SailorStar9: With Chapter 130 uploaded, I present Chapter 131 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 131: The Unsolved Cocktail Case, Part Three
"Excuse me, Detective Takagi." Ran started. "I found a fake nail. I thought it might by Yuri-san's." she handed the torn-off nail to Takagi. "It has lilies on it."
"That's one of Yuri-chan's fake nails." the long-haired bunny-girl confirmed.
"Where did you find it?" Takagi bagged the nail.
"The thing is, I seem to have stepped on it somewhere." Ran admitted. "It was stuck on the bottom of my boot."
"It must've come off when Yuri-san collapsed." Takagi reasoned. "It couldn't be helped."
"Ne, onee-san." Conan voiced. "Does Yuri-san always wear those fake nails?"
"She does." the long-haired bunny-girl nodded. "I suggested she wear some different ones sometimes, but she insisted that was her trademark."
"You couldn't help stepping on a fake nail that fell on the floor." Mouri stated. "It's not like we're walking around with magnifying glasses, Sherlock Holmes-style."
"How many times do I have to tell you, Inspector?" Morooka protested. "It's true that I passed by Yuri-chan while she was holding her glass. "It was only for a moment. I couldn't have poisoned her glass."
"I couldn't have poisoned her, either." Murakami cut in. "I just bumped onto her and spilled wine on her. I didn't have time to poison her glass."
"I wasn't wearing my glasses when she set her glass on the table." Fukamachi reminded. "Even if I wanted to poison her glass, I didn't know which one was hers."
"So, why don't let us we go so we can go visit her in the hospital?" Morooka pleaded. "I'm worried about her."
"I understand your concern." Megure replied. "But you're just a customer. Why are you so worried?"
"I'm a regular of hers." Morooka stammered.
"So you say." Mouri snorted. "Maybe she was actually pushing for marriage and you wanted to watch the girl you poisoned out of desperation to die."
"Maybe he wants to go finish her off." Murakami added.
"Are you talking about yourself?" Morooka retorted. "If she dies, you'll become the restaurant's top earner. Then, the restaurant will pay you a large bonus."
"Are you saying I poisoned Yuri for that?" Murakami fired back.
"I heard from Yuri-chan." Morooka stated. "You're struggling to pay for you seriously sick father's surgery."
"At least I'm not an old man who's trying to pay her to stop contracting him." Murakami snapped. "Some of the girls saw your butler over there trying to pay off Yuri. Sounds like she turned him down, though."
"What is she talking about, Fukamachi-kun?" Morooka turned to the butler.
"In any case, the three of you will remain here for questioning for a while." Megure cut in. "After all, you're the only ones who could've poisoned Yuri-san's glass."
"But Inspector Megure," Conan spoke up. "I didn't think the rich man do it. He passed by Yuri-san while heading to his car parked outside the restaurant to get his butler's glasses. When we talking to his bodyguards by his car earlier, they said the rich man just came out with Mouri-oji-san to get the glasses. They didn't notice anything strange at all. I mean, if I poisoned Yuri-san's glass, I would definitely be checking the time or glancing at the restaurant, thinking she must've drunk the poison by now and there must be a huge commotion inside the restaurant. The same thing goes for the bunny girl. Even if she poisoned Yuri-san when she spilled wine on her, when Yuri-san covered her glass with a coaster and went to the changing room to change her stained cuffs, she wandered off somewhere to answer a call from a customer. If it were me, I wouldn't leave, no matter what. Someone else might accidentally drink from the poisoned glass."
"Which leaves the man sitting by Yuri-san's glass the whole time." Amuro took over. "It could only have been you, Fukamachi Atsufumi-san, the butler."
"Weren't you listening to what Fukamachi-kun said?" Morooka defended. "He wasn't wearing his glasses when she set her glass on the table. How was he able to identify her glass and poison it?"
"Fukamachi-san had something on him that could substitute for glasses." Amuro replied.
"Phones are amazing." Conan gushed, having turned on the camera function of his phone. "If I use the camera on the phone and zoom in, I can clearly see you all the way to your fingertips. It's like a magnifying glass."
