CHAPTER 2- Food Chain
This is the 2nd chapter of Secrets!
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A roar of laughter greeted Conan. Conan stood, confused, at the doorway, wondering what he did. He looked around the huge room. It wasn't like an ordinary classroom. It was more like a lecture theater with the stage being at the lowest level. The seats were quite far away from the stage. They were placed in levels, in a semi-circular way that seemed to represents the Colosseum in Rome. Each seat was padded, like an armchair and most of the seats were occupied by students, all dressed in the JIS uniform. They were all laughing at something. Some of them have their fingers pointed at the front, at the stage. Conan turned to face the stage. Then he saw what everyone was laughing at.
Genta, Ayumi and Mitsuhiko had arrived and they were standing in front of the whiteboard, backs facing the students. They clearly looked harassed and embarrassed. In Mitsuhiko's hand, a whiteboard marker could be seen. Their eyebrows were furrowed in thought. Sweat was pouring down their face due to stress and nervousness. The sweat can't come from the heat when the room was cool and air-conditioned.
Mitsuhiko noticed Conan and his face couldn't have shown more relief. "Conan!" he called out, "Can you help us? The teacher wants us to answer these questions but we don't know the answer!"
The laughter died out slowly. All eyes were on Conan as Conan slowly walked to the Detective Boys. The teacher was standing behind the kids, her eyes showing much amusement. The JIS students began to whisper. "I bet he can't do it too…" and "He must be as stupid as those kids…" rang in Conan's ears. He shot a look at the students who were seated before asking, "What is it?"
"This question Conan," they stepped back to allow Conan to look at the questions.
They were Mathematics questions. It was fractions again:
1. 5/8 times 4/5 =
2. 10/14 times 1/3=
3. 5/12 times 3/2 =
Conan sighed. Fractions again. It was understandable that Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko didn't know the answer. When they were back in Teitan Elementary School, they had only done addition and subtraction of fractions. They hadn't gone to the multiplication of fractions yet. But this is an elite school. It was obvious that JIS would be more fast-paced than an ordinary public elementary school. He placed his books on the teacher's table, ignoring the glance he received from the teacher. Taking the marker from Mitsuhiko, he grabbed the duster on the teacher's table and erased away all the useless scribbles from the Detective Boys.
Working the simple sums in his mind, Conan wrote the answers down:
5/8 times 4/5 = half (1/2)
10/14 times 1/3 = 5/21
5/12 times 3/2 =5/8
Conan finished the sums and recapped the marker. The entire room was silent. Conan walked to the teacher and handed her the marker. The teacher took it wordlessly, very much shocked. Conan picked up his books, aware of all the shocked stares he was receiving from everyone.
"Are you one of the new scholarship students?" the teacher asked, intending to break the silence.
Conan nodded, waiting for the teacher to give him his seating position.
"How about you introduce yourself first?" the teacher asked.
Conan shrugged and took the marker from her again. He handed it to Mitsuhiko who scribbled his name on the whiteboard.
"Konnichiwa. Boku wa Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko desu," Mitsuhiko said aloud.
Genta grabbed the marker from Mitsuhiko and sprawled out his name on the board. "Ore wa Kojima Genta da!" Genta shouted. The students showed obvious discomfort at Genta's loud and informal tones.
Ayumi took the marker and wrote her name on the board. "Watashi wa Yoshida Ayumi desu," she said, passing the marker to Conan.
Conan wrote his name on the board. When he finished writing, snickers could be heard from behind. Conan turned to face the students who were grinning at him, ready to laugh the moment Conan said his name. Conan arched an eyebrow at them and said loudly and formally, "Watashi no namae wa Edogawa Conan desu."
A singular, loud gasp made Conan look away from the students. Everyone in the room heard it as well. They all turned to face the teacher who had covered her mouth with her hand, eyes wide with shock and an emotion that Conan knew too well. Fear. Conan watched her carefully as the teacher struggled to compose her bearings.
She gulped and said, "Welcome to JIS Yoshida-san, Kojima-san, Tsuburaya-san and… E-Edogawa-san." She stammered a little when she said Conan's name. Conan narrowed his eyes slightly.
The teacher then said steadily, "I am the Mathematics teacher, Ichigawa-sensei." She glared at the Detective Boys before saying, "Here in JIS, we do not encourage the use of such informal tones. You should introduce yourself like how E-Edogawa-san introduced himself. Understand?" Conan glanced at her again, noticing the slight tremor in her voice when she said his name.
The forlorn Detective Boys nodded their heads. Ichigawa-sensei then directed the Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko to their seats. They walked to their seats and sat unhappily. They were sitting far away from each other and the students were giving them uncomfortable stares.
"How about me Ichigawa-sensei?" Conan asked.
The teacher looked scared. She looked around the room trying to find a suitable seat for the young boy.
"He can sit with me."
The teacher was more frightened now. "Reizei-sama... But he is..."
"He is my roommate so he can sit with me," the voice of 'Reizei-sama' rang out. Conan looked around confused as he couldn't find the source of the voice. The voice seemed to be bounding of the walls, making it almost impossible to locate 'Reizei-sama'.
