Joan blinked as the two men protested against Ran's suggestion.

"I've got to go do homework!" Conan announced, getting off the couch.

"I have to go get groceries," Kogoro fibbed.

Joan blinked as Ran advanced on her.

"Well?" she said menacingly. "You'll come with me to the art Museum, won't you, Joan-chan?"

"Only if Conan comes with me," Joan said. "It'll be boring otherwise."

"Well, you heard her, Conan!" Ran said confidently, turning around.

He was already down the street.

"Shall we catch a bus?" Joan suggested, as Ran punched the table, causing it to be crushed like a relatively strong tin can.

"Yes," Ran hissed. "And when I catch up with Conan I'll..."

"Don't finish that sentence," Joan advised. "He's probably so excited that he's going there beforehand."

"That better be right!" Ran raged.

Why did I get myself involved in this?

Oh well.


Joan followed Ran closely as she awed at the different paintings.

"Ah! Look at those colours!" she cried, staring at a picture Joan thought looked like a lot of grey on top of a lot of black on top of more grey. She sighed and was about to agree until a man walked up to them and began to discuss it with them.

It turned out that he was the director of the building, and although it seemed like the place was empty, he valued it deeply nonetheless.

"I am Ochiai, the director," he introduced himself. "Please, do enjoy yourselves." his head snapped to see a man touching the border of a painting as he inspected it.

"Oh! Kubota, what are you doing?!" he cried. "I told you to always wear gloves when you touch the paintings!"

"Ah, I'm sorry!" he cried, staring at his hands dubiously.

"You've done enough here," Ochiai insisted. "Uh, Iijima-kun, please take care of this."

"Sure," The man said, getting up form his work. Kubota frowned visibly, but made no comment.

As Joan was headed away, she ran into something before she could move out of the way, and fell over backwards.

"Ow," she murmured, shaking herself and getting up again. She glared at the cream-suited man as he went by, ignoring her.

"Hmph. Sure is a lonesome place." He commented.

"Manaka, sir..." Ochiai murmured in response.

"This place will be shut down soon," Manaka said gruffly. "Until then, take care of it." He grinned in a cruel fashion. "This stuff practically has mold growing on it."

Ochiai looked honestly offended, but as Manaka and his assistant left to look at blueprints, he said nothing.

"This art gallery is going to be closed?" Ran inquired sadly.

"Yes," Ochiai nodded, stroking his grey beard idly. "The previous owner's company went bankrupt, and so he sold this place to Manaka."

Iijima growled. "There was supposed to be an agreement between them, that Manaka would continue to run this place as it is - an art gallery," he moaned. "but the second he bought it, he began plans to turn it into a hotel."

Joan blinked and looked up as Kubota was left in Manaka's dirt, forced to endure the cruel behaviour. He threw a Knight's helmet on the ground in frustration.

Her memories of the case came back to her as she watched all of them separate.

Conan isn't even nearby this time! She thought desperately. And he'd kill me - well, more than once, anyway - if I left Ran alone with criminals.

I guess I... oh, right! I'll ask Aoyama!

She typed rapidly into the flip-phone, and thanked her lucky stars when her answer was near immediate.

"Do what Conan do!"

She took her role in stride.


Travelling the different rooms while she knew someone would die was hard, but she convinced herself it was for the better. If she screwed up too much, she might not be able to predict the future evens any more.

As they walked past the 'Hell Room', she paused and shivered before carrying on, catching up with Ran to visit the sky room.

It was amazing what impact sculptures and pictures had on your nerves when you were trying to forget that, somewhere near you, someone was dying.


"Hey, look, that room isn't blocked off any more," Ran noticed, beginning to walk over.

Joan steeled herself and followed Ran inside.

Thankfully, it was dark, and Ran didn't notice Joan's frequent side glances as she checked the specific area she remembered.

"This painting seems really dark," Ran commented, as she looked at the scene's originator, 'Divine Punishment'. Its grim colours defined the edges of an incredible beast, struck to a wall with a sharp and threatening spear, A knight covered in blood walking away from it.

A few echoes of a dripping sound caused the two of them to turn around, Joan already prepared for the grim scene.

One shrill, loud scream echoed out in the room, as Ran laid her eyes on the dead body of Manaka, owner of the Art Museum, impaled with a sharp and deadly spear on the Hell Room wall.


