Juntaro Mihane

**Juntaro Mihane** (三羽 純太郎, *Mihane Juntarō*) is the late owner of the Moon Prison.

## Physical description

Juntaro has dark hair streaked with white and light-colored eyes. He greatly resembles his younger brother Junji Kaji.

## History

Seven years ago, Juntaro bought the Moon Prison with his inheritance. He was a member of a religious organization whose goal it is to connect and communicate with space; the prison's architect Jarr Jorr belonged to this organization as well.

After the purchase, Juntaro shut himself in the prison "to connect with space." Not long afterward, Juntaro was killed with a hit on the head. His family filed a missing person report, but he was not found and eventually declared dead. His corpse was found seven years later in the Moon Prison by his family.

Two weeks before the corpse's discovery Juntaro's wife Youko Mihane, his son Kiyotaka, his brother Junji Kaji, and his servant Kaki Sakanoue went to the Moon Prison because they wanted to liquidate Juntaro's estate. Because the door was locked and they did not want to damage the prison's sole and unique window, Kiyotaka contacted the Sun Prison's owner and asked them if he could borrow the Sun Prison key to unlock the Moon Prison. The Moon Prison key was damaged in a house fire seven years ago, shortly after Juntaro was reported missing. As the two prisons are twin buildings, their keys are identically shaped and, thus, the Moon Prison can be unlocked with the Sun Prison key as well. The Sun Prison's owner agreed, and the key arrived two weeks later. Juntaro's family opened the Moon Prison and found his corpse lying inside. Curiously, when they were there weeks earlier, they had not seen Juntaro's corpse through the window.

### Twin Prison Locked Room Murder Case

Fin Fennec solves the mystery surrounding Juntaro's death: The culprit never entered the prison in the last seven years—and neither did the corpse. Juntaro's body was in the prison for all these years, hidden behind a dummy wall made of foamed styrol. The block were likely connected via a cord which was threaded through the chimney; its end was stuck out of it and fixed to ensure that it did not slip back inside. The culprit never wanted anyone to discover Juntaro, but when they learned his family asked for the Sun Prison key to be delivered to Japan, they went to the Moon Prison and pulled on the string, lifting the blocks through the chimney and removing the dummy wall. This is the reason why Fin found pieces of foamed styrol in the fireplace. She also suspects that the dummy wall held some kind of clue that pointed back to the murderer.

She deduced that there must have been a dummy wall because, in the photo Kiyotaka took, the sunlight is striking a larger area of the wall than it does now although Kiyotaka's and her picture were taken around the same time, from the same location, and with the sun at the same height. Therefore, two weeks ago, the wall was closer to the window than it was now.

The murderer can, thus, only be someone who knew the Sun Prison key was being delivered to Japan.

The next day, Sakanoue confesses that she killed Juntaro because he had been squandering the Mihane fortune for his religious group and she had promised Youko's mother to protect her from him; her mother knew Juntaro would bring trouble and opposed the marriage.

## Etymology

* The name "Juntaro" means "pure, clean, simple" (純, *jun*), "fat, fatty; grand, magnificent, excellent" (太, *ta*) and "son" (郎, *ro*).
* Juntaro's surname "Mihane" means "three" (三, *mi*) and "feather" (羽, *hane*).

## References

1. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 51, page 6
2. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 51, pages 8-9
3. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 51, pages 6-7
4. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 51, pages 2-3
5. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 51, pages 9-12
6. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 53, pages 4-12
7. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 56, pages 9-11