SailorStar9: With Chapter 55 uploaded, this is Chapter 56 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 56: Solving Mysteries at the Poirot Cafe, Part One

Time passes...

"Who comes all the way to Tokyo of that?" Conan teased Hattori, the two detectives were lounging inside Cafe Poirot.

"Shut up." Hattori retorted. "You went all the way to London to tell her how you feel."

"In my case..." Conan stammered. "We just happened to be in London."

"Oh yeah?" Hattori mocked. "I'd like to say a line as cool as that."

"Anyway, are you sure about today?" Conan asked. "The date."

"Yeah." Hattori agreed. "After all, today is..."

"Friday the 13th." Amuro cut in. "Is that why? There are various theories on why it's considered an unlucky day. The most common ones are because Jesus Christ's last supper was attended by 13 people, or because the number 13 doesn't fit the duodecimal system. And Jesus was crucified on a Friday. President Kennedy was also assassinated in Dallas on Friday, wasn't he? But we're in japan." he placed Hattori's iced coffee in front of the tanned teen. "You have nothing to worry about. The 13th of the month just happened to be a Friday: statistically speaking, it happens twice a year. You shouldn't worry about telling the object of your affection how you feel."

"Then again, Jesus and Kennedy didn't die on a Friday." Fumio supplied helpfully.

"But on Friday the 13th," Iori Muga, in his Wada Shin'ichi guise, interrupted. "On Friday the 13th of October 1307, King Phillip IV had all the Knights Templar in France arrested. They were unjustly tortured and burnt at the stake. On the Friday of June 13th 1483, the notorious Richard III had all of his advisors arrested for treason. Julius Caesar was also betrayed and murdered by Brutus on Friday the 13th. Today is a very unlucky day. Even in Japan, it should be avoided. Excuse me." he apologized. "I happened to overhear your conversation and couldn't help myself."

"Does he come here often?" Conan whispered to Amuro.

"No, I think it's his first time here." Amuro replied. "He came in right after you did."

"Welcome." Azusa greeted their next customer.

"They're still not here?" Ozumi Meisuke was surprised to find himself the first among his group to arrive. "Fine then." he shrugged.

"You're with the Beika University drama club that made a reservation, correct?" Amuro confirmed. "Your friends aren't here yet."

"Sheesh, we're celebrating Yui's birthday here today." Ozumi tsked. "When they show up, tell them they can start without me." he placed his sling bag on one of the cushioned seats around their reserved table. "My stomach hasn't been feeling well since this afternoon." he excused himself to the toilet.

Sometime later...

"Seriously?" Anzai Tengo entered the cafe with Yamashita Yui. "Don't tell me we got here first."

"No," Azusa replied. "Ozumi-san arrived earlier. He's in the bathroom."

"Ozumi-kun didn't seem well this afternoon." Yamashita noted.

"Then, I'll have you to myself while your boyfriend's gone." Anzai pulled Yamashita into him.

"Stop that." Yamashita pushed Anzai off and pushed him over to their reserved table. "Tengo, I'm telling you just in case, but don't say anything about that. Nagatsuka-kun's still not here." she noticed.

"Yeah." Anzai took a seat opposite Yamashita. "He's in the middle of filming your birthday video right now. After all, he's in love with you. He always glares at me when I flirt with you."

"He's just upset that you're flirting with his friend's girlfriend." Yamashita defended. "Ozumi-kun and Nagasaki-kun went to the same high school. You and I are also childhood friends. We're just messing around."

"Just friends, huh?" Anzai echoed. "Either way, they'll find out soon enough."

"I thought you were just childhood friends." Nagatsuka Minoru cut in.

"You're late." Anzai chided.

"I got lost." Nagatsuka replied.

"Lost?" Anzai echoed. "We've been here plenty of times before hunting for locations."

"Last year, we put on a play based on this location." Yamashita reminded. "We came here together, then."

"Our previous president suggested we build a set identical to this place." Anzai added. "We even measured the size of the table and height of the chairs. Right?" he turned to Amuro.

"I wasn't working here, then." Amuro answered. "Azusa-san, do you remember?"

"Yes." Azusa recalled. "I was asked about how we interact with customers and serve dishes."

"Have a seat." Anzai sat Nagasaki down. "Let's watch Yui's birthday video together. You finished filming your part, right?"

"Yeah, I just sent it to your laptop." Nagasaki replied. "But Ozumi's not here yet."

"Fumio-kun, what's wrong?" Amuro noticed his son was staring intently at the toilet door.

"Ozumi-san..." Fumio started. "He's taking quite a long time, isn't he?"

"Indeed." Amuro conceded.

"We're going to make some noise." Anzai informed Conan and Hattori who were seated at the next table. "Don't mind us. It's not turning on." he blinked when the power button did nothing. "Is the battery dead? Hey, miss." he turned to Azusa. "Could we borrow an outlet?" plugging on the wire extension, he plugged in the laptop using the extension outlet Azusa lent him.

"No way." Yamashita gasped when the light suddenly went out after a spark was seen from the plug. "A blackout?"

"I just saw a spark." Nagasaki added.

"Yeah, from the outlet." Anzai agreed.

"Azusa-nee-san, the breaker." Fumio had already hopped off his usual seat and used the backlight of his handphone to guide him to the breaker.

Just then, in the darkness, Anzai suddenly let out a scream in pain.

Without a minute's hesitation, Azusa turned the breaker on.

"What's all this noise about?" Ozumi exited the toilet, just as the lights turned back on.

