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 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 finished this week’s reading. I thought it was a lot of fun, although there really wasn’t all that much plot development until the very last page. Honestly enjoying how cheeky 裏染 is
Although the audiobook suffered a lot this week. That scene with yelling was horrible
Was on a train yesterday so managed to get through all the reading in one shot.
Starting to agree with @omk3 that the police detectives are way too incompetent. I thought Urazome bursting in and giving his whole deduction and Sendou getting aggravated from last week’s reading was silly but acceptable within the bounds of expeditiously progressing with the plot. But leaving a bunch of suspects/witnesses alone with the evidence, and then letting them just mess with it and walk around with it is way past my suspension of disbelief.
Can’t agree with Urazome on the “unbalanced” pockets reasoning, though. I wonder what sort of deductions Urazome would make if I was murdered and he found my corpse… I tend to keep all my stuff in my right pockets, plus I’m a lefty
Feels like the fact the DVD and VHS players could be operated remotely with a single remote will end up important.
Seriously, I need to stop using earphones and just have this on speaker, or I’ll damage my eardrums one of these days.
Yes, thank you! This has now entered anime territory for me. It’s not a mystery novel, it’s a comical mystery show where anything goes. I won’t be surprised if someone develops superpowers some time soon. Anyway, given that I now know what to expect from the book, I’m also enjoying 裏染’s cheekiness.
When first I read about all the things he had in his pockets, I was quite surprised. It’s not just the balance that bothers me, but also the sheer amount of relatively bulky items. Does a DVD case even fit in a normal pocket? And wouldn’t it break when you sit down?
On the other hand the two devices need to be manually plugged and unplugged and only one can be on at the same time, and the way they found it it was the video player that was connected (right?). It looked like no one had touched the devices since the day before. What am I missing that 裏染 isn’t?
Yes, thank you! This was really weird to me too. And it’s especially insane to put it in a back pocket. There’s no way that disk would survive after he got stabbed and collapsed to the floor.
Other than this, my main question of the week is who was the murderer trying to incriminate with the umbrella? Clearly they aren’t doing a good job, since there’s no particular suspect at all right now.
Back when I worked in retail (and when DVDs were still common, feel like they’re not anymore…) apperantly a guy tried to shoplift forty DVDs by sticking them in his pants. So: was the murder victim wearing baggy cargo pants? Cause then I’d say it’s possible
By the way, now that I have listened to 3 other audiobooks besides this one, I can see why people complained about the quality
And that’s how you break the 密室
I assume that he was wearing his uniform?
I already don’t remember anything from earlier parts
(I haven’t listened to this week either, but since people said nothing is happening, I didn’t mind checking the spoilers :p)
That’s my impression as well. Everyone else is. And school uniforms aren’t known for their spacious pockets, are they?
How big is a student notebook, by the way? Is it something they always carry in their pockets? Don’t they have schoolbags for this stuff?
Looking at my limited DVD collection to roughly calculate volume… No way! Not even in cargo pants! How?! And how greedy can you be? Was he going to start his own store or something?
I should mention they were removed from their cases, so they were just disks. Also I’m assuming he was going to sell them on the street? Honestly no idea what else you’d want 40 (presumably random and with repeats) DVDs for
The kind of notebooks they are talking about it fairly compact. Pretty much everyone I know in Japan has one (myself included) and men tend to carry it in their shirt’s pocket (like the victim) while at work. Students do not usually carry one, but if you are extra 真面目….
Oh, that’s interesting. What is it used for? Is it for noting down appointments and stuff? Surely with smartphones this would be obsolete now? I also think I read somewhere that they double as student ID?
I have listened to a lot of audiobooks in my life and I really wonder if we are listening to the same audiobook. I do not notice anything wrong with the recording. (I am using the native iphone books app for this one… maybe that makes a difference )
One guy told me that he uses both, and writing things down really helps with remembering things. I only use google calendar and I keep forgetting things, so he may have a point?
(Plus, smartphones are usually forbidden at school; you have to keep it turned off).
Ah, there’s also one 手帳 like that, but the one I know would not fit in a pocket, so I don’t think it’s the same thing.
That’s possible? I was listening to the audiobook from audible, narrated by 浅井 晴美.
I’m enjoying the playful tone of the book - having read a dull as ditchwater ‘realistic’ thriller recently, a slightly goofy murder scenario with a wacky detective is right up my street I’m simultaneously reading Donna Tartt’s ‘The Secret History’ which also deals with a deceased student in a more realistic scenario, which is naturally pretty dark! I’m glad this author didn’t take that approach.
Just finished this week’s reading myself; nothing really to add to what everyone else has already said so far. I did have a question, though: near the end of the reading, what was 裏染 saying about the victim’s positioning before and after being dragged?
I don’t read the “purposefully” but he does say that the upper body is currently leaning a bit to the left and the left side was down before the body was moved - because of the blood flow. But I might be wrong.
Law and Order 
Looking at my limited DVD collection to roughly calculate volume… No way! Not even in cargo pants! How?! And how greedy can you be? Was he going to start his own store or something?
I do not notice anything wrong with the recording. (I am using the native iphone books app for this one… maybe that makes a difference 
)
I’m simultaneously reading Donna Tartt’s ‘The Secret History’ which also deals with a deceased student in a more realistic scenario, which is naturally pretty dark! I’m glad this author didn’t take that approach.