SailorStar9: With Chapter 51 uploaded, this is Chapter 52 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 52: The Scarlet Return


"Next up is the award for Production Design." the Macademy Awards continued his presentation. "Presenting the award is Mr. David Carpenter."

"Have a seat." Okiya told his guest. "Thank for waiting." he brought out a tray with a tea pot, cups, stirrers, a jar of milk and a bowl of sugar cubes.

"Do you like mysteries?" Amuro asked.

"Yes, I suppose." Okiya replied.

"Let's start there, then." Amuro remarked. "It's a simple corpse swap trick."

"That's a standard trick." Okiya was intrigued.

"A man was shot in the head at Raiha Pass." Amuro started. "He was burned along with his car. The fingerprints taken from his right hand, which barely escaped the fire, matched the fingerprints on a boy's phone he had picked up with he was still alive, verifying the dead man's identity. But it's strange. The fingerprints on the phone. The man was a lefty, but for some reason, his right hand's fingerprints are on the phone. Don't you find that odd?"

"Maybe he had something in his dominant hand when he picked up the phone." Okiya surmised.

"Or he was forced to pick it up with his right hand." Amuro guessed.

"Why would that be?" Okiya inquired.

"Because another man had picked up the phone before he did." Amuro added milk to his tea. "And that man was right-handed. Though, in reality, they meant to make three men pick up the phone. Now, I have a question." he sipped his tea. "The first man was a fat, greasy fellow. The second was a skinny man with a neck brace. The third was an old man with a pacemaker. Of the three men, only one of their fingerprints were on the phone. Whose do you think they were?"

"The second thin man." Okiya answered. "The fat man's fingerprints were wiped off. They didn't want to make the other two to pick up a greasy phone. The old man would worry that the phone's radio waves could cause problems with his pacemaker, so he didn't pick it up at all."

"That's right." Amuro put his tea cup down.

"But the dead man touched that phone after the thin man." Okiya recalled. "Shouldn't his fingerprints by on it, too?"

"What if he made sure that wouldn't happen?" Amuro posted a question. "The man anticipated this would happen so his coated his fingerprints with..."


At Raiha Pass...

"With a film." Jodie breathed. "Shu must have coated his fingerprints with a clear adhesive. To be safe, on both hands. When he grabbed Conan-kun's phone, the coating on his fingers prevented his fingerprints from getting on the phone. That's why Shu dropped that can of coffee. The coating on his fingers made them slippery."

"Then whose fingerprints were on the phone?" Camel asked, Amuro having summoned his Public Security Bureau subordinates to trail the two FBI agents.

"Not Shu's." Jodie guessed. "Kusuda Rikumichi's, the man who touched the phone before him."

"Which means the corpse shot in the head and burned at Raiha Pass..." Camel's eyes widened.

"It was Kusuda Rikumichi's body." Jodie nodded. "I'm not exactly sure, but Shu must've had the body dressed like himself in his car, pretended to get shot by Mizunashi Rena, and switched places with the body."


In the Kudo household...

"That's a very interesting mystery." Okiya noted. "But how did the man who pretended to be shot leave?"

"Before I answer that, could you turn off the TV?" Amuro requested. "This is an important conversation we're having."

"Can't we leave it on?" Okiya refuted. "I'm interested in the results of the Macademy Awards. So how did the man leave?"

"He probably worked with the woman who shot him." Amuro hazarded a guess. "So, he sneaked into her car and escaped, out of sight of the men watching them from a distance."

"So, they were being watched." Okiya mused.

"And the men watching them were fooled." Amuro added. "After all, the man was bleeding from the head. But that was fake as well. The man who was shot always wore a black knit hat. Your neighbor invents devices that could put MI6 to shame. He could easily invent a device that would shoot blood when a blank was fired."

"So, he asked the woman working with him to shoot him in the head." Okiya summarized.

"One of the observers told her to shoot him in the head." Amuro corrected. "He knew he would the observer always finishes people off that way."


At Raiha Pass...

'I don't believe this." Camel was still skeptical. "Akai-san touched that phone before we allowed them to retrieve Mizunashi Rena. Did Akai-san already know she would be ordered to kill him?"

"Shu knew that much." Jodie nodded.


In the Kudo household...

"He's quite the clever man." Okiya admitted. "He sounds like a protagonist of a spy novel."

"But someone else came up with this plan." Amuro corrected.


At Raiha Pass...

"Using the phone covered in his fingerprints..." Jodie pondered. "It wasn't Shu. Could it be..."


In the Kudo household...

"What the man says before he was shot proves it." Amuro stated.

"'To think you went this far.'?" Okiya echoed. "It sounds to me like he was lamenting his bad luck."

