SailorStar9: With Chapter 177 uploaded, I present Chapter 178 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 178: The Blank Year, Part Two

In Esaka's unit...

"You're sure it's a suicide?" Mouri asked.

"This apartment, in which he drank the poisoned coffee, was locked." Takagi reported. "Both the keys he received from the landlord were inside the room."

"We believe it is a suicide note left on that computer." Megure added.

"Did he recall a mistake he made in the past when his lost memories returned?" Mouri wondered.

"Ideally, we will learn something from this, which was left on the table." Megure showed Mouri the new phone that was bagged as evidence. "Its history showed two calls made yesterday. The first call was made to Hida Industries construction company. The other call was made to a weather information service."

"Apparently, he called to ask a question." Chiba supplied. "He wanted to know if six months around June 10th if any lightning strikes were reported outside the city of Wakabadai. The person answering the phone responded that there were on the evening of the 10th."

"He called Hida Industries to confirm which site he worked at six months ago on June 10th." Takagi added. "The manager Hida examined the records and responded that he was in Wakabadai."

"Isn't that..." Conan spotted the newspapers on the TV counter. "It's the day this incident occurred." he pointed out, Kisugi's murder was on the headlines.

"On that day, Esaka-kun went to Wakabadai where the crime took place." Mouri mused. "If he's guilty of something that happened six months ago, in the case of Kisugi Akira's murder..."

"The culprit?" Chiba gasped.

"The thunder made him remember." Mouri concluded. "He remembered something but still had doubts, so he called to ask. Feeling remorseful about killing a person..."

"You said the room was locked." Conan turned to Takagi, noticing that one of the cups in the cardboard was unturned as opposed to the other cups. "Was the door chain on the front door locked, too?"

"The chain wasn't locked, but both keys were here." Takagi replied. "One in the back of the desk drawer and one in that jacket pocket."

After Conan told Mouri about his doubts on Esaka's suicide...

The pair went out to look for witnesses and found an auntie selling takoyaki who confirmed she saw Esaka being chased up a utility pole by a barking dog. The pair then reasoned that the culprit and Kisugi must had passed by the side road and causing Esaka to witness the murder. Finding no leads from the Wakabadai police station, they decided to consult Kinbara.

After everyone involved were gathered...

Conan tranquilized Mouri and began his deduction. "First, I must apologize to all of you. We never would've found the culprit following the course I set you on because it wasn't the culprit themselves who was a victim of Kisugi Akira's con artistry. On June 10th, when Kisugi Akira was murdered, one of you was at Wakabadai when the crime took place in order to attend the second anniversary ceremony of Doigaki Katsuhiro-san's death. He's your wife's younger brother, isn't he, Kinbara Takuzo-san? A bicycle parking lot employee remembered. It was a total coincidence that your wife's family temple was located in Wakabadai, where Kisugi Akira lived. That's where you ran into him. You demanded that he apologize and you were seen by Esaka-kun. As long as the body wasn't discovered, you didn't need to worry that Esaka-kun saw you fighting. When Esaka-kun vanished suddenly from Koneru six months later, I'm sure you were secretly relieved. The body you buried was discovered and three days later, you saw Esaka-kun, who you thought disappeared from the neighborhood. Believing that he'd come ot ask you about Kisugi Akira's death, you planned to silence him. Though you learned the Esaka-kun lost his memories of the past year, you realized he was dangerous. When you heard from Hida-san that he was asking weird questions, you believed Esaka-kun was remembering what happened and panicked. That's when you came up with the idea of framing him of Kisugi Akira's murder. Last night, you visited Esaka-kun. You poisoned him and made it look like a suicide and used a spare key to lock his apartment. A single hair was stuck to Kisugi Akira's body and it wasn't his. The culprit's hair must've gotten stuck to the body when they fought just prior to his death. I'm sure a comparison would make it clear whose it is."

"Everything you've said is correct, Mouri-san." Kinbara admitted.

Later that evening...

"Jingisukan?" Ami quirked a brow at the grilled mutton eatery, the comprehensive menu was spread open on the podium outside the eating place.

"It's already mid-winter." Amuro pushed the doors open. "I figured it's best to eat something hot and savory."

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