My "Middle Brother" identity theory

[jimmy_kud0_tv2]

Here is what we know about the Middle Brother so far. He is a very intelligent person in his late 20's who has a thing for solving puzzles. Currently he is away on a tough job and cannot show himself to others. Despite being on an important job that should be occupying his time, he is able to answer Masumi's calls and texts immediately after they are sent, Which could imply that he is on a job but not actually doing anything. This person knows Conan well enough in some way that he thinks that if Conan is present then everything will be alright. Currently he can only communicate with Masumi through the medium of a cell phone and has not yet met with her in person.

Masumi also says that this person has a face that does not look like her own (as he resembles the father) and that his family name will be different than her own (as he changed it to something she doesn't seem to know). This starts to sound like a set up. There exists a person out there who does not look like me or have a similar name to me, but he is related to me, I promise.....

However it seems odd to me that some of the attributes of the middle brother can also fit another character we know. Are we really lead to believe that both of Masumi's brothers are on tough jobs that prevent them from appearing in person as themselves, that both brothers are really intelligent and both like puzzles, and that both of them know Conan and that Conan is the type of person who can keep things under control? Thats right... my theory is that the "middle brother" is none other than...

Spoiler:

the older brother himself: Akai Shuuichi.

I've constructed a possible timeline and some evidence in the spoiler boxes below

Theory

Spoiler:

The theory follows that Subaru/Shuu saw Conan using a two cell phone method to keep in contact with Ran and make sure that she still thinks that Shinichi is alive and that she keeps Shinichi's whereabouts unknown, especially from the newspapers. Subaru/Shuu knows who Bourbon is and that he is close to Conan's group of friends now, and that Masumi is there as well. Subaru/Shuu would want to find away to contact Masumi and at the very least tell her that he is alive even if he doesn't tell her anything else (like where he is at the moment). He would give her so little information about what he is doing. Masumi would never expect that Conan would hear from Ran's mother of all people that she was talking to her "nii" (brother) and thus invents a "middle brother" to explain how she could be talking to someone that is supposed to be "dead" or that she and Subaru/Shuu came up with the "middle brother" for the same reason. Many of the attributes that she has given the "middle brother" can fit what we know about Subaru/Shuu (see evidence below).

Timeline

Spoiler:

In the case where Haibara is reflected in Agasa's glasses and seen in a video by Masumi, Masumi goes to the professors house and learns from Genta and Mitsuhiko that the girls name is Haibara. She also asks about the man in the Kudou house. We see Subaru/Shuu watching them from a second story window. This would probably be the first time that Subaru/Shuu would be aware that Masumi is back in Japan.

In Detective's Nocturne Subaru/Shuu sees both the person he would already know to be Bourbon and his own sister Masumi both really close to Conan's group. This would give him some kind of reasoning that Masumi could be put in danger.

In Yusaku's Cold Case Subaru/Shuu witnesses Conan using a second cellphone as Shinichi to keep in touch with Ran as well as tell her that he is still alive and to keep his involvement in cases unknown to other people. Subaru/Shuu could easily pick up on this idea and use it himself to let his sister know that he is indeed still alive in the same manor that Conan uses.

In the Bell Tree Express Case Masumi sees Vermouth dressed as her brother Shuu and she exclaims that she though he was dead and then suddenly blacks out. We know that Subaru/Shuu carried off Masumi to another room after she has been tazed. Here he could have easily slipped a note to her explaining a partial part of the situation at hand. Information such as that he is on a really important job at the moment and needs to keep his identity hidden. In this way Subaru/Shuu can keep in touch with Masumi in the same way that Shinichi keeps in touch with Ran, through the anonymity of a cell phone. From Masumi’s point of view she would have seen her brother, blacked out, then woken up with a note from him asking her not to tell people he was there. She would not have seen "Okiya Subaru".

In the case where the DB are locked in the back of a storage truck with a dead body, they leave a receipt clue that is answered by Amuro/Rei but they also leave a clue on a box that is answered by Subaru/Shuu who then attempts to mail a box containing a black cellphone.

In the Adultery case, Masumi had arrived at the hotel much earlier than Ran and Conan and had been talking to her "nii" (brother) on the phone. She would have never expected to be overheard by Ran's mother of all people, or for this "nii" information to get to Conan so easily.

