Still Eating, Still Eating

"Wow, these are all such high-end, delicious-sounding things."

"Caviar, foie gras, and so many other delicacies...!"

Mori Kogoro could not be bothered with pleasantries—or rather, he had never cared much about them in the first place. He grabbed a plate, ignored everyone's looks, and completely immersed himself in the feast spread across the table, utterly oblivious to the gazes around him.

After all, with things having come this far between him and Mio Tokiwa, they might not even remain friends, let alone do business together. He was one of the few guests in the hall with absolutely nothing to feel guilty about, so naturally, he had plenty of room in his heart to appreciate the food.

"Dad, honestly. You can't get this dramatic just because you skipped dinner." Ran Mouri folded her arms and stared speechlessly at her father as he dove into the plates and glasses. "You're being way too conspicuous."

"It's actually not that bad..." Conan looked around the hall, his tone hesitant.

This grand event, supposedly held to celebrate the Twin Towers' completion, carried an oddly unsettling atmosphere. The Phantom Thief Troupe emblem hanging outside the buildings for days had clearly affected many people's state of mind.

Just based on their mental state, the people present could roughly be divided into two camps.

One group, such as Mori Kogoro, who had already picked up a fork and started eating heartily, truly seemed to have come for a celebration—or at least an ordinary social gathering. They held wineglasses and chatted among themselves. The other group, meanwhile, was jittery and distracted. Their pale faces and low spirits had completely drained them of any interest in socializing.

There were not many especially obvious cases among the latter, but far more people were somewhat out of sorts and visibly uncomfortable.

Sure