#anzawa akatsuki

[marikosenwrites]

the secret tales of the agency.

notes: heyyyy first oc x canon fic :3 tell me how you like it!

w.c: 4.7k

pt.1 out of 4

this is the story of one man’s struggle and his growth and of parenting.

—————————————

a gray-haired man walks in windy streets with a steady and sharp rhythm, newspapers on racks of a nearby stand flapping wildly and leaves flying around, in sync with his dark green kimono.

he stares at the rolls of newspapers. he’s near enough to be able to see the titles. they state the truth behind the peace treaty between nations— about how the officials were found dead, all trapped in a room, and also about the diet members declaring an investigation on the matter.

his eyes widen and he remembers what had happened. four members sliced to death by a man wielding a sword, blood staining the floor. his thoughts are interrupted by his phone ringing— it takes a few rings until he picks up the phone.

he stares at the screen for a moment before picking up, the contact named “genichiro,” a good friend of the man’s. “it’s me,” he says, “are you prepared to join the military police? we’re the only ones who can make use of your powers. get over here.”

“from now on, i work alone.” and the man’s name was fukuzawa yukichi.

—————————————

fukuzawa walks pass street after street until he is face to face with a dull-colored building. he glances at the shady entrance, where in front was a dead body. often, the police asks him to figure out

cases— even if his job is to be a bodyguard for important people. his exceptional swordsmanship makes the police trust him more, hence why they’ve commissioned fukuzawa to help them with this case.

a woman found dead right outside the building where she works, apparently shoved out the window. he pays his respects to the dead body and enters the building to speak with the secretary— whom he was informed to ask about the woman beforehand.

the only elevator of the building lets out the sound of a bell, and the man exits with a clear destination in mind. he walks down the hallway and enters the president’s room and he’s met with pieces of paper covering almost every flat surface.

“my condolences,” fukuzawa mutters to the secretary, who is managing the papers. the man is wearing a white coat with documents in his arms. “she was a good woman.”

“thank you for coming, fukuzawa-san.” he finally turns to look at fukuzawa. he pushes his glasses up in the motion, eyes gazing up at the man’s tall figure.

“by the way, what are these documents?” he asks.

“i’m organizing,” the secretary replies as if it was a thing that was done often times. which led to the swordsman asking, “why?”

“i suspect that the murderer was either trying to steal or destroy these documents,” he answers a second time. “and in order to confirm that, i am arranging all of the documents in order of how likely they are to be stolen.

“this entire room is a catalog for determining the attacker’s motivations.”

fukuzawa glances at the window, “i’m told she was pushed out of this window.”

“the president took me in as a secretary. i’m indebted to her.” the secretary now looks at the photo on the president’s desk. “solving the nature of the crime would be the best farewell gift i can offer.”

“but, fortunately,” the secretary adds under the swordsman’s stare, “the assassin has already been captured.” fukuzawa lets out a grunt of surprise. “after murdering the president, he was apprehended by the guards on the first floor and is being held in the room next door.

he continues, “the ten fingerprints recovered on the back of the president’s clothes apparently matched the assassin’s.”

“he’s still next door?” came fukuzawa’s surprised question.

“he seems to have given up,” says the secretary. “he’s very quiet.”

“i would like to see the assassin.” the gray-haired man glances at the door and back to the secretary.

“be my guest.” the secretary turns his back to fukuzawa. “but i must ask you to not touch the documents.”

challenge accepted. with a short stare at the secretary’s coat, fukuzawa jumps a great distance, nearing the table then supports his momentum by landing both hands on the sides of the table, where no paper is on, and boosts his jump as he lands last in their room where the murderer is held.

once he enters the room, he spots the dual pistols and glances up, seeing a kid— barely twelve— sitting on a chair with his hands tied behind the wooden chair. ‘he’s quite an accomplished assassin,’ fukuzawa thinks. ‘reddish hair and dual pistols. which means he must be the child assassin so famous in the underground.’

‘but, if this boy is truly oda sakunosuke, how could he be captured by mere security guards?’

“as you can see, that man is maintaining his silence,” the secretary says from outside the room. “the municipal police should be here to take him soon. as for you—"

"hey there!" came a new voice from the entrance of the room. a boy and a girl— both looking fair too young to be an actual adult. the girl bows as the boy laughs. "it's damn windy today, isn't it!" fukuzawa steps forward.

