SailorStar9: With Chapter 59 uploaded, this is Chapter 60 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 60: The Lovebirds' Ruse


Time passes...

A screaming Kanbayashi Chosaku fell to his death in-between Ristorante Buono and his office.

"Inspector, we believe he fell from there." Takagi reported after the police secured the scene. "The window on the fifth-floor hallway was left open. The victim's footprints were on the sill, too."

"That must be it, then." Megure concluded.

"The question is why he fell." Mouri entered the scene. "We spotted you and thought we could be helpful." he grinned. "This kid did, that is." he threw Conan under the bus.

"Is this the author..." Conan instantly recognized the victim.

"Kanbayashi Chosaku-san." Takagi confirmed. "He was renting an office on the fifth floor of this building.'

"Kanbayashi Chosaku?" Mouri echoed. "He's a modestly successful mystery writer."

"Not modestly." Kanbayashi Seiko fired back. "My husband was first-rate."

"That's his wife, Kanbayashi Seiko-san." Takagi informed Mouri.

"She apparently discovered his body." Megure supplied.

"Why, darling?" Seiko knelt by Chosaku's body, weeping. "Why did this happen?"

"Could you explain the events leading to you discovering the body?" Megure questioned Seiko.

"This morning as I was going out, my husband asked me to do something." Seiko replied. "I took the documents that were to be delivered and left home exactly at 12. I called to say I was on my way, but he didn't answer his phone. I thought he might be unwell, so I had to doorman unlock the door for me."

"She arrived around 12:20 and discovered the body immediately after that." Sugiyama Kiyoshi, the building's guard, confirmed.

"His watch is broken and stopped at 11:50." Takagi reported. "He probably fell at this time."

"Thirty minutes before he was found." Megure mused.

"But why was he wearing gloves?" Conan wondered.

"These gloves look new." Megure agreed.

"And then, there are the sneakers." Sugiyama pointed out. "I think he was wearing leather shoes when I saw him this morning."

"And what's this scrape on his face?" Conan spotted the injury.

"He probably scraped his face on the ground when he fell." Mouri reasoned.

"Then, shouldn't there be grit stuck to his face?" Conan asked.

"Either way, Mizuno's autopsy should reveal something." Megure declared. "An investigation of Kanbayashi's office will turn up something."


In Chosaku's office...

"You two look pretty young in this photo." Conan peered at the photo frame on the counter.

"We didn't have much money when we got married." Seiko spoke. "We could barely afford those fox and raccoon stuffed animals."

"Was Kanbayashi-san behaving strangely this morning?" Megure questioned Sugiyama.

"He only stepped out for five minutes to buy cigarettes." Sugiyama answered.

"He said that?" Seiko mused after Sugiyama revealed that Chosaku said she made him the man he was. "It's the opposite, Kanbayashi made me so happy."

"It doesn't sound like there was trouble between them." Megure noted. "Based on the gloves and sneakers he was wearing, your husband must have been working on something when he accidentally fell."

"So, it was an accident." Seiko sighed.

"But Inspector, there's nothing outside that window." Takagi pointed out.

"So, he couldn't have been working." Megure pondered.

"Which means he was murdered." Mouri concluded. "Someone cornered Kanbayashi-san by the window and pushed him."

"That's impossible." Sugiyama refuted. "It's the weekend, only Kanbayashi-sensei was in the building. Even if someone snuck in, the only way in was the service entrance, and I was there."

"Then, that leaves suicide." Takagi noted.

"It's plausible." Seiko admitted. "He said his manuscript was due today. Perhaps he had writer's block and did it impulsively. He was suffering so much, but I didn't notice. It's my fault." she sobbed.

"You do sometimes hear about writers doing that when they can't write." Mouri remarked.

"But if he did it on impulse, wouldn't he have jumped from here instead of the hallway window?" Conan wondered.

"Is it true that he's dead, madam?" Ikejiri Fumito dashed into the office. "I came by to see how the manuscript was coming along and they told me he was dead."

"This is Kanbayashi-san editor." Seiko introduced.

"I know this is bad, but I need to figure out how to handle the situation, so I'd like to see the manuscript." Ikejiri requested. "It's finished." he blinked, surprised when he turned on the laptop. "But when I called this morning, he..." he recalled that Chosaku telling him that he had writer's block and would finish the manuscript by four at the earliest.

"But he finished by the time he died at noon." Conan noticed the timestamp.

"He was probably just teasing you, Ikejiri–san." Seiko reasoned.

"It may not be suicide, then." Megure declared.

"That's a receipt from a nearby convenience store." Mouri noticed the receipt Conan picked up from the trash can.

"Isn't it weird?" Conan wondered. "He bought gloves and a carton of cigarettes this morning. Which means somewhere in here..." he pulled out the middle drawer to reveal the cigarette carton. "I found them. But Kanbayashi-san went to buy some; ten minutes before he fell."

