Ayanokouji’s Guide to Using Tools at Butei High - Chapter 11

Last night was arguably the most chaotic night in history for the Hyatt Hotel, one of Fuyuki City’s landmarks. However, once the night passed, the Hyatt Hotel handled the incident of the hidden explosives flawlessly and perfectly, earning itself a stellar reputation.

Another beneficiary of this situation was the Armed Detective Agency.

Holding the Fuyuki newspaper with the Agency on the front page, Tanizaki Junichiro let out a sigh and said: “We still couldn’t prevent the explosion after all; the Hyatt Hotel suffered too much loss this time. If only I had been given a little more time…”

“At least no one was injured.” Seeing that Tanizaki Junichiro had almost fallen into an infinite loop of self-brainwashing and self-reproach, I spoke up to remind him, taking a sip of coffee as I did.

Because the Hyatt Hotel was bombed, the hotel, in order to compensate the guests, proactively covered the corresponding lodging expenses for the travelers on the registry within Fuyuki City and arranged for other hotels under its brand to receive them.

Naturally, the food and beverages provided were not inferior to the original standard.

Therefore, the white coffee in my hand was fragrant, smooth, and mellow, well above standard. Furthermore, white coffee was originally designed for Asians who are not used to the sour and bitter taste of black coffee, so it lacked the common astringency and was much more pleasant to drink than ordinary black coffee.

Personally, I believe this bombing incident was not entirely a bad thing for the Hyatt Hotel. True, it had been blown up, and the building could no longer be put to use. But the Hyatt Hotel, as a commercial entity, naturally possesses corresponding business insurance.

As an accidental event, the insurance company should, according to the contract, build a brand-new hotel for the Hyatt.

Moreover, the Hyatt Hotel had always been the tallest building since the development of Fuyuki’s New Town, which speaks to the building’s age; it was already on the verge of becoming a symbol of the past. Not to mention that the height of the New Town Central Building currently under construction is overtaking the Hyatt; predictably, many new buildings in the future would also exceed its height.

This reconstruction could also be a rebirth.

Under its already-established good name, the Hyatt Hotel simply needs to continue operating properly.

Furthermore, most importantly, what does this matter have to do with me? Why care if the Hyatt is currently suffering heavy losses? I don’t quite understand Tanizaki Junichiro’s inclination to worry about other people’s affairs. On this point, I support the approach of Edogawa Ranpo, who minds his own business and remains self-centered.

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.

Edogawa Ranpo had just finished his second cup of white coffee.

The white coffee tasted very good, so he was guzzling it like milk. Ordinarily, no matter how good the coffee tastes, one shouldn’t drink too much at once. But this white coffee has less excessive caffeine and is not as likely to irritate the stomach. So, drinking a lot indeed wouldn’t affect the body that much.

Only, afterward, Edogawa will definitely really want to go to the toilet, won’t he?

I thought this while looking at the clean bottom of his cup.

At that moment, noticing my gaze, Edogawa asked back very vigilantly, like a cat guarding its food: “What?”

Speaking of which, when he woke up this morning, he was hit by me, so Edogawa is currently in an exceptionally manic mood.

As for why he was hit, it was because the first thing he did upon waking up was find me and provocatively shout in my face: “Look, I finished all the cake! Tanizaki’s and yours, I ate them all! Hit me if you can! Hahahaha, die of anger!”

Then, I gave him a flick on the forehead.

I feel that from this morning’s story, he should understand the meaning of speaking and acting with caution.

Seeing Edogawa baring his teeth and flailing his arms at me, I said expressionlessly: “I saw you finished it and just wanted to ask if you’d like another cup?” I turned toward Tanizaki and said: “Tanizaki-kun, would you like another cup as well? I’ll bring one for you too while I’m at it.”

“Thanks for the trouble.” Tanizaki handed me his cup.

My hand reached out toward Edogawa, but he simply turned his head away, not intending to acknowledge me. Thinking that he would ignore me like this all day, I brought a small plate of strawberries—about a dozen of them—for Edogawa Ranpo after pouring the coffee for Tanizaki.

“Eat up.”

I pushed the plate of strawberries onto the table in front of Edogawa Ranpo.

