p1: Yellow: A new case begins!!!!!!!! White inset: Chasing after the mystery of the formless bullets!!! Upper left: Chapter 7: Invisible Bullets pt. I
p2: inset: In an autopsy room, the mystery of a corpse which is lacking something it should have… The person clearly appears to have been shot by a pistol… But there’s no exit wound? Correct. The bullet must still be inside the victim’s head; / however…
We cannot find that bullet… ?!
We’ll have the morgue perform a thorough autopsy later, but… Well, yeah. …… That’s ridiculous…
How could there be an invisible bullet…?!
p3: Private Komamine High School
HG Wells wrote “The Invisible Man” in 1897…
I wonder if they’ll ever make a medicine that can actually make you invisible.
I’ve heard that recently, a group in Canada invented a cloak of invisibility. A cloak of invisibility?
… He’s talking about a particle stealth cloak. / The environment around the cloak is projected and mirrored on the other side. / Put it on, and it’s designed to make you look invisible.
But it’s still the subject of much research. / Making a person appear invisible to the naked eye is still a ways off… / It won't come anytime soon.
p4: Oh, I see… / Hey, Prez! If you became an invisible man, what would you do?
Well now… SFX: Smile
What about you, Kazaoka-sempai?
Imagining the impossible is a waste of time…
Argh! Maybe that’s why / you can’t make any friends, Sempai! ……..
Vibrate / Vibrate
Yes?
…….Understood.
p5: That was Nikaidou-san. / …However, this time he wants us to look at not a crime scene, but an autopsy room… Beep!
An autopsy room? You mean, where they investigate corpses? Alas, right now I am… the invisible man. What’s that supposed to mean…
Oh, you’re here. It’s rare for you to call me out to an autopsy room.
I need you here. That’s all.
p6: Autopsy Room A-01
He was shot once from behind, / in the back of the neck… His cervical vertebrae were struck, and he died instantly.
However…
There is no evidence of an exit wound, yet we can’t find the bullet within his head. / The bullet should be there, and yet it is not.
The bullet disappeared? / Or was he shot with some sort of invisible bullet?
Right now, we think it has to be one of the two. Then…
There’s a bullet invisible to the naked eye, something like an invisible human?!
p7: …An invisible bullet should show up on a CT scan, / even if it were invisible to the human eye…
Yeah, it would certainly show up. …………………
Umm— / The deceased is Yoshimura Kenji, a 40-year-old writer for a weekly magazine. / A few days ago, he wrote an exposé / about fraudulent practices performed by Imagination Power Ltd.
Isn’t that the company that made that “Imagination Picture” thing? SFX: Ah!
…That’s right. The truth is, we had our eyes on them, too.
They took a see-through canvas with nothing drawn on it, / and claimed that, if you believed in the power of imagination, you could see the “fruit of truth” you imagined. / Those who could see this picture were blessed. / …Which they sold for a high price.
p8: Taken up by the phrase “the fruit of truth,” their numbers grew across the country. / Originally, I guess it was just chi manipulation classes, but…
Chi manipulation, huh? / Maybe the invisible bullet is that “chi”!
Even now, the mechanism behind chi isn’t well-understood… <small: Though we can’t deny it exists. >
The power of chi, huh? / Well, the truth is that, last night, at the victim’s apartment / someone observed the president of Imagination Power and his secretary. / And this happened right around the time of death. Hey—why didn’t you say that in the first place!
You two, come with me. / I’ll take you to Imagination Power’s headquarters.
p9: He wrote an exposé, huh? / That would make for a motive, so the president is likely the culprit, right?
Yeah. We know he was at the scene, so they are certainly suspects… However,
The victim’s room was locked and chained—a closed room.
! So is this another closed room murder mystery?!
Another, huh? … Well, that is why we called you in.
Do you have any documents on the crime scene? Yeah…
…….
p10: I’m sorry, Suzumori-san, / but could you make a left turn 200 meters ahead? Why?
I just need to look at the door in the victim’s apartment’s front hall. Hey, hey! / To get from here to the crime scene, we’ll have to circle all the way around. / Look at the GPS. There’s no road to the left…Huh?
What?
There’s a road…
It’s a newly built road… / A shortcut to the crime scene. You really are something, kid.
p11: Somehow, my quantum brain has the potential to automatically upgrade to the latest specs. / At some point, I must have gained a GPS functionality…
There’s three locks on the door…
He was a journalist trying to get scoops on dangerous cases. / It must have been a precaution.
A closed room on top of an invisible bullet… / It’s all rather hard bothersome... <small: This whole case, I mean. >
Kazaoka, / you don’t want to see inside?
I’m good. More importantly, I believe Imagination Power is only open until 5. / Let’s hurry!
p12: Imagination Power HQ
Sign: The Fruit of the Truth is born from you Imagination Men! / Kote! / Men! / Do!
What are they doing—Kendo? Huh?
Th… These guys are weird!
Men! Kote!
None of them are wielding shinais!!
p13: They are presently practicing “Imagination Kendo.” / Would you like to apply to join them? “Imagination Kendo”…?!
…We’re from the police. / We would like to speak briefly with President Ookura… <small: We won’t take long. >
SFX: Smile …Oh, my apologies.I am Kageyama, his secretary. Imagination Power Secretary, Kageyama Youko (32)
Please, right this way. / Let me show you to him.
Pretty nice house, for someone who believes the “truth lies in that which you cannot see.”
p14: Is that so? / So you’re still in high school! Sign: President’s Room
So, I guess you want to be an elite detective in the future? Well? …… Hah hah hah… I see. If you’re interested, / why not try out our “Imagination Kendo”?
I’ll pass, thank you… More importantly, Ookura-san.
I recently heard / that you visited the home of reporter Yoshimura-san last night. ……
I have reports confirming your presence. ….
I understand. Allow me to tell you everything. Imagination Power Ltd.’s Representative Director, Ookura Yuuzou (62)
p15: ….
It is true that I headed to his room last night…
And then, the one who shot Yoshimura-san… / was I.
What? He confessed already?! What did you say?!
Please, don’t misunderstand… I did not make use of a pistol. / I merely used my imagination from outside the door / to shoot him with an invisible chi bullet.
Just like… this. <small: Bang. >
…So your invisible bullet went through the door and, using chi, struck Yoshimura-san?
p16: It is as you say, Mr. Detective. Last night, at 9 P.M., / my secretary and I went to Yoshimura-san’s apartment.
Did you read this week’s Weekly Poster? / I was quite troubled by the untrue things written about myself and Imagination Power.
I was hoping to speak with the reporter who wrote the article, Yoshimura-san, / but he wouldn’t even open the door…
I won’t meet with you! Talk with my editors!
I read your article. / You don’t seem to believe in Imagination Power, Yoshimura-san. Of course not!
You should repent now your mistakes, lest the Heavens strike you down.
Go home!! I’m calling the police!
I understand… Very well. / Then I trust you will accept the Heavens striking you down?
p17: I believed that witnessing Imagination Power himself would give him no choice but to believe. / From outside the closed door, I fired a “chi bullet.” / From my “chi gun,” of course.
Oh, I see… So the bullet I fired through the door at Yoshimura-san struck true?! / It seems my powers are still as strong as ever. Wahahahahaha!
Do you think we would believe such obvious lies?! Oh? / Then may I ask if you have any definite evidence?
Well…
I thought not. Mundane people cannot see chi bullets, of course. You’re calling me mundane?!
Ookura-san, / are you saying you can see your gun and bullets?
p18: Yes, of course I can. / Were I to focus my thoughts, they appear quite distinct.
………
….That was a lie. Huh?
That, or you’ve chosen to delude even yourself. ………. It is quite rude, to call someone else delusional…
If your story is true…
Then shoot me with your gun, here and now. !!
p19: Sidebar: Kei’s quiet anger has reached the boiling point!! See you next time!!
…….
Bwa… Bwahah… Bwahahahaha!! / Very well, you little punk!!
Then I’ll shoot you right now! / Right in the heart!!
… If you can, I would recommend you make sure to take me out in one shot. / If you leave me half alive, then… well…
Who knows what I would do to you…! To be continued in Issue 25. https://mangahelpers.com/t/dowolf/releases/38084[English] [Translation] Chousuinou Kei 6 by Dowolf2013-06-08T04:16:36+00:00Dowolfadmin@mangahelpers.comChousuinou Kei 6
*Reserved for use by the NilaiTP Group
p1: Top: Chousuinou Kei Left: How will you respond to this turn of events from the creator of the demonic game, Kazaoka Kei?
Haga: The victim committed suicide. Moving a corpse isn’t that serious a crime. At worst, I’ll be charged with abandoning a corpse… / I’m no murderer!!
Kei: ….This is a murder. / And the key point of this case is that the culprit himself is not aware he is a murderer…
Maori: ...Murder? Not suicide?! / Then… who is the culprit?
Haga: ….Heh heh heh… The dead man is now no more than a mound of flesh. / You think there’s a murderer here, Mr. Genius High School Student? Then please, tell us who!
Haga: …..!
p2: Kei: I’ll tell you right now. Upper left: The divine logic of justice shall bestow divine punishment! Right: The vigorous resolving chapter! Episode 2: Immolation Game III / Chapter 6: Blinded by Prejudice
p3: Kei: Haga-san… Could you tell us more about how you found Nishi-san in the park / after he committed suicide?
Haga: You want something more? Well, come to think of it, / I felt like a plump man was passing nearby.
Suzumori: …. / Plump, you say….
Suzumori: Now where were you this morning? Maori: The president was in the room with us!!!
