Yuji Kudo, the manga artist behind Detective Conan.

"Sheng Hai Zhi Xing is said to be the name of an old musical from seventy or eighty years ago, and it is exactly the same as the name of the cruise ship we are going to visit. Legend has it that a bloody incident occurred during the performance, but I have searched all the websites and various forums and found nothing about it."

Old Kudo then recounted how he had asked Hattori to search for information near the theater in Kyoto, but he was knocked unconscious by a group of delinquents with sticks as soon as he found the theater's name and was thrown into a famous host club. He didn't escape back to Osaka until the next morning, under the watchful eyes of a group of paparazzi.

"Here, look."

The tablet was placed in front of Conan. The photo showed a dark-skinned man with half his face covered by his hand, running out of a host club with a livid expression. Below the photo were articles from various news agencies, all speculating about what had happened at the host club that night.

"You even went so far as to edit these screenshots together. You've had your conscience rotten for thirty years." Conan rolled his eyes, pulled the tablet to his chest, and began reading with great interest, squinting his eyes.

"If you ask me, given this situation, it's highly likely that guy did it, deliberately letting you know so you wouldn't ruin his plans."

"Pretty much, but I'm not going to listen to him."

Yusaku Kudo pulled out a large pile of old newspapers from his study. The old Kudo lay on the Edogawa III plush carpet in the study, flipping through the pages one by one, reading the news related to all the cruise ship owners.

"Yusuke Kanehara started from scratch twenty years ago and, through establishing a cooperative company with West Asia to develop the new energy industry, successfully acquired several of Japan's major established companies and gained control over all modes of transportation in Japan."

Old Kudo pointed to the various cars and motorcycles on the tablet that were different from Japanese designs, making Conan understand why there were so many cars on the street that looked similar.

"If you cover up the logos on these cars, they look very similar. It's probably because, like interior design, the design of cars is monopolized by the design companies of a few major conglomerates."

“Hmm.” Old Kudo picked up a newspaper and placed it on the coffee table: “It’s like they made an agreement, each family only takes a portion of the car, and everyone makes money.”

"How could the monopoly be so severe? I remember Yuuji was very opposed to capitalist monopolies..."

“Indeed.” Old Kudo pulled out another newspaper: “But the premise is that he himself is not a monopolist. Our younger brother seems to have a talent for being a dictator. No wonder Old Master Nan thought so highly of him back then.”

Conan could tell from his future self's complaints and disdain for his younger brother that there was nothing wrong with their relationship; it was just that he was getting old and acting strangely.

No, it's also possible that this guy and Yuuji are putting on an act...

That Higashino III, Yuji put so much effort into the script, which shows he had high hopes for him. He should have been the protagonist designed by Mr. Kudo, going through trials and tribulations before finally achieving success. It's infuriating that he was the only one who was truly betrayed by the evil organization.

"What can we glean from these newspapers?" "There's one thing."

Old Kudo handed Conan the newspaper from which he had found the clue, pointing to a line of text on it.

On the stage of Sheng Hai Zhi Xing, the person who saved the postwar friendly relations between the United States and Japan disappeared before the police arrived.

"Isn't this the fiction section?" Conan slammed the newspaper down. "The Asahi Shimbun from decades ago? It wasn't a national newspaper back then, so how come we have an Osaka newspaper at home?"

"You can tell just by looking at the signature; this novel was written by my grandmother."

Old Kudo folded the newspaper and stuffed it into his pocket, glanced around, and tidied up the study with Conan. Before leaving, he casually rummaged through the mailbox.

"Nothing?"

It's quite unlikely that there wouldn't be any advertising flyers in the mailbox of a detached house that is rarely occupied. The only explanation is that someone cleaned it out in advance.

"What's next?"

"We're going to board the ship tonight, so I need to prepare some props and bring them with me."

……

"This is the 21st random killing case this year."

Looking at Amuro Tooru's death sentence approval document and the description of the prisoner's situation, Kudo Yuji calmly studied the murderer's motives.

"Did someone kill someone just because they saw others living too happily? It's hard to prevent people like that from happening."

He checked the time, then, while having Matsuda confirm the news from the front lines, he began to review the arrangements in his small notebook. According to the plan, this setup, even if it couldn't be called a theatrical version, was at least a short-form film.

"Remember to arrange a murder case after school today, just to get things started." (End of Chapter)