Mayumi Nakamae

**Mayumi Nakamae** (中前 真弓, *Nakamae Mayumi*) is a *kyūdō* instructor at Shingen Archery Dojo, specifically a *kyōshi*. She is also a direct descendant of the Shingen school's founder.

## Physical description

Nakamae has black hair which she keeps in a ponytail and dark eyes. Due to stress, she has become deaf on her left ear.

## Biography

### Invisible Blood Letter Murder Case

Totomaru Isshiki and Ron Kamonohashi have come to the Shingen Archery Dojo to visit Amamiya; Ron also used to do *kyūdō* and wants to try his hand at archery again. When he perfectly hits bull's eye, he catches Nakamae's attention. She joins Ron, Toto, and Amamiya and notes how lively Amamiya is for once before she tells her not to bring "worldly thoughts and desires" to the dojo as it is a sacred place. Amamiya then introduces Nakamae to Ron and Toto and vice versa. Afterward, Nakamae invites them to watch her pupils, Shu Kotegawa, Akane Saien, and Mikio Toban, train for the upcoming tournament; Nakamae herself will perform a dance at its opening ceremony.

Ron, Amamiya, and especially Totomaru are impressed by their skills. Then, a cat, Nekomi, jumps in front of the targets, and Sabatora Nora runs into the dojo. He was hired by the Koike family to catch their runaway cat, and when he tries to go to the cat without the "signal," Nakamae stops him. The dojo prides itself for not having had any incidents or accidents since her grandfather's generation. Thus, Nakamae calls someone to give the signal before she allows Nora to enter. However, Nekomi runs out of the dojo first, and Nora hurries after her.

After Saien and Kotegawa tell Amamiya, Ron, and Toto about Nora's notoriety, they and Toban resume their training.

The next day, Kotegawa is found dead in the kyudojo by Saien at 7 a.m. She came early to the dojo to clean.

After Toto, Amamiya, Ron, and Nora interview Saien and Toban, Nakamae arrives. She says that, like Saien, she was asleep at home last night and has no witnesses either. Toto asks Saien, Toban, and Nakamae about the arrow that killed Kotegawa, but none of them has ever seen it. He also tells them about Kotegawa's failed dying message.

Furthermore, Nakamae states that no one held a grudge against Kotegawa as far as she knows. He was also supposed to be the *ochi* (last shooter in the group) at the upcoming tournament because there is a lot of pressure on the last archer. Kotegawa is fairly cool-headed and, thus, ideal for the position. Nakamae wonders what Kotegawa could have wanted to write, and Saien says it is likely meaningless and she should not put too much on herself.

A crow then passes by, and Nora states that someone is lying. Amamiya scolds him for saying something so ridiculous and drags him away to give him a lesson. Ron says Nora was not wrong though as the "truth is in the palm of the shooter's hand" like an arrow.

Later, Nora gathers everyone to present his deduction: The murderer is among them, and Kotegawa wrote his dying message with blood on the whiteboard in the hallway; for this reason, he has blood on his index finger. As the message says "Saien," Saien is obviously the culprit. She, however, tells Nora that she wrote her name on the whiteboard to remind herself that she has cleaning duty, and Toban points out that the hallway is ten metres away from the place where Kotegawa died. Nora is distraught when he hears that; he cannot believe his deduction was wrong.

Totomaru then tells everyone what actually happened: The blood on Kotegawa's finger is an important clue as there are five positions in archery—*oomae*, *niteki*, *naka*, *yonteki*, and *ochi*. As the blood is on Kotegawa's index finger, it is a hint that the culprit is connected to the *niteki* position. There is no archer at the kyudojo with that position though. Toto points out that the character for *niteki* can also be read as *nakamae* ("before *naka*") which is Nakamae's family name. She readily confesses. Nakamae states when she and Kotegawa were practicing, he said something that "soiled the honor of the Shingen school." Because she could not forgive him for that, she killed him.

Hearing this, Nora replies she is lying. While Amamiya and Totomaru are about to dismiss his words, Ron agrees and says that Totomaru also deduced that Nakamae is lying. She did not murder Kotegawa; it was an accident which she wants to look like murder because she has a secret: Nakamae is in a slump right now. Because of that, the arrow that killed Kotegawa is in such poor condition, and Toban did not recognize the sound of the arrow because she used a weaker bow. Nakamae shot Kotegawa by accident because she did not hear him clap: She is deaf on her left ear, and Kotegawa clapped when he stood to her left side. "Toto" deduced that because he exclaimed something in surprise yesterday while standing to Nakamae's left and she did not appear to have heard it although she is strict with noise in the dojo.

Nakamae admits everything. She suddenly became deaf due to stress, and when she was training for the tournament, she became impatient with her aging, weaking body and made her first *hayake*. This left her panicked as archery is all she has. Kotegawa noticed her struggles and offered to help her. However, Nakamae did not improve which made her impatient again. She kept firing arrow after arrow, and when she noticed Kotegawa in front of the target, it was already too late. Afterward, Nakamae erased all traces of their training. She also put blood on Kotegawa's finger because she did not want anyone to know about her failings; she wanted people to think that Kotegawa was killed by a skilled archer, not a worn-out one who made a terrible mistake.

## Skills and abilities

* **Archery skills:** Nakamae is a *kyūdō* expert. When she was young, people called her the "Female Nasu no Yoichi" after she shot one hundred arrows at once and hit the bull's eye with all of them. Lately, due to her age, her skills have been deteriorating though.

## Etymology

* The name "Mayumi" means "real, genuine" (真, *ma*) and "archery bow" (弓, *yumi*).
* Her surname "Nakamae" means "middle" (中, *naka*) and "previous/previously, before, earlier, front/in front, former, above, one-time, fore part, privy parts/privates, miss, presence, portion, for, since, forward" (前, *mae*).

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 60, page 9
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 60, page 7
3. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 62, page 14
4. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 60, pages 5-15
5. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 60, pages 18-20
6. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 61, page 10
7. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 61, pages 15-19
8. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 62, pages 2-17
9. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 62, pages 12-17