Kei: ….Haga-san, did you truly only bring a corpse from the park to here? Haga: Hey, hey!
Haga: You’re not saying I burnt him myself, are you? / That man genuinely killed himself. I’ll take a lie detector test to prove it.
p4: Kei: There’s no need for that. / You’ve told the truth now. / But only 81.7% of it.
Haga: Where’d that number come from? Kei: Which means you’re still hiding 18.3% of it.
Haga: You’re just saying completely ridiculous things now!! What’s your basis? Show me! Kei: Very well. You’ll understand sooner or later, anyways. / …By the way, Haga-san? Haga: What?!!
Kei: Why did you think Nishi-san had killed himself?
Haga: …..!
p5: Haga: …When I left the store, he looked really depressed. / Later, when I was passing through the park, / I saw his burnt corpse lying silently next to a bench.
Haga: There was a bag on top of the bench. In it were tons of games and a number of net café membership cards. / I looked at them, and confirmed they were his.
Haga: Furthermore, there was a plastic jug next to him.
Kei: Then… Haga: It didn’t look like anyone had attacked him, and he was holding a dollar lighter.
Haga: Anyone looking at it would’ve concluded he poured gasoline on himself / and burned himself alive.
Haga: Am I wrong?
Kei: …You are.
p6: Kei: Kinoshita, I’m sorry, but could you find the plastic jug in the park /and bring it here? Kinoshita: Ah, yes, OK.
Kei: Ah—take an evidence bag with you, just in case! Kinoshita: Understood.
Kei: Haga-san, / there’s still things we have yet to discuss… Haga: Still?
Haga: ….Oh, if you mean the lighter, I have it here.
Haga: I used it to trigger the fire alarm. / That makes for 100% of my story! / I’m sure his fingerprints are on this.
Kei: …As are yours. Haga: Well, yes…
Kei: Haga-san, I thought something when I saw Nishi-san’s corpse. / The gasoline Nishi-san poured on himself was a very small quantity… Maybe 200 milliliters… Not even a cup. Haga: !!
p7: Haga: I don’t really care what you think… But what’s your point?
KeI: Suzumori-san, if you were sitting on a park bench and wanted to commit suicide, / and you put a cup of gasoline on yourself… Suzumori: Me again?
KeI: Where do you think you wouldn’t] put any? / Remember, in this scenario, you want to…
Suzumori: I would never want to!
Kei: While sitting on a bench, remember, and with only a single cup of gasoline… Suzumori: Look, I don’t know…
Suzumori: ….. / Ah, / maybe the bottom of my shoes? I guess that wouldn’t really work.
KeI: ….Correct. / He didn’t have that much gasoline, yet he put none on the bottom of his shoes. / By the way…
p8: Kei: I found loads of gasoline on the bottom of this corpse’s feet.
Kei: Haga-san,
Kei: do you finally feel like telling me / 100% of the truth?
Haga: …….
Kei: Well, fine. / Then please, sit back and listen to my hypothesis. / You found Nishi-san, who you believed immolated himself. / But at the time, Nishi-san…
p9: Kei: was merely a little burnt. Haga: ……..
Kei: So you siphoned gasoline from your scooter into the gasoline tank nearby, / covered Nishi-san in great amounts of gasoline, and lit him aflame.
So that he would die in the same flashy way as a character in Fire Inferno… / That way, the event would seem more mysterious and draw the attention of the world!
Kei: …Am I wrong, / Haga-san?
Haga: ……
Haga: Maybe I did….
p10: Haga: But even if I did, / I only burnt a corpse. / At worst, I damaged a corpse.
Haga: Besides, he already burnt himself to death with gasoline. / Do you have any proof I poured more gasoline on him?
Kei: There’s no way to prove gasoline was poured atop gasoline…
Kei: But that would be the wrong impression. / It would leave you blinded by prejudice!! !!!
p11: What… did you say?
The truth is,
two different types of gasoline are on this corpse.
…!!
The first is used by automobiles and the like, / regular gasoline… / The gasoline you took from your scooter.
And the second type, the one Nishi-san used to commit suicide…
Flick
Was an oil-based gasoline solvent used in paints, / called…
p12: Mineral Spirits!!
This entire area is a developing region. / Nishi-san must have acquired the mineral spirits in his jug from a construction site nearby.
However, I found no mineral spirits / on the bottom of his shoes.
…….
p13: Nevertheless, the bottom of his shoes show signs of being burned by gasoline.
Which means…
This happened because Haga-san covered the collapsed Nishi-san in gasoline.
…… And then… Some black soot was caught in Nishi-san’s trachea. / This soot came from the gasoline from your scooter.
…. What / are you trying to say?
It was an involuntary reflex. Which means his initial burns didn’t take his life….! / When you found him, Haga-san, Nishi-san was still alive! !!!!
He was enveloped by the flames of the gasoline you poured on him, and choked on the soot as he burnt to death! …….Gasp
p14: Therefore, this was clearly a murder! And the murder is you, Haga Kazuyuki!!
There’s…
There’s no way you’re right! He didn’t even twitch! He must have been dead! / W—Wait!! Where’s your proof?!! Where’s your proof I covered him in gasoline?!! / Do you even have any?!!!!
Sempai! Hah, hah. (2 sfx bubbles): Trot / Trot I brought the jug!
p15: Here’s the jug! Impeccable timing, Kinoshita. Huh?
I’m really tired after running back and forth from the park! SFX: Pant
SFX Bubbles: Beep Beep
Well then. Here’s your definitive proof. / There’s still faint traces of your fingerprints. And there’s the consistency of the gasoline. / An investigation should confirm everything.
p16: You’re lying… You have to be. I’m sorry, but everything I’ve said is true…
It’s all his fault! If only—if only he had never come to the shop…
Haga Kazayuki, you’re under arrest for murder.
Me… a murderer?
Furthermore, Haga-san, you were the one who prepared the copy of Fire Inferno, yes?
It shouldn’t have anything to do with the deceased. ……
And yet, within Nishi-san’s bag, I found a certain software, / one carefully stowed away… …….
And the name of that game… !!!
Is Fire Inferno.
Furthermore, Nishi-san’s QR code marks him as number 1. He was the first user.
p17: Nishi-san must have loved the game you created / more than anyone else…
Huh? Where’d the President go? He already slipped away. / <small: Kept whining about how tired he was. >
That’s right, Sempai!
When did you start thinking Haga-san was suspicious? Hm? Do you remember what Haga said?
Hmmm… What did he say, again?
if I had only noticed the shady game to begin with… When he said those words, the frequency of his voice changed dramatically. / It must have been hard for him to say something he didn’t truly believe…
Hmmm… Well, I’m heading back. Good work!
Huh?
p18: Hey, sempai, did you fall asleep? What’s wrong? …No, it’s nothing. More importantly…
Huh?
SFX: Flustered noises
Why…
Why did you tell me the culprit behind “The Devilish Tamari Song”?!! / I hate you, Sempai!! The frequency of your voice was way off. I guess you’re a horrible liar. Hey!
….Wait, does that mean I actually like him? There’s… There’s no way that’s true… https://mangahelpers.com/t/dowolf/releases/38045[English] [Translation] Chousuinou Kei 5 by Dowolf2013-06-01T01:31:08+00:00Dowolfadmin@mangahelpers.comChousuinou Kei 05
*Reserved for use by the NilaiTP Group
p1: Kei: This crime scene / is riddled with impossibilities. Upper left: He uses his godlike, superhuman deductive skills to solve the mystery of the corpse roasted by the flames of hell!! Title: Episode 2: Immolation Game II Chapter 5: The Devil’s Dark Wisdom Lower left: Story: Gomi Kazuo Art: Tanaka Yoshiki Scenario: Mizuno Mitsuhiro
?
Kei: Haga-san, / may I see that clock?
!!
Haga: Of… Of course.
p2: Upper left: Kei’s noticed something odd about the remaining battery life…
The battery’s… barely even been used.
Kei: Kionshita, Maori: !
Kei: Could you look in that garbage can over there? / I’m curious if there are any used batteries in there. Maori: Ah, OK.
Maori: Found one…
p3: Maori <aside>: Here. Kei: Thanks…
SFX: Beep…
Kei: I thought so… The battery’s dead…!
Kei: So you just changed the battery? / Sometime within the last six hours, perhaps? Haga: …….?!
Kei: In the security camera footage, the clock had stopped at 1:03 A.M.
Kei: And then the clock started up again…. / …We must conclude the batteries were changed at 4:56 A.M.
Kei: That was 3 hours and 53 minutes after the clock stopped.
Haga: ………
Suzumori: Hey, hold it! You could make that out while the footage is being fast-forwarded? And the clock’s so small, too! Kei: It’s just my intuition. Suzumori: Your WHAT?!?!
Haga: …What are you trying to imply?!
p4: Kei: …Nothing. / I just thought the gap was a little long.
Haga: …The gap?
Kei: The corpse…
Kei: Those clothes…
Kei: The analysis is at 78.1%! / What am I still missing…
Kei: Maybe…
p5: Maori: Wah!
Suzumori: What… What are you doing, Kazaoka?! / <aside: You surprised me! >
Kei: I knew it! This floor is…
Kei: Granularity: 3.07. Water absorption: 2.65. PH: 7.06… / A sand floor…!
Kei: Haga-san… Haga: !
Kei: This place looks rather aged. Have you worked here for a long time? Suzumori: You idi… You can’t just say something that rude! <small: You! > Haga: ……………..
p6: Haga: Based on your uniform, / would you be in high school?
Haga: There’s a lot to life. / Though I’m not sure a child would understand.
