It's been ten years since my best friend died.
My dashing friend.
My lying, mischievous friend.
My quick-to-cry, steadfast in fellowship, self-satisfied friend.
A chatterbox and a show-off...
he drank and loved women...
A romantic sadist...
A poet who could see farther than anyone... and...
a genius of tanka poetry. My friend.
Even now, shades of him as he was linger in my heart.
Kyousuke-san?
Yes?
It's me.
What's wrong?
It's just... I ran out of cigarettes.
Oh. I've got some extra.
That's a relief.
Sorry I keep bothering you like this...
Ten Odd Years Ago
Right. Here you go.
Wait, I can just take two or three...
Don't worry about it.
I was thinking of quitting, anyway.
Here. You can take these, too.
Have you gotten used to things here?
It's a lot different than Kushiro, isn't it?
This is the third time I've come to Tokyo and I'm still a mess.
I'm truly ashamed.
Please, stop treating me like I'm a stranger.
We're friends from the same hometown, aren't we?
Isn't this Heine's Buch Der Lieder?
It must have been really expensive.
I know I should give it up, but...
I still don't want to leave the world of literature.
Still... It isn't as though I have any talent of my own.
I'll probably continue on as a teacher and earn a living that way.
In exchange, Ishikawa-kun, you have true, undeniable talent,
and, if you don't mind, I hope you'll allow me to cheer you on.
"If there were a pleasant occupation
I could work at wholeheartedly, then
when it was finished, I could happily die."
Thank you, Kyousuke-san.
Woodpecker Detective's Office
Poem 1 A Pleasant Occupation
I really let you treat me to a feast.
Yes. Tonight has been really fun, hasn't it?
Should we walk off some of this alcohol by going up to the 12th floor?
What? But, Ishikawa-kun, that way's the...
It'll be fine.
Jusshun
Nakamura
Gantsuki
Kohachi
Ogawa
Oh, you silly, stop it...
Come on, Sayaka, just a little...
"Let me touch your hair, just a little... an encounter at a teahouse." Right?
I'm sure that even now,
men and women in secretive relationships
are inside getting along very nicely.
Right...
Look.
This one seems like a good one, doesn't it?
What do you think?
Wha—Stop that!
Whoops!
Honestly.
It's been 40 years since Westernization.
We're supposed to be a first-class power, and he's... Huh?
Is something wrong?
H-Hey!
I-I'm not going in there, understand?
Excuse me...
I just left something behind.
Ishikawa-kun!
Um... Ishikawa-kun?
What are you... Oh...
You got a problem or somethin'?
Will you stop this already?
Huh?
Yes. He just burst in...
Are you acquainted with the murdered man?
Not at all! We just happened to be passing...
Don't lie.
We have many witnesses stating they saw you going around peeking into all the rooms.
You had a reason you were looking for this man. Isn't that so?
Perhaps you were blinded by jealousy, for example?
W-Wait, just a moment, please.
You're talking like we're suspects...
Now, now, Kyousuke-san.
It's standard practice in an investigation to doubt the people they encounter.
I'm a poet, Ishikawa Takuboku. Pleased to make your acquaintance.
As you can see, on the tatami near the body,
there are traces of blood being dragged across the surface.
They were probably left when the murderer tried to wipe blood off their hands.
Meaning that the murderer's hands were covered in a lot of blood.
Now, look at this.
Even if I'd wiped the blood off the palms of my hands,
blood under my fingernails wouldn't have been wiped away so easily.
And, if I could just say...
The letter that was on the desk was probably taken after the man was stabbed.
Letter?
See? Just this one spot.
There's no blood spray here. Right?
That's incredible, Ishikawa-kun!
That's enough. You're interfering with my investigation.
Get out.
Wow...
Ishikawa-kun, the way you played the genius detective back there was amazing.
It was nothing.
And unless I become a police detective or something, it won't make me any money.
No, really.
Recently, a man named Iwai Saburou opened a detective agency.
It seems he's doing very well for himself.
Really? Is that so...
A detective, huh?
Now that I think about it...
detectives and poets might have a lot in common.
Ishikawa-san! I'm coming in!
Come on, now. Hurry up and put your bedding away.
What are you in such a hurry for?
How many times do I have to tell you?
I always go help with the emergency soup kitchen at the church on the weekends!
Take the tray back yourself, all right?
Whoops!
She seemed to be in quite a rush.
Something about distributing emergency soup...
Ah.
There's a church in Koishikawa where they're distributing food to the poor.
It seems Kayo-chan is helping them there.
Really...
Well, what an admirable endeavor from someone so small.
Oh! Here it is!
Take a look at this!
