SailorStar9: With Chapter 151 uploaded, I present Chapter 152 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Disclaimers: I do not own Sailor Moon or Detective Conan, I only own this plotline and the pairing.
Pairing: Established!Furuya Rei/Mizuno Ami
Chapter 152: The Company Dissolution Party
Sometime later...
"Thanks for holding this company dissolution party." Kureno Jiro addressed his employees in a private room inside a high-class restaurant. "Thanks to all of you, this term our company did the best it's ever done. Unfortunately, despite our success, we've decided to sell the company. This decision is made with all our interests in mind. I'm not abandoning you and running away. Make sure you don't resent me for this."
"Hold on." Kamijo Hiroo, the website designer, spoke out. "I don't agree with the decision to sell at all.
"He's right." Koshimoto Eiji, the online buying site merchandise manager, agreed. "Wouldn't we normally discuss this first? It's too sudden."
"It's fine." Narita Mayu, the accountant, refuted. "You guys know our president isn't the type of person to explain every little thing."
"Sir, thanks for your hard work." Toda Junnosuke, the public relations manager, stood up to present a bouquet of roses to his former employer. "This isn't much, but it's a reflection of how we feel."
"Thank you." Kureno took the flowers. "Thinking back, I know things were tough when we first started. But the company grew this much because we worked together. I've overjoyed that we made it to today." suddenly, he clenched his heart and fell onto the floor.
"Narita-san, call an ambulance." Toda instructed.
"Kureno?" Kamijo held up the writhing Kureno, only to have him die in his arms.
After Megure's team was called in...
"The deceased is the president of online shopping website 'Clerno', Kureno Jiro-san." Takagi reported. "He came here today to eat with his staff. The man who reported the incident was..."
"Inspector." Mouri, who had been eating in the main hall, entered the crime scene. "I happened to be eating in the hall over there. I came running when I heard shouting. What's the cause of death?"
"There is a strong possibility that he was poisoned." Ami answered from her knelt position by the body.
"Mizuno-san, this mark on his body..." Conan voiced beside the female coroner, pointing to the needle hole on Kureno's neck.
"The bouquet Kureno-san received during the meal had a poisoned needle hidden in it." Ami showed the boy the needle that was bagged as evidence. "So, when he took the bouquet in his hands, he got poisoned when the needle stabbed him. It left a mark on his neck. As to what kind of poison, we'll leave that to the Toxicology boys."
"So, who prepared the bouquet?" Megure turned to the employees.
"It was Toda-san." Takagi supplied. "The other three also touched the bouquet."
"Let's start by questioning everyone else." Megure declared.
Later...
"Inspector, we received new testimony from the restaurant staff." an officer reported, entering the interview room.
In the hallway...
"The bouquet was here during the meal." the server confirmed. "That tall man crouched over the bouquet and fiddled with it."
Almost an hour later...
Accompanied by two police officers, a waitress found a dead Koshimoto hung from the doorknob of a storage room.
"Inspector Megure, this was found next to the body." Takagi reported.
"'I killed Kureno.'" Mouri read the note in the evidence bag. "'The team succeeded because of me. He claimed credit for everything. I couldn't forgive him.'."
"We were able to confirm that it's indeed Koshimoto-san's handwriting." Takagi supplied.
"Inspector," one of the forensics officers spoke. "The poison thought to be used in Kureno-san's murder was found in the body's jacket pocket."
"Send the body to Mizuno-san." Megure instructed.
Having lured Mouri back into Koshimoto's crime scene and pieced together what happened, Conan tranquilized the detective.
"What's the meaning of this, Mouri-san?" Takagi spoke, Conan having used Mouri's voice to call over everyone involved in the case.
"I finally figured out the truth behind this case." Conan revealed. "Koshimoto-san killed President Kureno. He poisoned the needle, hid it inside the bouquet, and killed him. The problem is Koshimoto's death. He didn't kill himself. He was summoned here and murdered. He either wrote the suicide note voluntarily or was made to write it by his killer. By the way, Detective Takagi, can you move to the middle of the room? Look closely on the floor."
"There's a faint smudge on the floor." Takagi spotted the drag mark. "It looks like something was dragged through here."
"Which means his shoe came off when he was dragged." Megure realized.
"HIs murder probably wasn't planned." Conan concluded. "First, the culprit strangled Koshimoto-san to death using some kind of string. They dragged the body to the door and attempted to make his murder look like a suicide. In their rush to leave, the culprit left the scene of the crime without replacing his show on his foot."
"Who left the room after Koshimoto-san?" Megure asked the three suspects.
"Everyone, actually." Toda replied. "I went to make a phone call."
"I went to the bathroom, but I didn't run into anyone." Narita stated.
"I left the room, too." Kamijo admitted. "I just went out to the hallway to talk to a female employee. Wait a minute, in that case..."
"The only person here who doesn't have an alibi is Narita-san." Conan declared.
"The alone makes me the culprit?" Narita protested. "You don't even have proof."
"There is proof." Conan refuted. "The culprit still has in their possession the weapon they used to kill Koshimoto-san. The weapon is something much thinner than a wine napkin. I'm sure Mizuno-san can attest the skin is raised just inside the ligature marks. After strangling him using some type of string or cord, the culprit strangled him again with the wine napkin."
"Could it be..." Takagi turned to Narita's bag strap.
"Let the police borrow your bag, Narita-san." Conan requested. "Your bag's shoulder strap and ligature marks should be a perfect match."
"I didn't mean to kill him." Narita confessed. "I just couldn't forgive him after what he said. Around the time the decision to dissolve the company was made, I found a strangely expensive and mysterious product among his purchases. For a long time, I wondered what it was." she related how she had cornered Koshimoto and had him confess to importing the poison. "I looked up to the president. I wanted someday to become an executive like him. I couldn't forgive him for insulting him. Koshimoto-san probably doesn't know, but the president said he wanted to work with this team again someday."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