<Aside: Deliberately Ignoring > SuzumorI: I’m—I’m so sorry! He just acts a little rude pretty often.
Haga: it’s fine. Besides, if I had only noticed the shady game to begin with, / all this would have never… Kei: There are more inexplicable events here.
Kei: The body shows no signs of a struggle. However…
Kei: Look closely at his upper back. / The marks suggest he was tied down.
Maori: You’re right!
p7: SFX: Ahem. Suzumori: So it’s like that, huh?
Suzumori: Even if someone were planning on setting himself on fire, / he’d know he might get scared and panic halfway through, so he would tie himself to the chair!! Background: This is perfect! / Kyah!
Nikaidou: Then what happened to the rope, Suzumori? Suzumori: Ah…
Suzumori: It must have burned up… but there’s no traces of that. Kei: …… Nikaidou: Sigh…
Kei: Afterwards, the sprinklers went off and the place was soaked, but this console still works.
Haga: Strange, isn’t it? I found it weird myself. Suzumori: …….
Kei: There’s more strange things. / The trash bag in the corner near the counter…
Kei: It’s not particularly full, and it’s closed with duct tape…
Suzumori: What’s so inexplicable about that?
Kei: When we entered the store, I noticed the bags outside were all tied shut by hand. Suzumori: Huh…
Tadokoro: I see… That is a little weird. SFX: Smile
p8: Haga: Would you like / to look inside?
!
Kei: No, I’m sure there’s nothing important inside. / There’s no need to look.
Haga: Is that so…
Kei: Haga-san, you seem rather unphased….. Haga: Huh?
Kei: You’ve already accepted / all the incongruences.
Haga: Well… / I mean, this whole episode is truly mysterious…
Kei: Haga’s discomposure is at 12%... Low. Could he be the culprit?
Kei: But Haga-san, according to my “hypothesis,” this string of turmoil was triggered…
Kei: By you yourself.
p9: Haga: No…Huh? What do you mean?!
Kei: And one more thing. / I have a very important hypothesis. Haga: What?
Kei: The victim / was not set aflame here!
!
!
!
Kei: This corpse was soaked by these sprinklers,
Kei: but there are traces of dirt in his hair.
Kei: As are there on your clothes, / Haga-san.
Kei: This last one is just a coincidence, but the same dirt… / can be found on the bottoms of my shoes.
Suzumori: Wait… That can’t mean anything.
p10: Kei: No, it does. / If all three of these things have dirt with the same consistency… / then the dirt must have come from the same place.
Kei: When Kinoshita and I came to this store, Boxes: School / Park / Crime Scene Kei: we passed through a park about 300 meters wide. <small: A shortcut… >
Maori: …So when you kicked your shoes, / it was to check the dirt on them?!
Kei: As an… example,
Kei: Suppose Nishi-san immolated himself. / You found Nishi-san in the park…
Kei: And brought him here on your scooter. / Then you made it look as if he were playing a certain game when he burst into flames. / On the corpse remained marks from when you tied his corpse to your scooter.
Kei: Though this nothing more than a hypotheisis.
p11: Kei: Then, in order to prevent the game console from being soaked, you enclosed it in a garbage bag and closed it with duct tape.
Kei: Next, you used a lighter or something to trigger the sprinklers, washing the dirt off of the corpse.
Suzumori: Wait… Why would he do that? Wouldn’t that only hurt the store?!
Kei: There were plenty of reasons… / Kinoshita, could I borrow your phone? Maori: Here.
SFX Bubble: Beep Phone: News: “Forbidden Game” / The Strange Fire Inferno / When the player reaches Game Over, he’ll be burned alive!
Maori: Wow! It made the news already! <small: That was fast.>
Kei: That was your desire, right, Haga-san? Haga: ……!
Suzumori: What are you implying?
Kei: This person is no mere clerk…
Kei: He is the man exiled from the gaming industry for developing Fire Inferno… / Haga Kazuyuki!!
p12: !!!
Kei: You wanted the forbidden game, Fire Inferno, to again receive the world’s attention. / This twisted egotistical desire caused you to post on message boards about spontaneous human combustion, and caused you to leak information to the media!
Haga: Kh!!
Kei: This copy of Fire Inferno belongs to you, right? / There’s a QR code on it. !!
Kei: Analysis of that QR code reveals that it was produced on the day the game was banned… / So no one uninvolved with its production could have acquired it. / Furthermore, when I played it just now, I saw your name in the credits.
p13: Suzumori: He used the corpse of someone who committed suicide? You… / There’s no way he could have planned that much out— Kei: That’s correct…
Suzumori: Huh?
Kei: This incident was not particularly… premeditated.
Kei: It was but a momentary flash Haga: …… Kei: of the Devil’s dark wisdom…
Kei: After playing game’s for a little while, Nishi-san left the store around 1 A.M. You then noticed the clock had stopped.
Kei: No other customers were present, and you had no spare batteries, / so you briefly closed the store and went to buy some on your scooter.
Haga: ……
p14: Kei: On your way back from the store, / you found the victim in the park. He had committed suicide. / It was a complete coincidence.
Kei: That is when you first thought up your plan.
Kei: After bringing the corpse here on your scooter, / you made it look as if a tragedy had occurred within this store.
Maori: Wait a second, Kazaoka-sempai! / What about the camera?!
Maori: You saw the column of flame yourself on the camera! / If that wasn’t real, then what was it?!
Haga: The customer really did burst into flame / right in front of my eyes, I swear!
p15: Tadokoro: I’ve found it, Kazaoka-kun!
Tadokoro: Look, here it is. I found it inside a game console hidden under the reception desk. Mini-bubbles: Hah / Hah / Stretch Kei: Thank you, President.
Kei: …The truth is, the footage from the security camera we saw earlier… / had a number of tricks embedded in it.
Tadokoro: I’ve already confirmed it. The legendary “Fire Inferno: Improved Version” was used… / in the security camera’s footage.
Tadokoro: This game recognizes humans in images recorded by a camera . / Then, those people—those targets—are killed in-game.
Tadokoro: Furthermore, they can be killed in many ways, / not just immolation. They can also explode, be cut in half, be crushed, and more.
p16: Tadokoro: Well… such a crazed game should never be distributed to the world at large. Haga: ……
Kei: You developed this product, and you used it to make it appear as if the security camera caught Nishi-san bursting into flame. / During a normal crime, the police fastforward the security footage to the moment the crime occurred, and only view that moment. / That’s why everyone initially thought he burst into flames. However, you prepared even more traps.
Maori: I get it! / If he cut out the footage of Nishi-san leaving the store and of him bringing Nishi-san back into the store, it would look as if Nishi-san never left.
Suzumori: But even so, modifying the tape and getting the immolated body all seems to be a little too rough, you know? Maori: Yeah. It feels too easy… Kei: To be sure, such a plot would easily be discovered… But he had a response for that.
Haga: Bwahahaha! Of course I do!!! / I committed no murder! Who cares if I’m found out—he killed himself!! ?!
Haga: Disturbing a corpse is worth three years, right? Sounds like a good break… And besides, the heavens won’t see fit to curse me for this. / Fire Inferno was my opus… What’s wrong with it being realistic? And then it was banned, and I was fired for it? Why would I stand for such ridiculousness?
Haga: Keh keh… But I created a new game while I was working here!! A murder game using all sorts of methods: Killer Inferno!! Looks like your little hypothesis was right!! / Bwahahahaha! Too bad, high school kid!!
Haga: You can’t corner a culprit for a murder that never happened!! / Heh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…
p17: Suzumori: …Haga Kazuyuki, for the crime of disturbing a corpse… Kei: Please wait!
Kei: There’s still something… / Something’s missing.
Nikaidou: What is it? It’s not like you to hesitate, Kazaoka.
Suzumori: Why don’t you just try kicking your shoes again? Kei: !! …The shoes.
Kei: May I reexamine the corpse’s—Nishi-san’s shoes?
Suzumori: Huh? Why are you asking that now? Nikaidou: Take as long as you want to satisfy your suspicions, Kazaoka!
p18: Kei: Something that should be there isn’t!
Kei: I’ve just thought up a new theory. / This is a murder incident.
Maori: Huh? / It’s not suicide? …Then who’s the murderer?!
Kei: I’m just about to tell you. Inset: Kei’s superhuman intellect has just deduced the true culprit! Wait until next time!!! https://mangahelpers.com/t/dowolf/releases/37983[English] [Translation] Chousuinou Kei 4 by Dowolf2013-05-24T03:54:42+00:00Dowolfadmin@mangahelpers.comChousuinou Kei 04
*Reserved for use by the NilaiTP Group
p1: Sidebar: The advent of a new mystery! An extremely dangerous, forbidden game begins!!!
Inset: Already, astoundingly popular!!! A super-science investigative mystery!
Chousuinou Kei Episode 2: Immolation Game [1] Chapter 4: Fire Inferno
Tadokoro: The first train’s about to leave, Kinoshita-san. / The literary training camp will soon… Maori: Hey! I was at a really good part! “Measured from a cup; drunk from a funnel…” I can’t stop reading here! Kei: So you’re reading Yokomizo Seishi’s A Devilish Temari Song…
! Phone: Number Withheld
Tadokoro: Yes. Maori: …… / Who’s calling you this early? Kei: It’s got to be him, right? Tadokoro: Understood. / I’ll tell him.
p3: Tadokoro: That was Inspector Nikaidou. / He wants you at the internet café in front of the station. Maori: So it was Nikaidou-san!
