Ayanokouji’s Guide to Using Tools at Butei High - Chapter 7

I can’t figure out what Edogawa Ranpo is thinking, suddenly using slapstick humor to skip over our conversation, but it’s a stroke of luck that Tanizaki Junichiro is here, because I am not good at dealing with people who are so temperamental.

Among the many people I have encountered, the ones I personally like are the obedient and well-behaved ones; even if their compliance stems from “a lack of thinking ability,” I don’t mind.

“I need to head out for a bit. Tanizaki, can you come with me?” I had to follow the setting I established earlier—that I need someone to protect me.

“Where are you going? Will it take long?”

“I just want to walk around for a bit.” I glanced in the direction of Edogawa, who had his back to me, and said: “Isn’t there someone here who doesn’t want to see me, and doesn’t want to talk to me anyway?”

Staying here would only breed further awkwardness and discomfort.

In psychology, there are two effects proposed regarding interpersonal interaction—

The first is the ‘Primacy Effect,’ which refers to the fact that people maintain the first impression of a person they meet for the first time; this experiment occurred in American psychologist Luchins’ proposition regarding memory. Therefore, many times, people always emphasize the importance of the first impression.

The second is the ‘Recency Effect,’ which refers to the fact that people will have a deeper impression of the last image the other party left in a social interaction; this usually occurs between people who are acquaintances. To use a simple example, when familiar friends fight with each other, it is easy to forget the times they spent together in the past and only remember the recent bickering, failing to recall the other person’s good qualities.

I feel that the current situation between Edogawa Ranpo and me is more applicable to the second case, after all, his impression of me was quite good when we first met. But after not seeing each other for two years, he has not only become much colder toward me, but is also nitpicking all my affairs, always looking to cause a scene.

I can interpret this as ‘he doesn’t like me very much.’ If this impression continues, I feel it will be a source of trouble and pressure for me. Therefore, in a situation like this, it is best to separate, find some time to re-establish a new image in front of him, and then he will naturally be a bit more obedient.

Hearing my words, Tanizaki subconsciously looked out the window at the pitch-black sky; it was mid-winter, after all, and the sky turned dark much faster than imagined.

“It’s already dark, better not go out. I can guarantee that Ranpo-san definitely doesn’t hate you.”

Edogawa Ranpo suddenly found himself being guaranteed for. Just as he was about to open his mouth to retort, I cut in: “It’s fine, you look after Edogawa. I’ll just walk around nearby; crowded places are never that dangerous. You guys don’t have to wait for me for dinner. Besides, I have the crucifix from the Fuyuki Church; if anything happens, people won’t take issue with a clergyman.”

This counts as a type of Authority Effect.

If a person’s professional background is respected, what they say and do will be given more weight and trust compared to an ordinary person. It’s like seeing a doctor in a white coat; the advice he offers is more trustworthy than that of an ordinary person. Fuyuki City also happens to be a city with more believers than others, so a clergyman will be respected to some extent.

Seeing that I was determined to go out and empathizing with my smooth-less interactions with Edogawa, Tanizaki Junichiro saw me to the door and said: “Then don’t come back too late. Ranpo-san is actually very easy to talk to.”

Seeing me looking at him, Tanizaki sighed and said: “Of course, you are also easy to talk to. It’s me who isn’t.”

That sigh was filled with the negativity and dejection of “how can I not even handle friend and colleague relationships properly.” As a friend, I felt it was necessary to comfort him and give him some advice.

“In my backpack, there is a bottle of sleeping pills. If Edogawa gets too rowdy, you can give them to him; he’ll be quiet for a long time.”

As soon as these words fell, Tanizaki’s clear pupils vibrated violently, as if I were handing him a meat cleaver and telling him to take care of Edogawa.

“Wh-why do you have sleeping pills?” Tanizaki’s speech also became stumbled.

I said flatly: “I have some insomnia, so this afternoon, I stopped by the pharmacy to buy some sleeping pills.”

“But isn’t that a bit too extreme?”

I didn’t understand why Tanizaki had such a strong reaction; it wasn’t like I was telling him to give Edogawa laxatives.

Regardless, I hope Edogawa Ranpo can stay quietly in the inn and sleep; he cannot go out tonight.

As long as tonight passes, everything will be fine.

“Someone once taught me: when in doubt, rely on medicine.”

I had once been troubled by the solutions to certain problems. At that time, I had some history with Sakaguchi Ango, who is now an investigator for the Special Operations Division for Gifted Powers. He once gave me similar advice that was like an enlightenment, making me suddenly see the light.

Tanizaki was shocked by my words and said: “The person who gave you that advice must have a very black heart; don’t listen to him!”

