SailorStar9: With Chapter 71 uploaded, this is Chapter 72 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 72: The Suspects Are a Passionate Couple, Part One


Time passes...

"And?" Conan prompted, the Detective Boys were walking home after school. "You really don't recognize him? Commissioner Kuroda."

"No." Haibara refuted.

"Considering you don't, you were clinging onto me quite tightly." Conan pointed out.

"Seeing his horrifying face up close would have an effect on anyone." Haibara protested.

"That's right." Mitsuhiko agreed. "His face was horrifying."

"It's probably fine." Haibara shrugged. "If Kuroda is really Rum like you suspect and saw my face from that close, he would recognize I'm Sherry, the woman who betrayed the Organization. They'd be forcing their way into the Professor's house by now. But the email the Professor just sent me was all about dinner."

"What's wrong?" Conan spotted Haibara's stunned expression. "Did something happen to the Professor?" he snatched Haibara's phone and gave the entertainment article a look. "Seriously, it's just a gossip article. You scared me."

"Is this true?" Ayumi gushed, reading the headline that hinted at Higo Ryusuke and Okino Yoko being a couple.

"It's a huge couple." even Mitsuhiko was excited. "I bet they'd make beautiful J-Leaguer babies."

"If they had girls, they'd be idol-singers." Genta added.

"Ai-chan?" Ayumi gawked at the grief-stricken Haibara.

Wait a minute. Conan realized. If he's seeing Okino Yoko, that must mean...


In the Mouri Detective Agency...

I knew it. Conan twitched, seeing Mouri drowning in shock.

"Before getting depressed about it, maybe you should confirm if it's true." Ran suggested. "You investigate affairs all the time."

"A detective shouldn't conduct those investigations to satisfy his own curiosity." Mouri snapped.

"Then, will you do it if I hire you?" Haibara cut in. "I want you to conduct a background check on Higo Ryusuke and Okino Yoko."

"I accept the job." Mouri agreed.

"But how are you going to find them?" Conan posted a question. "Unlike ordinary people, we don't know where they live. They said no one's been able to get in touch with their agencies, either."

"Someone posted on their blog that they saw them in a restaurant in Haido City." Mouri used his laptop's search engine.

"But they were just buying men's watches together." Ran pointed out. "Maybe Yoko-chan asked Higo-san to choose a present for her younger brother and she took him out to eat to thank him."

"Yoko-chan doesn't have a younger brother." Mouri snorted.

"Besides, why would she make Higo-san choose?" Haibara retorted.

"Then, maybe they really are dating." Ran noted. "Forget I said anything." she backtracked. "Why don't' you try going to the restaurant?"

"Come to think of it, one of Higo-san's soccer club seniors retired from the J-League and opened an Italian restaurant in Haido City." Conan recalled. "But we don't know if they're actually there..." he gaped.


In the Aska Restaurant...

They're both here. Conan gawked at the pair seated at a nearby table.

"Is that the guy his senior from the soccer club?" Mouri whispered behind the menu.

"Higo-san's senior was a wing back for Tokyo Spirits named Asuka Teiya." Conan explained. "HE was even chosen to represent Japan at one point. I think he's the restaurant's sommelier." he watched Yamada Akimichi pour out white wine for Higo and Okino.

"Excuse us." Banba Reiko walked out. "I've brought you your dessert."


In the back of the restaurant...

"The owner sure is late." Konoe Yasuto looked at his watch. "I thought he'd be back by now."

"Should we look for him?" Banba inquired.

"Konoe-kun and I will search the back room." Yamada suggested. "Banba-san, can you check the storeroom?" he took the keys to the back room.


After a while...

Having received an email from Asuka, Konoe brought Higo and Okino into the storeroom. Suddenly, Okino let out a frightened scream.

"Where did those two just go?" Mouri sprung into action.

"To the underground storeroom." Konoe pointed.

"Yoko-chan!" Mouri flung open the door, to find Okino standing near a storage shelf with the dead Asuka slumped against the metal shelf.


After Megure's team was brought in...

"The victim is the restaurant's owner." Takagi supplied. "Asuka Teiya-san, thirty-one years old. According to Mizuno-san, he was killed during the hour between 7 and 8 pm. The cause of death is blood loss due to the severed carotid artery. The weapon is the box cutter found next to the body. One of the box cutters has gone missing from the back of the restaurant, so that's likely what it is."

"So, the body was discovered by J-Leaguer Higo Ryusuke-san and idol talent Okino Yoko-san who were visiting as the restaurant's customers?" Megure turned to the two famed personnel. "What were a couple of customers doing in the storeroom?"

"We were brought here by a waiter." Okino replied.

"He said he received an email from Asuka-san asking to bring us here." Higo added.

"You knew the victim?" Takagi inquired.

"Asuka-san was an OB of my high school soccer team and I arranged to meet him because I have a favor to ask of him." Higo nodded.

"I graduated from Konan High as well." Okino supplied.

"So, you didn't receive an email directly from the victim?" Megure questioned.

"We weren't that close." Okino refuted.

"I lost my cell phone somewhere." Higo explained. "I think I bought it to the restaurant, though."

