SailorStar9: With Chapter 42 uploaded, this is Chapter 43 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 43: The Detective Boys in a Grove, Part One
Time passes...
"Meal tickets?" the Detective Boys stopped in their tracks after Professor Agasa informed them of the meal tickets he won.
"Did you win them in a lottery again?" Genta asked.
"I thought we could go to the high-class restaurant on the top floor of the Beika Department Store." Professor Agasa chuckled. "Don't celebrate yet. You've got another good thing waiting for you."
"You have eye bags under your eyes, Haibara-san." Fumio pointed out.
"Last night, I found a cockroach just before going to bed." Haibara yawned. "It took until four in the morning to get rid of it."
"I see..." Fumio blinked.
"The Professor went to sleep before I did, though." Haibara deathpanned.
"You do know you can kill cockroaches with boric acid, right?" Fumio reminded. "Kaa-san has this boric acid paste that is totally natural. You just combine three teaspoons of boric acid with three teaspoons of sugar and three teaspoons of water. Mix the ingredients into a paste, then apply it in areas where you'd spotted the roaches. Two weeks later, wham, no more cockroach."
Inside the Beika Department Store, we find the entire mall was decorated from top to bottom for Christmas.
"It's amazing!" Ayumi gawked at the Christmas tree that stood in the middle of the ground floor. "The department store is decked out for Christmas."
"Now that I think about it," Conan mused as he watched the store employees hand out balloons. "Fumio, didn't you and your mother spent the last seven years in America? What is Christmas like there?"
"Pretty much the same here in Japan." Fumio replied. "Kaa-san always handmade her Christmas presents; her Christmas ornament gifts were a great hit last year."
"And this year?" Conan asked. "The both of you are celebrating with Amuro-san, right?"
"Probably..." Fumio thought for a while.
"The elevator is over there." Professor Agasa pointed, before the kids wandered too far off.
"I'm stuffed." Genta petted his stomach after lunch. "What is it, Professor?" he asked.
"Something good's happening after this, right?" Mitsuhiko pressed.
"I actually won a gift certificate to this department store, in addition to the meal tickets." Professor Agasa declared. "It's almost Christmas, so I thought we could use this ten thousand yen gift certificate to buy presents for you. Where did they go?" he blinked.
"Over there." Conan pointed to the door, as Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi left the restaurant.
"What I won as a ten thousand yen..." Professor Agasa reminded.
"Maybe I'll go check out the new Fusae brand clutches." Haibara stated.
"Ai-kun, you too?" Professor Agasa sighed.
"Well, I suppose I'm lucky kaa-san always made her Christmas presents by hand." Fumio remarked.
"Did you call me, sir?" Hosogoe Ujiyasu exited from the kitchen after a customer requested his presence.
"Are you the chef here?" the balding man inquired.
"Yes, sir." Hosogoe smiled. "I'm the head chef here. Is there a problem with the food?"
"Actually, my husband is insisting that the secret ingredient in this soup is miso." the wife voiced.
"Yes, it is Haccho miso." Hosogoe confirmed. "I'm impressed that you noticed."
"Chef." one of Hosogoe's assistants whispered into his ear. "We received another call from that customer. They said they're here at the department store today and want to speak to you in person."
"We can't let them start a commotion here in the restaurant." Hosogoe replied. "Tell them we'll talk in the stairway next to the restaurant in thirty minutes."
About thirty minutes later...
"I guess we should look for those kids." Professor Agasa remarked.
"There's no need for that." Conan corrected, the trio had left the restaurant. "I've been receiving tons of messages telling us to come right away because they found what they wanted. They all sent pictures, too." he opened the MMS. "Genta's on the seventh floor where the sporting goods store is. Mitsuhiko's on the fifth floor where the camera store is. Ayumi-chan's on the fourth floor where the toy store is. And Haibara's on the first floor where the bags and brand-name products are."
"Everyone's expecting me to buy them something." Professor Agasa chuckled.
"Conan, what's wrong?" Fumio blinked when Conan looked at his watch.
"Nothing, I was just thinking it's been thirty minutes." Conan replied.
"What was that scream?" Professor Agasa wondered when they heard a pained yell in the distance.
"It came from the stairs." Conan took off running.
"I swear you're a jinx, Conan." Fumio stated, following the group's leader as they barreled through crowd.
"Isn't he the chef of the restaurant we were just at?" Professor Agasa gaped when they saw the gravely wounded Hosogoe lying by the staircase with a knife stabbed into his stomach.
