I'm back again, and trying to get into the rhythm of writing new chapters. Now that we're in the Club and that my summer vacation may be drawing near, I might be able to update faster. I'm so sorry for being such a snail of a writer.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DETECTIVE SCHOOL Q.
Chapter 4: Maps Can't Say Much
It's getting close to midnight, Ryu thought as he checked his watch later that evening. It certainly was a great distance to travel.
"Really late, huh?" Shizuko whispered almost conspiratorially.
"Yeah."
"Are we almost there?"
"I think so."
"Should we wake the others?"
"Maybe we should."
"Kyu and Meg look seriously comfortable, though."
Ryu chuckled softly. "Then, maybe we shouldn't."
"Make up your mind, will you?" She was trying to sound annoyed, but Shizuko's grinning face gave it away.
To her surprise, Ryu looked more than pleased to leave the sleeping pair where they were. She softened her grin into a small smile. "So you think they're perfect for each other, ne?"
"I thought that was obvious from the beginning, Shizuko-san."
"You certainly didn't show it that much."
He frowned. "What do you mean by that?"
Before Shizuko could clarify, she stopped short and stared at the glass window beyond him.
"What is it?"
"We're here…"
Ryu looked out the window. A wooden sign, hanging suspended from its iron frame, read "Kajawara" in Japanese characters. Having been knocked about by the storm, the sign didn't look all too glorious. It whipped about in the strong wind.
As they went past the sign, the foliage immediately took on a trimmed, neat appearance, in contrast to the wild and unkempt surroundings that they had gone through before they'd gotten here.
"It certainly was a long ride," Ryu remarked, frowning. "I'm thinking that you might have a point earlier, Shizuko-san. If it takes that long to get here from an out-of-the-way inn and another long bus ride into anything that resembles urban surroundings, we'd best not get into any serious trouble."
"And if trouble finds us?" Shizuko posed the question.
"We'll deal with it when it happens."
After a few more minutes of turning down a few more paths, the limousine finally ended its long, tedious ride as it entered a pair of large, wrought-iron gates and came to a full stop at a lavishly designed single-story structure. A wooden sign, similar to the one they had seen earlier, swung in its iron frame. Ryu could just about make out the word "Registration" carved on it.
Ryu decided to go about prodding the other people awake, motioning for Shizuko to help out. Seeing him avoid Kyu and Meg, she frowned and decided to shake Meg awake, first.
"Me-gu-mi," she said in a singsong voice. "Megumi-chaaaaaan, we're here." She exaggerated the suffix to catch her attention.
The sleeping girl opened one eye first to stare at Shizuko. "Are we there already?" she asked sleepily.
"Yep," Shizuko replied, reaching over to poke Kyu in the head. "Oi, Kyu-kun, wake up, we're here."
Kyu mumbled something that sounded like, "Not now 'kaa-san, just a few more minutes…" before falling back into a snooze. Megumi sighed heavily. "Kyu…"
Kinta, now fully awake (thanks to Kazuma, had been stirred awake by Ryu) gave a big yawn. "So we're at the Polo Club already?"
Before Kazuma could give him a mocking answer, the door of the limousine opened, and Mr. Sakagami was standing outside with an umbrella, the driver doing the same next to him.
"E-Everyone all r-right then?" The elderly man grinned weakly. "T-This is the R-Registration building," he said, gesturing to the house behind him. "S-sorry for the long ride, but w-we're g-goin' t' r-register you right n-now."
Even under the protection of the umbrellas, Class Q still got quite drenched on the short walk towards the building.
Mr. Sakagami made his way towards the attractive-looking lady at the counter. Stuttering a little more than usual, he managed to secure a place to stay for the six weary-looking students. After a few moments of stammering conversation and a few faint chuckles, the gentleman returned to the group and announced, "R-Right, we've managed to p-pr-procure a lodge for your g-group. I-It should be j-just a few m-moments walk from h-here, b-b-but due to the s-storm, we will drive you."
"We get a lodge to ourselves?" Megumi looked slightly confused.
"G-G-Goodness, didn't you know? Here at K-Kajawara Polo Club, e-each group of g-guests get an entire house all t-to themselves! W-we just have t' know the n-number of guests who w-will b-be staying, and the registrar ch-chooses the best one t-to accommodate you."
"This place is rich," Kinta muttered in Ryu's ear. Ryu merely shrugged his shoulders, indifferent. Kazuma, who had also heard the comment, remained completely unfazed.
"Then again, this is your kind of life, Kazuma," Kinta suddenly realized, grumbling a little. "Nothing here could possibly put you off."
"Come, come! We'll t-take you there r-right away! It's r-really a glorious little t-thing, r-right on the shore of t-that q-quaint little beach we have on t-the property…" Mr. Sakagami began walking, intending to lead them out. He seemed rather pleased, looking excited to start showing off the good points of the polo club to them.
