A/N: I did this. Whew, this case is one that I wanted to be done for so long. But now it's wrapped up. I'm so happy!

Chapter 70.

Megure and Takagi were doing a recap of the situation. It was sort of weird since… this was sort of real life, not a manga anymore. It didn't seem to bother anyone around though. (Just made the suspects more uncomfortable which suited everyone just fine.)

"And if we assume that the culprit had an accomplice and slipped him the murder weapon, we would have to search all these people who came here to this shrine to watch the flower blossoms." Takagi concluded the explanation.

"There is no need for that." Mai stepped up. "As I have already figured it out. The identity of the murderer that is. And of course how the murder weapon managed to disappear."

"You?" Megure spluttered. While yes, the man was used to civilians solving cases from him by now, it still annoyed him when a new 'detective' popped out of woodwork.

"Give her a chance, Megure-keibu. Mai-chan is quite proud of her deduction." Takuya smiled. "If something is wrong, I can pick up from there." That earned him s death glare from Mai.

"Alright. Please, tell us what you have come up with." Megure sighed. The high schooler smiled brightly at the inspector, making a complete turnaround of expression.

"Alright, what's is the most prudent thing to notice that the murder weapon wasn't one but several parts and one of those parts is still with us and not hidden like the rest." Mai began.

"One part?" Takagi asked.

"Precisely. The last part that will tie together the weapon and this mystery."

"When you say 'tie together'…"

"The weapon Agasa-hakase saw was in one piece, was it not? It wasn't tied together or anything…" Jodie frowned. Agasa nodded on the background in agreement of the assessment.

"Yes, but by using a large quantity of certain object to construct the murder weapon, even when finding the parts they are in a location that won't appear suspicious to us." Mai explained. Tsukiko could see she was obviously enjoying herself. "And the way the culprit hid the weapon, happened when they approached the children."

"You mean us?" Mitsuhiko asked, baffled. The children then went through all the three suspects and objects they saw at each place they met them. Paper fortunes, water ladles… Those two were excluded soon but then…

"That only leaved the lady we met when ringing the bell but…" Ayumi pondered.

"There were only two bells." Genta pointed out.

"Didn't you guys do something else before ringing the bell?" Conan asked then, helping the trio.

"Ah!"

"That's right!

"The offering!" Ayumi remembered.

"We threw in a five yen coin!" Genta told.

"Into the offertory box!" Mitsuhiko added.

"Exactly." Mai picked up the pace again. "Usually people use five yen coins as offerings because of the saying 'May you find good ties and good fortune'."

Tsukiko nodded. She had read about it when researching information about normal behavior at shrines. And as she understood Japanese fluently now she also knew that 'good ties and good fortune' was pronounced that same way than 'five yen'. That all meant that five yen coins represented good luck.

"So, if you have a lot of five yen coins strung together through the hole in the center, you can get one long rod. And afterwards you can toss the coins into the offertory box where they'll mix with other coins. No one will find the coins suspicious, especially when the police are looking for a long rod." Mai concluded.

"B-But in order to produce a 30 centimeter long rod you'd need around 200 five yean coins…" Takagi pointed out.

"And if you throw such a large quantity of coins into the box, you'll stand out and people around will certainly notice…" Megure added.

"Which is why the culprit approached the children. She told them that unless they rang the bell loudly, the god wouldn't hear them. Isn't that right Danno-san? By using the noise of the bell, you'd conveniently cover up the sound of the coins falling into the offertory box. Coins which only need to be released from the string and thus be quickly discarded." Mai didn't point at the culprit, she gracefully extended her hand at the woman's direction. The action was reminiscent of Franziska von Karma, but Tsukiko didn't know that (Yamato did).

"And what proof do you have?" The killer asked.

"I could go on about the fact that the murder happened after you got your purse stolen but before you rang the bell, which would make the fact that you had offering money with you in the first place suspicious but you can always rebuff it because we all know not to open our purses when at the box already, thus have coins ready at your pocket. So I have something more substantial proof. That boing your shoelaces."

"Eh?" The woman glanced down at her laced boots.

"The easiest way to tie together and then hide the string is by using your own shoelaces. So when fleeing the scene, Agasa-san saw you dragging your foot as the lace was missing. It would seem that you've put back the shoelace after ringing the bell but if it was indeed used in committing the crime, there should be bloodstains upon it."

Takagi kneeled to take a look at the woman's shoes. He found the bloodstains.

"But why did she still have her five yen coins?" Megure asked. "Weren't the five yen coins beside the body those which Kurobee had left in the pocket when she stole the purse?"

