Authoress' Ramblings: Neurotic Onna-san, I am so terribly sorry for taking quite some time. To be honest, I kept changing plots, and then SasuSaku just had to get into my head that I got distracted… er. But here I am, with the one and final plot for your request fic. I hope my poor writing skills satisfy your MegxKyu needs.
DiSCLAiMER: If I owned Tantei Gakuen Q, do you actually think I'd be making fanfictions, hmm?
---
Polaroid
Saturdays
By psychedelic aya
Requested fic by
Neurotic Onnna.
Flash.
Hasn't this happened before?
Flash.
"Mou, Kyu, you're not smiling at the camera!"
Flash.
"Ryu-kun, don't get affected by Kyu! SMILE!"
Flash.
"Kyu! Egao, egao!"
Flash.
"…Kyu?"
---
It was a usual lazy Saturday.
"Ah, it's too troublesome to do anything today…" Kyu droned, as wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He sat up from his bed, looked drowsily at his surroundings, then collapsed on to the fluff of pillows again. "Too troublesome…"
Yes, indeed, it was too troublesome to do anything today. Not to mention yesterday had involved a particular hard case—Principal Dan had sent them far into the mountains again to investigate some odd murder (which the suspect turned out to be yet another deranged psychopath with a split personality; gah, he had enough of those) and they had nearly gotten killed in the process of cracking the case.
But of course, they were Class Q, Dan Detective School's elite force, and not even a deranged psychopath murderer with a split personality could break them down so easily. With his and Ryu's analytical skills, Kinta's force, Kazuma's intellect and researching capabilities and not to mention Meg's superb photographic memory—they could do any case, any time, any day.
Just not today, Kyu thought, just not today.
A yawn.
For one, it was way too early—he glanced at the clock, 5:45 in the morning—and it was a frickin' Saturday, for crying out loud!
It was too troublesome to do anything on a Saturday.
And with that thought, Kyu snored off and went to sleep again.
---
Flash.
"Look, I got a new camera!"
Flash.
"For your birthday?"
Flash.
"Yup! Okaa-san gave it to me a few days early because she knew about our mountain trip."
Flash.
"Megumi, it's not a vacation, it's a case."
Flash.
"I know that, Ryu-kun, but the last time we went to the mountains it was just too beautiful and I regretted not bringing a camera. I want to capture the beauty!"
Flash.
"Isn't it enough that you'll remember it permanently?"
Flash.
"Kyu no baka! Sure, I'll remember it, but what about the people I want to show it to? My mother? My future children!"
Flash.
"Like anyone would want to marry you…"
Flash.
"IDIOT!"
Flash.
"Mou, itai yo!"
---
Surely,
"There's a leftover scent of gasoline."
Surely, this has happened before.
"Gasoline?" A whiff of the scent. "You're right. I can smell it too…"
Ryu stepped inside the dark room, his senses keen and alert, as always. Kyu and Megumi followed not so far behind him.
"This must be how the previous house was burned, do you think?" It was Kyu who spoke, breaking the short but thick silence that overcame them. Gasoline. Something was not right… "Through gasoline. There were a dozen of petroleum cases buried nearby. The killer must've used that to burn the evidence to ashes."
Meg nodded slightly, her ever watchful eyes taking in everything before her. "Are we dealing with an arsonist, then?"
Ryu picked up some papers from a desk, his eyes squinting. "Maybe. An arsonist, or a pyromaniac." He then approached a desk placed by the far corner of the room, picking up some gathered sheets of paper that were placed on top of it. Instantly, as he scanned the writings printed there, his eyes widened. "Megumi! Come here, quick."
Kyu looked at Meg and nodded in approval. Go to him, he said through he eyes, and since she trusted both of them, she did. Naturally, he followed behind her.
"Take a look at this." Ryu held out the papers for his comrades to see. "This name. Koi Yameshi. Doesn't it sound familiar?"
"Koi Yameshi. This are his…" Kyu leaned in, his eyes peering to see the kanji because it was so dark. Why hadn't they turned on the lights, again? "These are his mortgage papers?"
