(Disclaimer: I do not own YST nor RW, they are owned by Sunrise. Neither do I own the characters of the original series.)
(Author's Notes: The SECOND CHAPTER is here! Yay! You know what I mean! Please still continue to R&R! Sorry if there are some mistakes, just tell me, okay? PLEASE NO FLAMING, just bear with me, kei... sorry...)
SAMURAI PHANTOM REKKA: HANA JUNIOR HIGH'S INVISIBLE THIEF
Episode Two: THE CULPRIT
"I guess everybody's here..." the homeroom teacher started while preparing his things for Biology discussion later on, then rested his both hands on the table, looking around to see if everyone is already inside, "Well... I guess you've already heardof a thief roaming around the school premises just this morning. It's very possible for an outsider to sneak in just easily since our school's security is tight enough to handle treaspassers, but it can be from HERE, itself: either a teacher, a non-teaching personnel, a security personnel, or EVEN a student, can do this crime. Whoever he or she is, or whatever is his or her motive, it's still a mystery..." And after he explained everything about the case, still looking around if in case that there will be another student coming, "Okay... how many of you have been victimized already?"
Half of the class raised their hands. Thus they started to whisper to each other. Ryo just resting his chin with almost an emotionless face, Luna, still boiling hot with anger, trying to calm herself, and more whispers had been heard that slowly turning louder and louder.
"Well..." the teacher continued and the students stopped a bit, "It seems that almost ALL of us became victims, eh?"
Everyone was surprised. More whispers and chats followed.
"Well... Thirty minutes before I came in, while I'm fixing my things for the next lesson, I was looking for my class record that I just put inside my office drawer yesterday afternoon but when I opened it... it's gone."
"Man. that's AWFUL!" one commented.
"So unruly!" commented another.
"Our previous grades were there, right?" and another huffed in.
"Hmm..." it made Chibi thought for the worse, "I wonder if I hafta be happy or not on what happen'd to that class record..."
"Oh, c'mon!" the twins chorused from the back, "It's NO time for yer jokes!"
The teacher, upon hearing the class noise, "Okay, class, settle down, I'm not yet through with my story!"
And the whole class became quiet.
The teacher, then, sighed heavily, giving way for his continuation, "It's so odd, though. My drawer was locked, I'm sure of that, and yet the thief still managed to open it... Well, I'm so sure that the thief has all the keys to the school and that's the oddest part. However that happened, we don't know. So I guess... we have to start from scratch..."
"So ya mean, Sir," Luna suddenly stood up with a unbelievable expression, "All our grades from there will be VOID???"
"Ya mean ev'rythin' will be back to ZERO???" Yukari jerked up.
"DARN IT!!!" Jumbo boomed out that made everyone a little shocked because of his voice, "That means ma' precious A in ma' Biology project will be a WASTE at all!!!"
Shocked by his words, "Tomodatsu, watch your mouth!" the teacher warned him.
"...Sorry, Sir..." strucked with shame, he just sat down timidly. The others just sat down, too, but their anger over the culprit is still there waiting for a bomb to explode their hearts with damned faces.
Seeing his students almost furious of the mystery, he once again gave a heavy sigh and sat down to calm himself, for he, too, cannot take hold of his anger anymore. "I'm so sorry, people, but for now we cannot do anything about it. We have no coice but to forget your grades from the last time. Believe me, but it's just temporary, don't worry. Sooner or later they will find that culprit and hope that everything he or she stole will not be lost or it'll be useless..."
Until another student came, as the teacher expected, that broke out the silence.
It was, upon the arrival of their last classmate: A short boy, but a little taller than Chibi, with a little long, vandyke hair, covering his ears and almost his eyes. He has large eyeglasses and his uniform buttoned but a little bit crumpled. The teacher noticed him with just a plain face.
"You're late again, Nomura..." he said, but no trace of anger can be heard in his voice because of the incident a while ago, "You're lucky, my record's been stolen, thanks to that culprit, whoever that is... Jus take your sit and we will start our lesson in just a while..."
The Nomura boy immediately went to his seat--on the third column on the very back right, the cleaning materials are just on his back. He started to take his necessary things for the lesson. Books were even slipped out accidentally thus he still have to pick them up, almost in a hurry, thinking that picking up his fallen books is just a waste of his very short time. The students, meanwhile, set their suspicious eyes on him, as if they see him as their PRIMARY SUSPECT of the crime. The boy just ignored them with his eyes lowered,as if he is avoiding them, focusing only of his things, without any word at all. This made the others became more suspicious of him.
