The Specter of Hashimoto Manor

By Rhapsodizing Riyoko
Summary: There's a new member of Class Q, a girl named Shizuko. At the same time, they get a strange new case. A specter is causing mischief in an old creepy house. Strange inventors, mysterious accidents, and missing heirlooms add to its baffling nature.
Can class Q solve this case, with a new girl by their side? There's only ONE answer!

DISCLAIMER:I do not own Detective School Q.I only own Shizuko and the plot, i guess.

Chapter 1: The New Girl

"What? A new student?" burst out Kyu in disbelief.

Meg nodded vigorously. "Not only that, but…" she trailed off.

"But what?" asked Kazuma.

"She qualified for Class Q!"

"She?" asked Ryuu, mildly surprised.

"She!" cried Kyu.

"A girl?" said Kinta.

"Do you have a problem with that?" a voice asked, sounding amused.

All 5 of them turned around in shock." Principal Dan!"

Principal Dan Morihiko wheeled into the room, aided by Ms. Katagiri, who pushed him in his wheelchair.

"Well, it seems that the news has reached you, then. Class Q, please welcome your new classmate."

A girl, wearing dark gray slacks and a black sleeveless shirt, entered the room. The dark eyes behind her silver-rimmed glasses scrutinized everyone in the room before coming to rest on Ryuu.

Kyu smiled to himself. She's going to blush…

Surprisingly, she didn't. She merely considered him for a moment before returning her gaze to Principal Dan.

"I'll leave you to get acquainted with them. Your teacher, Mr. Hongou, will be here shortly," he said.

"Good-bye," said Ms. Katagiri, pushing Mr. Dan's wheelchair carefully out of the room.

Kyu, socializing as usual, was first to extend his hand to the new girl. "Hi, my name's Kyu, by the way. Welcome to class Q."

She shook his hand. "I'm Shizuko. Nice to meet you."

Meg smiled at her. "I'm Megumi Minami. But everyone calls me Meg."

"Kazuma Narusawa," said Kazuma, by way of introduction.

"I'm Kintarou Tooyama. But I prefer to be called 'Mr. Kinta',"said Kinta, striking a macho pose.

Everyone laughed at that."Just call him 'Kinta', okay?" said Meg.

Shizuko smiled at them, then turned to Ryuu."And you are—? "

"Ryuu. Ryuu Amakusa."

"Nice to meet you, Ryuu."

"So, getting acquainted, now, are we?" a deep voice boomed from the doorway.

Mr. Hongou entered the classroom in his usual bad-tempered manner. His long dark coat billowed out behind him as he made his way to the new girl.

"I imagine you're the new student. Your name?" he asked irritably.

"Shizuko, sir. You must be Mr. Hongou."

Hongou gave her one of his angry stares. "Listen, little missy, even though you're new here, don't expect me to be responsible for you. You're here on your own."

"I understand that, sir,"she replied. "and I assure you, I can handle anything," she continued, returning his angry stare with her steely eyes.

"Good. Now, take your seats, everyone, and turn your books to the section on bullets."

Later that day, Class Q was on their way to the martial arts room in the new school building, where they would be sparring with Class A.

They all had their gis(white karate uniforms) on, and they bwere ready to fight. They had been assigned partners. Meg was paired with Yuki, Kyu with Gouda, Kinta with Sabouramarou (eurgh), Kazuma with Hayato, and Ryuu with Shishido. Shizuko had been paired with Kuniko, a shy-looking girl.Meg whispered, "Watch out for her. Kuniko may look shy, but she's an aikido expert."

"Don't worry," Shizuko hissed back. "I know a few tricks of my own."

"Hajime!" someone yelled from a corner of the room.(I think that word means "begin" or start".)

Everyone began fighting. Within a few minutes, Kinta had Sabouramarou in a headlock, Ryuu had flipped Shishido on his back, and Meg was about to be pummeled by Yuki.

