It seems like he has to be anti Takezou (not trying with that kanji 
), maybe in league with Tatsuhiko? So perhaps Takezou had some plan to ‘take care of’ the problematic remaining family members, and Saegusa and Tatsuhiko are plotting to instead take down Takezou when he’s confronted with them…?
If that’s the case though it really doesn’t make sense to me where Shingyouji fits in though.
Shingyouji and Misao are an unexpected element in their plans, I guess – Saegusa seems to just want them out of the way until his scheme is complete.
(39-42). The still-unread part of the book is getting rapidly thinner…
Is it just me, or does this whole confrontation scene come across as super sus ?
Just finished through 42 as well and EXTREMELY SUS. Why does it feel like either Saegusa and Murashita are in cahoots, or Murashita’s got something up his sleeve? Like so far Sakaki is the only one I trust and this diversion is going to stop the bells from going off. Unless Sakaki and Saegusa planned something together and having Saegusa appear to threaten Sakaki is part of it…? Ahhh I don’t know!
Also (39-42) Murashita just said their amnesia was the “temporary unless you keep taking the drugs” kind. The theory so far was “these two were getting in the way, so zap their memories so they don’t cause any more problems”. Why would it be useful for him to give them only temporary amnesia?
Yeah that part made no sense at all. Like is something supposed to happen within a week that will make some big difference to him or…? I’m still not seeing how all the pieces fit.
I intended to read the next week today, only to notice that I’m actually a week behind. 
So there’s that. I just finished reading last week’s part (43-48), and things are happening! I’m getting more and more confused about who’s working together with who and to what purpose.
It sure seems like 猛蔵 and 三枝 are in cahoots… But what for? Is it possible 孝 isn’t even the original culprit?
I haven’t finished this week’s reading yet so I may eat my words but I’m back to my pet theory that Takashi is Saegusa somehow
I’ve since read parts 49-51, and I guess not, @cat - everything’s still up I’m the air! 
Things are really happening fast and I may have more or less on purpose read a sentence from next week’s part already… 
Anyway, 三枝 and 猛蔵 are still super sus, and I’m looking forward to finding out how everything is connected finally. Only 2 more weeks!
I just finished this week’s reading and I felt like I cut it on such a cliff hanger 
(49-51)
In chapter 49 Misao mentions following Saegusa to the roof of a department store, which prompted me to reread the prologue. The first unknown character in the prologue is Saegusa (in fact we could have figured that out much earlier, since the prologue mentions his bad leg). The girl who appears briefly is Misao. The second, younger, man with the scarred face is clearly the man in the bed. That might be Takashi, or might be somebody else pretending to be him…
My current theory is that Saegusa and Takashi are working together to get revenge on Takezou while leaving him thinking that Takashi is dead. Yuuji and Akie agreed to have their memories temporarily wiped so they could convincingly play their part in the “Takashi gets shot” act. I bet I’m completely wrong though 
Big cliffhanger at the end of chapter 54
I feel like I knew this would be coming, and yet there’s been so much information these past few weeks that I was still pretty surprised.
I just about managed to actually stop reading. No promises I’ll make it till next week. 
I finished a little early. I admit it was less a drive to find out all the details and more just anxious to have a book off my plate before コップクラフト starts. Overall reaction to the last two weeks’ reading:
Takezou seems just like…comically villainous and not very good at it. I did enjoy the final twists, but I definitely see how 宮部みゆき’s characterization improved in her later writing. This one had some elements I know her for, but it felt shallower and more heavy handed than I felt her other books have been.
I think a LOT of the final explanatory scenes could have been condensed. There’s probably a good 50-100 pages excess in this book which, if cut, would make it feel so much tighter and more exciting. It was not a bad book by any means, but it is a lengthy one and I am maybe more critical of dragging scenes when a book passes ~400 pages. Clearly the author isn’t trying to hit a certain character quota!
I had fun reading this with you two and hope we land in book clubs together in the future!
Mmm, I think I agree on you about both the conclusion and the characterization of Takezou. I didn’t come away from this feeling actively dissatisfied with the ending, but I do feel I’ve read better Miyabe (eg 火車) and that the best parts of this book were especially the beginning and arguably the first half.
Some notes from the kaisetsu:
The kaisetsu author cites 天藤真 as a mystery author of a previous generation with some similarities of style to Miyabe; I’ll have to see if they wrote anything that looks interesting to try.
Apparently there were two real world news stories that were sources of inspiration for the story (and which Japanese readers at the time would have remembered from the headlines):
the ホテル・ニュージャパン火災. This happened in 1982: the fire started because of a careless smoker but the hotel owner’s cost cutting on fire safety measures in construction and operation made things worse than they needed to be, and he ended up sentenced to three years in prison for it. The hotel building was left unused in its post-fire state until 1996, which surprises me given the cost of land in Tokyo at the time.
an incident which happened at the 報徳会宇都宮病院 mental hospital where two patients were killed by staff meting out violent punishment for complaints. The hospital also apparently made patients work at the businesses owned by the head of the hospital, took in more patients than they had beds for, and so on. The head of the hospital also wound up sentenced to jail time.
PS: the kaisetsu includes some minor spoilers for 火車 so you might prefer to skip it if you haven’t read that yet.
PPS: this was my 275th book read in Japanese!
The kaisetsu sounds way more interesting than usual - I almost always skip them because the majority of the time I find them boring (in English or in Japanese) but this one was apparently quite informative! I have read 火車 so might go back and read through this since it won’t spoil anything for me.
I’m not 100% positive but I think this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this case referenced 
It’s still only a couple of interesting nuggets in an 8 page essay, so don’t get your hopes up too far 
I read them partly for completeness and partly as practice in reading that kind of non-fiction essay style.
