SailorStar9: With Chapter 20 uploaded, this is Chapter 21 of this fic and I'm officially restarting this. (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 (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.
Chapter 21: Teimuzu River Kite Flying Case, Part Two
"You think I drew Renno-san to an area without rope and made him fall into the river?" Yatsukoshi echoed, Inspector Megure and Takagi were taking down his statement. "You must be joking. I shouted 'watch out' and tried to stop him. You kids saw it, didn't you?" he turned to the four boys.
"Yeah." Genta admitted. "He shouted just that before that man fell into the river."
"He seemed pretty worried to me." Mitsuhiko added.
"But we don't know if Renno-san heard his voice." Conan pointed out. "The people around them were shouting instructions to their teammates, too. They were pretty far apart."
"Is that right?" Inspector Megure turned to Yatsukoshi.
"Yes," Yatsukoshi replied. "I thought he could hear me, at least a bit. But after that, I backed away from him, too."
"Even if he can't hear you, you could still guide him using gestures." Takagi reasoned.
"I didn't do anything like that." Yatsukoshi protested. "If you think I'm lying, you can watch the video the event operators took to make sure no one was cheating."
"Why did you have to stand so far away?" Inspector Megure questioned.
"Because I noticed while watching the other kites that the wind seemed stronger higher up." Yatsukoshi explained. "I thought we could send our kite shooting up bu standing far apart. Each team has a limited amount of time to fly their kite, so we had to get it in one try."
"By the way, what's your relationship with Renno-san?" Inspector Megure asked.
"I'm an employee at the cafe Renno-san manages." Yatsukoshi replied. "I came here today so we could win our class event using a kite with our cafe's logo. The winners' kites are displayed in the city hall, so it's good advertising. We'd have pride when we attended the neighborhood association meetings, too."
"Yeah, Renno and I talked a little just before he fell into the river." Kakura admitted.
"What did you talk about?" Inspector Megure asked.
"He had a relationship with my sister, even though he had a wife." Kakura replied. "He drove her to attempt suicide, so I asked to speak to him after the event. He was probably being punished for his sins."
"Then, you had motive to make Renno-san fall into the river." Inspector Megure concluded.
"Doesn't Yatsukoshi have motive, too?" Kakura inquired. "He'd been in love with me sister since high school. His wife, who was furious when I told her about him and my sister, must've had plenty of motive, too."
"Is it true that Renno-san was speaking to his wife on the phone the whole time?" Inspector Megure inquired.
"It seemed that way." Kakura replied. "If I had led him into falling into the river, wouldn't his wife have heard me over the phone? He and I were flying the same kite. I doubt anyone would listen to the advice of a rival."
"But, didn't Kakura-san see Renno-san fall into the river?" Fumio asked. "Didn't you think to stop him?"
"I was pretty far away when he fell." Kakura explained. "I thought he had approached the river to litter."
"Litter?" Conan echoed.
"He was carrying an empty plastic bottle under his arm." Kakura recalled.
"By the way, what is your relationship with them?" Inspector Megure continued the questioning.
"Renno and Yatsukoshi were my juniors on our high school baseball team." Kakura replied. "Even after I graduated, I visited the club to help them out. That's how I knew Yatsukoshi, even though he's younger than me."
"Wait a minute." Renno Takami protested. "Why would you suspect me? I was speaking to him over the phone from home using my house phone."
"But the person he was speaking to on the phone is the only one who could have led him between the posts." Takagi reasoned.
"If you lived in a tall apartment building and could see this area from there..." Inspector Megure prompted.
"I live in an ordinary two-story house." Takami retorted.
"But if you were video-chatting, you could see a little bit, like the location of the posts." Conan pointed out.
"If his wife at home told him over the phone to go farther back or move a little to the left, there's no way he'll listen." Takami snapped.
"Did you hear Kakura-san's voice over the phone?" Takagi asked.
"Yeah, he's the brother of my husband's mistress, isn't he?" Takami noted. "I could hear him very clearly. I already knew my husband was having an affair with his sister, though."
"Did he say anything to direct your husband?" Takagi inquired.
"Not really, no." Takami answered. "My husband was busy making excuses to me. But maybe they spoke secretly. He did tell me to hold on and moved the phone away from his face."
"Maybe he had a call waiting." Conan noted.
"I didn't her a hold tone." Takami refuted. "I did hear some rustling as my husband was doing something, though."
"Could he have received an email from someone?" Inspector Megure surmised.
"He had a call on his line." Takami reminded. "He couldn't view his messages. I threatened to divorce him if he hung up on me."
"Just like he said, Yatsukoshi-san's not making any overt movements." Inspector Megure confirmed as he and Takagi reviewed the recorded footage.
"He's just drinking his beverage." Takagi agreed.
"We can see Kakura-san just after Renno-san fell into the river." Inspector Megure paused the recording.
"Just like he said, he's pretty far away." Takagi concurred. "I can't imagine he led Renno-san between the posts."
"Then, that leaves only his wife who called him." Inspector Megure concluded.
"But like she said, isn't that impossible?" Takagi pointed out.
"That would mean the culprit may be someone other than these three." Inspector Megure mused.
"You two seem troubled." Haibara suddenly appeared behind Conan and Fumio. "Your phone has disappeared somewhere, Mizuno."
"Seriously?" Fumio echoed.
"Ai-chan dropped it somewhere in front of the bathrooms and someone picked it up." Ayumi explained.
