Disclaimer: I do not own Detective school Q…
A: 2nd last chappie. you will not expect this ending… in fact nothing in this whole mystery is predictable…but at the end of it all everything will make sense…I'm brilliant aren't I? Wait! Don't answer that…
Anyways enjoy…
And Review…thankz
Thanks for reviewing: Jem… thankee. This is the conclusion part. Hope you like and I hope you don't sue me for writing such a soap operay story… enjoy.
Chapter 17 – The Unveiling…
Kyu's POV
"So…we're going to just give up?" I asked everyone there.
Yuki shrugged "the door is reinforced steel and all the windows are at least twenty feet up, so yeah, it's a safe bet."
"Kyu, quiet down and conserve your energy. Someone is bound to notice we're missing…. They'll search for us. Until then keep as low as possible, the gas is lighter then air, it'd take time to reach us" Ryuu said calmly.
"Come on guys" I let out a sigh, "we can't die here…"
"Someone will find us. Wait a bit"
"I can't!" I cried jumping to my feet impatiently "I'm suffocating here; we can try to reach the windows… anything"
"I'm willing to try but I don't think we can reach them" Yuki jerked her finger at the windows, that's about twenty feet… even if we stack three people one on top of other we wont be able to reach"
I sighed helplessly, then started to pace around the warehouse. Trying to figure out what to do… There has to be something… something we overlooked but at that moment my mind ceased to function. I stared hard at the metal door, pondering what to do when suddenly it hit me.
"Does anyone have a penknife?" I asked excitedly.
Hayato, Yuki and Ryuu pulled out three separate penknives…
Kuniko lifted her head "what are you going to do?"
"The door hinges are on the inside right?" I glanced at Ryuu, he'd already understood "…so that means we can unscrew the door out"
There was a murmur of excitement when we all scrambled to help. Well within half an hour more then half of the work was done… but the gas had become dangerously obvious, every breath I took, I felt overcome by a rush of drowsiness. When we finally escaped all of us was desperately gasping, overcome by the effects of it. But we survived…
Thank god for that…
Killer's POV
I was safe…
Those dim-witted detectives were taken care of and the police had blamed everything on Kabuto, after he disappeared, and no one had any clue that he was dead… life would be perfect but I never believed it will be… never again will my world be perfect… my sins will always haunt me… I will never be able to forget… never be able to forget his face…
A tear rolled down my cheek, I brushed it away forcefully.
Why?
Another tear…
It wasn't fair…everything had been perfect. Everything except…
More tears flowed down my cheeks… I felt powerless to brush them away.
Why succeed when you've lost the very thing you wanted to win?
Yuki's POV
After escaping our near death, we thought it was best to finish this thing quickly, the killer might try something again, and this time it just might work. Personally I wasn't so hot on losing anymore friends…
After leaving Meg at the infirmary we made our way back to the girl's dorm again. It was time to have a talk with our genius killer.
"Yes" a pale looking girl with long raven hair poked her head out of the door.
"Excuse me" Ryuu said coldly without any warmth what so ever.
No matter, the girl's expression didn't change "What do you want?"
"You knew Akane Fijioki, didn't you?"
The girl nodded; not the least bit effected.
"We need to ask you some questions, can you follow us?"
"Sure, what's this about?"
Kyu glanced at Ryuu and he nodded.
"We're from the DDS; we were assigned to investigate the murders that happened after Akane's 'suicide'. We'd very much appreciate if you would cooperate with us in this"
"Whatever you say"
Within minutes we were all assembled in the school music room, along with everyone else who was involved in the case. Also some of the close friends of the victims and suspects…
The group consisted of the three ex best friends of Akane: Shiza, Lin and Kaede. Current best friend: Rin Masumi. Sayuri Hinasaki. Akane and Rin's classmate: Aoki Sakaguchi. Yukito's younger sister Ayu. And Kunai's best friend: a boy named Tetsuya…
"Shall we start?" Hayato said when everyone arrived.
A mousey looking girl with sliver framed specs and Velma-like hair lifted her hand timidly "Why are we here?" she asked in a pathetic squeak.
"I think that we all know why we're here" I said dramatically, every soul in the room quieted down "standing amongst us, here in this room is the killer"
A gasp rang through the room…
"One of us is the killer…" I repeated solemnly "…and before this day is over we will unmask her"
A silence fell into the midst of it all; everyone was staring at each other suspiciously. We already knew who it was, only thing we needed was the proof. The motive, without it, they'd all be in the same boat.
