Lets Solve: The Decagon House Murders

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Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

So yeah, I finally decided I'm doing this.

edit March 25: Chapter 1 done!!
edit April 6: Chapter 2 done!!
edit April 16: Chapter 3 done!!
edit April 26: Chapter 4 done!!
edit May 10: Chapter 5+6 done!!
edit May 12: Chapter 7 done!!
edit May 13: Chapter 8 done!!

September 23: Chapter 9 done!!

[adapted from japanese wikipedia]

quote:

"The Decagon House Murders" is Ayatsuji Yukito's debut mystery novel. It was published in 1987 and spawned many sequels collectively known as the "Mansion Series." The novel had an enormous impact on the Japanese mystery movement, giving rise to a shin-honkaku boom [this essentially means the contemporary fair-play mystery genre]. The influence is so great that the period after this novel was released is often referred to as the "post-Ayatsuji" period. It has sold over a million copies.

The length is apparently 290 print pages of Japanese (I'm using an ebook), which I'd estimate equals about an average length mystery. I got through between a third and half the novel before the amount of plot details and vital clues became so dense that I simply couldn't continue without going back and writing stuff down (I did make a crime-wall of sorts, but I wasn't nearly thorough enough and it quickly became too much to organize on one wall). But then I was like, if I'm gonna organize my thoughts, why not post them and share the mystery-solving fun with other goons?

Note: for reasons of personal opinion, I'm not gonna be using the English translation published by whatever I don't care enough to look up the publisher. Instead, I'm going to entirely retranslate the novel from scratch, and post that here in full, in addition to my "let's read" thoughts. Why? Well I really don't want to waste too much time in this thread ranting about how bad and disrespectful the official translation of this novel is. I'll type up a succinct summary of the problems in spoiler tags though for those who are wondering "Why bother?"

Ayatsuji's prose may be analytical, and mainly serves the purpose of providing clues, but it is also beautiful and has an amazing flow to it. And the translator absolutely demolishes any voice it had, in lieu of boringly stating the meaning of the sentences with no sense of flow whatsoever (though, granted, the rote meanings are correct most of the time). And the dialogue is even worse! Yes, Ayatsuji made the dialogue pretty analytical and it also mainly serves to provide more clues, but the characters have freakin' voices! Which, it seems to me, the translator didn't even try to adapt respectfully. I've legitimately cared for some of these characters over very minute, subtle characterizations, and when I open the English text to compare, it feels like he dropped them into a blender. A further problem is he uses such an obnoxious, pretentious vocabulary sometimes that clashes really hard with the bad prose and is just, bleh. I think he does it to sound more like Agatha Christie or something, but the Japanese text generally goes out of its way to be clear, so even if it wasn't a huge eyesore, using obsolete terms and poo poo just confuses the reader unnecessarily. I've legit read passages of the English text right after reading/understanding the same passage in Japanese and been like "what the gently caress does that even mean?"

But enough about the translation. I want this thread to be about the novel itself first and foremost, and the fun of solving a mystery!

SO, WHY SHOULD I PLAY ALONG?

If you're a fan of murder mystery stuff, chances are this book was written with you in mind. Heck, it seems like Ayatsuji was just like "Wow I really love all these Golden Age western mysteries I've been reading. Let me write a book that encapsulates everything I found fun about them."

The pacing of how details are given out (and repeated) feels very very deliberate, though at the same time extremely generous. With the exception of stuff that is concealed for super obvious reasons, I never felt like anything was being purposely glossed over. It honestly strikes the perfect balance between always giving a satisfying amount of new details in a given chapter, but never so much that the plot feels like a slog. When stuff needs further examination, it always comes at a really great time pacing-wise, in my opinion.

The characters generally discuss things very analytically, though again I'm gonna use the term "perfect balance" to describe how they still feel like real people despite very clearly acting as vessels to deliver clues to the reader. And they do so from the lens of mystery novels, so they'll often be discussing the exact theories that the reader would likely be having at that time. Which is understandably super fun!

The mystery itself is also quite convoluted in the best ways. There are a ton of moving parts, but the deliberate pacing makes it feel not so overwhelming. I just really really like the story so far (from my position of slightly less than halfway in). I have also heard that the solution is excellent. Though who's to say before we finish it? Answer: NOT ANY OF YOU, THAT'S FOR SURE. Which segues nicely into my rules...

Ground Rules:

Regarding spoilers
If you have read the novel before, or get intrigued by this thread and go read ahead in that crappy English translation, why am I assuming no one here reads Japanese? lol then honestly, you probably shouldn't post in this thread at all. Considering the genre, I'm sure you understand why even cheeky little "ohoho i see your theory" posts are toeing the line into spoilers. For the intent of this rule though, that still counts as spoilers. And obviously spoilers are strictly not allowed, not even in tags. Even stuff like "Indeed, the solution is good" posts will make me very nervous. And absolutely don't tell me the solution is bad, or any other adjective.

Acceptable posts from goons who have read ahead/finished this novel may include the following: pointing out a translation that is inconsistent with objective truth without saying why (though honestly i'd rather you just pm me that); also any kind of commentary that is entirely separate from anything close to theorizing. For example, "I really like character X because he's funny." Use common sense, guys. If you hate a character for reasons that haven't come up yet, or for reasons that get worse later, don't post about it.

Also, I'm fairly certain this won't apply to most of you, so I'm comfortable being annoying about it: if you at any point read or otherwise obtain knowledge about future events in this book, and you want to keep posting, I require you to disclose that.

