of paper, with almost no sign of what they once were. They all appeared to be important documents as well.

His gaze then moved to the secretary, a sickly-looking man dressed in a black coat and a crimson necktie, who was looking at him with an annoyed gaze while holding some documents.

He had seen enough

"Whew. Some crazy wind we're having today, huh? I know some people say to go where the wind blows, but don't you think this company could've chosen a better place to build their office?" He remembered saying much more, but he didn't feel like beating around the bush, it would spare the secretary his criticism of the seagulls.

However, both men in the room seemed to be at a loss for words.

(Ranpo looked back into Fukuzawa's eyes at that moment, and he thought he saw a spark of recognition)

He decided to speak again, maybe this would help the two recover from their shock.

"Hmm... Looks like you've got your hands full. But that's not that it's any of my business. Anyway, could you give me the paper? It should be somewhere in the pile. Do you expect me to find it? Sounds like a real pain in the neck."

He let out an overly dramatic sigh.

"Hey, Mr. Secretary, how about you find it for me while you're busy killing time? Besides, I'm not interested in the fingerprints in this room."

Having said this, and he had really said everything, he still didn't understand how normal people couldn't see such obvious things and solve the mysteries that surrounded them on their own.

He walked quickly towards the window, hopping between the documents, careful not to step on them.

This apparently made the secretary recover his voice.

"Ack! Wait, wait, wait! Stop right there! Do you have any idea how many years it took to close those contracts?!"

"Nope," Ranpo replied cheerfully

"What is wrong with you?! Regardless of the tragedy that occurred here today, this is still the president's office! Authorized personnel only!"

"I know," Ranpo admitted out loud, "But I've been authorized. I was told to come in for an interview today. Isn't it obvious? Anyway, I'm here for a reason, I still need to find my document, and I don't have the time to search through all these documents. Hey, Mr. Paper Pusher, can I just shove these useless documents out of the way already?"

"You may not," the secretary firmly declared. "The very way in which the documents are lined up is part of a crucial methodology for determining the perpetrator's motive."

"Uh-huh." Ranpo said bored

(If you have to lie, at least do it well)

"Fineeeeeee. I'll find it myself. It won't even take a second." I stated with confidence and without a hint of malice of what he was about to do.

"How do you plan on finding a single sheet of paper in this mess?" A very familiar voice interrupted me.

Fukuzawa had finally decided to speak, and this officially unmasked him as a time traveler.

Ranpo still remembered how those same words had once sounded hollow, but now they were said with barely concealed affection, as if he knew what Ranpo was capable of doing and how he would drive the secretary crazy in a matter of seconds.

He smiled and opened his mouth to speak again. He would play along, he wouldn't reveal to the old man that he had traveled in time yet, but he was sure that with a little time he could get there too.

(Surely Fukuzawa wouldn't have been too mad in the end, right? In any case, Ranpo would have seized the opportunity and spoiled himself rotten before then)

"Wow, old guy. Didn't think you could talk." He raised a playful eyebrow, noticing the small smile at his words. The old man really needed some acting lessons.

"Anyway, it's a government certification, so it has a seal on it, and the special paper they use is thicker than your normal official document."

Having said this, with an overly dramatic gesture, he opened the window.

All at once, the documents began to take flight, as if they had come to life.

"Ahhhhhh?!"

"Wh-wh-wh-what do you think you're doing?!"

"Aha, here it is!"

Ranpo approached a document lying on the desk. It was the only one, barely fluttering in the whirlwind that came in through the window. The paper being relatively thick, its weight kept it from really going anywhere. It was clear to everyone why he had opened the window now. Well, almost everyone.

"What do you mean, 'Here it is'?! Arghhh! I'm going to have to start all over again!" The secretary said angrily, running his hands through his hair, clearly stressed.

Ranpo gave him a feline smile.

"It's not a big deal. All the documents are still here, after all. None of the documents were stolen. The president wasn't even killed by a hitman. I mean, you know that. After all, you're the one who killed her, Mr. Secretary."

"... What?"

“Well it's obvious, the assassin's weapon was a gun. He is an expert hitman who can sense bloodlust even without being able to see. Someone so skilled would have used his bare hands to push the president out the window and leave fingerprints on his clothes? And how could he have been caught by one of the guards?"

He took a breath as he kept talking.

"It's really simple to explain what actually happened; you, Mr. Secretary, innocently told the president to look outside to lure her to the window. Once she let her guard down, you pushed her out."

"Absurd..."

"The boy is right; why would a murderer of such caliber kill so clumsily and then get caught?" Fukuzawa seemed to have gotten tired of playing the game, and now there were two of them grilling the secretary.

“This place is for authorized personnel only, right?” Ranpo continued, ignoring the spluttering of the secretary. “No matter how good a hitman he was, it would be impossible for him to reach the window without the president noticing. I mean, the desk has a clear view of the entrance. Besides, if the president reacted, the fingerprints would not be positioned as if he pushed her out of the window, but rather as if he threw her out. Otherwise, it would be unnatural. But there were ten fingerprints on his clothes, right? This means that the president did not feel in danger until the moment it was pushed. In other words..."

"It was someone she knew." Fukuzawa finished his sentence.

“But then what about fingerprints??” asked the secretary desperately.

"Well it's obvious, don't you think? You got the mold of the hit man's fingers because you're the one who hired him"

"Th-this is just a misunderstanding" the secretary still didn't want to admit the truth, even though the evidence now pointed against him.

All of a sudden, a noise came from the other room.

Fukuzawa turned in surprise and violently threw the door open. Allowing everyone to see that the room was empty. The assassin was gone.

(This was his chance)
"Get down!" Fukuzawa screamed out as he took another step further into the room.

The assassin, who was hiding behind the door, let out a suppressed groan.

Fukuzawa then pulled the door while reaching for the hit man, but nobody was there.

The hit man wasn't on the floor, either. He had leaped into the air, almost touching the ceiling as he dodged Fukuzawa's grasp. Still in midair, he kicked off ashwall and got far away from the door before kicking off the thound and creating even more distance between them with his arms still tied behind his back. All he could use freely were his legs, yet he was able to evade Fukuzawa's preemptive strike with no hands.
Ranpo had to admit he was quite skilled.

"I don't want to fight you," said the assassin.

