Yuji Kudo, the manga artist behind Detective Conan.

The clinking of chopsticks against bowls echoed from the third floor of the house. Judging from the sticky, gurgling sound, someone in the kitchen must be making tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelet). Conan sniffed and took a few deep breaths, then groaned wearily as he squeezed his head out of bed.

"It smells so good..."

"pat"

Old Kudo, who also squeezed his head out from beside him, lit the first cigarette of the morning and grinned as he commented on the smell in the air.

"It smells a bit sweet; too much sugar was added."

A typical day at the Kudo family begins with a regular breakfast. Despite being curious about Shinichi's current state—whether it's to cooperate with his younger brother's scheme or a lesson learned from Uncle Mori—Conan has gained a new confirmation from last night's information gathering.

In this day and age, if we attribute all the actions of Yoshitaka, who is using a false identity, to Kudo Yuuji, then this guy is probably the most notorious person in Japan.

"What exactly was Yuuji's purpose in doing this?"

"What……"

Halfway through his cigarette, Kudo leaned against the windowsill, feeling drowsy. Conan immediately pulled the cigarette butt out of Kudo's mouth, stubbed it out, and threw it in the trash can. The elementary school student then wiped his drool on the bed sheet with a hint of disgust.

"What's the relationship between this Higashino III and Sayoko?"

Could it be that she's also some childhood sweetheart who suddenly shrunk and that's why she found this place? Absolutely not! That bastard! What kind of good man pretends to be young, sneaks into someone's house, and has designs on their daughter? He would never entrust his daughter to a guy like that.

"Well... he's Amuro's adopted son." Old Kudo wiped his face with his hand, not even noticing the drool that had spilled from the corner of his mouth and spread all over his face again.

"Because my biological parents traveled the world and were not in Japan, I lived with my uncle, the Superintendent General of Police, who owned a big house, since I was a child. The rest is all part of that guy's plan."

It's obvious that Yuuji secretly guided that kid to get to know the Kudo family and then made arrangements based on past events.

"Damn it, why doesn't he use his own daughter as bait? And you, you actually cooperated with him?!" Conan grabbed Old Kudo by the collar and shook him repeatedly: "That's his own daughter, Ran, how could you let her have her way?"

"Ahem, is it possible that your daughter has taken a liking to him... Stop shaking!"

Old Kudo used a pressing motion to cover Conan's head on the bed: "So that guy organized the dance when these kids were six years old to see if there was a suitable one for his daughter. It's all because Rize locked all the second son's kids in their rooms doing homework that day."

He suspected that his niece had figured out what her father was thinking and that's why she did it on purpose.

"Doing practice problems...aren't they six years old?" Conan raised an eyebrow. "Exactly! This family isn't normal. Who makes elementary school students learn high school material? And the thing is, these kids can actually understand it..."

Where did we get such strong genes in our family?

Old Kudo crawled out of bed, changed his clothes, and called Conan, who was still in bed doubting himself, to go wash up. As he left the room, he glanced at his daughter who was still cooking, tiptoed quietly to the old storage room, opened the door, and slipped inside.

"It's been cleaned so thoroughly, could there be something wrong with that kid, Third Life?"

Looking at the "Conan" room where he had lived for quite some time, Old Kudo opened the old wooden cabinet in the storage room, tapped it on the side, and pushed it open as he went.

"really……"

The storage room was partitioned off by Uncle Mori when the building was constructed for aesthetic reasons, but in the end, some space inside the cabinets was still left empty because it was close to the toilet and there was a leak.

"Did she specifically erect a cabinet that was a foot high to prevent water leakage? When exactly did she do this..."

He picked up a book from the shelf at random. Just by looking at the title, he knew it was a typical book about male friendship. With a sigh, Old Kudo decided to put the book back, to save face for his children.

“I think I just saw a manga by Kaori, the one she brought back when she moved from Yuuji’s house to the old house… the one about us and Yuuji.”

Suddenly, a child's voice rang out beside him. Old Kudo, looking completely at ease, turned around and shoved Conan's face, telling him to move aside.

"You still have toothpaste foam around your mouth, and you came over without wiping it off. Do you want to see a show?"

"You're no different. You didn't even wash your face before coming over and rummaging through things. Middle-aged people should give their children more personal space, you know?"

The two of them came out of the storage room while arguing, ignoring Sayoko who was standing with her hands on her hips and glaring at them with a gloomy expression. They pretended not to see anything and planned to run into the toilet to take refuge.

"Hmph, this is my turn!"

They instinctively kicked at each other to give themselves time to escape. Conan, who wasn't strong enough to kick Old Kudo, could only watch helplessly as he locked the bathroom door, clearly not planning to come out again before his daughter went to school.

"Conan-kun, can you tell me what you saw inside?"

He seemed to see an angry Xiaolan... (End of Chapter)