1159 Words excluding (A/N)~ I no own MK/DC~

Writes February 9 2023

Posted FEbruary 9 2023

NEXT UPDATE is on February 21 2023

Lapin gave an embarrassed laugh "I can't really see anything.... It's too dark" His eyes were decent, but he was still human. Spotting clues on the ground at night was hard.

"You're right" Hattori agreed, a bit miffed that the little kid had gotten in his way.

Ayako brought out a lighter and turned it on, allowing a small flame to cast its light, catching the attention of the two detectives who were on the ground "Is this better Mr. Grass Detectives?" Kaito put away the glow sticks that he'd pulled out, thankfully he hadn't snapped them yet. Hattori accepted the lighter, both him and Lapin thanking her.

"We should go get our phones, they're probably in Mr.Kanaya's room" Kaito breathed. He wanted to join Lapin in the investigation, but he'd probably just get in the way with this one since the Osakan detective was here too. Too many people working on the same thing just made things complicated.

"Indeed, without the police, we can't do anything if foul play is found" Saguru added. They had no actual authority.

So everyone went back into the house, even the grass detectives reluctantly came in, though Hattori split off to go somewhere else. What they found in Hiroyuki's room was a pile of dismantled phones.

"Why are the phones all in pieces?!"Ikuo gaped, the other non-detectives also were similarly shocked.

Aggravated, Fujisawa growled "We better take the other vehicle and leave this place"

"That won't work" Hattori stated seriously as he finally entered the room "The other car's tank is pierced. There's no fuel left" He observed everyone as he spoke "The battery is also dead, we can't use that car"

Instead of looking concerned, Kento seemed to be a bit excited "My hypothesis seems to be correct; It's a murder, right?" His reaction towards the murder was just plain unsympathetic, earning him Kaito's disfavour.

"Phones are expensive, so it wasn't done for a prank" Kaito spoke, glad that he had saved everything to his own personal cloud... "Maybe I could put together a phone with these parts" He murmured, half to himself.

"I can't see how he managed to make the car accelerate but... We can be sure of one thing" Hattori's gaze was serious as he spoke "He destroyed all of the phones and damaged the car"

"Our means of communication has been disrupted" Saguru added, already knowing the end result "The killer doesn't intend to stop at just one kill"

Nervous looks were shared all around as Kaito plopped himself onto the floor to fiddle with the phone pieces "I might be able to establish communication if we're lucky" It was a risky thing to state. It could make him a target "The killer is with us"

Saguru and Lapin gave Kaito an exasperated look, knowing that the other was doing.

"One of us?" Ikuo repeated.

Fujisawa turned towards Maria "Actually, didn't you badmouth him earlier?" He accused "You could easily be the culprit!"

Affronted, Maria retaliated "The same could be said for you!"

"Enough" Saguru wasn't going to let accusations fly everywhere, it would only complicate things "The culprit is indeed among us, but that also means that they're unable to leave without drawing attention to themselves" He glanced around "Who saw Mr.Kanaya yesterday after he gave his speech?" They needed to collect information.

"Miss Iwai works here, maybe she saw him?" Kaito inquired, tossing a useless phone piece into a discard pile. "He had to have eaten right?:

Iwai shook her head "Mr.Kanaya was on a diet that consisted of only low calorie food so he ate dinner alone in his room"

"Ah... High calorie food is tempting..." Kaito mused "While inconvenient, that's a good way to resist temptation" Chocolate had lots of calories and it was delicious.

"Not knowing what he did during the day... It will be hard to decide on the time of death" Saguru's gaze narrowed "If only we could have gotten a hold of the body" But there was a reason why police school was a thing, not all criminals were idiots.

"If only the surveillance cameras weren't fake..." Kaito sighed, fiddling with a part that had the potential to be useful.

Hattori spoke up, eyeing Kaito curiously, the guy was odd "We at least know that it was around 3:30 in the morning when the car started to move" He paused to let his comment sink in before continuing "And we know that some of us were in the living room at the time"

"So that's five less suspects" Lapin piped up.

Fujisawa glanced around nervously "So you're saying that one of the people who wasn't in the living room at the time is guilty?"

"The chances are high" Kaito stated, frowning as he discarded more parts "Patience really was vital this time it seems"

Ayako leaned towards Hattori and whispered "Say, did you find what you were looking for a while ago?"

A little surprised, Hattori shook his head "No"

"Alright..." Ayako smiled, then burst out laughing, clutching her arms around herself.

Startled Kento questioned her "Ayako?"

After her brief laughter, Ayako smugly pulled out her lighter and lit a cigarette "I know who the murderer is and how he did it" She teased "I even have irrefutable proof"

"Eh?!" Everyone turned towards her.

Smirking, Ayako continued "I'll give you 10 minutes to figure it out. If the culprit doesn't want me to reveal who he is, he shall do it himself!" She turned and headed out of the room.

Kento went to follow her "Err.. Ayako, where are you going?"

"To the toilet" Her answer was brief.

"You... You shouldn't go by yourself... The murderer could-" Kento spoke nervously.

"But you're going to protect me, aren't you?" Ayako left with Kento following her.

"The smug guy is now all worried" Indigos narrowed in thought "But she wouldn't let him follow her if he was the killer"

"She did make herself a target" Lapin agreed.

"And she seems to be quite confident" Saguru added.

Hattori frowned "Just how did she find a clue while none of us have..." The injured guy and kid were unusually keen, and the London detective seemed to be less involved despite having more experience than his two friends.

"She wasn't at lunch, maybe she saw a clue then?" Kaito inquired, sighing as he shoved away the rest of the phone pieces. The person who damaged the phones had been too brutal, not enough good pieces had been left for him to work with and without his tools, he couldn't force things to fit "Once I dismantle a few electronics lying about, I'll have everything I need"

"Did she go into people's rooms to cheat and end up finding something?!" Fujisawa asked.

"She dared to cheat?!" Ikuo was not impressed.

Around that moment Kento came back, everyone rounded on him asking about who the culprit was. they were talking over each other so it took a bit before he could get a word in "She told me that I was no exception to the others so she wouldn't tell me" He then shrugged "Then she locked herself in the toilet.

Fujisawa clenched his fist "She wants to make us wait"

Me: So people are getting nervous and two people have made themselves into targets~

Comment? ^-^

So tired, but thankfully my work has hired 2 new people. Even if they suck, that's still less work for me to do