SailorStar9: With Chapter 167 uploaded, I present Chapter 168 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 168: The Antique Tray Can't Be Hidden, Part Two


"Is there nobody else in this house?" Conan thought to ask.

"Normally, the son and his wife live here." Takagi supplied. "They're currently on vacation."

"In other words, excluding the three of us in the entryway, at the time of the murder, the people in this house were Tojima Motoyuki-san, who got lost on his way from the bathroom, Chono Kinji-san who was reading books on antiques in the study and Sakamaki Suzue-san who was alone in this reception room." Sera concluded. "The three of you could move freely throughout the house. Any one of you could've stabbed Nishitsu-san to death with a spear."

"We'll immediately know who the culprit is." Conan cut in. "After all, I'm sure they put the real black lacquer tray in their own box. Professor, didn't you say Nishitsu-san said the real tray in front of him as the real tray?" he turned to Professor Agasa.

"He touched the tray with his bloody..." Professor Agasa recalled. "Nishitsu-san's bloody fingerprints are on the back of the real tray. You should be able to identify the culprit if you turn those three trays over."


Back at the crime scene...

"There's blood on the backs of all three trays." Megure remarked, flipping the three trays over and seeing a trail of blood on each.

"The culprit probably noticed the blood on the back of the tray and used quick thinking to put the same bloody mark on the other two trays." Subaru suggested.

"Which means we'll have to call an appraiser after all." Megure sighed.

"Agasa-san, is there anything else that would help us identify the real tray?" Takagi asked.

"When I flipped the bloody tray over sideways, the crane's beak was right at the same spot as the blood." Professor Agasa remembered. "If you turn them over sideways, the beak's position will tell us which one is the real tray."

"To make things clearer, let's turn the trays so the blood is on the top." Megure readjusted the three trays. When we turn them over sideways, whichever tray's crane beak is pointing straight up is... none of the beaks are pointing straight up." he blinked.

"Inspector Megure." Chiba walked in. "Forensics found this next to the body." he showed his superior the bagged 'Deaf Angel' hearing aid. "It seems to be a hearing aid."

"That's the 'Deaf Angel' I invented." Professor Agasa supplied. "It's a wireless hearing aid the late Nishitsu-san bought from me. It turns the voices and sounds around you into gentle whispers of an angel."

"Which means it probably fell out of his ear when the culprit hit the victim." Chiba concluded.

"Do you recognize this?" Megure showed the three suspects the hearing aid.

"I did notice that he had something in his ear." Tojima related.

"I didn't realize it was a hearing aid." Chono admitted.

"Agasa-san, could I talk to you?" Chiba pulled Professor Agasa aside. "The victim's phone received a message from you about 20 minutes before the murder."

"I sent him a message telling him we were on our way." Professor Agasa explained.

"For some reason, it looks like that message was never opened." Chiba revealed. "The phone was set to play notification sounds, though."

"It was probably already malfunctioning then." Haibara supplied.


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