“Even if the strawberries are delicious, I won’t forgive you.” Edogawa Ranpo had to throw out a harsh word before eating.

“I know.”

I naturally knew, which was why I brought him a plate of strawberries. Strawberries are delicious, but eating too many easily stimulates intestinal peristalsis and makes one want to go to the toilet.

Edogawa seemed to think I had softened, and his hands began moving left and right, stuffing strawberries into his mouth.

Tanizaki didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this. After finishing the newspaper in his hand, he switched to looking at news on the internet and began reading the parts Edogawa was interested in. The reason he did this was that Edogawa disliked reading dry news; he let Tanizaki read it and then explain it to him.

Before long, Tanizaki’s expression turned ugly as he read, as he recited the bolded and emphasized sentences from the online news.

“The Armed Detective Agency’s massive blunder causes a large number of deaths among missing person victims—”

“The Armed Detective Agency acts arbitrarily, disregarding human life, and shows no remorse—”

“The Yokohama Armed Detective Agency is unworthy of its name; it is impressive only on the surface but hollow inside, handling the disappearance cases recklessly and carelessly—”

After reading four or five sentences, Tanizaki looked at Edogawa Ranpo, whose mouth was full of strawberries, at a total loss. Because his mood was so terrible, he had no heart for smiling.

Substituting for the unable-to-speak Edogawa, I asked: “What exactly is going on?”

Tanizaki then explained to us what was happening at the Agency.

I organized it in my own way.

Just yesterday, the Agency received a request saying that strange noises were heard in an abandoned hospital in the suburbs and hoped the Agency could handle it. As a result, the trio of Kunikida, Dazai, and Nakajima Atsushi—led by Kunikida—found the victims of the Yokohama disappearance case that has been causing a stir lately in that hospital. However, they only saved one person. All the other victims died from the perpetrator’s gas bombs.

The result of this mission was: “A total of four deaths, with no clues regarding the perpetrator.”

This incident happened last night; at that time, Edogawa was already asleep, and Tanizaki was busy evacuating the hotel crowd. The news of the Agency’s failure to save the people naturally wouldn’t have been released by the Agency itself; rather, someone had placed a camera in the hospital, edited the footage of Kunikida and the others’ actions into a video, and sold it to the news media.

Television, newspapers, the internet, and other media were all reporting on this extensively, with a flood of negative reviews targeting the Agency’s failure.

Now, as I imagined, the Agency is in big trouble.

Since I have already joined the Agency, I believe I should also express an opinion at a time like this. So, I continued: “As long as we find the perpetrator of the disappearance case, it should be fine, right?”

“That’s easy to say…”

Tanizaki’s voice trailed off halfway through his sentence due to his low spirits.

Tanizaki really is as much of a worrier as ever.

Just as I was pondering how to continue, the rhythmic smacking sound of Edogawa biting strawberries echoed in the silence, finally turning into a ‘gulp’ of swallowing.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and said: “Just let Ayanokouji handle this matter!”

“Do you know?” Edogawa, as if fearing his words weren’t enough to shake me, continued: “We have rules at the Agency; every person who joins must participate in an entrance exam to assess their character…”

“Ah—Ranpo-san, you can’t say that! That’s supposed to be conducted in secret…”

Seeing Tanizaki so nervously trying to interrupt Edogawa, I could more or less tell that what Edogawa said was true.

“And I am the examiner.” Edogawa Ranpo raised his head and said to me: “Ayanokouji, you have to complete this entrance exam! You need to help resolve this matter for the Detective Agency.”

“Ah, you can’t say that either.”

Tanizaki directly buried his face in his hands.

I had thought that this time I would have to show some performance in investigating the Fuyuki serial killer, and I had specifically done research on that matter before coming. Of course, I had also considered the situation of directly avoiding a confrontation with Sasaki Nobuko, which was why I came to Fuyuki City. If I had known it would turn out like this today, perhaps I would have just stayed in Yokohama; that would have been simpler.

As expected, Edogawa always gives me unexpected challenges.

So, I said expressionlessly: “Do you want more strawberries?”

“Yes! But if you think you can flatter me this way, that’s a massive failure!!” Edogawa Ranpo held up a finger and said with an air of importance.

“I am not flattering you.”

I was telling the absolute truth.