Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Detective School Q Tantei Gakuen Q Fan Fiction ❯ Codename: Athena ❯ A Curse Breaks Out!? The Seance Murder Case ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

SailorStar9: Chapter 4 goes up and no review. You guys don't like me anymore. (Pouts)

Disclaimers: I own nothing.

Chapter 5: A Curse Breaks Out!? The Seance Murder Case

***************************************************************** *************************

Time passes…

“I'm home, mum!” Kyu announced from the door.

“What's for dinner tonight?” he asked.

“Kyu, you've got a visitor.” Kyu's mother told him, coming out of the living room.

“A visitor?” Kyu blinked.

“She's so cute, could she be…” she teased.

Kyu hurriedly took off his shoes and hastily entered the living room.

“That's just my old classmate from junior high, Ichinose.” Kyu protested hotly, turning back to his annoying mother.

Having heard him, Ichinose rose her head.

“Ichinose, what's the matter?” Kyu asked.

“Kyu-kun…” Ichinose begun.

“Actually I have a favor to ask of you.”

Kyu's mother sneaked away slyly.

“Oh my! We`re out of snacks. I'm going to buy some, okay?” she exclaimed and went out.

“H… hey mum!” Kyu protested.

“Um… so…?” he stammered, after a while.

“Yeah.” Ichinose nodded.

“I want you to come to a séance that's going to be held at my house.” she said.

“A séance?” Kyu echoed.

“Yeah.” Ichinose nodded.

“A medium summons the spirits of the dead and speaks or writes for them. Last time, I asked the medium to summon my mom's spirit.” she explained.

“I see, Ichinose's mom was…” Kyu nodded.

“Yeah, she was killed in an airplane crash six months ago.” Ichinose answered.

“But, don't you think it's suspicious that she was able to call your mom's spirit?” Kyu asked.

“Yeah, when the medium told us about it, we didn't believe it. But she had a written request, in my mom`s handwriting.” Ichinose agreed.

“A handwritten note form your mom?” Kyu blinked.

“Yeah.” Ichinose nodded.

“It was my mom's handwriting. It said, `If anything happens to me, please ask Kousei Asakura-san to call on my spirit.'.” she added.

“Was it really your mom's handwriting?” Kyu pressed.

“Yeah, my brothers had an expert do a handwriting analysis. They concluded without a doubt that it was my mom's handwriting.” Ichinose replied.

“But I… I'm not really good at dealing with ghosts and stuff.” Kyu stammered.

Ichinose suddenly slammed her hands on the table

“It's not a ghost! It's definitely a fraud!” she argued.

“But...” she added, downcast.

“But?” Kyu prompted.

“The medium said that she'd reveal the location of my mom's will during the next séance. And then everyone suddenly started to wonder if their inheritance would change.” she added.

“Ichinose…” Kyu blinked.

“I've got a bad feeling about this. I feel something bad is going to happen.” she admitted.

Taking Kyu's hands into her own, she added, “So Kyu-kun, I want you to come. You go to the famous Dan Detective School, right?”

“Uhh… yeah…” Kyu nodded.

“I want you to reveal the tricks the mediums uses. Please!” she pleaded.

Suddenly, Kyu felt a gaze coming his way and turned to see his mother grinning slyly at him.

Caught, the two immediately released the other.

“I'm sorry, did I interrupt you guys?” Kyu's mother apologized, still smirking.

“What … what are you talking about mom?” Kyu protested loudly.

***************************************************************** *************************

“And so they're going to the séance this weekend.” Kyu said to the class when school let out the next day.

“Hmmm…” Megumi wondered out loud.

“A fraudulent séance huh?” Kinta added.

“I'll pass. I don`t know much about ghosts, or the occult, and stuff.” Kazuma replied, typing on his laptop.

“Yeah, I think it's better to stay out of that too.” Ryu agreed.

“It's just a hunch, but I think the medium might be after Ichinose's mom's fortune.” Kyu protested.

“So let's reveal the bogus medium for her together.” he proposed.

“Why do you guys look so gloomy?” Kinta snorted.

“Alright, this time, me, Megu, and Kyu will solve this case!” he declared.

“Yeah!” Kyu whooped.

“Huh? Hey, why am I in this too?” Megumi blinked.

Kyu laughed, “It's going to be okay. Let's go Megu.”

“Don't we need to get permission from Dan-sensei first?” Megumi asked.

“Megu, I'm way ahead of you.” Ami commented from the front door.

“It is a detective's task to act before something happens.” Dan-sensei remarked from the door.

“Dan-sensei!” Kyu blinked.

