SailorStar9: This is Chapter 26. Read and review.

Disclaimers: I own nothing, except the pairing, I hope.

Chapter 27: Mystery of the Home Economics Classroom


Time passes...

"That's the legend of the curses blowgun." Kazuma concluded after his narration. "The poison sued then was curare."

"Curare?" Megumi echoed. "I've heard of that word somewhere."

"Sure you have!" Kazuma replied. "You see it in mystery novels all the time."

"For instance?" Megumi prompted.

"Carter Dickon's 'The Red Widow Murders' is famous, for one." Kazuma replied.

"Don't act like you knew it!" Kinta remarked, punching Kyu on the head.

"Why am I always the scapegoat?" Kyu protested.

"Curare is a poison that's extracted from the South American Menispermaceae, which is a type of ivy." Ryu explained. "It also induces paralysis and is sometimes used as a tranquilizer in surgery."

"But what's something as dangerous as that doing in Kazuma's elementary school?" Kinta asked.

"The assistant principal was doing anthropological research in South America when he received it and the cursed blowgun I told you about, I hear." Kazuma replied. "But..."


Flashback

"The curare's gone?" the assistant principal exclaimed.

"I told you it was dangerous so make sure you secure it carefully, Iwadome-sensei!" he barked.

"I did, sir." Iwadome-sensei insisted as Kazuma peered in.

"Are you sure you put it there?" the assistant principal pressed.

"Yes!" Iwadome-sensei replied.

"And the blowgun's gone from the storage room." the assistant principal sighed.

"Kazuma-kun!" Iwadome-sensei noticed the eavesdropping boy.

"No, I was just..." Kazuma replied. "I got the wrong room."

"Go back to class now, run along!" the assistant principal chided, sliding the door close.


"The poison curare, and the cursed blowgun." Megumi pondered. "Who would do that?"

"Maybe a prank, right?" Kinta suggested.

"But one wrong step and it could kill somebody." Ami pointed out.

"I thought so too." Kazuma agreed.

"So, let's go get permission and investigate Kazuma's school." Kyu proposed and everybody nodded.


The next day...

"Listen guys, you won't make it to middle school if you can't solve an easy formula like this in your head." Mantetsu-sensei begun.

"Kazuma, is that a new game?" Atsushi asked.

"Yeah, when it's done, I'll have you loan the same monitor, as usual." Kazuma replied.

"Hey, Kazuma-kun, Mantetsu's looking at you." Nazami whispered.

Mantetsu-sensei coughed and continued his lesson at Kazuma's teasing grin, "So, to divide this fraction, you swap the nominator and the denominator."

"After you showed him up at math the other day, he doesn't mess with you anymore." Nazami whispered.

"Nice work!"Atsushi beamed.


After school...

"See ya!" a student bade farewell to his friends.

"Who are you?" one of the children playing in the courtyard asked, dropping his ball at the not-so-cleverly-disguised Kyu.

"Weirdo!" the children burst out laughing.

"Am I?" Kyu asked.

"Uncool." the children rebuked.

"Jeez, what's that outfit?" Kinta remarked.

"It seems like he thinks he's perfectly disguised." Megumi noted.

"Jeez. Nobody sticks a ruler out of their backpack anymore." Kinta added.

"My,. my..." Ryu sighed.

"Yeah?" he smiled at the schoolgirls in front of him.

"How cool!" a schoolgirl gushed.

"Kya! How awesome!" they awed, clustering around him as Megumi giggled.

"I thought we came here to investigate, not for me to find four little girls clustered around my boyfriend." an amused voice came from the lower wall behind them.

"I didn't know you make a fine climbing post, Peacock." she said playfully, jumping off the wall.

"Shut it, Nymph." he shot back, giving her a mock glare as the children on the yard chased Kyu about.

Aside, Kazuma sighed.

"Who are those guys, Kazuma?" Nazami asked.

"Not your family right?" Atsushi asked. "A tutor or something?"