"There's something else I'd like to ask you." Takagi spoke up. "Are you two dating?"

"Takagi, business before pleasure." Ami deathpanned.

"All the talk shows are blowing up over them." Takagi remarked. "Apparently, Higo Ryusuke-san and Okino Yoko-san's passionate love has been exposed."

"Well, excuse me for not being up-to-date about entertainment news." Ami rolled her eyes. "And can someone explain to me what are they doing here?" she spotted Mouri and Haibara interrogating Higo and Okino respectively.

"They happened to be at the restaurant." Takagi chuckled nervously.

"In any case, why don't you try questioning the other restaurant staff?" Conan suggested. "They were running about since before the body was found."


In the corridor...

"The owner was late coming back, so the three of us spilt up to look for him." Yamada explained.

"Sometimes, he'll secretly return and nap in the backroom of the restaurant." Konoe added.

"Some of our customers want to see him." Banba stated.

"The first time was around seven, I think." Yamada recalled. "He and I searched the back." he gestured to Konoe. "I had her search the storeroom." he pointed to Banba.

"This room staff uses as a waiting room." Konoe opened the backroom's door. "The owner was napping on the sofa." he pointed to the green couch. "But when we first came, there was just a blanket. There wasn't anyone here."

"We looked for him again about ten minutes later." Banba remarked. "I searched the backroom this time and the owner was here then. He was sleeping on the sofa with a blanket covering his head. His shoes were next to the sofa, so it must have been him."

"After hearing what she said, I went to wake him about ten minutes later." Yamada continued. "He wasn't sleeping on the couch then."

"I received an email from the owner at that time." Konoe spoke up. "It said 'Could you bring Higo and Yoko-chan to the storeroom without anyone noticing'."

"What time was that?" Takagi asked.

"About 7.30 pm." Konoe answered. "I went to get the two of them, but he didn't respond when I entered the storeroom. I thought he may have returned to the backroom since we took so long, so I left them in the storeroom to go there, but only Yamada-san was there. While the three of us were discussing where the owner could've gone..."

"We heard Yoko-san scream." Banba took over.

"Just as we were heading to the storeroom, Detective Mouri appeared." Yamada supplied.

"So, you discovered the body while waiting in the storeroom?" Megure asked the two famed personnel.

"The waiter wasn't coming back, so while we were looking around the storeroom.,." Okino answered.

"I think it was around 7:50." Higo supplied.

"7:50 would be just barely within Mizuno-san's estimated time of death." Takagi pointed out.

"Which makes them suspects, too." Megure agreed. "In any case, everyone, we'll question each of you separately."


In the backroom...

"I couldn't have committed the murder." Konoe insisted. "The first time we looked for the owner, I came to the backroom with Yamada-san and the second time, I went to the men's toilet. I took the two of them to the storeroom towards the end, but I only called his name when I entered the storeroom. I didn't go far into the room."

"When Banba-san was serving food and wine to the customers, you could've pretended to go to the bathroom and secretly gone to the storeroom instead." Megure accused.

"That's impossible." Konoe protested. "The storeroom is always locked and the key hangs on the wall off the hallway entrance where all the staff can see it. This backroom and rear entrance were also always locked and only the owner had a spare key."

"Did the victim have the spare key?" Megure turned to Takagi.

"It was in his pants pocket." Takagi answered. "But we weren't able to find the victim's phone. Forensics is searching the storeroom right now."

"In any case, it wasn't me." Konoe insisted. "I didn't resent the owner."

"Apparently, you're the one who was smoking in the restaurant." Mouri snorted. "I just heard from the waitress: the owner was furious with you."

"The other two were much more likely to have motives than me." Konoe fired back. "The sommelier, Yamada-san, was arguing with the owner over wine last night and the waitress, Banba Reiko, was the owner's woman. Maybe she killed him over a messy breakup?"

"I was dating the owner." Banba admitted. "But we never spoke about breaking up."

"But the waiter, Konoe-san, said lately the owner stopped going home with you." Megure pointed out.

"That's because he was staying here to come up with a way to keep the restaurant profitable." Banba answered. "That's why the owner's locker on the end is full of changes of clothes. Konoe-kun's only saying that because he's my ex. He's jealous."

"This room is really tidy." Conan pointed out.

"After work, the owner would often clean it by himself." Banba replied. "Even after I cleaned, I would hear him running the vacuum."

"When I searched the storeroom?" Yamada echoed. "The owner wasn't there, but like Konoe-kun, I only called his name from the hallway."

"So, he may already have been murdered in the back of the storeroom?" Megure reasoned.

"I suppose." Yamada agreed.

"I heard you argued with the owner last night." Megure stated.

"Lately, the restaurant wasn't doing well, so the owner said he wanted to stock cheap wines instead." Yamada admitted. "I simply expressed my concern over doing that at a place that's trying to be an authentic Italian restaurant."

"Inspector." Chiba entered with a bag of used cigarettes. "We found quite a few cigarette butts in the bathroom's trash can. "

"It was probably Konoe-kun." Yamada reasoned. "He previously got into trouble with the owner for smoking in this room, so I believe he was secretly smoking in the bathroom."


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