File 001: Chance Encounter

As Yagyuu expected, it took him hours to reach the venue premises (He does live in Kanagawa prefecture after all). The journey was uneventful, spending his time in the train sleeping therefore saw no one familiar on board.

What was unexpected for him, however, was the appearance of the place. The building looked rundown, because the outside wasn't painted at all. The walls were supported by 4 columns found in each corner, slanting in wards. Each side had 1 humongous window pane. The infrastructure towered all the trees planted near it, making it visible from afar.

When he was walking under a covered sidewalk towards it (which seemed to be rusty), it gave him an impression of an old gym. On the left was a basketball court, and on the right was (Yagyuu felt a small squirm of pleasure in his stomach) a tennis court. No one was playing in either area.

Inside gave more surprises to Yagyuu. While it looked abandoned on the outside, it was brand-new on the inside. The walls were of a newly painted light orange, and the cement floor was coloured grey. The ceiling was also white, though fluorescent lamps also occupy the area. However, it looked unusually dirtier than the floor. An Olympic-sized swimming pool covered most of the place, leaving room only for a walking area, 3 corridors and a stair case for the second floor.

Concluded that he was a bit too early, he decided to investigate the middle corridor (the other two had a sign that says they lead to the comfort rooms and lockers, so he didn;t bother to investigate there). It turned out to be a hallway that contained images of famous Japanese athletes. He left immediately after spotting a magazine clipping about Rikkaidai's 2nd National win in a row 2 years before – the Gentleman is apparently uncomfortable staring at himself.

After his long walk, he decided to go to the second floor. The area where the swimming pool should be in the first floor was covered with glass, full with footprints all over ("So this was the 'dirt' I saw before." Yagyuu mused.) The rest was made with the usual concrete. Beside it were doors leading to what looks like a theatre without chairs, bustling with life thanks the the biggest crowd he had ever seen – not including some National Finals, though.

This must be the exact location of the DDS examination venue. He thought, while observing various figures. Majority of them were older than him, and half of them were adults. Some looked like your normal neighbour next door, while others took the liberty to actually dress like famous detectives such as Sherlock Holmes and C. Auguste Dupin(1), which made Yagyuu sigh. He was so concentrated on observing their surroundings that he didn't notice that bumped into someone until he noticed his vision became blurry.

"Ah! I-I'm sorry!" He then saw a blurred figure put on his glasses for him. "Thank you." He said while thinking that he was lucky for the glasses to still be intact. Seconds later, he saw a young woman in front of him.

Her long, dark red hair was tied up in a ponytail, though two locks remained, one on each side. Bangs framed emerald eyes, featuring a glint that reminded Yagyuu of the Trickster. She has a fair face and a faint smile drawn on it. She was wearing a white polo overlapped with a pink sleeveless, though it didn't cover her black and white strapped necktie. She was wearing a black and white stripped armwarmer on her left arm and a pink and black stripped fingerless glove on her right hand. Her sleeveless was tucked over her black denimed miniskirt, which ended below her knees. After it, she was wearing a long pink and black striped sock her right leg, while her left knee was covered with a black and white stripped anklet. To top it off, she was wearing Chuck Taylors in colours of pink, white and black. There wasn't any piece of jewelry on her, and her only other accessory was a small black leather backpack. It gave Yagyuu the impression of one of those models in a lolicon(2) magazine.

"It's alright." The gentleman replied assuringly. The redhead therefore sighed in relief. "It's good to hear that." He heard her say, her voice not as high as the others. "It's good to see someone near my age, though. There are a lot of adults in here."

"Agreed." He replied, observing the scenery again.

"What's your name?"

Yagyuu blinked the second time, turning towards the girl. "Excuse me?"

"Your name. I'm betting our chances would increase if we help each other. Since we're both teenagers, not to mention the first person to actually notice me – others ignored me when I bumped onto them. If we are going to do this together, we should at least know our names."

He thought about it. It might be hard for the two of us to take it individually, but if we work together, then our chances of passing would increase.

However, suspicious thoughts started to take over. Isn't the DDS examination a test on one's own abilities? What if she was just an obstacle, meant to confuse the applicants? What is I would fail if he followed her?

He had to make a conclusion soon, so he decided to think about her being a DDS spy later.

"I guess teamwork would indeed help. My name is Yagyuu Hiroshi."

"Nice to meet you, Yagyuu-kun. I'm Imichi Kimiko."

"Nice to meet you too, Imichi-san."

"Your Keigo(3)."

A third blink. "Huh?"

"We'll be together for quite a while, which would be very uncomfortable... especially if one dislikes Keigo. Just call me Kimiko or Kimicchi, Kay?"

"K-Kimiko..?"

"Yes! Ki-mi-KO."

"Very well, but on one condition."

"And that is?"

Yagyuu gave her the first real smile he did since he talked to her. "Call me Hiroshi-Jun."

Kimiko seemed to be happier with it. "Alright then, Hiroshi-Jun!"

Then suddenly, all of the lights except the ones above the stage went out. The bustle of the crowd gradually died out as everyone, including Yagyuu and Kimiko concentrated at the remaining lighted area. They all knew what it meant – the exam is about to start...

The red velvet curtains were drawn, revealing a female adult. "Welcome to the DDS examination. I am Katigiri Shino, a teacher of DDS. The test is divided into 2 parts, each as challenging as the other. The first test requires to solve a certain crime, and the second is a written test, where you must answer 6 questions correctly."

