[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 876-878 (Sera's Hotel Murder Case)

[User 4869 100]

 

A note on the effects of APTX4869: After catstorm's comment yesterday, I was curious and looked up the scene in question [File 178, p.16] in the original Japanese. Sherry says indeed that, bypassing the nervous cells, the drug regresses the cells responsible for bones, muscles, heart, body hair, etc. to infancy. The Japanese word used for 'infancy' is 幼児期 and is defined as the time-span up to and including 6 years of age or, alternatively, until a child reaches school-age.

 

By Fujiwara from DCTP. In short. APTX make you a 7 years old no matter what your original age might be. "minus 10 years" doesnt work.

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

Here is some cbox transcription for reference.

Chek: Ugh, I really don't want to do anything more about the child issue until more clues appear, but it looks like I have to ask a question for the sake of completeness. What are the pronouns, speech types (feminine, masculine, ambiguously polite) being used? Subjectwise, Masumi directs a question towards the child at one point, and the child refers to itself a few times.

Zenthisoror: She uses watashi, and she speaks in a very unchildlike, cool adult-like way, a bit like Haibara, but she's not as girly as Haibara.

Chek: When Masumi asks the child about its opinion of Conan, did Masumi's question contain a gendered pronoun? Basically, I'm trying to get a sense of whether Gosho is blocking Masumi from addressing the child in a way that would reveal its gender. Since they are alone, I can assume that they are likely to be truthful to how they normally would address one another.

User 4869: Haibara is girly? sorry off topic.

Zenthisoror: In the Japanese, well, Haibara's pretty feminine.

@Chek: Hmm, I think considering that Lady Oscar tells Sera to refer to her as a kind of 'little sister' she's probably a girl?

Chek: @Zenthi, I'm concerned that the child is a reverse Sera, a feminine boy, who is using their ambiguous appearance to disguise from whoever.

User 4869: a little related http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11727&start=45#p791042

6 Nov 13, 08:50

Chek: But anyway, besides the question above about how Masumi addressed the child, a user at DCW asked about a -nasai (Black Demon corrected spelling) motherly ending. I can't elaborate on the context...

Zenthisoror: @Chek: A reverse Sera would be interesting. To be fair his/ her speech pattern is more boyish than girlish.

Oh, kotaenasai right? I wouldn't say that's motherly - it's a semi-formal order.

Chek: Maybe that's it. Honestly I am more concerned with how Masumi addressing the child in her question about what the kid thinks of Conan. I want to know if Gosho is dodging gendered pronouns, implying a trap. Well, a male who uses watashi probably would be formal-ish if kiddo is a male and not a female.

Zenthisoror: I guess because in Japanese you don't really need to use pronouns to speak and sticking them in just makes the speech kind of unnatural...let me have a look at what Sera says then... She talks to the kid like an equal? No noticeable sense of respect or hierarchy. This could simply be because of Sera's personality, but she seems familiar with the kid and the kid is familiar around Sera. Having said that, the kid comes across smarter and cooler than Sera and, of the two, more like the person pulling the strings.

Black Demon: If Gosho is trying to hide her true gender then I doubt that we can find anything conclusive for now.

Zenthisoror: Best bet at the moment, I'd say a shrunken woman familiar with Sera, so probably her mum. I am ecstatic. (sarcasm drips off me like a melting ice lolly) @Chek: No signs really. If anything, he's either leading us on to think she's a girl, emphasising she's a girl or seriously tricking his editor into thinking she's a girl.

[ALAKTORN 170]

In short. APTX make you a 7 years old no matter what your original age might be. "minus 10 years" doesnt work.

This is another point of interest.

In her debut episode, Haibara says APTX makes you a 7 years old no matter your original age IIRC, so in the case this child took APTX, how come she looks older than Conan and Haibara? I think it’s said that Shin’ichi is the first the drug was tested on (not sure…), so it’s not like the child could’ve taken it years prior, and so aged a bit after becoming a child, right? Unless whoever made said statement (Gin?) is not aware of the drug being tested on humans before Shin’ichi, but it actually was.

