日本語 101
Japanese 101

Baka 馬鹿 means Stupid / Idiot 
Chan ちゃん means little one, an honorific usually reserved for children or people who are close friends or family members
San さん means Mr, Mrs, A universally to address people out of respect 
Kun 君 means an honorific for senior to address junior (When addressing female)
Urusai 煩い means Irritating
Senpai 先輩 means Senior
Kōhai 後輩 means Junior
Kawaii 可愛い means Cute
Kakkoii格好良い means Cool
Onii-chanお兄ちゃん  means Elder Brother
ChiChi 父 means Father (Used only when addressing own Father)
Haha 母 means Mother (Used only when addressing own Mother)
Todai 東大 means The University of Tokyo 東京大学
Sensei 先生 means Teacher
Ojou-sama お嬢様 means Young Mistress

 

“Ah…. The good old days of teenage youth~” Kindaichi Hajime smiled at the sight of high school students rushing out of the school gate of Fudo High School. Years ago he was one of those Fudo High School students who jumped up happily at the sound of the school bell, the sign of their freedom.

It never occurred to him that he would be back here again at his old high school 10 years down the road, waiting for that same sign of freedom. It seems that fate does have its tricky ways of throwing people back into a loop while one least expect.

It did not seem too long ago that Miyuki-chan was smacking the back of his head because he said something stupid as they walked out of the school gate together.  Those were the memories he fondly remembered. And now to think, fate seems to have it in for him to make him walk down the same memory lane because of another person instead.

‘Ah… For the other person indeed,’ The face of Kindaichi Hajime took on the expression of somewhat disturbed look with a hint of lecherous gaze in his eyes as he recalled the reason for him to wait outside the school gate like an impatient schoolboy waiting for his girlfriend to be released from school.

Smirking to himself, Kindaichi Hajime could almost imagine the look of incredulous look on her face if she learned of the description he had come up with for this strange situation. He supposed that look of incredulous should mirror his when he first realised Detective Akechi’s plan for her.

He would have laughed at Detective Akechi’s hare-brained idea of sending someone to go undercover as a high school student if not for her sudden appearance in Akechi’s office. Kindaichi could admit to himself that her appearance was the cat that had gotten his tongue, leaving him completely stunned beyond words as all he could do then was to stare blankly at the sight of her.

It was not the first time he has seen any girl, in fact, he has seen his share of beautiful celebrities during his mystery-solving times, and that girl presented to him was in no way more beautiful or glamorous than those famous people he had met.

But there was one fact which made her stood out among those beautiful people in his memories. The fact that he knew her and could hardly believe his eyes, if not for her unwilling trademark cool stare, he would have thought of the person in front of him as a stranger.

Unwantedly his treacherous mind started to compare the girls, allowing him to recognise the dismay in realising that even Nanase Miyuki in her finest moment, had failed to cause such a shock to his system and resulting his mind to blank out in that moment.

Whether Kindaichi Hajime would like to admit it or not, that girl is slowly overshadowing others in his mind. And there was a small voice whispering in his ears, telling him that it was not a bad thing after all. Perhaps he could finally put down his past and learn to see Nanase Miyuki as the dear friend she has become.

“Ao~ Aoyama-san?” A shocked gasp was heard in the air of silence as another man in the office tried to confirm his ridiculous thoughts.

Inspector Kenmochi was not any less shocked than Kindaichi Hajime. Judging from the way he opened and closed his mouth soundlessly and kept pointing at the person in front of them for the few minutes before asking the question on his mind, Kindaichi gathered that he was also too shocked for words.

In fact, the only person who did not look shocked was the said hare-brained Detective Akechi with a knowing smirk on his arrogant face, “You cleaned up quite nicely, better than I imagined you would be, kid.”

“Urusai, Baka!” Was the only reply the centre of their attention could come out with under their burning stares of disbelieves.

The way how the young profiler fidgeted under their stares impatiently or nervously her requests of “Can I get out of this? Can I go now?” in the most distinct manner of Aoyama Sho but dressed like a girl was a mind-boggling sight for any of them, including Detective Akechi.

Kindaichi Hajime grinned wickedly as a playful realisation hit him, ‘I never knew Sho-chan looks that good in a dress, maybe I should get her to dress like this more often…Or take some photographs to … Ahhh... Photographs, I should take a photo with her like this... Hmmm, how could I get her to take a photograph with me...’