Suspect: Oguri
Hey, that's the guy I ran into.
It seems he's the head clerk of the Arakawa Mines,
a man named Oguri Takatoshi.
Arakawa? You mean that huge conglomerate?
Yes.
The man killed worked at Oguri's house, Hoshino Tatsukichi.
For the last six months or so, Oguri had been putting pressure on Tatsukichi, but
unable to endure any more, Tatsukichi refused him.
This caused Oguri to fly into a rage and kill him.
That's what they say happened.
Really...
Speaking of which, did they find that letter?
About that! You're really amazing, Ishikawa-kun!
They said they found it in Oguri's garden
along with the kitchen knife used as the weapon!
Though, apparently, Oguri keeps insisting he knows nothing about any of it.
Kikunyuusha Milk Newspapers
Milk Newspapers Kikunyuusha
It seems that those who set their sights on literary goals
shouldn't simply sit on their laurels and put on airs.
They need to have a noble spirit, and at the same time
they need to understand the desires of the flesh
or they won't be able to create real literature.
Hmm... You think so?
Just leave it to me.
If it's for my friend Yoshii Isamu,
I wouldn't mind putting myself through a bit or two of trouble.
Speaking of which...
I heard you happened to be at the scene of that murder in the teahouse.
That's right.
In the accusatory letter the victim, Tatsukichi, left,
they say he wrote that the Arakawa mines are leaking poisons.
Accusatory letter?
You mean the letter they found with the murder weapon?
Yes.
From what I understand, it could have been
that a relative of Tatsukichi's was a victim of the poison.
Still, with it being this big a story,
even those high-ranking officials who have been bribed
won't be able to turn a blind eye to it.
So, Tatsukichi wasn't murdered because he wanted to sever his relationship with Oguri...
it was to stop him from talking?
Well, I don't know about that,
but on the letter, almost like he wanted to curse Oguri,
there was a skull-like shape in thick, dark blood—
Did you say a skull?
Huh?
Just Like a Skull Blood-stained Accusation Letter
Letter of Accusation
Huh?
Excuse me.
Could I ask for a moment of your time?
Woodpecker Detective's Office
Was it you? You called me out here?
What? No, I just...
I know you, don't I?
N-No...
Hey! Tell me where we've met!
The other day. At the teahouse.
Ishikawa-kun!
And who are you?
I apologize for requesting your presence here when you must be very busy.
Remember? We met at the scene of that murder.
Huh? And what do you want?
Using the military... I don't need this kind of interference!
To be frank,
it seems that the suspect, Oguri Takatoshi, has been framed.
Huh?
Don't be stupid! Oguri is the culprit!
I-Ishikawa-kun?
Making an innocent man a criminal...
Letting someone who's committed a crime run free...
All those signs point to a miscarriage of justice!
You...
Are you calling me incompetent—
Ishikawa-kun.
Oguri
I am also quite a busy man, you see.
If you have time for all that posturing, then perhaps you could move things along?
My deepest apologies.
And who are you?
Excuse me for not introducing you sooner.
The army's surgeon general, Dr. Mori Rintarou.
I-I apologize for my rudeness.
I am Ooyama from the Asakusa police station.
Wh-Why is someone like him with you?
He's a colleague from tanka poetry circles.
Well, I'm just being used, willingly, as a herald of sorts.
So, what are you planning to start here?
I promise I'll show you something interesting,
so I do hope you'll stay to watch.
I won't take much of your time.
To that end, it's just as I outlined over the phone.
Huh?
Oh, you can't mean... I said I understood, but I didn't really understand...
Now then, Inspector.
I wonder if I could use the restroom.
T-To think that this mansion belongs
to the head clerk of the Arakawa conglomerate...
It's really quite impressive...
Hey.
What on earth are we here for?
Well, you see...
"The letter found in the garden with the kitchen knife used as the weapon
was stained with blood in a skull-like shape," is what's written here.
You there.
Calling it a skull or whatever is just an inflammatory phrase used by the local papers.
Well...
A-According to Ishikawa-kun...
Given the way the blood sprayed the area...
it shouldn't have pooled on the accusatory letter.
Letter of Accusation
Which means that the letter found in the garden
might not have been the letter taken from the scene.
Letter of Accusation
Don't be stupid!
Keep your wild delusions in check!
In addition to the fact that other servants here heard the two of them arguing,
Letter of Accusation
the letter we found was definitely in Tatsukichi's handwriting.
And, most importantly,
the knife found alongside it matched the shape of Tatsukichi's wounds.
How do you explain that?
It's quite simple.
Tatsukichi's real murderer took the knife that was the murder weapon
and a letter Tatsukichi had been forced to write in advance,
stained them both with blood, and tossed them in the garden here.
