SailorStar9: With Chapter 79 uploaded, this is Chapter 80 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 80: The Unfriendly Girls Band, Part Two


"You want to search us again?" Kogure echoed.

"You just searched us thoroughly." Kibune reminded.

"We just want to be sure." Takagi explained.

"You still haven't found the murder weapon?" Kogure realized.

"And you think one of us is hiding it." Fuekawa added.

"Don't tell me you think we swallowed it." Kibune retorted. "If that's the case, X-ray us or do whatever else you want."

"We're open to anything if it'll clear our name." Fuekawa stated.

"Have you examined the other bands yet?" Kogure wondered.

"Hagie fought with other bands all the time. They may have resented her." Kibune reasoned.

"The other day, with a band we performed with..." Kogure recalled how they had mocked them about their late vocalist.

"Who is this vocalist who committed suicide?" Takagi wondered.

"Shuto Akane." Fuekawa replied. "She had a beautiful voice.

"Anyone outside the studio could've seen that half of the security camera's image was cut off by looking at the reception desk." Megure mused.

"If they knew the girls had the habit of doing so, they may be able to find the studio they were renting."

"Then, someone could've used that situation to sneak into the studio, strangle the victim and leave with the weapon." Megure concluded. "Like they said, it looks like we'll have to investigate the other bands' members."

"We let a few groups leave since we had our eyes on these girls." Takagi pointed out.

"Call them back immediately." Megure ordered.

"Nee-san-tachi." Conan voiced. "Which of you suggested that you form a band?"

"It was Hagie." Fuekawa replied. "We were classmates in college. She said she found a great vocalist, so we started a band with Akane."

"Akane could play the guitar, bass and keyboard in addition to singing." Kogure added. "She taught us all kinds of things."

"She couldn't do anything feminine." Kibune chuckled. "Hagie taught her how to cook, and I taught her about makeup and fashion."

"I tried teaching Akane sewing and embroidery, but she didn't stick with it for very long." Fuekawa recalled. "The only thing she kept doing was knitting, which Rumi taught her."

"But the rest of you ended up being better than me." Kogure added.

"Come to think of it, I want to see the practice video you said you filmed in the studio." Conan requested.

"I turned it off while we weren't practicing, so we don't have a video of the culprit, though." Kogure pulled out mobile phone.

"Why was the video shot vertically?" Sera wondered, she and Amuro were looking over Conan's shoulders to take a better look at the recorded video.

"Wouldn't the band fit into the shot better if you shot it horizontally?" even Amuro was confused.

"Our feet would be cut off if we shot it horizontally, so we decided to do it vertically." Fuekawa explained.

I see. Sera grinned as the video continued to play.

So, that's how it is. Amuro also noticed the same thing.

"You still haven't found the weapon?" Megure chided. "The victim, Yajima Hagie-san was strangled using a rope or string-like weapon. She even head Yoshikawa lines on her neck that indicate she struggled while she was being strangled. There must be a weapon with Yakima-san's blood on it somewhere in this studio. So why haven't you found it?"

"We investigated all the strings in the studio, but none of them produced a luminol effect." Takagi explained.

"Could the culprit have cut the string and flushed it down the toilet?" Megure wondered.

"We thought that, too." Takagi responded. "We also examined the scissors in Fuekawa Tadako-san's sewing kit and Kogure Rumi-san's nail clippers, but we didn't' find anything. If they used them to cut a bloodied string, there would've been a reaction."

"Then, someone in a different band must have strangled Yajima-san and left with the weapon." Megure reasoned. "This is Megure." he took the incoming call.

"Inspector, you won't be finding the murder weapon on site." Ami stated over the phone. "Trace just found the string used to strangle the victim; it was a string from the victim's knit hat. Forensics' analyzing the string right now."

"You police sure work fast." Sera whistled. "The culprit hasn't left the building yet."

"That means one of the three remaining members of Yajima-san's band did it." Amuro nodded.

"One of use murdered Hagie?" Kibune echoed in disbelief. "You're still going on that?"

"It's not use that's saying it." Takagi refuted. "It's these three who are helping us with the investigation."

"None of us has a string-like weapon." Fuekawa glared.

"There's no reason to suspect us." Kogure protested.

"If you think we threw it away somewhere, you should be able to find it somewhere in the studio." Fuekawa stated.

"Did you find it?" Kogure pressed.

"There's no way they'll find it." Amuro stepped in. "After all, the weapon has already been transported outside the studio."

"None of us set one foot outside the studio." Fuekawa reminded.

"You're not the ones who took it outside." Sera explained. "It was the police. The police took the victim's belongings to the station, where they were being examined. That string had already been knitted into something else and shaped into an entirely different thing: the knit hat Hagie-san was wearing. The weapon is a piece of yarn knitted into that hat."

"The culprit brought a piece of yarn the same color as Hagie-san's hat with them." Amuro continued. "After strangling her with the yarn, they removed the decoration on the top of the hat, knitted the weapon into the yarn, replaced the decoration and put it on her head. Since they folded up a larger section of the hat, no one really noticed."

"Don't you need two pointed sticks called knitting needles to knit?" Takagi wondered. "None of them had anything like that."

"There were some." Conan piped in. "Next to the woman who died; on top of the snare drum to the left of the victim, there were drumsticks. Couldn't you knit with those?"

"The three of them entered the studio for about ten minutes to wake Hagie-san." Takagi related. "Tadako-san repaired the button that was falling off Someka-san's jacket. Someka-san was replacing her broken guitar string. And Rumi-san was fixing the song she was working on. None of them had the time to knit anything."

"There was one person who could've prepared for that beforehand." Amuro corrected. "You could've prepared it beforehand, Kogure Rumi-san.

