SailorStar9: With Chapter 127 posted, I present Chapter 128 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 128: The Unfortunate and Suspicious Victim
Time passes...
"I'm really looking forward to it." Genta remarked, the Detective Boys were walking past Doterasu Shrine where Okamoto Jupita was praying at.
"Hand over your money." a masked robber demanded, holding out an ice pick in Jupita's face as he was leaving the shrine. Grabbing the student's wallet that was tucked in the back pocket of his pants, the robber kicked Jupita down the shrine staircase.
"What happened?" Mitsuhiko asked, the Detective Boys rushing to the scene.
"Someone pushed this man down the stairs and fled." the old lady walking past replied.
"You guys call an ambulance." Conan instructed. "Call the police, too."
In Beika Central Hospital...
"My younger brother will be all right, won't he?" Okamoto Juria, Jupita's older sister, asked the tending doctor.
"I can't say for certain, but we'll do our best." the doctor assured.
"Thank you calling the ambulance." Juria turned to the Detective Boys.
"They caught the culprit, didn't they?" Ayumi inquired.
"Yes, but I don't know why my brother came to Beika City in the first place." Juria admitted. "When I spoke to Jupita just before he was mugged..." she recalled Jupita telling her he was at Waiha City.
"Aren't Waiha City and Beika City in opposite directions?" Fumio wondered.
"So, why did he lie about coming here of all places?" Juria was confused.
"Juria-kun." Saimon Kotaro greeted his student. "What's going on? What was Jupita-kun doing here out of all places?"
"Is there a reason why the two of you hate Beika City so much?" Fumio was puzzled.
"Two people we're connected to live here in the city." Juria explained in the hospital's yard. "One of them is my ex I broke up with despite being engaged and the other person is our infuriating pest of an enemy; Kariba Yuzuru, the songwriter."
"He's a super successful songwriter who's written a bunch of hits." Ayumi pointed out.
"Publicly, yes." Juria sighed. "I'm a rising songwriter who's studying under Saimon Kotaro-sensei. Kariba Yuzuru used to be one of his students, too."
"I dismissed him because he was rotten to the core." Saimon supplied. "Somehow, he became a hit maker and was even appointed chairman of the Japanese Songwriters Association."
"He's been slandering Saimon-sensei because he was dismissed." Juria growled.
"I can ignore his slander, but I can't forgive him for plagiarizing lyrics." Saimon stated. "Despite being accused several times, he's always gotten away with it? What's even scarier is there are members of the association copying his methods."
"And that utter disgrace to the arts is living here in Beika City?" Fumio echoed in frustration.
"That's right." Juria huffed. "I broke up with my ex Mizutani Ren-kun because of it. When I learned that Kariba was constructing a home in Beika City, I told Mizutani-kun. We're both stubborn, so we ultimately broke up."
"We understand your connections with Beika City, but does your brother have any connections to Beika City?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"Absolutely none." Juria shook her head.
"Maybe he came to visit Mizutani Ren." Haibara suggested.
"Jupita-kun seemed to like Mizutani-kun." Saimon recalled.
"Why don't you ask Mizutani-san if Jupita-san came to see him?" Conan pointed out.
"Then, why did he come to Beika City?" Juria wondered, after Mizutani confirmed Jupita had not visited him.
"We'll find out why Jupita-san came to Beika City." Mitsuhiko declared.
"First we need clues." Conan reminded. "All we know right now is that Jupita-san came to the shrine for some reason. Did Jupita-san have any possessions on him?"
At the nurse's station, the group examined Jupita's dirtied clothes and discovered a receipt in the pants back pocket.
After inquiring from the general store clerk, the Detective Boys found out Jupita had bought a kitchen knife which he placed in his daypack.
At the Doterasu Shrine...
The Detective Boys set to work searching for the missing daypack.
"This was turned in as a lost item." the shrine caretaker handed the backpack over.
Back at the hospital...
"A knife?" Juria echoed, Conan sliding the newly-bought knife over.
"This might serve as a clue." Conan handed Jupita's cellphone over.
