The next chapter. Yeah, I know that you people are ready to kill me because some of you want the next chapter of "Pluto returns!". Well, I hope this will at least keep you guys occupied while I'm still thinking.

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective School Q.

Chapter 4: Messages and Meetings

Kyu was feeling drowsy. The teacher was giving a boring, humdrum lesson on Leonardo Da Vinci's art during the Renaissance. That, combined with the lulling heat of the sinking afternoon sun, was making Kyu's eyelids droop ever-so–slowly….

RIIIIINNNG!
Kyu snapped to attention. "Wha—?"

Blinking, he saw the rest of his classmates gather their things and walk out the door, chattering away.

Oh, right, class is over, Kyu thought. And since Arts is my last subject….

He grinned to himself. I can finally meet up with Meg and the others!

He smiled again as he thought of Meg, with her cheerful pink hair and happy smile. Although sometimes, that smile would turn into a glare when he, er, accidentally peeked under her skirt.

It was unusual for him to be this preoccupied with thoughts, and little did he know that this particular string of contemplation had taken him all the way out into the schoolyard.

"Kyu!" someone called.

He turned toward the voice. "Oh! Hey there, Meg!"

Meg's pink pigtails bobbed up and down as she ran to him. "Hi!"

Kyu grinned. "Have you seen Ryuu?"

"Well, he's on his way. Look, he's over there," said Meg, pointing.

Ryuu caught up to them. "Hi, guys."

Meg smiled. "That just leaves Shizuko."

"Yeah, where is she?" asked Kyu.

"I think that's her, over there, by the tree," said Meg.

A few meters away, Shizuko was setting down her school bag by a tree in the schoolyard.

"Oh, there she is. She's sitting down…but who's that?" asked Kyu as a blonde boy came up to Shizuko.

"That's one of our classmates in Music. She met him this morning."

Ryuu watched as Shizuko greeted the boy with a small smile. "She's not that interested in the boy as much as he is drawn to her."
"How can you tell that, Ryuu?" asked Kyu curiously.

"Observe their gestures. She's slouching, subconsciously forming a barrier around herself, focused on something else she's doing. He's leaning towards her, as though fascinated by her, observing her."

"Hey, you're right."

"Hn," said Ryuu, continuing to study the exchange between Shizuko and the strange boy.

Shizuko was bent over her a drawing in her lap.

"What are you doing?" asked Rei as he leaned towards her, trying to see her work.

"My art project," she said simply.

"Really. So you're not just a musician, you're an artist as well."

"Uhm, well…" Shizuko paused in her sketching. "I'm not that good in Art. I rarely get a good drawing."

"Can I see it?" asked Rei.

"I'm not sure…it's not even finished."

"Let me see," he said, carefully taking her hand and pushing it slowly out of the way.

Shizuko sighed and uncovered the drawing.

"Who's that?" Rei asked.

"A friend of mine," Shizuko said.

"You're good at sketching."

"No, not really. This is one of those rare drawings I get."

"Say what you like. You're talented."

Rei looked at his watch. "I have to go now, though." He got up. "Keep practicing. You'll get better."

He walked away, his blonde hair with a slight orange glow in the rays of the afternoon sun.

Shizuko shook her head and stared at her drawing again. "How could he possibly think this was good?" she muttered to herself.

"Hey Shizuko!" a voice yelled.

She looked up in surprise. "Kyu," she said, startled. She stuffed her drawing out of sight, before anyone could see.

Kyu grinned at her. "Who was that guy you were talking to?"

"His name is Rei. He's in my Music class."

"Ah, so Meg was right."

"Hi, Shizuko," said Meg, who had come up behind Kyu.

"Hi, Meg," said Shizuko, getting up and brushing off the grass bits on her skirt.

Ryuu joined them. "Hi."

Shizuko smiled at him. "Hi, Ryuu."

"Well, classes are over, now. Maybe we should be getting to our rooms," said Meg.

"Oh, yeah, Sumika offered to help me find my room. Maybe you should come too, Meg," said Shizuko.

"Who's Sumika?"

