DISCLAIMER: I don't own Tantei Gakuen Q/ Detective School Q. –sighs- It's a sad thought.

Undercover
Chapter 2
By Kurumi Fuji :D

And that was how Ann Oikawa got accepted into Class A of Dan Detective School.

She didn't have any out of the ordinary abilities that could have accepted her into the Qualified class, but, because of her experience, Principal Dan had told her to stay with Class A. Kyu was disappointed that Ann didn't end up in their class, but, he figured, it was all for the best. Kinta grilled Kyu about how the new girl looked like, because he didn't see her, but all Kyu could say was, "Ask Meg! She's got the photographic memory!" Kinta sort of grabbed the boy's collar and rattled him before Kazuma could pry them apart.

"Knock it off, Kinta," Kazumi said, as he looked into her notebook and typed a few things down. "I took a picture of her yesterday when she passed by the classroom. Check it out." He showed the laptop to the self-proclaimed martial-arts expert. The picture was of Ann, who was actually smiling. Even Ryuu looked over to the picture, and he raised his eyebrows.

Kinta's eyes lit up. "Whoa! She's a hottie!" he exclaimed. He turned on Kyu, "You lucky dog!"

Kyu sweatdropped. "No, no, we didn't really get to talk much, really!" he protested. Kinta was about to say something when Megumi interrupted, "Mr. Dan told us to do it, so it wasn't much, Kinta." The black-haired boy mumbled something as Ryuu said, "Ssh, Mr. Dan's coming." They all stood up as the handicapped man entered the room.

Yukihira offered her hand to Ann as the girl stepped into the A classroom. "Are you new?" she asked. "I'm Yukihira Sakurako." She seemed pretty nice, but a little more confident than the pink-haired girl she had seen yesterday. Yukihira's first thought was, Hey, at least she's got more backbone than Kuniko.

Ann blinked. "Yes, it's my first day. Ann Oikawa," she introduced herself, shaking Yukihira's hand. She paused, and whispered into Yukihira's ear, "Um, do you mind showing me around the school sometime? I didn't really listen when Mr. Dan showed me around yesterday."

The blue-haired girl shrugged. "Sure." She let out a sigh. I hope she isn't a ditz, though.

It was later in the day when Dan Morihiko called the two classes together for a meeting in one of the rooms with projectors for a visual report. "Class Q, Class A, we have work for you to do," he said. As the students settled down in their chairs, Katagiri turned on the OHP (overhead projector) and the slide show began.

The first image shown was a picture of an apartment, around four stories high. It looked like a fairly ordinary scene, until the camera focused on the bottom of the view, where police cars were parked and reporters were calling their respective companies.

"There was a murder two days ago," Mr. Dan explained. "The victim was a young woman named Akaya Shirakawa. The scene shown to you is where she lives, where she was abducted." He nodded to Katagiri, who changed it to a picture of an old house, which looked like it was by the countryside. "This is where her body was found, which is approximately two hours and forty minutes away from her home."

Ryuu's face was expressionless even as it showed the woman's body, not yet covered with the white blanket. There were scratch marks on her face, her long brown hair tangled and messy. There were two bullet holes on her forehead, cased in blood. Megumi covered her eyes, but it was too late. That was one more image she would be seeing in her nightmares.

Kazumi winced, Kinta's eyes were wide open, while Saburoumaru let out a high-pitched 'eek' (Yukihira and Kinta looked over at him with suddenly deadpan expressions, each muttering their own version of the phrase, 'What a sissy'). The rest of the boys' expressions were of surprise and disgust, and Ann's calm façade seemed to break as she gulped.

Principal Dan had continued, "We have talked to some of the authorities investigating this, and--" when Saburoumaru interrupted him, saying, as he shrugged, "Are you alright to be joining Class A, Oikawa? You look like you're too scared to continue."

The students all turned in Ann's direction. The girl's hand had been shaking until she heard his comment. A flame seemed to ignite in her eyes, and she took a deep breath. "Don't waste your time provoking me," she said coolly, though, Ryuu noticed, her eyes showed that the girl wasn't as calm as she had been earlier.

