The mystery novelist who wrote under the pen name “Tenth” vanished without a trace after completing his final book, The Malice of Paradox.
At first, people merely mourned the loss of a rising star in the world of detective fiction.
Then, years later, the cases in that novel began occurring one by one in real life.
Perhaps the novel was a warning from beyond.
The same methods of murder
Unexpected outcomes
Anonymous invitations
The shadow of a curse descends
Copycat crimes, or revelations?
Everything is swept into someone’s trap
“Open up! Police!”
Tsuna took one look at the intimidating man outside his door and shut it without a second thought.
As if a law-abiding citizen like him would have an actual cop knocking at his door!
“Mr. Tenth, surely you don’t want your real identity exposed.”
Tsuna opened the door again. Fine, he had a weapon in a box.
“Well, well. You must be Mr. Tenth. I’ve heard so much about your reputation as a detective.”
The hand Gokudera held his cigarette in trembled, but he didn’t deny it. He let the person in front of him mistake him for the novelist beside him.
The three of them muddled their way through the small talk and awkward pleasantries.
When the gathering ended, a rumor that Tenth was a thug began making the rounds in the industry.
“I’m telling you, Goku-de-ra, next time, quit smoking.”
Who started the stereotype that detectives had to smoke, anyway? Over the course of one gathering, people had mistaken him for the annoying cop next to him so many times that Tsuna had lost count. He glared at Gokudera, fuming inside.
The other man merely tilted his head, then pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it right in front of him, smoke curling into the air.
Fine. Just you wait, cop. Tsuna made a mental note to get even.
“So that’s why you smoke now? Sawada Tsunayoshi, you really are...”
Before the other man could finish, Tsuna took the lollipop from his mouth and shot a glance at Rokudo Mukuro, who was acting strangely for reasons unknown.
“Take me to the next gathering. Keep me away from that crooked cop.”
“Don’t forget, you’re technically a missing person and actually a wanted criminal now, dear Mr. Rokudo Mukuro. Do I really have to remind you?”
“Kufufufu~ Then I don’t mind having my dear accomplice locked up with me for harboring a fugitive.” As he spoke, Mukuro took a step toward Tsuna, who looked disgusted, and leaned close to his ear. “Perhaps my dear pupil can even get us both ninety-nine years~”
First, harboring a fugitive wouldn’t get you a sentence that long. Second, Fran wasn’t such a terrible lawyer.
Tsuna stepped back to put some distance between them and shot back irritably,
“Why not get one more year and make it an even hundred?”
“...”
Warnings:
A novelist and a police officer team up to catch a killer
Some events defy common sense
New-style mystery
270-degree perspective
Tsuna-centric. I’ll decide on the pairing based on which storyline is the most fun to write. I guarantee no pairing will be forced for balance.
I’m keeping the distinctive Japanese fandom gaze on beautiful boys x
I’ll leave this as a pre-publication for now and start once it gets enough bookmarks.
Theme: Evil will always be brought to justice