“I also smell something fishy about the medium who showed up with written request from a mother who was killed in an airplane crash.” he added, wheeling himself in.

Ami took her place beside Kazuma.

“Th… then…” Kyu prompted.

“Yeah, I'd like all of Class Q to go to the séance which is going to be held at the Ichinose family`s house this weekend. Alright?” he instructed.

“Yes, sir!” the class replied.

After everyone left the classroom, Dan-sensei remarked to the cloaked chair beside him, “Now Nanami, you're over there right?”

“You caught me.” Mr Koutarou replied, the cloth flinging off him.

“Go and help the Class Q students.” Dan-sensei instructed.

“Alright. Leave the babysitting to me.” Mr Koutarou nodded

“I'll talk to one of the people who's going to participate in the séance. Disguise yourself and sneak into the group.” was Dan-sensei's last instructions before he wheeled himself out.

***************************************************************** *************************

“Wow.” Kyu awed when the six students arrived at the Ichinose house.

“This is a big house.” Kinta agreed.

“Yeah.” Megumi nodded.

“It is?” Kazuma blinked.

Just then, Ichinose burst out from her house.

“Kyu-kun!” she exclaimed, running towards the boy.

“Thank you for coming.”

Both Kinta and Kazuma widened their eyes at Kaoru.

“All of you are from the Detective School, thank you very much.” she smiled.

“My name is Kaoru Ichinose.” she added and bowed.

Stepping aside, she added, “Please come in.”

“Hmm, she's a cute girl huh?” Kinta asked.

“Yeah, there's no girl like her in DDS.” Kazuma agreed.

“Yep.” Kyu laughed.

Megumi turned a glare at the three.

Ami shook her head in bemusement.

“Let's go in! Dan-sensei ordered us to come here.” she said.

With that, she stormed in.

“Huh? What's wrong, Megu?” Kyu asked in confusion.

“That was bad.” Kinta blinked.

“It's because you said something stupid.” Kazuma nodded.

“It was you.' Kinta protested.

“Kyu, you just don't get it, do you?” Ami asked the very confused boy.

“Err… nope.” Kyu replied.

Ami sighed, “I thought so. Men.”

Then, she went in after Megumi.

“Why was she angry?” Kyu asked, not getting it.

Ryu chuckled, “Let's go in.”

“Kinta, it's all because you complimented that girl.” Kazuma argued.

“It's because you said there's no girl like her in DDS.” Kinta protested.

***************************************************************** *************************

Kaoru opened the door to the living room.

“Everyone is here in this room.” she said.

“Nice to meet you.” Kyu greeted the people in the room.

Everyone turned to the new additions.

“Welcome.” the butler bowed to the six newcomers.

“You're the young mistress' friends from the detective club, aren't you?” he asked.

“I'm Ootaguro, the Ichinose's family butler.”

“Detective club?” Kinta echoed.

“We're…”

“Tsk, I don't care about a detective club or whatever.” Tomohiko Ichinose scoffed.

“Huh? Tomohiko is there anything wrong with strangers being here?” Akihiko Ichinose asked his older brother.

“What did you say, Akihiko?” Tomohiko demanded.

“You're going to do something to keep our mother's inheritance all to yourself, aren't you?” he accused.

“Stop it, you two! Not in front of guests.” Kaoru pleaded.

“It seems like we should let them think we're from a detective club instead of DDS. So we won`t cause Kaoru-san too much trouble.” Ryu suggested.

“Oh my, both of you.” Sachiyo Kusaka chided her nephews.

“My sister must be crying in her grave, right hon?” she asked her husband.

“That's right, Sachiyo.” Shouhei Kusaka agreed.

“After Hanayo-san's husband died, she raised Tomohiko-kun and the others by herself, while managing work at my company for a long time. It would be a sad thing for her to see her children fight over her estate.”

“That's right, I can understand why my deceased sister's spirit is trying to reveal her will. She must not want to leave her estate to you guys.” Sachiyo nodded.

“Yeah, if Kaoru, whom our mom used to love most, inherits all her estate, as Kaoru's guardians, you guys are going to get all the money right?” Tomohiko accused.

“We're not going to let you do whatever you like!” Akihiko shouted.

“What did you say?” Sachiyo frowned.

“I see, the problems come from a dispute over the estate huh?” Kinta noted.

“Yeah.” Kazuma agreed.

“This is going to be ugly.” Ami commented.

Nobody disagreed.

Kyu turned to a very upset Kaoru.

Footsteps were heard coming to the door and Hanayo's secretary walked in.