[MeitanteiSonoko 7]

Besides, it's not Gosho's style to do "the good guy was really a bad guy" plots.

Can't agree with that. Since we have Amuro as example. I still think that he's not that bad, but still. Moreover, Aoyama-sensei like symbolism (Holmes, Gundam, etc, etc, etc) and symbolically James fits great. I can't say that he fits ideally and never did, since there's a lot of things against such a theory and you already named some, but among the others he looks like the best candidate for me. Because, unlike many other theories, this one have a lot of proofs. Both in facts and in symbolism. That's actually why I like it so much. I can't even name another person with so many things against him / her. Especially during Clash of Red and Black. After James was on one side and Gin on another when Soshiki was about to prevent any possible contacts between Akai-san and Hidemi-san, it's just way too much. Even if he aren't the biggest bad guy out there, I still can't stop thinking that he's related to the Organization.

 

 

My favorite no evidence story right now is that the boss was in love with someone, like Shinichi is with Ran, but the boss had some lab accident that caused him to shrink and stop aging. He can't be with the person he loves (like Conan and Ran now), so he starts trying to research a recreation of the drug to give to her so she can be like him. He doesn't have the money though and no one would believe a kid, so he starts a criminal organization for research funds.

So, you like "Little kid as Ano Kata" theory? It's popular, but I never liked it, even though with your details it sounds really great and romantic. But my favorite one is some sort of super-smart villain. James Moriarty style. Criminal mastermind, pure evil that is always hiding in the shadows. I'd like it to be more Holmes-like. LIke it was with Kaito Lupin and Inspector Holmes in Nonchalant Lupin. I always liked this side of Aoyama-sensei's works and I think something like that will fit Conan very well. Well, that's yet another reason for me to like James Black theory, because the parallel with James Moriarty.

 

 

 

Normally that would be pretty indicative of gender, but we already have had one Akai family trap already who thinks it is acceptable to pretend to be male when it is convenient. (See bathroom use in Blush Mermaid.)

The problem is - Masumi never tried to pretend being a boy. Since very beginning she tried to say that she's a girl, while new character told Masumi to tell Conan that she's her little sister. Can't see any reasons for Aoyama-sensei to go that deep into such a things. It's not "shounen ai" manga. Aoyama-sensei introduced a lot of ways to hide your identity in the series. And just starting to wear girls' dress to hide your identity is just... wrong. Especially since if there's a bad guys after her (him), they sure won't look on dress, but on face. Therefore - no reason for such a strange behavior at all. But I actually thought about it very much and I even thought about Masumi being a boy after Blush Mermaid case, but still, it'll be way too much for Conan, especially after "pantsu shot" part in manga. Therefore, I really dislike both "boy as girl" versions. In theory, of course, it's more than possible, but it'll be way too much for Conan manga IMO. And it'll be strange for Aoyama-sensei to use the same trick twice for the members of the same family. You know, because it won't be interesting. It's like a bad taste to do the same thing twice, especially in mystery story and it sure doesn't looks like Aoyama-sensei's style. At least for me. Just my thoughts though, I don't have any real clues from the series to put against this theory and therefore it's pretty possible. I just dislike this one.

 

 

 

The cough bothers me for the same reason. Why have the child be sick at all?

And she (he? ~_^) was in bed on photo. My personal thoughts (since we don't have enough clues anyway) is that it's experiment-related. As I wrote before, the drug she (I'll call her "she", since I dislike boy version, OK?) used may not be Shiho's development, but her own, developed outside of Kuro no Soshiki. And in this case, cough may be a result of this. A new side effect, or something like that. Since she was in bed on photo, it may be even worse before. But even if all this isn't correct, the sickness looks like a big thing to me. I really think that it is important to the story.

