SailorStar9: With Chapter 139 uploaded, I present Chapter 140 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 140: Mouri Kogoro's Grand Lecture, Part Three


"Thank you for waiting." Hanai returned to the stage after the break. "We'd now like to move onto the panel. Due to certain circumstances, we've drastically changed the content of the event. 'What are the great detective's secrets? A new heroine enquires' is the new title we'll be going with. Allow me to introduce our panelists. First up, the man who just regaled us with his entertaining stories, the great detective Mouri Kogoro. Next is the lawyer, Kisaki Eri-sensei. Finally, representing us as a special guest is the new generation's detective girl, and student of criminal psychology, Tsukuba Mei-san. It seems like you have some questions for Sleeping Kogoro."

"My friend asked me about a murder that happened at a certain college one year ago." Tsukuba started. "The victim was a professor at the college. The police arrested the professor's assistant who was also the older brother of my friend. Allegedly, his motive was the professor claimed a paper he had written was plagiarized from his own work and threatened to ruin his career."

"The suspect confessed to his crime and he was found guilty in court." Mouri pointed out. "I don't think there was any problem with this case."

"There's a huge problem." Tsukuba insisted. "The murder of the professor at that college isn't over yet. There's no doubt that Ashida Hiroto, who's currently serving time, was the murderer. Even by my deduction, but my friend can't believe he'd steal another person's paper, much less kill someone over it. Ultimately, he offered no other testimony at his trial and no appeal was made. Why would he do that? I'd like you to determine that, Mouri-san."

"I'm not sure what you expect me to do." Mouri admitted.

"Of course." Tsukuba snorted. "You can't possibly know. After all, you're a hack who couldn't even decipher the mystery message left at the crime scene. Why didn't he make an appeal? Because he lost hope; he was betrayed by his irresponsible court-appointed lawyer who quit his case."

"Could it be?" Mouri turned to his estranged wife.

"She's talking about me." Eri realized who Tsukuba was. "You're Mei-san, the younger sister of Ashida Hiroto-san, the man currently serving time in prison. You're not talking about your friend, but about yourself, Mei-san. I believe Tsukuba was your mother's maiden name. I remember now I heard you've been studying aboard since two years ago. When did you return?"

"A week ago." Tsukuba replied.

"Why didn't you contact me?" Eri asked.

"Because I didn't want to hear your excuses." Tsukuba snapped.

Hiding in the curtain drapes, Conan took aim and knocked Mouri out with his tranquilizer dart. "I've deciphered the coded message, Mei-san." he took over. "Don't do anything hasty. I just received word from someone who found the codebook. The layered pages torn from the Japanese edition of Caseweek were pages 11 and 9, 19 and 1 and 11 and 9 again. When applied to the alphabet, 11 corresponds to K, and 9 corresponds to I, spelling KI. 19 is S and 1 is A, spelling SA. Finally, the last code is the same as the first, spelling KI. When read all together, they spell Kisaki."

"In other words, I was her target." Eri noted. "In that case..."

"She could've acted anytime." Conan agreed. "But she didn't. She deliberately left a message and even had us find the codebook which featured an article on the case. Conan, where did you find the codebook? The Detective Boys will answer that." he left his hiding spot. "Mitsuhiko."

"It was inside her locker." Genta stated.

"Mitsuhiko-kun found it." Ayumi supplied.

"Why did she leave it someplace so obvious?" Conan continued. "Because she wanted me to reveal her brother's true motive. Perhaps, if possible, stop her from doing what she's about to do."

"So, you figured out his true motive." Tsukuba remarked.

"Not even I know that." Conan corrected. "I can identify someone who does know. First, as far as I know, she may have been appointed by the court, but Kisaki-sensei would never step down from a case. She was probably dismissed by your brother. Because she identified his true motive. In order to plead extenuating circumstances, it would have to be revealed in court. But your brother refused. So, he dismissed her."

"Silence, Mouri Kogoro." Eri demanded. "Say anymore and I'll sue."

"Be my guest." Conan answered. "Allow me to say this: even after she was dismissed, rather than moving on, she continued investigating the case. She was probably searching for documents demonstrating extenuating circumstances that didn't touch on his true motive."

"You're lying." Tsukuba retorted. "That's just an excuse." pulling out her switch-blade, she charged towards Eri who dodged the stab.

The sudden assault sent the audience screaming and fleeing in fright.

"Kisaki-sensei, unless you reveal his true motive now, she won't put down that knife." Conan warned, both Megure and Chiba arriving just in time to curtail the crowd. "At first, she only joined the staff of my event so she could get close to you. By chance, two murders occurred. She decided to use them to confront you more effectively. So, she tore pages from the magazine featuring an article on her brother's case that she always carried with her and left a coded message, all so she could use me to reveal the truth about the case and tell it to the world."

"I'm lawyer." Eri reminded. "I'd never do anything to harm a client."

"Of course not." Conan agreed. "However, someday the one truth will be revealed. Is that not natural as well?"

"You brother's true motive was you, Mei-san." Eri revealed and related that it was actually the professor who stole Ashida's paper. But when he confronted the professor about the plagiarism, the professor used the fact that their late mother had brought Tsukuba's recommendation for her to study aboard to keep him quiet. "You mustn't blame your mother." she told Tsukuba. "She was just trying to do what was best for you." she then revealed that not only had it been on the professor's urges that Mrs. Tsukuba made the bribe, he also demanded more money to keep the secret after Tsukuba finished her study aboard. "Your brother kept his silence to protect you and your mother without concern for himself." Eri explained.

"I had no idea..." Tsukuba sobbed and turned the knife on herself.

"Don't!" the now awakened Mouri jumped Tsukuba and wrestled the blade from her.

"Listen to this, Mei-san." Conan called out, holding out his phone that was put on loudspeaker.

"Mouri-san, this is Takagi." Takagi's voice sounded from the other end of the line. "As you instructed, I met with Ashida Hiroto. He'd like to hire Kisaki-sensei again. He'll rescind her dismissal. When I told him of the situation, he apologized for making his sister worry."

"Now we can request a retrial." Eri assured Tsukuba. "You're just a detective." she reminded Mouri. "You should've stayed out of this."

"It wasn't because I'm just a detective." Mouri answered. "I had to do it because I'm a detective."


SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.