The locked room this time is this old Japanese house built 100 years ago...
...in a rural mountain village.
The doors and windows were locked...
...while only this window was wide open for some reason.
A locked room mystery with an open window...
What does this mean?
If you encounter a strange occurence...
..some will say it's paranormal...
...while others will say it's nothing more than an illusion that can be explained by science.
There is probably an eternal theme...
...that can never be explained.
I wonder...
...what that was?
Vacation?
I'll leave today... and I'll be back by Monday morning.
Where are you headed?
- Monaco. - Eh?! For two nights?
What an incredibly tough schedule.
I got no choice. I couldn't take a break.
You couldn't take a break during Golden Week either...
But my plan is to see the Monaco Grand Prix so it's long enough.
Yo!
Ah! Serizawa-sensei! I am Endo, I called you the other day.
- Endo-san? - The female middle school student...
...who was killed in Nagano was a family friend of his.
Manami-chan was killed at her home...
It seemed to be one of those locked room cases.
I saw your magazine interview before and I thought of contacting you.
I believe I already declined this case.
No matter how many times I've called, I couldn't get through to you so...
I drove out here from Nagano.
I am very sorry but...
I'm really tied up with other cases.
Please excuse me.
Serizawa-san, let's just at least hear what he has to say.
Please wait!
I know you're busy but please... hear me out!
- "Nishi-yan?" - "I'm home!"
"Nishi-yan? Aren't you home?"
- "I'm home!" - "Don't come!!"
The one in the middle is Manami-chan.
Next to her is the younger sister, Asuka. And that's the father, Nishino.
Just to clarify... this incident happened a day before yesterday...
..Manami-san, her little sister and Dad, all of them...
...stayed at your house the night before, right?
- Yes. - On the day of the incident...
...why did Manami-san and her dad go home early?
Manami-chan had her her club activities that morning.
So, Nishino dropped her off at school...
...and went to the village revitalization meeting.
Then he went home around the time Manami-chan's club should been over.
He found the door locked...
...so he thought Manami-chan's club activities had run late but when he went in...
...Manami-chan was...
What was the cause of death?
She hit her head on a pillar which caused brain hemorrhage.
There were marks on her face that indicated she was hit.
The detective said he doesn't think it was an accident.
- Were there marks of sexual assault? - Eh? Ah, no. It wasn't...
Where there anything else out of the ordinary?
Yes, the dresser drawers have been ransacked.
And the gold ingots were gone.
- Gold ingots? - Nishino came from an old line of land-owners...
They have a lot of real estate property in Matsumoto City.
This must have been committed by a burglar.
But the scene was a locked room, right?
Yes. That's why the police suspect Nishino who was the first person in the scene.
He hasn't been home since he was taken in by the police.
- What? Ever since? - He's not the culprit.
He's a man who would be willing to...
...give up his own life to protect...
...his daughters. I know the real killer is out there.
We understand how you feel.
But so far, there is no one else who's suspicious, right?
Do you have someone in mind?
- Maybe Takeru. - Takeru?
He's the son of Nishino and the older brother of Manami-chan.
Actually, he stabbed a classmate with a knife four years ago.
While he was being taken to the police station, he found a chance and escaped.
He has gone missing since then.
Why do you think it was him?
Because Takeru is capable of doing something like this.
About that case... Please go to Nagano and take care of it.
What? What about you?
I'm going to Monaco. I already told you this morning.
Just go with Enomoto... It's better than nothing, right?
- Then, I'll be counting on you. - Ah, wait.
- Why don't you change it to Nagano? - What?
- Your destination. - You must be joking.
Domestic travel is nice, too.
The air and water in Nagano are really clean and good for you.
Instead of a 4 day-2 night crammed vacation, it'll be more refreshing, don't you think?
I see.
But you know, I like ham and wine more than healthy air and water.
...I will surely feel refreshed. - Eh?
I'm sorry but I prefer the city.
I'm not interested in countrysides and nature at all.
You know, my shoes and clothes will get dirty.
Plus, those insect bites, it must be terrible. And also...
The toilet there. It must still be the old style pit toilet*. (*A toilet with no sewage pipes attached, just a pit in the ground)
Also, I'm sure something is there...
