Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"The teriyaki chicken slices are too sweet. How much sugar did you put in the teriyaki sauce?"

Seeing Sayoko carrying the food into the house with a grin on her face, Sano picked up a little with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth, then picked up his red wine.

"Fried chicken nuggets, nigiri sushi, and cream stew—you actually made me some ordinary home-style dishes."

"As long as there's food, that's fine. By the way, this man is so ugly, lady!"

Sayoko, dressed in her chef's uniform, walked to the sofa, sat down next to Sano, and took the wine glass from her hand, bringing it to her lips.

"How did you manage to disguise yourself and infiltrate the Sasaki family? Where's Uncle?"

"Let's go downstairs..."

Seeing that Sayoko recognized her, Sano stopped hiding. She pressed a button hidden in her sleeve on her wrist, and her whole body instantly deflated, revealing her graceful figure in a men's suit.

With her hand on her neck, she gave it a sharp tug. Her long, blonde hair, with its dark roots but overall dark color, swept across Sayoko's face as she tossed her head, leaving a pleasant scent.

"Gu..."

Swallowing hard, the high school girl looked at the older sister of the Kudo family, who was more than ten years older than her, and suddenly hugged her, nuzzling against her shoulder a couple of times.

"Big sister, don't you think you're becoming more and more charming? Seriously, seeing such beauty suddenly appear under that ugly face makes my heart flutter."

"You're in my way, blocking my food."

Rize Kuroba, who deliberately imitated Chris's hair color by perming and dyeing her own hair blonde, tapped Sayoko on the head: "Where's Conan Edogawa?"

"That's rude. You should call him Uncle."

“Sure, but you’ll have to ask him if he dares to agree.” Rize took a sip of her drink. “Sasaki Kiyori’s death is highly suspicious and must be thoroughly investigated.”

"You clearly want to find out about those major families, and you don't need to investigate personally, right? You could just order two police officers around."

Rize did not explain her response to Sayoko's complaint that Sasaki Kiyori's backers were not the Sasaki family, but rather the old Kyoto clans connected to them.

After Sasaki Kiyoyori's death, news from below indicated that the Tokyo high command knew that the production of goods from the Sasaki factory, which was being shipped from Osaka to the front lines, had ceased, suggesting that the major families had new ideas.

"There are rumors outside that Sasaki Kiyoyori died in an accident. Is it true?" Kudo Sayoko remembered the purpose of the three of them coming in. Although she immediately guessed that the inside story was not simple when Hattori Mamoru described the process of the case, according to the Kudo family's deduction manual, one should not think fixedly, but should be suspicious from multiple perspectives.

"The body has been cremated, but according to what I know, the entire process of keeping the body at rest, from cremation to burial, was arranged by the Koshizawa family."

Rize recalled the Koshigami family, which owned several hospitals in Kyoto and Osaka and had become the leading family in the medical field after Minami Masamune's death.

"Today, representatives from all the major families have come to attend Sasaki Kiyori's memorial service, hoping to investigate the inside story. After today, it will be completely impossible."

“But you can’t investigate, can you?” Kudo Sayoko recalled the task that Hattori-san had given the three of them: “We originally just wanted to come in and take a look around. Mamoru-san also said that he didn’t really want to find out anything, since there was no breakthrough at all.”

"What if... someone from the Yue family died at this memorial service today? Would that be a breakthrough?"

Rize stood up from the sofa and looked out the window at the courtyard below, as well as the somewhat lively memorial hall.

As the party handling Sasaki Kiyoyori's body, assuming there's definitely more to the story, those attending this memorial service, even if not the family's designated heir, must be very close to the core of the entire family.

If this person dies at this memorial service, the Osaka police can conveniently add this to the case and reinstate the death of Kiyoyori Sasaki as a new case background, reopening the investigation.

"The problem now is that the head of the department here may not be willing, and it would be troublesome if he did something irrational again. For example, he might actually arrest the public security police who arranged the murder, or refuse and use that as a reason to cause trouble."

In Rize's eyes, Hattori Heiji, who did not bring Osaka to cooperate with his father, also had his own ulterior motives, and might also want to split the south and have autonomy over Kansai.

"Whether it's for Osaka's sake or he has other plans, Hattori Heiji cannot get involved in this incident."

"Uncle Hattori isn't as bad as you think, is he...?"

Sayoko rolled up her hair with her hand: "He even had Brother Shou come with us to investigate the case. Although Brother Shou is pretty useless, I think he did a great job of providing moral support."

"You have that characteristic way of praising people that we Kudo family have."

Rize Kuroba's lips twitched: "The death of Kiyori Sasaki has already caused a great uproar in Osaka. If his case is not solved, it will directly affect the credibility of the Osaka police. Heiji Hattori's head is about to explode. How can you ask Mamoru Hattori to help you with the investigation?"

This matter should have been Hattori Heiji's responsibility to ask the Kudo family for help, but Kudo Sayoko thought it was her responsibility?
"That uncle, he really knows his stuff..."

Although the older generation had good relationships, the second generation, from different perspectives, had varying views on their parents' friends. (End of Chapter)