Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
----
May 4th, Friday — Sunny
It had been three days since Ritsu arrived in Tokyo. With a backpack on his shoulders and a suitcase he had bought from a department store in tow, today was the day he would move into his new home.
In Japan, there is no age restriction for buying a house; buyers only need to provide proof of income. However, Ritsu's situation was a bit unusual. Without a guardian or a job, he couldn't apply for a mortgage. Fortunately, he had more than enough savings. By paying the full amount upfront, he only needed to provide proof of funds.
His new home was located at 1-21 Beika Town. The nearest station was TR Beika Station on the Toto Loop Line. The area had convenient transportation and consisted of large high-rise apartments, yet it wasn't in the middle of a busy downtown district; perfect for someone who preferred quiet surroundings.
After completing the checkout procedures at the hotel, Ritsu took a taxi to his new place. He pressed the button for the 29th floor, heading straight to the top.
"Room 2907… this should be it."
He took out the electronic key card, similar to the ones used in hotels. After swiping it and entering a six-digit password, Ritsu pushed open the heavy electronic security door. The entryway wasn't very large.
The new apartment could only be described as empty.
In the living room, which was about the size of a typical middle school classroom, there was only a single black leather sectional sofa meant for five people. There wasn't even a coffee table.
To the left was an open kitchen, complete with a stove, refrigerator, and other appliances. Further inside the living room were two master bedrooms of equal size. Aside from a bed, there was nothing else inside either room.
Thankfully, both bathrooms were fully equipped. Otherwise, Ritsu felt like he might as well have stayed at the hotel a few more nights.
Ding.
A notification sound signaled a new email.
[Morofushi: Hello, Sasajima! Do you have any plans for the weekend? Want to hang out at Beika Shopping Plaza? The newly built Ferris wheel there is pretty nice. ∠(°ω°)／]
[Sasajima: Yeah, sure.]
[Morofushi: Do you have anything planned after school? I want to introduce you to a friend.]
Introduce a friend?
On his first day in Tokyo, he had met Morofushi. Since then, they had kept in touch through email. Morofushi seemed unusually concerned about him and often started casual conversations.
The friend he mentioned was probably the one he had brought up more than five times already— Furuya Rei.
[Sasajima: I should be home. 1-21 Beika Town.]
[Morofushi: Won't that disturb your family?]
[Sasajima: No.]
[Morofushi: Then see you after school!]
Ritsu put his phone away. After sitting silently on the sofa for a few seconds, he opened Yahoo in the browser and typed a question into the search bar.
#How should you host a friend visiting your house for the first time?#
After carefully reading the results, most suggestions recommended preparing snacks, fruit, and drinks. If it was around mealtime, you should also invite them to eat. It also suggested preparing activities that multiple people could participate in.
Closing the webpage, Ritsu checked the time. It was 10:49 AM.
Morofushi attended Beika High School and didn't belong to any club. Second-year students were usually dismissed between 2:30 PM and 3:30 PM.
Ritsu quickly stood up from the sofa, pulled his wallet from his backpack, stuffed the key card into his pocket, and hurried out, taking the elevator downstairs.
At an electronics store in Beika Town, Ritsu immediately purchased the Wii, a home game console released by Nintendo at the end of last year.
In addition, he bought various household appliances such as a 75-inch LCD television.
After buying everything listed in the forum post, he returned home and removed the packaging. Then he sat obediently on the sofa, hugging a pillow as he waited for Morofushi to arrive.
"Number 21… this should be it."
Wearing the black uniform of Beika High School, Morofushi looked up at the high-rise apartment building in surprise.
Turning to the person beside him, he smiled and said, "I didn't expect my new friend to be this wealthy. Should we have bought a nicer gift to bring with us?"
Standing behind him was a boy with light blond hair and tan skin. Narrowing his drooping eyes as he examined the building, he replied with a dismissive shrug.
"No need. Rich people don't care about that stuff."
"Is that so? Then let's go."
Standing in front of Room 2907, Morofushi nervously straightened his appearance. It was his first time visiting someone else's home. He wondered what Sasajima's family would be like.
Ding-dong.
Quick footsteps sounded from inside. The electronic security door soon opened.
Ritsu stood inside, looking at Morofushi, whom he hadn't seen for two days. Although his face didn't show obvious excitement, the speed at which he opened the door revealed how much he had been looking forward to the visit.
"Welcome."
His gaze shifted to the right. Ritsu blinked twice in surprise.
He hadn't expected Morofushi's best friend to have blond hair and dark skin.
Was he a foreigner?
"Welcome."
To make sure the foreign guest would understand, Ritsu even repeated it in standard American English.
"Pfft—"
Morofushi couldn't help covering his mouth and laughing quietly. He instantly understood why Ritsu had switched to English, he must have mistaken Rei for some kind of mixed American-African foreigner.
Rei's opinion of Ritsu instantly dropped from 0 to −100. His already cool expression seemed to drop several degrees colder as he gritted his teeth and replied in fluent Japanese.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm Japanese."
"…?"
"Hahaha!" Morofushi burst out laughing before explaining, "Zero's skin got that way from tanning, not naturally."
"Oh, Sorry," Ritsu said immediately. Awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, he added, "I jumped to conclusions."
"It's fine. My name is Furuya Rei. I'm Hiro's childhood friend."
Knowing Ritsu hadn't meant any harm, Rei's lost 100 points of goodwill were restored with that simple apology, returning his opinion back to zero.
Ritsu took out the newly bought slippers from the shoe cabinet in the entryway and placed them in front of the two guests.
"Please come in."
"Excuse us," Morofushi said politely. After changing into the slippers and neatly placing his shoes aside, he stepped into the living room and couldn't help looking surprised.
Aside from the large television, the room only had a pair of standing speakers and the sofa-coffee table setup. There was no furniture beyond the bare necessities. The snow-white walls were completely undecorated, there wasn't even a clock.
The place had no sense of everyday life at all.
It felt less warm than even a hotel suite.
"Sasajima, are your family members not home yet?" Morofushi asked after looking around.
Rei, who had already guessed something, carefully observed Ritsu's expression. Seeing that he didn't look particularly upset, he quietly relaxed.
"My family passed away five years ago. I live alone now."
Ritsu spoke calmly, clearly not bothered by the topic. After five years, he had long since come to terms with it.
His only regret was that he had never been able to recover his parents' remains, he only knew they had died in an accident.
Back then, he had tried contacting the person who called the Honjo house claiming to be a friend of his parents. But the phone number had turned out to be invalid. Despite his suspicions, he couldn't find any information, so he eventually gave up.
"I'm sorry, I—"
Rei reached over and pressed a hand onto Morofushi's head, rubbing it roughly from side to side with a grin.
"Aren't you usually the smart one? Sasajima doesn't look like he blames you, so stop worrying about it."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Ritsu said, picking up a Wii controller from the coffee table. "Do you want to play a game first before we eat? I wasn't sure what you like, so I thought I'd wait until you arrived before cooking."
"We're not picky. Anything is fine."
Holding the Wii controller, Rei sat on the sofa watching the other two wildly swinging their arms around while playing virtual tennis.
He shook his head helplessly.
'You didn't need to move that much to play the game, Baka-Hiro.'
But…
Now he could relax.
The boy, Sasajima Ritsu, didn't seem hostile at all. In fact, he was unexpectedly easy to get along with, very different from the expressionless face he usually wore.
It really proved that you shouldn't judge people by appearances.