SailorStar9: With Chapter 75 uploaded, this is Chapter 76 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 76: Ramen So Good, It's to Die For 2, Part Two


"Wait." Miike blinked. "There were only three customers here when we ran into the store that day."

"Because about a minute before the three arrived, he finished his ramen and left." Ogura explained. "Yumi-chan's boyfriend, that is."

"That's not possible." Miike pointed out. "Didn't I tell you earlier? Yumi-san and I flunked the culprit who was running down the street in front of this shop and chased him into here. If her boyfriend left just before the culprit entered the shop, Yumi-san or I would've seen him."

"Actually..." Yumi chuckled nervously.

"You ran into him in the streets?" Miike exclaimed. "This is while you were pursuing the culprit, right?"

"He ran up to me when my feet were tangled in the hose the culprit threw at me and I tripped." Yumi explained. "And I haven't called him since. After all, the case hasn't been solved yet. He was breathing normally, so I knew he wasn't the culprit. I didn't want him to get involved in the case. If he was eating ramen here just before the incident, Chukichi must be innocent."

"Then, why don't you call him?" Conan suggested. "Doesn't your boyfriend have a good memory?"

"I guess I don't have a choice. "Yumi relented.

"I'll try calling my brother, too." Sera whipped out her mobile phone. "He's the one who told me about this place, so he might've seen those three before."

"Hello, Yumi-tan." Shukichi took Yumi's call.

"So, you remember a week ago when we ran into each other?" Yumi went straight into business. "I tripped while pursuing a suspicious figure."

"Sorry, someone's calling." Shukichi saw he had another incoming call.

"Aniki?" Sera spoke once her call made it through. "You're on the phone with someone important, so call you back? Wait." she called out when Shukichi hang up.

"Who was that?" Yumi demanded once Shukichi returned back to her. "Your new girlfriend? Whatever. Anyway, is there anything you haven't told me about the person you passed by?"

"Now that you mention it, they were making a weird sound with each step they took." Shukichi recalled. "A click-click sound."

"A click-click sound?" Yumi echoed. "Not click-click, but click... click..."

"When you searched the shop, did you check the bathroom?" Conan asked.

"Of course." Miike replied.

"What about the water tank?" Sera pressed.

"We glanced inside, but we didn't see anything that looked like jewelry." Miike answered.

On cue, both Sera and Conan hurried to the toilet to check the water tank. Spotting the sparkle refracted in the water, they pieced together what had happened.


The next evening...

"No customers today?" Mizushina entered the ramen shop.

"There was a group here until a minute ago." Ohashi replied.

"We're back, boss." Sera declared, entered with Conan just as Ohashi picked the seat with the least amount of soy sauce.

"You're here with the kid today, Mari-chan?" Ogura noted.

"Boss, could I place an order?" Mizushina requested. "Could I get one order each of pot stickers, shumai, spring rolls and a small rice?"

"He used to be all about the Judge of the Afterlife ramen." Ohashi served up the water.

"If that's the case, why did you sit here?" Conan inquired. "There's not much soy sauce. It'll run out soon. Don't you eat pot stickers, shumai and spring rolls with soy sauce? You were using a lot yesterday, too. You also used a different soy sauce container when yours ran out. There was no one here until we arrived. So, why did you sit at a seat that had so little soy sauce?"

"Just because he's ordering dishes that require soy sauce, doesn't mean he'd check how much soy sauce is left at each seat beforehand." Sera defended. "It's just coincidence that you sat there. They're not popsicles. There's no prize at the bottom of a soy sauce container."

"Boss, can I get a large Judge of the Afterlife ramen, pot stickers and fried rice?" the disguised Sato entered the shop with a similarly disguised Takagi.

"Satoko-san, if you eat that much, you'll get fat." the masqueraded Takagi chided.

"I'll be alright, Takao-kun." 'Satoko' assured. "I'm planning on getting a lot of exercise tonight." she winked.

"By the way, have you heard?" 'Takao' stated. "There was a murder in this neighborhood last week. A woman who returned home to get something she forgot and ran into a thief. The thief pushed her as he tried to escape. She hit her head on the stairs in the entryway and died. But the thief didn't leave right away. He kept swinging around a two-meter-long hose. Creepy, right?"

"What is that?" 'Satoko' squealed. "I'm so scared."

"Did that hose the culprit was swinging around have something stuck to the end of it?" Sera asked, already guessing who the two incognito police officers were.