Tadokoro: So then, / I believe it’s time I make my… Maori: Hey, Prez! You meanie!
Kei: I am Kazaoka Kei. / Due to some strange events, my brain has a next-generation supercomputer, a quantum computer, buried within it.
An alumnus of Komakou’s mystery club in the police department / takes advantage of my amazing abilities to solve the toughest crimes.
Maori: Ah! Detective Suzumori! / <aside: Good morning! > Suzumori: Hm?! / You’re quick again. The boys from the lab aren’t even here yet.
Kei: So what’s the nature of this case? Suzumori: Well, / a client at this store died while playing a game. / Have you heard of “Fire Inferno”? It was just banned for sale…
p4: Maori: What?! They have it? Then…! Suzumori: Yeah. / A person playing that game suddenly died…
Kei: …..
Nikaidou: Oh! You’re here!
Kei: Nikaidou-sempai, must you take advantage of me by summoning me so early in the morning? Nikaidou: Don’t you normally get up early the second Sunday of every month? / The mystery club’s literary training camp is a tradition dating back from my era. <small: So, come along.>
Maori: Nikaidou-san, the customer who died was playing the banned game, right? Nikaidou: That’s correct…
The Flames of Hell, the Fire Inferno
p5: Its graphics are extremely realistic and stimulating, and it has many shocking tricks and traps.
But players who witnessed its aberrant images / found themselves suffering dizziness, vomiting, headaches, and saw illusions.
Maori: So that’s why everyone started calling it the forbidden game… Nikaidou: No… Well, there were some people who lost consciousness from shock, so… There were problems.
Suzumori: And those who reached a game over / would invariably see a certain fearsome thing… Maori: What was that?
Kei: When they failed to clear the game and reached a game over, their character would be enveloped by realistic flames and perish…
Suzumori: Oh, Kazaoka, you’re familiar with it? Kei: More or less…
Suzumori: However… I think this case will surprise even you. Kei: …….?
p6: Suzumori: Even now, this game’s fans are a fanatical bunch. / The victim was one of them. Nishi Hideo, age 34, unemployed. Basically lived in net cafes.
Suzumori: A large number amount of software and handheld games were in his bag. / Well, there are videogame addicts out there…
Suzumori: The victim brought Fire Inferno into the store and played it at his booth.
Suzumori: And he was killed when he reached game over… we think. Kei: “You think”?
Nikaidou: The truth is, the victim died in a most perplexing manner.
Maori: Don’t… Don’t tell me he was burned, like in the game?
………..
Nikaidou: Exactly. Maori: You’re kidding!
Nikaidou: Just take a look around the scene.
p7: Maori: Eeek!
Kei: ……
Haga: I’m so sorry, Detective… / I never… I never thought such a thing would happen… Suzumori: Ah!
Suzumori: This is the owner of this store, Haga-san. Text: Haga Kazuyuki (35)
p8: Suzumori: Haga-san, could you tell us about the accident? Haga: Sure…
Haga: The customer and I were the only ones inside the store.
Haga: It must have been around 4 in the morning… SFX: Gaaahhhhhhh! Haga: I suddenly heard a scream from the booths… I never thought it was a person’s…
Kei: ….You thought it was the screams of the player character in Fire Inferno’s Game Over screen?
Haga: Y…Yes. ?!
Nikaidou: Ah, sorry. I haven’t explained yet, have I? / These children are my juniors. They’re studying mysterious cases, so I have them come along as advisors. Haga: ….. Suzumori: Haga-san, would you please continue?
Haga: After I heard the scream, suddenly a column of fire rose from the booth…
p9: !!!!
Haga: The column of fire was huge…. / The sprinklers were activated by it.
Haga: When I rushed over from the counter, I found him like this… / He was playing the game right up until he died… What could have caused the flames?
Maori: The screams he heard—were they really from the game? Suzumori: The victim’s headphones are still connected to the monitor…
Suzumori: The corpse doesn’t appear to display any signs of a struggle… Maori: If it was his voice, then maybe…
Maori: Could he have burned himself alive?!
p10: Nikaidou: I can’t deny that possibility. / But the circumstances are especially odd… Maori: Huh?
Nikaidou: Only the person was burned. The walls, the chair, / the headphones, and controller are all unscathed.
Haga: I… I also feel like something is…
Kei: That / is a surveillance camera, correct?
Suzumori: …Right! If we watch the footage, we might find something! Nikaidou: May we view it immediately? Haga: Of—Of course!
p11: Haga: The footage is pretty washed out; I hope it’s not broken…
Suzumori: Wait a second! / This is important evidence. I’ll do it. Haga <aside>: Ah…
SuzumorI: Umm, we received the report at 5:10 A.M., so the fire must have occurred just before then…
!!!
Maori: It suddenly burst into fire?! / Is this the proof of urban legends of spontaneous human combustion?!!
p12: Kei: Contradictions in various locations. / The probability of an incompatibility is 91.7 percent!!
Prez: What a strangely lively crime scene. <small: Tee hee…> Maori: Wah, Prez! / Why are you here?
Nikaidou: This is the boss of Komakou’s Mystery Club. / Long time no see, Tadokoro. Suzumori: ……. Tadokoro: It is a pleasure to see you again, Nikaidou-san.
Tadokoro: I was going to go to sleep when I saw on the net a post saying that someone in this net café had died the same way as in the game. It caught my interest. Nikaidou: On the net, huh? The speed of information in this society is nothing but a nuisance.
Nikaidou: Well, you can see the scene for yourself.
Maori: Prez! I know this is a little soon, but do you think this is spontaneous human combustion? Suzumori: What do you mean, a “spontaneous human combustion”?!
p13: Tadokoro: “Spontaneous human combustion” is where the only possible explanation is that flames have erupted from a human being. / Such events have been reported all over the world. There are many suggested explanations, such as the plasma or wick effect theories… / but it is still a large unexplained phenomenon. Suzumori: Huh…
Maori: So was this a case of spontaneous human combustion, too?
Tadokoro: Well, I wonder…
Kei: No… / This is not spontaneous human combustion. Maori: Huh?
8 A.M. In front of the café.
p14: This is the shop, right?! The net café where a patron mysteriously died!! Exactly what happened here?!
…! / …!! ……
Suzumori: They’re her already? Where do they get there information? Nikaidou: I don’t want things to get noisy… Help me chase them out. Suzumori: Yes, sir.
Ah! Are you a detective?! / Could you give us a few words?! Nikaidou: Yes, yes, thank you for coming out so early, but we have nothing to announce right now, so could you please go home?! The banned game Fire Inferno is involved, right?!
! Did a person playing that game really burst into flame, just like in-game?!
Suzumori: ……?! Is that true?!
p15: Suzumori: No comment, no comment! You are interfering with the investigation! Please, go home! / Go home!!
Suzumori: Hah… Inspector, the press already knows about “Fire Inferno.” Nikaidou: It’s already a legend amongst the core users. / Anything hard to explain will become the subject of rumors.
Tadokoro: That’s true… and there’ve been rumors lately of an “improved version,” too… Kei: One which plays out in the real world, with no rules or story but does have “realistic slaughtering.”
Maori: You really do know everything, don’t you, Sempai? ……
Kei: Nikaidou-sempai, / may I take the game out and look at it?
Suzumori: Don’t, don’t!! It’s important evidence… Nikaidou: You can! But don’t forget the white bag. Suzumori: ……..You can look!
Kei: !
Kei: May I try it out? Kikaidou: Do what you want.
Maori: Sempai, don’t tell me you intend to see the fire scene? Kei: I won’t get a game over.
p17: <no text>
p18: Maori: He beat it…
Suzumori: You’re a gamer…?
Maori: ….And that speed. / You’re godlike…!
Nikaidou: … How was it, Kazaoka?
Kei: I’ve found a breakthrough in this case!!
Sidebar: Kazaoka’s seen through the secret behind Fire Inferno!! Until next time!!! Bottom: To be continued in the combined issue#21-22. https://mangahelpers.com/t/dowolf/releases/37847[English] [Translation] Chousuinou Kei 3 by Dowolf2013-05-10T21:33:33+00:00Dowolfadmin@mangahelpers.comChousuinou Kei 03
*Reserved for use by the NilaiTP Group
p1: Upper left: Blow, wind of divine logic! <3 Upper right: A whole 30 pages for the conclusive chapter! Chousuinou Kei Episode 1: The Cursed Melody / Chapter 3: A Metal Snake Story: Gomi Kazuo Art: Tanaka Yoshiki Scenario: Mizuno Mitsuhiro
p2: Kei: This organism, you see,
Kei: undergoes heavy amounts of stress when exposed to light. / It’s called the Leafy Sea Dragon. Sidebar: This proves an unnaturally bright light shined at the crime scene, but…
Kei: Raising a Leafy Sea Dragon is quite hard. / Even the flash of a camera is enough to render it unconscious. / There are stories of them even dying from the stress.
Kei: This room is rather dark. Normally, it never tops 100 lux.
Kei: An inspection of that Leafy Sea Dragon / will prove it has been struck blind.
Kei: Even a quick perusal reveals it can no longer avoid objects. SFX: Bump / Bump…
Kei: Clearly, it was recently flooded with light in excess of 20,000 lux.
p3: Kei: Furthermore, let us consider the fingers of both of your hands.
Ryuu: ……?!
Ryuu: What’s wrong with my hands?
Kei: You have quite peculiar calluses on your hands.
Kei: That proves you regularly work with a certain medical apparatus.
Kei: One which can move freely like a snake, / and which emits a bright light from its tip.
p4: Kei: Furthermore,
Kei: you are quite proficient / with that same item.