Who would do that? And to what purpose?
In order to make it seem like Oguri had murdered Tatsukichi.
Wait.
In that case, what happened to the real letter of accusation?
Who did got rid of it, and where?
Most likely, Oguri took it and disposed of it.
This is ridiculous. It's all just your wild imaginings!
You there. Where is Oguri's study?
Try to imagine it.
Beside the body of a man you had motive to kill
lies an accusatory letter.
What would you do, Kyousuke-san?
Well... If it were me...
If it were you, Kyousuke-san?
If something like that existed, I would fall under suspicion, so...
I'd hide it and take it with me...
and then I might burn it so no one would find out.
Crackle, crackle, crackle...
Ouch, that's hot...
Now then, all those gathered here,
the real letter of accusation is...
You see? It's right here.
Which means that the existence of a person who would go to the trouble
of making a fake letter to frame Oguri for murder
has been proven.
Still...
it's amazing that you knew the burnt letter would be there.
It wasn't.
What?
A man working as the head clerk for a big company like that
would never be so inept.
He'd go somewhere it would never be found
and dispose of it there, of course.
What? But...
I pretended to use the restroom, burned some random paper, and left it there.
Luckily, the Yorozu Chouhou paper had details about the way the letter looked.
These ended up being pretty useful, thanks.
The fact that Oguri is innocent
should be clear from the fact that the letter found in the garden was a fake.
It's just that
I thought that stubborn inspector wouldn't be convinced without some evidence.
Honestly. You're just so...
But in that case,
who is the real killer, and why did they kill Tatsukichi?
The real killer...
might be someone like me.
What?
Aren't you getting hungry?
What?
Uh, no, I don't think I'm particularly hungry...
I see.
My hometown...
"My hometown...
I long for its voices, and at the train station
amidst the crowds of people
I go to listen."
Ishikawa-kun...
People like you... are usually known as geniuses, right?
Not at all. I didn't compose that poem.
What?
My friendship with you allowed me to read it.
Huh? Is something wrong?
Let's go.
Huh?
Let's go eat something to give us some stamina before we go home!
I see. Well, if you say so, Kyousuke-san...
They say there's a new place with delicious beef nabe in Kodenmacho.
Let's try going there!
Good morning, Ishikawa-kun!
Come in!
The weather seems nice. Shall we go for a walk or...
This is...
What are you doing?
Well, I let my rent get overdue, you see...
What?
But what about the money I gave you the other day?
I'm embarrassed to say I used it to repay a friend, so...
This is entirely due to my own lack of moral fiber.
N-No, but still, there's no reason for you to leave!
I do feel sorry for him, but I was told quite firmly, so...
I can't allow myself to cause any more trouble for you, Kyousuke-san.
I wasn't here for very long, but thank you for everything you did.
Just... please, wait here a moment!
Honestly.
How can you eat at a time like this?
A man who loses his composure over a trifle like this should be ashamed of himself.
The lightly pickled cucumbers and potato miso soup you made
really are superb.
That may be so, but I'm still charging you for them.
Oh, thank goodness.
You're still here.
Huh?
It's a "not a last supper, but a last breakfast" sort of thing.
Please, use this.
There's about 40 yen.
My, my.
No, it's just, I remembered I had some money stashed away.
Well...
This seemed like the perfect chance to let go of my regrets
and dive into scholarship.
Kyousuke-san...
Even if I die...
I will never let anything bad happen to you.
Now that I think about it, detectives and poets might have a lot in common.
"Thick clouds rise
Clouds rise forming fences within fences, encircling my wife
Forming fences within fences
Ah, those innumerable fences..."
Thus, since ancient times when the god Susano'o no Mikoto composed a poem,
poets have worked every day to sharpen their sensibilities,
trying to catch the slightest of changes,
and turn them into poems.
It begins with the beauties of nature,
and carries through to changes in people's clothes and mannerisms...
even changes in their expressions...
Amidst the trivial things people pay no attention to
poets have discovered stories and brought them to light.
Hey! What are you doing?
I can't keep depending on Kyousuke-san's money forever.
Honestly.
Ishikawa-kun, is that...
If someone who composes and reads poems is a poet,
then what a detective reads is a crime scene.
Shall we just say that, Kyousuke-san?
"Quite the stylish name, isn't it?
Woodpecker Detective's Office
'Woodpecker Detective's Office'."
Nothing beats a glass of milk after a job well done, am I right?
By the way, Kyousuke-san...
There's a wonderful girl at Hananoya in Asakusa. Won't you come with me next time?
Next Time: "A Red-light District Woman"
I-I'm fine, thank you!