Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Operation Unsolved ❯ Case 1: Operation Unsolved 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Operation Unsolved
Author: Nekocin
Genres: Action, Mystery
Type: Alternative Universe, endless?
Warnings: possible OoC on Ryoma's part, bad decription?, fanfiction form [dialogues]
Pairings: I've finally decided to just hint at them. So basically, they're all implied in a way.
Rated: PG13 --> R, PG13 for now
Additional notes: I've a feeling this story's going to be continuous... if not, it will end... some day. Hints of shounen ai.
Disclaimer: I'm neither the man nor the mangaka who has come up with this series.

2.

Cling! Cling! Clang!

Majestic-looking, black coats billowed charmingly behind the wielders of the sparring swords. The heaviness of the cape never crossed either sparring partners' minds as they attacked each other 'amiably'.

Cling! Clang! Clang!

Faint sounds of harsh breathing and rhythmic clanging of the freshly-sharpen swords surrounded them like echoes in a secluded room.

"Hmmm. You're getting better" the taller one of the two, commented while flashing a strange almost-perverted smile to his opponent. He countered him.

The shorter guy's feet barely had to skid backwards, when his opponent deflected his counter.

Cling! Clang!

"Sssshhhh" His sword struck down again only to be pushed aside by his taller partner's sword. His taller partner instantly knocked the sword out of grasp and immediately held the hilt of the sword near his throat.

"...I win" the taller guy smiled, his pair of glasses glinting.

"Sssshhhh" the defeated one accepted reluctantly and closed his eyes in shame. He'd worked so hard on getting his first win out of this one. "Sssshhhh... I apologize for my incompetence, Inui-sempai"

The glasses perched on Inui's nose, glinted mysteriously. "... I can set up a training schedule if you want to be stronger"

"...Sssshhh..."

~XXX Operation Unsolved part 2 XXX~

Fuji Syusuke smiled -a hint of mischief in his now-opened blue eyes- as he folded his hands together on the table.

"We should do this more often, Yuuta. Your Aniki's happy that you've considered going on a date. Wouldn't you say so too?"

"Shut up, Aniki! Just eat your stuff and get it over with! How could you be so careless! Not eating, after having done whatever job you did yesterday. You could've starved to death!" Yuuta burst out, not realizing he was obviously showing his concern through his angered words.

As soon as those words registered in his mind, Yuuta glanced at the street, embarrassed, nearby to which their table was placed.
His brother hadn't come back quickly like he and 'nee-san had expected the previous night. Aniki hadn't even come back when supper's served, so he and 'nee-san has staid up, awaiting Aniki's return.
Whatever his brother had been doing for the -other- job, it seemed to be exhausting him physically.

Yuuta remembered his brother stumbling into his bedroom without giving either of them [he and 'nee-san] acknowledgement last night. It's unusual to see his laid-back Aniki like that... so tired. Fortunately, they hadn't gone on a date last night though.
But since he'd suspected his Aniki of not having eaten, he took it upon himself to feed him the first thing in the morning.

"You're so sweet" his brother cooed and looked down at the plate of wasabi sushi in front of him.

Seeing his Aniki busy himself with the chopsticks and paper towels, Yuuta took the opportunity to slouch in his seat and send his brother a pleading look. "What kind of work was it yesterday, Aniki?"

His brother stopped re-shuffling the paper towels and placed his chopsticks back on the table.

"You know I must not talk about my other work with you, Yuuta"

"Yes, but-"

"So don't worry about your Aniki. Everything's going to be fine" his brother had sound so serious.

But why? Yuuta didn't understand his brother anymore -he dreaded having to admit it- his Aniki is sure an enigma. His Aniki probably noticed his panic for he sent him another careless smile.

"Now open wide, Yuuta. Say aah..."

Just when he thought his Aniki was continuing the serious subject, Aniki had to pick out one of his wasabi sushi and let it hover in front of Yuuta's mouth. The younger Fuji gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Come on, Yuuta. I like to share this delicious feast with you"

Kikumaru peered curiously over his partner's shoulder.

"What are you doing, nya?"

He'd found his partner engrossed in several piles of paper work, when he'd arrived at the Seishun Police Station [where he'd been stationed].

At first he thought Tezuka was updating the latest reports of petty crimes like robberies, stolen items, traffic violations and such. Kikumaru felt guilty that Tezuka's doing all the work, but not guilty enough to even take over the other half of his partner's work. Besides it's very unusual to see Kikumaru with so many papers on his desk even if he's generally not really a lazy person.

But in the end Kikumaru knew better if Tezuka's working on the reports, he would have punished Kikumaru with letting him do two-third of the work. Tezuka had yet to say anything to him when he sat down behind his desk, next to Tezuka's desk.

"Hn" was all he'd gotten from his partner.

