Detective Tennis 2: Tennis Court Murders

Chapter 6

After they finished eating at Kawamura Sushi, the team and the kids went on to their separate ways. The rest of the Detective Boys headed to Beika District but not without Kourin reminding Haibara to keep their conversation a while back a secret for a while. Of course, the shrunken scientist agreed since she knew the gravity of the case from the beginning.

As for Momoshiro and Fuji, they decided to accompany Ryoma and Kourin just until they reached the Echizen residence. Momoshiro used the reason of carrying the 4th grader's luggage even though Ryoma could carry it himself. Kourin figured that Fuji and Momoshiro were worried about their safety so they wanted to assure that she and Ryoma reached the household safe and sound.

"Kourin-chan, do you still have our phone numbers with you?" Momoshiro suddenly asked while they were walking.

The girl nodded. "I still have them, even those from the other Seigaku regulars. But even though I have them, I never had the time to at least give you guyas a call. I've been doing a lot of thing lately so I barely noticed how days passed by so fast."

"What kind of things?" Ryoma inquired.

"I have a lot of things to learn with regards to my duty as the heiress of the Shinomiya family. Martial arts, music, etiquette, language—just to name a few. It makes my brain go whacked but I guess I can still handle it. My tutors weren't pressuring me about it so I guess it's okay."

"Saa… For a kid, you sure has a lot of responsibilities," Fuji commented.

"This is what I chose to do. It's not like I did all thise because I don't have a choice. Besides, I'm the only one left so I need to do what it takes to uphold my fallen family's honor. I have to restore it in any ways I can. I can't afford it to go down along with my family who were taken down just to protect what they had to protect." Kourin sighed before smiling. "But even though I have to learn so many things, I never forget to do other things that I really love to do."

Momoshiro frowned. "Do other things?"

"Yup! I'm still practicing tennis. In fact, I'm a member of the tennis club at Teitan Elementary. Since I'm already a 4th grader, I'm able to participate in the tournament last month. To tell the truth, I'm the youngest regular in our tennis club—and also the only fourth grader. But I guess I still have more to work on."

"You can do a lot more than that, I know it," Ryoma said with a confident smile on his face as she peered at him. "Just don't stop." Although those words had surprised his senpai-tachi, they were left with no choice but to agree. Ryoma was right when he said those words, anyway.

Ryoma wasn't the type of person who would verbally cheer or encourage anyone. But Kourin wasn't just "anyone" to him to begin with. She had been someone special to him ever since. Including the regulars, he also considered Kourin as his friend besides being his savior.

When they reached their destination, Kourin noted that they stopped in front of a temple gate. She faced Ryoma with a confused and a bit amused look.

"Are you sure we went to the right place?" she asked.

Ryoma groaned to show he was annoyed. "Don't ask about it. Long story."

"If you say so, then," she replied, shrugging. Then the four of them proceeded to the house.

Despite being an old, worn-out looking temple, the place was still amazing in Kourin's perspective. Though she didn't express it out loud, Ryoma could still see the amazement in her eyes. He smiled at what he saw, even though he did it in just seconds.

"Tadaima!" he said as soon as he slid the door open and went in along with Fuji, Momoshiro, and Kourin. Soon after, footsteps were heard—running footsteps, to be exact.

"Oi, Seishounen! You're early. I thought you still have class and practice until 6 later so how come you're—" But Nanjiroh stopped talking when he saw the people standing at the entrance of the house—most of them greeted him with a polite smile.

"It's nice to see you again, Nanjiroh-san," Kourin politely greeted and bowed, before facing the man once more with a warm smile.

Before she knew it, Nanjiroh approached her and gave her a big hug which she didn't expect. Even still, she appreciated the gesture and laughed.

"I never thought you'd come here this early. Shouko said you'd arrive later this afternoon. What made you come here early?"

"Hmm… Certain events made me come here earlier. That's all I can say for now," she replied vaguely before glancing at Ryoma.

Nanjiroh playfully ruffled Kourin's hair while smirking. "Heh. Keeping a secret like that, huh? You're one sly princess."

The girl responded with a laugh—a heartfelt laugh that Ryoma heard for the first time.

The freshman was surprised to hear that. Then Fuji said something.

"Kourin-chan must have missed having a father since it's been more than a year since her father was killed."

"Looking at her right now, I guess I have to agree with what you said, Fuji-senpai," Momoshiro responded as he continued looking at Kourin talking to Nanjiroh.

