SailorStar9: With Chapter 54 uploaded, this is Chapter 55 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 55: The Mystery Sinking in the Midsummer Pool, Part Two


"Only the staff entered the pool after we were ordered to close it." the counter receptionist confirmed. "The manager, Hamaka-ojou-sama, secretary Samaki-san and those two bellboys. Before Nagami-ojou-sama was left alone, we let those girls through."

"We forgot something." Sonoko chuckled.

"After Nagami-san said she'd search alone, who was the first to return here?" Megure inquired.

"I believe it was Manager Toyoshima." the receptionist recalled. "He said he wanted to check on Nagami-ojou-sama."

"Do you know when that was?" Takagi asked.

"After 12 pm, I think." the receptionist replied. "I just received an email then." she her message inbox. "At 12.05 pm."

"What was she doing there?" Megure asked Toyoshima.

"She was looking for her necklace." Toyoshima answered. "It took her a while to notice I was there. But when she noticed, she said that I was in the way, so I left quickly."

"What about after the manager left?" Takagi inquired.

"The next person was Samaki-san." the receptionist remembered.

"She was taking a while." Samaki reasoned. "I was going to tell her to let someone else do it. But I didn't see her in or near the pool. I thought she might be in the bathroom, so I waited by the pool. She showed no signs of returning, so I left."

"Do you know when you left?" Megure inquired.

"No." Samaki blinked.

"I don't know either." the receptionist added. "I didn't take note, but Hamaka-ojou-sama who arrived when he left, left at 12:54. She asked me the time when she was leaving."

"I had a 1pm reservation for lunch at this hotel." Hamaka explained. "Samaki-san told me check the bathroom and changing room. She wasn't in either, though. She wasn't in the pool either, so I panicked. I couldn't trust my phone's time, so I asked to check the time."

"By the way, where are the bathroom and changing room?" Takagi inquired.

"Over there." Sonoko replied, exiting the communal toilet. "The changing room and showers are between the reception and the pool. The bathroom's back there."

"You could hide a body here." Megure peered down the corridor.

"The receptionist can't see back here, either." Takagi agreed.

"What happened next?" Megure pressed.

"We called the manager and Samaki-san." the receptionist answered. "I called the bellboys, too and they split up to look for her."

"Where was Nagami-san?" Megure inquired.

"She wasn't in the pool." Toyoshima related.

"We checked the showers and lockers, too." Hamaka added.

"We even checked the men's rooms while shouting for her." Samaki stated. "We couldn't find her after an hour of searching. So, we asked the receptionist if she really didn't see her leave. That's when they came. When we were explaining the situation, the bellboys show her dead body in the water."

"But, why did you come back to search the pool?" Conan asked the bellboys.

"She wasn't there when you looked." Sera reminded.

"I guess we had a bad feeling." one of the bellboys related. "We thought we heard a strange noise coming from the pool. It sounded like large bubbles."

"Look, Conan-kun." Sera voiced, the two detectives dashing back to the drained pool. "There's a hook stuck in the wall directly above the drain. It's in the exact center of the pool wall, too."

"In summary," Megure concluded. "The victim Oiso Nagami-san said she'd search for the necklace she lost in the pool alone. After kicking the three of you out, at 12:05, the manager Toyoshima-san came to check on Nagami-san. She said he was in the way and made him leave. Next, when the secretary Samaki-san came, he didn't see Nagami-san in the pool. Hamaka-san arrived as Samaki-san left and he told her to check the changing room and bathroom. She confirmed she wasn't there at 12:54. Later, the three of you and the two bell boys split up to search, buy couldn't find her. Ten minutes after that, the two bellboys returned to the pool and found Nagami-san in the water. Nagami-san died between noon and 1 pm. During that time, only you three entered and left the pool area. One of you must have done it. But if the body was in the pool the whole time, then someone would have found it while you split up to search. Furthermore, it's hard to imagine somebody put the body in the middle of the pool unnoticed while you were searching. This is an impossible crime. Takagi-kun, don't you agree?"

