Chapter One: Poisoned!
Mitsui Hisashi strolled down the path which led to Quinn's hostel. The weather was balmy and nice; the summer breeze just right for a little solitary walk. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and whistled a chirpy tune, his footsteps in rhythmic correspondence. Occasionally he halted his journey and attempted to do a little jig. The soles of his leather shoes made happy little 'tap' sounds on the cobblestone path.
Presently, Quinn's hostel came into view. It wasn't anything like he expected. The whiteness of its walls had faded into a light shade of yellow, yet its windows were painted a vibrant blue. "The lousiest places have the grandest names," he mused.
A figure came out to meet him.
"Good morning, you must be Mr. Mitsui Hisashi. I am Mrs. Mizuno, and I run this hostel."
Mrs. Mizuno was a robust, respectable-looking woman of about 50 odd. Her hair was flecked with gray and pulled back in a tight bun. The pair of eyes, gazing out from a slightly wrinkled face, was laid on Mitsui. They gave the impression of a stern austerity. Mitsui suddenly felt like a mischievous schoolboy faced with a marauder's worst nightmare – a discipline mistress.
"Good morning, Mrs. Mizuno." Mitsui said cautiously. "I am Mitsui."
"Well, come right in!"
Mrs. Mizuno ushered her guest into her hostel.
"You just wait a moment, I'll go and get your keys." She told him, and disappeared into one of the rooms.
Mitsui's eyes darted around Quinn's hostel. It was an extremely neat and well-kept place, no doubt owing to the efficacy of Mrs. Mizuno. On this ground floor were three old-fashioned sofas – the wooden type with cushions lain on it – that formed an incomplete square. The side of the square without a sofa was being occupied by a television set. There was only one room on this floor; it being the one Mrs. Mizuno had disappeared into. A staircase led up to the second floor, and behind it was a dining area. The kitchen was beside the dining area.
"Micchy!"
A familiar voice interrupted his keen observation of the place. A cocky-looking redhead dressed in a dirty white singlet and baggy Bermudas with large pockets appeared.
"Where are the rest, Sakuragi?" Mitsui asked.
'The rest' that Mitsui had referred to were the 8 (excluding himself and Sakuragi) other short listed basketball players from Kanagawa. This was supposed to be a training camp to prepare them for the first ever inter-district tournament. The selected players: Maki, Jin and Kiyota of Kainan; Sendoh, Uozumi and Fukuda of Ryonan; Miyagi, Mitsui, Sakuragi and Rukawa of Shohoku.
But that wasn't the original list. The original list included Takenori Akagi of Shohoku instead of Uozumi, and Fujima Kenji of Shoyo instead of Miyagi. Both had declined to take part because of overseas study commitments.
Sakuragi shrugged. "All upstairs in their rooms unpacking, I suppose. Why've you come so late?"
"I woke up late and missed the train," Mitsui lied, the real reason being his near failure to persuade his parents to let him come. They had insisted that Mitsui was trying to run away from home. Mitsui thought wryly: "Yeah, run away from home my arse. Would I have informed them if I were really running away? I'm not as thick as that."
Sakuragi bore no signs of suspicion, and instead proceeded to tease Mitsui on this blatant lie.
"Looks like we should get you an alarm clock for your birthday, eh Micchy? An alarm clock that will scream 'Micchy! Micchy!' over and over again." Sakuragi said, and laughed heartily at his own joke.
Mrs. Mizuno re-appeared, preventing an irritated Mitsui from giving an equally irritated retort.
"Your key," She said, and pressed a key into his hands. "Come, I'll lead you up to your room."
Mitsui followed the old lady up the stairs to the second and highest floor. A bookcase table lay opposite the mouth of the stairs in a little corner that jutted out from a long hallway. The hallway yielded 14 rooms, 7 on either side of the wall. Mrs. Mizuno led him to the 3rd door on the left wall. On it was a little gold sign, "3".
"Enjoy your stay." She said, and with a firm nod, proceeded down the hallway, then the stairs.
Unpacking didn't take Mitsui very long. He had brought along only the bare necessities. However, his friend and teammate Miyagi, who occupied the room beside his, was still unpacking when Mitsui had finished.
"Did you bring your whole house along, Miyagi?" Mitsui asked sarcastically as he surveyed his friend's room. It contained no less than 10 framed photographs of Miyagi's love interest, Ayako, Shohoku's fierce but pretty manageress.