"Aa. Mortgage papers." Ryu nodded and placed the papers as it were on the table again. They didn't want anyone to know they were prying, and he was sure Megumi remembered everything written anyway. It was why he called her name instead of Kyu's, after all. "Koi Yameshi? Rings a bell, doesn't it?"
"Koi Yameshi…" A moment of thinking, then the only female amongst them suddenly had a revelation. "He's the one who hired us! I remember Principal Dan saying his name during the case briefing!"
A nod of approval from both of the males. "Aa." Ryu was the one talking now. "You're right. He's the one who hired us."
Kyu rubbed his chin in sudden interest. "That's odd, though, because he never came to meet us when we arrived here."
Megumi agreed. "Yeah. The one who greeted us was his maid… and she simply said he wasn't feeling well."
Another pause for thinking, then,
"Is it just me, or does the gasoline scent seem to be getting stronger?"
A cough, some stares and blinks, then realization.
The manor burst into flames right after they had managed to stumble outside.
Kyu suddenly remembered that this was the reason why they kept the lights off. The smell of gasoline.
It was only common sense.
---
Flash.
"I'm surprised your film hasn't run out yet. You've been taking pictures since the bus ride!"
Flash.
"Oh, most of those shots didn't have film. I was just pressing the button so that the flash would annoy your eyes."
Flash.
"Kuso! Stop it already! It blinds me!"
Flash.
"I said stop it!"
Flash.
"Take a picture of me instead, Megumi-chan!"
Flash.
"Get out of the way, Kinta. You're clearly blocking Megumi-san's good scenery."
Flash.
"Kyu is so not good scenery, Kazuma!"
Flash.
"Then stop taking pictures at my direction! The flash stings my eyes!"
Flash.
"Well, it is amusing to see Kyu cower in front of a camera, I guess."
Flash.
"Ryu, you're not helping!"
Flash.
"Smile for the camera, Kyu!"
---
8:40 AM.
Although it was a rough three hours later, it was still too early to be doing anything.
Colorful dots blinded Kyu's face as he blinked and awoke. Oddly enough, he was reminded of the dizzy dots he would get whenever Meg would click and flash her camera at him.
He groaned, wiping a hand over his face, trying to get rid of those oh-so-annoying dots.
A few blinks.
That didn't help. The dots were still there.
"Wah…"
He closed his eyes tight, hoping that maybe when he opened them, they would disappear.
Another groan.
"I don't want to have dots in my eyesight on a perfectly good Saturday…" Kyu pouted and sat up, clumsily throwing off the sheets and getting off the bed. The dots will disappear soon enough, he thought. They'll go away later.
After all, they always did.
---
Flash.
"Why do you like taking pictures, Meg?"
Flash.
"So that it'll be preserved in my memory. So that I won't have to forget."
Flash.
"But you won't forget. Even without the photographs."
Flash.
"…I know."
---
Ryu hated the way things turned out. All of them did.
"Yameshi-dono, our client, is missing. His house, which me, Kyu and Megumi investigated yesterday, was burnt to ashes. Possible cause was a gas leak."
Kazuma nodded, the gears in his head already turning. "You said you smelled the gas, right?"
"Aa. All three of us did."
"And the previous house that was burned had petroleum cases buried all over nearby. You think there's a connection?"
Kyu, who was across Ryu and Kazuma, shrugged and tiredly rested his head atop the table they surrounded for this mini conference. "There has to be a connection. Not to mention the previous burnt house also belonged to that Yameshi guy."
Kinta, who was lying down on a mat nearby the table, looked confused. "But why was somebody else living in it?"
A roll of the eyes. "Because," Kazuma the genius was being a matter-of-fact again, "He had it rented out. It's a pretty good plan if you have multiple residences. Your place gets used and well-kept, and you earn some cash to boot."
Megumi suddenly had an idea. From her sitting position beside Kyu, she piped, "What if he's the one burning the houses to gain the insurance money he has on them?" She looked to her classmates for some approval of her theory. "I mean, the mortgage papers and all…"
Ryu looked thoughtful. "That could be true. Although why would he burn the residence he's living in? That big estate was what he was paying for. It was what he took the mortgages for. Burning it would make no sense, since he can't have insurance on it until it's fully paid."
"Oh." A momentary pause from the only girl, then, "I'm still at awe on how the whole house erupted to flames at the same time, though. All the rooms… a simple gas leak couldn't do that much, could it?"
