#file 1165

Hi MTX, What are your thoughts on the last case especially Wakasa-Ai developments?

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Hi, did you notice how the "old man" leading the robbers gang in the Fusae shop looks a lot like Vader's driver (without sunglasses)? It also reminds me of Fusae's driver, Billy. What do you think?

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Seems the next case will be about ShinRan, what do you think?

File 1163-1166 Review

This case was without a doubt one of the best detective conan cases we have ever gotten, especially in terms of character development and as a monumental climatic point in Haibara Ai's character arc in the whole story.

Already starting off the case, we find out about Agasa and Fusae Campbell's relationship taking a step forward in the story, where they are revealed to have started texting to each other (File 1163).

This is a long and overdue development, showing that Gosho has already started laying the ground work for an eventual Agasa-Fusae centric romance plot case. It's nice seeing Gosho further highlighting Haibara and Agasa's close bond, through Haibara's active involvement in coupling Agasa & Fusae together (even if there is also likely selfish agenda in mind of eventually getting free brand products :P).

What we also get to see is Gosho further emphasizing the ongoing attachment Haibara has towards Wakasa-sensei, ever since Burning tent case (File 989).

This is of course a very intentional build-up scene, as he is gearing up to reveal what this teased attachment was building up towards.

A very important hint that we got regarding Wakasa's personal life was, however, what happens next. Wakasa reveals that an acquaintence of hers used to be a regular at the Fusae brand store (File 1164).

We are finally getting a clue to Asaka's current social network, and we learn there is (likely) a woman she is acquainted with that enjoys branded products from Fusae. This hint immediately made me connect it to my ongoing theory regarding Asaka's current affiliation/profession of being with the CIA (one of Amanda Hughes', her mother figure's, connections), as mentioned in my File 1106-1109 review:

The immediate obvious suspect in that case would be her female CIA colleague, who is currently infiltrating the Black Organization and was formerly presenting herself publically on TV,... Mizunashi Rena/Hondou Hidemi (Kir). Her characterization fits with someone who'd be a regular at Fusae Brand store.

Another thing that stook out to me as potential easter eggs to Asaka's history was this case's plot and the robbers' plan. Haibara deduced that robbers where planning to burn the whole store along with them to cover their tracks after they are done with it (File 1163).

This is not the first time we get arson/fire-related case themes in Wakasa cases. In fact, it has been quite consistent ever since the burning tent case (File 987), when her grudge/traumatic past was first hinted at:

File 987-989: Tent gets lit on fire to kill someone.

File 1051-1054: Forest near farm is strapped with dynamites to blow up and burn someone.

File 1070-1072: Akemi's former classmate revealed to have commited an arson incident.

File 1110-1112: Flower bed gets burned by Haibara & Maria.

All of these easter eggs, followed by this latest one, is further alluding and supporting my ongoing suspicion that Asaka was involved in the infamous lab fire that took the Miyano parents' life, as a part of Asaka's revenge against the BO and their drug production that took Amanda's life, as mentioned previously:

Then, we get to the highlight moment of this whole case. While Wakasa was planning her brutal counterattack, that was gonna involve sacrificing her surrounding, Haibara interrupts her thoughts by quietly communicating with her eyes her understanding of her and that she should stop her ominous thoughts (File 1164).

The continuation of this scene immediately thrusts us into the most unthinkable wishful fan-desired story development: Flashback to Haibara's perspective from the beginning of her story! (File 1065)

We start off immediately from when she escapes from the BO while shrunken from the drug, and where she started monologuing about her astonishment of the de-aging side-effect that she suspected existed in the APTX4869 poison, as well as questioning what the drug was meant to be (File 1165).

This is the first time Haibara is revealed to be questioning what specifically the APTX4869 poison was a prototype drug for.

APTX4869 and Research information timeline

During her intro case (File 179), Haibara mentioned that her intention wasn't to make a poison to begin with when she started off the research takeover. This implies that she was aware of a goal, a target drug that she was trying to create. Naturally, her creating the prototype known as the "incomplete detective", Apoptoxin 4869, was assumed to be a product/test version in that endeavor at that time, but we didn't know about APTX4869 existing 17 years ago at this point.

