A Detective's Unfortunate Adventure in Another World

His name is Arthur Edogawa.

Yeah, not something creative, he knew. He picked it up from a famous detective manga he read after he found it out in a dumpster, and if the boy who became the main character could be hidden for a long time with that ridiculous name, he felt he could do that too with the same name concept.

And yeah, he didn't know his real name. Hell, he didn't even know his parents at all. He spent his childhood surviving as one of the homeless children who sometimes had to steal and run in the darkest alley in New York that no sane person would dare to go through just so that he could have something decent to eat. So, yeah, no one cared about him and his name, so he could make a name for himself like that.

Unlike the other normal people, though, he had a special 'ability'. He saw the world full of vibrant colors every day, and while when he was just a child, he didn't know what the colors were, as he grew older, he realized what everything meant.

All the colors he saw were coming from every individual's life in the world, and it was connected to the other individual's life via a thin invisible string full of colors that he saw every day. After researching for years, Arthur finally realized that each string represented a person's relationship with the other person connected by the string. For example, if two people were connected with a bright, rose-red string, that meant they were in a romantic relationship, and if the red was darker like crimson, that meant their relationship was deeper like a married couple.

Of course, it wasn't as simple and direct as that. The human relationship was always complicated, after all. There was a time when Arthur saw a string so bright yet not connected to anyone – he guessed the person that should be connected had already died – a rose-red string connected to three different people – which meant either they were in a three-way relationship or one of them cheated – and even a hidden dark string under the yellow one which represented a deep hate hidden beneath the boss-worker relationship, and it took him a very long time to figure out everything.

It didn't help that seeing the world full of vibrant colors like that every day could drive him into insanity, and the headache he suffered almost every night was torture for him. However, having such a magical ability to see the connection between people like that made all the drawbacks worth it.

Of course, having such an ability didn't mean anything if he couldn't take advantage of it, so once he was old enough to not be treated as a brat, he did what he thought would let him exploit his ability to the fullest, and that was to open a detective agency.

Yes, a detective agency.

Oh, don't say that it was childish! Arthur knew full well what his ability meant in this line of profession. Secret affair? Just look for a hidden rose string connected to the people. Murder? Check for a dark string with no connection, and he would find the one who hated the victim the most. Secret children? Easy. Just find a maroon red string which means a relationship between family members. Overall, his ability covered all the problems he could face as a detective, and if he could take advantage of it, Arthur would be able to get out of the slump here. 

Or… So that was what he thought.

Unfortunately, reality was far from his colorful imagination. Even in New York, the city with the highest crime rate in the world, not a lot of people knew that a detective existed. Also, Arthur threw away the idea of getting involved in a crime scene like the story he read in manga or novels since there was no way the police would let any civilians investigate a crime by themselves.

So, yeah, in the end, Arthur had to be satisfied with living from one paycheck to another, which wasn't so much different from when he lived in the street as a boy.

Still, that didn't mean he would give up just like that. Even if Arthur had a hard time searching for a client, he still used most of his free time walking around Time Square while promoting his name as an aspiring private detective. And when he wasn't there, he would always be in the public library, learning a lot of knowledge he deemed necessary to have for a detective while also reading a lot of detective stories like Sherlock Holmes or Hercules Poirot as an inspiration. He knew that his ability alone wasn't enough.

Then, slowly but surely, everything seemed to move in his favor. People started coming to his place one by one, and even though the request was pretty simple like helping to find dogs, helping to see whether the other person liked his client back or not, or sometimes if he was lucky enough, he would have a big case where he needed to investigate a secret affair or something like that. As time went by, he was satisfied with his lifestyle, knowing full well that his choice to be a detective wasn't a wrong one here.

His career then took a huge leap when one day, a superstar actress suddenly crashed into his place. Arthur could still remember what the actress said at that time.

'This is the only photo of my son I have before he was kidnapped twelve years ago. I have been searching for him for as long as I can remember without finding any hint about his whereabouts. I don't know if you can help me, but can you try anything to find my son?'

If it was any ordinary detective, finding a missing teenager with a photo of the boy when he was five years old as the only clue would be a disaster. However, it was different for Arthur. He could see the bright maroon-red string coming from the woman, and the only thing he had to do was to follow that lead. It only took him five days before he found the boy, living with his foster family in Philadelphia before he told the actress about his discovery.

Long story short, he couldn't believe he could earn five million dollars that easily.

Arthur was all over the moon. Five million. That was probably the biggest amount of money he had ever possessed, and just like any other kid who suddenly became a millionaire, everything went over his head. He moved into a fancier apartment, bought a lot of fancy clothes, and even planned to buy a new car, and he did all of that in just three days.

Of course, Arthur knew that spending his money like that was stupid. However, this was the first time he felt financial freedom, and Arthur wanted to enjoy the feeling without caring or worrying about anything else in the world.

Unfortunately, before he could enjoy the fruit of his labor to the fullest, Arthur suddenly felt a gentle tug, and when he turned around, he felt like he was inside a turbulence plane that was about to crash. The last thing he could remember was being in a strange place as if he was in the middle of a colossal film set. Then, everything went dark, and he lost his consciousness.