All right, I'm back. I guess this just might be the chapter you have all been waiting for. Shizuko will finally attempt to play the Nine Circles of Hell—but not in public! Read on.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DETECTIVE SCHOOL Q OR ITS CHARACTERS. I only own Shizuko and perhaps the plot.

Chapter 9: A Threat in the Dark

Shizuko frowned as she studied the piece. So far, she had succeeded in dodging the other violin students and gotten a single practice room to herself. As much as she wished someone from class Q had stayed with her, her classmates seemed to have all gone in different directions. With an annoyed sigh, she played a few bars from the middle of the piece she had copied.

"Okay, I've got that down," she said to herself, raising her eyes to another part of the piece. "But this part looks complicated…" she muttered, raising her bow again to play it.

She winced as she made a mistake.

"Aagh," she grumbled under her breath.

"I guess even talented violinists make mistakes," said a voice nearby.

Shizuko jumped.

Minoru was standing in the doorway of the practice room.

"I didn't hear you come in," she said.

"I've been standing there for the past three minutes.

"Oh."

He stepped inside. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"This set of notes is getting to me. I can't seem to play it right."

"Did you have enough rosin on your bow?"

"Yes."

"Did you tighten the bowstrings?"

"Yes."

"Did you tune your violin?"

"YES. Okay?"

The boy's dark hair fell onto his forehead as his green eyes scanned the bar Shizuko was pointing at. "Well, I see where you're having a hard time. I think I came across something like this in another piece…"

"Really? And you got it right?"

"Yeah, I'll show you."

He came up behind her and Shizuko, unnerved, stepped away from him. "What are you doing?"

"I have to do this, or else you won't be able to know how it's really done."

"Is it really necessary for you to do that?"

"Just bear with me."

She slumped. "Fine. But don't get any ideas. You do and I'll make sure that you won't live to regret it."

Minoru could only laugh at such a weak threat. "Of course, of course."

With a small frown on her face, she lowered her guard and allowed Minoru to put his arms around her. As she held the violin in place under her chin, Minoru placed his fingers over hers and held the bow in position at her other hand.

As Minoru guided her bow across the strings, she couldn't help but swallow nervously at how they looked.

I just hope no one from Class Q sees me like this…

Ryuu could hear violin music as he walked along the hallway. I wonder where it's coming from…

Kyu and Kinta had gone into town to see if any flower shops had made a delivery yesterday, and Meg and Kazuma had gone to the nearby police station to check on the autopsy results.

Ryuu sighed to himself. For once, it's me who's left behind…

The musical tones got louder as he neared a certain door. Thinking that it might be Shizuko playing, he took a peek inside.

He most certainly did not expect to see the scene in front of his eyes.

One of the students, Minoru, had his arms around Shizuko and was guiding her she played the violin. Before he thought to do anything, he ducked out of the room before he could be seen.

As he walked quickly back to his room, very confused thoughts began filling his mind. His usually organized way of thinking had suddenly been slammed out of focus.

He stopped in his tracks in the middle of the hallway and sighed to himself. Calm down. What are you so worried about? It's most likely nothing.

Reaching his room, he went inside and promptly locked it.

"Ryuu!"

Someone was knocking at his door. "Ryuu!"

Ryuu opened his eyes and brushed the wet hair out of his face. Rising from his bed and stretching, he got up to open the door.

It was Shizuko, of course, giving him a small smile and holding up some music sheets.

"I've been through them, do you want to hear? I couldn't find the others and—wait a second, you showered?"

Her eyes flicked upward to the bangs that were wetly plastered to his forehead. Her eyes raked down the features of his face and down to the plain, short-sleeved t-shirt he was wearing.

It's weird for me to see him this casually dressed, she thought.

Ryuu blinked in confusion at first as he tried to decipher Shizuko's sentence. "Yes, I showered," he said, answering her last question, then adding, "And the others aren't here just yet, they went out earlier to town so that they could get the results of the autopsy and check out the flower shops."

"Oh. And you're still here and not with them because…?"

"Because Meg was worried that if no one else was here when you were, you might get targeted by the killer so…I stayed."

"Oh. That's…okay then…"

Actually he had stayed because he himself was worried, but then he was too proud to admit that he would be that concerned about the situation. And besides, he didn't really have much of a choice given that everyone else was fooling around too much to take any notice of him.

She held up the music sheets again. "So do you want to hear them?"

He blinked again slightly confused, then he realized that she was still standing out side. Regaining his composure, he opened the door a little wider and said, "Of course…"

She raised her eyebrow at him. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, letting her in.

Shizuko stepped inside, carrying her violin case and sitting down on a nearby chair.

