Chapter 3

It had been two days now since Ryoma had gone missing. Ryuzaki-sensei seemed to know more than she let on. For some reason, she looked older than usual; while she was in front of the team she tried to deliver her crispness of old, but everyone could tell it was mere facade.

Oishi was the first to speak up. "Ryuzaki-sensei, where's Echizen?" he demanded. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"

"Is it true that Echizen has Swine Flu?" Momo asked. A rumour was going around the school that Echizen Ryoma had Swine Flu and was being quarantined. Nobody wanted to risk going to his house to find out if that was true or not.

"Of course that's not true," Ryuzaki-sensei snapped. "If that was the case, the school would be told. Now get back to your practice." She looked to Tezuka for support. Tezuka was frowning. He didn't want to let it on, but he was worried. At that moment, he made a decision.

"Momoshiro, where does Echizen live?"

"Buchou, I knew you'd ask that."

"Saa, why don't we all go together to Echizen's house?"

"Fssssshhh."

And that was how all the regulars ended up outside Ryoma's house that afternoon. Nanjiroh was pacing around the belltower in an aggravated manner. He was muttering to himself and angrily kicking loose stones around. His feet were purple with all the bruises.

Momo recognised him immediately. "You're that weird monk!"

"Weird m--" Nanjiroh began, feeling out of sorts and wondering who on earth this accursed weird monk was. "Hey, how about 'Echizen-sama', boy?" He quickly spotted the rest of the regulars, and knew that the news must have travelled. Waving them over with a hand, he unlatched the bolt on the front gate and beckoned them in.

Behind Nanjiroh's back, the regulars shot each other meaningful glances. Those who knew Nanjiroh (or had heard about him from Echizen's mouth, at the very least) knew that Ryoma's father didn't get edgy and anxious because his favourite new model didn't make the front cover. Momo made a mental note to get straight to the point, once tea - and cookies, and maybe some fresh crackers - was served.

Once inside, Nanjiroh pushed stacks of naughty magazines aside to make space for the regulars.

"Hey, weird monk," Momo piped up after realizing tea wasn't going to be served. What strange circumstances. Nanako was nowhere to be seen, either. "Where's Echizen? He hasn't shown up at practice for days!"

"Fsshhhhh. Don't exaggerate, stupid peach." Kaidoh eyed Momo as Inui stepped in, flipping open his infamous notebook.

"My data concludes that there is a 2% chance Echizen is simply being a brat, 21% chance of absence due to sickness, 10% due to an injury, and..." He trailed off, adjusting his glasses. Observant eyes quickly took in the unusually untidy state of the house and the dishevelled Nanjiroh. Of course, those could have been like this since forever, but somehow he doubted it. "And 65% due to possible foul play." He finished.

Nanjiroh had settled on the floor mat, cross-legged, cheek propped on arm supported by knee. He merely nodded, teeth biting down furiously and repeatedly on the piece of straw in his mouth. From under the coffee table he managed to salvage a tattered paper pad, open to the latest scribbles.

A long list of names.

"Hey! I see my name!" Momo exclaimed excitably. Everyone glared at him.

Inui said, "It seems as if that list has all the names of those most likely to have kidnapped Echizen."

To the other regulars, that was a pure WTF moment.

"You can't mean..." Oishi said slowly. Kaidoh hissed. Fuji opened his eyes.

"One of us kidnapped Echizen?!" Kawamura finished.

Nanjiroh, who was sitting on the seat scratching his rear end, looked up and shrugged. "Could be." Then he showed the regulars the postcard. "Whose handwriting is this?"

The boys slowly passed the postcard around the table, each taking it in turns to look at it. "Nobody in the school has this handwriting," Inui said confidently.

Nanjiroh didn't look like he completely believed the boy, but he couldn't put it past the data man to have memorised the handwriting of everyone in the school. Still, Nanjiroh didn't particularly feel like trusting anyone at the moment.

But...

He needed help. His son had been gone for two days and there were still no leads. He didn't want to contact the police in case until he knew for certain who was behind Ryoma's disappearance. If he acted too prematurely, Ryoma might be gone forever. It was a possibility that Nanjiroh had never - and would never want to - consider.

"You're worried about the boy too, aren't you?" he said to the regulars. "Then help me find the owner of this handwriting."

"We will," Tezuka promised.

Nanjiroh sighed in relief.

Inui immediately took control of the investigations. Starting with the long list Nanjiroh had written, he proceeded to quiz the writer in question all about the identities of the people on the list. After some hours, refreshments, dinner and an episode of America's Next Top Model later, Inui had narrowed down the list to about nine people. These were the top priority or most suspicious individuals. Each regular (and Nanjiroh) was going to investigate one person each. They'd branch out their investigations later.

All the boys felt like they were in some murder mystery novel and despite the seriousness of the situation, they really could not help but be excited. For them, the whole dilemma did not seem completely real to them.

They would certainly take it more seriously had they seen the villain himself and heard what he was planning.

Next step: take out Echizen Ryoma's friends and ensure that Nanjiroh will not be getting any help.