Honor System
I obviously encourage theorizing, and yeah, maybe some people will be right. I am not going to get mad at you for being right. However, I am also highly aware that sometimes people who know stuff will pretend they don't, and post correct theories (read: spoilers) pretty much just for the sake of appearing smart and correct later. I implore you, DO NOT DO THAT.

~~~

Phew! But enough with the negativity! I'm going to end this by posting the relatively short prologue. I was originally planning to do chapter 1, part 1 also, because this is not very substantial, but this OP took a lot longer than I thought, so I don't have time right now. But I also don't want to wait before posting either. :v:

I think I want to put interstitial comments whenever I feel like sharing my thoughts, but for the prologue I don't really have any. I'll write my thoughts briefly at the end of it though. I actually translated this prologue a little bit ago as an exercise to compare with the "official" one, so this part isn't quite as "from scratch" as I advertised. Though I did heavily rewrite it in preparation for this post. Also, fun fact, it is exactly 1000 words. I didn't do it on purpose, but how insanely appropriate is it that it's 10x10 (x 10!) words, in the book about the 10-sided mansion?

quote:

Prologue

The night sea. A time of quiet.

Only the monotonous thrum of waves broke out from the endless dark, then faded away...

Seated on the cool concrete of the breakwater, adorned in the white vapors of his breath, a single man faced off against the oppressive darkness.

For untold months had he suffered. For untold weeks had he despaired. For untold days had the same thoughts plagued his mind. All leading to this very moment, where his determination was in the process of channeling into a specific, concrete course of action.

The plan was already in motion.

Preparations were nearly complete.

All he had to do next was simply wait for them to get caught in the trap.

However, he hadn�t for a second considered his plan to be flawless. In fact, rather than meticulous, he would be more inclined to describe it as, in a way, extremely sloppy. But in the first place, his intention had never been to form a plan that was perfect down to the last detail.

No matter how one squirms, Man will always be Man, and never a god.

The desire to become a god is easy to hold, but the fact of reality is, as long as Man is Man, that wish is impossible for even those possessed of amazing talents; he understood that.

For those who are not gods, how could the future-- governed as it is by human psychology and behaviors, to say nothing of random chance -- ever be predicted with perfect accuracy?

Even if we view all the world as a chessboard, with humans arranged as the pieces on top, there would still be a limit to how far one could read. And even if you have polished a plan down to the finest, most carefully constructed detail, you�d never know when, where, or how it could come crashing down. Predictions based on precise calculation can never be truly effective in a world overflowing with coincidence. A world overflowing with the whims of the heart....

Therefore, in this case, the most desirable plan was not one that foolishly limited his own actions, but one that allowed for constant adaptation, as open to flexibility as possible; such was the conclusion he'd come to.

He refused to be set in stone.

The important part wasn't the exact plotting, but the framework. And that framework must be flexible, always adjusting to the most optimal course of action based on circumstance.

After that, the plan would live or die by one�s own wit, cunning, and most of all, luck.

(I understand. Man can never be god.)

However, in a different way, he was undoubtedly about to take on the position of "god" himself.

Judgement. Yes, this was judgement.

He would judge them -- all of them -- in the name of revenge.

Judgement above the law.

As a mortal, he would never be forgiven; of that he was more than well aware. This was an act deemed "criminal" by society, and if caught, he would be the one facing judgement in the name of the law.

However, he was already beyond the point of controlling his emotions by way of such rational thinking. ----Emotions? No, this was not so shallow an affair. Far from it.

This was more than some fleeting passion.

It was now a screaming from his soul, his final tie to life, his very reason for existing.

The midnight sea. A time of silence.

He stared across the darkness where not even a single star nor light from departing ships were visible, and ruminated on his plan once more.

The preparation stage was nearing completion. Soon enough, they -- all his sinful prey -- would fall right into his trap. A trap equipped with ten equal sides and interior angles.

They would arrive knowing nothing. Harboring not an ounce of doubt nor fear, they would become their own arbiters of judgement, within their decagonal trap....

What awaited them, of course, was death. That was the appropriate sentence for each and every one of them.

Furthermore, there were to be absolutely no easy deaths. Eliminating everybody at once with an explosive, for example, would ordinarily be a far simpler and more reliable technique, but in this case such methods were not ideal.

He must kill them off one by one, in order. Indeed, just like the plot constructed by a certain famous British writer -- gradually, one at a time. That was how he�d make them learn. He�d show them the pain of death, the grief, the suffering, the fear.

From a certain perspective, he would certainly appear to have lost his mind. He could acknowledge that as well.

(I understand. No matter how I try to justify it, I am performing the actions of a lunatic.)

He casually shook his head at the sea, and at the black night pressing down upon it.

Concealed in his coat pocket, his hand felt something hard. He gripped it tightly, removed it, and held it in front of his face.

It was a small glass bottle, tinted green.

Inside the bottle, which was stopped up firmly with a cork, was everything he'd wrung out and collected from the recesses of his heart, packed to the brim with his own conscience, as some would call it. Countless sheets of folded paper were sealed inside. All the contents of this plan he had been arranging were diligently laid out on those pages in small print. Addressed to nowhere in particular, it was his letter of confession....

(I understand. Man can never be god.)

That was why; precisely because he understood that, he decided to entrust his own final judgement to those not of this world.

He was not concerned with whether the bottle would reach a shore. He merely intended to ask the sea -- from which all life springs forth -- whether, ultimately, he was right or wrong.

Wind began to blow.

The harsh chill stabbed at the back of his neck, making him shiver.

Calmly, he threw the bottle into darkness.

I usually dislike prologues, but this completely does the job of setting the stage for what's to come, in a very reserved length. I never really thought about it before, but I do tend to like prologues better when they're not much longer than a television cold-open would be. Still, it manages to establish a really bleak tone, which to me serves to make this man's feelings... somehow a little bit understandable, even though we don't have any real details about his motivations at all. It also introduces some pretty heavy themes right off the bat. I'd say this is an excellent example of Ayatsuji's ability to use words frugally, though it's actually some of his wordiest (meanderingest?) prose, lol.

Well, that's it for my intro. I hope this is something that people might be interested in. See you soon with the start of Chapter 1.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Sep 23, 2019

# ¿ Mar 16, 2019 10:39

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 15:03

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

AFancyQuestionMark posted:

One slight concern though - OP is already translating a Japanese webcomic for GBS. I am afraid they might burn out.

I did consider this, but in all honesty, that webcomic takes practically zero effort lol. Maybe if someone takes me up on my offer to donate $1000 to Lowtax to make me post 600 panels in 2 weeks, I'd be worried. But I don't think anyone's gonna do that. But that's also why I didn't promise an explicit update schedule. Cuz in the past when I do that it tends to be... wrong. So I'll let my updates speak for themselves.

Side note: I'm starting Chapter 1-1 now. I haven't even typed one word of translation or commentary yet, so let's see how much effort this will be. (in all likelihood I'll post it tonight)

# ¿ Mar 17, 2019 03:00

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Lord Zedd-Repulsa posted:

I expect to mostly admire the prose

Oh that doesn't stress me out at all! It's not like I'm already competing with an extant translation or anything!

Quick note concerning the novel's title: honestly, I'd probably be a pedant and insist that the mansion be called something like "House of Ten Sides" or "Ten Sided House" because the pronunciation of it is stated (in furigana) to be slightly different than the actual way to pronounce the word for decagon. Well, technically it's not written the same way either, because the full word for decagon is [Ten] [Side] [Shape] More literally [Ten] [Point] [Shape], they technically count shapes by vertices rather than sides, but it's the same thing., while the name of the mansion is [Ten] [Side] [House]. BUT, from a cursory google search, it appears that the jpn collector's edition of the novel has the English title "The Decagon House Murders" on it, so whatever, I'm willing to concede that. Anyway...

quote:

Chapter One
First Day - Island

quote:

1

"I know it's been argued a hundred times, but still," said Ellery, a tall, slender young man with fair skin. "To me, mysteries are all-in-all a type of intellectual game. Using the novel as their playing field, it pits the reader against the detective, or maybe the reader against the author, in a stimulating game of logic. Nothing more and nothing less.

"That's why I'm sick of all this praise recently for realism and "social awareness" and so on. Like, an office lady gets murdered in her 1-bedroom apartment, the investigator wears out his soles looking for the culprit and in the end, it was her boss she was having an affair with; just stop it already. Tragedies based on modern society's vices, like corruption or political intrigue, should all be cancelled. What a real mystery should have, and you might call me old-fashioned but I don't care, is a great detective, a big mansion, a bunch of suspicious residents, a bloody tragedy, impossible crimes, and mind-boggling tricks... that's the literary ideal. Basically, if it's a world in which I can enjoy myself, that's fine. As long as it's all intellectual, that is."

Open ocean and gentle waves surrounded him. He was on a fishing boat, with an engine that sputtered worryingly and smelled of oil.

I do want to keep discussion of translation to a minimum and basically pretend that this is a normal let's read, but it's probably going to be inevitable and I just want to mention the original first line cuz I really like the imagery, but couldn't make it sound not weird in English. He basically said that it was an "argument with mold growing on it" aka a "moldy argument". I thought that was too weird to open with, but I can always edit it in if y'all think it's better.

quote:

"That kinda pisses me off." Sitting on the side of the boat, Carr threw out his prominent chin and twisted his mouth into a frown. "I don't like it, Ellery. All your intellectualism crap. I'm fine with treating some mysteries as games, but listening to you preach intellectualism at every turn, it rubs me the wrong way."

"Well that's unfortunate."

"It's elitist. Not every reader is gonna have the same idea of what's intellectual as you do."

"You're right." Ellery fixed his undeterred gaze on Carr. "It's something I've always found tragic. You can feel it just from walking around campus every day. Even in our very own club, there's no guarantee that everyone will be intellectual. Some people are just challenged."

"You lookin' for a fight?"

"My word," Ellery said dismissively. "Nobody said anything about you. Besides, what I meant by "intellectual" is just the attitude with which we approach the game. It doesn't matter if you're smart or dumb. There is no human on the planet who lacks intellect. And in the same way, there's no human who doesn't know how to have fun. So what I'm trying to articulate is, it's a matter of whether you have the mental brain-space to play intellectually."

"Hmph," Carr snorted and sneered as he turned away.

Ellery, with a subtle smile on his lips, turned to face the small young man standing next to him, whose smooth face was adorned with circular glasses. "And so therefore, Leroux, if we view mysteries as a unified world built around a singular methodology all for the sake of the intellectual sport, we can then conclude that the present time we live in is an extremely difficult period in which to achieve that."

"Hmm." Leroux inclined his head slightly.

Ellery continued, "This is also a tired argument though. But still, what with the incredible industriousness of investigators, a stable organizational structure, and the latest forensic techniques available... the police nowadays are in no way incompetent. In fact, they're altogether too competent. In the quest for truth, there is no longer a place for the traditional great detective, grey matter as their only weapon, to flourish. Even if Mr. Holmes himself showed up in a modern city, people would probably laugh him off the streets."

"That's going a bit far. It would be a modern Holmes equivalent that shows up today."

"True. Of course. Perhaps he'd burst onto the scene with all the cutting edge knowledge from the field of forensic science in his back pocket. And he'd have to explain it all to poor old Watson. He'd list off all kinds of obtuse technical terms and mathematical formulae that the reader is sure to not understand. This is quite obvious, my dear Watson. Did you not know this, my dear Watson?"

Hands deep in the pockets of his tan trenchcoat, Ellery gave a light dismissive shrug. "That was an exaggeration, but my point is the same. When there's a police force whose boorishness knows no bounds, making use of Golden Age detectives who only appear to use exquisite "logic" and "deduction" when in the end forensic technology saves the day, I just don't feel like clapping. Authors writing detective fiction that takes place in the modern day, without exception, fall into that trap.

"So a speedy-- or maybe that's misleading, but an effective plan to resolve that dilemma, would be what I was talking about before, an analysis of the "stormy villa" pattern."

"I see." Leroux nodded seriously. "So the subject of the modern fair-play mystery should be the stormy villa. That's what you're saying?"

It was nearing the end of March. Despite being almost spring, the wind blowing over the sea was still cold.

Sticking out from the east coast of Oita Prefecture in Kyushu, are S Peninsula and J Cape. They had departed from a rustic harbor in S Town near there, and the boat's wake now pointed toward the barely-visible J Cape. Their destination was a small island about five kilometers seaward.

The weather could not have been more flawless. Although, due to the dust flurries common for spring in this region, the sky appeared more white than blue. The sun's rays, which formed a blurred haze in the sky, struck the waves and became silver scales. Enveloped in the veil blown in from the distant shore, the environs appeared misty.

"I don't see any other boats," said the burly young man leaning on the opposite side of the boat from Ellery and the others, who had been silently smoking a cigarette until now. He was in need of a haircut and a comb, and the lower half of his face was covered by a dark beard-- This was Poe.

"The currents're strong towards the island. Most boats'll avoid it," the cheery old fisherman responded. "The fishing spots for this area are way further south. Comin' towards the island from here, you won't see many boats. --Speakin' of, you sure are a strange lot of students."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"In the first place, your names're weird. I've been listenin' a little, and I've only heard stuff like Leroo and Elery and stuff. You must be the same, yeah?"

"Yeah. Well, they're basically nicknames, I guess."

"Do the university kids these days all use names like that?"

"No. That's not what I meant."

"Ah, then you lot are strange."

Near where Poe and the fisherman were standing, a long wooden box was set towards the center of the boat; currently using it as a bench were two young women. Including the fisherman's son grasping the rudder at the back, the boat's passengers numbered eight.

Excepting the fisherman and his son, the other six were all students at K University in O City in Oita Prefecture, and members of the mystery club. Hence, the names Ellery and Carr and such were, as Poe stated, a sort of nickname used between members.

Explaining this outright may be in bad taste, but naturally, the nicknames originated from Ellery Queen, John Dickson Carr, Gaston Leroux, and Edgar Allen Poe -- western mystery novelists who deserved great respect. The two women were called Agatha and Orczy. Surely it doesn't need to be said that these were taken from Agatha Christie and Baroness Orczy.

"Hey, take a look, children. You can almost see the mansion up on Horned Island," the fisherman raised his hoarse voice. The six young men and women simultaneously turned their eyes toward the island coming into view up ahead.

It was a small, flat island. Cliffs rose from the sea almost vertically, and dark greenery covered the top. It almost looked as if a stack of copper coins were floating on the sea. From the front, they could see three points that jutted out slightly; perhaps those were once likened to horns, hence the name Horned Island.

This island with sheer cliffs on every side had only a single inlet, which the small fishing boat could barely squeeze into. Because of that, there had never been even a stray curious fisher who'd thought to pay a visit. More than twenty years ago, a bizarre building called Blue Mansion was built on this island, and people had lived there, but now it was once again a true uninhabited island.

"Um, I think I can barely see it at the top of the cliff," Agatha spoke up, standing from the wooden box. She brushed back her long wavy hair which had become disheveled from the wind, and grinned broadly.

"You got it. That's what's left after the fire. The main building completely burned down, I'm afraid," the fisherman explained loudly.

"Hmm, so that's Decagon House, huh? ---So hey," Ellery got the attention of the fisherman. "Have you ever been up there?"

"I've come into this bay to avoid the wind many a time, but I've never been up there, no. Besides, I don't wanna come so close to where that incident happened. You all be careful now too."

"Careful of what?" Agatha turned to ask.

The fisherman's voice got one notch quieter. "This island is where it appears."

Agatha and Ellery shared a knowing glance for an instant.

"The ghost. Ya know, they say it's that Nakamura guy who got killed." The wrinkles deeply etched into the fisherman's dark-skinned face slowly distorted, then seemed to vanish, into a wide smile. "That's what I've heard, at least. On rainy days or whatever, passing ships supposedly see a white figure just standing there on the cliff. That's Nakamura So-and-so's ghost beckoning you, apparently. Besides that, they also report seeing lights where no one should have been, or a disembodied soul wandering the ruins, or that the ghost sinks ships that get too close."

"Don't waste your breath, man," Ellery said, barely concealing a chuckle. "It's no use. The more you try to scare us, the more excited we'll get."

In truth, the only one among the six to become very slightly afraid was the one still sitting on the wooden box, Orczy. Agatha seemed entirely unperturbed. Quite to the contrary, she was murmuring "awesome, awesome" under her breath as she flew towards the tail end of the boat.

"Hey hey, is it true? What he just said?" She faced the fisherman's son -- a boy with some innocence left in him -- and interrogated him in high spirits.

"It's made up." After glancing up at Agatha, then averting his gaze as if from the sun, the boy answered curtly. "I heard the rumors too, but I've never seen it in real life."

"Dang. Really?" A shade of disappointment crossed Agatha's face, but quickly became a teasing smile. "But it'll be cool if a ghost does show up though," she said. "After all, it is the place where that incident happened."

Wednesday, March twenty sixth, Nineteen eighty six. Just past eleven in the morning.

Okay so I didn't want to break up the flow of this scene with too much commentary, so I'll say it here.

First of all, oof! I was sick today but I powered through to translate this all in one sitting. But that probably didn't affect me too much. And I'm sure that once I get an ear for the style of this in English, as well as, you know, typing in the SA box, I'll get faster. No way am I doing this every day though lol. Ideally, I'll do a bit each day for a comfortable several updates a week, but all I'll say for now is that if I don't update for a week then I'll make myself post no matter what. Like, I'll do what I did today. Honestly, the existence of a full translation available to you is a huge motivating factor in, like, not boring you guys. It's also a motivating factor to write good, but... heh, we'll see what you think I guess. Also, I practically didn't edit this once I finished, because I am very exhausted, so PM me about any errors (if you care that much lol) and I'll fix em. Also also, just as a side note, I've found that the chapter sections are pretty much all equally long. Like, it's really good at consistent lengths I think. So we won't have to worry about one being ridiculously long or disappointingly short or anything.

Translation notes in spoiler tags just cuz I want to distance myself from "admitting" that this is my translation, heh...

Horned Island: Tsunojima. It's probably obvious why I chose to translate the island's name, since they almost immediately reference the meaning of the name in the text. Something I feel it's important to say though is that the first part of the name is the same as the center character in the word for decagon, as well at the name of the building.
Blue Mansion: Ao Yashiki. Well, this was an obvious choice because the building has such an obvious translation that sounds perfectly fine. But for completion's sake I want to make the real pronunciation of proper names available to you guys.

So! Since we were just whirlwind introduced to a bunch of characters, let's talk about them!

Ellery in particular is very fun to ~~translate~~ read, personally (and he was half the loving words in this post lol). He's just such a lovable little poo poo. I half to wonder how much of his spiel is just directly from the author's mouth, basically, and how much is exaggerated because Ellery is a pompous poo poo.

I like how Orczy is literally only characterized so far by a single throwaway line about being, I guess more skittish than the others? I mean, it's only fair. If you don't say anything, how can you expect the text to devote words to you?

Well actually, Carr isn't characterized much more than Orczy is. btw I hope I get faster at typing Orczy's name soon Like, he's kind of just... offended at Ellery. And crude. Despite the fact that he said like maybe 10 words to Ellery, I think their dynamic is funny. And can I mention that I love when Carr starts ignoring Ellery and Ellery just turns to Leroux and keeps talking without missing a beat?

Speaking of Leroux, well he has glasses. That's his character. No but seriously, at least we also know he gets along with Ellery.

Agatha kind of seems like your stereotypical energetic tomboy.

Poe, well, he smokes and he's pretty chill. His interaction with the fisherman is priceless, lol. He kind of reminds me of Kiryuu from the Yakuza series in a way... like, in the way he's very straight-forward in his answers and sets the fisherman up for a joke.

Fisherman is literally a cookie-cutter Japanese fisherman, and his son barely had any screentime but he seems angsty.

Veeeeerry broad strokes characterization at this point. Which I think is perfectly okay! To be honest, I feel like the six named characters have at the very least been thoroughly differentiated from each other, which is really valuable right away. And really, their only purpose is to be suspects anyway right? :v:

Another thing I like about this "chapter" is how it chunks up the little scenes without needing to do an asterisk break or whatever. We're kind of taken physically around the boat to the different conversations.

Ok wow I probably have more to say but I am very tired so I will add more later if I think of it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on anything tho! I live for feedback so tell me I'm great and I'll probably post more lol.

edit: Oh yeah I also think it's hilarious how they keep referring to that incident because it's like, of loving course there's a mysterious incident. It's so par for the course that let's not even dwell on the supposed drama of it.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 12:03 on Mar 25, 2019

# ¿ Mar 17, 2019 09:47

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

@white crane

I made pretty much all your suggested edits. Thanks a bunch for helping out.
Also, re: the "Ellery wearing glasses" thing, gosh darn it! That's exactly why I used a semicolon instead of a comma in that sentence! I guess it wasn't enough lol.

(also expect an update in an hour or two)

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 04:34

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

2

The inlet was located on the island's west coast.

Cliffs towered on either side. The right-hand side was a particularly steep rock face, such that the entire southern edge of the island formed a nearly twenty meter vertical drop. As for the eastern edge with its violent waters, the cliffs reached about fifty meters high.

Directly ahead, the rock formed a slope worthy of being called a cliff as well. Among the rocks and some small smatterings of dark-green shrubbery was carved a thin flight of stairs in a zig-zag pattern, creeping its way to the top.

The boat slowly approached the area.

Though the inlet was narrow, the waves were indeed calmer than before. The color of the water was different as well. A hauntingly deep green.

To the left was a wooden pier. Further in, they could see a decrepit boathouse.

"Are you guys sure you don't want me to come check on you, even once? The phones're dead here, ya know." After the six stepped onto the dock, which was creaking a concerning amount, the fisherman followed after them.

"We'll be fine," Ellery answered, putting a hand on the shoulder of the hairy man beside him -- Poe -- who was sitting on his cheap backpack smoking a cigarette. "We've got our very own doctor-in-training right here."

Poe was a fourth year medical student.

"Yeah. What Ellery said," Agatha chimed in. "Besides, we came all this way to stay on an uninhabited island, so it'd totally ruin the mood with you checking in on us."

"You've got spunk, kid." The fisherman gave a toothy grin as he undid the ropes fastened to a stake on the pier. "Then I'll come back on Tuesday of next week, around ten. Be careful, now."

"Thanks. We will. Especially of ghosts."

＊ I guess I'll break the quote tag like this for storybreaks, I think it looks good.

quote:

Upon reaching the top of the long, steep stairs, their field of vision instantly widened. With a field that had been thoroughly wrecked by the elements as its front lawn, a single-story building with white walls and a blue roof stood there as if waiting for them.

Directly facing the stairs was the entrance, a double-door painted blue. Several small steps lead a small ways up to the door.

"So this is Decagon House, eh?" Ellery was the first to speak, though still breathless from the climb. He set down his camel Boston bag where he stood and gazed at the sky for a moment. "What're your thoughts, Agatha?"

"It's surprisingly nice." Agatha dabbed her pale forehead with a cloth.

"I think it's... well... what I'm trying to say is..." Leroux was gasping for air as well. His hands were full of luggage, both his and Agatha's. "I was hoping it'd feel more... I don't know... depressing."

"Yeah man, it's never what you expect. Anyway, let's go inside. Van was... supposed to be here by now. I wonder where he's at," said Ellery, having caught his breath and picked up his bag, and in practically the exact same moment, the shutters of the window directly left of the entrance flung open, and a young man stuck his head out.

"Woah, you're here!" And with that, the seventh member of this week-long island stay, Van, appeared. Of course, that name originated from S. S. Van Dyne, father of Philo Vance. "One sec. I'm coming," he said in a weirdly hoarse voice, and closed the shutters. A short time later, he emerged from the entrance at a trot.

"Sorry about not welcoming you properly. I've had a small cold since yesterday... I felt feverish so I was resting. I tried to listen for the boat, but yeah."

He had come to the island slightly in advance in order to make various preparations.

"You're sick? Are you okay?" Leroux seemed concerned as he rubbed sweat off his glasses.

"I wish I could say yes." His lank body quivered visibly as he gave an uneasy smile.

＊

quote:

Van lead the group through the entrance of Decagon House.

Past the blue double-doors was a spacious entrance hall --- or so it seemed, but it quickly became apparent that the spaciousness was an illusion. In reality, there wasn't all that much space. It was only because the room was not rectangular in shape that it appeared that way.

There was another pair of double-doors at the end of the room, but upon closer inspection the interior wall was rather narrower than the entrance. In other words, the entrance hall could be described as a trapezoid that got narrower towards the building's center.

The six besides Van exchanged confused glances at this bizarre construction that distorted one's sense of distance, but once they'd stepped through the doors into the central hall, those glances turned to nods of understanding. That was because they were now surrounded by ten walls of equal width, in a decagon-shaped room.

In order to better understand the structure of this building called Decagon House, perhaps it would be best to lay out a basic floorplan.

The distinguishing feature of Decagon house was, as the name suggested, the decagonal shape of its outer wall --- moreover, it was a perfect decagon. And within that large decagon was inlaid a smaller decagon, the main hall, with straight lines connecting each of their respective vertices and forming ten distinct blocks. Put differently, the mathematically perfect decagon of the main hall was surrounded by ten isosceles trapezoid rooms. And one of those trapezoids was the entrance hall they'd just passed through.

"Well? Pretty weird, right?" Van turned to face the rest. "Those doors opposite the entrance hall go to the kitchen. The door to the left of that is for the bathrooms. And the other seven are guestrooms."

"A decagon building with a decagon hall." Ellery turned to look at every wall of the room as he made his way to the large table at the center. He poked the edge of the table, which was painted white. "And this is a decagon too. I'm surprised. That Nakamura Seiji who got killed, you think he had OCD or something?"

"Probably," Leroux responded. "The main house that burned down, Blue Mansion, I heard that everything from the floor to the ceiling to the furniture was all covered in blue."

The man who, over twenty years ago, had built Blue Mansion on this island and then moved into it --- His name was Nakamura Seiji. Naturally, the one who built the subsidiary building Decagon House was the same Nakamura Seiji.

"But wait..." Agatha said to no one in particular. "How are we supposed to tell the rooms apart?"

The doors to the entrance hall and the kitchen, opposite each other, were both plain wooden double-doors with textured glass around the frames in identical designs. When they were both closed, it was impossible to tell one from the other. Additionally, the four doors on each side were all made of the same wood and were difficult to distinguish from one another. Since the main hall had no furniture that could be used as a landmark, Agatha's concern was quite justified.

"Good point. I almost went in the wrong door a bunch of times since this morning." Van laughed bitterly. Perhaps because of the fever, his double-eyelids were slightly puffy. "I think it'll be fine if we make nameplates and put them on the doors. Orzcy, you brought your sketchbook, right?"

Startled at hearing her name so suddenly, Orczy raised her head meekly.

She was a short girl. Possibly due to insecurity over her chubby physique, she wore primarily dark-toned clothing, which instead made her look all the more dull. As a stark contrast to Agatha's natural charisma, Orczy's timid eyes were always focused on the ground. However, she found a use for herself in her hobby of traditional Japanese painting.

"Ah, yes. I brought it. Should I get it out?"

"Nah, we'll do it later. So anyway, everyone pick your rooms. They're all the same, so don't fight over it. I went ahead and chose this one for myself," Van said, indicating one of the doors.

"I made sure to supply the necessities. Keys are in the keyholes."

"Alright. Sweet," Ellery responded enthusiastically. "Let's rest for a bit and then explore the island."

TL notes in spoiler tags!
Nakamura Seiji This name is altogether very normal, but it's worth noting that it contains the symbol for "blue". HMMMM. If I was going to localize the names like I'm 4kids or something, I think I'd call him Nick Blueford. Lol maybe I'll do that for all the names in the future. It's fun.

There's a lot here that makes me highly suspicious -- not of the characters -- but of what kind of tricks the author is expecting to pull with these details about the house's layout. And I love how the kids are tempting fate with that whole "don't come back for a week" thing. Place bets on who's gonna die first :smuggo:

Umm also stuff about Orczy! Eyy

Ok I really want to say more words about substantial stuff, so that it looks like I'm justifying the let's read, but I really just want to get this update out so I can go watch youtube or something :v:

Please discuss. I'll be obsessively refreshing my bookmarks.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 02:31 on May 11, 2019

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 05:42

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

AFancyQuestionMark posted:

Calling it now, someone is going to invite a victim into their room, murder them and then switch around the nameplates so it would seem like the victim was killed in another room.

This would only work until someone tries to leave the building lol.

But I am just as suspicious as you over those nameplates.You (as an author) don't just do something like that for no reason.

edit: @white crane

I was actually wary of that line myself but I thought that "shoulder of Poe" would be just as awkward. If I was wrong about that then I'm happy to change it.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 14:51 on Mar 19, 2019

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 13:33

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Yeah, your first example is good, and I think the only reason I didn't do it before is I'm self-conscious about any time I'm writing too many words for a relatively compact jpn sentence. It's a concern I should kick cuz there's nothing inherently wrong with that.

I'm less inclined to do stuff like your second example, just cuz there's a distinct implication (I feel) that anything said in the narration can be taken as unequivical truth, whereas dialogue is just, you know, what someone said. That's also why I need to make sure I'm keeping stuff that's like, guessing about Orczy's motivations for wearing dark clothing, instead of stating for 100% fact that she is insecure of her weight.

edit: wait lmao your first quote didnt change it at all. I'm actually dumb

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Mar 19, 2019

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 14:21

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

"Are you guys sure you don't want me to come check on you, even once? The phones're dead here, ya know." After the six stepped onto the dock, which was creaking a concerning amount, the fisherman followed after them.

"We'll be fine," Ellery answered, putting a hand on the shoulder of the hairy man beside him -- Poe -- who was sitting on his cheap backpack smoking a cigarette. "We've got our very own doctor-in-training right here."

Poe was a fourth year medical student.

I think this is a good compromise.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 14:44

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

3

Before long, rooms were assigned.

Proceeding left from the entrance hall were Van, Orczy, and Poe, and from the right, Ellery, Agatha, Carr, and Leroux.
(Refer to Fig.1 "Floorplan of Decagon House")

Once the six others had disappeared with their luggage into their respective rooms, Van leaned against the door to his room, pulled out a Seven Star from the pocket of his ivory down vest, and held it in his mouth. Then he looked over the dim decagonal hall once again.

