SailorStar9: With Chapter 47 uploaded, this is Chapter 48 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 48: The Tense Tea Party, Part Two
"Inspector Megure." Takagi ran in. "We finished inspecting the hospital room but we didn't find a container or bag that could have contained the poison."
"It's likely the culprit threw it away." Megure reasoned.
"Also, we didn't find poison in the spilled tea." Takagi added. "So, Mizuno-san's guess that the poison is on the tea cup itself was most viable; actually, the poison was..."
"Was it on the teacup's..." Conan voiced.
"What are you doing?" Ran chided. "I looked all over the hospital for you. I told you not to wander off like that."
"But..." Conan whined, triggering yet another of Amuro's memories.
"Are you okay?" Mouri noticed Amuro's spaced-out expression. "What's wrong with you? Is this homicide case too much for you, too?"
"You haven't solved it yet, right?" Amuro returned. "Then, there's no way I have."
"Come on." Ran pulled Conan off. "We're leaving."
"But the case..." Conan whimpered. "A lady was poisoned and died. Inspector Megure and Detective Takagi and Kogoro-oji-san have no idea who did it."
"But Conan-kun, look outside." Ran turned to the evening sky. "The blue sky has turned bright red. It's time for children to go home. So let Dad and the police handle the case. Come on." she rebuked, seeing Conan had vanished.
In Kosaka's room...
"The lip of the cup?" Kosaka echoed. "There was poison there?"
"Just around the lipstick stain." Takagi confirmed. "When the victim Suto Reina-san brought the cup to her lips, she drank the poison along with her tea. There were no traces of poison inside the cup."
"You think one of us poisoned the cup just before Reina drank her tea?" Happo accused.
"Wouldn't someone had noticed?" Beppu argued.
"Nobody did something like that." Kosaka insisted.
"Weren't you listening to Amuro?" Mouri chided. "The culprit didn't poison her cup; they poisoned their own cup and switched it with the victim's."
"And we're saying that's not possible." Beppu objected. "I was drinking yellow chamomile."
"I was drinking brown peppermint tea." Happo added.
"And I was drinking blue butterfly tea." Kosaka reminded. "Even if one of us had swapped our teas with the red hibiscus tea Suto-san was drinking, she would've noticed immediately."
"But only the victim had a lemon slice in her tea." Mouri reminded. "If her view was limited, she may not have noticed a change in color."
"They look nothing alike." Beppu snapped.
"Not that an old man who knows nothing about herb tea would understand." Happo retorted.
"In any case, it's a fact the culprit killed Suto-san by poisoning her tea." Megure stated. "Because we didn't find the container for the poison in this room, Beppu-san and Happo-san, the culprit must be the one of you two, who left the room one after another."
"After poisoning the cup, the culprit left the room and disposed of the container." Mouri noted.
"Wait a minute." Beppu protested. "I just went to the restroom."
"And I went to the convenience store to buy snacks for the tea." Happo reminded. "I even have a receipt."
"A search of the restroom's plumbing and the way to the convenience store should turn up something." Mouri declared.
"But the culprit must have been pretty bold." Conan spoke up. "If I poisoned the cup, I definitely wouldn't leave. If someone wiped the cup, moved it or poured a new type of tea while I was gone, I wouldn't know which cup was poisoned anymore."
"Then, how and when did the culprit poison the cup?" Takagi wondered. "And where did the container for the poison go?"
"We'll have to search the room again." Megure remarked.
"You don't have to do that." Conan stated. "There's one person who could've openly poisoned the cup and never left it. Isn't that right, Zero-onii-chan? Apparently, Amuro-nii-chan used to be called Zero when he was a kid." he informed Ran.
"Do you know who it is?" Mouri asked the younger man.
"Yes." Amuro blinked. "I think I know from Conan-kun's hint. She was able to poison the cup and dispose the container. Without leaving the room, she applied poison to her own cup and watched the opportunity to switch it with the victim's. Only you could have done it, Kosaka Juri-san."
"Wait a minute." Happo protested. "How could she have poisoned her own cup? Juri was drinking tea from that cup the whole time."
"Did you forget?" Amuro reminded. "The poison was on the side you'd drink from when holding the cup in your left hand. As long as you are careful not to use your left hand, you'll never touch the poison."
"Then, when did she poison the cup?" Takagi asked.
"She probably brought the poison to the hospital before she was hospitalized." Amuro guessed. "She poisoned her own cup the day her friends were visiting and threw the container away outside her room somewhere."
