SailorStar9: With Chapter 34 uploaded, this is Chapter 35 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 own absolutely nothing, except this plot and the pairing.

Pairing: Developing!Furuya Rei/Mizuno Ami

Chapter 35: Two Coincidental Successes


Time passes...

"Here I thought it won't be raining today." Ran complained, using her bookbag to shield her head from the rain as she hurried home late one night.

"Ran-nee-chan." Conan called, he and Mouri running towards Ran with an extra umbrella.

"Conan-kun, Dad." Ran beamed. "You all came to pick me up. Thank you."

"It's already past 9 o'clock, you know." Mouri chided.

"I'm sorry, the extracurricular took longer than expected." Ran explained.

"You have to be careful." Mouri warned. "Recently, there was some crime that happened right around here, just like the TV reported."

"That robber with the hood." Ran recalled. "If I'm not mistaken..."

"So called 'The Hood Man'." Conan replied. "He mostly targeted women; after he hit them on the back of their heads, he took their bags, as well."

"Although all the victims suffered only minor injuries, but if he's not promptly arrested, his crime will escalate." Mouri added.

Just then, the trio heard a cry and dropping their umbrellas, they hurried to the scene.

"Are you okay?" Mouri asked the man who had fallen onto the ground.

"The hood man, he went that way." the man pointed.

"Onii-san," Conan voiced, spotting the bloody spot on the man's shirt. "I wonder why your clothes aren't soaking wet. Rain that suddenly started pouring; your shoes even got dirty and your trousers got wet as well. Although, you're not even using an umbrella, your clothes aren't even soaking wet. Isn't that weird? Nii-san, wasn't it because until now, you're wearing something to cover your clothes? For example, the hood attached on a jacket."

"Hold it." Ran sneered, coming in-between the newly revealed 'Hood Man' and Conan and landing a punch straight on the attacker's stomach, knocking him out. "What about the person who shouted before?" she remembered.

"This way." Conan ran into the small house and was shocked to find a woman lying on the ground.


A while later...

"You're a great help, Mouri-kun, for catching 'The Hood Man'." Megure praised, over the phone, having taken 'The Hood Man' into custody.


At the Beika General Hospital...

"It's nothing." Mouri assured. "Just the usual, Inspector."

"Thank you for your help." the now bandaged Tachibana Mizuki thanked the nurse as she walked out of the examination room.

"Excuse us." Sato shut the door.

"How was it?" Ran asked.

"It's fine." Sato assured. "There's nothing wrong with the CT scan, so the doctor says she can go home now."

"Thank you so much." Tachibana stated. "It's all because of your help. I haven't called my roommate yet." she remembered. "She must be worried by now."

"Excuse me a moment." Sato felt her phone vibrate. "This is Sato."

"This is weird." Tachibana noted. "Yoko, my roommate, isn't answering my call. It's already past her time for work."

"On that road earlier, there was a dead female body?" Sato echoed.

"Mizuki-san, do you know what Yoko-san was wearing?" Conan suddenly asked, a thought coming to him.

"If I'm not mistaken, she was wearing a white jacket and beige skirt." Tachibana replied.

"Tachibana-san, is that true?" Sato pressed.

"Don't tell me..." Mouri gaped.


Back at the crime scene...

"It's true." Tachibana shook down, seeing the battered Katsuragi Yoko lying on the road. "It's Yoko. This morning, when you said about breaking up with me, you were still fine. I never thought that it would be our last night together. Yoko..."

"Ran, please calm her down a bit." Mouri requested.

"Time of death is about 1 to 2 hours ago." Ami diagnosed the body. "Cause of death is blunt force trauma on the parietal on her right side of the head."

"She was a clerk of a ship near here." Megure confirmed. "Seems like she was attacked on her way home."

"The recent case of 'The Hood Man' that happened, the area of the crime, even the time of it as well, everything is exactly the same with it."

"The money in her wallet is taken as well." Takagi added.

"I think the culprit just wanted to lightly injure her, just like the cases before." Mouri surmised. "But he accidentally injured Yoko-san a bit too much and she met her death right away. In the same way, Mizuki-san was attacked, too."

