"EH!? The school is considering abolishing the school uniform ruling!?"

Shinichi blinked his eyes in confusion at Ranran, then at Takuma plus his girlfriend as they were hanging out in class, with very few kids having remained in class as most of them had left to do their activities that ain't related to school.

Or in Shinichi's opinion, they headed out to see the ongoing drama that has been taking place since this morning involving the scout members of Teitan Elementary school.

Each of them had a seat as they surrounded themselves closely to avoid others listening to their conversation.

"Yes."Reina sighs.

The more he thought about it the more it didn't make sense, cause as far as he had been here, Teitan Elementary had always been a school that sticks to old tradition and rarely embraces the new. That's why Shinichi was shocked when Reina announced the school may consider allowing kids enrolling here to wear whatever they want, and that school uniform is no longer a requirement. "Why?"Shinichi asks.

"You know that fight that took place earlier this morning?"Reina brought it up.

"What, you mean the one involving those 4 kids punching each other out while they talk crap of Ranran earlier?"Takuma spat in annoyance, having taken another bite of the gourmet burger Ranran promised him earlier this morning. The beef Ranran ordered for him, especially the medium-rare she specifically requested, really was the juiciest burger he has ever eaten.

"This morning..."Shinichi's eyes were on the floor as he thinks solemnly rubbing his chin, "If I was not mistaken...based on what I heard among other kids, there were accusing each other of stealing money of that sort."

"It ain't money alone, one of the members even accused the other of stealing her spare school uniform, as it went missing, along with her....big girl pants."Reina added as she shakes her head over the situation, "I truly never would've imagined that even a child our age is capable of doing something that vile!" she spats in disgusts.

In school, the kids here are taught to address girls' panties as 'big girl pants for some reason, and even to this day, Ranran has no idea why the school would come up with such rules, as she sucks through the straw with the drink in her hand. Under school rules, Teitan Elementary takes this very seriously if that sort of thing goes missing, especially if it is suspected to have been stolen. This was something Ranran is aware of as they were briefed about this before starting school here.

"If I wasn't mistaken, I heard the thief was caught, right?"Shinichi recalled having heard other kids talking about it earlier this morning as he was heading to class, "I heard he was some sort of pervert? Why is that?"Shinichi took his can of drink as he drinks it, the orange soda soothing his throat.

"Well, I heard that he enjoy dressing up like a girl, "Ranran answered.

"PFFFFTTTT!!!!!"

Shinichi's orange juice blasted out of his mouth and nose as he turned his head away from the kids, not before he coughed violently as Ranran shook her head at him, "You seriously need to learn how to contain your drink when it comes to listening such news, Shinichi."

"How can I help it?"Shinichi argued, putting his drink aside on his desk as he goes, "Dressing up as a girl? Who does that!? He is a boy for God's sakes!" Shinichi pointed out.

"Boy or not, I don't ever wanna be in 'that guy's shoe now that he is in deep trouble, since everyone in school now knows he is a pervert since he enjoys dressing up like a girl."Takuma rolled his eyes lazily, frowning a little that he is about to finish eating the burger as he wished it be bigger so he could enjoy it a little longer. Sighing, he finished the burger as he tilts his head sleepily, "Even thinking that he studies at the same school as us now....ugh..."Takuma felt chills shivering down his spine as he shakes his head as declared, "I don't want to be anywhere near him, such a disgusting thief. Not now nor ever!"

"I think you boys are being harsh to say things like that, not all crossdressers are perverts, you know?"Reina couldn't help but comment as she argues, "There are girls who love wearing long pants as boys do, why aren't they called a pervert?"

"Alright, fair enough. but then how do you explain the fact that he also enjoys wearing big girl pants as well?!"Takuma justifies this to his girlfriend as he goes, "I don't particularly care if he enjoys wearing dresses, skirts or that sort. Boys can wear whatever they want the way girls do as my dad says. But seriously, there is a limit to how far one can go, mainly....wearing big girl pants belonging to someone!"

"Exactly!"Shinichi agreed as he knocks the table alongside Takuma as he nodded, "Didn't I hear that he was also caught in possession of some other girl's big girl pants? Despite knowing that girl herself has already worn it!? I am sorry, but that makes him a legit pervert for me!"

"Did they manage to find it by the way? Both uniform and stuff?"Ranran questions Reina.

"No, they didn't find anything yet, though I am certain we would soon."She shakes her head at her friend," However.....they did find some interesting photos of him that he had taken in the drama club."