Kei: It is…
p5: Kei: The intestinal camera!!
Kei: It is also called an endoscope. / However, what you used last night was no mere intestinal camera.
Kei: You gave the intestinal camera certain upgrades—ones that allowed to move akin to artificial muscles. / It was a hand-made weapon.
p6: Ryuu: That is utterly ridiculous…! / …How long must I listen to him rattle on, Detective?!
Kei: ……..
Nikaidou: Continue, Kazaoka.
Kei: ……….. / Mister, you…
Kei: You distracted your brother with a phone call,
SFX Bubble: Flash / Flash Kei: and accurately tunneled the camera into his inner ear.
p7: You attached a knife to your special intestinal camera, and used it to slice the semicircular canal.
Ugh!!! Hiroshi: W—Wait a second! / How can I believe a theory like that?!
Hiroshi: Even if he managed to slice the semicircular canal, / there’s no way he could guarantee his brother’s head would strike an object on the floor! Maori: I guess not…
p8: Ryuu: That’s right! / And even if… Even if you were right and I were the culprit, / why would I use such a sink-or-swim method?
Kei: Well… what I have described thus far may sound rather chancy.
Kei: However, you were confident. / You were confident you would create not just the perfect murder, but rather the “perfect accidental death”!
………!
Kei: I’m sure you’re aware of this, mister, / but your brother didn’t die when his head struck the pyramid.
p9: Ryuu: ……….
Hiroshi: What… do you mean?
Kei: Allow me to explain.
Kei: Detective Suzumori, / if you were the culprit, and you didn’t want your crime to be discovered, / you would take the victim before you and do what? Hiroshi: Why do I have to be the culprit? Kei: We’re just making a supposition.
Kei: Let us consider what actions we must undertake in order to create the appearance of an accident. / Would you not want to do everything in your power to make it look like one?
Hiroshi: Well, yes…
Kei: However, you’re short on time.
p10: Kei: If you are spotted together with the victim, it’s game over. Hiroshi: Oh… Kei: You need to distance yourself from the victim as quickly as possible.
Kei: Thus, the murderer’s criminal profile is made clear by the crime scene.
Ryuu: …….
Kei: Nevertheless, / what if you could to create a scene which does not even hint of being a crime…
Kei: right up until the moment the body is discovered?
p11: Nikaidou: !!!
SFX: Point…
Kei: The real reason… / you used the intestinal camera…
p12: Kei: Was to create an “accident scene” which no one would be inclined to doubt.
!
p13: Kei: The door, locked and chained…
Kei: And the windows, fastened shut.
Nikaidou: All to create a perfect closed room…
Kei: If you knew no visitors would come during the night, / you knew you would have about 12 hours after killing your brother.
Kei: That was more than enough time / to create the perfect accident scene.
Ryuu: …………..
Kei: Your objective was, above all, to craft a scene the police would judge to be an accident at first glance. / One so convincing they wouldn’t even bother to perform a detailed scientific investigation. Hiroshi: ……….
p14: Kei: After confirming your brother was unconscious,
Kei: you increased the brightness on the intestinal camera to maximum, and went about to craft your accident scene.
Kei: First, in order to conceal the wound to the semicircular canal, / you used your special intestinal camera to make it look like the pyramid had unfortunately pierced the inner ear.
Kei: And since your brother didn’t die instantly… / or rather, since you knew he almost certainly wouldn’t die instantly, / you waited patiently as he died of blood loss.
p15: Kei: Afterwards, since your fake scenario required his chair broke,
Kei: you unscrewed a screw at the chair’s fulcrum,
Kei: destroying the chair.
Kei: Furthermore, Ryuu: !
Kei: You needed to emphasize the signs of your brother’s drunkenness.
p16: The finishing touches…
p17: Ryuu :There’s too much alcohol left in the bottle…
Ryuu: He was certainly drunk, but…
Ryuu: This would suggest he only drank a little… / I must destroy this evidence. / So that… / So that this will be instantly judged to be a freak accident…
p18: Ryuu: I cannot leave behind even a hint of a crime.
Ryuu: Heh heh heh heh… Perfect.
Ryuu: Anyone would judge this to be the freak accidental death of a drunkard.
p19: Kei: This was an extreme performance, / aimed to create the image of a perfect accident.
Kei: That was fatal.
Ryuu: A hypothesis! That’s just a hypothesis! / First off, you yourself said that I don’t have a motive!!
p20: Kei: I wonder… / There is one more clear abnormality I found within this room.
Kei: That is this PC’s keyboard. / It certainly isn’t new, yet many of its keys are bereft of fingerprints. <small text: Check it yourself later. > Ryuu: ……….?!
Kei: And that is the proof that the true trick behind the cursed music / was deleted by you, the brother.
Ryuu: What?!
Kei: Each of you two brothers / was quite brilliant in his own way…
p21: Kei: Brilliant enough to create something evil! Hiroshi: ………..
Kei: This is the true trick behind the “killing” cursed app…
Kei: Your brother hacked police, hospitals, newspapers, and television station in order to gain information on accidental deaths. / He thus gained the information before it made the news.
Kei: From there,
p22: Kei: he hacked internet mail-order companies, / video rental stores,
Kei: and other such businesses, / all in order to obtain the cell phone information of their customers.
Kei: When he learned of a death, he would find which persons’ data he possessed, / send them an e-mail with the URL attached, and instantly call them with the cursed app.
Kei: Determining the time of death is not an exact science. / Thus, we were made to conclude that the individuals had died immediately after hearing the cursed melody.
Kei: Furthermore, in order to mask the sender, / he made a number of systems to route his calls overseas before they arrived.
p23: Hiroshi: ……..
Kei: Had your brother not been killed, / this would have been a serious crime.
Kei: Kanzaki-san, recently, / weren’t there plans for you to become the chief of medical science at a university? Ryuu: ……..?!
Kei: Given your current position, / it would be rather deleterious if your brother’s crimes came to light.
Kei: So, after working to make the scene look like an accidental death, / you used your tool to remotely eradicate from this PC all evidence of hacking.
Kei: Since you sought the perfect crime, / and realized this might cause your brother’s blood or liquids to cover the keys, you used a small cloth to wipe them clean.
p24: Hiroshi: Shut up, dammit!! Where’s the proof?! Well? Where is it?!! / Kei: Suzumori-san, would you please go investigate the elder brother’s room upstairs? / Since he came here merely to confirm the body, he shouldn’t have locked the door…
Ryuu: Heh. / Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t have a warrant!!
Ryuu: Why… / Why did you suspect me from the beginning?
p25: Maori: …..Tch.
Kei: Mister, / your brother had a feeling this would come to pass.
Hiroshi: What?
Kei: … Hidden in the cursed app / was a certain message…
Kei: If one takes the cursed music…
Kei: and plays it backwards…
Hiroshi: There! We found it!!
p26: Hirsohi: There’s this incredible intestinal camera upgraded into a weapon, / and a hole in the floor! / There’s also some gauze faintly covered in blood!!
Hiroshi: We’ll bring it down to the lab immediately…
Song: Take heed to yourselves: / If thy brother trespass against thee,
Kei: It’s the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 17 verse 3.
Kei: This was something left behind by your brother, when he realized he might be about to die.
Kei: It is a message of forgiveness, / aimed at the brother about to kill him.
p27: Song: rebuke him; / and if he repent, forgive him.
Ryuu: Uu… / Uuuuu…
Ryuu: Wah! / Wah / Ahhh / Ahhh
Hiroshi: Ah—Hey! Where do you think you’re going?!
p28: Hiroshi: Nikaidou-san, who or what is that?! / You said he’s in high school, right?
p29: Nikaidou: …Yeah. / A high school student with the best deductive mind around.
Hiroshi: But even so, calling a high school student to a crime scene is just…… / <aside: You could’ve found some other consultant… > Nikaidou: It’s because he’s a high school student.
Hiroshi: Huh?
Nikaidou: What you witnessed today / was how strong his mind is.
Nikaidou: And furthermore,
Nikaidou: your eyes start to cloud over, once you’re an adult. / Promotions and self-security start to matter more than the truth.
p30: Nikaidou: High school students are the most pure, the ones most able to view the world without prejudice. / So I believe high school students are the ones closest to the truth.
Nikaidou: For there are some truths only a high school student can find.
Ryuu: ……
Sidebar: Kazaoka’s super brain has solved the case!! A new chapter begins next week: “Immolation Game”! https://mangahelpers.com/t/dowolf/releases/37729[English] [Translation] Chousuinou Kei 2 by Dowolf2013-05-03T01:32:32+00:00Dowolfadmin@mangahelpers.comChousuinou 2
*Reserved for use by the NilaiTP Group
p1: Right: The super electric brain shines with its divine deductive capabilities!!! Upper left: Story: Gomi Kazuo Art: Tanaka Yoshiki Scenario: Mizuno Mitsuhiro Bottom left: Title: The Cursed Melody chapter 2 Episode 2: The Witness in the Dark Chousuinou Kei
p2: Maori: It wasn’t an accidental death?
Maori: Did somebody really die to some form of cursed music?!
Maori: And the deceased is the creator himself?
Hiroshi: It’s just an accident. An accident! / This is a perfect closed room!
Right sidebar: We’ve gone from the accidental death of a drunkard to death by curse!! What is the truth?!
Maori: It has to be true… / He died because of the cursed sound. I’m sure of it!!
Nikaidou: …Kazaoka, / can you solve this mystery?
p3: Kei: Has there ever been a case / I couldn’t solve?