"He'd do that sometimes." Seiko revealed. "He would get do focused on work, he'd forget he had some."

"I'm heading back to the office." Ikejiri took the completed manuscript. "We'll figure out how to handle this later."


Outside the building...

"I just thought it a bit strange." Ikejiri related, after Conan asked him about his minute pause in front of the photo frame.

"He hadn't had the photo out before?" Conan blinked.

"As if." Ikejiri scoffed. "Their relationship was long over. His wife wanted a divorce, but the stingy writer didn't want to pay alimony, so he's been avoiding the discussion. After growing tired of him, his wife became obsessed with Korean celebrities."


In Chosaku's office...

"Madam," Mouri started. "According to my sources, your relationship ended long ago. I sense the key to solving the mystery of his fall lies there."

"It was rocky at times, but we patched up our relationship." Seiko defended. "I can't believe you're bringing that up right now."


After scouting around...

"The wife is lying?" Mouri echoed after Chiba reported.

"The wife said she left home at exactly 12:00." Chiba explained. "But a neighbor spotted her leaving earlier at 11:20."

"Which means she could've been here by 11:40." Mouri realized. "Kanbayashi-san fell at 11:50. If she arrived at 11:40, she could've pushed him."

"But even if she made it here, she couldn't have gone inside without the doorman noticing." Megure pointed out.

"I'm not sure we should suspect her." Takagi added.

"She lied about a fact as crucial as the time." Mouri argued.


In Chosaku's office...

"I did leave the house at 11:20 the first time." Seiko admitted. "I was in a hurry to deliver the documents and forgot to lock up. I came partway before turning back. The second time I left was at exactly noon."

Conan cut in and tranquilized Mouri to present his deduction. "Kanbayashi Chosaku-san's death is mysterious indeed, but I've finally solved it. Kanbayashi Seiko-san, your husband nearly killed you. His motive was probably he met a new woman. However, he would be a prime suspect if he simply killed you. So, Kanbayashi-san fabricated an alibi. First, he asked you to bring the documents to draw you here. Normally, he had documents delivered here, but he had sent them to the house instead. At 11;40, Kanbayashi-san pretended to go out to buy cigarettes, went to the neighboring building, opened the window to the fifth-floor men's bathroom directly opposite the window, and returned as though nothing happened. Then, he planned to change into sneakers, jump to the bathroom window, exit through the building, wait for you at Beika Greens and kill you. After returning the way he came, he'd give Ikejiri-san the manuscript. Once he closed the window in the men's bathroom, he would be finished. Since it's the weekend, no one would use the bathroom. After 11, cleaning services don't come after 5pm, so no one would notice if he did it before then. His wife's body would be discovered and her time of death would be determined to be around noon. But the doorman would testify that Kanbayashi-san was inside this building from morning until evening. Despite putting on gloves and sneakers, Kanbayashi-san failed to jump across to the window like he planned. Kanbayashi-san didn't fail the jump because he made a mistake, but because, you, madam, blocked him. After leaving your home at 11:20, you arrived here at 11:40. You saw Kanbayashi-san behaving strangely then. You were already suspicious because he sent the documents home, so you followed Kanbayashi-san and realized what he was planning. You used your plan against him." he recounted how Seiko had waited behind the toilet wall for Chosaku to jump off the windowsill before moving into view and jammed the deck brush right into his face, making him fall. "Which means his fall was murder. Then you and the doorman discovered the body together. Without a third party with you, suspicion will fall on you. A wife benefits most from her husband's death. She gets the insurance money."

"This is profoundly malicious conjecture." Seiko protested.

"I believe you'll find proof in the neighboring building's bathroom." Conan declared.

"We found Kanbayashi-san's eyebrow hairs in the deck brush." Chiba confirmed.

"This was also on the floor." Takagi took out a bagged hair strand. "It's a woman's hair."

"A DNA test should make things clear." Megure remarked.

"My idiot husband has been trying to kill me for a long time." Seiko snorted. "That's why I did the same to him." she lit up a cigarette from the case on the table. "I didn't think anyone would find out. I'd wanted to kill him for a long time. All I did was shove the brush in my idiot husband's face."

"You killed a man." Megure snarled.

"They're both to blame." Conan cut in. "They both wanted to kill each other but pretended to be happily married. They were both trying to outfox each other."


Later that evening...

"You women are seriously vindictive." Amuro shivered after Ami recounted the most recent case.

"That so?" Ami grinned, serving a plate of tri-colored uirō-mochi. "What the..." she gaped when Amuro, with both arms around her waist, twirled her around and pinned her onto the wall. "I promise," he snuck in a butterfly kiss on her lips. "From now on, I'll never lie to you, ever."


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