Mitsuharu

Title: Mitsuharu
Rating: T
Fandom: Detective Conan
Summary: There were only three kids of the Akai Family, right? There was no way that Masumi had a third older brother. So why the hell were these people calling him Akai Mitsuharu? More importantly, how the hell was he even alive!? [OC Insert as Akai Sibling]
WARNING: This story contains spoilers for Chapter 1037! Read at your own risk!

'What happened to a sleepless watch?' Haru was the only was remaining awake. 'I guess insomnia has its perks. Even Ran, Seiji, and Conan fell asleep. I guess I'll explain the case to the inspector,'

Inspector Megure arrived the next morning. "Haru-kun?" He noticed that everyone else was asleep. "I guess you'll be the one informing me about the case,"

"Yep," Haru nodded. "Kawashima was found dead at the piano. We suspect he was drowned due to the fact that his corpse was soaking wet and that there was a trail of seawater. There was a tape recorder playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata First Movement. There was also a music sheet found but the fourth bar was coded and translates to 'you understand. Your turn is next.' Since there are three movements there will be three murders. Last night we saw someone suspicious outside the window and decided to, according to Kogoro-ojisan, have a sleepless watch,"

"Is that so?" Inspect Megure gave an unamused glance at the sleeping detective. "You can get some sleep, Haru-kun. In the meantime, we'll question the suspects at the town hall,"

"Sure thing," Haru slumped down against the wall.

"Uh, do you need help getting to your futon?" Inspector Megure offered.

"No, I'm fine here," Haru waved him off. "I'll just sleep sitting against the wall,"

XXX

"When will I be questioned?" Narumi yawned.

"You'll be last, Narumi-sensei, since I'm sure that you're tired from staying up last night," Kogoro informed.

"In that case, I'll go wash my face in the bathroom," Narumi stood up and headed down the hallway.

"How many people are there left to question?" Conan asked Kogoro.

"Including Narumi-sensei, those guys over there," Kogoro pointed at the group across the room. "The mayor's daughter, Kuroiwa Reiko, her fiancé, Murasawa Shuichi, mayoral candidate Shimizu Masato, the mayor's secretary Hirata Kazuaki, and Nishimoto Ken. Nishimoto-san's in questioning right not and is taking a lot of time. He's refusing to answer any questions. My instincts tell me that he's the one. I think it'll all be clear once we solve that dying message on the score,"

"Oh, I already solved it and told Megure-keibu," Haru told him. "It's 'you understand. Your turn is next.' I think they're referencing Asou Keiji's murderers,"

"You already solved it!?" Kogoro exclaimed.

"Haru, why do you keep referring back to Asou-san's death?" Ran asked.

"Because it's definitely connected," Haru replied. "Why else would they use his name for the letter? It's his son that wants to avenge his family's murder. I'm gonna go walk around; my legs are cramping up," He walked in the direction to the bathroom but paused. 'Where do these stairs lead to?' He walked up and noticed a broadcasting room. 'I smell something metallic,' He turned the doorknob and opened it.

Kuroiwa Tatsuji laid dead, slumped against the control panel with a knife in his back. 'S-Shit!' Haru cursed. "MEGURE-KEIBU!"

"Haru-kun what's wrong!?" Inspector Megure along with everyone else in tow arrived at the scene.

"K-Kuroiwa Tatsuji's dead!" Haru stuttered. 'Shit, the other dead body was drowned so there wasn't any visible wounds. During Shin-kun's case on the airplane it was a small puncture to the spinal nerve so it wasn't gory. The most blood I've ever seen was when Vermouth was shot in New York and I haven't really tagged along with Shin-kun to his other cases. T-This is an actual bloody murder scene!'

Noticing how shaken up Haru was, Ran led him to the hallway. "Haru, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Haru assured her. "Just a bit shocked about seeing an actual corpse covered in blood,"

"Inspector, there's something written in blood on the floor under the seat!" Officer Tome shouted loud enough that Haru and Ran heard.

"It's another musical notation," Kogoro noted. "Another dying message from the victim?"

"Wrong," Conan said. "If this man had the time and strength to write this in his own blood, he could have left the room and called for help. It was probably left behind by the killer like yesterday,"

"Get outta here!" Kogoro hit Conan's head, causing him to fall forward onto the bloody message. "You idiot! That's important evidence!" Kogoro grabbed him by his shirt. "Whew, it's safe,"

'You were the one that hit him,' Haru mentally pointed out. "When was he killed?"

"He was killed about a few minutes ago," Narumi lied.