"Those were the coins I showed to you earlier." Danno began. "The ones left behind were those I found in my pocket when I was pickpocketed last year. The five yen coins that killed my son!"

"Your son?"

"Might that be the one on the photo in your purse?"

"Yes, that's right. The purse that was stolen last year also contained my car keys. Because I din't have them anymore, my son, who had asthma, was locked in the car for several hours… By the time we got to the hospital it was too late and he died. So I reasearched that pickpocket on the net and hung out in places where she frequently appeared."

"But why did you have that photo? If it hadn't been in your purse we might not have known the purse was yours." Takagi asked.

"When you open the purse the photo leaps into your sight, doesn't it? I wanted to show to that pickpocket that what she stole was not just money but also the life of one little boy."

And thus the confession was out and the woman led away. Mai was congratulated on her successful deduction and Conan questioned Benzaki if he had a bad eyesight.

"Tsukiko… Are you alright?" Yamato asked the girl next to him. She looked pale.

"I… I'm fine. This case just… It reminded me of the first murder case I got mixed into." The girl swallowed. "Karaoke box. It was me, Ran-san, Suzuki-san and Eisuke. Plus Conan-kun. The victim was a kidnapper who'd been stalking Suzuki-san. He was killed with a sock filled with coins by a man whose son had been kidnapped and killed by the man."

"But the murder weapon had vanished so there was no proof against the man." The blonde nodded thoughtfully.

"Exactly."

"…Kage. Ten minutes." Yamato whispered then. Tsukiko froze as she felt the other personality rouse.

"Righty-o, Sanjuu-kun." Kage whispered back with faint smirk and took out their black cellphone then. The message to Murakawa Toya's phone was already punched in. It only needed to be sent. It was a daring move. But no one was watching them. The phone was slipped out of sight right when Benzaki's wife arrived to meet with the man and talk with the children and Jodie.

Ai felt a shiver run down her spine. She looked back. Something was there. Something or someone was making her skin crawl. Her eyes found Ishikawa Yamato and Okiya Tsukiko. Yamato had his ahnd tucked into his jeans' pockets and was casually leaning against a nearby cherry tree while Tsukiko was standing a bit behind him, her arms crossed on her chest. They were an odd pair. They were terrifying but only selectively. And now…

Ai remembered the first time Tsukiko had exuded the cold feeling the shrunken scientist associated with the organization. It had been at the revolving sushi place. The girl had been pissed at the victim and murderer both. The next time was at Ikkaku rock. She had attacked the murderer who'd been holding Ayumi hostage. All her targets were justified and she wasn't the same than the organization's scent. It wasn't a scent really. It wasn't the ruthlessness and remorselessness that suffocated everything around that Ai felt from them. This was a sharp focus, actually similar to the one from her brother. Why there was a similarity between the siblings and organization, Ai couldn't say but she needed to know who the target was this time.

Yamato in the other hand. Yamato was a wild card. Akemi had talked about him a couple of times. They had been friends but then Yamato had disappeared. Out of the organization. To the freedom. But it didn't mean the man had really changed. There had always been the cold edge on him, something that organization had honed but didn't manage to twist before it was turned against them. Yamato was an assassin of highest caliber. He was spoken of in hushed whispers so the higher ups wouldn't hear. He was a taboo. He was the boogeyman of the rookies even if his name was unknown after ten years. Ai only knew it through her late sister.

Seeing those two together was unsettling. Ai knew that Yamato and Tsukiko were both aware of her real identity. She knew what the man could do in order to protect others. She knew Tsukiko had a separate personality but it wasn't suitable for anything related to Yamato. Neither Okiya Tsukiko nor Akai no Tsuki were capable of such coldness. Ai had noticed that the coldness was usually gone. It had begun disappearing around the time the thief personality developed.

"What it wasn't the only one?" The girl realized. There was something she was missing, something crucial. But what could it be?

Ai shook her head and looked around to locate the target of the 'focus'. She found quickly it was the woman 'Motoe'. Woman who felt nauseous and stumbled onto Jodie. It all enabled both her and Benzaki to leave. And Ai's gut feeling told her to trust whatever reason Yamato and Tsukiko were focusing on the woman and by extension the man too.

"Morning sickness is a condition that you have in the first stages of pregnancy, right?" The auburn haired girl stated to her confidante in the same boat than her.

"Yes, but looking at the size of her, the pregnancy should be in the sixth month already." Conan pointed out but apparently didn't suspect anything as he continued, "Well, the nausea might also be by something else."

