Yukie Ōwada

**Yukie Ōwada** (大和田 雪枝, *Ōwada Yukie*) was a freelance writer from Kyoto and the final victim during the wake of the Night Prowler assaults.

## Background

Yukie was the elder sister of Eiji Ōwada, who were both brought up by their parents. Several years ago, their parents died in a car accident. At some point, she moved to Rakunaka Ward in Kyoto at an apartment and her brother went to college. She met Reimi Komuro at a writing class before becoming a freelance writer as her profession.

On 13 January 2016, she returned from a business trip in Tokyo after learning about an accident that hospitalised his brother. She went to his room and discovered about the various paraphernalia that proved her brother was Night Prowler, including photographs of the three previous victims, elements related to the video game *Screaming Castle*, and the murder weapon. Sinking into grief, she removed these items and took the knife with her.

Three days later, on the night of 16 January 2016, a truck driver saw her walking slowly under the rain with a grim expression on her face. As she arrived at Fumizu Ward, she took matters into her own hands at a sidewalk and stabbed herself at the back using the knife she took from her brother's room. With her remaining strength, she called 110 and told them three details: that she was *attacked randomly in the street*, *Night Prowler*, and *brown hair*, in an effort to mislead the police. The police arrived eight minutes later, but paramedics proclaimed her dead on the spot.

## Appearance

Yukie was fair-skinned and had long straight hair with full bangs that covered her forehead. On the night of her death, she wore a white turtleneck shirt underneath a long grey knit cardigan with white trimmings. She also wore black slacks with a white grid-like pattern and black boots. She carried a black glossy handbag and a transparent-coloured parasol.

## Personality

As an older sister to her remaining family member, Yukie deeply loved her brother, to the point of covering up for him after discovering his identity as a wanted murderer. This brotherly love seemingly gave her enough foresight to think about how to save her brother from capture, using her intelligence to set up an alibi for him by taking advantage of his hospitalisation as something that would not make the police suspect her brother. In this effort, she demonstrated a will strong enough to even take her own life in order to set this plan into motion.

Furthermore, her friend Remi also testified that she was beloved by their peers. Yukie also seemed to show affection towards her pet bird, a java sparrow, deciding to let it go so as not to starve itself to death after her planned death. Yukie was also organised and methodical, keeping a diary and dutifully filling out every day with her activities; this attitude was also seen with her neatly catalogued bookshelf and properly labeled waste bins for segregation.

## Plot

### Night Prowler Assaults

The Kyoto Prefectural Police contact Hideo Himura along with Alice Arisugawa and inform them about the fourth incident of the random street assaults, which unusually occurred prior to their expected date. Munenori Yasoda shows Himura the fourth message from Night Prowler that was left in her mouth as with the other victims, in which was written "*Game Over*", urging Alice to think it is the last assault.

## Legacy

Her death provided a short-lived alibi for her brother Eiji Ōwada, with the police not suspecting him due to his hospitalisation while the assault occurred. However, her actions, especially mindlessly discarding the bird cage that was not in sync with her methodical personality, proved to be the turning point of the investigation, leading Himura to piece the elements of the big picture together to solve the case. In the end, her efforts to save her brother from capture were to no avail, as the police later caught his confession thanks to Himura's and Alice's intervention and confrontation of the culprit.