Sorry for not updating sooner! Here's chapter three…

Please read and review! Flames will be extinguished by Gray and Juvia of Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail (Go Gruvia!).

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective School Q. Amagi Seimaru, Sato Fumiya, and Animax do.

After an eternal cycle of forging down a path, finding a dead end, and returning to their original spot, the four Q-Class members finally arrived at a wall of plaster.

"Another dead end?" Kinta asked in frustration.

"No," said Megu, her tone catching their attention. "According to my memory, this is the only part we haven't explored."

"Really?" asked Ryuu. "Hmm… let's look for any clues that would help us get closer to the center of this house."

The other three nodded, and they began to spread out. Kazuma trained his flashlight on the floor, looking for any trapdoors. Kinta searched the ceiling, while Megu and Ryuu walked alongside the plaster, scanning it from top to bottom.

"I found something," shouted Kazuma, shining his flashlight onto a piece of paper on the floor. Everyone gathered around him, and followed his gaze to a symbol drawn on it. Ryuu's eyes widened, and he felt a prickle of unease. He resisted the urge to rub at the back of his neck, where the same symbol had been etched into his skin.

"Pluto," he muttered. All eyes turned to him. "That's the tattoo that all Pluto members have somewhere on their bodies."

"How do you know that?" Megu asked curiously.

"…I accidentally caught a glimpse of an old case file, in Dan-sensei's office," he lied smoothly.

"Oh," Megu accepted the explanation easily. Internally, Ryuu winced. He hated lying to his friends, but he was worried about how they would react to the knowledge that he was the grandson of the head of Pluto, the enemy of DDS. Even though he was sure that they wouldn't hurt him (except for maybe Kinta), he wasn't sure if he could take the rejection of the first friends he had ever made in his life.

Taking a step back from such dark thoughts, he cleared his throat. "Let's look for a hidden door. Pluto members like to hide in plain sight, so the door could be right in front of us, and we wouldn't know it."

Kinta leaned back on the plaster wall. "But how will we be able to find a secret door? None of us found anything-"

Click.

Thud.

"Kinta!" The others chorused, scrambling over to their fallen friend.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," he grumbled as Ryuu offered him his hand to help him up. Dusting himself off, he looked around. "Where are we?"

Lights flickered on and off, giving all of them a view of the contents of the room. The jars on the shelves, the machinery, the blood splattered on the walls, all of those were visible to the four detectives.

"It would seem that we've stumbled onto the lab," Ryuu surmised.

"Shh! Do you hear that?" Kazuma hissed. As the others quieted down, they heard it too.

Beep…Beeeep….Beeeeeeeeep…

"Is that a heart monitor?!" Kinta asked incredulously.

Megu closed her eyes to try and track the sound. Soon, her eyes opened, and she crept forward, leading the others around a maze of machinery.

Suddenly, she stopped, the others bumping into her in a weak domino effect. She didn't seem to notice, as she turned back to them.

"Guys, look!" she said, shining her flashlight at a table in what seemed like the center of the room. The three followed her startled gaze, and jumped in surprise.

There was a human-like doll laying on a table in the center of the room. It had long hair, tattered clothing, and tears and smudges all over its body. However, it became clear to the detectives that the doll wasn't what it appeared to be, as they became conscious of the fact that the figure's chest was slowly moving up and down.

Ryuu and Kinta slowly approached it, with Megu and Kazuma close behind. Ryuu's eyes warned them all to not make any sudden moves or noises.

Hesitantly, Kinta inched his hand forward, grabbed the figure's shoulder, and shook it gently. The figure didn't attack him, which gave him a small sense of relief. However, the shake had caused the person's hair to fall away from his face, allowing them to see exactly whom they had found.

For a long moment, everyone was breathless. They would recognize that face anywhere.

"KYYYYYYUUUUUUUU!"

Despite the loud exclamation, the boy did not stir. Everyone exchange concerned glances that became more worried with what they heard next.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Frantically, they shook Kyuu harder. There was still no response. Panic rose up in everyone. After finally finding Kyuu, would they be leaving with his dead body?

"Kazuma," Ryuu said calmly, even though he was feeling anything but at the moment. "Go back to the car and call for an ambulance. Megu, go with him, and lead the paramedics here. You are the only one who knows the way." Although they were reluctant to leave Kyuu, they nodded and left quickly.

Kinta immediately started to performed hands-only CPR on Kyuu as Ryuu watched anxiously.

"Come on, Kyuu," Kinta grunted between thrusts. "We just found you, and you're going to leave us already? Don't you dare do it… don't you dare die on us."

Both boys looked relieved as the heart monitor started to beep once more. Even though it was weak, Kyuu's pulse was there, and that's all that mattered.

"Watch over him," Ryuu murmured to Kinta. "I'll look for more evidence about what happened to him."

With that, he slipped away and started a cursory search through every inch of the lab. However, he found nothing that stood out, and silently cursed Pluto's ability to leave no evidence behind this time.

Just then, Kazuma, Megu, and the paramedics bolted in. One of them checked on Kyuu, as the other looked at the group of teens appraisingly.

"From what you told me, your friend was dying, but it seems that he was revived successfully. I'm impressed. Who are you kids?"

Ryuu shared a look with the others before he turned back to the paramedic. "We're students…of DDS."