A zashiki-warashi.* No doubt about it. (*A house-dwelling spirit that is said to take the form of a little child with bobbed hair)
- Hello. - This is Aoto.
I have something I want to consult with you.
Sorry, I'm on vacation... I'm not in the company right now.
I'm aware of that.
Uh. By vacation, you mean you're traveling right now?
"Well, something like that."
I heard there was a rare lock here...
...and I negotiated with the owner to obtain it.
- Is there something wrong? - "Um, well..."
"Uh. By the way, where are you now?"
- I'm in Nagano. - Ah, Nagano...
Nagano?!
- "I'm going back now." - Please stay!
- Please stay there. - Eh?
Just stay where you are please. We will pick you up from there. Yes.
EarthBuri Team Subs presents ~ KAGI NO KAKATTA HEYA ~ (Locked Room)
Episode 7: "The House of Will-o'-the-Wisp"
Translation, editing, and fine timing: earthcolors
Translation, Spot translator, QC and retiming: danburi
Special thanks to: furransu, \( -o _ o- )/
Special thanks to: mikaljan, honest
You must be surprised since it's so deep in the countryside.
Yes. Oh, sorry.
Nah, it's okay.
This is the "Will-o'-the Wisp" section of Kojin village.
By "will-o'-the-wisp," isn't that a ghost light?
Yes, it's also known as 'friar's lantern.'
Blue fire that's floating in the air at night...
...they say they're spirits of the dead.
Do you have those? Will-o'-the-wisp.
Yeah, many people have seen them.
I, too have seen it when I was a child.
This is Nishino's house.
Ah! It's muddy there, please be careful.
It's a very fine house.
It was built 100 years ago, and had been handed down from generation to generation.
It's quite a venerable house.
Does burglary happen often in this village?
Ah, no. There's almost no such incidents here.
We usually don't lock up our houses in this village.
- Do not lock up? - Then, a thing like locked room incidents...
...can't happen here, can it?
Well, Nishino did start to lock up his house.
Since when?
Since Takeru went missing.
For a village with no burglary...
...this lock seems out of place. - Huh?
It's a foreign-made lock with a special structure.
To have a duplicate key, you must directly order it from the manufacturer...
The number of keys made is recorded in the card.
Oh. The detective also said something like that.
After checking the number, he found out there were only two keys.
Nishino-san and Manami-san were the ones...
...who had them, right?
Yes, I heard Manani-chan's key was found inside the house.
Is there a way to lock it from the outside without the key?
No, it's impossible... There was a witness.
- A witness? - Around a hundred meters over there...
...is an apple orchard...
The farmer's wife, Tsuji-san was there working...
...picking flowers from 11 am.
Tsuji-san had seen Manami-chan come home...
...at around 12:30.
Then at around 1 pm...
...she had also seen Nishino unlock the door and get inside.
I believe she saw me arrive to drop off Asuka-chan...
...at 2 pm but said she didn't see anyone else...
...approaching the main entrance.
I see... So then...
It's safe to say it's impossible for the culprit to escape from the main entrance.
- Please go ahead and check the inside, too. - Please excuse me.
Excuse us.
That is the spot where Manami-chan was killed.
There was somebody here.
Before Manami-chan came back, the real culprit...
...was already lurking inside the house.
- Why do you think so? - Because...
..when Manami-chan came home she was talking with a friend on the phone...
"I was really surprised."
"Huh?"
"Hold on a sec..."
"Who're you?!"
And then, the phone got cut off...
That was the testimony of the person from the other end of the line.
Do you know the estimated time of death?
- 12:30. - It was shortly after she returned home.
Just that there could be a margin of 30 minutes so...
That's why Nishino was also included as a suspect.
It seems the police have found it suspicious that...
...it took him an hour to report it after he discovered the body.
I also certainly find it strange.
Nishino was in a state of shock.
Anyone who finds the dead body of a daughter...
...will surely be in a state of shock.
The missing gold ingots... where were they kept?
It seems they were hidden below here.
About these gold ingots... how many bars were there?
- There were 30 of them - 30? It must be heavy.
It's 1 kg each. So 30 kg all in all.
- 30 kg?! - I heard...