Kazuma whipped out his laptop almost immediately. "Well, no, technically, it couldn't. It shouldn't. Unless it was well-planned, of course…" And he had that smirk again as he quickly typed the information into his personal computer. "Maybe he did it through the pipes…"
"The pipes?"
"He had the gas out on the pipes. Maybe he created combustion through the pipes as well, and that's why everything exploded at the same time. Pipes are connected to each other, after all."
This time, it was Ryu who rubbed a hand on his chin. Clearly, it was a habit he got from Kyu. "Hm. That's plausible."
Kazuma gave a haughty pose. "Of course it is! It's my theory."
"But," And they were all surprised to hear Kyu speak, because from his lazy position with his head lying on the table, they thought that maybe he had somehow gone to sleep. "How the heck could he create a combustion through pipes?"
Several opinions from everyone suddenly rushed in.
"A match?"
It was disapproved. "Too weak."
"A lighter?"
"Same with the match."
"The kitchen's stove?"
"The kitchen should've exploded first, then."
"Ah! I know! A gun!"
"We would've heard a shot. Besides, it's impossible. A gun can only hit so much at a time."
"Bombs?"
All of them suddenly stopped.
"Now, there's an idea."
---
Flash.
"You're taking pictures of the rubble of the house, too?"
Flash.
"Oh, this is for our report to Principal Dan."
Flash.
"Ah, I see."
Flash.
"…Do you really think he did it through bombs?"
Flash.
"Maybe. But I think we would've heard some explosions."
Flash.
"I know. Or maybe they were so synchronized that they all exploded at exactly the same time, and the cacophony of the explosion was blocked out by the great intensity of the crackling flames…"
Flash.
"My, wasn't that poetic."
Flash.
"Shut up."
---
This had all happened before, he thought.
Him bummed out on a Saturday, walking around his house with no one home. His mom was probably at the market, like she always was every Saturday morning… and Ryu was…
Well, he had no idea where Ryu was.
That is, until,
"I see you're finally awake, Kyu."
There was a certain tinge in his voice that Kyu could not decipher, but he merely let it pass because Ryu was always the type of guy who had something hidden in his way of speaking. A mysterious aura and odd tinges in his tone of voice were just natural with his sort of personality.
Kyu replied with an exhausted smile. "Mornin', Ryu." He murmured, waving a hand to his classmate and heading towards for the kitchen. Reaching the fridge and opening it, he got out some milk and placed it on the table, while proceeding to go off to the cupboard to get a bowl and a spoon. Seeing that Ryu had followed him and was now leaning on the kitchen's open doorway, he invited, "Want some cornflakes too?"
The other had politely refused. "No thanks. I just ate breakfast."
"Mom cooked?"
"Aa."
"She left for the market, didn't she?"
A small pause, before another soft "Aa."
Kyu grabbed the box of cornflakes and poured it in the bowl, soon after mixing it with the milk.
Yeah, he thought with a lazy yawn, this has all happened before. In fact, this happened every Saturday. It was such a usual scene that he was so used to it already.
This has all happened before, Kyu decided. But there's nothing much to worry about.
He didn't know Ryu thought otherwise.
---
Flash.
"Hey, you've been taking pictures all day, but you haven't taken one of yourself."
No flash.
"Hmm… you're right."
Flash.
"Want me to take one of you?"
Flash.
"O-okay."
Flash.
"There."
---
They had figured out the case quite easily.
The suspect was indeed their very own client, and the reason of his arson spree was as Meg guessed, the insurance money. His company, see, had been going bankrupt for the past three years, and he was running out of money. Thus explains the coming in of mortgages and insurance…
The authorities took him in with these charges, and yet although the case was solved, a question still remained.
Why did he burn his own house, along with all the belongings… and not to mention the people? His wife was still within the manor when it erupted into flames. So were his two children, with the ages of eight and three respectively. So were the handful of maids.
He killed more than ten people in that fire.
Insurance—heck, any kind of money-making scheme was out of the question by then. He would not gain anything by killing his family. Of course, his wife and children had insurance on them too, but to go as far as to kill them just for cash? He would make enough with the insurance of the houses—that is, if his plan had succeeded. In fact, the insurance from the many properties he burned was more than enough.
