Edgar

Of the "Eibon Anomaly Detectives," most say he looks the most befitting of the 'detective' mantle. Edgar neither denies nor confirms this… Probably because explaining it would be really, really troublesome.

After all, his other titles include "Eibon Ace Trio," "Hyelp's Most Promising Rising Star," "Bridge Crossings' Top 3 Anomaly Hunter," and countless other impressive-sounding nicknames that Nanally, Sakiri, and Taygedo (and sometimes Kiroumaru too) casually make up.

Despite still being a baby-faced boy, he's remarkably mature for his age; almost old-fashioned, likely because the other two are so impulsive that Edgar is always the one left bowing and thanking people. More often than not, he's the one apologizing and paying the bills.

Of course, Edgar's main responsibilities are gathering intel and planning operations. As for how many times those plans have been followed… well, as long as the results are good, who cares? Edgar has come to fully embrace this philosophy; though it doesn't stop him from carefully preparing each time and having a Plan B ready for any unexpected situations that might (or rather, definitely will) occur.

Taygedo often watches the three young Hunters head out and sighs with mock profundity: "Future Edgar will be just like Adler!"

They say forgetting is part of growing up. Most adults only retain hazy fragments of their childhood memories, as if viewing them through some kind of fuzzy filter that makes everything impossible to see clearly.

Edgar is different. With enough effort, he can recall every single day with perfect clarity.

The day Edgar's family discovered his esper ability went like this:

Edgar was three years old. It was an ordinary evening, no different from any other. His parents had just come home from work, and they were enjoying family time around the dinner table. Light, delicious dishes accompanied by Dad's interesting little anomaly stories made for the perfect cozy atmosphere.

Both of Edgar's parents were clerks at Yggash Court. They were responsible for writing and maintaining anomaly profiles, so Dad always had endless stories to tell. The stories were little tales adapted from the publicly available anomaly profiles he wrote during work hours.

But young Edgar didn't know any of this yet. Whenever Dad got carried away telling stories at the dinner table, he'd look down to see his precious son's bright, sparkling eyes gazing up at him…

Being worshipped by his son as the "Story King" made all those overtime hours worth it.

"That's strange? It seems different from what Dad wrote in the files? Which one is actually true?"

Something changed forever the moment Edgar asked this serious question. Edgar's dad would probably remember that instant for the rest of his life. But his dad quickly focused on something more crucial: how did Edgar know about the anomaly profiles he'd just filed?

Had his son snuck out through the window and run all the way to Yggash Court to read the files? Did such a small child even have clearance to access those documents?

Over the next half hour, Mom and Dad finally figured out what was happening: Edgar only needed to focus his imagination (both adults also had to stretch their own imaginations to picture this) to connect with various libraries around the world, including Yggash Court's archive. Edgar had probably been too curious about what Dad had written, and couldn't help thinking about his father's name… One by one, the anomaly profiles bearing Edgar's father's signature unfolded in Edgar's mind…

By the way, Edgar had discovered this ability long ago. It was probably innate, right? It's just that earlier on, he couldn't read very well, so he couldn't understand all those dense markings on the white papers…

Edgar had probably already read through his father's early work files, when his writing style was still immature. His dad's "dark history" was now completely exposed to his son. With this realization, Edgar's dad decided to escape to the kitchen to wash dishes, planning to study his son's esper ability more carefully later.

"This child really takes after me. On the night of our first date, I also read through all your papers from cover to cover."

His wife wouldn't let him off the hook either.

A child prodigy; the "golden kid;" "the boy kissed by the god of wisdom."

The day Edgar came back from Twinkle School of Espers, aunts, uncles, neighbors, and their children all swarmed in droves to congratulate him, nearly trampling down his family's doorstep. Whether they came out of curiosity to see what made this so-called "neighbor's kid you should learn from" so special, or were reluctant children dragged along by parents demanding they "learn from his example," they all reached the same conclusion:

He really didn't look like anything special.

