Akane Saien

**Akane Saien** (菜園 茜, *Saien Akane*) is a *kyūdō* student of Mayumi Nakamae.

## Biography

### Invisible Blood Letter Murder Case

Saien, Shu Kotegawa, and Mikio Toban train at the Shingen Archery Dojo for the upcoming tournament; they are watched by Mayumi Nakamae, Ron Kamonohashi, Totomaru Isshiki, and Amamiya. Kotegawa draws first, then Saien and Toban. While Saien and Kotegawa effortlessly hit the target, Toban does not.

Ron, Amamiya, and especially Totomaru are impressed by their skills. Then, a cat, Nekomi, jumps in front of the targets, and Sabatora Nora runs into the dojo. He was hired by the Koike family to catch their runaway cat, and when he tries to go to the cat without the "signal," Nakamae stops him. The dojo prides itself for not having had any incidents or accidents since her grandfather's generation. Thus, Nakamae calls someone to give the signal before she allows Nora to enter. However, Nekomi runs out of the dojo first, and Nora hurries after her. After Saien and Kotegawa tell Amamiya, Ron, and Toto about Nora's notoriety, they and Toban resume their training.

The next day, Saien arrives at the kyudojo at 7 a.m. to clean and finds Kotegawa's corpse; she immediately calls the police police. Kotegawa died of asphyxia because an arrow pierced his vertebrae sometime between 10 p.m. and midnight. According to initial examinations, it is likely that the arrow was fired from a bow. There are no signs of a struggle and Kotegawa's smartphone was stolen. There is blood on Kotegawa's index finger as if he wanted to write something, but there is no message.

Amamiya and Toto are called to investigate; they are joined by Ron and Nora. Together, they interview the members of the kyudojo.

Saien states that she was sleeping at home at the time of Kotegawa's estimated death; as she lives alone, she has no witnesses. Toban was out running last night; he is dismissive about the reason why though. He points out that he is in a slump right now and could not have possibly hit Kotegawa precisely in the vertebrae. Toban also testifies that he ran past the kyudojo around 10 p.m. and heard a bow being fired inside. He did not look inside, but from the sound of the bow he knows that he does not know the person who was firing the bow.

Nakamae arrives afterward and says that, like Saien, she was asleep at home last night and has no witnesses either. Toto asks Saien, Toban, and Nakamae about the arrow that killed Kotegawa, but none of them has ever seen it. He also tells them about Kotegawa's failed dying message.

Furthermore, Nakamae states that no one held a grudge against Kotegawa as far as she knows. He was also supposed to be the *ochi* (last shooter in the group) at the upcoming tournament because there is a lot of pressure on the last archer. Kotegawa is fairly cool-headed and, thus, ideal for the position. Nakamae wonders what Kotegawa could have wanted to write, and Saien says it is likely meaningless and she should not put too much on herself.

A crow then passes by, and Nora states that someone is lying. Amamiya scolds him for saying something so ridiculous and drags him away to give him a lesson. Ron says Nora was not wrong though as the "truth is in the palm of the shooter's hand" like an arrow.

Later, Nora gathers everyone to present his deduction: The murderer is among them, and Kotegawa wrote his dying message with blood on the whiteboard in the hallway; for this reason, he has blood on his index finger. As the message says "Saien," Saien is obviously the culprit. She, however, tells Nora that she wrote her name on the whiteboard to remind herself that she has cleaning duty, and Toban points out that the hallway is ten meters away from the place where Kotegawa died. Nora is distraught when he hears that; he cannot believe his deduction was wrong.

Totomaru then tells everyone what actually happened: The blood on Kotegawa's finger is an important clue as there are five positions in archery—*oomae*, *niteki*, *naka*, *yonteki*, and *ochi*. As the blood is on Kotegawa's index finger, it is a hint that the culprit is connected to the *niteki* position. There is no archer at the kyudojo with that position though. Toto points out that the character for *niteki* can also be read as *nakamae* ("before *naka*") which is Nakamae's family name. She readily confesses. Nakamae states when she and Kotegawa were practicing, he said something that "soiled the honor of the Shingen school." Because she could not forgive him for that, she killed him.

Hearing this, Nora replies she is lying. While Amamiya and Totomaru are about to dismiss his words, Ron agrees and says that Totomaru also deduced that Nakamae is lying. She did not murder Kotegawa; it was an accident which she wants to look like murder because she has a secret: Nakamae is in a slump right now. Because of that, the arrow that killed Kotegawa is in such poor condition, and Toban did not recognize the sound of the arrow because she used a weaker bow. Nakamae shot Kotegawa by accident because she did not hear him clap: She is deaf on her left ear, and Kotegawa clapped when he stood to her left side. "Toto" deduced that because he exclaimed something in surprise yesterday while standing to Nakamae's left and she did not appear to have heard it although she is strict with noise in the dojo.

Nakamae admits everything. She suddenly became deaf due to stress, and when she was training for the tournament, she became impatient with her aging, weaking body and made her first *hayake*. This left her panicked as archery is all she has. Kotegawa noticed her struggles and offered to help her. However, Nakamae did not improve which made her impatient again. She kept firing arrow after arrow, and when she noticed Kotegawa in front of the target, it was already too late. Afterward, Nakamae erased all traces of their training. She also put blood on Kotegawa's finger because she did not want anyone to know about her failings; she wanted people to think that Kotegawa was killed by a skilled archer, not a worn-out one who made a terrible mistake.

## Skills and abilities

* **Archery skills:** Saien is a skilled *kyūdō* archer. She is able to do a *kaichū* (to hit with all arrows) with ease.

## Etymology

* The name "Akane" means "deep red, dye from the rubia plant" (茜).
* Akane's surname "Saien" means "vegetable garden" (菜園).

## References

1. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 60, pages 7-15
2. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 60, page 17
3. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 61, page 10
4. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 61, pages 2-5
5. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 61, pages 10-19
6. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 62, pages 2-17
7. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 60, pages 8-9