After becoming a chaotic daughter

Edogawa Ranpo was dragged out of the bed in the dormitory early in the morning.

Today is his birthday, so he can take a day off, sleep until noon, and then go to the detective agency to eat cake for his birthday, and in the afternoon, he is scheduled to go to the amusement park.

When booking the tickets yesterday, he specifically told Xie Ye to buy the tickets for the haunted house in advance, so that he could see the new intern Kunikida whose face turned pale and his legs trembled when he was frightened by the ghost.

In the evening, he will go to Chinatown to eat dumplings and his favorite sesame glutinous rice balls.

He clearly arranged his birthday, but this plan was destroyed by a call from the city police before it even started.

Last night, a bank in the city center was robbed at gunpoint. The criminal killed a hostage, took away [-] million yen in cash, and then fled without a trace.The incompetent policemen were helpless, and after a night of futile work, they sent a request for help to the detective agency.

So Edogawa Ranpo's birthday began when he was called back to work overtime during the holidays.

The person entrusted to accompany him this time is a new intern member of the detective agency two months ago, a 14-year-old boy named Doppo Kunikida, who has been recommended to Dongda University because of his "good" academic performance. The school is waiting for the start of the university next year to report directly, so it can go to work according to the attendance of ordinary members.

Edogawa Ranpo heard the information of the incident from the phone while washing.

While changing clothes, he told the police on the other end of the phone the deduced hiding place of the prisoner.

While climbing into the taxi parked in front of the dormitory, I thought about where the [-] million yen was hidden.

Then I slept all the way in the taxi, yawned and was dragged out of the car by Kunikida. I was so sleepy that I was so sleepy. After getting off the car, I went the wrong way. After being held down by Kunikida, I squatted on the side of the road and blew for 10 minutes. The cold wind finally woke up completely, and then realized that he forgot to wear a hat. At the same time, his stomach also growled.

"——I want to eat a sandwich from the 711 convenience store! Newcomers, hurry up and buy it for me!"

Rampo, who immediately felt hungry when he woke up, ordered Kunikida to run errands without hesitation.

Worried about his senior Ranpo's ability to recognize the way, Kunikida took Ranpo all the way to the downstairs of the apartment at the scene of the crime, and then left to go to 711 to buy him a sandwich.

But even so, Luan Bu went to the third floor by mistake, and was scolded by the hangover uncle who lived in 314 before climbing to the fourth floor.

At the stairs on the fourth floor, he saw a little radish squatting in the corner of a dog.

Edogawa Ranpo used his extremely clever brain for a little bit, and he didn't even need the props and glasses that the president gave him to activate [Super Reasoning], he could see the identity of the little luotou—he lived in The robber's daughter in this apartment.

It can be seen that little luotou has not been well taken care of by his "father". He is malnourished, weak in body, shabby in clothes, and not as active as children of the same age.

Luanbu, who was going upstairs, immediately slowed down, and tiptoed to the back of Little Luootou and squatted down.

"--What are you doing?"

He deliberately said abruptly.

Little Carrot's head was like a cat with fried fur, shaking all over.

*******

Edogawa Ranpo squatted on the edge of the flower bed downstairs in the apartment.

Beside him, squatted a little radish head who looked a little dull.

Five minutes ago, he brought this little radish into the murder scene, wanting to see how this precocious little radish would react when he saw his dead father.

It turned out to be very boring, and the reaction of Little Luobotou was that there was no response. After being questioned, he choked out a sentence of "death is good", which was still a question, as if what was lying in front of him was not the dead body of his own father, or even A dead body, but a TV playing juvenile cartoons.

Then they were discovered by the Aoki police department who came out after making the phone call. The Aoki police department was very angry when they saw that Ranpo brought the child to the murder scene, packed the two together and threw them downstairs, and told Ranpo to report to the president. Reflect on the ideological problems of the members-that is, ask the president to make a small report on the chaos.

In the first step, I realized that even a little kid has such a high level of ideological consciousness, and can say "death is good" when facing the dead body of his own father. In the second step, the police department said that he would report his feelings to the president. "Ideological problems", Edogawa Ranpo squatted on the side of the road dejectedly, and began to doubt life.

Nana, who was squatting next to him, glanced at him and felt that he seemed very busy, so she continued to squat on her own, biting her fingers and thinking about her own life.

Kunikida ran for three streets and finally bought a 711 sandwich. When he came back, he saw two radishes, one big and one small, squatting on the side of the road to greet him.

Oh no, maybe not to greet him.

When he saw Ranpo's "I just remembered such a person" and Nana's "big brother who are you" eyes, he realized that these two radishes were probably just squatting on the side of the road.

"Carrot first...cough, Mr. Ranpo, your sandwich." Kunikida handed the bought sandwich to Ranpo, and covered his mouth with a blunt cough, "How is the case going? "

He asked without hope, intending to take a formality.

