✔ | DETECTIVE TENNIS 1: The Targeted Tennis Player Of Seigaku

7: A Message To Be Deciphered

At an alley three blocks away from Professor Agasa's house...

The Detective Boys, minus Kourin and Haibara, went to the crime scene that Doctor Yanai was talking about. Using the doctor's car, they arrived at the scene in less than 10 minutes.

Many people have already gathered there, looking at the situation there. Much to the kids' surprise, Ran and Sonoko were there.

Conan approached the two teenage girls who were watching the police as they checked the body of the victim.

"Ran-neechan, why are you here?"

"Conan-kun!" Ran could only say as she crouched down to look at him. "It's already past five in the afternoon. What are you doing here?"

"Yanai-sensei said there's a crime here so we went to check it out," Mitsuhiko said and glanced at the said doctor.

Doctor Yanai smiled when Ran looked at him. Sonoko approached the kids, frowning. She didn't seem to like the idea that these kids went there to see a crime so gruesome that the police couldn't even recognize the victim's face.

"Hey, you kids shouldn't even be here. Kids are not needed for this kind of situation. Besides, you're not going to like what you're going to see just in case," Sonoko said.

"What do you mean, Sonoko-neechan?" Genta asked curiously.

Sonoko seemed to almost want to vomit when Genta asked that, making the kids and the doctor wonder what exactly was going on. Conan peered at Ran who seemed to be worried about Sonoko.

"Ran-neechan, what's going on with Sonoko-neechan?" he asked in a child-like tone.

"Yeah. It's like I said something disgusting earlier," Genta said as he glared at Sonoko who was a little far from them.

Ran sighed and stood up. "I think you should just look at this for you to know the reason why Sonoko acted like that." She led the puzzled kids and Doctor Yanai to the crime scene.

Thanks to Detective Chiba and Detective Takagi, the kids managed to get a look at the place. But they never expected to be in extreme shock to see the murdered victim.

Ayumi got scared, that was why she had to hold Conan's arm for support. "Conan-kun..."

Who would never get shocked when they saw the body of the victim, anyway?

The victim was a male, no doubt about that because of his big physique that was unique to a man. He had bathed in his blood because of the bruises and the wounds he obtained when beaten. Due to the number of wounds and blood that came gushing out from the man's body, one man couldn't do this all alone, even if the culprit had a big stick or a metal baseball bat to do.

The man's face was barely recognizable like it was made to be a punching bag. But the first thing that caught Conan's eyes was the man's tattoo.

It was etched on the back of the man's right hand and it was still seen even though the victim's hand was covered in blood. Conan's eyes widened as he remembered something that Kourin said earlier before they went there.

~"It's because of their unique symbol. Three black roses where the stems were intertwined..."~

'It can't be!' Conan thought. 'So Yanai-sensei was right. This man is a member of the Dark Rose. But why was he beaten to death? Was he a traitor to the group?'