Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"From the photos that Kuroba secretly took, there are seven stone slabs from the torii gate to the shrine's money box. Combined with the aerial photos of the shrine, I seem to have some clues..."

After mumbling for a long time, Hattori Heiji finally returned to reality from the world of reasoning. He raised his head and looked to the side, only to notice three people with empty plates in front of them, holding their stomachs as if they were full, looking at the ceiling of the store with haggard faces, and an anger mark seemed to suddenly appear on their foreheads.

“Bacon was average, but pudding and ice cream were good.”

Conan expressed his opinion and suddenly felt as if there was hot air blowing towards his head. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Hattori Heiji staring at the three of them with wide eyes.

"Oh, Hattori, you figured it out!"

Conan immediately waved his hands and used his eyes to remind Yuji and Kaito to ask the waiter to remove the empty plates quickly. He then shamelessly walked up to his friends and handed the menu to Hattori.

"Thank you for your hard work. Just order whatever you want to eat. It's my treat."

"This is what you said!"

Hattori Heiji unceremoniously called the waiter and listed the names of dishes that made Conan's face more and more stiff. Then he grabbed the elementary school student by the scruff of the neck and threw him into the booth, and sat between Yuji and Conan.

"Look at this photo, and the aerial photo I searched on my phone."

Hattori Heiji pointed at the stone slab drawn by Yuji and said, "Yuji's attention is all on the pattern on the stone slab, while Kuroba has been focusing on the riddle. You both ignored the connection between the stone slab itself and the shrine."

"The slab itself?"

Detective Conan stretched his neck, a little confused: "What happened to the slate?"

"Hooray, aren't those four slabs of stone with patterns on them old and special?"

Hattori Heiji tapped his phone and said, "There are thirteen stone slabs from the torii gate to the money box, and there are exactly thirteen platforms from the mountain gate to the torii gate on the top of the mountain. Including the torii gate on the top of the mountain, there is one on each platform, which is thirteen torii gates in total."

“That doesn’t explain anything.”

Kudo Yuji held his chin, thinking that this should be a special point when building the shrine, or it might be related to Feng Shui or something.

"Although I haven't heard of the custom of thirteen torii gates at the Inari Shrine in Kyoto and Tokyo, it may be a local style of Hakodate."

Compared to Yuuji's rebuttal, Kuroba Kaito and Conan reasoned in silence, interrupting the boy who wanted to continue speaking.

"Yuji, ever since you had the protection of that old man, you have become less willing to use your brain. Shouldn't you think more about why Hattori said that?"

Conan looked at his brother with some dissatisfaction: "You would have thought more about it before."

Choked by the words of the two, the boy lowered his eyes a little, and reflected helplessly: "Maybe the people I have met during this period are too outstanding, so it is not like before."

"This is wrong. You should think more." Hattori Heiji also pointed at Yuuji: "Even though my father became the director of the Osaka Police Headquarters, he still hoped to solve everything by himself. No matter what difficulties he encountered, he would think more about others' understanding before giving feedback." "Eh, really?" Yuuji had already accepted the criticism from his three brothers in his heart, but he still wanted to be a little sarcastic.

"Even when Mr. Maori's first deduction appears in the newspaper, my father would really think about whether it is true."

"Really? I'm just imitating people like the old man..."

Yuji clenched his fists with some heartache, but everyone could see that this guy was just showing off.

"Why do you only give in when it comes to Ou-chan?" Conan glared at Yuuji, met his brother's meaningful eyes, snorted and turned back to continue thinking about Hattori's inference.

“Although the first nine of the thirteen slabs are of varying degrees of age, it can generally be determined that they were divided into groups of three.”

Hattori Heiji drew thirteen Torii gates on the drawing paper and circled the third, sixth and ninth ones.

"You can see that the shapes of these three torii are different from the others. The gates are wider."

Hattori Heiji immediately picked up all his things and stood up from the booth: "We have to go to the scene."

"Well, sir, your meal..."

The waiter standing next to the table looked at the boy with an Osaka accent who suddenly stood up with some surprise and confusion.

“…Gugu.”

The rumbling sound of his stomach made Hattori feel a little embarrassed. Seeing this, the other three people looked at him with laughter, and instead of teasing him, they spoke for him.

"As expected, Hattori prefers reasoning to eating."

Conan tugged at Hattori Heiji's sleeve to ask him to sit down, while Yuji turned Hattori Heiji's hat back and put the knife and fork in his hand so that he could eat well.

"Then wait until I finish eating before going. I wonder how Okita is doing..."

Hattori Heiji picked up his fork and said, "He must be cursing us in secret."

"There's nothing we can do about it." Yuji and Conan clasped their hands.

"These are necessary sacrifices."

(End of this chapter)