SailorStar9: So with Chapter 75 uploaded, this is Chapter 76 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Pairings: Established!Furuya Rei (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.
Chapter 76: Search for Maria-chan, Part One
"No one is answering." Mitsuhiko noted, Genta had been ringing the Higashio doorbell to no avail.
"And it's locked." Genta added.
"You guys really have no idea?" Haibara asked.
"No." Mitsuhiko nodded.
"Wasn't she looking forward to having curry for lunch today?" Genta wondered.
"Now that you mention it, she said she found a letter from her dead grandma in her desk drawer the other day." Ayumi recalled. "She told me about it yesterday."
"Then it's most likely she went to look for the treasure." Fumio mused. "Wait a minute, this is the problem for you Class 1-B; what has it got anything to do with me?"
"But, Maria-chan likes you, Fumio." Ayumi whined.
"Did she say where her grandmother's house is?" Haibara cut in, taking the heat off Fumio.
"She said it was across the street, so that's probably it." Ayumi answered and turned to the house on the opposite side of the road.
"Isn't that Maria's shoes and backpack?" Fumio recognized the pair of shoes and bag that were discarded on the floor at the front entrance.
"Looks like she came here before going to school." Haibara surmised.
"There's a note next to the welcome mat." Ayumi spotted the piece of paper taped to the ground beside the entrance mat. "It says, 'Start. Maria-chan, good luck.'"
"I see." Haibara smiled. "So, this arrow points to the direction of the treasure or a hint to its location."
"I found something." Genta opened the door down the hallway. "Over there. That's a big arrow." he gawked at the black arrow that was taped on the table.
"'Good grooming habits are essential for girls.'" Ayumi read the note taped beside the arrow. "'Did you check for bedhead?'"
"But the problem is, if we follow the arrow, it takes us back to the first arrow we found in the entryway." Haibara reminded.
Reaching over the table, Fumio opened the three-way vanity mirror hidden inside the small closet. "And another arrow appears." he grinned.
"Which means, the arrow isn't pointing to the entryway but to this room." Mitsuhiko pointed to the room opposite of the room the group were in.
"The bookcase fell!" Ayumi exclaimed, the group gaping in horror when they saw the overturned bookcase when Haibara opened the door.
"Let's get it back up." Genta urged.
"But why did only this bookcase fall?" Ayumi wondered.
"Maria-chan probably removed the thick encyclopedias from the bottom shelf and used them as a footstool." Haibara reasoned. "They became unbalanced while she was doing something, so it fell during the earthquake this afternoon."
"Look at this." Genta pointed to the two stoppers in the middle of the second shelf. "There are two weird boxes stuck here so they won't fall out even if the bookshelf does."
"These books on the floor are manga that Maria-chan likes." Ayumi added.
"There's a note inside the book." Mitsuhiko squatted down. "'Don't forget to put things in order.'" he read the note.
"Maybe these books on the floor are meant to be put back on the bookshelf?" Fumio suggested.
"Maria removed the big encyclopedias so she could use them as a footstool, so we can ignore them." Haibara reasoned. "Let's start by putting these manga that recently published volume 82, onto the shelves, starting at the top left."
"We put the books back in order, but..." Mitsuhiko stated, once the children replaced the manga back on the shelves.
"I don't get it." Genta complained.
"But each shelf fit 30 books." Ayumi pointed out. "Now we know the middle four books on the top two shelves don't have covers."
"But the third shelf is a mess." Mitsuhiko remarked. "We had to put the books sideways because the boxes are in the way."
"Maybe... perhaps..." Fumio walked forwards and readjusted to the two mislaid books. "Instead of tilting them sideways, what if we form a V-shape?" he shifted one of the books.
"But how do we go down?" Genta wondered, now seeing the downward pointing arrow.
"There should be a basement somewhere." Fumio thought.
"There!" Haibara walked out of the room and pointed to the staircase that led down to the basement at the end of the hallway.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.