As the 'couple' left, Ai decided to let the matter rest. Hopefully this didn't concern her. She really didn't want to get mixed in whatever Ishikawa Yamato was doing. Nothing good would come out of that.

Megure got a call. There was another body in the same park they were in. A call had just come to the station. As he and his team was closest they'd go and secure it. A passerby had gone to investigate the body when it had gotten a mail but not reacted to it.

"I told you. Ten minutes." Yamato smirked to Tsukiko who just rolled her eyes. Kage had already retreated.

"Excuse me, Ishikawa-san…" Takagi approached the duo. "Here is your wallet. The money is gone but if you could check the contents…"

"Ah… Arigatou." The blonde flashed a smile and riffled through all the pockets of the wallet. All the cards were there along with other memorabilia. Tsukiko noticed an old photograph tucked into there but didn't comment it.

"Nee… Yamato-san?" Tsukiko decided to ask. There had been something bothering her for a while but tried to ignore it for a while.

"Yes?"

"Do you happen to know it there is someone else in Tokyo… going by the name Midorikawa Shugo?"

"Why do you ask?" Yamato pocketed his hands after slipping his wallet into the breast pocket of his jacket.

"I heard of him from a friend after magic show. And some weird stuff has been happening." Like the hacker Hibiki. It was possible that whomever was this Shugo person, was also 'Hibiki'. When Jade had created the character 'Midorikawa Shugo', he had been a hacker for the Organization but escaped when helping Akai Shuichi to get out. Midorikawa had been killed a year later. "But I also know that when we spoke in the phone, you told me that Midorikawa Shugo was dead."

Yamato smirked. "Who said we were talking about the same person?" And walked away. Tsukiko frowned at his retreating back. Okay, maybe this Shugo person wasn't the one originally in Jade's mind. That one would be around Yamato's age after all and the way Ran had spoken of the person, indicated that 'Shugo' was high schooler.

"Tsukiko-chan, are you alright?" Mai had sidled next to her with Takuya. The girl had an envelope in her hands now.

"I'm alright, yes. What is that?" Tsukiko pointed at the envelope.

"Oh, these are fingerprint results from a sample I asked Takuya to process for me." Mai smiled brightly, glancing about a bit but finding no police officers in the vicinity. Takuya let out a long suffering sigh.

"That shall be the last time I assist you with this case. You draw your conclusions from this and leave it alone then. Is that clear?" The police detective said sternly.

"Of course. It's not like I enjoy field work anyways. I'm Miyoshi Mai. Mai-ku-ro-fu-to. I have facts I collect and put together but legwork is not for me. I leave that to the high school detectives, like Kudou-senpai." The bespectacled girl waved an impatient hand. At the mention of the name, Conan visibly perked up and walked to the girl then.

"Nee, Mai-neechan… You like Sherlock Holmes then? Since you call yourself Mycroft."

"Sure. I like a lot of different books. Detective novels, fantasy literature, sci-fi short stories… Anything really. I want to become a mystery novel author eventually." Mai explained.

"Mai-san… This fingerprint test of yours… Does it have to do with the case you mentioned at the department store back then? Confusing Cellphone, right? You said that… you followed a hunch but then went along with a lead? Or something like that." Tsukiko asked then.

"Oh… Oh, that name! I renamed it. After Holmes case Reichenbach Falls. Since Takuya worked with this case back then, I got him to compare some prints." Mai waved the envelope. "I'm going to check these at home and maybe then call Amuro-san… He promised to help me with this one."

Takuya's hand twitched. Conan narrowed his eyes. Tsukiko's thoughts were racing. Reichenbach. Raiha Pass. Takuya mentioned exploding cars when Tsukiko met the man for the second time. Fingerprints from something that Tsukiko made Mai remember of. At the department store Tsukiko had caught a coffee can. Mai was at the bus hijacking case.

Conclusion: Mai was investigating Akai's faked death at Raiha Pass. This was really not good. No wonder Takuya was worried of her. Wait, how did Takuya know about what was going on?

Tsukiko swallowed hard, drawing a glance from Conan. The kid didn't have all the hard fact about Mai. And Tsukiko needed to decide now whether to warn him and have him worry about yet another person to subvert especially when Mai possibly had crucial information for 'Bourbon'. Or should she stay quiet and just try to protect her.

"Mai-san, why don't we see what the results are here? It can't be safe to walk around with such important paper. Pickpockets and muggers and all…" Tsukiko offered. It wasn't the most subtle way. "It wouldn't be nice to have the results stolen before you even know what they say. Or to have them falling into wrong hands."

