Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"You saw it just now, Segawa Taikei is dead."

As Old Kudo walked down the corridor of the guest room floor, he picked up Conan along with his daughter, who hadn't eaten much at the banquet and had been sent out by her to get food from the restaurant.

"That guy died the same way as the American general—his stomach was ripped open."

Conan lowered his head and pondered. Since his deduction was not stopped by Old Kudo, it proved that it was possible. After hearing Segawa Shoichi's explanation of the origin of the name "Morikai no Ue" at the banquet, he naturally leaned towards that direction.

"Is this considered retaliation? Because that guy used that name, so he killed his brother in the same way."

After Conan finished speaking, the two of them shook their heads in unison, rejecting the idea, because disembowelment was completely inconsistent with the characteristics of assassination and would be too wasteful of time.

"So far, have we still not found the woman who went into the room with Segawa Taikei? There are surveillance cameras all over the ship, her face should be clear by now."

"It's obvious that if the surveillance cameras had captured it, they would have caught the person long ago. There are only two possibilities: the murderer was disguised, or there was a problem with the camera."

The two ruled out the possibility of disguise, because since Segawa Taikei brought that woman back to his room, they must have had at least some contact with her.

Unless all the murderers he knew from beginning to end wore masks, but given his playboy character, he must have seen them completely honestly. Did he not even know if their faces were real?
"Perhaps there is a third possibility: that Segawa Taikei is not dead."

"Huh? What did you say?" Following the direction Kudo was pointing, Conan's pupils contracted sharply as he stared at the figure eating a cream sundae with Nohara-san at the same table.

"That's impossible, he... he's an imposter!"

Otherwise, if this Segawa Taikei is the real person, then who is the dead person lying in bed? There can't possibly be two Segawa Taikei in this world.

"Ms. Nohara is in great danger right now. There's a high possibility that the person opposite her is a murderer!"

Conan, who had initially suspected Nohara-san, now only wanted to pull her away from the murderer. He glanced at Kudo and, seeing that he wasn't going to stop him, immediately called out to the woman, "Nohara-neechan!"

"Conan-kun?!" Nohara-san was stunned for a moment when she saw the elementary school student lying at her feet. She turned her head and noticed a man who looked a lot like him walking towards her.

"Detective Kudo, I..."

“I know you, the reporter who often writes about my cases. You have a few good articles that I have posted on the wall of the office.”

Old Kudo squinted at Segawa Taikei: "Actually, I just came downstairs."

"Did you and Conan see that female assassin?" Miss Nohara glanced curiously at Taikei Segawa, inwardly marveling.

[As expected, this Conan-kun must be Detective Kudo's illegitimate son, after all, he looks so much like him...]

"A female assassin? We didn't see one, but we've discovered something even more interesting."

Old Kudo kicked Conan in the butt and ordered him to fetch a chair.

"A corpse that should have been disemboweled and lying on the bed is now standing perfectly fine in front of me, and is even eating a sundae. Doesn't your stomach leak out?"

Smiling at Kudo, Segawa Taikei squinted and patted his stomach twice: "Maybe Mr. Kudo is mistaken."

"Then just take off the mask on your face and you'll know whether I'm right or wrong."

Old Kudo slammed one hand on the table and reached the other towards Segawa Taikei's face, only to feel a gun thrust into his stomach a second later.

"I've never liked people touching my face, sorry." (End of Chapter)