"Herr Schwarzgerald case" Kikumaru read the headline. He frowned lightly.

"Herr Schwarzgeral case, nya? Hoi! Hoi! What's all this paper work for, nya? Weren't the investigators supposed to do this work, Tezuka?" He straddled his swivel chair, comfortably and leaned on the backrest, looking over Tezuka's desk.

Where did all the piles of paperwork come from?

"Superintendent Oishi has appointed me to arrange the necessary -data- noted by someone of another station" Tezuka stopped writing, he dropped his pen on the desk and flexed his writing hand several times.

Taking note of this action, Kikumaru was certain his partner must have been writing non-stop.

"Hoi! But how come there's so much paper on the Herr Schwarzgerald case, nya? It's just opened two days ago" he wondered thoughtfully as Tezuka picked up his pen to resume his writing.

"Chief had wanted a detailed report on yesterday's events from the very beginning till the end..."

"Unya~! That's too much for you!" Kikumaru commented sympathetically.

"Then get to work!" Before Kikumaru could blink twice, Tezuka had pushed the biggest pile of paper work in his face.

"Nyah? How mean!!" Realizing he'd just been caught by his partner, Kikumaru decided to help out, reluctantly [while mumbling not-so-nice comments about his Tezuka under his breath].

Inui's face was impassive as he picked the green bandana out of the dirty red water with a pin.
"Now I'm 100 percent sure this belongs to him" he muttered and looked over his notes.

"So it really belongs to you" A hint of melodrama hung in his words as Inui put the bandana aside.

"Do you think it's really him?" The communicator in his ear sizzled softly.

"Hmm" Inui settled with humming, neither an affirmative nor negative answer.

"Saa... I'll look into this further on. Keep an eye on him" The person on the other side of the line paused. "Would helping -them- be a good option?"

"Probably not, though it might be. If so, we can keep them -at bay- for awhile without them interrupting our posts" Inui pulled out a small satchel and concealed it immediately under the layer of expensive black tunic he's wearing. Inui put on his black police-style hat and slipped on his favorable pair of black gloves.

He just hoped he'd gotten the wrong guy. With this last inkling thought, he walked out of the room and set off to find -him-.

Kikumaru took out a note book and a pen as he looked for a certain officer... officer Kisarazu Atsushi and not the brother.
The chief wanted a detailed report, right? Officer Kikumaru Eiji would give him one if he didn't have to walk around in search for Kisarazu.

He should be back now.

Kikumaru bristled past a mildly-smiling guy, accidentally.
"Sorry!"
He hurried down the stairs without looking over at his shoulder at the stranger.

Kisarazu Atsushi had just arrived at the station, after having done his night shift of the night before.

"Hoi, Atsushi, nya!"

Kisarazu Atsushi looked up as he stepped out of the police car.
"Kikumaru-san" he greeted, politely nodding once and closing the door.
Kikumaru came down running towards the other officer, hands fliaing around with his notebook in one hand and a pen in the other.

"Can I speak to you for a moment, nya? It's important!"

Kisarazu looked taken aback as he blinked. "Uhm..."

"Hoi, where's your partner? He's not hurt, is he?" Kikumaru resisted the urge to hug the other agent impulsively and looked around, curiously.

"I drove Yanagisawa back home. He barely made it into his apartment much less come back to the station"

"Nn. I see. Anyways, I need your help, Atsushi!"

"Well, I-" Kisarazu frowned, feeling at a loss-

"Good! Nya, let's go!" -only to get dragged by his enthusiastic colleague towards the stairs.

"W-where's Tezuka-san?" Kisarazu attempted to slow down Kikumaru's pace as he deliberately stood his ground stubbornly before he could land face first on the ground. He's after all, not used to be jumped by an excited colleague.

"He's doing something secretive, nya. Don't worry"

Secretive indeed. Tezuka hadn't answered him helpfully, when he'd asked him where to start with his paper work on the case of the day before. Yesterday's case, Kikumaru remembered vaguely, had something to do with smuggling... human smuggling... or was it more like human internal organs smuggling?
Never mind.
Kisarazu would surely tell him something interesting...

13:05 PM

Tezuka looked suspiciously at the manila folder on his partner's desk from the corner of his eye. There is something strange about having someone give his partner the responsibility of watching over this folder instead of him. So before you know it, his partner had probably thrown it away among his other papers within a day. Obviously, the sender didn't know much of Kikumaru's tendency to avoid responsibilities; he's just not so serious about his work.

Tezuka looked back down on his work - a half-written page about Herr Schwarzgerald's routines; so far, only part of the German Minister's routine the on his last day had been covered. Herr Schwarzgerald's secretary, Herr Schneiders, was present, and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, also.

Argh! Why didn't Chief want the reports printed out from the computer? There's so many stuff about the German minister to write about.
Hm.

