A/N: I apologize for this taking longer than it should have (even though it didn't take that long...). I never get anything written on weekends anymore... If you watch Shingeki no Kyojin and Suisei no Gargantia and read the manga for Fairy Tail, you probably understand why. I'm too busy freaking out about *mass spoilers for all three* that I can't concetrate on my own plotline... (which is increasingly annoying...)

Anywho, a huge THANK YOU to those of you who reviewed and/or added to faves and/or alerts! Even in the midst of my freaking out about *mass spoilers for all three* those keep me wanting to work on this. (:

Also, kudos to you if you know were I got the first line of the the chapter - I just couldn't help myself. (:

Disclaimer: When you have to wait for the subbed versions to come out, that obviously means you don't own something originally written in Japanese.

Have fun playing Detective. And Good Luck! ;)

Chapter Three
Enigma

I hate this city.

Houtarou shook his head, staring out the classroom window. Iie; that's not quite right. It's more 'I hate not knowing why I have to live in this city when my life is back in Kamiyama.'

Watching the clouds float across the blue sky outside, absently spinning his pen between his fingers, he couldn't help but wonder at the situation. He had been at his new school for a week already but his parents had yet to give the promised explanation to their sudden move. That in itself was strange; when something happened that concerned the whole family, his level-headed father never failed to give an explanation – until now, anyway. What made it worse was the vague memory echoing in the back of his mind; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to grasp it or, at the very least, comprehend its significance, but it was there, nagging at his subconscious nonetheless. The more he tried to catch it, the further out of his reach it seemed to move. He found it almost infuriating.

"Oreki-san!"

Someone loudly whispering his name brought him out of his thoughts with a start. Only then did he realize that his teacher was giving him the death glare. He quickly stood, his heart leaping into his throat at the same moment. "Hai?"

"I would greatly appreciate your attention during class, Oreki-san," the man snipped. "You are not here to live in your own little world. And it might help your grades if you were to actually pay attention like you should. Understood?"

"Hai, Sensei."

The man nodded curtly before calling on another student to answer the question he had posed only a moment before as Houtarou sat back down. He really needed to stop thinking about this so much – he was probably over-thinking it, anyway. Even five hundred miles away, it seemed that Chitanda was still affecting him.

And yet…

And yet, just like her, he couldn't stop thinking about it. He couldn't stop thinking about the feeling he had that his family was hiding something from him. They were a family; they should be able to tell him something that concerned the whole family, couldn't they? As hard as he tried, he simply couldn't make heads or tails of it. He was missing something important… But what?

A piece of folded paper landing on his desk startled him out of his thoughts once again. Discreetly unfolding it (he was in enough trouble as it was for spacing out), he read the note before replying and flicking it back across the aisle to its owner.

Dude, is something wrong?

Nothing, why do you ask?

You space out more than anyone I know… I get that school is boring but… Seriously, what's wrong?

Houtarou debated telling him what was going on – but did he know enough to be able to actually explain it to someone? After all, he didn't really understand what was going on either.

I'll tell you later.

At lunch break then?

Fine.

Good. :)

With a silent sigh, he folded the paper up again and shoved it into his uniform coat pocket before the teacher had a chance to see it. The last thing he needed was to get into trouble for a second time in ten minutes, after all. And now, of course, he was dreading the lunch break. Darn that Yoshino-san, he thought. Why does he have to go and pry into the life of someone he's only known for all of a week?

And yet he found that he wasn't really that irritated by his classmate – if he were honest, he was glad to have someone to talk to at school; he had gotten so used to Satoshi and Ibara and Chitanda… He frowned, wondering if they had even noticed his absence. He was sure Satoshi would have, Ibara more than likely wouldn't until Satoshi pointed it out, Chitanda… He didn't know at all if she would have noticed or not. She was observant, it was true, but what was he to her? Someone to solve mysteries… He sighed. She probably wouldn't notice until she had something that needed solved…

His frown deepened. It was strange – for once Chitanda didn't have to bring him a mystery; he already had one to solve for himself. Was this what she felt when she came to him about her uncle? Something she just couldn't let drop because it meant too much to her… But this time was different – not just because the mystery was his own, but because he was alone this time to solve it.

