The Case of the Benizome Hot Springs Murder Pt. 1

**The Case of the Benizome Hot Springs Murder Pt. 1** (紅染温泉殺人事件①, *Benizome onsen satsujin jiken ①*) is the 3rd chapter of the *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga.

## Summary

At BLUE, the headmistress Aimee Emmerich, the deputy headmaster, and various instructors have come together as the deputy headmaster wants to discuss their former top student Ron Kamonohashi as he has heard that he is solving cases despite his ban. Emmerich orders an investigation to be undertaken to determine whether this rumor is true, and the tracking instructor Spitz Feier volunteers to take on this task.

In Tokyo, Totomaru runs into a supermarket to find Ron as he called him, saying it was an emergency. Totomaru believed that BLUE had got him, but Ron simply wants him to pay for his groceries as the shop will not allow him to open a tab. Totomaru pays for him and asks how he even survived before, and Ron tells him that his landlord bought his groceries for him before. With his purchase, Ron also receives a lottery ticket and he wins a trip for two to the Benizome Hot Springs. He is the second one who won this prize that day.

Sometime afterward, Ron and Totomaru drive to Benizome Hot Springs to redeem the prize. On the way, the taxi driver tells them that they are lucky as it rained a lot in Benizome yesterday and hands them a pamphlet for the hot spring. The taxi driver then asks them if they know why the place is called "Benizome." When they reply that they do not know, he explains that a feudal lord gave it that name after seeing the red leaves from the mountain reflected in the water. Totomaru looks through the pamphlet and is amazed how beautiful the main building is, but Ron says that they won a trip to the annex. Shocked, the taxi driver comes to a screeching halt and gives them the correct "pamphlet" which is only a simple photocopy. As soon as he has brought them to the annex, the taxi driver drives away.

Totomaru and Ron find themselves in front of a very shabby-looking building. As they wonder if the annex is even still in business, the staff emerges from the building and greets them. Among them is Spitz who thanks Totomaru for his service as a police officer. Totomaru wants to know how he knows that he is a police officer, and Spitz tells him that he knew by looking at his dress shoes as the marks on that he is running in them and only police officers run in dress shoes. Totomaru is amazed, but Ron points out that reporters also run in dress shoes and that Spitz must have simply checked the registration beforehand.

Then, Spitz checks them in and tells them when they can use the hot springs and when and where dinner will be served.

Shortly afterward, Ron and Totomaru head to the hot spring. As they leisurely soak, Totomaru remarks that Ron's neck "tattoo" is larger than he thought. Ron corrects him, saying that it is a scar which remained after he once got badly injured. He adds that he likes that he likes that there is a "6" in his "96" scar as it is a number connected to his birth. They then talk about how lovely it is at the hot spring although the building is so shabby, and Ron tells Totomaru a "secret legend" surrounding the nearby river: The close-by village used to sacrifice young girls to the river to keep it from overflowing. After the offering, the river and the hot springs would be dyed red. Totomaru remarks that it is a scary story.

They later head to the Crimson Room for dinner, and Ron has an omelette coated with a brown sugar coating. Totomaru remembers that he has seen Ron drink brown sugar before, and Ron tells him that brown sugar is the source for his brain's energy and that he also drinks black sesame paste to counteract anemia. Then, he looks around and counts that there are five other guests. As Ron was isolated for five years, he has made a to do list and one of the things on it is "play the Game of Life at a hot spring." Because of this, he plans to ask the other guests if they want to play with him. However, Totomaru replies that it is normal to play ping-pong at hot springs, so they go to the ping-pong room.

The ping-pong room is in terrible shape, and Ron finds an old scroll showing the legend of the crimson waters while looking for a ball and rackets. They have barely started playing when the ball flies out of the window and they have to go outside to retrieve it, but the ball has already floated away and they only get cold looking for it in the river. To warm themselves up again, Totomaru and Ron head back to the hot springs when suddenly Amamiya walks in. Everyone is very embarrassed by the situation, and Ron and Totomaru turn around as Amamiya joins them in the spring. Totomaru identifies her as the other lottery winner, and she says that it was bold of them to go to the women's bath. They tell her that this is actually the men's bath, and Amamiya runs out when she sees that it is, in fact, the men's bath.

At ten p.m., Ron and Totomaru go to the lounge where they find Amamiya who has been drowing herself in alcohol after their awkward encounter in the bath. Sachiko and her husband have a brief fight, but it is resolved quickly, and she then goes to the hot spring on his suggestion. Amamiya excuses herself and goes to her room, and Ron asks the husband and Michiyo if they want to play the Game of Life with him and Totomaru. They play until two in the morning before they go to bed; Ron has not won a single round.

Later at breakfast, a staff member screams and says that she has found a corpse in the women's bath. Amamiya comes out of her room, and she and the others go to the bath where they find Sachiko floating lifelessly in the spring. Amamiya checks the corpse and estimates that she died sometime between midnight and two a.m. Ron promises Sachiko that he will avenge her, and Michiyo says that it may the river's curse that killed Sachiko as the red leaves "colored" the spring red like in the legend.

Totomaru starts questioning the staff, and Spitz says he was the only one working between midnight and two a.m. He verifies that, in that timespan, only one person went to their room before Sachiko: Amamiya. She becomes the prime suspect, and Ron declares that she is not the culprit and that he will prove this to everyone.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Hirsch
* Vice-principal
* Disguise instructor
* Fin Fennec
* Timetable instructor
* John Grizzly
* Totomaru Isshiki
* Ron Kamonohashi
* Sachiko's husband
* Sachiko
* Michiyo
* Amamiya