While Miyagi had brought with him too much, Sakuragi was worse.
"The only clothes I brought with me besides my jerseys are these!" Sakuragi exclaimed proudly, pointing to his singlet and Bermudas.
Mitsui pretended to be impressed.
"Wow, Sakuragi! So little!" Mitsui said.
Sakuragi beamed. "Yeah…"
Mitsui verified Sakuragi's statement by looking through his cupboard. Indeed, there hung only two sets of Shohoku jerseys. A little bottle of sleeping pills was the only thing else.
Mitsui frowned a little. "You didn't bring along underwear…?"
As this realization dawned upon Sakuragi, his hand flew to his mouth in horror. "Oh no!"
** **
In room 6, 3 doors down from Mitsui's room, Akira Sendoh was frantically turning over his stack of clothes, which he had piled neatly in a drawer. When it yielded nothing of what he was looking for, he turned to his bedside table, where bottles of hair gel and hair spray sat. Again, his search was futile. He sighed and threw up his hands, admitting 'defeat'.
Soon, the bell rang for dinner. The players filed down the stairs. On the way down, Sendoh confided in Uozumi and Fukuda about his loss.
"No point whining, Sendoh. Just go to Mrs. Mizuno and ask for a new one." Uozumi said sensibly.
"She looks fierce, Sendoh. Good luck." Fukuda replied in his usual flat tone.
Sendoh sighed. "Okay." He said resignedly.
The players and Mrs. Mizuno all settled down at the table while Annie, the hostel cook, served dinner. Sendoh asked, rather nervously, to see Mrs. Mizuno after dinner. She agreed.
There was no lack of conversation over dinner. What were their chances of winning the inter-district tournament? Quite good, Maki fancied. Yes, of course, with the real super rookie in the team, Kiyota said. Sakuragi and Rukawa both disagreed; Sakuragi because "I am the real tensai, you're just a fake!", Rukawa because "do'ahou,".
Halfway through the dinner, a middle-aged man with broad shoulders that looked every inch like a coach arrived at Quinn's hostel. Yes, he was their appointed coach, Sato Sensei.
** **
"I think I've lost my key, Mrs. Mizuno. I'm terribly sorry – "
Mrs. Mizuno held up her hand, indicating her lack of interest for explanations or apologies.
"You are Mr. Fukuda?" She asked.
"No, I'm Akira Sendoh." Sendoh corrected.
"Alas, the memory – it fails me."
Mrs. Mizuno retrieved a little notebook and thumbed through the pages.
"Akira Sendoh. You occupy Room 6, is that right?" She said, and pointed unerringly at his name on the notebook. There, written in Mrs. Mizuno's neat handwriting, was 'Akira Sendoh – 6'.
"Yes."
Mrs. Mizuno disappeared into her room and re-appeared with a key.
"This is the spare-key. You'll have to pay $10 for the loss."
Sendoh handed her the money readily enough, quite relieved at having been spared a lecture. He decided that Mrs. Mizuno was a down-to-earth, sensible and no-nonsense woman who didn't like to waste her time.
He went back up to his room victoriously, key in hand.
That night, Sendoh tossed and turned in his bed, unable to sleep. There was no air-conditioner, only a fan, and the heat kept him awake. He decided he would ask for a change of room tomorrow. The rooms on the right had windows exposing the sea, and he very much needed the natural sea breeze to supplement the lack of coolness. According to his knowledge, Room 13 was unoccupied.
Later in the night, he finally fell into a fitful sleep.
** **
Sendoh expressed to Mrs. Mizuno his desire to change rooms in the morning, and his apologies for being such a troublesome guest. Mrs. Mizuno promptly handed him the key to Room 13 in exchange for the key to Room 6.
After breakfast, the players had their first training session at a basketball court not far form the hostel, under the guidance of Sato Sensei. Nothing eventful happened, unless you count Sakuragi dunking the ball on Uozumi's head by mistake.
Training ended just in time for dinner. They returned to the hostel to find a young lady of about 26 joining them. She introduced herself as Akina Shidou, a fashion consultant.
Mitsui thought: "Now that's a pretty woman."
