His arrival here was sudden, and it made less sense than Ranpo and his decision to eat zenzai while leaving the mochi it’s mostly made up of, just because it wasn’t sweet. To this day, years later, Yukichi still doesn’t understand why the child didn’t pick something sweeter in the first place. The cry of the mochi can still be heard (i the back of his mind), maybe that’s why he can never forget it.
Nevertheless, the situation at hand was a difficult one to decipher. He could mentally list the facts, ignore the sheep; begin an investigation into anybody else who may be in this situation (that he knew), ignore the sheep; hopefully find some answers, and pet ignore the sheep. It seemed at the very least he had retained his job - though the idea of working for an agency not his own, not where he had trusted subordinates, not where he was protecting Ranpo--.
He needed to leave. Ranpo was not a child he could leave be - as adult as he may have grown up to be in age, Yukichi will never rid himself of that image of that 13 year old boy the first time he met him. And frankly, there were few who could tolerate or control Ranpo. Funnily enough, though he’s still waiting for that jolt back to reality in which this was all an elaborate dream-like nightmare preying on Yukichi’s very few weaknesses (the sheep are terribly cute, and a missing Ranpo doesn’t bode well), it actually takes him by surprise when it’s him he sees upon stepping out of the Hummingbird Hotel.
“Ranpo.” His voice is firm, and loud enough to be heard, as he stands with an expression no more or less simple than usual, belying nothing of his concerns toward the young man in question.