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As the squad car got closer and closer, Kinta and Kazuma shared anxious looks as they wondered how badly their classmates would take the news. They didn't doubt that Ryuu had made Kyuu see the light about Megu's crush on him, but now they couldn't tell how he would react upon hearing the news…

Kinta's breath caught in his throat as the car parked in the space in front of them and the occupants stepped out. However, he forced himself to breathe. Now was not the time to confront his father…they had more pressing issues at the moment.

He did note, however, that Ryuu and Kyuu didn't seem as uncomfortable around his father. What had happened there?

But before he could ask, Kyuu took one look at his and Kazuma's faces, and demanded in a deceptively calm voice. "What happened?" From behind Kyuu, Ryuu shot them a questioning look.

Kazuma was the one to answer, his expression downcast and his eyes shaded by his glasses. "Megu…is missing. We looked all over, but we couldn't find her."

Kinta had to admit that he was surprised at the mystery otaku's reaction. Whatever he had expected, it wasn't that.

For just a few seconds, Kyuu had shared a dark look with Ryuu, who had nodded at him. Their quick and silent communication hadn't been missed by Toyama Osamu. Or Kinta and Kazuma, who had figured out the gist of it. There was only one reason that the DDS detectives would keep something from the police, and that was the fact that it had to do with Pluto.

"Oh, well. I'm sure she just went to do some research. It wouldn't be the first time that she's gone off during a case. So? What did you find at the morgue?" Kinta asked, his eyes meeting his father's as he attempted to distract him from what just happened. Right now, he didn't care if they got into an argument-they had more important problems. He did feel a little surprised at the feeling of guilt that accompanied his lie, even if he was protecting his father from Pluto.

"Your classmates found the cause of death. I assume Ryuu-kun has already filled you in?" Toyama Osamu replied. He was successful distracted-after all, he had just talked with Kinta for the first time after the last few years.

"Yes, he did. And here is what Kazuma and I found…" Kinta explained, as he and Kazuma held up the case for contacts, the pieces of paper, the notepad, and the water bottle. "We'll have to run fingerprint and chemical analysis tests on the water bottle for the poison, and recreate the original documents from this piece of paper. We'll have to ask Kawamata-san about the contact lenses, though."

"Okay. It sounds like you have things under control here. I'll go and question the suspects some more, and check in with the officers. Let me know when you find something," said Toyama-san. He clapped Kyuu and Ryuu on the shoulder, and tried to clap Kinta's, but his son ducked out of the way just in time. He wasn't ready for that display of affection just yet…

His father seemed to understand. However, he wasn't fast enough to hide a flash of hurt, and Kinta felt the guilt surfacing again.

As soon as the elder man walked out of earshot, Kazuma looked at Ryuu and Kyuu. "So, you think Pluto is behind Megu's kidnapping?"

After glancing at Ryuu, Kyuu nodded. "Yes. Ever since…the incident, I've been able to sense if they were watching me on jobs. Apparently, Ryuu has that ability too, and after his interview in Toyoda-san's office, he said that he could feel eyes on the back of his neck."

Kazuma fought off the chill on his spine at those words. "So what do we do now? You think Toyoda-san is disguised as a Pluto member?"

Ryuu shook his head. "That was the other reason why we didn't want Toyama-san to know. When I felt the eyes on the back of my neck, that officer-Nakada-san was standing in the doorway as well. And there's always a slight possibility of the Pluto member being someone who was passing by the door…"

"Okay, so we don't know who's a Pluto member and who's not. But what do we do about Megu?" asked Kinta.

"We'll take a look at Toyoda-san's office, her last known location. But Pluto is good…I highly doubt that they would leave any clues. I mean, the only reason you found me was because of the site's connection to Kuzuryuu, and because my captors had to escape quickly. Unless she manages to escape on her own, we'll just have to wait for their next move."

With that grim statement, Kyuu, Kinta, and Kazuma followed Ryuu to Toyoda-san's office.

Meanwhile, in a dark, dank room

Megu groaned, her eyes bleary as they tried to focus on her surroundings. What happened? Her head hurt…

She tried to rub her head, but found herself bound with rope around her arms and legs and with a gag stuffed in her mouth. Had she been kidnapped? If so, it wouldn't be a good idea to escape. She hadn't been able to see anything on her way in, and she wouldn't be able to escape successfully without a plan…

Despite the shock that welled up inside her, she dimly remembered that despite the ever increasing urge to sleep, she couldn't, since she didn't know if she had a concussion. And the fact that she was feeling the urge to sleep in this situation spoke volumes about her current mental state. She forced herself to wake up, her vision becoming clearer as the headache started to dull in intensity. She squinted at a small sign that had been etched into the stone wall opposite to her. Where had she seen it before?

Despite the fact that her limbs were bound, she could hear well enough. Her ears picked up on some noise in the background, and she strained to listen to what was being said.

In fact, she could hear footsteps walking by and someone saying, "…Prince Ryuu?," as if he or she were talking over the phone. Unfortunately, she couldn't hear the rest of what the mystery person had been saying, as the footsteps walked away. It seemed that she was in a room by a hallway…

She frowned. Prince Ryuu? Surely that person wasn't talking about the Ryuu that she knew, right? After all, there must be a lot of boys named Ryuu out there in Japan, and even with his looks, he didn't act like royalty…