Ryuu sat on the bed across from her. "Shizuko."

"Hm?" she looked up at him.

"Are you sure of what you're doing?"

"Of course," she replied, fiddling with the tuning knobs on her instrument. "I've studied the piece pretty well, and—"

"That's not what I was referring to."

"—Oh," she said. "What were you referring to, then?"

"I'm talking about your idea of playing this composition. It might not be a good idea."

"Why not? You certainly don't believe that this piece is cursed, do you?"

"Yes, I don't believe that this piece is cursed. It's just that even though it may or may not be the case, your life could be in danger because of your attempt. You could die."

He said the last three words with heavy emphasis. Shizuko stared at him.

He was strangely silent as he looked her in the eye, a fierce fire burning in them.

Shizuko sighed and put down her violin. "I realize that I'm putting everyone at risk here…But still. I want to prove that this music had nothing at all to do with the deaths. Aside from that, this music intrigues me."

She looked at the music sheets. "Besides, I'm not in exactly the same position as the others were. I'm not alone. And the circumstances could be different."

She looked at him. "And anyway," she added with a grin, "I'm sure that you and Kyu will figure this out before anything bad happens. Like you guys always do."

He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you had that much confidence in us."

"Well, I do. Do you still want me to play?"

Ryuu thought about it. Half of him wanted to challenge this curse and let her play; the other half wanted to protect her—and Class Q—from a deadly fate.

He sealed his choice. So be it.

"All right. Let's see if this curse is real. Play."

Shizuko smirked to herself, knowing that Ryuu couldn't resist the aura of mystery surrounding the piece.

Placing the violin under her chin, she prepared herself. Ryuu leaned back against the headboard of his bed, in a sort of crossed-legs sit. He folded his arms across his chest.

"I've only been able to get through the parts I've copied. As for the rest, it will take me longer."

Ryuu nodded his understanding.

Shizuko drew her bow across the strings and began to play a mildly gentle tune that slowly ascended to a higher pitch. Smoothly, her fingers flew nimbly among the strings. Her eyebrows were knitted in concentration as she focused on the song.

Ryuu found himself rather lost in that same feeling he had gotten at Daisuke's performance. As Shizuko raised the speed, tone and pitch, it raised the hairs at the back of his neck.

Shizuko stared at the music sheets in her lap, focusing on each note. As she was about to stop at the end of the fifth movement, the lights above them flicked, then suddenly, went out.

Shizuko froze. "Uh-oh."

She felt a hand grab at her arm as she stood up. "It's me. Don't move," Ryuu's voice said somewhere to her left.

The lights flickered back on. Ryuu had risen from his position on the bed and was holding on to Shizuko's arm. "What just happened?" he wondered aloud.

Shizuko scanned the room, and noticed a piece of paper on the floor. She pointed at it. "Look."

Ryuu slipped on some gloves. "There could be fingerprints." He picked it up and studied it. "It was slipped underneath the door."
He opened it, and immediately looked troubled.

"What does it say?" asked Shizuko, putting away her violin.

"Just one thing," said Ryuu, showing her.

A single word was printed in block letters, in red ink that made it look eerily like blood.

"Silence…" Shizuko murmured softly.

"You seem to have caught the killer's attention," he said, opening the door carefully and looking out into the hallway. Shizuko came up behind him, but he motioned for her to stay back. "Nobody's out there. But that doesn't mean that he or she couldn't have hidden in a room somewhere."

"Maybe I should leave," said Shizuko, picking up her violin case and the sheet music. She was about to go out the door when—

"I'm coming with you," said Ryuu, getting his jacket, which was hanging on a chair.

"It's fine, I can take care of myself—" she insisted, but Ryuu had his jacket on and was ahead of her out the door before she could protest further.

"I'm not risking you getting killed out there in the hallway," he said firmly, closing the door behind them.

Shizuko walked at his side, slightly annoyed that Ryuu wouldn't let her go alone, and slightly nervous that the killer could be out in the hallway as Ryuu had said.

She sighed heavily. In the end, the great Ryuu Amakusa is right, she thought sourly.

They reached her room. Shizuko reached out to turn the knob, but Ryuu grabbed it and opened it for her.

She looked at him. "Let me guess. Maybe poison's on the handle and you don't want me to end up like Daisuke?" she said, only half-joking.

"Partly that, and partly because I am also staying in the room with you until the rest of Class Q hears about this."

And partly because you are SUUUCH a gentleman, thought Shizuko secretly. Out loud, she said, "But—"

"No 'buts'."

Shizuko slumped. This is going to be a long, weird afternoon and evening…

Rants: That's it for now. I'll get back to this when I'm inspired again. Sorry for taking so long to update before…

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