"Let's begin" Hayato nodded at Kyu. Kyu stepped forwards, watching everyone with serious eyes.
"There are three clues, regarding Akane's suicide…" he started, holding out his fingers to empathize.
"Number one: she wrote a funny suicide note… she was supposed to go home but she sent a death note to all of her friends thirty minutes before she was found…"
Kyu continued "the second is the way she cut her wrists, she cut them vertically, instead of horizontally in which there was more probability that she'd die. Third, she swallowed a bottle worth of sleeping pills, it would have made the suicide more realistic yet there was a chance that she could survive if she had help…" he let the sentence drift…
Everyone stared at him with serious eyes… hanging on his every word.
"Why this 'suicide' is so strange, is that she did almost everything wrong here… the note, the pills, and the inappropriate slitting. She didn't plan it…" Kyu's eyes glazed over "…the killer did, and Akane did everything she said. The killer even wrote the death note. The wrists were cut so that she didn't die of blood loss. And she willingly swallowed all the pills, because the killer must have assured her that she'd be rescued before anything serious happened… Do you know why that is?" Kyu asked the audience, all of them stared back at him blankly "because it was a hoax… Akane never meant to suicide… she wanted it to make an impact. Most of all she wanted to regain her popularity which deceased immensely when she dumped Mizuki…"
There was a silence as everyone took it in. next was Kuniko's turn. She stepped up nervously and started explaining like she was narrating from a book…
"The second victim and the first suspect… Mizuki Kano was the official suspect, he even got arrested but the killer attacked him, luring the spotlight away from him…" she paused taking a deep breath "Mizuki was attacked near the computer labs. He was attacked from behind. This attack was made on the nerve centers of his neck… so it is expected that he had amnesia but the doctors failed to notice internal bleeding which caused his death…"
Kuniko made a coughing noise "we could safely assume that the killer didn't aim to kill him. It was a freak accident that the doctors hadn't noticed his internal bleeding because the blood vessels didn't break until after some time. We think the killer tried to save Mizuki, yet failed due to uncontrollable circumstances"
"The third victim: Amika Ruminiko was murdered in the girl's bathroom. There were no ties to this case but she is assumed as a witness who found out about the attack on Mizuki and confronted the killer. Of course the killer had no choice but to get rid of her." Hayato finished explaining his part. Next was my turn, I had to explain about Yukito's death.
"Yukito Kazawami, the fourth victim died of strangulation…" I started, ignoring the lump in my throat, everyone gasped. We'd kept quiet about his death, not many people knew about it. "… He didn't have any connections to the case, except for one thing…"
I stopped when I saw Ayu stare at me angrily, tears evident in her eyes yet I went on…
"… He was Kunai Hiroki's alibi. And also…" I gulped swallowing painfully "he was her lover…" again some of the girls let out incredulous gasps "…he was found in his room, strangled by Kunai, who didn't remember anything that happened. After our investigation we discovered that the killer had subconsciously hypnotized her, forcing her to kill him. An ultimate punishment… Then we found out something that changed all that. Yukito was long sighted, he usually wore blue contacts, almost no one knows about this. The email that triggered Kunai's attack was actually meant for her not Yukito but Kunai had accidentally opened it because of his long sightedness…"
"The last victim Kabuto Wada…" Ryuu started dramatically in his mysterious voice "he was found in the school storage house, hidden in a pickle barrel" he paused as a couple of the girls started retching then stopped feeling his gaze "as I was saying he was completely covered by the water and would have never been found if one certain DDS member hadn't expressed her fury upon it…"
I blushed pointlessly, everyone gave me blank looks.
"Also he was sliced up pretty bad, suggesting a struggle; the killer won and wheeled his body to the storehouse, hid him then cleaned up his room so nobody would notice. Nobody did, we'd never guessed if we hadn't thought that it was just too clean for a guy. It was not planned beforehand and because of this the killer didn't think of the minor details of covering up the clues."
He sighed then fixed his icy gaze on everyone in the room "Kabuto Wada wasn't killed irrelevantly. The killer had chosen to make him vanish so it'd look like he fled after attacking Mizuki and killing Amika. Which does makes sense as he hated Mizuki and since Amika was a witness, he'd have no choice but to kill her too. If we hadn't found his body we would have thought it was true too."
