Hideo Himura

**Hideo Himura** (火村 (ひむら)  英生 (ひでお) ), better known among his peers by his surname, is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology in Eito University, Kyoto. Due to his extensive knowledge in the field of criminology, he is usually sought by the Kyoto Prefectural Police to aid in extreme criminal cases.

## Background

Himura studied in the Department of Sociology at Eito University. In 2004, he first met Alice Arisugawa, his classmate and aspiring novelist, during class while the latter was writing a manuscript. Himura read the manuscript initially without Alice's knowledge until Himura expressed his anticipation towards his classmate's work. As gratitude for making him read his novel, Himura treated Alice with some curry at the school cafeteria. As they conversed over lunch, they soon developed a close friendship.

Few days later, Alice invited Himura to come over with the former's friends at a gathering, including Yukihiko Katahira, Naho Sasayama, Takashi Otomo, and Seitaro Okasaki. Alice's friends became intrigued meeting Himura, whom they had always known to be quite a loner at university. Himura arrived late due to a slight incident, and he later solved a "case" involving the group.

## Personality

Having studied sociology, Himura is quite adept in the field of criminology. He has deduction skills that are quite unique to him, allowing him to understand the minds of criminals to solve cases. Instead of analysing someone's profile through past statistics, Himura observes the crime as a whole and sees into how criminals think. Comparing it to doctors who look into microscopes and clinical researchers who perform actual operations, Alice coined the term "clinical criminology" to describe Himura's methods. Whenever he apparently finds the answer in a case, Himura would utter his catchphrase, "*This crime is not beautiful*."

However, Himura's exposure to the field of crime apparently makes him susceptible to homicidal bouts and thoughts, occurring mostly in the form of his nightmares of committing murder or in the midst of investigations in which he would inadvertently imagine himself as the victim's killer. Furthermore, Himura once confessed to Alice that he became interested in crimes because he wanted to kill someone. Nevertheless, his driving force also lies in his desire to find out the truths behind crimes, also believing that one should condemn the criminal, not the crime.

Himura is also quite perceptive and observant, either during or outside investigations, an example of which is his sharp memory of his students' secretive quirks and even their seats while giving a lecture to an entire class. Moreover, he has a strong sense when someone needs help, as seen when he could tell that his student Akemi Kijima had some trouble even when she was not saying anything to him. However, despite this, he can be blunt and straightforward, sometimes appearing rude to other people by cutting them off while talking if he needs to check on something else.

## Plot

### Hotel Cadenza Homicide

*Main article: Murder of Julia Kaneko*
In the middle of the night, Himura awakens from his nightmare of killing someone, while Alice Arisugawa writes a novel at his flat. Himura's landlady, Tokie Shinomiya, answers a phone call coming from the police requesting for Himura's aid at an investigation. Himura contacts Alice, and the two go to Hotel Cadenza in Kyoto, where a murder has occurred. As they arrive at the hotel, he quickly deduces Keiichi Sakashita, a member of the Kyoto Prefectural Police before entering the crime scene.

Julia Kaneko, a show assistant of spiritual artist Nick Hallelujah, was murdered in the latter's hotel room. The Kyoto Prefectural Police, comprising of Hisashi Nabeshima, Sakashita, and Munenori Yasoda, believe the case to be a locked-room murder, with both the window and the door locked from inside. They speculate the victim was stabbed near Nick's room window and died at around 11 p.m. Having found Nick's fingerprints on the murder weapon, they make him a prime suspect for the case, despite his denial.

Himura interrogates Nick and his manager Yoshinaga, initially to the distrust of the latter two due to Himura's seemingly irrelevant questions and remarks. After a brief questioning, Himura claims that the trick behind the locked-room mystery is Nick's "spirit magic", specifically a thin transparent wire. He deduces that Julia had been dead, hidden behind the room's curtains, and, as soon as Nick had fallen asleep, was pulled from outside the door using said wire by the culprit from across the room, whom Himura identifies to be Yoshinaga. Apparently, Julia had been two-timing Nick with Yoshinaga, who has a bracelet with the same design as the victim's earrings. With this conclusion, Himura and Alice excuse themselves from the scene. Outside, Himura remarks that Yoshinaga's crime was not beautiful.

