Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"What I'm more concerned about is who this woman is drinking with. She can't possibly be drinking alone, can she?"

The pungent smell of alcohol mixed with stomach acid forced several department heads, as well as Sasaki and her daughter, out of the room. From there, one could hear many students downstairs vomiting, disgusted by the state of the corpse.

Wearing gloves, Kudo Yuji pointed to the body of the deceased at Hattori Mamoru and instructed him to continue pressing on Ono Hideko's abdomen. He then walked to the window where Hattori Mamoru had knocked on the glass, glanced at it, and then went to the doorway.

"Did Hideko Ono live in this room after your husband died?"

Kudo Yuji showed the notebook to Sasaki and her daughter. He had recorded various items in the room, including Ono Hideko's clothes, storage boxes under the bed, and a cheap rug.

It's absolutely impossible for a home like Sasaki's to have a carpet of that quality. The only reason it would be here is because of Hideko Ono and the people she brought.

“That woman completely considers this place her home because the man left a will with his private lawyer stating that if he were to pass away, the family must accept Hideko Ono and pay her a monthly allowance, or else transfer 30% of the car company's shares to her.”

Chiyo Sasaki made no attempt to hide her disgust for Hideko Ono, nor did she care if she continued to be seen as a murderer. Rather than transferring her shares, after careful consideration, she had no choice but to accept the fact that she could only support Hideko Ono, no matter how unwilling she was.

“We only have one requirement for her: no matter what, she absolutely cannot bring any random men into this house. I don’t care, this child is still in college.”

She patted her daughter, then said to Kudo Yuji and Okita, "If you ask me, there's another suspect, Sano. After Kiyori died, that guy kept harassing Ono Hideko until one night when he saw her get into an old man's car. He got so angry that he came back and smashed up his room."

"Is that so?" Chief Okita immediately looked at the Tokyo policeman beside him, and Kudo Yuji also very cooperatively asked Okita to arrange for someone to call Sano over.

"Going back to the previous question, did Hideko Ono invite anyone to the second floor today? Or did any of the guests who came to the memorial service come to the second floor? I noticed that there are no surveillance cameras installed inside the Sasaki family home, which clearly violates the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's security law. Buildings larger than 200 square meters must have cameras in every blind spot."

"It's because Kiyori didn't install it. When he moved here, Sasaki was already producing tools for Tokyo. He said the Prime Minister would definitely not bother with such a trivial matter..."

"That's true. He probably never imagined someone would be killed in his own home."

Yuji Kudo walked to the stairs and looked at the staircase facing the door: "With a staircase like this, if someone comes up from below, it's impossible for everyone not to see them."

"There's also a small staircase over there used for delivering food; it comes from the back of the kitchen."

Chiyo Sasaki immediately pointed out what was suspicious about Sano.

“That staircase is right next to Sano’s room. If the murderer didn’t climb up that staircase, then it must have been that one. He would definitely have heard it.”

"I heard someone calling me..."

Supported by two students, Sano staggered out of his room, followed by Kudo Sayoko, who was awkwardly grinning at everyone, causing Conan to widen his eyes in astonishment.

"Um... Hattori, what's going on?"

The elementary school student walked up to Hattori Mamoru and tugged at his sleeve: "Why is Sayoko with that Sano?" "Well..." Hattori glanced at Conan and loudly told him that Sano had asked Sayoko to cook for him, and then whispered to Conan that Sayoko claimed to be familiar with Sano.

"know?"

Conan's eyebrows twitched. Observing Sano, he realized that the other man was not faking drunkenness but was genuinely drunk. He then looked in Yuuji's direction.

“Mr. Sano, it’s suspicious that you were drunk when a murder occurred.”

"What...who was killed?" Sano patted his aching head.

Knowing that her father was bringing her stepsister to the memorial service, Rize had no intention of attending from the beginning. So, after Sayoko delivered the food, she didn't let her leave. In front of her cousin, she complained about her father while finishing a bottle of red wine and brandy.

“I can testify that Mr. Sano was indeed drinking in his room, and I saw it the whole time.” Sayoko raised her hand and shouted at Hattori, “Mori-nii, I’m not lying. I was watching him the whole time without blinking.”

"You say he's not a murderer, then he's not? Who do you think you are!" Sasaki Chiyo retorted snorting angrily, "No matter who you are, since you were with Sano, you're also a suspect."

"This must be the daughter of the famous detective Shinichi Kudo, right? We sometimes see news reports on TV about you and your father solving cases together." Okita and several other department heads nodded, indicating that they recognized Sayoko Kudo.

With Heiji Hattori retiring from the detective world to join the police force, and Saguru Hakuba disappearing from the public eye, coupled with Shinichi Kudo's younger brother being the Prime Minister of Japan, he is now the only publicly known "Detective Emperor" in the country. He's even invited to be a judge in many school detective reasoning competitions, and quite a few young people know Sayoko.

"Huh?" Sasaki Chiyo stared blankly at Kudo Yuji, and after seeing him nod, she remained silent for a moment.

"Well, on the other hand, nothing is absolute. How could a girl like Miss Kudo possibly collude with a murderer?" The woman immediately pointed out righteously, "If there were such a rude person, I would be the first to object."

“Then Mr. Sano…” Sayoko glanced at her cousin.

"He... shouldn't be the murderer either..." Sasaki Chiyo gritted her teeth, reluctantly admitting it.

"That's not necessarily true. If he set a trap beforehand and then deliberately found someone to provide his alibi, he still has the opportunity to commit a crime."

Kudo Yuji looked at Sano with a mischievous glint in his eyes, signaled the students on either side to let him go, and then took out his phone to start recording.

"Here's what we'll do. Hideko Ono's death wasn't long ago. We can determine your suspicion based on your level of intoxication and rule you out."

With a wicked sense of humor, he instructed his daughter to pinch her nose with one hand and point to the sky with the other. He then asked her to bend over, spin around three times, and then stand up straight and walk toward him.

"Alright, we can begin." (End of Chapter)