Mad Chameleon Murder Case

* Anime
* Manga

The **Mad Chameleon Murder Case** is a murder case that happened in Nagoya. It is connected to a series of armed robberies committed by the Mad Chameleon.

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

## Overview

Recently, someone has been attacking college students in broad daylight with a wrench and stealing their smartphones in Nagoya. Because of that, warning signs were placed throughout the city.

Curiously, all the victims described their attacker looking completely differently: as an elementary school student with small eyes, a tall, burly man with a polo shirt, or a petite female office worker. For this reason, people have dubbed the attacker the "Mad Chameleon."

One day, Omito Kawasemi and Totomaru Isshiki witness one of the Mad Chameleon's attacks in a shopping center. While Kawasemi stays with the collapsed victim, Toto hurries after the Mad Chameleon. During the chase, the Mad Chameleon seemingly elbows a woman right before they run around a corner. By that corner stands a sign; it says "Area ahead to right closed off. 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm. Due to construction, the area ahead is closed to pedestrians." Toto quickly makes sure that the woman is fine before he sees the Mad Chameleon running into a clothing store called "Edward."

Totomaru gathers everyone who was in the store. However, none of the five men are wearing a red jumpsuit like the Mad Chameleon did; the Chameleon likely took it off and hid it among the clothes in the shop. As the shop's emergency exit is blocked off by packages and no one left the shop since through the front entrance, one of the five men has to be the Mad Chameleon.

Kawasemi later joins Toto in the store and tells him that he has just confirmed the victim's death. Thus, the case will now be handled as a murder case.

## History

At the East Japan Integrated Hospital, Mofu tells Ron that the results from his exams are back and that they state that his Kill on Sight ability is not hereditary.

At the Metropolitan Police Department, Amamiya assigns Toto to write a report on regional crime patterns for which he will have to go to Nagoya. She also tells him that since the Hand Collector Killer Case and losing Yamane, Kawasemi seems to be in a slump ecause his arrest rate has been falling drastically, and she wants Toto to find out whether this is true. Amamiya hopes it is because she wants to hear the "death throes" of Kawasemi's career.

Sometime later, Toto travels to Nagoya with Ron on a bullet train. Ron is accompanying him because he wants to find out if Kawasemi is in a slump too because this would mean that they will get more cases. Toto believes Ron is actually worried about Kawasemi, but Ron is skeptical of that because he is not the type of person who is concerned about others—or, at least, he used to be such a person when he was still at BLUE. After Toto makes him admit that he is his friend, Toto is certain that, like Grizzly said, Ron is starting to change.

Totomaru goes ahead to the Aichi Prefectural Police. While he is in front of its headquarters, he receives a text from Ron who tells him that something "urgent" has come up and that he should meet up with Kawasemi; he will join them later. Totomaru then starts to look for Kawasemi and finds him accidentally exposing an undercover officer and asking another officer for his name twice. Afterward, Kawasemi notices Totomaru and they head to an udon restaurant.

There, Kawasemi says that he knows Amamiya sent Totomaru not only to make that report but also to check on his slump and confirms that he is indeed in a major one. He adds that, while he is still trying to work hard enough to make up for the work Yamane used to do, he can no longer see everything he used to be able to see. Then, Kawasemi checks the time and offers Toto to get him some souvenirs.

They go to a shopping center, and after Toto has bought many souvenirs for his grandmother, they come across a sign telling people to beware of the "Mad Chameleon." Kawasemi tells Toto about the Mad Chameleon. Right afterward, they witness the Mad Chameleon attacking someone and running off. While Kawasemi remains with the collapsed victim, Toto chases the Mad Chameleon. When the Mad Chameleon runs into a clothing store to hide, Totomaru secures the shop and gathers all five customers.

Kawasemi later joins him. Because the victim died, he is all the more eager to find the Mad Chameleon as he has finally crossed the line. He examines the five suspects but, much to his chagrin, he is unable to see anything. Meanwhile, Ron calls Totomaru from the International Neurological Research Center. Totomaru tells him all about the case. Ron says that the culprit could not have been in a disguise because someone cannot change their own body type. This means that there must be a different reason why the Mad Chameleon looks differently depending on the person who is looking at them. Totomaru does not understand what Ron means, and Ron says that he will join him and Kawasemi; they should wait for him.

At the shopping center, a police officer reports to Kawasemi that they checked the security cameras, but they could not get a clear image of the culprit's face. However, because of the angle of the wrench's wound on the victim's head, they could tell that the injury was inflicted by someone who is at least 5'6" (167.67cm) tall. This eliminated two of the suspects. Kawasemi hopes that with the suspects now narrowed-down to three, he could be able to see anything useful, but his attempt is in vain.

