SailorStar9: With Chapter 102 uploaded, I present Chapter 103 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 103: The Woman with White Hands, Part Two
"Inspector Megure." Takagi returned. "There really was a woman wearing a broad-brimmed hat and sunglasses. Several of the residents saw her. The security camera footage also captured her riding up and down several times. Her face was hidden by the hat, though."
"We found the weapon." Megure supplied. "It was the five-iron in Banno-san's gold bag. Also, inside Iiyama-san's bag was the camera believed to have been used to take the Polaroid and the pen used to write the note. Unfortunately, the culprit's fingerprints weren't on either one of them."
"Was this really the work of a crazy fan like Banno-san claims?" Takagi wondered.
"We'll pursue this possibility for now." Megure decided. "Takagi-kun, go to Banno-san's management agency and check his fan letters for anyone whose handwriting matches the 'I love you' note. You didn't find anyone with matching handwriting?" he echoed after Takagi reported back via phone. "Did you check all the fan letters?"
"About fifty of them." Takagi responded. "Banno Teigo-san's agency only had this month's fan letters. They apparently disposed of the rest."
"Find that letter even if it means turning the agency upside down." Megure instructed. "Banno-san's girlfriend Iiyama Kurumi-san was murdered and the words 'I love you' were written in red pen on his right cheek by this woman with white hands."
"Inspector," Banno voiced. "I've told you everything I know. Can I go now? The media seems to have gotten wind of the incident and have begun gathering around the apartment building. I'll like to stop by my agency to discuss my next golf tour. Like that lady teacher just said, I invited Kurumi here to break up with her. I'm surprised she was murdered, but since I no longer had feelings for her, I'm not too broken up about it. The killer is that woman with the board-brimmed hat and sunglasses. It was probably that woman in the photo with white hands. Hurry up and find her."
"They'll never find her." Conan cut in. "Because that woman is Banno-san."
"These kids claimed to have figured something out." Wakasa explained.
"It's Genta's hand." Conan pulled Genta's arm out. "Try smelling it."
"It smells like cosmetics." Megure took a whiff.
"That's the smell of foundation that women use doing their makeup." Conan nodded. "Remember how we said we came into this room and found the body because the music won't stop? It got on Genta's hand when he banged on the door to get inside. If you're wondering what that was doing on the door, it's because the woman we saw banged on the door, too. Sensei, do women put foundation on their hands?"
"Not normally." Wakasa replied.
"Then, maybe the suspicious woman we saw was a dark-skinned man wearing foundation to make himself paler and pretending to be a woman." Conan reasoned.
"What makes me that man disguised as a woman?" Banno demanded. "I'm just dark-skinned."
"Because when we first met you, you said two strange things." Conan answered. "You still have something on your face."
"What's on my face?" Banno touched his cheek.
"Normally, when someone tells you you have something on your face, you unconsciously try and touch it." Conan declared. "But you didn't. So, your fingers won't smudge the words you've written."
"So, you knew there were words written on your cheek that would become a vital piece of evidence later." Megure remarked.
"It's not that I knew." Banno protested. "I just thought so instinctively. Since Kurumi was bleeding on the floor, I thought there might be something bad on me."
"In that case," Conan brought out a folded sheet of paper. "Do you know what this is?"
"It's the character for love." Banno looked at the displayed word.
"You don't know?" Conan rebuked. "One of Iiyama-san's fans uploaded the signature they received at one of her events. I traced and enlarged the character for love that she wrote."
"When I used my phone as a mirror to show you the message on your cheek, remember what you said?" Haibara reminded.
"You said it wasn't the dead woman's writing." Mitsuhiko commented. "You don't even know what her real writing looks like."
"Then, this is Kurumi's writing, then." Banno stammered. "I did think it looked similar. Like I said, the 'love' Kurumi wrote and the 'love' on my cheek were written by two different people. It's obvious enough that it's not Kurumi's handwriting."
"In that case," Conan started, the rest of the Detective Boys flashed the inverted word for 'love' on their respective sheets of paper. "Do you know which of these is Kurumi-san's? You looked at the mirrored characters reflected on the phone and instantly knew it wasn't Kurumi-san's handwriting. It's hard to tell whose it is when reversed, even if it's familiar."
"It was a feeling." Banno insisted. "I just had a feeling it wasn't hers. The important thing is this Polaroid the killer took. My right hand is behind my head, so the white woman's hand in the front isn't mine. I couldn't have written so clearly on my own face. If you think I did it, tell me how I took this photo."
"Mitsuhiko, you ready?" Genta cast a look at the shorter boy.
"Go ahead and fall like Conan-kun told us." Mitsuhiko nodded.
"When you frame the scene like this," Conan started his experiment, both Genta and Mitsuhiko lying on the ground. "Doesn't Mitsuhiko's left hand look like Genta's right hand?"
"Our skin colors and sleeves are different." Banno pointed out.
"That's easy." Conan snorted. "You can make your girlfriend's skin look darker by using a dark foundation. For her sleeve, you could cut the sleeve off another similarly colored shirt and wrap it around her left hand under your head."
"What about this message?" Banno snapped. "Are you saying I wrote this on my own face?"
"You didn't write it." Conan corrected. "You pressed it onto your face, like a stamp. First, you wrote the words 'I love you' on a clear plastic file using permanent marker. Then you flipped it over and traced the words with a non-permanent marker. After killing your girlfriend and taking a photo of yourself with nothing on your face, you created the stamp. Then you pressed the non-permanent marker side of the file onto your cheek." with Haibara done with the 'stamp', Ayumi passed the plastic file to Genta who then pressed the writing on his cheek. "Now it looks like the words were written on your cheek. Then you colored your right hand white with foundation, applied nail polish and a scrunchy, held a pen and took a picture of yourself, creating that trick photo."
"Having decided to murder Kurumi-san, you disguised yourself as a woman and lurked around your apartment to give the other residents the impression that there was a suspicious woman stalking you." Megure concluded. "When Kurumi-san arrived, you killed her with your golf club and took the trick photo using the technique Conan-kun just described. Then you played loud music from your stereo, so that your neighbor, Wakasa-sensei would come and discover the body and showed us the trick photo so we would believe the suspicious woman did all this."
"Then, my initial theory about the imaginary girlfriend was right on the mark." Haibara declared.
"What about the proof?" Banno demanded.
"The proof's probably in the bag you're trying to take out of this apartment." Conan shrugged. "The clear file, foundation, scrunchy, and sleeve you put on Kurumi-san's left hand. You wouldn't want anyone to see you leaving the apartment with those so you could throw them away."
"Shall I take a look inside your bag?" Megure questioned.
"It was Kurumi's fault." Banno sneered. "I wanted to go on my international tour with a blank slate. She demanded 100 million yen for breaking up with her. Move." he barked, charging at the kids.
"Look out." Wakasa pushed her students to the side, her outstretched foot tripping Banno. On reflex, she then slammed an elbow on the fallen golfer.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