"Eh? What sort of photos?"Takuma asks.

"Selfies of him dressed up as Snow White. Here, I have the pics with me-"

"No, don't send us any of it, please."Takuma dismissively wave his hands at his girlfriend, as this revelation made the boys cringe, sending them goosebumps while Ranran just silently listens to their conversation.

"Anyway, that is the reason why abolishing the school uniform situation came about."Reina huffed, "His divorced parents came over, and it was his dad who suggested having this rule abolished as his son can wear whatever he wants. His mom, however....." she looked distaste," said she didn't want their son to be 'sin' as he already is, as he is already showing signs on becoming a freak in society. Things got so bad, there was a shouting match at the school principal's office even up till now.....the teachers who were having their classes near the office had to yell at the two to quiet down as they couldn't teach with their loud voices."

"OUR 10-YEAR-OLD SON IS ALREADY A FREAK! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANNA SAY!?"

The children of 1-A cringed at the loud booming voice one floor above, as the parents haven't left the school building, still arguing while Shinichi is certain the principal is having a serious headache dealing with those two. Still, he is certain it ain't as bad as the boy in question, to say the least. That reminds him, "What about the other kids?"Shinichi asks, "Did they look into the accusations?"

"No," Again Reina shook, not before she spoke in excitement, "But they did find the money records that indicated one of them did steal the scout funds to pay up the family debt, while others use it to make....unnecessary purchases."

"When you say unnecessary purchases, you mean.....?"Shinichi prompted her to spill out.

"Limited anime pencil casing merch, PSP, anime figurines, hair clips and accessories. Oh yeah, in-game purchases as well."Reina listed.

"Their parents ain't with them now, right?"Ranran can't help but think.

"Well...."

Reina didn't even get the chance to speak as more voices boomed upstairs, "What is wrong with all of you!? Did we raise you all to be thieves or freaks!?"

The voices grew chaotic while Ranran overheard one of their classmates say, "It sucks being them, "the other kids nodded in agreement.

"Damn....."By this point, Takuma is certain of one thing, those 4 morons are condemned for life, he sees no purpose for them to be in this school anymore, knowing that their reputation had been ripped to shreds!

"Anyway, besides them having to suffer for eternity, we are all gathered here to talk about the elephant in the room."Putting aside the drink she finished, Ranran made sure everyone else isn't listening to them, before she urge Takuma and Reina to come a little closer, "I need you guys to do me a couple of favours in regards to our investigation....."

While Reina and Takuma quietly listen to Ranran's words as Shinichi lean his back a little onto the chair, he senses something amiss. His old desk spot where he used to sit with Mouri Ran, is now occupied by a stressed-out Suzuki Sonoko, her face currently buried with her folded arms as she groaned to herself while Ran is nowhere to be found.

Even though Shinichi can't read her expression as her face is fully covered, he can't help but wonder whether she is just merely acting that she looks distressed just to secretly eavesdrop on their conversation. After all, where Ranran, Shinichi, Takuma and Reina are currently sitting is not far from where Sonoko's seat is. Also, having used to sit there before, Shinichi used to be able to pick up a couple of interesting conversations with other kids secretly.

Deciding he should take extra precautions just in case, he goes, "Ah reh?"He stared at Ran's desk," She ain't around."

"Hmph? Who ain't-" Ranran then turned to the direction of his gaze, "Oh yeah, where is Mouri anyway?"Although Ranran had no concern over the wellbeing of Mouri Ran after their last unpleasant encounter, she is curious over her lack of presence as it ain't like her style to just give up midway pursuing after Shinichi like that.

"Ah about that," Heads turned back to Reina, "Ran  applied for leave to attend the funeral of a distant relative of her mom's."

"Ah, that made sense now."Shinichi nodded understandingly, not before he frowned, "But then why does Suzuki look depressed?"

"Well, after having discovered those damning photos, his mother was beyond livid that the drama club members allowed him to dress like some Disney Princess, so the school had no choice but to suspend their activities, "Ranran spoke in a gruff tone.

"What!?That serious!?"Takuma and Shinichi's eyes grew wide in response.

"Very, also, it is at the risk of being permanently disbanded, as that idiot's mom now thinks that the drama club is too much of a bad influence for her already 'sinful' son. Said if the school doesn't, she is gonna sue the school. That was what I heard across the school hallway, based on what I gathered...Suzuki is pulling her hair apart from that the club is about to be shut down, and she is doing whatever she deems necessary to keep it afloat."Ranran answered coolly, not feeling an ounce of sympathy.