But what is really bothers me about "shrunken mother" theory is why did she used drug? I mean, Shiho-san used it to escape, Conan used it against his will, but why to used it by your own free will? Just to test it? Then aren't risks is way too high?

 

Also Ai never felt any fear or reaction around James neither, you know how she can "pick up" the feeling of a BO member nearby? He was outside the door when Ai was talking to Jodie, nothing happened.

 

Unlike Chekhov's entry about the alibi, this one can't be considered as a proof, since we don't know a single thing about the nature of Ai-san's "sixth sense". We don't even know if it's drug-related, or just a strong sense of evil intents. But in both cases there may be an easy explanation for her not to feel him. If it's drug related, then it's obvious, if not, then James Moriarty-like person can just hide his evil intents. Simple like that. Okiya-san can hide his "black thing" too and Ai-san didn't noticed Numabuchi Kiichiro too, who was a member of Soshiki. So, I can't see this even as indirect proof. Whatever the nature of that "smell", people can hide it. Especially if we talking about Ano Kata. If Okiya-san can, why Ano Kata can't?

 

 

 

Where did you find this copy of translated text at?

My own poor translation. May contain hell of a lot of mistakes, since my Japanese suck. Just shared it, while there's no better translation. Still better then include Japanese RAWs in English post.

 

 

 

The part when the child says "This one is different from what I've seen before" does the child mean as a listening device, or compared to the last listening device he used? If the child means compared to that last listening device used then its pretty safe to say that the child knows who Conan really is, just as Masumi knows who he is.

It's like "I never seen such a stuff", it's not about Conan. Just tried to put it in better way.

 

By Fujiwara from DCTP. In short. APTX make you a 7 years old no matter what your original age might be. "minus 10 years" doesnt work.

Which doesn't mean that she can't be shrunken. Moreover, it may be an indirect proof that the drug she used is different from Ai-san's development and therefore a separate development. It is a side effect anyway. Not a main goal. And therefore in different version of the drug there may be a different side effects, or experiment just half-failed, or whatever. So, no reason to abandon a theory about shrunken person.

[75aichan 49]

I think the drug used by the child is APTX developped by Sherry,but it has a different effect on the child because she's sick...So her sickness may have  changed the APTX side effects which shrunk her into a middle school girl,instead of a 7 years old child.

[User 4869 100]

Chek: Besides, it's not Gosho's style to do "the good guy was really a bad guy" plots.

MeitanteiSonoko: Can't agree with that. Since we have Amuro as example. 

 

 

 

James was introduce as a grey person, not good. Conan lead reader to think he is bad. He is also with Akai, who seem bad. Both his first and last names has been use as red haring once, which prove 

 

falise. Gosho revealed he is good. Amuro is good from the beginningm then become Bourbon.

 

The problem is - Masumi never tried to pretend being a boy.

 

 

Chek point being 

http://www.dctp.ws/V79-Reader/V79-2Read/A16.html

She is fine act like a boy to use men restroom

 

Shiho-san used it to escape

Just nippincking. She try to kill herself.

APTX make you a 7 years old no matter what your original age might be. "minus 10 years" doesn't work.

MeitanteiSonoko: Which doesn't mean that she can't be shrunken

 

 

I was refer to PetePete post in his spoiler tag. In fact. i think this mysterious girl is a shrunken. Chatlog Chek provide say she talk like an adult and hold Sera as equal. Of cause It doesn't necessary mean APTX. And I think APTX is unlikely.

 

 

@James being Boss.

I think "failure to act on critical intelligence" nailed it. He even know Ai is knowed to BO as Sherry, and he mention she look like Shiho. So he must know Ai is Shiho. How can he order her killed but fail to act himself when he met her?

Your theory in the blog, (I just skim past it sorry) are why he "can" be the boss, not why he "must" be the boss. Some are reference made from outside story. You can say Yusaku is the boss with his Night baron, intelligence, wealth, secret. Shinichi is related to BO because he use 4869 as password.

