Yuji Kudo, the manga artist behind Detective Conan.

"Well, how should I put it? We solved a murder case, but it turned out it had nothing to do with the injury on Yuko's head."

When Marina saw several policemen handcuff Mrs. Oda and find several jars used for pickling vegetables in her house, she sighed with regret. Then she was startled by a rotten human head that rolled out of one of the jars because it had been smashed.

"They've been soaking in the salty, smelly water for over a day, they must be quite pungent by now..."

Having seen so many corpses, Yuko didn't react, while the other three had already run to the wall and started vomiting.

The arrival of night drove the residents of the alley who had come to watch the commotion back home. From this street, it seemed that only Kyoto, with its neon lights flashing to the east, could be considered a civilized city, so the four of them had no choice but to leave.

"After three days, it's probably unrealistic to expect to get any more information from this street. Besides, these few families have made such a mess of this alley. I think maybe I wandered here in a daze after being injured."

Yuko, who wanted to get away with it, winked at Yata, who also wanted to get away with it. The two of them then lifted Marina up and pulled Jintaro along, heading towards the light.

"I told my family today that I can take you to the Grand Theatre in Kyoto tonight, where there is a ballet performance tonight."

Seeing Marina's somewhat disgusted expression, Yata could only advise, "Even if you hate these kinds of artistic things, you don't have to wear it on your face all the time."

“Because it’s boring, there’s no story at all.” Marina broke free from Yuko’s grasp, then took the other’s stiff arm and explained to her, “The Shido Dance Company was specially trained by these high-ranking people in Kyoto to imitate Western styles, ballet and Western drama. I don’t know how these people never get tired of it.”

"Perhaps it's because of the strength of Western countries that we unconsciously imitate them and regard our own things as backward and ignorant." Yuko thought of the old man's paintings and seemed to understand why he insisted on painting Japanese paintings, and even made his side job as a "painter" better than his main job as an "ambitious man".

Someone has to remember our things and leave them behind so that future generations can always see them and know that we are no worse than those from outside.

"So what exactly is going on tonight? Are they going to perform?"

Jintaro seemed quite familiar with the theater troupe, which surprised Yuko slightly. She suddenly realized that these guys were already children of the upper class in this era. "An American general from Tokyo, the nobles of Kyoto are entertaining him." Yata raised his index finger: "He's George Paul, who recently publicly refuted the Japanese government's design of the reception venue."

"I remember him. He was a close confidant of a five-star general. He was an upright man, but he didn't like Japan very much."

Yuko recalled what she had learned in school. Her jerk history teacher had said that this person must be trying to sabotage the friendly relations between Japan and the United States, which was why he publicly opposed the close interactions between American soldiers and Japanese women in the reception center.

It turned out that when everyone investigated, they found out that the teacher's father was a mixed-race child who had been abandoned at the orphanage because he couldn't find his biological father. He should have been angry about this, but everyone could only see that he seemed to be proud of it, as if having a few blond genes made him more noble than normal people.

“Humans are humans. Stripped of their skin, their flesh and blood and emotions are the same. I think the only thing that can be divided into people is good people and bad people. As for labeling a race, that’s the most foolish thing to do.” Yuko said seriously, then joked, “Speaking of mixed blood and stuff, I thought only pets said that.”

"Things may be hard to hear, but they make a lot of sense."

Marina glanced at her hair and gave Yuuko a warning look, telling her to polish her words a little more.

"No wonder he promised me he would be my best friend for life."

"...Isshu? My friend! When? Why!" Yuuko instantly appeared next to Jintaro, looking at Marina with a wary gaze.

"Didn't you promise her that you'd do anything she asked? It seems like she's become attached to you, saying that as long as she's by your side, she won't be afraid of not having exciting and interesting experiences."

Jintaro patted Yuko on the head and chuckled to himself.

(End of this chapter)