"We don't want to fight you either, Mister Assassin" Ranpo interjected before anything else could happen, he had to prevent the secretary from dying and do his bidding.

Fukuzawa turned to look at him abruptly, probably wondering what the hell was going on.

Ranpo, however, had no time for long and senseless explanations, he turned back to the tied assassin, who had turned his head in his direction after hearing him speak.

"I heard that you are very qualified Sakunosuke Oda, right? I would like to hire you for a very special job, you know"

"How about becoming my bodyguard?" He finished with an easy smile.

Judging by the secretary's shocked cry, Fukuzawa's panicked scream, and the dubious look the young assassin gave him, his idea must have been too brilliant for their little brains to comprehend.

𝘈𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺.

.

○ [Kunikida]

Kunikida thought the craziest thing that had happened in the last 24 hours was his apparent time travel twelve years in the past, or waking up at age ten, in his old classroom, with the teacher scolding him for sleeping in class (which Kunikida had never done, of course, he had always been a diligent student, and sleeping in class would have been not only disrespectful but also unproductive).

Perhaps the strangest thing was being able to feel his hands again, being able to move his fingers and not just feel a phantom pain in his wrists, or not having his notebook of ideals with him.

All these assumptions turned out to be wrong, to say the least, when he returned to his apartment in the suburbs of the city (the apartment in which he lived alone, despite being ten years old, just because he was different, because he was an ability user).

(a monster)

Going back down that old road was almost nostalgic, he hadn't visited that apartment for at least 6 years, and he couldn't say he missed it too much.

A sudden noise forced him to turn his gaze to the river near the road. What he saw made him immediately jump over the overpass and run towards the water.

Someone was drowning, a child who seemed to no longer move.

"I can't watch children die anymore; I have to hurry, so I can save at least this one"

He dived in and was soon next to the boy, whom he dragged like a dead weight to the shore. Not that the boy weighed anything, he was all skin and bones, and his backpack was probably heavier than this brat.

Once on shore, he turned the boy over to give him first aid and somehow expel the water from his lungs.

What he saw, however, made him lose all the air he had in his body.

This child, the little boy he had just saved, had Dazai's face. This was Dazai, or at least a younger version of him.

Kunikida wanted to cry or hug the bastard, but young Dazai probably wouldn't appreciate waking up to a random stranger crying on him.

This thought caused another pang in the heart. He didn't want them to be strangers; he had known that waste of bandages for more than two years now; he had somehow gained the trust of that elusive bastard, and losing that trust seemed like the end of the world now.

It seemed that Kunikida had been lost in his frenetic thoughts for so long that he hadn't noticed that his partner had opened his eyes and was staring at him strangely.

A cough and a spit of water brought him back to reality.

"Have I been saved? I thought I could finally rest, but that doesn't seem to be my destiny"

The words that broke the silence between them only confirmed Dazai's identity, only a young version of the detective would be capable of expressing such a sad concept at such a young age.

"What were you doing in the river? You could have drowned." Kunikida said this only so as not to draw suspicion upon himself, how could he have known about the suicidal tendencies of a boy he had just met.

"That was the goal, of course; unfortunately, you saved me, oh brave knight in shining armor; now to repay you for the troubles that I caused you, I will do something for you!"

The boy's tone suddenly became joyful, making Kunikida feel almost nostalgic.

"I'm not a knight of any kind, I simply saw a kid in danger, and I helped him"

“You talk like you're not a kid too, I should call you grandpa next time~”

It turns out Kunikida was obviously a bad actor, maybe he should have toned down his emotional maturity. He then decided to focus on a safer question.

"What's your name, brat? I should at least know the name of the boy I jumped into a river for"

There was a moment of silence. Dazai's eyes bore into him, as if they were weighing whether to trust him.

Finally, in a soft voice, came an unexpected answer, which almost made him stumble.

"My name is…Tsushima Shūji"

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵?

Luckily, Dazai had turned his head to look at the sky as he said his name and hadn't seen Kunikida's reaction to it.

(Has Dazai always lied about his name? Or was he lying now? using an alias because he didn't trust him, Kunikida honestly couldn't tell, but now was not the time to doubt his colleague)

"So Shūji-kun why don't you come to my house with me? I'll cook you a hot meal, you can take a shower, change out of your wet clothes, and then we can talk about why you tried to drown yourself"

A moment of silence followed, and Dazai didn't seem willing to answer.

"And before you try to refuse, know that I won't leave you alone." As kunikida said that, his eyes softened, and a small but warm smile appeared on his face.

A ray of sunshine hit them both at that moment, obscuring Kunikida's vision for a few seconds.

(What he didn't see was the hopeful look Dazai gave him, a look that was kind of heartbreaking on a child's face, but conveyed how much those few words meant to him.)

𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦

Chapter Text

○ Chapter 3 – [Chuuya]

Chuuya couldn't dream.

It was a fact, he had always known it.

What everyone described as a vague memory of something that never happened. A world enveloped in the fog of sleep in which one could live magnificent experiences and realize one's desires.

Of course Chuuya knew that even fear and bad memories could find their way into dreams and for this reason he was grateful that he had never dreamed.

At least until now.

Because what he saw must have been a dream. He was on a small camp bed in a narrow room. The gray walls showed clear signs of discoloration and particularly large cracks, which would normally have made him question the stability of the structure.

However, he knew that this shack would not collapse, because he recognized the room. This was the room he had once dared to call home, even though he had none. It was the room he stayed in when he was still "the king of the sheep", although since he had met Mori, he had realized that he had never been a king, just a simple puppet.

The sheep didn't respect him, they didn't trust him, and it was easier than stealing candy from a child to convince them to stab him in the back (or rather in the abdomen).
Dazai, who at that time seemed almost soulless and with eyes dark as the deepest abyss, had understood it with just one look, had seen something Chuuya had been unaware of for years.

Now, for the first time in a long time, he actually wanted to ask that bastard for an inference about the situation he was in now.

The only thing he could think of was an ability that causes hallucinations, or, it had to be damned impossible, time travel. But even with an ability, travel back in time to twelve years in the past should to be outside the realm of possibility.

The mackerel would know what to do, would have already understood the situation and would have come up with a plan that was weird as hell but brilliant.

Then reality hit him like a brick wall.

Dazai wasn't here.

Dazai couldn't be here.

