SailorStar9: With Chapter 31 uploaded, this is Chapter 32 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: Furuya Rei (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.
Chapter 32: The Moving Target
Time passes...
"It was an attempted suicide." Conan deathpanned, not happy that the Detective Boys had insisted on returning to the incident site where Fukurokoji Sadao had fallen just the previous night. "That's got nothing to do with the Detective Boys."
"Either way, we want to check out the crime scene." Mitsuhiko replied.
"It happened in our territory." Genta added.
"It's up ahead." Conan led the group to the building. "What?" he blinked spotting the barricade tape, condoning off the area.
"So, if it's an attempted suicide, what's Investigation Section One doing here?" Fumio pointed out.
"That's him." the police officer spotted Conan outside the tape.
"So the kid with glasses was Conan-kun after all." Inspector Megure sighed.
"I'm glad you're here." Takagi hurried towards the children. "We wanted to ask you about last night."
"So it wasn't just an attempted suicide." Conan concluded.
"No." Takagi referred to his handbook. "The entrance had been closed over the holidays. The only way to the roof was to take the emergency stairs. But..."
"Fukurokoji-san was so drunk he couldn't stand." the officer cut in.
"Then, he couldn't have climbed the stairs." Conan realized.
"It would've been impossible." Takagi agreed. "Someone must've carried the plastered Fukurokoji-san to the roof and thrown him off. It wasn't an attempted suicide, it was an attempted murder."
"We think the culprit blended into the crowd and left." Inspector Megure added. "Did you see anyone suspicious?"
"I see." Takagi sighed, seeing Conan shake his head.
"Can we see the roof?" Conan requested. "I might remember something."
On the building's roof...
"This is the spot." Mitsuhiko remarked, the group were now standing at the spot where Fukurokoji had been tossed off. "It's directly above where he fell."
"This scene looks eerily familiar..." Fumio muttered, his mind suddenly going back to one particular case back in America where his Uncle Akai had helped the Los Angeles police apprehend the culprit who had actually used a human being as a murder weapon.
"Fumio?" Mitsuhiko blinked at the strange statement.
"It's nothing." Fumio assured. "I'm just recalling a case back in America that has serious déjà vu vibes with this one."
"There are scratch marks, too." Conan noted.
"What are scratch marks?" Genta wondered.
"Those." Haibara pointed out. "See where the dirt has been wiped off the railing?"
"Fukurokoji-san's clothes must have rubbed against it when he fell." Ayumi remarked.
"But why did the culprit bother to carry him to the roof?" Conan wondered.
"They were trying to make it look like a suicide, right?" Haibara reminded.
"There are easier ways to..." Conan pointed out, walking along the roof perimeter. "There are scratch marks here, too." he pointed.
"Which means the culprit initially tried to drop him from here, but he resisted and ended up dropping him over there." Takagi surmised.
"But could he have even been able to resist when he's drunk to unconsciousness?" Fumio inquired.
"Inspector." Chiba ran in. "Fukurokoji-san was drunk and didn't remember anything that happened last night. Also, he said that since he was a loser in our competitive society, there shouldn't be anyone who resents him."
"But the fact of the matter was that he was nearly killed." Inspector Megure reminded.
"We'll try to figure out where Fukurokoji-san went to last night." Takagi declared.
"The culprit made contact with him somewhere." Inspector Megure reminded.
"You two look unconvinced." Haibara saw Conan's and Fumio's deep-thinking expressions.
"That man..." Conan spotted Komatsu Hitoshi walking below them, with Yukigaya Daisuke by his side.
"You told your friend about your bad luck, too?" Conan approached the two men.
"You're the one from last night." Komatsu recognized Conan. "This is Yukigaya Daisuke, I'm proud to call him my friend."
"I've got to get going." Yukigaya noted. "Later."
"He agreed to stop by since we were in the area." Komatsu explained. "He's great at his job, athletic, and from a rich and distinguished family. He's confident in everything. We started working at the same time, but we're nothing alike. After all, he never experienced any kind of setback."
"So, perfect people do exist." Mitsuhiko noted.
"Compared to him, I have terrible luck." Komatsu sighed.
"You just happened to come here last night, too." Conan guessed.
"I didn't happen to come here." Komatsu corrected. "I was waiting for someone. I got a love letter from a woman I don't know. Maybe it was because of all the fuss, but she never showed up."
"A stranger invited you out?" Conan's warning bells were ringing.
