I wonder if talent is a happy thing to have.
For people to say you have talent
demands continued effort to maintain.
In other words, a genius
must work many times harder than an ordinary person,
even at the expense of ordinary, everyday happiness.
If the artist's memory disappeared,
I wonder if the painter who had forgotten they were a painter
would continue painting anyway.
And would a detective who forgets they're a detective
still continue...
Hey!
Isn't something off here?
What?
Ah, my clothes?
- I thought they were a bit odd... - Your manner.
Ever since we left Sandglass and we've been alone together.
I'm in a hurry to reach our destination.
This is certainly not a lie.
However, I'm very much aware
that I seem to be walking too fast.
Did something happen when we met before?
I'm sorry, I don't remember.
This person is a detective called Ky?ko-san.
Detective
Her motto is "Speedy Resolution",
she can't be reserved in advance and takes payment in cash the same day.
To date, she has solved 4 cases for me.
Her key characteristic is, once she sleeps,
her memory of the day will be erased.
That's why she doesn't remember
even the last time we met.
Perhaps a line was crossed between us...
No, nothing happened, unfortunately.
Unfortunately?
Ah, anyway, if anything happened
it was just me causing an unsolicited nuisance.
This is also true.
The other day I tried something stupid...
You have an interest in me.
What is the extent of that interest?
Is it shallow or deep?
Is it at the level of wanting to embrace me?
I don't know that depth, but...
...in any case, I pass.
Eh?
I pass.
Total rejection.
Total
rejection
Even if there was something, don't let it bother you.
I don't remember a single thing about you.
Right.
Should I be happy or sad
about being forgotten every time?
I don't have a clue.
Ah, this is the studio complex.
Wow, that's impressive.
The studio complex.
In spite of its name,
it's a 14-storey condominium.
Why had we come here together?
Sandglass
That story dates back to this morning.
A studio complex?
It's an amazing condominium with free rent and living expenses.
Sounds good. I want to live there.
Hey now, you get to live here rent free.
I get bored living at my workplace.
I never meet anyone new.
Makuru-san, there are three single men in this room.
Kakushidate Yakusuke
Kizunai H?r?
Narikawa Nuru
Makuma Makuru
Sorry.
Why so full of fighting spirit?
I don't bother with anyone not stronger than me.
Makuru-chan's encounters are battles.
Yes.
So about this free-everything condominium.
Ah, yes.
All the residents are talented new artists.
The owner is Wakui Kazuhisa,
who you've actually met once.
He's an expert picture frame maker,
Wakui Kazuhisa
although he's rather short-tempered.
I only found out afterwards
but he's very famous in the art world,
and if he frames a painter's work
it's proof they're a great artist.
That Wakui-san
contacted me asking that you and I do some work for him.
I went to his studio alone yesterday.
The previous day
It's amazing you can support this many people.
When I was young, I wanted to be a painter.
But my family was poor, so I gave up.
Instead I became a craftsman.
That's why you run this place?
Talent needs the right environment to polish it.
I am very fortunate now.
I am able to provide that environment.
I'm beginning my final big undertaking.
The culmination of framer Wakui Kazuhisa's work.
What kind of frame will you make?
There's no picture yet.
By my request, that work is in progress above.
So that means you've chosen from the residents here?
- Which person and what kind of painting? - Fool!
Don't make it sound so dull.
Your job is to guard this.
I want you to protect this workshop
while the picture and frame are being made.
Protect it?
He suggested the two of us take shifts
so nobody can get in for 24 hours.
- But for you that's... - Impossible.
I only take requests for work that will end within a day.
That's right.
In the first place, why does it need guarding?
To prevent intrusion, apparently.
For instance by people from the art world wanting to stop his retirement.
I'll teach you something fundamental for a private detective.
Clients lie.
Lie
It may be true there are those who want to stop him retiring,
but I doubt they'd do anything to Wakui-san.
He's wary of his last work being stolen?
His frames are tailored to individual pictures.
Stealing one wouldn't make sense.
What is he guarding against and what is he protecting?
When does he want us to start work?
