She loved you!
And I loved you...
your talent, your poetry, and you.
But that ends today.
I am going to cut ties with you.
"That accursed beast, the dyer's daughter, Oroku
carrying a cat along the beach in the setting sun...
with an innocent expression, lissome and lithe..."
Woodpecker Detective's Office
"I ponder...
the dangerous religion of this dissolute age
the witchcraft of the Christian Deus...
the captains of the Black Ships...
the mysterious land of the Red-haired...
the crimson colored glass...
and sharply scented carnations
the striped cottons of the barbarians from the West
and arrak, that strange and rare liquor.
The pale people of Dominica
Poem 5 Accursed Beast
speak in multisyllabic litanies, even in my dreams,
of the forbidden god of their sect
or of the blood-stained holy crucifixion..."
I'm coming in!
"The deceptive instrument which shows poppy seeds large as apples...
The strange spectacles which bring the heavens closer as you peer into the sky..."
What is that? It's too early in the morning for something so creepy.
Come on. Hurry up and eat.
Is it creepy?
This is called "Gateway to Heresy."
A friend of mine, Kitahara Hakushuu, a man overflowing with wisdom wrote...
The son of the Uchimoto steamship company seems to have killed someone.
Honestly...
There isn't a single decent person among the so-called upper class.
You have a grudge against the Uchimoto ships or something?
It's nothing like that.
I just feel sorry for the young lady who was killed. That's all.
Oh! Ishikawa-san!
Do you have this month's rent?
Yes. I'll have it within the next day or two.
Really?
A poet never goes back on his word.
Honestly.
What does he think he's doing? At his age...
Good morning!
Morning.
Were you up all night?
Yes.
I couldn't sleep, so I opened up Kitahara-kun's Gateway to Heresy
and ended up even more awake than before.
People like him are geniuses.
True, Kitahara-san may be a genius,
but your talent is in no way inferior to his.
You really are kind, Kyousuke-san.
In any case... Don't push yourself too hard.
If you let your health fall apart, nothing else matters.
"For me...
to soothe my troubled heart
someone sang me a song of praise."
I composed that yesterday while thinking of you.
Changing the subject, aren't you going to work?
Yes. Of course I'm going.
As an ordinary consumer, I need to earn my daily living.
Though I work and work...
Do you have any plans tonight?
Let's go eat something to give you some stamina.
I received my wages yesterday.
I somehow feel apologetic toward you.
Oh, right. You paid your rent, didn't you?
Oh.
I'll take care of it in the next day or so.
Let's meet in the usual place at seven, then.
"Every morning...
always on the same beach
if we meet, I begin to smile—this maiden."
That's good.
You think so?
Yes.
That is exactly the frame of mind I'm in.
So, who were you thinking of when you composed that?
What?
She's the one that I—
But you haven't made a single move.
Even so... How could you be so cruel?
What do you mean, "cruel"?
It's not as though Kiku-san belongs to you.
But...
Hey! You guys fighting?
Nomura-san!
Yoshii-kun has betrayed me.
Hold on! You're making me out to be a disgrace!
Now, now. I have no idea what you're talking about.
Well, I... Ever since she started working here,
my heart follows her.
I talked with Yoshii-kun about it, but he...
Would that "she" be...
Yokoyama Kiku-san.
What?!
Could it be that you also—
D-Don't be stupid.
Who'd want a girl like...
Excuse me!
Huh?
I'll take this please.
"Fresh and new...
the smell of the paper of Western books
makes me hunger for money all the more."
So Nomura-san, you have feelings for Kiku-san, too.
That girl stole something important to me.
Something important?
My heart.
Beautiful, genuine, and dignified...
It would be hard not to fall in love with her.
You're not wrong.
I will not let you have her!
Whether my opponent be Nomura-san or Hagiwara-kun,
I will not give her up!
And I—
I'd never give her up, even if it kills me.
Well, there is the question of her feelings...
I see.
Then why don't we settle this with our poems?
With poems?
We have staked our lives on literature.
It's only logical that a battle on love's pathway be settled through literature.
That's true, but...
I'll pass.
What about you, Hagiwara-kun?
Do you think you can surpass the poem I read earlier?
Of course. I accept your challenge.
It's already after three.
What happened?
Yes... I wasn't feeling very well.
I see.
You do seem tired...
