"The Violin's Curse?"
Conan hadn't expected to hear such a term from Genzaburo. He frowned and looked down again at the Shitara family tree he had organized in his notebook.
Sure enough, the three people who had died had all been closely connected to that valuable violin. Almost from the moment it entered the family, the shadow of death had hung over their heads.
But was "curse" really the right word for it?
Genzaburo glanced at the little boy and the boy following behind him, silently stubbed out his cigarette, and let out a weary yawn.
He had been in low spirits the entire time. Conan couldn't tell whether he simply didn't want to discuss the subject or was just exhausted from lack of sleep.
"Well, my brother is already in that state. There's no harm in telling outsiders like you." Genzaburo sighed, took out another cigarette and placed it between his lips without lighting it, then began speaking about the violin's past. "Aren't you curious? Such an expensive treasure has been sitting in this house for thirty years, yet no one has ever taken it out to perform. We may not have any particularly famous performers in the family now, but we all make our living in this line of work."
Having looked into the family's circumstances, Conan nodded.
That much was true. Almost everyone in the Shitara family worked in music-related fields. The deceased Kōto Shitara and Utami Shitara had both been violinists themselves.
"It's because of the violin's curse." Genzaburo spoke vaguely. "Take me, for instance. I used to play the violin too, but I unfortunately developed tendonitis. It kept coming back and could never be cured, affecting my technique and control. In the end, I had no choice but to become a conductor. Being forced to