"so, anyway…" he starts again. "is there any change we can relocate this company? The hills are a pain and the directions are so complicated!"

"…excuse me?" says the secretary, brows furrowing.

"also, i'm getting hungry. got any food?" the raven-haired boy asks.

"ranpo-kun…!" the girl finally speaks up. her tone is a warning to the boy, and it was as if a couple was arguing. "how many times have i told you to stop asking random strangers for food?"

"excuse me?!" the secretary repeats, astounded.

"here we go again, looking down on me like some kid." ranpo mutters under his breath. "well, don't worry about the food. just give me my work permit wait, don't tell me, have you lost it in all these documents? damn it! you're the secretary, make sure you find it! i don't have the slightest interest in the fingerprints in this room."

"what is your problem?" shouts the now-mad secretary. "regardless of the circumstances, this is the president's office. unless you're authorized, you may not be here."

"i'm authorized, though." the boy says without stuttering. "i'm here for an interview today."

"the president did say he would be interviewing an administration trainee…" the secretary says to himself.

"anyway, akatsuki and i just came here for the working permit that i'm supposed to get at the interview," ranpo remarks, "once i have that, i can get some funding from the government. mind if i move this useless paper?" he says frustratedly.

"you may not!" the secretary shouts once again, "the very positioning of these documents is a catalog for determining the attacker's motivations."

"come on, that's such a blatant lie," ranpo sighs. "forget it. i'll find them myself. i'll be done in an instant."

"boy." fukuzawa finally speaks up. "there's a mountain of documents here. how do you plan to find yours?"

"the old man can speak!" the raven-haired boy exclaims in disbelief. "unlike all your loose papers, ours has got a heavy stamp and it's printed on thick paper." he starts walking towards a window, skillfully dodging the secretary's hands.

ranpo grabs his hat, in hopes of the wind not blowing it away, and opens the window. strong winds burst into the room, fukuzawa's, the secretary's, and the girl's hair flowing wildly under the wind's influence. the papers in the room swirl around and make a mess in the neat room. the secretary stares at the boy in disbelief. the raven-haired turns around and spots the two permits he's been looking for. "found it," he says.

he closes the window, picking the two permits up and signaling for the girl, akatsuki, to come over. she follows and takes her work permit from the boy. "ありがとう (thank you)。"

"how could you…" the secretary fumes, "now i have to check every sheet and arrange it all over. and i still have to report on the missing documents within fourty-eight hours."

"why bother?" ranpo tilts his head to the side. "the documents are all here." the secretary freezes his actions midway and fukuzawa stares at the boy. "no documents have been stolen, and the assassin didn't even kill the president. like, you're the murderer anyway, aren't you, secretary-san? you're arranging documents to keep people away so that you can come up with an alibi. i mean, it's suspicious that the assassin's fingerprints were found on the president's clothes but nowhere else in he room.

"the obvious guilty secretary and the obviously innocent assassin are right here…and you're just standing there. come on, mister," ranpo turns to look at fukuzawa. "you're slacking on the job."

"fukuzawa-san…" the secretary sounds mad. "please kick those kids out of here. i can't have them making even more of a mess in here!" the swordsman goes back to the boy. 

"young man," he starts. "the assassin's fingerprints were found on the back of the victim's clothes. from when he shoved him."

"no skilled assassin could get close to the president without being noticed." ranpo states as akatsuki moves towards the president's desk, sitting on it and proving that she can, indeed see everything that happens. 

"that's because the door is right in view of the desk," came the girl's steady voice. ranpo nods at that. "and, if the president resisted before he was shoved out the window, like you said, the fingerprints would have indicated him being thrown out, not pushed out."

"he may have happened to be looking out the window." fukuzawa tries to protest. 

"opening the window and looking outside? on such a windy day? by herself?" ranpo retorts. 'he's right,' thinks fukuzawa. 'which means it must have been someone close to her.'