Ryo, and even Luna, noticed their classmates looking sharply at the nerd as if they were about to develop a hypothesis regarding the mystery.
"Why's it they're looking at him like that?" Luna asked worriedly.
Turning to Jumbo, "Y'see 'im asthe suspect," Ryo interrupted, "If I'm not mistak'n..."
"Y'know HIM, Sanada..." Jumbo answered still fixing his sharp eyes on the silent nerd, "We KNOW him so well..."
"Haven't ya noticed?" Chibi joined the two at the back, "He 's the only one who doesn'treact 'bout the mystery!"
"An' how 'bout ME, then?" Ryo asked a little casual.
"Well, man, I mean, he's the only one who doesn't care 'bout the mystery! Unlike YOU, at least..."
"Well, man, it's even not that enough to see 'im like that..."
But all their eyes were in the nerd again. The nerd, meanwhile, was trying to avoid their suspicious eyes as if he is the only one in the classroom.
Upon noticing it, Luna stood up and went towards Ryo's gang, "Are ya tryin' to accuse Nomura's the culprit?"
They turned to her. 'We hafta admit it," Yukari said, "but look at 'im! He even doesn't set his eyes on us!"
"Yeah!" Yukaru agreed. "An' who knows if his bag's stuff'd with stolen property!"
"Duh???" Ryo reacted on Yukaru's hypothesis, "Ya mean his bag's LARGE enough to put a stolen guitar an' a badminton set or a basketball all into ONE schoolbag? Get REAL, girl! Unless it's convertable into a large one..."
Everyone turned to Ryo.
"Hey, man!" Jumbo reacted, "Ya don't say ya don't believe in us, d'ya?"
"I don't say that," he answered, "But I don't believe he's the suspect, either. How can ya say that he's the one without proof, an' it doesn't mean that he doesn't talk so much that means ya'll just acuse him for just that!"
"But man, can't ya see?" Chibi interrupted, "That's the POINT! He doesn't talk too much 'specially 'bout that! Who knows, he might be hidin' those things somewhere an' he has the keys somewhere or somethin'..."
Hearing the noise from the back, "Sanada and company!" the teacher called their attention, "If there's something you want to clarify before our next lesson, please feel free to use the floor and share it to your classmates! It's not fair if only you could hear what you're saying..."
Realizing that the lesson was about to start, they went back to their respected seats and fixed themselves, as the teacher started to talk about the structure of the cells.
But then their eyes focused not on the lesson, but on the timid nerd who is still avoiding their eyes with little fear. The suspicions deepen as the Nomura boy became more nervous, tring to concentrate more on the teacher's voice rather than their eyes so sharp that they wanted to cease him already. Clasping his hands, Ryo cannot help but to look at him with pity.
Kotaru Nomura... He was been my classmate since last year. He's well-known as the class nerd. He's not that smart, though. He's always timid and shy and doesn't have any friends here. He's always alone but strang'ly enjoys to be one. He always avoid almost everyone and never talk'd too much... In his timid attitude surely he'll be mistak'n as the suspect. He's so passive that he can't defent himself... Poor him. I'm not his friend, really, but I always feel pity on him. Why he doesn't want to talk to anyone of us here? If he's afraid of talkin' to us, then he's not yet mature enough to take care of himself! He has no friends to talk with... But why's it that he enjoys bein' alone?... Why...?
And formal classes has started although the whole school is still bothered by the mystery of the crime. And it is really NOT a beautiful Monday at all...
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(The name Kotaru is also another original charater of the story and doesn't have any relation to the original YST plot.)
(WOW! Thanks to Firestorm for reviewing my story! Umm... So you've noticed it. I'M SO SORRY, man. Yeah, I'm trying but there are times that I'm running out of little ideas to add-up, but thanks for reminding me, I'll take your advice. And to the story, notALL of them are victims, including Ryo, butwe'll see about that as the story goes on. And you're also asking who is Luna here? I'vealready saidfrom the first chapter (See Samurai Phantom Rekka Chapter One Episode Three at the endnote)that Luna here is from GAIDEN, yap! Why's it I put her in? It seems that she is a nice character. Besides, this is an AU fic so you would be surprised that I turned her into a respectable class president from being a street girl from NY but her inner character is still there. Soon you will also find out her REAL purpose in this story. So that's it, I've explained almost everything! He-he... Well, SALAMAT PO (thank you!) for reviewing! For those still not yet read it, please do! Comments and suggestions are welcome! Thanks a lot! Episode Three up next! MWWAAAAAHHH!!!)