And he wasn't at all convinced he could do it alone either. Whether it was Chitanda's sharp senses, Satoshi's endless information, or even Ibara's ability to point out the obvious, he couldn't have done it without them. But now they weren't here, and he wasn't allowed to contact them – why, he still didn't know. Which only brought him back to his mystery.

Why did his family suddenly pack up and leave Kamiyama?

"Yo, Oreki-san…"

The hand suddenly waving back and forth in front of his face brought Houtarou back with a start for the third time that morning. He looked up at the lopsided grin on his classmate's face. "It's lunch break, and you promised."

He sighed. "I'm not sure you'll understand, Yoshino-san…"

The other boy cocked his head to the side, black bangs falling into his eyes. "Try me."

The two boys moved to the courtyard, finally plopping down on the ground under a tree away from most of the other students on lunch break. The two sat in silence for some time, eating their lunches. But, to Houtarou's displeasure, they both finished with time to spare before classes resumed for the afternoon.

"So?" Yoshino cocked an eyebrow. "What's eatin' ya?"

Houtarou sighed. "How do I put this? ….Where I lived before I had a very curious friend. When something happened, she always came to me to solve these riddles she had found. Let's just say, she's rubbed off on me."

"Not sure I understand where this is going…"

"It has everything to do with what's bugging me. Just bear with me."

"Okay."

"I ended up with a bit of a reputation because of this – even got used at one point because everything she brought to me, I would get lucky enough to solve. But this is one mystery that, no matter how hard I think about it, I can't figure out." He shook his head. "Lady Luck isn't on my side this time…"

"That's what has you spacing out all the time in class. Ya know, I've read a lot of mystery, Oreki-san. Maybe I can help? What's this mystery of yours?"

He sighed again, deciding how he should go about telling it. In the end, he decided on the simplest way. "Why did my family – with no explanation to me – just pack up suddenly and move away?"

Yoshino stared at him. "Huh?"

Houtarou gave a wry smile. "I actually can't tell you any more than that – I honestly don't know myself. And that's what's driving me crazy. It just doesn't make sense to pack up and move for no reason – especially after the start of the term – but I've been given no reason from my parents either."

"Strange…"

"You're telling me…" Houtarou sighed again. "What's even stranger, though, is that I'm not allowed to contact any of my friends in Kamiyama – I had to leave my phone behind at the old house, even. Nothing makes any sense…"

"Have you asked about it?"

He nodded. "They always have some excuse as to why they don't have time to explain."

"Sounds to me like they're avoiding it. Maybe something happened? With their jobs or something?"

"I would know if it had to do with their jobs. They travel a lot for some international company, and both of them are already talking about where they're going next. They wouldn't be wasting money to travel just to throw me off." Houtarou shook his head. "Besides, the last time something happened with my dad's job, he was very open about it with both me and my sister. There has to be something else."

"Did anything unusual happen right before the move?"

Houtarou glanced at his classmate before returning his gaze to the ground in front of him, his ever-present frown deepening in concentration. Absently, his fingers began to pull at his bangs. "Not especially," he muttered after a moment.

"Nothing that brought an odd reaction from your family?"

He continued to pull at his bangs. "The only thing that was odd was my mom coming home early – which never happens – but that was because we were moving…" Think, Houtarou! He scolded himself. There has to be something you're missing! "There was really nothing odd," he groaned, defeated.

Yoshino glanced at his watch, also sighing. "Well, keep thinking about it, Oreki-san – though probably not anymore in class… Let's get back."

Nodding, he stood up and silently followed his classmate back into the building.

