Chapter 5: Mission - Create the Detective Club!!

Ranpo: "Free samples!" *Ranpo looks her in the eyes, remembering he should have manners* "Ah! Thank you!" *He takes a plate and grabs a sample of everything. He shoves the food into his mouth, chewing vigorously. The girl watches Ranpo in astonishment as he eats quickly.*

Ranpo: "Oops!" *He chokes on a bit of food. He pauses and takes a sip of water from his bottle, then quickly finishes it. People seem to watch with great intrigue as Ranpo devours the free food. But he doesn't stop eating. Ranpo keeps on eating, even after finishing the first plate. Once he's done with that, he grabs a piece of fruit tart and devours it in less than a minute. He's happy while eating. The rest of the students are watching in shock and with a bit of envy. However, Ranpo seems very content with his belly full of food.*

Ranpo: "Ahhh, I'm full!" *He pats his stomach* "Thank you very much for the food. I hope you can get many members!" *He gets up* "Goodbye!"

The still incredulous girl: "Y-you're welcome…" *And as Ranpo leaves, she looks at one of her classmates* "He didn't even join the club..."

Ranpo: "Now, what should I do, hmm… Mhm…?" *He scratches his head* "I know! If there's no Detective Club, then I'll create one! And that way, I can spend the entire budget on food! Hahaha."

Ranpo laughs loudly as he heads toward the reception area where there's a line of about 20 people, but Ranpo simply walks to the front and stands in front of the secretary.

The small detective looks more than confident. He remains at the front, indicating that he wants his request to be attended to first.

Ranpo: "I'd like to start a new club." *He waits to be served. Everyone in the line looks very angry about this, but Ranpo feels fine.*

Akane: "A first-year student? I'll inform you that the cost of creating a club is 60,000 points, understood?" *Tachibana is very confused by the situation.*

Ranpo: "Oh, no! I'm not too worried about the price; I just want to make my Detective Club. Three members are ready and waiting for it!" *The students in line look very irritated.*

Akane: "Well... Do you have at least three members for your club?" *He asks, to which Ranpo nods.* "Well, you just have to complete the information on this form *giving it to him* and get the signature of three members *clearing his throat* Payment is made at the same time as submitting the paperwork. Now, please step out of the line."

Ranpo: *Smiling very happily, he starts to walk away, but before leaving, he looks at the only person in line who wasn't looking at him angrily* "You!" *He points and puts on his glasses.*

The confused girl: "Y-yes?!" *Looking very puzzled.*

Ranpo: "When the student council rejects you, come to my club! You're more than welcome!" *He leaves, leaving the girl very puzzled.*

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With that girl, I already have one member, so I need 2 more and still need fewer than 10,000 points!! Hmm, who could they be? Who could they be? It's so hard...

The members of my club have to be intelligent, and where do intelligent people hang out?

Right, in the library. But that poses another problem. Where's the library? Does it even exist?

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After a complicated journey where he had to ask for directions twice, Ranpo finally arrived at the library, discovering another problem...

It's completely empty, or at least nearly so.

On one table, there were at least 4 books stacked on top of each other.

Normally, when someone sees a person deeply engrossed in reading, they would walk away. But with Ranpo, "normal" doesn't exist.

Ranpo looks over to the girl, who's the only person in the library. She's deeply concentrated on reading a book.

Ranpo: "Hello! Can I say something?" *He sits down beside her.*

The girl: "Kyaaa!" *She receives the biggest scare of her life.*

Ranpo: "I'm sorry!!" *Regretful for being so abrupt.*

The girl: "I-I'm sorry; I'm not used to people talking to me while I'm reading…"

Ranpo: "I'm sorry again. I'm Ranpo, Edogawa Ranpo. It's a pleasure to meet you..."

The girl: "I'm Shina Hiyori, it's a pleasure to meet you too."

Ranpo: "Wow, I see you're reading 'The Big Sleep' by Raymond Chandler, aren't you?"

Hiyori: "Yes!! It's my favorite book!! Have you read it? *Very excited.*"

Ranpo: "Oh, of course! I've read it like 10 times; I love that book! *In reality, he's read it more times, but he's not lying. Ranpo seems very happy to find someone else who's equally fascinated by the book.*"

He continues smiling and talking to her. She seems very happy to talk to another book and mystery fan.

