Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Seeing this, the others also raised their hands.

Maeda Yoto and Mouri Kogoro raised their right hands without hesitation, with the latter muttering, "The curator is the most likely."

Yoshida Aoi hesitated for a moment, glanced at Ono Kayoko beside her, and finally raised her right hand as well.

Ono Kayoko, like Konoe Taishi, raised her left hand.

She said softly, "I have seen the employee evaluation records from that time. All the staff had a very good reputation. For decades, there had never been a case of embezzlement."

At this moment, only Hattori Heizo and Hayashi Hideichi did not raise their hands.

The two stood side by side in the moonlight, their expressions somewhat solemn, as if they were pondering something.

"Hey, what do you two mean by this?"

Kawada Yuko pouted and stomped her foot in feigned displeasure.
"Voting should be fair and impartial. You should at least have a guess! Raise your hands now! Otherwise, I'll consider it an abstention!"

"Lin Jun, what about you?"

Ignoring Kawada Haeko's urging, Hattori Heizo turned to look at Hayashi Shuichi, his eyes filled with a hint of inquiry.

"Have you considered any different possibilities?"

"Whether it was an inside job or not, I can't be sure or not."

Lin Xiu frowned, her gaze once again falling on the Warring States period exhibition hall in the museum.

"But I always feel that we may have fallen into a misconception from the very beginning. We assumed that the katana was stolen after the museum closed, but what if that premise itself is wrong?"

Hattori Heizo's eyes suddenly lit up, as if struck by lightning.

He patted Lin Xiuyi on the shoulder with a smile, and then said to everyone, "I feel the same way, that things are not that simple."

"Have you two discovered something?"

Ono Kayoko took a step forward, her eyes full of curiosity.
"You've been observing the outer wall just now, did you find any clues?"

"I just thought of another possible method of theft."

Hattori Heizo smiled mysteriously, took two pens and two pieces of sticky note from his pocket, and handed one to Lin Xiuyi.
"Mr. Lin, why don't we each write down our thoughts and see if we're actually on the same page?"

"Okay."

Lin Xiu nodded in agreement and took the paper and pen.

The two stood four or five meters apart, back to back, quickly scribbling their guesses on sticky notes.

Kogoro Mouri curiously moved closer to Hideichi Hayashi, craning his neck to try and see what he had written.

When he saw the words "before the incident", a question immediately appeared on his face. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but as soon as he uttered a "hello", Lin Xiuyi stopped him with a look.

Lin Xiuyi gestured with his lip towards Hattori Heizo, signaling him to keep quiet so as not to be overheard.

Kogoro Mori had no choice but to swallow his words, scratching his head as he stood aside, his face full of anxiety.

On the other side, Ono Kayoko and Konoe Taishi also gathered around Hattori Heizo.

When Ono Kayoko saw the words "fake" written by Hattori Heizo, her eyes widened slightly, and she wore a thoughtful expression. She looked down at the documents in her hand, then looked up at the museum's exhibition hall, seemingly verifying her suspicion.

Konoe Daishi was completely bewildered. Just as he was about to ask a question, Ono Kayoko stopped him with a gesture, and he could only wait anxiously like Mouri Kogoro.

Soon, both of them finished writing.

They folded the sticky notes in half, held them up in their hands, and waited for the answer to be revealed.

Kawada Yuko, always eager for a good show, immediately clapped her hands and exclaimed excitedly, "I'll be the referee! I'll count to three, and you two will both show what you've written! One, two, three—"

As she finished speaking, Lin Xiuyi and Hattori Heizo simultaneously unfolded the sticky notes.

The moonlight shone on the paper, making the writing on it clearly visible.

Lin Xiuyi wrote: "The katana may have been stolen before the incident."

Hattori Heizo wrote: "Someone swapped a real samurai sword for a fake one."

"Huh? This isn't the same thing!"

Kawada Haeko frowned, leaned closer to the two sticky notes, and examined them carefully.
"If the katana was stolen before the incident, the museum staff should have noticed it long ago! They patrol every day, how could they not have noticed it for half a month?"

"There are also cases of replacing genuine products with counterfeits,"

Yoshida Aoi also frowned, imagining the scene at that time.
"Even if it's a fake, it can't just disappear into thin air! How come the police couldn't find a trace of the fake during their search?"

Kogoro Mouri also came over, scratching his head and saying, "Yeah, Shuichi, Hattori, what exactly do you mean by what you wrote? Can you explain it more clearly? I don't understand a word of it."

Faced with everyone's questions, Lin Xiuyi and Hattori Heizo exchanged a smile, their eyes filled with tacit understanding.

Hattori Heizo patted Hayashi Hideichi on the shoulder, signaling him to explain.

"Actually, our two answers combined form a complete theft method."

Lin Xiuyi walked to the middle of the crowd,

"However, this is just our speculation. After all, we have not gone in to investigate on-site, and ten years have passed, so many details may be impossible to verify."

"What you said is as good as saying nothing at all!"

Kogoro Mouri gave his best friend a shove, clearly annoyed.
"Stop being so mysterious and just explain! Otherwise, I'm going to get angry!"

“Don’t rush, Kogoro.” Lin Xiuyi smiled. “Simply put, the thief replaced the real sword with a fake before the crime was committed. This gave him ample time to take the real sword away without anyone noticing the flaws in the short term. Afterward, he would find an opportunity to make the fake sword disappear, creating the illusion that the katana was stolen after the museum closed.”

"But the key question is, how do we make the fakes disappear?"

Maeda Yoto adjusted his glasses and raised the core question.
"Fakes should be made of metal. Even if they are small, they can't just vanish into thin air, right? The police searched so many times, there's no way they couldn't find them."

"This needs to be considered in conjunction with the museum's exhibition rules and the characteristics of the samurai sword."

Yoko Ono suddenly spoke up, flipping to a page in the document and pointing to the text, saying...
"According to the records, the samurai sword was displayed on a specially made wooden display stand, surrounded by a 1.5-meter-high barrier. Ordinary people could not observe it up close, let alone touch it, because of the barrier."

"Furthermore, according to the museum's operating rules, in order to avoid damage to the anti-rust layer on the surface of the swords due to excessive cleaning, the exhibited samurai swords will only undergo a comprehensive cleaning and inspection once every three months."

"At the time of the incident, exactly two and a half months had passed since the last cleaning, meaning the genuine samurai sword wouldn't be removed for inspection by staff for another two weeks." (End of Chapter)