In File 380, Haibara described her target drug as "not a dream-like drug" and "a foolish thing", and Vermouth later referred to the research Sherry's parents' took over from the BO in File 434 as also "foolish research",... implying that the research that lead to the target drug Haibara was trying to create and the research her parents took over from the BO is the same.

In File 821, it is revealed that Haibara learned from Elena's tapes that the parents had another research that was gonna lead to the creation of a differently-described drug, "a terrifying drug" and "dream drug", that they called "Silver Bullet" (File 1011 revealed that it was Atsushi's dream research since before the BO). This implies that the parents were working on 2 different drugs at the same time: Atsushi's dream-like drug (Silver Bullet) & BO's not-so-dream-like drug (Foolish drug).

In File 948, we get the explanation from Haibara that APTX4869 that existed 17 years ago and had killed Haneda Kohji was created by her parents and that she only recreated that particular prototype drug (functioning as poison) using paper remains found after the fire that burned their lab. This implies that the APTX4869 drug that her parents created was their incomplete/prototype version in their attempt/pursuit to create one of their target drugs: "Silver Bullet" or "Foolish drug". However, it was assumed that when Haibara recreated APTX4869 (while she was still unaware of her parents' dream drug), she was aware that it was a first/test version towards creating the same "foolish drug" that she was.

Now, in File 1165, based on how shocked Haibara seems back then when she learned first hand of the de-aging side-effect, it looks like when she created APTX4869, she wasn't thinking at all that she was creating something related to the target drug ("foolish drug"), but rather that she was just recreating her parents' creation from scraps and thinking it was odd that the BO wanted her to recreate a mere poison.

This is now kind of putting into question what APTX4869 was a prototype drug for 17 years ago. The way Haibara is not seemingly connecting APTX4869 with her own target drug (factoring in that the de-aging effect is far from what she was expecting of her foolish drug), it makes it seem like APTX4869 was a prototype of the Miyano parents' (Atsushi's) dream research. This is starting to track with the timeline and everything we know so far about APTX4869 and Elena's tapes. Just the fact that the mysterious respirator elder ("Vader") described seeing Mary in her shrunken state as "as if I'm dreaming" (File 1096) is further nudging us towards the conclusion that APTX4869 is the product of the Miyano parents trying to create their "dream drug", Silver bullet. While the BO helped them in their attempt to create "Silver Bullet" (so that they in return could help the BO create the "foolish drug"), the resulting prototypes they created became useful poisons 17 years ago, that they wanted to create more of until this day (regardless of whether it helps the foolish research or not).

On the topic of Vader, his driver's similarity to Billy (Fusae's driver and family) was previously discussed here:

It is however an interesting easter egg to have the leader of the robbers look like Billy, when the store they are robbing belongs to Fusae herself. I don't think there is any special significance beyond that though.

Something I also found interesting is that Haibara naturally just assumed that the BO have infiltrated the police, as if it wasn't out of their ballpark to do.

This could most likely be a foreshadowing to them having history of infiltrating the police, which in turns makes former police officers like Iori Muga all the more suspicious candidates (on top of everything else).

Something else that stook out to me in the flashback was Haibara mentioning that she already had a cold (File 1165).

It is unclear how far back she had this cold before shrinking by the drug, but if she already had symptoms similar to what Mary had before being fed APTX4869 and shrinking (File 1151), then my antidote completion theory, that suggests that they will acquire the same "coughing state" as Mary (that potentially leads to permanently regaining the adult body with the temporary antidote) if they digest APTX4869 while having a mere cold, is debunked, since Haibara doesn't have that coughing state, nor has she regained her body permanently after taking the temporary antidote back in File 816-817. However, if Mary's age or certain levels of immune system activity (levels of "having a cold") factors into how she acquired that coughing state when digesting APTX4869 while having a cold, then my theory might still hold in that they will have to replicate the necessary factors Mary was in before reshrinking with APTX as explained in my File 1151 review:

It was fun seeing Haibara casually explaining the unbelievable story of her life to Agasa with the least care she could ever have in the world after losing everything, only to see him instantly believe her with the least amount of judgement I could have ever seen from someone.