"Detective Takagi headed to the pool after talking to Conan-kun and Sera-san." Ran pointed.

"While you were in the bathroom, he was carrying around a huge aquarium." Sonoko supplied.

"He said it was for an experiment." Ran added.

"Also, he said we should come see the experiment." Sonoko spoke.

"Apparently, it will expose the culprit." Ran remarked.


At the poolside...

"He's not here." Megure looked around. "And why is there water in the pool?"

"We finished investigating." the forensics answered. "So, we thought we'd try Takagi-san's experiment."

"Takagi-kun, come out and explain yourself." Megure shouted. "Where is he?"

"Detective Takagi's here." Conan answered. "In the pool."

"He's not here." Megure peered into the water.

"I can't see him right now." Conan said. "But if you cut the fishing line attached to this hook..." he pulled out a penknife and used to cut the fishing line.

"An aquarium." Megure gaped when the fish tank popped out of the water and Takagi burst out to the surface, gasping for air. "But why?"

"Because the light was reflected." Sera explained. "Both water and air are clear, but water has a different refractive index. When light passes though from the highly refractive water to the less refractive air, if you look at the boundary between water and air head on, all the light is reflected like a mirror and you can't see objects on the other side."

"Why don't we try it?" Conan suggested. "You can see my ten-yen coin inside the aquarium." he dropped a coin into the partly filled fish tank. But if you turn a cup upside down and put it over the coin when there's air inside..."

"It disappeared." Megure, Ran and Sonoko gaped.

"Detective Takagi used the same trick." Sera supplied. "Because he was in an upside-down aquarium filled with air, we couldn't see him in the pool. After drowning Nagami-san who was searching for her necklace alone, the culprit placed an aquarium over her body and secured it using a fishing line passed through the drains on both sides of the pool. Then, they tilted the aquarium, slipped their hand in and released the air from Nagami-san's tank to fill the aquarium. Fishing lines are elastic, so it could handle the aquarium being lifted."

"But how did they drown her?" Megure wondered.

"It was simple." Sera explained. "They said something to her so she would let her guard down, grabbed her neck from behind, removed her mouthpiece and held her under. With the tanks and weights, Nagami-san sank easily. No one could hear her scream underwater. Isn't that right, hotel manager. Toyoshima Ensaku-san? Did you lower her guard by pointing at the pool by your feet and saying her necklace was there?"

"Can you really secure an aquarium with a single fishing line?" Megure was skeptical. "Wasn't it full of air?"

"If you make four grooves and set the line in them, it won't float easily." Sera stated. "And if you attach the end of the line to a hook attached near the surface of the pool, even if you are not in the water, you can cut the line, make the aquarium float and reveal the body. Toyoshima-san drowned Nagami-san when he came to check on her, sank her body and hid it using the trick we just described. When everyone finished searching, he cut the line and revealed the body."

"The aquarium made a big noise when it came up." Sonoko pointed out.

"He shouted something as he was doing it." Sera surmised. "Everyone else looking for her was shouting, too. The sound was barely audible."

"The aquarium was broken." Hamaka reminded.

"Not in the middle of the pool near her body, but by the edge." Samaki stated.

"When did he move it?" Sonoko was puzzled.

"It had to have been when they pulled Nagami-san's body out of the pool." Ran reasoned. "But the only thing the manager was carrying was the tank."

"Maybe he stuck his foot in the aquarium and dragged it along the bottom." Conan guessed. After bringing it to the edge, he struck it with the tank and shattered it. Everyone else was watching her body and it would be barely audible in the water. He also purposely hurt himself on the broken glass; no one would think the man who hurt himself would do that. But if the police were going to find the aquarium anyway, I'd smash it so they wouldn't know its shape."

"Do you have proof?" Megure asked Sera.

