The day of the party has arrived. Shizune put on the most bored look she had as she followed her parents in the huge mansion. Fortunately, she managed to get a dress for herself. It looked sleek with its shiny black fabric and its slight parting on the side.

The dress was only supported by spaghetti straps and Shizune wore long black gloves to accompany it. Much wasn't done to her hair but she put on a black headband to make it look much more decent. Mother's orders.

Yukiko gave a short sigh before whispering to her daughter. "Shizu-chan. Smile now, dear. It's improper for a young lady like you to wear a such an expression."

"how can I smile when I'm in a dress?" she whispered back, annoyance in her voice.

"you're a girl, for crying out loud…try not to complain so much"

When they reached the party hall, they were greeted by the host who Shizune found had a striking resemblance to a certain person she knew. His hair was red in colour and his eyes matched it. He had a small mustache and the dark grey suit he wore made him look real smart. Even though he's suppose to be about the same age as Yusaku, he looked much more older.

"thank you for coming, Kudo-san." The man smiled to the three.

Yusaku bowed to him and returned the smile. "it's my pleasure to be invited to your party, Akashi-san."

The name made Shizune twitch and her facial expression turned deadpan. 'don't tell me…'

"to think that your father was acquainted to mine.."

She turned to see Akashi in a black suit which made him look like a business man more than a high school student. The girl's jaw dropped when she saw him. It was beyond her expectations to see Akashi Seijuro here and that the person who her dad was working with was his father.

"A-Akashi—"

"oh? You two know each other?" Yukiko asked. Her eyes shining with interest and excitement.

"yes. We are classmates and also from the same club, ma'am." Akashi coolly answered seeing that Shizune was too shocked to do it.

"ara- what a coincidence~" she giggled and leaned over to her daughter who was recovering from the shock to whisper to her. "seems like it was an invitation from destiny~"

"mom. Quit it."

Yukiko backed up from her growling princess and went to her husband's side snickering all the way. Shizune frowned when she heard a chuckle coming from Akashi.

"what's so amusing?"

"nothing is. But if I had to say, it's the way you act with your parents."

She crossed her arms and raised a brow. "which part of it is amusing?"

"everything."

The girl just rolled her eyes and muttered something not allowed to be put in this story. PG-13 okay?

"by the way, you look nice in that dress" he smiled slightly.

Shizune blinked a few times and turned around to hide her face which was becoming red. "r-really?"

"really."

"well tha—"

"Seijuro." The older Akashi walked over to the two with a smile plastered on his face. "I want to speak to Mr. and Mrs. Kudo in private until it's time so I'm sure I can leave the task of being a host to the young lady to you."

"yes, father."

"good. now, this way please"

Yukiko gave her daughter a wink before leaving with the two men, ignoring the fact she was glaring daggers at her. The two teenagers then joined the other guests who were all helping themselves to the luxurious food served on tables around the hall. Well, Shizune was the one who joined them. Akashi just stayed with her— due to his dad's request —and didn't even touch any of the food.

The brunette stopped eating and leaned closer to him. "Akashi, why aren't you eating?"

"I'm not hungry."

"yea right. you are, aren't you? It's written all over your face."

"don't talk like you know everyth—"

His words were cut off by her shoving a piece of her food in his mouth. She grinned happily as he swallowed it and glared at her.

"what do you think you're doing…?" he growled.

"what do you think I'm doing? Feeding you of course."

The smug tone in her voice made the redhead form a slight pout on his lips in annoyance. Feeling satisfied with his reaction which she found cute, Shizune resumed eating with a wide smile on her face.

"so I guess we have an agreement, Kudo-san?"

"yes. I'll leave her in your hands until it's time."

"my, Shizu-chan's going to flip when we tell her about this…"

The older Akashi stood in the middle of the hall and slowly tapped his wine glass with a spoon to get the guests attention. Everyone turned to him and ceased what they were doing. The whole place turned quiet and only the soft whispers of some of the guests could be heard.

"I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to come to my birthday party. It is very appreciated. I hope and wish that our relationships will continue without any problems, you could say. I would also like to say that my friend, the famous Kudo Yusaku and his family, is here joining us today." He announced and gestured towards the said person.

Yusaku blinked and waved lowly at everyone who turned and clapped for him. Yusaku is famous for the novels he writes and especially for his work called the "Night Baron". Yukiko has the same popularity as a retired actor and also as a female detective called "Night Baroness" though the title only is known in America.

"now then, please do enjoy your time here, everyone." Mr. Akashi finished and the guests did as so.

But the lively atmosphere didn't last very long. A long, shrill, bone-chilling scream was all that it took to end it. By reflex, Shizune left her plate on a table and rushed to the source of the scream. Akashi, interested in what the cause of the scream was, followed behind her. The ones in the hall started a commotion and a few males went to check it out too.

Once she made a turn in a corner, a woman staggered and dropped into Shizune's arms.

"i-in there…m-my husband…h-he seemed dead!" the woman stuttered and pointed a trembling finger to the restroom.

"some things never change…" she muttered and ran over to the place to find a man collapsed on the ground surrounded by a big pool of blood. His right hand was extended and beside it was some words— K Y KUCHI (kuchi is in katakana) —written in blood.

Shizune bended down and searched for his pulse but didn't manage to get it. She shut her eyes and mumbled a small prayer for the deceased. Akashi then walked in and a small gasp escaped his lips at the sight.