"I met her in Math class. She and I also have History together as well."

"Oh, okay, then. I could use the help."

Shizuko then turned to the boys. "What about you guys?"

"Oh, we'll manage," said Ryuu.

"Uh, yeah, we'll just ask for help when we need it," said Kyu cheerfully.

"Okay. Let's go, Meg," said Shizuko.

Meg waved to the boys. "Bye."

Kyu waved back. "Bye!"

"Sumika!"

The redheaded girl turned and grinned. "Hey, Shizuko!"

Her eyes fell on Meg. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Meg. She's new here, too, like me. I thought that maybe you could help her with her room, too," replied Shizuko.

"Oh, sure, it won't be a problem. You see, my friend Momoko is in charge here, for the girl's rooms. The boy's rooms are on the other side of this building. Musashi's in charge there."

"Ah," said Shizuko. "Okay…"

"Yeah, so..." Sumika grinned. "Let's go, then! Your names are usually on the door, it's just a case of finding them."

"Shouldn't we wait for Momoko?" asked Meg.

"Oh, yeah! Well, I'll just take you to her room so that she can help you guys."

Sumika began skipping down the hallway.

"She seems nice," remarked Meg.

"Yeah, pretty much. Let's hope she's still as nice when we start asking stuff about the murder here," said Shizuko in an undertone as they follwed Sumika along several corridors.

Sumika stopped in front of a door and knocked. "Momoko! It's Sumika!"

A dark-haired girl opened the door. "What?"

With a flourish, Sumika said, "the new students need your help finding their rooms. And their keys."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" exclaimed Momoko. "They already gave me the keys, but then…"

Sumika laughed. "Busy with the computer again, huh?"
Turning to Meg and Shizuko, she said, "Although she doesn't really look it, Momoko here is a computer whiz."

"Oh! That's nice," said Meg.

"Yeah, well…" Momoko trailed off. "I'll just shut down my computer, then I'll be back with you guys."

She shut the door.

A couple of beeps and a whirring sound later, Momoko began leading them down the corridors. "What's your name again?" she asked Meg.

"Megumi Minami."

"Oh, okay. Wait. I think your room is up ahead…"

A shiny nameplate on a door caught Shizuko's eye. Huh?

She stopped and peered at the name engraved on it. "Makoto…" she murmured.

That's the name of the girl who was murdered! She was in this room!

Sumika turned to her. "Oh, you don't want to go there..."

"Oh? Why?" asked Shizuko, pretending not to know.

"The girl who used to stay there, well, she was killed recently," said Sumika sadly.

"Killed?" asked Meg, following Shizuko's lead.

"Yes, well, she was found, like, a few days ago bleeding to death, with a note on her computer saying there'd be more killings," said Momoko.

Shizuko's eyes widened, feigning innocence. "Whoa."

"Yeah," said Momoko.

"Did you know her well? Was she a friend of yours, or something?" asked Meg.

"She was my friend, a long time ago," said Sumika desolately. "At least, she was my friend until she became popular. She left our group to hang out with the trendy people."

"Oh," said Meg. "That's terrible."
"Yes," said Sumika. She looked back at the nameplate. "Sometimes, I wonder that maybe she wouldn't have been killed if she wasn't popular, if she had stayed with us. But it doesn't matter now. What's done is done."

She motioned to Momoko, who nodded. They continued their walk down the corridor, while Shizuko and Meg exchanged glances before following.

The first thing Meg did as soosn as she got into her room was collapse on her bed.

"Boy, I haven't even started investigating yet, and I'm tired!" She closed her eyes for a moment.

Suddenly, her computer beeped, flashing a message.

"Huh?" Meg opened her eyes and sat up, confused. "Who would send me a message?"

She walked up to her computer and clicked on the message alert. "It's from Kyu!" She smiled, blushing a little. "What does he want?"
She read the message on the screen.

Hey Meg!

Yeah, we found our rooms all right, and Ryuu gave me some tips on using the computer.

Meg rolled her eyes. "Kyu…" she muttered.

Anyway, I was thinking that maybe we could all meet somewhere, to talk about the case and stuff. The only question is, where?

