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Yes, that's true—however, Gosho put the brakes on the plot, after the Vermouth arc arc, and then pulled the emergency brake with the Bourbon arc. It's no surprise to me that Sakurako's backstory, besides her childhood friendship with Naeko and Kazunobu, still hasn't been looked into. Neither she nor Hyoue have appeared in a while... I'm going to be looking at a bunch of stuff (especially the observations of others on this site and DCTP) when either one of them or both of them appear, next. That is correct. When Gosho decided to have that mirror read, "Put on Mascara," he must've done it because "Rum" could be read off it. After that, he picked a name that could also be read off it, which was "Asaka," and named Amanda's bodyguard that. Rumi's name (minus the W and I, of course) was tailored by Gosho for this... as was the name Asaka (or, really Akasa, if Rumi was Amanda's bodyguard). We also don't know what Shuichi knows about the case. Would he know about his mother being "Asaka" (if she was)? Would he know who the bodyguard was (if his mother wasn't Asaka)? What will he do when he meets Rumi (if he does meet her)? Because he couldn't—no "W" and "I" in "Put on Mascara." I know there's probably a counter-argument against him referring to Rumi since he made his dying message with the letters in the mirror, and thus, couldn't put her full name in, and because he's not referring to kanji or something that would point people to her... but I'd like to hear it, rather than—perhaps—characterize the counter argument incorrectly. I completely agree that Mary isn't Rum and that it's a patented Gosho mislead/misdirect. But the third person he was referring to never appeared in Shinichi's/Conan's mind (by that, I mean appeared in the backdrop of the panel). Remember—James was introduced within the past 20 files (325) of this scene (in 343). Back then, I'm sure people thought that the "third person" Shinichi/Conan was referring to, in that scene, was James Black. After all, at the time, Gosho was misleading/misdirecting us, wanting us to think that Jodie, Shuichi and James were all BO. It's just a question of when. We don't know where they lived, but given that Masumi was wandering around in Japan, at age 13, that Shukichi's seemed to have lived there his whole life, and that both Mary and Masumi moved to America, 2-3 years before current events, the implication seems to be that Mary and all her children lived in Japan (until Shuichi went to join the FBI, and then when Mary and Masumi left Japan), and, perhaps, a beach in Japan is where they met Shinichi and Ran. Yeah, if Mary retired from MI6, I'd get it if she got back into that field because of Elena (if they are, indeed, sisters). But I think she's more likely to be involved in the "accident" that killed Elena and Atsushi, as Chekhov has suggested, rather than in the double murder of Amanda and Koji—I think the former scenario if what ultimately led to the (apparent) death of Mr. Akai, caused the surname changes for Masumi and Shukichi, led later on, to Masumi and Mary moving to the U.S., and, finally, led to Mary being shrunk, which is why Masumi (who knows if Mary came with her or was already there) came to Japan. Or James. When we get to the point of explanation (in terms of who Asaka is), I'm sure I'll be fine with the explanation if Mary turns out to be Asaka... it's just that, right now, I can't see it.

Ultimately, for me, she just doesn't have the presence that Tomoaki had or even the presence Sakurako had—that's why I doubt that she's Asaka. She appears to be a one-case character that people took notice of, and theorized about, because she's a bartender at Konosuke Jii's bar from Magic Kaito, and I guess because Shinichi/Conan got the hints to solve that case from her (even though plenty of times he gets hints, it's clear that the character he gets the hint from gave it to him by accident—and characters that may potentially be hinting him appear more than once, after their debut). Mary couldn't have been shrunk 17 years ago—in 969, she's clearly an adult. More likely, she was shrunk just before Masumi appeared in 768–770/646–647 (and her shrinking is the reason Masumi came to Japan in the first place). You misunderstand. If Post-Coma Hyoue is Rum, he'd be posing as Hyoue. Thus, if Jimmy's right, and Hyoue is Sakurako's uncle or father, then Rum would be playing that role and doing his best not to blow his cover... thus, Sakurako would be (unknowingly) connected to Rum... perhaps, she remembers the accident, back when she was 12, that put Hyoue in a coma... and, maybe, the accident that cost Rum his eye. Until Shinichi/Conan starts thinking about this, and questioning his assumption that Asaka is Rum, I'm going to go with Rumi being Amanda's bodyguard, and, probably, Koji's lover or some other close relation, Koji's dying message being her name (minus the W and I), and that Shinichi/Conan and Shuichi/Subaru misread the message. So Shuichi/Subaru and Shinichi/Conan reading Koji's dying message as "Asaka Rum" is not "too obvious," either? As with Shinichi's/Conan's theory that Mary is Rum, it could be an initial theory made at a point where information was lacking (think Shinichi's/Conan's initial thoughts on Hidemi's/Rena's/Kir's identity—before learning about Eisuke's leukemia, he thought she was a BO agent who had plastic surgery to look like Ethan's daughter). Theories made by Shinichi/Conan that early on are suspect, and should be constantly looked at, as the story progresses (also think of how Tomoaki never really came up in Shinichi's/Conan's thoughts during the Vermouth arc, when he thought about Vermouth—like how he wondered if Jodie's face was actually hers—who knows when and if he'll think about Rumi's name?). If Mary was Asaka (and why that name, anyway?... how convenient that the fake name she chose features letters that can be used to create a dying message with the mirror), then why did she fail to protect Amanda, and Koji (yes, it's true that the same can be asked if Rumi was Amanda's bodyguard)? Ultimately, I'm just not sure about Mary being there. At this point, she's either heavily pregnant with—or has just given birth to—Masumi, and she already has a 13-16 year old son and an 11 year old son. Who knows if she still was in MI6 at this point—she could've easily retired because of Mr. Akai, and the family they started, and resigned herself to the private sector, or a life that had much financial support, given Shukichi being described as "a mooching stay-at-home freeloader," and living in a Condo. I just don't see, right now, her (willingly or not) becoming Amanda's bodyguard, going to America, failing to protect Amanda from a less-experienced (and likely lower-ranked) Rum, somehow having and leaving this mirror where Koji could make a dying message with it, and then not being found until 17 years later. Instead, it could easily be the case that her husband got involved, was killed, and this was what led to the surname changing, the moving, and, eventually, Mary being shrunk. If Mary was Asaka, Rum would have to remember her to a point that, 17 years later, he could recognize her without her disguise, overpower her, and force APTX 4869 down her throat—and this is assuming that Rum is responsible for her now being a 12-15 year old. One last thing—we still don't know how Mr. Akai got involved in the double murder of Koji Haneda and Amanda Hughes, so we don't know if he got involved on his own, or because he knew his wife was involved—I'm waiting eagerly for that revelation... it should answer a few questions, including questions about how Mary was involved in all this. So you believe Asaka is Rum, not that Asaka is Mary or Rumi (in Rumi's case, she'd actually be Akasa)?