The walls were white plaster. The floor was covered in large blue tiles, and seemed to be designed for wearing shoes inside. The ceiling, which was vaulted diagonally from all ten sides, terminated with a decagon skylight in the center, the light from which poured past the rafters and onto the white decagon table. Around the table were ten wooden chairs draped in blue cloth. Excluding the spherical light fixture suspended from the rafters like a pendulum, there were no other furnishings.

The electricity was disconnected. The room was illuminated solely by natural light from the skylight. For that reason, even at midday an insidious gloom roamed inexplicably.

Soon, Poe lumbered out of his room wearing faded jeans and an aqua shirt.

"Oh, that was fast. ---Wait, I'll brew some coffee." Van headed towards the kitchen, half-smoked cigarette between his fingers. He was currently a third year student in the science department. By that count, he would be one year younger than Poe, who was in his fourth year studying medicine.

"Thanks. ---So it must've been a lot of trouble bringing up all the blankets and everything."

"Oh, not at all. I had help from the movers."

At that moment, Agatha left her room with her long hair done up in a scarf. "Nicely done, Van. I thought the room would be way grodier. ---Did I hear you say coffee? I'll make some for everybody."

Agatha stepped into the kitchen in high spirits, but upon finding the black-labelled glass bottle, lifted it with a frown and said "What, just instant?"

"Don't expect luxury," Van said. "This isn't a resort hotel. We're on an uninhabited island."

Agatha's lips, colored a rosy pink, curled slightly in a pout. "Well what about the food?"

"It's in the fridge. It's useless though, since the electric and phone lines were cut during the fire. What's in there should be enough though."

"---Yeah, seems fine. Is there running water?"

"Yep. There's a stable water supply and it's all connected. Also, there's a propane tank hooked up too, so the stove and boiler are working. Which means the bath works too, if we get tired."

"Awesome job. ---Hmm. Are the pots and silverware left over from back then too? Or did you actually bring all of it?"

"No, they're left over. Three knives too. The cutting boards were all moldy though."

Orczy then walked in with a nervous gait.

"Oh hey Orczy, help me out. I'm glad so much stuff was left behind, but it all needs to be cleaned super bad." Agatha shrugged off her black razor jacket. Then, to Van, and Poe who was peeking into the kitchen from behind Orczy, she said "If you're not gonna help, then leave. You can go explore the island without us. We'll do coffee later."

She glared at them with a hand on her hip. Van forced a smile and withdrew dejectedly along with Poe. Agatha called out to their backs in a sweet voice. "Don't forget to make those nameplates. I don't want you bursting into my room while I'm changing."

Ellery and Leroux were already in the hall. "Chased out by the queen?" Ellery grinned as he gracefully rubbed his slender jaw. "Why don't we follow her orders and check out the island?"

"Sounds good. ---But where's Carr? Still in his room?"

"He left by himself," Leroux said, looking toward the entrance.

"Already?"

"That guy thinks he's a lone wolf," Ellery sneered.

＊

quote:

Turning right after leaving Decagon House, to the north, was a row of pine trees. That row of trees broke off at a single point, where the branches of the black pines on either side came together in an arch overhead. The four passed through that arch and walked to the charred remains of Blue Mansion.
(Refer to Fig.2 "Map of Horned Island")

The remains of the mansion consisted of only the barely-recognizable foundation and some filthy rubble scattered about. The front garden was in complete disarray and covered thickly with ash, and even many of the surrounding trees were noticeably withered, likely due to the heat of the flame.

"Completely destroyed... Wow. That fire was no joke." Ellery sighed as he surveyed the desolate landscape.

"Yeah, gee. There's nothing left."

"Oh Van, this is your first time seeing it too?"

Van nodded. "I've heard a bunch about it from my uncle, but this is my first time on the island. It was a lot of work getting all my luggage set up, and I was feverish too, so I wasn't up to strolling the island on my own."

"Hmm. Not that you missed much. It's just ash and rubble."

"You were totally hoping to find a dead body in there, weren't you Ellery?" Leroux said, smirking.

"Quit it. You're the only one who'd be into that."

To the west, there was a single small break in the trees. Shortly past that was a cliff. Beyond the vast blue ocean, a shadow of J Cape was faintly visible.

"Great weather. It's quite calming." Ellery looked out at the sea while stretching exaggeratedly.

Hands wrapped in the hem of his yellow sweatshirt, Leroux faced the sea as well. "It really is. Hard to believe, isn't it Ellery? That just half a year ago, in this very spot, that gruesome incident occurred."

"Gruesome... that's a good word for it. The Mysterious Quadruple Murder At Horned Island Mansion."

"In books, we're used to seeing five or even ten people get killed, but for it to happen in real life, and so nearby too... When I saw the news I was shocked."

"I believe it was early on September twentieth. The residence of Nakamura Seiji on Horned Island, also known as Blue Mansion, had gone up in flames and burned to the ground. In the wreckage, they discovered Nakamura Seiji with his wife Kazue, as well as the live-in servant couple, for a total of four corpses," Ellery explained dispassionately. "Large doses of sleeping medication were detected in all of the bodies, and it was determined that the causes of death were not all the same. The servant couple were in their own room, bound with rope and then struck in the head with an axe. Seiji, the head of the household, was drenched in kerosene and obviously burned to death. And discovered in the same room as him, the wife Kazue was evidently strangled to death with a cord-shaped weapon. Furthermore, the left arm of her corpse was severed below the wrist. And that hand was never discovered anywhere in the wreckage.

"Does that about sum up the incident, Leroux?"

"Wait, wasn't there also a gardener who went missing?"

"Ah yes. The gardener who'd arrived at the island several days prior and was never found, and nobody's heard from him since."

"Huh."

"There are two schools of thought about that. One is that the gardener was the culprit, and intentionally went undercover after the incident. The other is that the culprit was someone else. Like, maybe the gardener survived the initial attack, fell off a cliff while fleeing, and his body was washed away by the tide..."

"From a police perspective, the gardener = culprit theory sounds the most probable. I don't know what kind of further investigations they did though. What do you think, Ellery?"

"Lets see..." Ellery lightly brushed back hair that the wind had blown into his face. "Unfortunately, there's just not enough data. All the info we have is from the frantic, in-the-moment news broadcasts, and newspaper articles and stuff."

"Hey when'd you get so lame?"

"It's not lame. If you want me to cobble together some reasoning, I could. But the details are way too few to contain any solid proof. The police investigation was probably horrendously insufficient. When the actual scene of the crime has been reduced to this, what do you expect? And there were apparently no survivors. So yeah, it's natural to just jump to the conclusion that the gardener did it."

"Yeah, you're right."

"You could say that... the truth is lost in the ashes."

Swiftly turning a half circle, Ellery stepped into the heart of the wreckage. Then he picked up a stray piece of wood. Bending down, he peered underneath it.

"What are you doing?" Leroux asked, confused.

"Wouldn't it be interesting if that wife's hand showed up?" Ellery answered with an extremely serious look on his face. "Or if we went under the floorboards of Decagon House, and found the gardener's bleached-white corpse."

"drat, that's disturbing." Poe, who had been silently listening to their exchange, looked disgusted as he stroked his beard. "You've got some great taste there, Ellery."

"Seriously," said Leroux. "I didn't bring it up earlier on the boat, but if something happens here tomorrow or whatever, it'd totally fit that "stormy villa" stuff you love so much. If some serial murders like "And Then There Were None" went down, you'd be pretty overjoyed, wouldn't you?"

"Except he's the kinda guy who'd get killed first." Poe was a quiet man, but every so often he spat venomous remarks.

Van and Leroux looked at each other and snickered. Seeing this, Ellery said "Serial Murder on Lonely Island, eh? Hm, I like it." He showed no sign of embarrassment.

"I'm ready for it. I'll take on the role of detective. Well? How about it? Does anyone wish to challenge me, the great Ellery Queen?"

Fig.1 "Floorplan of Decagon House"

Fig.2 "Map of Horned Island"

--
Alright, so we've been sufficiently infodumped about that incident. I've got a teensy hunch that it'll be extremely important to the current murders that are obviously nigh. Also, to be honest it would be one HECK of a reverse psychology misdirect if it turns out the gardener actually did do it lmao. For me, the weirdest part is that missing hand. Like, first of all why was it cut, and second of all why was it never found. Are those the same reason or...?

I am also highly suspicious of those three knives. Actually, the way this author writes makes me suspicious of practically every single detail, because he's both super economical with scene length and also super thorough in his descriptions. Which make me think every single thing he goes out of his way to explain has to come back later. Is Agatha planning a murder and cleaning the dishes is part of the trick?? I don't knooowww!

If we're playing by "it has to be a misdirect" rules, then Van and Carr are already out for ever having been alone and hence suspicious, and hence not the culprit. And kind of same with Ellery for them literally saying how much he sure would love it if a murder happened. But I have a feeling Mr. Ayatsuji is doing all of that poo poo on purpose.

P.S. White Crane, you did a really admirable job drafting up a floorplan! I feel kinda bad that you didn't know the text provides one for us! For what it's worth though, I was really glad to see that you took the effort to make one, and also that the description was sufficient for you to independently make practically an identical floorplan, minus some details.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 02:51 on May 11, 2019

# ¿ Mar 20, 2019 05:55

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

The_White_Crane posted:

Again, I assume it's a byproduct of the original Japanese, but those two short "Then Agatha left her room"/"Then Orczy walked in" feel very unnatural in English.

I did this because both of them were introduced with そこに (soko ni) which is both really curt and gives the impression of like "at that exact moment, X happened." However, the final gospel is whether it sounds good in English, so it must be changed. Somehow though, I feel like something's missing by just taking away the "then" like there's no transition at all. I'll think about it.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2019 17:13

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

@white crane
Well it didn't feel repetetive because in the original they occurred in different parts of the sentence. Also I feel like the Orczy sentence is somehow entirely fixed by switching two words. "Orczy then walked in with a nervous gait." And I can put "at that moment" on the Agatha sentence.

I sort of feel you wrt the point about repetition, but a lot of that is also on me. For example jpn has SO many ways of coloring the verb 笑う which covers the entire spectrum of laughing/smiling. So basically all of the multiple "smirks" and "grins" and "snickers" deserved entirely different words every single time but there simply aren't enough words in English. That also applies to quite a lot of transition words, like the number of ways to establish contrast or form condiionals is wayyy larger than English. Interestingly I was also having trouble in the 2nd update with all of the different words for "steep" that were used. In the description of the island I don't think the same word was ever used twice but I ended up having to say "steep" like five times.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2019 21:10

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

4

�This kind of place is totally disadvantageous for us women. If we�re not careful, they�ll use us like glorified maids.�

Agatha grumbled as she dexterously put away dishes. Standing next to her, Orczy got distracted by the quick movement of those slender white fingers, and accidentally let her own work slow to a halt.

�We should make the boys do some kitchen work too. We can�t let them get too lazy just �cause we�re around. Don�t you think?�

�Oh, um, yeah.�

�Seeing Ellery all serious wearing an apron and holding a ladle, that�d be priceless. And also probably kinda cute.� Agatha laughed without a care. Orczy stole a quick glance at her attractive profile, and held back a sigh.

The smooth bridge of her nose, framed by mature features. The light violet shadow around her eyes, flawlessly applied. That finely-styled wavy length of hair....

Agatha was always cheerful and brimming with confidence. Her personality was more like a boy's, yet she was fiercely attuned to her own femininity. She appeared to all but bask in the gazes of the men who admired her charm and beauty.

(Compared to that, I'm---)

A small button nose. Freckle-covered cheeks, red like a child's. Large eyes that would normally be cute, but were out of proportion with the rest of her face, making her anxious fidgeting all the more obvious. Even if she used makeup, she knew it wouldn't fit her like it did Agatha. Timid and anxious to the point of disgusting herself, and dim-witted on top of that....

It was impossible to ignore that Agatha and herself were the only women among their group of seven. That fact was a weight on her heart that she couldn't escape.

I shouldn't have come. Thoughts such as this were plaguing her.

She had been reluctant to visit the island in the first place. It felt almost like... desecrating a grave. However, she had been too meek to refuse her friends' vigorous invitations.

"My, Orczy, that's a lovely ring," Agatha said, looking at the middle finger of Orczy's left hand. "Have you been wearing that this whole time?"

Orczy shook her head vaguely.

"Ah, then someone gave it to you as a gift?"

"N, no... That's not..."

Orczy recalled the moment she'd decided to come to the island.

It's not a desecration, it's a mourning. I'm going to the island as a mourning for the dead, she told herself. And so....

"You're the same as ever, Orczy."

"---Huh?"

"You're always shutting up inside yourself. I've known you for two years already, but I feel like I barely know anything about you. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You're just... puzzling."

"Puzzling?"

"Yeah. At least, I feel that way sometimes when I read your stuff in the club bulletin. In the stories you write, the characters are always so energetic and cheerful. But..."

"That's escapism." Orczy avoided Agatha's eyes, hanging her head and letting a clumsy smile show on her lips. "I'm not fit for real life. The me in real life is terrible. I don't like her."

"What are you talking about?" Agatha smiled and flicked Orczy's short hair. "You've gotta be more confidant. You're cute, you know. It's just that you can't see it yourself. So quit acting so glum and hold your head up high."

"---You're a good person, Agatha."

"C'mon, let's finish this up quick so we can start on lunch. Kay?"

＊

quote:

At the remains of Blue Mansion, Ellery, Leroux, and Van remained. Poe had wandered off alone into the woods bordering the ruins.

"...So? Come on, Ellery. You too, Van. We're gonna be here for seven whole days, so at least think about it. Please?" Behind his comical silver-rimmed glasses -- though he would refuse to refer to them as such -- a flame burned in Leroux's eyes. "I'm not talkin' a hundred pages. But at least fifty."

"You've gotta be kidding, Leroux."

"I am always extremely serious, Ellery."

"But you can't put that on us all of a sudden. We weren't planning anything like that. Right, Van?"

"I'm with Ellery."

"Ugh, that's the point. Haven't you been listening? I want to release Dead Island earlier than normal, like mid-April at the latest. First of all to attract new students to the club, but also I want an especially big commemorative issue for our tenth anniversary. I'm finally becoming the new editor-in-chief, so I want to give it my all. I definitely don't want my first club bulletin to be all thin and pathetic."

Beginning this April, Leroux, second year literature student, would begin the role of editor in chief for the club bulletin Dead Island.

"Well Leroux, I mean..." Ellery took an unopened pack of Salems from the pocket of his wine-colored shirt, and broke the seal. He was a third year law student, and the current editor of Dead Island. "You've gotta butter up Carr in a situation like that. He's our most prolific writer, after all. ---Sorry Van, can I get a light?"

"You've been an especially poor example of that today, Ellery."

"What? No I haven't. Carr came at me first."

"True. Carr's been in an awkward mood, huh," said Leroux.

Ellery chuckled as he slowly exhaled smoke. "There's a reason for that."

"What do you mean?"

"The poor guy made a pass at Agatha recently, and got instantly denied."

"At Agatha? Wow, he's got guts."

"And then, maybe as revenge or something, he tried for Orczy too, but she wouldn't date him either."

"Orczy too...?" Van raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. So the dude's not having a great time."

"Geez, no wonder. He's forced to stay under the same roof as both the girls who rejected him."

"Exactly. So you've gotta butter him up real bad if you even want him to write a word."

That's when they spotted Agatha approaching from the direction of Decagon House. Shortly after passing under the arch of black pines, she stopped and waved with a wide motion at the three of them.

"Time for lunch! ---Wait, where's Poe and Carr? Weren't they with you?"

＊

quote:

The forest path behind Decagon House---

He'd gone in because he wanted to check out the eastern cliffs, but the further he went, the thinner the trail became. And furthermore, the seemingly random twists and bends made him lose his sense of direction before even fifty meters in.

It was a dismal wood.

Between the trees, thickly overgrown kumazasa plants clawed at his clothes with every step. The terrain was also harsh, and he nearly tripped countless times.

He considered turning back, but that would also be trouble at this point. This was a very small island. The possibility of getting so lost you couldn't find your way back was essentially nonexistent.

The throat of the turtleneck sweater he was wearing under his jacket was damp with sweat. Just when his discomfort had reached its peak, he finally reached the end of the forest.

It was right on edge of the cliff. The brightness of the sea stung his eyes. Then, he noticed the burly man standing there facing the sea --- Poe.

"Hm? Oh, Carr." Having turned at the sound of footsteps, then recognizing Carr, Poe returned to face the sea. "This is the north cliff. That's probably Cat Island." He pointed to a tiny island visible nearby.

It was small enough to mistake for a reef. Barely a lump of land on the water, with a light smattering of bushes on top. As the name "Cat Island" suggests, it looked as if some huge, black beast were crouching in the ocean.

Glancing at the island for a second, Carr said "Mhm" and gave a slight nod.

"What's wrong, Carr? You seem down."

"Hmph. Just wishin' I never came here," Carr spoke roughly with a scowl. �There obviously won�t be anything interesting at this point, about that incident last year. I figured it�d still be a good creative stimulus, but... hmph, when I think about how I�ve gotta look at everyone�s faces for a whole week, yeah I�m feelin� down.�

Same as Ellery, Carr was a third year law student. However, since he�d taken a gap year after highschool, he and Poe were equals by actual age.

He was of medium height and muscle. Due to his short neck and slouched posture, however, he appeared rather small.

�What�re you doin� standing here all alone?�

�Nothing really.� Beneath his bushy eyebrows, Poe�s already thin eyes got even thinner. He removed a cigarette from the cherry wood case dangling from his waist like an inrou, and put it in his mouth as he held another out to Carr.

�drat, how many boxes of those do you have? You�re literally always offering them to people, and still smoke like a pack a day yourself.�

�What can I say? I like �em, despite studying medicine.�

�Larks, as always. Not a very health-conscious choice.� While he complained, Carr still grabbed the cigarette from Poe. �Though it�s leagues better than Ellery�s menthols...�

�That's not helping, Carr. You keep jumping down Ellery�s throat. It'll just make you more miserable. The more you try to pick fights with him, the more he'll feel justified in riling you up."

Carr lit the cigarette with his own lighter, then looked away in a huff. "I don't need your pity."

Poe showed no sign of being offended. He merely blew smoke in silence, savoring the taste.

After a time, Carr threw his half-smoked Lark into the ocean. Then he sat on a nearby rock and removed a whiskey flask from his jacket. He violently opened the top and took a large swig.

"Day drinking? Really?"

"Oh, lay off."

"I'm not impressed," Poe said in a stricter tone. "Can't you restrain yourself a little? At least during the day...."

"Hah. You're still worried about that?"

"Well, as long as you understand."

"I don't understand. How long has it been since then, huh? You can't worry about it forever."

Shooting a fierce sidelong glance at Poe, Carr raised the bottle again to his lips. "Ellery's not the only one ruining this for me. Bringing girls along to an uninhabited island doesn't sit right with me."

"You say uninhabited island, but it's not like we're living in the wilderness."

"Hmph. Even when I'm in a good mood I hate bein' around stuck up girls like Agatha. And Orczy's even worse. Through some stupid twist of fate, these past one or two years we seven have become kind of a friend group, which I'm drat embarrassed to admit, but how the hell did we end up with such a depressing, useless girl? And she's so frickin' self-conscious..."

"That's cutting too deep, I think."

"Oh, whoops. I forgot you and Orczy were sort of childhood friends."

Poe stomped out his cigarette disconsolately. Then, as if remembering something, he looked down at his watch. "It's already one thirty. We should head back soon. Don't wanna miss a meal."

＊

quote:

"Before we eat, listen up." Wearing a slim pair of lensless glasses with gold frames, Ellery addressed everyone. "Next term's editor-in-chief would like your attention, please."

Arrangements for lunch were set out on the decagonal table. Bacon and eggs with a garden salad, french toast, and coffee on the side.

"Erm, as we meet for this meal, I'd like to formally announce..." Leroux began stiffly, then cleared his throat in an overly formal manner. "As you all know, we had the idea to visit Decagon House back at our recent New Year's party. At the time, no one thought it would actually come to pass, but wouldn't you know it, since his uncle got his hands on the property soon afterwards, Van invited us here."

"It wasn't an invitation. I just said I could ask my uncle about it, if you really wanted to come."

"How humble. ---So Van's uncle, as you know, runs a real estate business in S town. Being a shrewd and enterprising man, he also drafted plans for a large-scale remodeling of Horned Island into a resort and spa aimed at young people. Isn't that right, Van?"

"It's not anything so extravagant though..."

"Well anyway, it's thanks to him that we were able to get to where we are today, acting as his first test group technically. I'd also like to show my gratitude to Van for waking up early to come make all manner of preparations for us. Sincerely, thank you very much." Leroux gave a respectful bow towards Van. "Now, to address the main topic---"

"That's fine, but the eggs and coffee are getting cold," Agatha interrupted.

"I'll be quick, I promise. Oh you know what, fine. I don't want your hard work to go to waste, so go ahead everyone, listen while you eat.

"Um, so all of us gathered here today bear names bequeathed to us by our classmates who have already graduated, and all the expectations that come along with that. In other words, this is a meeting of the most trusted writers in our club...."

In the K University mystery club, referring to one another by nicknames was a tradition passed down since the club's inception.

Ten years ago when the club was started, the founding members decided that because of the child-like nature inherent to mystery-lovers, they would choose nicknames based on famous western mystery novelists. Then, as the years went by and membership increased, naturally there weren't enuogh notable authors to pick from anymore, so their revolutionary solution was the "name inheritance" system. Essentially, upon the graduation of a name-bearing member, that name would be inherited by the underclassman of their choosing.

Of course, it became standard for the selection of successors to be based upon the quality of one's contributions to the club bulletin. Consequently, the ones who bore those names currently were by all accounts the leaders of the club, and therefore had had many opportunities to meet together.

"We've got all these strong writers gathered, about to spend a week on an uninhabited island with no worldly distractions from our thoughts. We've got nothing but idle time." Leroux looked at each member with a calm grin. "I've prepared writing paper. Everyone, we're going to publish the bulletin in April, so this trip is going to be a writing getaway. I thank you in advance for your hard work."

Agatha let loose an exclamation of surprise. "No wonder! I thought your luggage looked weirdly bulky. So that's what you were up to."

"Indeed, I was up to this. Agatha, Orczy, I believe in you."

After giving a slight bow, Leroux scratched his round cheeks and went "Eheheh...." He gave the impression of a bespectacled fukusuke. On the faces around the table, dumbstruck smiles were leaking out.

"You realize we'd probably all write about serial murders on an isolated island, right? What'll you do then?" Poe interjected.

Leroux puffed out his chest and said "Then we'll advertise it as a theme of the issue. Actually, why don't we write with that goal in mind. That's actually perfect. 'Cause the bulletin's name Dead Island was the title of the original Japanese translation of Christie's famous novel, right?"

Nudging Leroux with an elbow, Ellery whispered conspicuously to Van in the next seat over. "Goodness me, this editor-in-chief means business."

SCENE BY SCENE COMMENTS

Agatha, your first line is wrong on so many levels, I don't even know where to start. You made Leroux carry your bags for you, Van offered to make coffee first before you barged in, and then you're the one who insisted on washing the dishes! Maybe you're just making girl-talk with Orczy but geez girl, get it together!

Okay, it'll take a lot to convince me that Orczy isn't experiencing lesbian angst here.

Speaking of, I feel kind of insecure about my writing in that Orczy/Agatha scene. It's our first look into Orczy's mind and the text has a ton of delicacy but I keep feeling like I couldn't get it to sound quite right. But if I keep staring at it I'll never get the update done, so...

---

Important to remember: the Japanese school year starts in April. That would make this, I guess, their between-years break (equivalent of summer vacation). I'm assuming their given years are what they're about to start, since otherwise, like, Poe would have already graduated lol.

That also means that a "New Year's party" is also like an "end of school party". Just stuff to keep in the back of your mind.

---

Everyone else gets a single random mention of their field of study, but for Poe it's BY THE WAY HE'S A MEDICAL STUDENT every chapter lol. Not only that but we've been reminded several times that he's a senior.

---

With this exposition about the name inheritance, it's pretty clear that the mystery club is more than just a reason for the main characters to poke the fourth wall. poo poo is probably gonna get complicated there...

---

(edit: oh yeah, so now Poe has also been alone, and it wasn't explicitly stated but let's not forget that Orczy was also alone while Agatha went to fetch people for lunch, and Agatha technically could have done any nefarious poo poo on her way over. So the ONLY one who hasn't been blatantly allowed room to be suspicious is Leroux. and maybe, maybe Ellery)

As always, please alert me to any embarrassing typoes I may have missed.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 07:41 on Mar 26, 2019

# ¿ Mar 23, 2019 13:23

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

5

The sky darkened on the first day without incident.

Aside from Leroux's call for manuscripts, no one had any particular commitments. The group had never been the type to hang out together for no reason, so when nothing else was going on they each spent time doing their own things.

Then, evening---

"What are you up to, Ellery? Fiddling with playing cards all by yourself." Agatha had just left her room. The bright yellow scarf typing up her hair popped vibrantly over the monochrome of her white blouse and black razor pants.

"I've been into this lately. I wouldn't go so far as to call myself an enthusiast though." Ellery rifled through cards and smiled.

"You're into... what? You've started doing fortune-telling?"

"Seriously? As if." While skillfully shuffling the cards atop the decagonal table, Ellery proclaimed "With cards like these, we're obviously talking magic."

"Magic?" Agatha stared blankly for a moment before going "Aha" and nodding. "Come to think of it, I did notice that about you."

"Notice what?"

"Y'know, your habit of confusing people for fun."

"I'm not sure I like that wording."

"Oh, you don't?" Agatha smiled brightly. "Well c'mon, show me something. I haven't seen that many magic tricks before."

"Really? It's rare to find a mystery fan who's not also interested in magic."

"I didn't say I don't like it. I just haven't had the chance to see a lot. So show me one."

"Alright. Come and sit down then."

Since the sky was nearing full darkness, the main hall of Decagon House was awash in very dim lighting. Agatha sat in the chair facing Ellery diagonally with the table between them, as Ellery gathered up the cards, set them aside, and procured an additional deck of cards from within his jacket.

"Now then, I have here two different decks, red backs and blue backs. From this point on, You'll be using one deck and I'll be using the other. Would you like to pick?"

"I'll do blue," Agatha answered immediately.

"Cool. Then go ahead and take the blue cards." Ellery handed the blue deck across the table. "First, after you make sure there's no trick to those cards, I'll let you mix them up as much as you like. And I'll shuffle my red cards too. Sound good?"

"Yeah. These are definitely normal playing cards. American?"

"They're called Bicycle Rider Backs. The design on the back is an angel riding a bicycle. It's the most popular brand over there." Ellery placed his carefully shuffled deck on the table. "Now, we exchange decks. Hand over the blue ones. And here's the red ones. ---Okay. Next, you with me? You're going to pick out a card and remember it. Then I'll do the same with the deck you mixed up."

"Any card I want?"

"Yep. ---You got it? Now put it back on the top of the deck. Then cut it once just like I did here. Just switch the top half and bottom half like so. Yeah, you got it. Do that two or three more times."

"---Is that enough?"

"Perfect. You did great. Now we switch decks one more time." Once again, he passed the blue deck to Agatha. Looking directly into Agatha's eyes, he said "Good? Now what have we done here? We've each picked a single card out of different shuffled decks, then put them back and shuffled again."

"Yeah, obviously."

"Alright, now, if you will, please search through that deck for the card you memorized. Then place it face down on the table. And I'll look for my own in this deck."

Soon, there were two cards, one red and one blue, on the table. Ellery took one breath, then ordered Agatha to flip both cards on the table.

"Wha--- How?" Agatha couldn't help but be surprised. The face of both cards showed the exact same suit and number.

"Four of hearts, eh?" Ellery said with a self-satisfied grin. "Not a bad choice, if I do say so myself."

＊

quote:

When the sun set, an antique oil lamp was lit in the center of the decagonal table. Van had brought it, hearing that the electricity was cut. In each of the rooms other than the main hall, thick candles were liberally arranged.

When dinner was over, it was already past seven o' clock.

"Come on Ellery, tell me how you did those tricks before." After distributing coffee to everyone, Agatha poked Ellery's shoulder.

"I'm still not gonna say. Revealing your methods is a strict taboo in magic. In that sense it's very different from mysteries. Because in magic, no matter how fantastical it seems at first, knowing the trick will always disappoint you."

"Agatha, don't tell me Ellery made you into a guinea pig for his tricks, did he?"

"Oh, you knew he did magic tricks, Leroux?"

"Heh, I knew alright. I was basically his sleight of hand punching bag for the past month. He told me to keep it a secret until he was good enough. He was surprisingly childish about it."

"Hey, watch it, Leroux."

"Which one did you show her?"

"Oh, just a couple simple techniques."

"Whaat, those were simple?" Agatha was becoming more disgruntled. "Then it's fine. Just tell me."

"It's a faulty assumption that I should tell you just 'cause they're simple. That first one I showed you is so basic that even little kids can figure it out, but it's not really about the trick itself at all, but the performance of it. That and misdirection."

"Performance?"

"Yeah. For example..." Ellery picked up his cup and sipped his black coffee. "It was pretty much the same trick as the one in the film Magic, in the part where Anthony Hopkins's character, a magician, does a trick for his childhood lover. He doesn't perform it like a normal magic trick, but as an ESP experiment. First he established that if the wavelengths of their minds were compatible, then their cards would match. And with that setup, he managed to seduce her."

"Hmm. So, you were trying to seduce me in the same way, then?"

"Oh please," Ellery dismissed with an exaggerated gesture, letting his teeth show from between his rosy lips. "Unfortunately, the courage to seduce Her Majesty is currently beyond my grasp."

"Very well said."

"Why thank you. ---By the way..." Ellery lifted the coffee cup again, and spoke while examining it intensely. "This is a topic change and I know we mentioned it earlier, but that Nakamura Seiji... he was totally obsessive. Like, I'm kind of getting chills looking at this cup."

A stylish moss-green cup. It was one of the many pieces left behind in the kitchen cupboard, but the noteworthy aspect was the shape. Indeed, it was a decagon identical to the building itself.

"They must be custom made. That ashtray too, and the plates we've been using. Every single thing in here is a decagon. ---What do you think of that, Poe?"

"Nothin' much," Poe said, putting his half-smoked cigarette into the decagon ashtray. "Obviously I find it a little eccentric, but wealthy people usually have fun in weird ways like that."

"Wealthy people having fun, huh?" Holding the cup in both hands, Ellery peered into it from the top. Although it was technically a decagon, with the small diameter of such a cup, it appeared round. "Well anyway, even if it was just for the sake of seeing Decagon House, coming all the way here was worth it. It makes me want to drink a toast to the deceased."

"But Ellery, sure we're all glad to be here, but besides Decagon house, there's nothing exciting about the island itself. It's nothing but a barren pine forest."

"That's not true," Poe said to Agatha. "At the cliff to the west of the ruins, there's a nice rocky area, with stairs leading right down to the beach. Maybe we can actually do some fishing."

"Speaking of which, Poe, you brought fishing tools, didn't you? That sounds fun. I hope we can eat some fresh fish tomorrow." Leroux licked his lips.

"Don't expect too much, dude." Poe softly rubbed his beard. "Also, there's a bunch of sakura trees growing out back. The buds seemed really big when I checked, so maybe they'll blossom in two or three days' time."

"How wonderful. If that happens, let's all watch."

"That'd be nice."

"Sakura sakura and more sakura... Why is it that whenever you mention spring, it turns into a sakura-fest? Personally I like peach and plum blossoms way better."

"That's because you're a hipster, Ellery."

"Really, Leroux? Because long ago in this country, the truly distinguished folk admired plum blossoms much more than sakura."

"Wait, is that true?"

"Indeed it is. Right, Orczy?"

Startled at being spoken to so suddenly, Orczy jumped slightly. Then she nodded with a faint blush.

"Care to elaborate, Orczy?"

"Err... right. Well, in the Man'youshuu, the most common poem subjects are clovers and plum blossoms. Each of them are featured in more than a hundred verses, but the sakura is only mentioned in about forty."

Same as Leroux, Orczy was a second year literature student. Her area of study was English literature, but she was also quite knowledgeable in classical Japanese works.

