The Dragonslayer Becomes the Dragon
Inspector Megure's ears perked up at Xiayu's words, and he hurried to press her. "Really? You already know who the killer is? Well, who is it? And how was it done?"
Xiayu didn't bother with theatrics. She simply gave the answer straight out. "The culprit is Director Ochiai."
Kogoro Mouri and Inspector Megure both whipped around in astonishment. The Director himself looked a little surprised too, but he showed no particular panic. "Miss Natsume," he said calmly, "you claim I'm the murderer. Do you have any evidence?"
Xiayu explained. "First, every artwork hanging on the wall behind the victim—the ones that could have been splattered with blood—was removed in advance. That tells us the culprit loves these paintings and couldn't bear to see them damaged. Second, there's a moment in the security footage where President Manaka, standing behind the culprit, receives a note and reacts with visible shock. He then borrows a pen, scribbles something on the paper a few times, tosses the pen aside, and crumples the note up. I saw that pen at the scene, too—but the nib was retracted. I find it very hard to believe that a man in fear of his life would write something and then carefully retract the nib afterward. Which means that pen was swapped for another one."
Just then, an officer at the scene recovered the note the victim had thrown away. Written on it was a single name: "Kubota."
Before anyone could ask a question, Xiayu pressed on. "That note was almost certainly written by the killer. Since the pen was swapped, and the one found at the scene writes perfectly well, that means the original pen couldn't write at all." She gestured for Inspector Megure to examine the note, pointing out that the name "Kubota" should bear scratch marks where a dried-up pen had been dragged across the paper—marks left when the victim realized something was wrong and tried to test it. "The victim discovered the pen wouldn't write, which is why he threw it down in frustration. That type of pen is only issued to museum staff. In other words, whoever is holding a pen that can't write is the one who swapped it—and the one who swapped it is the killer!"
About halfway through this, Conan had already worked out the trick himself. Once you knew the killer was trying to frame Kubota, only one person could strip him of an alibi: the Director.
Xiayu walked up to Director Ochiai and extended her right hand. "Well then, Director, would you mind showing me whether your pen can write?"
With trembling fingers, he took out an identical pen. There was no more protesting, no more excuses. He confessed on the spot. "The young lady is quite right. I did all of this to rid the world of President Manaka—a selfish, greedy demon." He turned toward Kubota. "As for framing Kubota—that was my punishment for him, for secretly selling off the artworks I cherish like my own children."
Lisa let out a soft sigh and walked over to the painting titled Divine Punishment. "How fitting. This is exactly the scene depicted in this very painting, isn't it? The knight slays the demon, only to be tainted by it in turn. The dragonslayer becomes the dragon."
"So it seems," Ochiai said with a rueful, carefree smile, then turned his gaze to Lisa standing before the canvas. "You're quite right, Miss Lisa—the dragonslayer becomes the dragon. Although... I confess I'm a little curious. You said that with a certain wistfulness. Were you thinking of someone? Of course, that's merely my own curiosity, one man with a similar history to another. Please feel free not to answer."
Lisa hadn't expected the question from him, but there was nothing about it she couldn't share. "I was thinking of a... hm... a friend of mine. He slew a great demon dragon too, and was stained by it—then, whisper by whisper, he was led astray by people with their own designs, and he did some terrible things. But he was fortunate. His friends never gave up on him, and in the end, he never truly became the next demon dragon."
Ochiai looked quietly comforted by this. "That's good. Your friend was lucky—he still had a road back. Ha ha, well, my own destination is prison, I expect. But I don't regret it. If I could do it all over again, I would still choose to kill that demon."
And so the case drew to a close. Inspector Megure took the culprit, Director Ochiai, into custody, reminding everyone involved to stop by the station when they had time to give their formal statements before taking his leave.
At that point, Xiayu noticed that Kogoro Mouri and Conan had both grown hungry ages ago, and it was rather late to go home and cook—so she invited the group to eat at the restaurant on the first floor of her own building. It was on the way, after all.
Ran Mouri had been about to decline, feeling it would be too much of an imposition. But between her father's enthusiasm, Conan's obvious interest, and Xiayu's insistence, she gave in and agreed.
On the way there, the group fell to talking about what had happened at the museum. Kogoro, curiosity getting the better of him, turned to Lisa. "Miss Lisa, that friend of yours who slew a demon dragon—that was an exaggeration, surely?"
Ran looked at her with wide, curious eyes. "Could there really be dragons in the world?"
Conan walked along with his hands jammed in his pockets, half-lidded eyes fixed on nothing. Dragons? Please. No such creature exists—it's all pure fantasy. Still, Ran really was adorable, believing in dragons at her age.
"It's true~" Lisa said, meeting Ran's eager gaze. She thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Ehh?! There really are dragons?!"
Conan's foot skidded on the pavement. What—seriously? She's got to be kidding.
"Pfft—just kidding." Lisa burst out laughing. "The friend I mentioned to Director Ochiai was hurt while protecting some people, you see, and then was deceived by people with bad intentions into doing some awful things. But thankfully, someone never gave up on him, and he won his freedom back in the end. Mm... it's a happy ending, wouldn't you say?"
"Mm-hmm, it really is." Ran looked happy and moved all at once. For someone to have never given up on Miss Lisa's friend—for things not to end irrevocably the way they had today—she couldn't think of anything better.
Kogoro bonked Conan on the head with his fist. "Told you there's no such thing as dragons. A kid's a kid, huh? Jumping at every little thing."
Heh. Big guy, don't just pick on me—you were plenty surprised yourself just now. Kids really have no rights around here.
Xia Yu drifted over to Lisa's side and murmured, "Lisa. That friend you mentioned—is it Dvalin?"
"My, my, the cutie figured it out~"
"You said 'slew the demon dragon.' That could only mean him, you know. How could I not guess?"
...
Conan slowed his pace a little, edging quietly closer to Lisa and Xia Yu, who were walking behind the others. Curiosity gnawed at him—what were they talking about? But to keep them from noticing a small child eavesdropping, he kept a careful distance, and since the two were speaking in low voices, only fragments reached his ears: Dvalin... slay... dragon... Venti...
Dvalin—was that the name of the friend Lisa had mentioned? And "slay the dragon"? Was it some kind of metaphor? And who was Venti? More than that—how did Xia Yu know? Weren't the two of them only just acquainted?
Ah—the questions just kept piling up, and with every one of them, Conan's curiosity about these two women burned hotter. One day, he would dig out the secrets they were hiding.