SailorStar9: With Chapter 129 posted, I present Chapter 130 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?
Pairings: Established!Furuya Rei (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.
Chapter 130: Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko's Detective Notes 2
Time passes...
The Detective Boys were clearing out the birdhouses at the park shed.
"The birds really like you kids." Kimishima Satoshi, the park warden walked out of the shed.
"They're very friendly." Mitsuhiko remarked. "You can tell they are properly taken care of."
"This park gets a lot of visitors who likes birds." Kimishima explained. "I frequently receive food for them, too. You kids have already done enough."
"Is there anything else you need help in?" Mitsuhiko pressed.
"We take on and solve all cases." Genta posed. "We are the Detective Boys."
"I see." Kimishima mused "If that's the case, could I ask the Detective Boys to do something for me? Could you find the owner of this hat?" he showed the kids a cap. "It's a lost item that's going to be disposed of soon."
"You can count on us." Mitsuhiko nodded. "It's probably an amateur team." he gave the baseball cap a look-over.
"Since it's big, it must be an adult's hat." Ayumi pointed out.
"Let's go find the owner of that hat." Genta led the others off.
At Katsumi Nozomu's house...
"There's a new burglar in the neighborhood?" Katsumi echoed.
"Recently, there's been a rush of burglaries targeting jewels in the area." the policeman taking down his statement replied. "The burglar breaks in exactly when homes are vacant. They research their targets thoroughly."
"We're here to deliver something." Mitsuhiko spoke up from the door.
"Thanks for coming all the way here." Katsumi reclaimed his cap.
"The park warden asked us to find the cap's owner." Mitsuhiko explained.
"Going running in the park used to be my routine." Katsumi recalled. "I've been busy with work. But how'd you find me?"
"We started questioning people at the park." Genta answered.
"Then, we carefully examined the hat." Mitsuhiko added.
"Our examination then revealed the cap was custom-made for an amateur baseball team." Fumio continued. "And after getting the team name from the manufacturer, we learnt about you from your other teammates and this led us here."
"You kids really went all out." Katsumi was impressed.
"Although we did consult the Canon a little." Mitsuhiko admitted.
"Which story did you consult this time?" Fumio inquired.
"'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle'." Mitsuhiko grinned.
"What's a carbuncle anyway?" Genta was confused.
"A gemstone." Fumio replied. "A type of ruby. It's also known as 'The Blue Garnet'. 'The Blue Carbuncle' begins on Christmas morning when a goose and hat were delivered to Homles." he related. "A man takes the goose home and Holmes takes the hat. Holmes then deduced the characteristics of the owner from the hat. While he follows the trail to the hat's owner, the owner had carved up the goose to eat and found a gemstone inside the bird. As it turns out, the jewel thief had fed the gemstone to the goose as a temporary hiding place. But when the culprit went to retrieve the gemstone, he found the goose had already been sold."
"Let's investigate the burglaries together." Mitsuhiko suggested.
"Just don't get up to anything dangerous." Conan warned.
After taking a break after interviewing the burglary victims...
"Could it be..." Conan suddenly had a thought when he saw the pigeons roosting under the shade of the tree. "Kimishima-san probably came up with the idea of burgling the homes of people who habitually visit the park. But the neighborhood is on alert on burglaries, so he wanted to avoid fleeing with the stolen goods."
"You don't think..." Fumio realized where their leader's thought had gone. "The pigeons? He could've attached the stolen goods to the pigeons' legs and then retrieve them at the park. In this way, no matter how thoroughly he's searched, nothing will come up."
"He used their homing instinct." Haibara concluded. "It's their ability to return to the nest. Pigeons can find their way home from over a thousand kilometers away."
"Kimishima-san is definitely the burglar." Conan proclaimed. "There must be evidence somewhere in that shed."
A little while later...
The Detective Boys returned to the warden's cabin, only to find a bludgeoned Kimishima slumped against a cabinet with blood oozing from his temple.
"Call an ambulance and the police." Haibara instructed.
"On it." Fumio was on his phone.
"The culprit is probably long gone and we'll be leaving once we're finished examining the crime scene." the police officer told the kids.
"But what's going on here?" Genta wondered.
"Did someone also figure out Kimishima-san was the burglar and came to get revenge?" Ayumi wondered.
"There were leather shoe-prints on the floor." Mitsuhiko pondered. "The culprit probably looked inside through the window with drawn shades from the flowerbed. Does that mean Kimishima-san didn't act alone?"
"I also think Kimishima-san was attacked by an accomplice." Conan agreed. "Maybe they had a falling out and the culprit tried to retrieve evidence of their involvement."
"In other words, the reason the room was in a mess was not because of a tussle, but because the culprit was searching for something." Fumio concluded.
"The culprit had to flee because we showed up." Conan took over. "They might be waiting for another chance to search the shed."
"If we see someone wearing muddy leather shoes, they must be the culprit." Mitsuhiko declared.
"Let's split up and look for them." Genta announced.
As the sun began to set...
"I need to use the bathroom." Mitsuhiko hurried to the nearby toilet. After washing his hands, he recalled carrying the birdhouse earlier in the morning and inspiration stuck. Realizing what had actually happened, he ran out of the toilet.
"Guys, remember the man with the purse who visited Kimishima-san?" Fumio reminded.
"He appears several times in the artist's drawings." Haibara supplied, referring to Midorikawa Sumie's sketchbook.
"The man who gives him bird food." Ayumi added.
"It seems awfully heavy to be bird food, though." Fumio pointed out.
"Kimishima-san gave us the hat, so we'd go away." Conan surmised. "They were making a deal. Kimishima-san retrieved the jewels and was selling the stolen goods right here in this park. There was probably money in that purse."
"That really is bold." Fumio gawked.
"Mitsuhiko sure is taking his time." Genta remarked.
"He couldn't have..." Fumio hissed.
In the warden's cabin...
"The noise must have surprised you." Mitsuhiko had snuck back into the cabin and knelt beside the scattered pigeon feathers on the floor. "It's just as I thought." he shifted the birdhouse out. "It's really here." he pulled out the crumb drawer and took out a case hidden inside a cloth porch.
"So, that's where it's hidden." a voice sounded behind Mitsuhiko. "How'd you know they were in there?" Izumiya Hayato asked, drawing out a penknife.
"It was the weight of the birdhouse." Mitsuhiko replied. "I thought it was strangely heavy when I lifted it. I didn't know what you were looking for, but it looks like you didn't search around the birds."
"You're a pretty smart kid." Izumiya remarked. "I hate birds, you know."
"You visited Kimishima-san this afternoon, didn't you?" Mitsuhiko inquired.
"To make a deal like usual." Izumiya answered. "But he said he didn't want to do business with me anymore. I returned once but returned to talk him out of it. Now hand them over."
"Okay. Mitsuhiko meekly handed the case over, only to drop the box in the lost-and-found container.
"Hurry up and hand them over." Izumiya demanded, frightened by a pigeon that flew by him.
"Here." Mitsuhiko handed the box over.
"This'll teach you to play detective." Izumiya snatched the case and proceeded to leave.
"I can't believe I really did it." Mitsuhiko sighed in relief.
"Mitsuhiko, are you okay?" the others burst into the cabin.
"Guys..." Mitsuhiko sobbed. "I thought the culprit might've realized the jewels were hidden in the birdhouse and came back to check. That's right, the jewels. They're in here." he took out the jewel case. "I filled the purse inside the lost-and-found box with marbles and handed it over. I was worried he'd open the purse. But I let the culprit who attack Kimishima-san get away."
"About that..." Fumio stated. "We had the police surround the park. They'll have arrested him right about now."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.