A party built on money and extravagance. Fine food, flowing wine, and everyone was enjoying themselves as the cruise ship slowly set sail.
"Conan, come quick, we're doing Kamen Yaiba moves!"
Of course, the kids stuck together. The Detective Boys, dressed as Kamen Yaiba, quickly became the center of attention among the children. That gave Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi a big boost to their vanity.
Conan felt utterly hopeless. If this embarrassing memory couldn't be erased, he might as well jump overboard and sink into the sea to prove his innocence.
Ran and Sonoko, meanwhile, were with their female classmates. All of them were done up in grotesque zombie makeup. "This is so fun! When I first heard we had to come to school during winter break, I was scared. But it turns out we were coming here for a costume party."
"Who did your makeup?" Sonoko asked curiously. "It looks too real."
"A transfer student did it for us, but now we don't know where he went."
The boys roamed everywhere, treating the whole ship like an adventure park.
Vermouth had disguised herself as a young prince. The outfit was elaborate, no less impressive than a movie costume. She arrived under the guise of Dr. Araide—a bespectacled prince charming.
Now she stood quietly in a corner, watching the party unfold. She didn't know who this "Erguotou" really was. If it was someone from the Organization, she had to teach them a lesson. Her identity was supposed to be secret. To have it bluntly exposed in an invitation was reckless, dangerous, and could ruin her.
And if Erguotou wasn't from the Organization? That was even more dangerous. Depending on the situation, she might have to kill him.
But the host still hadn't shown up. Everything so far was being handled by the planning staff.
'Who could it be?' Vermouth's mind sharpened with suspicion.
Amid the lively, cheerful party, evil was brewing in the shadows.
The planning team had five decision-makers, the main organizers of this party. They ran the event company together, a firm that specialized in weddings, birthdays, and other occasions.
Among the five, there was a married couple, and the other three were their college juniors. From nothing, they had built the company up together. Now they had more than 30 employees—young and promising entrepreneurs.
But beneath the surface of that closeness, cracks had already begun to form. Evil was unfolding in silence.
Drip. Blood fell onto the floor.
Drip. Drip. And yet, people passing by didn't notice. Everyone was immersed in the creepy, thrilling atmosphere of the party. Nobody had the time to pay attention to a "drunk" man slumped in a chair.
Not until that "drunk" bled out completely, creating a slick puddle that tripped a woman passing by.
Wet, sticky, and metallic-smelling. At first, she thought nothing of it, assuming it was ketchup. She grumbled as she got up, then realized the liquid had dripped from the "drunk" in the chair. That's when it hit her. "Aaaaaahhhhhhh—!!"
A scream split the air. The case had been exposed.
Conan was the first to rush to the source of the scream. His eyes immediately spotted the pool of blood on the floor. Then he saw the body, limp and unmoving in the chair, a knife plunged deep into the chest.
Because it was a costume party, many people had props stuck on them—knives, chisels, even screws. Nobody had suspected the blade in this man's chest was real, piercing straight through his heart.
"What, what happened?" Mouri also came over. After checking the body, his face turned pale. The corpse was already cold. He recalled the crime notice: "A terrible event will happen?!"
Damn it. Conan hadn't expected someone to be so bold—to kill in the middle of the party, right under his nose.
"Everyone, don't leave! Turn on the lights, brighten everything!" Mouri shouted. "Ran, call the police!"
But out at sea there was no signal. Only the captain could contact the coast guard. The first scene investigation would have to rely on Mouri Kogoro.
"Let me examine him. I'm a doctor."
"Araide-sensei?" Everyone still trusted Dr. Araide.
The victim had clearly died from a single stab. He'd been dead for quite some time—likely since the very start of the party. Only that much time would have allowed this much blood to flow out.
The victim was the company president, Mr. Watanabe.
"No!" Company staff rushed over. His wife Yumiko cried and threw herself onto the body.
Three juniors from the same university, his partners Anpei, Taichi, and Otomi, also came over. They usually handled execution and on-site management, carrying out the plans made by the president and his wife.
"I'm sorry, but I need to ask a few questions." Mouri took on his detective stance.
Meanwhile, Conan was still stunned by the killer's audacity. To commit such a brutal murder in the middle of a party, before so many witnesses—he had never imagined it.
The killer was still among them. But who? The act was direct and simple—using the party's atmosphere to mask the crime, stabbing one man to death with a knife. Conan hated criminals like this. This one was undoubtedly cold-blooded.
Most killers, when committing a crime, worry about many details. They carefully plan, terrified of being seen. But this case was the opposite. The killer went against that pattern, choosing to strike amid the crowd, boldly using a method no one would expect.
Who was it? On this cruise, more than 200 people were in the ballroom, and over 200 more were scattered throughout the ship. There were also more than 30 crew members.
The first step was to investigate everyone who had entered the ballroom. Anyone could have done it. But questioning so many people was more than Mouri could handle alone, so Araide, Jodie, Ada, and Professor Agasa also stepped forward to help.
Mouri believed these people weren't the culprits. It was nepotism in a way, but detectives were human too. Conan, for instance, would never suspect Ran of being a murderer.
Conan knew there was only one killer. He quickly gathered the Detective Boys. "I need you to ask the crew, especially the cooks, if any kitchen knives are missing."
The murder weapon was a simple kitchen knife. They needed to find out whether it came from the ship or was brought aboard. If it was from the ship, they had to check who entered the kitchen. If not, then it would come down to Mouri's elimination method.
Just as everyone anxiously waited to clear their names, the ship suddenly stopped. It was turning back to port. But Kaitou Kid's performance hadn't even started yet. How could the ship return now? So Kid had forced it to stop.
The halt caused no small panic. The murderer was among them, and nobody wanted to be next. Luckily, Mouri's reputation as a famous detective was enough to calm them down, and the investigation continued.