However, Shizuko and Kuniko's fight was quickly heating up. Shizuko launched a powerful side kick, but Kuniko blocked it and swiftly followed it with a neck chop. Using a blocking technique, Shizuko avoided getting hit, then sank gracefully to the floor, sweeping Kuniko's ankle. Kuniko was knocked off her feet, and she fell to the floor.

Nearly everyone had stopped beating each other up to watch the match, and Class Q erupted in cheers when Shizuko emerged victorious.

Class A, however, began whispering among themselves.

"Where'd she come from?"
"She qualified for Class Q?"

"Who is she?"

Those questions remained unanswered for the moment as everyone trooped off the showers.

In the boy's showers, Shizuko's name got dragged into the conversation.

"Hey, Ryuu, did you know what kind of technique Shizuko was using?I didn't recognize it," said Kyu.

"I'm not sure, either, but I think it was Kung fu," Ryuu replied. "It's a Chinese Martial art. It boasts of close sparring, that involves complex blocking techniques and defense moves," he continued knowledgeably.

"Kung fu, eh?" Kyu said, lost in thought.

"Yeah. It was once called Wu shu, and it was more of a military art back then. Shaolin monks taught it, mostly."

"Hmm…" Kyu's mind was wandering again.

Meanwhile, in the girl's showers…

"Wow! That was great, Shizuko!" Meg exclaimed. "You really knocked Kuniko off her feet!"

"Speaking of which, I'm SORRY, Kuniko! Are you sure you're okay?" asked Shizuko, worried.

"Don't worry about it, okay? I'm still in one piece," replied Kuniko.

"Well, that's good," sighed Shizuko in relief.

"Where did you learn those moves?" asked Yuki.

"Oh, I took Kung fu for a few years. Nothing special."

Shizuko ducked into a bathroom stall to put on her clothes.

After their showers, Class Q went for a walk around the DDS grounds. They were giving Shizuko a tour of the school. Shizuko carefully studied the different areas, familiarizing herself. She sighed.

"What is it?" asked Kyu, hearing her.

"Hm? Oh, nothing, it's just that…" Shizuko began, "Well, DDS is kind of like a dream come true for me."

"Really? How?" asked Meg.

"Well, for the first time, I feel like I really belong here. I've been to a lot of different schools, you see, and each time…well…" she trailed off.

"You didn't really fit in?" prompted Kyu.

"Sort of. I didn't have any friends. There was just this one girl who I carpooled with. I would hang out with her and her clique sometimes, but I always had the feeling that they hated me."

"Did you actually prove it?" asked Ryuu quietly.

"I…I did. I borrowed a notebook from her once, and I discovered something."

"What?" asked Kazuma.

"She had some sort of list there: a list of things they had in common. They liked the same boy band, the same color, even the same subject. And they also shared one more thing. They all HATED me."

Shizuko fell silent. Everyone else looked at one another with pity.

"I spent the rest of my school days alone after that," she continued. "Since then, I've had a growing suspicion of everyone around me. I kept wondering whether people liked me or not, or whether they were just using me. It's kind of hard not to harbor that kind of mentality. I…"

Shizuko broke off.

"It's become harder for you to trust anyone," Kyu finished.

Shizuko nodded, her short dark hair lifted by a powerful breeze that was passing by.

Meg suddenly cried out. Her short skirt had been blown upward, exposing her(yup, you guessed it) underwear for everyone to see. Ryuu, of course, looked away out of respect, but Kyu, Kinta and Kazuma stared as Meg squealed, trying to cover up.(yes, those three can be such idiots.)

"Yellow with polka dots! Hey, that's new—OW!"

Kyu yelled in pain as Meg began hitting him with her school bag, screaming, "You jerk! How dare you!"

rants: yeah, i know, this first chapter is crappy. i do hope it'll get better though...and i just couldn't resist doing one of those underwear scenes...hehehe...and also, i wasn't sure if the two classes were really supposed to fight with each other. but it turned out okay, right? PLEASE REVIEW!
chapter 2:the investigation begins!
watch out for it...they'll be getting a new case!