As soon as the police arrived at the scene, they cordoned off the entire museum.
Inspector Megure Jūzō's eyes lit up when he spotted a familiar face among the crowd—Shinichi.
Every time this kid showed up, Megure could finally relax. It meant he could let Shinichi's brain do the heavy lifting for him.
And sure enough, that's exactly what happened.
Shinichi quickly launched into his investigation—examining the crime scene, analyzing blood patterns, evaluating time of death. Within minutes, he already had a working theory.
"Judging from the state of blood coagulation," he said, crouched beside the body, "the victim's been dead for about an hour."
He pointed toward the wall. "And from the blood spray pattern here, the victim must have been lifted up and then impaled through the chest with the sword."
"The weapon was this single-handed sword displayed in the exhibit. But unlike normal display props, this one's been sharpened—the blade is real."
"In other words, the killer must be someone from inside the museum. Only the staff would've had access to switch out the replica for a real weapon."
...
A short distance away, Ren Kuroda watched Shinichi methodically piecing together the clues, his expression somewhere between admiration and exasperation.
"He's already getting into detective mode again, huh? That didn't take long."
"Yeah," Ran said softly, her tone a mix of pride and fond amusement. "Whenever a murder happens, Shinichi jumps right in. He… actually enjoys this sort of thing."
Ren chuckled. "I can tell. How long does it usually take him to solve one of these?"
Ran tilted her head thoughtfully. "Hmm… on average, maybe three hours or so?"
"Three hours?" Ren sighed. "That's a long wait. I remember there's a café nearby—why don't we wait there instead?"
"Eh? You mean… leave Shinichi here?" Ran looked surprised, but also a little tempted.
Honestly, what girl would want to hang around a crime scene full of bloodstains?
"We're not leaving him," Ren said with a straight face. "We're just… changing locations while we wait. It's not like we can help here anyway."
"But leaving Shinichi all alone feels kind of mean," Ran murmured, still hesitant. Her kindness was almost reflexive.
"Mean? Look at him." Ren gestured toward Shinichi. "Does that face look pitiful to you? The only pitiful ones here are us."
Ran followed his gaze—and immediately realized he was right.
Shinichi was standing there with gleaming eyes, completely absorbed, his whole presence radiating energy and focus. He looked like the star of the show.
Meanwhile, she and Ren were just… standing awkwardly on the sidelines, looking useless.
Now that she thought about it… yeah, they were the ones to pity.
"Let's go," Ren said, turning toward the exit. "We'll wait for him at the café."
"Shouldn't we at least say something before we go?" Ran asked, though she found herself following anyway.
"He's deep in concentration right now. If we interrupt, it might break his rhythm. Just text him," Ren said with a grin. "He'll see it and reply later."
"True." Ran nodded. "He hates losing his train of thought mid-investigation."
And so, the two of them slipped out of the museum and headed for the café down the street.
Back at the crime scene, Shinichi was in full swing.In the anime version of this case, he had to solve it while stuck in the body of a grade-schooler, facing all sorts of limitations—and even then, he'd caught the killer, Director Ochiai.
Now, in his full-grown form, without any handicaps? It was only a matter of time.
He straightened up, the final clue snapping into place.
"There's only one truth!"
He spun around dramatically, finger pointed.
"The murderer is you—Director Ochiai!"
"You recreated the painting 'Divine Punishment' in real life when you killed Manager Manaka!"
"After the murder, you swapped out the ballpoint pen at the scene and hid the bloodstained armor in Kuwata's locker, framing him for the crime!"
"The evidence is right there—your ballpoint pen! It's run dry, hasn't it?"
"As for your motive—you couldn't stand watching Manaka turn this art museum into a hotel!"
Under the weight of Shinichi's airtight reasoning and undeniable evidence, Director Ochiai lowered his head in defeat.
"You're right," he muttered. "I killed him."
Inspector Megure sighed in relief, signaling the officers. "Take him away."
Then he clapped Shinichi on the shoulder with a grin. "Nice work again, Shinichi. You really saved us a lot of trouble."
"Heh, it's no trouble at all, Inspector! Next time there's a murder, don't hesitate to call me!" Shinichi said cheerfully.
Megure laughed. "Oh, I definitely will."
Watching him, the inspector couldn't help but think—just like his father, that boy.
After finishing his statement, Shinichi finally left the museum to look for Ran and Ren—but found no sign of them.
"Where'd they go?" he muttered, scratching his head. Pulling out his phone, he was just about to call when he saw a text message from Ran.
A moment later, he was jogging down the street toward the nearby café—only to find it empty.
Puzzled, he dialed Ran's number.
"Shinichi? Oh—we're in Shibuya now! Come join us!"
He hung up and sighed, half amused, half exasperated, before making his way over.
When he finally found them, Ran was happily munching on candied fruit in one hand and holding cotton candy in the other.
"You two look like you're having the time of your lives," he said, unable to hide the twinge of jealousy in his tone.
Ran's smile faltered. She did feel a little guilty about leaving him behind at the crime scene.
Ren, noticing Shinichi's tone, cut in bluntly. "What are you complaining about? You were having plenty of fun yourself. Ran texted you ages ago, and you didn't even check until now."
"Uh…" Shinichi scratched his cheek awkwardly. He couldn't argue with that.
"Exactly!" Ran puffed up a little, suddenly feeling less guilty. "We couldn't just stand around a murder scene for three hours waiting for you, you know!"
"Yeah… you're right. I didn't think about that." Shinichi nodded, sheepish. "Sorry about that."
Ren waved a hand airily. "Apology accepted. Just don't do it again next time."
"Right, right!" Ran chimed in, clearly enjoying seeing him on the defensive.
Shinichi sighed. Great… somehow I ended up the bad guy here.
Ren clapped him on the shoulder with a grin. "Come on, don't be so gloomy. Lighten up! Ran and I aren't petty people. Besides—"
He glanced at his watch. "We already picked out a nice restaurant nearby. It's pretty popular, so if we head over now, we'll get a table just in time."