"Who would've thought her roommate was attacked as well." Megure mused.

"But the culprit is already arrested." Sato pointed out.

"Maybe, it's because of the bond of the two females, this miraculous accident happened." Mouri suggested.

What's that? Conan spotted the brown stain on Katsuragi's blouse and took a sniff. Smells like coffee. And this is... he tugged at the crisscross stitch at the bottom of Katsuragi's skirt.

"That's the tacking stitch." Ami supplied.

"Tacking stitch?" Conan echoed.

"You see, on the cut of a new pencil skirt, there's this crisscross stitch sewn on it, right?" Ami pointed. "It's sewed on to prevent the skirt from getting wrinkled during shipping."

"This kid, again." Mouri scoffed, grabbing Conan by the back of his shirt. "Wandering around like this."

"Everyone, where are you going?" Conan wondered, seeing the police were heading off.

"Just in case, we need to hear Tachibana's testimony at HQ." Takagi replied.

"We also need to make a report about those who are related to this case." Sato added.

"I think it's better if I accompanied Mizuki-san." Ran offered.

"You can knock off after you hand in the autopsy report, Mizuno." Megure informed the coroner.


At the Police Headquarters...

"We need to confirm it." Sato voiced, outside the interrogation room. "Is that the guy who assaulted you?"

"I'm sure of it." Tachibana was certain. "He's the guy."

"Wasn't that guy seem about to get angry?" Conan noticed the suspect's furious expression.

"He did honestly admit to the assault one year ago and a few similar cases were also his doing." Takagi replied.

"But, he's denying that he's the culprit that killed Yoko-san." Sato supplied.

"And about him attacking Tachibana-san, although he never saw your face, he was wondering how you knew it was him that attacked you." Takagi spoke. "He also said he never had any intention of killing anyone."

"What's wrong, Detective Takagi?" Conan was pondering over the case in the corridor when he overheard 'The Hood Man's victims arguing with Takagi.

"But you caught him already." one of the three victims snapped. "'The Hood Man'."

"Onee-san tachi, could it be that..." Conan realized what was going on.

"We're the victims of that 'Hood Man'." the second victim confirmed.

"You'll give it back to us, right?" the third victim insisted. "Our wallets."

"Wait a minute." Conan spoke up. "Did onee-san tachi get your wallets stolen?"

"That's right." all three victims chorused as one.


At Tachibana and Katsuragi's apartment block later...

"Thank you very much." Tachibana bowed, Takagi having driven her back, along with Mouri, Conan and Ran. "Then, if you please excuse me."

"Father?" Ran blinked when Mouri slumped onto a nearby couch after Conan hit him with the tranquilizer dart.

"With this pain, it woke me up completely." Conan spoke through the Voice-Changing Bowtie. "This case hasn't ended yet. The one who killed Yoko-san wasn't the Hood Man, that's what I wanted to tell you. If we think of him as the culprit, it would be strange. Yoko-san's wallet was wide open and her money was taken. However, her wallet is simply left there at the crime scene. As with all the previous incidents, he certainly took the victims' wallets. So, why is it different this time? The second thing is the wound on the body. Yoko-san's wound was on the left back side of her head, which means she was assaulted from behind. In that case, the culprit should be holding the weapon with his left hand when attacking Yoko-san on her head. That means, the culprit is left-handed, but the 'Hood Man' was..."

"He was right-handed." Ran recalled.

"Mizuki-san, you were using your left hand to hold your phone." Conan pointed out. "And also, when you want to pay for the meal, you held your wallet in your left hand, as well."

"It's true that I'm left-handed." Tachibana admitted. "But aren't there other people who are also left-handed?"

