SailorStar9: With Chapter 83 uploaded, this is Chapter 84 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 84: The Marriage Registration's Password, Part One
Time passes...
"I'm stuffed." Yumi declared, she and Miwako were walking back after lunch. "That Italian place was good."
"You might've had too much to eat." Miwako chided.
"Who cares." Yumi shrugged. "Can't I cut loose on my day off? Besides, I've been feeling annoyed lately."
"The envelope your boyfriend gave you that you mentioned at the restaurant..." Miwako trailed.
"My ex-boyfriend." Yumi corrected. "He forced me to take it a few years ago. Apparently, he has all seven now, but our days off never match up, so I've had enough."
But inside that envelope might be..." Miwako started. "A marriage registration. It is pretty common. His name is already written on it and you just have to write yours if you say yes. I don't know what his seven are, but he told you to hold on to it, right? What's he like, anyway? What does he do?"
"He won't tell me." Yumi sighed. "He said he would once he got all seven. Apparently, he's some kind of master of something. It's probably fishing , games or story-telling."
"It's Taiko Meijin." Miwako spotted the news bulletin on the large TV screen of a department store. "Everyone wants him on their commercials and quiz shows these days."
"Meijin..." Yumi gawked. "You mean of shogi?"
"Yumi, is your boyfriend..." Miwako realized. "Taiko Meijin?"
"Apparently..." Yumi gaped.
"Then, his seven must be the seven major shoji titles." Miwako reasoned. "Why didn't you open the envelope? Didn't he tell you to open once he got all seven?"
"I was going to open it in front of him the next time we met and tear it to pieces if it was something stupid." Yumi explained.
"And, where's the envelope?" Miwako sighed.
"I feel like I saw it the other day." Yumi pondered. "I used it to bookmark a page in a fashion magazine. It was an old magazine, so I threw it out with the others this morning."
"Then, let's go get it immediately." Miwako urged. "We might still make it in time."
"It's fine." Yumi assured. "I hadn't even thought about marriage yet."
"It's a shame, though." Miwako teased. "Holding all seven titles should earn him at least a hundred million yen a year."
At the garbage collection area near Yumi's apartment...
"You can't be serious!" Yumi was panicking as she came to the garbage collection are. "It's gone."
"Why don't you tell him what happened and have him write up a new marriage registration?" Miwako suggested.
"I can't do that." Yumi whined. "Chukichi can be weirdly stubborn. When we went on a date the other day, I jokingly asked him if he could give me a spare one in case I lost it. He wouldn't give me one."
"It's Detective Sato and the patrol lady." Genta voiced.
"What are you doing?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"Yumi threw out something important in the garbage." Miwako explained.
"It was stuck in a fashion magazine." Yumi sighed. "I bundled it up with some other magazines and threw it out."
"Apparently, they don't collect recyclables today." Conan noted, looking at the collection schedule. "If that bundle of magazines isn't here, then the building manager might be keeping them somewhere else. If he identified it as your garbage, it might be in front of your apartment."
In front of Yumi's door...
"It's here." Yumi beamed at the stack of magazines by her door. "I'm pretty sure I left it in here." she flipped through the magazines. "It's not here." she exclaimed. "I can't find it anywhere."
"What are you looking for?" Mitsuhiko was confused.
"Yumi left and important envelope inside a fashion magazine as a bookmark." Miwako explained.
"You mean an envelope containing a marriage registration." Haibara accurately guessed the contents.
"Was there anything written on the envelope?" Conan asked.
"The word 'seal' is written along on the opening on the back and his name was written on the front." Yumi replied.
"In any case, let's go talk to the manager." Conan suggested. "He may be holding onto it if it's important."
In the building manager's unit...
"You've finally arrived, Chacha." Hachitsuka Koroku opened his door.
"Yumi, what's Chacha?" Miwako was confused.
"I don't know." Yumi snorted. "When Chukichi came here before to hang out, we ran into the manager. He started calling me Chacha after that."
"You're no different from that evil woman who stole Taiko's spine." Hachitsuka rebuked.
"Ojii-san, do you like shogi?" Conan instantly made the connection.
