i had a lot of trouble with this chapter, trying hard not to focus on too many unneccessary things. anyway, it's here now, and i won't be able to change that. thanks to the people who bothered to read my fanfic and left a review!
disclaimer: I do not own Detective School Q.
Oh, i changed the title of the chapter, if you noticed.


Chapter 6: Memories of an Inventor's Legacy

"You found it, Shizuko!" cried Meg in delight.

"Yeah, along with another bruise on my back," Shizuko muttered sorely.

Ryuu helped her up. "That was good work, though."

"Thanks."

Kyu beamed. "Now who wants to go through this passageway and find out where it leads to?"

Kinta volunteered, "I'll do it!"
"I have a feeling to goes to the mantel in the sitting room," said Shizuko.

"I'll just go along this passageway and find out. I won't open the other door in the living room," said Kinta as he disappeared into the opening.

Moments later Kinta returned with a grin on his face."Guess what? I found some of the coins that Mr. Hashimoto was missing."

"They're in that secret hall?"

"You bet. It was hidden under a floorboard that I tripped over. I guess that's what you call 'stumbling over a clue'," he grinned.

"Well, put them back,"said Kyu.

"What? Why?" Kinta asked.

"We can't let them know yet that we found the passageway, and besides, even though we found the means of entry, we still don't know who the burglar is," said Kyu.

"Oh, yeah, good point," said Kinta, who ducked back into the passageway.


Later, after the amazing discovery of the hidden door, Class Q proceeded to search the rest of the house for anything that could tell them more about the house in general. The hidden door left no doubt in their minds that the case was connected to the former owner, and that investigating the house would most likely turn up a clue of some sort.

"Let's try looking upstairs, you guys. Maybe we'll find something there. I don't think much would have been bothered there. And maybe more of Mr. Fukujima's things would still be there," said Kazuma.

(Just to refresh your memory, Mr. Fukujima was the owner of the house before Mr. Hashimoto bought it. Refer to chapter two if you have forgotten.)

The stairs creaked noisily as Class Q trooped upstairs, making them feel a bit uneasy. It was pretty dark on the second floor as they reached the landing. Kyu groped for a light switch. Finding one, he flipped it, and light flooded the hallway.

There were only three doors in the corridor. One on the left side, one on the right, and one at the end of the hallway. They all looked at each other, uncertain which they should try first.

"Why don't we just split into teams?" said Kyu. "Meg and I will check that door on the right. Ryuu, you and Shizuko can check out that door at the end of the hall. Kinta, you and Kazuma look in that room to the left."

They all agreed, and went their separate ways.


Kyu placed his hand on the dusty doorknob and looked at Meg. "You scared?"

"No, I'm okay. It's not really that spooky." said Meg.

"Okay then," said Kyu good-naturedly.

He turned the doorknob and opened the door in one quick movement.

Meg screamed."AAAAAAAHHHH!"

A huge brown bear towered over their heads, with its massive paws ready to strike, and long fangs bared, ready to rip and tear. Kyu gulped and carefully extended his finger to touch the bear. He poked the bear's belly hestitantly.

He sighed in relief. "It's a dummy! This must be the room where the former owner kept his taxidermy collection."

Meg let out a sigh. "For a moment I thought it was real!"

"Yeah, me too. Hehehe," Kyu laughed nervously.

They entered the room. All sorts of animals, some exotic, some quite familiar, filled the room, positioned in such a way that you would be reminded of their living counterparts. A leopard crouched in a corner, waiting for an unsusupecting victim. A bat hung in midair, suspended from the ceiling, along with several birds that looked as though they had been frozen in flight.

"Wow. For a scary guy, he sure was a talented taxidermist," remarked Meg, who had gotten over her fright.

"Yeah, I know," said Kyu. "Everything looks so lifelike, as though they could just jump out right at you."

"Kyu, don't say things like that! It's spooky to think that these things could come alive," said Meg.

"Aww, don't tell me that you're scared again. Come on, this place is so cool! Look at that, there's even a stuffed snake!" said Kyu excitedly, pickjng it up from a nearby table.

"Don't remind me of snakes, Kyu! Don't you remember, I got bitten by one because you were too excited to tell a teacher about that hidden room!"
"I'm sorry, already, Meg! Besides, this one is harmless, it's already dead!"
"I don't care if it's alive or dead, Kyu! Just keep it away from me!"
"Aww…all right," said Kyu dejectedly, placing the snake back where he had found it.


Meanwhile, Kinta and Kazuma had just entered the room on the left side of the hallway.

"Whoa," said Kinta as he opened the door.

The walls of the room were full of preserved insects. Butterflies of just about every species could be seen. Even ordinary insects such as grasshoppers, stick insects and beetles were mounted in glass cases. Each bug was labeled with its common name, scientific name, and even showed the taxonomical classifications: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family and Genus.

"This is simply fascinating!" said Kazuma eagerly.

"Look, a Monarch butterfly!" he cried, rushing over to the display case. "And an Indian Moon Moth!"

"How can you tell a butterfly apart from a moth, anyway?" asked Kinta innocently.

"Easy. Butterflies have knobbed antennae, moths have feathery antennae. And when they land on something, butterflies fold their wings. Moths land with their wings unfolded."
"Oh, so that's a moth eating your lucky hat right now."

