SailorStar9: With Chapter 99 uploaded, we hit Chapter 100 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 100: Solving Mysteries at the Poirot Café, Part Two
"He's got the same name as you." Hattori teased.
"Conan-kun, isn't your name Conan?" Azusa was puzzled.
"He meant to say 'your favorite Shinichi-nii-chan'." Conan fibbed. "Heiji-nii-chan can be unclear sometimes."
Anyway Kudo, do you know who did it?" Hattori whispered with Azusa out of earshot.
"Not yet." Hattori replied. "I thought of a trick to avoid getting blood on yourself, though. But the person who could've used the trick..."
"Couldn't have committed the crime." Hattori finished. "Damn." he cursed. "I gonna solve this quick so we can go to Kinza."
"Yamashita Yui-san," Conan approached the older woman. "You said you and Anzai-san are just childhood friends, but that's not true, is it? If there's something going on, could you tell me? It might help us solve the case."
"Sorry, but I can't say." Yamashita replied. "It's a secret I have to keep to protect someone. When I was your age, I didn't think I had any secrets, either."
"Kudo," Hattori hissed. "You know how late the Kinza lights are staying on?"
"No." Conan replied flatly.
"'From between long clouds blown by the fall wind, the moonlight shines through is beautiful indeed.'" Wada cleared his throat and recited.
"Detectives, can we go yet?" Oozumi complained. "I'm sorry that Anzai got stabbed, but none of us did it. There's no blood on anyone."
"I don't think we could've stabbed anyone in the pitch darkness of the blackout." Yamashita agreed.
"I was in the bathroom since before the blackout, so I couldn't' have stabbed him." Oozumi reminded. "The peephole in the toilet door is made with frosted glass. I couldn't have known who was sitting where."
"'From between long clouds blown by the fall wind, the moonlight shines through is beautiful indeed.'" Hattori started. "It's a poem by Sayko no Daibu Akisuke: it means the moon seen through clouds blown by the fall wind is super pretty. The culprit also saw who was sitting where through a gap. Isn't that right, the man who was hiding in the bathroom and secretly watching through the peephole; I'm asking you, Oozumi Meisuke-san."
"What are you talking about?" Oozumi pressed. "Didn't you hear me? The peephole's made of frosted glass."
"Azusa-san," Conan voiced. "Do you have any tape?"
"What do you need this for?" Azusa brought out the tape dispenser.
"My science teacher told me that if you put tape on the rough side of frosted glass, it's like normal glass." Conan explained. "Try putting some tape on the peephole and look through it."
"You're right." Azusa was surprised. "I can see through the spot covered by the tape."
"It's difficult to see through frosted glass because tiny scratches on its surface reflect light, making it appear cloudy." Amuro supplied. "By putting tape over it, the adhesive on the tape fills the scratches on the glass, flattening the surface and making it transparent."
"I don't have any tape on me." Oozumi protested.
"There was tape on the birthday present you got for Yui-san." Conan pointed out. "After looking through the frosted glass, you could've put them back on the present."
"Even if I could see the others through the peephole, I couldn't have stabbed anyone in the darkness." Oozumi bristled.
"So, you practiced." Hattori supplied. "You arranged chairs and tables in your room in the same layout at this café so you could stab someone in the dark. If you built a set identical to this café for your play last year, these measurements must still be in your drama club room somewhere."
"Even if I knew the exact layout, it'd still be hard to stab someone." Oozumi argued.
"From the front, their hands would get in the way, making it difficult to stab them." Amuro cut in. "But from their blindside, as long as you knew where they were sitting. It would be possible. That's why you came first and put your bag on the booth seat, knowing your girlfriend Yui-san would sit next to it."
"What about the blood?" Oozumi spoke up. "Even if I could stab him, I would've gotten blood on me."
"You made sure you wouldn't." Conan replied. "Using something you found in the bathroom."
At Kinza Block 4...
"It's so pretty. "Kazuha gushed, as she and Ran strolled down the streets. "It's like Tinkerbell's gonna show up any minute."
"I know." Ran agreed. "It's like a dream world. Kazuha-chan..." she stopped herself when she found Kazuha had stopped to stare at a decorated tree.
"I'm glad it's just the two of us." Kazuha admitted. "If I saw this in person with Heiji, I might've felt something crazy."
"Is that..." Ran's eyes centered on a familiar shade of navy blue. "Mizuno-san?"
"That pretty coroner?" Kazuha echoed.
"Mouri-chan." Ami looked up from her Blackberry.
