Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"What is this? There is no logic in this story. Ms. Washi Komiya, you are not fooling us."

In the cavity of the mountain under the shrine, Yuuji, who had greeted the police at the foot of the mountain in advance, sat in front of the table that Nanakomachi had brought in, stirring the steaming Sukiyaki pot on the gas stove in front of him with chopsticks.

The fragrance floated back and forth in front of the noses of several people. Yuji dipped the cabbage in some egg liquid and ate it, then expressed his doubts.

"That friend of Axie Keisaburo, Tomimura, is also the teacher of the three of them, right? Why would these three guys take such a long car ride to meet a stranger who is planning to revitalize the family?"

Moreover, Keisaburo Axie was a military recruiting officer. In Yuji's opinion, unless one wanted to go to war, no one would want to have anything to do with such a person.

Of course, looking at the past with today's eyes is itself a kind of arrogance, and Yuji's idea is naturally wrong.

"This is because Tomura reached an agreement with Axie Keisaburo."

Washikomiya Taki put her hands on her legs, couldn't stop swallowing her saliva as she looked at her daughter who was pretending to sleep, and deliberately waved her hand over her nose.

"Whether it's Kuroba or Arimura, they are both talents who returned from abroad. Although Tachibana Hachiro grew up in Japan, his aristocratic background also allowed him to move freely in the society at that time."

Washikomiya Tachibana said calmly, "That was the critical moment when the war broke out, and Japan was also enforcing conscription everywhere. They came to Hakodate to avoid conscription in Tokyo."

Mr. Tomimura couldn't bear to see his students go to the battlefield, so he asked them to help Keisaburo Axie, and also to leave their names in the army to avoid going to China to fight.

"However, even Mr. Tomimura certainly didn't know the true face of Keizaburo Axie, and he couldn't have imagined that Keizaburo Axie would try to take advantage of that thing after knowing its existence. The student he sent to Hakodate had not been heard from for three years, and was actually imprisoned by Keizaburo Axie."

"Three years..."

Yuji ate the beef in his mouth and said, "Three years later, they escaped, right?"

"It doesn't count..."

……

"I see. We use five star-edged swords as a secret code, with Goryokaku as the center of the code, pointing to the place where the treasure is buried."

Compared to when they first arrived in Hakodate, Arimura and Kuroba had lost a lot of their fighting spirit. They were forced to stay in Hakodate by Keisaburo Axie, and when they thought about it, they found that they had stayed here for a full three years, and they couldn't help but sigh.

Keizaburo Afue asked his confidant to look after the two of them. Except for telling the visitors about the arrangement of the secret code, Kuroba and Arimura were imprisoned in a specially prepared small courtyard all the time. They only occasionally saw Keizaburo Afue's daughter Riko.

"I heard that Tachibana Hachiro went to China with Axie Keisaburo. It seems that a war is about to start." Sitting on a wooden stake in the yard, Kuroba was carving thin wooden signs with a small wooden branch. He picked up a carved one and threw it hard on the wooden wall of the house, watching the wooden sign stick on it.

"Has your father written lately?"

Arimura shook his head: "I'm afraid they have given up on me."

Arimura's father owned a factory abroad that specialized in counterfeiting weapons. He was originally only going to the largest battlefield in Asia, but because Axie Keisaburo tried every means to keep him, he wrote a letter saying that the three of them volunteered to join the army and go to China to make achievements.

This made Arimura's father, who considered himself an American, very confused and even angry. In his opinion, the Japanese today are completely crazy and it is absolutely impossible that his son was assimilated after only two years of studying in Tokyo.

He believed that the Japanese had detained his son in order to force him, so he would occasionally write letters such as "I know your situation, they have detained you." Although they seemed to be written to his son, they were actually warning the people who detained his son, because he knew that the other party would definitely read the letters he wrote.

"Actually not..."

A slightly clear voice came from outside the door. The two men looked at the woman who pushed the door open and their faces were slightly stiff.

Riko Afue greeted the two Japanese soldiers who were bowing to her, then took out the prepared meals from a bamboo box slung over her shoulder.

"Mr. Tomura..."

"teacher?"

Youcun was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood why no letters had been delivered during this period, because they all knew that the previous letters were forwarded by Mr. Tomura.

"What's up with him?"

There was a look of dissatisfaction on Arimura's face. He kept complaining about why Teacher Tomimura would watch the two of them being imprisoned by Keisaburo Axie.

"A month ago, a major incident broke out in various high schools in Tokyo. The military police massacred many people who opposed the war, including Mr. Tomimura."

Riko touched her belly, then took out a letter and handed it to Kuroba.

"This is the letter Mr. Tomura sent to you earlier."

(End of this chapter)