Ayanokouji’s Guide to Using Tools at Butei High - Chapter 2

To be honest, although there will always be a time for self-introductions, even now, I do not know how to introduce myself.

My primary identity at the moment is still that of a university student; aside from the relevant aspects of school life, I spend most of my time relying on part-time jobs to maintain my livelihood. Since I started high school, I have used my spare time to work countless jobs—deliveryman, newspaper boy, mailman, and so on.

In fact, two years ago, I once thought about working for the Armed Detective Agency. It was just that when I went to the fourth floor to visit the Agency, I encountered a certain person.

The events of that day, even now two years later, remain vivid in my mind.

Inside that cramped elevator, after I pressed the button for the fourth floor, the elevator doors began to close tightly. However, when there was only a finger’s width of a gap left, a hand with long, pale fingers pressed against the door. The automatic door sensed the obstruction and slid back to both sides.

Thus, I locked eyes with the owner of that hand.

The moment I met his gaze, I could feel my heart shrink tightly, as if it had been tossed into ice water.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m catching this elevator too.”

He was wearing a khaki trench coat, swirling the outside wind into the elevator with him. After entering, he quickly scanned the elevator buttons and used his smiling, dark-brown eyes to size me up with extreme speed.

“Here to deliver documents to the Detective Agency, or here for an interview?”

Hearing him say that, I tucked my documents slightly behind my back.

Noticing my small gesture of hiding the files, the corners of his mouth curled into a smile, and he said to me: “It seems more like an interview. I am Dazai Osamu. If you succeed, we might be colleagues. Please look after me then.”

As he spoke, he leaned casually against the elevator wall, less than half a person’s distance away from me. This invisibly exerted an immense pressure on me. Therefore, when the elevator doors opened at the fourth floor, this seemingly confident and refreshing young man stepped out ahead of me, while my feet remained stuck in the elevator, unwilling to step out for a while.

Understand one thing: if you knew a future colleague would be a presence like the one before me—someone who could guess most of your intentions within ten seconds of entering an elevator—you might also stuff your ambition back where it came from.

Still, I went into the Detective Agency for the interview. Inside a small cubicle, a clerk kindly asked me why I wanted to interview for the Agency and whether I possessed an ability.

Let me briefly introduce the existence of the Armed Detective Agency—it is the premier detective agency in Yokohama. Aside from the clerical staff, basically all members possess rare supernatural abilities. It is one of the few workplaces in Yokohama that holds a Gifted Business Permit.

By my understanding, to enter the Armed Detective Agency, you either need a back door to walk through, or your abilities must be outstanding.

Although I had previously laid the groundwork to enter the Agency, after meeting Dazai Osamu, I felt I needed to reorganize my plan and process—now was not a good time to enter the Armed Detective Agency.

Aristotle once said, “Life is full of chances and changes. When a man is most successful, the greatest misfortune may arrive.” If one assumes everything is going smoothly and fails to respond carefully, they will only dig themselves into deeper trouble. Even a clever person can stumble at their own doorstep, let alone an ordinary person.

After that interview at the Agency successfully failed, I focused my attention and energy on other things. This meeting with Edogawa Ranpo is the first formal conversation we’ve had in two years.

Returning to Edogawa Ranpo’s question, he asked me: if it wasn’t to enter the Agency, what was I doing here?

I set down my coffee and said calmly and slowly: “Sir, I am here to seek your protection.”

As soon as those words left my mouth, Tanizaki Junichiro, who had introduced me to the job, opened his eyes wide in surprise: “What? What happened?”

Edogawa Ranpo narrowed his eyes and said nonchalantly: “Eh—if you needed protection, why didn’t you come and proactively find us sooner? Instead, you only bring it up when Tanizaki introduces you for work? Are you talking nonsense?”

Normally speaking, my explanation was indeed full of holes and couldn’t stand up to scrutiny.

If someone truly needed protection, they wouldn’t leisurely wait for someone else to find them help; they would seek help immediately.

“By the time Tanizaki-kun introduced me to the job, I had already sought help from other detective agencies. But they thought I was just suffering from persecutory delusions and didn’t believe me.” As I spoke, I organized my words in my head and said, “And your Agency’s prices are too expensive, not something I can afford, so naturally I wouldn’t seek you out. But now that Tanizaki-kun has introduced me for work, I thought this was an opportunity.”

Under the watchful gaze of the two men, I said in a flat tone: “Sir, someone wants to kill me.”

The moment the words fell, the entire cafe fell into a deathly silence, as if even the sunlight was making the sound of faint breathing; it was so quiet it was uncomfortable. Within this stifling atmosphere, the copper bell on the door rang again. A young man wearing a khaki trench coat strode over to our table and greeted Edogawa Ranpo and Tanizaki Junichiro.

“Ranpo-san, you’re here too?” Dazai Osamu smiled with his eyes curved. “And surprisingly, you haven’t ordered cake. How rare!”