Mai shot her a shrewd look that told Tsukiko wasn't fooling her at all but nodded thoughtfully anyways. Takuya seemed to sigh in relief.

"I agree. I might get into trouble if someone finds out my part about this mess." The man said as an excuse.

"Fine, fine…" Mai huffed and slid the envelope open. She drew the single sheet of paper out of it, read it and… A slow smile spread on her face, lighting up her whole face then. "I was right! They didn't match!"

"Don't match?" Conan tilted his head in mock-confusion in order to draw more information. "That doesn't make any sense. Usually people try to identify others with finger prints."

"Yes, but…" Mai crouched in front of the boy but was cut off by her cousin.

"Mai-chan…" Takuya said warningly. The message was clear: don't drag the boy into this.

"But I wanted to exclude a certain person from this. Like I mentioned to Tsukiko-chan, I had a hunch previously, a conclusion that I reached by observing people related to this case… And it was interesting how in certain occasion, the players I thought to be the most important, were actually just confirmations while an unexpected person downright panicked when being presented certain information." Mai grinned like a cherise cat at the boy. Oh, yes… When the fake was walking at Teito Department Store, Jodie and Camel were as expected, running around and unsure themselves. But Conan… Conan panicked when hearing the possibility of certain person walking around. Mai had seen it. She knew that the boy knew more than he should. But he also guarded that information very carefully. She couldn't just ask. She couldn't just interrogate him. Whatever was going on and whomever were 'they'… It was something big. Takuya was right, she should probably drop this case. But not yet. Mai wanted to know just a bit more…

"Damn, Mai-san, are you high? Information high? You look downright ecstatic here. First you solved a murder case and now some of your investigation is going just like you anticipated." Tsukiko snarked then. Mai huffed and stood up.

"I like being right, is that a problem?" She stated haughtily. Takuya snatched the result paper from her hands and flicked it into fire with a lighter he produced from his pocket. The paper fell to the ground and was soon in ashes and the man stomped dead.

"Yes, it is. Curiosity killed the cat." Tsukiko said seriously. Mai looked her friend in the eye and nodded then. Whatever this was, Tsukiko was in the middle of it too. And the black-haired girl was worried of her.

"I'll be fine, Tsukiko-chan." Mai smiled. "See you at school."

Tsukiko had managed to slip away from Jodie and gone to the Kudou house. Subaru was still up. The man was once again reading one of the numerous books from the house's library.

"Was there a case again?" The man asked when Tsukiko made her way in and sat on the sofa next to him. The girl nodded.

"Who solved it?"

"I think Edogawa would've but Mai-san got there first."

"But that's not what's bothering you, is it?"

There were many things that Tsukiko wanted to speak about. Two things that popped up immediately.

"Mai-san is investigating your supposed death in Raiha Pass. I'm not sure how much she has figured out already but today she got some results of fingerprint comparison. The results which 'didn't match' but that was apparently a good thing concerning her theory." The girl explained quickly and glanced at the man through the corner of her eye. Subaru closed the book he'd been reading.

"That is worrying. Is there anything else about it?"

"It seems that Takuya-san, Mai-san's cousin in the police, was one of the detectives on the case and Mai-san's investigation has roused his curiosity too. He is trying to warn her off of the case though. Not to mention that it seems that Mai-san has asked Amuro-san to help her with the case."

There was a crease between his brows now. When Subaru finally spoke, his words were measured.

"How could she have come up with all the information?"

"Well, I understood that she got the barebones from Takuya-san… But afterwards… I'd say coincidence. She was in the bank during the robbery with me, the kids, Jodie-san and the scar-face… And like us, she made her way to Teito Department Store. I also found out that she observed our reactions to scar-face. Jodie-san's, Camel's, Edogawa's… And she got your prints from somewhere. Say, did you touch anything she could have during the aftermath of bus jacking?"

"A coffee can. She had two of them one of which she gave to me as a thank you for helping her out of the bus. The other can… she kept to herself. So that might be it."

"How did you get your prints on it then?"

"She stumbled and dropped the cans which I caught."

"So that's where she got the idea…" Tsukiko muttered. Out of all things…

"Hm?" Subaru quirked an eye brow at her.

"After the bomb mess at department store, Mai-san found me when I was talking with Jodie-san. She stumbled down the stairs and I caught a coffee can she dropped. No wonder she began talking about finding a lead right afterwards."

"That indicates she had figured out a majority of the situation already."