"So," Megure said, checking his notepad. "What happened?"

Ran was still too shaken to speak, so Joan took the lead. "We found the scary dead mister here," she explained. "Ran-neechan and I were visiting at the time. I didn't let anybody touch him."

"Good work," he praised her. "You stay safely with Ran-san, okay?"

"Yessir!" Joan lied, saluting.

"Well then," he asked those present. "Did anyone see the criminal?"

"No, sir," Ochiai replied. "I checked with everyone."

"Maybe the cameras caught it," Joan suggested, pointing at the small black box hidden sneakily in the corner.


As the camera rolled back to the scene of the Knight's Armour, Joan watched carefully and quietly from farther off. Soon, the still-alive Manaka walked on-screen and checked his watch nervously.

Then, with the suddenness of lightning, the Knight burst to life, slicing down on Manaka's back and swiping him backwards towards the wall.

The Knight paused to stare at the screen before turning around and striking a flustered Manaka directly in the chest. She glared at the screen as the paper he was writing with fell from his hand, the empty pen still on screen.

"Just like that painting, Divine Punishment," Joan murmured, just loud enough to allow Megure to overhear her.

The scene was replayed several times, allowing Joan to figure out how to point out what she needed to.

"He's a rather daring criminal," Megure commented. "What if he was seen?"

"Now that I recall," Ran interrupted, "when Joan and I went by the first time, there was a 'no trespassing' sign blocking the way - I think it was 4:00. We only got here at this time because it was gone the second time we passed, at around 5:00."

It was, through a path of thinking, concluded that the criminal had to have been from the art gallery.

Joan replayed the video as Megure scanned the group of curators and workers that were at the art gallery, and paused it at just the right moment.

"Hey, look!" She said, pointing. "What is Manaka doing there?"

"Oh, Joan, don't touch that without permission!" Ran scolded her, picking her up by the waist and putting her down on the ground.

Bingo, Joan thought, ignoring Ran as she reprimanded her.

"Oh!" Megure cried. "He's writing on the paper! ... He threw the pen away! That paper has to still be in his hand!"

Megure dashed off with some of his officers to retrieve the paper, Joan considered. Following them into the Hell Room again, she let them be as they accused Kubota from the paper's contents.

Joan walked to the lonely Knight in the corner and stooped down to pick up the pen with a handkerchief.

"Megure-keibu, what is this?" Joan inquired, showing him the pen.

"Ah, the pen from the video," he realized. "Good job, kid."

"That's the pen that was made for the art gallery's 50th Anniversary," Ochiai explained, peeking over Megure's shoulder to see. "All employees would have one."

"So, someone left this behind?" Megure mused. He fiddled with the pen, allowing its tip to retract and extend multiple times. He quickly squiggled on a page of his notebook and checked it with the paper found in Manaka's hand.

"Yeah, they must have used this pen," Megure decided.

Joan's eyes narrowed as two officers came in, carrying some armor.

"We found it in Kubota's locker, sir!" One announced.

"You found it?" Megure asked, and was answered as they laid the bag down to reveal the bloodstained piece.

"How cruel," Joan said sadly. "That the murderer would soil such art."

"No, no, that's just a replica," Iijima protested. "It's used for props and such."

"The criminal must have really cared about art," Joan mentioned, "to use the replica instead, and to replicate the scene in the art." She blinked. "But then again, wasn't Kubota-san throwing the replica around before, and touching the paintings gloveless?"

"He doesn't care much for art," Iijima confirmed. "We've even caught him selling the paintings for cash, which is why Manaka was trying to extort money from him."

"That pushes the evidence even further," Megure said menacingly, prompting Kubota to panic.

"I didn't do it I swear!" He cried desperately. "This and that have nothing to do with each other!"

"We're so lucky that none of the art got damaged," Iijima commented.

"Yeah!" Joan agreed. "The murderer even went to the effort to take away the paintings beforehand!"

"That's true..." Megure murmured. "He did. I doubt Kubota would do that, from what I've heard..." He snorted. "No matter, all will be clear once we get to the station. Kubota, come with us."

Joan acted quickly. Looking at a painting with some complicated characters, she said loudly, "Mister Ochiai? I have to go home soon, but could you write this out in Katakana for me?"

"Of course, little one," He said, taking a notepad and automatically grabbing a pen from his coat.

