SailorStar9: With Chapter 17 uploaded, this is Chapter 18 of this fic. Sorry for the late update folks, been marathoning One Piece for the last couple of weeks. (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: Furuya Rei/Mizuno Ami

Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.

Chapter 18: The Beckoning Calico Cat Case, Part 1

"Wow, awesome!" Genta gushed when Azusa showed the Detective Boys the report in a certain food magazine. "Poirot's really in there!"

"That's right." Azusa replied. "A reporter came here a while back and said he was going to publish a piece about us, but I never expected that it'd be an article this big."

"You're even in there, Azusa-san." Mitsuhiko noted. "See, over there." he pointed to the portrait in the article. "Taii-kun, a calico cat who frequents the cafe and Azusa-san, a beautiful Poirot employee."

"You're right." Ayumi beamed. "She's even holding Taii-chan!"

"Man," Azusa blushed. "Calling me beautiful is a bit much..."

"Newspaper articles usually do exaggerate the facts, after all." Conan pointed out.

"That's so blunt!" Fumio gaped.

"Well, I guess..." Azusa trailed.

"But, there's nothing about you, Amuro-nii-chan?" Genta looked over at Amuro.

"I happened to be off work that day because I wasn't feeling well." Amuro explained.

"It's a pity that you missed out." Mitsuhiko remarked.

"Especially since you're so handsome." Ayumi agreed.

Well, one of the men in black wouldn't exactly want his face showing up in a random gourmet food magazine like this. Conan deathpanned.

Tou-san, you liar. Fumio shot his father a look, knowing exactly what had happened the afternoon the reporter dropped by.

"Oh right." Amuro ignored the look his son was giving him. "Wasn't there another kid in you group?"

"Ai-chan went back already." Ayumi replied.

"We did ask her if she wanted to come to Poirot to see Taii." Mitsuhiko added.

"But apparently she suddenly remembered something she had to do." Genta stated.

"Talking about Taii," Conan cut in. "Where is he? Is he here already?"

"Well, the truth is," Azusa replied. "Taii-kun's been staying at my house since last week."

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" Genta asked

"Taii may be a stray cat, but he has a collar, so he must belong to someone, right?" Mitsuhiko pointed out.

"Still, he showed up covered in scratches from getting into fights with other cats around here." Azusa stated. "Even with Fumio-kun tending to his wounds, I couldn't help about worry about him. And there's a photo of him in that magazine now. If Taii's owner is really searching for him, I'm sure they'll see the article and turn up here."

"But it's not fair to keep Taii-chan all to yourself." Ayumi pouted.

"And there's no way his owner would find such a tiny photo." Genta added.

"Maybe if it was on the Internet, but this..." Mitsuhiko trailed.

"That's what you think, right?" Azusa beamed. "But we've got a surprise..."

"Excuse me..." Amesawa Shogo cut in. "Is this the Cafe Poirot from the magazine? I read in that article. Apparently a cat turns up in the evenings to beg for food? There was a photo and all. That's actually my cat. I've been looking for him for the last six months."

"Hey!" Masuko Teishi protested. "What're you trying to pull? That's my family cat. I know it is. You shouldn't say something like that."

"Wow." Genta gaped. "The owners really did turn up."

"And not just one, but two." even Mitsuhiko was shocked.

"They're not the only two." Azusa corrected.

"There's another one waiting inside." Amuro supplied.

"Looks like a certain someone is quite popular." Fumio joked.

Inside Poirot...

"Hey, how many times do I have to tell you." Shagawa Mutsumi retorted. "This cat is my granddaughter's cat, Mugi-chan. Where's my Mugi-chan? Weren't you bringing her here now?"

"Right..." Azusa stammered. "When I left to go and get him, I bumped into these kids ad we got talking. And then these two men turned up, claiming to be his owners, too."

"No, I'm his real owner." Masuko insisted.

"You're wrong." Amesawa objected. "I'm telling you, he's mine."

"Are you trying to steal my granddaughter's cat?" Shagawa accused.

"Wow," Ayumi gushed. "Taii-chan's really popular."

"But why do three people want him?" Genta wondered.

"He's only an ordinary calico cat, like you'd see anywhere." Mitsuhiko noted.

"He's not that ordinary." Conan corrected.

"Well, he's certainly a brilliant cat." Mitsuhiko noted. "He even took your message to this cafe, back when we were all trapped in that nasty delivery van."

"Taii-chan was really helpful back then." Ayumi agreed.

"But in the end, the message just got blown away by the wind when he brought it here." Genta added.

