SailorStar9: With Chapter 60 uploaded, this is Chapter 61 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 61: The Woman With White Hands, Part Two
"But like he said, his right hand was behind his head in the Polaroid." Mitsuhiko pointed out. "It's hard to imagine someone could write so clearly on their face."
"That's the thing." Conan agreed. "I haven't solved that thing yet." what's this piece of paper? He spotted the tab of a receipt peeking out from under a cushion. A convenience store receipt? It's dated this morning. "Come to think of it Wakasa-sensei," he voiced. "You were late this morning, which was unusual. Why?"
"Why?" Wakasa-sensei echoed. "When I checked my fridge as I was leaving this morning, I noticed it was empty. I rushed to the convenience store to buy more groceries. When I go shopping after school, most things are sold out. Don't tell the other teachers." she reminded.
"Inspector Megure!" Takagi reported back. "There really was a woman wearing a broad-brimmed hat and sunglasses. Several of the residents saw her. The security camera footage also captured her riding up and down several times. He face was hidden by the hat, though."
"We found the weapon." Inspector Megure stated. "It was the five iron in Banno-san's golf bag. Also inside Iiyama-san's bag was the camera believed to have been used to take the Polaroid and the pen used to write the note. Unfortunately, the culprit's fingerprints weren't on either of them."
"Was this really the work of a crazy fan like Banno-san claims?" Takagi wondered.
"We'll pursue that possibility for now." Inspector Megure concluded. "Takagi, go to Banno-san's management agency and check his fan letters for anyone whose handwriting matches the 'I love you' note."
"What are you doing, Haibara-san?" Fumio blinked, seeing Haibara draw on her cheek using her phone screen as a reflective surface.
"She's trying to see if she can write on her own face by using her phone as a mirror." Ayumi replied.
"There are apps that make your screen reflective." Haibara added. "I'm using one of those to write on my cheek. But it's not working. What?" she twitched when Conan and Mitsuhiko burst out laughing.
"Ai-chan, it looks like you have a spiral on your cheek." Ayumi whispered.
"This is a permanent marker!" Haibara gasped in shock, giving the maker pen a closer look.
Fumio just sighed, "Wakasa-sensei," he turned to the assistant homeroom teacher. "I don't suppose you have some rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball lying around, do you?"
"I do." Wakasa-sensei nodded. "Oh dear." she spotted Genta lying on the repainted screen. "Looks like Genta-kun got tired and fell asleep."
"Genta-kun, wake up!" Ayumi urged.
"You're sleeping on the tiger painting Wakasa-sensei and Fumio worked so hard to recreate." Mitsuhiko agreed.
"Sorry." Genta yawned and sat up.
"Genta-kun, you look like a tiger." Ayumi giggled, seeing the paint being stuck on Genta's cheek.
"Your sweat must have dissolved the paint and made it stick to your cheek." Mitsuhiko reasoned.
"It's okay." Wakasa-sensei assured. "This should be easy enough to fix."
"Don't touch it." Haibara chided. "I'll wipe it off for you."
I see. Conan grinned. I was overthinking it.
"Anyway, the killer is that woman with the broad-brimmed hat and sunglasses." Banno argued. "It was probably that woman in the photo with white hands. Hurry up and find her."
"They'll never find her." Conan cut in. "Because that woman is Banno-san."
"Please Wakasa-sensei." Inspector Megure sighed. "We need you to wait in your room until we contact you."
"But, these children claimed to have figured something out." Wakasa-sensei reasoned.
"Figured something out?" Inspector Megure echoed.
"It's Genta's hand." Conan pulled Genta's hand under the Inspector's nose. "Try smelling it. Doesn't it smell like something?"
"You're right." Inspector Megure agreed. "It smells like cosmetics."
"That's right." Conan nodded. "That's the smell of the foundation that women use when doing their makeup."
"What's that doing on Genta-kun's hand?" Inspector Megure wondered.
"Remember how we said we came into this room and found the body because the music won't stop?" Conan reminded. "It got on Genta's hand when he pushed the door to get inside. And if you're wondering what that was doing on the door, it's because the woman saw banged on the door, too. Sensei, do women put foundation on their hands?"
"No, not normally." Wakasa-sensei replied.
"Then, maybe the suspicious woman we saw was a dark-skinned man wearing foundation to make himself paler, and pretending to be a woman." Conan reasoned.
"But what makes me that man disguised as a woman?" Banno demanded. "I'm just dark-skinned."
"Because when we first met you, you said two strange things." Conan responded.
"Banno-san, you still have something on your face." Fumio pointed out.
"Where is it?" Banno blinked, fingers touching his cheek. "What's on my face?"
"See?" Conan pointed. "Normally when someone tells you have you something on your face, you unconsciously try to touch it. Isn't that what you did, Genta?"
"Yeah." Genta nodded. "You'd be curious what color it was and how much of it was on you."
"But, you didn't." Conan turned back to Banno. "So your fingers wouldn't smudge the words you've written."
"I see." Inspector Megure noted. "So you knew there were words written on your cheek that would become an important piece of evidence later."
"No." Banno protested. "It's not that I knew. I just thought so instinctively. Since Kurumi was bleeding on the floor, I thought there might be something bad on me."
"In that case, do you know what this is?" Conan brought out a piece of paper with the 'love' character written on it."
"It's the character of love." Banno replied. "What of it?"