"Haven't you tried calling it?" Fumio asked.
"We tried calling it." Professor Agasa replied. "At first it rang a few times before the call ended. After that, the phone was powered off and we couldn't reach it no matter how many times we called. Since it's off, we can't look for it by GPS, either."
"Do any of you remember anyone who was standing nearby when you dropped it?" Conan asked.
"Someone tripped behind me, but I didn't see their face." Ayumi replied.
"That's why I think they mistook it for their own and took it with them." Haibara concluded.
"Professor, what time was it when you called?" Conan asked.
"After the ambulance left." Professor Agasa replied. "Because of the incident, I had forgotten that Ai-kun had borrowed Fumio-kun's phone."
I see. Conan grinned. Then, there may be some record of the devil's voice that used that primitive trick.
"We've been telling you, it was impossible for any of us to make Renno fall in the river." Kakura insisted.
"Like you said, it's possible someone manipulated the rope between those posts." Yatsukoshi agreed to the officers' conclusion.
"But just because my husband was backing up while holding a kite..." Takami protested.
"None of us could have led him between the posts and made him fall in to the river." Kakura stated.
"But the rope seems to have been manipulated quite recently." Inspector Megure remarked. "I can only imagine it was done to make Renno-san fall into the river."
"Then, how do we do it?" Takami pressed.
"But, there must be some way..." Takagi trailed, giving the Detective Boys a side-look that literally screamed 'Help!'.
"Maybe there isn't?" Conan voiced. "They may have been able to do it if they have psychic powers, though. Once Renno-san regains consciousness, we'll know immediately who did it."
"Is that true, Conan?" Genta asked.
"Probably." Conan answered. "Maybe he'll even tell us how they led him between the posts."
"But what if he doesn't regain consciousness?" Haibara asked.
"If that happens, we'll just have to give up." Conan shrugged. "We haven't found any clues."
"Speaking of which, did you find your phone, Fumio-kun?" Ayumi asked.
"Not yet." Fumio replied.
"Maybe whoever picked it up threw it away." Genta suggested.
"It would be terrible if they threw it into the river." Mitsuhiko pointed out.
"That's fine." Fumio assured. "It's water-proof. We'll probably know who threw it away, too."
"I see." Haibara noted. "I haven't paused the record function of the MD app yet; it'll have recorded the voice of whoever picked it up. What are you going to do if they take it home to destroy it?"
"I'll find it before they do." Fumio replied. "Kaa-san installed a special transmitter into the phone. We'll know exactly where it is when we check the computer at home."
"But, what if they erase the recorded data?" Mitsuhiko thought to ask.
"It's locked." Fumio reminded. "It's a four-digit code that only kaa-san knows about."
"It's not 4869, is it?" Haibara deathpanned. "You're also a Sherlock fan."
"That's too obvious." Fumio stated.
"I'm right." Haibara insisted.
"I said that's not it." Fumio assured.
"So, it was you." Inspector Megure droned, cornering Yatsukoshi who had exited from the portable toilet. "Yatsukoshi Takeshi-san."
"What are you talking about?" Yatsukoshi stammered.
"You have Fumio-kun's phone, don't you?" Takagi pressed.
"You mean this?" Yatsukoshi pulled out the flip-phone. "I thought it was mine and picked it up. It's the same model and color as mine." he handed the phone to Takagi. "It has a different PIN and I though I haven't brought mine today, so I thought it was strange."
"It's all clear now." Inspector Megure stated. "The person who plotted to make Renno-san fall into the river was you."
"What are you talking about?" Yatsukoshi protested. "I told you, it wasn't possible for me to lead Renno-san between the posts. How could I have guided Renno-san without any overt gestures when he was standing so far away he couldn't hear me?"
"You called him." Conan cut off all protestations. "You can talk to people who are far away using a phone."
"Renno-san was on the phone with his wife." Yatsukoshi reminded. "She said she couldn't hear a hold tone, either."
"We didn't say it was that kind of phone." Fumio stated. "We were referring to that." he pointed to the improvised string phone they had made on the spot. "A string phone."
"We found all the materials for a string phone." Takagi added. "A long string to connect the two people and plastic bottles to use as receivers. You wrapped kite string around the bottles and pretended to drink while issuing instructions to Renno-san."
"That's impossible." Yatsukoshi objected. "How could I tell him to use a string phone if he couldn't hear me?"
"You agreed to some kind of simple signal." Takagi answered. "Like using the string phone when you pulled twice on the kite string."
"Renno-san's wife mentioned that." Inspector Megure added.
"You can't be serious!" Yatsukoshi exclaimed. "What proof do you have?" he was cut off when Fumio played the recording.
"Because you put my phone in your breast pocket, I was able to record everything." Fumio replied.
"The voice of the devil." Conan finished.
"A voice pattern profile would reveal whose voice it is immediately." Takagi stated.
"It seems that Renno-san just regained consciousness." Inspector Megure noted. "We can ask him directly. I suspect your motive is related to Kakura-san's sister as well."
"A drowning incident?" Amuro echoed after the family dinner that night, Fumio having related to his parents about what had occurred during the day.
"I really starting to regret letting you hang around those kids." Ami remarked, handing Fumio the unwrapped mint-flavored ice cream cone.
"At least, it isn't a murder case." Amuro noted. "What?" he blinked, seeing Ami level him a glare.
"Don't you dare jinx it." Ami warned.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.