She paused as mumblings became audible. Yagyuu felt he had a couple of butterflies in his stomach. They have to solve a case right at the start! And only 6 questions... he had a feeling they would be terribly hard.

After a while, Katigiri raised her microphone higher, and the crowd settled. "Here is the case you must solve. The victim is a recently discovered heir to a big company, Ryuzu Makoto."

A profile of a teenage woman appeared in a screen behind Katigiri. "She was murdered at approximately 8:00 PM, by the entrance of her apartment. She died of suffocation."

The screen changed, causing some members of the examinees – particularly the women – to gasp. Replacing the woman's image was the crime scene. Her body was seen hanging by the noose, her feet floating inches above the flat ground. There were only a few signs of a struggle in the room – the doormat was disordered, there were broken glass everywhere, and the shoes seemed to be thrown around. A wide, empty wooden box (It was a shoe cabinet) had its lid open, and the cactus in the background seemed to be ignored.

"This is a picture taken from a security camera. The minutes before, it was turned off, presumably by the killer, before it turned back on, revealing this image." Katigiri explained. "Later on, several people discovered the scene and therefore called the police and an ambulance. It took about 45 minutes for them to reach the destination, a lot of time for anything could happen.

"And something didhappen. This is the what the police found." And there was a new picture. It was the same place in the same perspective, but a recognizable change is seen – the body was gone. The noose was still hanging, the box still empty, and the signs of the struggle looked the same. Also, the cactus remained the only living thing in the picture.

"After this, they also gathered up the possible suspects and ended up with 6. Majority of them were the ones who discovered the body, all of them lacking an alibi. Ryuzu Makoto-san herself is included, because the police could not find the body and concluded that she might pretended to kill herself to hide. No one else was seen enter the building, and we are sure that the body is not thrown out."

After that, the screen was raised up, and Katigiri moved to the right to reveal 6 figures, each with a spotlight above them and a number in front of them. There was no need for an explanation – they were the suspects.

"So, she is a suspect too." Yagyuu suddenly heard, followed with a series of clicks. He turned to see Kimiko, taking pictures.

"Is that allowed?" He asked curiously.

"Of course, we need it for future reference. Not everyone has a photographic memory. you know."

The gentleman had to agree to that, so he left her to deal with the pictures and observed each of them. The first suspect was indeed Ryuzu Makoto. Even though she was standing and breathing, she did look like a corpse. Her skin was very pale, and vertical and diagonal marks can be seen on her neck.

Suspect #2 was a high school student. He looked like a yakuza(4) member, the top of his winter uniform(5) opened to reveal a red shirt. His hair was poorly bleached, and a white piece of cloth was tied on his head. He was also wearing what might seemed to be a belt teared into shreds around his waist.

Suspect #3 looked like a businessman. His black suit didn't appear to have wrinkles after all, and his jet black hair was well-kept. His black eyes seemed cold, and he has a huge suitcase with him as well.

Suspect #4 was a spectacled woman in her twenties. She was wearing a black shirt and jeans. Her auburn hair was kept with flower hair clips.

Yagyuu nearly choked on suspect #5. Lo and behold, it was Kirihara Akaya himself, in his Rikkaidai uniform. The messy, curly black hair was there, was well as his nasty emerald green eyes. The gentleman could deduce that it wasn't really his kouhai(6), when he noticed that this man was slightly taller than the actual person.

Suspect #6 was the cactus in the crime scene, and Yagyuu stopped observing at that. Since when did dessert plants hang people? Besides, there weren't any spikes on Ryuzu Makoto...

"These 6 are staff members disguised as the suspects." Katigiri finally said after a few minutes. "You have to know who the suspect is, and where did he or she hide the body. You then have to follow him to his destination, and then tell him later on where and how did he or she hid the body. Good luck." And that was all she said, as they all (except the cactus) walked towards the exit. Most of the crowd were now rushing towards them, giving others a hard time to concentrate.

"Ack! With this noise, we won't be able to solve the case in time!" Kimiko wailed.

"Don't worry." Yagyuu said, still calm. "There's only one exit to this gym. Until they walk out here, we could still catch up."

"Well, if you say so..." Kimiko muttered.

The gentleman then went into a thinking pose. Who? Where? How? So many questions, so little time...

Disclaimer:Tantei Gakuen Q is created by Satou Fumiya.Tennis no Oujisama is created by Takeshi Konomi.

(1)C. Auguste Dupin – A fictional detective created by Edgar Allan Poe. He laid the groundwork for other famous fictional detectives such as Sherlock Holmes

(2)Lolicon – A Japanese style term depicting cute and innocent girls. This applies that Kimiko looks a bit cute, at least in Yagyuu's eyes.

(3)Keigo – No, not Atobe. This Keigo is means "polite speech", or formal speech. Most Japanese talk formally to people they just met.

(4)Yakuza – A gangster of sorts. They are called the "Japanese mafia"

(5)Winter uniform – Most schools have 2 kinds of uniforms – a summer uniform, and a winter uniform. They are worn depending on the present climate.

(6)Kouhai – Opposite of sempai. It means "underclassman"

At last, I have updated. :D I'm not sure, but this may be shorter than the prologue. The exam is supposed to be in one big chapter, but I wanted people a chance to solve the case above. So don't be shy and unleash your inner detective! Since I'll probably concentrate on my studies, I might not be able to review for a while. Still, don't let that stop you. You may review for questions, anything about the current case (problems with the crime, the answer, etc.), or you may just praise me, which would be really nice.

Finally, thanks to those who reviewed last time :)