He looked back at the manila folder on his partner's desk, thoughtfully. Kikumaru's not really someone who hides his stuff. -I have nothing valuable to hide from you-, Kikumaru had pointed out once.
At last he reached out and took the folder.

"Na Tezuka, isn't that the folder?"

Tezuka looked up automatically. If he were surprised by the superintendent's presence, his face didn't show it.
"Oishi"

The superintendent smiled sheepishly; he'd not greeted Tezuka properly. "I'm sorry. Hello again"

"Oishi, what are you doing he-" Tezuka stopped abruptly as he looked around. The floor, which he shared with his devision, was suddenly filled with curious officers. It must probably because of Oishi's presence; he's the superintendent after all.

"Ah! I'm sorry for intruding your division. I just came here to pick up something" Oishi explained to the other officers with one of his usual, polite smiles.

"Maybe we should go somewhere private..." Oishi suggested, turning to look at Tezuka.
Tezuka pushed his swivel chair back and stood up, holding the manila folder in one hand.

"Aa"

X

There's a shot of a broken mirror with trails of blood in the splinters.

"Did they check on the blood there?"

"They're still working on it"

"Aa"

"Who took these again?"

"Someone by the name of Fuji"

"I see" Oishi looked at the photo from different angles, turning it to one angle and then to another.

The next few photos were shots of splattered blood on carpeted floor.

"Why did he take several shots of these?" Oishi frowned, tilting his head slightly as he tried to make out what's the difference between the photos.

"Herr Schwarzgerald probably was killed by a weapon. The splattered blood can tell us with which weapon and force the Minister had been killed" Tezuka informed, he gathered the photos of splattered blood and spread them out on the table.

"Herr Schwarzgerald had not been killed with the help of a gun. No shot wound marred his skin" Oishi concluded. He marveled slowly on Tezuka's line of thoughts, slightly wondering why that part [of no shot wound was found] disturbed his logical mind. Any killer uses a gun to finish off his victims, right?

A dagger didn't fit in Herr Schwarzgerald's case either.

Tezuka nodded.

The next photo was a shot of an unravelled dark spot -on the carpeted floor- where the corps had been found. A small object -a pen- laid lonely nearby.

Oishi looked up at Tezuka for any comments.
However, there's none.

A shot of a broken vase with scattered flowers.

"A sign of struggle perhaps?" Oishi's voice cut through the silent room.

"Perhaps" Tezuka commented.

A blank writing sheet on the small table in the middle of the living-room.

Tezuka eyed it suspiciously. There had to be a reason why the photographer had taken this picture.

"What has a blank sheet of paper got to do with Herr Schwarzgerald's case?" Oishi wondered, while looking closely at the photo. He couldn't grasp the meaning of something tugging at the back of his mind. Surely, the sheet should be an important object here.
The sheet. The pen. Means... something, he concluded.

"A suicide note?" Oishi suggested.

"Not likely"

A shot of something filthy on the carpeted floor neat the balcony. The spot was a bit blurry, almost half-hidden among the furry coat of carpet.

"Foot prints" Oishi frowned lightly. "I don't recall having that reported. Maybe they'd missed this one. I'm glad Fuji's attentive"

Tezuka didn't comment.

The last photo was a shot of a blood-drenched, green bandana...

Oishi hadn't seen any bandanas in the apartment.
"Where did he get this one?" Oishi said thoughtfully.

That's what Tezuka liked to know. Fuji's added to his list of suspect; most likely the first suspect followed by Herr Schneiders, Herr Schwarzgerald's secretary, and the Minister of Foreigner Affairs.

X

Right outside the secluded room which Oishi and Tezuka were occupying, Fuji was chuckling to himself. After hearing those comments he felt rather pleased with the photos he'd taken. It's amusing to hear the police assume things and work out theories through lifeless and yet lively photos.

"Saa..."

He held his camera lovingly close and walked away. He hoped Inui wouldn't take this case too badly...
the owner of the green bandana had been Inui's apprentice.

"Are you going to be all right?" he asked emptily to no one in particular and descended the stairs without being noticed.

"SSSHHHHH. I've done nothing of that sort" He glared up at the taller Inui, feeling slightly horrified of having been accused by his older companion.

Kaido had just returned from his daily training, when Inui-sempai had come out of nowhere, wearing -the- uniform, and pointed out that his bandana had been found near someone's body [which implied that he had killed someone]. It had been puzzling at first, but later on... everything just fit. Like where one of his bandanas had been, why Inui-sempai was in front of him and why he was wearing -the- uniform. It's all because Kaido was suspected to be the murderer of Herr Schwarzgerald.

Inui-sempai was standing motionlessly before him, staring through a pair of glasses [which always creped Kaido out], thoughtfully. He felt as if Inui-sempai's eyes were boring into his, trying to find any deceit. So what was he supposed to do?