The policeman then tells Kawasemi that they already questioned the three mean and took their contact information and asks him how to proceed. Kawasemi decides to let the suspects go for now. Shortly afterward, two officers bring a "suspicious" person they captured to Kawasemi. It is Ron, and Kawasemi recognizes him as the hand puppeteer, but Ron tells him that he is "Near-Sighted Kamosemi" today. Although Toto is afraid that Ron's newest disguise could make Kawasemi angry, Kawasemi does not seem to mind and asks Ron for help.

Ron then asks him a few questions regarding the case: Why was the college student victim wearing a suit? Kawasemi does not know but guesses the victim was on his way home from a job interview like some others were. Two other victims were attacked on the way home from job hunting. The other victims were either returning from overseeing mock exams or from part-time office jobs. Ron remarks that all victims wearing a suit cannot be a coincidence. He adds that, if the Mad Chameleon is not using a disguise, all victims must be lying because they are feeling guilty of something. And the reason for their guilt is the reason why they were all wearing suits. Kawasemi realizes that Ron must mean the "It's Me" scam (*ore ore sagi)*. The victims were all receivers in the scam. Fraudsters dress in suits so they can impersonate bank workers and gain the trust of their targets more easily. The Mad Chameleon attacks always happened during the day which matches the time period in which a receiver would approach an elderly person to avoid suspicion.

Totomaru now understands what they mean. If the culprit is caught, their connection to the fraud would be discovered. Thus, to cover up their connection to the scam, the victims lied about the Mad Chameleon. Ron adds that this means the culprit is likely another member of the fraud ring and that the Mad Chameleon stole the victims' smartphones so there would not be any evidence of their contact with the fraud ring.

Then, Ron says it is time for Kawasemi's "eagle eye" to work, but Kawasemi replies that he cannot see anything right now. Still, Ron insists that only he can catch the culprit before he proceeds to "tear apart" Kawasemi with his "tong discipline": He is not getting enough sleep. He is not eating properly. He is betraying Yamane with his dropping results. Kawasemi replies that he is only holding back so that he would not pressure anyone again like he did with Yamane. Ron tells him that this is his mistake: In reality, Kawasemi is the one who is full of mistakes.

This makes Kawasemi snap and he points out Ron's numerous mistakes with his tweezer discipline. He does this so rapidly and naturally that he does not even realize that he has his "eagle eyes" back until Ron tells him. Kawasemi then thinks about the three suspects again and solves the case: The culprit did not elbow the woman at the corner. The Mad Chameleon saw the sign announcing the time of the road closure and was checking his watch. He thought the passage was still open, but it was actually already closed off and he had to hide in the store. He thought this because his watch was off. Of the three suspects, there was only one wearing a watch that showed the wrong time.

An officer checks the contact information the Mad Chameleon left them but it was all faked. However, because he did not have the smartphone with him when they searched the suspects, the Mad Chameleon must have hidden it inside the shop. The police searches for it, but can only find the red jumpsuit, not the smartphone. Ron remarks that they are already looking at it and that the phone "is making a call." Kawasemi immediately understands what he means whereas Toto does not.

Later, the Mad Chameleon returns to the shop to retrieve the smartphone he put in a mannequin's hand. Kawasemi and some other officers have been expecting him though and promptly arrest him for suspicion of murder. Afterward, Kawasemi calls Toto who is already on his way back to Tokyo with Ron.

Toto informs Ron that Kawasemi could arrest the Mad Chameleon. He was the watchman for the fraud group, and beat up all the receivers who tried to embezzle the collected money, or run away at the last minute. His watch was off by an hour because he was partying in Singapore until yesterday with the money he had saved up. Kawasemi said he was in the middle of disciplining his superior which means he has completely recovered from his slump. Totomaru compliments Ron for helping Kawasemi, but Ron replies that he did not do anything.

Toto then asks him what this "urgent thing" of his was earlier. Ron entrusts him that he went to Mofu about his killing compulsion, and she wrote him a referral letter to the neurological research center. The center emailed Ron while he was waiting for Toto and he went there to get his test results: According to them, the doctors might be able to lessen the symptoms.

One week later, Amamiya calls Totomaru to her. Kawasemi called to inform her that he had cross-examined all the victims in the Mad Chameleon Case. The victims confessed about their involvement with the fraud ring, and Kawasemi is close to uncovering the group's headquarters. Now, his arrest rate is even higher than it was before the slump. While Totomaru is happy for Kawasemi, Amamiya is not and she yells at Toto for giving him such a boost.

## References and notes

1. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 16, pages 15-16
2. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 16, pages 15-21
3. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 16, pages 2-25
4. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 16, pages 3-26

1. ↑ the Singapore/Hong Kong/Manila timezone is one hour advanced from the Japan timezone