SailorStar9: With Chapter 68 uploaded, this is Chapter 69 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 69: The Shadow Approaching Amuro
Time passes...
"Perfect." Amuro gave a tablespoon of cooked cranberry bubbling in Ami's saucepan over her kitchen stovetop a taste test.
"I was worried it'd be too sweet." Ami noted, bottling up the freshly made jam into glass bottles.
A while later at Café Poirot...
"Thanks for waiting." Azusa delivered a ham sandwich breakfast set to a customer sitting near Mouri, Ran and Conan. "Here are your ham sandwiches."
"You've watching that customer this whole time." Mouri stated, chewing on his toast.
"I'm surprised you noticed while reading about the races in the papers and eating breakfast." Ran blinked.
"I am a great detective." Mouri bragged.
"He's not dressed like a salaryman." Conan wondered.
"But he's at a café before working hours start." Mouri remarked. "Is that what's bothering you? Some people are like that. We are like that."
"But he ordered sandwiches instead of the breakfast set most customers order at this hour without even looking at the menu." Conan pointed out.
"Does that mean he's a regular?" Ran pondered.
"But he's not speaking to Azusa-san or Amuro-san, and he's been watching the counter this whole time." Conan noted.
"It's simple." Mouri snorted. "He's interested in Azusa-chan."
After school...
"We're playing games at the Professor's house again?" Mitsuhiko whined.
"That's all we've been doing lately." Ayumi pointed out.
"What do you want to do then?" Genta asked.
"You were assigned homework today." Haibara reminded. "You should do that."
"Conan-kun?" Ayumi saw Conan was distracted by the customer from the morning.
"He was at Poirot this morning." Conan noted.
"He probably lives or works nearby." Haibara reasoned.
"Why are you so interested in that man?" Ayumi inquired.
"Because he's interested in anything." Haibara huffed.
"There's always a case when Conan-kun is interested." Mitsuhiko nodded.
"He's coming out." Genta spoke, the customer exiting the café.
"If you're so curious, let's follow him." Mitsuhiko suggested.
"Let's go." Genta led the charge.
"I'll pass." Haibara refused. "This is your fault." she turned to Conan after realizing the other three were not listening to her.
"Conan-kun?" Azusa blinked. "The man who just left?" she echoed, hearing Conan's question as she watered the bushes. "I don't know his name, but he's been coming here a lot lately."
In the business district...
"He's gone." Ayumi gaped, she, Mitsuhiko and Genta was following the suspicious man, only to find him gone after they turned the corner into the business district. "He disappeared."
"He must have gone into a store." Mitsuhiko looked around.
"Let's split up and check all the stores." Genta suggested.
In Café Poirot...
"He was watching me?" Amuro repeated, using a slow-drip coffee maker to make his coffee.
"It looked that way to me." Conan nodded, a slice of cranberry crostata on a plate with a glass of orange juice.
"I'm sure it did." Amuro agreed. "I saw the same thing. He even followed me the other day."
"He followed you?" Conan pressed. "When?"
"Three days ago." Amuro recalled. "When I went shopping at the supermarket."
"And?" Conan insisted.
"And what?" Amuro was confused.
"You're just ignoring him?" Conan was worried.
"It's not as though he's done anything to me." Amuro pointed out.
"A member of the organization." Conan guessed. "Do you think he may be?"
"Probably not." Amuro replied.
"But you don't know all the members of the Black Organization." Conan pointed out.
"I didn't get that feeling from him." Amuro admitted.
"Is it possible he's a public security officer like you?" Conan wondered.
"I see you love investigating as much as ever." Amuro teased, pouring out his coffee. "Hm, it's a bit bland." he bit into a portion of his slice of cranberry crostata. "Guess Ami's right; her jam would be better on toast and pancakes."
The next day...
"I'm serious." Genta insisted, the Detective Boys were walking home after school. "He disappeared in the shopping area."
"He must be hiding something." Mitsuhiko determined.
"It's Amuro-nii-chan." Genta spotted Amuro ahead.
"I just remembered I have something to do." Haibara stopped in her tracks. "I'm leaving."
"It's the guy." Ayumi pointed to the mysterious customer following Amuro.
"This is getting more and more suspicious." Genta frowned.
Decision made, Conan started following the pair.
"Do you have business with me?" Amuro asked his cornered stalker.
"I have business this way." the man replied.
"This is a dead end." Amuro pointed out. "You've been coming to Poirot a lot lately. Why are you following me?"