"I'll notify father and request him to call the police."

"yea..you do that.."

Soon after receiving the call, the police arrived and sealed off the crime scene. The deceased was identified as Matsumoto Shiro, 41. He's the president of an art company's who was in close terms with the Akashi family. According to the forensics, he died about 20 minutes before he was found. The cause of death was a single shot to the chest, near the heart but it didn't cause an instant death.

A fat man in a suit with a mustache wearing a hat named Inspector Megure crouched and put his hand under his chin, examining the writings once the body was brought out. "could this be his dying message?" he wondered out loud.

"it seems so.."

Shizune mumbled over Megure's shoulder. He jumped at her voice and exclaimed, "Kudo-kun! What are you doing here?"

"dad's invited to the party and I got dragged along."

"is that so..that aside, what do you think of this message, Kudo-kun?"

"well, it's safe to assume that this KUCHI is the same as the KUCHI for mouth but why katakana? The kanji is easier to write…maybe the culprit wrote it..or maybe it has a different meaning..or maybe.." Shizune leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, lost in thought. Megure sighed and ordered his subordinate, Takagi, to interrogate the guests and hosts to find out their alibis. He also ordered him to search the entire mansion for the murder weapon.

The suspects were at last narrowed down to only 3 people. The other guests were requested to return home since keeping them there would cause a huge inconvenience to the guests. All four had no alibis and motives to murder Matsumoto although they strongly deny killing him.

The first suspect, who is also the first to discover the body, is Matsumoto Haruka. She is Matsumoto's wife and during the time of the murder, she said she was out on the balcony getting fresh air alone. She then went to the restroom and found the deceased. According to the president's secretary, she argues with Matsumoto on a daily basis because she suspects him cheating on her. He also committed violence towards her.

The second is Yasekawa Kanato. He's the vice-president of the art company and he said he was at the corner of the hall eating alone when he heard the scream. The possible motive is that Matsumoto found out about him embezzling the company's money and told him that if he doesn't give him a certain sum every month, Matsumoto will hand him over to the police.

The final suspect is Kitagawa Yuri. She's Matsumoto's personal secretary and is the one his wife suspects of having an affair with. During the time of the murder, she was walking around in the mansion as a tour for herself. She received sexual harassment from the president. Even though she said it wasn't that bad, it still qualified as a motive.

The murder weapon wasn't found anywhere in the mansion. After a body inspection, none of them brought anything resembling a gun and there weren't any gunpowder residue on them. The suspects were then requested to lay out their belongings on a table for the police to check.

A handkerchief, a wallet, house keys, compact powder, lipstick & cough drops for Haruka.

"did you come here by taxi or train?" Shizune asked, noticing the absence of car keys.

"Inspector, who is this girl?"

"she's helping out in the investigation. Now, please answer her."

"I came here by car."

"but, the keys…"

"My husband drove us here so he held on to the keys."

"I see…"

A handkerchief, a wallet, car keys, house keys & some pills for Yasekawa.

"Yasekawa-san, what are these pills for?"

"I had a slight headache before coming here. I brought them just in case it returns…"

"heh…"

House keys, car keys, a handkerchief, lipstick, a wallet & a notebook for Kitagawa.

"excuse me, why did you bring a notebook to the party?"

"Matsumoto-san said that he wanted to discuss something with me so I thought that I might need it."

"Is that so…"

"well, there isn't anything suspicious..you may retrieve your things."

The suspects did as told while Shizune pondered over the whole case. Akashi silently observed her trying to solve it from a corner with his hands shoved in his pockets. Unknowingly to her, Akashi himself did a little research on her. From her fan websites and rumors from the internet, he gained interest towards her just like how she gained interest towards him.

Yusaku smiled to himself as he already knew who the killer was but chose to stay quiet to see how his child would do. Yukiko let out her sigh seeing her husband's resolve and approached her troubled daughter then slowly nudged her arm. "Shizu-chan, how is it? solved it already?"

"no…" Shizune hung her head. "I can't figure out anything…When the killer shot Matsumoto-san, he probably used a silencer so that no one would hear the sound of the gun and run to the crime scene, not letting him have enough time to escape. The dying message K Y could be directed to Kitagawa-san or Yasekawa-san but the word KUCHI is still a mystery…" she opened her phone and gave another look at the bloody writings she took a picture of.

"nn? This is…" the detective squinted her eyes and realized that beside the CHI character was a small blood stain trailed to the deceased's finger. Like he was going to start a new word or something.

"but still, it's weird..."

"eh? What is weird, mom?"

"well, you see, Shizu-chan—" Yukiko started.

"since we're not getting anymore information on this and we have no reason to keep you here, please give your contact information then you may leave." Megure announced to the 3 suspects who let out a sigh of relief.

"see? It's weird, isn't it?"

Shizune's eyes widened at her mother's words and she grinned happily. "thanks mom!"

Realizing she solved the case, Akashi smirked to himself. 'it's about time…show me your so called brilliant deduction, Kudo Shizune.'

"Inspector, I'm afraid they can't leave yet."

"eh?" the three exclaimed.

"what do you mean by that, Kudo-kun? Don't tell me you already—"

"exactly. The culprit who murdered Matsumoto-san…" Shizune flipped her hair and paused before pointing her right index finger confidently to a certain person. "is you!"

gah...I really suck at these kind of things-
trying to create the case was quite hard..."OTL
well, hope you enjoyed it~