"Anyway, Azusa-san, if you would go home and bring Taii here," Amuro suggested. "While we're waiting, I'll hear what each of them have to say with a mystery-solving specialist at my side."

A mystery-solving specialist? Conan wondered. Don't tell me he means...

In the Mouri Detective Agency...

"What?" Mouri echoed after Amuro stated his request. "Looking for a cat's owner? Go ask someone else. I'm busy today."

"Honestly..." Ran sighed.

"It's Goro-chan!" Ayumi beamed, spotting the gray cat.

"Why is he here?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"He's that scary obaa-san's cat' right?" Genta asked.

Scary obaa-san...? Ran twitched as Fumio picked up Goro and began to gently scratch his cheek, causing the feline to purr. "My mother had to go to Fukuoka for work, so she asked me to take care of him for tonight."

"Off you go, leave!" Mouri snapped. "It's not like I'd even get paid for that, right?"

"Then, I'll hire you." Amuro leaned over the sofa. "For payment, I'll give you a ticket to a premium seat at Yoko Okino's summer concert."

"Now, let's see." with that incentive, Mouri changed this tune. "The first cat owner, Shagawa-san, I hear you're a housewife?"

"Right." Shagawa confirmed.

Just how simple-minded are you, ojii-san? Conan sweatdropped.

"So, when did you cat go missing?" Mouri questioned.

"About two months ago." Shagawa replied. "I asked a friend to take care of him since we're going on a family holiday, but apparently he vanished the moment she took her eyes off him. This is a photo of the cat's owner, my granddaughter. Though it's a photo from five years ago."

"I see." Mouri took the photo. "He's just a kitten in the photo, but markings on his body do look familiar."

"See!" Shagawa urged. "Even this nice detective agrees with me."

"Then, you like cats, too, obaa-san?" Conan asked, having taken Goro from Fumio.

"Yes, of course." Shagawa replied. "Come on up." she gestured to Goro, only to have the gray cat jump and nestle onto Mouri's lap. "Your cat does seem quite shy." she noted. "Though he certainly loves his owner."

"This cat isn't even mine." Mouri protested.

"The calico cat from the cafe had been neutered." Amuro supplied. "Do you know anything about that?"

"That was a rough time for him." Shagawa remarked. "He was kept in overnight and when he came out, he had to keep his bandages on for sometime, and it was a week or so before they took the stitches out."

"Masuko-san, president of an IT company." Mouri interviewed the second candidate. "So, you're the second candidate for this cat's owner. When did your cat go missing?"

"When I moved, about four months ago now." Masuko replied. "My wife of thirty years passed away, so I decided to sell our house and move into a flat. I was sure he was in his carrier when he was put into the moving company's van, but when we came to empty the van, he'd vanished."

"Do you have any photos of him?" Mouri asked.

"I've got a photo taken from my phone." Masuko dug into his coat pocket and flashed the picture. "It's just the cat and my wife in the photo, but I took it."

"This looks just like the Poirot cat too." Mouri compared the two photos.

"Of course it does." Masuko insisted. "It's the same cat, after all."

"Then, you like cats too, ojii-san?" Conan asked.

"Yeah." Masuko replied.

"Would you like to hold him?" Conan handed Goro over.

"Have you got a cold?" Mouri asked, hearing Masuko giving a loud sneeze.

"I suppose I must have..." Masuko sniffled.

"By the way, was your cat neutered?" Amuro asked.

"Yes." Masuko replied. "But my wife handled everything like that, so I don't know the details. I do remember that despite having surgery, he didn't have any bandages, but just what looked like a parabolic antenna around his neck, though."

"Like I said, just bring the cat here and you'll know soon enough." Amesawa insisted. "I'm his owner."

"Still I'd like to hear what happened, part-time worker Amesawa-san." Mouri pressed. "When did your cat go missing?"

"About six months ago." Amesawa replied. "I value freedom, so I let him roam free. Then one day, he didn't come back."

"Do you have any photos of him?" Mouri asked.

"Course I don't." Amesawa replied. "I value his freedom, too."

"Then, you like cats too, onii-san?" Conan asked.

"Yeah, of course." Amesawa walked over. "Come on up."

"No way." Ran gaped when Goro leapt onto Amesawa and nuzzled him. "Goro's usually wary of strangers."

"I've always got along well with animals." Amesawa picked up Goro.

"Then do you remember whether he had been neutered?" Amuro asked.

"Who knows." Amesawa shrugged. "He was fully grown when I got him."