"You don't know?" Conan gaped. "One of Iiyama-san's fans uploaded the signature they received at one of her events. I traced and enlarged the character for love that she wrote."
"When I used my phone as a mirror to show you the message on you cheek, remember what you said?" Haibara asked.
"You said it wasn't the dead woman's handwriting." Mitsuhiko answered. "But you don't even know what her real handwriting looks like."
"This is Kurumi's handwriting, huh?" Banno peered closely at the word. "I did think it looked similar. But like I said the 'love' Kurumi wrote and the 'love' on my cheek were written by two different people. It's obvious enough it's not Kurumi's handwriting."
"So you can tell?" Conan was surprised. "In that case..." he turned around and had the others hold out five different sheets of paper with the character of 'love' written in reverse. "Do you know which of these is Kurumi-san's? You looked at the mirrored characters reflected on the phone and instantly knew it wasn't Kurumi-san's handwriting. But it's hard to tell whose it is when reversed, even if it's familiar."
"It was just a feeling." Banno snapped. "I just had a feeling it wasn't hers. Officer, the photo. In any case, the important thing is this Polaroid the killer took." he snatched the photo away. "Look. My right hand is behind my hand, so the white woman's hand in the front isn't mine. Plus, I couldn't have written so clearly on my own face. If you think I did it, tell me how I took this photo."
"Mitsuhiko, ready?" Genta asked, the other moving aside.
"Yes." Mitsuhiko nodded. "Go ahead and fall like Conan told us."
"Just watch." Conan took over after Genta and Mitsuhiko positioned themselves accordingly. "When you frame the scene like this, doesn't Mitsuhiko's left hand look like Genta's right hand?"
"I see." Inspector Megure noted. "If you hid her fingertips behind your head, your girlfriend's left hand could have looked like your own right hand."
"But our skin colors and sleeves are different." Banno reminded.
"That's relatively simple." Fumio shrugged. "You can make Kurumi-san's skin look darker by using a dark foundation. As for her sleeve, you cut the sleeve off another similarly colored shirt and wrap it around her left hand under your head."
"Then, what about this message?" Banno snapped. "Are you saying I wrote this on my own face?"
"You didn't write it." Fumio corrected. "You simply pressed it onto your face, just like a stamp."
"First, you wrote the words 'I love you' on a clear plastic file using permanent marker." Conan continued, the girls using a green colored marker to write on the plastic cover. "Then you flipped it over and traced the words with a non-permanent marker." Haibara turned the plastic sheet over and traced the sentence with a red marker. "After killing your girlfriend and taking a photo of yourself with nothing on your face, you created the stamp. Then you pressed the non-permanent marker side of the file onto your cheek." Ayumi handed the plastic sheet to Genta who pressed the red writing onto his cheek. "See? Now it looks like the words were written on your cheek. Then, you colored your right hand white using foundation, applied nail polish and a scrunchy, held the pen and took a picture of yourself, creating that trick photo."
"So, is this what happened?" Inspector Megure questioned. "Having decided to murder Kurumi-san, you disguised yourself as a woman and lurked outside your apartment to give the residents the impression that there was a suspicious woman stalking you. When Kurumi-san arrived, you killed her with your golf club and took the trick photo using the technique Conan just described. Then, you played loud music from your stereo so your neighbor, Wakasa-sensei, would come and discover the body, and showed us the trick photo so we would believe the suspicious woman did all this."
"In other words," Haibara concluded. "My initial theory about the imaginary girlfriend was right on the mark?"
"What about the proof?" Banno demanded.
"The proof's probably in that bag you're trying to take out of the apartment." Conan replied. "The clear file, foundation, scrunchy, and sleeve you put on Kurumi-san's left hand. You wouldn't want anyone to see you leaving the apartment with those so you could throw them away."
"Shall I take a look at your bag?" Inspector Megure requested.
"It was Kurumi's fault." Banno hissed. "I wanted to go on my international tour with a blank state. But she demanded 100 million yen for breaking up with her."
"I doubt your international tour would have gone well, anyway." Conan stated. "You probably lost the favor of the god of golf the moment you used a club as a weapon."
"What was that, you brat?" Banno hollered. "Move!" he made a run for it.
"Watch out!" Wakasa-sensei pushed the kids out of the way, her leg extended to trip Banno over. Turning, she slammed an elbow onto Banno's temple. "What?" she blinked when a camera flashed into her face.
"Is it true that there was a murder in the home of professional golfer, Banno Tengo-san?" a reported fired off his questions. "Who died? Do you have a suspect?"
"Hold on!" Inspector Megure hurried out of the unit to fend off the reporters. "Wait for the announcement for the details."
"This guy did it." Genta pointed to the unconscious Banno.
"So you were just subduing him?" a microphone was thrust into Wakasa-sensei's face.
"No, I just fell because he pushed me." Wakasa-sensei explained.
"Could we get your name?" another microphone entered the scene.
"She's Teitan Elementary School Class 1-B's assistant homeroom teacher." Mitsuhiko introduced.
"Wakasa Rumi-sensei." Ayumi beamed.
The next day...
"Well, so much for keeping Fumio on a low profile." Ami sighed, showing Amuro the news article. "Note to self: remind Fumio to read the riot act to the kids and inform them not to diverge too much case information to the press." she muttered.
"Now, that's a bit harsh." Amuro stated.
Ami just shot him a deathpan 'Oh, really?' look.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.