Uh, yeah, the next chapter.

As I said before, expect a little shizuko/ryu-ness.

I'm such a weird writer…I've got the beginning all right, and I've actually already written the ending! But the middle part needs work. Ugh.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DETECTIVE SCHOOL Q.

Chapter 3: Trouble Brews in History

My first subject alone, Shizuko thought to herself.

"Hey! Shizuko!"

She turned around. "Oh. Hi, Sumika."

The redhead grinned. "I saw you talking to Ryuu earlier."

"Oh, that. It wasn't much."

"Really? Ooh, the girls are going to be so mad at you..."

"I doubt it. What, do they own him now? Do they have a warrant out for my arrest?"

Sumika laughed. "You're funny, you know that?"

The professor walked in, but the class was too busy talking to acknowledge his presence.

"CLASS!" the teacher bellowed.

Everyone immediately stopped whatever they were doing, and there was some confusion as they all struggled to find a seat.

"Is THIS the way my class behaves when I'm not around? Just for that, I'll give you the pop quiz that I had intended for tomorrow!"

The whole class groaned.

"Don't 'aww' me!" the professor said as he opened his desk drawer and took out a sheaf of papers.

Whoa. Harsh. And I thought Mr. Hongou was bad, Shizuko thought.

The teacher began distributing the quiz. Shizuko quickly took out hr pen and scribbled down her answers.

"What's the answer to this one?" someone whispered behind her.

"It's.." some one else answered.

"Is question number six true or false?" another person asked.

"It's a multiple choice question, dummy, and the answer is 'c'," muttered the first voice.

Cheaters, Shizuko thought. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

Standing, she picked up her finished quiz and went to the front under the pretense of submitting her work to the prof.

As she handed over her paper, she whispered, "Sir, the three people behind me were cheating."

"Them again! That's about the second time this week. I'll take care of that. And thank you."

Shizuko walked back to her seat. As she sat down, she heard the teacher's voice holler again. "Shinji Nogisaka! And you two! Gou! Keisuke!"

The three boys looked up with feigned innocence.

"Yes, Professor?" the one named Shinji asked naively.

"You and your friends were sharing answers during the exam! I would have been happy to overlook it, but thanks to a brave soul, I found out about it. You three have detention! For two weeks!"

"What the—?" Shinji sputtered. "When I find out who told the prof…"

Shizuko retained her emotionless aura. At least the prof didn't mention my name.

Although she assured herslf that she was most likely safe, she could feel death-glares at her back again.

As soon as the bell rang for their break, Shizuko strode as quickly as she could out the door and across the grounds. She looked around, but none of her DDS classmates were in sight.

I'm on my own again, she thought worriedly.

She kept her pace, and she came to a secluded area. No student was in sight.

"Hey you! You with the glasses!"

Oh no, she thought. This cannot be good.

Shinji Nogisaka and his two cronies were standing behind her.

"What do you want, then?" Shizuko asked, matching their toughness.

Shinji stepped toward her threateningly. "You're a new kid, right? You told the prof that we were cheating during the exam, didn't you?"

"And if I did?"

"Then you're in big trouble, then. Nobody messes with us. "

"Then I'm nobody then. And since that's what I am, there's nothing you can do to me."

The bully looked bewildered for a second. "Are you trying to confuse me, newbie?"
"You figure it out, cheater. Or do you need one of your cronies to explain things for you?"

Shinji started getting mad. "You're messing with the wrong bully, girlie."

"Oh, so should I just mess with your other cronies instead?" said Shizuko sarcastically.

Shinji suddenly swung his fist at her, but Shizuko was too fast. She ducked out of the way.

This is definitely not good. I can't defend myself because of this uniform!

"What, are you running away now?" Shinji taunted her.

In answer, Shizuko stomped on his foot. Hard.

"Ow!"

Shizuko tried to run, but one of Shinji's cronies grabbed her and held her by both arms.

Darn! Shizuko thought.

"That's right, hold her, Keisuke," said Shinji. He balled his hand into a fist and aimed at her dead-on. "Now, you pay."

Shizuko closed her eyes for the impact…

…it didn't come.

She cautiously opened one eye. A certain blue-haired boy had Shinji's fist in one hand, preventing Shinji from hitting her.

She sighed in relief. Ryuu!

Shinji looked aghast for a moment as Ryuu turned his arm in a judo twist.

Recovering, though, Shinji swung his other fist at Ryuu.

He missed Ryuu by inches.

"Get him, guys!" ordered Shinji.

Keisuke, the boy holding Shizuko, roughly threw her aside, causing her to fall on the cemented ground.

