Chapter Text
During the Great War, Fukuzawa Yukichi, also known as the Silver Wolf, made alliances with a lot of people, among those, he made quite good friends with Nedzu, a rat-bear who, at the time, worked as a strategist for the government.
Although they were once close, they each followed different paths, Fukuzawa, on one hand, decided to create the Armed Detective Agency along with an arrogant genius called Ranpo Edogawa, while Nedzu dedicated his life to be the principal of one of the best hero schools of Japan.
But now, given the difficulties of the time, Nedzu thought it was finally time to reconnect with his old friend.
—
It had only been like twelve years since the last time Nedzu and Fukuzawa last talked. He wished they would have been more as the last time they saw each other, they agreed on only talking to one another in case of an emergency, but given the recent attacks of the League of Villains, it couldn't be postponed anymore.
Nezdu, sitting alone in his office, thought about the possibility of the situation escalating if he didn’t put his plan to work now, but, at the same time, he also doubted the urgency of his case, after all, what he needed was for one of the detectives to go from Yokohama to Masutafu, which, considering Yokohama’s reputation for being one of the most secretive cities, it was going to be no easy task.
Nedzu grabbed his phone and called his old friend for help.
As the phone rang, he was still doubting his decision until a soft voice on the other side cut his line of thought short.
“Armed Detective Agency, how can I help you?”
“Ah, hello, could I talk with Mr. Fukuzawa please?”
" Uhm, sure, let me go get him”
The voice on the other side of the phone said, a young man not yet in his twenties.
“Hello?"
“Hello Fukuzawa, I apologise for the sudden call but I’m afraid I am in need of your service."
“I see, tell me Nedzu, what can I help you with."
—
Fukuzawa stood in front of the agency, papers in hand.
"The pro hero Gran Torino will pick Ranpo and Tanizaki at the train station, I want you to remember that discretion is necessary as only their principal is aware of the situation, therefore, you are to act as students.
Once you are in UA, Ranpo will help Nedzu find out how the League of Villains is getting information on the school and, once you know, you will help him prepare a plan to attack.
I will provide more information later on. Is the mission understood?”
Fukuzawa said.
The agency members looked somewhat unsure of the plan.
“I don’t agree with the plan, why send them and not some of our younger members?" The green-ish head said, as he adjusted his glasses.
"Uhm, I understand why send Ranpo, but why me?" Tanizaki said.
“This mission needs to be handled subtly, you two are not to get involved in unnecesary fights, if either of you gets trapped in a situation that can only be solved by fighting, I need you to use your ability to get you or Ranpo out of it, along with that, I consider you a good fighter.”
Fykuzawa said, getting Tanizaki to nervously smile.
“I don’t wanna gooo! The agency is full of detectives, send someone else!" Ranpo complained.
All the members had different opinions, some believed that sending someone younger would be more beneficial, thinking about Kenji or Kyouka, who are the same age as the first years, or perhaps Atsushi who looks pretty young.
Contrary to this beliefs, some other though that Ranpo was ideal to take on the mission, as his skills were a perfect match to what was needed to do.
They all presented their points of view, some trying to change the president’s decision, others agreeing with the president’s choice.
“This mission is really important and I gave my word to Nedzu that, in times of need, I would help him with whatever he needed, I trust Ranpo and Tanizaki will be able to deal with the situation accordingly and come back safe. The deal is already made, I am simply informing you what will happen." Fukuzawa said firmly, making everyone stay quiet. Yosano breaking the silence.
“We trust whatever decision you make president, we will all support Ranpo and Tanizaki in their mission and wish them good luck.”
"I agree with Miss Yosano…" Atsushi said quietly while smiling.
Everyone nodded in agreement, after all, the president did have the final word and he always made sure his people were safe.
After the meeting, Fukuzawa asked Ranpo to meet him in his office.
The brunette sat in front of Fukuzawa, curious as to why he was asked to talk.
“Look Ranpo, I’ll give you something if you cooperate with Nedzu and me”
“Like what, a bonus? Promotion? I’m not interested.” Ranpo said in a snarky tone as he put his feet on the table.
"Praise."
Ranpo slowly turned to look at him wide-eyed.
“Ah-Alright, but inly if you buy me candy!" He muttered.
Fukuzawa nodded but was interrupted when Ranpo suddenly asked to take Poe too.
Poe was not an official member of the ADA, but he was welcome to be in the office anytime he wanted.
"Wh-why would-”
"I’ll be with fifteen year olds for hours a day! I want someone aside from Tanizaki to talk to.”
"Alright.”
—
It took Tanizaki a really long time to convince Naomi that he was going to be alright, she was gonna stay with Haruno and only once they agreed on calling each other every night did she let him go.
Now he was sitting with Ranpo and, for some reason Poe too, in the train station Fukuzawa told them about, he gave them documents with the information of the mission. They couldn't tell anyone of their abilities as they were a secret no one who owned one was willing to tell the world, meaning they had to pretend they were quirks. To make the lie work, Tanizaki, Ranpo and Poe worked together to come up with side effects, disadvantages and explanations to how their ‘quirks’ work.
For Ranpo it was quite easy, his ‘quirk’ allowed him to ‘have a superior IQ’, but only if he wore his glasses, which is pretty much what he already does, for Poe they decided that his ‘quirk’ was going to work the same, but with the slight difference that he could only use novels he wrote on his phone. As for Tanizaki, they decided that his ‘quirk’ was to make illusions, more like holograms, they weren’t able to think of a disadvantage that wouldn't endanger the mission, so they just didn't gave him one, he could only hope that wouldn't raise questions.
Fukuzawa said that they were going to be able to identify Gran Torino as he was most likely going to wear his hero costume, but he didn't tell them that he was apparently, really unpunctual, he said he was going to arrive at 9:30 am, but it was already 10 am and he was nowhere to be seen.
He really wanted to get out of there, he had no one to talk to as Ranpo fell asleep waiting and Poe was writing a novel on his phone, and there was a weird old guy who had been looking at them for about 40 minutes.
Actually, he might as well just vanish right there and then, the old creep was getting closer to them.
“Hello, are you the new UA students?”
"Ah- Uhm… Yeah, that’s us, how can I help you?"
Poe turned to look at him with a curious face, or at least he thinks that’s what it is, it’s a bit hard to know with his hair on his face.
“Ah, I see, I am Gran Torino, I didn’t know how you were supposed to look like, I apologise for taking so long to talk to you."
“Oh! Uhm, that’s fine you don’t need to apologise!" Tanizaki said nervously.
“Alright then, shall we go?"
Tanizaki nodded.
They made Ranpo stand up, grabbed their stuff and followed the short man to the outside of the station.
He was supposed to take them to their apartment.