Houtarou flopped down, defeated, onto his bed, eyes drifting closed. The day had felt longer than normal – more than likely because he couldn't concentrate which was constantly getting him into trouble – and he was glad to finally be home. Unfortunately, he didn't really have time to be lying there, and he didn't have time to think about his mystery, either, with the homework that loaded his school bag; he groaned just thinking about it. But he knew he wouldn't get it done either, for the same reason he hadn't gotten any of it done during classes: His thoughts were preoccupied and his curiosity refused to be pushed aside for the academic.

So until he found this important piece that he was fairly certain was buried within his memories, his homework was going to have to wait.

His fingers habitually began to pull at his bangs as he searched his memories for that all-allusive missing piece; he knew it was there – he could sense it, somehow – but he just couldn't grasp it. Something happened – something important – but when? He sat up, resting his forehead on his hands, his elbows on his knees.

What was he missing? Something unusual before the move…

No – it wasn't necessarily something before the move… The move itself was strange, after all. Okay, Houtarou, sort this out. You've done it before. What was strange about it? How sudden it was, to be sure, and he was never given an explanation.

Then it hit him. This isn't the first time you've moved somewhere far away in the middle of a term. But, back then, in the middle of his last year of elementary school, he'd been given an explanation for it. They had moved because it was required of his father for his job.

Chottomatte…

His father traveled the world-over anyway. It was true that the first town they lived in didn't have a corporate office, but then neither did Kamiyama. It wouldn't make sense that, if they had moved because of his father's job, that they would move to a city without an office still. He traveled so he never needed to be in a city with an office, anyway, so there would never be a reason to move unless he switched jobs. And if that had been the case either time, they surely would have told him as much… Then what was the real reason they moved the first time, five years ago? Had it just been an excuse then? So many years ago, when he was younger, he certainly wouldn't have questioned that reason. But now… Had they known he would question it and so that was why they hadn't given him a reason at all?

It was the only explanation that made any sense.

But the question still remained: Why had they moved?

And why is no one being honest with me?

Standing up and making his way to his bedroom door, he decided it was time to have a little chat with his sis. And this time he wasn't going to leave her room without some answers. He softly made his way down the hall, knocking on her door and waiting for her to tell him to come in before opening it. Closing the door behind him, he crossed the room and sat in her desk chair as she took up the entirety of her bed as she was sprawled out, reading some magazine or other that Houtarou didn't care about.

She glanced up, eyebrow raised, as he sat down. "What's up, little brother?"

He took a deep breath, steeling himself. "I want some answers," he replied softly.

"Oh?" Tomoe's eyebrow arched higher. "What about?"

"Why we moved."

"Houtarou, we've talked about this…"

"No," he interrupted bluntly, "we haven't! You, Mom, Dad – you all avoid it! I want to know why we moved so suddenly."

Tomoe sighed. "It's a long, complicated story, but the short version is that it had to do with Dad's job."

"You're lying."

"Nani?"

"Don't give me that bull, Aneki. You contradict yourself when you do. You, after all, were the one who told me years ago that neither of our parents would ever be required to move unless they changed jobs, remember? I didn't ever want to leave my friends, and you told me I had nothing to worry about. And I know they haven't changed jobs – Mom is headed up to Tokyo in the morning, and Dad is flying to somewhere in America next week. I want to know why we moved, Aneki – both a week ago, and five years ago."

Tomoe sighed, closing her eyes briefly before looking back up at her brother. "You sure you really want the truth?"

"Hai."

"I'm not sure you do."

"Aneki! Please! It's been driving me insane – I need to know – I deserve to know, don't I?" He found himself standing, leaning forward, his voice involuntarily rising in volume with each word he spoke. "I'm part of this family, so why am I the only one who doesn't know?!"

"Because of you!" she calmly cut into his rant.

His eyes widened slightly, breath catching in his throat. "Nani?"

"We moved because of you, little brother. Happy now that you know the truth?"

Houtarou sat down heavily and leaned back in the chair, stunned. What was she saying? It didn't make sense…

Because of… me?

~Time Will Remember~