Principal Dan said, "Now, hold on just a minute. Ann, stop that. Do you mean to show that kind of disrespect to your elders?"

The blonde shook her head. "Sorry, Principal Dan." She knew that Saburoumaru was an elded, but she didn't wait for Saburoumaru to say anything; she just sat down. She was mumbling under her breath. Principal Dan then continued, "There was a note beside the victim's body when it was found by some kids who went into the house as a dare. The note said..."

"'Party at midnight, May 25, Ryuzaki Mansion,'" said Katagiri. "If you haven't noticed, that party referred to in the note is tomorrow. We've speculated that the next murder, possibly by a serial killer, will be then, and so, we're sending Class Q to investigate."

"This is where we get lucky." Principal Dan went, "Ann Oikawa is a relative of the hostess of the party. We spoke to the hostess, and she said that it would be fine, as long as you don't raise too much ruckus during the party and pretend just to be normal guests. Naturally, we didn't tell her that there would be a murder there. We just told her we had a tip-off about a crime that may happen there."

Shishido said, "Principal Dan, what will we do? Are we just going to stand around and do nothing?" Shiramine continued, "That's right! How come Class Q gets all of the good cases?"

Katagiri spoke for him, "We'll have you as the information gatherers for this case. You'll be heading over to the scene of the murder, tomorrow morning. However," she added, "Ann Oikawa will be going with Class Q during the party, because she's the link. Did you know that, Ann?"

Ann seemed to be completely unaware of the fact (Kinta, Kazuma, Kyu, Ryuu, Megumi, and Yukihira noticed: it showed on her face) but she quickly arranged her expression to make it look as if she had known that from the beginning, giving her a stuck-up look that didn't look right on her. "Yes, ma'am."

The man in the wheelchair turned off the projector, and asked them in a loud, clear voice, "Class Q, Class A, are you up to this?"

"Yes, sir!" everyone chorused, though the Class A students, even Kuniko Touya, seemed let down that Class Q was chosen over them again. They knew that Class Q was favored, or were the best out of the rest of the classes, but they seemed so immature that Class A sometimes couldn't believe that they were chosen.

Ann tapped Saburoumaru's shoulder as she passed him to leave the room, hissing, "I don't think you've done Class A any good. I'll show you up for sure." She looked really irritated with him, and, instead of waiting to hear Saburoumaru's answer, skipped ahead to talk to the Class Q students.

"Hey, Ann!" Kyu shook the girl's hand as she caught up with them. "It's your first case, and you just transferred in! Isn't that great? Remember me, I'm Kyu? From yesterday?"

Ann shook his hand. "How could I forget?" She turned to the rest of the students, waiting for them to introduce themselves. "Oh, by the way, in case you weren't listening a while ago... I'm Ann Oikawa. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Kazuma Narusawa," Kazuma said. Kinta added, "And I'm Kintaro Touyama, but you can call me Kinta." Ann turned to Ryuu and asked, "How about you? You seem quiet."

Ryuu nodded and shook Ann's hand. "I'm Ryuu Amakusa." Ann was amazed at how calm and collected he seemed to be. And then she started paying attention to Kazuma. "Wow, are you a genius or something?" she asked him curiously. "You're in Class Q of Dan Detective School! You must be amazing!"

Kazuma blushed, "Well, I, um..." Apparently not many people paid him that much attention because he was younger. "Um..." It was then Megumi came to the rescue. "I'm Megumi Minami, Ann," she said brightly. "Since you're going to be with us, can we be friends?"

Ann opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. Friends? No one has ever called me her friend before. She forced herself to smile. "Sure, we're friends." She looked genuinely happy to everyone, and, hey, that was a good thing, right?

Flashback

Principal Dan explained the stats of the students in Class A and Class Q as they walked through the hallways of Dan Detective School. After speaking, he asked, "What did you think of the two students I sent to pick you up? Megumi and Kyu?"

The blonde paused to think. "They argued a lot," she recalled, "and they seemed immature. But, if you want to be a detective, you shouldn't be judgmental, right?" She said quietly, "Akito used to tell me that people who are judgmental are just insecure. I guess that means I am." She smiled. "I feel so low compared to them."