"Damn....."Takuma couldn't help but feel sorry for Suzuki, even though he didn't like how she constantly harass his friend.

"It's about time that useless club finally shut down."Shinichi huffs a breath, "all the shows that they put together always seem bland, stereotyped and too predictable. I have seen better shows than those crap."

Takuma was gonna argue that Shinichi shouldn't be saying that, given that his privileged background exposed him to many brilliant broadways shows that are worth stuffing millions of yens into one's mouth and that he shouldn't have had such unrealistic expectations onto a mere school play arranged by kids their age.

"I agree, I've seen better shows put together back in my old school in the U.K, unlike that crap low quality shows she put together."Ranran spoke in an annoyed tone, before she adds, "Give me a computer and I can write a better story than the crap she forcefully made us watch."

"Ranran, don't need to be all so critical over the shows her club pulled, alright? I am certain if you were in their shoes, you would've ended up doing the same things as Suzuki does."Reina exasperated," also, how bad are her shows are anyway? I watched it before and I don't see anything wrong with it."

"Oh really? Then do you want me to list it down?"

"Go ahead, "Reina offered."I would like to know what is wrong with those shows."

"Ok, "Ranran straightened her sitting position before she proceeded to list her amount of rants," She wrote a story of an orphan girl who is kind and is born with a sharp nose, alright?"

"Ah! The Perfume Girl, right? The story where she, the poor one and the rich male lead suffer many trials and tribulations from their opposing families before they finally ended up together, living happily ever after!" Reina speaks of this in a dreamy tone, it honestly makes Ranran puke.

However, she didn't, "There is a lot of problems in that story. As in a lot."Ranran shakes her head, wondering how fried was Suzuki's brain was when she wrote down that script.

"What was wrong with the script?"

"Ok, let's start with the part where she started working for the male lead."Ranran then lift her index finger, "One, as soon as she started working professionally under his company, why is she that stupid to admit her feelings for him?"

"Hah!?"

"When you work for someone, you don't say that sort of thing. Realistically, that is not professional at all, especially since the male lead is her work boss, an employer you be working with for a very long time. Most companies, mind you, won't tolerate this sort of nonsense and will get you fired on the spot."

"WHAT!? That serious!?"Takuma, Reina and Shinichi's jaws dropped in unison.

"It is, "Ranran insist, "Cause if anything goes wrong with their love, it will ruin the company's reputation and jeopardize company revenue. What she did is enough to get her fired. Second point," she shows her middle finger next to her index," the show had two male leads, two of them are good looking and have feelings for her. And the female lead is aware of this. May I ask, why is it that even after she ended up with the main lead, she always never tell him off on his romantic advances towards her?"

"Eh?"

"I mean the poor guy kept on giving him flowers and gifts even after she became someone's girlfriend, and she just smiled without telling him off. Ain't that leading him on? As if he is her next boyfriend to cry to if the first one doesn't work?"She then changes her language to British English," She is like a s**t."Ranran spoke with a lack of refinement in her.

"Ranran! Language! What did I say about using words that degrade a girl!?"Reina who understands English tells her off, as Takuma was stunned at his girlfriend's booming voice while Shinichi couldn't help but flinch at her unexpected change in tone, as it echoes from the head student council. The other kids in class soon stopped at one what they are doing, as all attention were on the four. Even Suzuki Sonoko who was feeling depressed jerked her head up unexpected.

Ranran couldn't care less, however, as she revert her language to Japanese," She has no self-respect, I don't mind saying it again if I have to. It doesn't change the fact she is the s-word."

The two boys turned to each other and asked in unison, "What is s**t?"

"Yeah, what does that word mean?"One of their classmates soon began to ask.

As they are curious, Ranran goes, "Google it. You will know what I mean."Ranran suggests.

And so Shinichi is about to on his smartphone, not before Reina panicked in horror and manages to do damage control by pointing at the entrance, "Oh look! Recess is almost over and sensei is coming!"

That made the other kids abandon everything they were doing as they all returned to their seats, looking eager to share the recent developments of this morning's feud with their friends while Reina glared at Ranran, "Don't ever say that again!"Ranran just merely shrugged as Reina let out a long breath before staring at Shinichi, sympathizing with his plight as she goes, "Google it another time, you need to keep an eye on her mouth. I swear...one day her mouth will get her killed."

