Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"Now I think I can understand to some extent why a child like that would kill his mother."

In the boys' bedroom on the second floor, Kudo Yuji, wearing gloves, was reading Kamisuke's diary. When he read about the various ways he was bullied by his classmates, Kudo Yuji just shook his head and waved at Hattori Heiji.

It's not that killing one's mother is incomprehensible. The police learned from the neighbors that Mrs. Uesugi was indeed a very kind and rare good person, and she never missed a street cleanup day.

What is understandable is the motive behind Shangzhu's act of patricide. An irrational teenager, or one whose mental state has deteriorated, can do whatever he wants after being subjected to a strong stimulus.

"I see that Tokyo has already set up fairly high penalties for bullying, but you Osaka people don't seem to care at all." Conan rolled his eyes at Hattori. As the de facto ruler of Osaka, this was something he absolutely couldn't shake off.

"In this diary, Ono and Matsuki appear to be the bullied companions. Although it cannot be taken as a complete reference, at least it provides a direction for breakthrough."

Kudo Yuji snapped his fingers. It was impossible for Kaifang Academy not to know about something like this, but they didn't tell Hattori. This showed that the school principal was too self-centered and had some ulterior motives.

“Modern Japan doesn’t need such a self-centered person. Get rid of him, Hattori-sama.”

"What are you saying to the police?"

Hattori Heiji closed his diary and observed in Kamisuke's room.

“Now the problem is that the victims of the series of deaths are all related to the bullies, or rather, to the bullying itself.” Kudo Yuji pointed to the diary: “But there is one exception.”

"Ms. Uchitake's daughter, the first person to die, that kindergarten child."

Conan snatched the diary, flipping through it to make sure Yuuji hadn't forgotten to read about the little girl before confirming, "Kamisuke, that student, writes everything down in his diary, even what his deskmate ate for lunch. How could he not have written about his teacher's daughter dying at school? I remember that girl was..."

"The cause of death in the swimming pool at Kaifang Academy was drowning."

Heiji Hattori pulled a miniature tablet from his pocket and accessed information about Uchi Takeru. "When this girl died, she had a prank toy that was available for purchase on the market."

"Prank toys?" Conan watched as Heiji Hattori flipped through a tablet, which displayed a brown plush bear and a picture of Takeshi Uchitake.

"This child looks so cute, it's a pity."

Looking at the teddy bear that gave people a slight electric shock, Kudo Yuji concluded that it definitely wasn't bought for the child by Uchitake, the mother, and made a guess.

"Could it be that the students who bullied him bought it to prank him, but it accidentally ended up in the hands of the homeroom teacher, Ms. Uchitake's, daughter, who then accidentally electrocuted the child and threw him into the swimming pool?"

"If that's the case, it does explain why those kids didn't say a word when questioned by the police. If there's bullying in the whole class, everyone must have agreed not to expose it."

Conan nodded, but still had one question.

"This kind of prank toy can electrocute someone? Even if it could, the girl fell into the swimming pool. I don't remember the swimming pool at Kaifang Academy being very deep, right?"

"Because that's not your average prank toy."

Hattori Heiji put away his phone, his expression somewhat displeased, and said, "The police at headquarters told me that they just found a high-powered stun gun inside the doll."

"...Then your headquarters is really too chaotic."

Conan suddenly felt that his brother should take action against the Osaka Police Headquarters; what kind of monsters and freaks are Hattori's men...? (End of Chapter)