Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"Put some effort into it! Are you deaf? Ah! I'm so thirsty!"

The beach stretched as far as the eye could see, and apart from two high school students, there was no one else around. One of the students, a bespectacled young man, stood with his hands on his hips, confidently ordering another boy around, who was repeatedly slamming a shredded coconut against a rock.

"Damn, is this thing so hard? I remember people in Hawaii opening coconuts really fast for five dollars..."

Afraid that the coconut would bounce back and hit his feet, the young man felt some sand in his old leather shoes. He licked his chapped lips, pulled up his silk shirt, and prepared to kick Kuroba Jintaro aside and do it himself.

"Damn it, by the time you crack open the coconut, I'll be completely dehydrated."

It turns out that Kuroba Jintaro, who was squatting next to the rock, was indeed dawdling, since Kudo Yuji smashed it open with one hit. Of course, it's also possible that the coconut had accumulated damage and reached a critical point.

"Are you sure this stuff won't cause dehydration?" Jintaro looked at the coconut from the side, feeling that the surface of the coconut water seemed to have a layer of multicolored light under the sunlight. Although he knew it was due to optical principles, he still felt that this stuff must have gone bad.

"Hey! Dinner's ready! Come back quickly!"

Wearing a white dress, Marina Kudo walked to the archery target in front of the beach villa, grabbed a wooden stick from the chair, and tapped it on the iron pot lid hanging on the target.

"You two did a great job with the script this morning! Remember to tell me your thoughts later, and we'll continue this afternoon."

Upon hearing Marina's words, Kudo Yuuji tossed the coconut behind him, picked up the script he called "Grandma's Handwritten Manuscript" from beside the stone, and prepared to go back and enjoy the fruits of his labor with a blank expression.

"Hey, this is an important prop. What if it gets washed away by the sea this afternoon?" After emptying the coconut water, Kuroba Jintaro picked up the coconut shell, placed it on the archery target, and followed Yuuji to wash his feet.

"Speaking of which, a year has passed, and the family you told Marina about still hasn't come looking for us. You're not lying to us again, are you?"

"What's the rush? I'm not in a hurry. Besides, I still have my brother. He's probably the one gossiping to our parents. That's how it always is when it comes to the struggle for the heir."

I have my doubts about what you're saying...

A brother with such an interesting personality probably wouldn't see his older brother as a rival.

However, he is indeed very capable...

"Look into my sincere eyes, there's absolutely no lie in them, really."

Originally, Kudo Yuuji assumed that Koizumi Akako would come to pick him up in a few days, so he hadn't paid much attention to their identities when interacting with these three. Who would have thought that the witch wouldn't show up for so long? This left him dumbfounded, having impulsively donned a mask to solve the Sheng Hai Zhi Xing case. To make matters worse, a few days later, a younger version of the old man returned from outside, forcing him to leave the Minami family home to avoid creating some kind of "grandmother paradox."

It is certain that this was the first time he met Old Master Nan after the Sky Ship was injured, and the distance and consideration in his eyes were genuine.

Having lost his home and lacking an identity in this era, the boy, cornered and interrogated by the trio in the clubroom, could only say that he came from Tokyo. He ran away from home because his parents thought being a civil servant was more promising than being a detective. His real name is Fujimine Yuuji. He was able to fool Mrs. Minami entirely because he had a childhood friend from the Minami family and knew her family intimately.

As a result, even eating became a problem, and he could only…

"Please, I'll do anything, please take me in..."

One afternoon, he knocked on the Kudo family's door. In front of Marina's parents' astonishment, the rebellious grandson shattered his grandmother's always peaceful expression, bowing deeply and patting his chest, leaving the Kudo family speechless.

"From today onwards, I will take the surname Kudo. I am willing to reluctantly become a child of the Kudo family."

"Fujimine-kun, have you lost your mind from hanging out with Jintaro?" Marina's eyebrows twitched: "No way, running away from home is one thing, but if you keep changing Fujimine to Kudo on your own, your father will cry when he finds out."

“He’ll cry if I don’t change it.” Yuuji coughed. “The surname Kudo sounds nicer. I think if my mother knew, she would definitely change the family’s surname.”

"How could such a thing be!"

Marina made a rare sarcastic remark.

"Ah...you're Marina's friend? You're quite interesting." A certain Yamato Nadeshiko, presumably Marina's mother's wife and the true originator of the Kudo family name, rested her chin on her hand: "If you have some unpleasantness with your family, you can stay at our house temporarily."

He seems like a promising young man; it would be good to build a good relationship with him.

Mrs. Kudo smiled and said, "However, there's no need to call me 'Mother'..."

"mom!"

The Kudo family fell silent once more as they watched Marina, whose hand was being held by Yuuji and who addressed her as "Mother." (End of Chapter)