Dining in Silver

[Kudo Yukiko]

Yukiko gave Heiji-kun a wave as she went to sit down, searching for the review on her mobile phone. Unsurprisingly, the review had been one of the first few postings on Google, and Yukiko opened it and read it as Heiji-kun went into the kitchen with the employees.

E-Eh? Is that even possible for a restaurant of this class? Yukiko was baffled as she read the review, briefly wondering if it was just a feud that the food critic had against the restaurant.

After she finished reading the review, Yukiko went to find Heiji-kun in the kitchen. "Heiji-kun!" Yukiko called out, holding up her phone.

"According to this review, the food given to the critic supposedly wasn't of good quality—it didn't stand up to the restaurant's name! The critic's waiter—who was Fujiwara-san, right?—" Yukiko looked at the kitchen's staff, "had apparently provided him below acceptable customer service. He claims to have gotten better waiters at lower class restaurants."

Which...for a restaurant as renowned as this one, Yukiko was still in disbelief.

"He also claims to have gotten food poisoning a few hours before that. Can you confirm this, Auditore-san?" Yukiko asked, briefly wondering if the critic would have called up the restaurant when they got sick.

[Hattori Heiji]

"Food poisoning?" Hattori questioned as Yukiko-han arrived with phone in hand. He walked over to her to look at the review himself, although he trusted Yukiko-han's word, just to double check himself. After all this could lead to someone being put away for murder. Heiji couldn't afford making a mistake.

Sure enough there it was. Complaints of poor food quality leading up to food poisoning and bad customer service. This gave a bit more insight on motive.

"I can confirm that the critic did get food poisoning. After seeing the review management wanted to make sure our food was being circulated correctly." Auditore replied "In fact Fujiwara-san was suppose to be in the freezer checking dates. Sort of as a punishment for his bad service."

"I see..." Heiji muttered before walking over to the station he had been at. "I know chefs use their own knife sets for things and don't let other chefs touch them. So can I inquire who these are?"

"They are mine." Auditore answered proudly. "Sharpest and brightest knives in the kitchen."

"Then yer fingerprints will be on them." Heiji stated bluntly as he reached carefully once more to pull the knives out. He instantly went to the one he knew was missing the tip. He pulled it out and held it up for everyone to see.

"Then lets hope there's someone else's fingerprints on this then." He smiled. A forensic officer seemed to hurriedly arrive to take the murder weapon away. "So why don't we wait in the dinin room for the verdict?"

[Kudo Yukiko]

"Really? Wouldn't it have been more appropriate to give him a suspension in this case?" Yukiko was a bit shocked by the information provided, and the fact that he was to perform tasks in the freezer concerned Yukiko.

Admittedly, Yukiko was intrigued by Heiji-kun's interactions with Romano Auditore. Romano presented himself rather confidently despite the accusations made against him, quite a contrast to most suspects she'd witnessed in her lifetime with Yuusaku and Shinichi. Yukiko then realized that this would have been one of the first few cases that she'd been in attendance with Heiji-kun acting without Shinichi.

"You already know who it is Heiji-kun?" Yukiko asked surprised, remaining close to him as she observed the crowd walk into the dining room as instructed. She noticed that the kitchenmaid didn't seem all too happy.

"Do you need my help?" As much as Yukiko loved playing detective, Yukiko wondered if it was a long-shot that Heiji-kun would let her assist—she couldn't blame him for wanting a chance to shine in Tokyo! Shinichi only seemed more accepting of her assistance now that he was pint-sized. But it couldn't help but ask, right?