Hakuba Saguru sighs, running his hand through his hair as he eyes the folder on his desk with a slight feeling of disdain. Honestly? His housekeeper should know better than to accept some cases... Did the old woman really think he was actually interested in something as... mundane as this?

With a shake of his head he lets his brown eyes roam over the file again. A hacker has been at work, messing with the administration of people and driving the forces pursuing them insane. 'You'd expect them to only land me homicide cases...' he thinks to himself before snorting.

"Well, it's already been accepted..." he groans lightly, sitting back in his seat. "Might as well solve it quickly and move on." he muses, his mind running through the information on the file.

The hacker has been active over the entire world, targeting both companies and individuals. A scowl mars Hakuba's features. He'd much rather deal with murders; at least they go out and do things in the open instead of hiding from behind a computer screen.

Of course, the only good point is about hackers is that there aren't any dead bodies around, unless they drive someone into such a state of depression that they feel they have no other way out.

With a quick glance at his watch, Hakuba stands up in his seat and reaches for his book bag, shoving the folder inside of it so he can make some notes during break before he starts making his way to school.

School passes by fast as always. Of course, having one Kaito in class always makes thing go by fast and lively if not slightly embarrassing. Hakuba can only hope that he can get the sickly green color out of his hair very, very fast.

'Just wait... I'll expose you soon enough.' Hakuba thinks, all the while smiling pleasantly at Aoko and Kaito while bidding them goodbye as he steps into his car.

"How is the case going so far, bochama?" asks his driver, a kind man in his end-thirties.

"It's going alright, Ryu." Hakuba notes, sitting back into the comfortable seats of the car. "Is Baaya still in town?" he questions as a form of small talk.

"She is. She said she'll be back in time to start dinner, though." Ryu replies, smiling at the blonde through the rearview mirror before turning his attention back onto the road.

Hakuba hums in reply, his eyes shifting over the notes.

So far he doesn't feel like he's gotten very far yet, not without seeing the actual hacker work at least, and not with his own acquaintances working against said hacker.

However, he feels that he's gotten further then the police force had. While the police has been able to narrow down the hacker's residence to Japan, Hakuba has been able to narrow it down to Tokyo district by requesting information about hacking attempts around the time this hacker seemingly started.

What's more, one of those hacking attempts, one that failed, actually seems to have been made from the school he is currently going to; Ekoda High. The police hadn't really done too much with the information; having tossed it aside as a student trying their hand at something new and failing and didn't bother too much in looking into the case, preferring to spend their resources on other things; like solving murders and busting drug deals. Hakuba can't entirely say he blames them.

Letting a scowl mar his features, Hakuba taps his small notepad with the tip of his pen ever so lightly. 'So close.' he thinks, eyes narrowed in concentration.

'If this is really that hacker, then I'm so close. They might even be in my class and as of yet I am unable to pinpoint exactly whom they are.'

From the way the hacker has managed to completely avoid being apprehended by the police, even if a few of the earlier attempts failed, Hakuba can safely deduce there is a certain level of intelligence inside his hacker's head.

'All I can do now is monitor the computers at school...' he frowns lightly before shaking his head and tossing that thought out of the window. Schools are already monitored up to a certain level. If the hacker hasn't rung any warning bells in the school yet, he doubts they will start with it any time soon.

"Bochama?"

Hakuba blinks, looking up at Ryu who is twisted lightly to look at him.

"Yes, Ryu?"

"We're here." Ryu points out.

Glancing out of the window, Hakuba is slightly surprised to note that, indeed, they are already at his house. "Ah, thank you." he smiles at the man before placing his pen and notepad back into his bag and getting out of the car. "Have a nice day, Ryu."

Ryu smiles back at him before starting the car, his job for today over.

Hakuba moves into his house, noting that Ryu's words were true and that 'Baaya' is indeed not home yet. He smiles slightly, envisioning the woman roaming the food vendors in town and bargaining for discounts merely for the heck of it instead of an honest attempt to save money, before he moves up to his room and turns on his computer.

It doesn't take long before he has the files of all the students going to Ekoda High in front of him. "Now..." he murmurs, taking a sip of his tea. "Let's see who is most likely to be responsible for all of this..."

Two weeks later finds Hakuba in front of his computer again, eyes narrowed in thought and jaw set. Notes and records are sprawled on the desk around him, names of suspects either added to a list or crossed out completely.

Nothing.

Two weeks down the road, and still he hasn't found anything.

And the blonde finds it very, very frustrating.

Once more his eyes are drawn to the list of suspects. The list that is, to his dismay, a lot bigger than he'd have liked it to be.

"Finally I'm starting to see why Baaya accepted the case... it's not a ten minutes case like I'd have originally thought it was." he groans, shaking his head lightly.

He hasn't been involved in many cases that have to do with hackers, but the ones he was involved in generally didn't take longer than a weekend to solve.

Taking the two papers filled with names, he runs his eyes over them again, the papers having been checked so often that they have creases in them. The list consists out of students -and teachers for that matter- whom have used the computers at school, outside of classes, more than three times in the past few weeks.

It had been simple to acquire the names, the mention of it being for a case doing it for the person in charge of the computer room which is attached to the school's library.

'As long as they don't make a move, I'll have nothing to go on...' he thinks, placing the papers down with a sigh. The waiting game is one he is familiar with, but not one that he prefers. Of course, he has tried to lure the hacker out, tried to aggravate them by letting a notice be hung in the computer room that while in there, all students using the computers are required to answer any of his questions due to him being on the tail of a hacker, but the hacker didn't catch the bait and challenge him.

Of course, knowing that the hacker likely turned tail and ran is a very pleasant thought for Hakuba, if not for the fact that he has no doubt that the hacker might try it somewhere else in a while.

With a sigh he rubs his eyes, slightly red due to sleep deprivation, before gathering his books and preparing for school once more.

It is during break that Hakuba gets a phone call from an officer; the hacker is at work again. Eyes widening, the blonde abandons his lunch which he was eating, excusing himself from Aoko who was saying something and Kaito who was about to interrupt, before walking out of the classroom in a brisk pace, ignoring the confused glances of the two.

It doesn't even take him two minutes before he reaches the computer room the signal has come from, yet upon opening it, he doesn't find anyone inside. Through narrowed brown eyes he looks around before blinking as he notices a computer is one.

Cautiously he moves to it, eying the screen which is standing there, an IM screen blinking innocently. A glance at the number of the computer confirms that yes, this is indeed the computer from which the hacking has happened.

Slightly curious as to what he'll find, he reaches out and takes the mouse under his hand before clicking the blinking screen, feeling slightly apprehensive as to what he might find.

/Hello, Hakuba.

Well, there is the first chapter of my new story, this one being based on Saguru Hakuba. Don't worry, readers! I haven't forgotten my other story; it will be updated in due time~
Also, I realise that this chapter is a bit on the 'slow' side, but that's more because it's an introduction.
Please excuse any errors that it may contain, thank you!
~ MT