Holmes of Kyoto: Volume 17 (eBook)

Mai Mochizuki (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024
250 Seiten
J-Novel Heart (Verlag)
978-1-7183-7680-9 (ISBN)

Infos

Aoi is in charge of Ensho's upcoming exhibition at the Yagashira residence, but she is thrown for a loop when he suddenly refuses to hold it, making her scramble to change his mind. Meanwhile, Atsuko, who runs an underground club in Gion, comes to Kiyotaka with a strange request. The Komatsu Detective Agency begins to investigate, but things take an unexpected turn as the full story gradually comes to light...

Textauszug

Prologue

“I don’t want Tomoka to marry that man named Sada. I want you to break them up.”

Ensho (real name: Shinya Sugawara) and I stood in silent shock at the kimono-clad woman’s declaration. I felt the temperature in the office drop. It must’ve been because of the chilly aura she was exuding.

Sorry for the abrupt start. My name is Katsuya Komatsu, and I’m a detective. (I’ve always wanted to do an introduction like this, so I’m a bit giddy now.) That said, my job is a lot different from the detectives you see in books and on TV. Background checks make up the bulk of the work. My specialty is internet-based investigations, so lately, I’ve been receiving more requests to identify people who are committing online slander. It makes me realize that this is the time we live in.

Still, it’s hard to live on detective work alone, so I recently took on game programming as a side job. Ironically, it pays better than my main job. In my defense, part of the reason it’s hard to keep the detective office running is the high rent. The Komatsu Detective Agency is located in Gion, south of Kiyamachi-Shijo. I like it here in this renovated wooden townhouse, but unfortunately, the location makes it too expensive.

Several people told me I should’ve gotten a different place, and I agree. This townhouse was originally inhabited by past clients of mine. They were looking for someone to rent it, and I went along with it. It was right after I’d gained fame from solving a big case in Kyoto, so business was booming at the time, with requests coming in right and left. That was why I got ahead of myself and thought an office in Gion was a good idea.

Sadly, as history has taught us time and time again, nothing in this world lasts forever. I probably had it coming, seeing as it wasn’t even me who’d solved the big case. I took the credit and reveled in success, only for my revenue to drop like a rock. Such are the ups and downs of life.

The person who actually solved the case was a handsome, sharp young man named Kiyotaka Yagashira. He’s an appraiser, and although he calls himself an apprentice, anyone would consider him a skilled professional. His exceptional eye for observation and appraisal earned him the nickname “Holmes of Kyoto.” In fact, he’s probably a better detective than me, as much as I hate to admit it.

Anyway, Kiyotaka’s grandfather and teacher, nationally certified appraiser Seiji Yagashira, told him to broaden his views before taking over the family business, so he underwent training at a bunch of places. Well, it was basically temporary job assignments. Kiyotaka’s quick-witted, sensible, and works fast. Wherever he went, he did his job with ease, and his colleagues all appreciated him for it. Watching from the sidelines, I found myself thinking, “How is this training? Did they mistake him for hired help?”

And now, it’s the Komatsu Detective Agency’s turn with that hired help. I’d thrown my name into the pot, but I hadn’t expected him to actually choose me out of all the applicants. “You’ve been helping me out, so I wanted to repay the favor,” he’d said with a gentle smile. But no matter how you look at it, he’s the one who’s been helping me.

The office is within walking distance of his grandfather’s antique shop, Kura, so he must’ve thought it’d be convenient to work here. Accordingly, I told him he could come and go as he pleased.

On his first day here, I was surprised to see him accompanied by former counterfeiter Ensho, who he said was his temporary apprentice. Ensho had already washed his hands of the forgery business, and I’d heard that he was atoning for his sins by training under Shigetoshi Yanagihara, an appraiser just as famous as Seiji Yagashira. It turned out that Yanagihara had advised him to work with Kiyotaka as part of his studies.

Kiyotaka and Ensho used to be rivals, appraiser and counterfeiter. Although they were now on the same path, they still got along like cats and dogs. Ensho was constantly hostile towards Kiyotaka, and there was no end to their petty fights at work. Being stuck between them gave me stomachaches, but I couldn’t deny that their arrival had instantly revitalized the office. Kiyotaka had also introduced me to his acquaintances in Gion, expanding my social network.

The three of us solved a few cases together, and before long, all I had to do was walk around town to have people greeting me by name and jokingly saying things like, “Are you on patrol? Thanks for keeping an eye out.” Business hadn’t returned to its former glory, but at least the wheels were turning.