In the Suspect is Makoto case Conan asks Masumi how she could be talking to a brother that is, by her accounts, supposed to be dead. This is where she first comes up with the idea of the "middle brother" or maybe even discussed it with Subaru/Shuu on the phone before as a way of explaining who she was talking to. Currently Masumi does not know that Subaru = Shuu or that he is close to Conan, and in order to keep that hidden Subaru/Shuu has to aks who this "he" Masumi keeps talking about. When she says that "he" is Conan, he just has to come up with some reasonable way that he knows Conan's abilities with out being close to him. Then PS: have you met the Wizard? Subaru/Shuu would not know if Masumi knows that Conan = Shinichi and could ask that as a way of seeing if she has figured it out.

In the Red Woman case Masumi is asked by her brother to investigate a case around her brother’s friends. This time Ran calls her on the fact that she has said that her brother is “dead” and she again mentions that it’s her “middle brother”. Masumi gives a brief description of a really intelligent middle brother who is really smart and often solved “mysteries and puzzles” that occurred in class in high school. Masumi also comes up with a reason why her “middle brother” would have a different family name than her. So now he have a “middle brother” who does not look like them and has a different family name than them. In this case the brother’s friends are all 28-29 years old. Subaru’s age is given at 27, and given his intelligence he could have easily skipped a grade level somewhere and would have been in the same class as these people, or his birthday might be in a certain month that would allow him to enter school early. Also none of the friends ever mention their friend “Sera-san” ever having a brother, only that he has a sister. Towards the end Masumi says “evil spirits and ghosts, witches and wizards, they live in fantasy worlds, not one of them exists in this world, isn’t that right Conan?” but she also says that she came back from America “to meet the wizard again”. After the case Conan asks why she hasn’t told her brother the case was solved and she says she must have misplaced it and sent Conan to look for it. This marks the first appearance of the mysterious little girl as a photo on Masumi’s phone.

Evidences

Spoiler:

We know that Shuu is alive and that his tough job of pretending to be dead while disguised as Subaru, this also gives him a massive amount of free time to sit around and do nothing. Masumi says that her "middle brother" is away on a tough job and does not want to tell her about his whereabouts. The "middle brother" also has the ability to answer texts and phone calls the instant they come in, which seems to imply that he isn't really busy, but instead using a similar trick as Conan does when he pretends to be Shinichi on the phone, away on a tough case.

Masumi says that her "middle brother" is really smart and solved "mysteries and puzzles" while in high school. Earlier during the Froth, Steam, and Smoke case, Subaru/Shuu reveals to Haibara that even though he is a Sherlockian, he doesn't like murders but would rather do "puzzles"

Its reasonable to believe that Shuu's age is somewhere in his late 20's as he dated Akemi (25) and was really close to Jodie (28). The "middle brother" has friends that are 28-29. Subaru's age is listed at 27 at his first appearance. Potentially Shuu is 27 or in his late 20's and was the friend of these 28-29 year old people. If he is 27 its still possible that he was in the same class by either skipping a grade or having a birthday in a month that allowed him to enter school early.

The "middle brother" knows Conan well enough to conclude that if he is present than everything will be ok. This means that the "middle bother" has seen Conan in action directly and knows how smart he is and can conclude that. Which seems weird because most people, even those who have seen Conan's brilliance still regard him to be a kid and therefore unreliable, unless they have known him for a long time or know his secret. Subaru/Shuu is fully aware that Conan is the high school detective Kudou Shinichi as of Yusaku's Cold Case.

The cell phone that Subaru/Shuu tried to mail to Conan who was locked in the delivery truck was black and looked really similar to the one we know the "middle brother" to have.

The "middle brother" has a long sleeve black shirt in the frame that we see his arm and phone in. Subaru/Shuu has worn a long sleeve black shirt in many of his early cases as well as the case of Conan being locked in the Delivery truck

[soul_dreamer]

Basically, the middle brother would be just made up by Sera. Sure, it would be very shocking to find out that the middle brother is in fact Shuuichi and the middle brother didn't exist in the first place, but honestly, I would prefer for the middle brother to be an existent character. Why Gosho would bother to introduce the middle brother character, who doesn't even exist? The only answer that comes to my head is to surprise us by the fact that Sera knows that Shuuichi is alive and shock us that the middle brother never existed, but like I said I would prefer for the middle brother to be an existent character.