"By the way, we've been calling 'Taii-kun' him, but he's actually female, you know?" Fumio supplied, taking back Goro.

"Oh well," Amesawa winced. "Then maybe she's not my cat after all."

"What're you saying?" Mitsuhiko pressed.

"Taii's a tom cat." Genta stated.

"You can even see his balls." Ayumi added.

"Is that right?" Fumio thought for a second.

"Don't scare me like that." Amesawa chided. "Of course he's male."

"So, which of those three is his owner?" Mitsuhiko wondered as the group thought over the situation.

"It's gotta be that young guy, right?" Genta suggested. "Even Goro likes him."

"But the photo the other man had looked like Taii." Mitsuhiko pointed out.

"But he isn't even in it." Mouri reminded.

"Then how about the old woman's photo?" Ran stated.

"But that's from when he was a kitten." Amuro reminded.

"Have you figured anything out, Conan-kun?" Ran asked.

"Not quite yet." Conan replied.

"Turn that down!" Ran protested when her father cheered on the racehorse he was betting on. "It's hard to think with that noise."

Noise? Conan mused.

Oh, right. Ayumi brought out her phone. I should tell Ai-chan.

"Fumio-kun, your arm..." Ran gasped, seeing the large red patch on the boy's upper arm. "What's wrong? It's red!"

"That's true." Amuro agreed, kneeling beside his son and examining the red spot.

"Guess we can rule out Amesawa-san then." Fumio sighed. "Kaa-san found out when I was still a baby that I'm allergic to catnip."

"A catnip allergy?" Amuro frowned.

"I see." Ayumi realized. "That's why you know so much about cats."

"Kaa-san's healing salve is in my backpack, tou-san." Fumio supplied.

"This?" Amuro claimed Fumio's bag and pulled out a jar of milky white ointment. "She's still the same." he let out a small wistful smile and led Fumio to the toilet to apply the balm.

"What's going on here?" Amesawa demanded once all three were called back into the agency. "Didn't you call us all here because you figured out who his owner was?"

"As for that, Azusa-chan from Poirot should be arriving with the cat any moment now." Mouri argued.

"You should've just said that." Amesawa was relieved.

"With him here, we can easily tell who the owner is." Masuko added.

"But the cat's owner is my granddaughter." Shagawa reminded.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Azusa entered with Taii in her arms.

"See?" Amesawa grinned when Taii jumped off Azusa's arms and into his. "He's obviously my cat. We'll be leaving now."

"But didn't you know that when some cats see three people, they're drawn to the one in the middle?" Conan fibbed. "You never know, he could've just leapt at you because you're standing in the middle."

"Is that true, Conan-kun?" Ran asked.

"Yeah," Fumio joined in the white lie. "It's one of the trivial facts in grandma's books."

"That must be it." Shagawa insisted.

"My cat would've never jumped into the arms of someone as shady as him otherwise." Masuko agreed.

"Then let's try it again, you'll see." Amesawa pressed. "I can stand on the left or the right, it won't change a thing."

"There's an even better method we can use." Conan remarked. "It's an experiment that'll let us identify the owner right away.

"Azusa-san, are you ready?" Conan asked, having gotten Azusa and Taii out of the agency door.

"Taii-kun's calmly eating in front of the door of the agency." Azusa confirmed.

"Then, try coming here and opening the door one by one." Conan instructed. "One-by-one, he'll be able to identify his owner for sure. Let's start with Shagawa-san."

"See, Mugi-chan, it's me." Shagawa smiled, Taii looking up with no response. "Don't you recognize me? Mugi-chan!" she chided, Taii going back to his snack. "I guess it won't work unless it's his owner, my granddaughter."

"No, he'll do the same with your granddaughter." Conan corrected.

"After all, this cat is male, and the one you're looking for is female." Fumio added. "Isn't that right, tou-san?"

"Yes." Amuro agreed. "Shagawa-san, you said that when your cat is neutered, it was hospitalized overnight, then it was a week until the stitches were removed. You weren't describing a male cat being castrated, but a female cat being spayed. Spaying is an invasive procedure involving opening up the abdomen and removing the ovaries, where castration is a simple procedure that just needs the scrotum to be cut open and the testicles removed, so it generally doesn't need a cat to stay overnight. All that's needed to be done post-operation is to make the cat wear a collar so it won't lick its wound, like Masuko-san described."