After all, although he has only been working in the detective agency for two months, he has already understood Ranpo's character of "doing nothing but solving the case", and dealing with the police has always been the responsibility of those who work with him.

Ready to hear Ranpo's reply "You guys solve that kind of thing yourself", Kunikida pushed his glasses calmly, and then heard Ranpo's non-motivated voice say as expected:

"Complained."

Kunikida: "Hmm... eh???"

"...I just brought this kid to the scene of the murder case, and the Aoki police department said that they would go to the president to complain to me!" Realizing that there was someone complaining, Luanbu turned up the volume all of a sudden, waved his hands in dissatisfaction, The cloak on his shoulders fluttered, "What's the 'thought'... what, the famous detective just needs to be responsible for solving the case! It doesn't matter at all like this kind of trivial matter!"

"This brat"...?

Kunikida shifted his gaze to the little carrot next to Ranpo.

Nana also raised her head and looked at him expressionlessly.

[...This child only has kindergarten, right? 】

Kunikida wondered in his heart.

"You brought this child to the scene because...?" He asked cautiously.

"Ang?" Luanbu stopped complaining and answered him naturally, "Take her to see her father."

Kunikida: "Then who is her father?"

"Oh, it's one of the robbers who died. I'll take her in to see her father's body." Ranbu didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it, and said while taking out the still warm sandwich from the paper bag, "Speaking of which, Kunikida, I want to eat ice cream, have you seen where ice cream is sold?"

Kunikida: "..."

He probably understood why the Aoki police department wanted to complain.

It took him a while, and he finally persuaded Ranpo to give up the idea of ​​eating ice cream on an empty stomach.Last week, Luanbo secretly drank iced Coke in the middle of the night and ended up with diarrhea for two days. He still vividly remembers it. Kunikida, who pays attention to healthy diet, does not want to see this kind of history repeated.

After solving the problem of disorderly steps, Kunikida finally freed up and glanced at Nana who had been squatting on the ground. Probably because her legs were a little numb from squatting, Nana stood up unsteadily, stomped her feet, then turned around and pulled With short hands and short legs, she wanted to climb up the flower bed.

Her movements seemed to be really difficult, so Kunikida reached out to grab her and let her sit firmly on the flower bed.

Picking up the small blanket that was placed on the flower bed before, Nana wrapped herself up tightly, raised her expressionless face, and dryly said "thank you" to Kunikida with a not-so-standard pronunciation.

"……you are welcome."

Kunikida looked at Nana who had arranged himself well, and then looked at Ranbu who had left his troubles behind because he got the sandwich, feeling a little complicated.

****

"Is that Kunikida-kun?" After glancing at the news in the text message, the Aoki Police Department shook hands with the boy who met for the first time.

This is not the first time she has cooperated with Ranpo, but in the past, most of the people who walked with Ranpo were girls with butterfly hairpins. This is the first time she has seen the new Kunikida Doppo.

Although young, he seems to be a reliable boy.

Aoki Police Department gave the evaluation of the first impression in his heart.

The two briefly talked about the case, and the police have recovered the stolen money according to Ranpo's reasoning. The identity and cause of death of the robber have also been clarified. Only after the autopsy results come out, they can prepare to declare the prisoner dead and return the stolen money. Case closed.

But now the only question left is...

"That child..." Police Department Aoki glanced at Nana who was sitting by the flower bed.

Luanbu gave her a small sandwich, and the two of them sat in a row on the flower bed, one wearing a small cape and the other wrapped in a small blanket, holding their respective sandwiches with their hands, their mouths filled with sandwiches were bulging , accompanied by the movement of chewing.

Kunikida was taken aback, "Is there any question?"

Logically speaking, the police should contact her other guardians to pick her up.

"We checked her guardianship relationship. Her father is dead now, and her mother's record is also dead. She was pregnant before marriage and died of dystocia. There is no identity certificate, and there are no relatives on the matrilineal side. There are relatives on the father's side. A cousin, but the relationship seems a bit bad."

"... I'm afraid I'm going to have a bad life in foster care there." Aoki Police Department lowered the volume and said in a low voice, "But if you don't go there, you can only go to the orphanage."

In recent years, Japan's economic situation has not been very good, and it is conceivable what kind of life the orphanage will have.

It's just the difference between [bad option A] and [bad option B].

Their dignified conversation didn't bother the two who were eating sandwiches a few meters away.Although she drank a bag of milk, the feeling of fullness brought by bread and eggs is incomparable to that of liquid drinks. Nana concentrated on eating a small sandwich that Ranpo gave her. The egg is only as big as half of her palm and the two knuckles of Luanbu, and the eggs she eats are only a little bit of egg white.