Hearing Dazai’s words, Edogawa Ranpo subconsciously looked at his empty tabletop, pursed his lips, then propped himself up on the table and stood up, saying: “I’m going back.”

So what exactly did this person come here for?

I couldn’t help but wonder.

“Aren’t you going to eat something?” Tanizaki Junichiro seemed to notice that something was off with Edogawa Ranpo and, thinking he was unhappy, hurriedly said, “Sorry, Ranpo-san, I should have ordered something for you earlier.”

“No need.” Edogawa Ranpo pulled open the shop door and made a face in Tanizaki Junichiro’s direction.

I followed the motion and looked toward Tanizaki, saying: “It seems he really is angry; he made a face at you.”

Tanizaki said with a face full of panic: “Really?! Oh no! I have to go buy something for Ranpo-san to make up for it, right?!”

Dazai, on the other hand, was not in a hurry. He seemed to have the leisure that comes when the fire isn’t burning him. With his hands in his pockets, he sat across from me and Tanizaki and said: “Where were we?”

I hadn’t expected my interviewer to be Dazai Osamu, so I subconsciously looked at Tanizaki Junichiro, hoping he could provide an introduction.

Tanizaki was in the middle of his distress because Ranpo-san was angry with him, but he still had to handle my situation, so he forced himself to perk up and said: “This is Mr. Dazai Osamu, who joined the Agency two years ago; he is my senior. Originally, it was supposed to be Mr. Kunikida, Dazai-san’s partner, who would conduct the interview, but Mr. Kunikida was too busy and entrusted Mr. Dazai to come instead.”

I remained silent, indicating that I understood.

“I heard you know a bit of ‘black tech’.” Dazai said while familiarly ordering coffee. “I heard that the leads the Military Police used to search for the ‘Man-Eating Tiger’ were provided by you.”

That is a long story, so I won’t tell it.

I’ll talk about the result.

After I successfully provided the location where the Man-Eating Tiger would appear, Tanizaki Junichiro said he wanted to introduce me to the Armed Detective Agency. Their agency needed talent like me. When we contacted each other last night to meet, Tanizaki’s wording carried a steady confidence, as if saying that as long as we met today, the Agency would definitely accept me.

But I felt it wouldn’t be that easy.

If any random cat or dog could enter the Agency just by relying on simple black tech, I would actually feel it’s better not to join the Agency.

I corrected him seriously: “To be precise, it was Mr. Tanizaki who asked me if there was a way to find a lead.”

The conversation between me and Dazai Osamu was merely a formal walkthrough.

No need to repeat redundant words.

The key point was that I now needed a bodyguard.

So as soon as I finished speaking, Tanizaki couldn’t help but interrupt: “That’s not the point. The point is ‘Ayanokouji-kun is being targeted.’ Dazai-san, please think of a way.”

“Hmm? What’s the situation?” Dazai Osamu shifted his gaze to Tanizaki.

Tanizaki repeated the explanation I had just given to Edogawa.

“Sounds like a real hassle—” Dazai Osamu leaned back against his chair and chose to abstain. “I only came here to interview, I didn’t say I was going to take a job order. Tanizaki, you handle it.”

Tanizaki’s mouth twitched: “…………”

However, he also knew Dazai Osamu’s personality. It would actually be strange if Dazai Osamu seriously entered work mode to handle a problem. Tanizaki Junichiro merely sighed and resigned himself to fate. Then, he took out his notebook and pen and said: “Ayanokouji-kun, how did you discover someone has killing intent toward you? When did it start? Have you encountered anything unusual lately?”

“On that point, I have no comment. I just need someone to protect me.” I said to Tanizaki, “I need it for at least three weeks.”

Faced with my answer, Tanizaki Junichiro was clearly caught off guard and looked back at Dazai Osamu.

Dazai Osamu shrugged and said: “I’m not too sure. I haven’t seen an instance where the interviewee is also the client. This is clearly a case of cutting in line, isn’t it? We have the right to accept, and the right to refuse. Furthermore, ‘whether he is lying’ is also a question. Isn’t that right?”

After he finished, he gave me a friendly smile, as if the aggression in his words wasn’t directed at me.

Dazai neither said he believed me nor said he disbelieved me; he threw the problem directly back at me.

“And, most importantly—”

Dazai Osamu leaned in toward me, his dark-brown eyes reflecting my expressionless face.

“Why wait two years to enter our Armed Detective Agency? I am super curious about this question.”

Dazai Osamu’s voice was light and cheerful, yet it was sharp and pierced right to the heart of the matter.

“I have seen you before, Mr. Ayanokouji.

Two years ago in the elevator, you came of your own accord for an interview.

After meeting me, you intentionally hid your edge and feigned incompetence, keeping a low profile.

So, were you waiting for something?”

Compared to him bringing up “meeting me at the Agency two years ago,” I was more surprised that he could remember an Ayanokouji with whom he had zero interaction for two years.

After all, by my understanding, there was nothing about me worth noticing.

I am just an ordinary person.