If this was the job of an ability user then their partner would not be affected even if they wanted to, “No Longer Human” made no exceptions.

He was alone, for the first time in 7 years, there was no dazai out there to annoy him. His partner that he trusted, that he had learned to respect (love) didn't exist now.

The Dazai of the future, the Dazai who walked in the light, who was looking for a reason to live, no longer exists.

He wants to drink, he needs his best bottle right now (or maybe he wants to cry, he doesn't know).

Bastard, always causing problems, even when he doesn't know he's doing it.

-

Somehow Chuuya managed to calm down enough to not draw attention to himself and exit the structure currently occupied by the sheep.

His stealth apparently had not been affected by the sudden time travel.

By the time he left, an idea had crossed his mind and strengthened with every step.

He would find Dazai, his partner, his mackerel, and take him straight to the president of the detective agency, the old man seemed to have a thing for stray cats, so he would take in Dazai for sure.

As for him, he wasn't so sure. He had worked for the mafia for years, killed and committed all kinds of crimes, a guy like the ex-assassin would have noticed it just by looking at his eyes.

But he welcomed Dazai in the future

Could he really do it? Living in the light? Without betraying anyone or breaking any promises. Now he didn't belong to the mafia and didn't owe anything to Mori (who hasn't become the boss yet, right?).

He could live now.

Could he be finally free?

As if reality wanted to mock his impossible dreams, a needle pierced his neck. He had been too slow and he didn't realize he was being watched.

“Ability User A5158 it has been a while, now it's time to go home”

This didn't happen last time, is it possible this isn't my world either?

He wasn't going to get anywhere with those crazy kidnapping scientist bastards anyway.

“Ahhhh, you think you have a chance against me you bastards, start praying that your precious science saves you”

“Oh, Grantors of Dark Disgrace don't wake me again” he said taking his hands out of his pockets, whatever drugs were in the syringe could have affected him, but not Arahabaki.

I promised I wouldn't use it without you, sorry mackerel I won't be able to help you in this life.

And with that he sank into a deafening void.

○ [Oda]

Oda Sakunosuke despite his young age was used to finding himself in unconventional situations, risking his life to complete a job or finding himself having to accept difficult assignments.

However, he had never found himself following a strange teenager (who introduced himself as Ranpo Edogawa, the best detective in the world) and a man with silver hair (almost certainly an assassin or a ex-assassin, his movements were too perfect and his footsteps made no noise) who looked at him as if he were a mix between a time bomb and an abandoned kitten.

“Heh heh Oda-san, what are you thinking? How cool was I earlier by saving you from arrest? Or when I immediately understood the real culprit? You must have been left speechless, assisting the best detective in the world solve a case is no small feat, I must have left you speechless!” he said all this while hopping, without stopping to breathe or open his eyes.

That boy will sooner or later trip or run straight into a busy street if he doesn't open his eyes when he walks. (Was that what he needed a bodyguard for?)

The man next to him, Fukuzawa Yukichi, let out a tired, affectionate sigh, as if he was used to such behavior. (it was very suspicious, hadn't they just met?)

He therefore decided to answer to avoid prolonging the silence in an unpleasant way.

“It was quite impressive” he said slowly, the boy was intelligent and saw no reason to deny it “but I would rather know why you think hiring me is a good idea and your intentions, I'm an assassin not a babysitter”

The boy turned to look at him, not yet opening his eyes, but he could sense the mockery in his body language.

“Obviously Oda-san you cannot understand the reasoning of a genius of my caliber! I wouldn't be the best otherwise, but don't worry, you'll have a lot to do, after all, a detective like me has many enemies, obviously I need more manpower!”

“What are you talking about-”

“Tell me Oda-san have you ever thought about writing a book? And if you have, what do you think it takes to write a good book?”

That was a strange question, but it sounded right somehow.

Why would a murderer want to write a book?

“I never thought about it,” he said honestly.

“It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, I won't give you the answer though, you will be the one to tell me what you think if you accept the job, after all you could run away at any moment, or am I wrong?”

It was true, he could have separated from them after leaving the crime scene, he could have escaped while they were talking in the bar (the boy had eaten double the amount of sweets he weighed, Oda thinks it might be a world record) or even now, on the road to an opera show that could supposedly hire Ranpo to solve a crime.

“I- I'll go with you, for now”

The boy started hopping in front of him again, and even the swordsman seemed satisfied with Oda’s answer.
(Maybe everything would have been okay)

-

Everything was going wrong

The brat disappeared, how?

Everything seemed to be going well, one moment Ranpo had revealed the truth behind the fake murder and kidnapping and the next moment he had vanished.

Where could he be? Are these the enemies he was talking about earlier?

Fukuzawa on the other hand seemed to have lost all decorum, clutching the arm of a "policeman" who revealed he was part of an organization called V.

"I don't know, I really don't know, it's true I should have kidnapped him, but it wasn't me, I don't know where the brat is" it was the fourth time he repeated it and finally even Yukichi was convinced that that had to be the truth.

Oda could see how much this stressed the man, he looked guilty for not noticing the kidnapping and too worried for someone he just met.

“Fukuzawa-san we will find Ranpo, the boy is smart, he will have left something behind that you can follow to find him”

“But last time-” he suddenly stopped talking, looking composed and determined again “You're right, I'll start looking then” and turned to leave.

“I'm coming too” those words were a surprise to the other man who turned to look at me “Ranpo-kun asked me a question this afternoon, and now I have the answer, only by finding where he is I will be able to tell him my answer, it's only right that I look for him too, after all he hired me as his bodyguard."

Oda walked past Yukichi, looking for some clue, no one vanished into thin air without even a clue, they will find Ranpo

Write a book huh? Such a simple yet so complex question. To write a book you need to know life as well as death, to write a book you need to know people, whether they are good, bad, stupid or brilliant. To write a book you need to live.

Oda no longer wanted to survive every day, he wanted to live.

○ [Atsushi]

Atsushi was in a cage.

His cage

It wasn't real, none of it was real, it couldn't be.

He had no reason to be at the orphanage, he had been kicked out, and had found his place in the world with the Armed Detective Agency.

His family

People who didn't fear him, who had taught him to have more respect for himself, who had protected him, supported him, nurtured him, even when protecting him had gotten them into trouble with the Port Mafia.

“Dazai-san? Kunikida-san?” the two names echoed against the empty walls of the basement.

