Moon Logic

By Skye Silverwing

Disclaimer: I still don't own these characters or settings

Part 2: The Lonely Victim

Detective Wataru Takagi looked at his notepad and repeated the details of the murder to Inspector Juzo Megure.

"Victim was one, Dare Desuka, an average fellow, generally non-descript, who, for some reason, reminds me of just about every male I have ever met. Found dead in his both at the Nani Hotel restaurant." Takagi reported and turned the page, "Initial investigation seems to indicate that Desuka-san died due to poison we believe was ingested in the food."

Megure nodded. "Any witnesses?" He asked.

Takagi sighed. "Well, the first person to find the young man dead was that waitress, Reini Weda. She claims that he is in here all the time, but she can't seem to recall any specific time and guesses she may be mistaking him for someone else." He said, turning the page again, "And then, there is Makoto Kino, who was the last person to see him alive. She claims that she hired a group of kid detectives to locate him and, upon finding him, realized he was not worth all the trouble, apologized, and left."

Megure's eyes widened. "Kid Detectives? You don't mean-"

Takagi sighed and nodded, pointing to a nearby both, presently populated by the five familiar kids, as well as Ran Mouri, acting as their keeper, and a pony-tailed brunette looking sad and confused.

"They had already cleared the scene when we arrived, sir." Takagi told him, "It was all I could do to convince them not to start processing the scene themselves."

"I'm hungry." Genta complained.

"Genta-kun you're always hungry." Ayumi chided the large boy.

Mitsuhiko nodded. "Ayumi is right; this is no time to be thinking about food, Genta-kun.

"Do you have it figured out yet, Edogawa-kun?" Ai asked, the boy in glasses.

Conan frowned and rubbed his chin.

"Don't worry, Mako-chan," Ran said, with a reassuring smile, "I am sure that Inspector Megure will have this all cleared up in no time."

Makoto nodded, but could not keep herself from crying.

Inspector Megure sighed. "Looks like Kino-san is our prime suspect." He told Takagi, "Have a female officer search her and her things and report back anything suspicious."

"Yes, sir." Takagi saluted and hurried off.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Conan slipped away in the turmoil as a female officer came and took Mako-chan to be searched. He knew she had not committed the crime, though he had to find some evidence proving her innocence.

He slipped over to the victim's booth and, with a pair of gloves began to search the area for clues to solve the case with. As he searched the booth, Ayumi and Ai joined him. Conan raised an eyebrow, and Ai smiled.

"Genta and Mitsuhiko-kun are buying us some time, so make good use of it." She whispered.

Ayumi looked at the dead man. "Poor guy… Everything about him is so forgettable…"

A thought flashed in Conan's head as he noticed something tucked into the seat behind the dead man. He carefully pulled it out and looked at it, then gasped.

This is it, he thought, but if it is so, then there should be… He looked on the ground below the man's feet. There! So that is how it was.

Collecting his evidence he turned to his friends with a smug look on his face.

"Let's go," he said, "Mako-chan has endured enough, I think."

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Makoto was almost to the point of tears.

Her things were spread out and neatly ordered on a large stretch of cloth to avoid any contamination of the evidence. The detective, Takagi she had heard his name was, held her Heishin Rod in his hand.

"Inspector," he said, "there was nothing suspicious except for this. It appears to be a pen, but it has no tip or ink. I believe it may be some sort of capsule that may have been used to store poison, but I cannot seem to get it open."

To illustrate his point, Takagi tugged on the top of the rod, and Makoto almost screamed. She was about to begin begging for the rod's return when a familiar voice rang out from the entrance door.

"Mako-chan! We heard what happened! Are you ok?"

Makoto was never so happy to see the Blonde, dumpling headed girl and the rest of her friends. Even Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru were there.

"Usagi-chan! They think I killed him!" She embraced her friend and lowered her voice to a whisper. "They took my Heishin Rod as evidence!"

"I am sorry to interrupt, but we are going to have to ask you to come with us down to the station." Megure said in a very authoritative manner, "We will have some of our lab techs run some tests on this pen-thing of yours."

"That will not be necessary, Inspector." came a voice from the other door.

All eyes turned to the five children filing out of the other room.

"It is time for the Shonen Tantei Deduction Show!" declared Genta.

"There is only one truth!" declared Mitsuhiko.

"We found evidence proving Makoto's innocence." declared Ai.

Ayumi held up a notebook, recovered from the seat the victim was in and began to read. "'I am so happy! Makoto Kino, a girl I knew some years ago, contacted me today. She actually remembered me and wanted to get together again! This has given me a reason to go on living, because I am not so alone. It seems this curse of anonymity is finally gone!' 'No… She saw me and realized I was not who she expected… Why? Why must I go through life alone? No more. I will end it now, as I planned with this potassium cyanide I got from the science lab because no one was paying attention to me.'"

Conan then held up a small vial wrapped in his handkerchief and gave it to Takagi.

"I think you will find that Desuka-san's fingerprints are the only ones on this and that the powder inside is the remains of the potassium cyanide he claimed he had used." He said.

Takagi nodded and took the vial and notebook into evidence, as Megure apologized to Makoto and returned her belongings, including the Heishin Rod.

Makoto fell to her knees, crying in a combination of relief and remorse.

"I am so glad I did not get arrested… but still… if I had only been nicer to him and not just blown him off like that…" she sobbed.

"We all have things about the past we wish we could change." Makoto looked up at the speaker to find it was young Conan. "The trick is not to spend more time dwelling on it then you do learning from it and using that knowledge to make yourself better."

She wiped the tears from her eyes and cocked her head at him.

"Just who ARE you?" she asked.

He gave her a sidelong look.

"I am Conan Edogawa, a Detective."