SailorStar9: With Chapter 98 uploaded, this is Chapter 99 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 99: Solving Mysteries at the Poirot Café, Part One
Time passes...
"This is crazy." Ran gushed, Kazuha having sent her a photo of the Kinza Block 4 lights. "It's so pretty."
"Isn't it?" Kazuha responded. "Heiji and I are on our way now to check out the lights."
"Now?" Ran echoed. "Aren't these the lights at Tokyo's Kinza Block 4?"
"So, we thought we'd invite you." Kazuha responded. "We're here." she flung open the detective agency's door.
"You actually came." Ran gawked.
"We're busy at the end of the year." Kazuha replied. "Today's the only day we were free. You said you weren't busy this weekend."
"But I just got back from grocery shopping." Ran looked at her bag of vegetables. "I haven't made dinner yet. Dad said he'd be home around seven, so I need to start cooking."
"Then, I'll help you." Kazuha offered. "Let's whip something up and go have dinner while we look at the lights. You guys have fun at Poirot downstairs." she told Hattori and Conan as she pushed Ran into the kitchen.
"Hey, Kudo." Hattori started. "If you're planning on asking why we came..."
"I'm not." Conan rolled his eyes. "I already know.
In Café Poirot...
"Who comes all the way to Tokyo for that?" Conan teased, after Hattori confirmed his reason for coming to Kinza.
"Shut up, idiot." Hattori rebuked. "You went all the way to London to tell her how you feel."
"In my case..." Conan gaped. "We just happened to be in London."
"I'd like to say a line as cool as that." Hattori snorted.
"Anyway, are you sure about today?" Conan was worried. "The date."
"After all, today is..." Hattori recalled.
"Friday the 13th." Amuro cut in. "Is that why? There are various theories on why it's considered an unlucky day. The most common ones are because Jesus Christ's last supper was attended by 13 people or because the number 13 doesn't fit in the duodecimal system. Jesus was crucified on a Friday. President Kennedy was also assassinated in Dallas on a Friday. But we're in Japan." he placed Hattori's iced coffee before the tanned teen. "You have nothing to worry about. The 13th day of the month just happened to be a Friday. Statistically speaking, it happens twice a year. You shouldn't worry about telling the object of your affection how you feel. Besides, Jesus and Kennedy didn't die on the 13th."
"But on Friday the 13th," Wada Shinichi spoke. "On October 13th 1307, King Phillip IV had all the Knights Templar in France arrested. They were unjustly tortured and burned at the stake. On the Friday of June 13th 1483, the notorious Richard III had one of his advisors executed for treason. Julius Ceasar was also betrayed and murdered by Brutus on Friday the 13th. Today is a very unlucky day. Even in Japan, it should be avoided. Excuse me." he blinked. "I happened to overhear your conversation and couldn't help myself."
"Does he come here often?" Conan turned to Amuro.
"I think it's his first time here." Amuro answered. "He came in right after you did."
"They're still not here?" Oozumi Meisuke entered the café.
"You're with the Beika University drama club that made a reservation, right?" Amuro asked. "Your friends aren't here yet."
"We're celebrating Yui's birthday here today." Oozumi sighed. "When they show up, tell them they can start without me." he placed his shoulder bag on the couch. "My stomach hasn't been feeling well since this afternoon." he explained, entering the toilet.
"Seriously?" Anzai Tengo and Yamashita Yui entered after some time. "Don't tell me we got here first."
"Oozumi-san arrived earlier." Azusa supplied. "He's in the bathroom.
"Nagatsuka-kun is still not here." Yamashita took a seat.
"He's in the middle of filming your birthday video right now." Anzai explained. "After all, he's in love with you."
"Nagatsuka-kun is?" Yamashita echoed. "Yeah, right."
"He always glares at me with I flirt with you." Anzai remarked.
"He's just upset that you're flirting with his friend's girlfriend." Yamashita reasoned. "Oozumi-kun and Nagatsuka-kun went the same high school. You and I are just childhood friends."
"Friends, huh?" Anzai mused. "Either way, they'll find out soon enough."
"I thought you were just childhood friends." Nagatsuka Minoru retorted, joining up. "I got lost."
"We've been here plenty of times before while hunting for locations." Anzai reminded.
"Last year, we put on a play based on this location." Yamashita related. "We came here together then."
"Our previous club president suggested we build a set identical to this place." Anzai recalled. "We even measured the size of the tables and height of the chairs."
"I was asked about how we interact with customers and serve dishes." Azusa remembered.
"Have a seat." Anzai let Nagatsuka take his seat. "Let's watch Yui's birthday video together. You finished filming your part, right?"
"I just sent it to your laptop." Nagatsuka replied. "But Oozumi's not here yet."
"He's in the bathroom." Anzai took out his laptop. "We're going to make some noise." he informed Hattori and Conan. "Don't mind us." he pushed the power button. "It's not turning on." he blinked at the blank screen. "Is the battery dead? Onee-san," he called Azusa. "Could we borrow an outlet?" he plugged in the extension cord and the entire café blacked out.
"I just saw a spark." Nagatsuka noted.