[MeitanteiSonoko 7]

@75aichan:

I like your idea very much. But then, there's two questions - where did she get APTX4869 and why did she used it? Well, she may get some from Haibara, but why did she used it? That's what bothering me.

 

@User 4869:

As for Amuro, I still think that he's a good guy, who entered the Organization for his own reasons. Since Aoyama-sensei like Gundam symbolism and Amuro wasn't a bad guy there, it's pretty much possible for him to be yet another mole in organization. Especially after his connection with Date Wataru-san was revealed (I so-o-o want to know what's inside Takagi-kun's notebook). If that's true, though, I can't see why did he tried to reveal Akai-san's true identity to the Organization. Aside of my assumption that Akai / Sera family play their own game and he know it. But all this aside, yes, Amuro is a nice proof that Aoyama-sensei can use such a tricks, I agree completely.

As for Blush Mermaid case, I remember it very well, of course. But it's a different thing. She just entered a restroom, because she looks like a boy. She never tried to tell the others that she's a boy. Like she used it, because her appearance was useful, but she never did it as a part of a long act. Using a moment and playing a long role is a different things.

As for James Black, of course it's just a possibility. Any theory is just a theory in the end. But I like this theory, because there's a lot of things to support it. Kudō Yūsaku theory, for example, is popular like hell, because it'll be fun, but when you trying to collect proofs, there's hardly any (at leas anything big), since he's a rare guest in the series. I like to build theories on facts, not just pointing on characters and saying "This one have a lot of possibilities and reasons to be Ano Kata". Yūsaku-san can be Ano Kata, because he have a solid base as a smart and rich person, but since there's no proper proofs, I dislike this theory with many others. James is suspicious. Very suspicious. And fits with both symbolism and real facts (not all of them, of course, because if there were a person that fits completely, then question "Who is Ano Kata?" won't be a question at all). But yep, it's just my theory and it'll be a foolish thing to say that there's no other options. Of course, there is. When another theory appears, I like to analize it to the death, even if it's against my theories, but for the moment, James Black is my favorite candidate for Ano Kata because of the reasons above.

[User 4869 100]

I dont discard the possibility that Amuro be a good guy. But remember. Char was not the protagonist, Amuro is. We see a reverse here.

 

About Restroom. She make use of her appearance. That all. Actually the trap gender is not main part of Chek theory (even it is. its a weak one), So just ignore it.

 

You can say all the thing about James being boss. I just hold on one argument, that I said above. His behavior toward Haibara. Its enough for me.

[MeitanteiSonoko 7]

@User 4869: I'm not trying to convince you, but just to share my thoughts about it: his behaviour to Haibara is all right. Ano Kata was described as a deep thinker, the one who can ruin the plan by overthinking it. It's Gin's obsession "to find and kill ASAP". And we know how Organization works. Some members can keep some secrets. For example, the whole APTX thing wasn't shared with Gin, so, they're still not looking for young kids. Yep, it was on Vermouth's part, but I really wonder if Ano Kata is aware of it. I mean, if he's that smart, how can he not to know? And if he know, he may play his own game and let Haibara be for a moment to have his eye on her. Actually, to take her to witness protection program will be the best for him in this case. He may have his own plans for her. That's how it looks to me

[PetePete 8]

I read Sera went in the men's bathroom because the woman's bathroom was full, true or not true?

 

BUT BACK TO THE TOPIC

 

So the drug automatically turns you into a 7 year old... well explain Vermouth? If Vermouth took an early development drug of the APTX who said that child didn't either? Also if that child IS the middle brother doesn't that mean he knows that's Shinchi? Remember Sera was expecting a surprising response when she sent the middle brother the picture but got a response saying if he's there then there is no problem? That would mean then that child meet Conan prior to this current file correct? Lets just say Sera is telling the truth about that family of hers, then it has to be the brother, remember she did send an email prior to getting to the hotel saying she can't make it? Maybe she was telling the child to not leave the room at all, but maybe knowing thats an older brother an all left the bedroom once he heard that everyone left and tried to see Conan in action? The only reason I'm not 100% sure on the brother theory because the child said he/she is not sure if they can trust him. Whats not to trust, also with this child makes me wonder about Ai, does the resemblance between the 2 is the reason why that Sera was trying so hard to get near Ai or does it deal with the APTX drug?

