The Case so Far: now, Shizuko's kind of mad for letting the killer get away. In her own understanding, the music doesn't deserve all the blame for the murders. And so...she is pushing through with her plan. The Nine Circles of Hell will unravel its mystery at her hands.

Class Q and the others are kind of worried, but seeing as there is probably no other choice, let her go her own way.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DETECTIVE SCHOOL Q.

Chapter 8: Plans and Pairings?

Back in her room, Shizuko spread out some fresh music sheets in front of Class Q. "Look at this."

"What is it, exactly?" asked Meg.

"This is a copy of the Nine Circles of Hell that I copied some time ago…"

Ryuu looked up at her in surprise. "How'd you copy this? I thought that you hadn't gone near the piece in a while…"

"I...uh...I sort of sneaked behind your back to do it…"she admitted embarrassedly.

"You did what?" he asked in shock.

"Well, at least I've got part of a copy now, and I won't be able to raise much suspicion for the killer yet since he didn't see me getting at the piece," she said defensively.

"She's right," said Kyu. "By having this copy already, she doesn't have to keep borrowing the Maestro's booklet. And even more, it doesn't raise too many questions as to why someone outside the violin school would want to play it…"

Ryu slumped, knowing that it was pointless to argue the point even further.

"The problem is, I only have a copy for the first few circles of Hell," said Shizuko. I only reached about five when Minoru came in getting some rosin for his bow. I had to make it look like I was taking a look at the practice sheets rather than the Maestro's booklet."

"Well, maybe those first parts will give us some sort of clue," said Meg. "Maybe one of these days I could sneak a peek at it and help you construct the next few pages," she added, smiling at Shizuko.

"Hey, that'd be great." Shizuko grinned. "Maybe I'd better take a look at this in the practice room. If I play only parts of bars at random, maybe they won't suspect that I'm playing the Nine Circles…"

"Good," said Kyu.

"Meanwhile, maybe we'd better do a little more investigating on the killer's side of this case," said Kazuma. "Shizuko can handle the music side."

"Yeah! She could be right that there's something about that piece," said Kinta.

I just hope that that something won't kill her, thought Ryuu to himself.

"Hold on," said Meg.

Kyu looked up at her. "What's wrong?"

"To be honest, it's getting kind of late now," said Meg, pointing at the wall clock above Shizuko's bed. "It's almost eight. The investigations might have to wait until tomorrow."

"That's right," said Ryuu, realizing it too. "The autopsy results and the poison might also be finished by tomorrow as well. I don't think that there's much we can do tonight except plan. Tomorrow, everything should go in order."

"Aw, what a bummer," said Kyu glumly. "I was so caught up in this that I didn't think about the time…"

"Well, tomorrow is another day, Kyu," said Kinta, patting the younger teen's head. "Save your energy for our adventure tomorrow!"

"Yeah, well—wait a minute, OUR adventure?" said Kyu, stopping mid-sentence.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

"I, uh, I thought that I'd be working with Meg?"

"Can't let you two be together all the time, couples need to have some alone time," said Kinta teasingly. "Aside from that, you two might distract each other and start making out or something—"

WHACK!

"Owww!" said Kinta. He glared at Meg. "What the heck was that for?"

"That was for being such a pathetic jerk!" she said in an angry tone. Standing up, she walked out with her nose in the air.

The boys looked at each other with confused looks. "What's the matter with her?" asked Kyu.

Shizuko sighed. "Maybe you boys had better go and talk this over among yourselves."

"Yeah, we'd better," said Kazuma, closing his laptop.

"Ditto," said Kinta. "Good night, guys."

"See ya, Kinta," said Kyu, walking out into the hallway.

Ryuu was the last to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Good night," said Shizuko, putting away her crudely written music sheets.

"Shizuko?"

"Hmm?"

"I suggest that you leave those sheets alone for tonight and think about it tomorrow instead. I know that you want to play them now, but wait a little. I don't want another dead body in this school tomorrow."

With that, Ryuu left, closing the door behind him.

Shizuko could only stare at the closed door, confusion written all over her face.

Rants: and that's another chapter! Still interested? I'll be writing another one! I seem really inspired today, for some reason. XD

I think I'll be posting chapter nine too, LOL.

PLEASE REVIEW!