“Kousei Asakura-sensei is waiting in the back room.” Sayaka Nabejime announced.

“This way, please.”

“Who's the beauty?” Kinta asked Kaoru.

“She's Sayaka Nabeshime-san, my mom's presidential secretary.” Kaoru replied.

“Wow. Ichinose's mom was a company president?” Kyu awed.

“How's the company doing?” Megumi asked.

“Sayaka-san managed the company and my uncle helped too, so it's doing well.” Kaoru beamed.

“The company was almost going bankrupt, but it survived because of our mom's life insurance.” Akihiko supplied.

“Akihiko!” Kaoru scolded.

“Life insurance can save a company?” Kyu blinked.

“As a president of a company, she must have life insurance for several billion of yen.” Ryu told him.

“Several billion?” Kyu echoed.

“Please put your conversation on hold.” Ootaguro declared.

“Now, please go to the back room.”

Everyone then followed the butler to the back room.

Once the door opened, the students saw the medium sitting on a chair right across the room.

“That lady is the medium?” Kyu blinked.

“Yes, her name is Kousei Asakura.” Kaoru supplied.

Kazuma immediate whipped out his laptop and started typing in Kousei Asakura's name into his search engine.

“Huh? No results found?” he blinked when the end result turned up.

“A true medium doesn't like a lot of publicity.” Sayaka replied, coming towards the computer genius.

“Asakura-sensei's clients are important government officials or top executives of major corporations.” she added.

“Is that so?” Kazuma blinked.

“She suddenly came to her secretary, Sayaka-san, with my mom's handwritten letter, and conducted a séance in this room. Just as we started to hear noises in the room, at that moment…” Kaoru told Kyu.

Flashback

Tomohiko…

Akihiko…

Kaoru…

“Mom!?” Kaoru gasped.

“It can't be!” Tomohiko muttered.

“I heard her! You heard it too, right?” Akihiko exclaimed.

Then, the light was flipped on.

End of flashback

“We found a notebook on the desk in the center of the room, and there was a handwritten note from my mom.” Kaoru continued her narration.

Kyu shivered after hearing the recitation, “Scary.”

“Well, it's a common occurrence.” Kazuma reported.

“Then why are you shivering, Kazuma?” Kinta teased.

“I'm not shivering! It was obvious that it was some kind of a trick.” Kazuma protested.

“Kazuma is right. It's been proven several times that séances use some kind of trick.” Ryu spoke.

“If you look at the clothes of the medium sitting over there, it's obvious that she hides some kind of trick in her baggy clothes, or excessively long scarf.” he added.

“Huh, I see. Then let's unmask the identity of the ghost.” Kinta snorted.

Then, someone walked in and placed a tape recorder and candle on the round table.

“Sensei, is this tape recorder and candle okay?” Hiroshi Fijisawa asked the medium.

The medium nodded.

Then Hiroshi turned around and noticed the newcomers.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“We're members of a detective club, and we're interested in séances.” Kyu replied for the rest and laughed nervously.

The medium whispered something into Hiroshi's ear and he nodded.

Turning to Kyu and the others, he announced, “I see. Okay, could you help me prepare for the séance?”

“S… sure, it's be our pleasure.” Megumi replied.

Ryu was walking around when he saw Kyu gesturing to him behind a curtain.

Entering the space between the curtains and the window, he was remotely surprised to find Ami in there as well.

“Did you find any tricks?” Kyu asked.

“No, I haven't found anything.” Ryu confessed.

“Ami-chan?” Kyu asked the older girl.

“Nothing.” Ami shook her head.

“Me neither.” Megumi whispered, poking her head in.

“But that guy, Fijisawa, was walking around there at the last moment, so he might have set the tricks up then.” Ryu noted.

“I have a weird feeling about this.” Ami confessed.

“As in?” Kyu prompted.

“Something bad is going to happen after this.” Ami frowned slightly, “But I just can't say exactly what.”

“Well everyone, please make a circle around Asakura-sensei and hold hands with the person next to you.” Hiroshi announced.

“Hold a minute please.” Ryu sounded out from behind the curtain.

“Could you let us, the members of the detective club, stand in between every other person in the circle?” he requested.

“Are you skeptical about this?” Hiroshi asked.

“It's okay with us if you think that.” Ryu responded.

Turning to the medium, Hiroshi asked, “Asakura-sensei, what should we do?”

The medium nodded her consent.

“But there are only six of you.” Hiroshi replied.

“If we count Kaoru-san as one of us, it'll be seven on seven.” Ami supplied the solution.