[75aichan 49]

@Sonoko:

I think the brother was forced by the BO to take APTX,exactly like Shinichi in vol1.He may have been drugged right after Shinichi,because Ai said in her introduction case that Shinichi was the only person who survived to APTX,the other were dead.And then Ai said that the BO could still use the drug,so there is a risk to meet other shrunken people...(all of this was in vol18 IIRC)

Of course it could be the drug developped by her parents,but I don't think it was that efficient...In the Pisco case,Pisco was impressed that Sherry developped the drug that much to the point of turning into a child.Which makes me think the only drug that could shrink people at the moment is APTX...

 

As for Amuro,he apperently met Ai's sister and parents,however they died when Shiho was a baby,so I guess that means Amuro grew up in the BO,it wasn't his choice to work for them.

He was a BO member when her went to the police academy and met Date.So I think he's supposed to be a bad guy,but with a more human side than Gin or Vermouth...

[MeitanteiSonoko 7]

@75aichan:

You mean, like they tried to get to Akai-san's family, found her/him and forced her/him to take APTX? Makes sense. The more earlier period is not an option, of course, since if that mysterious girl was in organization, then there was no chance for Akai-san to sneak inside as a Rye for many reason. Risks, etc. But if they tried to get to Akai-san's family after Camel-kun ruined the whole thing as a part of a big hunt for Akai-san, then it makes sense. A lot of sense, actually, since the hunt for Akai-san was in America and Masumi-san with this girl (yet again, I'll call her "girl", since she called like this in the manga and I dislike the boy theory) should be there too. I like your idea!

As for the drug, it's all about the last days of Miyano family. I mean, since we don't know on which stage of development they decided to quit (IF they decided to quit, we don't know even that), we can't tell how much info about the development was in the Organization. Miyano family may hide a lot of stuff and / or destroy a lot of data. Original drug may be very close to the final goal. It's pretty much possible.

As for Amuro, he's 29. If Shiho is 18, let's remove 13 years to make her 5 and we'll get 16 years old Amuro. Shinichi was super popular detective in his 17. Can't see a problem for Amuro to meet them back then. Moreover, 20 years ago Akemi was around 5. And Miyano family was able to move somehow freely. Amuro was 9 at that time already, so, yet again, a lot of possibilities. But if he was that person who was mentioned by Date-san and if Date-san was killed because of him, then he should be connected to the Organization for a long time already. But still, it's totally not necessary for him to grow up in the Organization. It makes sense, though. Even police thing, since Organization like to have their agents everywhere and he may be trained for such a things from very beginning. It's very possible. But still, it's 50/50.

[75aichan 49]

@Sonoko:

Well that's my opinion for now,I'm glad you like it ^^ Of course there are a lot of things we don't know concerning APTX so the child could have taken the drug developped by Ai's parents.

 

Concerning Amuro,I doubt he get into the BO at 13,we never saw that kind of history in DC...That's why I think he grew up inside the Org like Ai and Akemi.But of course everything is possible with Gosho.

[MeitanteiSonoko 7]

@75aichan:

 

About Amuro - I just tried to say that there was no need for him to be in the Organization to meet Miyano family. They was able to move freely, meet friends and join various events. Agasa-hakase met them, why young Amuro can't? And there was a young Akemi-san with them, so, popular theory about Amuro being in love with Akemi-san too fits in all this. So, how, where and when he met Miyano family is a big question.

