In this world, there are many things one cannot decide: one's studies, marriage, even waking from a dream... At times, there are also many unavoidable situations, things one doesn't want to do but is forced to.
For example... sleeping in.
"Heiji, let's go visit the art museum."
Heiji felt helpless. First thing in the morning, and without knowing what Sonoko had said to Kazuha, the girl was incredibly enthusiastic about visiting a museum.
"Can't we go later?"
Women are terrifying, he thought. Really, it's barely been a day and she has already fully recovered.
"No, Sonoko says today is the last day the museum is open. If we don't go, we won't be able to go anymore," Kazuha said, kneeling on the bed, pulling on Heiji nonstop.
In the end, Heiji had no choice but to get up.
"Heiji, as a guy, you can't be so lazy in bed."
In the living room, Sonoko and Ran were already up. Seeing him come out yawning, Sonoko shot him a disapproving look.
Heiji looked at Sonoko, speechless: "You're the one to blame. I finally have a winter vacation, more than ten days have passed and I still haven't been able to sleep in even once. Do you think it's easy for me?"
Sonoko, sitting elegantly on the sofa, stretched: "It's rare for you to come to Tokyo, Heiji. It would be a shame to waste it sleeping. I refuse to let you do it!"
"Sonoko~", Ran looked at Heiji apologetically.
"You don't have to be so nice, Ran. Heiji won't get mad, right, Heiji?" Sonoko said with a pitiful expression.
With Sonoko's outgoing personality, probably no one could ever get truly angry with her.
Heiji shrugged and sat on the sofa.
"Heiji, breakfast," Kazuha said, bringing breakfast from the kitchen.
The art museum wasn't far from the agency, so the group decided to walk.
[Damn it, how long is this Hattori guy going to stay?]
Conan felt very frustrated. With Heiji Hattori around, he had to do everything with extreme care, fearing that his sharp-witted peer would discover his secret.
As the saying goes, three women are a show. With Kazuha, Ran, and Sonoko together, the laughter didn't stop the whole way.
"Wow! Is this the museum Sonoko was talking about? It's magnificent," Kazuha exclaimed, looking at the building in the distance.
"It's beautiful, isn't it? Actually, it was Ran who recommended it to me," Sonoko said with pride.
"To be honest, I've wanted to come to this museum for a long time, but I could never find the time," Ran said with some resignation.
"Actually... you wanted to come with that mystery fanatic, Kudo, right? Too bad he doesn't notice anything," Sonoko said with annoyance.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Coming with you all is almost the same," Ran said, forcing a smile.
[Ran~~]
Conan stared at her, his heart filled with guilt.
[An art museum???]
Heiji looked at the building. Don't tell me there's going to be a murder today too?
The museum was huge. The entrance hall was filled with all kinds of paintings, but there were hardly any people.
"Wow, how imposing! And so many works of art," Kazuha said enthusiastically.
"Yes, there's a very artistic atmosphere as soon as you walk in," Sonoko said, pretending to be fascinated.
[Heh heh, does this woman, Sonoko, even know what art is?]
Conan smiled coldly to himself.
"But, why are there so few people?"
Ran looked around. In the entire hall, besides them, there was almost no one else.
"They're probably going to remodel it," Heiji said calmly.
"Heh heh, indeed, it is going to be remodeled. In the near future, these beautiful works will disappear along with this museum," said an old man with a white beard, approaching them with his hands behind his back.
"Really? The works here are so good, why are they closing it?" Kazuha asked with curiosity.
"Because the previous owner's company went bankrupt and sold it to another owner, and this new owner wants to turn it into a hotel," the old man explained with a smile.
"Oh, really? What a shame," Ran said with regret.
"In that case, let's enjoy the visit today so we don't leave with any regrets!" Sonoko said.
Next, the group went from the entrance hall to the inner rooms, where the paintings were more famous.
"Ha, ha! Aren't those Van Gogh's Sunflowers? I didn't expect the museum to have them."
Sonoko, after all, was the daughter of a large conglomerate. Although her personality was carefree, she was by no means an airhead; she just didn't want to show off too much in front of Ran.
After all, if the gap is too large, even the best of friends can grow distant.
"It's true! It's the work of a great painter."
Kazuha and Ran were also amazed.
"But, isn't this a painting worth billions of yen? Why is it just hanging on the wall?" Ran asked, puzzled.
"It's a forgery."
Heiji stepped closer to look at it, a disdainful smile on his lips. In his previous world, he had seen the original; a fake was not enough to excite him.
"A forgery? How do you know? Have you studied Van Gogh's Sunflowers?" asked a museum employee who approached, full of curiosity.
Everyone looked at Heiji in unison; they had the same question.
"It's very simple. Although they've sealed this painting in a square glass case and even forbid getting within two meters of it, if you look closely, it's not hard to see that on the white wall where the Sunflowers hang, there are many paint marks, probably from the frame's paint. The cause of this must be the frequent dusting of the frame. If it were the original, I doubt they would use such poor-quality paint or allow it to be cleaned so roughly. Furthermore, although there are no fingerprints on the case, there are many faint finger marks, surely left when cleaning it with gloves. Judging by these two points, it's a forgery, and a very common one at that," Heiji explained calmly.
"Impressive. This gentleman is truly impressive, he was right about everything."
Instantly, Kazuha, Ran, and Sonoko looked at Heiji with astonishment.
"Heiji looks so handsome when he's deducing," Sonoko said, reverting to her fangirl mode.
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