Shinichi nodded silently before everyone returned to their seat in the nick of time, the teacher enters the class and announced their lecture plans for the day. While the other students soon returned from class after observing 'The Drama upstairs' in the nick of time, other kids soon started whispering amongst each other even with a teacher in their presence.

"So anyone knows what that word was it she said earlier?"

"Oh, you mean that English word right? Call s**t?"

"No idea."

"Here, let me google secretly."

And so one of them did, but all of them became confused, "What does this word mean? This s** word in their definition?"

"No idea."

More whispers followed as the teacher then turned her head to the noisy classroom, "Silence! Maths is about to begin! Also, if anyone uses their smartphone in class, you will never see it again! Understand!?"

That shut them up, but as soon as they turned back, despite the volume having turned down, words were exchanged through notes. Meanwhile, an uneasy Suzuki Sonoko decided to google the definition of the word using her smartphone, what she read made her angry. Since Suzuki herself was raised in a rich family with certain education briefed to her, it's no surprise she soon figure out what Ranran truly meant about her story.

As the teacher is busy writing in class, Suzuki struggles to contain her anger."H-how dare.....how dare that girl to dare to say such degrading words towards my stories! Is she....is she implying I am like that as well!? Just because I write without thinking!?"

While Suzuki Sonoko was left feeling embarrassed and frustrated at Ranran's choice of words, Shinichi who is sitting next to Ranran passes a note to her, that reads:

You took it too far.

Ranran knew what her apprentice is referring to, she knows he wasn't that stupid to realize how she played a huge role behind the large feud that is currently the talk of the school. She wrote back in response: It doesn't matter if one is a crossdresser, one has no right to speak ill of the other despite their shortcomings. Also, I truly didn't expect Suzuki's drama club to end up getting suspended because of what they did. I didn't even know about his cross-dressing hobby till today.

Are you sure? He wrote as he wore scepticism on his face.

Of course, but since you mentioned that he was also caught with big girl pants worn by other girls, I kinda wish I had exposed him to the media. That will teach him a lesson on what happens to sick lolicons like him!

Judging Ranran's expression of disgust and anger, Shinichi decided thankfully that it was lucky she didn't know any of this in advance, otherwise, the victims associated with that pervert would've suffered a far worst fate.

Now Shinichi didn't completely disagree with Ranran's suggestion, he too would love to expose and humiliate that pervert. However, he didn't want to amplify the unfortunate students' traumas up to a notch.

Shinichi once heard through his parents one day during breakfast, that a 44-year-old salesman was arrested for murdering so many girls as young as the age of 5-10 after having done all those disgusting things towards them (the girls) around Beikai district. Though he wasn't clear what 'disgusting things' meant, all he know was the parents discuss grimly how the survivors didn't fair out lucky as well, as they were constantly hounded by the press 24.7, from their homes to their school after the news broke out about his vile crimes.

Things have taken a turn for the worst when it was later revealed that the killer was also a closet cross-dressing pervert. As it was unlike any other murder story due to the killer's questionable preferences, much less in Japan of all places, the press later gave him the name 'The cross-dressing killer'. This didn't sit well with the cross-dressing community, as they lashed out over the prejudice at the already tragic yet dire situation that not all of them are perverts because of the strange subject.

Anyhow, almost every school across Japan were notified to brief safety courses to kids of all ages, boys as well to watch out if they ever come across some suspicious individual that takes fancy onto little girls their age. Those kinds of sick individuals are later addressed as 'lolicons' amongst kids. Even so, despite having the arrest made, Ranran had once shared her suspicion that the killer couldn't have done this alone, that he may have had an accomplice, perhaps a child their age to lure those victims since his personality in Ranran's opinion was not approachable as he looks more like a creep.

However, kids tend to see and hear things that adults least expect.

Because of the eccentricity of this case, presumably due to the kids' limited understanding, as well as the media's false misinterpretation that all cross-dressers are perverts, the kids had a poor misleading understanding of such individuals. This is why when word got out about this cross-dressing incident, let alone, the person who happens to be a kid, the entire school treated that boy as if he was some zoo animal.

Anyway, besides that, Suzuki was also eavesdropping on us, I saw her peaking at us even by glimpses. Ranran wrote hastily in response.

What?! Shinichi didn't notice any of this, he passed the note back to her. Did you see her?