Ryoma didn't say anything about it, though. He was thinking of something else—an idea, to be exact. Probably one of the craziest ideas he could ever think of in his lifetime. But he didn't have any plans of voicing it out to anyone for now. Momoshiro dropped the duffel bag to the floor as soon as they saw Rinko and Nanako came.

"It looks like Oji-sama is having fun talking to Kourin-chan," Nanako commented that caused that two aforementioned people to stop their conversation and focused their attention to the two women.

"Sorry about that, Nanako-san. It looks like Nanjiroh-san really missed me," Kourin joked before she bowed to the two women. "It's nice to see you again, Nanako-san, Rinko-san. It's been a while."

"You're right. By the way, lunch is ready. Why don't you and your friends come in and join us?" Rinko offered which delighted the two older regulars. Ryoma shrugged and carried Kourin's bag.

"I'll take this upstairs first," the freshman said without even facing the others.

"Does he always acts this strange?" Kourin asked as she looked at Ryoma heading upstairs. Why do I have a feeling that something's bothering him?

"If you call indifference as strange, then ye. Well… most of the time," Nanako answered before she apprached Kourin and the other two regulars. "Come on in. You can join with us for lunch."

"Don't mind if I do!" Momoshiro exclaimed excitedly that made the others laugh.

Momoshiro and Fuji were about to proceed inside when they heard something that rang. To be specific, Kourin's familiar classical ringtone of her cellphone.

"Isn't that Brahm's 4th Symphony?" Fuji inquired with a slight frown.

Kourin just nodded without looking at the tensai since she was busy taking out her cellphone from her pocket before she finally stopped the ringing by pushing the Answer Call button.

"Hello? Kourin here speaking," she started as she walked slightly away from the others.

"I wonder who would call her right now," Nanako muttered.

"It might be Edogawa-kun. He did say that he'll call her once he found something reliable to solve the case," Momoshiro stated as he remembered the bespectacled little detective's words to Kourin before they separated.

Fuji just nodded as he watched Kourin.

"Ah, it's Conan. Sorry if I called. Did I disturb you?"

"No, you didn't. Don't worry. Why did you call? Did you find anything?"

"About that… I haven't found anything yet with regards to the killer. But I did find something about the orange lily."

Kourin frowned. "You mean, besides its meaning?"

"Ah. But this is something that might have a relation to you, as well."

"To me? What do you mean?"

But weird enough, she didn't hear anything from him until a few seconds later.

"Sorry about that. Shouko-san just asked me about something. About your question, my answer to you might still be unclear but I have to say it. The orange lily doesn't only mean 'hatred and disdain', right? It also means 'wealth' and 'pride' but you said that it doesn't have any relation to the case."

She nodded once. "That's right. I said something like that a while back. But what does that has something to do with me?" She was curious to know since… well… she was just curious. Or at least that was what she wanted to think for now.

"You know there's another meaning for orange lily, right? In the language of flowers, orange lily also means 'I burn for you'. 'Burn' which is related to 'fire'."

"And?"

She heard Conan sigh on the other line. "I guess it can't be helped since you've just started learning about the family matters after the Dark Rose case."

Kourin glowered at no one when she heard that. "I don't know if you're insulting me or complementing me when you said that."

"Neither. But it's for the best if you know this now. You know the four items among the 14 ceremonial items that represent that 4 classical elements, right?"

She went quiet for a while to think about what Conan had just asked. "I do. The Fan of the Fire, the Mirror of the Waters, the Horn of the Winds, and the Crown of the Earth—those were the items. But what does that had to do with anything with regards to me?"

"Those four items represents the four of the highly regarded and distinguished families in Japan. One of the items represents the Shinomiya family—the Crown of the Earth. The other three items represent the three families that guards your family, Rin. Those three families were also regarded as the 'Knights of the Sky' namely the Moon Knight, the Sun Knight, and the Star Knight. One of those 3 families has the Fan of the Fire as their representative elemental item and the Sun Knight as their title—both have something to do with 'flame' which is the other meaning of orange lily."

"O… kay… Now you're definitely confusing me. And how come you know that much about me family? Why are you asking me about the items?"

"Because the Fan of the Fire and the Sun Knight has something to do with one of the families in charge of protecting you given the fact that you're the last surviving member of the Shinomiya bloodline to live this far. Rin, that family I'm talking about might have something to do with the tennis court murders."