Having being caught, the man fled out, with Amuro chasing after them, with the Detective Boys in tow.
"Amuro-san, it's an emergency." Azusa sounded from Amuro's phone. "Go buy some ice cream. We accepted an order for an ice cream soda, even though the manager forgot to order some."
"I'm counting on you, chibi detectives." Amuro looked on, seeing the Detective Boys hot on the man's trail.
"It's the same shopping area as yesterday." Ayumi noted, the group turning the corner into the shopping district.
"Let's search all the stores again." Mitsuhiko declared and he, Ayumi and Genta split up.
"Could it be..." Conan focused on the shops on both sides and connected the dots.
"It's no use." Genta sighed. "He wasn't in any of the stores."
"I couldn't find him, either." Mitsuhiko added. "How about this store?" he looked at the bakery Conan was standing in front of.
"He's not in there." Ayumi refuted.
"He'll appear soon." Conan was confident. "He's late." he glanced at his watch after a while. "Could it be? Amuro-san knew he was following him. That's it." he hurried back to Café Poirot.
In Café Poirot...
"Amuro-san!" Conan burst into the café. "Oji-san, you're a baker, aren't you?" he turned to the mysterious customer. "Yesterday he had sandwiches here in the morning and evening; sandwiches made by Amuro-san. He always keeps his fingernails clean. He also has a distinctive mark on his forehead."
"What is that mark on his head?" Azusa spotted the imprint on the man's head.
"It's from elastic." Amuro recognized.
"A hat with an elastic band." Conan confirmed. "It's the type of hat worn by cooks who cook with starchy foods, like bread or noodles, in the kitchen instead of interacting with customers. A baker doesn't interact with customers makes bread early in the morning and makes more as necessary in the afternoon. His job allows him a lot of free time in the mornings and evenings. Naturally, if you wait outside the bakery long enough, he'll change in the back and show himself again. At least, that's what I thought, but he didn't appear no matter how long we waited before. When Amuro-san noticed him, I thought he might make a desperate final play: you wanted to ask him directly, about how he made his sandwiches."
"I heard that lately the sandwiches here have been delicious and cheap." the baker admitted. "When I came to try them, I was shocked by how delicious they were. The ham sandwiches were especially fantastic. I wanted to make sandwiches this delicious myself. But no matter how much I watched you, I couldn't figure it out. So, I followed you and examined the bread, ham, lettuce and mayonnaise you bought. But you weren't buying anything special. Even when I tried to make them with the same ingredients, I couldn't achieve the same flavor. How? How do you make such delicious ham sandwiches?"
"Ojii-san, that's Amuro-san's trade secret." Conan reminded. "There's no way he'll tell you."
"I don't mind telling you." Amuro cut in. "Cheap ham is fine." behind the counter, he demonstrated. "But choose the leanest piece possible. Then coat them in olive oil. I use ordinary mayonnaise."
"Miso?" Mitsuhiko gawked when Amuro brought out a tub of miso paste.
"Just use a pinch of miso." Amuro mixed in the miso paste. "Olive oil and miso are an excellent combination. This is ordinary hot water and this is ordinary lettuce." he ducked the lettuce pieces into the water.
"Won't it make the lettuce soft?" Ayumi pointed out.
"Using water the temperature of bathwater is the secret." Amuro lectured. "This type of bread is fine; slightly stale bread is better. My secret is this." he lifted the cover of the multi-layer steamer. "I steam them slightly before making the sandwiches. The bread will absorb all the moisture it lost. This softness won't last long." he started assembling the ham sandwich. "It's good for eating in the store, but not great for takeout."
"I'm a baker." the baker stated. "I can do something about the bread, so please let me sell your sandwiches at my store." he requested.
"Ojii-san, you're asking too much." Conan gaped.
"Sure." Amuro agreed.
Later that evening...
"Causa rellena?" Amuro echoed warily at the layered potato appetizer Ami served. "May I ask why?"
"It's a pretty versatile dish." Ami handed him a fork. "You just decide on whatever fillings you want. I had some tuna salad leftover from my onigiri this afternoon, so I thought it'd be a good way to use it up."
The following morning...
"Excuse me." Amuro walked off to take a call. "This is Amuro."
"Bourbon." Vermouth voiced from the other end. "I heard you have been conducting a secret investigation recently. Don't take it too far. Apparently, he has his eye on you: I'm talking about Gin."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