SFX bubbles: Beep beep / beep
p4: SFX in bubble: Whirrr
SFX in bubbles: Bebebeep. / Bebeep!
SFX in bubbles: Beep whirrrr / Beep! / Be beep…
Nikaidou: Kazaoka, have you figured something out? Kei: …Nikaidou-sempai,
Kei: Who lives in the apartment directly above this one?
p5: Nikaidou: The older brother of the deceased. / We had him identify the body before you arrived.
Nikaidou: He should still be in his room… What of him?
!
Kei: Could you call him here? Nikaidou: Do it. Hiroshi: Yessir!!
Hiroshi: …Dammit. / What’s his plan here?!!
Maori: Sempai, what are you…? Kei: …You’ll understand, soon enough.
p6: Hiroshi: After you…
Nikaidou: I know it must be hard on you to keep seeing your brother’s dead body. / My apologies.
Text: Kanzaki Ryuu (38), Surgeon.
Ryuu: Why hasn’t my brother yet been moved from the spot where he died? / I feel sorry for him.
p7: Nikaidou: Ah…. Please don’t worry about these two. They’re students from my old high school. / They’re rather good with IT stuff, so I asked them to look at some mechanical things for me. Ryuu: ………
Kei: Kanzaki-san, / you seem rather… tired.
Hiroshi: What are you saying, you idiot?! / Of course he’s tired! He just lost his brother!
p8: Ryuu: Well, that is one reason, / but truth be told, I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night. I was busy reading some materials.
Kei: You must be quite busy, / as a first-rate “doctor.”
Ryuu: I am indeed a doctor, but… how did you know?
Kei: Well, / you smell faintly of medicinal alcohol. / Furthermore…
Hiroshi: Wait a second! / You’re good so far, but don’t push him too hard! / He did just lose his brother!
Ryuu: …..Sniff! Hiroshi: !
p9: Ryuu: He was the only family I had left… / Our parents died when we were young, / and the two of us had to work hard to survive…!
Ryuu: Mr. Detective, / you said the time of death was last night, correct? Nikaidou: Yes.
Ryuu: I spent all of last night staring at some charts for a surgery I was doing tomorrow, / never even realizing my brother was in so much pain so close by… / His chair broke and he fell, right?
Ryuu: I told him… Flashback!Ryuu: Go buy a replacement for that weird chair of yours. / And you shouldn’t litter the floor with dangerous things. / I told him, but…
Ryuu: I worried about him, too, / since he drank without restraint.
Ryuu: If only I had warned him more stringently…
p10: Ryuu: I’m a doctor, / but I couldn’t even save my own brother’s life.
Ryuu: I’m a failure as a doctor…
SFX Bubble: Blur
p11: SFX Bubble: Be beep!
SFX Bubble: Beep!
SFX Bubble: Be be beep!
SFX Bubble: Be be be beep
SFX Bubble: Whine…
SFX Bubble: Beep bop bop
SFX Bubble: Beep bop!
p12: SFX Bubble: Beep boop. / Beep boop bop bop / Be be be be beep.
SFX Bubbles: Be be be / beep! Boxes: That one section of the air vent / deviates by 0.7 millimeters.
Boxes The probability that, within the last 48 hours, something with a Shore durometer reading of at least 42 touched it is… / 98%!! SFX Bubbles: Beep boop boop boop! / Beep beep!
Kei: The probability of his temporal region striking an object on the floor…
p13: Kei: For the crystal pyramid, 27%.
Kei: For the various golden objects, on average 12%.
Kei: The stuffed crocodiles, 5%.
Kei: The cactus… 3%.
Kei: The probability of hitting any one of those / and dying is…
Hiroshi: Hey! / I told you to keep a lid on it— Nikaidou: continue, Kazaoka.
Kei: ……Were you aware / that your younger brother designed the cursed music app?
p15: Maori: …..!
Hiroshi: ?!
Ryuu: ………… / Pretty much.
Ryuu: My brother had been interested in charms and the supernatural… / all that sort of stuff ever since he was little.
Kei: Whoever hears that app’s music / will truly die, or so the rumor goes.
Ryuu: ………I know…
Kei: Assistant Inspector Nikaidou here / is currently inspecting the scene of the crime.
Kei: And…
p16: Maori: ?!! Kei: This is that tune!
Maori: Eeeeek!!! Hiroshi: Stop!
p17: Kei: Why are you so calm,
Kei: Kanzaki Ryuu-san?
Ryuu: Well……. Box: Ran really far away.
Kei: As you have all seen, this cursed music does not kill. / However, while this cursed app is a rather complicated system…
Kei: For some reason, / all traces of it have been deleted from this PC…
Ryuu: …!!
p18: (?): Wh—What?! / What happened?! / A blackout?!
Maori(?): I—I’m sorry! / I must’ve accidentally hit the switch on the wall!
SFX Bubble: Pah!
Maori: Are all the lights back on?
Maori: It’s so… bright now.
Kei: The illumination when she turned on the switch was 100 lux. The average lighting in the room is 60 lux... / Rather dark…
p19: !!
Kei: …These blinds…
Kei: Did your brother keep them closed, day and night?
Ryuu: …Yes. The blinds were normally closed. / My brother preferred dark places, you see…
Kei: It’s already dusk, / but is the lighting always around this level? Ryuu: Well, / yes, it is.
Ryuu: ……
Ryuu: What of it?
p20-21: Kei: That fish tank…
Kei: and that organism,
Kei: The leafy sea dragon.
p22: Kei: The probability it achieved that level of stress in the last 48 hours… / 390% / !!
Sea dragon: Bump/ Bump / Bump…
Kei: ……….. / Complete.
Kei: My mind has just now finished formulating a certain hypothesis. Hiroshi: A hypothesis? Haven’t you done enough yet?!!
Nikaidou: Well, let’s listen to him, Suzumori. Hiroshi: …Yessir.
Kei: If my hypothesis is correct…
Kei: it will prove that this was murder.
p23: Kei: And that the culprit…
Kei: Is you. / Yes, you… the elder brother.
p24: Hiroshi: Ha ha ha! I don’t care what your relationship with the Inspector is—you’ve gone too far. / Did you hear one word I’ve said? Kei: ……
Hiroshi: I myself cut the lock on the door when we entered. / I can testify there was no one in here save for the victim!
Ryuu: Sigh… I wondered what you were going to say… / What possibly makes you think I would murder my own brother?
Kei: As I said before, / this is nothing more than a theory.
Ryuu: Ha ha. / I don’t have time for this foolishness.
Ryuu: I have the word of a detective, a rather airtight alibi. Kei: But there are too many strange things in this room. Ryuu: What…?
p25: Kei: This has been bothering me for a while now, / but at this spot, far away from the desk, / is a single whiskey stain. Hiroshi: Huh?!
Hiroshi: Ah! You mean this…?
Kei: Based on the splash pattern of this single droplet, / we can conclude it fell vertically.
Kei: Furthermore…
Kei: Directly above this spot on the floor / lies an air vent…
Ryuu <aside>: *Sigh*
Hiroshi: Hey, high school kid, how crazy are you going to get?! <small text: That’s for sure!> / What makes you think you can declare all that to be true?!
Nikaidou: …I see. I expected no less of you, Kazaoka.
p26: Hiroshi: Ah! I get it!! / It was the alcohol! He converted a large quantity of alcohol into gas!!
Hiroshi: He then used the air duct to pump the gas into his brother’s room, rendering him drunk! / Then his brother, stumbling around drunkenly, tripped and fell! Lower right: The culprit, laughing evilly to himself.
Ryuu: This is stupid… You, too, Mr. Detective? / That is less a hypothesis and more a delusion. Kei: I agree. There was no need for you to do that.
Kei: There is no sign that you forced your brother to drink, / or that alcohol was injected into him after his death.
Kei: We must conclude that he drank the alcohol of his own free will. Nikaidou: ……. Hiroshi: …Like. I. Said.
Hiroshi: Hey, wait! (lower right): Stop messing with us adults! Hiroshi: Then what’s the spot of alcohol supposed to mean?!!
p27: Nikaidou: Calm down and let him finish! Hiroshi: Ow. / Sorry.
Kei: Though there’s no sign he was forced to drink, / there is but a single whiskey stain far from where he lies, directly beneath the air duct. / And is from the last day or two.
Kei: That is the key to solving this crime!
Kei: Allow me to say once more that this is just a hypothesis. / But for instance…
Kei: suppose you possessed a long, snake-like object you could control freely.
p28: Maori: A snake? Ryuu: ………..
Kei: Last night, you used that snake-like object / to go from your room to this one…
Kei: You went through a corner of the air duct / and entered this room.
Ryuu: What do you mean, a snake? / And even supposing you are right, no matter how drunk my brother was he would have noticed such a thing. Kei: Correct. There is no proof yet. We are still verifying.
Ryuu: ……
Nikaidou: Kazaoka, please continue.
p29: Kei: Please take a look at these headphones.
Kei: The left side has been set to play exceptionally loudly.
Ryuu: Another hypothesis?
Kei: No… / This is no hypothesis. I verified it with my own ears.
MaorI: But there was no music playing then… Kei: I used noise. Maori: Huh?
Kei: I confirmed it using noise.
Kei: Kanzaki-san… / were you aware your brother couldn’t hear very well out of his left ear? Ryuu: …What of it?
p30: Kei: When you sent the snake-like thing through the air duct from the floor above, / you were aware how impossible it would be not to make any sound.
Kei: Therefore, you needed a distraction. / You used your brother’s app. / By way of an overseas call, you called his phone from an undeterminable number.
Nikaidou: ……..