Then why did he kill?
He seemed normal enough when they talked to him, when they saw him for the first time in order to reveal his heinous crimes.
…He seemed normal enough.
Class Q didn't know just how wrong they were.
---
Flash.
"Lucky this is a polaroid, eh? It develops pictures so quickly! …Hey, I look so lonely in this photo."
Flash.
"That's because you will be lonely. An old maid, heh."
Flash.
"I will so not! C'mere!"
Flash.
"Hey, stop strangling—"
Flash.
"Stop moving else we won't get a decent shot!"
Flash.
"Ah, you're making me look bad!"
Flash.
"This picture isn't so lonely, but you look so ugly, Kyu! Again!"
Flash.
"I didn't ask to be dragged with you while you took a photo of yourself!"
Flash.
"Oh well. At least it doesn't look lonely, ne?"
---
"You want to go somewhere today?"
From his position on the coffee table, Ryu turned to Kyu and arched his eyebrow. "Where?"
The other shrugged. "I don't know. Yesterday, Meg asked me if I could go and buy more film for her Polaroid."
"Oh." A sudden distant gaze. "She said that yesterday?"
"Aa." Kyu scratched his head, looking bored as he remembered. "Before we went home, remember? She really wasted all those film rolls. Imagine, finishing all three rolls with thirty-six shots!"
He expected Ryu to chuckle, or even give a slightest acknowledgement of amusement, but all he received was silence.
And at this, Kyu became confused.
"…Ryu?" He called out, suddenly looking worried. The other boy… seemed even more distant than usual. He wasn't like this yesterday. In fact, he was all too cheerful yesterday, laughing and making jokes with them while they were on that case in the mountains. Then again, Ryu brooding like this seemed all too familiar to him, like it had all happened before in some way.
Then again, this happened every Saturday, so—
"Kyu."
The cold calling of his name brought him back to his senses.
Ryu sighed.
"Today's not Saturday."
---
Flash.
"These are my last shots! I have to take pictures of something really good!"
Flash.
"How 'bout the bus ride home?"
Flash.
"I will, but look at that lake below this cliff! Wow. Kirei!"
Flash.
"Aa, it is pretty."
Flash.
"Arigato yo, Ryu-kun, for agreeing with me! Ah! Since all of us are here, why don't we take our picture with the scenery as a background?"
Flash.
"Sounds like an idea."
---
They didn't notice how the five officers who brought him in were already dead. The suspect didn't even reach the police car.
Five corpses scattered nearby a bombed vehicle—their flesh had third degree burns, heated to a crisp.
They didn't notice.
But then again, no one noticed.
"I don't think I'll have enough left for the bus ride," Megumi said, as checking how much film she had spent through looking at the digital LCD of her camera. "I guess that's alright. I took so much already."
Kyu sighed, exasperated. "You didn't just take so much. You took a whole lot! A lot, a lot! Geez, it's as if you didn't have your memory anyways…"
He got a whack on the head.
"Half of my film was spent on pictures of you, baka!"
"I didn't ask for that!"
"Neither did I! But you just happened to be standing on the spots I wanted to take pictures of!"
"Like I said, that ain't my fault!"
"But you're involved, still! Ah, I know! As punishment, you have to go get me new film!"
"Punishment? I don't deserve punishment for something I didn't do!"
Ryu always interrupted their fights before someone got seriously hurt.
Amusedly, "Both of you, stop making so much noise. The bus is here already." He pointed to a far distance, where a big yellow automobile with the symbol of DDS was parked. "C'mon. Let's get our things so that we can make it back early…" His voice trailed off, and his eyes squinted. He detected someone walking towards them by the distance. A little unsure, "Is that Yameshi-dono…?"
Kinta made sure by running a little nearer towards the said man. "Hey, it is him!" Cheerfully, since he knew the man was a kind man (albeit the fact that he was an arsonist, but then again, they thought he only did it in his desperation for money), "Yo, Yameshi! We're over here!"
They didn't move as the man approached.
Kyu seemed skeptical. "Hey, isn't he supposed to be escorted, or something…?"