[Kor]

It's late here, so I don't feel like I can truly go that deep into the theory, so I'll just point out a few things that might help.

Despite being on an important job that should be occupying his time, he is able to answer Masumi's calls and texts immediately after they are sent, Which could imply that he is on a job but not actually doing anything.

I'm willing to give "middle brother" the benefit of the doubt on this one. Sending texts doesn't take that long.

Currently he can only communicate with Masumi through the medium of a cell phone and has not yet met with her in person.

Supposedly, Sera implied she could meet him, but that could have been just another lie, so it doesn't invalidate your theory.

In this case the brother’s friends are all 28-29 years old. Subaru’s age is given at 27, and given his intelligence he could have easily skipped a grade level somewhere and would have been in the same class as these people, or his birthday might be in a certain month that would allow him to enter school early.

I'd slightly ignore Okiya's given age, since Okiya is a false identity. For the convenience of your theory, Akai might just be 28 or 29. Not sure for how much it counts (since I don't know how much research Gosho did on the subject, or what were the requirements back when Akai first appeared), but the current minimal age to join the FBI is 23, and we know Akai has been there for at least 5 years (though I kinda doubt they'd just let a newbie infiltrate an organization as soon as he joins). Realistically speaking, I extremely doubt Akai is actually 27, unless there's some in-story reason for Akai to be given such an important task at a young age.

I'll post the rest of my thoughts maybe tomorrow.

[themasq]

I'm not sure about Shuu slipping Masumi a note in the mystery train arc. If you take a look at the Blush Mermaid case, Masumi keeps asking about ''a man dressed in black'' to Ran. At the end of the case, she clutches her hat and says ''This hat you picked up...it seems to have the same shape of wear as my older brother's well-worn hats. But that's impossible.'' She seems to think her older brother is dead.

I agree that Gosho wouldn't lead us on like that. We've known about this middle brother for over 50 files, and there's no turning back now. This is still a really cool theory, though. It still would be pretty surprising and I definitely wouldn't fully dismiss it.

[Elixir]

If you take a look at the Blush Mermaid case, Masumi keeps asking about ''a man dressed in black'' to Ran. At the end of the case, she clutches her hat and says ''This hat you picked up...it seems to have the same shape of wear as my older brother's well-worn hats.

This got me thinking. Akai is a knit cap wearer. I'm not sure if the translation was the same for both, or Sera just ignore the difference of the term but, the first time I saw Akai in hat is when he wore the hat worn by Vermouth for the Scar Akai disguise. That could have been Sera's been seeing his brother in that hat. Also shown in the video tape tutorial. To think about it, Gin, Vodka and Tequilla are hat wearers.

As for Sera could meet him part. She said she forced the meeting on him, but end up cancelling it at the spur of the moment to take Conan, Ran and Sonoko to her hotel room. She sure has priorities set after supposedly not meeting his brother for a long time.

[themasq]

If you take a look at the Blush Mermaid case, Masumi keeps asking about ''a man dressed in black'' to Ran. At the end of the case, she clutches her hat and says ''This hat you picked up...it seems to have the same shape of wear as my older brother's well-worn hats.

This got me thinking. Akai is a knit cap wearer. I'm not sure if the translation was the same for both, or Sera just ignore the difference of the term but, the first time I saw Akai in hat is when he wore the hat worn by Vermouth for the Scar Akai disguise. That could have been Sera's been seeing his brother in that hat. Also shown in the video tape tutorial. To think about it, Gin, Vodka and Tequilla are hat wearers.

As for Sera could meet him part. She said she forced the meeting on him, but end up cancelling it at the spur of the moment to take Conan, Ran and Sonoko to her hotel room. She sure has priorities set after supposedly not meeting his brother for a long time.

It's possible Akai, when he was younger, wore hats instead of a knit cap. But yeah, you're right. It's possible she could meet him part. The only thing is...

Spoiler:

It seems like Shuukichi is the most likely candidate for the middle brother, if you look at the latest file.