"And you make it sound like you and your granddaughter lived with the cat," Conan stated. "But the truth is she just brought it to visit occasionally, right? You don't seem to know how to act around cats. Cats don't like being stared at by anyone but their owners. That's why when you were calling Goro to come to you, he went to Kogoro-ojii-san instead, even though he was ignoring him. I'm guessing that what really happened is that your granddaughter had to go away somewhere and left her cat with you, but she disappeared, right?"

"You're right, little boy." Shagawa admitted. "My granddaughter went on a school trip, and her parents decided to go aboard when she was away. I was asked to take care of her cat, but I couldn't seem to make friends with her. And she vanished when I took my eyes off her. I didn't know what to do, but the picture of the cat in the magazine leapt out at me."

"So you thought the Poirot cat could replace the cat you were missing." Mouri concluded.

"But male and female cats even have different body shapes." Ran pointed out.

"But my granddaughter gets back from her trip tonight." Shagawa was desperate. "I won't be able to face up to her if I don't figure something out."

"When did she go missing?" Fumio asked.

"Last night, after eating dinner." Shagawa replied. "I checked everywhere a cat could hide, in-between the furniture and anything with an opened door, but I couldn't find her anywhere."

"Then you should try searching places with closed doors." Fumio suggested. "Places like toilets, cupboards and even inside washing machines. Cats can sneak in through doors unnoticed the moment they're opened."

"I'll go have another look." Shagawa gaped and took off.

"What a crazy obaa-san." Amesawa scoffed.

"Then, why don't you try next, Amesawa-san?" Conan suggested, shutting the door. "Just do what Shagawa-san did earlier."

"I've been waiting for this." Shagawa grinned. "Though you know how this is going to go already. What's wrong?" he asked, opening the door and seeing Taii just blink at him. "Jump up here, like before. Come on, jump!" he snapped.

"Didn't you know?" Fumio started, after Taii squeaked and hid behind Azusa. "Catnip's effects only last five to ten minutes. And with that gone, you're nothing more than a stranger who's yelling at him. Take a look at Goro. He was happily playing with you before, and yet now he's scared and won't even come near you."

"If you were really his owner, you wouldn't need to cover yourself in catnip dust when coming to meet him." Mouri added.

"I can explain..." Shagawa stammered.

"And when Fumio-kun told you it was female, you backed off right away, didn't you?" Amuro reminded. "If you'd really seen him in the magazine and were convinced enough that he was yours to come all the way here to get him, there's no way you'll back down so easily. You knew, didn't you? If he was female, he wouldn't have any value at all."

"Value?" Mouri echoed. "Isn't he just an ordinary moggy?"

"You're thinking about female calico cats." Amuro explained. "But due to chromosomal abnormalities, only one in a thousand calico cats are male. That rarity is why manekineko beckoning cats were modeled on them. They're worth at least a million yen each. And I've heard some have sold for twenty million or more."

"You're amazing, Taii-chan." Ayumi gushed.

"As rare as a white lion." Mitsuhiko agreed.

"Obviously someone like you who knows how rare they are, weren't let such a rare cat run wild in such a big city, right?" Amuro pressed.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time!" Shagawa stammered and fled.

"He sure runs real fast." Fumio noted, both father and son peered out of the door frame.

"Now, finally," Conan gave the last candidate a look. "Why don't you try, Masuko-san?"

"But, it's been four months, and my wife usually gives him his food." Masuko pointed out. "It'll probably go just like those other two. Soseki..." he gasped when the feline sat quietly in front of the door. "So, you do remember me, Soseki."

"But how?" Ran wondered. "He was waiting there even before the door opened."

"It's the sound." Conan supplied.

"Cats have great hearing and they always remember the sound of their owner's footsteps." Fumio explained.

"You said he vanished when you were moving." Conan turned to Masuko. "Did you have the Cheetah Moving Center handle your move?"

"Yes," Masuko confirmed. "How did you know that?"

"He's climbed the back of a delivery truck belonging to that company before." Conan replied.

"I get it." Ayumi realized. "That means..."

"He wants to be reunited with his owner." Genta concluded.

"He must've thought he could go home if he went into a van with the same logo." Mitsuhiko added.

"Thank you very much for your help." Masuko stated outside Cafe Poirot after the case was over. "This has my address and email on it." he handed a slip of paper to the tearing children. "If we can arrange a time, I'd be happy for you to come and visit him."

"Still, I never knew cats were drawn to the person standing in the middle of the group." Azusa noted.

"That was a lie." Amuro stated. "Isn't that right, Fumio-kun?"

"Yeah." Fumio nodded. "If Edogawa-kun hadn't said that, we wouldn't have the chance to do the footstep experiment, so I simply just joined in with that little lie."

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