Spoilers follow for both intended victims, the poison’s locations, the motive and the two rescues.
Fuwa’s targets are hotel concierge Izumi and Kogoro Mouri. Although the police already have Fuwa in custody, he has poisoned Izumi’s drinking water and a bottle of whisky left as a supposed gift for Kogoro. Kogoro stops Izumi from drinking, and Conan saves Kogoro before he can swallow the whisky. Neither victim ingests the poison.
Who's the Target? is international episode 1269 (Japanese episode 1209), an anime-original story. Its central question concerns the intended victims and the remaining danger: identifying and detaining the culprit has not stopped the plan he has already set in motion.
The missing poison makes an arrest the beginning of the case
Returning from a job outside the area, Conan and Kogoro encounter Takagi in a police car with Fuwa. The man has potassium cyanide stolen from Teitan University, but the amount recovered is smaller than the amount taken. Some may already have been used elsewhere.
Fuwa refuses to explain and repeatedly checks the time. A train ticket for a 160-yen fare provides another piece of his recent movements. The investigators have to find where he has been and what he is waiting to happen before the missing poison reaches anyone.
His continued silence is part of the immediate danger, but it does not establish that he intended to be caught. What matters is that the poisoned drinks are already in place and he will not reveal their locations.
A wet trouser leg leads to a hidden uniform
Conan notices that only the outer side of Fuwa’s right trouser leg is wet. That pattern suggests a localized splash rather than general exposure to rain. Tracing his route with the ticket brings the investigators to the restaurant Namikawa, where the proprietress has been sprinkling water outside.
Her account and the direction Fuwa took lead to a nearby empty house. Beneath its floor, they find a staff uniform from the Beika Royal Hotel. The abandoned building is therefore a place where he has concealed a link to somewhere else, rather than a destination explained by the rail journey.
The uniform points toward someone entering the hotel under the appearance of an employee. Fuwa’s connection with the university then gives the investigation an obvious possible target: a Teitan University tennis club gathering taking place there.
The hotel guests are safe, but Fuwa still watches the clock
Police stop food and drink service and check the tennis club members. No one has been poisoned. The apparent link between the stolen university chemical and the university gathering has led them to people who are not Fuwa’s actual targets.
Fuwa nevertheless keeps checking the time. Conan takes that as a reason to look beyond a general attack on the gathering: someone may be about to perform a particular routine at a known time. The absence of a victim so far does not mean that the poison has been found.
Concierge Izumi leaves to take her medication on schedule. Her own partly used water bottle is waiting in the staff locker room. Kogoro calls for her over the hotel’s public-address system and stops her just before she drinks. Testing finds cyanide in the water.
The uniform, Izumi’s bottle and the timing now fit together. Fuwa entered as a hotel employee and contaminated water Izumi already regarded as hers. He was waiting for her medication routine to bring her back to it.
The grievance began with Fuwa’s own behavior
Fuwa is a former associate professor who left Teitan University three years earlier. At that time, he subjected Izumi to abusive customer harassment at the hotel. Kogoro happened to be present and intervened to protect her.
When the university learned of his behavior, Fuwa resigned; his marriage also ended in divorce. He blamed Izumi and Kogoro for those losses instead of accepting responsibility for the conduct that caused them. The woman he harassed and the man who stopped him became the targets of his revenge.
Learning that history changes the meaning of Izumi’s rescue. It establishes a second person Fuwa resents, and Kogoro is no longer merely helping solve the case. His past intervention has made him another intended victim.
A detour reveals where the second poisoned drink was left
Conan reexamines Fuwa’s route after leaving the empty house. Instead of going directly toward Beika Station, he took a detour by the Mouri Detective Agency. The extra journey has to be considered alongside the old grievance and the possibility that not all of the missing poison was in Izumi’s bottle.
Fuwa had left poisoned whisky near the agency door, presenting it as thanks for solving a case. He expected Kogoro’s habit of enjoying a drink after returning home to complete the second attack. The plan depends on two different routines: Izumi’s medication and Kogoro’s drinking.
By the time Conan identifies the danger, Kogoro is at the agency pouring the whisky into a glass. Conan rushes back and kicks a football through the window, smashing the glass before it reaches Kogoro’s lips. There is no time for a lengthy explanation before the rescue.
Fuwa’s reaction, as though Kogoro’s death were assured, fits the second plan he has left behind. It adds to the route and the poisoned gift rather than replacing them as evidence. Both intended victims have now been stopped before drinking, and the case ends without a death or injury.
Why the clues have to be read in sequence
The reduced amount of poison first establishes the need for a search. The ticket and one-sided splash reconstruct movement; the concealed uniform identifies the hotel; the clock checks draw attention to a timed personal habit. Each step makes the next question more precise without immediately revealing the whole plan.
The detour and the three-year-old incident then extend that reasoning beyond the hotel. Finding one poisoned drink is a success, but it does not account for every movement or every grievance. The title’s answer expands from Izumi to Izumi and Kogoro at the moment when a premature sense of relief would be most dangerous.
A real thank-you gift provides the final contrast
After the case, Izumi sends Kogoro whisky as a genuine expression of thanks. He hesitates briefly before returning to his usual enthusiasm. The same kind of gift that concealed a murder attempt now carries the gratitude it had only pretended to represent.
Kogoro’s role gives the story more than a race against poison. He helped Izumi years earlier without an assignment or reward, and he saves her again through the announcement. Conan then has to save the man on whom he usually relies for the Sleeping Kogoro performances.
Their return to ordinary banter keeps the ending from becoming a speech about their bond. The urgent kick has already expressed Conan’s concern, while the real gift allows Kogoro to enjoy an everyday pleasure again. Fuwa’s resentment remains ugly, but it has failed to take either life.
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