[jimmy_kud0_tv2]

Shuukichi has not worn a hat in series yet, not even in a "10 years ago" flashback were there any hats


Subaru did not enter the train wearing a hat, Vermouth did. Vermouth's hat and face mask remained in the train car with her when she was talking to Yukiko. When Shuuichi carries Masumi to a room, you can see her hat sitting on the table next to where her body is laying. Then there is a bunch of continuing story. Then Shuuichi appears out of the smoke to show himself to Bourbon, but he is wearing a hat. Later when Masumi exits the train she is not wearing a hat. Ran says that she found a hat in the hall way that she though was Masumi's hat and gave it to her. Why would Masumi not have been able to find a hat that was sitting on the table next to where she was asleep? Why was the hat found in the hallway, when Vermouth took her hat off in one of the rooms? Answer: Shuuichi took Masumi's hat to wear to show himself to Bourbon through the smoke. Then he simply left the hat in the hallway to be found. Vermouth would have no reason to move her hat to the hallway and if Shuuichi had brought his own hat there is no reason that Masumi would not have seen hers upon waking up. When Masumi talks to Ran in the Blush Mermaid case she says "about this hat that you picked up on the bell tree express" ... Ran: "Eh, I mearly picked it up from the corridor" ... Masumi: "So you didn't see him, a man wearing black clothes, a black hat, and a burn all down his right cheek". Masumi never said that the hat that was found belonged to the person she saw (Vermouth dressed as Shuu). At the end of the case the exchange is this ... Masumi:"I wanted to ask if you saw a strange man around when you picked up this hat" ... Ran:"I didn't see anybody, but is that hat something special to you?" ... Masumi:"Yeah, my late brother used to wear hats like these so I am copying him. But this hat that you picked up, for some reason it feels like it has the same imprint as my older brother's well worn hats, but there is no way that could be possible. She says late brother, that means someone that died, meaning the older brother that is supposed to be dead. When Shuuichi wore the hat in the Mystery Train to show himself to Bourbon, he somehow left his imprint on the hat.

Saying that her brother is dead and "there is no way that could be possible" could be another lie. She saw Vermouth on the train dressed as Shuuichi and called out "Shuu nii, but how, I heard you were dead" and so soon after during the Blush Mermaid case she is saying that he is definitely dead? How can she be sure so quickly after seeing the "Scar Akai" and not being able to verify with Ran who that person in black really is??? I believe that her quick change is simply that she got a note or at the very least, a slip of paper with a phone number on it. She may be asking Ran about the person she saw to see if Ran knew any thing about that person being on the train. She could easily be lying by saying that her older brother is dead and be doing so in front of Conan so that he doesn't know that she has made contact with Shuuichi, the person on the train who borrowed the hat.

[Elixir]

Well, this thread talked about the middle brother so, I apologize for getting the topic derailed. I said Akai was the hat wearer, not Shuukichi. In the manga, Sera said that she learned from the video tape tutorial his older brother sent her. If you look at the TV screen, that older brother is a hat wearer. There's no issue with the hats, it's just that Akai is a known knit cap wearer to us, but a hat wearer to Sera. Interestingly, Vermouth picked up the right hat that Akai used to wear to meet Sera.

[jimmy_kud0_tv2]

Well, this thread talked about the middle brother so, I apologize for getting the topic derailed. I said Akai was the hat wearer, not Shuukichi. In the manga, Sera said that she learned from the video tape tutorial his older brother sent her. If you look at the TV screen, that older brother is a hat wearer. There's no issue with the hats, it's just that Akai is a known knit cap wearer to us, but a hat wearer to Sera. Interestingly, Vermouth picked up the right hat that Akai used to wear to meet Sera.

Its not necessarily a derailed topic if the original topic implies that Subaru/Shuu is the middle brother. Clues about that person would be important to either proving or disproving the theory. As to why Vermouth has the right hat, Bourbon says this on the train "She is the only one that could completely immerse herself in the role of that man".

Interestingly enough we only know Shuuichi to wear knit caps, Bourbon's Scar Akai wore a ball cap with a front brim, and Vermouth's Scar Akai wore the hat with the brim that goes all the way around. If Masumi wears a hat with a brim that goes all the way around to copy her older brother, and Vermouth is "the only one who could completely immerse herself in the role" then of course she would find the right type of hat. Although this does bring up something else, just how long has Vermouth known Shuuichi? OR how far into his past did she have to dig to find that he wore that type of hat when we have never seen him wear one even in flashbacks up until that point?