Not at all. Work is work.
I can't let my circumstances dictate everything.
Good. Then we'll be counting on you today.
Yes, sir. Leave it to me.
Is something wrong?
Well... I was wondering if I might have an advance.
What?
But you asked for an advance last week, too, to pay your rent.
Oh. I ended up sending that to my parents...
It's really hard to talk to accounting about this...
Will this be enough?
Thank you.
I will forever be indebted to you!
That's a nice suit.
Oh, this?
The other day, I splurged and bought it on monthly installments.
I just happened to see it in the store and fell in love at first sight.
It's not often...
"So large and great...
his physical being loathsome
standing before him, speaking."
"I simply wish...
for a day beside you
for a dream of a thousand years."
Impressive... Very passionate.
Exactly the kind of poem I'd expect a closet lecher like you to compose.
There's no need to talk about a person's poem like that!
Oh, I forgot.
Shall we get this warmed up?
Drinking will hardly help with the poetry, will it?
You're wrong. Drinking will help our tongues move more freely.
But it will slow the movement of our minds, won't it?
Poems are not spoken from the mind.
Even so, they aren't spoken from the tongue, are they?
You speak them with your tongue! Or do you speak them with your teeth?
If you don't—
Poems are read from the heart.
Wakayama-kun.
Kiku-san!
Yes?
Sorry for the trouble. Can I ask you to heat this up?
Of course.
All of you have had the most troubled expressions.
Are you discussing literature again?
No...
Well, it is literature of a sort...
Don't give up.
Truly, that is what you call lovely.
I've been thinking Kiku-san is pretty lovable, too, you see.
Will you let me join in?
That's...
Wakayama-san is like us, aspiring toward literature.
There's no logical reason to refuse.
In that case, allow me to read a poem.
To be honest, I've already written it.
"Look at the mountains
The mountains shine in the sunlight
Look at the sea
The sea shines in the sunlight
Now! My lips to yours."
About Oen...
Yes. Hananoya's proprietress told me all about it.
Meaning you understand and accept?
Well, now, that's...
It isn't something I can do at my own discretion.
Oen's feelings are what's most important here, you see.
You're quite an impressive man.
Am I?
If I were just a little more brazen,
providing for my lifestyle would be easier...
"Though I work and work, still, the way I live..."
Kyousuke-san!
Sorry to keep you waiting!
No, I just got here.
Have you already been drinking?
With a certain wealthy man.
Now, shall we go to the foot of the Twelve-stories?
What?
That's right. It's simply a lust for flesh.
But it's still a lust for flesh, you know.
Besides which, Kyousuke-san...
Are you sure you're all right like that? Your whole life... like that?
Well, no, but...
Then tonight is the night we settle things!
"Once drunk, everyone
jokes about their triumphs in love
with tears mingled in, ah, these youths."
Huh. The more he drinks, the more Wakayama he gets.
The more he drinks, the more his heart sings, I suppose.
Nomura-san!
Which poem is it? A poem worthy of giving to Kiku-san.
Tell me!
About that...
The thing is, Kiku-san has...
I'm leaving for the day!
Kiku-san!
Um... There's something I'd like to give you.
What is it?
It's just... Um...
This.
"Every morning...
always on the same beach
if we meet, I begin to smile—this maiden."
Yoshii-kun wrote this poem for you.
My.
That's right.
I love—
Senjaku-sama!
Hey.
I was waiting for you.
Is it all right for you to leave?
Yes.
Yoshii-sama!
Thank you for the beautiful poem.
No problem...
Woodpecker Detective's Office
Hananoya
I'm very sorry.
Another guest came just before you.
Oen is such a beauty, you see?
There's no end to the offers from people wanting to take her home.
Really.
Stop talking about that.
If you let someone take you in,
you'd never worry for money and you could live how you liked...
Honestly.
What is it you like about Ishikawa-kun?
I'm from Hanamaki.
When I came here, my first guest was Hajime-san...
I started crying...
When that happened, instead of making love to me,
he just patted my head all night.
Oen...
Wha—Hajime-san!
Does it tickle?
I'm going home!
Oh, my.
Well. Shall we head up?
There's something I wanted to talk to you about.
"Upon visiting...
my friend happens to be pleasantly drunk
delighted in love, the moon on a misty night."
One of Wakayama-san's poems, isn't it?