...


"I trust you" Inui spoke up at last; the sides of his lips quirking up in a faint smile.

Kaido's head shot up in, surprised that Inui-sempai had let that issue pass without some more reasoning like his sempai usually would do.

Why?, he wondered.

As if having heard the unspoken question, Inui patted Kaido on his shoulder, lightly.

"I believe you" was all what he'd said. So what was he supposed to do?

He did one thing understandably. He stared. Kaido stared at him, unsure if he should be relieved or afraid, after hearing Inui-sempai's words. He didn't know.
Kaido settled for the former and slowly found himself relaxing.

"Thanks" he mumbled softly, averted his eyes and self-consciously stepped back.

Taking note of that action as a retreat, Inui quickly announced: "Tonight we should assemble! After the meeting we'll start with our special training"

Kaido nodded obediently. Without any protest. And he didn't know whether he should ignore Inui-sempai's grin or not.

At a local Junk Food Restaurant, Echizen Ryoma's having a staring contest with the guy sitting across his table. The guy, Momoshiro Takeshi, grinned good-naturedly, when the hypnotizing effect of looking into people's eyes took place, his mind whirled in alarm.

"You're suspect no.2, Momo-senpai" Echizen stated.

"You must be kidding me"

Echizen leaned back in his uncomfortable chair and crossed his arms.
"The bandana Fuji-sempai had found that night, indeed belonged to Kaido-sempai. Inui-sempai had run some tests on it and confirmed it. I believe Inui-sempai had confronted Kaido-sempai about this... coincidence; his bandana was dyed in blood near that German guy's body. Kaido-sempai is innocent. The possible person who would frame Kaido-sempai like that would definitely be you"

Echizen hid a smirk behind his stern face as he watched Momoshiro looking flabbergasted, disgusted and confused at the idea of being the murderer.

"What? That can't be right! Why should I play such a dirty trick on that Mamushi?!" Momoshiro burst out indignantly, his eyes narrowing angrily. He slammed his hand, palm first, on their table.
The people sitting nearby turned to look at them, curiously.

A cocky grin appeared on Echizen's face, he's amused.

"So why did you do it?"

"I'm innocent! I didn't do it, Echizen!"

"You've once mentioned you stole Kaido-sempai's bandanas now and then just to rile him up. So what makes this case any different?"

"A huge difference. That day, I haven't been anywhere near that Mamushi to steal his stuff!"

Echizen raised an eyebrow lightly. "What have you been doing then?"

Momoshiro's face reddened, either of embarrassment or anger. Ryoma couldn't tell.

"I had a verbal fight with that Speed Demon from the -other- group just because he saw An-chan coincidently talking to me!"

Echizen could see the anger flaring in Momo-sempai's eyes.

"So you mean to say you and that guy with the red hair had worked together on this?"

"Y- NO! Didn't you hear what I just said?"

"Yes. You mentioned you were double-crossing -us- with that guy and condemned the German guy to your mercy" Echizen answered half-heartedly. Momo-sempai is being an idiot.

"What the hell? Echizen, what have you been smoking? I've said no such thing!"

"So you're guilty now?

"NO! ARGH! You little-!"

Echizen sent him a glare. "Watch it, Momo-sempai. This case had just been opened and since you'te being so unreasonable about my comments, I suppose I'm glad I got a lead here already"

Momoshiro blinked twice. "Huh?"

"This is how you should work when interrogating someone bigger than you, Momo-sempai"

"ECHIZEN!" Momo-sempai roared.
Momo-sempai had been innocent all this time.

"If you weren't this cute, Echizen, I would've pounded you into pieces!"

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Echizen switched off his beeper and stood up, startling Momo-sempai.
"Excuse me. I've to go back to work"

Momoshiro nodded. "Understood"

"The blood test is completed, sir"

"What are the results?"

- - - - - - End Operation Unsolved 2 - - - - - -

TheNekoTalks:

1. The Echizen and Momo scene is actually more of an experiment. Echizen is trying, interrogating those who are more likely to be a suspect than just the actual murderer they're after.
2. I'm sorry for the late update. The pages for this chapter had been covered with lots of scratches and references here and there, that it's hard to see where some parts go by.
3. A bit boring here, but I believe the 3rd chapter the whole thing will be explained in an odd sort of way.
4. This story is far from the ending :) so it'll be a lot of hustling here and there while I introduce the actual story.
5. And the logic must be kicking in already, ne? I deliberately didn't go into the stuff about the secret organization, the other organizations, the uniform and some more stuff. It's for the later story.

I like to thank those who had reviewed: Ichi, Julie7 and yoshikochan :). I'm glad it's an interesting piece of work so far :loves Mysteries to pieces:.

:Smiley face: cin