Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"Osaka is not in a good state right now."

Walking on the streets of Osaka, Maki Nohara observed the hurried passersby. This city, which was originally somewhat famous for tourism, now had almost no foreigners to be seen, probably due to the war.

Remembering the high-profile case in Osaka that her father had just mentioned, Maki Nohara asked in a low voice, "What kind of case is it?"

"The sole heir of a well-known local car manufacturing company died in a car accident at around 2 a.m. three days ago."

"Judging from what you're saying, it doesn't seem to be a traffic accident."

Of course, Kudo Yuji took out his wallet from his pocket, bought a serving of cold pan-fried senbei from a roadside vendor, and then started crunching away.

"Osaka police checked the car's recording system after the incident and found that the car did not generate any errors or have any warning lights on before the accident."

"That was murder!" Having sensed a similar pattern in the cases she had worked with, Maki Nohara was certain of this without hesitation.

"The body was found in the car?"

"No, to be precise, the car plunged off a cliff into the sea, and the deceased seemed to have shown signs of wanting to survive before he died, so skin tissue from his ankle was detected between the car window and the doorpost."

Yuji Kudo bought a newspaper from a roadside newsstand, and with a rice cracker in his mouth, he flipped through it on the street before pointing it out to Maki.

"Although the police have not released the specific details of the body, from this photo that was taken at the time, it can be seen that although the body was somewhat swollen after being submerged for nearly two days, there was an obvious wound on the side of the head."

“That doesn’t prove anything. He might have accidentally bumped into a rock while struggling in the water.” Nohara Maki said with some doubt, “Even if his family’s car company is doing quite well in the domestic market, is it worth you putting in so much effort to pay attention to it?”

Yuji Kudo neatly wrapped the senbei, tucked it into a newspaper, and slapped it into Maki's arms.

"Their factory was a military factory of the Dongdu government. It was pushed out by the old people to support the civil war and specialized in producing sergeant pistols and simple battlefield motorcycles."

……

"We just got off the ship and you brought us to the Osaka Police Headquarters. Aren't you afraid of causing misunderstandings with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department?" Sitting in the police chief's office, Shinichi Kudo took big gulps of beer, while glancing out of the corner of his eye at the chief, who was frowning and silently eating his wife's bento.

"You even went out of your way to send Sayoko and the others away. What are you trying to say? Don't forget, it's not easy to achieve the conditions for Kansai to stand by and watch. Otherwise, people from Osaka would have to go to the battlefield too."

"What's the point of such meaningless sacrifice? So many people die just to put on a show for others."

The box was placed on the coffee table. Hattori Heiji sighed and took a temporary assistance certificate out of his pocket.

"You must know about Sasaki, right?"

"That guy who got into a car accident? I remember you guys took the body, what about the autopsy results?"

"A few old men from Kyoto took his body away, leaving only the words 'Respect the dead.'" Hattori Heiji looked at the bento box that Kudo Shinichi had snatched away and handed over the chopsticks as well.

"No wonder Kudo has put so much effort into dealing with these old men."

"You're not planning to ask me to help you investigate the case, are you? This is no joke. Not to mention you've run out of leads right now."

Yuji Kudo, shoveling rice into his mouth, said, "Even the body is gone now, how are we supposed to investigate?"

"I do not know."

"You're planning to ignore those guys and investigate the Sasaki family at will?"

“No.” Hattori paused for a moment, then said something that was sure to work.

"But I believe you. You are Shinichi Kudo." (End of Chapter)