"it was someone close to him, and yet the assassin's fingerprints were the ones found on her back." the blonde-haired girl shrugs. "so those prints were faked. i heard it was easy to fake fingerprints nowadays— you just need to make molds of the fingers using putty or some other material. come to think of it— weren't you a police officer or something before, secretary-san? you mentioned the 48-hour investigation rule earlier."

"this is ridiculous!" came the secretary's outbreak. "how would i have taken the assassin's prints?! fukuzawa-san! kick these kids out in an instant!"

"you were able to get the assassin's prints because you hired him." ranpo adds, now walking towards the desk. 

"shut up!" the secretary yelled.

"since you hired him," the boy continues, "you could easily entrap a top-tier assassin. even get security guards to catch him. i don't think the assassin over there even knew he was being entrapped. i'm sure he'd talk if he found out he's been fooled. why don't you try asking him?"

behind fukuzawa, sounds of wood breaking echoes in the small room. the assassin seems to have broken the bonds binding his legs and jumped. "i have no intention of fighting you." oda says with empty blue eyes. 

"don't add more crimes to your guilt." fukuzawa tries to convince the boy. "you can get off with a lesser plea if you stop now." both of them get into fighting positions, noticing that neither of them were willing to back down anytime.

the gray-haired man lunges towards the red-haired boy and tries attacking him, but oda successfully dodges and kicks boxes filled with important notes towards the man. he slashes them away as the boy takes the chance to get back and take his dual pistols back. he pulls the trigger using his feet and runs towards the exit of the room. the swordsman tries to punch the boy, and he only dodges. boxes surround oda now, and fukuzawa decides to use his palm to try and disable the boy. instead, he uses it to his advantage and boosts himself back out of the room and jumps onto the table as another boost.

oda jumps back, now facing the secretary mid-air and the man gasps in fear. "やめろ！" fukuzawa tries shouting to the boy to stop him. the red-haired ignores his shout and shoots the secretary two times. the secretary slumps onto the floor and blood gushes out of his head.

"この世界に許しはない。あるのは報復だけだ。(in this world, there is no forgiveness. only revenge.)" oda glances back at the body and drops his two pistols, signaling that he will not fight.

"call an ambulance!" fukuzawa shouts akatsuki. "and contact the police!"

"we don't need to call the ambulence, do we? the secretary's dead anyways." akatsuki remarks, pointing at the large amount of blood on the floor. if he didn't die from the gunshots, he would've died of blood loss anyway. fukuzawa sighs in defeat.

—————————————

"miss, could i get another red bean soup?" ranpo asked the waitress in the restaurant.

"i would like another bowl of ramen, please." akatsuki said calmly.

more than sixteen bowls of red bean soup and two bowls of ramen. "why don't you eat the rice cake?" fukuzawa asks ranpo.

"'cause it's not sweet." the boy answers, as if it were the most normal answer.

"when did you two realize the secretary was the murderer?" he asks again.

"since the beginning." this time, akatsuki was the one to answer. "i mean, wasn't he wearing a coat? he must've been hiding the tools to fake the fingerprints in there. organizing papers while wearing a coat is too much of a hassle. it's easy to mess up."

"その通り！(that's right!)" ranpo exclaimed.

"boy…" fukuzawa started.

"僕の名前は江戸川乱歩。覚えといてね。(my name is edogawa ranpo. remember that.)" he finally introduces himself.

"私は安沢暁です。今日はどうも。(i'm anzawa akatsuki. thanks for today.)" the girl says mid-bite.

"what about school?" fukuzawa asks the both of them. 

"i was living in a police academy dorm, but i had an argument with the supervisor so exposed all his past affairs and got kicked out." ranpo explains his situation without much remorse in his tone. "since then, i've been bouncing from place to place. i was a live-in worker at a garrison, until i got thrown out for blabbingg about the head cheif's corruption."

"…i escaped from my orphanage. because they were abusing me, so i left. i got to yokohama a few days ago, and found ranpo. we've known each other since we were young." akatsuki says, and talking about her past seems like a bit hard.

"your parents?" fukuzawa looks down, sighing. "both of yours?"

"mine died in a car accident," akatsuki explains. it wasn't like she had a lot of memories about it. "his are also dead. because of another accident. i assure you, it's not the same incident."

"…what she said. so i came out to yokohama." ranpo looks back up, facing the older man.