...a clothes line rope and net went missing, too.
...I wonder if he used those to carry them. - For 30 kg worth of gold...
Let's say it's 3,000 yen per gram, then it'll be 90 million yen ($1,125,000).
It's not strange to kill someone for it...
... but it will be troublesome to be carrying all that 30 kg weight around.
Was there any other escape route other than the entrance?
It seems the porch and back door, too can be seen from the apple orchard.
And were all of them locked from the inside?
- Ah, yes. - Also the windows?
Yes. Ah. No. There was one that was open.
Only this window was open.
Maybe the culprit escaped from here?
- About that... - There are no footprints.
- Eh? - Please take a look.
The soil on the ground is wet and damp.
Perhaps it was muddier on the day of the incident?
Oh, you're right. It rained the nght before, so it was very muddy.
If the criminal fled from here...
...he should have left footprints on the ground.
No footprints will be left on the grassy patch over there...
...but it's too far to jump from here.
- Okay. - Alright, got it.
- Ah~. Got bitten again. Darn it. - Ah.
- Please watch your step! - Eh? Ah!
Ah. Please use this.
Oh, sorry. Thank you.
- Here you go. - Sorry for the trouble.
Not at all. Please rest for awhile.
Thank you.
Ah... It's my wife. If you'll excuse me.
Enomoto-san. Please say something.
- About what? - Anything's fine.
Well. Ever since I came here, I don't feel at ease.
I mean there's something heavy in the air. I mean it's cold. Don't you feel it?
What? What are you looking at?
Well, I just sensed something.
Ah.
That one.. Did you hear that? The sound.
Wasn't it the wind?
Maybe we should leave soon? I don't want to overstay our welcome.
We can always come back tomorrow if we need to... Right?
You're right.
- Then... - When Endo-san comes back...
...we will go. - Alright.
- You need to go to the toilet? - What?
Oh.
KYAAH~!!
What happened?!
- Th-There's a girl over there. - Eh?
Asuka. Don't scare her like that!
Hello. I'm the wife of Endo.
I'm Nishino Asuka. Good evening.
Oh.. Good evening.
Please stay here for the night.
Sorry for having to accomodate us.
Nah, nah. I'm the one who insisted for you to come here.
- Please don't worry about it. - Please help yourselves.
Which reminds me, I heard something in the supermarket earlier.
Yo-chan from Tsuda-san's house said he saw Takeru-kun.
- Takeru? When? - Apparently...
..it was on the night before the incident.
- "Who is Nishino Takeru?" - He's the brother of Manami-san who was killed.
He stabbed a classmate at age 16 and has fled since then...
Endo-san told us about it, right?
"Ah. He did. He did."
So how is the locked room case going?
I'm still not sure yet since there are some things...
...that are bothering me. - What things?
Why did Nishino-san install a special lock at the front door?
"What kind of lock is this special lock?"
He was vigilant because he had 30 gold ingots?
I can't imagine breaking and entering in this village.
Nishino-san should know that.
Also, one of the thumbscrew locks on the second floor windows...
...was stripped. - What?
It can no longer screw in...
...it was just loosely inserted in the hole, so...
..if you'll shake the window diligently from the outside...
...it will dislodge easily, and you'll be able to open it.
- "Huh? What screws? Thumb screw lock..." - So then...
...the culprit was able to enter from there?
It is possible, however, a thumbscrew lock...
...is not possible to be locked from the outside...
So supposing that even if you were able to enter, you cannot possibly escape.
"Hold on, will ya? Explain it to me."
A thumbscrew lock is a type of latch locking system...
"You can only lock it from inside the building..."
"It'll take too long so let's go over it some other time."
- Uh... Oi. - But no matter how well you secure the entrance...
...if the window lock wasn't working, it's useless, right?
- Why wasn't it fixed? - I think probably he did not notice...
...that it was broken.
- Eh? - Endo-san said...
...Nishino-san placed the lock...
...since the time that Takeru-san had fled.
- Yes. - Could it be that Nishino-san was more wary...
.. of his son, Takeru-san... not a burglar?
No way! Eh?
Then, Takeru-san was the one in the house when Manami-san came home?