"Someka-san's button coming off and the guitar string breaking were coincidences." Takagi realized. "Not only that, the guitar was one they rented from the studio today. She couldn't have manipulated the guitar string so it would be more likely to break beforehand."

"If she fixed the song beforehand at home, then all she had to do at the crime scene was rewrite what she had decided on." Megure mused.

"Unlike the others, Rumi-san's back was to the camera." Sera pointed out. "She could've pretended to play the keyboard while she was knitting. Apparently, you were good enough at knitting to teach the others."

"I can knit too." Fuekawa stated.

"She couldn't have done that without covering half of the security camera." Kibune objected.

"We attached a phone on a selfie stick to a mic stand." Kogure added. "It was a coincidence that it ended up in front of the security camera. The three of us decided where to put it by looking at the video and offering out opinions."

"We're already figured out that trick after seeing a video of you performing together." Amuro chided.

"May we see it again?" Megure requested.

"Look at where the four of them are standing." Amuro voiced. "The position of the drums is already set and can't be changed. The two playing the guitar and bass will stay in frame no matter where they move. So, the position of the phone being used to shoot the video depends on the keyboard in the top left corner. Rumi-san could control where the phone would be set depending on the location of her keyboard. It would even be possible to control it so it would be covering half the security camera image. If she was too close to the drums, the phone would have to be positioned closer, preventing her from blocking the camera. If she was too far away, the phone would also move away and the phone would disappear from the camera's frame."

"After blocking half the security camera's image, you pretended to wake Hagie-san, and strangled her with the yarn." Sera took over. "You used her drumsticks to knit the yarn into her hat., all the while pretending to fix the song. Then, you put the hat back on her head and returned to the break room like nothing had happened."

"Unless she knew Hagie-san slept would sleep on the drums..." Megure spoke.

"Someka-san, didn't you mention that Hagie-san always slept like that?" Amuro addressed Kibune. "If she always had, by mixing sleeping pills into Hagie-san's drink, then she could've predicted that Hagie-san would return to the studio alone to nap against her drums. I'm sure you'll find a plastic bottle with traces of sleeping pills if you search the garbage cans in the studio."

"Kogure Rumi-san, could you come with us to the station?" Megure requested, having sent Takagi off to located the doctored bottled water.

"What about the scissors?" Kogure pressed. "Without scissors, I couldn't have removed the pom-pom on top of her hat."

"You used nail chippers." Sera explained. "You knew Tadako-san would lend you hers if you let your nails grow out."

"That's just your imagination." Kogure snapped. "There's no proof I did it."

"It's obvious." Conan cut in. "After all, you borrowed her nail clippers, but you didn't trim your nails." he gave Kogure's fingernails a look. "It means you knew you wouldn't be practicing anymore today. You wouldn't need to cut your nails."

"And from the yarn from Hagie-san's knit hat, I'm sure they'll find her blood and your fingerprints." Amuro added. "Modern forensic investigators can even collect fingerprints from the fluffy surface of a tennis ball."

"You're not making any sense." Kibune barked. "Rumi would never use that knit hat as a murder weapon."

"Rumi and Akane were the closest in the band." Fuekawa agreed. "And she knit that hat."

"I used that hat because Akane had knit it." Kogure hissed. "I wanted her to taste Akane's bitterness. You know how Akane's voice was ruined, right?"

"When Hagie was drunk, she told her..." Fuekawa recalled.

"That she wanted her voice to be deeper." Kibune noted.

"She took her seriously and gargled with liquor and pressed a cushion against her face and screamed to achieve a huskier voice." Kogure muttered. "But Hagie..." she recollected how Yamaji had forbidden Shuto to sing at their next performance. "That's what she said. It was too much. She didn't understand how Akane felt. Several days later, Akane jumped in front of a car and killed herself. So, I avenged Akane."

"It wasn't a suicide." Kibune refuted. "It was an accident."

"It was suicide." Kogure insisted. "Otherwise, she never would've ignored the traffic light."

"You're wrong, Rumi." Fuekawa chided. "It was a boy who ignored the light and jumped into traffic. Akane was hit by a car while trying to save him."

"You must be lying." Kogure refused to listen." After all, Hagie said at the funeral that it was her fault that Akane died."

"Probably because Akane did what Hagie told her to do." Fuekawa guessed. "She said, 'Don't speak until your voice recovers. You'll get your beautiful voice back in no time. I'm sorry for saying something so stupid while I was drunk.'"

"The people who witnessed the accident said she jumped into traffic to save the boy instead of calling out to him." Kibune added.

"You didn't know because you were bedridden from the shock of Akane's death." Fuekawa related.

"What am I going to do?" Kogure broke down.


After Takagi headed off with Kogure...

"I'm impressed, Sera-chan." Ran remarked. "You solved another case."

"With Amuro-san and Conan-kun's help, a case like this is a piece of cake." Sera grinned. "I'm only a detective because of my brother's influence, though."

"You mean your smart brother you mentioned during the Red Woman case?" Ran wondered.

"That's my middle brother." Sera informed. "I was influenced by my oldest brother."

"I thought your oldest brother was dead." Ran blinked.

"Was he a cop who died on the line of duty?" Sonoko asked.

"He wasn't a Japanese cop, though." Sera added. "He was an agent of America's FBI. Apparently, he had a hard time getting his green card."

"What's your brother's name?" Conan asked.

"Akai Shuichi." Sera answered.


Later that evening...

"Well, one thing we can conclude from this case," Ami remarked, readying a couple of trout fillet to pan-fry. "People say things they don't mean to when they're drunk."

"Not to mention, miscommunication kills." Amuro added, slicing up a lemon at the kitchen counter.

"True that." Ami agreed.


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