"You're the one who's forgetting." Beppu retorted. "Juri was drinking a blue herb tea while Reina was drinking a red herb tea. Even with a lemon, she couldn't have swapped them."
"That lemon is the key to her trick." Amuro stated. "The truth is..."
"Wow, it's really blue." Conan cut in, deciding a live demonstration would prove their point. "This butterfly tea sure is mysterious. That's weird." he exclaimed, after dropping a slice of lemon into the tea. "This tea is blue, but it started turning red after I added a lemon."
"The acid in the lemon causes it to change color." Amuro explained. "There are other herb teas that react the same way. Naturally, if acid makes it turn red," he walked over to the cabinet. "Then adding alkaline baking soda Kosaka-san used to clean her cups makes it turn blue again." he sprinkled a pinch of baking soda into the tea. "In other words, these are the steps Kosaka-san took: first, knowing your friends were visiting, you asked Suto-san to come a little early. You had her go get hot water so you could have a tea party. While she was gone, you poisoned the side opposite the one you were using with the poison you brought from hospital and threw the container away outside your room. Once your friends arrived, you suggested comparing teas and waited for Suto-san to choose the hibiscus tea. The hibiscus tea is a purplish red which looks every similar to butterfly tea when lemons are added. After Suto-san chose the hibiscus tea, you put in her cup a teabag whose contents were switched out for butterfly tea beforehand, put a lemon on top and added water, allowing you to serve Suto-san butterfly tea the color of hibiscus tea."
"Then, how did she switch the cups?" Mouri inquired.
"She did it when Suto-san and her friends were looking at pictures on her phone." Amuro revealed. "First, she put a lemon in her own poisoned cup of blue butterfly tea to turn it red and nudged Suto-san's cup with her own. She pretended to take her own cup while actually taking Suto-san's, removed the lemon and added baking soda, making it blue again. Then she nudged the poisoned cup with her own again, putting the cup's handle on the left side from Suto-san's perspective. Because Suto-san was distracted by the phone, she knew she could make her pick up the poisoned cup with her left hand."
"You make it sound as though you're watching." Beppu accused. "But what proof do you..."
"Oba-san, your thumb is red." Conan peered at Kosaka's left thumb. "Did you hurt yourself?"
"There was one other thing the culprit had to remove from the crime scene." Amuro supplied. "The lipstick from Suto-san's original cup. It would be strange to find lipstick on Kosaka-san's cup. She quickly wiped it off with her finger, but lipstick can be hard to remove without soap."
"In other words, if this red color matches Suto-san's lipstick, it will prove she did it." Megure concluded.
"If you examine Suto-san's cup, you'll find proof as well." Amuro added. "A significant amount of baking soda was mixed into the tea."
"But, how did she add the baking soda?" Mouri was confused.
"She sprinkled the sugar cubes on the table with baking soda and hid it in the bottom of the container." Amuro explained. "There's nothing suspicious about adding sugar to herb tea."
"So, that's why Mizuno-san had forensics take the sugar cubes for testing." Takagi recalled. "She knew."
"Or at least she suspected." Conan supplied. "It sure is tough on you, Amuro-nii-san, to be dating someone much smarter than you are."
"But Juri had no motive to kill Reina." Happo pointed out. "She may have hated Reina for making her son fail the exam."
"But she won't kill someone over it." Beppu defended.
"It wasn't just my son who caught Suto-san's son's flu." Kosaka admitted. "I was pregnant then. My doctor told me the flu could negatively affect the fetus I developed neurosis and miscarried. At first, I thought I was careless or just had bad luck. But then, I heard what Suto-san's son had to say." she recalled that Tsuneo had revealed to her that Reina had wanted him to spread his flu to Toji in order to reduce competition."
"How awful." Happo breathed.
"But it sounds like Reina." Beppu noted.
"I'm just as awful." Kosaka sighed. "I let you fall under suspicion so I could get away with my crime. It's too bad, though. I chose butterfly tea due to its detoxifying effects. I thought it might erase the dark murderous intent inside me before I committed the crime."
Later that night...
"You already knew it was Kosaka-san who poisoned Suto-san, didn't you?" Amuro turned to his still working girlfriend, after locking the door to her office.
"I have no idea what you mean." Ami quipped.
"Is that payback for the afternoon?" Amuro teased. "So, it is payback." he noticed her playful grin.
"So, when are you going to tell me about you, Mr. Bureau agent?" Ami leveled the blond a flat look.
"You knew..." Amuro chuckled.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