"WHAT!" cried Kazuma, taking off his hat and waving it around to shake out the" moth".

"Hahahaha! Gotcha!" laughed Kinta.

"That wasn't funny, Kinta! You know I like my lucky hat!"


Ryuu carefully opened the door at the end of the hall. Turning to Shizuko, he said, "You go first."

Shizuko nodded. Entering the room, she gasped. "It's a music room," she said.

Ryuu followed her inside."So it is."

A piano stood against one side of the room, while an ill-assorted collection of string instruments lined the other side. A slightly dusty violin was lying on a table, while several music sheets littered the floor.

Shizuko carefully picked up the violin. After considering it for a moment, she tucked it under her chin and began to play a slow, mournful tune.

Ryuu stared at her. "You never told us you could play the violin."

"No one ever asked," she replied, drawing the bow across the strings as she spoke. The notes slowly raised in pitch, making the hairs on Ryuu's neck prickle. The song sounded beautiful, and yet incredibly sad.

With a sigh, Shizuko suddenly stopped playing. "That violin hasn't been used for awhile," she said, putting it down.

"But that piano has been used," said Ryuu, pointing it out.

"How can you tell?"

"Everything else is covered with a layer of dust, except for that piano. Someone's been using it."

"Let me see if it's still in tune."
"You can play the piano as well?" Ryuu asked, mildly surprised.

"Yes."

Shizuko began pressing and depressing the keys. "That's odd. There's no sound. It won't play."

"Maybe the strings inside have been damaged."

Shizuko shook her head. "There's nothing wrong with the piano itself. I think there's a mechanism inside that prevents the strings from being struck."

She knelt down and inspected the underside of the instrument. She was surprised to find several wires running along one of the legs of the piano. Following the wires with her finger, she found that they led right into the wall.

She sighed. "Another secret panel," she muttered. "That figures."

Ryuu knelt down beside her. "Do you need help?"
"Hmm. Could you bring out the flashlight from the DDS notebook and shine it right here? It's a little dark at this point."

Ryuu complied, bringing out out the flashlight. "What do you plan to do?"

"I am going to try and get this panel open. Maybe there's a hidden spring, or something—huh?" She squinted at something.

"What is it?" asked Ryuu.

"There's a tiny drilled hole here. It's like a slot where you can insert something." She fished out a hairpin from her pocket and inserted one end of it into the hole.

Click.

Ryuu raised an eyebrow. "Did you hear that?"

Shizuko nodded. "Let's see if it plays, "she said, standing up.

She seated herself on the piano bench and placed her fingers on the ivory keys.


Soft music reached Kyu's ears. "Huh?"

Meg heard it too. "That sounds like a piano. But where's it coming from?"

They stepped out into the hallway, where they bumped into Kinta and Kazuma.

"You heard the music too?" asked Kinta.

"Yeah," said Kyu.

"There's only one other place it can come from," said Kazuma, turning to the room at the end of the hall.

"That's where Ryuu and Shizuko went," said Meg.

"You don't think—?" Kyu left the sentence unfinished as they made their way into the room.

Shizuko was seated on the piano bench, playing a melody that sounded mysterious and bizarre.

Ryuu was standing behind her, listening with an emotionless expression on his face.

Meg was entranced by the music. "It sounds beautiful."

"Yeah," Kyu agreed.

Shizuko's fingers moved with grace and accuracy along the sequence of ivory keys, oblivious to the number of people that had gathered.

As she ended the piece, she was surprised to hear applause behind her.

Turning around, she saw Class Q clapping. She bowed shyly, unused to the attention.

"You never told us you could play the piano," said Kyu.

"I didn't think it was important," said Shizuko."Besides, we have a case to solve right now. Maybe I'll explain everything sometime. Anyway, here's the deal. That piano was another invention of Mr. Fukujima. He installed a mechanism in that piano that prevents the strings inside from being struck. It took a little effort, but I figured it out how to work around that mechanism and make the piano work."


They proceeded downstairs, where Yuriko, the maid, was waiting for them. "I see that you too, have discovered the music room upstairs," she told them.

"Who else has discovered it?" asked Kyu.

"Oh, of course, we knew about it. Mr. Hashimoto did, too, but the piano would never play. Only Toya knew how to make it play, and he would never tell us how he did it. So we let him play there once in a while, if he wishes to."

A sudden burst of realization came to Ryuu. "Toya knew how to make the piano work?"

"Why yes. And apparently, you have discovered it as well. You must be really skilled detectives to have been able to do so. And then again, Toya was a very clever young man. He always seemed to know a lot about this place, even though he claimed it was his first time here."

Kyu suddenly looked at Ryuu with a meaningful expression on his face. Ryuu nodded.

Yuriko bowed to them respectfully. "I'll be leaving you now. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

"Did you hear that?" said Kyu to Ryuu.

"Yes. And now we know who the burglar is," said Ryuu.


rants: the story is almost over! yes, of course, they know who the burglar is. it's always Ryuu and Kyu who figure it out first.
PLEASE REVIEW!
chapter 7: A Burglar Unmasked!A Treasure Found.
I'll let the title speak for itself. expect it to be even crappier then the last few chapters. this was really hard to end...