As soon as he gets the materials.
Let's go.
H?r?-san, find an appropriate outfit.
I've heard that before...
For him.
Hm? Okay!
Eh? Eh?
And so...
Recollection
end
With just me dressed in an arty outfit,
we're visiting the studio complex.
Okitegami Ky?ko's Memorandum
Subtitles by Candylemon
Wakui-san's not answering.
He said he'd be here.
Cat
So cute~
Cat
I'll try calling Riku-kun.
Riku-kun?
Ah, you've met him yourself before.
He's a boy who lives here, and I saw him again yesterday.
Oh, heading home?
Ah, Yakusuke.
He's just starting out as an artist, but he's incredible at drawing.
He only uses black.
He says he hates colour.
- See ya. - Bye bye.
No reply.
He's out?
Wakui-san's not answering his phone, either.
What a lonely place.
Standing tall, all alone.
Maybe that's the kind of environment needed.
An ordinary person like me can't understand it
but Wakui-san's philosophy is amazing,
living only for art.
I think it's too much like running away.
It's better to have choices in life.
Someone with artistic talent doesn't have to be an artist.
Then what about Ky?ko-san?
She may have talent as a detective,
but it must be difficult to continue
when her memory resets every day...
Listen!
Why are you a detective?
There are other jobs you could do, aren't there?
Like a volleyball player?
That's abrupt.
I quite like it.
Can you do the receiving pose?
Like this?
Over this way...
This way, this way...
- Squat more. - Right.
Bend your elbows more.
And bend a little here.
- Hold that firmly. - Yes.
- Straddle. - Yes!
Right.
I've found something good!
Yakusuke-san, hurry and climb over!
I couldn't stop Ky?ko-san if I tried.
I've learned that the hard way.
I'm sure you know this, but trespassing is a crime.
We were given permission to visit.
This is an emergency.
Emergency?
- Where's the workshop? - In the basement.
Ah... Down the stairs.
You said it's an emergency?
The conditions for an incident have been met.
One person will be chosen
from the crowd of artists here.
Wakui-san felt there was danger of some sort
and now he can't be contacted, so...
So?
Wakui-san!
Wakui-san, can you hear me?
He's been stabbed.
Ambulance, please!
What's the address?
The studio complex at 16, 3-chome Kanbi-cho.
A male in his 70s has shock and blood loss due to trauma.
A male in his 70s is suffering from shock,
traumatic blood loss and respiratory failure.
- I'll try resuscitation. - We'll resuscitate!
I'll try.
Ah, I'll do that.
You do this.
Wakui-san, can you hear me?
Wakui-san, who stabbed you?
Wakui-san!
We need something to carry him in place of a stretcher.
I'll make one.
- He regained consciousness. - Understood.
Can you hear me?
We're taking you to hospital.
Please help him.
These are his grandson's contact details.
- Please let him know. - Will do.
Doors closing.
You were a real help.
I thought you'd be useless.
I'm sorry.
Lifesaving training.
I did it to get field-based work.
Rather than for mastery's sake,
I've just picked up worthless skills for jobs.
I wouldn't call that worthless.
Ah... We should call the police.
The hospital will report it.
Besides which,
Wakui-san asked us to be his bodyguards.
This could be considered our fault.
We should at least honour his will.
His will?
Wakui-san was clearly protecting the culprit.
He wouldn't do that for a robbery by a stranger.
Given the amount of blood lost,
he can't have been stabbed more than 5 minutes earlier.
The tortoiseshell cat was sleeping in the lobby all that time.
Although we went through the back door...
We didn't see anyone.
Right.
The circumstances lead to one answer.
The culprit is in there.
I knew it.
No sign of the weapon.
Maybe the culprit took it with them.
You have bad luck, don't you?
Yes.
Please don't leave fingerprints.
We don't want you suspected.
Perhaps this case is linked to his last work.
It would be reasonable to think so.
If only one artist was chosen,
it could be a crime of envy by another artist.
First let's find out who was chosen.
They might know something.
Um...
It wasn't really one person.