There was pregnant pause. Everybody looked at each other for a whole explanation about the case. Ryuu held this silence for a few minute before continuing…
"The truth about this case is that initially the killer never meant to kill anybody…" he whispered in a clear voice, sounding utterly haunting. "… She planned it out flawlessly yet there were things even out of her control… Mizuki's death triggered Kunai's attack and also Kabuto's killing… I do not know everything but I know this much that the killer never wanted to harm Mizuki in anyway…"
He paused dramatically and the tension built up involuntarily, he stared with his mystifying dark orbs "… she even risked attacking him in such a volatile time when everyone was watching him… why do that? The answer is simple enough… she loved him… isn't it right Ms. Masumi?"
Ryuu's POV
The dark haired girl stiffened her eyes downcast and seemingly lost in thought.
"Am I right?" I asked as the group slowly moved away from her and she was left alone in the middle of the room.
"He's right isn't he?" Yuki retorted angrily from across the room. Hayato and Kyu were already at her side making sure she wasn't going to do something stupid.
"Stop hiding behind that useless façade, you're already exposed"
"You've no right" her voice was a hiss, everyone strained to hear it "you've no right" she repeated a little loudly.
"Talk about unfair" Kyu muttered "you killed yet you still want forgiveness from it"
"I don't" she answered him rasping "and I don't regret any of it. Akane deserved what she got, she never thought of anything except her own self. She didn't even realize that people were willing to do anything for her yet she never even appreciated it. All she wanted was that lame illusion of fame, she thought it was everything. She was that much of a scatterbrain that she actually believed it…"
"Why did you convince her to suicide then?" I asked her softly.
"I didn't, it was her idea… I planned it, of course. She called it her master plan, believed that she was the one doing it all…"
"I don't understand, why fake your own suicide? It's dangerous" Kuniko told her sensibly.
"Oh she was an idiot who thought she could win everyone's trust by gaining their sympathies. When she broke up with Mizuki, almost half of her supporters turned their back on her because she was wrong… that made her desperate, desperate enough to pull a stupid stunt like that"
"If you were supposed to save her, why did you turn your back against her after helping her plan everything?" it was a question that was nagging me, Rin was loyal to Akane, her tone didn't imply it but she was that kind of person, living through another's shadow even though she'd be better at it herself.
"She lied to me" Rin's voice softened with emotion "She said she loved him… but she didn't… it wouldn't have mattered even if he never loved me, or even looked at me. I would have lived on, knowing he was happy… but…" her voice changed back to its harsher tone. "… she cheated on him, that's why they broke up… then when everyone took his side she broke down and begged him to come back, that was the hallway incident. He was furious with her, and then Akane thought of this plan…" Rin let out a dry laugh "… what if she'd become so overwhelmed that she could not live without him… then everyone would think of her as a victim, not the other way around"
"You still haven't answered my question, why did you change you mind to let her die?"
Rin delicately lifted her finger and aimed at the only boy in the group "Him." she said indicating Tetsuya, "I overheard him and Kunai talking in the library, Kunai was crying, wasn't she Tetsuya?" she smiled at him eerily, and he shifted nervously.
"What is it?" Hayato demanded looking from Rin to Tetsuya.
"Er… I found out that Akane liked Yukito… well that wasn't exactly it, she was obsessed" He started slowly "the day of the suicide, before classes started I saw her corner Yukito near the science lab, she started kissing him… I couldn't help it I yelled out. Yukito froze but Akane didn't even look surprised, she even tried to pretend I wasn't there… I was so disgusted that I told Kunai after the last period…"
"…and Rin heard it, so she decided Akane deserved to die for what she did…" Kyu piped in enthusiastically.
"… What about the other victims? Why strike Mizuki in such a sensitive area if you were trying to save him?" Yuki asked her calmly "or wait… you asked Kabuto to attack him didn't you?"