### Night Prowler Assaults

*Main article: Night Prowler Assaults*

The following day at Eito University, Himura lectures his class on the relationship between crime and society, discussing the case of Jack the Ripper. After the class, three female students approach him at the cafeteria, with the associate professor exemplifying his accurate remembrance of his students' traits and behaviours during his class. Akemi asks Himura's opinion regarding the recent random street assaults, especially the criminal's possible profile. She also asks whether he has thought about killing someone, to which he acquiesces. The students are taken aback, while Himura advises them to be careful at night before leaving.

That night, a third murder occurs, urging the police to contact Himura and Alice. Detective Nozomi Ono introduces herself to the two, but she is cut short by Himura who hurries to the crime scene. According to Yasoda's preliminary observation, the victim died from haemorrhagic shock as a result of being stabbed at the back. Like the other victims, there was a piece of paper left in her mouth, in which was written "Night Prowler".

Upon investigation, the police find out that "Night Prowler" is a character from a video game called *Screaming Castle*, and crime lab results reveal that the three murders were conclusively performed by the same person. As per the police's instruction and Himura's plea, Alice ends up playing the video game all night.

The next day, Himura cancels his class to continue the investigation. He, alongside Nabeshima, Ono, and Sakashita, visits Simbalinx, the software producer of the game, for interrogation. Due to the media's and the police's relation of the game to the recent assaults, its producer and director find it disappointing for the police to blame their game as the inspiration behind actual murders.

Himura stays at Alice's room due to the rain. Moreover, that night, despite not being a Tuesday, a fourth murder victim has been found, identified as Yukie Ōwada. They rush to the crime scene, finding the fourth and final message in her mouth being "Game Over". As Himura tries to deduce what had happened to the fourth case, Ono spots Sada and asks him to be taken to custody. Himura states that the fourth murder is different from the other three.

Ono, Himura, and Alice visit and question Yukie's friend, Reimi Komuro. Later, back at headquarters, the team struggles to comprehend how Night Prowler was able to escape them on the night of the fourth crime.

The next morning, they search Yukie's room where they try to uncover clues about her, during which Alice smells bird faeces and apparently finds a trace of a bird cage on top a cabinet. Just then, Himura asks Ono to ask Komuro if Yukie had a bird, to which Komuro answers that the victim had a java sparrow. Like how Himura deduced, Sakashita successfully locates an empty bird cage below the room's window. Himura pieces the information he has on the case, after which he declares that the crime is not beautiful.

Himura and Alice visit Eiji at the hospital, informing him that his sister was not murdered, but rather committed suicide which she made appear like murder. After she had decided to take her life, he explains she *was* Night Prowler for that certain night, suggesting that another Night Prowler had committed the other three murders. Specifically, Himura concludes that Eiji himself is the first Night Prowler, after Yukie had taken the murder weapon and the final paper from his room.

In other words, Yukie had committed the act to cover for her brother's crime and remove suspicion from him, especially given his alibi of being in the hospital at the time of the fourth incident. In the end, Eiji confesses that he merely wanted to know how it feels to combine reality and fiction. Alice becomes infuriated at his reasoning, but Himura calms him down. Eventually, Nabeshima, Ono, and Sakashita arrive to detain the suspect. Upon returning to the boarding house, Tokie serves some dango, while Himura and Alice discuss the recently closed case.

## Quotes

* (His catchphrase) "*This crime is not beautiful.*" (「この犯罪は美しくない」, "*Kono hanzai wa utsukushi kunai.*")

## Trivia

* Himura's catchphrase is never uttered in the novels.

## References

1. ↑ *Detective, Blue Era*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *Screaming Castle Murder Case*
3. ↑ *An Odd-looking Customer*
4. ↑ 作家アリスシリーズ — Wikipedia (Japanese)