"Wow, I didn't know that," Agatha said, impressed. She was completely out of her element as a third year pharmacology student. "Tell us more, Orczy."

"Ah, okay," Orczy answered anxiously. "The time of the Man'youshuu was a period of widespread Chinese supremacist thought, so the sensibilities of mainland China were greatly influential in Japan. We see a lot more poetry about sakura starting from the Kokin Wakashuu... um, but they're mainly about the falling leaves."

"Kokin... that's the Heian period, right?" Ellery said.

"Emperor Daigo's reign. Early tenth century..."

"It's probably 'cause the quality of life was so depressing in that period, that there's a lot of poetry about falling leaves."

"Maybe. What I'm talking about is the period of Daigo's reign referred to as the Engi era. At that time, the falling of sakura leaves was associated with the season where infectious diseases were easily transmitted. Believing that the sakura invited illness to the land, the imperial court instituted a flower appeasement ceremony. Um, so that's probably... related...."

"I see, I see."

"What's wrong, Van? You've been awfully quiet," said Poe, looking at Van who was hanging his head in the next seat over. "You feeling sick?"

"---Yeah. I have a small headache."

"You seem pale. ---And you're hot."

Van lifted his head with much effort, and sighed deeply. "Sorry, but I'm gonna go to bed early, if that's okay."

"Yeah. Of course."

"Kay. Goodnight...." Placing both hands on the table, Van slowly pushed himself out of his chair. "Don't worry about me, guys. Make as much noise as you want. That stuff doesn't bother me."

Once everyone said goodnight to him, Van slunk into his room. After the door was closed, the hall returned to silence for a moment. Then, a small metallic clack sounded.

"What an rear end in a top hat," murmured Carr, who'd been silently tapping his foot until now. Seeming on edge, his sanpaku eyes flashed open. "Making a show of locking his door. Like he's some overly self-conscious woman."

"The sky's bright tonight." Pretending not to hear, Poe looked up through the decagon skylight.

"That makes sense, since it was a full moon the day before last," said Leroux. Light was pouring delicately into the skylight. The light from the lighthouse on J Cape was visible from the island.

"Look, the moon has a ring around it. That means it'll rain tomorrow."

"Haha, you believe that superstition, Agatha?"

"Don't be rude, Ellery. It's not entirely superstition, you know. It's got something to do with the water vapor in the air."

"The weekly forecast said it'll be clear skies for a while still."

"Well at least it's more scientific than believing in the rabbit on the moon."

"Ah, the rabbit on the moon," Ellery said with a sarcastic grin. "Did you know? On the Miyako Islands, they see a man carrying a bucket instead."

"Oh, I think I've heard about that before," Leroux cut in with a smile on his round face. "The gods ordered him to bring a drug of immortality and a drug of death down to the human world, right? But he made a mistake and accidentally gave the immortality drug to the snake, and the death drug to the humans. So as punishment, they made him carry the bucket to this day... or something like that."

"Yeah, that's it."

"There's a similar story from the Khoikhoi tribe," Poe said. "But instead of a man, it's also a rabbit. When the rabbit failed to follow the word of god, he threw a rod at him, splitting his lip in three."

"Hmm. The things people come up with are the same no matter where you go." Ellery leaned his lanky body back in the blue chair, arms crossed. "There are still a lot of places that see rabbits on the moon. Like China and India..."

"India too?"

"The Sanskrit word for moon is 'shashin' which literally means 'having the hare'."

"Huh." Reaching for his box of cigarettes on the table, Poe looked up at the skylight again. A small piece of the sky, cut into a decagon shape, and the yellow moon floating in it.

Horned Island, Decagon House.

The faint lamplight cast wavering shadows of everyone on the white walls of the hall.

Aimlessly, the night went on.

CHAPTER 1 DONE!!

I hope you enjoyed this installment of "kids talk about random crap for a while".

I've gotta say, I did not (when I first read it) expect the chapter to end with such a rambling montage of basically completely random, seemingly irrelevant subjects. I mean, we went from a (all things considered) pretty random American horror movie, to which plants are featured in classical Japanese poetry, to myths about the moon. I can't even begin to fathom at this point how all of these things could possibly be relevant enough to justify taking up this much space, when Ayatsuji has established pretty strongly that he has no intention of wasting time/words. In another book I might write it off as a weird diatribe (or, well, a whole heap of diatribes), but because of this book's reputation I will trust him, and therefore continue to be super concerned for what kind of crazy puzzles we're gonna be faced with that requires this random crap to be established here.

Also, a whole heck load of time was spent on that card trick as well. It's almost like this entire section was Ayatsuji making GBS threads all over his own pacing, and I'm just waiting w bated breath for it to come back into play so I can understand what this was all about.

Oh yeah, shout-out to wikipedia for making poo poo easier for me sometimes lol. Also note: I'm not loving smart, I had to look poo poo up for all that history talk. Really though all you need to know is that those are books of poetry, and maybe compare the years on them. Recommended reading is the sanpaku article though because there's some interesting implications there. I'll quote the main bit here, a quote from some expert on superstitions or something:

"For thousands of years, people of the Far East have been looking into each other's eyes for signs of this dreaded condition. Any sign of sanpaku meant that a man's entire system � physical, physiological and spiritual � was out of balance. He had committed sins against the order of the universe and he was therefore sick, unhappy, insane, what the West has come to call "accident prone". The condition of sanpaku is a warning, a sign from nature, that one's life is threatened by an early and tragic end."

Watch out there Carr. I don't want you to die before you get any character development! You can't just be an rear end in a top hat, right?

Ah, one more thing, I spent a really long time trying to find sources for the Sanskrit thing, and huzzah! I finally did! Also here is a way vaguer but super old and scholarly source which at the very least connects the sound "shashin" with rabbits, sort of. Alright, that's enough nerdy poo poo for one post.

Next up will be the start of chapter 2 :toot:

@white crane: aagh, I just put preview to check over the next update and you've posted like RIGHT when I was about to! Guess I'll use this space to reply to you also lol. I went back and checked the word for the lensless glasses and then looked it up on google images (an indispensable translation tool btw), and it turns out they could have plain glass or empty holes, the word isn't specifically one or the other. I kind of assumed it meant there was no glass which is why I said lensless, but maybe "fashion glasses" would be more accurate, tho it kind of sounds stupider. Oh yeah also my nitpicky friend wanted me to mention that she approves of your grammar corrections lol. Also in general thanks for being my partner in crime, almost :P

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 07:40 on Mar 26, 2019

# ¿ Mar 25, 2019 16:53

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

The_White_Crane posted:

The reason I asked was because it seems like something that could come up in the future, with them possibly getting broken and there being/not being glass at the scene, and I wondered if it would be relevant, though obviously you wouldn't want to reveal that in advance.

I'm not dodging spoilers, I just actually have no idea lol. I'm not saying exactly what I don't know because even knowing what there's a *lack* of between now and the end of chapter 4 (where I paused) would be spoiling. No I'm not gonna tell you whether someone dies by then :v:

(i'm not gonna read ahead until I translate the first 4 chapters. Cuz at that point I want to be able to give my unfiltered thoughts w/o any future knowledge. And also, like, I don't want to have to read the entire thing twice lol. It'll be rly fun for me once I catch up I think.)

I think I can say w confidence though that if the glass part of Ellery's glasses will be in any way relevant, then it'll be explicitly specified at some point. Simply the fact that they were brought up (and have gold frames rather than Leroux's silver frames) makes me think something will happen. But like, every detail makes me think that and there's no way it'll ALL be used to solve a murder....... right?

Oh also I forgot to mention that I do know how Ellery did that card trick. It's really not that hard to figure out. Well, granted I've had almost the exact same trick done to me before but the production of it was way worse so I figured it out instantly.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2019 20:04

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

Chapter Two
First day - Mainland

quote:

1

Reclining on the futon laid out sloppily in the middle of his room, Kawaminami Takaaki frowned in thought.

Eleven in the morning. When he'd returned home just now, that letter had been slipped into his mail slot.

He had stayed up the previous night playing mahjong at a friend's dorm. Like always, even after arriving back at his room the sound of the shuffling tiles had echoed hazily inside his head, but as soon as he saw the contents of that letter, he completely snapped out of it.

"The heck is this?"

Rubbing his eyes, he picked up the envelope the letter was in and reexamined it closely.

It was a manila envelope with no distinguishing features whatsoever. The postmarked date was yesterday --- March twenty fifth. The shipping address was within O City. The only strange part about it, if he were pushed to say, might be that all the text was typed with a word processor.

There was no return address. Only the name "Nakamura Seiji" printed on the back of the envelope.

"Nakamura Seiji," he muttered to himself. An unfamiliar name. ---Wait, no, he felt like he'd heard it somewhere before.

He sat up, crossed his legs on the futon, and returned his focus to the letter itself. A word processor had also been used for this part. The paper was B5 size and high quality.

"The girl you all killed was my daughter, Chiori."

He did recognize the name Chiori. It was probably Nakamura Chiori from back then. In that case, maybe her father was this Nakamura Seiji.

It had already been over a year since the incident last January.

K University's mystery club, which Kawaminami used to be a part of, had held a New Year's party. Nakamura Chiori had been a relatively new member of the club, one year below him, meaning she'd been a first year. Kawaminami was currently a third year, a fourth year next month, but last spring he'd quit the club.

At the third party of the night, Nakamura Chiori had died.

Kawaminami had left the restaurant early, after which the "accident" had happened. A heart failure brought about by acute alcohol poisoning, he'd heard. Apparently, by the time the ambulance had reached the hospital, she was already beyond treatment.

Kawaminami had attended her funeral.

As Chiori had been living wth her grandfather on her mother's side, the funeral service had been conducted there as well. But to Kawaminami's recollection, the chief mourner hadn't been named Seiji. It had been a much more old-fashioned male name. A name much more suited to a grandfather than a father. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen anyone at the funeral who'd seemed to be Chiori's father either.

So then, why would someone claiming to be her father send such a letter to someone he'd never met?

In the letter, "Seiji" had emphasized that Chiori was killed.

Considering that his daughter died of alcohol poisoning at a social event where she'd been made to drink, it was probably natural to feel that she had been killed. But even if you wanted to voice that opinion, why wait until over a year had passed before doing so?

After thinking for a bit, Kawaminami suddenly straightened his posture.

(Nakamura Seiji... Ah!)

The knot of memory was starting to unravel.

He stood up violently. Then he went to the steel rack against one wall and pulled out several files. They were full of newspaper clippings he used for his hobby.

(I remember... It was last September...)

After a bit of rustling, he found the article he'd been looking for.

Once his finger found that large, bold headline, Kawaminami sat on the floor with the file still open in his hands.

"Convicted by the dead, huh?"

＊

quote:

"---Ah, is this the Higashi residence? Um, I'm a student at K University. Is Hajime there?"

"Is that you, Kawaminami?" The voice on the other end sounded like Hajime's mother. "He actually just left on a trip this morning, with a bunch of his club friends."

"Mystery club members?"

"Yes. What did he say again, something about an uninhabited island."

"An uninhabited island? Do you know the name?"

"Hmm, I think it was called Horned Island. Near the S Town harbor."

"Horned Island...." Kawaminami gripped the receiver tightly, thoughts racing. "Er, did you happen to receive a letter addressed to Hajime?"

"A letter?"

"Yes, a letter from a man named Nakamura Seiji."

"Well..." She hesitated a bit, but perhaps she picked up on the urgency in Kawaminami's voice, because she continued "Wait one moment please," and put him on hold. The sound of a music box beat harshly against his ear for a while, and then the voice returned with an apprehensive tone.

"It came. Why did you want to know?"

"It's there? It's really there?"

"Yes..."

All at once, the strength left his shoulders and he felt awkward for some reason. "Oh, um, thank you for your help. ---No, it's nothing. Sorry for disturbing you."

After hanging up the phone, Kawaminami kept standing there, leaning against the wall.

It was an old building. If too much body weight was applied, the entire wall would moan. From outside the ramshackle window, the sputtering sound of the washing machines could always be heard.

(A letter from Nakamura Seiji also got sent to Higashi's address...)

He blinked his bloodshot eyes several times.

(Maybe it's just a prank.)

After checking the club address book, he phoned an additional two, then three of the other members who'd been present at that third party of the night. However, none picked up, and the rest lived in school dorms, so he wasn't able to confirm anything. ---Except...

They were currently on a trip. And of all places, the trip was to Horned Island where that problematic incident had taken place. ---Could that possibly be a total coincidence?

Having mulled it over to exhaustion, Kawaminami opened the address book again, this time looking for the number listed for the late Nakamura Chiori.

Okay, so the post-chapter break is done and I'm updating again. I'm definitely not gonna do this every time, but I was getting tired and it was a convenient time to take a break. To be honest, I was considering doing section 2 in this update too because this is kind of a relatively short update, but since it's introducing an entirely different "side" of the story, and also establishing elements that may put the main cast's actions in a different light, I figured it's enough. But yeah I'm going back to 3-ish times a week update schedule.

It was at this point in reading that I truly started to feel scared for how complex the puzzles will be in this novel, and the reason is the names. The -minami part of Kawaminami's name is both written and pronounced like the word for "south". Higashi (which is one of the guys on the island if you didn't catch that) is written and pronounced like the word for "east" and his given name Hajime is written with the symbol for the number one. ALL THREE OF THESE THINGS ARE ALSO MAHJONG TILES BY THE WAY. Maybe I'm thinking too much into it, but the fact that the "east coast" or "south coast" etc of the island are referenced a bunch, and the mention of mahjong, makes me super scared for the extent of the puzzles later. Like, idfk how this stuff would be incorporated into a mystery but still. This is also revealing that the true names of the other 6 island kids will probably also be relevant, and we might have to piece together the names with the students.

More explicitly though, we have 2 major reveals in this section. The mysterious letters, and Chiori's death. Both of them have huge implications, but I don't know exactly what they're implications of. It's all pretty crazy and hopefully you'll start to realize soon why I felt the need to go back and reread/write the entire thing down in English. Cuz it doesn't stop being like this.

the published translation translated "third party" as "after-after-party" every single time which is so drat stupid and makes me very angry at how bad it sounds. Yeah, it was difficult to think of something that isn't a mouthful, and "third party of the night" isn't perfect, but it's goddamn better than goddamn after-after-party lol.

Another note which confuses me slightly, is the specification that Kawaminami is a 3rd year 4th year next month, meaning what I guessed about everyone's years is wrong. That doesn't affect much except for I'm confused about Poe. I guess he's going to start a graduate program next month? Cuz as far as I know, Japanese university is 4 years. If someone knows better, please correct me.

So, like, I hope people are enjoying this besides just White Crane (i love you tho wc) and the couple peeps who posted to tell me theyre lurking. I know there's no real murder to rly have fun solving yet (at least not one happening in the present), but it's definitely already throwing tons of puzzle pieces at us. I'm not sure how many of them fit together yet, but this is what we'll have to work with as foundation once the murders start, so don't brush it off. I'm pretty sure we're gonna be referencing the pre-murder chapters quite a lot in the course of trying to solve them.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Apr 7, 2019

# ¿ Mar 30, 2019 09:25

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Lord Zedd-Repulsa posted:

If there's one thing Japan loves, it's hidden meanings in character names so could you share how the ones we know so far are written and try to offer that as we readers learn them?

I've been trying to mention the parts that stood out to me, but yeah I can give the full run-down so you're in the loop. Keep in mind that I have no idea what kinds of associations jpn readers might make with certain common names. I can really only notice what's not a normal kanji to see in names, or what's a weird pronunciation.

Nakamura: This family name is overwhelmingly average in both writing and pronunciation, so I doubt we'll find any clues in here, but for the sake of completion I'll explain how it's written. [naka] is a very very common word meaning "inside" and stuff that's abstractly tied to the concept of inside-ness but that's the case for literally every kanji that's not a straightforward noun. [mura] is also a very very common word meaning "town/village".

Seiji: [sei] is written with the kanji for "blue" (same as the one used in his creation, Blue Mansion, tho it's pronounced differently there), and has a normal pronunciation in the name. It is also associated with youth, and paleness (like pale skin may be described as "blue"). The [ji] part is just used in a lot of words concerning leadership, and it's also used a loooot in names. All it makes me think is that in-universe his parents wanted him to have leadership qualities.

Kazue: This is super common writing of a super common name. The first symbol is mainly used in words meaning "peace" and peaceful stuff, though I also just see it a lot in women's names. The only thing that might stand out to me about this name is that the second symbol is the same as the word for "branches" that was used in reference to the pine trees on the island.

Chiori: Another very typical pronunciation and writing. [chi] simply means a thousand, or just like all big numbers it's also sometimes used to just mean "many" but not that often cuz there are bigger numbers to use. [ori] is used to refer to textile weaving and stuff, and in one or two common words it's used abstractly for stuff like organizational structures. I don't really see a meaning there.

Kawaminami: His name is weird for being pronounced as just the flat out words "river south" instead of the alternate pronunciations which are what's usually used in names. I'm pretty sure any Japanese person would try to read his name as Kounan at first. Notably, the "river" part of his name is not written like the common word for river (which is pronounced kawa), but it's all but exclusively reserved for official names of very specific large rivers. Most importantly though (maybe?) is that it's one of the kanji in the word for "inlet" used a lot when talking about Horned Island.

Takaaki: Very typically pronounced/written surname. [taka] I've barely seen at all outside of names, but according to my dictionary I guess it has to do with respecting your elders. the [aki] means light/brightness. Pretty straightforward.
(edit: actually I'm pretty sure this is his given name since it's written 2nd when he's introduced, but he's always referred to as Kawaminami in the text, so shrug)

Higashi Hajime: This name is really stupid for being a full name that's a collective 2 whole kanji long. It also does the same thing as Kawaminami's name and gets pronounced as actual words. "East first" by pronunciation, or "east one" by writing.
(edit: I also want to point out the only reason I "know" Hajime is a boy is because of the honorifics Kawaminami used about him when talking to his mother. I find it highly unlikely that anyone would talk to a mother about her daughter and use -kun, but in the extremely unlikely event that Hajime turns out to be one of the girls, don't crucify me lol)

I'll do this from now on for new characters. Remind me if I miss any.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Mar 30, 2019

# ¿ Mar 30, 2019 10:50

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

In this update, we get namedropped real places for the first time. If it's not too annoying, I'm gonna link photos from google images so you guys can better visualize the settings (I did that for a bunch of other things too). I'll also arrange them all on a map of Japan for you at the end of the update, along with estimates of where places like O City and S Town might be.

quote:

2

Starting from S Town, where the members of K University mystery club had all departed, it was a half-hour bus ride plus forty minutes by train to reach O City. It was probably less than forty kilometers away in a straight line. From O City, it was a mere four kilometers to Kamegawa Station, where Kawaminami disembarked and headed up the mountain path facing the station.

He had phoned the household of Nakamura Chiori's grandfather, and once he announced that he was once Chiori's friend from school, the amicable older woman who'd answered the phone, most likely a household servant, had agreed to answer any questions.

He'd been too embarrassed to ask about the issue directly.

Eventually, he'd managed to indirectly confirm that Chiori's father was indeed the Nakamura Seiji of Horned Island, and then he'd also taken the opportunity to get the address of the younger brother, Nakamura Koujirou. The existence of a brother named Koujirou was intel he'd learned while studying his newspaper articles.

Apparently, Nakamura Koujirou currently resided in Kannawa, Beppu. Since he worked as a teacher in the local highschool, and it was spring break right now, Kawaminami figured he'd be at home.

Beppu was once where Kawaminami's family lived. So due to his own familiarity with the area, along with his innate curiosity bubbling up inside him, his ears had perked up at the location. Therefore---

Without even thinking to contact him first, Kawaminami had immediately decided set out for Koujirou's house.

Kannawa is home to the famous hot springs "Hells of Beppu". Beneath the cloudless sky, along the gutters of the hilly roads, and in the gaps between houses, white steam rose and hovered on the wind. Nearby on his left, a mountain stood like a black wall, Mount Tsurumi.

After passing through the small shopping district, the town quickly gets quieter. This was where many inns, and vacation houses meant for long stays were lined up one after the other.

Working with only the address he'd received on the phone, Kawaminami eventually found the house without much effort.

It was a single-story home with a calming aura. Past some short hedges, yellow enishida, white yukiyanagi, and pink sarasaboke flowers were all showing the signs of spring.

Kawaminami passed through a gate inlaid with a lattice door, and walked a stone path to the front door. After taking a deep breath, he pushed the doorbell. A short time later, a full baritone voice called from the other side.

"Who is it?" What appeared was a man dressed in a manner entirely inconsistent with the Japanese architecture. White open-necked shirt, brown cardigan, and grey flannel pants. His casually combed-back hair had a couple of grey ones mixed in.

"Are you Nakamura Koujirou?"

"Yes, and you are...?"

"Um... I was in the same school club as Nakamura Chiori. My name's Kawaminami. Sorry for showing up out of the blue."

Koujirou's horn-rimmed glasses softened his chiseled facial features.

"You mean the K University mystery club? ---What business do you have with me?"

"To tell the truth, I got a weird letter in the mail today." Kawaminami presented him the envelope. "This is it."

Koujirou took the letter and ran his eyes over the neatly spaced letters of the address information. Suddenly, his eyebrows jumped up and he looked back to Kawaminami. "Yes, come on in. I have a friend over, but please pay him no mind. I live alone, so I apologize for the lack of hospitality."

＊

quote:

Kawaminami was lead to a tatami room inside.

It was made of two six-tatami rooms connected in an L shape. The dividing screen had been removed, so it was being used as a single twelve-tatami room.

The front half seemed to form a living room-parlor combination. On the green-grey carpet were arranged sofas of a similar color. The interior half projected into the garden to the right, and appeared to be a study. He could see numerous bookshelves as high as the ceiling, and a large writing desk. The room was also tidy to the point that you wouldn't guess he lived alone.

"Shimada, we have a guest."

In the front half of the room, a veranda overlooked the garden. Sitting there in a wisteria-wood rocking chair was Koujirou's supposed friend.

"Kawaminami from the K University mystery club. This is my friend, Shimada Kiyoshi."

"Mystery club?" Shimada said, standing up vigorously. As he did, however, the force of the motion caused the rocking chair to swing back and hit him right in the shin, so he groaned and sat back down.

Tall and thin, he was an all-around lanky man. Kawaminami instantly associated him with a praying mantis.

"Well, I quit the club last year."

"So he told me."

"Hmm." Shimada was rubbing his foot in apparent pain. "So, why'd you come to Kou's place?"

"This," said Koujirou, handing Kawaminami's letter to Shimada. As soon as he saw the sender's name, the hand rubbing his foot suddenly froze, and he looked up at Kawaminami's face.

"May I read it?"

"Go ahead."

"Full disclosure, Kawaminami," Koujirou said. "A similar letter arrived here as well."

"Whaat?"

Koujirou walked over to his writing desk, picked up a single sealed letter from atop the red-brown desk mat, and handed it to Kawaminami.

Kawaminami wasted no time examining both sides of the envelope.

It was the same style of envelope as he had received, with an identical postmark and word processor writing as well. Of course, the name written for the sender was "Nakamura Seiji".

"Can I look inside?"

Koujirou nodded silently.

That was it. The content was different, but the appearance of high-quality B5 paper and word processor writing was the same.

Still staring down at the letter, Kawaminami stood there without speaking.

An inexplicable letter from a dead man. ----It had been easy to extrapolate from there that the letter had also been sent to all the members present at that party last year. But this man, Nakamura Koujirou, also receiving a similar letter, was harder to imagine.

"What the heck does this mean?"

"I haven't the slightest," Koujirou replied. "I'm also in shock. Well, I thought it was just an ill-natured prank. Shimada and I were just discussing whether anyone could be bored enough to do such a thing. But then you showed up."

"It wasn't just me, either. It sounds like the same letter got sent to all the members' houses."

"I see."

"Could it be, possibly ---- Oh, sorry, it's rude of me to suggest that your brother might be alive..."

"That's impossible." Koujirou definitively shook his head. "As you know, my brother died last fall. I was even made to identify the body. It was a grisly sight. ----I'm sorry Kawaminami, but I don't much want to remember that day."

"Sorry. ----So then, these letters were a prank after all?"

"I can't think of another explanation. My brother died half a year ago. That is undeniable fact. And I'm not the type to believe in ghosts."

"What do you think of the letters' contents?"

"That's---" Koujirou's expression became subtly darker. "I had heard about Chiori's death when it happened, and I considered it an accident. To me, Chiori was a precious niece, so I can understand feeling as if she'd been murdered, but even then, there's nothing to be gained from resenting you children. Quite the opposite, the one I can't forgive is whoever's impersonating my brother to distribute these prank letters."

"So they're pranks, huh?" He felt somehow disappointed with that answer.

Kawaminami hazily nodded in agreement, glancing sidelong at Shimada in his chair. He was sitting cross legged, elbow on one knee, and smiling straight at Kawaminami for some reason.

"By the way," Kawaminami asked, returning the letter to Koujirou. "Did you know that the other club members are on a trip to Horned Island right now?"

"Nope," Koujirou answered apathetically. "After my brother's death, I inherited that land and the estate, but last month I sold it to some businessman in S Town. He drove the price down a lot, but in the end I knew I would never go back there. Now, I don't care what happens to it.

--------
Photos of real places!

Kamegawa Station

Kannawa

Mount Tsurumi

Maps!

I circled where Kannawa generally is, and I put dots at the most likely coasts to depart from, based on the fact that it's approximately 40km from there. (also O City should be real close to the coast near Kannawa)

Kawaminami's path to Koujirou's house was probably something like this.

edit: I forgot to do the new names!

Koujirou: the [jirou] part of this is so un-noteworthy that I'm not gonna bother talking about it. there are a billion names that end with that sound written like this. The [kou] however is interesting. It's not *the* word for red, that you'd use normally, but it is *a* word for red. Like a deep, rich red. The point is it contrasts with Seiji's "blue" name so idk what that's about.

Shimada: again the [da] part is literally at the end of a hundred billion names, but the [shima] part would make anybody's sensors go off. Cuz it is literally the word for "island" lol.

Kiyoshi: Apparently this is Shimada's given name? This is another case of the narration using his surname cuz I guess none of his family will ever be named in the novel. This kanji is associated with cleanliness (spiritual and physical) and manliness.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Mar 31, 2019

# ¿ Mar 30, 2019 19:11

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

3

Apparently, Koujirou had work he wanted to finish that day, so Kawaminami announced his leave before too long.

Before leaving the room, however, he inquired about the densely packed bookshelves in the back, and Koujirou answered that in addition to teaching social studies at the highschool, he studied Buddhology. When he elaborated "In particular, the concept of Void in early Mahayana Buddhism," it was with an oddly bashful tone.

"Void?" Kawaminami tilted his head, confused.

"You know, like in the Heart Sutra. Form is Void, Void is Form, and all that. Kou's area of research is the "Void" part of that." Shimada Kiyoshi explained, bouncing up from the rocking chair. Then he practically skipped over to Kawaminami's side and handed over the letter he'd been scrutinizing, and asked "Kawaminami, eh? How do you write that?"

"Kawa like river, and minami like south."

"Kawa----minami... I see. Hahah, that's a good name. ----Hey Kou, I'm gonna leave too if that's okay. I'll show you the door, Kawaminami."

＊

(for more about the Heart Sutra, check here for line-by-line analysis)

quote:

After leaving Koujirou's house, while walking along the mostly-empty street, Shimada stretched flamboyantly with his arms crossed behind his head. The action made his thin body, covered by a black sweater, look even more lanky than before.

"Yeah, that's a good name." Leaving his arms behind his head, Shimada repeated himself, only this time he pronounced Kawaminami's name as Konan. "So why'd you leave the mystery club? If I had to guess, I'd say it's 'cause you were incompatible with the club's atmosphere. Am I wrong?"

"That's exactly it. How'd you know?"

"I can tell that much just by lookin' at your face." Shimada grinned. "That's also how I know you'd never lose interest in mysteries themselves."

"Yeah, I still like mysteries."

"I knew it. You're a mystery lover. I also like them way more than studying Buddhism. But I don't really come across that way. ----So Konan, how'd you like to go for some tea?"

"Sure." After answering, Kawaminami accidentally laughed.

The road was an easy descent. The gentle breeze blowing from the front carried with it the scent of spring.

"Don't laugh, Konan. You're weird too, you know."

"Excuse me?"

"Just because of a single letter which was probably a prank to begin with, you came all the way out here by yourself."

"It wasn't that far."

"Hmph. Well regardless, if I happened to be in your position, I'd have probably done the exact same thing. I always have way too much time on my hands." Shoving his hands into the pockets of his black jeans, Shimada gave a toothy smile. "So? Do you think it was just a harmless prank?"

"Koujirou was really adamant about that, but somehow I'm not entirely satisfied," Kawaminami answered. "That said, I definitely don't think a ghost wrote these letters. It's most likely someone impersonating the dead. But it has too much care put into it for a mere prank."

"What do you mean?"

"They purposefully wrote the whole thing on a word processor. I doubt they'd go that far for a prank..."

"Couldn't it just be what they're used to? Word processors are all the rage these days. Actually, even Kou's got one. He only bought it earlier this year, but it's really something."

"That's a good point, they are really popular. A bunch of my friends have them too. And if you're on campus, practically every research hall has one that the students can freely use. But actually writing a letter with a word processor... that's not normal, is it?"

"True, true."

"Utilizing a word processor would obviously be for obfuscating the appearance of your handwriting, but would hiding your handwriting be necessary for a simple prank? And what's more, the content. Just judging from that... isn't it way too blunt? If they were trying to get a kick out of scaring people, I'd think they'd write in more graphic detail, with lots of shocking expressions and such. The same goes for Koujirou's letter too. For that reason alone, I'm guessing there's a deeper intention behind the letters."

"I see. A deeper intention, you say."

The slope evened out onto a large sea-front street. On the brilliantly dazzling sea, numerous boats of various sizes dotted the horizon.

"Ah, there it is." Shimada said, pointing. "Let's go there. It's real good."

A red-roofed building on the side of the road, with a weather-vane on top.

When the sign's decorative letters spelling "MOTHER GOOSE" came into view, Kawaminami couldn't keep the smile off his face.

------------
As long as I'm updating fast, small updates don't matter, right? Just take 'em as I make 'em!
I feel suspicious that I wrote it really fast and then barely changed anything on a readthrough, but whatever. That just means I'm a genius :v:

I couldn't find anything about an actual restaurant named Mother Goose in Beppu by the way. That doesn't mean it's definitely not based on some rando shop that doesn't have an online presence or, you know, isn't there anymore but most likely it's made up by the author, which means the name is very deliberate. I'm ready for the mother goose puzzles, Ayatsuji!

Idk what to say about the random reference to VERY specific Buddhist writings, except that it makes me scared (yet again!) for the complexity of this book's setup. It keeps on establishing random stuff, like mahjong/card tricks/mother goose/moon myths/cigarette brands/historical references to sakura and idk which ones will come into play. My biggest fear is that they all will.... Seriously though, could it be possible that the lengthy discussion about flower references in classical poetry was just completely irrelevant filler? Either it was, which makes no sense considering the writing style so far, or it wasn't which means what the gently caress does it mean?? I don't think I'll stop freaking out about this until stuff starts coming together.

