KudoEdogawa presents...
""The Summer Without You""
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Chapter 4::
The engine roared and the aircraft started to accelerate. Before he knew it, Heiji was soaring in the sky. He tried to calm himself down, but the more he do so, the more he worried. His hand reached into his shirt and clutched onto the omamori and he ran his thumb across the omamori, feeling the old key hidden inside.
Heiji looked around him in the first class compartment; there were two business men dressed in black sitting across from him. chatting away with each other about the stock market. There was a dark-skinned lady sitting in front of him, reading the American magazine Marie Claire. Heiji turned around to look: there were two people sitting at the very back, one of them was a blond-haired woman, her hairstyle fancy, and her face beautiful. There was a man dressed in black next to her, the man had a brown mustache, he was wearing a hat and was scribbling on a pad of paper. And just a little bit behind him, there was another woman, her expression stern, her hair tied up behind her, her eyes were fixed on a laptop screen, her outfit--black.
Dammit, there's four people dressed in black. Any of them could be here to keep an eye on me... unless they're undercover and aren't wearing black... then any of these six people could be part of the Organization.
Two flight attendants were walking up and down the aisle, handing out drinks. The dark skinned woman in front of Heiji left her seat and went to the back to use the restroom--her outfit was black as well. Heiji scratched his head in frustration as he heard the restroom door slam in the back...
"AAAAAAARGH!!!"
One of the business men leapt from his seat, foam forming around his mouth as blood trickled out of it as well. The man gave one last groan and fell to the ground. Heiji checked his watch, 7:22, there's thirty-eight minutes until the plane lands, and he has a murder to solve.
One of the attendants let out a scream and ran for the stairs leading down to the economy class.
Heiji opened his mouth to command the woman to stay, but someone beat him to it "Don't move!" It was the woman with the laptop. "None of you may leave until this crime has been solved."
"This crime was almost impossible to commit," the man with the mustache said, "there were eight people total here, it would be difficult to commit the murder under six pairs of eyes..., especially when one particular pair belonged to a detective. Two pairs belonged to parents of a detective, and another pair belonged to the wife of a detective."
"Eh?" Heiji said. "Who are you?" He demanded.
"I won't say, incase the crows are around." Said the man.
Heiji nodded, he knew perfectly well what the man meant: he obviously knows something about the situation concerning Kazuha and he wanted keep their identities secret incase members of the Organization are around.
The dark-skinned lady exited the lavatory, the woman in black spoke. "When this murder happened, we were all in our seats, except this lady who was in the lavatory, so I think she is off the list of suspects."
"Not true," said the fancy woman, "She could've set up some type of trick and calculated the time well. And before the murder happened, she'd just have to make some excuse to leave and her alibi would be established."
Heiji bent down next to the victim and examined the body. "His lips are turning a sick greenish-purple. Pupils are unfocused, this has to be some type of poison."
A scent drifted to Heiji, and he sniffed at the air. This is...? He moved closer to the victim, Wine?! Heiji stood up and looked around the man's seat. A glass goblet was on the table and there were left over wine in the cup...
"I think we'll start with you," the stern woman said the the dark-skinned lady. "What was your purpose of coming to this trip?"
"I own a factory near downtown Osaka, I'm going to Tokyo to sign a contract for my company."
"A factory?" The mustached man questioned. "What type of factory?"
"Silverware and glassware."
"Do you have any proof?"
The woman reached into her pocket and took out a business card, "Kirei Glass and Silverware."
The mustached man questioned the other business man, "What about you?"
"W-w-we're here on a b-business trip..." The man stuttered.
"Proof?"
"U-uh, I, uh, I t-think we have the schedule f-from our boss in his laptop..., let me see if I c-can find it...."
"But I want to look at your laptop," said the fancy woman. "Mind if we take a look?" Then, without permission, the woman seized the laptop and turned it on, and various data appeared. Her husband took a look.
"Interesting..., it would seem to me that you've been doing some illegal trades in the stock market." Said the man.
"Ah-ha!" The fancy woman exclaimed. "Your partner must've interfered with you trades, so out of annoyance, you poisoned him!"
"N-no! It wasn't me!"
"Can we look at your other belongings?" The woman in black said.
The stuttering man took out his briefcase from the overhead closet and purposefully pushed something further into the storage. The man with the mustached stopped him and took out what the man was eager to hide--a bottle of wine.
"Ha!" Said the fancy woman.
"HE WAS DRINKING MY WINE, BUT I SWEAR, I DIDN'T KILL HIM!!"
"You may tell that to Officer Megure of the Tokyo Police Department when we land."
Heiji looked up from his examinations, and then at his watch--fifteen minutes till landing. Heiji stood up, bumped into the victim's seat, and the glass goblet toppled over. "Ah!" Heiji let out a cry and caught it in time.
FLASH!
For a brief moment, a flash of glittering light hit his eyes. Suspicious, he raised the goblet, the wine had spilled, and looked at the bottom. He could see a beautiful crystal structure through the bottom, as well as the words "Kirei."
Heiji smirked.
"Hold it!" He cried, holding the glass. "He's not the murderer..., she is." He pointed at the dark-skinned woman.
The three other interrogators looked at the young detective. "What do you mean?"
"This particular goblet right here..., was made from her factory." Heiji said. And he showed them the word "Kirei" on the bottom.
"S-so?" The dark-skinned woman said, "He was at Osaka, he could've bought it there!"
"True, but one must wonder why a maker of glass and silverware would work with diamond."
"Diamond?"
"Yeah..., this goblet... it's made of diamond." Heiji said.
"No it's not! Where the hell would I get diamond from, that is one-hundred percent pure glass!!"
"Oh, yeah?" Heiji said.
He raise the goblet high above his head, and smirked again. The dark woman had a terrified look on her face, the three other adults were also eyeing Heiji with interest. Mustering all the energy that he has, Heiji threw the goblet downwards and it toppled around in the air until, at last, it made contact with the hard floor with a loud THUNK!
The mustached man had raised his hands to shield himself from the broken glass shards..., but no shards came. The goblet laid on the floor, still perfectly shaped.
The dark-skinned woman fell on her knees and sobbed. "He's been threatening my family..., ever since my family found a large amount of diamonds, he's been demanding that we make high-quality products for him, or else he'll report us. He also said that if he found that any of the things he requested is not made of diamond, he'll find some way to shut down my factory... That goblet was made from the last of our supplies..., but he requested an entire glass cupboard to be made of diamonds... I can't let him shut down my factory... I can't...
The plane landed in Tokyo. Officer Megure was contacted, and he took the illegal trader and the woman away. Kudo Yusaku, Kudo Yukiko, and Kisaki Eri then accompanied Hattori Heiji to Mouri Detective Agency in Beika. On the way to the Agency..., Heiji couldn't help but question one thing... If these three people were on his side, and the other three all had their own purposes, then who was the person watching him?
~*~
The plane landed and the flight attendants prepared to leave. One of them entered the lavatory, grabbed on to the her chin, and pulled. A mask came off of the face, revealing the deadly face of the famous American actress.
"Kudo Yusaku, Yukiko, and Kisaki Eri? This could be interesting..."
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