With everyone prepared, Hiroshi declared, “Now we will begin to summon the spirit of Ichinose Hanayo-san, who was killed in a plane crash.”

“Ootaguro-san, turn off the lights please.” he instructed.

“Yes.” the butler nodded and turned off the lights before returning to the circle.

The medium then turned on the tape recorder.

“When I put out this candle, Ichinose Hanayo-san's spirit will come down to sensei. Everyone, please hold hands firmly with the person next to you, so that the spirit won't escape.” Hiroshi instructed.

Kyu gulped nervously and held hands with the two people beside him.

“Now sensei, please begin.” Hiroshi nodded.

The medium blew out the candle and everything was engulfed in darkness.

“It's really dark, and I can't see anything.” Kinta complained.

Megumi immediately hushed him up.

“Is everyone holding hands with the person next to you?” Hiroshi asked.

“Now, please step backwards to expand the circle slowly and give the spirit more space in the circle.” he added.

With that instruction, everyone stepped back to expand the circle.

The medium begun humming.

“Spirit of Ichinose Hanayo, come down here and speak of the place where you hid your will when you're alive.” she chanted.

Then, she gasped, “W… what are you doing?”

Kyu, Ryu and Ami gasped simultaneously.

“W.. what was that noise?” Kaoru asked.

“Could it be that my sister's spirit is suffering?” Sachiyo questioned.

“We shouldn't talk.” Shouhei objected.

“We'd better not move right?” Kaoru confirmed.

“If it's really my mom's spirit, I want to see her.”

“She's right. If you say something rude, the spirit might go away.” Sachiyo agreed.

“Everyone, please calm down. Sensei should be okay.” Hiroshi tried to salvage the commotion.

“But this seems a little different from last time.” Sayaka countered.

“Fijisawa-san.” Kyu spoke up. “Umm. I'm Kyu, can I talk to you?”

“Yes, what is it Kyu-san?” Hiroshi asked.

“Something seems strange, but is she really okay?” Ami asked in Kyu's place.

“Yeah, the medium never said anything after making that strange sound.” Megumi agreed.

“Hey forget about the spirit! Let's stop this!” Kazuma protested.

“Hey, it really feels weird.” Kinta agreed.

“Someone, get the lights.” Ami instructed.

“Wait, Ami. Kyu, are you still holding hands?” Ryu asked.

“Yeah, of course.” Kyu replied.

“How about Megu?” Ryu asked.

“Me too.” Megumi answered.

“How about Kazuma, Kinta and Ami?” Ryu pressed.

“I'm holding hands.” Kinta answered.

“Me too.” Kazuma replied.

“Me as well.” Ami answered.

“Fijisawa-san, I'm Amakusa. Please let go of you hands and turn on the lights, please.” Ryu requested.

“Something's definitely wrong here.” he added.

“Yes… you can let go of you hands now.” Hiroshi stammered.

With that, everyone released their hands.

“Where's the switch?” Kinta demanded, moving around blindly.

Kazuma and Kyu had too started moving and bumped into each other in the darkness.

“I'm sorry.” Kazuma apologized.

“Watch out.” Kyu warned

“Where's the switch?” Kinta inquired agitated.

Finally, he found the witch button and flipped it on.

Kyu shielded his eyes when the light came on.

What he saw in front of him shocked the young detective.

The medium was lying dead on the floor; the knife that was previously on the table before was stuck on her back.

“Asakura-san is dead.” Shouhei exclaimed in horror.

Kaoru let out a scream.

“Ootaguro-san, please call the police right away.” Ryu instructed.

“Y… yes.” the butler nodded and ran out.

“W… what on earth is going on?” Akihiko stammered as he prepared to head out as well.

“Don't move.” Ryu commanded.

“Asakura-san was just murdered by someone. If someone opened the door, light would have come in from outside. But until she was killed, there was no light.” he explained.

“That means the culprit who stabbed and killed Asakura Kousei-san is right here.” Ami finished his statement, following his logic.

“Correct.” Ryu nodded at the girl.

“Don't talk nonsense!” Akihiko protested.

“All fourteen of us were holding hands with one another. How could one of us possibly kill Asakura-san who was in the middle?”

“It must be the work of the spirit. Hanayo-san's spirit is angry!” Shouhei remarked.

“Mom's spirit?” Kaoru gasped.

“It can't be… no…” Sayaka breathed.

“He's right. It's my sister.” Sachiyo nodded nervously, stepping back.

“My sister's spirit killed her!” she screamed.

***************************************************************** *************************

When the police arrived, the house was sealed off.

The police's detective came in and showed his badge.

