After becoming a chaotic daughter

Edgar Allan Poe's residence in Yokohama was a two-story Western-style house with a courtyard.

The annex was bought by him two months ago when he just decided to participate in the expedition. In order to have a foothold, he found a private agency to come to Yokohama to buy it first. After all, he was going to live with a group of colleagues. 【Moby Dick】Or in a hotel, you can see him every day without looking up or down. For him, a "social coward", it is really a very breathless thing for him.

The annex that I bought was half-new and not old, and the layout inside basically remained the same, but all the furnishings and decorations were brand new. From buying the house to finishing the re-arrangement, plus the entrusted agency fee, it cost him almost 300 $[-] seems like a huge amount of money, but compared to his writing fee for writing novels and the salary paid to him by the composition, this amount of money is not considered an expensive expense in his eyes.

In order to let "Ranbu-kun's daughter" feel the "uniqueness" of the annex in all directions, Poe introduced almost the entire annex to Nanako in great detail, and took her and Gogol with great interest. After shopping around, after nearly an hour, I finally came to a room that looked like a lounge.

The spacious room has a large floor-to-ceiling window. When the curtains are drawn, the whole room is brightened. There are tall solid wood bookshelves beside the wall, crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, thick velvet blankets on the floor, and a large sofa. Enough for an adult to roll on it.

Beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, there is a black round table covered with a tablecloth, on which tea sets and placemats have been placed.Poe went to the wall and opened a "closet" door.It is a built-in refrigerator with double doors, which is two meters high and more than one meter wide.Taking out refreshments from the refrigerator, Edgar Allan Poe placed the cream cake and a three-tier dessert plate with various delicate desserts on the round table.

"Please sit down." He raised his hand, made an inviting gesture to Nanako, and made a pot of black tea for her and Gogol.

【...Finally able to eat. 】

Before I came in, I didn't expect that I would have to walk around for an hour to eat cakes. Nanako's legs were tired from walking.

She sat down at the edge of the round table, picked up a silver fork, dug out a corner from the seemingly small, delicate and expensive cream cake, opened her mouth, and stuffed this small piece of cake into her mouth .

The delicate cream mixed with the soft cake embryo melts in the mouth, sweet but not greasy, as soft as biting into a cloud.Nanako pursed her lips, and tried her best to feel how delicious the high-end cream cake of the "Michelin three-star restaurant" was.

【…】

[It seems to be similar to the cake in the coffee shop downstairs. 】

Nanako didn't notice any difference when she ate it, she just felt that this high-end cream cake was a little softer, it melted in her mouth before she had time to bite twice, it was like eating ice cream, so she couldn't feel the joy of eating cake at all .

Nanako, who is not a gourmet expert and has no sensitive taste buds, did not feel the difference between the expensive cake and ordinary cakes. No, I can't eat a few bites at all.

She took only a few bites, and half of the cake was gone.Picking up the porcelain cup at hand, Nanako wanted to drink something, but found that the white porcelain cup contained very fragrant black tea.Although the black tea smells very fragrant, it has no taste and is a bit bitter. Nanako doesn't like to drink it very much. The last time she drank black tea at afternoon tea was when she was invited by Yuki Yaya to play in the royal garden in elementary school.

Not really wanting to drink black tea, Nanako looked around, trying to find something else to drink, and saw Poe took out two small saucers from the cabinet, and he put the small saucers on the carpet, I poured two plates of orange drinks for the raccoons and cats who were playing around on the sofa.

"What's that?" she asked Poe, who had begun again to share snacks between the two little animals.

"What?" Poe paused, and after seeing what Nanako was asking, he answered her in a gentle tone: "This is the juice prepared by the restaurant for Carl."

Nanako stared at the half glass bottle of juice left after pouring, and asked Edgar Allan Poe, "Can I drink it?"

"Of course." Edgar Allan Poe replied, "This is the juice squeezed from fresh fruit flown in from Southeast Asia, and I sometimes drink it with Carl."

He poured Nanako a glass of juice, and asked Gogol next to him with great interest: "Do you want it too?"

He has always had such a perfunctory attitude towards Gogol. It seems that he completely regarded Gogol as Nanako's bodyguard or something. He got Gogol's confirmed answer, and he also gave Gogol a half glass of juice.

Nanako drank the juice and quickly finished a small piece of cream cake, then reached for the beautiful and delicate treats on the three-tiered tray.

Macarons, brownies, cookies, scones, fruit tarts... She didn't speak, she just kept eating in small bites. The juice was gone, and the snacks on the tray were almost eaten by her.