“Are you Kindaichi-Senpai?” A young girl not older than 16 years old approached him shyly, startling the still grinning-slyly-at-nothingness outside school gates Kindaichi and brought him out of his walk down the memory lane.

With a kind smile, Kindaichi Hajime nodded to confirm her guess, not knowing that his acknowledgement had opened the floodgates for the other young girls to approach him too.

“Kindaichi-senpai~ this is for you! I hope you will like it!” Another high school girl took the opportunity to press a bag of candy along with a pink coloured envelope onto the hands of a surprised Kindaichi Hajime as many others started to surround the young detective and offer their praises and gifts to him.

Blinking hard, Kindaichi Hajime was honestly quite at a loss on how to deal with this hyper-active kawaii kōhai of his as he has never quite been on the receiving ends of any cute girl’s attention before. In fact, he was so down on girls' luck that the only constant female who had accompanied him through his high school years was Nanase Miyuki, his best friend, and she was nothing like the rest of the girls he had seen.

Grinning to himself at the rare opportunity offered, Kindaichi tried to get into the kakkoii senpai act for the sake of his young kōhais.

“Thank you, my dear kawaii kōhais, I would love to have the opportunity to chat with the each of you,” Kindaichi Hajime offered the young girls a suggestive cheeky wink out of playfulness and was amused to hear some of them squealed with delight.

‘So that’s how it feels like to be the most popular person in school,’ Kindaichi mused to himself, understanding now why some of his popular classmates enjoyed being the object of the girl population’s delight, ‘It sure feels like you could do no wrong with all that adorations. Maybe I should come to school more often!’

Unfortunately, his act and muse were cruelly stopped by a sudden smack on his back by his favourite midget, “Kindai-Baka, you are blocking my way,” Aoyama Sho rolled her eyes at the crowd gathering at the school gate of Fudo High School, still not quite understanding the idol-worshipping behavioural of these high school students despite spending the whole day observing them. 

 

 

Aoyama Sho could have sworn that high school girls are some kind of travel-in-pack creatures, judging from the way they moved everywhere in groups like birds, even to the washrooms. Not to mention the fact that their flocking behaviour was causing her a splitting headache as they could not stop bothering her and asking her about the Great Kindaichi Hajime.

What irritated her most was that little fact that they DID NOT know Kindaichi at all, but could blindly praise him like a popular idol that can do no wrong. What was wrong with these girls?

Aoyama already knew that he is smart and had solved more cases than anyone else from her personal experiences, but was that the only thing they gathered about the young detective? For heaven's sake, she could easily come out with a list of things she knew about that Kindai-Baka other than "He is so smart and cool!" parroted by every girl she met.

Those girls have no idea that Kindaichi Hajime is a closet goofball who says the dorkiest jokes to make her laugh or that he can be surprisingly gentle and attentive to the smallest details when the occasion calls for them. They also have no idea how irritatingly annoyingly protective that man could be at times. No, scratch that. It should be most of the time instead, or the strong sense of comforting security he could transmit to her whenever he held her hand to guide her.

She never quite understood how one could judge another person without actually knowing that person. But it seems that the same problem existed not only in the adult world but also in the world of teenagers.

“Stupid Kindai-Baka~” Aoyama narrowed her eyes and growled at the sight of Kindaichi Hajime being surrounded by the girls, unlike her irritation, that somebody else looked very happy with all the attention showered upon him.

There was something about the silly way he grinned and being surrounded by the high school girls that made her eyelid twitched without reason, causing her to be even more irritated than how the girls behaved in school earlier. Not to mention the way he tried to primp himself in front of those young girls was laughable. But at this moment all she felt was pure irritation instead of the desire to laugh out loud at him as she would have done if it was somebody else.

'Stupid Kindai-Baka! Kindaichi!'

That was why she decided to announce her arrival to him with a hard smack on his back, to express her unhappiness and irritation with him. ‘That stupid Kindai-Baba deserved it anyway,’ Aoyama Sho reasoned to herself for her out of character action while stomping childishly away from the main source of her irritation after her attack.

“Itai~ Ahh~ Sho~o~ Mirai-chan, Matte!” Kindaichi Hajime rubbed his back and called out immediately to his attacker while attempting to explain and smile apologetically at his group of kawaii kōhais, “Thank you so much for the gifts but I need to catch up with my cousin, Mirai-chan.”

Ignoring Kindaichi's cry of her pretended name, Aoyama Sho continued to walk out of the school gate, believing that the quicker she escaped from this crazy establishment which they called a High School, the easier it would be for her to regain her sanity. It seems like everybody here is insane, including Kindaichi Hajime who is also acting strangely in front of those school girls.

