SailorStar9: With Chapter 158 uploaded, I present Chapter 159 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 159: The Frying Pan of Hatred
Time passes...
"After all that time you spent, this is what you made?" Omura Naoyuki barked at Koshiro Masakazu, slamming the Chief's newest frying pan onto the floor. "I can't sell this."
"The products I made are the very best." Koshiro snapped. "You can't sell them because you're incompetent."
"This company got big because of my management policies." Omura retorted.
"If you hadn't been in charge, we might've gotten even bigger." Koshiro snorted.
The next day...
A horrified scream by the Oshiro company's secretary alerted Mizusawa Tomi and Taguchi Tetsuo who were in the middle of their presentation to the company's visitors. "The president is..."
Both Mouri and Conan hurried to the president's office to see Omura slumped on the sofa with a bleeding wound on the side of his chest.
"He's gone." Mouri felt no pulse. "Please call the police, quickly."
"Oji-san, the window." Conan alerted Mouri of the open window.
"There's no one here." Mouri looked outside. "They must've fled.
"Oji-san, what's that?" Conan spotted the gas valve and a bottle of pills on the table.
After Megure's team was called in...
"President Omura died after he was stabbed in the chest with a knife-like blade by someone who entered through the window." Takagi reported. "Since his wallet was missing, it's possible that this was a robbery."
"Have you ordered an emergency deployment?" Mouri inquired.
"We're already secured the neighborhood." Takagi confirmed. "If any suspicious persons were discovered, we'll be notified immediately."
"Are these the employees and concerned parties?" Megure noted the gathered personnel.
"This is everyone who was inside the building." Taguchi nodded.
"That's our research building." Mizusawa pointed to the building next to them. "There are people working in there, too."
"Could you have them come here right away as well?" Megure requested.
Just then, the research department building exploded from the inside.
When the police, Mouri and Conan entered the office, they found Koshiro lying on the ground, having been caught in the middle of the explosion.
"According to forensics, a gas tank was leaking." Takagi informed. "We also found this in the room." he showed Taguchi and Mizusawa the bagged suicide note.
"Koshiro-san's body was right next to the sofa." Mouri pondered. "Perhaps he took some sleeping pills and was sleeping there. It's possible Koshiro-san took sleeping pills, opened the gas valve and killed himself. A spark of some kind must have ignited the gas.
"Oji-san, there's something weird on the floor." Conan pointed out.
"A wallet and a knife?" Mouri looked down. "Inspector." he turned to Megure.
Afterwards...
Spotting the lack of blood on Koshiro's clothes when he and Omura were prepped to be taken to the autopsy theater, Conan returned to the two crime scenes. After a resurvey, he pieced everything together and tranquilized Mouri to begin his solution. "Hold on, everyone. There's something bothering me. When Koshiro-san stabbed Omura-san, there must have been a lot of blood. But there isn't any blood on Koshiro-san's clothes."
"The chief was wearing the same clothes I saw him this morning." Mizusawa confirmed. "He wouldn't have had time to change."
"There's something else bothering me." Conan added.
"Mouri-san, I have the results from forensics." Takagi returned.
"Detective Takagi, what is the stain in the president's office?" Conan questioned.
"It's apparently hamburger sauce." Takagi confirmed.
"When were those hamburgers made?" Conan asked Taguchi and Mizusawa.
"This morning." Mizusawa answered.
"It's evidence that someone snuck in there today." Conan related. "Then, there's Koshiro-san's research lab. Inspector, can you take a look at the AC controls? It's a melting metal." he revealed. "The sauce and the melting metal; these two clues are keys leading us to the true culprit. First, we can deduce the following scenario. Before the new frying pan is tested out this morning, the culprit entered the president's office and stabbed Omura-san with a knife. Then, they opened the window, wrote a suicide note, and left the gas valve and sleeping pills on his desk in order to frame Omura-san for Koshiro-san's murder. Then, the culprit headed to Koshiro-san's research lab in the research building. They put him to sleep by making him drink tea containing sleeping pills. They set the wallet and knife on the table, put the suicide note in his desk and swapped out the gas valve for the one they had modified to make it look like Koshiro-san had committed suicide. Roughly thirty minutes later, the explosion occurred. In this case, it appears as though the two of them clashed and murdered each other, but it was all engineered by a third party. By the way, Taguchi-san, there's sauce on your right sleeve. Your sleeve is roughly the same height as the stain in the president's office. You're the true culprit, Taguchi-san. While preparing for the product test, you got red sauce on your sleeve. While in the president's office, you touched the wall with your sleeve. That proves you're responsible."
"I didn't go to the research lab." Taguchi insisted. "I have an alibi. When the lab exploded, for more than 30 minutes before that, I was standing in front of everyone. It wasn't possible for me to swap out the valves "
"You did something you shouldn't have." Conan revealed. "Out of desperation for an alibi: apparently, iron, titanium and aluminum are hard metals that don't melt under high heat. However, there is a metal that melts at 29 degrees; it's called gallium."
"Forensics said the metal on the wall control might be gallium." Takagi cut in.
"Normally, gallium is a rock-hard metal." Conan continued. "However, its melting point is a mere 29 degrees; it melts at a very low temperature. The culprit used gallium to fill in the section of the valve they shaved off. After swapping out the valve, they set the AC to activate at over 30 degrees 30 minutes later. If you only intended to make it look like a suicide, there was no need to cause a gas explosion. You were determined to have an alibi so you wouldn't be a suspect. That's why you used the gallium to delay his death and caused an explosion to cover the evidence. However, that became evidence of your guilt instead. Taguchi-san, there's tears and silver sweat on the handkerchief I lent you." he walked out of his hiding spot. "This is gallium, right? Even a person's body temperature is hot enough to melt it. Detective Takagi, can you please search Taguchi-san's locker?" he returned to his hiding place and reverted to Mouri's voice. "I'm sure you'll find a bloody apron in there."
"Both the president and chief said the company would be ours once they were gone." Taguchi broke down and confessed. "If those two clash and go away, then this company will be mine."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
