SailorStar9: With Chapter 159 uploaded, I present Chapter 160 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 160: Troublesome Kindness


Time passes...

"That's good." Mouri grinned, downing his mug of beer. "Beer is great."

"Dad, don't drink so much." Ran chided.

"Anyway, listen to this." on the other table, Kusano Tomoya told Yamanashi Hajime. "It's about the other day. What a masterpiece. While heading home the other day, I saw a strange man in front of my house. So, I reported him to the police. Can you believe that happened?" he shrugged, later revealing that it was a misunderstanding.

"You sure do love to meddle in other people's business." Yamanashi noted.

"I prefer to think of myself as considerate." Kusano corrected. "Besides, it's his fault for behaving suspiciously.

At the restaurant's counter, Conan was alerted by a audible 'snap', the hooded Kotani Shin having broken his portable chopsticks into half.

"Everyone should be grateful of my actions." Kusano bragged. "Something else happened to me the other day. I was waiting in line to use the ATM when I noticed a man behaving strangely. He was standing in front of the ATM without using it and talking on the phone. I figured it was phone fraud, so I reported him to the police immediately. Can you believe what happened?" he chuckled, not realizing that he had caused Kotani to be fired from his job. "He's hardly fit to be a working member of society, don't you think?"

"I wouldn't go that far." Yamanashi chided.

"Guys like him don't get it until something that drastic happens to them." Kusano remarked and burst out laughing. "I'm genuinely a good guy. I can't ignore someone who's in trouble. I'll keep living my life in service of others. I'm going to the bathroom." he got up.

Shortly afterwards, Kotani had also gotten up from his seat and followed Kusano to the bathroom.


A little while later...

"It's an emergency!" Yamanashi exclaimed from outside the men's bathroom. "Someone help!"

"What's the matter?" Mouri hurried out.

"Kusano was taking a while to return, so I came here." Yamanashi pointed to unconscious man on the floor.

"Ran, call an ambulance." Mouri ran in. "And the police. He's dead." he felt no pulse from the dead man.


After Megure's team was called in...

"You co-worker Kusano-san was spending a long time in the toilet so you went to check on him." Takagi was taking down Yamanashi's statement.

"I left the restaurant and was heading towards the bathroom when I nearly ran into a man wearing a cap low over his eyes." Yamanashi related. The man headed towards the stairs. I ignored him and stopped in front of the bathroom. I heard the hand drier running inside the bathroom, so I thought Kusano would be coming out right away and waited for a while, but he didn't come out. I'm absolutely certain that man who passed by me must be the culprit."

"We've started an emergency search for him and are gathering information in the area." Megure added.

"Since his wallet is still here, it looks like the motive was a grudge and not theft." Mouri reasoned.

"Mister Forensics Officer." Conan stopped one of the forensics officers from leaving. "Did you retrieve the belongings that were in the drain?"

"You mean this?" the forensics officer showed him the bagged button.

Upon seeing the button, Conan realized what had happened. Without wasting a moment, he tranquilized Mouri. "I've figured out the truth behind this case." he took on Mouri's voice. "Allow me to be direct. The culprit of this murder is the man who discovered the body, Yamanashi-san."

"What about the man wearing the cap?" Megure asked.

"No such man exists." Conan revealed. "We were fooled by Yamanashi-san's lie."

"You're lying." Yamanashi snapped. "What proof do you have? I really did see him."

"Allow me to explain." Conan stated. "It's possible this case couldn't have been solved by anyone other than me, who arrived just after Yamanashi-san. In fact, one clue is disappearing as we speak. In order to cover the sound of Kusano-san's scream, you attacked him the moment he put his hands inside the hand drier. Then you activated the hand drier once again so a third party would discover the body. However, something unexpected occurred. You believed the hand drier hadn't drowned out the loud noises made during your scuffle, so you hastily changed your plan and decided you'd discovered the body. Naturally, there was no man wearing a cap. It's a lie you made to confuse the investigation."

"That's a false accusation." Yamanashi retorted. "How can you call someone a liar without any proof?"

"The first piece of evidence I mentioned earlier is already disappearing." Conan stated. "When I saw you in front of the bathroom, I felt as though something was off. The cuff of your pants was wet; probably because Kusano-san grabbed it when he woke up. Allow me to confirm something. When you opened the bathroom door, you were shocked to see Kusano-san on the floor. Then, you shouted for help. In other words, you haven't set foot inside the bathroom."

"Maybe you just thought my pant cuffs were wet." Yamanashi showed the detective his dried pants. "See, they're not wet."

"Now that they are dry, I can't prove it." Conan admitted. "But what about your shirt sleeve button? When did you lose that? Forensics recovered the button from the bathroom drain earlier. Kusano-san' body was covering the bathroom drain. If you haven't set foot inside the bathroom, how did your button get there? That's right, that button came off during your scuffle with Kusano-san. It proves that you're the culprit."

"Why did you kill your coworker, Kusano-san?" Takagi questioned.

"I hated him." Yamanashi sighed. "Because of his meddling... my sister was coming home late from work one night when she happened to witness a phantom slasher stab someone to death. The culprit pursued her. She attempted to get help from a police box, but because of Kusano, the officers were out patrolling for a suspicious person. There was no one there to protect my sister. When I learned that it was Kusano's fault that my sister died, I wanted to kill him."


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