"are you two full now?" he asks. 

"yeah, thanks to you." ranpo says.

"well done today." fukuzawa takes the receipt but is stopped by ranpo. 

"that's it?" asked the boy. "you're talking to a fourteen-year-old boy and a fourteen-year-old girl who's lost his parents, his job, and his future. that's all you've got?"

the man reaches into his sleeve and pulls out a business card. he hands it to ranpo, who asks, "what's that?" "my contact information," fukuzawa said. "security police. basically a bodyguard. contact me if you're ever in trouble. i'll help you two out once for free."

ranpo takes the card and looks at it for a second. he and akatsuki leaves the table.

"wait, boy—" fukuzawa's call was interrupted by his phone ringing with an unknown number. "yes?"

"help us, bodyguard-san. we don't have a place to work or to live. we're going to die." ranpo says without emotion. fukuzawa approaches ranpo.

"i'm headed to work. come with me. a client is looking for manpower. i'll broker a deal with you two. does that work?" he asks with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"really?!" he jumps at the suggestion as akatsuki says, "thank you."

—————————————

"a theater?" ranpo, akatsuki, and fukuzawa all approach a large theater.

"the manager has been lamenting a staff shortage," the man explains. "if i can finish my job here, i'm sure she'd be open to hiring you."

all three walk towards the entrance and spot a sign. 'the night is real. the day is a dream.' was that the name of the drama that was going to be on tonight?

"what job?" akatsuki asked. her question wasn't answered and they were soon brought inside the building. 

"we have some time until opening," the manager said. "check the scene for me."

"do you have some idea from who the threat came from?" questioned fukuzawa.

"the police will do the investigating." she says, turning her back against the swordsman. "your job is to arrest the attacker when it happens."

"could you at least tell me what the threat is?" fukzuawa pushes it. the lady takes out a piece of paper from her breast pocket and shows it to the man.

"we received this several days ago." the woman says. "'the angels shall bring true death upon the performers. v.'" she recites. she had studied the note multiple times already, but to no avail.

"v?" fukzuawa questioned as ranpo turned away, saying, "the performers, huh? so is it the actors who are going to be killed?"

"i can't wait to see what will happen," akatsuki smiles at the thought. 

"who are these children?" the manager finally turns to look at ranpo and akatsuki.

"they're looking for work," explained fukuzawa. "i heard you needed more people. i'm hoping you can interview them once this situation is resolved."

"please send me a resume, then. i'll evaluate them along with the other candidates." she turns back to fukuzawa. 

ranpo groans, "there are other people who signed up? there's no change i'm getting hired, then." 

"come on, ranpo-kun. how would you know without trying?" akatsuki nudges the boy.

"i told you i'd evaluate you, didn't i?" the lady puts a hand on her hip and stares at the raven-haired boy.

"nope," ranpo furrows his brows, "this hag's already decided she's not hiring me."

"hag?!" she shouts.

"you could've been honest with me from the start," ranpo continues as fukuzawa sends a glance that says 'help' to akatsuki, but she shrugs. "why don't grown-ups ever say what they're really thinking? same thing with how you're dealing with this guy. the reason you aren't introducing him to the municipal police is because you want him to keep and eye on the police. and vice versa, the police keep an eye on him. in other words, you don't trust anyone—"

"that's enough." the swordsman interrupts the boy's never-ending comments. "i don't care what your intentions are. i'm simply going to do my best to prevent the crime. i'd like to speak to the staff," now he's talking to the manager. "is that all right?"

"…do as you wish." she signals defeat.

"grown-ups are so easy to anger," ranpo says disapprovingly.

fukuzawa sighs. "i'm starting to see why you don't last long on any job."

—————————————

the trio enters an actor's room and it was dark. there was barely a light on. 

"why do you speak to me right before the show?" the actor, murakami tokio, faces the mirror. "do you know what an actor is going through prior to a show? we dive into a different world. as though we are different people." his cup is half-empty and he downs it in one gulp. "i've trained for nearly six months for this. if they mess with me, they'll be the dead ones."

"i respect your work. but you are the ones who may end up murdered," fukuzawa explains to the actor. "do you ever end up on your own during the performance?"

