SailorStar9: With Chapter 93 uploaded, this is Chapter 94 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 94: The Betrayal's Stage, Part Two


"The victim wrote the note on the paper himself?" Megure echoed in surprise.

"According to forensics, the paper came from the notebook the victim used to write lyrics." Takagi replied. "The handwriting matched the lyrics written on the other pages of the notebook."

"Which means, it's likely the victim felt indebted to someone, and that became the reason to kill him." Megure surmised. "Any ideas?"

"I don't know about indebted, but he may have an inferiority complex." Enjo supplied. "Hado often said he had to work hard to keep up with other handsome musicians since he had an off-putting face."

"I told him not to worry about it." Fuse stepped in. "I said the way he seems difficult to approach was part of his charm."

"That reminds me, there were rumors Hado got plastic surgery." Kajiya noted. "Although I think that was around the time he graduated from high school."

"I told you before that's all nonsense." Enjo snapped. "We didn't have any money back then; we worked every day for a shipping company to make enough money for him to become a musician."

"But Hado dumped you after you worked so hard together and married another woman." Kajiya mocked. "I think that was sixteen years ago. And the song 'ASACA' he was set to announce at this concert was composed seventeen years ago. There must be some reason he left it without lyrics for seventeen years."

"That's enough." Fuse cut in.

"President, you must know something, too." Kajiya was relentless. "I heard Hado asked you after his previous concert, 'Why didn't you say anything for seventeen years?' After your argument, Hado suddenly announced he'd be releasing a new song 'ASACA'. There must be something going on."

"Is that true?" Megure questioned.

"Hado started working with my record company seventeen years ago." Fuse explained. "I jokingly told him the real reason I had him debut with us was because I'd fallen in love with Enjo-san and wanted to court her. He said he'd quit if that was true."

"Then, I'm leaving." Kajiya declared. "Isn't it impossible for anyone to have committed this crime? Let go." he demanded when Takagi pulled him back by the strap of his shoulder bag. "I need to get back to the office and write an article about this case."

"We need to check the contents of your bag first." Takagi insisted.

"I told you to let me go." Kajiya snarled, tugging his bag and pulling himself free. The flung-out bag hit the shoulder of a forensic officers walking by and making him drop the gathered evidence.

"After viewing the images on the camera that was in your bag, it looks like you were secretly taking photos of Hado-san as he entered the concert hall, but he discovered you and tried to take away your camera." Megure remarked. "What did he say then?"

"He just said to stop taking pictures." Kajiya scowled.

"Inspector, one of the band members scheduled to perform with Hado-san at tomorrow's concert was just arrested by narcotics agents." Takagi informed. "For possession of stimulants."

"Forensics-san," Conan called out. "Did you find a... on the ground?" he whispered. "Azusa-nee-chan said she lost one."

"We didn't find anything like that on the stage." the forensics officer replied.

"Then, was anything missing?" Conan inquired. "Like wire or gloves?"

"The staff said both of those were missing from the toolbox at the edge of the stage." the forensics officer recalled.

"Did the staff leave that folding chair next to the tool box?" Conan asked.

"They kept it farther off-stage." the forensics officer replied.

"Did you inspect the folding chair, too?" Okiya cut in.

"Not for prints yet." the forensics officer answered. "But he's taking it back along with the mic stand for farther inspection." he looked at his colleague coming towards them.

"Excuse me." Okiya voiced. "Could I see the bottom of the seat?" he turned the bagged folding chair and instantly spotted a color contact lens sticking on the underside of the chair.

"You know how the killer lifted the victim's body?" Megure echoed in astonishment.

"Probably." Amuro nodded.


In the rehearsal hall...

"We passed the rope over the spotlight bar and tied the other end to Takagi-kun." Megure mused, having set up the experiment as per instruction. "Is one person really strong enough to lift him out of the chair?"

"Of course." Amuro replied. "First, you create a loop with the rope hanging from the bar while standing next to the stage. Wrap the bottom loop around the top loop two times. While twisting the lower loop, pass the section hanging down through the loop. Hook the resulting large loop onto the armrest of the seat about two meters below. Next, pass the end of the rope without the loops under the armrest. Create the same loops as before and pass the rope through. Now hook the large loop and rope on the armrest of a char about four meters away. Create a third loop and pass the rope through, and this time, hook the large loop onto a chair about eight meters away. Now all you have to do is return to the third set of small loops you created and pull on the leftover rope. Sonoko-san, you seem to be the weakest person here." he called out. "Could you pull on this?"

"I doubt I'll be able to lift him, though." Sonoko remarked. "How?" she exclaimed, tugging the rope and lifting Takagi.

"It's the principle of pulleys." Amuro explained.

