SailorStar9: With Chapter 203 uploaded, I present Chapter 204 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 204: The Inauspicious Matchmaking, Part Two
"Anyway, why did the three of them remain in the shrine instead of running away?" Sato was puzzled.
"It seems that each of them has a reason for staying." Takagi replied. "Shamoto Tsurumi, the shoplifter, was tied to a lamppost at the bicycle parking area using handcuffs and a bicycle cable lock. Both the handcuffs and cable belonged to the victim Lieutenant Hidaka."
"He could've handcuffed her directly to the lamppost." Sato pointed out. "Why did he use the cable?"
"That police officer did it out of consideration for me." Shamoto explained. "At first, he handcuffed me to the lamppost so he could pursue another wanted criminal. But some kids who came to park their bike mocked me. So, he used his bicycle lock instead. There's a police box across from the bike lot exit, so I didn't feel like trying to run."
"Then, why didn't Lieutenant Hidaka ask for backup from the police box?" Sato wondered.
"He did, but on their way here, the officer was instructed to go somewhere else." Takagi clarified. "There was a fight at the shrine entrance."
"I'm the one who started that fight." Kawano admitted. "While hurrying through this torii gate, I bumped into some thugs and got into a fight. The police box officer showed up while we were going at it. Those thugs got cheeky on me. I blew my top."
"You weren't trying to use the thugs' blood to hide the police officer's blood that got on you when you struck him, were you?" Hattori accused.
"Why would I hit him with a flag, anyway?" Kawano demanded. "I'd hit him with my fists."
"Maybe you've lost your boxing skills and couldn't land a punch on him." Hattori suggested.
"I didn't run." Jinnai corrected. "Or rather, I didn't think a cop had found me. I was wandering the temple grounds looking for my wallet I left somewhere. I had my cash, cash card and car keys in there."
"You've got an awful lot of mud splattered up your pant legs." Conan pointed out.
"This is what happens when you run through a street with melted snow." Hattori added. "Why'd you had to run if you were just wandering around looking for something? You've got something on your face beneath your right eye. That's a mole." he teased, seeing Jinnai feel his face. "I came to purchase a matchmaking charm to use as a fraud tool. I bought my charm, but as I was leaving, I noticed my wallet was missing. I think I had about 100,000 yen in it."
"You only had 3,000 yen in there." Shamoto snorted. "I swiped your wallet."
"According to police records, you quit pickpocketing." Sato stated.
"I hadn't shoplifted in a while because I found a good man to take care of me." Shamoto admitted. "But he broke his leg in a traffic accident and can't work anymore."
"Where did the accident happen?" Sato asked.
"At an intersection in Toriya City Block 1." Shamoto replied.
"Then, the person who ran over your man was probably this guy." Sato looked over at Kawano. "So, why did you come here?" she asked Kawano.
"I came to get a stamp for my little sister." Kawano replied. "A young man cast her aside after she spent a fortune on him. She was pretty down on it. You're that guy!" he glared at Jinnai.
"The question is: where is the flagpole that still hasn't been found?" Sato went back to the matters at hand. "The blood on the discarded flag matched the victim Lieutenant Hidaka's. If the culprit is one of these three, it should be somewhere around the shrine."
"Maybe they put it in this box next to the snowman." Conan suggested. "There's a bunch of unassembled poles and flags in here."
"Mizuno-senpai had her team examine that right away, but they didn't find any blood." Sato refuted. "It's a capsule toy capsule." she picked up the fallen capsule that had fallen out from a nearby snowman.
"There was a tap at the top of the steps, right?" Hattori reminded.
"I believe there was a faucet." Takagi confirmed.
"The flagpole is a red herring planted by the culprit." Hattori revealed. "After Lieutenant Hidaka fell down the steps and died, in order to hide the actual weapon, they removed the flag from a nearby flagpole, rubbed the Lieutenant's blood on it and left it on the steps. Then, they put the flagpole in the box filled with other identical poles and fled."
"Then, where's the real weapon?" Shamoto demanded.
"You didn't hear that?" Conan questioned. "That thudding noise. After that, the snowman wearing the bucket lost an eye. This means whatever was inside the bucket fell on the snowman's head."
Takagi hurried over the lifted the bucket, revealing a bucket-shaped piece of ice.
"No one would put a bucket like that on a snowman's head." Hattori added. "So, it was probably originally left by that faucet. The culprit was nearly caught by the Lieutenant at the top of the steps and swung around the bucket they grabbed without thinking. It hit the Lieutenant's head and he fell down the steps. Realizing they had to hide the weapon, they put the bucket on the snowman and made it look like the weapon as a flagpole using the method I described earlier."
"Any three of them could have done it." Sato pointed out.
"I couldn't have done that." Kawano protested.
"You're innocent." Hattori affirmed. "Besides, you're left-handed."
"Mizuno-san confirmed on site that the victim's contusion on his forehead ran from top right to bottom left." Sato explained.
"Which means the culprit is right-handed." Takagi realized.
"And, the marriage fraudster is also left-handed." Hattori revealed. "Which leaves you, the right-handed pickpocket."
"How does that make me the culprit?" Shamoto snapped. "I couldn't have done it. I was handcuffed to a lamppost at the bike the whole time. The handcuffs on me were passed through the cop's bicycle cable lock."
"It's not impossible." Conan piped in. He had Takagi cuffed as demonstration. "Now, take the gaps in the cuffs..."
"Pass the cable up through the bottom." Takagi related.
"Pass your fist through the loop in the cable and pull the cable through." Conan continued.
"It came off." Takagi gaped when Sato tugged the cable off.
"Since there was a police box right across from the bike lot and Lieutenant Hidaka had notified them, it was risky to use that exit." Sato summarized what had happened. "So, you walked across the shrine to another exit, but Lieutenant Hidaka found you. You ran up the steps to get away from him but he nearly caught you. In order to escape, you used the bucket full of frozen water at the faucet by the stairs to strike Lieutenant Hidaka, knocking him down the stairs and killing him. You could've fled there, but it was probable Lieutenant Hidaka had informed someone he caught you. You'd inevitably be wanted for murder. So, you hid the weapon and returned to the bike lot. You thought you wouldn't be suspected if you claimed you were handcuffed to the lamppost the whole time. But if the contusions from Lieutenant Hidaka's forehead matches the shape of the bucket and his blood and fingerprints were found on the bucket, you won't be able to talk yourself out of this."
About a week later...
Hotaru received a phone call from Usagi out of the blue.
"Oh, Hotaru-chan." Usagi sang. "I'm sorry. I stole your fiancé."
"Usagi-san?" the nurse echoed. "What are you talking about?"
"You're upset from the shock." Usagi mocked. "He says he likes me better than you. And I'm pregnant, too."
"I'm going to get married overseas right now." Hotaru revealed. "My fiancé is right here next to me."
"Hotaru, let me talk." Sanada Kioshi took over. "Tsukino-san, this is the first time we've conversed. I'm Sanada Koishi, the son of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Sanada Masanori."
"Are you serious?" Usagi turned to the man in bed with her. "So, who's this guy next to me?"
It was later revealed that after failing to snatch the Inner Senshi's lovers from them, Usagi turned to Hotaru as her next target. She followed the nurse to her workplace at the Gifu General Hospital where she saw Hotaru talking to a slightly obese man. Assuming that Takeuchi was Hotaru's fiancé, she approached him with the intention of getting him for herself. It was Shingo who later found out that not only was Takeuchi was one of Hotaru's former patients, he was also married with college-age children.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.