There was no response.

His voice was so small, hoarse from disuse, and dry from dehydration, but he couldn't stop.

“DAZAI-SAN! KUNIKIDA! SOMEONE PLEASE”

“PRESIDENT”

“YOSANO-SAN”

“RANPO SAN!!”

“KYOKA-CHAN!?”

“Akutagawa….”

"Please…."

“…”

"help"

Footsteps and the sound of keys made him look up at the door of his cage. It was them, right? The agency had come to save him, he could rest assured, they would never abandon him, right?

“You shouldn't disturb the peace of our facility like this, do you think yelling and screaming for someone to help you will make them magically appear? Who would even come to save someone like you?” the voice came from a man who he thought (he hoped) he would never see again.

The headmaster of the orphanage was in front of him.

He had a hammer and nails in his hand.

NO

No

No

He was dead

(Atsushi still remembers a newspaper, blood on the asphalt and the flowers)

“I think you need exemplary punishment now, you shouldn't disturb the normal kids who live here, the less your presence is known, the better”

He took a step forward.

And another

And another one

Atsushi began to tremble against his will, he shouldn't be here, he had won, they had won, he wasn't 6 years old, he was an 18 years old member of the armed detective agency.

“Someone please help me” he whispered.

The principal was right in front of him now, he couldn't do anything, he couldn't-

BOOM

A sudden explosion shook the entire building

“AH AH AH, a miserable wall can't stop me, what a joke”

(Atsushi knew that voice)

A sudden kick sent the principal flying against the wall, shattering it and at the same time cutting the chain that blocked him against the wall of his cell.

“Pathetic, a man who violates his role like this is not worthy of running an orphanage,” said a second voice, of a male this time.

“Are you okay little one?”

The words were aimed at him but he almost didn't realize it because he recognized the people who had just saved him.

“Obviously he's fine, he was just saved by me Teruko Oikawa!! The best hunting dog, he should feel honored!”

“If you say so,” replied the other man, Tetchō Suehiro, deadly serious.

“Ahhhhh you are unbearable as always, anyway do you remember us tiger boy?”

“Ahg what?”

“Okay I expected too much, I guess not” she said shrugging her shoulders in a "what can you do" motion.

(No, really what!? Atsushi knew he had a problem with hallucinations but this was a bit too much even for him.)

“Anyway, tiger boy you're coming with us now, let's go!”

Atsushi fainted at this point, he didn't know if it was the tension of the day, the time travel, the meeting with the principal or whatever was happening now, but his body no longer seemed able to handle the stress.

His last coherent thought before losing consciousness was just an incoherent scream.

“I HAVE JUST BEEN SAVED BY THE HUNTING DOGS?????”

Chapter Text

○ [Jouno]

Faint rays of light illuminated a small apartment currently occupied by one person. The interior could only be described as impersonal and tidy. Every surface was completely spotless, and the white tones dominated the small apartment.

All this could have appeared normal if it were not for the anomalous number of weapons present and clearly visible in almost all corners of the house. Knives, pistols, rifles and even several katanas were scattered throughout the apartment, some hidden, some not, ready for use at any moment.

Another abnormal fact is that this apartment had been cleared out at least 9 years earlier, and its owner was arrested on the spot.

Jouno liked to think that he was quite accustomed to the follies and impossible events that happened to him on an almost daily basis. After all, he was part of an elite team, the Hunting Dogs, whose job was to literally carry out tasks not humanly possible and eliminate all those who threatened the peace of the country.

By now, the word "impossible" had almost lost its meaning for him.

So after waking up twelve years in the past, still possessing his sight and with obvious criminal associations; after having been betrayed by his boss and probably killed and transformed into a mindless vampire, a mere puppet in a grand plan he hadn't even had the time to understand, Jouno decided to make himself a nice coffee.

“Ahh, it's been forever since I've been able to enjoy a nice coffee in peace”

The truth was that Jouno had stopped drinking coffee after that idiot Tecchou, with his crazy theories on the combination of colors to compose dishes, started adding pepper to his morning coffee, effectively ruining his entire day.

(Evidently, his past body did not react to future food traumas, and his disgust for coffee would now be just a distant memory)

“I thought dying would hurt much more, but now I have a second chance served to me on a silver platter. My redemption with the Hunting Dogs must have paid off." Jouno muttered to himself.

Since he was young, he had never particularly believed in the afterlife, but when he was forced to think about it or someone called out how evil he was, Jouno was forced to admit that he probably wasn't destined for something as charitable as heaven; rather, having often been called a demon in human form, he could have found himself in hell.

“Anyway, I'm in the past now; it looks like I'll have to do some research and find a certain rat before it starts plaguing this world.”

---

Two days later, Jouno had managed to settle back into his past routine and criminal life, investigating and contacting his informants around the world to understand what was the best chance of avoiding a possible end of the world.

He didn't know why Fukuchi had decided to implement his plan, but whatever his goal was, it wasn't worth the worldwide upheaval that would occur in the future. He probably wouldn't be able to change the commander's mind, much less capable of defeating him; however, he could paralyze him and block the Decay of the Angel and all his plans before they were even formed.

However, from the information he had just received, which was already giving him an ungodly headache, his planning had just hit an unexpected obstacle.

Before he could even think of a solution, or make some herbal tea for his headache, he heard familiar footsteps approaching his door.

(Three people, two adults and a child, military gait; the child seems anxious; the other heartbeats are regular. But above all, he recognized those steps. They were from Tecchou. Does he also remember the future?? Did he die too?)

If one of the people was Tecchou, there was a high probability that the other person was Teruko. Two pains in the ass together, fantastic.

(But then who was the child? Tachihara? Had Tecchou and Teruko really kidnapped a little Tachihara from his family?)

The desire to stab whoever was about to knock on his door intensified at that thought.

He wasn't thrilled about meeting those idiots again.

(He blissfully ignored that little part of his heart that felt relieved, that his team was still with him, that he wasn't alone in the past, that strangers with his comrades' faces might look at him and see only a criminal, that Tecchou might saw him like any other criminal)

(He made a mental note that obviously he was softening up; if he had grown even a little fond of such idiots, perhaps he would have to find some criminals to interrogate and traumatize in the next few days)

A knock on the door brought him back to reality.

Right

(He had to open it, right? He couldn't just ignore them, sadly.)