"The small loops created along the rope function as pulleys." Okiya added. "Each set of loops doubles, quadruples and octuples the strength at which the rope pulls. Since we're using rope rather than pulleys, the strength isn't actually octupled due to friction, but if you use a light and slippery enough rope, even Sonoko-san can lift Detective Takagi."

"In other words, the culprit used not the strength of several people, but lifted Hado-san alone." Amuro supplied.

"Furthermore, this is known as a shipping knot." Okiya supplied. "Shipping workers use this rope to secure cargo. Which means, the most likely suspect who lifted Hado-san's body is his manager who worked for a shipping company when she was younger. Enjo Kanae-san, it's you."

"I can see how she lifted him, but how did she tie the rope to the seats?" Megure was confused.

"That's simple." Amuro answered. "First, after lifting the victim, she temporarily secured the rope by tying it to a nearby seat. Then, she wrapped a wire around the rope leading upwards around here. Once the rope coming from the ceiling is secured using the wire, the remaining rope can be untied and reattached to the seat and the wire can be removed. The best part of the shipping knot is that it can be untied easily since it doesn't actually create any knots, but if it's done using a brand-new rope, then it leaves behind telltale signs. That's why after retying the rope to the seat, you cut the end using the box cutter in the tool box and left it coiled next to the tool box at the edge of the stage."

"You can't assume she did it just because she used to work for a shipping company." Fuse protested.

"It's the size of her feet." Conan stated. "Shipping workers coil rope by wrapping them like this." he demonstrated by coiling some rope around his forearm and the web between his thumb and index finger. "The inner loop is approximately the size of a person's foot since the space between the elbow and the wrist is about the size of their foot. Since the rope found at the crime scene was in loops about the size of Ran-nee-chan's feet, we thought the rope might have been coiled around the smaller manager."

"So, after seventeen years, the manager's feelings for Hado turned to hate." Kajiya remarked.

"Contact lens." Conan presented another evidence. "As a manager, you must've noticed: Hado-san was wearing contact lens to make his irises look bigger. One of the lenses is stuck to your back."

"Do you mind?" Megure requested. "While you were lifting his body, one of them fell onto your clothes." he picked the lens up as evidence. That's enough evidence for me."

"Wait a minute." Fuse voiced. "Did you really do it? After supporting him for seventeen years, why did you have to kill him?"

"This is Megure." Megure took the incoming call. "That you, Mizuno? Suicide?" he exclaimed in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"She's right." Amuro agreed with his lover's assessment. "Where did you think we found the other circle lens? It was under the folding chair left at the edge of the stage. In other words, the chair had fallen under his feet after he was hanging. There's also the baseball tied to the kite string. It was used to pass the rope over the bar by tying the other end of the rope, throwing the ball so that the kite string would pass over the bar on the ceiling and pulling on the string. Then, there's the note found in Hado-san's breast pocket. He hung himself and she disguised it to look like a murder after finding him."

"Were you worried about what we discussed the other day?" Fuse realized. "Seventeen years ago, she was pregnant with Hado's child." he clarified. "Saying it was for their unborn child, the freshly debuted Hado-san locked himself in his studio and wrote music. He stayed up so many nights in a row, I thought he'd die. When she came to stop him, he found her collapsed in front of the studio and miscarried. At the hospital, she told me not to tell Hado-san about it."

"Since 'ASACA' was the song he wrote for that unborn child, he held onto it for seventeen years, unable to write the lyrics." Okiya realized. "When he learned what happened, he felt responsible and attempted to write lyrics for the child and release the song. Unable to write, he left the message 'sorry', and chose to die instead."

"Why was it necessary to make it look like a murder?" Megure wondered.

"I didn't want his family to know he killed himself over his ex's baby." Enjo sobbed. "So, I took his phone with the message 'goodbye' in his outbox out of his pocket and raised him up..."

"What an idiot to make a woman cry even after his death." Kajiya snorted. "I followed Hado for years; I crawled along the ground day after day looking for a story. Even if you didn't ask me not to, I wouldn't write about this. Such an overly sentimental story doesn't suit a rock and roller."


After Enjo was taken to the station...

"We still don't know why the 'CA' in 'ASACA' was spelled the way it is." Vermouth wondered, in her Azusa guise.

"I asked Hado about it before." Fuse spoke. "Since he heard about the pregnancy at a morning café after an all-nighter, if it was a girl, he wanted to call her 'Asaca', taking the 'ca' from café'."


Later that night...

The window blinders in Ami's office were drawn down, concealing the ongoing activities that were occurring in the coroner's office.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what brought that on?" a heaving Ami asked, Amuro finally releasing her from the breathless kiss.

"I'm sorry." the tanned blond muttered, nibbling her earlobe. "It's just this latest case... reminded me of how I should appreciate the most important woman in my life."


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