Around that time, Yilin Jing—daughter of a rich man in Shanghai named Zhifei Jing—paid the office a visit. She invited Kiyotaka to appraise at an event in Shanghai. Ensho went with him, and for some reason, I was allowed to go too.

A lot of things happened there. Ensho’s pent-up frustrations exploded and he ditched Kiyotaka. Shiro Kikukawa coerced Kiyotaka into stealing a painting for him if he didn’t want Aoi Mashiro, who was in New York, to get hurt. It took a lot of work, but in the end, all of the problems were solved. Kikukawa was arrested and Kiyotaka protected Aoi. Well, it wasn’t just Kiyotaka. Ensho helped too. In order to save Aoi, he took up the brush and painted a beautiful work of art in no time at all.

After that, Ensho decided to take the path of a painter instead of an appraiser. I was so sure he’d leave the office and go somewhere else, but then he asked if he could sublet the second floor. I was hesitant at first, but for someone who was constantly worrying about the high rent, it was a real blessing. I’d even considered leaving Gion, but if he was willing to stay here, I’d gratefully accept his offer. Now I could restart my detective work from a clean slate!

Or so I thought, but a project came in from my programming side job. Since there was a fixed deadline, I decided to temporarily suspend operations and focus on my side job for a while. During this time, Kiyotaka went back to working at Kura.

That was when Atsuko Tadokoro paid us a visit.

Atsuko’s a woman in her fifties who teaches flower arranging in Gion while running a legal secret club. Maybe because of her work, she’s got both youthfulness and captivating beauty. I met her through a certain case, and we’re on friendly terms now. If we see each other on the street, we’ll stop and chat.

When Atsuko found out that I was taking a break from my detective work, she first went to see Kiyotaka at Kura. Apparently, she brought one of her flower arranging students, Tomoka Asai, with her. Tomoka was a pretty lady in her mid-twenties with a fiancé about a decade older than her. That fiancé was acting strange, so she asked Kiyotaka to find out if he was cheating on her.

According to Tomoka, her fiancé was a wonderful person whom she didn’t deserve. She’d had to put an effort into getting his attention before he eventually started dating her.

Her intuition as a woman was telling her that something was off, but what convinced her that he was cheating was the fact that he hadn’t seen her on her birthday, claiming that he was busy with work. Her own investigation revealed that he hadn’t been working that day.

Kiyotaka told the depressed woman that if she wanted to maintain her relationship, she should talk to her fiancé herself instead of hiring a detective. Tomoka didn’t want to break up with him, so she conceded. Her response seemed to disappoint Atsuko, who asked, “Are you sure about this?”

Kiyotaka, concerned by Atsuko’s reaction, immediately asked me to investigate what Tomoka’s fiancé was doing on her birthday. It turned out that he’d stayed home all day, keeping his restaurant closed. But the day before, he was with none other than Atsuko Tadokoro. According to witness testimony, Atsuko had told him to break up with Tomoka because he wasn’t good enough for her.

Now, why did Atsuko do that? Since Tomoka said she didn’t deserve her fiancé, I was imagining someone as gorgeous as an actor, but he was actually a kind-looking, short, and stout man. He was a chef at a self-owned Italian restaurant and an all-around good guy who volunteered on his days off. Apparently Tomoka had been referring to his personality, not his appearance.

We had one theory, which was that Atsuko wanted to hire Tomoka for the high-end club she was opening. Someone like Tomoka, who was beautiful, good-natured, and didn’t judge men by their looks, would be an ideal employee. That could be why Atsuko was trying to break them up.

“But I don’t think she’s the kind of person who’d get a girl to break up with her fiancé just because she wants to hire her either.” I really did think that. Even Kiyotaka said, “It isn’t out of the question, but I still feel that she wouldn’t go so far for such a reason.”

But when I told Ensho about it, he flat-out said, “Dunno. That obasan’s the type to do anything to get what she wants.”

“Hey, that’s going too far.”

As we were having that conversation, Atsuko showed up at the office.

That ended up being a long recap. Anyway, it was me, Ensho, and Atsuko Tadokoro at the Komatsu Detective Agency. She smiled when she greeted us, but her eyes were dead serious.

After a bit of small talk, she got straight to the point: “I trust that you’ve heard about Tomoka from...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 6.3.2024
• Reihe/Serie: Holmes of Kyoto
• Übersetzer: Minna Lin
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: Cozy Mystery • Drama • female protagonist • History • Japan • Light Novel • Slice of Life
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-7680-4 / 1718376804
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-7680-9 / 9781718376809