"That's the obvious interpretation." Amuro agreed. "But if you add something to the end of his statement, it's meaning changes. 'To think you went this far in your prediction.' He was praising the boy who came up with the plan."


At Raiha Pass...

"We'd better hurry." Camel spotted the Public Security Bureau officers on their tail. "We're got some strange cars on our tail. What has Akai-san been doing since then?" he sped up. "Do you know where he might be? Maybe someone who uses the same phases. You know, Akai-san would always say 'The odds are 50/50, so we're in the same boat.'"


In the Kudo household...

"The rest was simple." Amuro lounged back on the sofa. "After the incident at Raiha Pass, I just had to look for any suspicious persons who suddenly appeared around the boy. And that's how I ended up here. I'm still not sure how the boy and this house's owner, Kudo Yusaku, are related, but it seems you're able to move in thanks to that boy. "


At Raiha Pass...

"It's him." Jodie remembered her encounter with Okiya. "I told you about him before. The strange man with glasses I ran into at the Beika Department store."


In the Kudo household...

"I'm waiting for their call." Amuro placed his phone flat on the coffee table. "My friends are currently pursuing your friends in an attempt to capture them. I figured you'd come clean if your friends' lives were at stake. But perhaps you'd be willing to remove your mask before I receive the call, Okiya Subaru-san? Rather, FBI investigator, Akai Shuichi."

"If that's what you want, then I have no choice." Okiya relented.


At Raiha Pass...

"They're barricading the road with cars." Jodie gaped, realized she and Camel were cornered.

"Clench your teeth so you don't bite your tongue." Camel warned. He then used the slope to drive past the two cars blocking them. "Who the hell are those guys?"

"They must be working for them." Jodie concluded. "Now that they know Shu's alive, they'll capture us and use us as bait to draw out Shu."

"You mean, I ruined Akai-san's plan because I let it slip that Kusuda shot himself..." Camel realized.

"We don't have time for remorse." Jodie rebuked. "Focus on getting them off our tail."


In the Kudo household...

As requested, Okiya removed his face mask.

"What do you think you're doing?" Amuro frowned.

"I have a bit of a cold." Okiya coughed. "Can I put my mask on? I'd hate to make you sick, too."

"Not that mask." Amuro corrected. "I'm telling you to remove your disguise, Akai Shuichi."

"Next up is the award for Best Original Script." the MC continued his presentation. "The winner of this distinguished award is a bestselling author for his first attempt at a screenplay. Famous for writing the 'Night Baron' series, Mr. Yusaku Kudo. The title of the film is 'The Scarlet Investigator'."


At Raiha Pass...

"This isn't good." Camel realized his car had started to skid. "The steering wheel keeps turning to the right. I must have damaged the tire and bent the rim when I went up that rock. The air's leaking out of the tire. At this rate, they'll catch us."


In the Kudo household...

"What are you planning?" Amuro growled.

"What do you mean?" Okiya fixed his mask back on.

"Just at first glance, there are two in the entryway, three in the hallway, and five hidden cameras in this room." Amuro pointed out. "Are you going to record this and send it to the FBI? Or is there someone in another room watching us?


At Raiha Pass...

"Do something, Camel." Jodie pleaded. "They're right behind us."

"There's nothing I can do." Camel replied. "I'm sure Akai-san could manage something, though."


In the Kudo household...

"Does this person look or sound like me?" the puzzled Okiya asked.

"You can disguise your face and use a voice changer." Amuro snorted. "This afternoon, I researched this area to see if your neighbor, Professor Agasa had any popular inventions that he suddenly stopped selling. It was the choker voice changer. Once on your neck, it allows you to use your throat's vibrations to change your voice. Stalkers found it useful for prank calls. It's just small enough for you to hide under your turtleneck." he reached to tug Okiya's collar. He was taken aback when he saw Okiya's bare neck.


At Raiha Pass...

"Open the roof." in the backseat, Akai ordered. "Open it, Camel."

"Akai?" one of Amuro's subordinates was shocked to see Akai in the backseat of Camel's rental.

"Pull back." his partner warned. "We need orders."


In the Kudo household...

"Your phone is ringing." Okiya pointed out, when Amuro's phone started ringing.

"What's going on?" Amuro took the call. "Took you long enough. Akai?"


At Raiha Pass...

"Five seconds." Akai instructed. "Up ahead, there's a 200-meter stretch of straight road. Once we're there, keep the car steady for five seconds. We'll end this stupid chase."

"Where have you been?" Jodie asked her former lover. "Why are you in the car?"

"Everything's gone exactly according to the kid's plan." Akai answered.


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