Outlaws in Conan's World, Tokisaki Kurumi

"I thought I'd done everything flawlessly, but I never expected you to find out." Having already come to terms with it, Director Ochiai shook his head. "Since you saw it all, call the police." As he spoke, he raised his hands to show that he was unarmed. "I won't hurt you."

Though he said that, Ochiai knew that after a young girl had witnessed a murderer kill someone with her own eyes, would she really believe his promise not to harm her and calmly let him call the police?

If it were him, he probably wouldn't believe it either.

However, although Ochiai had shown that he would not resist, Kurumi, who had already approached to within a dozen steps of him, neither took out her phone nor screamed in panic.

"No, I won't call the police, Director Ochiai." Kurumi shook her head and looked toward Manaka, who had been nailed to the wall. "Those who betray others deserve no sympathy."

Ochiai's eyes widened in shock. He could hardly believe his ears.

"You won't call the police? Why? Don't you know there's a surveillance camera here?" As he spoke, Ochiai gestured toward the wall beside them.

The camera had captured him removing his helmet. There was no possible excuse for his crime now.

But Kurumi was different. If she chose not to call the police, she would be guilty of harboring a murderer.

Ochiai did not want to see that happen.

Yet Kurumi's next words greatly surprised him.

"You mean that one?" Looking up at the camera above them, Kurumi said indifferently, "That camera is broken."

"What? Broken?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Ochiai examined the camera closely.

To his surprise, the little red light that should have indicated the camera was operating had gone out at some point. That meant the camera had not been recording at all.

Kurumi, the Three in Zhang San

When Director Ochiai saw that the camera, which should have been working normally, had somehow stopped functioning, his mind went blank.

To ensure that his great vengeance would be fulfilled, Ochiai had deliberately chosen a location within the camera's range. He wanted to imitate the setup of Divine Punishment and kill Manaka, that demon, as a knight.

And while he was at it, he wanted another employee who often stole artwork to sell to take the blame for the murder.

"But how did you know?" Seeing that the camera was dead and recalling how calmly Kurumi had appeared here, Ochiai sensed that her presence was no coincidence.

"Did you do this?" Ochiai asked.

"Yes. This kind of outdated technology has no real technical merit." To Kurumi, a visitor from the twenty-first century, technology from the nineties was far too primitive. Her tone was filled with disdain.

By using King Crimson to destroy the surveillance camera's wiring, Kurumi could not only freely alter the crime scene, but also calmly speak with the old man who had just killed someone with his own hands without any concern.

"To be honest, I don't understand, Grandpa Director." Kurumi's attitude was noticeably more humble toward the old man she found regrettable. "You went to such lengths to arrange this scene, but have you considered that the more elaborate your methods are, the more likely they are to leave flaws?"

Kurumi, who had always handled things simply and brutally, could not really understand such unnecessary complications.

As a member of the Black Organization, Kurumi disliked drawing attention to herself. Doing so would only put her in the spotlight.

Using King Crimson, which ordinary people could not see, Kurumi had never failed a mission in the past few years. Moreover, this special ability, which ordinary people could not comprehend, had steadily elevated her status within the organization until she was faintly on par with Gin.

Hearing Kurumi's words, Ochiai fell silent for a while.

Though advanced in years, he possessed abundant life experience, so naturally he understood that principle.

But to carry out his plan of killing two birds with one stone and satisfy his desire for revenge, Ochiai had still chosen this method.

Perhaps he had long since prepared himself for the day the truth came to light.

Unable to keep hiding it and overwhelmed by his desire to confide in someone, Ochiai removed the bloodstained armor from his body while telling her his story.

As Ochiai explained what Manaka had done and revealed that he regarded the artworks as dearly as his own children, Kurumi gradually came to understand the hardships of this director who had embarked upon a path of obsession.

If it had been an ordinary person listening to Ochiai, they would probably have loudly retorted, "But that's no reason to kill someone!"

But Kurumi would not.

Because she understood that for an old man past fifty with no power or influence, whose heart had already been filled with rage, preserving this museum had left him with no choice but to take this wrong path.

He had even prepared himself to perish together with his enemy.

"But can doing this really save this museum and the artworks within it, all of which are filled with your love?" Kurumi did not care in the slightest that Ochiai had killed someone. What she wanted to know was this: if Ochiai failed to save himself, then after Manaka died and Ochiai was arrested, what would become of the museum?

