Thanks for the reviews, desamontello12, Kaitou, and D C JoKeR H S. I'm glad that you're liking the story so far! Sorry for the wait. I had no idea how to write this chapter, and even now, I don't think it's that good. But hey, I tried.

To all of my viewers and visitors: Please read and review! I really appreciate any feedback or even constructive criticism (as long as it isn't too harsh). Flames will be taken away by Tomoe of Suzuki Julietta's Kamisama Hajimemashita.

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

Before Kyuu could start his story, however, the nurse from before poked her head in. "Renjo-san?" she called. "I'm sorry, but can you please come with me to finish filling some documents and ensure that your son's medical history is correct?"

"Ah!" Kyuu's mother jumped. "I was in such a rush that I sped past the front desk."

Kyuu spoke up. "Kaa-san, why don't you go and take care of that? I'll be fine here."

"But-," Renjo-san stopped at the pleading look on her son's face. She understood that he didn't want her to hear about his experiences, so she would wait until he was ready to tell her. Instead of protesting more, she gave him an understanding smile, and left.

Steeling himself, Kyuu took a deep breath as his eyes started to glaze over from remembering the experience. As he began, he decided to leave out Ryuu's secrets in the story. They weren't his to tell, after all.

On that day six months ago, after waving Ryuu goodbye, Kyuu made his way to Dan-sensei's office, with the note asking him to see the headmaster in his hand.

Knocking on the door, he was surprised when he saw that the door was ajar. Carefully, he opened it so he could see more of the room. However, before he could take even a step inside, he was grabbed from behind and a sweet smelling cloth was held to his face.

As his vision swam and his knees buckled, Kyuu remembered thinking "chloroform" just before he passed out completely.

When he woke up, he realized two things. One, his head was pounding, and two, he wasn't in his bed, judging by the hard stone his back was resting against. As he tried to move his arms, he realized that they were chained to the wall, same with his legs.

Where was he? Why was he chained to a wall? Who took him here, and why?

A small noise alerted him to the fact that he wasn't alone in the room. After squinting through the darkness, Kyuu saw that a man of medium build wearing a lab coat was experimenting with some chemicals at the table across the room, and a large closet sat on the left of it. Other than some dull flickering lights, the room was pretty bare.

The man with the lab coat spun around, somehow sensing that his victim was awake. He came across the room and stood in front of Kyuu. "Ah, Renjo-kun, you're awake. Good."

Kyuu stayed silent, unsure what to say. How did this guy know his name? He wondered, as chills ran down his spine. The man had delivered the words with a smile, which made them sound much more sinister.

He stared at the man's face, taking in the scar on his forehead, the glasses, and the graying hair. If he had to guess, he would say the guy was in his early-to-mid forties.

"Not much of a talker, are we? Well, I'll explain why you are here. I'm sure that you've heard of Pluto, the enemy of DDS? We are the ones who were responsible for your current predicament."

Kyuu stiffened. Pluto? They were responsible for Dan-sensei's kidnapping. "Why did you kidnap me…?"

"You may call me Odin," said the man. "As for why we kidnapped you, we needed a new heir to replace King Hades when he passes on. Since DDS managed to steal away our original heir, we decided to take one of Morihiko Dan's potential successors. After viewing all of the student files, we concluded that you, who had the largest number of solved cases on record, would be the best candidate."

Kyuu frowned. "Are you sure? I always thought that there was someone a lot better at deduction than I am." A certain blue-haired classmate of his…

"No, you have solved more cases than anyone else," Odin disagreed. "Not even our former prince could outnumber you."

Prince? Kyuu's mind whirred. If they were talking about the same person (and he had a sinking feeling that they were)… "Was your former prince Amakusa Ryuu?"

"Excellent. You ARE a deduction genius, truly worthy of replacing King Hades," Odin beamed. Kyuu ignored the compliment, as well as the feelings of surprise and horror that welled up when his suspicions had been confirmed. Now was not the time to freak out about that. He had to get out of here. He didn't want to become successor to the leader of the enemy organization!

"Now, I don't suppose that you would be willing to surrender and join us?" Odin's glasses glinted under the dim light.

Kyuu didn't even hesitate as he spat out his response. "Never. I can't betray DDS!"

"How unfortunate," Odin sighed and turned around. "It looks like I'll have to…persuade you," he called over his shoulder as he went across the room. As he opened the closet, Kyuu was able to get a glimpse of its contents, and couldn't help but shudder, despite his resolve to never give in.

Kyuu didn't remember much of the next…twenty-four hours, he guessed. They were full of waterboarding, branding, electrocution, and stabbings. What he did remember was that after each time he underwent torture, there was a small period of time during which he was relieved from the constant pain as Odin told him, "If you cooperate, we'll stop the pain." When he refused, Odin would just grab another torture device.

After a while, all of the knife wounds left a significant amount of blood dripping down his body. Mixed with the water left on his body, Kyuu watched in morbid fascination as the pink mixture seeped down the drain below him. He felt dizzy, light-headed, and nauseous, as he wondered, "Is this going to be the end?"

To be continued…