Seeing Anzai fallen on the floor with a bloodied kitchen knife beside him, Yamashita screamed. "Tengo! Hand in there, Tengo." she hurried over to the fallen man.

"Don't!" Hattori warned as he and Conan sprung into action.

"Don't touch him." Conan cautioned.

"This is murder." Hattori knelt beside the victim. "Don't carelessly damage the crime scene."

"Looks like this is an attempted murder." Amuro corrected, looking closer at Anzai. "Azusa-san, call the ambulance and the police."

"Since he was stabbed with such a long sashimi knife, I thought he died instantly." Hattori remarked. "But there's no need to call the police. When he was stabbed, some blood flew onto my face."

"And onto my glasses, too." Conan added.

"His blood must've gotten on the culprit's hands or sleeves." Hattori concluded. "You can't be serious." he whined, seeing the other drama club members' hands were clean. "Why isn't there blood on anyone?"

"You sir." Amuro spotted Iori at the door. "The man quietly trying to leave. Could you show us your hands?"

"I wasn't trying to leave." Iori corrected showing his clean hands.

"There's no blood on him, either." Hattori gaped. "Why does every case have to be so hard?"

"Conan," Fumio deathpanned at the bespectacled boy. "Are you really sure you aren't touched by a Shinigami?"

"Ano ne..." Conan twitched.

"Fumio-kun." Amuro fought back a chuckle. "Give your mother a call and inform her we'll be late."

"Okay." Fumio nodded.

"I see." Inspector Megure stated. "Due to the thin wire wrapped around the plug powering victim Anzai Tengo-san's laptop, when the victim plugged it into this extension cord, it shorted out and caused a blackout. And in the darkness, someone in the store stabbed the victim."

"Yes, most likely." Takagi agreed. "But, there's no blood on the hands and sleeves of the victim's three friends or the other customer. There's none on Conan-kun, Hattori-kun and Fumio-kun, who were also inside the cafe, or employees Amuro-san and Azusa-san. All of this despite the fact that Conan-kun and Hattori-kun had blood on their faces and the table they were sitting at were splattered with blood."

"Did the victim always carry this laptop with him?" Inspector Megure asked.

"Yes, he kept it in that bag on the floor." Yamashita replied.

"But he left it in the club room all the time." Nagasaki supplied. "Anyone could've done something to it."

"He had a lot of enemies." Ozumi added.

"He frequently flirted with other men's girlfriends and caused trouble." Nagasaki explained.

"He even flirted with my girlfriend, Yui." Ozumi stated.

"It's because we're childhood friends." Yamashita protested. "I told you he was just messing around."

"His dad is a member of the Diet." Ozumi expressed. "I heard he smoothed a lot of disputes for him behind the scene."

"By the way, the victim seems to have been sitting in this seat before the blackout occurred." Takagi turned to the upturned chair. "Where was everyone else sitting then?"

"I was sitting across from him in the booth." Yamashita replied.

"I was sitting next to Anzai in that chair." Nagasaki pointed.

"What about you, Ozumi-san?" Takagi inquired.

"I arrived before the others." Ozumi replied. "After setting my bag in the booth, I was in the bathroom the whole time. My stomach hasn't been feeling well since this afternoon."

"That makes you the only one who could've wasted the blood off." Inspector Megure reasoned.

"If you think I did it, you can search me." Ozumi objected. "Even if I washed it off with water, there'd still be a something-or-other reaction, right?"

"Luminol." Amuro answered. "It's used to detect nitrogen-containing compounds. When mixed with hydrogen peroxide and sprayed into blood, it reflects a pale light. I doubt Ozumi-san will produce a luminol reaction. Before the police arrived, I checked the security camera footage. He came to Poirot first and went into the bathroom. Anzai-san and Yamashita-san arrived next. Finally, Nagasaki-san arrived some time later. The blackout occurred when they tried to watch the birthday video on the laptop. Until the footage cut off due to the blackout, the bathroom door remained closed the whole time. I doubt he could've have known who was sitting where."

"But the bathroom had a peephole." Takagi pointed out.

"The glass is frosted." Amuro opened the toilet door. "You can't see what's going on in the store."

"Let me see." Inspector Megure moved in. "You're right."

"Tou-san." Fumio tugged Amuro's trousers and pointed to the hastily stuffed toilet paper core.

"Good eye, Fumio-kun." Amuro praised.

"Inspector." Takagi reported. "I examined the possessions of those three. Ozumi-san had keys, cigarettes, a lighter, a wallet, a phone and a present for Yui-san which contained a necklace. Yamashita Yui-san had a handkerchief, tissues, makeup, keys and a wallet. Nagasaki-san had eye drops, a wallet, a phone, and a present for Yui-san containing gloves. I searched Ozumi-san's bag as well, but didn't find anything he could've used to commit a crime."

"Listen, detectives." Ozumi voiced. "You seem to think we did it."

"Couldn't it be an outsider?" Yamashita suggested.

"Maybe someone was waiting outside the store for the blackout and came inside to stab him with night vision goggles." Nagasaki reasoned.

"That seems unlikely." Iori stated. "Immediately after that man was stabbed and screamed, I stood in front of the entrance so no one could get out."

"That's why you were standing next to the door when the lights come on." Hattori noted. "You must have pretty good night vision."

"No." Iori took out his phone. "I just happened to be using my phone to listen to music. I used that faint light."

"Come to think of it, you haven't told us your name yet." Takagi reminded.

"I'm Wada Shin'ichi." Iori answered. "I work in medicine. So I'm curious why no one has blood on them."

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