SailorStar9: With Chapter 49 uploaded, this is Chapter 50 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 50: The Scarlet Pursuit


"Like I said, I was organizing the gym's storage until after 8:30 last night." Sugamoto argued. "It was late, so I came to the staff office to walk Shibuya-sensei home, but she wasn't here."

"Had you agreed earlier to take her home?" Takagi asked.

"No." Sugamoto replied. "I just thought she'd feel safer going home at night with a man around."

"You once confessed your feelings to Shibuya-sensei, and she rejected you." Amuro revealed. "I heard that from the other teachers when I came here to investigate Shibuya-sensei's stalker. You were my prime suspect."

"Are you Natsuko's stalker?" Jodie pressed.

"It's not me." Sugamoto insisted. "I protected her from the bad guys. I sort of escorted her home every day. Rather, I made sure she didn't notice me and watched over her. It was so cute when she'd sense me and look around. I knew I had to protect her."

"Someone ought to look up the word 'stalker' in a dictionary." Ami muttered.

"Could she have pointed out this out and made you angry?" Megure accused.

"She really wasn't here after 8:30." Sugamoto asserted. "Besides, didn't she have graded answer sheets inside her bag? As a fellow teacher, I know she isn't supposed to take those home."

"When I met her last night, she was grading them." Ueno recalled. "Perhaps she was half-listening to my warning."

"You mentioned you met with Shibuya-sensei to ask her not to seduce your son." Megure repeated. "What grade is he in?"

"He's probably a first grader like Conan-kun." Jodie supplied. "Natsuko mentioned she'd become the homeroom teacher for Class 1-C."

"A first-grader falling in love with his teacher?" Takagi was amused. "Sounds cute."

"Are you out of your mind?" Ueno snapped. "I warned her to be more modest precisely because he's still an impressionable child. Also, my child is in fifth grade, not the first."

"He had a crush on a different class's homeroom teacher?" Takagi was taken aback.

"Shibuya-sensei is fluent in English because she studied in the United States." Sugamoto supplied. "She teaches English to the upper grade levels, as well."

"It's just like my ex-husband." Ueno sobbed. "He spent his money on a half-girl he met at a bar. After taking all his savings, she abandoned him. I don't want my son to follow in his footsteps. But everyone around me is trying to corrupt him. I'm sorry, but could I borrow a handkerchief? I forgot mine in the taxi on the way here."

"You're welcome to use mine." Camel handed over his lime green handkerchief.

"You don't own a car?" Jodie blinked.

"I had to sell to pay off my husband's debts." Ueno wept. "I still renew my license, though."

"Your car was stolen?" Takagi echoed after Kandachi informed them.

"When I tried to go to work this morning, my garage door was open and my car was gone." Kandachi replied.

"Did you report it?" Takagi asked.

"Immediately." Kandachi answered. "I had to take the train to work and a bus here. Now I'm suspected of murder, too. It's a huge nuisance."

"Natsuko's still alive." Jodie reminded.

"You said you came here before nine last night." Takagi asked.

"Like I said, the school was dark and the gate was locked." Kandachi explained. "It was probably after that stalker or old woman got her and took her away."

"It's possible you took her away after Ueno-san left and before Sugamoto-san arrived." Megure pointed out.

"I came at the appointed time, but she wasn't here." Kandachi reminded.

"So, your appointment with Shibuya-sensei was around nine?" Megure questioned.

"But, there was an unsent message on Shibuya-sensei's phone, reading 'We're meeting at 8:30. Can you still come?'" Takagi read off his notes. "Wasn't this meant for you?"

"I don't know." Kandachi stood his ground. "If you're asking, then there must not have been an addressee. Maybe it was meant for that old lady and she arrived while she was writing it. Even if it were me, the equations filling her head with numbers must have confused her. It sounds like she was grading tests."

"So, these are the answer sheets in question." Megure retrieved the answer sheets from Shibuya's bag.

"Forensics has them right now, so all we have are photos." Takagi supplied.

"There may be simple problems, but these numbers could confuse a person." Megure admitted, looking at the photos closely.

"But what Natsuko said is true." Jodie remarked. "That drawing on the top right." she pointed to the flower mark on one of the photographed answer sheets. "In America, they write 'excellent' on tests that score 100. But in Japan, they draw flower circles."

"Is that all?" Amuro spoke up. "Is that all, FBI? What about you, German?" he turned to Camel. "I'm asking if that's all you can deduce from this photo."