Did Ochiai truly believe so naively that killing Manaka would ensure the museum's survival?

Kurumi silently shook her head and sighed. "Grandpa Director, I'm afraid hatred has made you lose your way~"

Anger made people lose their reason and commit many foolish acts.

In Conan's story, quite a few criminals committed unforgivable crimes because of a momentary impulse or hatred.

Thinking of that, Kurumi mocked herself inwardly.

She was clearly an executioner with blood all over her hands, yet one day she had found herself trying to persuade someone else with such a mindset.

"Yes." Having completely calmed down, Ochiai had naturally considered what would happen afterward.

Indeed, killing Manaka would prevent the museum from being converted for the time being.

But only temporarily.

Without Manaka, perhaps there would be entrepreneurs named Mane, Manaleft, or Manaright who wanted to buy the museum.

No one could guarantee that the next owner would love art as much as he did.

Whether the museum could continue to exist was still filled with uncertainty.

"But what can I do now that things have come to this?" Ochiai's voice was full of despondency. He truly did not want to watch the artworks he loved disappear before his eyes.

Perhaps that was why he had already prepared himself to be imprisoned for murder.

At least then, what he did not see would not trouble him.

Seeing Ochiai looking utterly lost, as though he had lost his backbone, Kurumi knew that half her goal had already been achieved.

"That is why I'm here." Kurumi pointed at the armor by Ochiai's feet. "But now isn't the time to discuss that. Besides, Grandpa Director, you should get some rest before facing the police afterward, shouldn't you?"

Kurumi did not want the bastard employee Ochiai mentioned to take the blame.

It was not because she had suddenly become kind-hearted, but because she had other plans for him.

Hearing that Kurumi seemed to be suggesting he leave, Ochiai asked in confusion, "What are you going to do, young lady? One criminal here is enough."

Even now, Director Ochiai did not want a young girl like Kurumi to break the law by helping him cover up his crime.

"Don't worry. This sort of thing should naturally be left to professionals, shouldn't it?"

Back in her area of expertise, Kurumi smiled sweetly.

King Crimson's Time Erasure was undoubtedly extremely useful for dealing with murder weapons and clues.

In the few hours after Ochiai killed Manaka, King Crimson, carrying the bloodstained armor, repeatedly activated Time Erasure. Without anyone noticing, it handed the armor over to a disposable pawn Kurumi had summoned using the organization's authority and ordered him to dispose of it as soon as possible.

Besides the armor, Kurumi found a ballpoint pen at the scene, as well as the crumpled note clenched in Manaka's hand. Both items were disposed of together with the armor.

When she returned to the museum, Kurumi found Ochiai in his office, calm as if nothing had happened.

It had to be said that, when it came to adjusting his mindset, Ochiai's rich life experience served him very well.

At least on the surface, the old man was as kind and amiable as usual.

"Grandpa Director, from now on, you only need to act as if you know absolutely nothing about what happened here." Wearing a confident smile that suggested everything was under control, Kurumi said, "Once this is over, I believe you and I will need to discuss what comes next."

Having Ochiai firmly in her grasp, Kurumi was full of confidence.

That Person

Director Ochiai found that he could understand less and less about the familiar girl who often came to admire the museum's exhibits.

"Who... exactly are you?" In the director's office, her composure in the face of bloodshed and her ability to laugh and converse with him, a murderer, made Ochiai believe that she was definitely not as harmless as she appeared.

Although the girl was being very polite toward him now, that very disconnect between her before and after made her seem even more unsettling.

Unconsciously, Ochiai began to take Kurumi seriously.

"Kurumi. Tokisaki Kurumi." Taking a calm sip of tea poured by a female staff member, Kurumi said, "Who I am is not important. What matters is that I am helping you."

Tokisaki Kurumi... Tokisaki... Ochiai remained silent, desperately searching his mind for a conglomerate or organization in Tokyo—or even all of Japan—that bore the Tokisaki name.

After considering it again and again, he still found no clue.

Seeing the old man deep in thought, Kurumi said nothing and simply waited quietly.

The power of speech and the initiative between them were almost entirely in her hands. If not for the pity she felt for him, Kurumi would never have helped him.