"Sigh, I should have stayed out today,” he sighed softly, starting to walk towards the door.

The sight that greeted him once he opened the door made him want to close it immediately and massage his temples. As he had correctly imagined, the person accompanying a young Tecchou was Teruko, but what struck him was the child.

It wasn't Tachihara, in front of him stood a miniature and obviously hungry version of the agency's weretiger, Nakajima Atsushi.

The child looked terrified, as if he needed to get away from the two maniacs who were with him, sleep for 72 hours, and eat an entire restaurant. He was wearing what could only be described as clothes due to their shape and had chain marks (really what the hell?) around his ankles.

Since the idiots seemed more than happy to stare at him (he can see now, okay? Nothing incredible), he decided to speak first.

"Who are you? What do you want from me? And above all, why are you walking around with a child who looks like he's about to collapse at any moment?”

This seemed to bring them back to reality, and he saw Teruko open her mouth, probably ready to make up some excuse that I should help them and thus get a pardon from the government without having to be prosecuted.

However, Tecchou decided to precede her and ruin any plan they had previously established, based on Teruko's sudden murderous intent and the weretiger-boy's shock.

“Jouno, we come from the future, and as your future colleagues, we would like your collaboration to stop a future catastrophe that will overwhelm the world. I know you are currently pursuing a criminal career, but as your partner, I have full faith in you and your moral compass. You are a much better person than anyone gives you credit for, even yourself.”

He expected some idiocy from Tecchou, he didn't expect whatever it was that his partner had just said.

(Moral compass? Better person than he thinks? He even admitted that he time-traveled to someone who shouldn't even know him enough to know that he is serious and not just crazy.)

(He absentmindedly noticed that Tecchou looked exactly like he expected; he had a serious and idiotic face)

(He remembered how that time Tecchou asked him if he wanted to trace his face to know how he looked, and on impulse he had accepted such a strange request)

The same impulse seemed to possess him now too, for without his permission, some of his words escaped his lips.

"I understand. Come in,” he said, stepping aside and opening the door wider.

Teruko and little Atsushi gave him very understandable incredulous looks, but Tecchou simply nodded and walked in, as if he expected his crazy speech to work from the start.

("Idiot,” he thought, almost affectionately.)

(“You have to shoot him,” he added, almost as an afterthought.)

"Sit where you can; we have a long conversation ahead of us," he stated, approaching one of the chairs in the living area of the apartment. The others did the same, more or less uncertain of the current situation.

"So you all are from the future?” he said, getting their attention. “Well, so do I, and now that this is resolved, will you explain to me how your little crew thought this was a good idea?"

Teruko, who seemed to have been too busy stopping herself from hitting Tecchou until then, turned to him in surprise.

"So this time travel is a group thing? What is it, a school trip?” she snorted, shaking her head as if she were bothered by whatever had caused them to jump into the past. “And we're not all from the future anyway; we just saved the kid because we were passing by; he doesn't remember the future.”

I looked at her skeptically and turned to the weretiger-child. “Did these two idiots at least asked you if you remember anything or just yelled at you and then moved on”

The boy gasped as if he were surprised that someone would address him. He honestly expected this from Tecchou, but he expected better from Teruko.

"Ah, well, I, I remember the future. I was fighting Akutagawa at the airport, and then I woke up in my cel-, at the orphanage”

(For his sanity, he will ignore the last part)

"WHAT!? And why didn't you say so before, brat?” Teruko snapped angrily.

"Eh-h! After you freed me, I passed out, and then you brought me here and completely ignored me. When should I have said that???”

“Look brat-”

“Jouno” Tecchou interrupted them, “I'm happy that you're well; I disappointed you in the future; I won't repeat that mistake again; I swear this”

(This did not reassure him in any way, and even if it had, he would never admit it)

"I, on the other hand, am condemned to see your ugly face again at any time, so let's get down to business. I guess you idiots haven't done any kind of investigation into our enemies. You didn't even think that they too might have traveled in time, starting their plans much earlier than expected."

“So what did you find? Um sir?”

"They are dying"

"What?" Teruko exclaimed, taken aback. Even Tecchou looked slightly confused.

Everyone in the future who had been involved in terrorist attacks or attacks on the city of Yokohama was suddenly dying, and Jouno had no idea why.

"Here,” he said, handing Teruko the results of her investigations over the last two days. “I think we have a big problem on our hands.”

He saw Teruko's eyes widen, as well as those of Tecchou and Atsushi who had looked up to see the contents of the documents.

The first page was a list.

The list of those who had died in mysterious and completely inexplicable accidents in the last two days.

Tatsuhiko Shibusawa

Alexander Pushkin

Ivan Goncharov

Nikolai Gogol

And many other names were on the list.

As if that wasn't enough, Fyodor Dostoevsky's research had led to even more conflicting results.

There was no trace of that man anywhere on the globe, nothing at all, as if he had never existed.

"Well shit,” Teruko finally said after a few minutes of silence.

"Shit" Jouno fully agreed.

The situation had just gotten even stranger.

○ [Kunikida]

Kunikida wasn't having a great time; he probably should have expected that a little Dazai would be just as problematic as the adult version of him.

At first, everything had gone well. He had brought little Daz-Shūji, (His name was Shūji now; he couldn't go and call him by a name he shouldn't know, he had to get used to it quickly to avoid mistakes.) to his house. He had him changed into dry clothes and prepared some dinner for the two of them.

Now that they had both finished their dinner, Shūji had only eaten half of the plate, but that seemed to be his limit, so he had abandoned that line of conversation.

The silence was stretching too long, so Kunikida blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. (Big mistake)

"So Shūji-kun, what were you doing in the river?"

Dazai, thankfully, didn't seem to be offended or take the question negatively.

"What a strange question Kunikida-san, I wonder what you think a boy covered in bandages could do in a river while he doesn't even try to resist the current that drags him away" the boy said in a joking tone, the same way he had pronounced the honorific after Kunikida's name, it was a mockery of his supposed "seniority".

"Anyway Kunikida-san need not worry; I made a promise that I intend to keep, and that it was the last time"

This shocked Kunikida for a moment.

(The last time? Did his bastard suicidal colleague no longer want to die? Had this happened in the previous timeline too? But Dazai wasn't saved? Or had he been taken by someone with ulterior motives, like the port mafia boss?)

