Are all artists this extreme?

"I see."

Tokiwa Mio sighed inwardly, feeling somewhat exhausted. "That car... do you need help exchanging money for it?"

"We don't need the car."

Fujino smiled and continued, "You can use this excuse to put the previous commission fee and this ten million in the trunk and give it to me. That should avoid a lot of trouble."

"..."

Tokiwa Mio fell silent for a moment, feeling like she had lost a lot of money in this round.

First, he spent 35 million to get into trouble, then he was swindled out of 10 million, along with a sports car...

It feels like I've been toying with this detective from the very beginning!

Although money is just a number to her.

But this feeling of being unilaterally manipulated...

As a powerful woman, she has always been the one to manipulate others.

Where were you manipulated?

"Distinguished guests!"

At this moment, the lights in the venue suddenly dimmed, and a male host appeared on stage under the spotlight, waving towards the large screen that appeared directly in front of the stage. "Next, I would like to introduce to you the distinguished guest of this banquet, a renowned landscape painter whom our country is proud of, Kisaragi Hōzui..."

"In that case, I won't bother you any longer, Ms. Tokiwa."

Fujino glanced at Kisaragi Hōzui, who was walking onto the stage in the dim light, and reminded her, "Remember to keep your promise."

"Then I'll have to excuse myself..."

Tokiwa Mio and then walked towards the stage.

"Thirty-five million... ten million, and a Ford sports car."

Fujino stared at Tokiwa Mio's retreating figure, secretly calculating in his mind. "The total value is over fifty million, close to sixty million... If this woman dies, then everything will be ruined."

Behind the curtain of the banquet stage.

Kisaragi Hōzui silently placed his cane on the ground. With the help of the dim stage lights, he put the cane down and then took out a string of pearl necklaces from his pocket.

Immediately afterwards, he hooked the hook connected by a steel wire under the huge painting hanging to the side onto the necklace.

After thinking for a moment, she took out a small porcelain cup from her pocket, placed it on the stage, and then slowly walked towards Tokiwa Mio, who was in the center of the stage.

Kisaragi Hōzui reached out and quietly took off the necklace that Tokiwa Mio was wearing around her neck.

"Kata!"

The necklace fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

"Well?"

Tokiwa Mio was taken aback and was about to bend down to pick it up when Kisaragi Hōzui's voice came from behind her. "Leave it to me."

"Thank you for your help."

Tokiwa Mio entrusted the matter to the other party with peace of mind, and then whispered, "Kisaragi-sensei, I'm so sorry about what happened the other day, I thought..."

"After all, you are my apprentice."

A sinister smile appeared on Kisaragi Hōzui's aged face.

As he spoke, he bent down and picked up the pearl necklace he had taken off earlier.

He stood up, put the pearl necklace he had hooked on around her neck, and sneered, "How could a master possibly hold a grudge against his disciple?"

"There's no problem getting through, right? We can just kill them all and get through, right?"

Just then, a teasing voice suddenly came from the side.

"Fujino?"

Tokiwa Mio turned around and vaguely recognized Fujino's figure. "You are...?"

"Don't move."

Fujino didn't reply. He quickly stepped forward, pretended to put his arm around her shoulder, and reached for the back of her neck.

"What are you doing?!"

Tokiwa Mio was stunned for a moment, then quickly reached out to push Fujino away, angrily saying, "The curtain is about to be drawn... so many people are watching!"

Kazama Hidehiko and Sawaguchi Chinami, who were standing to the side, also looked somewhat strange.

"Never mind the curtain or not."

Fujino took off the necklace and took a step back. "If you ask me, your life is more important."

"Call!"

Seeing this, Tokiwa Mio breathed a sigh of relief, but then looked at the necklace in Fujino's hand with some doubt. "My life..."

Before she could finish speaking, the landscape painting beside her suddenly fell down.

Immediately afterwards, the necklace in Fujino's hand was pulled into the air by a tremendous force.

"This is..."

Tokiwa Mio leaned forward slightly, her face instantly turning deathly pale. "How could this be?"

"I still think you should ask your mentor about this."

Fujino turned to look at Kisaragi Hōzui, who was dressed in a kimono, and said, "Mr. Kisaragi, you must be the one who killed City Councilor Oki, right?"

Upon hearing this, Kisaragi Hōzui's expression stiffened, and he couldn't help but frown.

