Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

Aoyagi Akimitsu seemed completely unaware of Morofushi Kagemitsu's unusual behavior.

He walked past the other person into the bedroom and immediately saw the folder next to the bedding. He raised an eyebrow and sat down next to it.

Morofushi Kagemitsu followed in and explained, "This is what Conan brought back. He said it's information about President Takeuchi and asked me to pass it on to you."

"You haven't seen it?"

"No," Morofushi Kagemitsu answered decisively, "I won't rummage through other people's things unless absolutely necessary."

Aoyagi Akimitsu had already opened the folder and turned on his phone screen at the same time. Hearing this, he looked up at him and a smile appeared on his face.

“Sit down,” he said. “Conan sent an email saying that he secretly brought his phone into the men’s hot spring pool. There were no outsiders or suspicious items in there. We can take this opportunity to talk.”

Neither of the two people present criticized this violation, and Morofushi Kagemitsu did not hesitate any longer and sat down next to Aoyagi Akimitsu.

Aoyagi Akimitsu dialed the number and then pressed speakerphone. The other party answered in less than a second.

"You're so slow, Mr. Aoyagi."

Conan Edogawa's first words were a complaint. In addition to his voice, there was the rustling of the wind in the background. He and Kogoro Mouri were soaking in the open-air hot spring behind the hotel.

"Feel sorry."

Aoyagi Akimitsu said in a completely unapology-free voice, "Mr. Mori, are you next to Conan? Please keep an eye on your surroundings and watch out for anyone who might suddenly come in. Also, be careful of the outer wall."

"I know."

A splashing sound came from the opposite side, probably from someone inside stirring. Kogoro Mouri said, "Time is limited, and Ran is still alone in the women's bath. Let's get straight to the point."

Aoyagi Akimitsu quickly scanned the document, handed it to Morofushi Kagemitsu without giving it much of a look.

The police officer took the documents; the top one was a handwritten note. Upon seeing the keywords on it, he couldn't help but frown.

At this point, Kogoro Mouri began to recount the results of his visit to the hospital that afternoon: "The attending physician didn't reveal anything to me, but the maid told me quite a bit about that... Ms. Karasuma Mochizuki's past experiences."

"Forty-five years ago, the two granddaughters of Karasuma Renya, the chairman of the Karasuma Group and a famous tycoon of that era, Yoko, who was nineteen years old, and Mochizuki, who was only sixteen years old, got married together."

"Yoko married into the Takeuchi family, while her younger sister Mochizuki married into a large family in America."

Morofushi Kagemitsu had already quickly reviewed the information, and then asked, "What is that family's surname?"

Recognizing the voice of the policeman, Kogoro Mouri paused for a second, then said in a steady voice, "The maid said she didn't know, that no one had ever mentioned it, and that she only knew that Karasuma Renya's mother seemed to be from that family."

"However, although she didn't say her specific surname, she told me a secret about that family."

"—The men who carry that family bloodline seem to be cursed by God. The female members are healthy, while most of the male members become weak and unable to walk when they are a few years old, and at least half of them die in their early twenties."

Conan Edogawa interjected, "Judging from Ms. Mochizuki's granddaughter, it should be caused by the hereditary disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It's just that medical conditions weren't so advanced back then, and hereditary diseases were seen as a curse."

“Even if there is a genetic component, the incidence rate wouldn’t be this high under normal circumstances,” Aoyagi Akimitsu said quietly. “So it’s probably due to long-term inbreeding in the past. Such families not only have physical problems, but their mental problems are even more severe. If it weren’t for their wealth, they would have gone extinct long ago.”

Kogoro Mouri sensed a subtle malice.

However, after thinking about it, he realized that this was true; there were several well-known families in Japan whose long-term consanguineous marriages had led to problems in their offspring. So he skipped that and returned to the main point:
"Ms. Mochizuki gave birth to a son when she was seventeen, and three years later, she gave birth to a daughter."

"According to the maid, her two children are healthy. But because the family itself discriminates against her, her children, especially her healthy son who is not 'cursed' and looks more Asian, are often bullied by other members."

Morofushi Kagemitsu thought of Furuya Rei and sighed, "Because of racial discrimination?"

“That’s what President Takeuchi said, but the maid didn’t mention it,” Kogoro Mori said. “Because of this humiliation, coupled with the discovery of her husband’s infidelity—her husband was worried that his child would die young and his bloodline would end, so he had affairs with many women and had many illegitimate children—she divorced him in the fifth year of their marriage.”