Kei: Naturally, your brother placed the phone against his right ear. / His left ear couldn’t hear well, so you realized this would effectively plug both his ears.
Kei: Furthermore, you wanted the developer of the cursed app / to die immediately after hearing its music.
Ryuu: ………..
p31: Kei: Every other person who has died to the app’s music has died in an accident. / … You must have been certain the police were aware of that. / Thus, you believed they would be predisposed to declare this an accident as well…
Kei: That / was your foremost objective.
Ryuu: Shut up and get a hold of yourself, you little brat!! / I mean, what’s this “snake-like object I could control freely” supposed to be?! / No such thing could possibly exist!!
p32: Ryuu: … Do you think you have the right to just hypothesize someone is a criminal?
Kei: To be sure, / this is still nothing but a hypothesis… Ryuu: ……!
Kei: Kanzaki-san, you said this room’s blinds were always shut, / that this is as bright as it ever gets in here? Ryuu: …Are you saying the darkness proves I murdered him?
Kei: …Furthermore,
Kei: are you familiar / with that mysterious organism?
Ryuu: Huh?! / …..I have no idea!
p33: Kei: That… / is an organism which undergoes a great deal of stress when exposed to light.
Kei: The leafy sea dragon. Sea dragon: Bump… / Bump…
Ryuu: ?!
Kei: The leafy sea dragon / is rather hard creature to raise. Sea dragon: Bump Kei: It is heavily stressed even by the light of a camera, and will sometimes even die.
p1: Box: My name is Kazaoka Kei. / When I was little, a strange disease afflicted my brain for which the science of the day had no cure.
Midline: Super scientific investigative mysteries going above and beyond the limits of humans!!!!!
Left: Chousuinou Kei Middle: Every doctor had given up on me.
Midline: Starting off serialization with 50 pages!!!!!!!!!!!!!
However…
Beep x 10-ish
p2-3: Blue text in the middle: Super difficult cases VS. a super-geniuis!!!!! Top text: A prodigy sophomore high school student with an ultra computer in his brain handles the toughest cases with his divine gift of reasoning!!!!!!!!!!! Lower right: Story: Gomi Kazuo Art: Tanaka Yoshiki Scenario: Mizuno Mitsuhiro Lower Left: Chousuinou Kei (yellow text): Ultra-Mysterious Case Files Lower left, white text: Cursed Melody Chapter 1 Episode 1: The Miraculous Brain
p4: Box: My father, a mad scientist, changed my destiny.
I must bet everything on this…
The odds of success were below 0.01%.
SFX: Click
He did so / by taking a computer far better than any supercomputer of the day,
his homemade quantum computer, / and inserted it into my brain.
Bottom: The boy, having received brain surgery in his darkest night…
p5: It was unthinkably dangerous. / However, though the odds of success were all but zero, a miracle occurred. / He succeeded.
About a decade later…
p6: I entered Komamine Private High School, or “Komakou” for short, a school which boasted a 90% accept rate into Tokyo University. / It is now the autumn of my senior year.
And…
Thanks to this club I’ve joined, / I spend my days encountering the most difficult cases. Sign: Mystery Research Club HYPER
p7: Maori: Ah! / You’re late, Kazaoka-sempai!
Kei: This is Kinoshita Maori, a freshman.
Maori: So President, / what was the trick behind the case of killing people using sound?
Kei: And this person is… SFX: Chuckle
p8: Kei: The President of the Mystery Club, Tadokoro Kaname, a senior. Kaname: Chuckle Chuckle… / Chuckle…
Kaname: The trick behind Oguri Mushitarou’s Black Death Hall Murders was not “murder.” Maori: Huh? Really?
Kaname: Look.
Kaname: Using acoustics, he set the piano in a certain point in the hall / so that the sound would focus on a certain point, causing a person to faint. Maori: Wow.
Kaname: But if there were a work where a person died due to sound, it would be Gloomy Sunday. Maori: <aside: Huh?! > / What’s that?! The title of some novel?
Kaname: What do you think?
Maori: Hm? Kaname: Sorry. I’ll answer now.
p9: Kaname: It all began in Hungary, in 1933. / Gloomy Sunday was a song themed on suicide.
Kaname: Its lyrics were especially despairing. / They say hundreds of people committed suicide after hearing it. Maori: So—so there really is a song like that!
Maori: So the rumors about an unpleasant song being played on cellphones, / a “cursed song,” which can kill people are…
Kaname: It might be real, that one.
Kaname: Normally, an urban legend like that one would murder indiscriminately, / but according to rumor…
p10: Kaname: With this one the sound is pinpointed and sent towards the person you curse, / and then that person dies…
Kaname: … Or so / I’ve heard. Maori: …..
Box: ……I’m sure there’s some other club members,
Maori: What do you think, Kazaoka-sempai? / Do you think music could kill someone? Box: but they rarely come to meetings, so I’m not sure how many there are.
p11: Box: And then,
Box: There’s me. (Bottom text): Kazaoka Kei (17)
Maori: Kazaoka-sempai?
p12: Maori: …..
Maori: Hey! / Are you listening, Sempai?! / Do you think the rumors of cursed music from a cellphone are…
p13: ?
Kei: Kinoshita,
Kei: Did you / cut your hair?
Maori: Oh, so you noticed? / I just cut my bangs a little, but… Kei: It looks bad on you. Maori: ?!
Maori: …… / You…
Maori: How can you say that?!
Maori: Hm?
Maori: Wah!!
p14: Maori: ……?!
p15: Baseballers: We’re—We’re sorry! / Are you guys all right?!
Maori: Of course we’re not “all right”! / Go play somewhere with a net!
Maori: You guys could have really hurt someone! / <aside: This ball’s hard! > / If the window didn’t just happen to be open…
MaorI: …..!
Baseballers: …? / ……. Maori: If the window didn’t just happen to be open…
p16: Maori: ……………
Maori: Sometimes, Kazaoka-sempai, when I’m with you, / really amazing things seem to happen.
p17: Maori: ………
Maori: Don’t tell me / you have some sort of foresight?!
Kei: ….. / It’s a coincidence, nothing more.
Maori: …. / Of course it is…
Kei: The truth is, / I really do have the ability to see the—
p18: Kei: present, not the future.
Kei: My eyes take in the phenomena around me, / and then I do nothing more than apply the laws of physics.
Kei: From the moment the pitcher starts his wind-up / and throws the two-seam fastball.
Kei: Its initial velocity is 131.7 kilometers per hour. / It’s low and to the inside.
Kei: The batter swings his bat at 32.76 meters per second. / Simulating the trajectory of the ball, I determine the ball will likely fly into the club’s window.
p19: Kei: The distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate is 18.44 meters. / From home plate to the club room is 47.85 meters.
Kei: Ergo, the ball would fly into the club room in 1.78 seconds.
Kei: Considering the arrangement of the room, / the angle of incidence and angles of reflection, I predicted the ball’s flight trajectory.
Kei: And since Maori cut her bangs 8 millimeters since yesterday, / and since I knew her reactions when she gets angry are always over-the-top, I angered her on purpose. (A bit forceful, but it was an emergency.)
Kei: Therefore,
Kei: What I did was not “foresight,”
p20: Kei: but simply the machinations of my messed-up brain.
…….
Maori: …President, / what’s your opinion on foresight abilities?
Maori: !
Kaname: Yes.
p21: Kaname: …Hello. / Yes. / OK. / Understood.
Kaname: Kei-kun, the inspector’s asking for you.
Kei: Again?
Kaname: Here’s the address.
Kei: You should come along once in a while. / To a real crime scene.
p22: Kaname: I’m good, thanks. / I have plenty to do here. Maori: You’re only busy because you’re reading lots of mystery novels, right?
Kaname: Hey, hey, Kei-kun, shouldn’t you get going? Kei: Yeah, yeah. / I just have to go, right? I’m going.
Maori: Ah!
Maori: I’m going, too!
Maori: Wait for me, Sempai!
p23: Scene of the crime: An apartment building in Higashishibanshi’s port district
Hiroshi: Huh? / What are you kids doing here? Text: Metropolitan Police Department Investigative Division One Detective / Suzumori Hiroshi
Maori: <aside: Ah! > / We’re the mystery club from Komakou.
Hiroshi: Huh? / Komakou? Mystery club? What are you on about? Maori: Umm… Hiroshi: You see this? This ain’t a place for high school kids. Now scat! Go home! Maori: But you see… (?): We’re the police! Now get out of here!!
Inspector: Suzumori. Hiroshi: Inspector…! Inspector: It’s fine. Let them through.
Inspector: Oh, right. This is your first time, isn’t it? Hiroshi: Huh? Inspector: You see, they’re support I called in. Hiroshi: Support?
Inspector: You were just assigned here last week, / so I guess this is your first time at an actual crime scene. Hiroshi: Yeah…
Inspector: Those kids from the mystery research club should be good for a hint or two. / If nothing else, think of them as consultants. / Don’t mind them.
Hiroshi: Understood… / If you say so, Inspector.
Kei: Nikaidou-sempai’s an alumnus of Komakou’s mystery club, / so he works us like slaves.
Nikaidou: Well, you don’t have to put it like that. Text: Tokyo Metropolitan Police Investigative Division One Assistant Inspector / Nikaidou Shigemi
p25: Kei: So what does it look like? Nikaidou: Just take a look.
Hiroshi: Come to think of it, the Inspector came from Komakou and then went to Tokyo University.
Maori: !
Maori: What’s… What’s with this room? Yuck!
p26-27: Maori: Eeeek!!