The main reason that I originally posted this topic about Subaru/Shuu being the middle brother is because I was thinking about how the middle brother and the mysterious child got introduced. Up until the adultery case there was not even the slightest hint of a middle brother existing. Its understandable that the middle brother would not be introduced as a phone call in Blush Mermaid because Masumi was still wondering about the hat and adding the middle brother in to somehow solve Kaito Kids trick would have been a bit much considering that Gosho has said that Kaito Kid will not be involved with the plot much anymore. The biggest problem I seem in what I said in the first post is why she didn't contact him in the Fruits case with multiple pad locks on the same box. How to get a person inside a box that had been locked with multiple padlocks by different people would have been a perfect puzzle for a person who likes puzzles to solve! However that case focused on Masumi herself. It showed us that she had a tooth that comes out when she smiles, that Conan/Shinichi recognizes her in someway, and that Ran thinks of waves in some context to magic when she sees Masumi's back when she is running away. On top of that Masumi says the line "This is our territory/area" to Ran right after the dead body appears. Still that would have been a great case to call him for if she had contact. (Shuukichi was introduced in the case directly after that one, however the only person who has talked to both Masumi and Shuukichi and would be able to pass on contact info is Conan...). The first known contact that we have seen is the one witnessed by Eri in the hotel lobby several hours before the Adultery case begins. Its very possible (although not proven) that this could be the first time she talked to the middle brother. If it was, it would explain why she said the person's name and "nii" loud enough to be heard by Eri. Masumi then calls the middle brother back later once the Adultery case begins to see if her theory is correct. Its really frustrating to think that if this middle brother existed, why she didn't call him before now. If it is simply that she didn't have contact with him at the previous cases then how did she get in contact with him? For the people who say that the middle brother is Shuukichi, how would she get his contact information (by c865), and suddenly not know his whereabouts (c869)? (as well as still not know that he plays Shogi(c902)). This lead me back to other characters that have come into contact with Masumi for the first time in really recent history, Subaru (Yusaku's cold case and Mystery train), Kaitou Kid (Blush Mermaid), and the actor Kanzaki who plays Detective Samonji (Fruits case). All three of these people know Conan and have seen him in action solving cases. However Masumi does not recognize Kanzaki until Conan mentions that he plays Samonji to which she says "oh that funny detective?". Kaito Kid has been said to not be involved in the plot any more, they did not recognize each other in the Blush Mermaid case and it just seems really unlikely. That leaves Subaru/Shuu. On top of that, the person who is talking to Masumi as the middle brother is using the exact same "oh, I'm away on a tough case and can't let my whereabouts be known" that Conan always uses when he pretends to be Shinichi on the phone. Most recently this was witnessed by Subaru/Shuu during Yusaku's Cold Case. It would be really easy for Subaru/Shuu to go out to buy a second cell phone and mimic the same trick by slipping Masumi a piece of paper with the phone number during the Mystery Train when she was unconscious. In this way she would have the phone number and still not know her brother's whereabouts. It still frustrates the heck out of me that she still didn't contact anyone during the Fruits case. If she had even hinted at contacting anyone during that case it would put this to rest, however for now it seems like the most likely time she first got into contact with him was in the hours before the Adultery case began.

[jimmy_kud0_tv2]

I was discussing Shuukichi in another thread but the topic sort of changed to the popularity of Shuuichi and Rei so I'm going to move my questions about Shuukichi over here. For anyone wasn't apart of that conversation, I was questioning how Shuukichi could be the middle brother based on what we know about both characters. The questions will be below the massive wall of text.

