Murder of Julia Kaneko

Julia Kaneko, a show assistant of renowned spiritual artist Nick Hallelujah, was murdered by Nick's manager, Yoshinaga on 9 January 2016 at around 11 p.m. at Hotel Cadenza in Kyoto. The case was concluded with the help of criminologist Hideo Himura and his associate Alice Arisugawa, leading to the perpetrator's assumed arrest by the Kyoto Prefectural Police.

## Background

Nick Hallelujah's manager Yoshinaga has known the former's tendencies when intoxicated, and he also has knowledge of their personal routine every night that confirms show schedules for the following days. Furthermore, Yoshinaga knows of his managee's trick, the so-called "spirit magic", which is a thin transparent wire that is durable enough to carry a person's mass. With this in mind, Yoshinaga assumably planned out an elaborate feat to carry out the murder of the show assistant.

### Motive

It was not clearly mentioned as to why Yoshinaga performed the crime, but it would most likely point to his desired plan to frame Nick as a criminal, deliberately putting the latter's fingerprints on the murder weapon. Nonetheless, the canon drama left the case's motive left undisclosed to the viewers.

## Murder

After one of Nick Hallelujah's shows entitled *Spiritual Art Show*, he and his assistant-cum-lover Julia drank *sake*, causing Nick to get intoxicated. Before returning to his room, Julia presumably went ahead of him to his room, using a spare key to enter. While waiting for Nick by the window, Yoshinaga snuck from behind and stabbed her using a knife from the show. He then deliberately tied Nick's spirit magic wire to her belt and hid her beneath the curtain.

Yoshinaga went to his room from across and waited for Nick to return. When the latter returned intoxicated, he fell asleep on his couch, giving Yoshinaga the signal to pull Julia's corpse near Nick's couch where he could notice her. After he successfully does so, Yoshinaga went to the hotel bar on the rooftop that gave a clear view of Nick's room and, at around 11:07 p.m., made a telephone call to Nick as per their routine to confirm his schedule the next day. Nick discovered Julia's corpse and screamed repetitively, a reaction that Yoshinaga heard and had been expecting from the other end of the telephone line.

## Investigation

The police arrive to investigate the case, headed by Hisashi Nabeshima and aided by Keiichi Sakashita, Munenori Yasoda, and others. Upon finding Nick's fingerprints on the murder weapon, accompanied by the fact that the crime had occurred in his quarters behind closed doors, the police place Nick under surveillance and named him as the initial suspect. However, Nick claimed that he was innocent and did not commit the murder.

At around 11:45 p.m., criminologist Hideo Himura was contacted to aid in the perplexing case, bringing Alice Arisugawa with him. Himura interrogates Nick and Yoshinaga with some odd remarks, including asking about the room key, praising the comfortable quality of a couch, and noticing the windows of the room. Eventually, these would lead to Himura deducing the culprit's elaborate scheme based from the hardly noticeable evidence left in the crime scene. In the end, Himura identified Yoshinaga as the culprit, leading to his assumed arrest.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 *Screaming Castle Murder Case*