"Kazuha-chan, this is Mizuno Ami-san." Ran introduced. "Mizuno-san, this is Toyama Kazuha-chan."
"I wonder what Heiji's doing." Kazuha complained after the three females settled into a comfortable silence. "He's not answering his phone."
"Tooru texted me earlier." Ami replied. "Seems like something cropped up at Poirot."
"You're late." a woman nearby whined to her boyfriend.
"Sorry." the man apologized. "I wanted Poirot's sandwiches."
"You haven't heard?" his girlfriend asked. "There's something crazy going at the café. Apparently, there was a murder. Some guy was stabbed and taken to the hospital."
"That just explains so much." Ami sighed. "Guess it'll take a while for it to be resolved. Have the two of you eaten?"
In Café Poirot...
"Toilet paper?" Megure echoed. "He used toilet paper to prevent blood from getting on himself?"
"He wrapped it around his arms like a mummy." Conan nodded.
"That's all you need." Hattori intervened. "You held the cardboard tube around the knife against his back as you stabbed him. By holding the tube in place as you pulled the knife out, you could avoid getting any blood on yourself. That's why you chose a long knife. Otherwise, you couldn't have stabbed him through the tube. A little blood's bound to come through the tube, but as long as you don't point the opening towards yourself, you'll be alright. Instead, those of us sitting in front of the tube got blood all over us. Then, you returned to the bathroom and waited for the lights to come back on, flushed the toilet paper wrapped around your arms and stuck the tube you used back inside the toilet paper. Then, you removed the tape from the peephole and stuck it back on the gift and came out of the bathroom."
"You may have removed the tape before the lights turned on." Amuro corrected. "By folding the ends of the tape over and making it easier for you to grab, you could've removed it in the dark. If the bathroom lights came back on first and someone saw the peephole, they might have noticed that there was something stuck to it. Either way, the middle of the toilet paper was sticking out slightly. That's a sure sign the tube was forced inside it afterwards. I think the police would find Anzai-san's blood and your fingerprints on it."
"Oozumi-kun, you'd never stab Tengo." Yamashita was stunned.
"It annoyed me." Oozumi admitted. "Why did you call your boyfriend 'Oozumi-kun' when you call Anzai by his given name?"
"Because we're childhood friends." Yamashita insisted.
"You're not just childhood friends, are you?" Oozumi fumed. "There must be some reason for it. You can't say it." he sneered. "I'm sure he's your ex or something. I had to hurt him because you were keeping secrets from me. Honestly, I was scared since the knife went deeper than I expected."
"You're wrong." Conan corrected. "They're probably half-siblings. Yui-san, you said you were keeping the secret to protect someone and that you didn't think you had any secrets as a child. The reason you said 'someone' instead of 'Tengo' is because you meant someone related to Anzai-san, or in this case, Anzai-san's father, the Dietman. If it wasn't a secret when you were kids, but became one when you grew up, it means it would be a career ending scandal for a Dietman. In other words, Yui-san is his lover's secret lovechild. It's what Heiji-nii-chan said." he noticed Megure and Takagi looking intently at him.
"You're lying..." Oozumi stammered. "I don't believe this. You're not all pulling my leg, are you? Al phone call?" he looked at his ringing phone.
"That hurt, damn it!" Anzai hollered over the phone. "I'm gonna kill you the next time I see you. My behavior was hardly worth of praise. I can see how you got the wrong idea. In any case, I sent Yui's birthday video to your phone. Check it out. I was going to turn up the volume so you could hear it from the bathroom."
"Birthday video?" Oozumi played the clip. "I have an announcement to make." Anzai's voice sounded. "Yui and I are actually half-siblings. Since Dad's election is coming up, Yui said not to say anything, but I don't care. So, take care of my sister, Oozumi, I mean brother."
"You should've tried talking to him before stabbing him." Hattori complained as Oozumi broke down. "I don't have time for this." he looked at his watch in horror. "I've gotta get to Kinza Block 4."
"We're not going to Kinza." Kazuha snapped, entering the café. "We're going to Tokyo Station. If we don't' hurry, we'll miss our train home." she pulled Hattori off.
"Hattori-kun." Takagi called out. "We still need to question him about the case.
"You can always do that later." Ami reminded.
"That's true." Takagi agreed. "I guess we could interview the people who are still here. Wait, what? Wada Shinichi-san is missing. He was here a while ago. There was this strange man by that name claiming to be a medical professional."
"That's most likely an alias." Ami reasoned. "Doctor John Watson from the Sherlock Holmes series was renamed Wada Shinichi in the Japan version."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
