[This Hattori guy, how he loves to show off.]
Conan looked at Heiji, speechless, and felt even more depressed seeing the admiration in Ran's eyes.
"Actually, a lot of the time it's not necessary to discern the authenticity of things. Just by paying more attention, you can get the answers you want through other means. Who would dare to display a priceless treasure like Van Gogh's Sunflowers in this hall? Besides, if they really had such a treasure, this museum wouldn't be so empty."
"It's true, there are very few people in this museum," Kazuha said, looking at the deserted inner room.
"Let's go to the exhibition hall. I heard there's a lot of medieval armor there, let's go see it!" Ran suggested enthusiastically.
"Armor? Sure, sure!" Sonoko said, also very interested.
"Ran-neechan, I heard the armor in this museum moves on its own at night," Conan said, laughing to himself.
"I... I think... I've... heard that too," Ran said, moving a little closer to Sonoko, feeling a chill.
"Come on, don't be afraid. With Heiji here, he'll protect us," Sonoko said, shaking the crystal bracelet on her left wrist, full of confidence in Heiji.
"If it were really ghosts, there'd be nothing I could do either~~," Heiji said suddenly in a sinister tone.
"Ah~!!!"
It was Heiji's fault for acting so well. That gloomy voice with a touch of terror, almost like a movie sound effect, made the three girls scream in fear instantly. Kazuha, in particular, hugged him tightly.
Heiji and Conan were left speechless.
"Is it really necessary for you three to act like that?"
[Heh heh, and you, Hattori, did you have to do that?], Conan thought with resignation.
Arriving at the exhibition hall, they found it was completely dark, with only a dim light. The dark space looked like a monster about to devour someone, emanating a sinister and spooky atmosphere.
This strange atmosphere made the three girls nervous, and they instinctively moved closer to Heiji.
[Isn't Ran supposed to be a karate champion? How is she so scared?]
Conan had just discovered that Ran was so afraid of ghosts and monsters.
Suddenly, Heiji stopped. His sudden stop caught Sonoko, who was behind him, by surprise, and she crashed right into his back, feeling a soft and curvy contact, a ten out of ten.
Sonoko suddenly cried out and, as a reflex, hugged Heiji tightly.
"Son... Sonoko? What's wrong?" Ran asked, grabbing Sonoko's arm with a trembling voice.
"I-it's nothing."
Sonoko quickly let go of Heiji, her face blushing with embarrassment. Fortunately, in the darkness, Ran didn't notice her strange reaction.
Heiji, of course, felt the pleasant contact on his back, but it was no time for fantasies.
It smelled of blood!!!
At that moment...
"C-class mission activated: Transfer the blame for the murder to Kubota."
[Transfer the blame???]
Heiji was speechless. It seemed that, in the system's eyes, so-called "evil" was whatever it felt like, very whimsical. However, that suited him perfectly. If he always had to act like a saint, that would be truly frustrating.
"Heiji, what happened?" asked Kazuha, who hadn't let go of his arm.
"Someone's been killed."
What???
Everyone shuddered.
"Heiji, don't joke, it's not funny at all," Ran said with a trembling voice.
Drip, drip!!
[The sound of water dripping???]
Conan looked around, confused. No, that's not water dripping, it's blood.
"Kazuha, don't come any closer."
Heiji let go of Kazuha and, frowning, walked over to a spot not far away. It was shrouded in darkness, but under the dim light, it looked like a person was pinned to the wall by something.
Suddenly, a beam of light illuminated the scene, revealing it completely before them.
A fat man was brutally pinned to the wall with a sword. He was covered in blood, and more blood gushed from the hilt of the sword, dripping onto the floor and forming a thick, dark puddle.
The three girls hadn't come closer, but upon seeing the scene, they couldn't help but scream, terror reflected in their eyes.
Thump!!!
Heiji hit Conan on the head.
"Ow, that hurts! What are you doing, Heiji-niichan?" Conan shot Heiji a glare.
"Did I tell you to light up that area?"
Heiji was sometimes left speechless by Conan. When he encountered a case, he sometimes didn't care about the people around him. Although Ran was a karate champion, first and foremost, she was a woman. What woman isn't afraid of dead bodies?
And now he had done the same thing. Knowing full well there was a case there, in order to be the first to see the scene, he used his watch's flashlight function, presenting the terrifying and bloody image to the three girls. This behavior was extremely selfish.
"Buts, what buts! Don't you see the three girls are here? You're very brave, but have you thought about how they feel? They're girls, have you ever seen a girl who isn't scared of these things?"
Conan wanted to retort, but Heiji's words left him stunned. He looked at the terrified expressions of Ran, Sonoko, and Kazuha, and couldn't help but feel a pang of remorse.
Heiji didn't bother with Conan anymore and went straight to the corpse to examine it.
The fatal wound was this stab straight to the heart!
"Kazuha, you three go outside, and while you're at it, call the police."
Kazuha nodded and left with Sonoko and Ran.
It was clear that as soon as Conan came across a case, the reflection from a moment ago went out the window, and he started running around the crime scene.
Heiji easily spotted the note in the owner Manaka's hand. He knew that this note was the decisive evidence.
Da, da, da!!
At that moment, Director Ochiai and Iijima came running in. Seeing the owner Manaka's body, they couldn't help but scream.
"Owner Manaka!!!"
Heiji stopped them, his face serious: "He's already dead. No one can disturb the scene until the police arrive."
"Owner Manaka is dead?" Iijima shouted.
"Young man, who are you?" asked Director Ochiai, relatively calmer.
"My name is Heiji Hattori, I'm a detective."
Director Ochiai's face changed slightly, which caught Conan's attention.
[Why was this director so surprised to hear that Hattori is a detective?]
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