"The fishing line." Sera replied. "When he cut it, he had to quickly reel in the line attached to the drain on the other side. Manager Toyoshima's fingerprints should be all over it."

"Aren't fishing lines really thin?" Ran wondered.

"Maybe individual lines." Sera agreed. "He probably gathered it together while reeling them in, so his fingerprints should match up in a few places. You can find that, can't you, forensics?"

"Of course." the forensics officer nodded. "Especially after those upGrad courses Mizuno-san insisted all forensics officers take."

"But he had no motive to kill her." Samaki protested.

"He's right." Hamaka agreed. "We discussed celebrating her birthday together."

"I didn't want to celebrate, especially not in that suite." Toyoshima confessed. "I had a much younger sister. She reserved the room with her husband because they wanted to stay there just once. They were celebrating their son's third birthday. The room has a good view, and that day's fireworks display would be visible from the balcony. But suddenly, Nagami-ojou-sama said she wanted to view the fireworks from that room with her friends. My sister's family had to move into another hotel. On the way there, they got in an accident and they all died. That day, she didn't stay in that room. And do you know why? Because her friend's car she was taking to the hotel caused an accident. That woman who was riding in the car killed my sister's family. She called me later that day: she was riding her friend's car when it caused an accident and she didn't want to get involved. She wanted me to pretend she had been in that suite since that afternoon. Ever since then, I've waited for my opportunity to take revenge; for her to come to this pool. Removing the necklace that would set my plan in motion was a gamble. Heaven was on my side. But, in the end, these young detectives exposed the murder I planned so carefully. It was all for nothing."


Later that evening...

"Look who the cat dragged in." Ami drawled, looking up from her partially completed autopsy report when her door flung open to admit a rather agitated Amuro Tooru.

"You know what I want." the tanned blond slammed his hands on her table. "Hand it over."

"I don't know what you want." Ami leveled him a flat look. "You have to be more specific, Furuya-san."

"Hiro's autopsy report." Amuro practically snarled out.

"Right." Ami nodded, "Give me a moment." she pulled out her bottom drawer and took out a string tie envelope with an 'Unclassified' stamp on the front. "I'll need you to calm the hell down before I even hand Morofushi's autopsy report over to you. Trust me, I needed two cups of lavender tea to calm myself down after reading this."

"Fine." Amuro let out a breath. "You've got to be fucking with me!" he exclaimed, reading over the report Ami had handed over to him. "Suicide!?"

"Yeah... that was my first reaction, too." Ami admitted. "But, considering it was Dr Moreno who performed the autopsy, I'm inclined to believe the conclusion he came to. You might want to lower your voice though; my office isn't exactly soundproof."

"Right..." Amuro took another draught of organic rose tea. "Okay, so Hiro committed suicide... then why someone of his capability wasn't able to stop him?"

"You might want to be specific on who the 'he' is." Ami reminded. "Tiramisu?" she offered him a martini glass.

"Akai Shuichi." Amuro dug into the dessert.

"Akai-san?" Ami echoed.

"Why am I not surprised you know him too?" Amuro quirked a brow at the younger woman.

"He's the one who taught me how to shoot long distance." Ami replied. "Your personal vendetta against my firearms master aside, have you considered this?" she pondered. "Picture this: Morofushi was all ready shoot himself with his service pistol and Akai-san managed to get to him right before he pulled the trigger. What was the easiest way to stop Morofushi from shooting himself?"

"By putting a finger on the cylinder flute next to the pistol." Amuro answered. "Afterwards, I was running up the staircase and Akai got distracted... no..." he breathed in horror.

"Morofushi then took advantage of the minute distraction to shoot himself." Ami concluded. "And... I can pretty much guess this is the reason Akai-san kept it a secret." she muttered, as Amuro broke down.

"I killed Hiro..." Amuro repeated. "It wasn't Akai... it was me..."

"Oh Rei..." Ami sighed and gathered the whimpering blond into a loose hug. "It's going to be alright. I'm here."


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