"After the divorce, she reverted to her original surname and returned to Japan with her daughter. Her family didn't offer her any assistance, but the reason wasn't, as President Takeuchi claimed, that it violated the original intention of the arranged marriage, but rather..."

Kogoro Mouri's voice turned serious.

"Forty years ago, a bloody incident occurred at the Twilight Mansion of the Karasuma family." "That year, Karasuma Renya suddenly passed away at the age of ninety-nine. To commemorate him, his grandson, who was also the elder brother of Mrs. Yoko and Ms. Mochizuki, held a memorial service for him, and all the invited guests were celebrities from all walks of life."

"However, although it is called a memorial service, it is actually an auction. Mr. Karasuma has no interest in his grandfather's collection and plans to sell all of the more than three hundred treasures. The auction is expected to last for more than three days."

"The accident happened the next night. It was raining heavily that day, and two guests came to the auction to take shelter from the rain. Mr. Karasuma was reluctant to accept them, but after they offered him and many other guests a strange kind of smoke, they accepted."

The people on both ends of the phone fell into an eerie silence.

"...Then came the tragedy," Kogoro Mori said. "The maid said that when Mrs. Yoko and Ms. Mochizuki arrived a few days later, almost everyone present was dead, and their brother had also been killed at that time. All the collections were gone."

Upon hearing this, Morobuki Kagemitsu's brows furrowed completely.

"I have never heard of such a tragedy happening before."

Karasuma, of course he knew this family. Before the war, they were a top-tier conglomerate. Even though they had become more low-key in recent decades, they were still richer than the Suzuki Group.

...And because their family crest was also a raven, he and Zero once had some chilling suspicions that they didn't want to think about at all.

How could the police have no idea about such a major case that happened in such a family?
"Mr. Aoyagi, what do you think?" Conan Edogawa suddenly asked.

It was only then that Morofushi Kagemitsu noticed that Aoyagi Akimitsu, who was beside him, hadn't spoken for a long time.

He looked at him and saw the FBI agent sitting there with his head propped up on his elbow, in a rather lazy posture.

Those emerald green eyes were unfathomable, and the expression on his face was utterly indifferent.

“I know a little about this case.” He said calmly, “The two visitors were actually Americans. They spent nearly ten years selling stolen goods after they came back. When their bank accounts showed huge income that didn’t match their tax returns from back then, the IRS took notice of them and found out about this.”

Maori Kogoro:"……"

Zhu Fu Jingguang: "..."

Conan Edogawa: "...The National Tax Agency? Mr. Aoyagi, how come you've had dealings with them before?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Aoyagi Akimitsu retorted, "After I finished my undercover work and returned, the IRS tracked me down for more than half a year because they were worried that I would evade taxes on the criminal organization's huge income. They even went so far as to break down all the walls of my apartment in order to find cash."

“Actually, I paid every penny and even helped them retrieve the organization’s real ledgers, which led them to find a whole bunch of real tax evaders.”

He sighed.

"So they apologized to me and offered to help me rebuild my house, but I declined their offer and moved to a high-rise apartment near the precinct... In short, during that investigation, as a warning, they mentioned the IRS's past major cases to me, saying that no matter how I hid them, they would find them."

Morofushi Kagemitsu: "…………"

...The FBI undercover agents' methods are indeed very different from those of the Japanese Public Security Bureau.

Wait a minute, does this mean Akai was investigated when he went back? As the organization's top sniper, he earned a considerable income... No, that's not necessarily true. Akai came to Japan as an undercover agent; the IRS might not have bothered with him...

Morofushi Hiromitsu tried to banish the bizarre thought that "what if Akai isn't killed by the organization one day, but instead gets sent away by the IRS for tax evasion on overseas income?"

He couldn't help but ask, "What happened to those two people afterward?"

"Both were sentenced to forty years without parole for allegedly evading large sums of taxes," said Aoyagi Akimitsu. "If they were alive now, they would probably still be in prison... Hmm, I'll call and ask later, it's working hours there."

Morofushi Kagemitsu remained silent for a moment, without asking the question he truly wanted to ask.

He didn't ask why the US hadn't notified Japan after discovering the perpetrator of a major tragedy in Japan, and why they only sent the person in jail for tax evasion.

He knew he wouldn't get an answer even if he asked.

—If someone commits a crime in the United States and flees to Japan, only to be apprehended there, the matter will be reported immediately, and the United States will extradite them back to Japan as soon as possible. But the reverse—it happens very rarely. (End of Chapter)