If Takeru-san's sightings were true, then maybe that's what happened.
The damaged thumbscrew lock...
It's possible that only Takeru-san knew about it.
Only the two of you are having fun.
Excuse me!
I heard that you saw Takeru-san the night before...
...Nishino Manami-san was killed? - Yes.
- What time was it? - I think it was around 9:30.
Uh. He passed by here.
You didn't talk to him?
No. But as soon as I saw him, I recognized him immediately.
He and I used to be classmates, that's why I'm sure it was him.
Yes, I saw him, too. I saw Takeru getting off the train.
Everyone in the village knows Takeru since he was a kid...
...so everyone can recognize him even if they couldn't see the face.
- Thank you very much. - Don't mention it~.
Arah... You got some rust on you?
- I'm sorry. - Thank you.
For some reason this stepladder was wet the other day.
If they're left wet, they will rust...
...so when it rains, I always wipe them clean...
...before I put them away. - Rain?
Are you talking about the rain on the night before the incident happened at the Nishino house?
Yes. I know I wiped it clean before I put it away...
But the next morning, when I went to the shed, it was wet again. So strange, huh?
So then, on the night before the incident...
...someone took out the stepladder from the apple orchard?
Probably. Takeru-san used it...
...to climb up the second floor window and entered the house.
But it's just because it was wet...?
- There were several other evidences. - Like what?
- The dead bee. - Eh?
It seems to be a hornfaced bee...
...used for the pollination of apples.
Then it must have flown from the apple orchard, right?
The foraging radius of a hornfaced bee is very small...
It only flies about 40 meters, or at the utmost, 70 meters.
- So? - The Nishino house...
..is located 100 meters from the apple orchard.
The chance of a hornfaced bee flying all the way...
...to Nishino-san's house is extremely small.
- Then, where did it come from? - The apple orchard.
- Eh? But... - Do you remember...
...parts of the dead bee's belly had been crushed?
- Ah, yes. - I think after it died...
...it got stuck to something and was transported to the Nishino house.
On something...?
Based on the three indentations left on the ground, it is obvious.
- Ah. - That's right.
It was the step ladder.
In other words, it is sufficient to say that Takeru-san may have...
...killed Manami-chan.
So please release Nishino-san and let him return home.
Three days without allowing him to return home...
...has clearly gone too far.
Thank you very much.
We'll go back to Tokyo for now but we'll continue to investigate the case.
Once we find something, we'll contact you right away.
Thank you. Please be sure to catch Takeru.
It's still not yet certain if it was Takeru-san.
Ah, sorry.
The train will be departing soon... We better get going.
Ah... Asuka!
Bye-bye!
I'm sorry... I just arrived at Narita Airport this morning.
Thank you for waiting.
Huh? Where's the scale model? You didn't make one?
We just came back last night... So there wasn't time.
I see... No scale model.
- Were you expecting it? - It's not that but...
You see, I didn't get to see the actual scene.
Please try to imagine it...
As soon as you enter through the front door, there are stairs right down the hall.
- Ah. Amazing. - What is it?
Then, let's examine it.
Still, one possible escape route is... here.
- What's 'here'? - The only open window...
...on the first floor at the north side. Can't you see it?
- I can't see it. - How did the culprit...
...escape without leaving footprints in the mud?
I wonder if he used the stepladder?
The culprit could have stretched out the ladder from the window and onto the grassy ground...
...Could he have escaped by crawling on to it?
When the crime happened, Tsuji-san was using the stepladder.
Could there be any other method?
I cannot see anything.
- Yes. This is Aoto. - This is Endo.
We just received a call from the police.
"Was there any new lead on the case?"
Yes. They found out where Takeru was staying.
- Where is it? - "In an apartment in Tokyo."
- "Although they didn't find him there." - Please tell me the details.
This morning, the room's... alarm system, is that what it's called?
There was a report of the alarm being set off...
...so the police and security company staff rushed over to the scene.
The door was locked so the building caretaker tried to use a duplicate key...
...but the lock had been changed without permission.
So they weren't able to open it.
They tried calling but since there was no response, they had no choice but to forcibly open it...
...and entered inside.
They found a gold ingot inside the room.