"Azusa-san, check the breaker." Amuro instructed.
Suddenly, Anzai let out a pained scream a blood splattered on Hattori's cheek and Conan's lens.
"What's all that noise about?" Oozumi exited the bathroom when the lights went back on.
Yamashita let out a high-pitched scream when she saw Anzai collapsed on the ground. "Tengo. Hang in there, Tengo." she hurried over to Anzai.
"Don't touch him." Conan barked.
"This is a murder." Hattori stated. "Don't carelessly damage the crime scene."
"Looks like this is an attempted murder." Amuro corrected, seeing Anzai's labored breathing. "Azusa-san, call an ambulance and the police."
"Since he was stabbed by such a large sashimi knife, I thought he'd died instantly." Hattori remarked. "There's no need to call the police. When he was stabbed, some blood flew onto my face."
"Onto my glasses, too." Conan added.
"His blood must've gotten on the culprit's hands or sleeves." Hattori reasoned. "You can't be serious." he complained when the other customers showed their hands were free of blood. "Why isn't there blood on anyone?"
"You sir," Amuro noticed Wada by the door. "The man quietly trying to leave. Could oyu show your hands?"
"I wasn't trying to leave." Wada replied, showing his blood-free hands.
After Megure's team was called in...
"I see." Megure looked at the frayed plug. "Due to the thin wire wrapped around the plug powering victim Anzai Tengo-san's laptop, when the victim plugged into this extension cord, it shorted out and caused a blackout. In the darkness, someone in the store stabbed the victim."
"There's no blood on the hands or sleeves of the victim's three friends or the other customer." Takagi pointed out. "There's none on Conan-kun or Hattori-kun who were also in the café or employees Azusa-san or Amuro-san. All of this despite the fact that Conan-kun and Hattori-kun got blood on their faces and the table they were sitting at was splattered with blood."
"Did the victim always carry his laptop with him?" Megure asked.
"He kept it in that bag on the floor." Yamashita replied.
"He left it in the club room all the time." Nagatsuka supplied. "Anyone could've done something to it."
"He had a lot of enemies." Oozumi added.
"He frequently flirted with other men's girlfriends and caused trouble." Nagatsuka elaborated.
"He even flirted with my girlfriend, Yui." Oozumi remarked.
"It's because we're childhood friends." Yamashita argued. "I told you he was just messing around."
"His dad's a member of the Diet." Oozumi shrugged. "I heard he smoothed over a lot of disputes for him behind the scenes."
The victim seems to have been sitting in this seat before the blackout occurred." Takagi noted. "Where was everyone else sitting then?"
"I was sitting across from him in the booth." Yamashita answered.
"I was sitting next to Anzai in that chair." Nagatsuka related.
"What about you, Oozumi-san?" Takagi asked.
"I arrived before the others." Oozumi answered. "After setting my bag in the booth, I was in the bathroom the whole time. My stomach hasn't been feeling well since this afternoon."
"That makes you the only one who could've washed the blood off." Megure reasoned.
"If you think I did it, you can search me." Oozumi protested. "Even if I washed it off with water, there'd still be something-or-other reaction, right?"
"Luminol." Amuro cut in. "It's used to detect nitrogen-containing compounds. When mixed with hydrogen peroxide and sprayed onto blood, it reflects a pale light. I doubt Oozumi-san would produce a luminol reaction. Before the police arrived, I checked the security camera footage. He came to Poirot first and went into the bathroom. Anzai-san and Yamashita-san arrived next. Finally, Nagatsuka-san arrived sometime later. The blackout occurred when they tried to watch the birthday video on the laptop. Until the footage cut off due to the blackout, the bathroom door remained closed the whole time. I doubt he could've known who was sitting where."
"The bathroom has a peephole." Takagi pointed out.
"The glass is frosted." Amuro opened the toilet's door. "You can't see what's going on in the store."
"Kudo, who's that guy?" Hattori whispered. "He's no ordinary café worker, is he?"
"He's..." Conan started, only to cut himself off when Amuro gestured for him to remain silent about his identity. "He's a detective: he's ojii-san's apprentice."
"Inspector, I examined the possessions of those three." Takagi reported. "Oozumi-san had key's, cigarettes, a lighter, a wallet, a phone and a present for Yui-san, which contained a necklace. Yamashita Yui-san had a handkerchief, tissues, makeup, keys and a wallet. Nagatsuka-san had eye drops, a wallet, a phone, and a present for Yui-san containing gloves. I searched Oozumi-san's bag as well, but didn't find anything he could've used to commit a crime."
"You seem to think we did it." Oozumi spoke.
"Couldn't it be an outsider?" Yamashita reasoned.
"Maybe someone was waiting outside the store for the blackout and came inside to stab him with night vision goggles?" Nagatsuka argued.
"That seems unlikely." Wada corrected. "Immediately after that man was stabbed and screamed, I stood in front of the entrance so no one could get out."
"Come to think of it, you haven't told us your name yet." Takagi realized.
"I'm Wada Shinichi." Wada replied. "I work in medicine. So, I'm curious as to why no one has blood on them."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