When it comes to poems about alcohol, no one can match him.
Indeed.
Hagiwara-kun.
Why did you give her my poem?
Because that poem moved me.
Love truly is a fragile thing, isn't it?
Yes, it is.
"Two pitch-black cats
on a rooftop in the seductive, restless night
from the tips of their tall, pin-straight tails
a crescent moon, thin as a thread, grows hazy
meow, good evening
mraow, mraow, mraow
Hananoya
meow
the master of this house is ill."
I really do feel
that the hearts of people who come from the same area are connected at the root.
Yes. I feel that, too.
"One's hometown
those children who have left
are all alike
there is no sadness which can overwhelm happiness."
"One's hometown
those children who have left
are all alike
there is no sadness which can overwhelm happiness."
Are you crying?
I'm sorry.
Do you want to go back? To your hometown...
No.
If I did, I wouldn't be able to see you, Hajime-san.
Oen, I have something I want to ask you.
"In the distance, a pistol shot rings out.
And another pistol shot.
Ah!
My detective dons clothes of crystal
and sneaks in through the lover's window.
The floors are of clear jade.
From the spaces between each finger
flows ghastly pale blood.
Atop the tragic woman's corpse
a cold katydid chirps.
One morning, at the beginning of the Month of Frost,
the detective dons his clothes of crystal
and turns at the intersection in town.
Kikunyuusha Milk Newspapers
Milk Newspapers Kikunyuusha
At the intersection, a fountain of autumn.
Now, the lone detective feels troubled.
Look.
That distant, desolate marble footpath
where the villain slips away at speed."
Oh, my.
They've arrested a statesman who'd been receiving money from Uchimoto steamships.
It says it started with a letter the woman killed by the son of the family left.
This looks like it'll be a big deal.
Serves him right.
The murdered young lady will be happy, too.
This seems very similar to...
To what?
Well, it's just...
With the Arakawa mines case, too,
it started with a murder related to a letter,
which lead to uncovering the mine pollution issues...
Now that I think about it,
the real murderer who tried to frame the head clerk hasn't been caught yet.
"And that real murderer might be pulling the strings behind this case, too."
You weren't going to say that, were you?
Kayo-san, are you sure you don't have a talent for writing fiction?
But in the Arakawa mines case, more than the murder of Tatsukichi,
it seemed like exposing the scandal about the minerals was the real objective.
Educated people always make things too difficult. That's the problem.
More importantly, your rent.
There's two month's worth in there.
Excuse me...
Oen-san?
Is something wrong?
It's cold out here. Please, come inside.
No, thank you. I have to catch a train.
Are you traveling far?
Is someone waiting for you?
The man who will be my husband.
What?
Then, you—
Will you give this to Hajime-san?
Well, that was a close one!
Ishikawa-kun!
Just now, Oen-san was...
Yes. I saw.
Is that for me?
Oh. Yes...
Quite the conscientious woman, isn't she...
I could buy another suit like this and still have change left over.
What on earth is going on?
What do you mean?
That suit and that money.
Oh.
This was from the remuneration for persuading Oen, and this...
I suppose you could call it a farewell gift.
Which means you...
After selling Oen off and receiving money for it,
you took her money, too?
I didn't "sell her off."
Oen agreed to it, after all.
She should be grateful to me, really.
Grateful?
Yes. The man is very wealthy.
From now on, she'll never have to worry about money—
She loved you!
And I loved you...
your talent, your poetry, and you!
But that ends today.
I am going to cut ties with you.
"That accursed beast, the dyer's daughter, Oroku
carrying a cat along the beach in the setting sun...
with an innocent expression, lissome and lithe...
The accursed beast ties fabric in the chikuzen-shibori style
her slim, elegant fingertips stained dark blue
and her gold ring flashes..."
I'm from Hanamaki. When I came here, my first guest was...
What is it you like about Ishikawa-kun?
You're quite an impressive man.
I am going to cut ties with you.
Cut ties?
Well, that's just fine.
You know, I'm... trying so desperately...
"Though I work and work
still, it never gets any easier to live
I stare at my hands."
Kindaichi-kun, they say you cut ties with Ishikawa-kun?
I can never forgive him!
If you're too stubborn, someone might steal your spot as his partner, you know.
Next Time: "Honeysuckle"
Illustration: Saki Kaoru