"The culprit..." Hosogoe winced. "Ran downstairs..."
"Fumio." Conan looked at the blond boy.
"On it." Fumio had already produced his cellphone and making a call to the police and ambulance.
"Guys, can you hear me?" Conan shouted down the Detective Badge. "Someone was just stabbed at the tenth floor restaurant area. The culprit is currently fleeing down the stairs. If you're near the stairs, check to see if anyone's running down them. Haibara, explain the situation to the department store reception desk and tell them to stop any customers who are short of breath from leaving." he instructed, running down the staircase. "The rest of you just look at the culprit. Remember their face, clothes and distinguishing characteristics. Got it? They tried to kill someone. There's no telling what they'll do if they think you know. Whatever you do, don't try anything."
"So, at Conan-kun's direction, these three are the ones who were caught at the exit in a hurry to leave." Inspector Megure noted, the Detective Boys having took in the three suspects. "All three of you seem rather sweaty."
"I was looking for a bathroom." Kamaya Takashi explained. "The bathrooms on every floor was full. I was stopped while trying to go to a nearby convenience store so I could use their bathroom."
"What about you?" Inspector Megure turned to Shikama Mitsuko.
"I was looking for my wallet." Shikama replied. "I thought I might've left it somewhere, so I've been running around all the shops I shopped at today."
"Did you find your wallet?" Inspector Megure inquired.
"Yes." Shikama answered. "When I took a closer look, I found it inside my bag."
"What about you?" Inspector Megure questioned Miyadai Masaru.
"I had Thai food at the restaurant area here." Miyadai replied. "I'm a chef, so I was here to study the flavors. The sauteed vegetables I had were particularly spicy. I couldn't stop sweating, so I was hurrying home to take a shower."
"All three of them do have a reason for being in a hurry." Takagi noted.
"That leaves the testimony of the kids who say they saw the culprit." Inspector Megure turned to the Detective Boys.
"Don't worry." Conan assured. "They didn't see their face, but they say they remember the culprit's distinguishing characteristics."
"We got a good look." Mitsuhiko confirmed.
"They were pretty small." Genta started. "They had the number 2 on their clothes, which were gray. It was the same color as what Haibara's wearing."
"You're wrong." Mitsuhiko interjected. "They were on the larger side, and they were wearing dark gray clothes. They had a masculine run, too."
"No, they were small!" Genta insisted. "They probably just looked big because you're so small."
"No, I'm sure of it." Mitsuhiko insisted. "It was a large man."
"I thought it was a woman." Ayumi cut in. "They were wearing gray clothes so light that they were almost white. They were average height, just a little taller than the Professor."
Wait a minute... Conan gawked.
"This is a problem." Haibara noted.
"No kidding." Fumio sighed.
All their stories are totally different. Conan was stunned as the three started arguing among themselves.
"To summarize what you told us," Takagi intervened. "The culprit who stabbed Hosogoe-san around these stairs on the tenth floor restaurant area, according to Genta-kun, who was on the seventh floor, was a smaller person with a number 2 on their clothes which were a gray color similar to Ai-chan's clothes. According to Mitsuhiko-kun, who was on the fifth floor, it was a large person with a masculine run, wearing dark gray clothes. And according to Ayumi-chan, who was on the fourth floor, it was a woman slightly taller than Agasa-san, wearing light gray clothes."
"But all three of the people who were stopped from leaving the department store were wearing gray." Inspector Megure pointed out.
"Although the shades are different." Takagi added. "Kamaya-san, you're wearing a gray similar to Ai-chan's clothes, like Genta-kun described."
"You can't be serious." Kamaya protested. "I seriously was just looking for an empty bathroom stall."
"What's this?" Inspector Megure peered at the two fingers bandaged together. "You seem to have injured the fingers on your right hand."
"I sprained it." Kamaya explained. "I was in a hurry and hit the bathroom door."
"Then, the person wearing light gray like Ayumi-chan described..." Takagi started.
"Wait a minute." Shikama cut in. "Didn't I tell you? I was running around the shops I visited today while looking for my wallet."
"But the wallet was in your bag, right?" Takagi inquired. "Why were you in such a hurry to leave?"
"I was in a hurry because I remembered the TV drama I missed was airing a rerun tonight." Shikama replied, coughing.
"There's no number 2 on your clothes, either." Inspector Megure noted. "The brooch on your chest does resemble a number. Not a 2, but a 6. Miyadai-san, that leaves you, who's wearing dark gray clothes like Mitsuhiko-kun described."