"And now she also has knowledge of the possible body exchange trick. She eavesdropped Jodie-san today when Jodie-san was having a déjà vu about everything and reminisced the time when you were rooting out the organization spy at the hospital." Tsukiko sighed, burying her face into her hands. She pondered for a moment whether or not to mention that Amuro had been there in disguise too but decided against it. If Conan mentioned it to her or Subaru, then she'd be privy to that information.

"Does the proof of fingerprints exist still?"

"…No. The paper was destroyed by Takuya-san at my recommendation. And since the testing was done under radar, I'd wager that both the coffee can and the data of the test being made, is also gone." The girl replied. "There is another matter though that I wanted to ask you about. With the whole mess in the Mystery Train, it slipped out of my mind."

"Go on, ask." Subaru nodded.

"When I came back from… from Mouri detective agency late at night, you had noticed that I wasn't… I wasn't myself. How did you know? Such thing is something to come up with immediately. And in the end you haven't known me long enough to just deduct that I have… That I have…" She swallowed hard.

"That you have more than one personalities within yourself." Subaru supplied helpfully.

"Yes…"

"I knew someone with similar condition. He usually showed his professional face to everyone and fooled others, but there was one occasion… The only occasion I saw his real personality before his death. After the occasion he explained it to me. Said that it made easier to adjust to certain situations and store information away. It's the same to you, isn't it? You have many connections to people and those people lead to different situations that you want to keep separated to your normal life." The man told her gently. Tsukiko nodded.

"Y-You… You remember the Hunter of Crows?" She asked shakily. She needed to tell. Subaru was someone she trusted. She could tell him. He'd understand.

"I remember." Subaru nodded.

"I… I'm Kage. At least they are one of my personalities. They have the list of NOCs acquired from Touto Tower and from it a name is sent to Yamato-san who handles the killing itself." The girl confessed. A moment of silence followed before Subaru drew her into a hug. Tsukiko began crying. "I don't know any more even when they sent a name. You remember how I asked your opinion of the case of Sakata Shirou? I had read the name from the list but didn't remember sending it to Yamato-san. I… I…"

"Shh… It's alright, Tsukiko. It's alright." Subaru shushed her gently. "I understand. I don't necessary condone your actions but I understand. Besides, you haven't been killing anyone yourself, have you?"

"No. Neither I nor Kage have killed. Yamato-san is the only one. And his associate that I don't know."

They spent a long moment like that, sitting on the sofa, holding onto each other. Tsukiko eventually calmed down but was still unwilling to let go.

"Thank you…" She whispered.

"You are welcome. Just be careful not to lose yourself. It almost happened to my… friend."

Subaru remembered the conversation he'd had with Ishikawa Yamato just a month or so ago in the Mystery Train. It made a bit more sense now.

"Kagemiya…" It referred to Tsukiko, Kage. But where the name came from, was still a mystery. And most likely Kage had gone behind Tsukiko's back to have Yamato to the train. Why was the man listening to a high school aged girl and probably taking orders from her? Unless he knew the same than Subaru knew: her future knowledge.

"Make sure it's not just physical wellbeing that you look after. If she is anything like Hibiki, she will keep a lot to herself until it all comes bursting out." Yamato had said. Subaru understood it. It had taken a lot of Tsukiko to first keep the secret and more to admit it. And even then it was only after she was sure Subaru could be receptive to her. And this wasn't her only secret. It worried Subaru.

A/N: Alright. Guess what? Shugo should be introduced in the next two chapters! Gawd damn. I think I need to pause this fic though so I can try to catch up with Leap some more. I still recommend you guys to use the forum I made for this fic, Leaping into a Dream. Anyways, I hope you liked this fic and the revelations presented.

Replies to Reviews:

-CherriRoseGirl:
Yes, I love Ace Attorney and the poison in the series just fit this purpose so well. Thank you very much for you comment. I'll keep working. :)

-OTrizy:
I know. Some Gosho's decisions plotwise are dubious at best but I can't do anything about it. Other than for Tsukiko to run interference. The Miyoshi's... I have plans for them. And do tell me what you think about the little additions to the first chapters.

-Zeladious:
You referring to her sassing Conan, her getting two wallets while others got only one per person or her reaction to Yamato?

-Vivian Graythorn:
Yes. Dimensional Sniper would be after Shugo's inrtoduction. Very soon in the other words.

-Tsuki:
It's alright. :)
Yes, movie 20 will be part of this too but in like... after chapter 100 or something.
You are welcome.

-Hellfire000:
Thank you. Like I've said in many cases, I have plans for Mai. She knows how to be sneaky and thankfully she has both Takuya and Amuro who have her back. (and Tsukiko too)
I'm glad to hear you liked his cameo. He should appear a bit more in future.