Oh yeah also I'm pretty sure sanskrit is the language of Buddhist texts, right? So that's at least one vague connection to Ellery talking about the sanskrit word for moon.

TalkLittle posted:

Refresher on their school class years:

Orczy - 2nd year literature
Leroux - 2nd year literature
Carr - 3rd year law
Ellery - 3rd year law
Agatha - 3rd year pharmacology
Van - 3rd year science
Poe - 4th year medicine

Kawaminami - 3rd year
Chiori - 1 year below Kawaminami = 2nd year, if she were alive

Very helpful reference! Note: Carr is the same age as Poe though. He started school late. I'm also not really sure what is meant by "science" for Van, since like... medicine and pharmacology are also science. That's also kind of why I worded it like "student in the science department" instead of "science student" which doesn't really mean anything lol.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2019 22:54

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

The_White_Crane posted:

Wait, hang on:

Kiyoshi saw the letter -- shouldn't he have seen Kawaminami's name on the envelope? Or is it not common practice to write names along with addresses in Japan? Or is this meant to be a signal to us that the letter was written by someone who didn't know Kawaminami's name?

I think you might have hit on something here. Idk about common addressing practices in Japan, but there is a conspicuous lack of any mention whatsoever of the addressee's name being on the envelope. I would say that means the envelope simply didn't have a name written on it, except for one thing. A letter presumably also went to Hajime's house, and when Kawaminami asked for a "letter addressed to Hajime" his mom found it. If there was no name on the envelope, I assume the mom would've already opened it, since it came to her house.

Assuming Shimada isn't asking a redundant question , the only other explanation I can think of is that Kawaminami's name was written phonetically on the envelope. Which means possibly the sender doesn't know how to write the kids' names?

edit: There's another possibility, assuming this is something Hajime's mom would be privy to. Maybe the letters were addressed to the kids' club nicknames.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Apr 1, 2019

# ¿ Apr 1, 2019 17:11

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

4

Once they were seated across from each other by the window, Kawaminami formally looked over the full appearance of this man he had just met.

He was in his early thirties ---- No, maybe a little older.

Because of his long, supple hair, his thin cheeks looked almost scrawny. Even compared to the slender and tall Kawaminami, his build was somewhat lankier. He had a large hook nose on his dark-skinned face. His eyes were a little bit sunken in.

Peculiar was probably the word that came to anyone's mind when they met him. If pressed to say why, one might mention his melancholic and fickle aura. However, that outward impression combined with his actions up until now created a strange inconsistency, which surprisingly endeared Kawaminami to him. For some reason, it made him feel something akin to nostalgia.

It was already past four in the afternoon. Remembering that he hadn't eaten anything since the morning, Kawaminami ordered a pizza toast with his coffee.

Looking out the large glass window, he could see the line of national highway number ten, and beyond that the huge subtle arc drawn by the blue ocean. Beppu Bay. The restaurant's structure was very snug, as if it were on a city corner, and probably because of the owner's tastes, various woodblocks and dolls based on Mother Goose poems were arranged about as decoration.

"Now then, Konan. Shall we continue our discussion?" The Earl Grey Shimada had ordered arrived, and he spoke while pouring it from the pot into his cup.

"Are you talking about the letter stuff?"

"Of course."

"It's pretty much what I said before, if you're asking what I think. ----Is it okay if I smoke?"

"Go right ahead."

"Thanks." He lit the cigarette and the smoke stung his eyes badly. "Like I said before, I don't think it's a mere prank. However, if you asked me what it actually was, I'd be hard pressed for a response. As for who sent those letters or for what purpose, I honestly have no clue whatsoever. Though----"

"Though?"

"It's not like I can't make an educated guess, probably."

"Well come on, I wanna hear it."

"Basically, when I consider what reason the sender might have had to send me a letter with that message, I essentially come out with three nuances I can read into.

First is the part most emphasized in the letter, that Chiori was killed, which has a nuance of blame. The second, following from the first, is saying that he hates us and that he'll take revenge, which has a nuance of threat. And so Nakamura Seiji's name was used as the sender, because that'd be the most appropriate for this kind of letter."

"I see. And the third one?"

"The third, looking at this from a different angle than the other two, is the hidden meaning contained in the letter, kind of."

"Hidden meaning?"

"Yeah, like why dig up the name Nakamura Seiji to put as the sender, now of all times? Even if you wanted to cause a stir with a threatening letter, nobody would actually take it seriously from a dead man. A ghost using a word processor is just laughable.

That's why I think it's basically a roundabout way of telling us to take another look at the Horned Island case from last year. But I might be reading into it too much."

"No, I think it's interesting." Eyes thinning in a playful smile, he reached for his cup. "Yeah. Real interesting. Revisiting the Horned Island incident... hm. There's certainly a lot of room for reexamination with that case. ----Kawaminami, how much do you know about it?"

"I only read what was in the papers, so I'm unsure of the details."

"Then it's better if I fill you in on what I know, yeah?"

"Yes, absolutely."

"I'm sure you know the gist of the case. It took place last September at the building known as Blue Mansion. Those killed were Nakamura Seiji, his wife Kazue, and a servant couple, four in total. In addition, there was a gardener who went missing. After the murders, the entire mansion was burned down by arson. The killer has still not been found."

"If I'm not mistaken, they identified the missing gardener as the culprit, right?"

"Yes. However there was surely never any decisive proof. They just found it suspicious that he'd vanished, and concluded based on that assumption. At least that's what I think.

Now then, the details of the case----" Shimada lowered his voice slightly and began. "First, it may be necessary to introduce the mansion's owner, Nakamura Seiji. At the time, he was ---- well he's three older than Kou, so forty six years old. He was long retired by then, but at one point he was highly regarded by those in the field as genius-caliber architect...."

Nakamura Seiji was the eldest son of a wealthy family in Usa. Upon graduating highschool, he relocated to Tokyo to attend university. While studying architecture at T University, he promptly swept all the awards at national-level competitions, earning him the close attention of relevant parties. After graduation, his advising professor strongly urged him to continue into graduate school, but before he had the chance, his father suddenly passed, forcing him to return to his hometown.

The fortune left behind by his late father was a truly exorbitant sum. Having inherited that along with his brother Koujirou, it wasn't long before Seiji had built a mansion of his own design on Horned Island, and began a very early retirement.

"His wife Kazue, maiden name Hanabusa, was apparently a childhood friend from when he was living in Usa. From early on, there was a promise made between both families that the two would be fiances, or so I've heard. So, at almost the same time Seiji moved to Horned Island, the two of them married."

"And at that point he stopped working as an architect?"

"Maybe not altogether, but it was more like a hobby after that, according to Kou. He only worked jobs that interested him, and only when he felt inspired, devoting exhaustive amounts of attention on designs matching his tastes, which were exclusively bizarre houses. However that didn't stop his name from being circulated by trend-setters far and wide... resulting in numerous people traveling long distances to visit the island. Even so, in the last ten years of his life it was said that he refused nearly every request, and barely left the island at all."

"Hmm. He sounds like a strange person."

"You could also say Kou's weird for studying Buddhism as a hobby, but even he used to tell me how weird his brother was, so you know it's true. Then again, they didn't have the best sibling relationship.

Moving on, there was the servant couple living in the Horned Island mansion as well, the Kitamuras. The husband was responsible for various chores around the mansion and operating the motorboat between the island and mainland, and the wife performed all the housework. And last, there's the controversial gardener. A man named Yoshikawa Seiichi, who normally lived on the mainland near Ajimu. He visited the island once a month for several days at a time, and supposedly arrived at the island just three days prior to the fire. And that's it for the introduction of the main players.

Next, the the circumstances surrounding the incident----

The number of bodies discovered was four. Due to the fire they were all completely blackened, so the identification process was difficult, I heard. Eventually though, they ascertained the following."

The Kitamuras were struck in the head with an axe, and died in their bedroom. The axe identified as the murder weapon was discovered in the same room. Furthermore, there were signs that both had been bound with rope. The estimated time of death for both was September nineteen, the day before the fire, in the afternoon.

Nakamura Kazue died of strangulation in her own bed. She appeared to have been strangled with a cord-shaped object. Part of her left arm was missing from the wrist, though it was considered likely that it was severed after her death. The severed hand was never found. The estimated time of death was between September seventeen and eighteen.

Nakamura Seiji died in the same room as Kazue, entirely doused in kerosene and burnt to death. Large amounts of sleeping medication were detected in his corpse, though it was no different from that found in the other three. The estimated time of death was early morning on September twenty, the time of the fire.

The source of the fire was thought to be the mansion's kitchen. The culprit spread kerosene throughout the mansion in advance, and then set the fire from there.

"...The police opinion, as you know, is that the missing gardener Yoshikawa Seiichi is almost certainly the culprit. Despite all the parts that are still unclear.

For example, the issue of Kazue's left hand. What use would Yoshikawa have for Kazue's hand, and what did he do with it? Then there's the issue of the escape route. The island's only boat, the motorboat, was left at the dock. It's a bit difficult to imagine that after killing four people, he could swim all the way to the mainland in the middle of September.

The possibility of a third-party culprit has naturally been considered as well. However, there are just too many inconsistencies with that theory no matter how you face it. ----And so, that's how the police reconstructed the case under the presumption that Yoshikawa was the killer.... Hey Konan, you don't have to be polite. Go ahead and eat."

"Huh? Oh, right."

While Shimada was rambling on, the pizza toast and coffee arrived. That Kawaminami hadn't started eating yet wasn't due to restraint. He had actually been so engrossed in the conversation that he'd forgotten about the food.

"Motive. There are two theories.

First is that he was after Seiji's fortune, in other words the burglar theory. The other is that Yoshikawa was engaged in illicit love with Kazue, or perhaps full-on adultery. A prevailing opinion is that potentially both theories are correct.

Yoshikawa first dosed everyone in the mansion with sleeping medicine, and after they were asleep, performed the crimes. He tied up the Kitamuras, then did the same to Seiji and kept them in a room somewhere. Then he carried Kazue to her bedroom, and satisfied his desires with her. The first to be killed was Kazue, with her estimated time of death being a full one or two days before the other three. Traces of the body being violated after death were evident, though not definitively. The next to be killed were the Kitamuras. It is thought they were kept asleep the entire time until then. And then last was Seiji. He doused Seiji with kerosene while he was still asleep, then went to the kitchen and started the fire."

"Hey Shimada?" Kawaminami broke in, holding his coffee mid-sip. "Why did the killer let Seiji live until the very end? And the Kitamura couple too. Shouldn't they have taken care of everyone quickly, just to be safe?"

"It's possible he didn't intend to kill them at first. Like maybe after killing Kazue, his mental state gradually worsened. There's also the opinion that the very fact Seiji was kept alive supports the burglar theory."

"How?"

"Basically, it's related to Nakamura Seiji's status as an architect."

"His status as an architect?"

"Yes. Seiji, as I touched on before, had some rather bizarre tastes. If you take a look at Blue Mansion and its annex Decagon House, Seiji's designs have a very obsessive feel to them, or maybe a childish feel, or perhaps you could say they're extremely imaginative. When those tastes of his were allowed to run rampant, one thing becomes clear, and that's a preoccupation with mechanisms and the like."

"Mechanisms?"

"Yeah. I don't know exactly how far it went, but apparently in Blue Mansion especially, there were things like hidden rooms, secret passageways, and hidden safes constructed all over the building. And naturally, assuming the only one who'd know the location of those devices was Seiji..."

"Oh, I get it. In order to steal all of his money, you'd need to ask him yourself."

"Exactly. Which is why you wouldn't be able to kill him first." Shimada paused and placed one elbow on the table. "So that's it for the main points of the investigation. The search for the gardener Yoshikawa is currently ongoing. At the moment it seems unlikely that he'll be found. ----Well, Konan? Got any questions?"

"Let me think..." Draining the rest of his cup, Kawaminami thought over everything.

The more he'd listened to Shimada's explanation, the more valid he considered the police's conclusion to be after all. But then again, it was still just a conclusion based on the evidence left behind ---- or to use less favorable terminology, based on what happened to line up with the circumstances.

The case's largest hurdle was the fact that Blue Mansion was burned down. Because of that, the information found at the scene of the crime became phenomenally scarce. And on top of that, the complete lack of survivors you could ask about the state of the island at the time of, or even prior to the incident....

"You've got a troubled look on your face, Konan," Shimada said, licking his upper lip. "In that case, I'll ask a question of you, if that's okay. It's not directly related to the Horned Island case, but still."

"What's the question?"

"It's about the daughter, Chiori. I already knew Kou had a niece, and I'd also heard that she was living in Kazue's family home, in order to attend school. The same goes for that sudden accident last year where she tragically died, though I don't know the fine details about it. ----What I'm asking is, What sort of girl was Nakamura Chiori?"

Kawaminami's face unconsciously stiffened.

"She was a quiet girl. Never really standing out, with an air of loneliness wherever she went. I hardly ever talked to her. But she always seemed good-hearted, like even at parties she would diligently handle the chores."

"Hm. And what were the circumstances of her death?"

"Last January, at the mystery club New Year's party, she suffered from acute alcohol poisoning." As he answered, his eyes wandered to the window. "Normally, even when there was a special event, she would go home after the first meeting, but that day we all pressured her to stay until the end of the night. I feel horrible about that. Her body was already in a weak condition, it seemed. But everyone ignored that and made her drink too much in their excitement, apparently."

"Apparently?"

"Yes. I also stayed as late as that third party, but I had something to get to so, together with one other friend named Morisu, I left early. The accident happened after that. No, wait----" Kawaminami's hand touched the letter in his jacket pocket. "It wasn't an accident. We definitely killed her."

When he remembered Chiori's death, he couldn't help but feel partly responsible. If he'd stayed in his seat and not left early, maybe he could have stopped his friends from pressuring Chiori into drinking so much.

"You free tonight, Konan?" As if guessing what Kawaminami was thinking, Shimada abruptly spoke up with an intentionally cheery voice. "What do you say? Shall we go out for dinner and a drink?"

"But----"

"It'll be my treat. In exchange, I want to keep being your mystery partner. Unfortunately, I haven't yet been blessed with such a friend. Shall we?"

"Sure. I'd love to."

"Cool. It's decided. Let's go to O City."

"By the way, Shimada."

"Hm?"

"I think I forgot to ask before... what's your relationship with Koujirou?"

"Oh, that. Kou was my senior in university."

"University? Oh, so you're also into Buddhism?"

"Well, you could put it that way." Shimada blushed a little and rubbed the tip of his nose. "Truth is, my family runs a temple on the outskirts of O City."

"Wow, I've been talking to a monk this whole time?"

"As the youngest of three, I'm still just wandering even at this age, so I kind of shouldn't be calling other people weird, should I? My father is already past sixty but still kickin' strong, so these days the only sutras I chant are for the dead characters that show up in the mysteries I read."

As he said that, Shimada pressed his hands professionally together in prayer.

----

This update was really loving long and dense so I'll do name stuff later. Also I didn't entirely read through it because jfc it's long. Please alert me to embarrassing mistakes.

(edit: actually I'll mention one name thing though. The kita in Kitamura means NORTH goddamnit. I'm so done)

This section is our official debriefing on the 1985 event. We had the gist of it before, but now we have a lot more concrete info to go on. Let's get to solving! Well, to be honest the gardener probably did it. It makes the most sense. Occam's razor and all that.

One more comment before I forget. It's really funny how that poo poo about secret passageways kind of just frickin spits in the face of Knox's rules.

Yes my commentary is really sparse here but do you see how loving long that update was??

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Apr 4, 2019

# ¿ Apr 4, 2019 02:09

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Some thoughts:

I've been super "suspicious" of Shimada this whole time, but idk what I'm suspicious *of* since he definitely isn't, like, about to go on a boat to Horned Island and murder some kids, right? But I get this really weird feeling about how randomly excited he is to hang out with Kawaminami (and he totally controls where they go to eat and stuff), and also how many details he knows about the 1985 case. Like, you could chalk it up to him being friends with Koujirou, but still. Also he is extremely forthcoming about almost everything, like going on huge spiels when Kawaminami didn't even ask him for details, so it draws my attention to the times when he's extremely brusque with his responses. Most notably when he is super vague about how he knows Koujirou. Something isn't sitting right with me there. From what Shimada said, Koujirou is 43 or 44. And from looking at him Kawaminami estimated Shimada's between like 31 and 35-ish. Even if he's 39 the years don't really match up with knowing each other in school, do they? Also he's just loving weird lol.

TalkLittle posted:

Although the police were able to identify them and the killing methods in spite of the charring - was there some detail of the bodies covered up by the fire? Is the police report possibly faulty?

TV Zombie posted:

Why burn everything down if you've killed the victims in a different way? Getting rid of evidence?

I'm almost positive this is the case. The killer must have wanted the scene to be completely un-investigatable. Tbh I'm surprised the police were even able to get the information they did, considering the state of the house now. Like how do they even know where everyone was killed?

TV Zombie posted:

Also there is so much time between the killings and the victims having ingested equal amounts of sleep medicine that it lasted till Seiji was dealt with

This fact is also suspicious to me. There are a ton of inconsistencies. On the one hand, there wasn't even any evidence that Seiji was tied up, yet the police included it in their reconstruction, but why would the killer have to tie him up if he was asleep the whole time, as they concluded? Also, they said Seiji was doused while he was still asleep, meaning the theory of "the killer had to ask him where the money was" is out, plus if they were all drugged at the same time then clearly the killer intended to murder them all from the start. So that's both of the explanations for "why leave Seiji for last" that are wrong according to the police reconstruction. But then on the other hand, if they were drugged at different times, then what the hell was going on during those 2-3 days, and why did the killings last so long?

And what's with that loving hand! Why cut off the hand? I'm also wondering about the weapon used to kill Kazue, since the axe was discovered, where's the cord-like object?

# ¿ Apr 5, 2019 21:16

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Alright, let's do names before I start on the last section of chapter 2 (even tho these new ones prob aren't even that important, but for completion)

Yoshikawa Seiichi: The [kawa] is not the same as Kawaminami's name, but it *is* the word for river, the more common one. [yoshi] means good luck. The [sei] is not the sei from Seiji, it means truth/honesty. And the [ichi] is the symbol for the number 1. Just like Hajime's name.

Kitamura: Well okay this one is probably important considering all the blatant directional names we've gotten so far w Kawaminami and Higashi. The [kita] means north. The [mura] is the same as in Nakamura, just the word for town and also super common in names.

Hanabusa: This name evokes blooming flowers.

Morisu: This is the only one of these names that's not in my phone's autocomplete, meaning it's not super common. If I have to give it a meaning it basically means "must protect".

# ¿ Apr 6, 2019 02:56

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

5

After lifting the letter once more off the glass table, Morisu Kyouichi let out yet another sigh. He leaned against his bed, legs thrown out over the grey shag carpet.

(The girl you all ---- killed ---- was Chiori....)

He ran his eyes over that neatly-spaced word processor typing. It stirred up indescribably complex feelings.

Last January, at the mystery club's New Year's party. Morisu had excused himself early along with Kawaminami Takaaki from the same grade. It had happened after that....

The name printed on the back of the envelope was Nakamura Seiji. The man who was killed half a year earlier on Horned Island. From Morisu's perspective, this was a man he'd never met nor even seen the face of.

Just off the main street outside O City station, in the section close to the harbor, was a complex of one-room apartments called Tatsumi Heights. Morisu lived on the fifth floor.

He put the letter back into the envelope, then reached for the box of Seven Stars on the table with a small shake of his head.

For a while now he hadn't found the taste of tobacco appealing at all. However, his desire for nicotine wouldn't go away no matter what he did.

(I wonder what they're doing right about now, on Horned Island.)

As he let his mind wander, he looked over his neatly organized room.

On the easel by the window, a partially-completed oil painting stood. A number of stone Buddha figures staring into time, surrounded by trees of faded colors. ----A landscape he'd discovered in the mountains of Kunisaki Peninsula, where it seemed hardly anyone ever ventured. Currently, the painting was in the stage of light base coloring over the charcoal sketch.

The tobacco irritated his throat harshly. Unconsciously gagging, Morisu stopped after a mere two or three puffs, dipped the cigarette in water, and threw it into the ashtray.

He couldn't help but get an ominous premonition. Perhaps something entirely unexpected would...

At that moment, the phone rang.

He looked at his clock. It was almost midnight.

(There's only one guy who'd call this late....)

Morisu hesitated for several seconds, then picked up the receiver.

"Yo Morisu."

As he'd suspected, it was the familiar voice of Kawaminami Takaaki. Morisu was relieved.

"Ah, Doyle...."

"I thought I told you not to call me that anymore. ----I called you this afternoon but you didn't answer."

"I was biking to Kunisaki."

"Kunisaki?"

"Yeah. For a painting."

"Oh, I see. Anyway, did you get a weird letter in the mail today?"

"The one from Nakamura Seiji? I actually just tried calling you about it thirty minutes ago."

"I knew it. So you got one too."

"Yeah. So where are you right now? Can you come over?"

"That's why I called. I'm already close. I want to talk about the letters. Please lend me your wisdom."

"I don't have much to lend, but I'll try."

"Well, with the three of us we're bound to hit on something. Oh, right, by the way, I'm bringing another person along. I hope that's okay."

"I don't mind. See you soon."

＊

quote:

"I don't know what they were hoping for, but I'm pretty sure it's a tasteless prank," Morisu said, comparing the two letters lined up on the table. "They wrote "you guys", so I had a feeling I wasn't the only one they sent it to."

"Yeah, and yours kind of looks like a copy. I guess mine was the original?" Kawaminami picked up the letter he'd brought, examining it closely. "They probably sent the exact same one to Higashi's house. I called to make sure. And also at Nakamura Koujirou's place there was one with a slightly different message, but the same attribution to Nakamura Seiji."

"Nakamura Koujirou?" Morisu furrowed his brow. "That must be Seiji's younger brother, right?"

"Yeah. His letter said "Chiori was killed". I went to his house in Beppu earlier today. That's where I met Shimada too."

Turning towards the man who'd said nothing except a greeting earlier, Morisu gave him another slight bow. As he and Kawaminami had been bar-hopping before coming here, his dark face was thoroughly colored red. Probably because Kawaminami was also under the effects of alcohol, his breathing was irregular and his eyes were bright red.

"Tell me the whole thing from the beginning," Morisu said.

Kawaminami leaned forward and excitedly recounted the day's events, breath reeking of liquor.

"Wow, you're the same as ever. Nothing like curiosity to get you up and moving." When he was done listening, Morisu stared at Kawaminami in half-astonishment. "And you haven't even gotten a wink of sleep since yesterday, have you?"

"Now that you mention it, I guess I haven't. But still, I don't get it. Who in the world would send out all these letters, and why? What's your take?"

Morisu rubbed his temples with one hand, and closed his eyes tight. "Blame, threat, and a call to revisit the Horned Island case... hm. ----Yeah, that's a pretty good line of thinking. Particularly the message about investigating the Horned Island case, I wouldn't exactly call it subtle but it's interesting. There's definitely something to be gained from looking into it. ----Um, Shimada?"

At some point Shimada had leaned against the wall and started nodding off. When Morisu called his name, he rubbed his face like a cat and stood up.

"Shimada, I've got one question for you."

"Yeah sure, ask away."

"When the Horned Island incident happened last year, what was Nakamura Koujirou doing?"

"Are you asking for his alibi?" Shimada smiled drowsily. "Hah. That's a rather pointed approach right off the bat. I see, I see. Who would have the most to gain from killing Seiji and Kazue? That'd have to be Kou."

"Precisely. It may be rude of me, but the first person I'd naturally suspect is Koujirou."

"But Morisu, the police weren't stupid either. They obviously looked into his alibi thoroughly. And I'm sorry to say that his alibi was flawless."

"Well, what was it?"

"From the night of September nineteen until the next morning, Kou was with me the entire time. He'd called me out of the blue to go out for drinks. We spent the night drinking in Beppu, and then I stayed over at his house. I was with him when he got the news about the incident too."

"That certainly does sound perfect."

Shimada nodded. "Is there anything else you'd like to add, Morisu?"

"Yeah. I'm not gonna be saying anything groundbreaking, but this is something I've been wondering ever since I read the articles in the paper."

"What is it?"

"I wouldn't be able to tell you why I think this. I guess you could call it intuition." With that qualification, Morisu continued. "The matter of Kazue's missing hand... I have a hunch that it's the single most important point in this case. And that if it were to be located, everything would become clear."

"Hm. The location of the hand, huh?"

Morisu and Shimada both looked down at their hands and stopped talking.

"By the way Morisu, did you know that the club members went to Horned Island?" Kawaminami asked.

"Yeah." Morisu, snapped back to reality, let a smile appear on his lips. "I was invited too, but I declined. I thought it was sort of in bad taste."

"When are they coming back?"

"A week from now, I think."

"A whole week? They staying in tents?"

"No. They managed to get the keys to Decagon House, so they're staying there."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Koujirou did say something about selling that mansion. ----Still though, I have a really bad feeling about all this. A letter comes from a dead man, when they just so happen to be visiting his island...."

"Could just be an unfortunate coincidence."

"Coincidence, huh?"

"Or maybe not." Morisu closed his eyes tightly again. "My first concern is our assumption that all the members who were there at the party got a letter. We need to confirm that letters were sent to the members besides Higashi."

"That's true."

"Will you look into that?"

"Oh. Well, it is spring break, so I guess I have a lot of free time. There's no harm in playing a little detective, right?"

"That's classic Kawaminami. In that case you may as well investigate the Horned Island case too while you're at it."

"Investigate? Where could I possibly find concrete evidence?"

"I dunno, maybe like going to the house of that gardener Yoshikawa, or something."

"But how would that even..."

"Wait, Konan," Shimada cut in. "That sounds real interesting. I said Yoshikawa Seiichi lived in Ajimu, remember? His wife is probably still living there, and she used to work on Horned Island too. In other words, she's the sole survivor who knows about the interior of Nakamura's house. There's definitely a reason to go there."

"Do you know the address though?"

"I can figure that out with a little digging." Rubbing his thin cheeks, Shimada smiled pleasantly. "Let's do that. Konan, tomorrow morning you find out whatever you can about the letters. Then I'll drive us to Ajimu in the afternoon. What do you say?"

"Alright. ----What about you, Morisu? Want to come with us?"

"Yeah. I mean I want to, but unfortunately I'm busy right now. I need to work on that painting I told you about." Morisu indicated the canvas on the easel with his eyes.

"Right, the Buddhas at Kunisaki. I forgot you like that kinda stuff. Is this for a competition or something?"

"No, nothing like that. I just really want to paint this scene before the flowers start blooming. So I've been going there every day lately."

"I see."

"I've never been as much of a go-getter as you anyway. Actually, I don't really like meeting new people. ----Will you call me tomorrow night though? I don't care if it's really late. 'Cause I'm still interested in what you find out." Lazily leaning against his bed, Morisu lit a cigarette, wincing in anticipation of the taste. "For now, let me be your armchair detective."

END OF CHAPTER 2!

Every time I'm not spending 20 minutes per page I feel like I'm translating too fast and it's coming out super lovely. It's probably just unfounded worries. Hopefully.

Also, geez the conversations jump from one topic to the next so fast in this book! They're seriously pared down to only the essentials of what we need to hear.

edit: oh yeah, we got Morisu's given name Kyouichi. This is the third name with the character for 1 in it, which is, like, that's a common kanji in names but it's still suspicious. The [kyou] kind of means respect.

2nd edit: oh crap I wrote Shimada calling Kawaminami by his actual name! That is a cardinal sin! I've edited them all back to Konan now I think.

---------
Organizing data from the 2nd chapter:

Technically, there weren't even any mysteries introduced in the first chapter because nobody has died yet, but chapter 2 introduces a whole hecking lot of complicated mysteries. Three to be exact.

1) Chiori's death
2) Mysterious letters
3) 1985 Horned Island Murders

1 - Chiori's death

We have no testimony yet from anyone who was there at the time of her death. Supposedly she died from drinking too much? Also they continuously bring up that it was the "third party" which I guess means that they went out after the official party, and then went out *again* after that? Why has nobody mentioned the 2nd party yet aka the first afterparty?

Notably, we also don't know why Kawaminami and Morisu left the party. Several times it was brought up with a vague "he had something to do".

(Also quitting the club a couple months after a girl dies makes me think it was more than just "the club wasn't right for me" or whatever)

I find it strange that none of the kids in chapter 1 mentioned Chiori at all. Maybe it's like the elephant in the room? Maybe they didn't know Chiori's real name and never made the connection? Speaking of which, could either of the girls be currently wearing Chiori's old club nickname...?

Well, actually there probably were a couple Chiori references in chapter 1, that I pretty much only caught when rereading since I already had knowledge of Chiori's existence. Mainly, the conversation between Carr and Poe when Carr starts drinking, where they are most likely talking about her death nigh-explicitly. There's another line in section 1-3 that has a completely different meaning in hindsight, and is kind of genius now that I think about it. I'd completely forgotten about the line, but when rereading it totally stood out to me. This line from Orczy's perspective: "It was impossible to ignore that Agatha and herself were the only women among their group of seven. That fact was a weight on her heart that she couldn't escape." Orczy is probably feeling sad about Chiori's death, rather than my initial assumption which was that she was angsting over not being as feminine as Agatha.

2 - Mysterious letters

My main thing is, after we find out who sent the letters, what the gently caress does that even matter? It's not illegal to send letters like that, and I doubt any of the mainland people have time to go back and forth to Horned Island to kill a bunch of people. Unless one of the island kids sent them out before leaving? That's possible too, but then the question of "why" comes up again.

We know that K University has lots of word processors you can use, so it's impossible to narrow down who had the ability to write the letters.

It might be important to remember that we don't know anybody else got letters besides Kawaminami, Morisu, and Higashi (well, if we go one step further we don't even know Higashi got one if his mom was lying for some reason). We also don't know Higashi's letter said the exact same thing as the other two.

Note that if the sender was one of the island kids, they'd have to know that the majority of letters wouldn't even be seen by their recipients.

So whoever wrote the letters typed one up and then copied the rest. Is it significant that Kawaminami got the original?

It also wasn't stated that Morisu's letter was B5 size. Maybe the copies are differently sized than the originals? Is this even important at all?

3 - 1985 Murders

See section 2-4 for all the details.

When I think about what relevance the solution to last year's murders might have on the murders happening soon, my first dumb thought is that the culprit of the old murders was somehow one of the island kids, and they're also the killer this time. Idk how that would be possible though lol, unless they snuck onto the island as a 5th person. Or one of them is secretly Yoshikawa Seiichi.

I still think the "Seiji is alive" theory holds water despite the narration stating in no uncertain terms that he died, because it was in the context of explaining the police's conclusions, and not necessarily stating objective truths. I seriously doubt all of that information will turn out correct.

Since I'm already so suspicious of Shimada, that mutual alibi with Koujirou doesn't convince me much at all lol.

4 - Misc

Is Shimada related to that fisherman from chapter 1?? They are both described as dark-skinned!! Maybe the fisherman is one of this older brothers??

Tatsumi means southeast lol. Just saying.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 08:25 on Apr 6, 2019

# ¿ Apr 6, 2019 08:17

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

AFancyQuestionMark posted:

Why is no one considering the possibility of murder-suicide for the Blue Mansion mystery? It's the first thing that comes to mind.

Actually, this comment got me thinking about the line earlier in chapter 2 when Kawaminami looks at a newspaper article and ruminates 死者の告発、か which I'd interpretted as "prosecution of the dead" aka "posthumous conviction" which would make sense if they thought Seiji did it (which I also think is possible). But thinking about it, the police believe the gardener did it, and apparently they think he's still at large. So I curiously looked up the term, and found a novel of the same name (older than this one actually) wherein a murdered person appears in someone's dream accusing someone else of killing them. In other words the more accurate interpretation would probably be "prosecution BY the dead".

In light of this I've edited the translation, but more importantly that brings up even more questions, since K never elaborated on what the newspaper meant by that. Could it have been a threatening letter back then too? Or maybe a name written in blood (tho idk how that would survive a fire). Heck, maybe someone had a prophetic dream. I'm confidant that the corrected translation is more accurate, but I'm as confused as ever.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2019 18:51

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

Chapter Three
Second Day - Island

quote:

1

Half awake and half asleep.

The previous night, she had withdrawn to her bedroom at around two in the morning. She'd gotten into bed quickly, but found it difficult to sleep, instead staring intently into the pitch-black room. She had been entirely unable to relax. In recalling the day's events she found only pain, coiling around her heart and never letting go.

Ellery, Van, Poe, Agatha, Leroux, and Carr ---- Those six were in no way people she disliked. Rather, she generally felt an emotion close to affection for the other members ---- even Carr. The part she disliked was none other than her own presence among them.

During her everyday life, no matter how depressing things got, she could escape by going back to her dorm room. By shutting herself away in there, she was able to enter her own private world. Everything was fine when she immersed herself in the idyllic fantasies she loved. There, she had wondrous friends, the perfect lover, and even people who unconditionally worshiped her. She could be as attractive and feminine as she desired.

However----

On this island ---- this building, this room ---- which she'd never visited before in her life, even when she was finally left alone her heart wouldn't be appeased.

I knew it would be like this though, she lamented. Maybe I shouldn't have come here after all.

For her in particular, this trip held a certain special meaning.

Horned Island, Decagon House.... She wondered if the rest had realized it.

She knew the truth. That this island was the birthplace of the girl they had all let die last January due to their carelessness.

Nakamura Chiori had been the one she felt she could open up to, her only true friend even now. Same area of study, same academic year, same age... from the moment they'd walked into the same university classroom, she'd felt an inexplicable bond with her. Surely Chiori had felt the same thing. The two had gotten along tremendously well, visiting one another's rooms countless times.

My father is very strange, and lives like a recluse on an island called Horned Island ---- was something Chiori frequently spoke about. And it was clear this was something she did not want others to know.

Chiori had died. And then, they all came to the island where she was born, and where her parents had died.

Not a desecration, but a mourning.

That's what she told herself.

She had no intention of telling the others. She figured it was fine if she was the only one paying respects. If she was able to give Chiori's spirit even a small comfort, that was enough.

However, she doubted whether she was capable of that. This was merely her own justification, was it not? Coming to the island the way they did would surely be desecration in the dead's eyes....

Amid those ruminations, she had eventually fallen into a light sleep. For some reason, she felt like she'd had a series of dreams that jumbled reality with fiction. The settings of those dreams were exclusively snapshots of the island she had viewed yesterday.

For that reason, her awakening came slowly, by degrees.

While looking around the room illuminated by beams of light seeping through the window slats, she was unable at first to determine whether she was still dreaming or whether she had truly woken up.

Floor covered in a blue carpet. Bed secured just left of the window. To the right of a window were, in order, a desk, dresser, and full-length mirror.

Orczy sluggishly sat up, got out of bed, and opened the window.

The fresh air cooled her skin slightly.

The sky was half-covered with white clouds. The sound of gentle waves could be heard.

She looked at the watch she'd placed next to her pillow. ---- Eight o'clock.

At that, she finally felt that it was morning.

She shut the window and got dressed.

A black skirt. A maroon argyle sweater over a white blouse. She always checked herself in the mirror as quickly as possible. She utterly dreaded looking herself in the face.

After gathering her toiletries, Orczy left the room.

There was no indication that anyone else had woken up yet. As if the previous night's energy had never existed, the decagonal hall was completely silent.

----Then...

Orczy noticed something unfamiliar on the center table, which had been tidied the night before. The light from the skylight directly overhead reflected off of it in a flash of white, momentarily blinding her.

Thinking it curious, Orczy approached the table. Then, the second she registered the things lined up there, her breath caught in her throat and she stood petrified.

(What is this...?)

She started reaching her hand toward the table, but quickly drew it back. She continued to tremble silently, before finally deciding to postpone washing her face, and leaped towards Agatha's door.

This stuff about Orczy's connection to Chiori is making me a bit worried about... that she sort of has a motive to kill the other six now. I really like her character so I don't want her to be bad. Well, I also don't want her to be killed. Hmm.

quote:

2

Five by ten centimeter milk-white plastic boards, seven in all. Each had red letters written on them.

"Alright, whose prank is this? Come on." Blinking in apparent surprise, Ellery smiled bewilderedly.

The only two fully dressed were the women, the five men all wearing something hastily thrown over their pajamas. Just a moment earlier, they'd been awoken by Agatha's shouting.

"You put a lot of work into this joke. Who's responsible?" Ellery addressed everyone.

"Are you saying it wasn't you, Ellery?"

"Wasn't me, Leroux. It was probably Carr or Agatha."

"Not me."

"Me neither." Agatha's expression stiffened slightly. "Maybe Van?"

"Nope." Poking at his swollen eyelids, Van shook his head. "Agatha, you found it, right?"

"No. Orczy saw it first. But it obviously wasn't her."

"I didn't do it..." Orczy looked down as if trying to run away.

Everyone's gaze then naturally gathered on the one remaining person. Poe curled his bearded face into a grimace and said "Before you ask, it wasn't me."

"Gosh, then who did it?" Ellery asked casually. "It's fine to do jokes, but I'd prefer you come out with it already."

Nobody said a word.

The seven exchanged glances in the awkward silence.

"Ellery," said Poe. "The ones I can imagine pulling a prank like this are you or Agatha. I think it's gotta be one of you."

"Quit it. I said it wasn't me."

"And me neither. Don't be rude."

The main hall, lit by the morning sun, fell once again into silence.

That silence gradually transformed into anxiety within their hearts. They stood there, trying to read each other's expressions and waiting for someone to crack and reveal that they did it.

Hearing only the distant roar of the sea, that gloom dragged on for a while.

"I swear I didn't do it." Eventually, Ellery spoke up with a serious look on his face. "Really? Is no one going to come forward? I'll ask you all again. ----Van?"

"I didn't do it."

"Agatha?"

"I already said it wasn't me, geez."

"Carr?"

"Hmph. As if."

"Poe?"

"Nope."

"Leroux?"

"You're messing with us, right?"

"Orczy?"

Orczy shook her head, looking terrified.

For another short time, only the sound of waves assaulted everyone's ears. Those seven people felt seven individual waves of anxiety, which resonated with the sound of the ocean and steadily rose more and more.

"Fine then," said Ellery, scratching the side of his head. "I suppose we can use the term culprit? There's no doubt that title belongs to one of the people standing here. The fact that nobody came forward means there's someone in this group, or maybe several people, lying dormant and harboring ill intent."

"What do you mean, ill intent?" Agatha asked.

Ellery answered curtly. "You don't know? It means they're plotting something bad."

"Don't sugarcoat it, Ellery." Carr twisted his mouth to a sardonic grin. "Say it clearly. You think this is advance notice of a murder."

"Have some tact, Carr!" With a tone quite contrary to his character, Ellery scolded Carr. "I'm going to emphasize it one more time. I'm not the one who did this."

Everyone nodded while side-eying each other.

"Perfect." After saying that, Ellery gathered the seven boards lined up on the table, and sat in one of the chairs. "You guys can sit too, you know." Slowly taking their seats, the other six stared at Ellery, who wore his usual smile. "Agatha. Sorry but could you brew us some coffee?"

"Sure," she answered, and went to the kitchen alone.

Ellery silently glanced between the faces of the five people around the table, and the boards in his hands. The others wondered if they should speak, but couldn't find the words.

After a time, Agatha returned with a tray of coffee for everyone. Once he'd received his decagonal cup, steam rising from it, Ellery immediately took a sip.

"Now then." Slipping his hands into the green cardigan he wore over his pajamas, he faced everyone. "We seven are the only ones on this island. Therefore, the one who put these boards here was one of us seven. That's a given. However, not a single one of us claimed to know about these boards. In other words, someone here set up the boards with a specific purpose in mind, and is hiding their intentions from us.

As you can see, these boards are made of plastic. The letters are MS Gothic font. They appear to have been sprayed on with red paint, but that won't be a clue to help us narrow down the suspects."

"Wait, Ellery," Leroux said. "Not everyone can do lettering like that so easily. You need some technical skill at the very least."

"In that case, Orczy is the most suspicious."

"Ellery, that's not what I..."

"If we think about who among us has the most artistic talent and could do this sort of lettering with ease, Orczy's the obvious answer. Orczy, your rebuttal?"

"----I didn't make those."

"Unfortunately, that doesn't count as a rebuttal."

Orczy covered her blushing cheeks and looked up quietly. "You can get cut-out lettering books anywhere. With the stencils from there, anyone could spray letters like that...."

"OK. Nicely done. If it only takes a small amount of talent, then me, Poe, or Van also could have made them." With a grin, Ellery took another gulp of his hot coffee.

"What about the plastic boards themselves?" Leroux reached to the side and picked up one of the boards. "The edge is really uneven."

"They're probably not pre-made. They must've been cut to this size with a saw or something."

"Maybe they needed them to be the size of the paper?"

"But then they could've just gone to the hardware store, Leroux. They've got plastic boards of every shape and color imaginable there."

Ellery then grabbed the board Leroux had taken, and gathered the boards together like they were a deck of cards. "Anyway, let's deal with these for now."

He stood up and walked toward the kitchen. The gazes of the other six followed as if pulled by a string.

Leaving the double-doors flung open wide, Ellery stood in front of the cupboard. He located an empty drawer and tossed all the boards inside. Then he briskly turned heel to face the main hall, and gave a single elegant yawn like a Siamese cat.

"My oh my, look at us." With both arms spread out, Ellery looked down at his attire. "Now that we're all awake, let's put some clothes on."

Ellery then disappeared into his own room, and the tension in the hall visibly lessened.

As several relieved sighs sounded, the remaining six dispersed out of their seats. The four men went to their respective rooms while Agatha and Orczy went into Agatha's room, all with unconfidant strides. However, before leaving the hall, there was not a single one of them who didn't glance at the drawer in the kitchen where the boards had been stored.

Thursday, March twenty seven. Thus, their second day began.

So, it's probably not all that suspicious to put those sinister boards out in the first place, but not telling anybody about it makes the whole thing like 10x creepier. I still don't think I'd jump to "one of my friends is planning a serial murder" though. I also think it's weird that the boards weren't, like, on everyone's doors or something. They're not even directly saying that specific people will die, they're just... there. Being ominous.

Ellery is all over the loving place in this section and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. I think he 100% didn't make the boards, because if he did he would have been more organized. Based on how he's acted so far, he loves to be in the spotlight and controls the conversation 80% of the time, and he continues to do so now. But he always had a clear purpose behind his ramblings. Here he seems pretty drat taken aback, as his questions are super circular, he repeats himself several times, and kind of appears to get it together towards the end but it comes across super forced. Almost like he's trying to not freak out. We know he's scatterbrained but it's like turned up to eleven in that last part even when he's trying to be analytical.

The only other person I have a read on is Orczy, because she's also 100% not the "board culprit" unless the narration was extremely unreliable in the first section. Or unless she loving made them while sleepwalking, which would be.... dumb.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2019 08:18

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

The_White_Crane posted:

Immediate question: why do none of them suggest dusting the boards for fingerprints?
They're seven hardcore mystery buffs, the idea that not one of them thinks of that seems strange.

i don't think they have the resources for that.

also,

quote:

when in the end forensic technology saves the day, I just don't feel like clapping.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Apr 10, 2019

# ¿ Apr 10, 2019 21:37

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

The_White_Crane posted:

You can do it with a pencil and some sticky tape; It's not a difficult process - I did it when I was ten.
I'll grant you it won't provide as clear a print as a proper forensics kit, but it'd certainly be good enough to be worth a try.

That's a good point. But to be fair all that's happened is some plastic poo poo with creepy implications. They're probably shaken up, but nothing about it screams "must perform criminal investigations". Even if that's a fear on their minds, actively doing something like that would probably make it feel way scarier for them, so they'd prefer to believe it's a prank.

Tbh, there is a detailed account of who's touching the boards so far, so maybe they'll think of something like that in the future? Then again, every drat detail in this book sounds like foreshadowing, so who knows.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2019 10:20

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

3

Noon came and went.

During lunch, the subject of the morning's events was broached by no one.

To joke or otherwise make light of the topic felt somehow too ominous. But on the other hand, speaking of it seriously was altogether too disconnected from their reality. Everyone spent the time obsessed with that drawer in the kitchen, never stopping their suspicious glances at one another while simultaneously devoting their focus on pretending to have forgotten the ordeal entirely.

As they finished eating the sandwiches Agatha and Orczy had made for lunch, they left their seats in the order they finished, one by one.

The first to stand was Carr. As he rubbed at his freshly-shaved chin, he exited the building with two paperback novels. Then Poe and Van got up, and went together to Poe's room.

＊

quote:

"Alright, let's continue," Poe said in a deep voice, plopping down on the floor.

The seven guestrooms of Decagon House had roughly the same make-up. On the blue carpet in Poe's room, exactly in the center, a partially-made jigsaw puzzle was scattered about.

"2000 pieces, was it? Are you sure we can finish while we're here?" Avoiding the puzzle as he stepped into the room, Van sat at the foot of the bed.

Poe's thick lips, surrounded by his bushy beard, curved slightly as he said "We'll finish it. Here, help me look."

"We're also gonna go fishing, right? And on top of working on manuscripts for the bulletin."

"There's still plenty of time. Anyway, now I'm lookin' for this guy's nose."

Nearly a tatami mat in size, the puzzle's edges had already been completed. The panel illustrating the completed picture was set aside nearby. Poe stared at it intently as he diligently sifted through the scattered pieces.

The puzzle was of a field where six foxes were playing. One large mother fox with five cute little fox cubs around her. Poe's current mission was apparently the piece containing the nose of one of the cubs.

"----Huh? What's wrong, Van?" Noticing Van's listless state of looking down and fidgeting with his hands on his knees, Poe frowned in concern. "You still feeling bad?"

"Mhm. A little."

"I've got a thermometer in that case over there. Let me take your temperature. Yeah, go ahead and lay down if you want."

"Thanks." Holding the thermometer in his armpit, Van reclined on the bed, thin body relaxing a bit. Brushing his soft, light-brown hair out of his face, he looked at Poe. "Hey, what do you think?"

"Hm? ----Ah, there it is. Found you," Poe said as he picked up a puzzle piece. "Alright, it fits. ----Wait, what did you say Van?"

"About this morning. What do you make of it, Poe?"

Poe's hands froze and he straightened his upper body. "Oh, that?"

"Maybe it actually wasn't a prank?"

"I'm pretty sure it was a prank."

"But then why did nobody admit to it?"

"Maybe because it's still going."

"Still going?"

"Yeah. The joke isn't over yet." Poe buried he tip of his index finger in his beard and scratched it around. "I've been thinking about it too, a bunch. Like what if tonight, one of us gets salt in our coffee. Then that person is the first victim, so to speak."

"Hmm..."

"In that sense, the so-called killer would freely pile on their "crimes", like a sort of elaborate murder game."

"A murder game, huh? I get it."

"This might be a stupid rationale, but compared to being scared that an actual advance notice murder will happen, treating it this way is much more realistic, I think."

"True. This isn't a novel. Murders don't just happen like that in real life. ----Yeah. You're definitely right. So then Poe, who do you think is playing the culprit in this game?"

"Let's see... if we think about who's the type to come up with a game like this, it's gotta be Ellery. But then again, he'd probably want to play the role of detective, so I don't know."

"Speaking of which, yesterday Ellery said "Is there anyone who wishes to challenge me?" or something. Maybe someone listened to him."

"Possibly. If that's the case, that'd mean the culprit is someone who was there, meaning me, you, or Leroux. But also, those boards this morning looked like they took some advance preparation."

"True. Well besides Ellery, the ones who'd pull a prank like this are either Leroux or Agatha...."

"Wait. Maybe it could still be Ellery. You know, that plot device where the detective is also the culprit."

"If we assume that, then... his performance this morning all taking charge and stuff was extremely convincing."

"Hm. ----How's the thermometer, Van?"

"Oh, I forgot about it."

Van sat up and pulled the thermometer out through the collar of his sweater. He held it up in front of his eyes, then passed it to Poe without any facial change.

"I knew it. You have a fever," Poe said, looking at Van's face. "Your lips look cracked too. How's the headache?"

"A little better."

"Take it easy for today. Is there medicine around?"

"I did bring some over-the-counter cold medicine."

"Good enough. Try to go to sleep early tonight too. We don't want you getting too sick when you worked so hard to get here."

"As you say, Doctor."

After answering in a hoarse voice, Van flopped down face up and stared listlessly at the ceiling.

＊

quote:

In the hall, having finished tidying up from lunch, Agatha and Orczy poured some black tea and took a short rest.

"Aaah, do we have to do this for six more days? Cooking for seven people is hard." Agatha stretched her back on her chair. "I hate it. Check out my hands, Orczy. They're all cracked from washing so much."

"I have handcream."

"Oh, I brought some too. This is after I already rubbed 'em with tons of cream."

"Dainty princess hands."

Agatha chuckled as she undid the scarf in her hair. Orczy smiled just barely enough to show her dimples, then took the moss-green decagon in her hands, and brought it to her mouth.

"Hey, Orczy." Looking towards the kitchen, Agatha suddenly changed the subject. "What do you think those boards meant?"

Orczy jerked at the question, then silently shook her head.

"I was really creeped out this morning, but the more I think about it the more I'm sure it was just a prank. Right?"

"----I don't know." Orczy's gaze wandered nervously around the room. "I mean, everyone said they didn't do it. Even though there's nothing to hide."

"Exactly, Orczy."

"Eh?"

"Everyone's thinking about that point too seriously. Don't you think the culprit just basically felt too awkward to say anything?"

"I really don't know."

"Well who do you think is the culprit?"

"Hmm..."

"It's obvious to think Ellery. But that doesn't feel right, since Ellery's not the type to feel awkward about anything. Then... Aha, maybe it was Leroux."

"Leroux?"

"It's easy to imagine when you consider his personality. He's always thinking about nothing but mysteries, that Leroux. And he's got the playful attitude to do a prank like that."

Neither agreeing nor disagreeing, Orczy looked down. Her stout little shoulders curled in a bit. "I'm scared," she murmured as if to herself.

Those were her true feelings. She couldn't view the boards as a mere joke no matter what. In a way she couldn't explain, she sensed a powerful malice from them.

"I probably... shouldn't have come to this island after all."

"Hey, don't say stuff like that," Agatha said with a cheerful smile.

"Let's drink our tea and go get some fresh air. This hall is too dreary even during the day. And besides, having these ten walls around us feels weird. It makes us care about silly things more than we should. Kay?"

＊

quote:

Sitting on the dock they'd come in from, Ellery watched the colors of the dark water with an intense determination.

"I can't stop thinking about it, Ellery," Leroux said, standing beside him.

"----Hm?"

"You know what I mean. About those boards this morning."

"Ah."

"Are you sure you're not the culprit?"

"Cut it out."

The tone of their conversation had been like this for a while. No matter what Leroux said, Ellery would give curt responses without turning his head, like he was barely paying attention.

"But, including "detective" and "killer" in there really seems like you, doesn't it?"

"I don't care."

"Geez, you don't have to be rude. I'm just trying to have a conversation here." Then, Leroux shrugged and leaned down. "Well it was probably just a prank anyway. Don't you think?"

"No, I don't," Ellery flatly denied, then thrust his hands into his coat pockets. "Though I really hope it was."

"Why don't you think it was a prank?"

"No one admitted to it."

"I guess that's true."

"Also, it's too elaborate." Ellery turned his head to face Leroux. "I wouldn't mind so much if it were just written in pen on some drawing paper, but going out of your way to cut plastic boards to the same size and spray the letters in red using stencils, in my opinion that's too much work just to scare everybody."

"But..." Leroux took off his glasses and started to stiffly wipe them. "So you're saying you think an actual murder is going to happen?"

"It's a distinct possibility."

"G, geez, how can you say that so easily? Murder means people will die, you know. They'll be killed. And not just one person either. If those boards are an advance notice like you think, there will be five victims. No matter how you put it, that's just..."

"Idiotic?"

"Yeah it's idiotic. We aren't in some novel or manga. You think the boards are serving the same purpose as those Indian figurines? So when the culprit kills the detective and then commits suicide, we'll be acting out And Then There Were None to the letter, won't we?"

"Seems that way."

"So basically, no matter what we do, we're all gonna die. Right, Ellery?"

"Why are you asking me? I don't know anything."

After that, the two remained silent for a short while, watching the waves crash against the rock face. Compared to yesterday, the waves were a bit rougher, as well as their sound. The water was dark.

Eventually, Ellery stood up slowly.

"I'm going back, Leroux. It's cold here."

--------
Unorganized thoughts:

-Possible importance of the puzzle? - it's on the ground. maybe a murder happens in Poe's room and the killer tripped on it or something. Maybe a puzzle piece found in an incriminating location.

-A puzzle the size of a tatami mat (almost)? That's a loving big puzzle!

-Somehow the 5 fox cubs make me think of the 5 victims... (Even though it wasn't a puzzle, why am I thinking about that painting at the end of Battle Royale...?)

-"This isn't a novel" - There it is, boys! Pack it in!

-"Those were her true feelings." Orczy confirmed not the culprit?

Post-section thoughts:

So this is really the part when we can start trying to get reads on people. Here's my take... (gee it's like i'm playing mafia right now)

Orczy: 100% innocent
I'd be extremely loving shocked if she did anything, based on the facts confirmed by narration so far.

Ellery: 85% innocent
What I said last time, and also his behavior in this section just strengthens my belief that he's really shaken up by the boards.

Leroux: 70% innocent
He seems genuinely offended by the ideas Ellery is putting forward.

Agatha: 50% innocent
I get weird vibes from her sometimes, but I'm still not sure.

Poe: 50% innocent
He mostly comes across as a super cool chill guy, but there's also not much in his defense.

Van: 25% innocent
He's had unbelievably huge opportunity to set up poo poo, and there's still leeway for him to be faking the sickness I think.

Carr: who loving knows

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Apr 13, 2019

# ¿ Apr 12, 2019 13:25

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

4

The sound of waves echoed in the clouds.

The noise could have been compared to the frenzied breathing of a sleeping giant. Submerging them deeper into their anxiety, dragging more of their foreboding thoughts to the surface....

Just after dinner the decagonal main hall was already dim, lit solely by the wavering light of the lamp.

"Kinda creepy, don't you think?" Agatha said, handing out everyone's evening coffee. "The walls, I mean. They play tricks on your eyes."

Light from a single lamp spilled onto ten white walls. Although those walls intersected at precise 144 degree angles, the light caused the vertices to appear in one moment curved and in another acute. The central table where the lamp was positioned had its decagonal edges starkly undisturbed, so it was only the hall's circumference that looked bizarrely warped.

"Seriously. It's making me dizzy," Van said, covering his bloodshot eyes.

"You should sleep, Van. You're still pale," Poe said with a tone of rebuke.

"You're not better yet?" Agatha said, putting a hand to Van's forehead. "Feels like a fever. That's no good, Van. Get some sleep."

"I'm fine. It's only seven o'clock."

"It's not fine. This is an uninhabited island, you know. You can't count on going to see a doctor or anything. If you get worse it'll be a huge problem."

"----You're right."

"What about medicine? Have you taken any?"

"I'll take some before I go to bed. It makes me drowsy."

"Then take some now and go rest. You can never be too careful."

"----Okay."

Like a child scolded by his mother, Van stood up dejectedly. Agatha got a water pitcher and glass from the kitchen and handed it to him.

"Alright. See you guys later," Van said, heading towards his room. At that moment----

"What're you in such a hurry to do all alone in a dark room?" Carr grumbled in a low and pointed voice. Van's hand stopped midway to reaching for the doorknob, and he turned to face Carr.

"I'm just going to sleep, Carr."

"Hah. I'm more inclined to think you're gonna be in there sharpening your knives."

"Excuse me?"

At Van's display of anger, Carr just sneered. "I think this morning's murder notice was your doing."

"Van, just ignore him and go," Ellery said.

"Now wait just a minute, Ellery." This time Carr's voice was soft, as if speaking to a stray cat. "In this situation, suspecting Van first is the normal course of action, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't follow."

"Think about it. Consider a bunch of people gathered in one place just like us, and then a serial murder takes place. In that setup, the one who invited them there is almost always the culprit, or at least involved somehow."

"Sure, in mysteries maybe."

"Yeah well signs notifying you of a murder aren't a thing outside of mysteries either, and the culprit did that. So what's wrong with approaching this the same way?" Carr jerked his chin towards Van. "What do you say, Host?"

"Stop joking around." Carrying the pitcher and glass in his arms, Van struck the floor with one foot. "Pay attention. I didn't even really invite you. I just mentioned offhand that my uncle bought this place. The one who actually brought up the trip was our next editor-in-chief Leroux."

"Exactly. And then the one who talked to Leroux about it and enthusiastically pushed the idea that we should all come was me." Ellery raised his voice. "If you suspect Van, then you'd have to suspect me and Leroux for the same reason. If you can't, then your logic falls apart."

"Personally, I hate detectives who just scrabble together some logic after someone's already been murdered."

Ellery rolled his eyes and shrugged. "The trope of the host being the culprit is such a huge clich� though. That's not a method great culprits use. Like, if it were me, I'd probably use my invitation as an opportunity and spin it to my advantage."

"Why are we having this conversation!?" Poe shouted, aggressively stubbing out his half-smoked cigarette. "All this talk of detectives and great culprits... can you guys not see the difference between reality and fiction? Hey Van, don't listen to these delusional idiots. Just go to sleep."

"Delusional?" Carr's eyes widened. With the leg that had been continually shaking this whole time, he slammed the ground. "What's delusional about it, huh?"

"Everything. Try to think a bit more rationally." Poe lit another cigarette with a grumpy expression. "First of all, the argument just now was going nowhere. There's no reason for this to be any different from all the other times we've been gathered together. Sure, if Van was the culprit then he skillfully baited us and led us right into his clutches. And if Ellery or Leroux were the culprit then they definitely played their cards right to plan this trip. But Carr, if you were the culprit, you could have just been waiting for the right moment to strike up until this moment. We could argue back and forth about which is most likely ad nauseam. You get it?"

"Poe's right," Agatha said. "We'll just argue in circles forever."

"Besides," Poe said, exhaling a steady stream of smoke. "You guys all decided those were a murder notice right off the bat, but that's just a load of nonsense. We're a bunch of people who all love playing with mysteries, gathered together on this island with a mysterious past. How have you not considered the possibility that they are an extension of that?"

Then, Poe explained the theory he had spoken about with Van in his room earlier that day.

"That's it, Poe. That's gotta be it," Leroux said, clapping his hands together delightedly.

"Salt in the coffee, huh..." Ellery put both hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. "Well, if it really does involve salt, I've gotta commend the culprit for their sense of humor."

"What a brilliantly optimistic view to take." Carr stood up with a sulk. He stomped off into his room. After watching him do so, Van said "goodnight" in a hoarse voice, and vanished into his room.

"I wonder who's the culprit. Ooh this is kinda fun." Agatha smiled at Orczy.

"Yeah. ----Maybe." Orczy responded politely, looking down.

Removing a deck of blue-backed Bicycles from his pocket and spreading them out in a ribbon on the white table, Ellery said "Alright. Who will be the first victim? This is gonna be an interesting game."

Maybe because it was the antithesis of their unquellable anxiety, everyone's hearts were completely drawn in by Poe's theory. It was almost as if that suffocating tension which had filled the air since the morning had been blown away by the wind.

However----

At the present moment, there was one person on the island who knew without a doubt that the murder notice had been nothing less than literal.

END OF CHAPTER 3

@TV Zombie: Well, what I meant before about Van faking the illness was like, the thermometer was under his shirt for a lot of their conversation so idk maybe he tampered with it. They are just bringing it up so drat much that I'm trying to find any possible way it could be a trick. That said, the actual forehead touch in this section throws a wrench in that lol. Also my case for Orczy's innocence is more that we literally followed her as she discovered the plastic boards, and the narration explicitly said she didn't recognize them. So I think there'd have to be some kind of fuckery with that scene if Orczy actually did it.

I like Poe's idea but unfortunately we all know he's wrong. I'm interested in lines like "everyone was taken in by Poe's theory" because that has to also include the culprit, right? From a "narration is undeniable truth" standpoint, it's curious.

This section didn't have very many suspiciously out of place details, but the specific measurements of the decagon's interior angles make me scared for potential math puzzles.

Just one more chapter (shorter than this one) before I'm caught up to where I read to

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Apr 16, 2019

# ¿ Apr 16, 2019 12:49

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

The_White_Crane posted:

Typo there: "Car".
Though he pairs well with Van.

lmao thanks

# ¿ Apr 16, 2019 16:37

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

Chapter Four
Second Day - Mainland

quote:

1

They were heading west from route ten.

Every so often, he snuck a sidelong glance at the driver's seat, where Shimada Kiyoshi was gripping the steering wheel. Whenever he did so, Kawaminami couldn't hold back the random smile that came to his face.

The third son of a monk was driving a red Familia. In extreme contrast to his casual sweatshirt and jeans from yesterday, he wore a refined gray suit. He also had on a pair of stylish blue-tinted sunglasses. They didn't go together at all, but in a way, the bizarre fashion seemed to fit with Shimada's personality.

According to Shimada, the wife of that missing gardener Yoshikawa Seiichi was named Masako, and as it turns out still lived in their home in Ajimu. He had found the address that morning, and took the opportunity to call and make an appointment as well, apparently.

They were headed towards the mountains from Beppu, passing through the Myouban hot springs.

On both sides of the single-lane road, tents made of woven straw were lined up. White steam was rising up from the thin openings in the straw. Inside those, bath salts called yunohana were harvested.

Eventually, the mountains facing Usa district drew near, and they began their ascent----

"How'd it go on your end?" Shimada asked.

"----Oh, sorry. I forgot to give you my report." Kawaminami, who had been leaning against the passenger-side window and watching the scenery flow by, scratched his head and sat up straight. "There are still parts I wasn't able to confirm, but it's safe to assume that all the members present at that party received a letter."

"Hmm. ----And how many of them went to the island?"

"A lot of them live alone, so it was hard to get definitive answers. But most likely, leaving out Morisu and I who left, all of them..."

"That certainly does sound fishy."

"I think so too. Though I'm sure if Morisu were here, he'd tell us to view the situation more delicately, and that it's probably just the opposite."

"Opposite?"

"Yeah. Like, that the members who happened to be at the party also happened to go to the island, or something. Since those members met up frequently anyway, it makes sense for the ones at the party to be the ones who went to the island. And therefore, it's categorically impossible to find any particular meaning in the letters matching up with the island trip. That's what he'd say."