"yeah. we're defenseless when we're up there." he drinks another cup of water again. "i'm on my own for minutes."

"where?" a dumb question to ask an actor.

"on the stage." murakami answers with a hint of annoyance. how would this guy investigating the case not know? "i'm the lead actor."

"huh? you're the lead actor?" ranpo speaks up.

"へぇ。。。" akatsuki makes a laugh of amusement. “村上時雄って(murakami tokio)?"

"never heard of him." he states.

"who are those brats?" murakami glares at the blonde and the raven-haired.

"hey, what's this play about?" ranpo asks.

"you've received the script, haven't you?" he answers the question with another question.

"that script's boring. i gave up after the first page." the boy says boringly.

"oi…" fukuzawa warns the both of them.

"i see. if you think it's boring, then it must be boring." the actor drinks a third cup of water. "that's for the audience to decide, after all."

clack.

—————————————

they arrive in the room of the other actors- those that are paid to only be in the background, or have a few sentences to speak. the room is filled with chattering, people practicing lines or preparing their mental state for the big show.

fukuzawa, akatsuki, and ranpo approach a woman, eyes filled with determination as she applies a final layer of lipstick and smacks her lips. "have you met murakami?" she glances at them. "this play's practically a one-man show. he's been meeting a lot with the stagewright, kurahashi-san." she turns to face them now.

"no one actually thinks there's going to be a murder," another actor says to them. "but if someone's going to get hit, it'd probably be murakami-kun. he's got a lot of women chasing after him, too. i only have a minor role, it's not even worth it targeting me," he sighs, "maybe i'll become a taxi driver or something once this performance is over."

the three of them go and find another actor or actress to interview, finally finding a person eating treats and, probably, calming herself down. she bites down on a chocolate, and sticks a pinky out, "you know what that is?"

"hm?" fukuzawa and akatsuki both let out a noise of confusion.

"it's an affair," she smirks, "it's a tiny association. maybe they slept with a newcomer. or they broke up and quit the group." ranpo goes near the actress with grabby hands as he hopes to get a tasty chocolate or two. fukuzawa glances at akatsuki, who knows what's up, and she sighs but shrugs once again. the woman fakes giving ranpo a piece of chocolate, only to eat it herself in the end.

"i'm sure there's a person or two they want to kill," the actress ends with. you can clearly hear ranpo's grumbles of despair in the background as akatsuki tries to calm him down. 

———————————

they're back downstairs now, and fukuzawa is looking at the interior of the theater, now filled with people. "they have potato chips!" ranpo spots the snacks on a shelf at a nearby shop. "and the chocolate i missed out on!"

"ranpo! we're supposed to be investigating—" the girl tries to stop the boy from getting too many snacks. meanwhile, the swordsman spots the headline of the newspaper once again. 'so it wasn't a dream,' he thinks to himself.

"i'm getting hungry, ojisan." ranpo points at the snacks as fukuzawa starts walking away. "hey, ojisan, are you listening?"

the three of them go back upstairs, with akatsuki leaning against the wall, fukuzawa looking down beside the railings, and ranpo sitting on a couch. "i'm starving," he says. "and i'm not getting that job anyways. whatever. someone's going to die soon and this theater's going to get shut down."

"i won't let the murder happen." fukuzawa suddenly says. ranpo lets out a small 'huh'. "that's why i was called here," continued the man. "neither the theater nor the municipal police are taking the threat seriously. regardless of the motivation behind the threat…"

"ano, ojisan. it wasn't a threat at all. it's just a warning. think of it as a prediction. a threat always offers two options, don't they?" akatsuki steps out from the corner, arms folded and palms up into the air, representing two options. 

"threats usually say, 'if you don't do this, i'll do this!' and all that. but this one is just saying what they will do, so it's a warning. it's also more of a declaration. the attacker hasn't made any demands of the theater to begin with anyway." ranpo continues what his friend was saying.

"…when did you realize that?" fukuzawa stares at the both of them. 

"when we heard what the letter said. to say the truth, it's quite easy to seperate both of them. i don't know why you didn't think of it as a warning," the blonde explains.

"when did you realize the secreatary was the killer?" he had asked.

"since the beginning," the girl said.

'this boy and this girl must see the truth,' fukuzawa thinks. "why didn't you say anything, if you knew?" he asks out loud.