[75aichan 49]

@75aichan:

 

About Amuro - I just tried to say that there was no need for him to be in the Organization to meet Miyano family. They was able to move freely, meet friends and join various events. Agasa-hakase met them, why young Amuro can't? And there was a young Akemi-san with them, so, popular theory about Amuro being in love with Akemi-san too fits in all this. So, how, where and when he met Miyano family is a big question.

I guess you're right...it's 50/50

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

I replied to the boss related information on the main boss thread, in order to keep on topic in this thread.

 

Normally that would be pretty indicative of gender, but we already have had one Akai family trap already who thinks it is acceptable to pretend to be male when it is convenient. (See bathroom use in Blush Mermaid.)

The problem is - Masumi never tried to pretend being a boy. Since very beginning she tried to say that she's a girl, while new character told Masumi to tell Conan that she's her little sister. Can't see any reasons for Aoyama-sensei to go that deep into such a things.

Why is pretending to be a girl farfetched? Gosho is fine with gender confusion. He let it hang for almost three chapters that Masumi was a boy. (And used the men's restroom since it was convenient.) If the kid is a shrunken person, there is no guarantee that they know who attacked them. If they are desperate to hide, then pretending to be the opposite gender isn't unthinkable, especially if they already had problems with gender confusion to begin with, or were inspired by a certain androgynous sibling.

I'm not saying the child is the brother because there isn't enough info at this point. There are problems with the theory since the middle brother by phone claimed Conan was trustworthy with regards to cases, but this child stated she/he doesn't trust Conan yet. Also there are timing quibbles about when the two learned of Conan and met him before, if ever. That said, I have to be fair the facts here. It's not impossible, or even improbable for the child to be hiding their gender. Zenthisoror pointed out the child speaks more boyishly than girlishly.

 

It's not "shounen ai" manga. Aoyama-sensei introduced a lot of ways to hide your identity in the series. And just starting to wear girls' dress to hide your identity is just... wrong.

Seiji Asou Narumi Asai would like to have a word with you. But he can't. He's dead.

Especially since if there's a bad guys after her (him), they sure won't look on dress, but on face. Therefore - no reason for such a strange behavior at all.

Children look androgynous until puberty. No matter the gender, this kid hasn't hit that point yet.

 

But I actually thought about it very much and I even thought about Masumi being a boy after Blush Mermaid case, but still, it'll be way too much for Conan, especially after "pantsu shot" part in manga. Therefore, I really dislike both "boy as girl" versions. In theory, of course, it's more than possible, but it'll be way too much for Conan manga IMO. And it'll be strange for Aoyama-sensei to use the same trick twice for the members of the same family. You know, because it won't be interesting. It's like a bad taste to do the same thing twice, especially in mystery story and it sure doesn't looks like Aoyama-sensei's style. At least for me. Just my thoughts though, I don't have any real clues from the series to put against this theory and therefore it's pretty possible. I just dislike this one.

While specific cases are never the same, Gosho recycles general strategies all the time. Kir and Eisuke, two siblings with similar appearances and eyes -- Masumi and Shuuichi, two siblings with similar appearences and eyes. Eisuke and Masumi are both American emigrants. Scar Akai and Araide, two faces we had met before as good guys then used as disguises by the bad guys. Araide and Amuro, two nice guys who weren't so nice after all. Camel and Shuuichi both faked their deaths in similar situations. The FBI and CIA both sent operatives to infiltrate the Black Organization, had problems infiltrating, and up until their allegiances were revealed, they appeared to be bad.

[Lolime 4]

I agree with Chekov that there's not enough clue yet to discuss the child's identity further. Gosho only gave us 2 minor clues:

 

• That child's definitely got the so-called Akai-family-eyes.
• He/she uses polite and adult-like diction (at least when he/she's speaking to Masumi), which is also a contradictory behavior despite the fact that he/she has a body of a mere child.