And, considering that she landed mostly on her elbow, the roughness of the pavement tore right through the cloth on her sleeve and caused several deep abrasions on her arm.

"Oww!" cried Shizuko in pain. But she could do nothing as Ryuu was surrounded by the three boys.

Shinji's two followers began swinging their fists at Ryuu, but he dodged them all, and in a split second, he went right for Shinji and threw him to the ground.

Before Shinji could react properly, Ryuu's hand was at his throat.

"You're such a coward, attacking a girl. I can tear your throat out right now." Ryuu's words came out like bullets, his voice cold as steel.

"If you do that again…"

Ryuu's fingers tightened around Shinji's throat, as if to illustrate his point.

Shizuko watched as Shinji's eyes contracted in fear.

"Got it?" said Ryuu threateningly.

Shinji nodded, unable to speak, since Ryuu's fingers were pressing slightly on his windpipe.

As soon as Ryuu let go of him, Shinji got up and ran, along with his friends, towards the school building.

Ryuu turned to Shizuko. "Are you all right?" The harshness that had been in his voice earlier was gone, and he sounded more like himself again.

Shizuko nodded, Yeah, thanks to you."

He helped her up. Taking notice of her scraped elbow, he touched it gently. "Does it hurt much?"

Shizuko sighed and rubbed the torn, frayed sleeve between her fingers. "It's just a scratch. I'm fine. Those guys were jerks, though…"

"What did you do to them?" asked Ryuu.

"I told the professor that they were cheating during the exam," Shizuko answered. "And this is where they caught me."
"You did what was right," said Ryuu.

"Yes, I know." She looked back at him. "Thanks a lot. Sorry if caused you any trouble, though."

Ryuu shook his head. "It was nothing."

As if on cue, the bell rang.

Ryuu looked at her. "I guess it's time to get back to class."

"Yeah. Where are Meg and Kyu?"

"I'm sure we'll meet them sooner or later."

They walked together towards the school building. Ryuu never broke his stride, walking confidently across the grounds. Shizuko had to walk a little faster to catch up and match his pace. "What class do you have next?" Ryuu asked.

"Arts, I think."

"Look, its Meg and Kyu," said Ryuu suddenly.

Shizuko turned in the direction Ryuu indicated. Meg seemed to be in a much better mood at the moment, most probably because Kyu hadn't done anything rude or something of the sort.

"Hi!" Meg called out cheerfully as the two groups met.

"Hi," said Ryuu.

"What happened to your sleeve, Shizuko?"asked Meg in concern.

"It's nothing. I just got into a little bit of trouble, that's all," replied Shizuko.

"What kind of trouble?" asked Kyu.

"Some bullies tried to pound me because I told the professor that they cheated during the exam."

"So what's that, a battle scar?"

"Uh,no. I didn't have a chance to use martial arts."

"How'd you get away?" asked Meg.

Shizuko glanced at Ryuu.

"Aah…" said Kyu. "Now I get it."
Ryuu just waved it off. "It's nothing. We'd better get back to our classes, though."

Meg nodded. "Yeah. Did any of you realize how huge this school is?"

"Uh-huh, they've got a lot of facilities," answered Shizuko as they began walking.

"Yes, not only do they have the classrooms, but there are ultra-modern labs, well-stocked libraries, swimming pools, gymnasiums, and even rooms for the teachers and students."

"And I bet we'll be staying in those rooms," said Kyu.

"Yeah, we will be, and each room comes with a computer that has internet access and networking properties, so everyone's connected to one another," said Meg.

"You got that from the brochure, didn't you?" said Shizuko.

"Well, yeah, I did. Photographic memory," explained Meg.

"At least with those computers, we'll be able to communicate with one another, as well as Kinta and Kazuma," said Ryuu thoughtfully.

"Yeah, that is right," said Kyu.

Their conversation had already taken them into the school building, and they went their separate ways to get to their individual classes.

Rants: yes, I know, this chapter is waaay too shizuko/ryu. Are you all mad at me? awww…. please don't hate me, I tried my best!

And don't worry, you will all understand why shizuko is the way she is when I finish my third fanfic, Pluto Returns!

I've gotten comments saying that shizuko is a lot like ryu. And you are kind of right. But it will all be explained in Pluto Returns! I promise. It will all make sense soon…

PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter 4: Messages and Meetings

I will write again soon. I promise. Review classes for college entrance exams really sucked time out of my typing up the fanfic.

But being in the classes encourages my mind to work, and I usually get more inspiration when I'm busy. NOT. Hehe. Joke. But I still love to write DSQ fanfics.