SailorStar9: With Chapter 42 uploaded, this is Chapter 43 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: Established!Furuya Rei/Mizuno Ami
Chapter 43: The Romance Novel with the Unexpected Conclusion, Part One
Time passes...
"The Red Woman was really scary." Sonoko remarked, she, Ran and Sera were on their way home from school. "Though, I guess it wasn't the real Red Woman who attacked us."
"I know." Ran agreed. "Who knows what would have happened if Inspector Yamato and Morofoshi hadn't arrived."
"I think we could've easily subdued her without them." Sera was certain.
"You are super strong." Sonoko teased.
"Do you do anything besides martial arts?" Ran inquired.
"When I was little, I was all about jeet kune do." Sera admitted. "I'd watch and copy the videos my oldest brother sent me until they wore out. There was a dojo in my neighborhood. I only dubbed in other sports during PE lessons in school. But after I moved to America in middle school, I sometimes played other sports with my friends. There wasn't a dojo where I ended up, either. I used to watch a lot of sports with my mom on TV. That's how I know Conan-kun's pretty good at football."
"Is your mom still in America?" Ran asked.
"Yeah." Sera nodded. "Because of that, I've been living alone in a hotel since I returned to Japan. I tried moving in with my middle brother, who's been living in Japan this whole time, but he turned me down."
"You're living in a hotel?" Sonoko joked. "Are you sure you're not the daughter of some rich family?"
"My dad's friend who's always looked after us is rich." Sera laughed. "He's not as rich as your family, though. I don't have any other relatives to depend on. Once I get older, I know I should pay him back."
"Is that hotel around here?" Sonoko grew excited.
"Yeah." Sera blinked.
"Do you mind if we stop by?" Sonoko pressed.
"Sure, I guess." Sera replied. "I should email my brother, then. I had actually promised to meet my brother."
Later...
"What was that weird group of old men?" Sonoko wondered, Sera leading the group through the hallway as they passed a trio of men waiting for someone.
"Apparently, they're waiting for manuscripts from a popular author living in this hotel." Sera replied. "I think his name is..."
"Hiura Keigo." the 48-years-old novelist supplied. "I'm what they call a romance novel writer."
In Sera's and Mary's room...
"What a wonderful view." Ran gushed, looking out of the balcony. "I think I can see the curvature of the Earth."
"Why don't we order something from room service like that author?" Sonoko suggested.
"It's already 6 o'clock." Sera snuck a peak at her handphone.
"I need to go home and start making dinner." Ran gaped.
"See you later." Sonoko bade Sera farewell as they exited the room.
"Madam." a panicked bellboy suddenly shouted in the corridor. "Are you all right, madam?"
"Wait a minute." Ran chased after Conan and Sera who had taken off downstairs.
Downstairs...
"Are you alright, Minazuki-sama?" the bellboy knelt at the opened door, Minazuki Chiaki having collapsed by the door. "Who are you two?" he blinked when Sera and Conan entered the crime scene and knelt beside the corpse.
"Minazuki-kun." Hiura had also arrived. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"Sensei, there you are." Hiura's editor from Nichiuri Publishing spotted the novelist. "You said you were just going to get some cigarettes."
"Minazuki-kun had collapsed in the hallway of her room." Hiura supplied.
"She was killed." Sera revealed. "Someone strangled her to death."
"But why?" Hiura gaped.
"Maybe it has something to do with that fax." the editor from Nichiuri Publishing reasoned. "This morning, my department received a fax; it said we'll regret it if we don't fire his assistant."
"Why didn't you tell me about that?" Hiura snapped. "You had plenty of opportunities to tell me. Are you saying while I was working on a romance novel while this was happening to her?"
Shortly afterwards...
"Champagne, huh?" Megure interviewed the bellboy. "When you came to deliver the champagne that was ordered, you discovered the body?"
"I was told to bring it at exactly 6pm." the bellboy confirmed. "The key card was stuck in the door and it was slightly ajar. I wondered what had happened, so I opened the door. I found her on the floor."
"Do we know who the victim is?" Megure asked.
"Her name is..." Takagi referred to his notes.
"Minazuki Chiaki." Hiura responded. "She was my talented assistant. I think she was turning thirty this year. I am the author, Hiura Keigo. I'm the one who ordered the champagne. I'm occupying the room directly above this one. I was writing, so I thought I would be finished around 6 o'clock. I thought we could share a celebratory drink. I never imagined this would happen to her while I was writing."
"Do you come here because you finished writing?" Megure inquired.