Judging Ranran's expression, he knew she did. Of course, Ranran is 'The Fox', she is bound to notice things ahead of him: Insulting something personal is the only way to make her lose focus. As for her club, I didn't expect that boy to head over to her drama club and do those kinds of dress-up.

That's right, now that Shinichi thinks about it.....Suzuki takes it in stride when she got put in charge of writing those stories for the drama club. If one insults it, she will not take it too kindly. It must be working, cause as Shinichi glanced at Suzuki, the heiress of the Suzuki group seemed to be fired up, with veins popping on her forehead.

"But seriously, what is with the idiots in this school who keep coming after us one after another, as if they don't want you to be a detective or something? I knew you were obnoxious to a point enemies would be made. Who knew it to be that serious? I go mad if I were you."Ranran shrugs without a care in the world.

It was then through those words that Shinichi realizes he has burdened Ranran with unnecessary dramas since becoming her apprentice. Ranran never once complain since having him around and dealt with all of the problems he brought over, the Fanclub, his situation with Suzuki and Mouri, all of this Ranran was able to handle with stride and grace despite ending up having a scratch.

Thinking about this now made him feel more depressed than ever.

Throughout his life, he grew up not knowing how to handle all of the problems surrounding him, the problems that come with him having been born to famous parents. He may have the talent to see through people's motives, but had no way of figuring out how to deal with them. To think he had to rely on a 6-year-old girl to ward them off like pesky mosquitoes, not to mention, a kid who is already dealing with a lot on her plate looking for 'Echis' while he was too petty having broken into her house, telling her off due to his wounded ego rather than offering solutions to the problem.

Worst, it was his supposed sworn rival who took him under her wing as an apprentice despite all the things he had said to her. He wrongly accused her.

"Shinichi? What's wrong?"Ranran suddenly spoke, waking him up from his trance.

"I'm sorry, Ranran. For having to deal with my problems....."He spoke, his voice breaking.

For a moment, Ranran had a look of surprise. Shinichi never apologize once since breaking into her house, yet he apologized out of the blue?" Over what?" she asks.

"Everything, starting from the fact that I accused your mom, to all of the crap you had to deal with since I became your apprentice. Even the part that I broke into your house out of pettiness."He answers as he couldn't stop, his words poured out naturally as his heart says.

Shinichi didn't know what he was going to expect from Ranran in response, after apologizing. Is she gonna say comforting words that it's going to be alright? But that ain't her character. After a long pause, she goes,"....you better make it up throughout your apprenticeship with me."

Shinichi was stunned, does this mean she has forgiven him?"Ranran....."

"Sorry is mere a word that gets carelessly thrown around, I want to see you prove how sincere your apology is."

"Ranran....."Shinichi stops himself from saying sorry, again. She is right, the only way is to prove it himself through this detective work, otherwise, all the things she did to preserve him around will be meaningless.

"Also, most of the things that had happened around you were beyond your control. Can't believe you have to be exposed this early to figure out all of this."Ranran replies with a shrug.

"...."

"My mentor......went through the same thing as you did, "Shinichi swore at some point, he is certain her voice sounded broken as she brought this up.

"Eh?"That caught him by surprise, "The same one whom you said died on duty, deshou?"

She nodded as she went on, "He was in the same situation with you. As his apprentice......as smart as I was, I was too helpless to protect him."

"I am sorry...."Shinichi answered with sympathy, as he thinks she was probably too young at that time to shield her adult mentor.

"No, don't bother."Ranran dismissed him, as her bangs covered her expression which makes it unreadable for Shinichi, "After doing this profession, you will soon realize....sometimes even the talent we have is never gonna be enough to protect the people you care for."Shinichi can't find the proper words to reply."This job....it changes how one views the world, in a bad way."Ranran mumbles to herself.

That sat in silence for a moment, deep in thought," Also, what we found about 'Echis' recently....."

"Ah, that guy, "The atmosphere began to turn tense by the mere mention of the name, a name that sent chills even for Shinichi alone.

Upon their investigation digging around, it appears that this 'Echis' guy had a total of almost 30 murder charges legally pinned onto him, and a total of 60 additional homicide cases he was suspected to be the mastermind behind their deaths. In addition to all of the murders, he is also reported to have tons of detectives and law enforcement under his payroll since last year. Although Ranran's dad was reported to have arrested those who are involved, according to Ranran, she thinks there could've been more still lurking around. She did give him names on who to look out for, so Shinichi is keeping on his toes on who he should and shouldn't trust.