“I'm Odajima, from homicide.” he introduced himself.

“H… hello, I'm Tomohiko Ichinose.” Tomohiko jumped up from his armchair and introduced himself.

“I'm Akihiko.” Akihiko nodded.

“I see. And the young lady over there is your sister, Kaoru-san.” Odajima noted.

Then, he noticed the six students.

“Who're you guys?” he asked.

“We're…” Kyu begun.

Ootaguro stepped forward, “They are Mistress Kaoru's friends from the detective club.”

“I don't care if it's a club or what, this is a murder scene. You'll get hurt if you get involved in this, if you think this is some kind of a game. Do you understand?” he reprimanded the `children'.

“Yes…” came the unison chorus.

Then, Kazuma ran forward, showing the detective his laptop.

“By the way, detective.” he begun.

“Huh?” Odajima blinked.

“Around the victim, fourteen people were holding hands with one another, making a circle. Let's say that the space between each person was one meter, making the circumference fourteen meters. So the radius would be about two meters. This was the distance between the victim and the fourteen suspects, detective.” Kazuma reported.

Odajima nodded and pointed out, “But with this picture, I can't tell who was where.”

“I remember that.” Megumi remarked.

“What?” Odajima looked up.

“Let's say twelve o'clock was the oldest son Tomohiko-san. Going clockwise, it was Kyu, Aunt Sachiyo Kusaka-san, Kaoru-san, Uncle Shouhei Kusaka-san, Kinta, the second son Akihiko-san, Ryu-kun, the secretary Nabeshime-san, Kazuma, the butler Ootaguro-san, Ami-chan, Asakura-san assistant, Fujisawa-san and me, Megumi Minami.” Megumi reported.

“Hey, how could you remembers accurately?” Odajima asked.

“You shouldn't lie!”

“I'm not lying. I don't forget when I see something once. It`s called a photographic memory.” Megumi smiled.

“Hmmm...” Odajima pondered.

“You guys seem to be clever kids, but if what you say is correct, it seems that the ghost is the murderer.” he commented.

“That's exactly right!” Shouhei agreed.

“Huh?” Odajima blinked.

“The medium must have done something to make the spirit angry.” Shouhei explained.

“That's right. And my sister's spirit killed her.” Sachiyo wailed.

“Stabbing her in the back with a knife in the darkness.”

“Stop it, Aunt Sachiyo!” Kaoru shouted.

“My mom wouldn't do something like that, even if she was a ghost.” she cried.

“Ichinose…” Kyu muttered.

Turning to her brothers, Kaoru asked, “Don't you guys think so?”

“I don't know.” Tomohiko admitted.

“Tomohiko…” Kaoru gasped.

Tomohiko turned away from his sister.

“Akihiko and I were hated by our mom, unlike you, who was mom's favorite.” he replied.

“That's right. After all, we're just the black sheep of the Ichinose family.” Akihiko agreed.

“Even you, Akihiko…” Kaoru could not believe what her brothers were saying.

Kyu turned to see Sayaka who was holding back her emotions.

Odajima cleared his throat.

“Leaving the family conflict aside, if everyone was holding hands, the culprit must have come from outside.” he declared.

“Detective, there is a problem.” Ami pointed out.

“And that is?” Odajima prompted.

“Everyone in the house was in the room.” she answered plainly.

“The people in the room were holding hands, so that means they couldn't kill her. But what if someone used their leg?” Kinta surmised.

“A leg?” Kyu echoed.

“That's right. Even if you can't use your hand, you could place the knife between your toes.” he explained.

“Like this.” he demonstrated, taking off his shoe.

Grabbing the sole of his sneaker by his toes, he tossed it in front. Quite unfortunately, the shoe landed smack into Kazuma's face.

“Oh sorry. It didn`t seem to work that well.” Kinta apologized.

“Of course it didn't! Besides in the darkness, even if you threw the knife with your hand, you couldn't have aimed at her heart this accurately. There`s no other way than to get close and stab her.” Kazuma protested.

“Then wouldn't the murderer have gotten her blood on their clothes?” Kinta pointed out.

“I don't think much blood would have gotten through those thick, loose clothes.” Kazuma objected.

“That means the criminal planned this murder, including her clothes?” Kinta exclaimed incredulously.

“That's right.” Ryu agreed.

“This was a well-planned murder.”

“Ryu-kun…” Kyu muttered.

Ryu shut his eyes and added, “And the culprit is definitely among us. Not a spirit, but a living murderer.”

***************************************************************** *************************

SailorStar9: Well, this chapter is done.