"So when they checked the indentity of the person who rented the room..."
They found out that Takeru had rented it using an alias.
- An alias? - Takeru...
...had acquired a large amount of debt from a nasty consumer loan...
..and it seems he had been fleeing from the collectors.
And along with the gold ingot... they also found large amounts of drugs...
They suspect he was dealing drugs, too.
How was it?
As suspected, the one who reported it was the security monitor person from our company.
Did you find out anything?
The one who placed the gold in the room...
...might not have been Takeru-san. - What?
The security system in that room is the type that you'll set the alarm when you leave...
...then the next time the door is opened, you must disarm it within one minute...
...or else, the alarm will go off.
That means, if it was Takeru-san who placed the gold ingot...
...the first thing he would have done after he came home...
...was to disarm the alarm system.
Couldn't he have simply forgotten it?
Even then, he should have stopped the alarm once it started ringing.
Perhaps the person who entered the room, hid the gold in the closet...
...and left the room within one minute.
He may have heard the sound while he was outside...
...but maybe he didn't understand what the sound was about.
Why?
That person never heard the the sound of an alarm before.
Or he didn't even know such a thing as an alarm system.
- "Didn't know"? - Yes.
Because he was born and raised in a place where you never see those things.
Don't tell me that you're suspecting Nishino-san?
I feel that is my most reasonable deduction.
In short, it was Nishino-san who opened the window...
He was going to frame Takeru for the crime right from the start...
...It all fits. - But Takeru-san was seen...
...in the village the night before the incident.
Is it possible that it was...
...Nishino-san in disguise pretending to be Takeru?
For the villagers, Takeru is seen as a symbol of fear...
It wouldn't be strange that Takeru is the first thing that comes to their minds...
...when they suddenly see a suspicious person.
You have a point...
But that evening, Nishino-san was staying...
...at Endo-san's house so he had an alibi.
If ever Nishino-san was the culprit...
...then who was the one at the house when Manami-san returned home?
I thought of something...
...Could it have been a ghost? - What?
Manami-san might have seen a ghost.
Surely that house is being haunted by a sinister ghost...
...and robbed Manami-san of her life.
Alright, let's call it a day.
Eh? Oh. W-Wait. Please wait a minute.
I don't believe in paranormal stuff.
You weren't in the house....
...so you don't know it. I really saw a ghost light!
Whether it be a ghost or a UFO...
...such a thing can be explained by science!
As long as you're deluded by such things...
....you'll never see the truth! Right? Enomoto.
- I see. - What?
("Chronology of Science and Discovery")
Could it be that what I said...
...was helpful?
Yes.
The locked room...
...can't be unlocked.
I know who was the real culprit who killed Manami-san.
Really? Who was it?
It was Manami-san's brother... ...Takeru-san.
"Ah. Who're you?!"
I knew it was Takeru.
So how did he escape from here?
- He didn't go anywhere. - What?
After repeated validation...
...I wasn't able to find the escape route of the culprit.
That's because when the incident occured...
...this house was truly in a locked room situation.
What do you mean?
Let me give you a step by step explanation of the incident.
On the night before the incident, Takeru-san came back to his hometown for the first time in 4 years.
When he arrived, everyone was out and the house was empty.
So Takeru-san decided to break into the house...
...by loosening the stripped thumbscrew lock on the second floor window.
He secretly took out the stepladder from the apple orchard...
Afterwards, he unlocked the front door from the inside and went out to return the stepladder.
Then, Takeru-san spent the night in this house.
The next day, Manami-san chanced upon him when she came home.
"Ah. Who're you?!"
"Yo."
"Onii-chan."
At that moment, something must have happened...
...and he impulsively killed Manami-chan.
"Manami?"
Shortly thereafter, Nishino-san arrived home.
Takeru-san who killed Manami-san...
...was in turned killed by Nishino-san.
"Manami? Manami!"
"Manami? Manami? Manami! Manami! Manami!"
"It was her fault."
"She said it was my fault that she was bullied and told me to never come back."
"She was just so annoying."
"You killed her for that? Your own sister?"
"That's not how it happened!"
("What're you doing here? Get out!")
("Shut up!")
"I just hit her a little... but she got up..."