Pardon?
Wakui-san had ordered paintings from a number of people.
For camouflage.
I've made my decision.
But to avoid it being revealed,
I haven't told them.
This makes it more interesting.
Interesting?
The greatest painting and greatest frame.
What will the culmination of my work be?
No one will know until it's unveiled.
That's messed up.
So most of the artists are just working as camouflage.
Wakui-san says,
"If each believes they've been chosen
"they'll give everything and create masterpieces,
"so it could be a good thing."
He ordered paintings from 35 people.
What?
He placed an order for 35 canvases.
You're right.
There are 37 artists living here.
That means two of them weren't asked for pictures.
If they didn't even get to participate
in the final race for victory...
They could take out their frustrations with a knife.
...That's a possibility.
There's no time, so let's go with that hypothesis.
We'll find the two people who weren't asked for pictures.
One of them is the culprit.
We'll find them before the police arrive,
and advise them to surrender.
Excuse me~
Wakui-san asked us to come.
Brushes
Palette knives
Red
What does Sensei want?
He asked us to check on the progress of the painting he ordered.
Room 201 Koshiba F?ta
As you can see, I'm working hard.
This is my chance.
I could be chosen from dozens of people.
What's made Sensei send people here?
He normally insists on
"No friendships, no greetings".
Is that true?
We only just joined.
Don't stare at it!
This is a special blend of colours!
Stop looking!
Don't smell it!
People who weren't asked for paintings?
It seems one of them is harassing Sensei.
Who knows? I don't talk to the others.
Room 202 Kaga Sh?ko
Your hair's great. Is it bleached?
It's natural.
Ah, if you wanna know who wasn't asked for a picture,
look at the backs of the canvases.
Sensei handed out Tatsune-ya canvases.
Tatsune-ya
Do you buy the same canvases?
Tatsune-ya is expensive.
I can't afford it.
This...
...and this aren't from Tatsune-ya.
Computers are forbidden here.
Mobile phones are forbidden.
Lovers are forbidden.
Gambling is forbidden.
Alcohol is forbidden and the curfew is 10 pm.
The cost of living is cut to starvation point.
That's why you're even careful with paper.
Yeah, well.
When I do Still Life drawing,
I always buy foods like apples.
Wakui-sensei must be very strict.
So much I wanna kill him.
I'm joking! No way.
Sensei has already started his last work,
Room 203 Mototake Takashi
so I don't know how much longer he'll live.
When he's gone, I'll have to survive on my own talent.
I wonder how much I should put here.
Coffee
Bread
Tatsune-ya
Artists who weren't asked to paint?
One of the two is probably
the one who lived in Room 303, directly above this.
"Lived"?
He suddenly left yesterday.
Probably didn't have the talent.
He didn't even get to be camouflage.
What do you think of Sensei's plan?
Fine by me.
He's right to choose the one with the most talent.
Do you think he'll choose you?
Anyone with no self-confidence should leave.
That's how this place is.
I had the image of
a glamorous salon where artists gathered.
It's a brutal place.
"Collusion breeds corruption", I suppose you could say,
but to even prohibit conversation...
That rope ladder downstairs.
It seems there are people who escape for a breather.
If artists from here become famous,
I don't think we can say it's wrong, though.
Maybe.
I don't think you'll convince anyone dressed like that.
You chose it yourself! And only for me.
I look like an artist the way I am.
With my flawless beauty.
I'm joking.
You really are pretty though.
Couldn't you become a model?
That sounds good.
Next time I lose my memory, I will.
However, for now I'm a detective.
Let's look for the remaining person who wasn't asked for a painting.
Hospital
Where's my grandpa?!
The hospital called me!
I'm... I'm Wakui Kazuhisa's grandson!
Is my grandpa okay?!
The stab wound is about 5 cm deep and 3 cm wide.
They're saying the weapon was sharp and double-edged.
And also, about the wound...
Thank you, you've done enough.
It seems there was paint in the wound.
From the shape, there's no doubt the weapon was a palette knife.
- Every room has them. - Yes.
