Akai family's middle brother

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Masumi Sera reveals that she has a second brother whom she has been calling regarding case solutions.[1]

Description and known facts

The middle brother's hand and cellphone
  • He does not look like Shuichi Akai or Masumi Sera, who presumably resemble their mother. According to Masumi, her second brother looks more like their father.[1]
  • The middle brother is older than Masumi, but younger than Shuichi.[1] Neither of their ages have been revealed, but Masumi attends class with Ran and Shinichi who are 16-17, and Subaru Okiya claims to be 27. The brother's former high school classmates are currently 28 and 29 years old, suggesting that the brother is probably similarly aged. Although if that were the case, then Akai would be older than 27.
  • He is apparently in the middle of an important job and won't tell Masumi where he is.[1] However, the fact that she was able to arrange a meeting with him means that she can see him in person.[2]
  • He is very intelligent; note that Sera characterizes the already intelligent Akai as "strong" in contrast to the middle brother. He advises Masumi on cases via cellphone.[1] He was able to correctly deduce over the phone that Masumi's deduction was unreliable in a bathroom murder case. While the middle brother is not a detective himself, his intelligence seems to be well-known among the students from his high school, as he apparently had solved some mysteries and puzzles easily in his class during his time studying there.[3] It is unclear how long he has been helping Masumi — the first time Conan knows he was helping was in the bathroom murder case, but Masumi had made a phone call to an unknown person in an earlier case where Conan was kidnapped.
  • In one panel, we see the middle brother responding to Masumi's message using his right hand and a black cellphone. Unless the brother is disguised, this would imply he has light skin. The use of the phone with the right hand is not an absolute indicator of handedness because sometimes characters with known handedness will use phones with their off hands.[4]
  • The middle brother recognizes Conan and knows he is a good detective.[4] After an exchange of information regarding deductions, the brother asked Masumi who she was referring to. Masumi shows the brother Conan's picture thinking he will be surprised. The brother replies back that "if it's him, then there's no problem". Masumi is very surprised and wonders how her brother knows Conan. Her suspicion makes sense because Conan didn't exist prior to Shinichi shrinking.[5] The brother later sends another text to Masumi, which makes Masumi think, "Ah, I see. So that's how it is."[6]
  • According to Masumi, the middle brother's surname had been "Sera", which he got from his mother's side, until he graduated from high school. His current surname in the present timeline is presumably something else.[3]

Plot Overview

Sera's phone call during Detective's Nocturne (Manga: 798-800, Anime: 672-674)

After Sera took down the kidnapper with her motorcycle she received a call from an unknown person. Given her pattern of contacting her brother regarding cases, she may have called him concerning this one.

Bathroom murder case's failed deduction (Manga: 856-858, Anime: 740-741)

Sera had called her brother regarding the "adultery case" she was about to investigate and was overheard by Eri. After the murder was discovered, Sera relayed her brother the facts of the case and her deduction by phone call. He told Sera her deduction was unreliable.

Bowling Alley drowning murder (Manga: 859-861, Anime: 744-745)

Conan asks Sera who she called during the last case, and she tells Conan about the existence of her second oldest brother who is very smart. Confronted with another murder case, Sera texts her brother about the situation and her logic. Sera also informs her brother that Conan seems to have figured out the case, but she isn't sure of her answer since her confidence has been shaken as of late. Her brother texts Sera asking who she keeps talking about. Sera sends him a picture of Conan and the brother replies that "it is no problem" if it is Conan doing the deducing. Sera meanwhile wonders how her brother knows Conan. Sera later receives one final text from her brother to which Sera thinks "so that's how it is". At the end of the unseen message is a PS asking if she has "already met the wizard." Sera looks over at Conan and thinks "You could say so..." while sending a reply.

Possible Suspects

Assuming the middle brother is between 16 (assumed lower range for Masumi's real age) and 35 (assumed upper range for Akai's age based on his appearance and reasonable full-blooding sibling age separation) the following characters could qualify as suspects in reverse order of their introduction date.

