Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

The old man, however, remained relentless, tapping the ground heavily with his cane, making a "thud-thud" sound.

"This is not a place for young people like you. Leave now! Museums are for quietly appreciating history, not playgrounds for you to join the fun and shout slogans."

"Isn't this a museum?"

Kawada Yuko raised her head, her face full of resentment, and her voice involuntarily rose a few decibels.
"The museum is open to the public, so why won't they let us in? We're not here to cause trouble!"

"Museums are places where people can look back on history and have reverence for tradition."

The old man snorted coldly, his disdain deepening.

"You didn't come here to admire the artifacts at all, but to find that samurai sword that went missing ten years ago! Isn't this just joining in the fun?"

"Over the years, countless people have come here looking for a knife, but in the end, they've all found nothing!"

“We really want to help find that sword,” Maeda Yōjin stepped forward. “The Tokugawa family’s katana is an important historical artifact, and we just want to do our part to help it return to its rightful place as soon as possible.”

"I am the curator here! The police have been searching for me for so many years and haven't found me, how could you brats possibly find me!" The old man was furious. "Get out of here! If you keep causing trouble, I'll call security to throw you out!"

"Hey, are you so afraid of our investigation? You don't mean you have something to hide, do you?"

Kogoro Mouri suddenly pushed his way out of the crowd, arms crossed, glancing sideways at the old man with a hint of mockery in his voice.

"Maybe you colluded with outsiders to steal that samurai sword back then! That's why you're so afraid of us investigating here and want to kick us out!"

"What did you say?!"

The old man trembled with anger at these words, his face turning ashen. He could barely stand, and his hand pointing at Kogoro Mori trembled uncontrollably, yet he couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time.

Just as the situation was about to get out of control, another middle-aged woman walked out of the museum.

She was wearing a light gray work uniform, her hair was neatly pulled back, and she had a gentle smile on her face.

The woman quickly stepped forward, carefully helped the old man up, and gently comforted him, "Director Shinkawa, please don't be angry. It's not worth getting angry with young people. Let them go in. Anyway, there aren't many visitors to the museum today, so it's good to let them have a look around."

Director Shinkawa took a few deep breaths, his chest still heaving violently.

He glared at Kogoro Mouri, snorted coldly, and turned to walk into the museum, leaving behind only an angry back view.

The middle-aged woman sighed helplessly, turned around, and gave everyone an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, everyone. Director Shinkawa is actually very good-natured and kind to tourists. As long as you don't mention the missing katana in front of him, he's a very friendly old man."

"But he gets extremely irritable whenever someone brings it up, so please don't mind."

"Why is that?" Reiko asked, puzzled. "The knife is missing. Shouldn't he be hoping someone can find it? Why won't he let us investigate?"

The middle-aged woman patted Reiko's head, her eyes filled with regret: "Because the theft of that sword is the thing that Director Shinkawa regrets the most over the years." "Ten years ago, that samurai sword was lost under his care, and he has always felt that it was his dereliction of duty that caused such an important cultural relic to fall into foreign lands."

"In the first few years, whenever someone said they could help find a knife, Director Shinkawa would warmly welcome them and show them all the materials."

The woman shook her head helplessly as she finished speaking.
"But those people were either there to scam money or to join in the fun and grab attention. Not only did they not find any clues about the knife, they also caused a lot of trouble for the museum."

"Over time, Director Shinkawa completely lost trust in the people who came to investigate, thinking that they were all just busybodies who came to join in the fun and didn't really want to find the knife."

"So that's how it is." Kawada Yuko's face showed a guilty expression. "I'm sorry, we didn't know there was such a story. We shouldn't have been shouting at the door."

"It's alright." The middle-aged woman smiled and waved her hand. "I'll take you in. I'm on duty today, so I can give you a brief explanation."

"You seem to know a lot about this place. Are you also a museum employee?" Lin Xiuyi asked politely. "May I ask your surname?"

"Yamazaki, Keiko Yamazaki," the middle-aged woman introduced herself, then sighed, "More than ten years ago, when that samurai sword went missing, I was a new employee at the museum, working with Director Shinkawa to sort out artifacts."

"I can't believe so many years have passed, and there's still no news about that knife."

The group followed Keiko Yamazaki and slowly walked into the Osaka Museum.

Upon entering, a rich woody aroma and a sense of history greet you.

In the very center of the hall stands a huge bronze cauldron, its body engraved with intricate cloud patterns, giving it a distinctly ancient appearance.

The walls on both sides are covered with many ancient paintings, and the frames are all wiped spotless.

"This way, please. The Tokugawa family's artifacts exhibition area is on the second floor."

Keiko Yamazaki led the group toward the stairs, walking very quietly, as if afraid of disturbing the tranquility.

Hattori Heizo quickened his pace to catch up with Yamazaki Keiko and asked earnestly, "Ms. Yamazaki, could you please tell us again about how that katana was lost back then? We've collected some information before, but we feel that some details are still unclear."

Keiko Yamazaki nodded, and slowly began to speak as she walked: "Ten years ago, on that night, the museum was operating as usual. As closing time approached, we began cleaning and inventorying the artifacts, and then we discovered that the samurai sword was missing. The curator immediately called the police..."

Lin Xiuyi and Hattori Heizo exchanged a glance, seeing the same confusion in each other's eyes.

This was almost identical to the information the latter had previously collected, with no new clues whatsoever.

Lin Xiuyi pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Excuse me, in the months before the katana was lost, did anyone take photos of it from all angles, or come here specifically to draw and copy it? For example, a reporter, a painter, or an art enthusiast?"

Keiko Yamazaki frowned, stopped, and began to think carefully.

"Well... it's been too long, I don't remember very clearly. After all, it was all ten years ago, and many details have become blurry..." (End of Chapter)