Whodunit? : Odaiba High School Incident File #5197

By Android Eleven

Exhibit A

It wasn't long before Mrs. Motomiya came back out. She looked at the boys again for a moment and then nodded in TK's direction. "If you could come in here, please, Takeru."

The blonde stood silently and neither Ken or Davis met his eyes as he walked across the office and entered the back room after the teacher.

Mrs. Motomiya closed the door behind him as TK came in and she beckoned for him to take a seat behind the table. Facing him from across that table was Mr. Fujiyama, whose eyes were narrowed warily as he studied the young man in front of him. Seeing TK shift uncomfortably under his gaze, the principal sat up and gave a tight smile.

"Don't be nervous, Takeru," he said. "We just want to ask you some more questions about what you did yesterday."

TK looked at him skeptically for a moment before giving a sigh and slumping in his seat. "So what? You want me to tell you everything I did yesterday? Is that what you want? Alright, fine. Here it goes..."

*

~~ Hearing his mother's voice calling him and the insistent sound of her knocking on his bedroom door, TK reluctantly dragged his head out from under his pillow and blinked blearily at his clock. 9:17 am.

"Mom!" he screeched unhappily. "It's still early! It's Sunday, why didn't you let me sleep in?"

Natsuko Takaishi peeked her head into the room and, seeing her boxer-clad son rubbing his eyes, deemed it safe to enter. She came in carrying a stack of clean laundry, which she proceeded to place into their proper drawers. "I didn't let you sleep in because last night you told me to wake you up. At a quarter after nine. You said you were going over to the Kamiyas to see Kari and to catch a ride with Tai to that party store before work. So you can get a gift and decorations for Kari's birthday party next weekend or something like that."

TK groaned unhappily, but pulled himself up off the bed and stretched. He walked over to his mother, pulled a baggy pair of blue jeans and a short- sleeved green button-down shirt off of her pile of laundry and dragged himself into the bathroom to clean up.

About twenty minutes later, he plopped down in his chair at the table and poured milk over a heaping bowl of cereal. He took a drink of orange juice and ate his breakfast as his mother bustled past him and went into her office, calling, "Have a good day, honey! I'm still not finished that article about the mayor's re-election campaign, so I'll be home all day if you need to call."

"Uh huh," was the only reply.

A few minutes later, TK put his dirty dishes in the sink as he finished and went to his room to grab his wallet. He pulled on his scuffed-up sneakers and was almost out the door when his mother called out again. "And don't forget your bus pass this time!" He ran back to the kitchen and grabbed his pass from the counter, slipping the clipped-on cord around his neck before heading out again.

When he approached the elevator, he saw Yolei already in it and the doors beginning to close. He grinned and waved. "Hey there!"

She smiled back and held the door open for him. "Hey yourself, Blondie!" He entered the lift and stood beside her while she continued to tease. "Where are you off to this time of morning? Must be your girlfriend's house, it's rare to see you up and about on a weekend before noon."

TK stuck his tongue out at her as they proceeded down to the lobby. When they got there, Yolei waved good-bye and headed off to go meet some friends with whom she was going to the mall and movies, and TK headed off to the nearest bus stop, nodding cordially at any familiar faces he saw along the way.

The bus was a couple of minutes late, but it took him where he wanted to go just the same. Getting off a block from the Kamiyas' apartment complex, TK strolled leisurely down the street, stopping to buy a daffodil from a vendor, and proceeded on into the elevator and up to the apartment. Knocking lightly, he waited for someone to come to the door.

He saw the doorknob turn and Kari's face looked out at him. TK smiled and waved the daffodil. "A pretty flower for a beautiful lady."

Kari grinned and took the flower, calling over her shoulder. "Tai! Your date's here!"

Takeru raised his eyebrows. "I feel as though I should be offended by that."

Tai appeared at the end of the hall, yanking an old, but mercifully clean, soccer jersey-style t-shirt over his head. He grabbed a set of keys from the pocket of a light jacket hanging on the peg nearest the door and shoved them into his own jeans' pocket. "Bye Sis," he mumbled as he stole an apple off the dining room table and beckoned at TK to hurry up and get out. The blonde gave Kari a quick peck on the lips and scurried after Tai.

The two teenage boys took the elevator down to the basement as Tai finished his apple. They shuddered to a halt and the doors opened, leading them into the Heighten View Terrace parking lot. Tai typed in the four-digit security code at the chain-link gate a few meters out from the elevator doors and they slid open, letting the two boys head over to Tai's junk bucket of a car.

TK threw himself into the front passenger seat as Tai pulled the keys out of his pocket and started the car. Throwing her into reverse, Tai looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't about to run into anybody before pulling out and heading for the lot exit. He glanced over at TK, who hadn't yet said a word to him all morning.

"Hey, Teeks, you're not still mad over that locking you in the pool thing, are you?" Tai spoke up at last. "I mean, it was two weeks ago. Matt and I have both said we're sorry. What else do you want?" ~~

*

"Pool thing?" Mr. Fujiyama asked suddenly. "What pool thing?"