"Kazuma-kun wouldn't need a tutor!" Nazami insisted.

"Well..." Kazuma trailed off.

"Kazuma-kun, what's all this fuss?" Tachikawa-sensei asked.

"Tachikawa-sensei!" Kazuma beamed. "What's wrong?"

"Look at him blush." Kinta teased.

"Do you think he's in love with her?" Megumi whispered.

"What?" Kazuma protested.

"Excuse me, Tachikawa-sensei." Ebe-sensei came into the scene.

"Ebe-sensei." Tachikawa-sensei blinked at the music teacher.

"What are you thinking, coming to school in such a short skirt?" Ebe-sensei asked.

"But this really isn't that short of a skirt." Tachikawa-sensei remarked.

"You're still new here; are you going to argue with me?" Ebe-sensei barked.

"Now, now..." Iwadome-sensei intervened. "I rather like short skirts."

"That's Iwadome-sensei." Kazuma supplied. "He was the one who managed the curare."

"What do you mean, you like them?" Ebe-sensei snapped.

"Ebe-sensei, don't you think yours is actually a bit too long?" Iwadome-sensei noted. "You seem likely to step on it along with a piano pedal."

"See?" he chuckled after Ebe-sensei tripped over her skirt.

"Don't say 'see'?" Ebe-sensei scolded.

"Are you okay?" Ryu asked, offering his hand.

Bushing, Ebe-sensei allowed herself to be pulled up and took off running before tripping over her skirt again after a few steps.

"Now then, let's go, Tachikawa-sensei." Iwadome-sensei rested a hand on Tachikawa-sensei's shoulder.

"I have to go get ready for class." Tachikawa-sensei shook his hand off.

"Was that sexual harassment right there?" Kinta whispered.

"Maybe." Megumi replied. "He said he like short skirts."

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Iwadome-sensei fumed.

"I'm sorry." Ami stepped forward as she produced her DDS notebook. "We're with DDS."

"DDS?" Iwadome-sensei stammered. "That famous detective school that Kazuma-kun goes to?"

"Actually, we heard that a sample of curare had vanished from your lab and came to investigate." Ryu added beside her.

"Come along." Iwadome-sensei showed them to the documents room.


In the documents room...

"This looks kinda of like a haunted house." Kinta noted.

"It's the Assistant Principal's hobby." Kazuma supplied. "Amazon and African ritual tools."

"The cursed blowgun was here, right?" Megumi asked.

"Probably." Kazuma replied as Megumi turned back to the glass case she was looking at.

"Something's missing from here." Kyu pointed out. "Looks like a box was moved recently. What kind of box was it?"

"Who knows?" Kazuma mused.

"Assistant Principal!" he gasped when the Assistant Principal entered the room just as Kyu was about swipe the crate with a cotton bud.

"Are you those 'Day-Day-Ess' people?" the Assistant Principal barked.

"Uh, we're DDS." Kinta corrected, showing the Assistant Principal his DDS notebook.

"'Day-Day-Ess' is how you say it, isn't it?" the Assistant Principal huffed.

"He's been overseas a bunch of times, hasn't he?" Megumi asked. "'Day'?"

"Maybe he just uses an interpreter." Kazuma guessed.

"Iwadome-sensei was acting like somebody important had come, but it's just kids?" the Assistant Principal scoffed.

"More importantly, we'd like to ask you about the missing 'cursed blowgun'." Ryu requested.

"I don't know anything about that!" the Assistant Principal insisted. "Get out of here!"


After being chased out...

"He doesn't know anything huh? Yeah right!" Kinta jeered.

"He'd probably get into trouble if people found out that he was keeping curare at the school." Megumi pointed out.

"But he'll be in even bigger trouble if something happens." Kyu noted.

"Huh?" Kazuma blinked.

"What's wrong?" Kyu asked.

"I forgot my cell." Kazuma replied.

"Oh, it's in the Home Ec. Room." he added.

"Really!" he insisted at Megumi's and Kinta's teasing grins. "I'll go get it!"