Send me a message with an answer ASAP.

Kyu

Meg leaned back in her chair, thinking.

Her computer beeped again. Another message alert was winking on the screen.

"Another one?" Meg sighed, clicking on it.

It was from Shizuko.

Hey, you guys!

Meg, Kyu, Ryuu, I was thinking that maybe we could all meet in my room today and talk about this murder that's been going around. I know it's too soon to think about it, since we haven't done much investigating, but still, let's meet anyway.

If you're coming, reply to this message saying if you're coming or not.

Shizuko

Meg had to laugh at that. What a coincidence, she thought.

Hitting the reply button, she typed, Sure thing, Shizuko! We'll see you there.

She clicked on the "send" button.

Shizuko grinned at the messages on her computer.

I'll be coming, then.
Ryuu

Hey! Thanks, Shizuko! I was just suggesting to Meg that we meet somewhere! I'm coming.
Kyu

Sure thing, Shizuko! We'll see you there.
Meg

She leaned back in her computer chair. Thankfully, she had changed out of the uniform and into more comfortable apparel. She slipped off her eyeglasses, blinking as she did so.

The heavy scrape on her right elbow was still stinging, though, and she decided to bandage it before her DDS classmates arrived. She had brought her first-aid kit with her, since she had anticipated that her clumsiness would catch up with her sooner or later.

She bathed the wound in antseptic and applied medication. Before she could wrap the bandage, though, someone knocked on her door.

"Come in," she said distractedly. The door creaked open.

"Hi," answered a calm voice from the doorway.

Shizuko looked up. "Oh. Hi, Ryuu."
He closed the door behind him as Shizuko tried, repeatedly, to tie the bandage around her elbow. However, the task proved to physically impossible, since her right hand could not reach her right elbow. She sighed in exasperation.

Ryuu watched with a slightly amused look on his face. "Let me help you, then."

"No, it's okay…" Shizuko began.

But Ryuu was already there, knotting the bandage around her arm. "There."

"Thanks."

She opened her mouth to say something else, but a rap on the door interrupted what she was about to say.

She looked at Ryuu. "I'd…I'd better get that."
She opened the door to find Meg grinning there. "Hi!"

"Hi, Meg. Is Kyu with you?"

"No, he said he'd catch up."

"Oh."

"Hey! Meg!" called a very familiar voice from the corridor.

"That'll be Kyu," said Ryuu, who had come up behind Shizuko.

Kyu reached Shizuko's open door. "Hey!"

"Looks like we're all here, then," said Shizuko.

"Hey, I noticed earlier…Shizuko, why aren't you wearing your glasses?" asked Meg.

"Huh? I'm not?" she scanned the room, and her eyes caught sight of her glasses sitting at the computer table.

"Oops," she said.

"You don't really need to wear glasses, don't you?"

"Uhm, well, not really. They do have a weak grade, though, to help with my slight nearsightedness. But you're right, I didn't need to wear them."

"So why did you?" asked Meg.

"I don't know, I wanted to hide behind them, I guess."

"You look better without them."

"Thanks," Shizuko said smiling shyly.

Kyu coughed quietly to get their attention. "Ahem."

Meg and Shizuko looked at him. Ryuu snapped out of his realm of thoughts. He had been staring quietly into space while Meg and Shizuko were having their conversation.

Kyu grinned. "We've got a case, right?"
"Oh, yeah," said Shizuko.

"Has anyone actually been able to find out anything about the victim?" asked Ryuu.

"Well, Shizuko's friend, Sumika, had a connection with the victim. Sumika and Makoto were friends before," said Meg.

"Well, Makoto was popular, or so I heard," said Shizuko. "I think we've reached a stalemate, you guys."

"She's right," said Ryuu. "It's a deadlock. We can't make a move on our killer, since we have nothing to go on."
Ryuu stared into space again. "Right now, all we can do is wait. I'm afraid we'll only find out something when it happens. Our killer has to make the first move."

"And then," said Shizuko, "We can do our job."

rants: hmm. Can't seem to make things move along too well, but it'll get better.
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