Let's keep searching for the person who wasn't asked to paint.
There are 9 rooms left.
Don't you think it's strange?
What is?
I thought this when we were going around the rooms.
Wakui-san told me he ordered the paintings as camouflage,
but if he asked for so many
he should've just asked everyone.
Why did he leave two people out?
Right, that's a mystery.
Eh?
There's one other mystery.
Tatsune-ya
The sizes of the canvases he distributed are all different.
For camouflage they should all be the same.
If the sizes are different,
anyone can guess who's been chosen
by looking at the frame size.
So that's why he didn't want anyone to see the production process,
and requested guards.
That seems likely.
I've thought of something!
Wouldn't you be able to tell
the size of the frame from the materials ordered to make it?
If you look at the purchase order.
You can't.
I checked in his workshop.
My "bright ideas"
are things you think of from the start.
I'm sorry.
More important than who was chosen
is the question of why two people were excluded.
If we knew that, I feel we'd be closer to the truth.
Is that a detective's intuition?
Stay!
It's not paint.
Blood that dripped from the weapon?
The culprit lives higher than the 12th floor.
In that case, why not use the lift?
Unlike us walking up one level each time,
they climbed all the way from the basement.
Have you thought of something?
It's about the Riku-kun I mentioned earlier.
Ah, the one who hates colour?
He's actually in elementary school.
He's about this tall.
I see, so he couldn't reach.
Right.
He stretched up yesterday, too.
His room is on the 14th floor,
but he only went to a lower floor...
The lift button?
Yes, given your height,
we thought perhaps you couldn't reach the 14th floor button.
Sorry for being short.
I ride to the 12th floor, then use the stairs.
You came to ask that?
NEETs have lots of free time.
It's true Yakusuke-san is a genuine unemployed NEET,
but I'm a genuine private detective.
Actually my memories of each day disappear when I sleep,
so I don't remember meeting you before.
It's true.
Even so, she's a surprisingly brilliant detective.
Ky?ko, you're framed by tragedy, too.
Framed by tragedy?
I'm the same.
From the outside I look like a pitiful kid.
You really do only use black.
Blue
My parents' house is full of colour.
My brother draws with colours.
I hate them, so I don't need them.
That's why I like living here.
Viewed through a frame of tragedy,
you're a pitiful child who doesn't live with his parents.
Right.
But Sensei says it's a happy thing.
He says someone with talent
has been given the duty to make an effort.
Since I'm a genius, I have to work 100 times harder than other people.
You do your best, too.
Thank you.
Wakui-san is a good teacher, isn't he?
Have you seen Sensei today?
I've been in here all the time.
You know about his final work, don't you?
He requested pictures from 35 people.
- And you? - I wasn't asked.
He didn't give me a canvas.
- Even thought you're a genius? - I wanna know why!
Why was I left out?!
If he's making something like that...
Sensei's started acting strange.
I found this in Riku-kun's room.
The purchase order for the frame materials.
But he ordered too much.
Did he order a lot for camouflage?
Or he was going to make a lot of frames.
Or else...
That's it!
"Clients lie."
In spite of what Wakui-san told me,
he wanted to give each person
a frame at the end like a diploma.
- That's a good thought. - Yes.
Wakui-san's a nicer man than he looks.
In that case,
it strengthens Riku-kun's motive.
Eh?
When Riku-kun saw this,
he knew Wakui-san planned to make frames for all 35 people.
Wakui-san, who had acknowledged his talent,
had reversed that assessment.
It's no surprise he'd feel murderous.
There's nothing significant from the neighbourhood.
Lots of people don't know about this place.
I see.
However,
I did hear about one elementary school boy.
He was reported for mischief several times.
Mischief?
Paper aeroplanes.
He's been asked to stop
because it's littering and people find it creepy.
It happened a year ago,
but there's been nothing lately.
Paper aeroplanes...
Have you realised something?
- No, nothing. - But you just...
We've reached the time limit.
The police will be here soon.
Riku-kun should give himself up.
Was it Riku-kun?
I believe the weapon is one of the palette knives in his room.