Feeling that her stomach was already full, Nanako stopped eating. She took the handkerchief on the table and wiped her mouth and hands. Tea, dark eyes do not turn.

Being stared at by such a pair of dark eyes, it seemed that an invisible stone was pressing heavily on the top of his head. The teacup that Poe picked up had already been brought to his mouth, but he couldn't drink the tea no matter what.

He always felt that his back was a little hairy, as if something like a ghost was standing behind him and staring at him.

Three seconds, five seconds, ten seconds.

20 second, 30 seconds, 50 seconds.

……

After a long stalemate of 1 minute, the teacup in Edgar Allan Poe's hand fell back to the coaster, and he proposed rationally and calmly: "...how about we talk about something?"

Afternoon tea is a time to enjoy refreshments and chat leisurely, but Poe is a lonely person, even in the group, there are few familiar colleagues, let alone people who can drink afternoon tea with.

In his previous life, afternoon tea was almost just drinking tea and snacks with Carl, and occasionally writing some novels by hand. He couldn't remember the last time he drank afternoon tea with others like this. thing.

Although he has a little bit of social fear, there are not many people around him now. There are still two "children" in their teens, one of whom is Ranbu-kun's daughter, which makes him still It can be regarded as saying something naturally - of course, the most important reason for this is that the person he wants to talk to is "Ranbu-kun's daughter".

This is a wonderful opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the "opponent". No matter how detailed the written information is, how can it compare to the "testimonies" given by the family members who have been with Mr. Ranpo day and night?

Poe was ready to engrave every sentence of Nanako's next words into his mind.

He asked Nanako: "In Miss Nanako's opinion, what kind of person is Ranpo-kun?"

"?" Hearing Edgar Allan Poe's sudden question, Nanako, who no longer knew where she was wandering, took a slow beat before she came back to her senses, and blinked her dark eyes slowly.

The first reactions that popped up in her mind were not very good descriptions such as "idiot", "knowing the way", "fishing at work", "spending money indiscriminately", etc. After thinking for a long time, Nanako In the end, he chose a more euphemistic way of saying: "Dad... a little stupid."

【...It seems that there is no euphemism in saying so. 】

After answering, Nanako realized this.

[I see, Ranbu-kun is a bit stupid...huh? 】

Edgar Allan Poe's mind was stuck for a moment, and he failed to connect the words "random step" and "stupid" together. After a delay of two seconds, his thoughts finally started to work again.

【... Could it be that Ranpo-kun is a bit clumsy as a "father"? 】He speculated in his heart, trying to "rationalize" Nanako's description, 【Although super reasoning is a perfect ability and random step talent is so wonderful, but that's just him as a "detective" and " This is true for human beings, if it is Ranpo-kun who is his father...]

Poe thought of some of the things he had learned from the intelligence he had gathered.The girl in front of me is not Ranpo-kun's blood daughter, but a child he adopted from somewhere more than seven years ago. In other words, Ranpo-kun is not the "biological father". As a "father", It's only at the level of "halfway to work", and it should be reasonable to be a little uncomfortable with the affairs of being a "father".

Edgar Allan Poe speculated in his heart that some filters made him subconsciously ignore the point that "seven years is not too short".

"So, does Ranbu-kun have any shortcomings?" He decided to ask more directly. "Shortcomings" extend to "weaknesses". Mastering the weaknesses of Ranbu-jun will be more beneficial to him in the duel in the future.

The cat running around came to Nanako's feet again, and rubbed against Nanako's calf. Nanako reached out to touch the cat's head, and jumped out word by word:

"Do not know the way."

"Greedy."

"I like to be lazy."

"Spending money on useless things."

"I'll stay in bed."

"..."

She spoke several times before finally stopping. Poe took all the "shortcomings" she said into his mind, and then "asked himself":

Can these shortcomings be used to defeat Ranpo-kun?

Without thinking at all, Poe can give the answer immediately:

No, unless he is not competing with Ranbu for brains, but a competition for who will get up earlier tomorrow.

[Damn it, as expected of Ranbu-kun. 】

Poe thought with chagrin.

[Sure enough, he is an impeccable man! 】

After eating everything she wanted to eat, Nanako began to feel bored. The cat lay on her lap. The floor-to-ceiling windows allow you to see a piece of sky outside.

The sound insulation of the annex is very good, with the windows closed, the sound from outside cannot come in at all.The two-story annex is not too high. Looking through the floor-to-ceiling windows, most of the area in the field of vision is covered by tall buildings, and even the sky that can be seen is very narrow.It was noon when she and Gogol came out, and they spent a lot of time visiting the annex, and it was almost evening now.