I was silent for a moment.

During the silence, I considered Sakaguchi Ango’s human character and finally said with certainty: “I think he is actually quite a good person.”

Tanizaki shook his head repeatedly, speaking to me in the earnest tone of someone saving a delinquent youth: “Ayanokouji, listen to me, stop associating with that person. That person sounds very dangerous!”

“I haven’t been in touch with him for a long time.”

“That’s good then.” Tanizaki nodded in relief and said: “Ayanokouji, you are much more naive than I imagined. You must be careful when making friends!”

This young man is clearly one year younger than me and about 4cm shorter than me—why does it look like he’s the one taking care of me?

I found that in many instances, I have no way of dealing with others’ interpretations of me, and explaining is too much trouble. Therefore, I simply accepted this persona Tanizaki projected onto me.

I don’t quite understand which source of confidence his attitude of treating me like a child comes from. The answer I gave myself is—perhaps because I am a clergyman, he automatically assumes I haven’t seen much of the world and will always treat people as good? Or perhaps, after taking care of the 26-year-old Edogawa for so long, he has gotten used to worrying about his elders? Or is it because there are too many people in the Detective Agency to worry about?

I think I will eventually get the answer.

After leaving the Hyatt Hotel, I went straight to another, cheaper youth hostel. Not long ago, I registered a room there using a pseudonym. My room is Room 701; though the room is small, it has everything. I originally thought that if there was no news of the Detective Agency recruiting me, I would stay here temporarily.

After all, the Fuyuki Church does not provide accommodation; I needed to find a place to stay.

And the reason I specifically came back here was not to save money or to check out of this room. I came to—retrieve the recording I left in Room 703.

I mentioned before that I have worked many part-time jobs and understand black market information. One of the reasons is that I have also worked part-time in the black market—selling weapons.

A few days ago, someone on my website asked me to transport a batch of weapons to a certain hostel in Fuyuki City. The person contacted me using a female voice. Since I’ve been in this business for a few years and have some reputation in the industry, she didn’t have too many defenses against me. In other words, in this line of work, if there isn’t basic trust, it’s impossible to do it for long.

The quantity she wanted was very large. Aside from the most advanced semi-automatic sniper rifles that would make any arms dealer salivate, there were two special aiming device bases, two military-grade night vision scopes, and suitable custom handguns, as well as other smoke canisters and plastic explosives. Based on the amount of explosives alone, it could tear down at least three or four high-rise buildings.

I could understand that she was a professional assassin, and I could also see from the order quantity that she likely had another companion. Their target would probably be more troublesome than imagined, which was why they were equipped with so many high-precision weapons. However, Fuyuki City was a peaceful small city with no underworld presence.

Therefore, after I delivered the weapons to the location she specified, I immediately booked a room at this hostel online, changed into a set of work clothes, and installed a smart camera in a blind spot of Room 703—there was no need to pull out the memory card; I could see the footage just by using the connected app, and could trace recordings from within the last 7 days.

Today, that woman met up with her companion. The other party was a male—a dark and gloomy male. From beginning to end, the woman never mentioned the other’s full name. She only repeatedly mentioned unfamiliar terms like “Tohsaka Family,” “Church,” and “Servant,” as well as a name that might be more familiar to me—”Kotomine Kirei,” which shares the same surname as the old priest Kotomine.

Their content focused on discussing how last night, in a certain family named Tohsaka, a Servant dealt with a Servant called ‘Assassin.’ Meanwhile, the Master of Assassin, Kotomine Kirei, fled back to the church for refuge and was protected by the Overseer.

Since I placed the camera, only the recordings starting from noon today have had much substance.

Their conversation involved three different identity categories: “Master,” “Servant,” and “Overseer.” Among them, one of the Masters is the Tohsaka Family, one of the Servants is Assassin, and the Overseer is related to the Fuyuki Church.

Based on these three points, I could obtain a lot of information. Furthermore, starting from this afternoon, they began equipping themselves and their luggage with explosives and weapons, which was enough to indicate this was the signal for their action.

Once the action begins, what follows is predictable content.

While they were out on their operation, I intended to retrieve my own recorder. Just as I planned to use a specially made magnetic card to open Room 703, my phone rang in my pants pocket—it was a notification that the motion sensor installed in the room had been activated.

Generally, very few people call me, and added to the fact that I have work and study tasks, I never set a ringtone on my phone.

For the ringtone to sound now was enough to show that in a room that was clearly empty, a person had appeared out of thin air at this moment.

I feigned talking to myself: “How come someone is calling just now?”

I picked up my phone and started walking toward the emergency stairs.