SailorStar9: Anyone wondering what happened to my yesterday, I was out of the house for the entire day and once returned at 7 in the evening. With Chapter 56 uploaded, this is Chapter 57 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 57: Solving Mysteries at the Poirot Cafe, Part Two

"He's got the same name as you." Hattori teased.

"Conan-kun, isn't your name Conan?" Azusa asked, overhearing the statement.

"He meant to say 'your favorite Shinichi-nii-chan'." Conan fibbed. "Heiji-nii-chan can be so unclear sometimes."

"Anyway Kudo, do you know who did it?" Hattori asked, once Azusa was out of earshot.

"No, not yet." Conan replied. "I thought of a trick to avoid getting blood on yourself, though."

"You, too?" Hattori echoed.

"But the person who could've used the trick..." Conan trailed.

"Couldn't have committed the crime." Hattori finished. "Damn, we have to solve this quick so we can go to Kinza."

"Yamashita Yui-san." Conan approached the woman. "You said you and Anzai-san are just childhood friends, but that's not true, isn't it? If there's something going on, could you tell me? It might help us solve the case."

"Sorry, but I can't tell." Yamashita apologized. "It's a secret I have to keep to protect someone. When I was your age, I didn't think I had any secrets either."

"Really?" Conan gaped.

"Hey, Kudo." Hattori pressed, after Conan was turned away. "You know how late the Kinza lights are staying on?"

"No." Conan answered.

"'From the long clouds blown by the fall wind, the moonlight that shines through is beautiful indeed'." Iori cleared his throat and recited a line.

One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets? Conan and Hattori recognized the line.

I see. Amuro smiled.

So that's how it is. Hattori grinned.

I know exactly what happened. Conan mirrored the grin.

"Hey, detectives." Ozumi voiced. "Can't we go now? I'm sorry that Anzai got stabbed, but none of us did it. There's no blood on anyone."

"I don't think we could've stabbed anyone in the pitch blackness of the blackout." Yamashita reasoned.

"You'd need night vision goggles." Nagasaki added.

"I was in the bathroom since before the blackout, so I couldn't have stabbed him." Ozumi argued. "The peephole of the bathroom door is made of frosted glass. I couldn't have known who was sitting where."

"' From the long clouds blown by the fall wind,'" Hattori repeated the quote. "'From the long clouds blown by the fall wind, the moonlight that shines through is beautiful indeed'. It's a poem by Sakyo no Daibu Akisuke. It means the moon seen through the clouds blown by the fall wind is super pretty. And the culprit also saw who it was sitting where through a gap."

"What are you doing?" Conan blinked, spotting Iori turning his handphone towards the detecting Hattori.

"Nothing." Iori replied. "Don't mind me."

"Right?" Hattori pressed. "The man who was hiding in the bathroom and secretly watching through the peephole, I'm asking you, Ozumi Meisuke-san."

"What are you talking about?" Ozumi protested. "Didn't you hear me? The peephole's made of frost glass."

"Azusa-nee-san." Fumio voiced. "Do we have any scotch tape around?"

"But why do you need this for?" Azusa took out the tape dispenser.

"Uncle Akai once explained to me that if you put scotch tape on the rough side of frosted glass, it'll be like normal glass." Fumio replied. "Anyway, try putting some tape on the peephole and look through it."

"You're right." Azusa gaped, tearing off a strip of tape and pasting it across the peephole glass. "I can see through the spot covered by the tape."

"You're right." Inspector Megure confirmed. "I wouldn't call it totally transparent, but you can see who's sitting where."

"But why?" Takagi blinked.

"It difficult to see through frosted glass because tiny scratches on its surface reflect light, making it appear cloudy." Amuro explained. "By putting tape over it, the adhesive on the tape fills the scratches on the glass, flattening the surface and making it transparent."

"But I don't have any tape on me." Ozumi pointed out.

"There were tape on the birthday present you got from Yui-san." Conan reminded. "After looking through the frosted glass, you could've put it back on the present."

"Even if I could see the others through the peephole, I couldn't have stabbed anyone in the darkness." Ozumi stated.

"So, you practiced, didn't you?" Hattori cut in. "You arranged tables and chairs in your room in the same layout as this cafe so you could stab someone in the dark. If you built a set identical to this cafe for your play last year, these measurements must still be in your drama club room somewhere."

"Even if I knew the exact layout, it'd still be hard to stab someone." Ozumi retorted.

"Yes." Amuro agreed. "From the front, their hands would get in the way, making it difficult to stab them. But from their blind side, as long as you knew where they were sitting, it would be possible. That's why you came first and put your bag on the booth seat, knowing your girlfriend, Yui-san, would sit next to it."

"I see." Inspector Megure noted. "If the booth seats were occupied, the victim would be forced to sit in either of the chairs opposite them."

"But what about the blood?" Ozumi pressed. "Even if I could stab him, I would've gotten blood on me."

"You made sure you wouldn't." Conan stated. "Using something you found in the bathroom."

Meanwhile along the Kinza streets...

"Wow, it's so pretty." Kazuha gushed as she strolled down the illuminated streets. "It's like Tinkerbell's gonna show up any minute."

"I know." Ran agreed. "It's like a dream world. Isn't that..." she spotted Ami typing away on her Blackberry on the roadside. "Mizuno-san!" she called out to the older woman.

"Mouri-san." Ami looked up from her Blackberry and nodded in greeting.

"Kazuha-chan." Ran pushed Kazuha forward. "This is Mizuno Ami-san, she's Fumio-kun's mother."

"Fumio?" Kazuha echoed. "Ah, that blond kid who's by Conan's side, right?"

"Yeah." Ran nodded. "Mizuno-san, this is Toyama Kazuha-chan." she introduced.

