SailorStar9: With Chapter 169 uploaded, I present Chapter 170 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 170: Rondo in Bad Company

Time passes...

"A single blow to the back of the head with a blunt object, huh?" Mouri hurried to the Mitsumoto Takeshi crime scene.

"What a coincidence, Mouri-senpai." Ami droned.

"I happened to be nearby." Mouri beamed.

"Just happened to?" Megure twitched. "I suppose I'll tell you what happened."

"We haven't found the weapon, but it was some kind of metal pipe." Ami revealed. "The estimated time of death was around seven last night. His name is Mitsumoto Takeshi."

"He had a bad reputation." Officer Higashino supplied.

"Then, the motive was a grudge?" Mouri wondered.

"Inspector." Takagi ran in. "Around seven last night, someone saw a man running away from this park in a hurry."

"The witness apparently knew him." Chiba added. "The man who came running from the park was a ruffian named Hosaka."

"Hosaka Yorimitsu?" Officer Higashino echoed. "He often hung out with Mitsumoto Takeshi. They seemed to get up to trouble together.

At Hosaka's apartment...

"That's Hosaka Yorimitsu." Officer Higashino gasped when the police found the dead Hosaka in the unit's bedroom.

"Stabbed once in the chest with a knife." Ami drew her conclusion at first glance. "And judging by the body's stiffness, he's dead for about 17 to 18 hours."

"Isn't this a dying message identifying the culprit?" Conan pointed out the bloody character Hosaka left behind under the chabudai.

"Shida?" Megure read the character.

"Shida Yasuho." Officer Higashino instantly supplied another name. "He frequently hung out with Mitsumoto and Hosaka. Like Hosaka, Shida seemed like a shady guy."

At Shida's apartment...

Upon hearing Shida scream in agony, Takagi and Chiba burst into the unit, only to see Shida falling onto the ground with a spilled-over glass of whiskey on the chabudai.

"Well..." Ami muttered. "Who didn't see this coming? He's most likely poisoned by the whiskey bottle." she informed Megure, having Chiba bag the glass and whiskey bottle as evidence.

"What's going on here?" Megure wondered." People keep dying one after another."

"Since he was spotted near the crime scene, it's likely that Mitsumoto Takeshi-san was killed by Hosaka Yorimitsu. And Hosaka's dying message indicates that it was Shida Yasuho who killed him. But Shida was killed by someone as well."

"Apparently, Shida day drank every day." Takagi supplied. "The culprit must have added the poison sometime between last night after he drank that afternoon and when he started drinking today."

"Inspector." one of the forensics officers opened up the wardrobe and discovered three bags full of bills. "I found ten stacks of 100 thousand yen. That's ten million yen. There's ten million yen more here. And here."

"I've got it." Mouri exclaimed. "Shida-san was killed for this money. There must be a witness who saw a suspicious person enter this room and poison the bottle."

"Inspector, could this be related to that incident in Haido City?" Ami realized.

"The armed robbery case?" Megure blinked.

"Three days ago, 30 million yen in cash was stolen from a financier in the neighboring Haido City." Mouri recalled. "He was robbed by three masked men. That must've been Shida and his friends."

"They probably split the money 10 million yen each, but they all got greedy." Conan surmised. "Then, last night, Hosaka-san killed Mitsumoto-san and took his 10 million yen home with him. Shida-san had the same idea; he killed Hosaka-san and took the 20 million yen, but the first victim Mitsumoto-san was plotting the same thing. Unaware that Mitsumoto-san had poisoned the bottle, Shida-san celebrated with a drink."

"Probably something like that." Mouri concurred.

"That explains Shida's last words." Ami pondered. "He thought he'd be able to keep all the stolen money for himself; he wondered why that had happened."

"So, all three troublemakers motivated by greed ended up killing each other and now they're all dead." Megure sighed.

"Detective Chiba, what's wrong?" Ami noticed the younger detective was in deep thought.

"The three of them killed each other." Chiba mumbled. "It certainly makes sense, but one was bludgeoned to death, one was stabbed to death, and one was poisoned. Why were all three methods different?"

"That's what you were wondering?" Ami sighed.

"There were three culprits." Mouri reminded. "It's not that odd for their methods to be different, too."

"Wouldn't it be more natural for there to be some overlap?" Chiba was still not convinced. "I must be overthinking." he relented and the group left the unit.

Downstairs...

Chiba spotted the six-year-old Nishikawa Mamoru peering out from the corner of the building and ran towards the boy. "What is it, boy?" he knelt before Nishikawa. "Got it." he nodded after the child whispered something into his ear. "Thanks for telling me. The boy's name is Nishikawa Mamoru-kun." he informed his superior. "He lives on the floor above Shida. Last night around eight, he saw a suspicious man. It was a very large man concealing his face with a mask and sunglasses. He was trying to get into Shida's apartment. That man may be the real culprit."

"The question is how he's connected to the case." Takagi pointed out.

"Maybe they didn't kill each other." Chiba proposed. "Maybe that man killed Mitsumoto and Hosaka and maybe poisoned Shida's alcohol when Mamoru-kun saw him. He put Mitsumoto and Hosaka's 10 million yen in Shida's apartment so it would look like they killed each other out of greed. When you think of it this way, it also explains why all three methods were different. He did it deliberately to make us think there were three culprits."

"But, Detective Chiba, if you're right, then the dying message could've been fabricated by that man." Conan voiced. "But what about Hosaka-san and Mitsumoto-san's suspicious behavior?"

"The man must've cleverly manipulated them." Chiba concluded. "I'm sure we'll find them. There's surely a large man familiar with three of them who held a powerful grudge."

"Let's split up and look for him." Takagi suggested.

Afterwards...

Upon locating the three victims' middle-school teacher, Minamide Kokichi, Chiba was upset to find out that the retired teacher had an alibi.

After locating Kitahara Kensaku, Conan gathered the others to the ground floor of the apartment building. After tranquilizing Mouri, he began his deduction. "Mamoru-kun was talking to Kitahara-san here."

"I came to visit my newly wedded daughter's household." Kitahara explained. "They were going to let me stay with them for a few days."

"You meant to visit Room 402 in Building K." Conan revealed. "But you misremembered the Building number as A instead of K. You realized your mistaken when you saw the door plate, but Mamoru-kun saw you. Kitahara-san had nothing to do with this case."

"Then, who killed Shida and the others?" Megure wondered. "It's me." he took the incoming call. "The weapon was found during a thorough search of the area around the crime scene: a metal pipe with Mitsumoto Takeshi's blood and hair on it was found near the park. A knife with Hosaka Yorimitsu's blood was found near his apartment as well; Mizuno just confirmed it matched the fatal stab on Hosaka's body. They found fingerprints on them, too. Hosaka's were on the pipe and Shida Yasuho's were on the knife."

"We may eventually find a bag or wrapper with the poison used in Shida's murder, too, with Mitsumoto Takeshi's fingerprints on it." Conan added.

"In other words, our first suspicions were correct." Megure moaned.

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