"The last time?" Kunikida repeated it as if in a trance. "Why?"

"I found something I didn't have before; I guess I'm not so lonely now! Now I have a knight in shining armor like you, Kunikida-san, your hair are as bright as the sun's rays on summer mornings, your actions heroic like those song-"

"Okay, enough. I understand your point, and I agree; now that you have me, I will not abandon you, Shūji-kun."

Those probably weren't the words of a normal teenager, much less spoken just over four hours after their first meeting, but Dazai was (is) his partner, his favorite waste of bandages, and now that he had the chance to help him suffer less, maybe even get over whatever hurt him in the past, he couldn't just turn his back on it.

As if a dam had broken, Kunikida continued speaking.

"You can stay here; there's an extra room, and I never have guests, so the house is always empty. I'd love a roommate-"

"Okay, okay, I didn't know you were so sappy, Kunikida-San. If you feel so lonely, then I'll be your super awesome roommate!!!!” Dazai said, making exaggerated arm movements and smiling brightly.

Kunikida breathed a sigh of relief. His plan had worked! Now Dazai would stay with him and not even come close to death or the port mafia.

They finished clearing the table, and soon both were getting ready for bed.

When Kunikida opened the guest room he had designated for Dazai, he imagined finding him lying dead on the bed or perhaps snooping around.

He certainly didn't expect an empty room; a simple note was placed on the desk.

[I have to go and save a friend in danger; don't look for me; I have everything under control.

- your favorite roommate Shūji]

○ [Sigma]

Sigma didn't expect to wake up.

He had taken Dostoevsky's hand to help Dazai understand his secrets, but after being overwhelmed by billions of pieces of information, he had lost hope.

A human brain cannot handle so much information all at once without becoming overloaded.

For this reason, Sigma was sure that he would die soon. It was fortunate that he had not died suddenly of shock or been killed by Dostoevsky himself to prevent him from miraculously waking up again.

The amethyst-tinged sky above him was, therefore, a surprise.

He shouldn't be awake.

It was impossible.

Yet a beautiful sky was right above him.

(He WAS ALIVE!!!!)

(But how?)

He jumped up from the ground, looking around almost frantically.

He was in...... Yokohama? Had Dazai carried him to safety only to dump him on a random sidewalk? It seemed particularly mean from the man he had grown to respect during their brief adventure in prison.

(Dostoevsky had called Dazai a demon, someone to be wary of, but Dazai had proven at every turn that he was trustworthy despite his oddities. Dazai wasn't a demon at all; the only demon in that prison was Dostoevsky.)

Not knowing where to go, he decided to stay near the river and simply walk along the avenue that ran alongside it.
The square where he had woken up was mostly empty. Looking around, he only saw a simple calico cat jumping onto a nearby bench to rest.

There was nothing that could help him.

Once he found some people, he would ask them for directions to the Armed Detective Agency.

He didn't have to wait long before he encountered a young woman carrying flowers. He approached her calmly, and after receiving a friendly nod and a smile from her, he asked her for directions.

"Excuse me, miss, could you tell me where I can find the offices of the Armed Detective Agency? I'm afraid I'm new in town, and I'm lost"

The girl's face became thoughtful for a moment before she hesitantly responded.

"I would really like to help you, but I don't know of any agency with that name, and I've lived in the city for at least ten years. Unless it opened very recently, probably between September and October! Are you really sure it's here? It seems to be a new organization."

"September and October? Recently? But aren't we in April? And then the agency has been very present in international news recently; it's almost impossible that you've never heard of it." Sigma was becoming more confused by the second. Had he met the only person in Yokohama who didn't know about the agency? That seems like his kind of luck.

"Sir? April? You seem a bit confused. Here is today's newspaper; maybe it will refresh your ideas"

Sigma gave her a grateful nod and picked up the newspaper, only to freeze once he saw the date.

It was impossible.

(He read it again)

(And again)

(It didn't change. Is it possible that I'm still dreaming? I shouldn't exist here.)

The date was 12 years earlier, and although Sigma looked well over twelve years old, his peculiar birth had occurred only three years earlier; indeed, it should have occurred in nine years.

His mind was in a state of chaos. Distantly, he saw himself pushing away the worried young woman who was asking him if he was okay, and heading towards where he had woken up for the first time.

When he returned to the square, he sat down on the bench and put his head in his hands in despair.

Why couldn't he have a normal day? Just him and his casino, no Russian demons or crazy clowns.

Perhaps sensing his anguish, the calico cat remaining on the bench next to him approached and motioned for him to pet it.

"Ah, thanks, little one. I guess by now, I can only trust cats to not drive me crazy. I just wish I knew what to do. Not only that, but I don't really know where to go now. This isn't my time, you know?" Sigma said this to the cat without stopping petting him.

The cat made a disapproving noise and jumped down, finding himself facing him and staring at him.

“Um littl-”

A sudden explosion shook the air, forcing Sigma to close his eyes.

"So young man, you need a place to stay, right? Why don't you come with me? I'm very interested in what happened to you. Time travel, am I right?" An unknown voice came from the slowly dissolving fog.

"Who-" Sigma stopped when he saw a man in front of him instead of the cat. A man who seemed to share some of the characteristics of the calico cat.

("Please let it not be the cat")

“You-you were the cat!?” The day had reached a new peak of strangeness, and by now Sigma was almost sure he was still dreaming.

"Exactly, my name is Natsume Sōseki" the man said, holding his staff with both hands. "Your problem seems to be a temporal one, from what I can understand; unfortunately, I can't help you with that. However, I have an offer for you if you are willing to listen to me"

"I have nothing to lose now, I guess"

"That's the spirit. So how about becoming my apprentice?"

Chapter Text

[Dazai]

Dazai was running.

His lungs ached with every breath, his legs seemed to become stiffer with each step, and his vision blurred at times, but he couldn't stop.

'Chuuya wait for me'

That was the real problem; He couldn't stop; actually, he couldn't waste a single second of time getting lost in useless thoughts.

Everything was going well, Kunikida was a mother hen as usual; he had eaten some good crab and he had even changed his bandages after a short bath. For his 10 year old self that was practically heaven.

Then he had felt it, a sudden tremor, a ringing sound had started to ring in the distance signaling an emergency. At first glance, this might not have been his problem.