So far the things we know about Haneda Shuukichi are as follows: "10 years ago" (age 18) he was playing at a tournament level. He won the match because his opponent made 2 moves in a row by mistake. After leaving that match he boards a train and falls asleep. Here he meets Yumi who wakes him up to make sure he gets off at the right stop. He realizes that she went out of her way for him and eventually they begin dating. "Several years ago" Yumi and Shuukichi are meeting somewhere after he wins the Mejin title (the first time) and Yumi mentions a Sumo wrestler who has won six title matches in the span of one year, this motivates Shuukichi to win all seven Shogi titles to gain more love from Yumi and make her feel like a queen. A Christmas some time after that he gives her an envelope with something special in it that he tells her not to open until he collects seven special things. After this Yumi dumps Shuukichi for the sake of her job as a traffic cop. In the current time line we have the "Ex-Boyfriend next door" case (His current age is 28 and he is living at Beika Chateau Condos). From this case we, the reader/viewer, learn of his ability to memorize things like the code to the lock box with the spare key, and the contents of the suicide note from the crime scene. We also learn that Shuukichi has at least some form of decent fame as several people seem to recognize him even if they didn't immediately know who he was (Megure and Takagi). We also learn of the concept of "a well prepared move" and that it is Shogi terminology. At the end of the case we find out that Yumi does not know what a "Mejin" is and does not know that Shuukichi plays Shogi. In the more recent Shogi case, "2 days ago" Shuukichi and Yumi meet at a restaurant because he has almost collected all seven things and Yumi says that she has thrown the envelope away without looking inside of it. As they leave the restaurant someone recognizes him to be "Taiko Mejin" despite him being in his everyday attire of wearing glasses and being unshaven. This Shogi tournament is him reclaiming of the Mejin title (the second time). Before the second part of the match he is given an envelope saying that Yumi has been kidnapped, he then races to Tokyo. While at the Meiji shrine he bumps into Conan and DB. DB mention that the Taiko in his name refers to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but he says its just a nickname. The case does mention Hideyoshi a few more times. During the case we are made aware that the Mystery girl was watching the Shogi match on tv. However by the time Masumi enters the room, mystery girl has turned off the tv and has her eyes closed and laying down. Masumi turns on the tv and sees the match but by this time only Shuukichi's opponent was actually there on the screen. The end of the case brings a full resolution to the events of "10 years ago" at the Hotel Hyde Pride, where Masumi and Mystery Girl are currently staying. Even though Yumi hears that Shuukichi is going to a Meijin, and she sees that other people are treating him as if he is famous, she still doesn't know of his Shogi background, but rather thinks he is a Rakugo story teller (its a form of "sit-down" comedy sort of comparable to western "stand-up" comedy). At the end of the chapter we see Masumi in her coat carrying her helmet saying that she saw police cars outside. The Mystery girl is shown turning off the tv (we don't know if Masumi saw whether or not she watched the end of the match, we only know that she turned off the tv). The Mystery Girl claims to not know why there are police cars outside and smiles. Subaru (Shuuichi) is shown reading an article about Shuukichi and he smiles as well (I assume that's another cup of Bourbon next to his laptop).