Just when the plan was about to succeed, he didn't expect someone to suddenly appear and disrupt things.

"First, you took off the necklace you had given her, and then you prepared another necklace strung with wire, intending to use it to hang Ms. Tokiwa,"

Fujino glanced down at the small porcelain cup on the ground beside him. "Your fingerprints are on both necklaces, and the necklace that was just taken off should also have your fingerprints... The small porcelain cup on the ground means that you are the murderer in the serial killing case."

"Teacher Kisaragi!"

Tokiwa Mio also looked at Kisaragi Hōzui, a look of disbelief flashing in her eyes. "Why..."

"That is, the matter of splitting Mount Fuji in two."

Fujino pondered, "Those kids went to his house a few days ago. Judging from the location, it should be these two buildings that are blocking his view of Mount Fuji. The small porcelain cup is probably also hinting at this."

"You're right!"

When Kisaragi Hōzui saw that his secret had been exposed, he decided not to hide it anymore. "For decades, I have been painting on that little hill. Now that I'm old, I can no longer climb the mountain, so I built a house there and can enjoy the view of Mount Fuji from there."

As he spoke, he pulled a bottle of ink from his pocket and splashed it directly onto the landscape painting beside him. "But you actually did such a thing as betraying your master and ancestors!"

"I..."

Tokiwa Mio took two steps back, staring blankly at the two halves of Mount Fuji.

"What I'm saying is, why are all you artists so extreme?"

Fujino, speechless, retorted, "It's just that you can't see Mount Fuji. You could have just gone somewhere else. Why did you have to pull this stunt of a serial murder case? You're just like that Moroya Teiji."

"..."

Kazama Hidehiko, who was standing to the side as Moroya Teiji disciple, felt like he was being dissed.

"Hmph, why bring this up now?"

Kisaragi Hōzui snorted coldly and pulled a small bottle from his pocket, "Since you've already discovered the evidence, I have nothing more to say..."

"Ha!"

Before Kisaragi Hōzui could even drink the poison, a flash of light crackling with electricity swept past Fujino and struck him squarely on the head.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, the old man was shot unconscious, his head hitting the ground.

"It's that kid again..."

Fujino turned around and immediately saw Conan, whose sneakers were still crackling with electricity.

Banquet hall.

The curtain on the stage was drawn back, Kisaragi Hōzui lay face down on the stage floor, her life hanging in the balance.

"I never imagined that the murderer would be Mr. Kisaragi."

"Yes, I didn't expect that either."

Ran and Sonoko stood around the old man, murmuring in surprise.

"Ahem!"

Mori Kogoro Mouri boasted, "I always felt that this old guy wasn't a good person!"

"But that doesn't quite make sense."

Juzo Megure looked at Kisaragi with curiosity. "He had an alibi in the second murder case, so how did he become the murderer now?"

"Well..."

Mori Kogoro lowered his head sheepishly and began to think.

"Perhaps it's because Uncle Yuan wasn't killed by him!"

Conan suddenly jumped out and said, "The bloodstains on the small porcelain cup have dried. I think he put it there after he arrived."

"Who killed Hara Yoshiki?"

Juzo Megure glanced at Conan with a somewhat bewildered expression.

"That's unclear."

Fujino interjected, "Who killed Hara Yoshiki still needs to be investigated, but it's almost certain that he killed Oki. There was also a small porcelain cup at the crime scene this time, but I stopped him before he could kill Tokiwa-san."

"Yes... It's all thanks to Fujino- kun for being here!"

Juzo Megure nodded, deciding to stop thinking about it so much.

The fact that no one died was the greatest comfort to him.

Sure enough, Fujino is still the same good brother he always was!

As expected, it's Mori!

"Bang!!!"

Just then, the surrounding staircases suddenly shook.

Juzo Megure: "..."

Can I take back what I just said?

Another miracle?!

"Whoa!"

A white-clad figure sat atop Building B of the Twin Towers and exclaimed, "Wow, the commotion was that big!"

"Of course it made a lot of noise, after all, it was an explosion."

At that moment, a familiar voice came from behind.

Kuroba Kaito turned around and saw a person dressed in a white robe, whose face was obscured, walking towards him from behind.

"Who goes there?!"

Kuroba Kaito quickly stood up, frowned as he looked at the white-robed man opposite him. "Beika Batman?"