As a reminder, we are following the below schedule (page counts may vary based on your medium):
Week 1 とりあえず事件のさわりだけでも + 主人公は設定を説明する 19 pages
Week 2 登場人物たちが一堂に会す 24 pages
Week 3 不穏な空気はさらに高まる + そして事件は起きる 47 pages
Week 4 やっぱり事件は起きる + しつこく事件は起きる 38 pages
Week 5 まだまだ事件は起きる 27 pages
Week 6 それでも事件は起きる + 嫌でも事件は起きる 34 pages
Week 7 事件は最後にあがく + そして誰も死ななかったりする 28 pages
Week 8 事件は逆襲する + 螺旋を抜けるとき + 時の螺旋は終わらない 34 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 5?
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’m getting more and more convinced my 友理 theory is correct and I’m going to be a bit disappointed if it’s not I bet there’s some reason that キュー’s mom brings the vase over in some timelines and not others and it’s unrelated to murderin’, but if the weapon is convenient it’s convenient!
So I’m not super far into this week’s reading yet, but I have a theory that’s been rattling around in my brain: grandpa is also a time-looper. Think about it: he was an incurable gambler for a long time. The occasional time loop = reinforces that gambling habit because he’s guaranteed to win. Gains all his riches through several implausible bets (and lottery tickets? Can’t quite remember). Business explodes? He has the opportunity to try out different marketing/food during the loops to see what works best. Can’t decide on an heir? He’s waiting to see if any of his descendants have the ability. Seemingly forgetful? He’s lived through double the lifetime, if not three times, + he’s old so of course he’s forgetful. Or he’s been trying to intentionally drop “triggers” or “clues” or something for a possible time-looping descendant to take advantage of.
Not sure how the origami and ちゃんちゃんこ fits into it all, but this theory feels solid so far.
I’ve been having the feeling that someone would also end up having superpowers, although they may or may not be the same as Qchan’s. Grandpa was a contender with his gambling, although that didn’t seem to kick in until that big turnaround? Writing the extra day in the diary could be a clue towards that.
But now I’m feeling like Tomori could be the looper and/or killer. She has a crush on Qchan, who confessed to her (a few days ago). Her motive could be that, since Qchan proposed, she wants to lock in the fortune for them, meaning taking out grandpa to lock in last year’s will. Of course, not sure why she’s committing the murder every time instead of just the last loop, but maybe it’s practice? (And she hasn’t realized Qchan is a looper either?) Tomori could potentially know about what grandpa did, and use that as fuel to goad people into killing him.
Anyway, the exact method is still unknown, but seems pretty clear to me that he’s using the origami to choose the heir by chance. (The papers correspond to the colors of the people in the running, and he’s delaying choosing the heir b/c he has no red paper for Qchan.) He’s probably done that every year.
From the beginning I thought grandpa was a jerk, but turns out he’s a full-on monster. I really wanted the moms to be like “Before you were a jerk, and all that’s changed is now you’re a rich jerk. Do what you want with your money, but I’m not going to pretend I owed or owe you anything to get your scraps.” and walk away but rip. although i will say, Qchan’s dad did nothing wrong, but even if grandpa paid a student to seduce Luna/Mai’s dad he still had to reciprocate so I don’t feel as bad on that one (assuming he really did reciprocate and the student didn’t just make the accusations up)
that Tomori is also a looper which is why she said her love interest proposed to her recently when of course no one has yet in the recent time lines! I’m really rooting for her to be the killer
Also strong agree on grandpa being bad about setting up the husband, and especially so if he just paid her to make the claims whether he did or didn’t. If he did though, well… On him at that point!
Choosing an heir by origami is interesting, but also such a weird way to do it. Also I thought at least two people had the same color? I’d have to go back and check.
Yeah, in fact Qtaro is the only person with his own color, so I’m not sure exactly how grandpa is distinguishing that way, but I feel very strongly that the origami is related to the sweatsuits is related to the inheritance. (Every color is shared by a boy-girl pair, so it’s possible that when picking the color he also has a method for picking gender as well.)
I learned in a different murder mystery that there are multiple distinct ways of making cranes, so maybe they’re just different ‘styles’ for gender. I tried googling just now but got crane themed baby stuff
I was thinking for a bit yesterday and I have a weird theory, but…
Everyone and their mother is trying to kill grandpa but what if we have an unreliable narrator?What if our MC is in fact also interested in the inheritance and tries to pin the murder on someone to eliminate competition… and through the loops he is trying out different versions to figure out which sticks best, while in fact, he kills grandpa (or maybe he even dies of old age?)
So I wasn’t able to finish this week’s reading on time; I think I’m just going to have to accept that I’m going to be eternally behind with this book. I don’t know if I’ve just been more tired lately, if the book is subtly hard enough that my brain’s flailing more than usual, I don’t know. I’ll be reading everyone’s thoughts and whatnot in the meantime!
I, too, feel like the book was taxing me more. The next chapter felt so much easier than everything before. It’s pure soap opera. Or maybe I just suddenly got used to the author.
Aaand finished this week’s reading. I was so tired this week; it was the kind of week where you sit down, read 5 pages, and consider that a night’s job done well. Anyway, now I’ll go back and read everyone’s thoughts…
Ah, now that’s super smart; I didn’t make the connection between the origami colors and the vests. I knew there was something important about the origami, but nothing was coming to me.
I’m wondering why grandpa did what he did. It wasn’t explicitly said in this week’s reading, right? I wonder if he had a good reason… Granted, it’d need to be a great reason for what damage he’s probably done to the dads’ work lives. Maybe he intends on setting everything right in the end? Hard to say at this point. Also could be he’s an enormous jerk, like you said. He was pretty awful pre-lottery; massive amounts of money seem to have made everyone gloss over that.
And now that I have a clear, non-sleep-deprived brain, I think I see a future twist: Qchan is a day off in his estimation. I’m betting that, for some reason, after he and his family packed up to go home during Jan 2 (after he drank himself unconscious), they turned back around. Maybe grandpa found his red paper. And then Jan 3 starts with grandpa’s murder, and the days loop from there. It would go a long way to explain the extra day in the diary + Tomori mentioning that she’s decided to accept someone’s marriage proposal.
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Law and Order 
I bet there’s some reason that キュー’s mom brings the vase over in some timelines and not others and it’s unrelated to murderin’, but if the weapon is convenient it’s convenient!
I’d have to go back and check.
I was so tired this week; it was the kind of week where you sit down, read 5 pages, and consider that a night’s job done well. 
Anyway, now I’ll go back and read everyone’s thoughts…