Suddenly, he stopped, looking shocked.

"What's wrong, mister?" She asked, looking curious. "Does it not work? Why would you have a pen like that?"

Megure, still suspicious, followed up. "Wait a second, if I remember correctly... the pen that Manaka had was thrown across the room in panic after he'd written something down... it wouldn't have been closed." He hmed for a bit, wondering. "Why was it closed? Unless..."

"I wonder why Manaka looked so shocked when he saw the paper," Joan hinted. "I mean, it's just a tab from the painting. It would be blank, wouldn't it?"

"Unless it was written on beforehand, and the pen didn't work!" Megure decided. "You there, come over here and check this." one of the officers, holding a clipboard, allowed it to be used to hold down the evidence, and the side of Megure's pen was used to rub it down, revealing the message.

"Huh," he murmured. "there are markings. So, if Manaka didn't actually write anything..." Megure scowled. "... It must have been written by the murderer!"

Joan sighed as she saw Ochiai's shocked expression. It was sad, really, that such an elderly man was so cruel in his judgement and so blind to these things. It was as if his years loving art with such dedication had become an obsession.

"Then that means that the criminal must have brought attention to the tab," Megure concluded, "and had this pen set up there, out of ink, so that he couldn't erase the name!"

He quickly checked the pen Joan found, again, and was shocked to see that it did indeed work.

"Huh," he muttered.

"Uh, Megure-keibu?" Joan inquired. "Doesn't that mean that the criminal would have a pen that doesn't work?"

"That's true!" Megure said. "Alright, whose pens work?"

Unfortunately, that left only Ochiai.

"Well then," Megure said. "What's your alibi for 4:30, Director?"

There was a dead silence as the man hung his head.

"I was waiting," he said at last. "Waiting for that evil devil by hiding myself in that armor. The rest is just as you've said." Shock and unrest rippled through the employees like waves on the ocean.

"So by the coincidence of the camera capturing the scene," Megure began to conclude.

"No, it was no coincidence," Ochiai announced. "All of this... the camera placement, the tab, even the pen... it was all planned, and I practiced it many times."

"So the rumour about the armor moving at night was true," Ran whispered, dread in her voice.

"I did occasionally think it a foolish thing to do," Ochiai continued, thinking carefully. "but it was all to get rid of Manaka. That devil tried to take the art gallery that I think of as my own child, all for some money-making hotspot to be created." He turned to Kubota. "And I wanted to punish Kubota for selling the artwork behind our backs."

"Divine Punishment," Joan said quietly, so none could hear. "I see now why it is so. In killing the evil around you, you become evil yourself..."

"No matter the reason, I am a murderer," he mused. "a devil myself. It seems I cannot avoid the keen eyes of justice." He turned to Joan.

"You could read 'Divine Punishment', could you not?" he smiled. Joan turned slightly, and realized that the painting she'd chosen was indeed the said image, of a Devil being purged by a knight covered in bloodshed.

"Yes," Joan smiled back. "Thanks to you."

He blinked, then laughed, a sad, long laugh that echoed through the silent room like a sword piercing through the quiet.


BONUS PARAGRAPH

"Joan..." Conan said grumpily, hand on her shoulder. "You solved a case without me, didn't you?"

"Ah!" Ayumi cried. "You've gotta tell us all about it!"

"No fair!" Genta pitched in. "She gets all the spotlight!"

"They're right, you know," Conan grumbled. "What about me? I'd have it solved in no time..." He grinned wickedly. "Maybe I should exclude you from all future cases?"

"Not like you could make me," Joan shrugged. "I'd get there anyway."

"Not if I do this!" Genta cried, jumping forward and attempting to tickle her.

Instead, he found himself flat on the ground, Joan standing a meter away.

"Oi!" he tried again.

Same result.

"Are they going to do that forever?" Mitsuhiko asked Conan. "The sun's going down. We'll have to go home soon."

"Probably not," Conan shrugged. "Genta looks pretty tired."

Just then, Joan grabbed at the next attempt and swung him up in the air, before bringing him down gently.

"We'll call it a draw," she winked.

Genta gaped until he realized that everyone was leaving him behind.


A/N: Hi again!

I write stuff!

The snow day streak ended, so don't expect rapid updates. :/ I'm just doing this as I re-watch the anime. Time will tell if it ever gets finished.