"We get a beach?" Kyu couldn't help exclaiming his delight, although it was in an undertone.
"Eheh…" Megumi looked slightly embarrassed. "I didn't expect this kind of luxury…"
"It feels more like a vacation than a case," Shizuko said in a restrained tone.
"Holy…" Kinta's jaw dropped at the sight of the lodge that they would be staying in.
"Ye-ah," everyone else chorused behind him.
Even in the dark, the house was quite a sight to look at. The lodge was really a fully-furnished beach house, built on an outcropping of rock, facing the sea. Planks of old wood, embedded in the rock, led the way towards the front door, like stepping stones.
To be honest, the beach house was quite simple—it was no elegant mansion, but the fact that Class Q had this house all to themselves was a big thing. The entire structure, built out of both cement and wood, was painted a charming shade of blue, accented with white. On the front porch was a beach recliner, as well as a small swing. Above the porch was a balcony where several deck chairs could be seen, obviously for enjoying the sunset as it could be seen at the edge of the sea.
Inside the house was a whole new story. As soon as one entered the front door, a living room was waiting for them, the usual long couch along with several armchairs and a coffee table. After that was a rectangular wooden table for dining, along with a set of chairs carefully arranged around it. On the right, a flight of stairs led to the second floor. A small bathroom opened along that side of the room as well. Somewhere to the left was the kitchen, complete with refrigerator, stove, sink, utensils, everything. When asked whether the kitchen appliances were working, Mr. Sakagami assured them that there was, indeed, running electricity throughout the house and an easily accessible circuit breaker in times of emergency. Kyu excitedly began opening the cupboards and checking to see if anything was inside. To his disappointment, most of the cupboards were empty, but Mr. Sakagami promised them that fresh supplies would be brought in the morning, and in addition, they could also eat their meals at the main building where guests could avail of the buffet.
The reason that it was necessary to have some food in the cottages themselves, Sakagami explained, was because the main building's kitchen would close after nine in the evening, and open again only at seven in the morning for breakfast. Since some guests were inclined to have midnight snacks or preferred cooking their own meals, it was a convenience for them to have food in the comfort of their own lodges.
The only thing that would be open late at night would be the bar. The underage teens looked at each other, and turned as one to glance at Kinta, who looked entirely too happy about this fact.
Exiting the kitchen, everyone began trooping up the stairs located at the right side of the living room. The second floor was nothing but a long yet spacious hallway. At the top of the stairs, one could go in either of two directions along that corridor. At a short distance to the left, one could access the balcony, which had been seen earlier from outside. Towards the right, there were several rooms where guests could stay in, each door engraved with a number. Further down that side of the hall was another staircase at the left, which led down into the kitchen, close to the back door.
After this brief tour, Sakagami led them all back downstairs and handed each of them a map of the entirety of the Polo Club grounds. Along with it, he handed each of them a pair of keys on a chain, each bearing the crest of the Polo Club.
"I b-believe it's b-best that you keep this m-map with you a-at all t-t-times," he expressed, bowing slightly. "T-The grounds are huge, and it would b-be such a t-t-terrible thing for one t-t-to g-get lost around h-here. Have y-you all g-got a map, n-now?" When everyone nodded, he smiled. "All right. and now, about those keys…each of you now has a key to this house, and a key to one of the rooms. The room keys have numbers on them corresponding to the door of the room, and the house's main key has a letter 'K' engraved on it. If any of you lose your keys, you must inform the main office immediately, and we will issue a replacement. We have, of course, a set of keys for everything at the main building, under the supervision of our caretakers and the owner of the club himself, Arakida Junichiro.
"All right, t-that's all I c-can help y-you with. W-well, I must be off n-now. Quite late, y-you know. I'll s-s-see y-you all in the m-morning, then."
With that, he left the DDS students, stepped into the limousine, and sped off.
"Sooo…what do we do now?" asked Kyu, sitting down on one of the armchairs. "I mean, it's not like we can do anything at this time, everybody's asleep except for us, and aside from that, we don't even know who's been staying at the hotel since the accidents."
"You think it's one of the guests?" Kazuma asked, looking for an electric socket to charge his laptop's battery.
"Well, it's probably safe to assume that it's someone who's within the club, I mean, no one else is around to do the damage since we're so far from the towns," reasoned Kyu.
So he noticed the distance too, Ryu thought. I wonder if he realizes how bad this situation could be if we run into any serious problems.
"Yeah, you're right," Kazuma agreed. "We can ask the registrar tomorrow for a list of people who've been staying here since the date of the threatening letter. Aside from that, we'll probably be able to see some of them at the main building, for breakfast or whatever."
"Sounds like a plan." Kinta seemed excited.
"Hold on," Meg interjected, taking out her map and spreading it across the coffee table. "Look at this."