To be honest with herself, Aoyama Sho could finally appreciate her parents’ decision to have her home-schooled rather than to be caught in this strange institute where madness is the norm and everybody looking at her as though she was a rare artefact recently found.  

That amount of stress coming how everyone's eyes are ruthlessly glued upon someone who is used to be isolated except for minimal interaction with certain people was slowly overwhelming her. That little flicking hope of happiness when she first saw Kindaichi standing outside the gate was no longer helping to calm her racing heart down.

Flinching at the sudden remembrance of the brief hopefulness she felt earlier, Aoyama could not explain how Kindaichi’s presence has become a source of comfort for her or how quickly that hopefulness turned into a sudden source of irritation when she saw that he was surrounded by the girls.

Frowning, Aoyama Sho decided that she does not like the way how her emotions reacted strangely whenever the young detective is concerned, it was as though that her emotions have a mind of their own, leaving her grasping at straws trying to understand them. She hated not being able to understand anything. And it was all the fault of Kindachi Hajime!

'Stupid Kindai-Baka! Baka!' 

“Aoyama-kun,” A male voice which she could not place called out to her, snapping her out of her mental Kindai-Baka scolding session, “Can we borrow a moment of your time?”

 Looking up at the source of the voice, Aoyama Sho was surprised to discover that she was once again trapped within a flock of high school students. What was noticeably different now was that the group of students surrounding her were mainly male instead of the original group of girls she was dealing with for the most of the day. And the worst part was... she has no idea why they are all looking expectedly at her.

'Ok, Note to self, it is official. Not only High School girls are strange, but the high school boys are also incredibly strange as well!' Aoyama Sho remarked to herself mentally.

“Can I help you?” Aoyama Sho furrowed her brows and offered what she would call as her ‘practiced polite public smile’ to the group of high school boys. She was amused to see some of them started stuttering and blushing, ‘High School students are sure a strange group of people.’

“Aoyama-kun, you are so cool in class today!” A brave boy suddenly exclaimed startling the young profiler causing her to blink in surprise at his voice. But unlike how his action was unwelcomed by Aoyama, his sudden move actually earned him approval nods from his friends instantly.

“Everyone in school was talking about how you solved that impossible Todai admission question in record time! Even Fujioka-sensei was shocked by your perfect answer and he is the coolest and most popular Sensei in the school! Do you think we could study with us?”

Raising an eyebrow at the over-enthusiastic response of the boy, Aoyama Sho wondered briefly what was making the boy so nervous that he had to rush through his long speech but blushed lightly at the reminder of the mistake she made in the classroom earlier.

‘Stupid Kindai-Baka!’ Her mind restarted its Stupid Kindai-Baka reciting process again at that reminder.

Believe it or not, she did not plan to stand out in the class or to attract anyone’s attention at all. After all, that Baka blackmailing Detective Akechi’s instruction for her was only to listen to the on-going of the students, and to try to find out if there is any kind of drug-dealing among the students.

And becoming the talk of the school on her first day of school was definitely not part of the plan!

‘It’s all the fault of that stupid Kindai-Baka!’ Her brain was quick to provide a reason for her messed-up and allowed her to continue to blame the young detective for everything that went wrong.

Aoyama Sho would blame that silly young detective for her sudden loss of concentration in the classroom simply because there was no other form of distraction which would have caused her to mess up like that. She is quite sure that if that silly detective did not start pacing outside the school gate like a worried old man in one moment or jumping around like a fool attempt to jump over the school gate in another moment, she would not have been spending that lesson looking out of the window, laughing quietly at his funny monkey-like failed antics.

‘It was his fault. That Stupid Kindai-Baka!'

Because of that silly detective, Aoyama Sho failed to realise that her chemistry teacher, Fujioka-sensei was trying to get her to suggest a hypothesis for the chemistry question, instead of solving the question which was rightfully meant for University students instead.

Hence, the young profiler was instantly tossed into the limelight when she managed to provide the perfect answer to the question which was nicknamed, “The hardest Todai Chemistry Admission Examination Question,” by many students within 3 minutes.

‘It was the fault of that Kindai-Baka for landing me into this situation!’

“Eh… Thank you,” Aoyama Sho was quite uncertain how to respond to the boy other than the polite note of thanks, if she was channelling Aoyama Sho now, she would have offered him a glare at his foolish request to study together. But that stupid Akechi had r