Then a boy sitting at the last and highest row of seats raised his hand. He was sitting alone in the row. The boy's face was handsome: long rave, black hair that was fashionably cut and his face was a sculptor's dream. High cheekbones, an angular chin and slightly hollowed cheeks, he was like a walking sculpture. His eyes were a brilliant grey, more like silver. The way he lounged in his chair and the way he lazily raised his hand, it showed that the boy had a lot of authority. Conan realised he was who the teacher called him 'Reizei-sama'.
Conan walked to the last row. As he walked there, the stares from the JIS students intensified. They watched him as he walked to the last row. Conan sat slowly beside Reizei.
Reizei smiled and reached out his hand. "My name is Reizei Ryuutarou," he said, "But you can call me Ryuu."
Conan took his hand and shook it. "Edogawa Conan," Conan said, "You can call me Conan."
Ryuu smiled and faced the front. Conan faced the front as well and the teacher began the lesson again. Conan was again bored. He had gone through elementary school already and even though this was an elite school, he had learned everything that was being taught. Beside him, Ryuu was just as bored as him. Ryuu had fallen asleep and Conan wished he could do the same. But he had to keep up the appearance that he was here to study hard. So Conan stayed awake and made himself look focused.
When Mathematics lessons were over, everyone went over to English lessons at a different lecture theater. Again at English lesson, the teacher's reaction was the same as Ichigawa-sensei's reaction to Conan's name. Conan sat with Ryuu again and English lessons went past smoothly. There were only several complications because of Genta's confusion. At least it lightened up the somber mood in the class.
"RING!"
The bell sounded, signaling the end of English and the start of lunch. Genta leaped out of the seat and shouted, "LUNCH!" before running to the door. The English teacher, Kano-sensei, stopped Genta with a loud "OI!"
Genta stopped in his tracks and turned, scared, to face the English teacher. The English teacher was red in the face and he shouted angrily, "Who said you can get out of the class first?"
Genta lowered his head, ashamed and Kano-sensei screamed, "Get back to your seat!"
Genta walked back to his seat and Kano-sensei faced Ryuu and Conan who was sitting again at the last row. He bowed his head and said in fake honeyed tones, "Reizei-sama, Edogawa-sama, will you take your leave first?"
Conan started. Edogawa-sama? What was the meaning of this? Why was he being treated so respectfully by a teacher? Conan thought, completely confused by the recent events.
Ryuu apparently didn't think it was weird. He placed a hand on Conan's shoulder and slightly pushed him. Conan jolted out of his thoughts and allowed himself to be steered to the door by Ryuu. As he and Ryuu walked down the aisle of the row of seats, the stares came again. They were now of envy and fear. Conan wondered why they were like that.
Once they were outside, Ryuu took him by the arm and said, "Let's go back to our room Conan. Let's put down our books and grab the next lessons' books before going to lunch. Our lunch is for one and a half hours anyway so we don't need to worry about running out of time."
Conan held Ryuu back. Ryuu turned to face him, concerned. "What's wrong Conan?" Ryuu asked.
"Why are we being treated so respectfully, Ryuu?" Conan asked.
"Because we are special," Ryuu replied. "You didn't know?" Ryuu asked, confused. When Conan shook his head, Ryuu explained, "We are the most prospective students in the school. Because of that, we were given better rooms and better treatment. The only thing we need to do is study and make the school proud. That's why they treat so differently. That's why teachers call us Reizei-sama and Edogawa-sama. That's how the school rolls."
Conan lowered his head, thinking hard. He was one of the 'special' batch? What was the meaning of this? Conan allowed himself to be pulled by Ryuu to their room. Conan was worried. If Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko receive word of this special treatment, what will they say? What will they do? Will they become distant and angry with him? Conan couldn't help but worry.
Ryuu turned back and saw Conan's anxious face. Ryuu understood how Conan was feeling immediately. Ryuu said softly so only Conan could here, "This is our life now Conan. We have to stick together or else we will be overwhelmed by the hatred of others. JIS students are competitive. And since we are at the top of the student food chain, we have to stay that way. If we don't we would be devoured by them."
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Hey guys! Please answer this following questions:
1. Does Conan know German? Look at Chapter 567 to 569 but more specifically at Chapter 569.
2. Do you prefer Kid or Detective Boys? This is VERY important as it will contribute to the climax of the story!
That will be all! Please review! Thanks for reading! AND about the Maths questions: If it's wrong, sorry about that! I am really, REALLY bad at Maths!
Translation:
Konnichiwa- Hello!
Boku wa…. desu- My name is… (informal; guys)
Ore wa…. da- My name is… (Very informal; guys. Genta always use this kind of introduction)
Watashi wa…desu- My name is… (informal; girls)
Watashi no namae wa … desu- My name is… (Formal)
Notes:
The honorifics used are very important. It shows the level of formality and it is a fundamental part of Japanese speech.
The ones used in the story so far:
Sama- a more respectful version of 'san'. Commonly used to refer to people of higher ranking.
Sensei-it literally means 'former-born' and it is used to refer to teachers, doctors, politicians, lawyers and other authority figures.
The ones which are yet to be used, but just for your information:
San- most common honorific and it is a title of respect typically used between equals of any age. The closest English analog will be 'Mr.', 'Mrs.', and 'Ms.' and so on.
Chan- refers to someone who the speaker finds endearing. Usually used with children, babies, teenage girls and grandparents.
Kun- commonly used when a senior is addressing a junior but it could also be used to refer to male children or male teenagers. Females could also use 'kun' when addressing a male who she is close to or known for a long time. It is not a hard rule though.
