The Mystery of the Flowerbed

Chronology
‹ Unsettling Parents' Visit Day	List of Chapters	The Spilled Truth ›

Chapter 1111
Information
Title:	The Mystery of the Flowerbed
Japanese title:	花壇の怪 (Kadan no Kai)
Original release:	April 19th, 2023
Shōnen Sunday issue:	#21/2023
Volume:	104
Pages:	16
Viz Media version
English title:	The Mystery of the Flower Bed
English release:	May 2nd, 2023 (Simulpub)

The Mystery of the Flowerbed (花壇の怪 ,Kadan no Kai) is the 1111th chapter of the manga of Detective Conan. It was written by Gosho Aoyama, drawn by him and his assistants and first released in Shōnen Sunday #21/2023 on April 19, 2023 and was released as part of Volume 104 on October 18, 2023. It was released in English by Viz Manga on May 2, 2023 under the name The Mystery of the Flower Bed.

Characters

Featured

Characters
Conan Edogawa Ai Haibara Ayumi Yoshida Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Genta Kojima Sumiko Kobayashi Rumi Wakasa Kaisuke Danno Maria Higashio Takuma Sakamoto Mrs. Higashio (flashback) S-Mart employee (flashback) Fumiyo Edogawa Yukiko Kudo (voice/background) Yusaku Kudo Hiroshi Agasa (flashback background) Rachel Asaka (background) Taiji Kiryuu (photo flashback)

Settings

• Japan
  • Tokyo Metropolis
    • Beika Ward
      • Beika Town
        • Hiroshi Agasa's residence (flashback)
        • Kudo Residence
        • Streets in Beika (flashback)
        • S-Mart convenience store (flashback)
        • Teitan Elementary School
    • Unknown auditorium (flashback)

Plot

Conan examines the burned flower bed outside the window of Class 1B. Since no one left the classroom during their lunch, it is reasonable to assume that the fire was started with an ignition device, but there are no traces of such a device in the flowerbed. Next to the tulip bed are two pots of clematis and plant supports that were placed there a week ago. A third pot was knocked over by Haibara when she jumped out of the window and fell into the fire, which is why the flowers from that pot also burned before Haibara could put out the fire. She half-heartedly apologizes for messing up the crime scene, but Conan tells that it is alright.

Since the pot was thus still in place when the fire was already burning, Conan now examines the ground under the pot and finds a buried, burnt piece of a potato chip there. This reminds Conan that on the way to school, the student Kaisuke Danno had been in the same convenience store as Conan, Haibara, the Detective Boys, Maria and Takuma, looking at potato chips. Danno, still peering out the window of 1A, insists that his haunted story of the classroom eating people through the fire turned out to be true. Conan thinks that someone in the neighboring class might have snuck away. Accordingly, Kaisuke might have had an opportunity and motive for the fire, as it lends more credibility to his ghost story.

Takuma is also suspicious, according to Conan, because he was conspicuously looking out the window at the flower bed during lunch. From Takuma's shocked reaction to two students' conversation about a possibly missing tulip, Conan deduces that Takuma broke the tulip when he fell down while watching the eclipse and now fears being found out. So perhaps his gaze was on his ignition device; his motive would be to cover up his mishap.

Sumiko Kobayashi and Rumi Wakasa talk about the fact that under these circumstances it would probably be better to postpone parents' day, whereupon Mitsuhiko mentions that this is great for Maria, since her mother can now recover from her lumbago in peace at the hospital and does not have to worsen her injury by going to school because of parents' day. Maria thinks this is indeed good, but she is also sad because so many flowers have been burned. For Conan, this means that Maria could thus also have had a motive if she wanted to force a postponement of visiting day for the sake of her mother.

Now Conan remembers that the three suspects were all at the convenience store with him and the rest of the Detective Boys before school. Maria had bought tape and Takuma a new pencil board; Kaisuke was going to buy potato chips, which he left behind after Genta's comment but he may have bought them later. Kobayashi looks at the clock and realizes that recess is over in half an hour, after which the parents are supposed to come. The teachers want to tell the principal, but Conan is able to ask for ten minutes to solve the mystery. He asks Genta to give him his notepad and pencil case from his desk, and is about to make a chart of the time sequence when he notices that his pencil lead has run out. He then asks Haibara if he can borrow a lead from her, which she has no problem with. She asks the students in the classroom to hand her the box of spare leads, which Takuma does. He hands the box directly to Conan, whereupon he notices that the box is wet. Conan wants to ask Takuma about his hands, but breaks off the question in mid-sentence. He ponders something, and then wants the egg timer from the utility room for an experiment. Conan asks if someone can get it, to which Haibara immediately offers, but Conan thinks that she needs to stay at the scene as an important witness, so he asks Kobayashi and Wakasa instead.