Kazuma agreed. "Maybe he forgot something? But then again, the cops should be around him by now…"
Meg looked worried. "Hey guys, I don't feel good about this—"
Ryu noticed the clandestine smirk and the spark in his hands far too late.
"Dammit! Everyone,"
A moment to panic as something glowing landed before their eyes.
"Run!"
A single explosion, yet several screams echoed in the air.
…And they didn't probably hear, but a pyromaniac was laughing.
---
Flash.
She wasn't the one taking the photographs, he mused sadly.
Flash.
Whispers and murmurs and jotting down of notes.
Flash.
Reporters, he thought, but could say nothing more. The flashes of light from their cameras still blinded him.
Flash.
There were those dots, those nauseating dots floating before him.
Flash.
And he wondered, were they seeing those dots too?
Flash.
Was she, the owner of that annoying Polaroid camera—did she see those dots now too?
Flash.
They were taking pictures of them.
Flash.
They made the front page, he heard.
Flash.
But most of all,
Flash.
They were taking pictures of her.
---
Everyday was a Saturday.
It was already a whole week, and it was still a Saturday.
Kyu just laughed at what Ryu said. "What do you mean," he started, chuckling, "What do you mean it's not a Saturday?"
Ryu gave up on trying to explain yesterday. And yesterday was Saturday.
"Iie." A casual wave of the hand, as if dismissing the matter. "It's nothing. Nevermind…"
Because no matter if Kyu would understand or not, tomorrow would always be an unchanging Saturday.
"Well, I better go get changed." A sheepish laugh. "Meg will pound me if I'm late. You know her, screaming about how we shouldn't keep girls waiting."
Ryu took some moments to pause, to contemplate—he shut his eyes tight, trying to let the throbbing of his chest subside.
"Aa." A painful gulp. "Don't keep her waiting."
---
Flash.
"Kyu from Class Q of DDS? Kyu?"
Flash.
There were reporters, again. Dozens of them.
Flash.
"We'd like an interview! How do you feel about…"
Flash.
Kinta shoved them all away.
Flash.
"Leave the boy to his privacy, please!"
Flash.
The blinding lights he saw were not from her camera. They were not from her Polaroid.
Flash.
"Ryu from Class Q of DDS! We'd like an interview…"
Flash.
Their sounds drowned out.
Flash.
Where was Megumi's own Polaroid, anyway? Didn't she always hold on to it?
Flash.
"My hands…"
Flash.
There was blood all over but he paid no heed to it—
Flash.
"She protected you, Kyu-kun, didn't she?"
Flash.
"Didn't she?"
Flash.
Kinta angrily shoved the nosy journalists away.
Flashflashflashflashflash.
"…The camera is in my hands."
---
It was a usual lazy Saturday.
Kyu was still asleep, forgetting the fact that yesterday was also a Saturday, forgetting the fact that he and Ryu had the same talk they'd been having for a week, forgetting the fact that Megumi never showed up when he waited for her for five hours in the mall.
And when he awoke, the first words out of his mouth were,
"Ah, it's too troublesome to do anything today…"
His voice was droning as he sleepily blinked, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He sat up from his bed, looked drowsily at his surroundings, then collapsed on to the fluff of pillows again. "Too troublesome…"
5:45.
Too early to do anything. Too troublesome to do anything.
Besides, it was a Saturday…
…right?
Kyu somehow felt this had happened before, but placed the feeling aside.
After all, his Saturdays were full of repetitive schedules, and he was sure this one was no different.
Well, despite the fact that Megumi had invited him (well, forced is more the term) to go to the mall with her to buy more film—everything was as it should be.
A yawn.
Kyu shifted a little, and went back to sleep.
He'd wake up again later. There was no harm in wasting a morning of a lazy Saturday.
---
Authoress' Notes: Confusing? Ulp. Yes, even I got confused in the process of writing it. But yes, if there are any questions up for interpretation—let me make one thing clear—Meg died. I'm sorry, but yes, she protected Kyu from that bomb and died. I ask you to blame Sasuke for the depressing stuff he puts in my head.
Sasuke: My fault? Whatever. This isn't even a Naruto piece!
Er. Anyway. Ignore that imaginary Sasuke I have in my fangirl brain.
You can run away in madness now.