Minor or New Character

It's possible the middle brother is a minor character who was a suspect or witness in a case, but did not distinguish himself or demonstrate his intelligence. It's also possible for the middle brother to be a character who has not been introduced yet, but will be later in a flashback.

Characters introduced in the Bourbon Arc

Shukichi Haneda

Shukichi's marriage registration (File 945)
Shukichi's marriage registration (File 947)

While Shukichi being famous and recognizable may contradict Sera not knowing where he is or what he is up to, it should be noted that his semi-ex-girlfriend still has no idea that he is a renowned Shogi Player[8], thus allowing for the possibility that, like Yumi, Sera has not made the connection; since Sera said that she doesn't know where her middle brother is, she is either lying about it or really doesn't know where he is living—if the latter is true, then Shukichi could be her brother, as they haven't met during Shukichi's two appearances so far. He has the right age range for the brother. If you remove the "k" in Shukichi you get Shuichi—it's possible that that their parents wanted them to have similar names. If one takes into account the difference in personality between Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, this could apply to Shuichi Akai, who is serious about taking on criminals and does so for a living, which fits Sherlock's personality, and Shukichi Haneda, who appears to be far less serious, in general, living a more leisurely existence, with Yumi describing him as a "a mooching stay-at-home freeloader[9]," which fits Mycroft's personality, as does his intelligence.

Shukichi is very intelligent, realizing the truth behind the murder during his initial appearance and commenting on it, and he noticed Conan's intelligence—he thinks the situation is in capable hands, enough to risk becoming a suspect by not divulging his whereabouts at the time of the murder. ref name=902p14-15>Manga Volume 85, File 9 (902): pgs 14-15; "A Brilliant Move"</ref>

He and Conan simultaneously discover the clues to find where Yumi had been taken to on the day of Shukichi's final match. Subaru Okiya—who is really Shuichi Akai, and not given to displays of genuine happiness—smiled at the news that Shukichi had attained all seven Shogi titles, and the Unknown child—who very well could be the mother of Sera and Akai—fell asleep watching Shukichi's Shogi match and was visibly ecstatic when Shukichi won the match[10]. The only other explanation of their happiness is if they are merely big fans of Shukichi.

Upon meeting in a Ramen restaurant, both Yumi and Masumi describe Shukichi and the middle brother, respectively—going by each description, both men have near identical similarities. Both describe a man who wears round glasses, has a stubble, always wears a 'messy jersey', has an excellent memory, and has a certain favorite saying.[11] Later on, Masumi calls her second brother for help with the case and Yumi calls Shukichi to see if he remembers something about the case, due to the fact that he saw the murderer run past him. Just after answering the call, Shukichi puts Yumi on hold to answer another call. Just a moment after Shukichi puts Yumi on hold, the middle brother answers Masumi call; he tells Masumi that he's on the phone with an important person, and she should call later. Just a moment after the middle brother hangs up on Masumi, Shukichi takes Yumi off of hold and continues talking to her. Shukichi's phone is black, and the model is, at the very least, strongly similar to the middle brother's phone. [12] While Shukichi could have been turning down an interview request while he had Yumi on hold, he also could have been talking to Masumi. These two moments raise the probability of Shukichi being the middle brother even higher.

Yumi finally realizes that Shukichi is a Shogi player and tries to find the envelope that he gave her at a previous christmas. She realizes that her apartment manager has managed to take it and she has to solve a puzzle to get it back. The contents of the envelope are revealed to be a marriage registration that shows the name of Shukichi's father to contain the family name "Akai". Meanwhile, Shukichi loses a match that cost him one of his Shogi titles. [13]

Gosho says that Masumi will call someone "kichi-nii" which could indicate Shuukichi as the middle brother as he is the only recent character with "kichi" in his name, however Masumi has yet to actually say those words in the manga so far.