But it certainly became one the moment he deduced the epicenter of the chaos.

Suribachi city

After that, he wasn't sure what he had done.

Maybe he had left a note for Kunikida; He wasn't so sure about it, before running down the stairs and stealing (borrowing, he would return it eventually..) a motorcycle parked on the street without any anti-theft measures.

(Seriously, did the owner know they lived in Yokohama or did they just want to get robbed?)

He had gotten as close as possible to Suribachi city before abandoning the vehicle and continuing on foot through the city's worn streets.

His heart was pounding but all he could think of was a repetition of a single word.

A single name.

'chuuya, chuuya, chuuya...'

(Please don't let him be late; He decided he had time traveled to be a better person; He couldn't lose his humanity before he even started)

As Dazai progressed through the city he could see signs of destruction and many people running in the opposite direction, sometimes bumping into him and slowing him down.

At that moment, he really wished he still had his guns to terrorized that crowd even more, maybe they would move faster that way.

Had it been too long? It couldn't have been more than 5 minutes since he heard the alarm, so Chuuya had been using his corruption for at least 10 minutes.

The positive side was that any enemy that might have been nearby was probably dead, the negative side was that Chuuya could also die if he strained his body too much, especially a younger and less trained one.

Rounding the corner he finally arrived at the epicenter of the chaos, only to be momentarily blinded by the sunlight.

His instincts screamed at him to duck immediately, and so he did, throwing himself to the ground.

A large piece of reinforced concrete, crossed by numerous metal tubes flew over his head at very high speed.

'That would definitely have decapitated me eh'

But there was no time for that.

He sprang to his feet again and approached the single figure still standing above the one-sided carnage.

"Chuuyaaaa I'm here!! Come get me, will you?"

Chuuya stood there, amidst the carnage, covered in the dust of the rubble and the blood of those who had been idiotic enough to attack him.

'Beautiful'

That was his last thought before an enraged redhead threw himself at him.

For anyone else this would probably be a death sentence, but for Dazai it was an opportunity.

He knew all his ex-partner's moves by heart and although Chuuya was not completely conscious, his body remembered certain things, habitual movements and intrinsic tics in the individual.

'Or he would turn into a bloody pancake on the ground'

Seizing the moment, he dodged to the right as quickly as possible, stretching a single arm outward.

And there he was, Chuuya was practically next to him, and with his free arm he managed to quickly grab his wrist.

'Now I can breathe'

Chuuya fell to the ground, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and Dazai followed soon after, having lost all the strength in his legs after running.

"Chuuya are you awake?"

"Chuuyaaaaaaaa~"

“Da-zai?”

“In the flesh, your amazing partner, slightly shorter but still taller than you, came to save you~”

"I would have rather fainted than seen your ugly face". The harshness of his words was belied by the soft tone (probably due to the blood loss) and the fact that Chuuya didn't seem angry at all (again, disorientation works wonders nowadays).

"It almost seems like Chuuya missed me~"

"I thought I was alone in this hell. That's why for less than three seconds I was happy to see you. Now, try talking about it again, and I'll find another reason to shoot you in the head."

"Okay, okay, but now I think we have another more pressing problem."

Hearing this, Chuuya weakly looked up, seeing what Dazai had noticed moments before.

People were starting to surround them, some were armed, some were brats, some were wearing bracelets identifying them as members of the sheeps.

The worrying thing was that they all looked angry, Chuuya was half dead and Dazai was a skinny, disarmed pre-teen.

'Damn'

As if the universe had for once decided not to cause him further suffering, a siren began to blare, a high-pitched sound that seemed to get closer by the second.

"Police??" "We must escape now!" "They will take care of those two."

Everyone who had surrounded them began to flee in all directions, leaving them alone in less than a minute.

"Shitty Dazai, you have a plan, right?"

"Not really, but don't you think it's strange?" Dazai asked him, smiling slyly.

“No police car would make it here or want to intervene in this situation, so who the hell is coming?”

Dazai had now caught his breath and his brain had finally started working again.

Now he definitely knew who was coming.

"Don't worry Chuuya, you can rest now. I'll take care of the rest."

"Wha-"

"DAZAI YOU BASTARD THE NEXT TIME YOU DECIDE TO RUN INTO A MASSACRE, STOP AND TELL ME, DON'T LEAVE A CRYPTIC NOTE "

"Kunikida-kun, you found me!! And you also stole a police siren... what a bad boy ~ I wonder who would hire such a criminal"

Kunikida didn't react to the provocation as he expected, he grimaced, obviously out of breath, before staring back at him.

(It warmed his heart that Kunikida ran all over town and committed a crime just because he was worried for him)

Kunikida took a step forward, then another, until he was facing the slumped figures of Chuuya and Dazai. He looked into Dazai's eyes before speaking again.

"You could have told me, you know? I already understood that you knew that I went back in time too, nothing would have changed."

"I-"

"Look glasses-"

“It's okay, you're both in bad shape now, let's go back to my apartment and then go to the agency.”

"At this point it's fair to assume that the others have also returned, and perhaps not just them, considering that Chuuya also remembers the future." Dazai was pretty sure that all the agency had their future memories now.

"We'll only find out by going there. Now let's go home. I was serious when I said you wouldn't be alone anymore. You too, Nakahara, you need to be patched up and rest."

"Mackerel, you better have money for a taxi because I can assure you that I don't plan on walking around the town looking like a madman escapee from an asylum."

A few minutes later, three individuals emerged from Suribachi city.

Three young boys holding each other up might have looked pitiful if it weren't for the fact that all three were smiling.

'I'm not alone anymore, eh'

[Ranpo]

Being kidnapped didn't suck that much. What he didn't appreciate was being treated like an uncooperative bag.

Originally, he was supposed to be kidnapped by a fake police officer, on behalf of a "mysterious" organization called V.

(Mysterious for idiots, blind individuals, those without a grain of deductive ability at least)

This time, however, someone else had intervened and kidnapped him before the fake police officer could even get close.

'Everything according to plan'

Ranpo had obviously already foreseen this particular situation and although going through all this action wouldn't bring him any benefit, he thought that this could have been a good opportunity for Fukuzawa and Oda to learn how to work as a team.

'I'll bet my entire candy stash that Fukuzawa will adopt that murderous brat before he even finds me.'