It's so beautiful to be an outside-viewer looking into how their father-daughter relationship unfolded, starting from her cautiously being ready to abuse his kindness for her benefit, to eventually become so close that she eventually becomes his attentive caring-figure for his health and wingwoman for his love life. ♡

The same goes with her back-and-forth, hot-and-cold, denial-and-acceptance internal tug of war she went through from the beginning when she met Conan/Shinichi. That is where the crux of why we get this flashback to begin with started,... where Haibara relates to Wakasa through the vibe she has been getting from her essence... that just like her, she also once decided to just live for the destructive path of revenge by being willing to forgo any established relationship as a sacrifice to that end.

All of that resolve building up like a ice block, only to get melted by the unconditional kindness of her friends, care-taker and secret crush.

All the chosen moments from all the previous arcs and cases depicted in this masterpiece double-spread were the perfect climatic moment to underline the importance of the mesaage she was getting across, both subtly to Wakasa and directly to us loyal readers,... who have not only observed her character journey but essentially LIVED through it in decades with her. It was the perfect love letter from Gosho to his cherished character. The standout moments have to be the ones referencing critical moments in Haibara's development, like, for example:

- Conan's reassuring Clark Kent line when giving her the glasses for protection against the BO recognizing her (Reunion with BO case)

- Conan saving Haibara from the bus explosion after she gave up on living (Bus hijack case)

- Haibara starting to form a parasocial attachment to Higo for the first time and wanting to listen to football match through Mitsuhiko's earphones (football hooligan train murder case)

- Ayumi fearfully questioning if Haibara has a crush on Conan (Blue castle case)

- Haibara comfortably taking a motherly role of scolding Genta for the first time and also consoling crying Ayumi (Ayumi rug kidnapping case)

- Haibara embracing and exploring her womanhood along with Ayumi through make-up (Department store mascara case)

- Haibara endulging in supersitious activities for the first time like fortune telling (Cherry blossom shrine case)

- Agasa praising and cheering Haibara to get the answer during class like a dotting father (Flowerbed fire case)

While Wakasa didn't necessarily get the full scope of the message Haibara conveyed with her eyes, she did sense the familiar motherly/caring sentiment similar to what she got from Amanda. As for how Haibara was able to read Wakasa so well, especially despite having gotten BO-sense triggered by her (File 987, File 1148), it seems like Haibara has described her scent as something similar to herself when she was Sherry (leading to the whole comparative flashback). It seems that Gosho is trying to convey through this explanation that Asaka's involvement with the BO (that has been triggering Haibara) has been similar to what would have been equivalent to Sherry's. As for to what extent Asaka has been involved with them (beyond the Kohji case 17 years ago), that is still up for debate. I still lean towards Asaka being CIA-affiliated and having made minimal BO contact during missions, especially while working closely with CIA's NOC (spy) within the BO, Kir. Just her involvement with Kir and minor BO grunts could have "rubbed off" the BO scent on her, but her big thirst for revenge overshadowed any BO-like threat Haibara otherwise could have mistaken it as.

The following action scenes in the resolution was the cherry on top for this special case, where we not only got the very moving self-sacrificing and redeeming act of protection from Wakasa to Kobayashi (after previously endangering her as a pawn for her ploy to outsmart Rum/BO in File 1109) before ragefully bashing the robber leader's head on the floor, but also Makoto Kyogoku making an appearance, as the foreshadowed bodygaurd to the rich customer the robbers were waiting to ambush (who predictably ended up being Jirokichi), giving the last fleeing robber a knockout kick (File 1166).

This special and symbolism-filled case couldn't have ended better than with Wakasa's hintful line of returning the favor to Kobayashi, her now dear coworker, and with Haibara approvingly smiling towards her from afar.

This case made me yearn for even more Haibara and Wakasa moments and bonding developments, and I look forward to the future and potential of chaotic drama that could emerge from the possible tragic reality of Miyano Shiho properly meeting Rachel Asaka (especially if she was involved in Shiho's parents' death).