 

I my self prefer the theory saying that the child is the mother of the Akai-siblings, though I find it rather uninteresting if compared to the theory saying that the child is the brother. Since Gosho's always use scientific explanation or at least quite a logical reasoning, if we based on the child's hair color (which is likely to be blonde, IF he/she doesn't get it dyed or is wearing a wig, and it is very unlikely for a character in Meitantei Conan to have dyed hair) I think the child is likely a parent of the Akai-siblings.

 

Shuuichi is a Japanese-American. If we assume that the Akai siblings were born from the same couple, one Japanese and one American, then the probability of one child to have a blonde hair is only 1 out of 4 because black hair gene wins against blonde. And as we can see both Masumi and Shuuichi have black hair. It is still possible that Masumi's second brother is a blonde though, but the probability is rather small.

 

Well, I am too curious about the child's identity and Gosho's only left us with minor clues. I feel so damned right now that I couldn't think of any other theory. And yeah I am not going any further until there's some more clue~

[ALAKTORN 170]

Shuuichi is a Japanese-American. If we assume that the Akai siblings were born from the same couple, one Japanese and one American, then the probability of one child to have a blonde hair is only 1 out of 4 because black hair gene wins against blonde. And as we can see both Masumi and Shuuichi have black hair. It is still possible that Masumi's second brother is a blonde though, but the probability is rather small.

That’s interesting. But based on what you say, wouldn’t the middle brother’s possibility of being blond be 50/50? 2 are known to be black-haired, so 1/4 means that if the middle brother is black-haired, a 4th imaginary sibling would likely be blond, and if the middle brother is blond… well, he’s blond, so 50/50? I’m not very good at maths but that sounded strange to me.

And yeah, I agree there aren’t enough clues, I feel like there are both good points and contradictions to both mother/brother theories. I spoke with my teacher about the -nasai issue, and she just said that it makes you think of an older person, rather than specifically a mother.

[Lolime 4]

That’s interesting. But based on what you say, wouldn’t the middle brother’s possibility of being blond be 50/50? 2 are known to be black-haired, so 1/4 means that if the middle brother is black-haired, a 4th imaginary sibling would likely be blond, and if the middle brother is blond… well, he’s blond, so 50/50? I’m not very good at maths but that sounded strange to me.

And yeah, I agree there aren’t enough clues, I feel like there are both good points and contradictions to both mother/brother theories. I spoke with my teacher about the -nasai issue, and she just said that it makes you think of an older person, rather than specifically a mother.

 

As to my knowledge (I am not good at math too), the probability of one child to have a blonde hair is 1/4 if there's a 4th imaginary child of the Akai-siblings, he/she would likely to be black-haired if the second brother is already blonde. Although it's actually more complex because to get a more precise calculation we need to know about their parents autosomal chromosomes. I only based my theory if one parent is black-haired and the other is blond-haired. We need another trait such as eye color or skin color to get it more precise and narrow down the probabilities. Well, the theory goes like that to my understanding..

 

Just FYI and sorry if this is out of topic, every people has 2 copies of every gene on autosomal chromosomes, one from mother and one from father (for example AaBb X aaBb). If a genetic trait is recessive, the people needs to inherit 2 copies of the gene for the trait to be occured. Both of the parents have to be the carriers of a recessive trait in order to have the trait occurred on a child. You can search for Punnett Square theory about this.

 

Anyone have further understanding? Since I am not a biologist I am not very fond of it though..

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

As to my knowledge (I am not good at math too), the probability of one child to have a blonde hair is that 1/4, so if there's a 4th imaginary child of the Akai-siblings, he/she would likely to be black-haired if the second brother is already blonde. Although it's rare to occur on the 2nd child. Well, the theory goes like that to my understanding..

 

Anyone have further understanding? Since I am not a biologist I am not very fond of it though I am sure about the amount of probability being 1 out of 4..

You would get a 3:1 probability split if hair color was Mendelian: controlled by one gene with two alleles, one dominant, one recessive and both parents were heterozygous. Hair color isn't Mendelian though. It is a lot more complicated than that, much like eye color inheritance.

