It had been an unproductive day at the Mouri Detective agency. Well, it had been so for Mouri Kogoro, at least. Ran had been cleaning up after her Father as he had been busy, glued to his TV set watching a marathon of Yoko. He’d already kicked back four beers and his ashtray was a disaster area. Ran wrinkled her nose at the man, wanting nothing more than to have him grow up and clean up after himself. She doubted that would happen anytime soon. After she had become a young woman, she had become more than just his daughter, taking on the roles of maid, cook and babysitter…of him. She sometimes wondered how he even functioned properly when she was at school. Still, she loved him and he had been there for her, even to the point of doing his best to keep her safe. So, she couldn’t fault him on ever being a bad Father. He was just immature in a sense of the word.
He raised his fifth can of beer in a cheering salute to the spectacle before his eyes, vivid on the television screen. Ran secretly hoped that no one would make an appearance for a case with him in this condition, but he had been known to sober very fast when murder was in the air. Still, she shook her head and just dumped the discarded cigarette butts into the trash bin.
As if on cue and to her surprise, there was suddenly a knock at the door. She didn’t know if her Father noticed it or not, so she went to answer it herself. She straightened up and slowly turned the knob, pulling the door open.
“Good afternoon, Mouri-chan,” the young man on the other side of the door said, voice warm and pleasant with plenty of energy. Hakuba Saguru, young foreign detective, offered a customary and polite bow to the the young woman, then straightened up to put on what he believed to be his most charming smile.
He’d always liked the Mouri girl – she was polite, intelligent, and sweet, and had always made such a good impression on him. Interacting with her, therefore, always made the otherwise unpleasant task of tracking down Mouri Kogoro somewhat bearable.
Speaking of…
“I was wondering if the detective was in. Megure-keibu’s sent me with requested casefiles for one of his clients. Any chance…?”
He asked, though quite honestly, he’d heard the man from street level just before jogging up the steps. Mouri-san was loud, boisterous, lazy, and above all, a pain to work with in any capacity. Nevertheless, Hakuba saw no reason to be unnecessarily rude, particularly when even he had to admit that he did not know Kogoro as well as he ought.
He hoped, for Ran’s sake, that her father had hidden redeeming qualities, at least…