"In Japan, they draw flower circles for correct answers." Camel remarked. "The answer sheet on the top must be graded correctly."

"It looks like we are the only ones who noticed. "Amuro burst out laughing. "Isn't that right?" he turned to Ami and Conan. "After the two of you saw the photo, you started staring at the culprit."

"You know who did it?" Megure exclaimed.

"More or less." Amuro replied. "But it's finally clear now. I always wondered why she hired a detective to investigate her stalker when her friend works for the FBI."

"Maybe she couldn't ask." Camel intervened. "We're here on vacation."

"On vacation?" Amuro echoed. "If you don't have visas, you must not have many days left. If you're finished enjoying the sights, I wish you'd get out of my Japan."

"Zero." Conan tugged Amuro's shirt. "Come here." he pulled the undercover agent off. "You're an enemy, right? Of the bad guys..."

"Zero." Amuro sighed. "My childhood nickname is really Zero. You seem to have the wrong idea about me. Now, let's solve this mystery. First, look closely at the photo of the answer sheets. Notice anything?"

The wrong idea? Conan was confident his suspicions were correct. The insight to see the truth, the way he didn't eliminate Haibara on the Bell Tree Express, his attitude contrary to his nickname 'Zero', and the clincher is what he just said to those FBI investigators. That conviction: 'Zero' is the nickname given to the organization that 'doesn't exist'. Protectors of Japan's safety and order: the Public Security Bureau. If he's a Security Police infiltrating the organization, I thought he'd help us to avoid the worst if we explained the situation. But if he's not, that plan we worked so hard on... he'll find out.

"I give up, Amuro-kun." Megure admitted defeat. "Tell us what's wrong with these answer sheets."

"Looks closely at the answers on the top sheet and the one hidden below it." Amuro gestured. "Take 4+5, for instance. Both answers are 9, but the top sheet is marked with a circle and the other with a cross. And Hirai Umihiko's answer sheet is covered with crosses, but it's scored 100 with a flower circle. Don't you find it strange?"

"Jodie-sensei." Conan spoke. "Why did you call Shibuya-sensei last night?"

"We were supposed to go drinking." Jodie replied. "We meant to catch up with Ami as well, since Natsuko was also involved in that interstate missing body parts serial murder case."

"Who invited who?" Conan asked.

"She emailed me." Jodie answered. "It's strange, though. Natsuko said she didn't remember sending it. But the messenger was on her phone and she can be pretty forgetful."

"Investigator Camel, you lent her your phone since because hers was dead." Conan reminded.

"I charge it every night, but I use it a lot, so it's usually dead by evening." Jodie chuckled.

"Jodie, you do know there's something called a power bank, right?" Ami deathpanned.

"Is that so?" Jodie blinked

"This is bad." Conan muttered. "Maybe..."

"Is that right, Investigator Jodie Starling?" Amuro cut in. "Please pay attention. I'm trying to reveal who did that to your teacher friend. In Japan, we circle correct answers and mark wrong answers with crosses." he explained. "But in America, they mark correct answers with crosses."

"That's true." Ami confirmed. "Well, I suppose it's an oversight on my part not telling Jodie about this, but considering she's going undercover as a high school teacher, I didn't think that it would be relevant."

"But they're not crosses, they're check marks." Jodie supplied. "Japan marks correct answers with checks as well. It's the same thing."

"But why are the wrong answers circled?" Takagi wondered.

"They mean the answer is wrong and you should review the problem." Jodie explained. "Not every teacher circle wrong answers, though. Does this mean the bottom sheet is Natsuko's and the one on top is graded by a Japanese culprit?" she realized.

"Yes." Amuro nodded. "Aren't the circles on the top sheet rather warped and sticking out of the answer sheets?"

"But why?" Megure wondered.

"Probably because the culprit was clumsy." Amuro reasoned. "Or maybe to hide something red with a red pen."

"Blood." Jodie gasped.

"When the culprit attacked her, her blood got on the ungraded sheets." Camel realized. "When he used the red pen to hide it, it warped his circles."

"The question is which of those three people did it." Amuro nodded.

"You know who did it, don't you?" Megure turned to the younger man.

"Of course." Amuro answered. "It's simple, isn't it, Ami, Conan-kun?"

"It's the flowers circles." Conan nodded. "It's obvious who drew the flower circles when you look at the photo."