Also remember we don't actually know the child's hair color. Fans have depicted it as blond, but Gosho draws brown hair white as well. See Sonoko and Eri as examples.

[Lolime 4]

You would get a 3:1 probability split if hair color was Mendelian: controlled by one gene with two alleles, one dominant, one recessive and both parents were heterozygous. Hair color isn't Mendelian though. It is a lot more complicated than that, much like eye color inheritance.

Also remember we don't actually know the child's hair color. Fans have depicted it as blond, but Gosho draws brown hair white as well. See Sonoko and Eri as an example.

Yeah sorry I edited my post after a short research and to prevent further misunderstanding. And yea I am not fond to genetics though~ I did mention before that the hair might be dyed or he/she might also wearing a wig haha we don't know Gosho and there's just minor clues~

[75aichan 49]

His hair color could be the same as Ai,who is half japanese,so I guess it's not a problem...

[PetePete 8]

Could've been dyed like how Eri dyes her hair.

[MeitanteiSonoko 7]

 

 

Seiji Asou Narumi Asai would like to have a word with you. But he can't. He's dead.

Chekhov MacGuffin, can't argue with that, touché! The funniest thing - as much as I dislike "middle brother as a girl" theory, Moonlight Sonata arc is one of my all-time favorites and I really love Asai-san as a character.

 

 

 

Also remember we don't actually know the child's hair color. Fans have depicted it as blond, but Gosho draws brown hair white as well. See Sonoko and Eri as examples. 

Yep, and even Gin's hair looks the same with Shiho's in manga:

If the color is the same with Shiho's then Masumi's comment about the past and Ai-san's photo on her laptop may look pretty interesting.

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

Update on what I think is going on with the murder case. I've seen the spoiler stuff for the child, but not the case solution.

The female staffperson who walks in with the bottle of wine is probably the victim Minazuki. She had blond hair pulled back and is not shown leaving. The author tells her to decant the wine and no more mention is made of her afterwards. She is "hidden" in a crowd of people bringing food items who have come before and after her. Her mole on her chin may be covered by makeup so that she isn't recognizable. I'm guessing that she was bringing by most of the manuscript that she wrote, but left off the last page since the author seems to be struggling on it. I have heard from Fujiwara that the "phone, sea, and I" thing is a wordplay of some type so I am not going to bother to guess at the meaning other than whatever Minazuki didn't give Hiura explained the answer. It probably had to do with the postcard in her suitcase.

When Minazuki went by Hiura's room, I assume she started taking a shower in his shower which is why she is wet and naked and the bottle caps are missing. Hiura brought the used bottles, but not the tops back to her room (couldn't find them? Maybe she slipped them into his pocket or something while being strangled?), probably thinking she had an unopened set he could replace the tops from since she used his. I assume she didn't have another set.

Hiura probably moved the body back to her room using the large suitcase. After killing her in his room, he put her in the large suitcase, and lowered the suitcase from the balcony with a rope where the editors eating could not see him (say the side portions of the balcony), or acted like he walked out on the balcony to think. After lowering the suitcase down to her balcony, Hiura dressed in a delivery person uniform, snuck out with a beer among the delivery people, went to her room and arranged the scene. The suitcase was wet from her body so Hiura was forced to upend the table into the case to make it look like a beer spilled inside. He replaced the bottles in her shower, and turned it on so it looked like she used it. Hiura then put Minazuki's body by the door.

I assume Hiura disposed of the rope to lower the suitcase and uniforms somewhere when he went out on a walk.

Room service for two – wine with two glasses - was ordered to her room by Hiura. The room service arriving to her room would be incredibly convenient because if Minazuki is found quickly it would solidify his alibi.

The author probably sent the threatening letters in order to provide some sort of motive for an imaginary outside killer to attack the assistant.

I'm still not sure if the missing button on the bald author’s shirt (disappeared between the meeting and him coming downstairs) is a clue or not.