"Have fun." Megumi laughed along with Kinta.


In the stairway...

"Why would I lie?" Kazuma fumed.

"But Tachikawa-sensei's still there." he added, walking past the teacher's room.

"The lights are still on." he noticed the lights as he approached the Home Ec. room. "Let's go see her later!"

Opening the door, he was stunned as a gust of cold wind rushed in.

"What is this strange cold..." he shivered.

"Atsushi, what happened?" he asked after Atsushi stumbled out of the room.

"Tachikawa-sensei has..." Atsushi gasped.

"Tachikawa-sensei!" Kazuma called out, the teacher having collapsed to the ground.

"Atsushi! Go get my friends at the gate." he instructed.

"OK!" Atsushi nodded and went off.

"Wake up!" Kazuma rushed in.

"Sensei said that she'd bake us some cookies, so Atsushi and I were waiting." Nazami wailed. "She was sitting in her chair, and then suddenly..."

"Sensei." Kazuma muttered.

"Kazuma-kun!" Nazami exclaimed, after Kazuma noticed the dart on Tachikawa-sensei's back.

"It's fine." Kazuma assured her. "Calm down!"

Taking out the gloves from his DDS notebook, he proceeded to remove the dart.

"What's wrong, Kazuma?" Kyu asked, the rest of Class Q rushing in.

"That scream just now." Kinta asked, the rest of the school body came in.

"What's going on?" the Assistant Principal barked.

"Hurry and call an ambulance!" Kazuma replied.

"Right!" Kinta took off.

"Just what happened?" Ebe-sensei asked.

"Tachikawa-sensei was probably hit with a dart covered in curare!" Kazuma answered.

"Curare?" the Assistant Principal and Iwadome-sensei chorused.

"If the poison's curare, then there's a possibility her lungs will be paralyzed and she'll suffocate!" Ryu added.

"Kazuma, move!" Ami barked, kneeling by Tachikawa-sensei, administering CPR.

"If she was sitting in that chair that the dart came from..." Kazuma mused.

Turning back to the door behind him, his eyes widened at the blowpipe between the door and the ledge.

Kyu ran to open the door, the blowpipe dropping to the ground.

"A blowgun!" Kazuma gasped.

"That was stolen from the storeroom, wasn't it?" Ryu asked.

"Yeah." the Assistant Principal stammered.

"Damnit, who would do this to Tachikawa-sensei?" Kazuma hissed. "The criminal should be in the next room."

"Kyu, hold that door." he instructed.

"Got it." Kyu replied.

"I'll head to the Home Ec. room." Kazuma grabbed a stick and headed to the Home Ec. room.

"Kazuma-kun, you're going inside?" Nazami asked.

"You can't be a detective if you're scared of a criminal, can you?" Kazuma replied. "I'm a member of DDS's Class Q!"

Opening the door, he peered in.

"Kazuma-kun..." Nazami muttered as Ryu entered the room along with Ebe-sensei.

"The window's shut too." Kazuma noted. "So, does that mean they're in the kitchen over there?"

Entering the kitchen, the group found nobody in it.

"Well?" Kyu asked, everybody else, minus Ami and Megumi clustered around Kazuma.

"Nobody's there." Ryu replied.

"The window's shut here too." Kazuma added.

"Then, where is he?" Iwadome-sensei asked.

"There's nowhere for him to run." Kazuma pondered. "He vanished into thin air."

"That's impossible." the Assistant Principal gasped.

"But somebody's shot her with that dart!" Kazuma insisted. "Somebody did this! They can't just disappear!"

"Ami, how is she?" he asked, peering into the teacher's room.

"She'll be okay." Ami replied. "It wasn't enough to paralyze her lungs, so her pulse just stabilized. But..."

"Sensei!" Kazuma gasped as the ambulances came.


Later...

"Sensei, hang on!" Kazuma urged after Tachikawa-sensei was carried into the ambulance.

"Alright, let's go." the paramedic replied.