Rin snickered loudly "…I really underestimated you guys, I didn't think there was much evidence linking me to Kabuto, how'd you figure it out"
"There wasn't any evidence… we only linked Kabuto to you assuming you were his alibi the night Mizuki was attacked. He came to visit you in the infirmary that night didn't he? We wouldn't have connected it if Kyu hadn't asked for the school blueprints and found out the infirmary was closest to the computer labs"
"So Kabuto screwed up, Mizuki died. What made you kill Amika?" Yuki muttered sarcastically
Rin shook her head "I didn't… Kabuto did. It was an accident. We both participated in attacking Mizuki… Kabuto was to get Mizuki and I watched the corridor. Nobody came… but Amika knew about it… even how we did it. I got her to the third floor bathroom to talk, Kabuto hid in one of the cubicles… we planned to scare her as no one died yet… what we didn't expect was that she wanted to die, she even screamed for Kabuto to kill her, he lost control… and then struck her. She collapsed to the floor holding in the knife… we fled"
"Let me guess…" Kyu started suddenly "After that incident Kabuto panicked and tried to go to the police so you had to kill him too?"
"Exactly, except he wanted me to admit to it, so I had no choice…" the killer said casually "… well I did drug him first… after that it wasn't hard…"
"Yeah… you slit half of his body to make it fit in the barrel…" Yuki murmured "a fine example of a problem solver you are…"
"What about Yukito? Why did you try to kill Kunai?"
Rin glared maniacally "does it matter? I hate the bitch" the hatred in her voice was clearly evident, yet something seemed missing from it.
"You blamed her didn't you?" Kyu spoke up "She confused you enough to betray Akane and hurt Mizuki. Things you were unable to do despite the consequences. She was the reason you lost Mizuki, you believed that and you acted on that. Yukito never cheated on Kunai. But after Mizuki died, you found out the truth about Akane's obsession towards Yukito. How Yukito didn't have anything to do with it. Then you wanted to kill Kunai for making you believe that… isn't that what happened?"
Rin stayed silent.
"It's true isn't it?" Kyu said quietly "you wanted to punish her for it yet she never had anything to do with it. It all started because Akane wanted a false acceptance. She dragged you into killing four more people unwillingly… and you worked fast on tying up the lose ends and getting rid of everyone who came close to solving this mystery. Nobody would have figured it out on evidence alone, we did everything in assumption. That was the only way. You built up your façade well. You even changed your records; it was strange how Akane suddenly got straight A's and be as dumb as she appeared to be. You pretended to be her sidekick but it was you all along. You knew Mizuki liked her, that's why you kept close to her to be close you him…" Kyu explained the mystery more carefully; when he stopped Rin scrutinized him carefully…
"You're clever" Rin stared at Kyu "I thought Ryuu would be the one to crack this case but imagine the surprise…" she dropped her head and stared at the floor. The silent enveloped them again. I broke the silence eventually.
"Let's go, the police is waiting in the main office for you" I started to walk towards her when she suddenly lashed out.
A few drops of red fell to the floor… my eyes widened.
Blood…
Hayato's POV
The girls lashed out with startling speed, Ryuu fell back, something red splashed on to the floor.
"RYUU!" my ears felt like they were about to burst when both Yuki and Kyu yelled out for him.
There was a flash of silver…
"Look out she's got a knife"
"I won't go!" Rin shrieked like a mad woman, "I just won't" she tried to lunge at the girls but they got out of the way just in time… all except one.
"Niko!" my voice yelled despite my better judgment. Nobody messes with Kuniko unless they wanted a broken arm or leg or broken something.
Despite the scared rabbit look Kuniko was one of the most dangerous members of DDS. She was a superb Aikido practitioner…
Rin's hand barely touched her, Kuniko turned around, grabbed her arm, twisted it, then gracefully flipped Rin over her shoulder and on her back… all within a millisecond.
"Wow" Ayu whispered, and the girls Lin and Kaede smiled.
Rin lay beaten on the floor…
"I won't go" she whispered silently.
Kyu stood over her, "you have to go"
The compassion in his voice was unnatural. Rin stared up at him.
A single tear flowed out of her eyes…
"I'm sorry…"
She pulled out the knife then plunged it towards her own stomach…
"NO!" Kyu screamed.
A: finished at last jumps around in joy... This is the official last chapter. The next one is the aftermath of the case; at someone's funeral…do not miss it.
Also I hope you didn't get bored in this chappie, I re-read it and it sounds like a soap opera… whatever… this is my very first fan-fiction(ta daaa) and I think I did okay…
Okee REVIEW plz…
Yep read the next chappie coz it's the last one and there's a bit of things that I want to clear out in the chappie…