"She told me to wait in front of this building at eight." Komatsu recalled. "That's why I waited t the entrance at first. But then, my watch stopped. When I came here so I could see the clock, he fell off the roof. I've got pretty bad luck."
"What's the matter, Conan-kun?" Mitsuhiko asked, the rest of the children running after their leader.
"Detective Takagi said Fukurokoji-san resisted, so the spot the culprit initially tried to push him was different from where he was actually pushed." Conan stated, returning to the building entrance.
"There's another interpretation." Haibara realized.
"This is really starting to look like that case." Fumio mumbled. "In other words, the culprit's real target moved." he informed the others. "The culprit was trying to use Fukurokoji-san as a weapon to kill Komatsu-san by making it look like he was mixed up in a suicide."
"That explains why the culprit lured Komatsu-san here with the love letter and had to carry Fukurokoji-san to the roof." Conan remarked.
"In other words, the culprit is someone who hated both Fukurokoji-san and Komatsu-san." Mitsuhiko concluded.
"Someone has a grudge against you, right?" Genta ran over to Komatsu.
"What?" Komatsu blinked in surprise. "No one has a grudge against me."
"Could you show us the love letter then?" Mitsuhiko requested.
"But anyway..." Haibara read the love letter. "'I've always been drawn to the way you don't let your bad luck get you down. Please go out with me. Thirteen days from now, I'll be waiting in front of Beika Building One at eight o'clock. Sincerely, the one who secretly watches you with love.' There's no name. Who would take this seriously and go out and meet them?"
"You're wrong." Komatsu corrected. "It's one-sided, but there's a girl I like. I went so I could tell her I couldn't go out with her."
"Anyway, this is the part I don't get." Conan looked at the letter. "'P.S: Please bring this letter with you to our meeting.' Why?"
"It's evidence." Ayumi pointed out.
"Taking it back would have been impossible." Haibara mused. "If their plan succeeded, there would have been a huge fuss."
"Why did the culprit ask him to do this?" Conan was puzzled.
"I'm hungry." Komatsu's stomach growled. "Let's go eat."
"That's the restaurant." Komatsu led the group to the cafe his crush was working at. "Sakiko-chan is nice." he peered through the window. "She's so bright and vivacious."
"Is she the one..." Ayumi noted.
"You have one-sided feelings for?" Haibara finished.
"I have lunch here every day." Komatsu stated, after lunch. "It's close to my office."
"Your office is around here, too?" Conan blinked. "But Yukigaya-san said..."
"What about Yukigaya?" Komatsu was confused. "Now that you mention it, he hasn't been coming lately. He used to eat here all the time, too. I'm going to the bathroom." he excused himself.
"You must have some idea, Sakiko-san." Conan remarked.
"You saw through me?" Nagai Sakiko giggled. "About two weeks ago, he asked me out on a date. Yukigaya-san did, that is. But since I turned him down, he stopped coming the very next day."
"Over being rejected by a date?" Genta gaped.
"He must have felt embarrassed." Mitsuhiko noted.
"But Yukigaya-san is a cool guy." Ayumi remarked. "Why did you say no?"
"Because I can't stand confident people like him who think they have everything." Sakiko replied. "Koma-chan is nice, though. He believes in God. He says if bad things keep happening, something just as good is bound to happen eventually. He says it's because God isn't unfair. People who truly believe that are so wonderful. I'll bring your desserts and drinks right away." she suddenly recalled.
"Looks like it's definitely not one-sided like Komatsu-san assumes." Fumio noted amusedly.
"And everyone around them knows it, too." Haibara added.
"He's the only one who hasn't noticed." Genta grinned.
"I know who did it." Conan declared. "It was Yukigaya. They said he stopped by Komatsu-san's place since he was in the arena, right? It would make sense if he hadn't been here in a while."
"But he comes around here every day since his office is here." Haibara caught on.
"It does seem unnatural, but..." Mitsuhiko blinked.
"But if you consider he visited Komatsu-san to see if he realized he committed the crime..." Haibara prompted.
"And if he did it, then I think I know why he had Komatsu-san bring the letter." Conan added.
"But the culprit tried to kill Komatsu-san and Fukurokoji-san." Mitsuhiko reminded.
"That's why I'm still 50% sure it's him." Conan replied. "If he comes up in the police's investigations as well, then it'll be 100%."
"So a suspicious man came up in your inquiry?" Conan tracked down Takagi and Chiba.