'Gotcha,' He was about to speak up but froze up once he saw the corpse again. "I…I'm going to get some fresh air,"

'Was Haru going to say something?' Conan noted. 'I'll ask him after he calms down,'

"If we follow the cipher Haru-kun used for the first music sheet, then this one translates to 'the hellfire of hatred made you pay," Inspector Megure wrote down the message in his police notebook.

"Does hellfire of hatred mean the pianist who burned himself to death twelve years ago!?" Reiko exclaimed.

"It's him!" Nishimoto screamed. "Asou Keiji is alive!"

XXX

Haru ended up in the piano room in the community center. 'Seiji killed those two men. He called us here to stop him, but what if he tries to kill us if we solve it before he kills the third guy? After all, the worst thing you can do to a person is take away everything they love. Once they have nothing to lose, they become unpredictable,' While waiting for the suspicious figure from the night before to return, he ended up dozing off in a corner.

Haru woke up to a loud thud. Murasawa collapsed to the floor, unconscious but alive. He caught sight of Hirata but Haru himself was hidden by the shadows. He quietly turned on his power enhancing shoes and activated the ball dispenser. Since he wasn't as skilled in soccer as Shinichi, his aim was a bit off. He aimed for Hirata's face but ended up hitting him in the shoulder which sent him off balance enough to fall down.

At that moment, Conan had barged in. "Haru!?"

Before Haru could explain, Ran's screams caught their attention. Conan rushed into the storage room and found Nishimoto hanging from the ceiling, dead, with a cassette tape of Moonlight Sonata and several music sheets.

XXX

"It was a suicide?" Kogoro asked after Inspector Megure scanned the crime scene.

"Yes," Inspector Megure nodded. "According to his last testament, he killed himself over the anguish of murdering Kawashima and Kuroiwa,"

"Lies," Haru interrupted. "There's no chair for him to jump off of. Besides, nobody writes their will in code unless they're obsessed with mysteries like Shin-kun,"

'Oi,' Conan gave him an annoyed glance.

"Hirata here was hiding cocaine in the piano's compartment," Haru continued. "Murasawa-san saw him when he went to tune the piano so Hirata knocked him out. They were both unaware that I had fallen asleep in the corner,"

"Are you saying that Hirata-san is the killer?" Inspector Megure asked.

"No, he didn't kill anyone," Haru shook his head. "The murderer is Asou Seiji,"

"Asou Seiji!?"

"He's in the piano room with the others," Haru opened the door. "Are you satisfied with your revenge, Seiji?" 'He can't kill all of us. If he tries anything, we can easily outnumber him,'

"Seiji?" Ran asked. "Haru, there's nobody named Seiji here,"

"The three victims over the past few days as well as the guy who had a heart attack set the Asou residence ablaze," Haru revealed. "I think it was something about drugs," He saw that Narumi was trying to sneak away. "You were waiting until we were in the town hall for you to sneak away and kill yourself in this piano room,"

"Are you saying that Narumi-sensei is Asou Seiji!?"

"They used my father's concerts as opportunities to conduct drug deals," Narumi responded. "My father wanted to quit the illegal business but the other four were afraid that he'd reveal their secret. So they killed him, my mother, and my sister. I was lucky to be hospitalized in Tokyo. How did you know that I was the killer?"

"I'm pretty sure human blood takes more than a few minutes to dry," Haru replied. "I became suspicious and when writing your name down, I realized that the characters could be pronounced as either Seiji or Narumi,"

Seiji was arrested. There was no fire that enveloped the community center's piano room like in canon. 'I managed to prevent Seiji's suicide,' Haru pondered. 'But is it a good thing? Seiji wanted to end his life and join his family. Back in New York, Shinichi and Ran both saved Vermouth. Shinichi told me to let justice deal punishment to them. I think just living is already punishment to Seiji. He lost his entire family,'

"Haru, why were you in the piano room?" Ran inquired.

"I thought that the person we saw in the window last night would return," Haru claimed. "And I was right,"

"You said that you fell asleep and woke up when you heard Murasawa being knocked out," Kogoro pointed out.

"Well, the other night I was having a sleepless watch while everyone else was sleeping!" Haru defended. 'Wait, since Seiji was arrested before he could commit suicide, there was no fire. Now that I'm thinking about fires, how did the fire at my house happen? I know my parents would never leave the stoves unattended if they were cooking something. What caused it?'

Do you think the fire at the Field Family's house in the real world was an accident or intentional?

Fun Fact:
In the original drafts of Mitsuharu, I was going to have Akemi die making a deal with Gin to free Shiho like in canon. Akai would have become a single parent. When he faked his death, he would have given guardianship over to Okiya Subaru. There was going to be a scene where Jodie asked Haru who Subaru was. Haru would have responded by saying "Shuichi decided to try dating again a few weeks before he died. Subaru here was his boyfriend."