(Perhaps he should have considered that Fukuzawa already had a son who just went missing.)

Although he was blindfolded, he was certainly not deaf and, so, when light footsteps approached him, he prepared his eyes to adapt to the sudden brightness.

'Two people. Well, his deductions were right, as always'

Although Ranpo had expected to be kidnapped and, thanks to his knowledge of the city of Yokohama, he had already surmised where his captors had taken him, but now, with nothing covering his eyes, he could see his surroundings.

He barely contained a laugh.

This was the same abandoned warehouse where he had been taken after the kidnapping in the other timeline.

'So coincidences exist, uh'

There was no way his current captors knew about the past kidnapping and that made it even more hilarious.

'This warehouse has a damn sign that says: Have you kidnapped anyone? You don't know where to keep them? Come here, the address is XXX-036, and you will find the perfect place for you'

'Sigh'

Now was, unfortunately, not the time to appreciate the irony of the situation, so he turned to his captors and tilted his head.

Let them make the first move.

"You're a detective, right? I need you to find someone" Said a young man dressed in black rags with a rather hoarse voice for someone so young.

"Of course you already know, otherwise you wouldn't have kidnapped me by now. As for finding someone, it depends on who you're looking for". Ranpo already had an idea, but by now he was kidnapped, he might as well play the game a little longer .

"An idiot- A boy, he should be the same age as me, he lives in a shitty orphanage, he has silver hair with a black lock."

'Ah obviously what else did I expect.'

"And where is this orphanage located?"

“I don't know, this is your work, detective.”

It had been fun, but now it was becoming nothing but ridiculous, who would ask someone to find a random person without having a name, an address, a more or less decent description and after kidnapping them.

(Ranpo would be able to find anyone obviously)

He decided to abandon the act.

"Okay, okay Akutagawa-kun, I understand that you want to find Atsushi-kun, but he is no longer at the orphanage."

The now identified Akutagawa didn't appear very surprised that Ranpo also remembered the future.

"So you know what happened to us?" Asked a softer voice behind him.

'The second kidnapper was obviously the sister, Gin Akutagawa'

"I can't say I know how we ended up in the past, but I can guarantee you two truths."

Both siblings looked at him more or less warily, but it was clear that he had their attention and that they believed him.

'Good'

"So the first truth is that tomorrow evening we will have a full agency meeting and there we will be able to compare everything we have discovered about this unexpected time travel". He took a moment to let them assimilate the information.

"And the second?"

"Ah, you should duck now. In about 5 seconds, two angry assassins will burst into the building to save me."

"Wha-'

The sound of breaking glass interrupted the question.

'Fukuzawa took less time than last time. Let's hope that this time at least he doesn't slap me'

[Yosano]

Two days since she had returned to this hell.

Two days since she had last seen the sunlight or breathed fresh air.

Two days of her being locked and handcuffed in this containment room after attacking that doctor.

'Ranpo, where are you?'

She thought she could wait, be patient. But she had heard whispers, terrible words that probably weren't meant for her ears.

The nurses, after all, had found no better place to gossip than in front of her door.

"Doctor Mori said he'd be here in a couple of hours, right? I wonder if he'll finally take that creepy little girl away."

"I heard that she attacked the doctor on duty and kept stabbing him with a pen until they sedated her"

"Why are you so surprised? After all, this institution host too many crazy people."

'Crazy, huh? She was locked up here against her will and drugged every day, but she was the crazy one for them.'

"Now go, your shift isn't over, and you don't get paid to gossip"

Then the nurses walked away from her and left her alone again with only her thoughts to keep her company.

Yosano didn't know what to do with what she had just heard. She did not remember this meeting. Mori had come to torment her several times in the past, but after being rescued by Ranpo, she had almost completely forgotten about her time in captivity.

After all, the drugs she had to take didn't exactly help with her memory.

Until now, she had been grateful for it, she didn't want to remember this period of her life, but now she needed those memories to resist as best as possible and completely avoid Mori.

......

Yosano didn't know how much time had passed when she heard the door to her room (her cell) open.

It could have been a couple of minutes as well as a couple of hours.

His footsteps approached her slowly, yet Yosano refused to look up at him.

She didn't want him to see her when she was so defenseless.

"It has been a while since we've seen each other, my dear Yosano, I heard that your claws have grown". The voice was slightly amused, he was obviously smiling at her while mocking her.

Yosano remained silent, not wanting to humor him in any way.

(She didn't want to risk her instinctive feeling of disgust at being called 'huz Yosano' echoing in the cramped room.)

"Are you still ignoring me, my dear? Haven't you yet realized that your only chance of getting out of this room is to cooperate?" His cloying reproachful tone, as if he was talking to a disobedient dog, was getting on her nerves.

'I can't kill him, I can't kill him, I can't kill him' had become her new mantra.

The footsteps suddenly came closer, and she could feel a hand come closer to her face.

"You don't even look at me? How cruel-"

'Knock Knock'

A sudden knock on the door stopped the movement and Yosano could only be grateful for the interruption.

"Ogai-dono, excuse me, there is an urgent message for you," the voice sounded young and strangely familiar.

'Could it be?'

"Ahh, for your sake, I hope this is really important. Now come closer."

The sound of light, quick footsteps filled the room for an instant.

“Here sir,” said the voice from just above her. This statement was followed by a rustling of papers.

“You look pretty young boy. Who hired you?”

This was the last clue she needed to convince herself to look up at her. It had to be someone like her who had woken up in the past and had now come to help her.

Just as she was about to see the face of the mysterious boy, a sudden light filled the room.

"WHAT DID YOU DO-" Mori's voice cut off abruptly and something fell on the ground.

When her vision cleared, she found herself facing a young man with dark, messy hair.

"Yosano-sensei, are you okay? Ranpo-kun asked me to help you! A helicopter is waiting for us outside. Are you able to walk?"

Yosano didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Ranpo had done it, he had saved her, again, even if not in person.

"Poe-kun, nice to see you again, grab a wheelchair and let's get out of here. I suddenly feel like throwing a book into the ocean."

-

Shortly after, in the helicopter with Poe, Yosano finally allowed himself to relax.

"Thank you so much Poe, I'll make sure you and Ranpo have a nice date after this."

At this, Poe blushed and stammered but did not stop smiling.

Yosano couldn't stop smiling either.

'They were going home'