"Last night, Fukurokoji-san was drinking along at a bar." Takagi confirmed. "As usual, he was saying he wanted to die. At some point, a man approached him. They left the bar. Apparently, the man's clothes were worn out and his hair was disheveled."
"He was tall, right?" Conan asked.
"Like an athlete." Takagi agreed.
"It must be him." Haibara concluded.
"But in the end, we don't think he's connected to the incident." Chiba noted. "We checked with Fukurokoji-san."
"That was their first meeting?" Conan was surprised.
"That's right." Chiba confirmed. "I'd understand if there was trouble between them, but... bye, Conan-kun." the two officers went their way.
"Apparently, you want to talk to me." Yukigaya stated, Komatsu having led him back to the roof where Fukurokoji was fallen off. "I wonder what it's about."
"I brought him as you asked." Komatsu told the gathered chibi-detectives. "Sakiko-san." he spotted his crush.
"Yukigaya-san, you've never experienced disappointment, right?" Conan led off. "That's amazing."
"I don't know about that." Yukigaya snorted.
"But if that's who you are, it must have been really shocking when Sakiko-san turned you down for a date." Conan taunted.
"So what?" Yukigaya prompted.
"That's why you came up with that plan." Conan stated. "Komatsu-san, it was Yukigaya-san. He's the one who wrote the love letter and dropped Fukurokoji-san from here. He pretended to be a woman and sent the letter. Last night, he led the plastered Fukurokoji-san out of the bar, carried him to the roof, and tried to drop him on top of Komatsu-san. Ultimately though, he failed to kill him as planned."
"There's no way he'd do that." Komatsu protested. "After all, why would he try to kill me? For what end?"
"How would I benefit from killing Komatsu?" Yukigaya asked.
"It would be a devastating blow to Sakiko-san." Fumio answered.
"To me?" Sakiko echoed.
"If he had succeeded, Fukurokoji-san and Komatsu-san would have been beyond saving." Fumio explained. "And if Sakiko-san had seen the letter, you would have been shocked as it would have meant that Komatsu-san had met with his unfortunate death because he was lured out by another woman. And then, you've laughed scornfully at Sakiko-san for getting what she deserves. Isn't that what your aim was, Yukigaya-san? That's why you had Komatsu-san bring the letter, since it was the critical tool to making Sakiko-san sad."
"Why would Sakiko-chan be said if I died holding a love letter from a woman?" Komatsu wondered.
"Notice already." Haibara deathpanned.
"What?" Komatsu gasped, seeing Sakiko's blush.
"Is is because I turned you down for a date?" Sakiko realized. "Just over that?"
"He couldn't forgive you." Conan stated.
"Not a confident man who'd never experienced disappointment." Haibara agreed.
"Hold on." Komatsu voiced. "Why did he try to kill Fukurokoji-san?"
"You haven't explained that." Yukigaya agreed.
"It won't have mattered who it was." Fumio shrugged. "If you dropped a brick, the police would have known it was premeditated murder. But dropping a human, on the other hand... not even the police would have imagined someone using a living human as a murder weapon, right? Fukurokoji-san was dropped only to take Komatsu-san's life; as a human weapon."
"That's why you searched for someone you could use and found Fukurokoji-san." Conan took over. "Since he always said he wanted to die, no one would find it odd if you dropped him off a roof. They'd just think he finally killed himself."
"There's no point in keeping trash like him alive." Yukigaya mocked. "In fact, just him existing in this world is unsightly.
"Yukigaya-san, we have some questions for you." Inspector Megure, Takagi and Chiba entered the scene.
"It's over." Fumio declared.
"Didn't you tell us to come at four, Conan-kun?" Takagi was surprised.
"Didn't I say 3:30?" Conan asked. "He acknowledged t hat he attempted to murder the two men."
"But without evidence, I..." Yukigaya pointed out. "Rather, you can't corner the culprit. And because this culprit is a very exceptional person, there is no inconvenient evidence anywhere."
"That's not exactly true." Fumio corrected.
"We collected this initially, but we had no one to compare it to." Takagi showed the hair strand sample in the evidence bag. "It was stuck to Fukurokoji-san's jacket button."
"We'd like one of your hairs for reference." Inspector Megure requested.
"I can't believe I left a trace on that trash's jacket." Yukigaya hissed. "Even if it's my hair, I have plenty of excuses. But I'd never do anything so unsightly. After all, it wouldn't be like me to end the story without beauty."
"Who is this man?" Inspector Megure was unimpressed by the narcissistic man.
"His egoism knows no bounds." Fumio shook his head.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.