Kourin's eyes widened when she heard her cousin's statement. "So you're telling me that this family is the culprit?"

"I didn't say that. I only said that they might have something to do with the case. They are connected to this, I can tell you that. But that's as far as I can tell."

She went quiet after that. That was what Ryoma saw as soon as he went down. He frowned at the sight before facing his two senpai.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Fuji faced the rookie. "Edogawa-kun called her. I'm not sure about the topis of their discussion but she had this serious expression right from the start."

"I'm kind of worried but I can't just barge in and ask her about it," Momoshiro said, still looking at the serious-looking and quiet girl.

Then they heard her spoke after a few moments of silence. Their attention then focused to her.

"You're talking about the Azuraya family, aren't you?" she asked to the person on the other line. No answer other than an agreeing sound came from Conan. "Now that you mentioned it, Shouda-sensei did say something about the items—the elemental items, to be exact."

"You studied about them?" Conan asked.

"Sort of. I just started an in-depth learning about them about a week ago. The Crown of the Earth represents my family. The Fan of the Fire represents the so-called Sun Knight which is the Azuraya family. The Miyuzaki family is the Star Knight and the Mirror of the Waters represents them. The Moon Knight is the Yumemiya family and they're the silent and also the invisible messenger of our family—thus having the Horn of the Winds as their representative elemental item. You said that the orange lily has something to do with the Azuraya family. How so?"

"About that… The orange lily—to cut the story short—is the flower emblem of the Azuraya family. Not only that, it's also the original flower emblem of the school where most of their family members had been the alumni—Hyotei Gakuen."

She frowned at that. "Hyotei Gakuen?" As soon as those words were absorbed in her mind, she realized something. "Wait a minute! You couldn't mean…?!"

"I'm not sure. I told you, the information I'm giving you now might still be unclear. Once I had a clearer and more reliable information, I'll call you right away. Until then, you have to be careful. Okay?"

"Okay. Be careful, too. Later." Then the phone call ended.

Hyotei Gakuen? They would possibly be another target but I doubt if it has something to do with their original flower emblem. And the Azuraya family… Why would that name pop out in this case?

When Kourin couldn't think of an answer to her question, she just heaved a sigh and placed her cellphone back to her pocket. Maybe her cousin could provide the necessary clues to solve all this.

She was surprised to see the people in that house staring at her when she turned around and faced them.

Oh, right! I forgot they're here. She walked towards them with a hesitant smile on her face. "I'm really sorry about that."

"What was the conversation all about?" Ryoma immediately asked.

But Kourin answered with a shaking of her head and a sad smile that curved her lips. "I guess it's better if I should keep it to myself for now… since it has something to do with a family friend."

"But Kourin-chan—" Momoshiro was cut off when Fuji tapped the junior powerhouse player's shoulder, thus stopping him from continuing what he was supposed to say. Momoshiro looked at his senpai with questioning eyes.

"Not now, Momo," was all Fuji said soberly. Left with no choice, Momoshiro nodded after taking a deep breath.

With that, they all proceeded to the dining area where lunch was served.

-x-x-

Later that night…

Another sigh came out from Kourin as she stared at her laptop's screen for over an hour now but still couldn't find anything to do with it. A while back, she had planned on posting something on her blogsite but she couldn't think of anything to write. Realizing that it would take her forever (not literally) to think of what to write about, she decided to shut down her laptop and think of something else to do.

I guess sleeping is out of the question, considering that it's still quarter to seven in the evening… she thought boredly before shrugging it off her mind. She was usually a nocturnal person, especially if she has to finish her prjects or read a book. Sometimes, she would think of some techniques she could use in tennis. But this time, she has to stay up late because of the code that was killer left beside the dead victim's body at St. Rudolph.

Shouko e-mailed it to her a while ago to her e-mail account. Conan called again right after the e-mail was sent. He only asked her about their meeting place tomorrow. Though it was Saturday tomorrow, Fudomine Tennis Club would still have tennis practice to go through since they would also participate in the Nationals. That information was courtesy of Tachibana An herself. Of course, Momoshiro didn't tell her about the threat and he acted towards her like he used to—like it was obvious for him to have a crush on her. Oh, well. Kourin would see for herself how pretty An was for Momoshiro to have a crush on Fudomine Tennis Club's captain's little sister. She grinned at the thought. By then, she realized something.

