The three of them arrived at Beika Art Museum, bought their tickets, and stepped inside to look around.
"Wow… there's hardly anyone here," Ran murmured as soon as they entered.
The vast exhibition hall was eerily quiet. Aside from a few staff members, there weren't even ten visitors in total.
"I told you it was just a tourist trap, but you wouldn't listen," Shinichi sighed, clearly unimpressed.
Ran puffed her cheeks. "It's not like we had anywhere better to go! Walking around is nice too, isn't it?"
Then she turned toward Ren Kuroda, flashing a bright smile. "Right, Kuroda-kun?"
"Mm." Ren gave a short nod in response—but his gaze had already wandered toward the far end of the hall, where two men were arguing heatedly.
One was an elderly man with a long beard, the other a middle-aged man with a round belly.
Judging by what he remembered, the older man had to be Director Ochiai, while the plump one was likely Manager Manaka.
From the sound of it, their argument was about a broken promise—Manaka had bought the Beika Art Museum under the pretense of keeping it open, but now planned to remodel it into a hotel. Director Ochiai was livid, loudly protesting the decision.
Manaka, on the other hand, brushed off the protests entirely.
...
As their voices rose and fell across the hall, Ren's mind began to wander—recalling the murder method he had once read about involving Director Ochiai.A frail old man… who donned a heavy suit of medieval armor weighing more than ten kilograms—then lifted the 180-pound Manaka with one hand and impaled him against a wall with a single thrust.
For someone that old… that's some terrifying strength.
Ren was still half-lost in thought when Ran spoke up shyly.
"Um, Shinichi, Kuroda-kun… I'm gonna run to the restroom real quick, okay? You two can look around first!"
Before either could answer, she hurried off.
Shinichi groaned under his breath. "That's what you get for eating so much…"
With nothing better to do, Ren decided to mess with him a little. "Hey, Shinichi—wanna make a bet?"
"A bet?" Shinichi's curiosity lit up immediately. "Sure, what are we betting on? How long Ran'll take to come back? I'm in!"
Ren stared at him blankly. "…You want to bet on how long a girl spends in the restroom? You're such a perv."
Shinichi froze. "Huh? Wait—no! That's not what I meant!"
"Of course not," Ren said with a smirk. He turned his gaze toward the two quarrelling men. "I was thinking… want to bet on whether the director ends up killing that manager?"
"Huh?"
At the word killing, Shinichi instantly perked up, all traces of boredom gone. He'd heard their shouting too—it was hard to miss.
"No way. That's impossible!" Shinichi shook his head firmly. "The director wouldn't kill someone over something like this!"
"Besides, Manaka bought the museum fair and square. He can do whatever he wants with it."
Ren chuckled. "Then let's make it interesting. Loser buys dinner. I'm betting that the director does commit murder."
"Deal!" Shinichi grinned confidently. There was no way someone would kill over that. The museum wasn't even the director's property anymore!
After a pause, though, he looked at Ren suspiciously. "But seriously, why do you think he'd kill him?"
"Just a gut feeling," Ren replied casually. "You know what my job's like—I deal with shady types all the time. The look in the director's eyes? Same as theirs."
"The look in his eyes?" Shinichi turned to examine Director Ochiai carefully. "His eyes are squinting. How can you even tell what kind of look he has?"
"He opened them earlier," Ren said smoothly, brushing off the question.
"…You're totally making that up," Shinichi muttered, eyeing him with doubt—but he had no proof.
A few minutes later, both the director and the manager stormed off in opposite directions.
"See?" Ren said, motioning toward them. "My guess? The director's about to make his move."
Shinichi rolled his eyes, humoring him. "If an old man like that really wanted to murder someone like Manaka, he couldn't fight him head-on. The age difference alone would stop him."
"The best method would be poison. Or maybe a sneak attack. But even that's risky—he's old. If the first strike fails, Manaka would have time to fight back."
Ren shook his head. "I disagree. Who says he can't do it head-on?"
"In this day and age, a simple handgun would do the trick. Take the KAHR CM9 compact pistol—it's only about 138 millimeters long and barely 400 grams unloaded. Even an elderly man could handle that easily."
Shinichi immediately countered, "A gunshot's too loud! The moment you fire, everyone knows it's murder. Poison's cleaner—no one would even know who did it!"
Ren smirked. "And you think anyone would be dumb enough to run toward the sound of gunfire?"
"I would!" Shinichi declared, half joking. "If I heard a shot, I'd definitely go check it out!"
"Then he'd just shoot you too," Ren said dryly. "Problem solved—no witnesses."
"You think a pistol has enough bullets for that?" Shinichi shot back.
"..."
The two of them were still deep in their ridiculous argument when Ran finally returned.
Seeing them talking so animatedly, she tilted her head curiously. "What are you two chatting about? You look way too into it."
Ren smiled easily. "Just figuring out what to eat for dinner."
"Yeah, yeah! I was saying ramen sounds pretty good," Shinichi added quickly—he couldn't exactly tell her they'd been discussing methods of murder.
Ran frowned at them. "Isn't it a little early to be planning dinner already?" She glanced at the time. "Come on, let's go check out that medieval armor exhibit instead!"
Her eyes lit up with excitement. "They say it might even move on its own!"
"You actually believe that?" Shinichi sighed. "It's not going to walk by itself, Ran."
"Let's go anyway," Ren said. "We're already here."
He figured enough time had passed—Director Ochiai might have already done the deed.
"Exactly! No way we're leaving empty-handed!" Ran said eagerly, leading the way toward the 'Hall Between Worlds' exhibit.
But before they could reach it, a sign blocked their path: "Visitors Prohibited."
"Aw, we can't go in?" Ran groaned in disappointment.
"Strange…" Shinichi frowned. "That sign wasn't here before."
A bad feeling prickled in his chest. His detective instincts whispered that something was very wrong.
He glanced around—no staff in sight. Then he slipped past the sign. "Let's take a look anyway."
"Shinichi, maybe we shouldn't…" Ran began, but he wasn't listening.
"It might be gone next time. Come on," Ren said, patting her shoulder. "Just stay behind me. If that armor really does move, hide behind me, got it?"
That reassurance made her feel a little braver. She nodded and followed.
The three of them made their way down the dim corridor until they reached the entrance to the exhibit.
Shinichi stepped in first—then froze after only a few steps.
There, pinned against the wall by a sword through his chest, was Manager Manaka.
Shinichi's face went pale. "Ran—don't look!" he shouted.
"Huh? What is it?" Ran stepped forward, curious—then she saw.
She froze, her face draining of color. A moment later, a sharp, terrified scream pierced the silent museum.