"Wow. That's some delicate logic."

"That guy's always been a prudent thinker. He's the most earnest guy you'll ever meet. I think that makes him too careful though, sometimes."

"But at the same time, last night he made for a super assertive detective."

"That's true. Honestly, I was kind of surprised at the time. I mean he's always been a sharp guy, but still..."

Kawaminami Takaaki and Morisu Kyouichi had been a great pair during the time when Kawaminami was still in the mystery club.

Kawaminami was a man whose intense curiosity drove him to action. When something piqued his interest, there was no holding him back. However, his enthusiasm could get too intense at times, leading his thoughts towards leaps in logic or tunneling, and he understood that part of himself. In addition, he knew that he was the type to get fired up very quickly but simmer down easily as well.

On the other hand, Morisu was also exceedingly passionate in a different way, though on most days that wouldn't ever show on the surface. He was the type to wait until mulling it over in his head and focusing all his thoughts on it until he understood before taking action. Therefore, to Kawaminami, his friend Morisu was like a trusted advisor who stopped him from jumping to conclusions or making rash assumptions.

(For now, let me be your armchair detective... Hm.)

That was quite a fitting role for him ---- Kawaminami thought. Far from being a self-deprecating comment about his talent, he had essentially been assigning him the role of Watson. And the role of Holmes would be played by Morisu.

However ---- Kawaminami thought, looking over at Shimada Kiyoshi once more.

(This guy seems like Watson or Lestrade would be an insult to his intellect.)

Eventually, the car reached a plateau with a gorgeous view. Tall grass covered the gentle slopes, which lay folded over each other many times as they descend.

"You can see Mount Tsurumi to the left."

"Aah, I heard they've got a successful hang-gliding business lately."

"So how far are we from Ajimu?"

"Just a little further and we'll get off this slope into Usa district. And from there, it's just another little climb until we reach Ajimu. It's one thirty now, so we'll probably get there around three."

Stretching his back with both of his hands, Kawaminami gave a big yawn.

"You tired, Konan?"

"I'm usually a night person, so waking up early is hard."

"You can nap if you want. I'll wake you up when we get there."

"Thanks. In that case..."

When Kawaminami put his seat down, Shimada suddenly slammed on the accelerator.

I wonder if this is meant to imply that Shimada is not a Watson or a Lestrade but a Moriarty.

quote:

2

The Yoshikawa Masako who appeared at the door betrayed all of Kawaminami's vague assumptions; She wore a dignified floral kimono, and had the mild manners traditionally revered in women. Having the preconceived notion of a scorned wife whose husband's illicit love had grown to the point of murdering four people, Kawaminami had imagined a woman much colder and meaner.

She was probably still in her early forties, but maybe stress had worn her down, because she looked older.

I'm Shimada from the phone this morning. Please forgive our rudeness coming on such short notice." After speaking, Shimada gave the gardener's wife a respectful bow.

"A friend of Koujirou, if I'm not mistaken? You came all this way..."

"Kou ---- Rather, Nakamura Koujirou said you two are acquaintances."

"Yes. I am very much in his debt. I'm sure you already know this, but before I married Yoshikawa, I also worked at the Horned Island mansion. I started there at the same time Seiji started living there. That was the first time Koujirou and I were acquainted...."

"I see. Did you also meet your husband there?"

"That's right. At the time, my husband was frequently visiting the mansion."

"And this house was your husband's family home?"

"Yes. After marrying, we lived in O City for a time, but his parents' health started failing, while they lived here."

"True, that'd be a very long commute."

"After moving here, our gardening work soon dwindled to only the island mansion and Koujirou's house."

"Oh, did your husband work at that garden too?"

"Yes."

"By the way, the reason we are here today is actually this, which was sent to the home of my friend Konan here," Shimada said, handing over the letter which he'd gotten from Kawaminami earlier.

"----What is this?"

"It's a letter someone wrote using the name of the late Nakamura Seiji. Koujirou also received a very similar letter."

"----I see."

"Well, we figured it means something, and it might have a connection to the Horned Island incident. We were thinking that we might learn some relevant information by speaking with you."

Masako was unable to hide her confusion, but at last she lifted her gaze and spoke. "By all means, speaking here would be uncouth, so please come inside. On your way in, if it pleases you to light an incense stick for my husband, you may...."

＊

quote:

Shimada and Kawaminami were lead to a dim tatami room.

Masako sat across from the two of them, and behind her, past an open sliding door, a small Buddhist altar could be seen. In there, the brand new mortuary tablet seemed to glow dimly in the darkness.

"As you know, my husband was never found. Just last month, I accepted that he is dead and held a private funeral..." Masako said, massaging the upper bridge of her nose.

"But Ma'am, isn't there still the possibility that your husband is still alive somewhere?"

"If he were still alive, he would have contacted me no matter what."

"But----"

"I will say only this. My husband was absolutely not a person capable of committing such an atrocious act. I have heard all of the rumors, but I cannot believe a word of them. Those closest to my husband all say the same thing."

Masako's tone was resolute. Shimada nodded meekly, and said "I heard that your husband went to Horned Island three days prior to the mansion fire. When was it specifically?"

"He left here early in the morning of September seventeen."

"After that time, was there no point between then and the fire on the twentieth when your husband contacted you?"

"He did once, in the afternoon of the day he left."

"By phone?"

"Yes. To tell me he'd arrived at the island safely."

"At that time did you notice anything strange?"

"He sounded the same as ever. Though, he did mention that the Madam was beset with illness."

"You mean Kazue?"

"Yes. He hadn't seen her at all, so he asked Seiji about it, and heard that she was resting due to illness."

"I see." Rubbing the tip of his nose, Shimada frowned slightly. "It may be rude of me but I want to ask one thing. Did you ever feel that your husband had any sort of affection for Kazue...?"

"My husband and myself both held the Madam in very high regard," Masako said with a somewhat pale face. "Like I said before, my husband was absolutely not a person capable of those horrendous acts that society suspects him of. An affair with the Madam or anything of the sort is out of the question entirely. And besides that----"

"What?"

"The rumor that my husband was after Seiji's fortune is also absurd. In the first place, a sum of money to kill someone over wasn't even..."

"Even what? Are you saying it wasn't even there?"

"----I am speaking rashly."

"No, there's no need to worry about that. It's natural to get worked up over this." Shimada's deeply-sunken eyes sparkled. "So then Seiji had no fortune left over?" After mumbling to himself for a second, Shimada spoke up as if the idea had suddenly come to him. "I've heard Seiji and his brother Koujirou weren't on the best of terms. What do you think about that?"

"Ah." Masako prevaricated. "Seiji was a very strange man, you see...."

"Did Koujirou ever visit the island?"

"While I was working there he would visit frequently, but afterwards, it seems he nearly stopped going there altogether."

"While you were working there.... Hm. I see."

"Um," Kawaminami cut in, having been silently listening to the two of them converse until now. "Do you know about the case of Nakamura Chiori? I was actually an acquaintance of hers in university.... And I think that's why I got that letter Shimada showed you before."

"Young Madam Chiori..." Masako's gaze dropped to the dull tatami mat. "To this day I still remember the face of that young child. After I left the mansion, I heard about her from my husband. The poor thing. For something like that to happen when she was so young..."

"For how long did Chiori live on the island," Shimada asked.

"It was certainly the year she started kindergarten, when she relocated to her grandfather's home. She would return to the island on very rare occasions, most of the time being visited by the Madam in O City directly, according to my husband. In that way, the Madam was quite doting on her daughter."

"What about Seiji?" Shimada leaned forward slightly. "What did the father Seiji think of his daughter?"

"That is----" Masako was visibly discomforted. "It shames me to say, I understand Seiji was not very fond of children."

--------

(Yes I am pretentious for using the word prevaricated. I acknowledge that.)

I'm kind of too lazy to map out a route on a map for the opening section, but I may do so later if it seems it'll be important. It's entirely possible to do so on your own though (google maps is all translated), so if you're into that I encourage you to try it. Just search up Oita prefecture and zoom in on the north half of it. All the stuff is right there.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2019 14:09

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

3

They spoke about various things for nearly two hours.

By the time the two of them left the Yoshikawa household in Ajimu, it was just past five. On their way back to Beppu they'd stopped for dinner, so it was already nine when they arrived.

Shimada seemed tired as well after the long drive. Every so often, Kawaminami could hear him click his tongue at the headlights of passing cars.

"I kinda want to swing by Kou's house for a sec, is that okay?" Shimada said.

Kawaminami answered "I don't mind," but he actually didn't feel like going all that much. Since leaving Ajimu he'd been tormented by a feeling of despondency.

That was mostly caused by lack of sleep combined with physical exhaustion. But he also couldn't deny the mental fatigue brought about by demotivation and a feeling of listlessness.

He had been so enthusiastic to come on this excursion, but he felt like they'd gotten barely any results. It's not like he'd expected to find an exact answer, but at least some new information would have been nice. However....

If only, Kawaminami thought in self-loathing, Yoshikawa Masako had told us she also got a letter from Seiji, I probably would've been satisfied.

Quick to boil and quick to simmer down... He tried to acknowledge that tendency of his. In a certain way, he was a child. Just like a child wishing for a new toy, he always wanted something to stimulate him. And then once that change gets even a tiny bit dull, he loses interest immediately and throws it out....

Finally, they arrived at Koujirou's house in Kannawa.

The night was quiet. The sky was thinly overcast. The pale yellow light of the moon blurred overhead.

Shimada pressed the doorbell. The noise echoing through the house could be heard faintly from outside. However, there was no response.

"That's weird. The lights are on." Mumbling quizzically, Shimada pressed the doorbell once more, and then knocked on the door twice, three times. "Maybe he's already asleep?"

Shimada turned around to look at Kawaminami. He was leaning against the gatepost looking at the ground.

"Well, whatever. We'll come by another day. ----Sorry, Konan. I took you here for nothing. You look super tired. Let's get going."

＊

quote:

They got on the highway towards O City.

Shimada opened the window a little. The night wind blew in, carrying the ocean scent.

"You cold, Konan?"

"No, that's fine." The despondency and self-loathing were nothing new.

"Sorry for running you all over the place since this morning."

"Nah, I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I've been... such a wet blanket."

"Don't worry about it. You're tired."

Indeed, Shimada showed no sign of being offended. He let go of the wheel with his left hand to rub his eyes one at a time. "I mean, I'm also disappointed in a way, but in another certain way our trip to Ajimu was a great success."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the disappointing part is the lack of new info about Yoshikawa Seiichi. That is to say, if Yoshikawa were somehow alive then there was the tiny possibility that he would have contacted his wife. But as we heard, there wasn't even a hint of that."

"But Shimada, isn't the fact that she held a funeral after he's only been missing for half a year suspicious in itself?"

"I considered that too, but the way I see it, Masako isn't the type of woman who'd lie in any situation. She's a woman whose value lies in her honesty and good nature."

"Hmm."

"You could say I have a keen eye for people. Call it a monk's intuition." Shimada chuckled to himself. "Anyway, that was the disappointing part. ---Konan, lend me a cigarette?"

"Oh, one of these?" Kawaminami replied, a bit surprised. He hadn't seen Shimada smoking before now. "If Seven Star's alright with you..." he said, holding out the pack. Shimada dexterously grabbed a single cigarette with one hand, while keeping his gaze firmly on the road.

"A few years back I was a terribly heavy smoker. But then my lungs got bad and since then I've hardly ever smoked. Just one cig a day, was the limit I've imposed in this lazy life of mine." He lit the cigarette and blew smoke as if savoring it deeply. "So anyway, the good results we got are basically that Seiji didn't have any fortune. If that's true, then the motive surrounding the Yoshikawa = culprit theory is way weaker."

"What about the theory that he was in love with Kazue?"

"I was never a fan of that theory to begin with. It's a big logical stretch I think. Back when Kou was talking to me about the incident, he was really adamant about one thing. He said that Kazue was not the sort of woman who'd seduce their gardener. He also said about Yoshikawa, that he was an honest man who he couldn't imagine having an affair with Kazue, basically the same thing that Masako claimed today."

"So Shimada, are you saying Yoshikawa wasn't the culprit?"

"I think it's likely." Having smoked the cigarette to the butt in the blink of an eye, Shimada parted with it sorrowfully into the ashtray. "And there's one more thing too, that I thought while we were talking to Masako; I've got a hunch that the reason for Seiji and Kou's bad relationship has some connection to Kazue's existence."

"A connection to Kazue? What?"

"Kazue's infidelity wasn't with Yoshikawa but with Koujirou, is what I'm saying.

"Koujirou and Kazue...?"

"Yeah. When I think back... that's right, I remember back when the incident happened last year, Kou totally shut himself inside his house for one or two weeks, like a recluse. I remember thinking that, rather than Seiji's death, he seemed more in shock over Kazue's death."

"But Shimada, who's the culprit then?"

"I do have one theory about that. I'll tell you sooner or later, but... first thing's first, we gotta report today's findings to Morisu."

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Kawaminami checked the clock on the dashboard. It was ten forty.

They continued along the coast, on the highway towards O City, the number of cars on the road already diminishing. There were red taillights sprinkled about, and the occasional black mass of a truck. A long trail of light from the train running parallel to the road....

"He said to call, but we may as well just show up to his place." At Shimada's vaguely suspenseful words, Kawaminami's declining motivation started to rejuvenate.

Whether he realized that or not, Shimada grinned with his whole face. "Morisu, eh? That's also a great name."

Sorry for the short update, but the next one's pretty long and I don't want to have a whole week between updates if I can help it.

It is still unclear to me how exactly Shimada drew the conclusion about Kou having an affair with Kazue from the fact that he stopped visiting shortly after Masako stopped working there. I'm wondering if we can assume from the information we have, that Masako left the island at about the same time Chiori did. Masako remembers Chiori's face, but relies on her husband's info to say that she visited the island rarely after leaving. Hmm... maybe Koujirou was only visiting before to see his(?) daughter...? Oof, if that's the case then it'd make him way more suspicious of sending those letters. Then again, the phrasing makes it seem like Masako left before Chiori did. Maybe it was Chiori's birth that drove a wedge between Koujirou and Seiji...

Then again maybe Shimada is just bullshitting this whole thing.

edit: I really appreciate how the mystery is so (apparently) connected to interpersonal stuff as opposed to being like a bunch of robots murdering each other. Also it's cool how deep the mystery is before anybody's even died yet

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Apr 25, 2019

# ¿ Apr 24, 2019 23:23

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

4

"Knowing you, I thought you'd be bored of playing detective after today," Morisu said in a half-teasing tone, pouring himself some hot tea. "So I'm surprised to see that's not the case. Maybe it's 'cause you were with Shimada."

"Dang, you saw right through me." Kawaminami smiled sheepishly. "Well to start with, let's proceed with the investigation report, Mister Detective." Then, Kawaminami summarized the information they'd gathered during the day.

"Hmm. I see." Morisu poured a second cup of black tea, then drained it without adding any sugar. "----Well? What do you plan to do tomorrow, Sir Watson?"

"Well, what's to be done?" Kawaminami stretched out on the floor. He propped his head up on one elbow lazily. "To tell the truth, I'm a bit disappointed. Spring break is always so long and boring. Just a bunch of mahjong every night. But then suddenly I got a letter from a dead man. There's no way I could ignore that. Of course I'd get excited about the possibilities that implied, but..."

"Hey hey, quit it with that lame introspection. You'll make Shimada feel lonely."

However, Shimada was just smiling away, picking at his bony chin. "This is a great way to satisfy that boredom, ain't it? Compared to letting your imagination die off from overactivity, I think this is quite healthy. Konan and I are the same. If it wasn't for the fact that I've got way too much free time this year, I wouldn't be poking my head into all this. Well, I am a super nosy person though.

By the way, Morisu..."

"Yes?"

"I'd love to hear the armchair detective's opinion."

"I imagine that's why you came here." Wetting his dry lips with his tongue, Morisu smiled. "To be honest, when I heard your story yesterday, I already had an idea brewing. Though, it's much more in the realm of speculation than deduction, I'd say. So don't take it too seriously."

"Hmph. Just like Konan said, you're a prudent one alright. ----Well?"

"From a prudent viewpoint, this is a bold idea though. I dare say you're probably thinking the same thing, Shimada."

"I probably am."

"That's good. On the other hand..." Morisu shifted his gaze from Shimada to Kawaminami. "I'm actually kind of disappointed that you didn't bring this up yourself. Basically, the Horned Island incident could be a real life version of Nevins Junior's "Birlstone Gambit", don't you think?"

Kawaminami immediately knew what Morisu was talking about. "You mean that Seiji might still be alive?"

"I can't say for certain. I'm just pointing out a possibility, nothing more." Pouring himself a third cup of black tea, he continued. "The servant couple, the Kitamuras, were apparently struck in the head with an axe, but due to the fire their appearances became difficult to distinguish. But even so, I think there's hardly a case to be made for a "faceless corpse" trick going on there. As for Kazue's corpse, other than the missing left hand there are no problematic elements at all. The only one that it'd make sense to scrutinize is the corpse we've been calling Seiji's.

The reason should be clear. It's a corpse that was completely doused in kerosene and then burned. Obviously his face, but even things like scars or surgical marks would be extremely difficult to identify. I don't know under what basis the police determined the corpse to be Seiji himself, but I think it's possible that it was actually a different man altogether. And what's more, we have the gardener vanishing at around the same time. ----Shimada?"

"What is it, Detective?"

"Did you by any chance find out the relative age and height of Seiji and Yoshikawa Seiichi?"

"Haha. Sharp thinking. Not that I expected any less." Shimada gave a toothy grin. "Yoshikawa was the same age as Seiji, forty six at the time. They were both of medium height and build. Incidentally, their blood types were both A. The blood taken from the corpse was naturally type A as well."

"How did you find all that stuff out?" Kawaminami asked with a shocked expression.

Shimada rubbed his cheek bashfully and said "Oh, did I forget to tell you? I kind of have connections with the police. ----So Morisu, assuming Nakamura Seiji and Yoshikawa Seiichi were switched, then how would you reconstruct the incident?"

"Right. Well, first of all..." Morisu softly touched his forehead, and stared off into space. "The first to be killed was Kazue. Her estimated time of death was between the seventeenth and the eighteenth, right? Since Yoshikawa Seiichi had arrived on the island and phoned Masako in the afternoon of the seventeenth, I think it's likely she had already been killed at that time. In response to Yoshikawa's confusion from not seeing her anywhere, Seiji probably lied and said she was resting due to illness. But in reality, he had already drugged her with sleeping medication and then strangled her to death.

Then, afraid of being discovered, Seiji decided to kill the Kitamuras and Yoshikawa as well. By serving them medicine and tying them up, he stole their freedom. Then on the nineteenth, he murdered the Kitamuras with an axe. Afterwards, he took the drugged Yoshikawa to the same room he'd killed Kazue in, untied him, maybe even switched clothes with him, then doused him with kerosene. Then he just had to set fire to the mansion and flee the island.

That's how he would perform the "switcheroo" between culprit Seiji and victim Yoshikawa. A typical pattern when you've got a faceless corpse like that. Except, this way of thinking still leaves several parts ambiguous. Just off the top of my head, I can think of four."

"Oh? What are they?" Shimada prompted.

"First is the motive. Why would Seiji kill his wife of over twenty years in the first place? Even if you want to say he went insane, there'd still have to be a reason he went insane.

Second is, like we discussed last night, the case of the missing hand. Why would Seiji cut off his wife's left hand? And then where did he dispose of it?

Third is the gap between the times of death. He killed his wife on the seventeenth, and then the last death was Yoshikawa early on the twentieth. During those three days, what in the world was Seiji doing?

Last is the question of how Seiji escaped the island after committing his crimes. And also where has he been hiding all this time?"

"That pretty much mirrors what I was thinking about before coming here," Shimada said. "Though I'm pretty sure I can answer the first point on your list of issues, at the very least."

"The motive for killing his wife Kazue?"

"Yep. Of course, to use your words from before, it's just in the realm of speculation."

"Jealousy, you mean?" Morisu asked quietly. Shimada nodded with tense lips.

"Not an uncommon emotion in the least, but over such a wide stretch of time, building and building in the mind of one so incredibly talented as Seiji, I think it could have grown into a terrible insanity. ----Yo Konan."

"What?"

"Do you remember when Yoshikawa Masako was telling us about Nakamura Chiori?"

"Yeah. Of course I do."

"This is what she said. Chiori's visits to the island were extremely rare. And then she mentioned how doting her mother Kazue was towards her, but when I asked about how Seiji felt..."

"She said that he probably didn't like children or something, right?"

"Right. Meaning Seiji wasn't very fond of his daughter."

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, back when I was attending her funeral, the name of the chief mourner wasn't Seiji."

"You probably see where I'm going with this." Shimada looked back and forth between Kawaminami and Morisu. Kawaminami nodded meekly. Morisu frowned and looked away.

"You think Chiori wasn't Seiji's true daughter, don't you?"

"That's exactly it, Morisu."

"Then whose daughter was she?"

"That would be Nakamura Koujirou. According to Masako, up until she married Yoshikawa and left the island, Kou would visit the island frequently. In other words, their sibling relationship was perfectly fine back then. Then, when Kou suddenly stopped his visits, I'm pretty sure the time coincides with Chiori's birth. What do you think, Morisu?"

"That's... quite a claim," Morisu said, reaching for a cigarette on the glass table. "Is that why you tried to stop at his house on your way here?"

"Yeah. I thought I'd meet with Kou and probe him a little."

"Shimada," Morisu cut in, unable to restrain himself any longer. "You have to stop that right now, in my opinion."

"Oh? What's this all of a sudden?" Shimada seemed rather taken aback.

"This may be presumptuous of me, but I don't care how close you are with Koujirou, prying into his business after all this time would be inappropriate." Morisu stared at Shimada with a calm gaze. "With just the three of us talking among ourselves in private, we can say anything we want. But when it comes to using our speculation to go and invade someone else's privacy, and even worse something they probably don't want dredged up in the first place, I think you need to calm down."

"But Morisu, you're the one who said we should go visit Yoshikawa Seiichi's wife for real," Kawaminami shot back.

Morisu sighed. "That was rash of me, and I've been regretting it all day. My curiosity and my conscience were at odds, so I had conflicting thoughts about it. I think I got carried away last night though. ----I decided that acting like this just for fun isn't healthy. And spending all day staring at Buddha statues in the mountains just cemented that feeling more and more."

He glanced over at the easel at the wall. The painting was at the stage of colors applied thickly with a palette knife.

"This is probably selfish of me, but Shimada, I think I'll retire from this case now. I've stated all of my reasoning from the perspective of armchair detective."

At Morisu's words, Shimada showed not a lick of shame. "So then your final conclusion is that Seiji is still alive?"

"To call it a conclusion would be misleading. I was just pointing out a possibility that I hadn't heard brought up before, that's all. If we're talking practically, then to the question of if Seiji is still alive I'd probably say no."

"And the letters? What's your take on that?"

"It's a prank from one of the members on the island. ----Would you like some tea?"

"No thanks, I'm good."

Morisu poured himself a fourth cup of black tea. "Even if we assume Seiji is still alive, do you really think he'd send those threatening letters about a daughter he didn't even like, and probably even detested?"

"Good point."

"That's not the only reason though. Holding onto such an intense feeling of murderous rage and maintaining it for so long... that's too crazy for me to even imagine.

Maybe if this were half a year ago when the incident happened, then I'd believe Seiji might have harbored murderous urges not only for his wife but for the kids who let Chiori die, as well as his brother Koujirou... and that his feelings would explode into insanity where after killing his wife he'd go after Koujirou and the others, maybe. But going into hiding, and then waiting half a year before sending out threatening letters, and then potentially starting your revenge on those people after all that time... I don't believe humanity's mental constitution is quite that strong."

"........."

"Is there any more hot water, Morisu?" Kawaminami said, as a way to rescue Shimada from the awkward silence.

"Want me to boil some? There's not much left."

"Nah, I'm fine then." Kawaminami layed face-up on the floor and crossed his arms. "Well, since Shimada and I still have too much free time, I think we'll keep on playing detective, keeping what you said in mind."

"I never said to stop altogether," Morisu said in a softer voice. "All I'm saying is I think you need to be careful to avoid barging carelessly into people's private lives."

"I understand." Kawaminami yawned, then mumbled to himself. "I wonder what they're up to right now, on the island."

＊

quote:

Naturally, they had no way of knowing.

On that small island several towns and a sea away, the moment when murderous urges explode into action was drawing ever closer.

END OF CHAPTER 4

And with that, the 2nd day is over! FINALLY, tomorrow, we're gonna be facing a live murder. And also I'm finally pretty much blind now except for the fact that someone dies in the next chapter (cuz I glanced ahead). That means I'll probably start putting more extensive live reaction thoughts at the end of each update. Cuz I'll be reading blind while I translate, and having opinions.

We also now have the fullest picture of the 1985 murders and all the theories around it. Here are my thoughts.
-Ayatsuji is making it pretty much impossible to "meta-game" this with reasoning like "oh, the text is trying to lead me in one direction so it's clearly the other one" because he's just blatantly laying it all out on the table clearly.
-If we're placing official bets, I'd say that it's quite likely that the "Seiji" corpse has some sort of identity trickery to it, but whether that trickery was done by Seiji or not, I'm less sure of. Maybe the servant man who nobody's really talked about?
-I'm positive the 3 day gap will be important but I can't think of how. Same with the missing hand lol. That's part of why I like this 1985 mystery so much. There are parts that are blatantly suspicious but you can't connect them easily.
-There are also so many moving parts when it comes to the people involved and their relationships. I love how the question of a child's parentage can be so crucially relevant in this way.

List of essential questions:

The letters: Who/Why? (I think Koujirou is a likely suspect right now)

Who did 1985? (Maybe Koujirou...??)

Where is the hand/Why? (Something to do with wedding ring?)

What's up with the burned body? (Probably hidden evidence but maybe it's a red herring)

Who made the "victim" signs? (My blind guess is Van)

I'm definitely too dumb to solve this on my own, so I'm counting on you guys to keep track of some of this stuff. I might try making a chart or something to sum up some details before I start chapter 5, but... shrug. There's a lot to remember. At least the text is generous enough to remind us of details pretty frequently and not expect us to have perfect memories. Then again I'm paranoid that it'll use that against us by failing to remind us of a critical detail.

edit: btw we are about 40% of the way through the book.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 08:50 on Apr 27, 2019

# ¿ Apr 27, 2019 00:36

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

Chapter Five
Third Day - Island

quote:

1

When she woke up, it was almost noon already. She'd stayed up too late last night and overslept.

Agatha checked her watch, then quickly sat up in her bed. But when she listened carefully, she couldn't hear any indication that the others had woken up either.

She wrapped herself again in her blanket and continued squirming around lazily.

She'd finally gotten to bed last night after three in the morning. The others, excluding Carr and Van who'd left early, were probably the same too.

Being the only one to sleep in while at such an interesting location would be indecent ---- Agatha thought, so she was relieved that wasn't the case, and reached for a cigarette on her nightstand.

She had low blood pressure, so after waking up in the morning it took her about an hour before she was able to move her body properly.

Even so... ---- Agatha thought.

(I wonder if Orczy is awake yet)

No matter how late she goes to sleep, it was rare for that girl to sleep this late into the morning. Maybe she was feeling ill. Or maybe she'd already woken up, then saw that nobody else was there so she went back to her room. Or else....

Her eyes absentmindedly followed the smoke she expelled. She rather liked tobacco, but preferred not to smoke in public.

After smoking a little bit of a second cigarette, Agatha finally tore herself out of bed.

She put on a jumper skirt over a black blouse, then stood in front of the mirror. After making sure everything was in order, she took her pouch of cleaning products and cosmetics, and left her room.

Although it was already noon, the empty decagonal hall was as dim as ever, with only the table glowing white at the center. The decagonal sky peeking through the skylight was the same dull grey as yesterday.

Agatha went straight to the washroom to quickly wash her face and apply her makeup. When she returned to the hall, she started to tidy up the cups, plates, and butt-filled ashtray that were scattered on the table. ----That's when she noticed.

At the edge of her vision, something red suddenly caught her attention.

(What could that be...?)

Thinking that, she brought her face closer to it, and at nearly the exact same time remembered what that red thing was. She fully understood why the blood was draining slowly from her face. That thing, exactly as she remembered it, was affixed to the wooden door.

Thunk... she thought she heard a sound from somewhere, and in the next instant, she let loose a scream with all her might.

A door opened violently behind her, and the first to rush out was Carr. He had already been awake, seeing as he was dressed and groomed. When he saw Agatha standing stock still, then followed her gaze to the door, he asked "Whose room is that?" in a shout.

Agatha tried to answer immediately, but stopped. The red-lettered sign was placed so that it was covering up the nameplate on the door.

One by one the doors on each side of the decagon opened, and the others rushed out.

"Whose room is that, Agatha?" Carr repeated himself.

"----O, Orczy's..."

"What?" Poe shot to the door like a bullet. In his pajamas and with a thoroughly disheveled bedhead, he leapt at the knob with incredible force.

The door was unlocked.

With disappointing ease, the door opened.

A dark room. From the gaps in the shutters, countless thin beams of light sliced through the darkness like so many blades.

"Orczy," Poe called out in a trembling voice. "Orczy?"

The bed at the wall, dimly visible through the darkness. She was lying there peacefully. The blanket was tidily drawn up to her chest. And on top of her face, her own blue cardigan...

"Orczy!" Poe nearly roared her name as he ran into the room. However, the body lying on the bed didn't even twitch in response. "What the hell. Orczy...."

Poe lifted the cardigan covering her face as if it took absolutely all of his strength to do so, and then his broad shoulders visibly shuddered. The other five, who had followed after Poe and had been standing petrified at the door, saw this and tried to push into the room curiously.

"Stay back!" Poe raised both hands in desperate supplication. "I beg you. Don't look at this face."

As if his voice had sent an electric shock through them, the other five once again stood petrified.

Poe took a single deep breath. Then, he lifted the cardigan one more time and began to gently examine Orczy's body, which could no longer move nor feel shame.

Eventually, Poe finished and returned the cardigan. Slowly, he stood up, and from that position stared at the ceiling while letting out a long breath, like a moan.

"Everyone leave," Poe said, turning to face his friends. "This is a crime scene. We should lock the door. Where's the key...?"

"Here." Ellery, who had at some point come further into the room, picked up the key from the windowsill. "The window's unlocked too. What should we do about that?"

"We'll lock it too. Now get out, Ellery."

"Hey, what about Orczy?" Van asked.

Poe grasped the key tightly in his hand as he answered in a subdued voice. "She's dead. ----Strangled."

"No!" Agatha shouted.

"It's true, Agatha."

"That's horrible. ----Poe. I want to see her."

"You shouldn't." Poe closed his eyes and shook his head painfully. "Orczy was strangled to death, Agatha. I implore you not to look. She may be dead, but that doesn't change the fact that she is a young woman."

Agatha understood Poe's feelings right away. He was referring to the horrific expression on the faces of strangling victims. She nodded meekly and left the room as she'd been told.

Poe reached for the knob to close the door, but then....

Someone shoved their way in sideways like a crab, interposing themself between Poe and the door. "Why you tryin' to drive us out so fast, huh?"

It was Carr. He stared at Poe with a smile that could be interpreted as sarcastic. "All of us here are kinda like murder specialists in a way. Don't you think we also want to find Orczy's killer? Let us examine the crime scene and the body more closely."

"Dumbass!" Poe's face had become pale, and he screamed with his entire body. "Your friend just died and you're trying to use it for fun? Leave it for the police."

"What the hell are you talking about? When are the police gonna come? How will we call them? Don't you remember those boards from yesterday? Hmph. According to those, by the time investigators arrive we'll all be dead except the "Killer" and the "Detective", right?"