Besides, they both liked the artwork called Divine Punishment.

After a long while, Director Ochiai shook his head and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Miss Tokisaki. When people grow old, their minds tend to become unsettled."

"It's all right. I imagine you were just thinking about who I really am, Grandpa Director." Kurumi looked at Ochiai's aged face with smiling eyes.

That was understandable.

When faced with someone whose background you could not fathom, who possessed evidence of your crime and had even taken the initiative to erase that evidence, while apparently wishing to discuss something with you, being able to retain basic rationality and calm without panicking was already proof that Ochiai possessed strong nerves.

At Kurumi's words, Ochiai's long eyebrows twitched.

Still speaking politely, Kurumi said, "Who I am, or who stands behind me, is not important. What matters is that we can help you."

"As for what just happened, that was my show of sincerity." Without realizing it, Kurumi's demeanor toward Ochiai shifted from that of a junior to that of Bloody Mary, one of the organization's most mysterious members.

Without giving Ochiai a chance to speak, Kurumi continued adding weight to her side of the scale between them. "Like you, I also enjoy these artworks. Whether it is Divine Punishment or the replica of the Mona Lisa in the exhibition hall, those are my two favorite pieces here."

To be honest, Kurumi had been quite surprised that this museum even possessed a replica of the Mona Lisa.

Kurumi, who knew a little about art, understood very well that in order to preserve an artwork, only a small number of replicas were normally made.

After all, a replica was not a forgery. Not only was there a vast difference between the two, but replicas were also valuable items second only to the original.

Whenever she thought of the Mona Lisa, Kurumi felt somewhat awkward.

Because after she unexpectedly discovered the painting here, that unreliable system of hers suddenly issued a quest.

Admire Mona Lisa's hands for ten minutes every day

What the hell! I'm not some hand-fetish maniac like Kira Yoshikage. Am I supposed to get hard just from looking at Mona Lisa's hands?

And besides, what exactly am I supposed to get hard with?

Setting aside that irritating issue, Kurumi continued in the office, "Grandpa Director, the person behind me has a certain appreciation for art and fine art. So when I learned that Manaka intended to turn this museum into a restaurant, I became very angry and told him about it."

In order to let Director Ochiai know that she, Kurumi, was not alone and that an even more powerful figure stood behind her, Kurumi decided to make her words more convincing.

Hearing that Kurumi and the "person" behind her both liked artwork, Ochiai's suspicions eased somewhat.

Eager to preserve the museum, he asked somewhat urgently, "Then, Miss Tokisaki, what does that person intend?"

"He wishes to purchase this museum. While allowing it to continue operating, he also hopes that you, Grandpa Director, will remain in charge here."

With that single sentence, the balance between the two of them had now completely tilted toward Kurumi.

She had fully seized the initiative.

"So, as our gesture of sincerity, Sa... cough!" Kurumi nearly let something slip again and hurriedly corrected herself. "That person sent me here to handle this matter."

Sa...? Having vaguely heard Kurumi say the word "Sa," Ochiai immediately chose to forget it.

At his age, he naturally knew that the more one knew about certain matters, the faster one died.

"But how did you know that I would kill Manaka?" Ochiai's question struck directly at the heart of the matter.

Faced with a question that was not easy to answer, Kurumi put on a mysterious air as though everything was within her grasp. "Simple. Intelligence analysis, that's all."

Seeing Kurumi's proud expression, Ochiai could not help but form an extremely high opinion of the young girl before him.

In Ochiai's eyes, Kurumi was only fifteen or sixteen, an age that should have been the prime of her youth. She should have been enjoying an easy and happy school life. Yet after seeing her calmly witness his murder, then unhurriedly clean up after him, her indifference—as though she had done this countless times before—and her adult way of thinking filled Ochiai with deep regret.

Ochiai even found himself wondering who had turned a girl who should have been carefree into such a cold-blooded killer.

Shaking his head, Ochiai decided not to think about that for now.

Looking at this transaction, Kurumi had contributed both money and effort.

But as for himself, aside from receiving their favor for nothing, he had given nothing in return.

That made Ochiai doubt himself. Was such a huge investment really worthwhile just for the museum and him?

And... did he truly have the right to choose?

Just as the two in the office fell silent, the office door behind them was suddenly pushed open.

"B-Bad news, Director!"