Since when did I become this sneaky? And as far as I know, I am not a sadist to actually do something to tease Momo-chan… or am I? She sighed after that thought came to her mind. Soon after, a cat's meow snapped her out of her musings. When she looked around, she saw Karupin wagging its tail as it looked at her. She then went down from her seat and cuddled the cat.

"Thanks for distracting me, Karupin. All this thinking really makes my brain go whack. Same goes for worrying," she said while stroking Karupin's fur.

The cat answered with a meow which made her smile.

"You really have the knacks for dispelling my worries, you know that? Just like the time you and Ryoma-niichan stayed at Agasa-hakase's house before."

That was the time she decided to look around the room where she was currently in.

It was Ryoma's room since there was no extra room at the time. The freshman didn't mind that she was there, though. In fact, he was the one who suggested that she should sleep in his room. Of course, that suggestion came as a surprise but it was evident that he had already decided. So now, she was there.

"I wonder where Ryoma-niichan is," she mumbled as she continued to stroke Karupin's fur. A few seconds later, she heard something.

It was like… a tennis racket hitting a tennis ball simultaneously with almost the same time interval. But if that was the case… "Could there be a tennis court near the house?"

But before any answer came from Karupin, she stood up from her crouching and went out of the room. Along the way, she saw Nanako.

"Nanako-san, is there a tennis court near here?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, there is. In fact, Ryoma-san's there right now. He's practicing with Oji-sama."

"Will it be okay if I ask you to take me there?" Kourin asked with hints of pleading in her voice. Not to mention, excitement was there, too.

Who wouldn't be? This was tennis she was talking about. A tennis match that she really wanted to see since the legendary Samurai Nanjiroh and the Samurai Junior were the players.

It wasn't a surprise for Nanako to see Kourin this excited. Shouko did mention to her once that the young girl has her eyes on tennis from the start. Kourin was just 4 back then—that was the first time her brother Hitoshi taught her about tennis. In the span of more than 5 years, she learned a lot. One factor for that was Kourin's highly intelligent brain for a nine-year-old child, though the family know it wasn't impossible considering her heritage on both sides of her family—Kudo and Shinomiya.

Nanako obliged to the young girl's request and so she took her to the tennis court of that residence.

Kourin's smile was priceless when she saw Nanjiroh and Ryoma—father and son—playing tennis. She couldn't help but to think it was amazing. The last time she saw something like this was when her father and her brother were still alive. To be exact, a week before Hitoshi went to New York to participate in the US Open while she and the rest of the family stayed in Florida. Her smile slowly faded as she continued to watch Nanjiroh and Ryoma play tennis. She watched and observed their playstyles seriously and carefully.

When the match ended with Nanjiroh being the winner and Ryoma being pissed off for not winning against his father (again), that was when she realized why her father Shinomiya Ryuuki couldn't contain his excitement whenever he would tell her stories about his professional tennis days with Nanjiroh. Echizen Nanjiroh—once known as the Samurai Nanjiroh—was undeniably an amazing tennis player. Now she wouldn't wonder where Ryoma inherited that talent. She couldn't help but to smile at the thought.

That was when the father and son noticed Nanako and Kourin's presence.

"Rin, why are you here? I thought you were sleeping already," Ryoma said as he approached the girl. Surprisingly, on his part, he wasn't feeling pissed off anymore as soon as he saw Kourin.

The girl put her hands on her waist. "Seriously, you're expecting me to sleep knowing I would be worried about how to outwit the culprit at least for once? I don't think that will happen anytime soon, Ryoma-niichan," Kourin said before coming towards him. "Mind if I borrow your racket for a while?"

Ryoma gave it to her without a word. Kourin did forehand swings a few times before analyzing the racket. "It's a little heavier than the tennis racket I used in school."

"You really took tennis seriously, huh?" Nanako commented.

Kourin nodded once as she showed a sad smile. "Tennis is something that I could never hate or forget. As soon as I picked up the racket, the feeling I felt when I first played tennis was returning to me. Tennis is something that I could never give up even though it pains me to remember a lot of memories that goes with it. Tennis is one thing that makes me happy right now. I could feel Otou-sama and Onii-sama with me whenever I play tennis." Then she faced Ryoma with a happy smile this time. "Besides, if it wasn't for tennis, I wouldn't be able to meet you, Nanjiroh-san, Nanako-san, Rinko-san, and the rest of the Seigaku regulars. Tennis is one reason for me to live my life until now, even without my family."

