Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"The ship will be docking soon."

Sitting in an open-air booth on the side of the cruise ship, Maki Nohara looked at Hiroo Nohara across from her, who was wearing sunglasses and enjoying the shade from the sun. Her gaze fell on the coffee powder cake in his hand.

Last night, after having a late-night snack with Ms. Kudo, Conan, and Mr. Higashino, she saw a note left for her by her superior through a crack in the door as she left the shop.

There was nothing else to do but let her stay with her father and contact him again when the time was right.

"I don't understand, how did you suddenly become a public security police officer?"

Nohara Maki looked at her father across from her. He was wearing an expensive shirt that she had never seen before, and his every move exuded a wealthy air, completely different from the laborer who used to make a living at sea.

Moreover, he is now perfectly healthy, neither deaf nor mute, and is far removed from the girl who was left at home in the past, so the pillar of support is no longer a worry.

"To be precise, I first became a public security police officer, and then I found you by chance, abandoned in the old port."

It wasn't an act; Kudo Yuji was genuinely recalling things related to Nohara. This girl was different from the other promising individuals he was deliberately focusing on; like Kano, she was one of the few people he had personally adopted.

"That day, we happened to be chasing a group of Canadian smugglers."

A gangway to facilitate disembarkation for passengers was erected in the harbor. From their perspective, they could see a dark-skinned middle-aged man leading a group of police officers, pushing through the crowd and walking at the very front.

"You go to so much trouble to disguise the envelopes every time." Nohara remained silent for a long time. She realized that the pleasant smell of the sea that she had smelled in the past was now fake, and she was at a loss.

Now, how to get along with her father has become a new problem. He is not an ordinary person as she imagined. He seems to have a high status and is very likely to be a close confidant of Kudo Yuji.

How could she, as a spy sent by the Northern government and infiltrated in Tokyo, pretend that none of this existed?

"Pack up, we need to get ready to disembark too."

Hiroo Nohara adjusted his cashmere vest and cuffs. Although it was winter, he wasn't wearing thick clothes, but he must be very warm.

“A case has recently occurred in Osaka and is attracting widespread attention.”

"what?"

Nohara suddenly felt that her father's gaze was much more disdainful, as if he was questioning how she dared to be a spy despite being so out of touch with the world. She was speechless for a moment, and finally revealed her true nature in the family in a fit of anger and embarrassment.

"Anyway, I'm definitely not as cunning as you, an old man who's been lying to his own daughter for so many years."

"Don't talk nonsense." Yuuji picked up a top hat from the coat rack and put it on, looking like an old aristocrat from a classic movie. "You're worthless, you can't fetch a price." Just as she was about to leave the room, Nohara Maki's face was suddenly hit precisely by a thick piece of clothing. It was a dark blue high school sailor uniform, a thick cashmere coat, a scarf, and pale yellow gloves.

"Aren't these my high school clothes?! Why are they here?!"

"It was simply made overnight by a tailor shop on the ship."

Yuji Kudo glanced at Maki Nohara and said something quite offensive.

"Remember to remove your makeup. With such heavy makeup, you look like a ghost. People would think you're over thirty."

The curling iron clicked and clacked, and Maki Nohara began to miss her old, mute father.

"Then why is the skirt so long?"

"You have bowlegs, it looks better if you cover them up."

Having painfully concealed his refusal to allow his adopted daughter to dress provocatively, Kudo Yuji very seriously took out another bottle of powerful makeup remover.

"This is a great thing. I plan to report it and use it in the Tokyo dating market immediately. Just splash it on your face and you'll look like a demon for two days, no matter how you put on makeup."

This is simply the greatest invention of the 21st century; there are just too many Japanese.

Take a boarding pass from his bag and hand it to Maki. Kudo Yuji then pulls his adopted daughter, who has removed her makeup, along with her to disembark from the ship through the passageway.

"Look, Ms. Kudo and the others have been taken away by the police car."

Maki Nohara tugged at Yuji Kudo's sleeve: "I heard that the current head of the Osaka headquarters was Detective Kudo's mortal enemy back then, and now Osaka seems to be indifferent to Tokyo. Could Miss Kudo and the others be in any danger?"

"It's hard to say." Kudo Yuji looked thoughtful. "That minister definitely got his position because of his father. He's a notorious playboy and not a good person."

"So that's how it is?!"

“That’s right, Kudo Yuji is a hundred times better than him.”

Nohara Maki paused for a moment, and only after passing through the checkpoint did she reply in a low voice: "Even more shameless than Kudo Yuji... isn't that utterly shameless?"

"Hmm?" (End of Chapter)