Poe ignored him and tried forcing the door closed anyway. Carr's bony hands pushed back gently against Poe's arm again.

"Dude, think about it. We can't be all neat and tidy at a time like this. What if you get killed next, huh?"

"Let go of me, Carr!"

"Or else what? Are you confident you won't get killed? I'm pretty sure the only one who could believe that is the culprit."

"What did you loving say to me?"

"Oh, did I hit the bullseye?"

"gently caress off!"

"Stop it, you two."

Poe, grabbing at the door. Carr, holding his ground and wincing. Van caught Carr's arm and dragged him out of the way.

"What're you doing, dickhead?" Carr's face was red from shouting.

Poe took advantage of the momentary distraction to shut the door and lock it.

"You're being indecent, Carr." At some point Ellery had gone to the kitchen and back, since he was holding the other six boards. "Poe's right, I'm sorry to say."

-----------
Live thoughts:

-Man, I'm really interested in Agatha. I'm glad we're getting this look into her mind because she kind of seems like the most closed-off of the group, after Orczy, but like in a subtler way than Orczy is. Like, she complains about doing all the cooking/etc but never actually complains about it to the boys. I wonder if that's the only thing in her mind that she's keeping from the rest....

-Detail that catches my eye #1: Agatha's low blood pressure.

-Jfc does everybody on this island smoke? lol

-I love the way the "something red" scene was written to make you definitely think it was talking about blood at first. At least, for me it worked lol.

-Wow ok that thunk will surely be important. Gotta keep that in mind.

-"The door was unlocked." I am offended. Who do you think you are getting murdered in a not closed-room fashion?

-"Orczy's body, which could no longer move nor feel shame." This part was really beautiful in Japanese and I feel like I butchered it. It's written like those are the two things most indicative of Orczy's life: movement, and being shy. Poor Orczy! :'(

-Re: Poe - I generally like to believe that characters are not this good at acting, so I'll feel more than a bit betrayed if it turns out Poe killed Orczy.

Post-section thoughts:

Okay, so that was all-around a pretty unexpected scene between Poe and Carr there, and I'm definitely surprised that everyone was so alright with not checking the body. Right now there are essentially no clues about the murder except for social clues during the discovery. At least, not that I can tell. I've gotta say I'm still super intrigued with the way Ayatsuji sets up information in this book.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 11:54 on Apr 30, 2019

# ¿ Apr 30, 2019 11:47

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

2

"This is stupid. Someone's pranking us. That can't be real."

"Leroux."

"Murdered? That's just a joke. This is a nightmare. Yeah, there's definitely some kind of mistake."

"Leroux, stop it already!"

Leroux jumped at Agatha's shrill voice, and lifted his head from his hunched posture. He said "Sorry" in a frail murmur, then silently put his head down again.

The six of them were sitting around the table in the main hall.

None of them could look one another in the eye. Only one spot drew their gazes, as if by design, and that was the void left behind by a shy girl with short hair, sitting silently in her chair until last night.

"Which of you is Orczy's killer?" The words escaped Agatha's pink-painted lips like a curse, and they left a slight chill in the cool air.

"No one would flat out admit they killed her," Ellery answered.

"Well, the culprit is in this room, right? Who among these six killed Orczy? Why do you have to play dumb? Why not be honest?"

"If they'd come forward just from that, they wouldn't have commited murder in the first place."

"But Ellery..."

"I know, Agatha. I know." Ellery hit the table softly with a fist. "We obviously need to figure out who the culprit is. ----How about it, Poe? Are you in the mood to unveil the information you gathered?"

After showing a clear few moments of hesitation, Poe tightened his thick lips and nodded deeply. "Like I said before, she ---- Orczy was strangled to death. Her neck was wrapped in a nylon cord that could've come from anywhere, and underneath it I found distinct rope scars. I'd say it was certainly murder."

"Were there signs of a struggle?"

"None. She was likely attacked in her sleep, or else taken by surprise. I couldn't find any evidence of a head wound, so she wasn't knocked out beforehand. Though, there is one thing I don't understand."

"What is it?"

"You probably noticed it too. I have no idea why, but the killer seemed to have arranged the body neatly. She was laid to rest face-up, clothes straightened, and her face covered with a cardigan, which could be explained by the killer feeling guilty, but the problem with that is...." Poe frowned deeply. "Orczy's corpse was missing a left hand."

"Come again?"

"What are you talking about, Poe?"

"What I'm saying is, her left hand was cut off."

Poe calmly looked over the scene of confusion. Then he placed both hands on the table, and turned his palms up. On his fingers, a tiny amount of dark-red blood was visible.

"They probably used a blade or kitchen knife, or some kind of sharp object to do it. It must have been very difficult for them. The cut was terribly messy."

"Of course, they probably cut it off after she was dead, right?" Ellery said.

"I can't be sure, but that's a safe assumption. If it was cut while her heart was still beating, the amount of bleeding would have been inconvenient, to say the least."

"And you didn't find any sharp objects in the room?"

"Nope. And as far as I saw, her hand wasn't in there either."

"The killer took it with them, then?" Ellery mumbled as if to himself, steepling his fingers gracefully together. "Why would the killer do something like that?"

"Because they're insane!" Agatha said in a raised voice.

Ellery snorted slightly in response. "If they aren't, though, they've sure got a knack for dark humor. It's a pastiche. They're copying the incident that happened on this island last year."

"Ah...."

"The Blue Mansion quadruple murders. One of the victims, Nakamura Kazue, was strangled and then had her left hand cut off."

"But Ellery, why would they do that?"

"You're asking for the motive behind the resemblance? ----Well..." Ellery shrugged. "Let's put that on the back-burner for now. ----Poe, can you estimate the time of death?"

"The formation of blood spots under the skin was just barely visible. But when I checked her pulse, I could tell that rigor mortis was starting to set in. Handling her right hand, however, I found that the fingers were comparatively easy to move, so the rigidity hadn't yet spread to the extremities. From that, and taking into account the coagulation of blood on her arm... Right, it was four to five hours after death. So her time of death would be between seven and eight this morning, or between six and nine to give it some leeway. Keep in mind this is just the opinion of a complete novice, so please don't take it as fact."

"We trust you." Carr laughed, grinning like a monkey. "After all, you're the heir to a nationally acclaimed hospital and the single most talented medical student at K University. Of course, that's assuming such a prodigy isn't actually the culprit."

Poe remained silent and didn't even dignify Carr with a glance.

"Is there anyone who can claim an alibi from six this morning until nine?" Ellery asked everyone. "Or did anyone notice anything related to the case?"

There was no answer.

"Then, does anyone know of a possible motive?"

Leroux and Van, then Agatha all slowly moved their gazes to Carr's face.

"I see," Ellery said in a detached tone. "It seems we've narrowed it down to Carr. If we're just looking for a feasible motive to kill, that is."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you got rejected by her."

Carr went "Urk" in surprise and bit his now-dry lip.

"But Ellery, if Carr was the killer, he wouldn't have set up the body so neatly, right?" Agatha spoke with a sneer. "Actually, Carr's the only one of us who wouldn't."

-----
Live thoughts:

-I think it's funny how Leroux just rapid-fire spouts off all these cliche "character in denial" lines one after another.

-Was there no blood at the scene or anything? Because there's no way you'd cut off someone's hand, even a recently-dead person, without getting blood everywhere.... right?
(Oh nevermind, they brought that up)

-Poe's hands mean that at the very least the killer had to have gotten blood on their hands. That means that they either wiped them with something, or had to visit the bathroom afterwards.... hm...

-I really like the detail of Poe's time-of-death explanation.

Post-section thoughts:
I'm too tired and stupid to draw conclusions or theories from the new details. But I think we can safely assume the next murder/murders will be from an axe to the head?

edit: changed "satire" to "pastiche" and "parodying" to "copying"

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 22:13 on May 1, 2019

# ¿ May 1, 2019 02:32

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

The_White_Crane posted:

Mm. Thing is, even without a heartbeat, chopping off someone's hand immediately after death would release a lot of blood. All the lack of a heartbeat would get you is no spurting; you'd still be looking at a damned big pool.
So I wonder if Poe's explanation here is reflective of a lack of research on the author's part, or a deliberate deception on the character's part.

I'm pretty sure we can trust the author's research considering the explanation of the time of death. But idk if that means Poe is definitely being deceitful either. Maybe Poe is considering if the hand was cut like... an hour or more after her death? I'm not sure when exactly there would be significantly less blood. There's also the possibility that Poe doesn't know super well about post-mortem bleeding.

fast edit: that said, I'm pretty confident the body was moved after death. The tidiness of the corpse along with the lack of blood found at the scene makes me pretty sure about that right now.

# ¿ May 1, 2019 20:50

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

3

"Fuckin' bastards."

Sitting on a rock and looking out at Cat Island in front of him, Carr spit on the ground. The nearby weeds were violently uprooted, as Carr was tearing them out with no regard for the dirt getting on his hands.

"Bastards...."

Unable to release his frustration in any other way, he kept pulling. The torn-out blades of grass rode off on the wind and danced over the sea.

(Those guys... they're always so drat self-centered, but then as soon as they're blaming me they team up all of a sudden. They even glossed right over Poe's weird behavior. What the hell?)

Like, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who wanted to examine the body and the crime scene, Carr thought. Especially Ellery, he must've been desperate to go in and investigate. Leroux and Van too. Don't they realize how dangerous it is to leave this entirely up to Poe?

The sound of the waves below only irritated him further. After spitting on the dirt again, Carr twisted his lips and hit his knee with a fist.

(Anyway, this is Orczy we're talking about. Rejected? Seriously? Hmph. I just invited her out 'cause I was bored. You've gotta be conceited as gently caress to take it that way... dumbass. Who does she think she is? Hmph. As if I'd kill someone over that....)

Writhing in anger and shame, Carr glared out at the scenery ahead.

＊

quote:

"Yeah, there's no boats at all. And we don't have the tools to chop trees and make a raft. And even if we did, it'd be a roll of the dice whether we reach the shore. ----Want a smoke, Van?"

To find out if there was any way to contact the mainland, the five excluding Carr had decided to split into two groups and search the island. This group consisted of Poe, Van, and Agatha. They were assigned to the south and east coasts.

After handing a cigarette over to Van and putting another in his mouth, Poe crossed his arms with a grave look about him. "I guess we have no choice but to burn a signal fire."

"I wonder if that'd even get noticed...." Van looked up at the sky and lit his cigarette. "The weather's looking shady too. It'll probably start raining tonight."

"That'd suck. ----Geez, why didn't we think to secure a contact in advance, in case of emergency?"

"There's no use saying that now. None of us could have seen this coming." Van dropped his shoulders dejectedly. "Even though my fever's finally going away... why'd this have to happen?"

"I haven't seen a single boat since we've been here," Agatha said indignantly. Beneath the cloudy sky, the sea looked sinister, bearing an ever-darkening shadow.

"No, I'm sure some have come close. It's probably a good idea to keep watch. We can do it in pairs, in three rotating shifts."

"Absolutely not, Poe!" Agatha screamed hysterically. "How could you suggest being alone with someone who might be a murderer!?"

"Then, how about groups of three?"

"It should be fine for everyone to come, Van. Since around here the boats pretty much only leave the harbor at dawn and return at dusk."

"I don't think it has to be limited to those times."

"It doesn't matter, because the chance of a ship finding us is basically nonexistent," Agatha said. "Remember what that old fisherman said when we were on our way here? The fishing areas around these parts are way further south, so boats rarely notice this island."

"But what else can we even do? Is there any firewood?"

"That's another problem," Poe said, turning to face the trees. "It's all pine. And living trees don't burn well. Maybe we should gather up dead pine needles and burn those. But I doubt that sort of fire would reach the shore. If we're assuming boats won't come close enough, that is."

"Hey, what's gonna happen to us?" Agatha looked at the two of them with frightened eyes. Her normal confidence and vigor was gone without a trace.

"It's okay. We'll manage somehow." Putting a hand on Agatha's shoulder, Poe contorted his bearded face into a clumsy smile. But her face only grew more tense.

"You say that, but Poe... or possibly Van, either of you could be the killer."

Poe silently placed a new cigarette in his mouth.

"Carr and Leroux too, and Ellery..." Agatha's pale cheeks twitched as she said "One of them killed Orczy. Killed her and cut off her hand."

"But Agatha, you're a suspect too, you know," Van said with an uncharacteristically stern expression.

"No, I'm different." Agatha took a step towards the forest, head in hands. "Aah... I can't believe it. This kind of stuff doesn't happen. Hey Van, Poe... Is Orczy really dead? Is there really a killer among us?"

＊

quote:

"Actually Leroux, I think there's another possibility."

"Another... huh?"

"It's kind of obvious. I'm saying there might be an extra person lurking on the island."

"Eh?"

Ellery and Leroux, after checking out the inlet and the rocky area near the Blue Mansion ruins, headed into the forest path on the opposite side. Their destination was the island's north coast where Cat Island was visible.

"What do you mean, Ellery?" Leroux unconsciously stopped walking and asked for clarification.

"The possibility of an outside culprit." Ellery turned around and smiled. "What's the alternative? You think there's an actual murderer among us?"

"Hey... Don't joke about that. But I mean, who in the world could be lurking here?"

"In my opinion..." Ellery spoke without a care. "Nakamura Seiji."

"Whaat?"

"It shouldn't be that surprising."

"But Ellery, Naramura Seiji was killed last year...."

"Sure, but what if that was a mistake all along? You really haven't considered that? The corpse of Seiji that they found half a year ago was a "faceless corpse", not an actual body. And what's more, the gardener happened to go missing at the same time."

"If Seiji is the true culprit, you think the corpse we thought was Seiji was actually the gardener?"

"Yeah. It's a simple substitution trick."

"So then you're saying Seiji is still alive, and he's come back to the island today?"

"Potentially. Or maybe, he's living here."

"Living?"

"Remember the fisherman's story from a couple days ago? He said the lights in Decagon House would be lit. Couldn't that be Seiji turning on the lamps?"

"I mean, let's not go down the rabbit hole of believing ghost stories. Besides, given all the police and press investigations... where could he have possibly hidden until now?"

"Well, that's why we're searching the island. I was on the lookout for hidden stuff at the inlet and boathouse too. I didn't find anything out of the ordinary though. Of course finding a way to contact the mainland was my first priority, but I was also thinking I might at least find some evidence that a person was hiding here. That's also why I want to check out Cat Island."

"But if you're right... I still can't see Seiji being the culprit."

"Really? The latch on Orczy's window was undone. It's not that hard to imagine someone coming in from outside through the window that Orczy forgot to lock."

"Then why was the door unlocked?"

"Because after the crime, the killer opened it from inside. Then he went into the hall to put that sign on the door."

"That's odd. If someone outside of our group is the killer, then how could they know that you put the boards away in that kitchen drawer?

"The boards could have been prepared by someone outside. The front door of Decagon House has a broken lock, so he'd be free to come and go as he pleased. Maybe yesterday morning he lined them on the table, then waited for us to wake up while watching through the kitchen window. Or perhaps, he has an informant among us."

"What...? There's no way."

"I'm just considering every possibility. Leroux, for one so peerlessly fond of mysteries, your imagination is super weak."

"Reality is different from mysteries, Ellery. ----But fine, I'll humor you. What would you say Nakamura Seiji's motive is for killing us?"

"Hrm."

The path ended and they emerged onto the cliff to find Carr. As soon as he noticed the two of them, he turned away in a huff and stood up.

"Hey, it's not good to run off on your own," Ellery scolded Carr, who was trying to leave without saying anything. But Carr just stomped away into the forest without turning back.

"He's a piece of work." Ellery clucked his tongue. "Probably from that whole ordeal earlier. I think I was too hard on him. He kind of sees me as his nemesis, it feels like."

"I think I understand how he feels," Leroux said, glancing back at the direction Carr went. "Ellery, you're always... even now you're so calm, like you're just watching people from the sidelines, one step removed from everything.

"Is that how it looks?"

"Yes. Because of that, and this isn't just me flattering you, I've come to have a sort of respect for you overall. But for Carr it's the opposite. I'm pretty sure he's jealous."

"Hmm. You think so?" With an indifferent expression, Ellery stepped towards the sea. "Just shrubs. You can't see anything from here."

Cat Island was straight ahead. Leroux stood next to Ellery, taking a vested interest in his own feet.

"You know," he said. "It wouldn't be impossible for two or three people to be hiding there. But these cliffs though..."

"They probably have a boat. At this distance a small inflatable raft would be enough. They could easily leave from that rocky area, and then... look, Leroux." Ellery pointed. "That slope right there looks climbable, right?"

"----Yeah, it does."

While gazing out at the white foam crashing against the hunched black form of Cat Island, Leroux diligently mulled over the thoughts in his chaotic mind.

Indeed, he couldn't outright deny Ellery's theory of the outside culprit. There was the possibility that someone outside of their group was lurking on the island, with the intention of taking their lives. But even so, he thought tying that to Nakamura Seiji right away was a huge logical leap. They didn't even know how likely he was to still be alive. And even assuming he was, why would he need to take their lives?

(It's impossible after all)

Leroux shook his head slowly.

It was far too unlikely to be true, he thought. ----However...

Something in his memory was tugging at his thoughts. Something that he absolutely must remember.

The waves breaking on the cliff below assaulted his heart as well. Every time they crashed against the rocks, he felt like a fragment of his memory was being washed away.

Giving up, Leroux looked at Ellery beside him. Finished with speaking, he was staring coldly out to sea.

A gust of wind carried with it the scent of evening.

-----
Part 1 thoughts:

I'm really interested in Carr too. Am I just super easy to get invested in characters or are the characters in this really subtle and interesting? Probably a little bit of both. Man, I'm still upset that Orczy died so soon. I really wanted to know more about what made her tick. (And also it might've been cute if Carr actually was interested in Orczy and they had some cute interactions...)

Also, for the record I completely agree with Carr, and not just because I want more details as a reader. It was totally irresponsible of the others to let Poe basically have an "information monopoly" over them.

[By the way, this is officially the end of where I've skimmed ahead. From this point on I'm translating completely blind, as I read.]

Part 2 thoughts:
-"Poe, Van, and Agatha" ok so Ellery and Leroux are 100% definitely just loving around right now lol.

-I like the idea that Poe just has a functionally infinite amount of cigarettes that he's constantly smoking/lending lol.

-"None of us could have seen this coming." Well, one person certainly did. Agatha? She's the one who told the fisherman not to come, iirc.

-The order of the dialogue after Agatha said "absolutely not" is slightly confusing. I'm fairly certain the order goes like this: Van, Poe, Van, Agatha, Van, and then a line is attributed to Poe. To reflect that, I added an attribution to Agatha. I'm sorry Ayatsuji!

-Can't they use wood from the dead trees around Blue Mansion to build a fire...?

-Agatha has a verifiable alibi...? C'mon girl, if this is some weak poo poo then that just makes you look suspicious.

Part 3 thoughts:
-I enjoy that transition very much.

-I was gonna call the extra person a "third party individual" but realized that might add a fake association to that new year's party lol.

-Oh, I kind of assumed Agatha etc were near the inlet area looking for canoes or whatever in the boathouse, since Poe mentions building a raft right after. I guess they were talking about seeing boats on the water though. Looking at the map again, I guess the inlet could be considered west coast. If they're heading up the east coast then the groups might actually converge right on top of Carr lol. (I'm starting to get a headache thinking about this. Luckily the translation doesn't depend on me understanding poo poo. For example I didn't have to edit any translations after this revelation.)

-Ohh they're bringing up the Seiji theory already! Here we go...

-I hate how every entrance was unlocked. I mean, that's the smartest thing to do if you're the killer. Leave everything unlocked so there are too many variables to deduce anything.

-Is this the first time they mentioned that the front door lock is broken...? How does Ellery know that?

-Time to check back to when the kitchen doors were opened during the sign-discovery scene. Could the outside culprit be sure they'd be able to see into the hall? (for some reason I'm reminded that the sakura trees are out near the kitchen window)

-Super notable that Ellery doesn't bring up Chiori when asked about Seiji's motive.

-Leroux is about to remember Chiori...??

-Man, there's *gotta* be something deeper about Ellery's character. He better not die before we get more into his feelings!

Final thoughts:

Wow, reading more of this after so long (since I've been REreading this whole time) is giving me that familiar feeling of having my head full to the brim with new details, and I probably won't get to sleep tonight because of it lol. I feel just like Leroux right now. I love how every single line feels like it has gravity, but also it's slightly exhausting... heh.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 09:42 on May 2, 2019

# ¿ May 2, 2019 09:34

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

(sorry for the delay. i had family over for the weekend. also this section was a bitch)

quote:

4

"...Due to a drop in air pressure, the sky will be overcast from late tonight until tomorrow evening, with very infrequent breaks in the cloud coverage, but the weather will start to brighten up starting the day after tomorrow. Now for the weekly forecast..."

The voice broadcasting from the radio cassette Leroux had brought soon changed to a rambunctious woman DJ.

"Enough. Turn that off. I don't want to hear it," Agatha snapped. Leroux frantically flipped the power switch.

They had just finished eating a simple dinner in grim silence. Around the lamp-lit decagonal table, the six filled every chair except the one directly in front of Orczy's room. The "First Victim" sign was still affixed to the door. Apparently a powerful adhesive had been used, since they had tried to peel it off to no avail.

"Hey Ellery, show me another one of your tricks," Agatha said with a deliberately brighter tone.

"Hm? ----Oh, sure."

Ellery shuffled the cards he'd been silently fiddling with, then returned them to their case and put them into his jacket pocket.

"Wait, you're putting them away now, even though I just asked about it?"

"No, Agatha. I put them away specifically because you asked me."

"I don't get it."

"I'm doing a trick that has to start like this." Ellery softly cleared his throat, then looked directly into Agatha's eyes in the adjacent seat. "Alright Agatha, let's begin. Right now, I want you to think of a card, any card, out of the fifty two excluding jokers, and focus on it."

"Just think of one?"

"Yes. Don't say it out loud. ----Got one?"

"Okay. Yeah."

"Now...." Then Ellery took the deck out of his jacket and laid it on the table, still inside the case. They were red-back Bicycle Riders. "I want you to stare at this deck. And send the name of the card you thought of into the deck. Send it in with all your might."

"Alright. I just have to think super hard?"

"Yep. ----Cool, that's good." Ellery picked up the case and held it in his left hand. "Now Agatha, which was the card you thought of and sent into this deck?"

"I can say it?"

"Please."

"Queen of diamonds..."

"Hmm. Now I'd like you to watch these cards closely."

Ellery opened the lid of the case, then pulled out the deck with the cards facing up. He then started to fan them out gradually with both hands.

"Queen of diamonds, eh? ----Oh?" Ellery stopped spreading the cards, his attention caught. Among the face-up cards, a single face-down card stood out. "One of them is upside-down."

"I can see that."

"Why don't you take it and look at the other side?"

"Sure. ----No way." Agatha had reached dubiously for the card, then placed it on the table face-up. It was unmistakably the queen of diamonds.

"How?" Agatha was dumbstruck.

"Pretty crazy, right?" Ellery smiled, put the cards back into the case, and returned the case to his pocket.

"That was amazing, Ellery."

"Oh, he didn't show you that one, Leroux?"

"Never."

"That just now was one of my masterpiece card tricks."

"Maybe Agatha was in on it or something."

"Wrong, Leroux."

"Really?"

"I'd never pull a ruse like that. But while we're on the subject, no it's not a trick that depends on me making a gamble on the probability that Agatha would pick a specific card." Ellery lit up a Salem, then let out a steady stream of air. "Next, let's do riddles. I saw this one in a book. When you look up (上) it's below, when you're down (下) it's above, it passes through the mother's (母) chest and rests on the shoulders of children (子). ----What is it?"

"Say it again?" Leroux asked. Ellery repeated the exact same words.

"I''ve got it." Agatha clapped her hands together. "It's one (一). The kanji."

"Splendid!"

"----Ah, I see. The shape of it."

"So, next, how about this? If I write out 春夏冬二升五合, how do you read it?"

"What the heck is that?"

"Oh? You've never seen that on the window of small-town stores?"

"Now that you mention it, I might've seen that in a bank recently," Poe said, filling his wooden cigarette case with a new pack of Larks. "春夏冬 (spring summer winter) is missing autumn ("aki"). In other words, akinai (lit: no autumn). Since 二升 means two of 升 ("masu"), that'd make masumasu. And then 五合 (0.9 liters) is half of one 升 (pronounced "jou" as measurement), so it makes hanjou (lit: half a jou)."

"So then... akinai masumasu hanjou (lit: business is booming)?"

"Exactly."

"Wow. Talk about obscure logic."

"Well, I guess it's a type of secret code."

"Speaking of code," Ellery shoved his way back into the conversation. "Did you know that the first recorded use of code was in the Old Testament? In the Book of Daniel, I believe."

"It goes back that far?"

"I mean, there's stuff like that in ancient Japan too. Take the famous dialogue between Yoshida Kenkou and Ton'a the monk in the "Zoku Souanshuu" for example. Didn't you study it in highschool?"

"I don't know that. What is it?" Agatha said.

"Kenkou delivered a poem to Ton'a. The brisk night // awakens me for a spell // as wind cuts through the sleeve // of the arm I use to rest my head // reminding of autumn. ----If you take the first letter of each line (in Japanese), it reads "Give me rice" in classical language. Then when you take the last letter from each line and read up starting from the end, it says "I also want money". Cool, right?"

"That's sort of depressing."

"Ton'a replied with a poem of his own. The harsh night // and wearying world // will never fail // to visit us // and I am grateful. ----If we do the same thing with the letters of this one, it spells out "I have no rice, but a little money" and completes the hidden conversation."

"This is some really deep stuff."

"I'm pretty sure there was a different kind of famous poetic code in "The Harvest of Leisure" too. What was it again, Orczy?"

The group who'd been listening casually up until that moment simultaneously gasped in shock, and froze in their seats.

"----Sorry. Instinct." Ellery's face showed the expected amount of panic. He had made a completely uncharacteristic mistake.

Since the start of dinner, they'd had an unspoken agreement to avoid the topic of Orczy as much as possible, so Ellery's slip of the tongue had brought them back to their inescapable reality in a single instant. They were once again constricted by a sickening silence.

"Um, Ellery, was that all?" Leroux threw a lifeboat to Ellery, who'd stopped talking.

"Oh. Yes," Ellery said, barely keeping the usual smile on his lips.

Seeming to scoff at him, Carr struck the table. "Agatha, make us coffee." He glared at Ellery as if to say 'you should be ashamed of yourself', and shamelessly bared his lips. Ellery's knees twitched as he tried to say something in response, but Agatha was already taking charge.

"I'll go brew some." She stood up in a hurry and headed alone towards the kitchen.

"Listen up everyone," Carr said, looking each of the remaining four in the eyes one by one. "Tonight we're holding poor Orczy's vigil, aren't we? Let's stop pretending we don't know that, and be a bit more respectful."

＊

quote:

"There you go. Add as much sugar and milk as you like." Agatha set the tray containing six moss-green cups onto the table.

"Sorry for making you do this every time," Ellery said, taking the cup closest to him.

The others reached for their cups in turn. After taking one for herself, Agatha offered the remaining cup to Van in the next seat over.

"Oh. Thank you." Van took the cup, then put his half-smoked Seven Star in the ashtray and wrapped his hands around the decagonal cup as if to warm them.

"Are you feeling better, Van?"

"Oh, yes, I am. Thanks to you guys. ----Hey Ellery, we kind of forgot to discuss this, but you really couldn't find any way to contact the mainland before?"

"We did not." Ellery sipped his coffee black.

"There's a lighthouse over at J Cape, so we were thinking we could wave a white flag at night, but... In all likelihood, that lighthouse is unmanned."

"Yeah. It is."

"Then we thought maybe if one of us with the resolution to die could try swimming it...? Or we could make a sort of raft?"

"Those both sound impossible."

"We also considered lighting a fire, Ellery," Poe said. "But we figured a fire of pine needles wouldn't get noticed."

"Wouldn't it be more effective to set Decagon House on fire?"

"What? There's no way we could do that."

"Yeah, probably a bad idea. Too dangerous. ----Actually Poe, Leroux and I had a certain extra thing we were looking for besides a means of contact."

"What kind of thing?"

"Well, we didn't end up finding it anyway. Even though we searched most of the island... wait, hold on a sec."

"What's up?"

"Blue Mansion ---- Well, the remains of Blue Mansion, I mean." Ellery mumbled with a finger pressed into his forehead. "I wonder if it might have a basement."

"A basement?"

That's when it happened.

As if violently cutting off their conversation, a person suddenly let out an unsettling moan and collapsed onto the table.

"What's wrong?" Agatha screamed. "What happened!?"

They all stood at once. The table shook terribly. Amber liquid spilled from an overturned cup.

Like a broken automaton, his legs were flailing randomly, eventually kicking the chair out from under him. Before long, his upper body lying prone on the table was dragged painstakingly down to the blue tiles on the floor.

"Carr!" Poe shouted and rushed over. Shoved aside by Poe, Leroux stumbled and knocked his own chair over.

"What happened to Carr?" Ellery followed after Poe.

Looking closely into Carr's face, slouched on the floor, Poe shook his head. "I don't understand. Do any of you know of some chronic disease Carr has?"

There was no answer.

"----Oh crap."

Carr's throat continued to make a faint, hoarse whistling sound. Poe laid a thick arm firmly across his upper body. "Lend me a hand, Ellery. We should let him vomit. I suspect it's poison."

Carr's body convulsed violently, breaking free of Poe's hold. Eyes open desperately wide, he writhed on the floor, curled up like a shrimp. Then after a short time, another violent convulsion. Along with the repulsive noise escaping his mouth, brown vomit spilled out....

"He's not gonna die, right? Right?" Agatha implored Poe with terrified eyes.

"There's no way for me to know."

"Can't you help him?"

"I don't know the type of poison. And even if I did, there's not much I could do here. All we can do is pray this wasn't a lethal dose."

＊

quote:

It was 2:30am that night.

While laying in the bed of his assigned room, Carr drew his last breath.

----
Good lord, these riddles are murdering me. I'm genuinely sorry for how loving unreadable this part is. Hopefully it's at least... a tiny bit interesting to you? The scariest thing is that this might be prepping me to solve this poo poo on my own next time, and you guys probably can't help me with that part!

Potentially notable is that the answer to the first riddle is present in quite a few character names. It's the "ichi" in Kyouichi and Seiichi, and it's the "hajime" in... Hajime. gently caress if I know how that might be notable, but it could be??

I have no clue what Ellery is talking about with the Bible poo poo.

Ugh holy poo poo these wakas are giving me such a headache to even read. After some rigorous searching I found a bunch of blog posts about this specific dialogue, so that's the only way I was possibly able to translate it. I am *not* good at reading classical Japanese. Ellery I literally hate you, you have made this translation take SO much longer.

Final notes on the first bit: gently caress all that noise and I never want to think about it again.

Okay in all seriousness though, I do have thoughts on Carr's stuff at the end. It's noble of him to send Agatha away and keep his anger in check. Essentially he's practicing what he's preaching wrt respecting Orczy's memory. PLEASE DON'T DIE TONIGHT CARR!

By the way, in case that hyperlink was unclear, I wanted to draw attention to the fact that "sakura" was used to mean "staged audience member". Since there are sakura trees in the back yard, I mean. Listen I don't know what will be relevant later and that stood out to me!

Ellery, just goddamn finish your thought before trailing off into stream of consciousness please.

gently caress NO DON'T loving DIE CARR.

Carr has been compared to a lot of seafood lol. First crab and now shrimp. It's making me hungry.

Fuuuuuuck! :negative:

And then there were five...

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 07:34 on May 8, 2019

# ¿ May 7, 2019 15:54

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

gently caress DID I SAY TEA I MEANT COFFEE
(re: ellery)

# ¿ May 8, 2019 07:16

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 15:03

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

The_White_Crane posted:

It looks like Poe has solved the riddle, but it reads as so pat and definite, especially following his vague "I might've seen that" that I wondered if it was actually Ellery explaining the answer?

I was sort of puzzled over that too (obviously I need to figure out who's saying each line besides ones like "a basement?" or whatever).

My final judgement was that Poe just solves it weirdly fast, and then also is the one who says "exactly" after either Agatha or Leroux (probably Agatha) puts it all together. Since the text says Ellery is jumping back into the conversation with his random fun facts, I figure he didn't speak since giving the hint.

# ¿ May 8, 2019 11:19

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Lets Solve: The Decagon House Murders

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