"The last number he called is our association." Juria searched the last entry of the call history. "His phone is set to withhold his own number. Why would Jupita call the association?" she pressed the redial button and the staff who answered the call revealed they received a threatening message addressed to Kariba. "Was Jupita trying to kill Kariba Yuzuru?" she gasped.
"Is that really what Jupita-san planning?" Conan was skeptical. "If that was the case, that means he lied about being in Waiha City to fabricate an alibi. Withholding his number wouldn't stop the police from figuring out who the caller was."
"I can't believe Jupita was plotting murder." Juria agreed.
"I'll carry it." Saimon offered to take the backpack to the nurse's station.
"I don't get it." Conan pondered.
"I agree." Fumio concurred. "If that really was his plan, then his behavior is too inconsistent."
"Here we go again." Haibara sighed as Conan and Fumio took off.
After finding a red spotted bandanna in the backpack and Conan remembering said cloth was not in the bag before, he sent the others off to gather more information.
On the hospital roof...
"My brother wasn't trying to kill Kariba Yuzuru?" Juria gasped after Conan and Haibara informed her and Saimon about their findings.
"If he was, then his actions aren't consistent." Conan nodded. "He withheld his number when making the phone threat, yet he allowed the clerk to see his face when he bought the knife. On other words, there's another individual, Person X, involved in this, and they are really the one plotting Kariba-san's murder. While thinking of a way to get away with murder, they happened to learn Jupita-san was going to Beika City. X then realized they could frame Jupita-san; seeing how much Jupita-san loves his sister, he might do something like this. And today, X approached Jupita-san in disguise as he left the general store, came up with an excuse to get him to the deserted shrine, had him drugged with sleeping pills and carried him to the back of the shrine. By hiding Jupita-san from sight, they robbed him of an alibi. X then took Jupita-san's bandanna so they could leave it at the scene of Kariba-san's murder to frame him. Afterwards, they left the phone threat on Jupita-san's call history and took a metal pipe before heading to Kariba-san's home. Upon learning that he was out, they hid in the yard so they could attack him when he came home. However, maybe the sleeping pills were ineffective, as Jupita-san eventually woke up. When he saw the shrine, he must have prayed, realizing his daypack was missing, he returned to the shrine, but was unfortunately attacked by a mugger. Elsewhere, X, who was still waiting for Kariba-san, couldn't carry out the murder because they received a call saying Jupita-san had been taken away in an ambulance. And because he was taken away in an ambulance, Jupita-san had the perfect alibi. Therefore, X gave up framing him for Kariba-san's murder and rushed to the hospital."
"Could it be...?" Juria turned to her teacher.
"Saimon-san is X." Conan revealed. "However, despite not carrying out his plan, he still left evidence behind: the phone threat left in Jupita-san's call history. He failed to erase that, so he at least returned the bandanna, that was physical evidence, to the daypack. The only person who had the opportunity to do that was Saimon-san, who took the daypack to the nurse's station."
"I would've done anything to stop the evil he was spreading." Saimon declared. "As his former teacher, it's my duty." just then, he received an incoming call. Putting the call on loudspeaker, the person on the other end of the line revealed that Kariba had been called to the police station for tax evasion and the accusations of plagiarism were also going to be reevaluated.
"Did you already solve it?" Mitsuhiko complained, the others running in.
"Did you also figure out why Jupita-san came to Beika City?" Genta pressed.
"My turn then." Fumio stepped up. "Jupita-san lied because he couldn't tell you the truth." he informed Juria. "Since he was going to visit your ex who you'd broken up after an argument."
"When Jupita-kun called me two days ago, he asked me not to tell his sister." Mizutani explained. "I had to play dumb."
"Jupita-san didn't buy a knife to use as a weapon." Fumio revealed. "He was planning on using it to cook."
"He said he came up with a tasty recipe and wanted me to taste-test it for him." Mizutani nodded. "He must've bought one since I told him I didn't have a decent knife at home."
"Why would he ask you to taste-test his cooking?" Juria wondered.
"It was probably just an excuse to visit him." Conan reasoned. "Maybe he wanted to ask Mizutani-san to get back together with you. That's why Jupita-san prayed at the shrine."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.