"I was having trouble finishing the last pages; about thirty minutes ago, I went out to buy cigarettes for a change in pace and wander about while thinking." Hiura admitted. "I bought the cigarettes from the vending machines in the elevator hall two floors down. While climbing the stairs, I heard this bellboy scream and came running."
"You were just wandering around, right?" Conan piped in. "How did you know she was killed while you're working on your book? She may have been killed just now."
"Her jaw was beginning to stiffen when her body was discovered." Sera agreed. "I think it's about two to three hours since her death. If you knew that without even touching her body, maybe you should switch to being a mystery author instead."
"She didn't come to my room." Hiura defended. "She was supposed to bring documents to my room a couple hours ago, but she never came. When I saw her body, I assumed she couldn't come because she'd been killed."
"So, was she actually killed two to three hours ago?" Megure asked Takagi.
"According to Mizuno-san, her estimated time of death is two and a half hours ago before her body was discovered." Takagi read off Ami's initial prognosis. "She was strangled at around 3:30 pm."
"Isn't that around the time you boys were eating in my room?" Hiura turned to his editor.
"We started just around 3 o'clock." the Nichiuri Publishing editor confirmed. "I'm Hiura-sensei's editor at Nichiuri Publishing." he introduced himself. "He ordered too much food, so we were eating in his room with two other editors."
"You were working on three manuscripts?" Takagi blinked.
"Their deadlines conflicted." Hiura explained. "I decided to finish the manuscripts of the editors who ate the most food first."
"Did Hiura-san eat with you?" Megure asked.
"No," the editor replied." While we were eating, he went to take a bath so he could think."
"Couldn't you have snuck out of the room, then?" Takagi accused.
"That's not possible." the editor refuted. "Several food deliveries arrived afterwards, but we could clearly see the entryway from the living room where we were eating. We paid for the food, so I don't think Hiura-sensei even approached the entryway while we were eating."
"How long were you eating?" Takagi asked.
"Until around 4:30." the editor recalled. "When we finished eating and left his room, we could see the door to his room while waiting for the elevators. He only left his room to give his finished manuscript to an editor. He returned to his room immediately afterwards. I don't think he had the chance to sneak out."
"Does that mean you finished three manuscripts in a short amount of time?" Megure inquired.
"I nearly finished all three of them." Hiura answered. "But as I said earlier, I was stuck on the last scene of 'The Phone, the Ocean, and I' which he works on. After 5:30 pm, I printed out everything except the final pages to give to him and went to buy cigarettes. I thought he could read it while he waited."
"He headed towards the stairs with his wallet in his hand." the editor nodded.
"The stairs do more to inspire me." Hiura stated. "It's good exercise, too."
"When I was reading the manuscript, I heard the bellboy shouting." the editor continued. "Hiura-sensei called to tell me something had happened downstairs. When I got here, you were all standing in front of the room."
"Can you think of anyone who may have had a grudge against Minazuki-san?" Megure inquired.
"It's the threatening fax." Hiura insisted. "The culprit must be whoever sent that."
"It arrived this morning at my editorial department." the editor clarified. "It said, 'If you don't fire the assistant, you'll regret it.' We did check the sender, but it was a convenience store."
"Why was she being threatened, though?" Megure pondered.
"It's because a weekly magazine printed pictures of us walking around town together, with the caption that we might be lovers." Hiura replied. "Because of it, my wife went back to her parents' house."
"Nearly all his works are about pure, genuine love." the editor explained. "He has many female fans who despise adultery."
"What was your relationship with Minazuki-san actually like?" Megure prodded.
"There was nothing between us." Hiura insisted. "She was a great assistant with plenty of ideas. She worked so hard on 'The Phone, the Ocean, and I'. You could practically call it her work. I was thinking of letting her become an independent writer next year."
As evening fell...
"Let the police handle this." Takagi told Sera and Conan. "Conan-kun and Sera-san, you can leave now. We might question some witnesses later." he reminded.
In Mary's and Sera's room...
"No way." Ran gaped when Sera informed the rest about Hiura. "The author Hiura-san is the suspect? Is it true?"
"Probably." Sera replied.
"But I thought he had an alibi." Sonoko reminded. "He was in his room with his editors watching over him."
"In order to break his alibi down, I need to come up with a way to get to the victim's room one floor below." Sera determined. "We're thirty floors up. Using a rope to climb down from the balcony would be pretty scary. If the editors could see the entryway from where they were eating in the living room, then they must be able to see the balcony, too."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
