SailorStar9: So with Chapter 92 uploaded, this is Chapter 93 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: Established!Furuya Rei (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami

Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.

Chapter 93: Welcome to Bocchan Restaurant, Part Two

In the Bocchan Restaurant...

"Got it." Inspector Megure got a call from the coroner. "The autopsy discovered something strange about Red Shirt's body. It's about the ladder that was left by his feet. When a person is hanged using a step of that height, not much force should be applied to the neck. But there were signs that a rather strong force was applied to the body's neck."

"What does that mean?" Mouri asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's possible that a third party was involved." Inspector Megure concluded.

"I see." Mouri realized. "Red Shirt's murder was made to look like a suicide and the culprit is one of Bocchan, Yama Arashi or Nodaiko."

With the Detective Boys...

"They're in the waiting room." Toyama informed the kids. "The police and Mouri-san are talking to them."

Leading his group, Conan ran to the makeshift interrogation room.

"Those three probably won't lying." Conan concluded, the group were holding their own meeting after eavesdropping on the interrogation. "They didn't kill Red Shirt. Besides, it's even if it's possible that they hated Uranari enough to kill him, they wouldn't have tried to frame Red Shirt for it."

"In other words, those three are innocent of both murders." Haibara noted.

"But that leaves zero people who had motive and alibi." Mitsuhiko pointed out.

"Maybe, it could be the opposite." Fumio voiced. "It was Red Shirt who the culprit wanted to kill. To do that, it was best to make it look like a suicide, but they need a motive for suicide. So, in order to create a false motive, they murdered Uranari and directed suspicion towards Red Shirt."

Outside the courtyard...

"Did you figure out who the culprit is?" Mitsuhiko asked, Conan suddenly had a brainwave and led the group out to the tree.

"What I figured out is how the culprit hanged Red Shirt." Conan answered. "What were you going to say earlier?" he asked Haibara. "About regardless of whether it was Uranari or Red Shirt?"

"Either way, maybe the culprit used their romantic rivalry against each other." Haibara elaborated.

"Their romantic rivalry started when that lady started working here six months ago, right?" Ayumi reminded.

"I believe she said it was because her younger sister died of an illness." Haibara supplied.

"She wanted to fulfill the desire of her younger sister who loved the novel 'Bocchan' and she said wanted to work here." Mitsuhiko added.

"So, she applied for the job, instead." Fumio frowned. "Wait, the younger sister died of subarachnoid hemorrhaging, didn't she?"

"I see." Conan's brain went into overdrive. "If they really wanted to..."

"Looks like you've figured it out." Fumio smiled.

"The question is how to prove it." Conan stated. "If that's true, that would explain everything."

"What we need are evidence." Fumio reminded.

"Let's split up and investigate." Conan sent the group off into pairs; Haibara and Ayumi remained in the restaurant to gather up the employees' testaments, Mitsuhiko and Genta were sent to the nearby hardware stores to locate the items the culprit needed and Conan and Fumio headed to the hospitals to find out more about the younger Toyama's injury.

Afterwards...

"Right, we have all the evidence now." Conan confirmed.

"But we're still missing the key piece." Haibara reminded.

"It's just speculation, but that's..." Conan concurred. "Regarding the motive, ultimately, we have to get the culprit to admit it."

Outside the yard...

"What?" Toyama blinked when the Detective Boys confronted her. "You're saying I lied?"

"About Red Shirt and Uranari." Conan clarified. "After all, you were the one who pushed them towards becoming romantic rivals."

"We checked." Haibara added. "With Bocchan, Nodaiko and Yama Arashi."

"You set it up beforehand, didn't you?" Conan asked. "In order to frame Red Shirt for Uranari's murder."

"I don't know why you think I did it, but I have an alibi." Toyama smiled.

"Both the night before last when Uranari was killed and last night when Red Shirt was hanged, you stayed at Kiyo's house." Conan affirmed.

"The night before last you just happened to visit, and the last night was because the murder scared you." Ayumi added. "Isn't that what you said?"

"Because it's true." Toyama insisted.

"But even if you stayed over, it was still possible for you to do it." Conan declared. "Both cases happened in the middle of the night; as long as you slipped out when Kiyo was asleep."

"Kiyo said so herself." Haibara added. "It was as though she'd been drugged by sleeping pills."

"You created a fake alibi and first invited Uranari to the park the night before last." Conan recounted. "You stabbed him to death."

"And then, seeing the sole witness was a stray cat, you battered him half to death." Fumio continued. "In order to make it seem like the crime scene was here, you tossed Uranari's body into the lake. In the end, suspicions fell on Red Shirt, who lives in the restaurant, just as you planned. In that way, you created a motive for Red Shirt's suicide. Last night, you asked Red Shirt to meet you, knocked him out, and killed him by stringing him with a rope; thus, making it look like suicide."

"If you just wanted Red Shirt's death to look like suicide, you could have lifted the unconscious Red Shirt and wrapped a rope around his neck." Conan took over. "But you chose that method because you wanted to get revenge with your own hands, right? With your strength, you could've done it."

"But if I lifted a person using the rope, wouldn't there be scrapes on the branch?" Toyama asked.

"That's the ingenious part, you used ice." Fumio stated. "Like ice sculptured into the shape of a horse saddle. That wouldn't leave ant scrape marks behind and the ice will melt come morning. However, too bad there are traces of the ice left behind. The branch itself was strangely damp, as well as Red Shirt's hair. There is also one more thing to prove your guilt; you had to sure the ice won't melt until the time to use it."

"You needed a cooler and dry ice." Mitsuhiko declared.

"The store employee remembered you buying them." Genta spoke.

"My alibi wasn't ironclad." Toyama sighed. "I was strong, and I did buy a cooler and dry ice. But why would I kill the two of them? I have no motive."

"Is that so?" Fumio raised a brow. "Do you really have no idea?"

"You told me about your younger sister." Ayumi reminded.

"Subarachnoid hemorrhaging also appears in young people." Fumio supplied. "But it also happens if you hit your head really hard. We looked into the circumstances of your sister's death. Her life was taken, but they'd never be charged. It was then you swore revenge, didn't you? And those two drunk men..."

"Four days later, Natsumi died." Toyama wept, recalling the incident. "It may not be malicious, but those two killed my sister."

"So, you looked for them." Conan concluded.

"Madonna, that word was my only clue." Toyama turned to the sky. "And it led me to Bocchan Restaurant. I got a job, spent six months developing their romantic rivalry, and with these hands... although, in the end, you Detective Boys figured it out. But this is for the best." if I'm not unpunished, it would be a lie." she sank to her knees. "If I'd forced Natsumi to go to the hospital six months ago, maybe she wouldn't have died."

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