SailorStar9: With Chapter 123 uploaded, I present Chapter 124 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 124: The Cursed Tears of Borgia, Part One
Time passes...
"Mizusawa." Umeki Hiromichi called out, Mizusawa Sho was snapping photos on his camera phone of an abandoned car at the bottom of a dried up Ogouchi Dam.
"Did you get in touch with the police, Umeki-san?" Mizusawa asked.
"My signal's weak, so I couldn't reach them." Umeki replied. "Could you try yours?"
In the Mouri Detective Agency...
"'I Killed Them'." Saeki Sumire related to Mouri. "It was the title of the drama they were filming when my grandmother allegedly ran off with the ring that was discovered. At the time, my grandmother was living here in Beika City, but after the case, the family fled under cover of the night because of the abuse they suffered from the media. The ring wasn't in the car when my grandmother was found in. On top of that, she..."
"Died of being stabbed in the stomach with a fruit knife." Mouri added.
"They didn't mention that on the news." Conan supplied.
"Mizusawa, the man who found the body, was one of my drinking buddies." Mouri explained.
"My grandmother is a victim." Saeki insisted. "Someone must've stolen the ring from her and killed her. It's a 40-year-old case. I know it will be difficult. If you could at least clear my grandmother's name..."
"Very well." Mouri relented. "Like you said, it's a 40-year-old case." he informed Saeki after getting off the phone with Megure. "Not only that, but during that time, it was underwater. There's very little evidence. As it stands, they're unable to conclude that you grandmother, Saeki Yuri-san, was murdered."
"The knife..." Saeki pointed out.
"The knife undoubtedly took Saeki Yuri-san's life." Mouri admitted. "It's possible that she regretted running off with the ring and committed suicide."
In front of the Beika aerial lighthouse that was getting demolished...
"Yuri-chan." Kanoya Tatsuma gasped, seeing Saeki. "You look like an old acquaintance of mine."
"Did you mean Saeki Yuri?" Saeki pressed. "She's my grandmother."
In Kanoya's car...
"What a coincidence." Conan noted.
"Yuri-chan's, rather, your grandmother's body," Kanoya corrected himself. "Was discovered by my nephew, Umeki. I thought it might be fate, so I came to see the Yamato TV building being demolished. I used to work for Yamato TV. Yuri-chan was a great assistant."
"Oji-san, do you remember the drama 'I Killed Them'?" Conan asked. "I mean doesn't Sumire-san want to know if her grandmother was innocent?"
"It's all right." Kanoya chuckled. "None of the staff believed Yuri-chan took the ring. I was part of the main staff. I know it was so."
In Kanoya's mansion...
"It was broadcast live?" Conan gawked.
"At the time, small stations like Yamato TV didn't know much about video recording." Kanoya explained. "So, they turned that lack of knowledge on its head by calling 'Killed 'Em' a five-year anniversary special live drama. This is how we shot it." he flipped open a photo album. "I was the one behind the camera. Yuri-chan and Asahina Nagisa-chan were like sisters. Nagisa-chan wasn't a bad girl, but she had terrible stage fright. On that day, Yuri-chan traveled separately from Nagisa-chan because she had to transport the ring."
"How did that happen?" Conan was confused.
"There were rumors that the Asahina family had purchased counterfeit Tears of Borgia." Kanoya answered. "The Asahina family requested that Western history Professor Senju proclaim it was genuine before the drama. The jewel had to be left at the studio to accommodate the professor's schedule. Yuri-chan would bring it to the filming location once he gave his testimony."
"They could've rescheduled the filming." Ran noted.
"They can't do that, Ran-nee-chan." Conan corrected.
"Because it was broadcast live." Kanoya agreed. "I was at the filming location as a cameraman. Nagisa-chan was the only actress there. As long as the Tears of Borgia arrived by 20:20, it would be on time for the broadcast."
"It must've been an important prop." Conan realized.
"It was." Kanoya nodded. "It needed to arrive on time for its close-up during the climax. We did it with one camera."
"Being an assistant sounds like hard work." Saeki remarked.
"Some actors even had her make cheat sheets." Kanoya chuckled. "We didn't have the time to rehearse, so memorizing the lines was quite the job."
"Ultimately, the ring didn't arrive." Conan pointed out.
"Just in case, we brought the prop ring with us." Kanoya supplied. "We were so distracted by the commotion after filming that we put off worrying about Yuri-chan."
"Did something happen?" Conan blinked.
"Nagisa-chan collapsed right when we finished." Kanoya revealed. "She's actually had a 40-degree Celsius fever. You can't cancel a live broadcast for an illness. It wasn't uncommon back then."
"Does Nagisa-san still live in Beika City?" Saeki asked.
"In a nursing facility." Kanoya supplied. "It's called 'Grand Light'."
At the 'Grand Light' facility...
"Ran-nee-chan!" Conan called from Asahina's room.
"Asahina-san, you have two guests." the tending nurse led Saeki and Ran in. "Two young ladies."
"Yuri-chan..." Asahina breathed upon seeing Saeki and dropped her apple in shock. "Yuri-chan, I'm sorry. Forgive me."
"Why did she scream like that?" Ran was puzzled, the three were in the facility's visitor's area.
"Something happened between the two of them that traumatized her." Conan concluded. "Sumire-san, do you know what 'I Killed Them' was about?"
"There was an old family that kept the historically significant 'Tears of Borgia'." Saeki related. "Back then, there was a notorious thief known as 'Red Hood'. Red Hood declared that he would steal the Tears of Borgia. The police were powerless against him and no one knew what he looked like beneath the hood. A maid comes up with an idea; she was played by Asahina Nagisa-san. He'll find it if it's hidden, so it should be kept in plain sight. A fake jewel was locked inside the mansion's safe, while the real one was kept on the maid's finger. The Red Hood's true identity is actually her boyfriend, the butler. While the thief waits for an opportunity to strike, the maid is sent to some distant mountains by the master. They're worried her symptoms might get worse." she sighed, leading Ran and Conan out of the facility after the tending nurse advised them to return another day.
"Isn't that Saeki Yuri-san?" Senju Hideo, who was also in the same facility, called out from his room.
"Yuri was my grandmother." Saeki supplied.
"That's a coincidence." Senju noted. "I'm first-rate Western history professor, Senju."
"Senju?" Conan blinked. "Wasn't he on TV?"
"He must know about your grandmother." Ran realized.
In Senju's room...
"The Tears of Borgia was fake." Senju revealed. "It never actually existed. Yamato TV didn't care about the truth. They asked me to say it was real. A sponsor's request? What do they think history is?"
"What did you say on the broadcast?" Saeki asked.
"That I'd overlook it since it was legend, but that the owners embarrass themselves if they insisted it was real." Senju answered. "The TV was displeased no matter how much I denied its existence. Yuri-kun was the only one who listened to me. I warned the Asahina family who hired her not to embarrass themselves on TV: 'Don't put this counterfeit on TV.' were my exact words."
"Inspector Megure?" Ran looked at the caller ID on her ringing phone. "My father's caught in a fire?"
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
