Shitara Renki pressed one hand against the violin case and said quietly, "This violin was a gift from Uncle Haga's father—my great-uncle, Shitara Dannjirou—to my grandfather Choichiro on his birthday."
Mouri Ran had been curious about something for a long time. Hearing this, she could not help asking, "Your whole family is clearly named Shitara, so why does only Mr. Haga have a different surname?"
Shitara Renki's expression turned grave. "I was just about to get to that—during the birthday banquet I mentioned, a group of robbers unfortunately broke into our home.
"At the time, Grandpa Choichiro and the others did not dare make a sound and obediently let the robbers tie them up, so they were unharmed. But Grandpa Dannjirou fought back and was injured by the enraged robbers. He died of his injuries a few days later.
"After Dannjirou was seriously injured, Uncle Haga's maternal relatives took him back to the Haga family, and his surname was changed to theirs."
Professor Agasa sighed sympathetically. "How pitiful... Though, come to think of it, those robbers showed up at quite a convenient time. They actually came right on his birthday."
Shitara Renki sighed. "They were probably after this Antonio Stradivari violin. But we are a Musical Family, and our home was full of all kinds of violins. The robbers were overwhelmed by their search and ended up stealing another violin with a very similar appearance. This one was luckily left behind."
"In the blink of an eye, that was already thirty years ago," said Shitara Renki. "I had not even been born yet."
Haibara Ai felt that something was off. Thinking of the strange Clients she had encountered, she asked warily, "You are not planning to ask Jiang Xia to catch a gang of robbers from thirty years ago, are