"Wait a minuted." Miyadai objected. "I wasn't lying when I said I was sweating because of the spicy food I ate, and I was in a hurry to leave so I could go home and take a shower. I actually came here because I heard rumors that the Thai restaurant here serves a soup that tastes like ours. I tried it, but didn't think it tasted that similar, so I left without saying anything."
"By the way, there seems to be something written on the back of your jacket." Inspector Megure noted.
"But it's not a number." Miyadai removed his scarf to reveal the 'Tokyo Spirits' logo.
"Then, there's the reason why Ayumi-chan thought the culprit was a woman." Inspector Megure added.
"Why did you think that?" Takagi asked.
"I just thought they were a woman." Ayumi answered.
"Inspector Megure." Chiba ran in. "We just learned the victim Hosogoe-san had connections to these three. Kayama-san worked at a restaurant where the victim was a head chef until two years ago. But his attitude during work was bad, so he was fired. Shikama-san lives in the apartment next to the victim's. Apparently, they frequently got in arguments because her dog barked too loudly. And three years ago, Miyadai-san created a commotion when he claimed the victim ripped off his food. The local police had to show up."
"I see." Inspector Megure nodded. "It looks like we'll need to question the three of you more thoroughly."
"Before you do, could you ask the three of them if they have gloves?" Conan piped in.
"That's right." Fumio realized. "The culprit's fingerprints weren't on the weapon. So, if the victim used gloves and the victim's blood got on then, it'll make sense if the culprit threw the gloves away."
"I have some." Miyadai pulled out his brown gloves.
"So do I." Shikama took out her beige gloves.
"It was cold out." Kayama revealed his black gloves.
"There doesn't seem to be blood on any of them." Inspector Megure noted.
"According to the coroner, the victim was bleeding because he tried to remove the knife himself." Chiba reported. "It's possible the culprit didn't get much blood on him."
"In any case, well be questioning the three of you in a separate room." Inspector Megure declared and led the three suspects off.
"Then, how come you couldn't see the culprit's face?" Conan asked Genta after confirming his description.
"Because I was in the sporting goods area where some basketball players taking the stairs got in the way." Genta replied.
"Oh, them?" the sporting goods store's clerk recalled. "That was the Haido High Basketball team. Their new uniform was just completed today, so the entire team came to pick them up. They'll all so tall, they look like adults."
"Do you know what the uniforms look like?" Conan asked.
"I took a picture to commemorate it." the store clerk showed Conan the picture.
"They're the same gray as the clothes Ai-kun is wearing." Professor Agasa noted.
"The culprit was wearing the same gray color." Genta insisted. " "They quickly passed in front of the basketball players heading for the stairs and went down."
"Then, the basketball players could have seen the culprit, too." Fumio reasoned.
"Maybe not." Genta corrected. "I shouted at them to move, so they were all looking at me."
"But basketball uniforms have numbers on them, right?" Mitsuhiko reminded.
"Then, maybe you mistook someone on the basketball team wearing number 2 for the culprit." Haibara surmised.
"I didn't make a mistake." Genta retorted. "He was the only one running."
"But if there are numbers everywhere..." Professor Agasa trailed.
"No, Genta definitely saw the number 2." Conan was confident. "There's no number 1, 2, or 3 in basketball."
"But, none of those three were wearing the number 2." Fumio reminded.
"That's the thing." Conan conceded. "If only you'd taken pictures of the culprit. Genta, your hands are full with a bat and glove." he noted, pulling out Genta's picture. "Who took this picture?"
"The basketball players I mentioned earlier." Genta replied.
"Looks like Mitsuhiko and Haibara took selfies." Conan scanned through the photos. "Ayumi-chan, you didn't take yours yourself, did you?"
"Nope." Ayumi nodded. "A nice lady working at the toy store took it for me. When I told her I got a message from you saying the culprit who stabbed someone was coming down the stairs, she showed me where they were."
"Then, that employee..." Mitsuhiko started.
"May also have seen the culprit." Haibara finished.
"In any case, let's go to the toy store." Conan expressed.
Meanwhile...
"Not Christmas shopping?" Amuro was surprised to see Ami at home.
"Too much hassle." Ami shrugged, letting the tanned male in. "I learned my lesson after the first Christmas in America."
"And, what're you giving this year?" Amuro gave the coffee table in the living room a glance-over and seeing the glittery wrapped presents.
"Now, that would be telling." Ami grinned.
"Tease." Amuro smirked.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.