Ryoma was stunned to hear all that from the girl. Even Nanjiroh and Nanako felt the same way as Ryoma. All they could do at the time was to watch her smile before she went to the court and picked up one of the scattered tennis balls on the ground. Before any of them could say anything, they saw Kourin made a serve that Ryoma knew he saw once. He recognized it since it was the very same serve she used to distract the culprit at St. Rudolph so Yuuta could get away from him.

It was similar to Twist Serve, though there was still a few differences. One of them was the twist of the ball itself. It was like—

"Like the ball has the kind of twist similar to that of drilling hole…" Nanako noted softly that Ryoma still heard.

Drill? Now that he thought about it, the ball did drill a hole when Kourin used that serve using the super-powered tennis racket. Not only that, the ball didn't bounce as it continued to spin and rolled a few inches for some seconds on the ground before it suddenly hopped and eventually landed back to the ground. What kind of serve is that?

"It's Ryuuki's incomplete serve," Nanjiroh suddenly said. "He invented it right before both of us retired to professional tennis but he never used it in any of his matches. I found it weird before but then I understood why when said that the serve wasn't meant for him to use. His child, he said, was the one meant to complete. I'm not sure if Hitoshi used that serve before. I can't believe I'll be able to see that serve again with my own eyes."

"Onii-sama used it once in one of his tennis matches," Kourin said as she faced them. "It doesn't have a name before since he, too, didn't even complete it. He taught me that serve when I was five and he said that maybe I'm the one meant to complete it."

"And I guess your brother was right about you completing that serve… finally. By the way, what name did you give to that serve of yours?"

" 'Jupiter's Twisthunder Strike…' Named after the Roman God of Thunder and Lightning," Kourin answered. "Its original purpose was to stun the opponent with a serve that made them think as if the lightning had struck them with a drilling effect along with the roar of thunder. I just made it a part of my own set of techniques using the names from the Roman pantheon of gods as basis. It took me a month of continuously doing that serve for me to complete it—which had definitely made me tired." Then she laughed before doing another serve. This time, she aimed to hit the spot where the first ball landed a while back. It wasn't a surprise for her that she did hit the same spot.

She only used the Roman gods' names… Now that I think about it, the codenames used by the Dark Rose Agency came from Greek mythology—particularly the Titans and the Greek pantheon of gods… Ryoma thought as he continued watching Kourin pick up another tennis ball from the tennis court. "What other techniques can you do, Rin?"

"Hmm… Only a few so far," she replied. "As for now, Twisthunder Strike is the only completed technique I have. For the rest, I guess it'll take me years and a lot of guts before I complete any of it." She faced the tennis court and did another serve. It was just a regular serve but with the same aim.

Ryoma couldn't help but to feel amazed at how precise the ball had landed. Yes, he was cocky and arrogant (not that he would actually admit that out loud) when it comes to tennis but this was the first time that a kid's determination and knowledge about tennis had truly impressed him. He was already impressed with her unlikely intelligent mind and her motherly-like caring attitude for a nine-year-old kid even before he knew she has interest in tennis—extreme interest, for that matter. And though he clearly knew the girl definitely had lots more to work on, he wouldn't say that to her out loud. Besides, he didn't have any plans of telling that to her.

With that thought in mind, he approached the girl after borrowing (or rather 'taking' might have been the precise word) his father's racket. Though confused, Nanjiroh just let his son do whatever he wanted (since he was always like that). But he was surprised to see that Ryoma was actually talking to Kourin and giving her some pointers in tennis like he was actually a pro.

Oh, well. At least he's not as arrogant as I think he is, Nanjiroh thought as he smirked before leaving the two people there. Nanako soon followed when she realized what Nanjiroh was up to.

"Oji-sama, do you think it's okay for us to leave them there?" she asked to Nanjiroh while walking.

"It might not look like it but Ryoma had his attention fixated to that kid since the beginning. After all, Kourin-chan isn't an ordinary kid. Besides, that girl needs this to relax. Tennis could probably help her in some way to think properly since this new case bothers her and her cousin in a great deal."

"She's been through a lot for a kid, huh? I can't believe how she managed to handle all that. No one could read through her right now—now even Shouko-san or Shouda-sensei," Nanako said sadly.

"Maybe Ryoma could pass through the barrier that Kourin had surrounded herself. And he'll probably do it… using tennis."

Nanako frowned. "Using tennis? How so?"

But the man just answered with a mysterious smile—a little different than his cocky ones. "You'll find out soon…"