"Wait." Tachikawa-sensei stopped him.

"What is it?" the paramedic asked.

"Take me to Takekawa Hospital." Tachikawa-sensei requested.

"It's pretty far." the paramedic pointed out.

"Please." Tachikawa-sensei begged.

"Understood." the paramedic nodded. "Hey, we're going to Takekawa."

"I wonder if she's okay." Kazuma's seatmate muttered.

"She is." Kazuma assured her. "But if there'd any more curare on that dart, then she might've been in danger. Who would do that to her?"


In the teachers' lounge...

"What a disaster." the Assistant Principal sighed. "I never thought this would happen in our school."

"It's because you keep bringing weird stuff here from overseas!" Ebe-sensei chided.

"Are you saying this is my responsibility?" the Assistant Principal gasped. "Then what about Iwadome-sensei who was in charge of keeping it?"

"That's not fair!" Iwadome-sensei protested.

"Now that I think about it, I heard the reason Tachikawa-sensei took vacation from the end of June until summer vacation was because you kept hanging around her!" the Assistant Principal accused.

"Are you saying I'm stalking?" Iwadome-sensei pressed.

"And before she came it was Ebe-sensei, wasn't it?" the Assistant Principal added.

"Ebe-sensei and I..." Iwadome-sensei stammered.

"Well..." Ebe-sensei flushed.

"Then what about you?" Iwadome-sensei barked. "You kept going to the Home Ec. room every day after school, saying you were 'doing your rounds'."

"How did you know that?" the Assistant Principal gasped.

"The blame game." Ami muttered as Class Q assembled at the door. "Lovely."

"Hey guys," Kinta cut in. "Don't you think it'd be better to call the cops instead of arguing?"

"Police?" the Assistant Principal gasped.

"Yes." Kazuma agreed. "This is an attempted murder!"

"You're just a kid, don't order us around." the Assistant Principal barked. "Get out of here!"

"But sir, they're DDS anyway..." Iwadome-sensei remarked.

"I'll call them." Ebe-sensei offered.

"Wait!" the Assistant Principal tried to stop her. "The police..."

"Even if you try and hide it, the hospital will call the police." Kazuma pointed out. "Anyway, we'll secure the crime scene until they get here. You and the other teachers stay here."

With that, Class Q returned to the crime scene.


In the Home Ec. room...

"Check everything!" Kazuma barked. "There's got to be an air duct or a hole or something leading out to one of these two rooms!"

"You sure?" Kinta peered from behind a table.

"I can't see anything like that." Megumi added.

"I don't see anything that people could pass through." Kyu noted.

"Look more carefully! It's gonna be here!" Kazuma insisted.

"Calm down, Kazuma!" Ryu chided.

"I can't stay calm when Tachikawa-sensei was attacked!" Kazuma replied.

"For now, let's review what we've got." Kyu suggested.

"Yeah." Kinta agreed.

"The arrow hit Tachikawa-sensei right when you went into the Home Ec. room, right?" Kyu asked, using a magnetic marker on the map they had drawn on the whiteboard.

"Yeah." Kazuma replied.

"So, you heard a scream and went into the prep room." Kyu added. "Then we and the teachers all rushed in. If the person who shot her was in the kitchen, then escaping out of the Home Ec. room is impossible. And of course, same with the prep room."

"Yeah." Kazuma nodded.

"So, Kinta went to call 911." Kyu continued. "And I stood in front of the door. "Kazuma, Ryu and the others went into the Home Ec. room from this entrance and went into the kitchen, but he wasn't there. In other words, the criminal vanished from a sealed room. The only place he could've gotten out from is the windows. But they were all locked, and what's more, this is the 3rd floor and there's nothing down there but concrete. I don't think they could jump from this height."

"And there's no veranda to hide on or anything." Megumi added as Ami had exited from the Hoe Ec' room into the kitchen.

"What's wrong with the ventilators?" Kazuma asked, noticing how Ryu was looking at the ventilator.

