Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

The two entered the exhibition hall together.

Perhaps to create an atmosphere closer to "hell," the place is pitch black, with only small lights illuminating the exhibits.

From the moment he stepped into the room, Morobushi Kagemitsu became alert.

It wasn't that he was still suspicious of the people around him, but rather that the atmosphere here made him very uncomfortable. The room was so dark, making it particularly easy to set up ambushes and launch sneak attacks, which made him, as a police officer, instinctively begin to be on guard.

The walls were adorned with various bizarre decorations, and strangely shaped demon sculptures stood on either side.

Those pairs of eyes were so lifelike, as if they were hiding in the darkness, eyeing the visitors with ill intent.

Morofushi Kagemitsu had no interest in these dark-style artworks, glancing at them politely at first glance;
However, Aoyagi Akimitsu seemed dissatisfied with his perfunctory attitude, and began to walk around slowly, looking particularly curious, and sometimes even asking Morofushi Kagemitsu about their origins.

Morofushi Kagemitsu was forced to slow down. He thought of the car and then the bomb, so he had no choice but to patiently accompany him, explaining when he recognized it and frankly admitting that he didn't know when he didn't, and then they went to see the information on the display board together.

In this way, the two gradually started to communicate more.

This wasn't the first time Morofushi Kagemitsu had gone out with Aoyagi Akimitsu. The last time was for work, and this time it was by chance, but their interaction was surprisingly harmonious.

Morofushi Kagemitsu was a little uncomfortable when he first entered the art museum, but he gradually relaxed during the conversation.

Unbeknownst to them, they had wandered deeper into the exhibition hall.

There are no sculptures here; all the exhibits are placed in display cases, and outsiders can only observe them through the glass.

Aoyagi Akimitsu intended to approach for a closer look, but halfway there, he suddenly stopped and said in a subtle tone:

"I didn't expect there to be these things."

Morofushi Kagemitsu, who was looking at something that looked like human skin on the wall, looked over when he heard this, and then paused.

The display case in front of them contained nothing but instruments of torture.

Various torture instruments from different countries, from ancient times to the Middle Ages and modern times.

At a glance, Morobuchi Kagemitsu could even recognize several of them: thumb clips, torture boots, bamboo whips, head crushers...

These ancient instruments of torture were long rusted, but he could almost smell the blood on them through the glass.

...A true "hellish" exhibition hall. No wonder the organizers set it in a remote corner with so few visitors. Ordinary people would probably feel uncomfortable seeing something like this.

Morifu no Kagemitsu looked away; he merely sighed, his heart not stirred much.

After all, the police sometimes use special methods to get prisoners to confess, and if we're talking about experts in this area, he's seen even more during the time he was organizing undercover operations.

Thinking of this, he turned to look at Aoyagi Akimitsu.

Rei Furuya had told him a lot of information about Akihiro Aoyagi, including that this FBI agent had also infiltrated a criminal organization as an undercover agent, and although he successfully retired, he was sometimes attacked by remnants of the gang.

So how did this FBI undercover agent react to these things?
When he turned his head, he found that the person next to him was empty.

Upon closer inspection, through the reflection in the glass not far away, he was surprised to find that Aoyagi Akimitsu, who had been standing next to him, had somehow moved behind him and was now standing just out of reach, looking up at something.

"?!"

Caught off guard by the sudden attack from behind, Zhu Fujingguang's heart skipped a beat. He turned around abruptly, took a step back, and instantly distanced himself from the other person.

Aoyagi Akimitsu ignored his entire grand scheme.

The FBI agent simply kept his head tilted back, intently looking at the oil painting on the wall in front of him.

Morofushi Kagemitsu was taken aback when he saw his expression.

Aoyagi Akimitsu, with his black hair and all-black attire, seemed to blend seamlessly into the surrounding darkness. Yet, the display lights beside the painting cast a soft white glow on his face, preventing him from completely plunging into the shadows. To be fair, this man was quite handsome. The way he strolled in the rain with an umbrella earlier looked like a scene from an art film, every frame pleasing to the eye. He also usually had a gentle smile, making a very good first impression.

For some reason, despite his gentle demeanor, he always gave off an inexplicable sense of distance.

But now, that sense of distance has disappeared. As Morofushi Kagemitsu stared at Aoyagi Ayaka's profile, a thought inexplicably flashed through his mind.

—The usually friendly and smiling Aoyagi Akimitsu, who just said in the rain that he didn't care that his car was hit, was lying. The Aoyagi Akimitsu who is now focused on looking at the painting is the real him.

"Does it look good?"

A voice suddenly asked him.

Morofushi Kagemitsu snapped out of his daze and met Aoyagi Akimitsu's gaze. The FBI agent was staring at him, that smile reappearing on his face.

"what?"

He didn't immediately realize whether the other person was referring to a person or something else.

"This painting," Aoyagi Akimitsu asked softly, seemingly oblivious to Morofushi Kagemitsu's distraction, "isn't it quite good?"

Morobuchi Kagemitsu raised his head and carefully examined the oil painting in front of him.

The setting is a forest, and the main characters are two boys with strikingly similar faces. One boy has a large patch of bright red blood oozing from his abdomen, staining his white robes, and his eyes are empty and lifeless; while the other boy kneels beside him, holding him tightly, trying to cover his wound, his expression one of terror and despair.

The background is darkness, with a waning moon hanging in the sky. A blurry figure sits high in the clouds, quietly and condescendingly overlooking the scene.

"...His painting skills are indeed quite good."

Morofushi Kagemitsu answered honestly, "This style looks familiar. I think there was a similar work at the Suzuki Hotel in Yokohama before?"

He was on a mission at the time and didn't examine the hotel's decor carefully, only glancing at it briefly.

Aoyagi Akihiro nodded: "Yes, they are all based on Greek mythology and are the work of the same painter."

Morofushi Kagemitsu asked curiously, "What story is this?"

He knew Greek mythology, where the relationships between gods and humans were so complex that they were impossible to unravel; he could only name a few of the most famous ones.

"These are the Dioscuri brothers, the origin of the Gemini constellation in Greek mythology."

Aoyagi Akimitsu looked at the painting again.

"Queen Leda of Sparta gave birth to twin brothers, the elder of whom was the son of a god and immortal; the younger of whom was the son of a mortal king and had only flesh and blood."

"They were an excellent pair of hunters. They participated in the Calydon hunt, went with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece, and fought in the Trojan War to rescue their sister Helen. They were always together, inseparable."

"But during a hunting trip, they got into a fight with others, and the younger brother was accidentally killed. The older brother could not accept his brother's death, so he asked his biological father, Zeus, the supposedly omnipotent king of the gods, to give his life to his younger brother."

Zeus agreed, and moved by their brotherly bond, he transformed them into the constellation Gemini in the sky, so that they would never be separated again.

After listening quietly, Morofushi Kagemitsu commented, "Fortunately, the ending was relatively satisfactory."

He also has brothers, who are his only family. He understands that feeling, so he is happy with the ending of the story.

"Yes."

Aoyagi Akimitsu gazed at the two brothers above him, something flickering lightly in his light brown eyes:
“After all, it’s mythology, not reality,” he said calmly. “In reality, when a person dies, they’re dead, and there’s no way to bring them back.”

That's why this painting is on display in the Hell Pavilion. (End of Chapter)