"i thinks you'd noticed." ranpo replies. "i didn't think you'd misinterpret the warning as a threat." 

"do you two believe everyone else notices all the things you notice?" fukuzawa asks again.

"no documents have been stolen, and the assassin didn't kill the president." ranpo had said.

"the reason you aren't introducing him to the municipal police is because you want him to keep an eye on the police." he said, too.

'this boy doesn't understand that nobody else knows anything.' the swordsman realized. 'both him and the girl are convinced that everyone else already knows the truth and is simply hiding the fact that they know.'

"the two of you, what can you gather of me from what you see?" he challenged ranpo and akatsuki. "you said you two have nowhere to stay tonight."

"we don't." ranpo confirms.

"you can stay the night at my place. just answer my question."

"your place?"

"yeah. so, tell me. tell me anything you notice about me."

"grown-ups sure do love their quid pro quos." ranpo gets up from the couch and walks so he's next fukuzawa.

"i'm not much of a detective, ojisan. it's simply not my forte. you should let ranpo-kun tell you instead." akatsuki smiles sheepishly and stretches a hand out towards ranpo. "さ，どうぞ，名探偵さん。(so, go ahead, detective-san.)"

ranpo smirks and starts, "i've only just met you, so there isn't much i can tell…you're in your early thirties. you're a bodyguard. a master of martial arts. single. right-handed. you chose a seat by the wall at the restaurant, so you must be a swordsman as well. i guess that the reason you don't use your katana for work anymore is because you're ashamed of your last job," fukuzawa gasps as he recalls the events. 

"what's a job that involves swordplay and that you'd be ashamed of? come to think of it, there was some buzz about an incident a few years ago…pro-war bureaucrats and overseas military cliques were found dead one after another during the peace treaty debates. and. you were grimacing a bit as you looked at the newspaper headline in the shop earlier. もしかして，おじさんー(are you—)"

"黙れ！(silence!)" yells fukuzawa. 

ranpo was hit with such a force from just a voice and he flew back, hat dropping onto the floor. akatsuki managed to catch the boy right when the man yelled at him. ranpo's cinnabar green eyes met the girl's blood red ones as he let out a shaky breath. 

"ah—" fukuzawa rushes over to the two, only understanding what he had done then. "sorry. are you two all right?"

"私は大丈夫。(i'm alright.)" the blonde was the first to react. 

"あ、うん。。。大丈夫。。。(uh- yeah...i'm okay...)" ranpo stutters from the shock. he stands up and his eyes are still wide open and darting around, looking for his hat.

'this boy's the real deal,' he thinks.

"here." fukuzawa picks it up and hands it back to him. "help me with this job," he invites ranpo and akatsuki. "if we manage to do well, i'll introduce you to more work. well?"

"okay," they say in unison. "we'll help."

the buzzers sound and a bored female voice says, "the doors will now open. please make your way to the theater."

'what the hell am i doing?' fukuzawa curses himself. they've entered the theater now. 'もう何者と組まないと決めたはずなのに。。。(i've already decided that i won't work with anyone...)'

but his body tells him otherwise. 

"let's go," he says to the both of them.

—————————————

ending notes: credits to @cafekitsune

none of the bungou stray dogs characters, except my own, belong to me. property of asagiri kafka.

please do not repost or translate my works on other websites. marikosenwrites 2024

[marikosenwrites]

finally making an introduction for my ocs!!

(i’m a bit lazy to draw soo)

anzawa akatsuki (bungou stray dogs)

26 years old, married to ranpo (childhood friends -> lovers trope)

learnt swordsmanship and judo from fukuzawa!!

the second member of the ada before yosano

really close to yosano!

will post backstory arc later

hoshiyama aki (haikyuu!!)

16 years old (when first year) (24 years old in future arc), dating tsukishima kei (first year) (married in future arc) (funny how all my characters end up marrying my favorite characters huh)

famous as a volleyball player in middle school then quit

second manager after kiyoko! (volunteered)

known hinata for a long time

will post more about her later!

that’s all for now <3

credits: all the pictures are from picrew.me with IIKANJI MAKER as the maker!

all rights reserved @marikosenwrites