And it was true. Akina Shidou was extremely pretty, and moved about with all the easy grace of a mannequin, like, Mitsui thought, how all fashion consultants should. However, like a mannequin, she was dead. Not in the literal sense. There seemed to be neither life nor energy in her. She exuded a weary kind of charm.
"We're going upstairs to play cards. Wanna come?" Mitsui asked Akina.
She smiled, and like everything about her, her smile was a weary one. She acquiesced, her low, tired voice escaping her lips. He rather thought her to be the most tired person he had ever met.
Rukawa was browsing through the books at the bookcase table. Upon sensing their arrival, he scowled and went back to his room.
The few of them gathered around the bookcase table – Akina, Mitsui, Sakuragi, Kiyota, Sendoh and Uozumi. The rest of the players were downstairs watching TV.
They chatted a little over a game of Bridge.
"You look tired, Miss Shidou." Sendoh noted.
"Oh, I'm all right." She replied in her usual faraway voice.
"Speaking of tired – " Uozumi yawned. "I haven't been sleeping well these few days. Only managed to fall asleep at 4 in the morning last night!"
"If you can't take it, old monkey, go to bed!" Kiyota snickered. Uozumi flushed.
"I just need some coffee, that's all. Sendoh, go get some coffee."
"I want a cup too!" Sakuragi said quickly. It wasn't everyday you got to be served by Akira Sendoh.
Not to be outdone, Kiyota exclaimed at once, "Me too!"
Mitsui said that yes, he would like a cup too. Akina went with the flow.
Sendoh re-appeared with a tray of coffee cups, and distributed them. As he did so, something struck Mitsui as odd, but what exactly he didn't know.
"OI!! NBA HIGHLIGHTS!!" Miyagi called from downstairs.
Mitsui sprang up at once. "I hope the Lakers lost!" He exclaimed, and rushed down the stairs in anticipation.
"What Lakers?" Sakuragi wondered aloud, bewildered. But not wanting to look stupid, he hurried down together with the rest. Unfortunately for him, Kiyota overheard his little question to himself.
"You don't know the Lakers? You're so stupid!" Kiyota exclaimed.
Only Akina remained behind. She stood up and walked over to the window, looking pensive and detached (and tired, of course).
Kaede Rukawa seized this opportunity where the little corner was nearly vacant and came out of his room. The sudden shuffling of feet in the hallway startled Akina a little.
"Aren't you going down to join the rest?" She asked with a faint smile.
Rukawa's icy eyes considered her for a few moments. He then looked away without so much of a reply.
Akina thought: "He's batty, this one."
** **
Breakfast was, as a rule, served at 9am every morning. All the inhabitants had already gathered for the first meal of the day, except Uozumi and Akina. Akina had journeyed to town first thing in the morning.
"Ought we to wake Uozumi up?" Fukuda suggested.
Sensei Sato nodded gravely. "I place the utmost importance on punctuality."
As Uozumi's teammates, Fukuda and Sendoh took this duty upon their selves. As they proceeded up the stairs, Mitsui remarked, "Didn't he say he was having difficulty sleeping? More like he has difficulty waking up!"
But Uozumi would never wake up. He was dead.
Sakuragi, with a little smirk on his face, was about to open his mouth to say something when they all heard Sendoh and Fukuda starting to pound on Uozumi's door.
Mrs. Mizuno came shuffling out of the kitchen with an annoyed look on her face.
"Are they planning to break down my door?" She said irritably. "What room is that?" She asked those seated at the table.
They reflected.
"Room 4." Sakuragi replied suddenly.
Mrs. Mizuno got the spare key for Room 4 and marched up the stairs like a commander, with the curious people following her like her troops. Sometimes, Mitsui felt that the strength of Mrs. Mizuno's character dominated them all.
"Stop it, you'll ruin my door!" She shoved Sendoh and Fukuda aside rather unceremoniously, and, with a turn of the key, opened the stubborn door.
It was not a pretty sight that greeted them. Uozumi, his face twisted in a contortion of agony and pain, lay lifeless on the bed in an odd sort of position with his eyes wide-open, eyes that conveyed a kind of severe shock.
Jin dashed out immediately. Sendoh crumpled down to the ground, ashen-faced. He then buried his head in his hands and started bawling. Fukuda, though a little stunned himself, tried to console Sendoh. There was something a little funny about this that made Mitsui want to laugh despite the tragedy. He really couldn't imagine Fukuda consoling anybody.