Surprisingly, TK blushed. He stuttered for a few seconds, trying to answer coherently before Mrs. Motomiya broke in.

"I remember that," she said. "You and Davis had been in the middle of changing after a gym class spent at the pool when two seniors threw you guys back out of the locker room and locked the door, right?"

TK nodded dismally. "The only other ways out of the pool were the girls' locker room, which was in use at the time, and the main school entrance." He paused for a moment. "When the only thing you're wearing is a pair of Superman boxers, neither choice is very appealing."

TK remembered all too well the feeling of complete and utter humiliation he'd felt when the Senior girls gym class had started coming out of the changing room, only to be met by the sight of a pair of freshman in their underwear. It wouldn't have been so embarrassing if it hadn't been the day he had chosen to wear his most childish pair of boxers to school and TK knew that Davis, who'd been wearing a pair covered in different coloured teddy bears that day, had felt the same way. They had only managed to escape the torture when Sora, who was in said gym class, had taken pity on them and had gone to get the gym teacher to unlock the changing room again.

Clearing his throat, TK decided to change the subject. "Well, ANYWAY, back to my story."

*

~~ TK reassured Tai for the umpteenth time that he wasn't still mad about the pool thing, though he couldn't speak for Davis, and the two boys shortly arrived at the newly-opened party store. They climbed out of the car and into the store, looking closely at the things that were on sale.

"Why don't you go get party hats and napkins and plates and crap," Tai suggested, "and I'll get the streamers and balloons and ribbons and things." TK nodded and went towards the back where he guessed the party hats might be.

About fifteen minutes later, laden down by a stack of the things he'd been able to find, TK made his way to the cash register. Halfway there, he glanced down one of the middle aisles and spotted Tai there talking quietly with another blonde boy, and a familiar-looking one at that. Grinning, TK called out to them. "Hey Matt! What are you doing here?"

Matt looked up at his little brother and smiled, coming over to help TK with his pile of party favors. "Saw Tai's car out front. Thought I may as well stop in and see if the brother and the boyfriend needed any help preparing for their dearest Kari's birthday par-tay." He grabbed several packages of napkins out of TK's arms. "It's nice to see you're willing to speak to me again. I thought you were still mad about that whole... 'pool' thing."

TK rolled his eyes. "For the thousandth time today, NO, I'm not still mad about you guys locking me and Davis out of the locker room after gym class. It's over, it's done with, there's nothing we can do to change it now, so why not just get over it." He said this last part with a tone of finality as he dropped his load of party accessories in front of the cashier.

Matt shrugged. "Alright, then."

The cashier rang their stuff through and they paid up, grabbing the bags and heading back out to the car. Tai chucked the bags in the back seat and TK climbed into the front. He paused for a minute as he felt something underneath his hand on the back corner of the seat that he hadn't noticed before. Grabbing whatever it was and pulling it out, TK was met with the sight of a thick set of keys.

He glanced up at Tai, who looked at him curiously. "Aren't these Davis's keys?" the blonde asked. Tai took them and examined them. The word 'Motomiya' was written on the keychain.

"Must be," he replied quickly. "I drove him home from the mall last night, he must have dropped them." He looked over at the older of the two blondes. "You driving anywhere near Davis's place, Matt?" Tai asked. "I'm meeting someone across town in a little while so I don't have time, but maybe you can drop his keys off."

Matt gave Tai a strange look that TK didn't understand, but he quickly shook it off. "Yeah, I'm headed in that general direction, I may as well stop by." Tai nodded thankfully and tossed Matt the keys.

"See you guys later, then!" Matt called as Tai started up the car. TK waved to him and they drove off. ~~

*

"And that's pretty much it," TK finished off. "That happened at about 10:40, Tai dropped me off at Wanda's, and-"

"'Wanda's'?" Mr. Fujiyama asked quickly. "What is 'Wanda's'?"

TK barely held back a sigh. "It's this quiet, little coffee shop off Shibashi Boulevard. It never gets really busy, but it's still nice. I work there."

"Oh," the principal replied, almost disappointed. "Well, then, go on."

TK cleared out his throat and summed up the rest of his day. "Tai dropped me off at Wanda's, I started work at eleven, worked a double shift, got off at six thirty and took the bus home. I missed the 7:00 one I usually take because I stayed behind to clean up some extra dishes, so I took a walk by the riverfront and caught the one that goes by down there instead, about 45 minutes later."

Mr. Fujiyama sighed, thinking over the details that TK had given him. He sat there for a few minutes, thinking if there was anything else he wanted to ask.

"Your brother, Matt," he said at last. "Does he have the codes to our apartment complex parking lot?"

TK thought for a second and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. He has to park somewhere when he comes to visit, right?"

Mr. Fujiyama sighed again and waved his hand dismissively. "Alright. Thank you for your help, Takeru. We'll call you back down if we need anything else; you can go back to class."

TK stood up and left. Mr. Fujiyama stood up also and paced for a few minutes. He then went to the door leading back out to the office. "Davis Motomiya, come in here, please."

* * *