But in this situation, some food is enough, and she is not very picky.She patted her stomach, she was full, like a round little watermelon.

Ranpo also quickly finished the sandwich in his hand. He looked around boredly, and noticed the Aoki police department and Kunikida who were talking quietly not far away. Although separated by some distance, he couldn't hear what they were talking about. , but as a detective, he doesn't need to "listen" to know what the two of them are talking about.

He glanced at the little girl who was quietly wrapped in a blanket and sitting next to him, her face was expressionless, like a piece of wood without emotion.

It was the same when I saw my father's body, there was no fluctuation at all, as if I was watching a boring drama, I couldn't show my face, but I didn't bother to cheer, so I just watched with a dull face.

Is it a distant relative's family with a bad relationship, or a poor orphanage?

Ranbu guessed in his heart where Nana would be sent, but he also knew that these two choices were not good places.

For a child, the only "good place" in the world is the "home" where the father and mother are, and all other places will not be much better.

Ranbu knows this better than anyone else. You see, even though his father entrusted him to an acquaintance who ran the police academy before his death, didn't he still get kicked out because he offended the dormitory administrator?

In this world, the only people who can tolerate you unconditionally are your parents. Besides, anywhere else, you need to lower your head, bend your spine, bend your knees, and grind away all the edges and corners to be able to Find a temporary shelter.

As for Nana, she never even had "parents who will always tolerate her".

It's just going from one "bad place" to another "bad place".

Police Department Aoki and Kunikida finished their conversation and walked over together.

There was pity in the eyes of the young lady from the police department, but she could only say to the skinny girl in front of her: "Nanako, you won't be able to live with your father anymore, but your father still has a cousin...that's your uncle." , if they agree, you can live with your uncle's family, but the uncle's family has other older brothers and sisters, so the uncle will not only take care of you like your father, or Nanako can also go to the orphanage, there are many Like Nanako, children who don't live with their parents, if they are there, Nanako may have new parents in the future, but Nanako must be careful not to quarrel with other children."

"Where does Nanako want to go?"

She tried to use simple words as much as possible, and described to Nana what it was like to go to the uncle's house and the orphanage, but even so, Nana was dizzy.

A lot of [Dad].

Lots of [uncles].

A lot of [kids].

Nana was confused by the complicated subject-verb-object relationship in Japanese. She even hoped that the police lady could speak to her in English, so that she might be able to understand it better.

She only figured out one thing.

【Oh, so my name is Nanako. 】

Nanako, who finally knew her current name, suddenly realized.

Then he immediately fell into deep thought.

[... what uncle? 】

[Welfare facility... seems to mean an orphanage? 】

She was struggling to fill in the blanks.

[Wait a minute, so I don't have a mother? 】

Nanako finally realized something slowly—she seemed to be an orphan again now.

Both parents died, no car, no house, either living in another family or being sent to an orphanage. The hard copy of life has been placed in front of her waiting to be opened. Cinderella also has her fairy godmother and midnight magic, but Nanako Only the mess left by a "father" who committed crimes.

"Nanako?"

Aoki Police Department called her softly.

Nanako came back to her senses, raised her head and saw her eyes full of pity and a strong sense of justice, which made Nanako shiver uncontrollably, and wrapped the little blanket around her body tightly.

There is a life-threatening spell in front of you, do you want to choose [bad option A]?Or [bad option B]?

Others are traveling to start a wonderful new life in another world, but she is a very hard start that is only slightly better than the hell mode.

For now, there seems to be only one way.

Nanako stretched out her hand decisively, grabbed the cloak of the innocent and deceitful young man beside her, and shouted the most standard Japanese sentence after she crossed over:

"--dad!"

All in all, let's change the father first.

The author has something to say:

Limited-time father-swapping event, buy one (ranpo) and get one free (Kunikida), if you miss it, it is your fault, so buy it quickly

Kunikida:?

----

[Kunikida's Private Design] (Explanation added on June 2021.6.6, [-])

(1) At present, only the original works are known: ① Kunikida is the third investigator to join the agency (Hanabuki should be invited by him to join the agency, so it is the fourth) ② Kunikida has joined the detective agency for a while when he was 20 years old ③ Kunikida worked as a math teacher before joining the detective agency, and became a part-time teacher after joining the detective agency

(2) Therefore, the private setting is as follows: 14-year-old Kunikida was an intern in a detective agency, and then skipped a grade to go to university. After graduating from university, he worked as a part-time teacher in a detective agency. Later, he resigned as a teacher and became a part-time teacher in a detective agency

(3) This private setting is mainly because if Kunikida is set to join the detective agency at the age of 18 or 9, then the detective agency will have only two investigators, Ranpo and Yosano, for nearly ten years, unless I create original characters, But since we have to be original, why not drag Kunikida out first and let him start work in advance, after all, 14 years old is quite a good age