Chapter 2.3 Write-up:
Weirdly enough, even though just before that Norimizu said Ekisuke was dead in the corridor where the armors are displayed, he goes to the belfry and sets about securing it. When called out over this by Kumashiro and Hazekura, he explains that he theorizes the culprit is in the belfry. Why isn’t very clear at this point, but this has to do with the motet they heard earlier. However, he then turns back to the corridor.
Almost right away, he locates Ekisuke’s body in one of the armors. He was stuffed into it, and asphyxiated, in a rather gruesome way that recalls (at least to me) iron maidens. He also sports a strangely shaped wound, probably made with a weapon designed to pierce the armor. Horimizu explains how he came to the conclusion that the murderer was in the belfry and Ekisuke in the corridor the music they heard could on be heard that way if the sound propagation was impeded, and the corridor doors closed… which happened as Ekisuke died and his body weight caused the door to close. Horimizu then interrogates one of Ekisuke’s colleagues, Jōjurō. It turns out he knew that Ekisuke was stuck in an armor, was dying, and then was dead. At first, he let a still alive, still free, but apparently ill Ekisuke who ranted that he was the main suspect for Grete Danneberg’s murder; about an hour later, he found Ekisuke, visibly even more ill, and stuck/suspended in the armor, in the corridor. Another hour later, Ekisuke seemed to still be alive, but within 10 minutes, Jōjurō found him dead and cold. This seems to contradict Norimizu’s theory that Ekisuke died slowly from asphyxiation. More over, the way Elisuke is stuck in the armor is strange. Since he was a hunch-back, the armor sits sideways on him. Ekisuke was responsible for the armors’ maintenance, and Kumashiro says that maybe he committed suicide because he was responsible for Danneberg’s murder, and that closes the case. But Horimizu replies that the prophecy stated that Ekisuke would die from asphyxiation. Horimizu decides to go back to the belfry… and finds there Nobuko, passed out at the carillon, holding the armor piercing weapon that seems to have been used ogn Ekisuke. And by her side, a note, refering back to Goethe’s Faust : Sylphus verschwinden
Thought
That chapter was honestly all over the place. I appreciated the musical theory explanations more than the physics one in previous chapter, but having them spread over two different parts made them a bit difficult to follow, and Norimizu still seems to act as if he has a series of divine revelations, more than as the usual Sherlock-Holmes type detective. Ekisuke’s end must have been pretty gruesome… but the part I least understand is Jōjurō’s story : having found Ekisuke’s stuck in the armor, visibly ill, probably hurt, visibly dying, why didn’t he call for help immediately ? Are the mansion’s inhabitants of the habit to hide in the armors ? That seems really, really weird. And Jōjurō has for me more of the feel of a convenient witness (a local NPC, if you will) than of a main character.
Still, the plot thickens !