"Are you sure you be able to keep up?"

"Eh?"

"This investigation?"She asks in concern, "You couldn't even keep up with one of Echis's henchmen the other day."

"I can."He reassures her, not before he warned her, "Turn back to the blackboard. Sensei will notice if we ain't paying attention."

The two then turned back to face the blackboard, appearing as if they were listening intently to the class when secretly, they are already figuring out their next move in their investigation.

Ever since Shinichi looked into it, he didn't have a lot of rest. Neither did Ranran either, as she was always uneasy, tense. Shinichi was not going to lie, being Ranran's apprentice was a lot tougher than he had imagined. He realizes this as time goes by.

Shinichi had to make a lot of lifestyle changes, starting from the fact that it wasn't reasonable for him to finish his homework after completing one of his usual investigation tasks as it would often drag on till midnight hours. Sure, he is smart enough to finish it within a short period by the time he had home, but he didn't think the investigation itself to be demanding, where it required tons of physical travelling involving long walks, chasing after suspects with strong endurance of stamina......honestly, he was shocked that Ranran was able to endure all of the heavy physical endurance as a detective, despite being smaller than him. He played soccer a lot, and yet, he was unable to keep up with her. In addition to that, he often notices how sometimes internet research did little work to their investigation, and often they would need to head to some local libraries to dig further intel.

By the time all of this was said and done, he was too tired to even complete his homework and almost got in trouble with sensei had Ranran not completed his home for him (he was also stunned when the teacher didn't even suspect that the handwriting wasn't his, given she did a good job forging it as well). So he has been secretly completing his homework under the desk in advance during lessons just so he wouldn't need to deal with it later.

Another thing he had to do was deal with difficult and unruly tasks, such as a lot of the suspects tend to be unreasonable, demanding and uncooperative like the ones he read in Sherlock Holmes novels, except unlike the novels, they are capable of doing worst. He would've thought that since they are both 6-year-old children, they wouldn't dare to harm them.

Big mistake, it gives those bastards more of a reason to disrespect, talk smack of them, hell, they even went as far to easily yell threats and point at them with a gun or waving bats and stick at them at a menacing pace. Perhaps now he thinks of it, it wasn't as bad as Ranran constantly endangering his life by using him as bait, just so to lure them out just so she would attack them unsuspectingly.

Above all, who knew this job would be so energy-draining? He has no clue how Ranran can keep up with all of this, especially the days when Ranran was 'The Fox'. In those crime dramas he watched, they always wrap up their investigations within a day or 2, and it's been almost 3 or 4 weeks since Watanabe's escape. After all of this, Shinichi also decided to train his physical endurance by playing soccer on his own whenever he is free.

Seriously, this apprenticeship has made him realize how far lacking he is compared to Ranran. That it be this humbling.

He got to give Ranran the credit, he seriously doesn't have the right to judge her.

When all of this is over, Shinichi decides he is going to take her to that cafe he always heads to just to give her a relaxing day for once. At least that is the only thing he can do to lift some of her burdens as her apprentice.

.....

"You can't do this!"

Suzuki had both her hands slam on the table harshly, protesting against the leader of the drama club as they were in their club room, while the leader shook her head at Suzuki, "I am sorry", The drama club leader replied quietly, "You saw what is going on, Suzuki. There is no way the school is going to tolerate it. What our drama club did was insensitive, that ain't how it works."

"But who cares about this nowadays!? In drama club, the motto is 'anyone can be anybody'!Who cares if one dresses up as a girl or a boy!?"

"Unfortunately, you ain't understanding what is truly going on, Suzuki."

"I do! A killer was arrested not long ago enjoy dressing up as a girl! And the school is just making a big mountain out of a molehill by making a scapegoat out of him! Not all cross-dressers are like that!"Sonoko argued, feeling all so emotional.

"Suzuki, he had big girl pants with him! Also, he wore it despite knowing some other girl wore it! This is unacceptable no matter what!"

"But-"

"Do you know.....what he said in that principal's office, Suzuki!?"She yelled angrily with her trembling voice as Suzuki winced, "When I got called over, the first thing I overheard him saying to his parents was 'I never felt so alive than ever dressing up as a girl!' As soon as I heard this...I never felt so glad in my life that his mom slapped him! That sick bastard!"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Suzuki's face turned pale, as white as a ghost as the club leader went on to say, "Suzuki, you know I never want to shut down this club. This club is my life and soul! However!"She gave a tensed pause as she usually does, not before releasing the breath she held on for so long, "The situation is as bad as it already is. And the principal thinks we took it too far! Sadly....he is right."She looked down at the floor with a sad expression, "no matter what, it doesn't change the fact that we were being insensitive towards the victims of the cross-dressing killer."

