SailorStar9: So with Chapter 95 uploaded, this is Chapter 96 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 96: The Beika City Shopping Center Garbage Bin Mystery
Time passes...
"Everyone, if you find any pieces of large garbage, don't touch it and let me know instead." Kobayashi-sensei shouted.
"Why do we have to clean up the shopping center?" Genta complained, picking up a crushed drink can with his tongs.
"This is part of our class, too." Haibara reminded, picking up a discarded snack pack with her tongs. "It's an activity to get to know our local community."
"It may be part of class, but that doesn't mean picking up trash isn't a pain in the butt." Conan remarked, picking up a piece of crumpled paper.
"If we pick up their garbage, it'll make it harder for the adults to litter." Haibara pointed out.
"Ayumi, stop playing with that stray cat and help us over here." Mitsuhiko called out, Ayumi had abandoned her duty to pet a large cat.
"It's not a stray." Ayumi protested. "See?" she picked up the cat and showed it to the others.
"You're right." Fumio spotted the red collar around the cat's neck.
"What's going on here?" Kobayashi-sensei approached her students. "That's Isojima's cat." she recognized the feline. "She always cleans up around this area. But recently, Isojima hasn't been feeling well. She's in the hospital right now."
"Maybe that cat thought they'd get to see their owner if they came here." Ayumi suggested.
In the park...
"What the heck is this?" Genta chided, the kids seeing a pile of litter scattered around the area where a trash bin was supposed to be.
"I thought adults weren't supposed to litter when kids are cleaning up." Conan twitched.
"This is pretty awful." Haibara remarked.
"Looks like there used to be a garbage bin here." Conan spotted the signboard. "Then, where did it go?"
In the hospital...
"They were originally a stray cat, so they get outside sometimes." Isojima admitted, the Detective Boys were visiting her in the hospital. "But it's okay. They always come back home when it's time to eat. I was looking forward to watching WSG Tokyo with my cat." she sighed, when the chocolate commercial for the upcoming WSG showed. "But in my current condition, I can barely get around in a wheelchair. I can't go home yet."
"But we were well enough to clean the shopping center until recently." Genta pointed out.
"That's true." Isojima nodded.
"Do you know why the garbage bin that was here is gone now?" Conan pulled out his camera phone and showed Isojima the picture he had taken.
"That garbage bin?" Isojima mused. "Whenever I cleaned up that area, I'd dispose my garbage in this bin. The bin is probably gone because there's a feud going on at the nearby store association."
In the store association meeting...
"This is all the fault of your eateries." the cycle shop owner snapped. "That's why the shopping center is overflowing with trash."
"You're wrong." the deli owner retorted. "It's because there are more tourists."
"It's a problem for us, too." the Japanese-style Café owner barked.
"That's because you eateries recommend that people walk and eat at the same time." the cycle shop owner argued.
"That's why there's garbage all over town." the clothing store owner agreed.
"Now, now." the florist played peacemaker.
"In any case, it sounds like the eateries should install the garbage bins." the clothing store owner proposed.
"Why should we be the only ones to pay for garbage bins?" the Japanese-style Café owner demanded.
"That's what the store association budget is for." the deli owner reminded.
"Uncle, you're part of the store association?" Conan asked, spotting Mouri at the meeting.
"I'm here representing Poirot." Mouri answered.
"We're currently experiencing problems because of you eateries." the clothing store owner stated.
"But there's no reason for you to remove the garbage bin in the employ lot." the Japanese-style Café owner rebuked. "Now there's trash all over the empty lot."
"That garbage bin was paid for using the store association budget." the cycle shop owner refuted. But recently, most of the litter around town comes from people walking and eating. And it was constantly overflowing. It wasn't sanitary."
"You eateries should've been frequently collecting the trash." the clothing store owner retorted.
"Why are we the only ones responsible for collecting it?" the deli owner fired back.
"This isn't going anywhere." Mouri sighed.
The next day...
"Again?" Ayumi gaped when the Detective Boys found litter clustered around the park's empty garbage bin slot.
"Seriously, it's unforgivable." Mitsuhiko swore. "All right."
"Yeah." Ayumi nodded in agreement.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Haibara muttered.
"Me, too." Conan chuckled weakly.
"The Detective Boys will find the culprit." Genta declared.
"I knew it." Haibara sighed.
"Give me a break." Fumio shook his head.
"A little more to the right." Haibara gestured, Fumio was planting the spy camera into one of the holes in the fence after the Detective Boys went around the stores to interview the store owners. "Right, attach it there." she confirmed.