"There is still some more evidence, like the white shirt which Yoko-san wore at that time, there was a new coffee stain on it." Conan reminded. "The stain was at her hips, so it should be stained as well, but her skirt wasn't even stained. There is also the tacking stitch on her skirt; a crisscross stitch that was sewed to prevent the skirt from getting wrinkled during transportation. It is only there because it's a new skirt. It led me to confirm with the manager Yoko-san worked at. He confirmed that before she went home after work, she accidentally spilled coffee right on the shirt and skirt she was wearing. Because of that, she immediately bought a new skirt and jacket and changed into them right at the shop where she bought them from. That's why while there were still some stains left on her shirt, the skirt was already replaced by a new one. When you saw the body, you said this, didn't you? How did you know about the color of clothes Yoko-san were wearing when she just changed it while she was still at ho, when you did not even see her this morning?"

"It must be because she's wearing a similar color and since I was just guessing it, it might be mistaken." Tachibana stammered.

"Mizuki-san, oji-san asked you to see this." Conan ran out from the couch and showed Tachibana a photo on his phone. "I asked the manager to send it to me." he continued, the photo was of Katsuragi posing in her new clothes. "That was what Yoko-san was wearing to work today before she changed her clothes. Now, please tell me, Mizuki-san, how is it that her clothes were similar to a white jacket and a beige skirt? You must have met her, when Yoko-san was on her way home."

"But Mouri-san, if it's like that, we can't just say Mizuki-san was the one who killed Yoko-san." Takagi pointed out.

"Indeed, it was just evidence based on the scene." Conan admitted. "But I didn't say it's the deciding evidence. I have the undeniable proof that's already here. Mizuki-san, when we were at the family restaurant, you took out your wallet from your bag, but for some reason, you put it in your pocket after that. Why didn't you put it back into your bag? You're afraid that if you put it back into your bag and there'll be someone who'll see what's in the bag. You have something on your bag that we shouldn't know. Right from the start, I've felt it was strange; tonight, the air was quite cold and it's also raining. And yet you're wearing a rather thin jacket. But if we think of another reason for you to wear that jacket, it can be easily explained. Most probably, what's inside your bag is a jacket already stained with Yoko-san's blood. Not only that, the steel rod the 'Hood Man' used is also inside. That is the real weapon that Mizuki-san used to kill Yoko-san. Firstly, you were thinking of making it look like it was his doing. That's why you were observing him to determine the type of weapon he was using. And you bought the same rod he was using. Then, with that rod your prepared, you killed Yoko-san. But ironically, you were really attacked by the real 'Hood Man'. However, your bad luck changed when we arrived to apprehend the 'Hood Man'. At that time, you were thinking that being attacked by the 'Hood Man' is a good way to escape."

"So, the one that 'Hood Man' has was already replaced by hers." Takagi realized. "That's why Yoko-san's blood was on that rod the 'Hood Man' had."

"I was nearly fooled because of that." Conan admitted. "But when I was joking about the handkerchief, it hit me. Just like the handkerchief, I wondered if the weapon was replaced beforehand. Mizuki-san, even after being released from the hospital, you were always being followed by Ran. So, you shouldn't have had the time to throw that jacket and rod away. Now, if you don't mind, would you show us what's inside your bag?"

"Yoko was like the sun..." Tachibana sank to her knees, the contents of her carrier bag spilled out to reveal the blood-stained jacket and a collapsible rod. "So bright and selfish... always thinking that she's the center of the world. In front of that sun, I was like the helpless and useless moon. Because of that, Yoko always got her hands on every good thing I had. My clothes, my money, and even the man I loved; all because of that good-looking face of hers. Even though it's like this, I kept holding it in and continued to be patient, until I heard her say those words." she revealed that her murder intent was roused when Katsuragi declared that she wanted Tachibana to be attacked by the 'Hood Man'. "That's why I reversed it on her. I made it look like she was attacked by the 'Hood Man'.


Meanwhile, at Police Headquarters...

"You're here to pick up Mizuno-san, Amuro-san?" Sato noticed Amuro in front of Ami's office, a hand on the door knob.

"She sent me a text half an hour ago." Amuro showed the younger detective the text message.

"Just in time, Sato-san." Ami stepped out of her officer with her autopsy report in hand. "Can you hand this to the Inspector for me?"

"A date so late?" Sato teased, taking the file.

"No really." Amuro refuted, exchanging a look with his partner.


SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.