"Someone… Someone call the cops!" Maki's voice rang out with authority. Mrs. Mizuno volunteered and swept out of the room.
"Why the cops? You don't think – " Sakuragi's voice trailed off.
"Someone did him in," Kiyota said suddenly, like there was something stuck in his throat. "Someone did him in! People don't die like – like that!"
"It may've been a fit." Rukawa pointed out calmly with indifference.
Kiyota turned to Rukawa and narrowed his eyes.
"So you think it's a fit, do you?" Kiyota said, his voice dripping with malice. "You mark my words, Rukawa! He was murdered!"
"No." Said Sakuragi rather abruptly. "No!"
"All of you, out of this room! The police will need the room in its original state. Out!" The coach barked. The players complied.
Mitsui and Miyagi, however, felt rather disappointed.
"Damn, I thought we could perhaps snoop around and find some clues." Miyagi shook his head regretfully. "It's like in those detective stories, ain't it, Mitsui?"
"Yeah." Mitsui replied, and took one last, lingering look at the 'scene of crime'. To his surprise, Sakuragi came trotting out of the toilet of Uozumi's room. He had thought himself to be the last person to leave.
"Well, hurry up, Sakuragi!" The coach ushered them both out of the room, and locked it.
"What were you doing in there, Sakuragi?" Mitsui asked suspiciously.
"I was – I was combing my hair." Sakuragi replied quickly.
** **
"I would put the time of death at around 4 to 4.30am, no earlier than that. All the symptoms point to strychnine poisoning. A post-mortem will have to be carried out to find out how much of the drug had been consumed."
Inspector Rei Takeshi nodded slowly, digesting the bare facts of the case.
"What about the time of consumption?" She asked moments later.
"I should say about 2 to 3am." Doctor Ikari replied.
Rei nodded again.
"Any evidence as to how the strychnine could've been administered?"
Doctor Ikari shook his head. "I'm afraid not."
Again, Rei nodded, this time a nod of dismissal. "Thank you, Doctor."
Doctor Ikari bowed and took his leave. On his way down, he bumped into a rather curious stranger with red hair.
"Tell me, Doctor," the stranger said, "is it true what they're saying? That Uozumi was poisoned?"
Doctor Ikari frowned. Was this person a reporter, waiting to pounce on this case? Perhaps twist this straightforward case into a sensational murder to be read by all of Japan? If so, the facts of the case certainly must not fall into his hands. "The reporters nowadays!" Doctor Ikari thought to himself.
He gave an answer of non-committal nature and continued his journey down the stairs.
** **
Inspector Takeshi observed the little corner where the bookcase table stood. "Magazines on this side" – she swung the bookcase around – "and Shakespeare on this side." She muttered to herself, making a mental note.
She lingered for a few more minutes before making her way to the deceased's room.
There, she found her superior crouched on all fours, his head buried under the bed. She cleared her throat, and her superior stood up.
"Found anything?" She asked, a hint of mockery in her tone.
"No – not yet." Her superior (Inspector Tatsuya) replied.
"Well, you can go back to sniffing around like a foxhound. I'll just question the people here."
"I don't like how you phrase things, Takeshi."
Rei shrugged. "So will you continue your investigations, or will you come with me?"
Inspector Tatsuya shook his head. "You will come with me." He said.
Rei rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
** **
"Really?" Akina said.
Mitsui and Miyagi had explained to her the reason why cops were swarming around the hostel.
"But how dreadful." She continued listlessly, her tone not corresponding with her words.
The two boys exchanged glances. "This is impossible, she isn't even the least bit excited!" Miyagi's eyes had said.
But Mitsui's eyes had said, "Look at her eyes, Miyagi. They're troubled."
** **
Author's note:
I re-wrote this first chapter. It's longer and in much clearer detail. I absolutely despised the older first chapter, because I thought it was horribly written. I'm quite pleased at how this re-write turned out; I hope you all didn't find it boring.
Please include your guesses in your reviews! I'd love to see everyone drawing their own conclusions. Who is the murderer? Who will be the next to die?
The next chapter will see the police questioning the whole hostel. Bits of information will be revealed. Stay tuned!
Until then, please R&R :)
xoxo,
qianhui
PS: Much thanks to sLL, ayu, unchained, Silhouette Panther and lambie for reviewing the previous first chapter!