"What is it, Meg?" Kyu asked, kneeling next to the low table.
"Well, it's obvious that the grounds are huge. Very huge. The beach where we're staying right now? That's exactly south, according the compass rose set on the map. The stables are smack in the very center of the grounds, and if we fold this map into quarters, we can see that the grounds are split into four almost even parts. The lower left-hand portion, that's where the entrance to the club was. Directly after that you enter you reach the Registration building, and behind that is the largest building, the main building. It looks like a perfect square; there are entrances on all four sides. Most of the resident cottages are on this portion of the grounds too. I'm thinking that this part of the map is totally for guests. Everything else…" She waved a hand over the map, "…appears to be total wilderness. Basically, we've barely seen a quarter of the entire club grounds."
"There's a cliff on the east side of the land. It extends all along that side of the map and ends at the sea. And in the upper right hand area there seems to be a forest of some kind," Ryu noted. "To think that the owner is rich enough to purchase all this land and afford to take care of it."
"There are so many areas in the club and it's all just for horses…" Meg thought aloud.
"So…?" Shizuko prompted.
"So, maybe we should at least get ourselves acquainted with the basic layout of the grounds. Depending on the map too often might become our weakness later, and in case we won't have time to bring out our maps, we should at least know the general directions."
Ryu frowned. "If that's the case, then how do we know that this map can be trusted?"
"It has to be, at least to some extent, they give this map to everyone in the club, don't they?" Even with this explanation, Meg suddenly seemed worried.
Kyu spoke up. "Maybe it's good for knowing how to get from one place to another, but it's possible that there are places in this club not shown on the map. If that's the case, then it's best if we have a clear idea of what lies where."
"Sounds reasonable," Kazuma said with a shrug.
"I've got another idea," Shizuko said, coming forward. "Megumi, since you have a photographic memory, is it okay if we leave your copy of the map here at the cabin? It can serve as something like one of those maps they use in the army; we can put marks on certain areas, write warnings and stuff on the others, et cetera. We'll leave it somewhere we can all see it."
Kinta brightened up at the suggestion. "That sounds cool."
Kyu looked thoughtful. "What do you think, Meg, is it okay if we use your map?"
Meg grinned. "I don't mind, I've got it memorized by now."
"Then that's great!" Shizuko carefully picked up the map. "Where do you think we can put it?"
"I think there are magnets on the refrigerator in the kitchen, we can attach it there," Kazuma recommended.
"I'll do it," Kinta offered, taking the map from Shizuko and going to the kitchen.
When Kinta returned, the others decided that it was time for them to sleep, so after checking that the front and back door were securely closed, they marched upstairs to begin picking their rooms.
Shizuko quickly claimed the room at the end of the hall, nearest to the back staircase. Kinta groaned in disappointment—he'd been eyeing that room because it was nearest the kitchen. He settled for taking the room across the hall from Shizuko's, after mumbling dejectedly that it was just as close to the stairwell.
Kyu, on the other hand, went after the room closest to the balcony, claiming that the first thing he wanted to do in the morning was look at the sun over the sea. With a laugh, Megumi claimed the room across the hall from him, wanting access to the balcony as well for occasional fresh air.
With only the middle rooms left to be claimed, Kazuma picked the room in between Megumi and Kinta, while Ryu was left with the room flanked by Kyu's and Shizuko's room on either side.
Kyu however, before going to bed, went along the corridor searching for a bathroom on the level. Finding one, he announced to everyone else what he had found. There were murmurs of relief among some of them; they hadn't been looking forward to having to go all the way downstairs to use the toilet.
Bidding each other good night amidst yawns and stretches, they retired to their respective rooms and decided to catch whatever little sleep they could get—breakfast would undoubtedly be early the next day and they would not miss the opportunity to get a head start on checking on the guests.
A couple of meters away from the growth of rock where Class Q's lodge was, a pale teenager stood in a raincoat, defying the rain as it showered down on him. As lights flickered off one by one in the beach house, he waited until all he could see was the faintest of glows from one window. He smirked knowingly.
Lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating his striking features and bright green eyes. The boy's platinum blonde hair peeked out of the hood of his black coat.
So you're here too, Shizuko. I should have expected that. Still, you can't escape the past now that it's caught up with you. I'll make sure of that.
Even though you ran off to New York for four years, you can't get away from me now.
Rants: I think the reason why I can't seem to update so quickly is because I take too much sweet time writing and rewriting certain portions of the chapter. I think I've become obsessive-compulsive to an extent, irritated at every other detail and even going so far as to make a diagram of the map of the Polo Club. Still, I think it does help. I know you guys hate to wait so long, but trust me, I'm frustrated too, I love publishing chapters to the net, it gives me a very satisfied feeling. So I hope you enjoyed this one, and
PLEASE REVIEW!