“I am going to be killed.” ? 
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Now I’m not sure. :< Does anyone else know? Am I crazy?
@Naphthalene might be able to help us out here, since they have read it before. 
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It’s what you said. Kei gets the gut feeling that he is going to be killed.
A look that he never saw other than during that war (and that he didn’t expect to see ever again). Basically, the guy is being possessed by some spell caster, which is why he speaks weird and can use his strength without regard for how his body will get damaged.
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Thanks for the clarification Naphthalene! I need to be more on my toes with this stuff, then.
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I mean, it implies that there was at least one such spellcaster in “the war”. While the text doesn’t mention why Kei didn’t think he’d come across that kind of magic again is unclear, it’s reasonable to expect that (those) spellcaster(s) to be dead. I thought that was what you meant first.
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Hi everyone! This week’s reading has convinced me that this is exactly the kind of genre I used to like reading in English. So I’ve decided to try following along week by week.
Thoughts:
Agree, am somewhat hmmm about the author’s choice of nationality for the gangsters. Still enjoying the world-building and how they are setting up the central mystery along with Matoba’s character.
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Just finished chapter 1 today, it wasn’t as hard as I was expecting, just a lot unknown vocab and a few sentences I had to re-read to get the gist of. So far the writing is really good; the prologue scene really drew me in and kept me focused despite moving pretty slowly through it. And as everyone has already mentioned, the casual Japanese xenophobia is out in full force, even towards the fictional people they just introduced. I was kind of expecting this to some extent going into a “hard-boiled” crime drama based in the US, so I’m not too surprised that it’s there, only that it showed up so soon
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I’m enjoying it so far, even though I agree with you all that the choice of nationality for the criminals is unfortunate.
I especially liked the short scene with フューリィ’s leftover cup of coffee after his death.
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Wow this story has me hooked so far! Tragedy right off the bat and some mysterious place that other people can’t seem to get in to, but the inhabitants can leave from? Whew. The Sesame Street and X-Files references caught me off guard in the best way. Like…okay yeah this is some flavor of fantasy for sure, but this could be a world I live in too! I’m gonna pour one out for リック tonight.
Reading along with the audiobook has been great by the way. It’s really well-made! It’s my first time participating in a book club in here, so I look forward to reading this with you all!
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What are you referring to? If you mean the other side of the gate (レト・セマー二), there’s no problem going back and forth.
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Ah I guess I must have misunderstood that then. I was thinking about the " 雲の先に", this part specifically: 雲の先になにがあるのか、だれも知らない。地球の観測隊が雷雲の向こうに何度も無人観測機を飛ばしたが、観測機はすべて連絡を絶っている。
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That’s on the other side. The laws of physics work differently. The world is flat and surrounded by those clouds. Experts from Earth (“our” side) have tried to find out what exists beyond the clouds (because in our world there would necessarily be something; a flat world is physically impossible) but without success (the drones have all stopped responding).
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Thank you for the explanation! Between that and re-reading it makes much more sense now.
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I am not sure we had all that much explanation about the world yet. I think, stuff will become clearer as the story progresses. Remember we are just 1 chapter in. 
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Still, two info dumps (similar to each other, but still) plus interspersed lore. We do get some idea of what it’s like.
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An excellent start; I concur with you all. The other world’s geography is already super interesting; I wonder if we’ll ever find out what’s beyond the clouds?
I thought it was an interesting character trait, giving マトバ a disabled (is that the right word? Lame?) cat he takes care of, but he apparently has violent asthma attacks to.
He’s certainly nice to look at on the cover. 
We’ll have to see if he’s a competent detective. Thinking about it, his only competition from the mystery club so far is a high schooler. 
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I particularity love how the cat tries to sneak into the bedroom and gets kicked out. I go through this same routine with my cat every night, but she always gets in through the window. Maybe it’s a bit on the nose, but I thought it was a good way to humanize him after having to act so cold towards when delivering the news to fury’s wife.
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huh, that scene didn’t read cold to me at all. Very “at a loss for words, but have to convey the terrible news”.
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That’s how I read it as well. Not only is the Japanese society a stoic one, even the most empathetic people struggle with grief and death and how to express their emotions. Also, it takes a bit to really have sink in that a person that was here just a second ago, will never talk to you again, laugh with you again, etc. I don’t expect it from this book but in reality, there would probably be a point where he is just casually buying 2 coffees before realising his partner is no longer there, and breaking down sobbing.
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