Hiroshi: It’s just an accident. No need to be so surprised. / This guy got drunk, fell down, / and crashed into an object on the floor…
Hiroshi: It pains me to say it, but it looks like the guy just got unlucky.
Hiroshi: Well, / these things happen.
Hiroshi: ……
p28: Kei: ………..
Nikaidou: Suzumori, / please give a detailed report on the situation. Hiroshi: Huh?! It’s only an accident. Kei: …… Nikaidou: Just do it.
Hiroshi: Urg. / Cough. / Umm….
Hiroshi: The deceased is Kanzaki Tora, age 35. / A self-styled “sound creator.”
p29: Maori: A “sound creator”?
Hiroshi: He made music apps for cell phones. Must’ve earned a pretty penny doing it, too. / It wouldn’t surprise me if rent for this place topped a million yen.
Hiroshi: …Two hours ago, / some sales people from a corporation came here. They had an appointment to conduct negotiations with the deceased.
Hiroshi: However, they couldn’t contact him, either with the intercom or cell phone. / Thinking this suspicious, the men contacted the super, and then the police.
Hiroshi: The super unlocked the door and called in, but there was no answer. / On the request of the super, we, the police, / cut the chain on the door and entered. Upper left: Kanzaki-san!! Lower right: I cut it perfectly.
Hiroshi: We found things like this. / The window was locked from the inside, / and we’re on the sixth floor besides. Therefore…
Hiroshi: This is a closed room, one no one can enter, so it must have been an accidental suicide.
Nikaidou: Well, that’s the gist of it. / Based on the rigidity of the body, / we believe he died last night…
p30: Hiroshi: Just in case, we checked the camera footage from around his time of death, / but there were no images recorded of anyone suspicious.
Hiroshi: As you can see, / he drank quite a bit of alcohol. This stuff would run you about 5,000 yen a glass at a bar.
Kei: Old Bar… / 18 years old.
Hiroshi: What?! You’re in high school—why would you know that?! Kei: <aside: Well… > / It’s written on the bottle. !
Hiroshi: At any rate… / He drank quite a lot, huh… / …..
Hiroshi: This was opened recently, but…
Hiroshi: This guy must’ve been dead drunk when he sat down in his chair, chatting on his cell phone. / Then a screw popped out of the chair, he lost his balance and fell.
p31: Hiroshi: He never even had a chance to react. / And considering his body weight…
Hiroshi: When he fell, he was unlucky enough to hit the temporal region of his head against an object on the floor.
Hiroshi: It pierced right through his left ear.
Hiroshi: He died from the resulting blood loss.
Maori: So it really was an accidental death, / wasn’t it? Hiroshi: There’s nothing else it could be.
Hiroshi: The room’s sealed, and we’re on the sixth floor. / There’s no signs of anyone else, / no signs of a struggle, / no signs of him even being forced to drink.
p32: Hiroshi: The guy got drunk on his own and collapsed. / I don’t even think there’s a need to call in the National Research Institute of Police Science.
Maori: Then why call us?
Hiroshi: I don’t know. / Ask the Inspector here.
Kei: It looks like a lot of things have been moved here.
Hiroshi: Here? / Don’t be ridiculous.
Hiroshi: Everything’s exactly like it was at the moment of the accident… / Nothing / has / changed.
p33: ……
Kei: Well, in this dangerous a room, / an accident could happen at any time.
Maori: But since you called us here, Nikaidou-san, / doesn’t that mean you feel this might be a crime, not an accident? Hiroshi: …What part of this room feels like a crime scene?
Nikaidou: If you look normally, it’s just an accident… / However…
Nikaidou: I can’t let myself look at it normally. Hiroshi: What… What do you mean?!
p34: Nikaidou: Look at his cell phone.
Hiroshi: ?!
Nikaidou: I feel uneasy / about that cell phone.
Maori: The misfortune happened while he was talking on his phone. / …Does that mean something?
Nikaidou: Yeah…
Nikaidou: If I’m right, a fearsome crime might be hiding right under our noses…. Hiroshi: I knew it! I thought so!
Hiroshi: …The phone… / I see…!
Hiroshi: Some person, holding a grudge and knowing that the victim is dead drunk, / calls the victim up and during the call suddenly screams, shocking the victim. / The victim is unexpectedly taken aback, suddenly strikes against the chair, and collapses! / Whoever called the victim at or around the time of death must be the culprit!!
p35: Kei: ……
Nikaidou: No… Hiroshi: OK!
Hiroshi: Hm? / What’s this?
Hiroshi: What an interesting icon.
Maori: Not “unknown number,” but “cannot determine number”? Hiroshi: Huh? Maori: What does it mean?
Hiroshi: Ah! I get it! For some reason, / the victim recorded the culprit’s name as “cannot determine number”! Nikaidou: …Hey, cool it!
p36: Nikaidou: You know, that’s what the phone normally displays if you get a call from overseas. / It’s common sense.
Kei: …But that skull icon defies common sense. / It must be some clue to the nature of the crime.
Kei: So that’s why you called me. Nikaidou: Well, there’s that, too… Hiroshi: Umm….
Maori: What does the skull mean?
Nikaidou: You see, / even at HQ not many people yet know the truth. / It’s under a gag order so that we don’t lose control of the situation…
p37: Hiroshi: That’s mean, Nikaidou-san! / Why wouldn’t you tell me?! Nikaidou: There’s no need to be so angry. / You’re new here. And I’m going to tell you now.
Nikaidou: However, / don’t speak of this to anyone, not even within the police.
Nikaidou: These past six months, there have been a series of cases where the same thing was reported being found on each victim’s cell phone.
Nikaidou: That thing was the skull icon we all just saw, coupled with a call from an undeterminable number.
Nikaidou: This makes the fourth such incident.
Hiroshi: Don’t tell me…
Maori: Ah, you mean / the rumors of music which, when played from a phone, / kills you!
Nikaidou: Rumors? I guess we weren’t able to keep a lid on it… Maori: It’s rather well known.
p38: Maori: Using a phone app, / you attach a certain URL to an e-mail you send to the person you want to curse and kill. / The app will download on its own, and the phone will ring. / Then the music that plays kills the listener— / Right? / But why a skull on the wallpaper? And come to think of it…
Hiroshi: Umm, isn’t that just an urban legend on the net?! Nikaidou: No, it’s more than that. / A lot of people would sink their teeth into an app which allows them to kill people with just a curse.
Nikaidou: …But still, / the one the skull targeted during the first accidental death was—
Nikaidou: It’s me. Bottom: Some months ago.
Right before dawn on the westbound lanes of the Bayshore Route, a car slid and there was an accident. / The driver and passenger of a black sedan both died instantly. / Spark!
p39: Hey. / Ah!
HQ, based on the driver and the belongings we’ve found,
we believe the deceased to be a politician, Representative Z.
I’m Nikaidou, from headquarters. / Good work here!
p40: Maori: So it’s not just a rumor…
Maori: Isn’t this like the modern version / of Gloomy Sunday?! Kei: Yes. And then…
Kei: The person who created the app was this man.
Hiroshi: Huh?!
Maori: What?!
Kei: The Software Development Kit, or SDK… / Everyone who wishes to make an app must use one. / He also has downloaded tools related to music.
p41: Hiroshi: Even so…
Maori: Ah! / Look at that folder!
!
Maori: Tweezers?
Kei: …….
p42: …!
Nikaidou: A cursed melody? / It’s the design for the app!
Maori: You’re right… So he really did make it!!
Hiroshi: That’s ridiculous!!
Hiroshi: Th—That would mean… / that the person who created the cursed music was himself cursed and killed…
Maori: He died to the cursed music he himself created? / That… definitely seems wrong, somehow.
p43: Hiroshi: So his death wasn’t just an accident? Maori: The app must have something to do with it…. Hiroshi: I… guess so.
MPlayer: Cursed Melody.
SFX bubble: Cl / Click
Maori: Sempai?
Hiroshi: Huh?! H—Hey!
Stop!
p44: SFX bubble: Clang…
Maori: Sempai, what if listening to that sound actually killed you?!
Kei: ….. / If nothing else, it would have proven that the cursed melody is real.
p45: Maori: What are you saying?!!
Hiroshi: … Well, / ignoring the cursed tune for a moment, this time must have been an accident.
Hiroshi: This is a perfect closed room, / and there’s no signs of any intruders. <aside: As I said before. >
Hiroshi: We looked at the human angle, and found nothing… / Either this was suicide, or it was an accident. Kei: ……
Hiroshi: Well, you get it now, kid. / The real world’s nothing like your books.
p46: Kei: To be sure, / this looks like the scene of an accident at first glance. You can’t help but say that.
Kei: However, Detective Suzumori, it feels less like you are judging this to be an accident, / and more that you are hoping that it is. / That attitude will blind you to the real truth.
Hiroshi: Then what is it, huh?! / Are you saying this wasn’t an accident?! / <aside: Prove it! >
p47: Maori: Sempai?
Nikaidou: A perfect closed room,
Nikaidou: the man died holding his cellphone tightly,
Nikaidou: Left on it are a skull icon and a call from an unidentifiable number…
p48: Maori: Sempai, maybe this man really did die to cursed music! / I mean, there’s no other explanation… Hiroshi: It’s some type of ringtone, right? It can’t be! That makes no sense.
Nikaidou: Can you solve / this mystery,
Nikaidou: Kazaoka?
p49: <no text>
p50: Kei: Has there ever been a case / I couldn’t solve? Left side: Next time, Kei will spill the beans using his superhuman brain!! Bottom left: To be continued in Issue 18.