Hiyori: "I've read all of Chandler's books! What's your favorite book?" *She asks, very interested.*

Ranpo: "I've read them all too! My favorite is 'The Long Goodbye.' It's a different genre, but I think I've read it 27 times." *He gives her a friendly smile.*

Hiyori: "That's amazing!" *She's smiling like never before.* "Edogawa-Kun... Can I have your phone number so we can talk later?" *She asks impatiently.*

Ranpo: "Of course! I'd love to." *He hands her his phone. It has several keychains and candy wrappers hanging from it. Additionally, it has a detective-themed screen protector.*

Ranpo: "Mine is: ***XXX.XXX.XXX*** *He's very sincere. He feels very happy to have met a girl who loves books and mysteries.* Call me Ranpo. By the way, would you like to join my club?!"

Hiyori's face lights up upon finding someone to share her passion with and decides to seize this opportunity.

"Then call me Hiyori!" *Hiyori says, smiling as she taps on Ranpo's phone and adds her number.* "I'd love to join your club!"

After that, Ranpo starts filling out all the information on the form Tachibana gave him and asks Hiyori to sign it.

One member to go and a little less than 10,000 points left...

Because I spent 50,000 points on sweets!! 😭

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For the last member,

I have two options:

1. Find someone in a normal way.

2. Kidnap the expressionless introvert - 😐 although something tells me there's more darkness to them than bitter chocolate...

Although... Hmm... I could ask one of the girls who gave me their number... Satou, Karuizawa, and Matsushita. How difficult!

Ranpo: "Why can't someone conveniently appear on my way to my room?!" *Shouting aloud, until* Ouch *I rub my head and slowly raise my gaze to see a big hand* Oh, I'm sorry; I wasn't watching where I was going!" *The big, afro-American man looked at me without saying anything.* [From here on, the characters will speak in English] "I'm sorry; I wasn't watching where I was going..."

The person: "No, it was my fault." *Very surprised that someone is speaking in English.* "How did you know I don't speak Japanese?"

Ranpo: "Hehehe, it's very easy to tell for a Great Detective like me!"

The person: "Well, thanks for talking to me." *Starting to leave.*

Ranpo: "Wait!!" *I grab their clothing* "I'm Ranpo Edogawa; would you like to join my Club, the Detective Club? *Handing them a form.*

The person: "I'll think about it." *They take the form and slowly walk away.* "I'm Albert Yamada."

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The next day, classes went by as usual [Ranpo slept or ate in all of them]. Just a few minutes after the lunch bell, a giant stood at the door of Class-D. Immediately, Ranpo approached him, despite his classmates' intimidated looks.

Ranpo: "[Speaking in English] Hello, Yamada!! Have you decided what to do?"

Yamada: *Yamada simply handed me the signed form* "Thanks, Ranpo; see you later."

Ranpo: "Great!! I'll call you when everything is ready!"

Ike: "W-who is that guy? He's a giant."

Ranpo: "[Switching back to Japanese] He's Albert Yamada; he's just a bit shy."

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The next three days went by without any significant events until, during lunch, someone approached his table, where he was alone.

The person: "How did you know they would reject me?"

Ranpo: "Uh, who are you?"

The person: "I'm Ichinose Honami, Class-B. You told me to come to you if the student council rejected me."

Ranpo: "Ah, it was easy for the Best Detective! Everything about you screams 'model student,' and it's obvious that a model student would join the student council, right?"

Ichinose: "But then, how did you know they would reject me?"

Ranpo: "Oh, that I found out after seeing the president... they don't match his personality type."

In reality, it was something else; Horikita's speech was more of a plea for help against someone.

Perhaps everything is to defeat someone, perhaps the vice president?

First, I need to meet him; maybe their ideologies are opposed. I just need to see him to understand everything.

Ichinose: "So, what's your club about?"

Ranpo: "Oh, yes!" *He sits down and extends his hand to clarify.* "My club, the Detective Club, is a club where we solve mysteries together, of all sizes. Whatever we want to solve, even if it's not necessarily a crime. But we can also solve crimes; I have nothing against that." *He has a big smile on his face, showing why he's so enthusiastic about the idea.* "So, would you like to join"

Question: How is Ranpo academically?