The vehicle crossed over a wooden bridge, and their destination, the Twilight Manor, finally revealed itself before their eyes.
"Dad, open the trunk." Ran hurried out of the car with her umbrella, grabbed her handbag from the trunk, and ran toward the manor entrance.
"Now that we're up close, this Twilight Manor looks even more like a haunted house!"
Uncle Mouri held up his umbrella and let out a sigh of awe.
Indeed, standing in the rainy night with dim yellow lights glowing from within, the villa exuded an indescribably eerie atmosphere.
Tsuneo also stepped out of the car, carrying the basket of food he had bought at the gas station.
"Heheh, the Mountain Hag's villa..." the mechanic said deliberately as Ran looked back.
Conan: "..."
Oi, give it a rest, you two!
"Eh? There are so many expensive imported cars parked here!" The famous detective's gaze was immediately drawn to several vehicles of various colors parked nearby.
A Mercedes, a Ferrari, a Porsche, and parked on the far edge, a dark blue Alfa Romeo.
"This is totally cool!" Uncle Mouri's eyes lit up. He reached out and stroked the hood of the car, clearly quite taken with it.
"Hey, please don't touch my woman, alright?"
Just then, a man wearing a green suit and a fedora, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, stepped out of the car. He opened his umbrella and spoke as he walked over:
"It took me five years to woo this feisty woman. If another man puts his dirty hands all over her, she might throw a tantrum, and I won't be able to handle it."
"You get what I'm saying, right?"
"Mustache."
Uncle Mouri was left stunned by the speech.
Feisty woman…
Mustache…
"Long time no see, Mogi-kun. So they invited you as well." Furuyo Senma reached out and used her umbrella to shield Uncle Mouri from the rain while greeting the newcomer.
Detective Mogi Harufumi, 39 years old. And his "woman"—age unknown, though she looked brand new.
"Senma-san, you got an invitation too?" Mogi Harufumi smiled, tossed his cigarette butt aside, and walked toward the villa with the group.
"Is your health alright? I read in the paper that you were snipped at by the Mafia in Chicago last week," Furuyo Senma asked.
"Heh, that was ages ago. I've already forgotten all about it." Mogi Harufumi looked cool and nonchalant.
Tsuneo glanced back at the man's "woman" and couldn't help but smile.
"This is going to be entertaining."
"Huh?" Conan had no idea what the guy was laughing about.
I wonder who those other cars belong to?
Mogi Harufumi knocked the door knocker of the manor. A maid wearing an apron opened the heavy doors, recognizing the group immediately.
"Everyone, please place your umbrellas here!"
The maid guided them to place their umbrellas in the storage stand by the door.
"Is anyone there?!"
A portly man in a white suit stood by the staircase, hands behind his back, shouting.
Seeing this, the maid quickly ran over.
"That person… isn't he…?" Mogi Harufumi felt the man looked familiar.
"The Gourmet Detective, Ogami Shukuzen." Uncle Mouri nodded.
The man's appearance was very distinctive.
"What did you say?"
" The chef suddenly fell ill with an acute disease and can't cook?!" Ogami Shukuzen's face turned several shades darker as he questioned her loudly.
"That wasn't part of the agreement! I came all the way out here specifically for this dinner!"
It was clear that the Gourmet Detective held a deep grudge over this.
"I am terribly sorry. I have already purchased all the necessary ingredients, but…" The maid, Miss Ishihara, apologized profusely.
"In this world, only fine food and murder cases are priceless treasures capable of getting my brain cells firing rapidly!" Ogami Shukuzen declared, deciding that he would cook the dinner himself.
"Seems like famous detectives all have strange personalities." Tsuneo held the shopping basket; he was already mostly full from snacking.
There's one who likes to roleplay as a Mountain Hag in the middle of a mountain road, another who treats his car like a beloved lover, and this Gourmet Detective is even more ridiculous…
"Well, people usually have a hobby or two," Mogi Harufumi said, glancing at the mechanic.
That face… I've seen it in the newspapers too.
They say he's the apprentice of the Sleeping Detective. Apparently, he's solved quite a few cases.
"I apologize for keeping everyone waiting so long!" Miss Ishihara, the maid, ran back to them.
"By the way, what is the meaning of this? The master of this manor invited so many famous detectives here—there must be a reason, right?" Furuyo Senma asked about the objective.
"Yes. Actually, apart from everyone here, two other detectives have already arrived. A young lady and a boy," Miss Ishihara nodded.
"A boy?"
"Could it be Shinichi?" Ran, who had just returned from the restroom, asked hurriedly.
"Impossible! It must be Heiji-niichan!" Conan blurted out without thinking too much.
I'm standing right here, so how could Shinichi Kudo possibly appear…
"No, although their names were indeed on the guest list the master gave me, Mr. Kudo could not be reached."
"As for Mr. Hattori, his mother called personally to decline the invitation because his exams are coming up soon," Miss Ishihara explained.
"Heheh, that guy is probably scratching at the walls in frustration right now," Tsuneo chuckled.
Given Hattori's personality, receiving such a strange invitation and not being able to come investigate… he probably has zero focus for studying.
"It's surely not that serious…" Uncle Mouri said speechlessly.
"Who knows with a detective whose curiosity has been denied."
"Speaking of which, where is this master of yours who likes detectives so much?" Mogi Harufumi took off his fedora and asked with a smile.
At this question, Miss Ishihara, who had been hired as a maid, frowned slightly.
In truth, even she had never met the master of the manor.
She had even undergone a bizarre interview process.
Because the pay for the job was exceptionally good, applicants had practically broken down the door trying to get it.
Inside the interview room, there had been only a computer, an instruction manual for the dinner party, and a guest list.
Just as she sat down at the computer desk and started biting her fingernail while looking at the list, a line of text suddenly appeared on the screen saying she was hired.
Let alone the master of the manor, she hadn't even seen a ghost of a person.
"Wait, so you mean to say you don't even know why you were hired?" Ran truly felt the eerie atmosphere of the manor thickening.
This isn't actually a vampire's residence, is it?
"That's correct. Even for the subsequent details, I communicated with him via mobile email," Miss Ishihara nodded.
She hadn't even heard the person's voice.
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