We are following the below schedule (page counts may vary based on your medium):
Week
Up to
Approximate Pages
Approx. Percent
Paperback page
Week 3 - June 24
Read up to chapter 2, （六）
30
31%
107 (文庫本)
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 3 of シャドウ ?
Yes, I’m planning to read along/am reading along this week
I still can’t decide, whether something supernatural is going on with Osuke or not. Sure, he predicted Megumi’s death, but he could have subconsciously picked up on her mood. Is there some significance to the earthquake Yoichiro felt?
I get why Mizushiro would suspect Megumi. But I wonder it’s a misunderstanding caused by Yoichiro? After all, if he has been molesting Aki for a while, the semen could have easily been his.
The earthquake and the scream are both odd. At least the earthquake could be tied to his sleeping pills?
I’m actually wondering if it’s really Yoichiro molesting Aki. His other actions don’t line up for doing that. Could just be odd character writing, but I feel like maybe we were intentionally misled. But I agree in general that the semen in the tissue was from someone molesting Aki, not from Megumi having an affair. Even if she was why then a tissue in the living room (I mean I can imagine a scenario but like, supposedly she’s going out and meeting dudes for her job, it doesn’t strike me as a logical choice). Mizushiro just has major issues.
I guess that’s possible. Aki reacted negatively to his attempts at comfort, but her mother just died so she’s not in the best state of mind in the first place. And if the author wants us to suspect Yoichiro it makes sense to include a scene like that.
We don’t really have enough to go on to say for sure whether or not it is him, but at least he doesn’t seem to view himself as a villain.
I have finished the book (sorry, club, I couldn’t help it), but I’ve kept notes for every week’s section so I can discuss as if I haven’t. And I had noted how surprisingly kind and understanding and caring and balanced Yoichiro looked for a molester. Of course you hear it all the time, how you would never expect it from so and so, they were such a wonderful person otherwise, but it’s still difficult to match this suspicion to the rest of his image.
As for the tissue, its existence is surprising however you look at it. If you had something to hide, surely you wouldn’t leave evidence in a trash can accessible by anyone in the household? Such a strange thing to do. Especially strange as infidelity evidence, of course. Whatever happened must have happened in that apartment, because strange as it is to leave evidence at the scene of the crime, it’s even stranger to bring it back home from somewhere else.
That’s a good point Why would someone throw the tissue away in such an obvious place? I’ve been thinking about it and so far I’ve come up with 4 possible explanations.
They simply weren’t thinking. I’ve certainly had moments of absolute idiocy. If this were real life I’d be inclined to think this was the case, but for a novel such a boring reason would be somewhat disappointing.
They didn’t realise it should be hidden, since they “aren’t doing anything bad”.
They wanted it to be found. Maybe Aki feels like she can’t go to her parents directly, so she wants them to ask her what’s wrong instead.
There was no tissue, it was all a figment of Mizushiro’s imagination.
I’m starting to wonder if all 5 POV characters are mentally unwell. Psychology was brought up repeatedly and it could tie into the title as well. They all see a “shadow” of the world around them (the general outline) but have to fill in the details themselves. So they all experience the world differently from someone that can see the details in the first place. Although that interpretation doesn’t really fit with the “Who’s the shadow?” line at the beginning of the book, so maybe not.
i wonder if there is another character active in their lives and just written around. I’ve seen that as a plot device before. It could explain who is molesting Aki if not the dad (it can be the dad, but it just feels unlikely to me right now)
At this point the incessant tragedy is starting to spill over into the “comedy” territory for me.
It’s kind of funny, since at the end of last week I didn’t think Yoichiro was molesting Aki, but this week made me think it’s more likely, while everyone else seems to have the opposite opinion. Yeah, he’s not acting like a molester, but his face tightening and him thinking まずいな fit if the tissue was left by him.
I think Mizushiro not getting DNA testing if he’s so sure is stupid (despite the book’s attempt to justify that), but I guess it’s just necessary for the plot.
Also I’ve been on team magic from the start. My first thought for Aki’s reaction to Yoichiro (when I didn’t think he was molesting her) was that Aki saw something with him like that Ousuke saw with Megumi. I also thought that maybe the ‘boy’ Ousuke saw was Aki (since they mention she has a haircut like a boy and there’s pretty much no other notable children characters so far), but I’d think that Ousuke would recognize Aki, so maybe not.
I thought that was a possibility as well! The office bears a striking resemblance to the room Ousuke saw in his vision - he was looking through bars, and here we have a room with bars on the window. It’s even soundproof. Too bad it’s the 10th floor, but maybe the apartments on other floors have the same setup?
I also didn’t jump to the conclusion that he’s the one doing bad things to Aki last week, and while some things this week could point that direction, it’s not conclusive. The まずいな could have just been him recognizing his friend’s emotional state as dangerous. Of course it’s still possible that he is molesting her, but I don’t think we can know that. I’m also wondering if Youichirou seems extra suspicious because a lot of people here are naming him the most likely suspect. Maybe we’re also under a bias there.
Yeah, there’s definitely a benign explanation for Yoichiro’s reactions too, but feels like the kind of line that could have a different meaning on re-read. (But maybe it won’t! We’ll see.)
I forget the disease name, but Mizushiro’s paranoia definitely seems like the reason that syndrome where the person thinks their family members are imposters was brought up. Not sure how much deeper it’ll tie, but I definitely think there’s a connection there.
Anyway, they’d better bring in some new characters soon, since at the rate we’re gonna run out real soon at the current rate. I’m also waiting to see when/how the “being first can be as bad as being last” talk comes back (because there’s no way that wasn’t foreshadowing).
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Law and Order 
