As a reminder, we are following the below schedule (page counts may vary based on your medium):
Week 1: Misc + 1.1, 1.2 (29 pages) Week 2: 1.3, 1.4 (26 pages)
Week 3: 1.5, 1.6 (40 pages)
Week 4: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 (43 pages)
Week 5: 2.4, 2.5 (32 pages)
Week 6: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3(34 pages)
Week 7: 3.4, 3.5 (37 pages)
Week 8: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 挑戦 (56 pages)
Week 9+10 (EXTENDED WEEK): 5.1 - end (78 pages)
I will generally copy this information over thread to thread each week for ease of finding - you can always expect the schedule at the top of any weekly thread
Law and Order
Any reveals, for the current chapters must be behind spoilers or detail curtains. When we get further in you don’t need to hide details that were revealed in previous chapters.
Questions on vocab, grammar, nuance, and the like are both welcome and encouraged. If you’re not sure if it’s a spoiler, assume it is and use one of the above options to hide the text.
You are encouraged to speculate and guess wildly
Be kind about other peoples’ wild guesses
Even if you don’t read the chapter(s) in time, you are still encouraged to post in the thread for that reading once you have finished it. I advise not reading ahead in the threads as you may see spoilers.
To gauge participation - a poll!
Are you reading week 2?
Yes, I’m planning to read along/am reading along this week
I’m reading, but not at the same pace as the club
I had no intentions of reading the book, but I desire to click a poll
I finished the reading last night and feel both frustrated by the slow pace and annoyed with myself for being frustrated We’re being fed clues very tidily it feels like.
I want to know more about this mystery girl and whether her (possibly?) losing her ribbon is important. Also given the second title of the book that umbrella has got to be relevant.
With regards to the brother/sister thing - I’m not sure how relevant that will be unless it’s played for comic relief? This doesn’t yet feel like the type of book where the plot will be a cop trying to cover up for his little sister being a murderer
Finished the reading too, and I don’t know whether it’s the book or me, or the fact that I’m juggling several books at the same time, but it felt a little flat. The murder has already happened, and now we’re going through the motions of interrogation, while still knowing nothing much about the people involved. We’re given clues like it’s a riddle, which I suppose it is, but there’s no emotion, no intrigue, not yet at least. Or maybe I’m just in a negative mood today.
So is this 針宮 the girl with the umbrella the two girls saw when they were coming in? Did they go through the toilet corridor? I guess it may have been explained, but I didn’t have the layout in my mind then. They seem to have been the only ones that came in wet from the rain so far, although the drama club members should probably also be wet, since they came in through the stage door, right?
As for the sibling reveal, that fell a little flat too. I mean, if there wasn’t a character list it would be a surprise, but with the full names listed before we even begin reading, it’s not like it was hard to guess. In any case, isn’t that supposed to be a conflict of interest? Shouldn’t 袴田 be removed from the case? Surely you can’t be objective in a murder case involving -even indirectly- your little sister?
And a question regarding sound: I think it was made clear with the two girls in the beginning that it was hard to hear anything because of the rain, and possibly the badminton club being noisy, which would explain why no one heard the murder happening in the same room. But now 佐川 says she can hear movements even on the second floor when the room is nearly empty. So were the victim, the mystery girl, and the murderer (if the murderer is a different person) all so very quiet? Even when dragging the body? Or maybe the mystery drums were timed so that they’d disguise any sound?
I’ve also finished this weeks part (though as I was listening to the audiobook I might go back and check a couple of details to see if I missed anything) For what it’s worth, I’m also feeling the same way right now. The writing style is fairly plain/straightforward and the characters aren’t all that interesting yet. I kind of feel like nothing has really happened yet which seems odd as it’s a murder mystery and there’s been a murder. But just now I don’t think I’m invested enough in any of the characters to care who murdered who However, I’m hoping that with the murder ‘out of the way’ so early perhaps some of the characters will get a chance to develop and I will change my mind! Have read many things with a slow start that I ended up enjoying a lot.
I’m through 1.3. The marketing blurb for the book describes it as 平成のエラリー・クイーン, so not that surprising if it’s a straightforward puzzler. Also I suspect more characterization will kick in once we get to Umigame.
Also two things. 1. i don’t get how they call this 平成のエラリー・クイーン when it’s not written by 有栖川アリス, and 2. i don’t like slow paces either, that’s why i wanted the turbo-charged reading schedule!!
