SailorStar9: With Chapter 176 uploaded, I present Chapter 177 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 177: The Blank Year, Part One

Time passes...

"I finished my investigation report." Mouri was at a road junction in Koneru City. "Maybe I'll go for a drink this afternoon." just then, he heard the sound of a car horn and turned to see Esaka Ritsuo in front of the vehicle. "What's wrong?" he took Esaka to the sidewalk. "Are you all right?"

"While I was waiting for the light to change, someone suddenly pushed my back." Esaka admitted. "I was nearly hit by a car."

"Did anyone see the culprit?" Mouri asked the crowd. "Can you think of any reason someone would want to kill you?" he turned to Esaka after everyone else shook their heads. "Does anyone have a grudge against you?"

"I can't think of anything." Esaka sighed. "Maybe I did something to them during my blank year. Are you Mouri Kogoro-san, the great detective?" he recognized Mouri. "My name is Esaka Ritsuo. Please find the past that's been erased from my memory."

At the Mouri Detective Agency later...

"It happened one evening last week." Esaka clarified his previous statement. "Before I knew it, I lost consciousness at the station. Apparently, I slipped down the stairs and hit my head. When I returned to my workplace..." he related how his colleague had told him that he went missing for one year.

"Something must've made him suffer memory loss while he's out for a job." Conan reasoned.

"One year later, something cured him of his amnesia." Mouri added. "Like a sad Urashima Taro."

"So, you regained your previous memories and lost your memory of the past year instead." Conan concluded.

"After thinking about it for a week, I thought these might lead somewhere." Esaka pulled out a record of his train usage. "I examined their usage history. "I went all over the place every day, but I always left from and returned to Koneru Station."

"Maybe you live in Koneru City." Mouri suggested.

"I thought so, too," Esaka agreed. "So, I was walking around in hopes that I'd remember something. That's when it happened." he recalled how someone had pushed him into the incoming traffic. "Maybe I did something to incur someone's enmity. I still want to know how I lived."

"Let's take another look around." Mouri decided.

"One year is exactly twice as long as this person is missing for." Conan remarked, as the news bulletin about Kisugi Akira's corpse being discovered in the mountains.

"He was found dead in the mountains of Wakabadai three days ago." Mouri supplied. "He was partially skeletonized, but he'd clearly been murdered. Based on his dental records, it didn't take long to identify him as Kisugi Akira, who's been missing for three months. Apparently, they're having trouble finding the culprit who killed and buried him. He was a con artist and a lot of people had grudges against him."

Returning to Koneru City...

Mouri led Esaka and Conan to the Kinbara household after being informed by the officer in the police box that the elderly Kinbara couple had been taking care of Esaka ever since he was amnesic. There, they also met up with Hida Keisuke, Mizutani Toko and Mamoru Chimura who had also helped out in caring for Esaka.

That night...

"I pretty much figured you'd be pulling another late-nighter because of this case." Amuro shut the door of Ami's office. "I brought dinner: buri daikon." he held up the thermal food jar in his hand.

Two days later...

Mouri and Conan went around Esaka's rented unit again for see if there was any update on his condition, only to see Megure's team at the unit. "Inspector." he ran up. "I know someone who lives in this apartment. "Could it be..." he gaped, seeing Ami's assistants take Esaka's body to the autopsy theater.

"Then, your acquaintance must be..." Takagi gasped.

"Mizuno confirmed he died last night around 7pm after consuming a poison." Megure informed. "Judging by the circumstances, it was almost certain it was a suicide. Apparently, he regretted some bad choices he made.

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