Subaru Okiya

Although Subaru Okiya was revealed to be Shuichi Akai, it is possible that he arranged for his sister to have a way to contact him, and she doesn't know where he is or what he is doing because their only point of contact is via phone. His phone is black, and the model is, at the very least, strongly similar to the middle brother's, and he has been shown to wear a black shirt with appropriate sleeve-length for it to be the same shirt that the middle brother was wearing. If this was the case, Masumi made up the existence of a second brother to deceive Conan for an unknown reason. Her description to Yumi of her middle brother would also be a fabrication, if Subaru was the middle brother.[11] Also, unless he wanted to trick Masumi, he wouldn't have wondered about who was making good deductions at the scene of the murder at the bowling alley, given that he knows she hangs around Ran and Sonoko[14], and that Conan often tags along with them[15].

Taka'aki Morofushi

Taka'aki Morofushi is intelligent and has light skin. He was still working in Nagano as a police officer though, so Sera should be able to find out where he was and what he was doing. Sera also lacks a Nagano accent, something that might be expected learning Japanese with a family who lived in Nagano for a period of time. (Koumei's lived in Nagano as a child.) Koumei's most recently seen phone is a white clamshell phone. It is improbable that the middle brother is Morofushi though, given that he appeared in front of the middle brother's classmates without being recognised - and that the brother was supposedly unable to help them in investigating the Red Woman occurrences, but Morofushi was there to apprehend the killer. Also, Morofushi is 35 years old, much older than the middle brother. Masumi's description of the middle brother to Yumi does not match Morofushi's appearance.[11]

Tooru Amuro

Amuro674.png

Amuro's intelligence matches the middle brother's expected level; however, Amuro's dark skin contradicts the light-colored hand holding the phone when texting Masumi. Amuro has a white iPhone lookalike. However, on page 15 of Chapter 800, his thoughts (i.e., "Why [is Sera Masumi] here..." suggests he knows Sera. Sera doesn't see Amuro, so it is unclear if she knows him or not. Also, Bourbon, like Vermouth, is often in disguise, and either Amuro's dark skin or the light-colored hand holding the cell phone can be makeup or a disguise. However, since Amuro actually wanted his "older brother," Shuichi Akai, to be dead, it somehow contradicts the fact that he's the middle brother. Masumi's description of the middle brother to Yumi does not match Amuro's appearance.[11]

Unknown child

The unknown child, who looks like a member of the Akai family, might be the brother after being shrunk by APTX 4869. However, the child's slowness to trust Conan and the middle brother's immediate trust of him seem to indicate that the child is not the middle brother.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Manga Volume 81, File 9 (859): pgs 6-7: "Jeet Kune Do vs. Karate"
  2. ^ Manga Volume 83, File 4 (876): pg 4: "The Romance Noverlist"
  3. ^ a b Manga Volume 82, File 11 (872), pg 3: "The Red Woman"
  4. ^ a b Manga Volume 81, File 10 (860), pg 16: "The Smell of Kerosine"
  5. ^ Manga Volume 81, File 11 (861), pg 4: "Just like Magic"
  6. ^ Manga Volume 81, File 11 (861), pg 15-16: "Just like Magic"
  7. ^ Manga Volume 85, File 5 (898): pg 3: "Scarlet Epilogue"
  8. ^ Manga Volume 85, File 9 (902): pgs 14-15; "A Brilliant Move"
  9. ^ Manga Volume 80, File 8 (847): pg 4: "Until I Collect All Seven"
  10. ^ Manga Volume 85, File 9 (902): pg 15: "A Brilliant Move"
  11. ^ a b c d Manga Volume 88, File 2 (928): pg 14: "The Strange Customers of the Ramen Restaurant"
  12. ^ Manga Volume 88, File 3 (929): pgs 13-14: "The Culprit Who Swings the Hose!?"
  13. ^ Manga Volume 89, File 945-947
  14. ^ Manga Volume 77, File 6 (812): pgs 10-11: "Yusaku Kudo's Cold Case"
  15. ^ Manga Volume 77, File 7 (813): pg 10: "Kinichi-Kun"
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