"Toyama..." Ami frowned. "Any relation to Osaka Chief Detective Toyama Ginshiro?"

"He's my father." Kazuha blinked. "How do you know..."

"Let's just say your father and I coordinated on a couple of cross-distinct cases in the past." Ami smiled.

"Cross-distinct cases..." Kazuha trailed. "You're with the Tokyo Police?"

"The Security Bureau." Ami winked. "But keep that quiet, okay?"

"I'm glad it's just the three of us women." Kazuha looked up at the lighted streets. "If I saw this in person with Heiji, I might've felt something crazy. What a relief. Seriously."

"Males are really quite slow with their emotions." Ami remarked, handing Kazuha a piece of tissue paper. "Tooru is the same with me."

"Thanks." Kazuha took the tissue and wiped the tears that were threatening to fall. "Anyway, I wonder what Heiji is doing? He's not answering his phone."

"Fumio called me earlier." Ami supplied. "Seems like something came up in Cafe Poirot."

"You're late." a braided woman chided her boyfriend who was running to her.

"Sorry." the male apologized. "Anyway, you shouldn't have suddenly changed where we'd meet. I wanted Poirot's sandwiches."

"You haven't heard?" the woman blinked. "There's something crazy going on at the cafe. Apparently, there was a murder. Some guy was stabbed and taken to hospital."

"Just as I thought." Ami sighed. "It's going to take a while before it'll be resolved. Have the two of you eaten?" she looked at the two younger girls.

"Toilet paper?" Inspector Megure echoed. "He used toilet paper to prevent blood from getting on himself?"

"Yeah." Conan nodded. "He wrapped it around his arms like a mummy."

"You idiot." Ozumi snapped. "You couldn't block all the blood just by covering your arms.

"No, that's all you need." Hattori cut in. "You held the cardboard tube around the knife against his back as you stabbed him. By holding the tube in place as you pulled the knife out, you could avoid getting any blood on yourself. That's why you chose a long knife. Otherwise, you couldn't have stabbed him through the tube. A little blood's bound to come through the tube, but as long as you don't point the opening to yourself, you're okay. Instead, those of us sitting in front of the tube got blood all over us. Then you returned to the bathroom and waiting for the lights to come back on, flushed the toilet paper wrapped around your arms, and stuck the tube you used back inside the toilet paper. Then you removed the tape from the peephole and stuck it back on the gift and came out of the bathroom."

"No, you may have removed the tape before the lights came on." Amuro interjected. "By folding the end of the tape over and making it easier to grab, you could've removed it in the dark. If the bathroom lights came back on first and someone saw the peephole, they might have noticed that there was something stuck to it. Either way, the middle of the toilet paper was sticking out slightly. That's a sure sign the tube was forced inside it afterwards. I think the police would find Anzai-san's blood and your fingerprints on it."

"This can't be true, Ozumi." Nagasaki gasped.

"Ozumi-kun, you'd never stab Tengo." even Yamashita was shocked.

"It annoyed me." Ozumi hissed. "Why do you call your boyfriend 'Ozumi-kun', when you call Anzai by his given name?"

"Because we're childhood friends." Yamashita voiced.

"You're not just childhood friends, are you?" Ozumi accused. "There must a reason for it."

"I..." Yamashita looked away.

"See?" Ozumi sneered. "You can't say it. I'm sure he's your ex or something. But I had to hurt him because you were keeping secrets from me. Honestly, I was scared since the knife wen deeper than I expected."

"You're wrong." Conan cut in. "They're probably..."

"Half siblings." Fumio added. "Didn't Yamashita-san say she was keeping a secret to protect someone?"

"And that you didn't think you had any secrets as a child?" Conan asked. "The reason you said 'someone' instead of Tengo is because you meant someone related to Anzai-san."

"Or in this case, Anzai-san's father, the Dietman, Anzai Noboru-san." Fumio concluded.

"If it wasn't a secret when you were kids, but became one when you grew up, it would mean a career ending scandal for a Dietman." Conan surmised. "In other words, Yui-san's his lover's secret lovechild. It's what Heiji-nii-chan said." he stammered, noticing both Inspector Megure and Takagi looking intently at him.

"Is that true?" Ozumi gaped.

"Yes." Yamashita nodded. "While my parents argued over compensation, they would leave me and Tengo to play together. We became close."

"You're lying." Ozumi stuttered. "I don't believe this. You're not all pulling my leg, are you? A phone call?" he looked at his ringing cellphone. "Who is it?" he took the call.

"That hurt, damn it!" Anzai shouted down the receiver. "I'm gonna kill you the next time I see you. My behavior was hardly worth of praise." he admitted. "I can see how you got the wrong idea. In any case, I sent Yui's birthday video to your phone. Check it out. I was going to turn up the volume so you could hear it in the bathroom. Later." he hung up. "You'd better come visit me."

"No..." Anzai fell to his knees, sobbing when he played the video and heard the confession.

"You should've tried talking to him before stabbing him." Hattori snorted. "Wait, I don't have time for this." he exclaimed, looking at his watch. "I've gotta go to Kinza Block 4."

"We're not going to Kinza." Kazuha cut in, opening the cafe door. "We're going to Tokyo Station. If we don't hurry, we'll miss our train home." she pulled Hattori off.

"We still need to question him about the case." Takagi blinked at the disappearing pair. "I guess we could interview the people who are still here. Wait, what? Wada Shinichi-san is missing. He was here until a moment ago. There was a strange man by that name claiming to be a medical professional."

"It could've been an alias." Ami reasoned. "Wasn't the Doctor Watson in the Meiji Era Japanese version of Sherlock Holmes named Wada Shinichi?"

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