Finished up 1.3. I’m really glad to have the gym map in the home post; made it really easy to track the detectives’ steps as they walked through. Quick question: when they were looking at the red ribbon that was hanging off of a poster, was the poster on the wall? Or just leaning against it on the floor?
Poor 袴田; tried to casually get a glimpse of the witness list, failed. I wonder if 柚乃 is going to be called up next part. Surely she will.
I’m not too bothered by the pace so far; I’m enjoying the setup and all the details. I wonder if the lone wooden door is going to be an important clue in the future? My guesses so far for the ribbon and umbrella are that one of them is unrelated to the murder, and one was part of whatever thing the murderer asked 朝島 to do before his death. Wild speculation: umbrella is unrelated, ribbon is.
I was a little confused by that too. At first I thought the poster was on the wall and the ribbon somehow hanging off it, but rereading it it seemed more like the poster was lying on the steps, and the ribbon had fallen or was placed on it.
I just finished the reading for this week. The pace is a little slow, but not too bad in my opinion. It feels right to go slowly through the eyewitness accounts to get a good grasp of baseline information.
As for the sibling reveal, I agree it was a little awkward. For one it’s been teased too long to really make a reveal out of, but also what was with 仙堂’s reaction to finding out? He saw the names were the same, and from the comment about 佐川 staring at 袴田 we know he didn’t think it was a coincidence, yet he invited 柚乃 in right away without even asking 袴田 about it first. That makes no sense to me.
I mentioned this earlier I think, but my guess is that 柚乃 will leak some investigation info from 袴田 to another student later on. That way their relationship becomes directly relevant, and could even be used by 仙堂 (if he’s crafty enough) to control what the investigating student knows. We’ll see how it plays out though!
Wild speculation time: 佐川 said the second student who ran through had long hair that obscured her face, so all she could tell was that it was a girl. But maybe… it wasn’t? Maybe a male student put on a girl’s uniform and wig as a disguise, then after the murder changed and left through the back door, dropping the ribbon in the process by mistake. 佐川 also said no one else came back into the main gym area later, so leaving through the back door would track. As for that back door being locked, someone could have stolen a key from somewhere (though there’s no hint of this yet, so I doubt it) or else picked the lock. You don’t really think about it most of the time, but you can actually pick an unlocked lock to lock it, and in that back alley there’s no people or cameras to see you do it. And as for someone who might be smart enough to arrange a murder and know how to pick the school’s locks, there is one genius student who lives in a locked clubroom…
If this theory does turn out to be true, it would make my other pet theory of the information leak between 柚乃 and 袴田 especially interesting, since we know from the blurb at the start that 柚乃 will ask 裏染 to solve the case. If it turns out he actually did it, then he could pretend to solve the case in order to get information on the investigation through 柚乃, and try to cover himself in the process.
No idea how the umbrella or drums beats factors into this theory yet though
I had the exact same thought. He might even be a member of the drama club, and instead of getting out the building, he could have come back in through that side entrance when the rest of the club came in (I don’t remember how many there were though? If only a couple it wouldn’t work). Where were the spare uniforms though? Hmm… I guess it’s way too early to speculate like this, but it’s fun, so why not.
That’s what makes it fun! I especially like this early stage where you can speculate not just on the clues you have, but also on what would make a good story.
No, Yuno and her friend went in through the southern (covered) entrance. The girls bathroom window/area is still kinda far away, but still enough so Harimiya would’ve been able to see them. Yuno & friend got went going between the building with their lockers where they changed into their club uniforms (on the west side of the campus, forget the exact name) and the main school building, not from when they went to the main school building to the gym. Of course, Sagawa also must’ve taken that route, and doesn’t appear to have gotten wet, so presumably she had an umbrella or something, although it hasn’t been mentioned yet…
One detail I haven’t seen anyone mention yet is the blood-soaked planner 朝島 had on him. I’m curious if it’s possible the murderer tried to make sure that planner was illegible one way or another; I could totally see 朝島 making a note for the meeting he had with the murderer in the prologue.
@Athakaspen, I’m loving your theory of the detective being the murderer! My only objection to that so far is that I’m pretty sure this series follows that detective throughout. Then again, it would pretty cool if the detective got away with murder and we knew about it…
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Law and Order 
We’re being fed clues very tidily it feels like.
However, I’m hoping that with the murder ‘out of the way’ so early perhaps some of the characters will get a chance to develop and I will change my mind!
Then again, it would pretty cool if the detective got away with murder and we knew about it…