"I thought I was as good as a professional." Hachitsuka admitted. "He taught me a lesson. Ten years ago, I heard a middle school aged pro was coming to an event being held in a department store. I thought I'd beat that kid good. Instead, I thoroughly suffered a defeat at his hands. I fell in love with his style. I'm a huge fan of Taiko Meijin now. I was living a carefree life, until this Chacha arrested me, anyway."
"This old man used to be a pickpocket." Yumi explained. "I caught him trying to steal my wallet on the train and sent him to jail. Since he said he can't find a job once he finished his sentence, I helped him get a job managing the building here. More importantly, where's the envelope that was stuck in the magazines I put out this morning?"
"You mean this?" Hachitsuka showed Yumi the photo he had taken.
"Did you look inside the envelope?" Yumi demanded.
"Why do you care?" Hachitsuka snorted. "You threw it out with the trash. Now, where did I put it? I thought I put it in my bedroom, but I've been so forgetful lately."
"Move." Yumi snarled and pushed her way in. "I'm going to look for it. It's not on the desk or in any of the drawers." she complained.
"That's strange." Hachitsuka mocked. "I'm sure it's in this room. You don't have much time. He wrote that his profession was 'shogi master, seven crowns' on that form. He must've written that with great resolution and determination. Taiko Meijin is currently struggling in the championship match. It's probably because of the registration form. He mentioned in a magazine interview that he couldn't think of shogi right now since he still hasn't received a response from the person dearest to him. If the Taiko loses the championship match, this marriage registration with seven crowns written on it will become invalid. Taikos can't keep their phones on them during a match, the only time you'd be able to see him is during his lunch break. If you appear holding the marriage registration, he'd defeat all enemies with the strength of a million men. There's about an hour left before lunch. Show me your resolve: the resolve to stand by Taiko Meijin's side, no matter what happens."
"Isn't this it?" Conan was in front of the laptop. "It says to enter the eight-digit password. It even says it has to be entered using Yodogimi."
"Yodogimi?" Ayumi echoed.
"Taiko Hideyoshi's wife, also known as Chacha." Haibara supplied.
"What's the password?" Mitsuhiko wondered.
"Won't we get it right eventually if we just enter a bunch of random numbers?" Genta suggested.
"We can't." Conan deathpanned. "Only Yumi-san is allowed the enter the password and it says no mistakes are allowed. Apparently, it locks up if you get it wrong even once. If we find the eight-digit number hidden somewhere in this room, and Yumi-san enters it into this computer, we'll know where the envelope is. Now that we know what to do, let's split up and look for it."
"There's a weird piece of paper in the trash." Genta upturned the trash bin and a slip of paper fell onto the ground.
"It seems like what's written on that paper is some kind of code and we'll find an eight-digit number once we solve it." Miwako peered at the paper.
"You'll probably be fine." Haibara spoke. "That code looks like the 'Dancing Men' code from Sherlock Holmes. Our Sherlock is looking at the photo he took of the code and has probably already solved..." she stopped short when she noticed Conan's stunned look.
"How about we used shogi pieces?" Mitsuhiko suggested. "If we put shogi pieces in the right places on top of the paper, we might find an eight-digit number."
"Maybe the code can't be solved with only that sheet of paper." Conan pondered, the others hitting a dead-end. "Maybe there's a second code sheet that creates an eight-digit number when you overlap them. Or maybe it reveals a sentence that's a clue to the code."
"Searching for something reminds of me that time, though." Yumi recalled, sending the kids off the locate that second piece of paper. "When we went bamboo shoot hunting. When I went to hang out at Chukichi's apartment, he was panicking because he couldn't find an important fan, so I found it for him. Fans are made from bamboo and the fan was stuck in a pen holder; only the tip was visible. So, I told Chukichi he couldn't find it because he was looking for a fan. If you imagine you're looking for something that's mostly hidden, it's easier to find. All you can see of bamboo shoots are the tip, since most of it's hidden in the dirt."
"Why do you call him Chukichi when his name is Haneda Shukichi?" Miwako was puzzled.
"He has weird eating habits." Yumi sighed. "When we started dating, he always ate cheese because it wouldn't make his hands dirty. I couldn't stand to watch it, so I made him eat an exceptionally delicious shortcake."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