The evidence is there.
Yakusuke-san, can you persuade him?
I'll wait here for the police.
Understood.
I'll do it.
Nuru-kun, I have another job for you.
Riku-kun, it's Yakusuke.
Could you let me in?
Did you know Wakui-sensei was stabbed?
I don't believe it was you.
If what I'm about to say is wrong, please tell me so.
At about 1 pm today,
I called this room from the ground floor.
But you didn't answer.
Were you in the basement then?
You went to negotiate with Wakui-sensei about the pictures.
You fought...
...and you stabbed him.
As you carried the weapon back to your room,
some blood dripped onto the ground.
If that's the case,
I want you to give yourself up.
Got any proof that I stabbed him?
The blood on your palette knife will be...
It's not there?
Ky?ko...
...detective,
Sorry to bother you, it's Ky?ko from earlier.
...memory...
This time I'm here alone.
Could you let me in?
Ky?ko is here.
There's no blood on them.
Thinking about it, what Ky?ko-san said
was, "The evidence is there."
And, "One of them is the weapon."
It's this.
By "evidence", is it
evidence that you're protecting someone?
This knife isn't yours, is it?
There's colour on it.
In Wakui-san's wound
there were traces of yellow paint.
But Riku-kun only uses black.
Wakui-san's hands had self-defence wounds.
The wound was angled from above.
The culprit is a tall adult.
It's likely Riku-kun happened on the scene.
He'd come to negotiate to do a picture,
and witnessed the crime.
The culprit didn't notice Riku-kun,
and fled when we arrived for our visit.
To cover for the culprit,
Riku-kun took the weapon away.
After that, we arrived at the scene.
But who is the culprit?
I believe the culprit had heard
from Riku-kun what was on the purchase order.
Riku-kun, who are you protecting?
Stop! Stop!
A letter?
"Ky?ko is here, I'll do something".
I realised.
I wondered why these were creased.
The one who stabbed Wakui-san
was Kaga-san from Room 202.
Why would I do that?
"I saw the order for frame materials."
"Sensei is making frames for everyone."
"Sly."
It was because you knew.
Wakui-san was going to make frames for everyone.
Normal people would be happy.
But the residents here are different.
For example,
it's the same as if athletes aiming for a gold medal
were told everyone who participated would get one.
You were disappointed, weren't you?
In Sensei.
If you know all that,
I have no choice.
"Ky?ko is a private detective."
"She's probably found out about Sensei."
"But her memory is erased when she sleeps,
"so I'll stun her to make her sleep."
Who sent this?
Which of the rooms below?
Riku-kun!
Where are you? What number room?
The culprit knows about your memory.
That's right.
If I'm hit, or stabbed,
or pushed off the balcony, that's fine.
If I lose consciousness, I'll lose my memory
and forget all about the case and the culprit.
Well, if I'm hit in the wrong place I'll die,
but that's that.
Don't be ridiculous, why would you say that?!
I am a detective.
I'll fulfil my original objective
as detective Okitegami Ky?ko.
"Original"... Ky?ko-san!
I tracked down the evidence and the culprit.
But you won't give yourself up.
Instead you've made a choice
to knock me unconscious
and bury your crime in darkness.
Give myself up?
It was that old man's fault.
He always said it himself:
"Travel a lonely road",
"Don't think of cooperation",
"Carve out a world of your own"!
And then what?
He gave up on choosing someone.
Did he want us all in a row holding hands?
It's laughable!
He must've gone senile.
I can understand a little
why you couldn't forgive him.
- What do you....? - "God".
You respected Sensei, didn't you?
Completely.
Kaga-san, why did you keep working on your picture?
Did you want Sensei to praise you?
That's not it, is it?
There was a picture you wanted to paint,
and art you wanted to create.
Stop it.
But without a knife and canvas,
to anyone looking from outside
you'd just be a normal person who gave up art.
Stop it! Shut up!
Unfortunately, however much you shout, I'll forget anyway.
Until you admit your guilt,
what kind of pictures will you make?
What are you?
What do you want to be?