"Um." Ryu replied.

"That's a pretty big ventilator." Megumi noted.

"Do classrooms normally have ventilators?" Kinta asked.

"This is a Home Ec room." Kazuma replied. "If the smells from cooking got out, it could disrupt the other classes.

"Oh, I see!" Kinta noted.

"Kazuma, what room is above this?" Kyu asked, peering upwards out of the window.

"Ebe-sensei's music room." Kazuma replied. "And below is Iwadome-sensei's lab."

"And?" he blinked.

"Hey!" he gasped when Ryu entered the kitchen.

Taking the two blue-haired teens hint, he then ran to the prep's room.


In the prep's room...

"Is there something suspicious about them?" Kazuma wondered and noticed the wiretap beneath the prep's room's ventilator.

"A wiretap." he blinked.

"Was this what you were looking for?" he asked.

"No." Ami replied as she walked off.

"Hey, where are you going?" Kazuma asked as Ryu followed Ami out.

"The two's gone off on their own to check something." Kyu added.

"Yeah." Kinta agreed. "That might be better than all of us going together. Then, I'll take that, since it's suspicious."

"This is suspicious too." Megumi added, the blowpipe in her hand. "A cursed blowgun used in an attempted murder."

"The arrow was firmly wedged between the door and the frame." she added, kneeling down to test out the blowpipe. "If she didn't come directly in front of it, they would've..."

"They knew she would." Kazuma corrected.

"She was hit around the shoulder area." he added, replacing the chair. "Since there's a back on this chair, eh could almost be sure she's sit there."

"But if she moved just a little bit, it would fail." Kyu pointed out.

"That's true, but..." Kazuma protested.

"I'll check that out." Megumi offered.

"Don't move." Kazuma told her as she stood up.

"What are you doing, Kazuma?" Megumi gasped when Kazuma bent down to her knees.

"That's not it." Kazuma chided, knowing what she was thinking. "Just don't move, okay?"

Taking out his tweezers, he pluck something from Megumi's knee and dropped it into the plastic bag.

"Is that a piece of garlic or something?" Kyu asked.

"No, it might be a bit of cookie dough." Kazuma replied. "Cookies were being baked in the microwave when it happened."

"No, that's just flour." Megumi corrected. "Anyway, I'll follow up on the cursed blowgun."

"Me too." Kyu added. "I'm worried about how it just vanished from the storeroom."

"You don't think somebody put a curse on her." Kazuma gasped after Kyu and Megumi took off.

"No way." he shivered.


Once the police arrived...

"I'm Odajima from the police station." Detective Odajima introduced himself. "DDS would be extremely helpful in our investigations."

"Is 'Day-Day-Ess' that great?" the Assistant Principal asked. "They're just kids."

"Actually, I thought the same thing."Detective Odajima confessed. "I was surprised later, though."


Inside the school...

Kinta was using a tracker to trace the origins of the wiretap.


In the documents' room..

Megumi sought out a book and started looking through, shivering when she saw a picture of the tribal dance.

"Smoke?" Kyu blinked, peering through the blowpipe and seeing smoke rising from the burner.


In the prep's room...

Kazuma was using his laptop to find out who had shot Tachikawa-sensei.

"It really is an impossible crime." he sighed when the results turned out negative. "A curse, huh? Something that unscientific is impossible! If that dart flew, then somebody must've blown it. They can't disappear! I won't forgive you for making Tachikawa-sensei suffer. I'll catch you!"


Downstairs...

"The smoke came from here." Kyu remarked, dashing down with Megumi in tow.

"Kyu, what is this?" Megumi asked, the two gasping when they saw the fire blazing within the burner.

Grabbing the shovel, Kyu pulled out the burning object and smothered it with his coat.

"What's wrong?" Detective Odajima asked, arriving on scene with the Assistant Principal "Did you find something?"

"What are my mask and blowgun doing here?" the Assistant Principal when Kyu revealed the half-burnt objects.


SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.