The sun is gradually moving towards the west, and the blue sky is covered with a touch of gold. A few gray-black smoke rises from an unknown block in the distance. It looks a bit dirty, and it is not known that it is the exhaust gas emitted by the factory. Or was the smoke rising because of something else.

She stared at the black smoke rising outside the window for a long time, and Poe also noticed her movement, followed her line of sight to look out, and found the intermittent and crooked black smoke floating up to the sky. cigarette.

"Has the time come yet?" He whispered to himself, "Huh, I almost forgot..."

"What time?" Gogol, who hadn't said much all this time, suddenly asked him.

Poe glanced at Gogol. He remembered that Gogol was also a member of the detective agency. He seemed to be a criminal. His existence could not be found in the government files, and the few records he could find were all in the detective agency. The one who appeared in the operation, I don't know if it was a member or something else, lived with Mr. Ranbu and his daughter.

"Time for group action." He still answered Gogol's question, speaking in a calm and unhurried manner.

【...More. 】

There were a few more strands of black smoke rising in the distance. Nanako watched the gray-black smoke rise to a certain height, like ink melted into water, and gradually faded in color. The air quality may not be very good for a few days.

She heard Poe suddenly addressing her:

"Do you like this city?"

Turning her eyes from the window to Poe, Nanako didn't know why Poe asked such a strange question, but she still tilted her head and thought about it.She doesn't have any preferences or dislikes. She thinks that everything is the same. Yokohama is neither good nor bad, but there seem to be a lot of criminals.

So she answered Edgar Allan Poe: "So-so."

Poe lowered his head, groped the wall of the teacup with his fingers, and said slowly: "In this case, then the day this city is destroyed, you should not be too sad... I hope that Mr. Ranbu is also like this."

【……destroy?what destruction? 】

Nanako was confused.

It is a word that is not colloquial in principle, and therefore normal people do not usually use it when speaking, but Edgar Allan Poe uttered this kind of sentence like a line in a cartoon very naturally. There is no sense of shame, as if the next sentence he will say "If you don't want this city to be destroyed, then try to save it"-such a line between the villain and the neutral.

——"If you don't want this city to be destroyed, then let Ranpo-kun try to save it."

Poe continued.

Nanako: "..."

She wanted to ask Gogol quietly, why Mr. Chang Liuhai has not graduated from the second term of middle school at such an age, but she just turned her head and looked at Gogol who was propping his head with an unchanged smile on his face, and suddenly Another thing came to mind.

Gogol started talking about "freedom", "gods", and "flying birds" two years ago. Mr. Chang Liuhai did not graduate from the second term of middle school, and neither did Gogol sitting next to her.

【never mind. 】

Nanako easily chose to give up, anyway, it is not she who will be ashamed because of the black history society when she grows up.Thinking of this, she decided to let it go with more peace of mind.

Stayed at Edgar Allan Poe's house for a while, and played a game of cards. When the sun went down, the sunset glow poured into the house through the floor-to-ceiling windows, covering the whole room with a layer of golden-red gauze. Nanako felt that It was almost time to go back to dinner, and then I got up and prepared to go back to the detective agency.

Poe and the two plushies escort her and Gogol to the door.

"Please send my regards to Mr. Ranbu, we are looking forward to the duel with him at any time." Poe said politely while holding the door.

"Yeah." Nanako nodded, "Goodbye."

She pulled Gogol's cloak and just walked two steps away when Edgar Allan Poe's voice came calling her.Nanako stopped in her tracks and turned around. Poe was still standing at the door, and raccoons and cats were playing around at his feet.

"You forgot to take the cat away," Poe reminded Nanako.

[Cat?What cat?do i have a cat 】

Nanako showed a little confused look on her face. Did Mr. Long Bangs mean that cat over there covered in chocolate sauce?

"...that's not my cat." She paused, looked at the cat at Edgar Allan Poe's feet, and asked him again: "Isn't this your cat?"

Edgar Allan Poe: "..."

Edgar Allan Poe: "No, my only companion is Carl, a raccoon."

His voice was a little low but he said with certainty.

The two people, one tall and one short, looked at each other for a few seconds, and then moved their eyes to the third person present.

Gogol: "?"

"Me?" Gogol's golden eyes blinked, "It's not mine, Mr. Ranpo said, you can't just pick up strange things outside, otherwise my pocket money will be deducted."

The yard was quiet for a few seconds, and all eyes finally fell back on the Himalayan cat that was playing with Carl.

Not yours, not mine, not his.

—Where did the cat come from?