Principal Dan shook his head. "You'll become even more judgmental if you think that way, Ann," he said. Suddenly the handicapped man paused. "I'm giving you a choice, Ann," he told her. "Do you want to be in Class Q or A? In Class Q, you'll have to undergo many difficulties, because I chose that class out of all the others. However, Class A is almost as good as theirs, and I think you may be more than qualified for it. Where would you rather stay, Ann?"

End Flashback

Ann sighed. I should have chosen Class Q, so I wouldn't be with that...damn Saburoumaru. She rolled her eyes. A murderer should go for him.

RING! ring! RING!

The phone rang and rang inside the Oikawa household. The housemaid Miyuki called up the stairs, "Ann-chan, can you answer the phone? I'm cooking dinner."

"Coming!" Ann ran down the stairs and picked up the phone. "Oikawa residence. Who's on the line?" she asked.

There was an eerie silence on the other side of the line. Ann raised her eyebrows. "Hello? Is anyone there?" she said into the receiver. "Hello?"

No one spoke. Ann was about to put the receiver back down when a muffled voice said, "Don't take the case tomorrow or your friend will suffer." And then it clicked.

Ann blinked as she heard the beep-beep-beep of the phone. Friend? She put down the receiver and then said, "I don't have any. What a weirdo."

It was then that the doorbell at the gate buzzed. "Huh? What now?" Ann let out a sigh and walked over to the door. When she opened it, though, all she felt was the cool evening wind. As she was about to close the door, she noticed a small parcel on the doorstep. What is this? She picked it up and looked at it closely. There was a sign on one corner of the box. Pluto? She recognized the planetary sign from one of the books she had been reading. What is this all about? She entered the house again, and when she reached her room, she put it on her bed and reached for her phone.

"Hello, Narusawa residence."

"May I speak to Kazuma, please? Tell him it's Ann."

She had gotten their phone numbers from Megumi earlier that day, in case of an emergency. So she memorized them. Ann didn't know why Kazuma's number was the first she dialed, but she couldn't just put the phone down now, could she?

Kazuma's voice came on the phone. "Kazuma speaking," he said. "Ann, is that you? What's up?"

Ann started. "Oh, h-h-hi, Kazuma!" she said in a cheery voice.

Kazuma asked suspiciously, "Why're you calling, Ann?"

"Well." The blonde said, "I got this..." ...box in the mail that has a funny planetary sign on it, and I was just wondering if, say, this has anything to do with you or anyone else in DDS? She imagined herself saying that. She slapped herself inwardly. "I, um, got this feeling that I, uh, really missed you!" she lied brightly.

Kazuma dropped whatever he was holding at the time. "WHAT!" he spluttered. His face was beet-red. What's with that girl! "You'd better be telling the truth, Ann. You made me spill my ramen! Hey, ANN!"

Ann apologized, "Sorry about that, Kazuma... I'll see you tomorrow!" She put the phone down before the computer whiz could say anything else. She felt like hitting herself. ARGH! Why did it have to be Kazuma? He's a kid, I shouldn't have said anything! She sighed. At least I didn't call Ryuu or anything. He'd be more suspicious!

She eyed the box on her bed and put it on her bedside table so she could think all about it. Maybe I should call someone else...but I might screw up again! NO! She sighed. How about Yukihira? Wait, she won't be at school tomorrow. Does that mean I'll be with Class Q?

She flopped on the bed and closed her eyes. "Aw, who knows?" she asked out loud. Soon she found herself falling asleep.

One thing I don't understand, though, is who that person on the phone was talking about. Ann scowled. I don't have any friends... And with that thought, she dozed off.

"I'm Megumi Minami, Ann," she said brightly. "Since you're going to be with us, can we be friends?"

Ann opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. Friends? No one has ever called me her friend before. She forced herself to smile. "Sure, we're friends."

Kurumi: Hi everyone:D Thanks for reviewing. Anyway, the action might come up pretty soon. Lol. I hope you'll review this chapter! I did try my best!