So far the things we know about the Middle Brother are: The very first time that we can see for ourselves that Masumi has contacted the Middle brother is the "Adultery Case" in chapter 857. Kisaki Eri overheard Masumi in the hotel lobby several hours before the case talking on the phone to someone who she attached -nii (brother) to the name. During the case the person on the phone with Masumi tells her that there may be a problem in her deduction, however she gives it anyway. This prompts Conan to do the Shinichi cell phone routine in front of Masumi (for the fifth time, the other times were Haunted Hotel, Detective Agency Hostage Crisis, East v West Rematch, and Yusaku's Cold case). It is heavily implied that Masumi may already know that Conan is Shinichi. Eri tells them what she heard when picking them up. It should be noted that in this case Masumi talked with her brother on the phone, but after this she has only been seen texting him until the very end of the "Red Woman" case. In the next case "Suspect is Kyogoku Makoto", Conan asks her how she could be talking to her nii if she has already said that she heard that he had died. Masumi explains that she has a second-oldest brother that looks like her father rather than her mother like she and her eldest brother. She also says that he is on an important job and would't let her know his whereabouts, but that he sometimes advises her on cases over the phone. Later in the case Masumi texts her Middle Brother and he asks who Masumi keeps referring to as the person who is there with her looking for clues. This means that Masumi didn't explain it to him in the previous case. Masumi sends him a picture of Conan and he seems to think that if Conan is involved that there will be no problem, meaning that he has probably met Conan and seen his abilities, possibly even knowing his secret but that is not known. He then gives a plausible explanation on how he knows Conan and then has a PS: Have you already met the wizard? Masumi seems to think that she has and looks over at Conan. In this case we also see the Middle Brother's arm, it is light skinned and holding a black cellphone with a black long-sleeve shirt sleeve in the frame. In the "Red Woman Case" we have Masumi and the group invited to solve a mystery at a Holiday Villa, that the Middle Brother could not go to in person because he was busy. Masumi states that the Middle Brother is not a detective but often solved "mysteries and puzzles" in class in high school. During this case we also learn about the Middle Brother's high school friends and his name switches. According to Masumi the three siblings all have different family names. After the death of their father, both she and the Middle Brother had the family name "Sera". The Middle Brother then changed his family name to something else after he graduated high school. It is not mentioned if the eldest brother has changed names or not because Conan tries to ask about the original family name but they are interrupted by the Red Woman. Because the Middle Brother's high school friends are ages 28-29 it can be assumed that the Middle brother can be at least one year up or down from their ages meaning he can be 27-30 (I say this because of the ability to enter school early/late based on birthday, as well as the ability to pass/fail grade levels, and we have no way of knowing it any of this can apply to the friends or the Middle Brother himself). Interestingly enough after re-reading the chapter it seems it was never stated that they were actually classmates, just that they were all "friends". If he was well known enough from solving mysteries at the school, he would be known and possibly befriend people from other grade levels, but I'm still going to keep the 27-30 range. The friends confirm that the person they knew was indeed called "Sera-kun" during high school. Even though it seems they were told that their friend's sister was coming, they don't seem to recognize her at all and they never even mention an eldest brother. It is mentioned that during high school that the people present in the case were a part of the "outdoor club" for the summer holidays, and say that the club was just the five of them meaning that "Sera-kun" was not a part of the club (Satoko, the fifth member, was murdered 12 years ago near this same villa during a school holiday). In the previous case she had confirmation of her Middle Brother knowing Conan and that "if its him it will be ok", Masumi really has no reason to call him during this case while he is "busy". I do want to point out however that Masumi does say "They don't exist, Evil Spirits and Ghosts, Witches and Wizards, they live in fantasy worlds, not one of them exists", but then on the next page she says that she returned to Japan "to meet the Wizard again" while looking down at Conan. At the end of the case Conan says that she needs to call her Middle Brother and tell him how the case went, instead of this she sends Conan to look for her phone because she says she misplaced it. This reveals to Conan the first image of the Mystery Girl. She then calls, or pretends to call her Middle Brother to explain the case while peering at Conan. Over all the Eldest Brother is described as three times stronger than Masumi and is the one that sent her the Jeet Kune Do tapes that she watched many times as a kid. The Middle Brother is described as intelligent and one who likes to solve "mysteries and puzzles". Shuuichi, as Subaru, has demonstrated he is very intelligent and calls himself a Sherlockian. He also says he likes to solve "puzzles". If he and the Middle Brother are different people, the the Middle Brother's intelligence must be much higher than that?





Questions: If Shuukichi is the Middle Brother, then

Shuukichi was first introduced as a Shogi playing man who could memorize things very quickly, and was introduced three cases before the first mention of the Middle Brother. Why would you want to introduce a new character and then suddenly create an alternate persona for that character after the fact and not let the audience know? It would seem kind of silly to me to even make a secret Middle Brother and only introduce one person that it could be, and then it turns out that it is that person.

Shuukichi was already playing Shogi at a tournament level at a point "10 years ago", at this time Masumi would have been at least 6-7 and would most likely remember that he was such a good Shogi player. Even with Shuukichi having gone off to college and being separate from the family, he still would have graduated some time before Masumi left from japan "3 years ago". If Shuukichi was the Middle Brother, then Masumi would definitely know that he is fond of Shogi. Why did she then describe him as liking "puzzles" rather than liking "Shogi"? Why would Masumi not know his whereabouts? If she wanted to see him, she would most likely just go to Shogi tournaments and hang around. From Masumi's point of view, even if her brother was not going to tournaments anymore there is a chance he would still watch them on tv and possibly see her in the background, so it would be worth it. Why isn't she shown even attempting this? From Shuukichi's point of view, why would he want his whereabouts unknown if all he was doing is playing Shogi? Why would Shogi be a tough enough job that he couldn't take a break to see her briefly? On top of that, how do you explain that Masumi never contacted him in any of the cases that she appeared in before the Adultery case? How would she suddenly have gotten in contact with him? If she had contact with him before the first time we see her call him, why is she suddenly self-conscious enough to ask him if she is right about her deduction in the case where she calls him, but didn't call him before?

