Assassin Exhibition of the Century

The exhibition, at the Okutabi New National Museum of Art.

The Assassin Exhibition of the Century (世せい紀きの殺ころし屋や展てん, Seiki no Koroshiya-ten^?) is an upcoming, large-scale museum exhibit by and for professional killers, as well as for regular citizens, which is co-sponsored by the JAA, touring the world, and set to come to Japan in the summer.

It is the eponymous main setting of the Assassin Exhibition of the Century Arc.

Overview

The Assassin Exhibition of the Century is set to be held on September 18 at the Okutabi New National Museum of Art (尾お久く旅たび新しん国こく立りつ美び術じゅつ館かん, Okutabi Shin Kokuritsu Bijutsukan^?) as one of the largest-scale events in Japan, running for three days. Aiming to offer visitors a comprehensive look into the world of assassins, the event will showcase everything from actual weapons and tools used by assassins to their clothing, writings and drawings, to remnants from assassination sites, skeletons, and other such assassin artifacts from the past and present — assorted materials that ordinary people would never otherwise see. Amane Yotsumura estimated that, during the peak hour at lunchtime, an average of 1,000 people may be present in the museum.

Given its popularity, tickets to the exhibition sold out over a year in advance. A month before the event, a black-market auction website was shown to offer a single ticket at a starting price of ¥1,000,000, somehow useable to overwrite an electronic ticket with the buyer's information, and even on the first day of the event, rumor had it that tickets were still being sold for exorbitant rates on scalper sites.

The New National Museum of Art is said to have one of the strongest, most ironclad security systems in the world, such that it would be the most secure place in Japan during the exhibit. For its duration, it will be staffed with JAA members (hundreds of floaters and security officers, including Order members), and all devices brought in are to be disassembled for inspection pre-entry. The museum will be specially managed with 24-hour electronic and infrared surveillance, patrols and night guards, etc., and intrusion in the guise of a guest is also thought to be impossible: not only is scalping tickets difficult (as any electronic tickets bought will be distributed the day of and require ID verification), physical screenings will be conducted at the entrance with state-of-the-art sensors and metal detectors.

The exhibition topics can be divided as follows:

The exhibition topics displayed on the website.

• History of Assassins (殺し屋の歴史, History of Assassins^?);
• Oversees Assassins (海外の殺し屋, Oversees Assassins^?);
  • 1F — South America / Southeast Asia (南米・東南アジア, South America / Southeast Asia^?);
  • 2F — Russia / Europe (ロシア・欧州, Russia / Europe^?);
  • 3F — USA / China (アメリカ・中国, USA / China^?);
• Assassins of Japan (日本の殺し屋, Assassins of Japan^?);
  • 1F — Ancient Assassins (古代の殺し屋, Ancient Assassins^?);
  • 1F — Early Assassins (初期の殺し屋, Early Assassins^?);
  • 1F — Assassins of the '90s (90年代の殺し屋, Assassins of the '90s^?);
  • 1F — Modern Assassins (近代の殺し屋, Modern Assassins^?);
• Assassin Tools (殺し屋の道具, Assassin Tools^?);
• The Future of Assassins (殺し屋のこれから, The Future of Assassins^?).

History

Pre-Exhibit

A year ago, the exhibition was held in France.

The JAA chairman, Sei Asaki, plans to attend the event given his private proclivities as an art lover and collector of antiques. At the same time, Slur (Asaki's younger brother Kei Uzuki) seeks to blow up the museum on the day that Asaki makes his appearance, which would constitute one of the biggest terrorist bombings in the world given the number of innocent casualties that would be caused. The Order, in turn, refused to call off the event, intending to use the chairman as bait to lure out and eliminate Slur, also presuming that the chairman would never allow the exhibit to be canceled anyway. As noted by JAA executive Erio Muto, four Order members will be on site to guard Asaki personally the day he is there. It is later revealed by Order members Nagumo and Shishiba that they opted to not even inform JAA's higher-ups of the bomb threat, to ensure that Slur was lured out successfully.

Upon learning of Slur's plans to bomb the exhibition, Taro Sakamoto planned to infiltrate the event as an exhibitor. However, Order member Kamihate, anticipating Sakamoto's plans, preempted the latter's submission of his own Colt Government pistol as an exhibition piece, by submitting a fake gun instead. Ultimately, after a battle against Kamihate (who tried to keep Sakamoto away from the event for personal reasons), Sakamoto (with Heisuke Mashimo's help) was able to acquire four tickets for the exhibition, on a smartphone from Kamihate: one for Sakamoto, one for Shin Asakura, one for Amane Yotsumura, and one for Joichiro Kaji.

Once the exhibit was three days away, Slur and his group had already successfully set up a bomb on site, the plan being to have it detonate and, in the ensuing chaos, finish off Asaki. At the same time, Haruma had upducted the JAA exec Erio Muto to force him to collude with Slur's group and aid them in Asaki's killing, by using Muto's exec status to find out when the chairman will be at the exhibit and his precise movements; Slur successfully enticed Muto into helping his group by offering to let him become the new JAA chairman if they succeeded.

Day 1

On the first day of the exhibit, it is revealed that the JAA chairman Asaki and his entourage will be in attendance on that very day. Sakamoto's friends were able to enter the exhibition, as were Slur's subordinates. At 1:45 PM, the chairman arrives at and enters the museum, with the Order members Nagumo, Shishiba, and Osaragi guarding him.