SailorStar9: With Chapter 187 uploaded, I present Chapter 188 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 188: The Birthday Party of Divine Punishment, Part Two

"Was poison found in any of the other pieces?" Megure asked.

"I just received a call from forensics." Takagi replied. "A large amount of cyanide powder was found on the cake eaten by the victim, Hanasaki-san, but no poison was found on Sekizawa Remi-san's half-eaten cake or Kushiyama-san's untouched cake. They also found nothing on Sekizawa Yumi-san's plate who had finished her cake. They found nothing on the cakes Hatsune-san distributed to the other guests or the uncut cake. Also, Yumi-san's bag, which contained the working marker, was placed under this basket underneath Yumi-san's seat. There's an odd stain on the floor." he peered closely at the mark on the ground next to Yumi's chair.

"This stain wasn't here before Hanasaki-san was killed." Sera supplied, she and Conan were hiding under the table. "I took a video of the sisters blowing out the candles on the cake." she showed the detectives the video record. "Look at the floor." she enlarged the frozen frame. "There's no dark stain."

"You can't just walk into a crime scene." Megure twitched, Takagi ushering Sera and Conan off. "What about their possessions?"

"Remi-san had a single handkerchief and eye drops for dry eyes." Takagi supplied. "Hatsune-san had a phone, cigarettes, and an oil lighter."

"This just leaves the question for the motive." Megure pondered. "Do you know if there was anyone who may have held a grudge against the victim?"

"More than I can count." Remi admitted. "He had a terrible reputation among my model friends. He was a skilled hair and makeup artist, but he moved on quickly on women."

"He made awful demands in exchange for prioritizing certain clients." Kushiyama added. "He even demanded to know models' bust, waist and hip measurements so he could send them clothes."

"My sister is scatterbrained." Yumi stated. "She forgets things in makeup rooms and I'd go get them for her, but often, they'd be missing; like half-finished cans of soft drinks and snacks."

"He was a serial complainer." Hatsune remarked. "He made complaints at restaurants all over the place. The other day, he became furious because the fork and knife on his table weren't parallel. He stirred up a storm online when the fork he threw at an employee struck another customer. He had to issue an apology."

"Inspector." Chiba ran in.

"There was a marker in the kitchen's garbage bin?" Megure echoed after Chiba reported the unexpected find.

"None of the kitchen staff recall throwing it away." Chiba said.

"We were told no one entered or left the kitchen when the murder occurred." Takagi pointed out.

"That's just the staff who were originally in the kitchen." Chiba explained. "Once the lights went out, the staff called out to each other. Since it was dark, they might not have noticed if someone stuck into the kitchen."

"For someone to have done that..." Megure cast a suspicious look at Hatsune.

"They'd have to know where the kitchen's garbage bin was located." Takagi noted. "Hatsune-san, the pastry chef. Come to think of it, the projector turned off because the power cord was disconnected from the outlet. The outlet was located next to the kitchen door. Since you were cutting the cake next to that door, it would've been easy for you to disconnect the cord."

"I may be near the outlet." Hatsune protested. "But everyone was looking at that man on the ground then. Anyone could've unplugged the cord. I'm being falsely accused. You're no different from that serial complainer."

"Inspector Megure," Conan spoke. "Think about it. There are staff holding knives inside the kitchen. Even if I knew the layout, I wouldn't wanna walk around a dangerous place like that in the dark."

"That means the culprit poisoned Hanasaki-san's cake right in front of him." Megure concluded.

"The culprit didn't poison Hanasaki-san's cake." Sera corrected. "They poisoned their own cake."

"Sera-chan, I bought two strawberry shortcakes, just like you asked." Sonoko placed the newly bought cake on the table.

"Could you place them side by side on the table?" Sera requested, Conan having brought in two plates. "Imagine Sonoko-kun's the victim and I'm the culprit." she explained. "When the culprit left their seat, they did this when Hanasaki-san wasn't looking." she reached over to Sonoko's cake and tipped the strawberry over."

"If he didn't like it, he could've asked the restaurant staff for a new piece of cake." Chiba reminded.

"Hanasaki-san couldn't do that." Sera refuted. "Just the other day, he issued an apology for striking a customer with a fork he threw at an employee. People would blast him again if he complained about a minor thing like a crooked strawberry. Isn't that right, the man who claimed to have received a phone call and left his seat before touching his cake." she turned to Kushiyama. "Remi-san's manager, Kushiyama Mitomu-san. The crooked strawberry on the cake you purposely didn't touch proves it."

"I really did receive a call then." Kushiyama insisted.

"You probably called a test number." Sera suggested. "By waiting for the right time to call that number, you can claim to have received a phone call and leave your seat before he ate his cake, after poisoning your own cake."

"What about the marker?" Kushiyama insisted. "The permanent marker I had didn't work because it was uncapped.

"Ran-kun, did you buy what I asked you to get?" Sera inquired.

"A permanent marker and nail polish remover." Ran returned with the items. "I removed the cap from the marker so it wouldn't work anymore.

"Permanent markers primarily stop working when dried ink hardens on the tip of the pen." Sera explained, testing the marker on her palm. "If you pour nail polish remover into the marker cap and leave the non-functional marker in it for a while, the acetone in the nail polish remover melts the hardened oil-based ink, so it works again."

"That dark stain on the floor was..." Takagi gaped.

"He discarded the nail polish remover in the cap on the floor." Sera concluded. "After committing the murder, he needed to remove the cap so the pen wouldn't work again."

"Why would Kushiyama-san do that?" Remi was shocked.

"So, you'd fall for him." Sera replied. "He's probably the one who took the half-finished soft drinks and snacks from your makeup room. Hair and makeup artist Hanasaki-san probably saw him and blackmailed him with it. Did he ask you for money?"

"He kept increasing the amount, too." Kushiyama snarled. "I felt like I had to kill him."

"Case closed." Sera declared proudly after Takagi took Kushiyama into custody.

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