"According to the police, there were signs that packing tape had been attached to one end of the hose." 'Takao' replied. "Something may have been stuck on it."

"If the object taped to the end of the hose were a breathable piece of cloth, and he swung the hose around above his head, it would've functioned as a vacuum cleaner." Sera explained. "The centrifugal force forces the air inside the hose out and an amount equal to the air forced out is sucked in through the other end. Apparently, the hose belonged to the homeowner, so the cloth must've either been something at the house or something the culprit had on with them. But, the texture of a handkerchief would be too fine to act as a filter."

"Maybe it was a mask." Conan suggested. "Speaking of masks, didn't you have one on the day of the incident?" he turned to Mizushina.

"I had a bit of a cold that day." Mizushina stammered.

"What did he need to vacuum up before running away?" Sera wondered.

"The policewoman who told me about the case said a man who passed by the culprit heard a weird noise." 'Takao' recalled. "Every time the culprit took a step, he made a click... click sound."

"Maybe something was stuck to one of his shoes." 'Satoko' mused. "Maybe he accidentally stepped on something hard and sharp that got stuck on the sole of his shoe."

"But what did he step on?" Sera was puzzled. "It was more important than fleeing the scene."

"Maybe it was glasses." Conan removed his spectacles. "The lenses would break if you step on them."

"That must be it." 'Takao' realized. "The type and prescription of a lens can be determined from the smallest piece. The police would've known who bought it."

"Boss, I was wearing my glasses that day, right?" Mizushina demanded.

"Yeah, you were." Ogura replied.

"But didn't you have a glasses case with you?" Sera reminded. "Conan-kun, do you have a glasses case with you?"

"I always wear mine, so I don't need one." Conan shrugged. "The only people who carry cases are ones who have separate pairs for near and far sight, or have just recently bought a pair. New glasses are always strong and make you dizzy, so some people carry around an old pair until they get used to the new ones."

"Come to think of it, what happened to your new glasses?" Ogura noticed Mizushina was wearing an old pair of spectacles. "Weren't you wearing them the day the lady who was killed tried to pick a fight with you?"

"That's odd." 'Takao' mused. "The police even investigated the bathroom drain. Why didn't they find he broken lenses? They even performed a body check on the three suspects, but none of them have it on them."

Panicked, Mizushina went into the toilet and searched for the glass shards he dropped into the water tank beforehand.

"Are these the shards you're looking for?" 'Satoko' asked, after Sera kicked the door in. "We found them half a day ago. I'm sure you've thought about flushing them but if the police searched the drain, you would have been screwed."

"So, you hid them at the bottom of the water tank, along with the other parts of your glasses." 'Takao' added.

"Lenses are hard to see underwater unless you look really closely." Sera remarked. "And if your new glasses were frameless, all you had to hide in the water were the arms and bridge of the glasses. It was likely the police would assume they were part of the toilet and overlook them."

"And first glance, they wouldn't look like stolen jewelry." Conan continued.

"You probably retrieved the arms and bridge the day after the murder." Sera concluded.

"An examination of the lenses revealed the truth." 'Satoko' declared. "A month ago, you bought these from an optician."

"That doesn't prove I killed that woman." Mizushina snapped.

"We already found the earrings you hid in the soy sauce container." 'Satoko' revealed. "You probably hid them there before Yumi and Naeko arrived at the shop. You've been coming here every day because you lost track of which container they were in. The fingerprints on the earrings we found matched yours. We just got the warrant for your arrest, so we barged into the bathroom to place you under arrest."

"You're cops?" Mizushina stammered.

"We've met before." 'Takao' stated as he and 'Satoko' removed their disguises.

"MPD Section One Violent Crimes Division Three, Sato Miwako." Sato flashed her badge.

"Takagi Wataru of the same department." Takagi showed his badge.

"Where's Sera-no-nee-chan?" Conan looked around, finding Sera missing.

"She just left." Ohashi replied. "She said she had something to do."

"Mari-chan left?" Ogura echoed. "I forgot to give her her handkerchief again. She forgot it here when she came the other day. Could you return this to her?" he handed Conan the folded handkerchief.


Later that night...

"I didn't know you use spectacles." Amuro noted, noticing the reading glasses Ami had over her eyes.

"These?" Ami tapped the glasses arm. "They're just reading glasses."


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