Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"But who killed her? We've figured out the method, but we still have to choose a murderer from among the suspects."

Officer Ikehata approached Kudo Yuji with great humility. He had almost no say in the matter, and the backup he called for wouldn't arrive immediately; he would still need to rely on the "Public Security Bureau."

Everyone looked at Sasaki and her daughter. They were the only suspects left, and since no one had figured out the culprit's identity, they hoped that the other party would take the initiative and come forward.

"Now that we know the method, there's no point in taking any chances."

Okita offered a reminder, but seeing that neither the mother nor daughter spoke, he shook his head in disappointment.

“It’s no use talking to them, because neither of them is the murderer.”

A slightly drunken voice came from downstairs, penetrating the walls of the room. He slowly walked into the room, smelling of alcohol. The people downstairs had already seen him, but at his request, they did not gasp.

"Glug, this wine doesn't taste good."

Shinichi Kudo walked in through the door, but he wasn't followed by any other Osaka police officers. He came alone, ready to fill in for him at a crucial moment.

"You just asked the Ministry of Public Security for the surveillance footage, right? I think they should have sent it to you, sir... police officer."

Shinichi Kudo looked at his younger brother, his hazy eyes regaining some clarity. He urged Yuji Kudo to quickly reveal the culprit's identity so they could move on to the second round of the case.

"It's him..."

After checking the details sent by the Osaka Public Security Bureau on his phone, Kudo Yuji glanced at Sasaki and her daughter, issued the order, and then turned the phone to several students.

"I think this is the man who killed Ono."

……

"What happened this morning? Officer Yuanshan has actually come back after being retired for so long."

"I don't know, Superintendent. Are you going to deliver some documents? I'll run the errand for you."

"No need, I'll just go and have a chat with Inspector Kazami on my way."

On the fourth floor of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters, a man in a suit vest walked out of an office, weighing a bottle of red wine in his hand and carrying several file folders in his other hand, and went up the stairs.

It's dinner time, and it's fine for people who aren't working to have a little drink. But for those of them who live on higher floors, it's okay to have a small drink during work hours as long as it doesn't affect their work.

Looking down from the corridor window, the man could see a group of police officers rushing from the building to the parking lot and driving away. He glanced at them, then turned and knocked on the target's door.

"Inspector Kazami, are you there?"

"You're so late, I've been waiting for you."

The person who opened the door adjusted their glasses. Raw food and two empty glasses were already laid out on the coffee table in front of the sofa in the single office. "Oh no, you've prepared this kind of food. Should I not have brought red wine?"

"Red wine?" The other person took the red wine from the newcomer's hand, glanced at it, and sighed with some disdain.

"Isn't this kind of thing good to drink on a date with a woman?"

"You know I'm not interested in that kind of thing."

"Then you should just drink at home by yourself. I'm not interested in red wine. Drink my bourbon whiskey instead. My father had someone bring it to me from Tokyo and said I had to try it."

Seeing him walk toward his refrigerator, the visitor wisely moved closer to the sofa and casually placed the documents on the edge of the coffee table.

"what is that?"

Inspector Kazami was sitting on the single sofa that he had added to his office. He opened a bottle of wine, poured himself a drink, and then took two big gulps.

"Drink slowly, no one's going to steal it. This isn't your own wine." The man gestured towards Feng Jian, as if he wanted to persuade him, but in the end he didn't say anything more and instead answered the question.

"It's a case. Since it's all related to traffic, I need to put it in a file so that the police can check it later. I've finished now, and I'll go return the file to the archives department later."

"You, the Minister of Transportation, are doing this kind of work?" Kazami glanced at him speechlessly: "Just make some arrangements and let someone else do it."

In Kazami's view, the reason why his two classmates, who graduated from the University of Tokyo at the same time, rose so quickly in Tokyo was not only because his father was highly regarded by the Prime Minister, but also because of their own strong abilities.

However, after being sent to Osaka by the Prime Minister, the local officials didn't recognize their worth at all and actually assigned one of them to manage the Ministry of Transportation and the other to manage the Ministry of Life Safety.

"Hey, there's a case here. The chief personally gave the order. I can't let my subordinates write anything wrong in the files."

He had given instructions that his subordinates should not write anything carelessly, which meant that this was something he couldn't tell his subordinates or that it couldn't be circulated. Kazami understood this, but he didn't take it seriously.

"Aoyama, do you really need to fawn over that Osaka guy? He looks down on us, and we don't need to pay him any attention." Kazami glanced angrily at the files, then, fueled by alcohol, grabbed the file folders. Seeing that Aoyama hadn't sealed them yet, he opened them directly.

"What kind of nonsense is this? He's trying to fool idiots. He doesn't dare to investigate those people himself, so he just says this guy died in a car accident? I've even heard the rumors circulating in the Criminal Investigation Department."

Therefore, Kazami was naturally worried that someone might let slip the information and damage his reputation as the department head.

“Oh? I know, it’s said that Sasaki Kiyori’s death was unusual.” Aoyama nodded, smelling the whiskey, and muttered “good wine” before turning to Kazami: “So I was supposed to attend Sasaki’s memorial service today, but I wasn’t feeling well, so I didn’t go.”

"Hmph." Kazami poured himself another glass of wine: "It's normal to feel unwell; it's not uncommon for people to have headaches or fevers."

"But those guys in the Ministry of Public Security seem pretty normal. Even the one who asked for leave this morning and went back in our traffic department's car just came back. He's the one who was transferred from Tokyo with us. I don't know him well."

Kazami's hand froze in place, her expression calmly blank for a moment. (End of Chapter)