From now on, you...
Ky?ko-san!
Kaga-san has just called the police.
I stabbed Wakui-san.
I hid the weapon.
I'm sorry.
He was just covering for me,
so please forgive him.
Here.
You again.
Have we met?
No...
For now, we'll hear what you have to say.
Wait just a moment, please.
Please let me restore Wakui-san's honour.
Honour?
There were 2 mysteries surrounding his last work.
Why didn't he ask for pictures from two people.
And why were the 35 canvases
all ordered in different sizes.
Do you know the answers?
Yes, although it's presumptuous.
Sensei is old but not senile.
He is an artist through and through.
He distributed 35 canvases to 35 artists.
I calculated the combined surface area.
The total area was 15.75 square metres.
And this image.
Wakui-san has reserved a museum space
to display his final work.
The planned size of the piece
is 3.5 metres high and 4.5 metres high.
The area is 15.75 square meters.
The same area as the 35 canvases.
In other words, he was going to try using
the 35 paintings to make one giant picture.
Wakui-san originally aspired to be a painter,
so it's a suitably epic final work.
Then Riku-kun wasn't asked because...
The picture Wakui-san wanted didn't need black.
I think it was the same for the other person.
It's not about individual competence.
Sensei, more than anyone else,
was hungry to create art.
He deliberately gathered you all here.
He knows you, like a god.
I'm such an idiot.
Being convinced and then disappointed on my own...
What kind of picture would it be?
I'd have liked to see.
You can see.
Sensei regained consciousness a while back.
Isn't that right, Detective?
Yeah, however often we asked,
he wouldn't say who stabbed him.
He's a stubborn old man.
To atone for your crime,
please let Wakui-san's final work be completed.
Nice work.
Wanna do a picture exchange?
Is it good?
The masters of modern art
Warhol and Basquiat
mutually inspire each other as friends
to create wonderful works.
Even if you have talent for something,
you don't need to follow that path.
But there are people who can only take that path.
Is that why you're a detective, too?
Endangering yourself like that,
even though you might be killed.
But a different path...
I want to know it myself.
Why is Okitegami Ky?ko a detective?
In order to learn that,
I chose the detective path again today.
Anything more is a company secret.
I didn't know the true meaning of her words,
but I understood one thing.
This woman who couldn't be stopped
whatever happened, however dangerous,
would continue as a detective.
What's that expression for?
You said this to me before:
"You fail at being Watson."
But I've read some of the books
and Watson is an ordinary person.
I have incredibly bad luck,
but I have confidence in my ordinariness.
And another thing you said before
is that when we're together
you're shielded by me from bad luck.
If we were both in an accident I'd be the only one killed.
If you look at it that way, I'm the best possible Watson.
I'm going home.
Hey~!
Aren't you going to walk me there?
You're my partner, aren't you?
Hopefully I'll be the kind of man
who'll be first to rush to her in a crisis.
I will!
Where do you live?
It's a place you already know.
- I do? - Yes.
- Welcome back. - Welcome back.
I'm home.
- Here?! - Yes.
The Okitegami Detective Agency is upstairs.
- Oh? Didn't I tell you? - You said!
Which is it?
- You said you didn't know her office! - Oh, did I?
- You definitely said that! - Shouldn't you have guessed?
We have apartments, and Ky?ko-san's always here.
Today's investigation fee.
Wait a minute.
Did I work for free today?
So I've lost money?!
There are days like that.
There can't be! It's not allowed!
Why not bill Wakui-san tomorrow?
I won't remember tomorrow!
- Yakusuke-san, please take responsibility. - Eh, me?!
Nuru-kun, I don't have the money right now,
so Yakusuke-san will pay you tomorrow.
Ky?ko-san, you're stingy.
Stingy...!
You really are stingy.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you're not!
You're not stingy at all.
You're fired as Watson.
Eh? No... Wait, Ky?ko-san...
Ky?ko-san!
- I'm sorry! - You're fired.
- Ky?ko-san! - Fired!
Ky?ko-san! Ky?ko-san!!
but she won't remember it.