"...and she came lashing out at me so I shoved her." - ("Get out!") - ("Let go!")
"Then she hit her head on the pillar."
"It was just an accident."
"What's done is done... Can't do anything about it, y'know?"
"You gotta do something..."
"I gotta get out of this country, so gimme some money."
"For Asuka's sake, make it look like she was killed by a burglar..."
"..instead of her big brother killing her sister..."
"...That will sound much better..."
"...Right?"
"What're you waiting for?!"
"I know about it."
"I know you have gold ingots hidden somewhere in this house."
"I'm going to inherit a third of the family fortune anyway..."
"...I can have it as an advance payment, right?"
"Well. Since Manami's gone, my portion is now half."
"Alright."
"You can have the gold, just leave."
- "Take as much as you want." - "Cool~!"
"The're heavier than I thought... I think I got enough."
After killing Takeru-san, Nishino-san...
...dragged the body to the toilet.
Then, he placed the gold in a laundry net...
...and tied it on Takeru-san's body with a rope.
Tied? What for?
- To weigh it down. - Weigh?
Aoto-san. The other day...
...you said you saw a ghost light by the toilet.
- Yes. - The so-called "will-o'-the-wisp..."
It is said that this phenomenon is caused by the glowing light produced by phosporus compound...
...which is created during the decomposition of a body by the bacteria.
If you think that Takeru-san's body is in the toilet...
...that will explain the missing gold, too.
I checked earlier...
...there was mortar poured into the septic tank and it had already hardened.
I'm sure you'll find the body in there.
After finishing everything, Nishino-san opened one window on the north side.
As long as a window is open, the police would think that the culprit escaped from there...
...and would determine that the crime was done by an ordinary burglar.
Then an open window was a camouflage to show that...
...the house wasn't in a locked room state?
That's right.
But it didn't occur to him that there should be...
...footprints outside the window.
As a result, his plan backfired...
...and made it appear like a locked room case even more.
Which means this locked room situation...
...was not created intentionally.
In order to avoid being wrongly suspected for his daughter's death, Nishino-san...
...had no choice but to change the plan.
He got Takeru-san's current address from his personal belongings and used his key to enter his apartment...
Then he placed the gold there.
As planned, the police have now concluded...
...that Takeru-san was the culprit.
Was it for Asuka-chan?
If you get caught by the police...
...Asuka-chan will be left all alone.
That's what you thought, right?
Tell me the truth.
I'll take care of Asuka-chan.
Alright? Please tell me.
- I was relieved. - What?
When he left 4 years ago...
...I felt deeply relieved.
I had hoped he'd never come back and will remain missing.
I was scared of him.
I was helplessly scared of him and hated him.
If he was unrelated to us, I can just cut off ties with him...
But as long as we're connected by blood... as long as we're parent and child...
...he will never leave us alone.
Even after I'm dead...
...it won't change the fact that he's Asuka's brother.
I do regret it.
Not for killing him.
But rather why didn't I kill him sooner?
If I did...
Manami wouldn't have died...
And Asuka wouldn't have to be left alone.
Why didn't I do it sooner?
- You went to Nagano? - Yes.
- Then the case was resolved? - Yes.
He said he can't unlock the locked room.
That's why I thought that was the end.
No. It had nothing to do with locked room. The ending was really surprising.
- Why didn't you tell me you were going? - Well. You did say...
...you didn't like the countryside.
Ah. But you could have at least invited me.
If you insisted...
...I may have gone with you, you know?
- Did you want to go? - Of course not.
No, I don't.
Now go and write a report of that locked room.
Yes, sir.
(This drama is fictional.)
For next week's Locked Room Mystery...
A popular female cartoonist died in her workshop inside her home.
This house itself is one locked room.
Next on ~ KAGI NO KAKATTA HEYA ~ Episode 8: "Only the Dog Knows"
Subbed by EarthBuri Team
Translation, editing, and fine timing: earthcolors
Translation, spot translator, QC, and retiming: danburi
Special thanks to: furransu, \( -o _ o- )/
Special thanks to: mikaljan, honest
The key word to unlock the locked room is: "TRUST."
That's all. This has been Enomoto.
See you next time~!!