"Come to think of it, Yuri-san always wore fake nails with lilies." Takagi recalled. "You could use those to identify her glass."
"Fukamachi-kun wasn't wearing his glasses because I happened to step on them and break them." Morooka protested.
"That wasn't coincidence." Mouri corrected. "He planned it. If he knew you put sauce on your rolled omelets, he could've placed the sauce far enough away from you that you'd have to take a step to reach it. By dropping his glasses by your feet, he could make it look like they were coincidentally stepped on."
"He had you step on his glasses in order to use that trick." Amuro added. "And to probably distance you from the crime scene, so suspicions won't fall on you. However, it didn't pay off. You passed by Yuri-san while she was holding her glass when you went to get the glasses and suspicion fell on you anyway. After you left the restaurant, he deliberately triggered his phone alarm. He made Yuri-san set her glass on the table to check for an earthquake report, use his phone's camera's zoom function to identify her glass and poisoned it. It's likely he used two separate phones to sound the alarm and use the camera's zoom function. So if you search Fukamachi-san, you'll probably find two phones on him."
"I'm sorry, Fukamachi-san." Takagi stepped forward. "We'll need to search..."
"There's no need." Fukamachi relented. "I do have two. I bought a second one and practiced countless times for your late wife."
"You poisoned Yuri-chan for my wife?" Morooka gaped.
"So you'd finally open your eyes." Fukamachi nodded. "If more time had passed since she passed away, I wouldn't say anything. It hasn't even been six months and you're already infatuated with that young girl. I served your wife since she was a child. I felt so sorry for her. I selfishly offered her money to stay away from you, but she refused. With no choice, I sent that threatening letter. It had absolutely no effect, so I decided to use force. I thought if the girl you were chasing was harmed, you would stop visiting the club. Sir, this is my final request to you; please don't make your wife sad anymore." he pleaded.
"Fukamachi-kun, you got it all wrong." Morooka rebuked. "That girl... Yuri isn't just some girl I'm chasing."
"She's your daughter." Amuro revealed.
"Don't be ridiculous." Murakami objected. "Don't tell me it's because they both put sauce on their rolled omelets."
"That's just their taste." Amuro corrected. "It's unusual, but coincidences do happen. The unique way they hold their chopsticks; it can't be coincidence that they both hold their pointer finger away from their chopsticks. When you were young and eloped, the daughter you had while living in Tottori for four years was Yuri-san. If she learned to hold her chopsticks by copying you as a child, then it all makes sense. You lost and gained weight so you'd have to get your suits tailored. You began tripping frequently so you'd tear your suits and have to buy new ones. It was all to create a reason to go to the clothing store next door so you could come here and see you daughter."
"I didn't have to see how she held her chopsticks to know instantly that she was my daughter." Morooka sighed. "She looked just like her mother I eloped with. I'm also the one who named her Yuri."
"Sir, you could've told me." Fukamachi gaped.
"I couldn't tell you I wanted to see the daughter I had when I eloped." Morooka replied. "Not to you, who was so devoted to my wife. Besides, my wife and I had no children, which made it all the more difficult."
"I may not have known, but she was your daughter..." Fukamachi mumbled in horror, now realizing he had tried to kill his new young mistress. "What have I done?"
"I see." Takagi ended his call from Ami. "Thank you for the update, Mizuno-san. Inspector, Mizuno-san just called; Yuri-san has regained consciousness and her condition is improving steadily."
Nine hours later...
The Akai-Furuya standoff was cut short when the porch light was turned on, forcing Furuya to shield his eyes with his hand.
"You..." Furuya gaped, his eyes turning to Yusaku.
"Hello, I'm Kudo Yusaku, master of the house." the novelist greeted.
"I'm Yukiko." Yukiko beamed. "Ami-chan does have good taste."
"Unlike last time, you don't seem to have brought anyone with you." Yusaku noted. "Why don't you enjoy a cup of tea prepared by my wife?"
"Would you like lemon or milk?" Yukiko smiled.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