"Compare Shibuya-sensei's flower circles to the culprit's." Ami added. "The swirls are in opposite directions."

"The culprit's counter-clockwise." Takagi exclaimed.

"In other words, the culprit wasn't Sugamoto-sensei who wiped his sweat with his right hand, nor was Ueno-san who accepted Camel's handkerchief with her right hand." Ami reasoned. "But rather, Kandachi-san who pulled out his cigarette pack with his left hand."

"A left-handed person's swirl would be counter-clockwise." Megure concluded.

"I'm left-handed but I draw my flower circles from the inside." Kandachi explained. "I didn't draw those flowers..."

"No," Amuro corrected. "On both flower circles, the line tapers off on the inside of the swirl. This proves that they were drawn from the outside. Besides, didn't you say she got the time confused because her head was full of numbers? A grade school teacher teaches other subjects, so how did you know she was grading math tests? Tell us if you've got an answer other than, 'I saw it at the crime scene.'"

"Well, a handwriting analysis would clarify things." Ami shrugged.

"She laughed." Kandachi admitted. "When I yelled at her for grading wrong, she said it was a habit from her time in America. I didn't know Japan and America grade differently."

"Natsuko was wrong for not grading Japanese style." Jodie admitted. "But shouldn't you have understood if you saw the answer sheets?"

"I was so angry, I didn't think..." Kandachi muttered.

"So, your stolen car..." Takagi spoke.

"I lied." Kandachi sighed. "I didn't want the cops to find her hair in my car, so I asked a friend to hold onto it."

"Excuse me." a female teacher rushed in. "The hospital just called. Shibuya-sensei's condition has worsened and her life is in danger."

"Should I tell her she shouldn't be so rash?" Ami wondered, Jodie dashed towards her rental car with Camel and Conan in tow.

"What do you mean?" Takagi looked at the coroner.

"With bad news like this, aren't family the first to know?" Ami inquired. "It's times like this, I really, really hate being the one with the calm mind." she shook her head and hurried out after Jodie.


At the hospital's carpark...

"What are you doing here?" Camel asked, seeing Amuro step out of his car. "You've concluded your business."

"She's still my client." Amuro reminded. "Besides, you look like you'd let your tongue slip."

"Camel, I'll handle this." Ami intervened.

"Right." Camel nodded and entered the hospital.

"The interstate missing body parts serial murders." Ami started.

"What?" Amuro blinked, puzzled by the sudden change in topic.

"Shibuya's the final victim of that case." Ami explained. "And Jodie managed to save her before she ended up as a corpse on Doctor Moreno's autopsy table."

"I see." Amuro nodded.


In Shibuya's hospital room...

"Jodie, you came." the conscious teacher greeted her friend. "I'm surprised you knew I regained consciousness. It's partially my fault this happened, so I asked them not to tell the school."

"Jodie-sensei!" Conan realized they had been led into a trap. "Where's Investigator Camel?"

"Probably with the car." Jodie replied.


At the hospital entrance...

"Kusuda Rikumichi?" Camel echoed. "Don't know him."

"He was a patient at this hospital." Amuro explained. "He abandoned his car nearby and disappeared. I think there's a gun involved. Have you heard anything?"

"Who knows?" Camel shrugged.

"I see." Amuro mocked. "The information didn't make it down to a lowly investigator like yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Camel inquired. "We always share our..."

"Camel, FISA Section 702." Ami reminded.

"Right." Camel muttered

"Camel, what are you doing?" Jodie stormed over and pulled Camel in. "Don't wander off yourself."

"The Twin Towers." Ami spoke, now left alone with Amuro.

"Eh?" Amuro blinked.

"Jodie's team saved me from getting skewered by a spiral steel rod at the Twin Towers." Ami elaborated. "I'll have ended up like Christopher Reeve, otherwise. Don't make me choose between you and them." she warned. "You won't like the results. I think it's best you don't pick me up tomorrow; the two of us need some time to cool off after this." with that ultimatum, she followed Jodie and Camel.

"I hope you didn't tell him about Kusuda." Jodie whispered.

"Of course not." Camel assured. "I'd never tell him he shot himself in the car. My lips are sealed."

"I see." Jodie smirked. "Thank you."

"It happened before I was assigned to Japan, so I heard it from Akai-san." Camel continued.

"Apparently not sealed enough, Camel." Ami rebuked, Camel looking around to find Jodie gone.


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