For the most part we assume that Masumi and her mother left Japan due to something involving Shuuichi while he was inside the BO. Shuuichi entered the BO "5 years ago" and they left Japan "3 years ago" and Shuuichi left the BO "2 years ago". If Masumi and her mother were evacuated from Japan due to fear of the BO, why did the Middle Brother not go with them? You can say that if he is Shuukichi that he has the reason of the Shogi titles to stay in Japan, but wouldn't life or death situations trump titles that he could earn at any time in his life? If Shuuichi still had the family name Akai, and by this time they still feared that Masumi and the mother, who have the family name Sera would still be found by the BO, why would the Middle Brother having a third family name even protect him? He allows himself to be put on tv and in internet articles. He doesn't seem like he is hiding from anyone.

Masumi's description of the Middle Brother is very vague. She says that she and her Eldest brother resemble their mother, but that the Middle Brother resembles their father, who is dead. Because we still have the potential of meeting the mother of the family, we would see the resemblance between Masumi, Shuuichi, and the mother pretty clearly. The father however is dead, and the Middle Brother looks like him more than the other three. At this point all we know about his appearance is that he does not look like his other three family members. Combining that with having a different family name, you could almost pull a random person off the street and have them fill in for the Middle Brother as long as the age is correct. On top of this, Shuukichi's current family name matches the same "Haneda" kanji as someone from the APTX victims list. Wouldn't it be far more likely that he is related to that person rather than having to be the Middle Brother and just happening to change his family name to that around the time he graduated High school?

At the end of the recent Shogi tournament case we see the Mystery Girl and Shuuichi smiling. Since the Mystery girl had the tv on the station giving coverage of the tournament earlier in the case, it is assumed that she was still watching it when she turned the tv off at the end. Shuuichi is shown definitely reading an article about the Shogi tournament and the winner of the seven titles. So many people made the immediate jump from "Oh my god, they smiled at Shuukichi's achievement" to "Oh my god, they are all blood-related/family members". We still do not know that the Mystery Girl is the mother of the family, we only know that she talks like an adult and has the same black outline of the eye that Masumi does. How do you make this big leap? Why would Gosho let a simple smile confirm the identity of two characters that are supposed to be a mystery??

Remember that the Bourbon arc started off with just the mention of Bourbon and only having Subaru as a suspect for a really long time drinking Bourbon in the Kudou house before Masumi and Amuro were actually introduced (14 volumes / 142 episodes later).

[jimmy_kud0_tv2]

that is probably the longest post I have ever written
finally finished editing in the questions. X_x

[chuajan]

For me it is Haneda Shukichi

[mi.chan]

I think it s hand shukichi because if you read the file after scarlet epilogue the last page in the fils you find that the unknown child and shuichi are happy because tailor meijn wins (shukichi haneda) I think it s hint from gosho

[PirateKing]

I like this theory. Mostly because, there aren't any suggestions "within the manga" that say that it's not possible.

The only things that I can think of against this theory is that it's pointless for Gosho to create a phantom character for no obvious reason and that Akai and Mystery Girl seem to be interested in Shuukichi's final match. Neither are really strong arguments, IMO. It also fits with Akai wanting to keep Sera out of trouble by telling her that he's alive but not immediately reachable, and Sera suddenly giving up trying to find if Akai was alive or not. Let's see what the coming chapters have to say.

[Uchiha Shadow]

I like this theory. Mostly because, there aren't any suggestions "within the manga" that say that it's not possible.

The only things that I can think of against this theory is that it's pointless for Gosho to create a phantom character for no obvious reason and that Akai and Mystery Girl seem to be interested in Shuukichi's final match. Neither are really strong arguments, IMO. It also fits with Akai wanting to keep Sera out of trouble by telling her that he's alive but not immediately reachable, and Sera suddenly giving up trying to find if Akai was alive or not. Let's see what the coming chapters have to say.

I disagree, the middle brother has to exist, and even though it's not absolute evidence, there are some arguments against the middle brother not existing. And there is a strong argument that Shuukichi is the middle brother, so in the end it makes more sense for that to be the case.