"Well, Haibara?" Conan asked. "All right." he nodded when Haibara showed him the camera view from her laptop. "Now we should get a great look at the culprit."
The following day...
"What's wrong with these people?" Genta snapped, the Detective Boys found litter clustered around the park's empty garbage bin slot yet again. "We just cleaned this up yesterday.
"Nobody's showing up." Mitsuhiko noted, as Haibara played the camera footage from the previous day.
"Someone came." Ayumi pointed out when the deli owner came into view.
"He's acting suspicious." Haibara frowned when the shop owner walked towards the camera and peered closely at it.
"Hang on." Fumio spotted a black shadow playing over the lens after the group questioned the deli owner. "What's this?"
"What is that?" Haibara frowned. "I'll rewind the video a bit." replaying the video in slow-mo, she captured the image. "That's a crow."
"Then, it's possible the crow is the culprit." Conan reasoned.
"I have heard that crows would gather food or trash." Mitsuhiko recalled.
"Haibara, can you ascertain if the crow has any trash in its beak?" Fumio thought to ask.
"Give me a minute." Haibara set to work to sharpen the image.
"It doesn't look like this crow has anything in its beak." Conan noted.
"We did set up the camera at an angle that would capture a person's face." Haibara stated.
"In other words, this camera has a blind spot." Conan realized. "Then, couldn't we determine the range of that blind spot?"
"Based on our calculations, we've determined that the camera captures an adult from the knees up no matter where they approach from." Haibara concluded. "However, once they're right in front of the camera, we can't see what's below it. That height is roughly 115 centimeters."
So, in other words, any culprit shorter than 115 centimeters wouldn't be caught on camera." Fumio surmised.
"But even if there were a culprit like that, in order to avoid being caught on the camera, they'd have to approach from the fence side." Haibara reminded.
"Is there anybody that small?" Genta wondered, he and Mitsuhiko were near the empty garbage bin spot.
"Does that mean a tiny child is the culprit?" Mitsuhiko inquired.
"Now that I look closely, there's a hole here." Genta spotted the gaping hole in the bushes. "Like something passed through the bushes."
"What made this hole?" Mitsuhiko peered closely.
"Conan, did you figure it out?" Ayumi noticed Conan's 'I know what happened' look.
"Yeah." Conan grinned. "The culprit is probably..."
In the store association meeting...
"Really?" the cycle shop owner asked Mouri. "You figured out who's been dumping trash?"
"You mean they were captured on that camera?" the deli shop owner inquired.
"Yeah, they were." Genta nodded.
"First, take a look at this image." Mitsuhiko started, playing the video which clearly showed Isojima's cat bringing in the trash. "Isojima would clean that area every day." he explained.
"She said she'd dispose of the trash she collected in the garbage bin at that empty lot." Genta added.
"We asked Isojima about it yesterday." Conan spoke.
"That's why that cat has continued to collect trash in that place where the bin used to be." Mouri realized where this was heading.
"I see." Isojima stroked her cat. "That's why you snuck out of the house every day. Everyone, I'm terribly sorry for the trouble my cat has caused." she apologized, Haibara opened the sliding door to reveal the injured woman at the door. "I'll get better soon so I can get back to cleaning with this cat."
"You don't have to do that." the deli owner stammered.
"Maybe we should reinstall the trash bin." the Japanese-style Café owner suggested.
"We should install some in areas where people are likely to walk and eat, too." one of the eatery owners proposed.
"Then, we'll be reinstalling the garbage bin at the lot as well as several more in other locations." the florist concluded.
"But the store association budget isn't enough to cover that, is it?" the cycle shop owner pointed out.
"Why don't you use this?" Ran cut in with a tote bag in hand.
"Our class' idea is being turned into a product." Sonoko bragged.
"It was mostly Ran's idea." Masumi beamed.
"A tote bag?" Conan echoed.
"Not just any ordinary tote bag." Ran corrected. "I call it the 'garbage takeout bag'. At first glance, it looks like an ordinary tote bag with a Japanese-style pattern, but when you hang a garbage bag off of the clips inside the bag, it turns into a partition that allows you to separate out your trash. You can put dirty things inside the trash bag."
"In other words, it's a bag that lets you take home whatever garbage you produce." Masumi stated.
"But because of its attractive appearance, it doesn't look like you're carrying trash around with you." Sonoko explained.
"So, if you use it without attaching a garbage bag, it functions as a reusable shopping bag." Ran remarked.
"And since it folds up so small, it makes a great souvenir for foreigners." Sonoko added.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.