Meanwhile, at the Kudo Residence, Yukiko presents her husband with her disguise as Fumiyo Edogawa, which she has put on again for visiting day. Yusaku is glad that Shuichi Akai is currently away from the mansion due to an FBI meeting, so they do not have to explain why Yukiko is going to such lengths for visiting day at Conan's school. Yukiko wonders how long Shinichi will keep hiding the truth from Akai; Yusaku suspects Akai has known for a long time anyway. Afterwards, Yukiko asks about Rumi Wakasa, if she really is the missing bodyguard of the deceased Amanda Hughes, who might want to take revenge on the Black Organization. Yusaku confirms this, explaining that Rumi probably kept posting the websites with the case information online to lure members of the organization out by monitoring website hits, which thus also put Conan on her radar, who looked at the website frequently. As a result, Rumi may have snuck in as a teacher at Teitan Elementary School, or at least according to Yusaku and Akai. Yukiko asks if Shinichi also knows about this theory, to which Yusaku explains that Shinichi not only knows about it, but also agrees with the theory. At least Rumi does not seem like a bad person, after all, Yukiko sums up, but Yusaku disagrees. He sees that Rumi must not be underestimated, as she might be willing to use any means to achieve her goal. Moreover, she might suspect that the person she wants to take revenge on is in Conan's entourage and therefore continues to play her role at the school, or she may have some other reason. Either way, Yukiko should be careful of Rumi when visiting the school, Yusaku says. Before she leaves for visiting day, Yukiko asks Yusaku for the tablet from the library; Yusaku retrieves it from the desk drawer and gives it to her.

Meanwhile, at school, Conan gets the egg timer from Kobayashi, but he says that it is not working properly. Kobayashi says that it cannot be, she just checked it, but Conan says that the battery compartment is not closed properly. You need a coin to unscrew it, which is why he asks Haibara for a 10-yen coin. Haibara is puzzled at first, and then says that she only has a 100-yen coin in her wallet. Conan then asks Maria, who replies that she also only has 100- and 50-yen coins in her purse. Conan then asks Takuma, who replies that he had two 10-yen coins this morning, but spent them at the supermarket because his balance was 320 yen. Kaisuke does not understand Conan's questioning, but offers to lend him a 10-yen coin, because he has one. But Conan declines, as he already knows who the culprit is, whose identity he wants to reveal before the evidence vanishes into thin air.

Continuity

Referencing

• Unsettling Parents' Visit Day (Manga: Volume 104, file 08 (1110)) : Flashback to the scene of Haibara putting out the fire and various other scenes.
• A Deduction Show on TV?! (Manga: Volume 99, file 11 (1058)) : Flashback to Conan using the iPad in Shinichi's house to show Kiryuu's face.

Referenced in

• The Spilled Truth (Manga: Volume 104, file 10 (1112)) : Various scenes of Conan investigating the crime scene are shown in the next chapter, which is a direct follow-up and conclusion to this case.

Trivia

Shonen Sunday issues #20/2023 and #21/2023 next to each other.

• The cover of Shonen Sunday #21/2022 shows Haibara on a lifebuoy, surrounded by Genta, Ayumi, and Mitsuhiko. The cover is part of a series of two covers to promote the release of Black Iron Submarine.
• The potato chip brand that Danno wanted to buy is Calbee.
• The brand of the adhesive tape Maria bought is Sellotape (セロテープ, serotēpu) by Nichiban (ニチバン).
• Takuma Sakamoto's pencil leads are from the brand UNI, written as FUNI in the chapter.
• The coins are the 100 yen coin and 50 yen coin of the post-1967 series and the 10 yen coin of the post-1959 series.

See also

• Manga
• Volume 101-110
• Detective Conan

References

1. Summary translated from the German version of September 23, 2023.