Locked Room Piggy Bank Theft Case

Show spoilers/Hide spoilers

* Anime
* Manga

The **Locked Room Piggy Bank Theft Case** is a case assigned to Totomaru Isshiki about the apparent theft of money stored in a piggy bank. It is claimed to be an "impossible crime."

It is the second main case in the *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* series.

## Overview

Two days ago, the younger sister and older sister were away. The younger sister returned home yesterday and noticed that her yellow piggy bank was lighter than before her departure; it used to be "as heavy as an iron statue." The older sister spent a night at their parents' house and arrived home yesterday before her sister did. To her, the weight of the piggy bank has not changed.

The younger sister had purchased the unusually colored piggy bank from the general store as it sells yellow piggy banks at a cheap price. The bank is kept in the living room, along with jewelry which the thief did not take. Before the theft, the sisters received strange silent phone calls which prompted the younger one to lock all doors and windows before they left for their trip.

## History

Amamiya assigns Totomaru Isshiki to the case to keep him busy while the rest of the First Investigative Division investigates a corpse that was found by a river. Though it is a case for Toto's "trash can," Ron Kamonohashi is eager to look into it. Disguised as "Kamoo Kanetamaru," an employee of the 110 Piggy Bank Company, Ron accompanies Toto to speak to the client, the younger sister.

At her house, Ron spots a large suitcase in the entrance hall before he and Totomaru inspect the living room and interrogate the client and her older sister with whom she is living. After they testify, and specifically after the younger sister emphasizes the piggy bank's original weight, Ron solves the case. He then proposes to break the piggy bank and send the coins to the forensics laboratory before he excuses himself to go on a walk; he tells Totomaru to meet him later.

Ron waits at the river where the corpse was found. Just when Totomaru joins him, he receives a call from forensics: Solely the older sister's fingerprints were on the coins. Afterward, they head to the riverbank where Amamiya and other officers are working, and Totomaru explains that the two cases—the river corpse and the piggy bank theft—are connected:

A stalker was harassing the sisters. He was watching their house and waiting when the older sister returned home. The stalker backed her into the living room where she panickingly grabbed the piggy bank and hit him in the head. Due to the piggy bank's weight, the blow killed the stalker. The sister then bought a new piggy bank and put new coins in it to cover up the fact that the original bank broke in the attack, and the stalker's blood got on the coins. Lastly, the older sister placed the stalker's corpse in her large suitcase to carry it to the riverbank. She disposed of him there and returned home.

The older sister confesses, and Ron pressures her to drown herself in the river. Though she complies and even steps into the river, Totomaru manages to save her, pulling up on time.

Later, fragments of the piggy bank are discovered in the stalker's hair, and his blood and fingerprints are found in the living room. Amamiya states that the older sister may be granted some leniency if the court acknowledges that she acted in self-defence. When Totomaru goes to the Maison du Kamonohashi to inform Ron about the case's outcome, Ron praises Toto for doing a "fantastic job for a pure idiot" and declares the day as "Puppet Establishment Day."

## References

1. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 2, pages 9-10
2. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 2, page 18
3. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 2, pages 14-16
4. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 2, pages 9-40