Meanwhile, Edgar found himself surrounded by adults, completely overwhelmed. He just couldn't keep up with their overlapping chatter. As they talked over each other, Edgar's future became crystal clear in their minds: he'd immediately become a star researcher at Zerogon Laboratory, the rising star of Yggash Court, the new director of the Bureau of Anomaly Control. Pink Paws Bank's job offer was worth considering too. With Edgar's abilities, why would't he become a board member at PPB? Of course, when the time came, he shouldn't forget to give a helping hand to that kid living diagonally across from him whose grades barely scraped by in every subject…

The adults listing out and arranging all these bright futures for him had become completely lost in their own fantasies. It was as if Edgar were their own child, fulfilling all the dreams they, themselves, couldn't…

Edgar looked around helplessly, unable to join any conversation. He was so nervous he pulled his scarf up high, wishing he could hide completely inside it. Luckily, at that very moment, his father squeezed through the crowd and patted his shoulder: "What do you want to be when you grow up, Edgar?"

Encouraged by his father's gaze, Edgar said softly:

"I… I just want to be Edgar."

- Point One: Edgar really likes Anomalies

- Point Two: Edgar's mind is reasonably sharp

- Point Three: Edgar can easily access Anomaly profiles

Therefore, Edgar is well-suited to work at Yggash Court's archives like his parents, organizing documents and studying Anomaly-related topics until the day he dies.

Edgar's mother had to work very hard to suppress her laughter at her son's reasoning; not because the conclusion was absurd or ridiculous, quite the opposite, actually. The logic was clear and the reasoning sound, leaving almost no room for refusal.

But having Edgar move into Yggash Court's tree hollow, put on thick beer-bottle glasses, and bury himself in stacks of files was still a bit… premature. Mom understood her son's wishes, but… Wouldn't it be better for Edgar to personally verify those details, rather than learning about Anomalies from other people's reports? Who knew what Anomalies might be waiting around the next corner? How many unknown Anomaly characteristics were still waiting for us to discover them?

Edgar listened very seriously.

He'd probably inherited his mother's adventurous spirit too. What seemed like a rather silly promise was sealed with a pinky promise. Mom took Edgar's hand and, blindfolded, threw a dart at a map. Luck, or perhaps fate, decided Edgar's adventure: his first journey after graduation would take him to Hethereau.

Forever curious, forever seeking knowledge, forever willing to try.

Standing on the bustling street corner, Edgar had no idea where he was supposed to go. Though he thought for a long, long time, he remained just as lost, just as confused.

He gave up on route planning, maps, and navigation. Following his mother's advice, he was now "letting the wind guide him" through Hethereau. According to her, encounters with destiny often arrive when you least expect them.

With no destination and no clue which direction to take, could he really find his "destiny" this way? Edgar couldn't fathom such an unplanned approach; the indecision paralyzed him. Instead, he bought a small bag of feed from a street vendor and crouched by the fountain to feed the pigeons.

Later, when Edgar looked back on that day, he felt he'd begun to dimly understand what his mother meant by "fate."

As he felt the pigeons pecking at his palm, watching the sky gradually turn a warm orange as golden clouds drifted toward the still-blue horizon, a sudden gust of wind smacked him right in the face. Along with it came a recruitment poster with crooked handwriting and a drawing of some TV-headed creature.

"Eibon Antique Shop."

He stood up, looked around, and followed the street signs to Hankaku Street.

They didn't share a language, but understanding Taygedo wasn't too difficult.

By combining the tone and frequency of Taygedo's "Tayge-tayge" sounds with his expressions and gestures, Edgar deciphered:

"Welcome, new friend!"

He began a new chapter in his Anomaly observation diary; it naturally featured the wonderful TV-headed otter. Of course, Edgar's observation records weren't as formal as his parents'; he simply wrote down Taygedo's little habits, quirks, goals… and the many everyday activities with him.

Still, this neat and tidy notebook ran out of space way sooner than Edgar had expected. An entire page was quickly covered with Taygedo's selfies, complete with a bonus paw print. One page had angry highlighter annotations: "So it WAS you, Taygedo! I knew you stole my pudding!" And several consecutive pages had suspicious water stains (best not to think too hard about what liquid that might be), right after the entry: "Should I write about Kiroumaru too? I already agreed on his behalf."

Admittedly, Edgar wasn't very good at expressing himself, but understanding each other didn't necessarily require words, Edgar realized as he lay on the rooftop while stargazing with Nanally, Sakiri, and Taygedo.

…Though language could speed up the process, Edgar added, after ages spent gesturing with Taygedo, that always ended in confusion.