"All of this is nothing but a series of coincidences! Can't you see something doesn't feel right with this!?"Sonoko growled before she realizes something, "That's right! Maybe that Kudo Ranran girl had something to do with this! That she schemed all of this!"

"For God-sakes, Suzuki! Why are you so insistent on accusing that girl!? What did she even do to you to deserve such hate!? She is a nice girl."

That made Suzuki stumped, "What-"

"That girl always give out interesting stories for our club, unlike you. I have been wanting to recruit her for a long while, if it wasn't for those pesky idiot girl actresses constantly feeling all so inferior over her looks and talent!" she sneered at an emotional Suzuki.

That made Suzuki Sonoko freeze, her palm which was sweating in anxiety curled into a ball of a fist, trembling like those sakura petals blowing in the wind.

Backing away, the club leader realized she had struck a nerve and apologized, "I am sorry, Suzuki. But....."She grabbed Suzuki's hand, and squeezed it to calm her down while Suzuki struggle to hold back."I believe this is the end of the road for us all, Suzuki."

Suzuki wanted to put up a fight, she wanted to say out all the vicious things her best friend Ran had to go through, having lost Shinichi all to that sly little girl. But she couldn't continue, as tears kept coming.

First is losing Shinichi to that vicious witch, now she has to lose her whole bloody club!?

Why!? Is it because she kept pestering after Ranran, who her best friend kept being nice to her while all Ranran ever did was look down in a condescending tone!? What is wrong with that? She mistreats and used everyone around her as if they were her pawns! Even that tantei geek....even he is under her bloody spell!

Now that their drama club is going to be disbanded, there would no longer be story writings discussion anymore in every meeting, no more dressing up in cute costumes, no more bringing the visions of her stories and characters to life in front of an exciting crowd, no more audiences giving a standing ovation. Above all of this, Suzuki will no longer have a refuge to go to vent her story-telling stories anymore.

......

Sonoko was too caught up in thought as she left the drama club, her tears had been wiped away as she attempt to process the last words the leader spoke about the way she was treating Ranran.

Ranran? A nice girl?

Sonoko thought sarcastically, how blind can she be?

Sonoko always knew there was something wrong with Ranran, as soon as she heard of Shinichi allegedly pushing Ranran down the parkour obstacle course, she has suspected nothing but bad news of that said girl. Kudo Ranran was no different than Suzuki Sonoko; rich.

Aside from personality, Ranran is even blessed with a doll-like face, unlike Suzuki herself where she is born plain looking. Sonoko ain't gonna deny, while it's true that boys commented she is as beautiful as a rose, she is certain even if there were weeds around her, those weeds would just die and end up becoming nutrients to maintain their beautiful appearance.

This revelation made Suzuki Sonoko more furious than ever, but mostly above all, sad. It's like no matter whatever stunt she tries to pull onto that devious girl, she always seemed to be 100 steps ahead of her! Why God must be so evil to bless the wrong girl with such beautiful appearances if her personality is rotten to the core?

"Shinichi let's go! We don't have all day!"

"Hai (alright)! I am coming!"

Suzuki froze in her tracks, as she witness the said devil waving across the hallway from afar, calling out Shinichi's name as he caught up to her from the classroom. Suzuki was beyond livid, already calling each other on a first-name basis!? Didn't they always use to call each other by their surname?! What changed?

"So that Kudo Ranran wants to play games, right?"Sonoko narrowed her eyes determinedly.

Sonoko may not be a smart Tantei as Kudo Shinichi, nor even as scheming as Kudo Ranran, but if she knew one thing for sure, is that Suzuki has persistence. No matter how hard things get, she won't back off.

Things aren't going to be pretty, she is gonna made sure she is aware of that.

Sonoko thought decisively"So you dare to make Ran cry, you're about to be in some deep trouble, Kudo Watson Ranran."Sonoko could feel a fire raging inside of her."One does not simply mess with my best friend. And she is going to learn this the hard way."

Unfortunately for Sonoko, she would soon learn why attempting to mess with Ranran would become her worst ever mistake.