Beach hut owner

The **beach hut owner** is the proprietor of Summer House at Natsukaze Beach.

## Biography

### History

At some point, the beach hut owner got three complaints of food poisoning and could not risk to get another.

The beach hut owner sold Taku Manba food that gave him a stomachache. They got into a fight over it. Later, in the evening at ten p.m., Manba decided to confront him again, and the beach hut owner found him passed out in front of Summer House. The beach hut owner put a dry suit on him and tied him to a raft he had created by combining multiple ice cubes with salt. He let Manba float out to sea, leaving him to drown when the ice melts. He had also thought about taking Manba's surfboard to make it seem as if he died surfing, but as he did not know which surfboard was Manba's, the beach hut owner had to change his plan. While looking for Manba's board, he left his fingerprints on the surfboards.

Afterward, the beach hut owner went home and drank with eight of his friends through the night.

### Midsummer Beach Hut Drowning Case

The next day, Ron Kamonohashi, Totomaru Isshiki, and Mofu Usaki come to Summer House to get shaved ice, and the beach hut owner has to inform them that they ran out of it in the morning as it is a popular item. Not long afterward, the surfers try to talk to the beach hut owner about their missing friend Taku Manba, but he refuses to hear them out and threatens to call the police if they keep bothering him.

Later that day, Toto, Ron, and Mofu return to the beach hut and tell the owner that a corpse was found. He replies that it is bad for the business if somebody died so close by, and Mofu scolds him for his insensitivity. Ron adds that the victim was a surfer wearing a dry suit that was too big for him. The beach hut owner scoffs that surfers are nothing but trouble and that it is not uncommon for them to simply take dry suits from the boathouse; the dead man likely took one to keep himself warm while swimming. Ron notes how odd it is that Manba was swimming, not surfing. His words alert the beach hut owner, but Ron says he was only joking before he casually asks him how he killed Manba. He adds that he also meant this as a joke.

Totomaru then asks the beach hut owner what he did yesterday evening because the victim's friends testified that Manba went to see him at ten p.m. The owner replies that he went home to drink with his friends through the night after cleaning up the shop. Toto also inquires whether he saw something of note, and the beach hut owner says he saw a drunk man in a floral t-shirt walking to the ocean around high tide.

Shortly afterward, his employee asks the beach hut owner what he should do about the expired eggs, and he tells him to use them anyway before he sells some food to Ron, Mofu, and Toto.

The beach hut owner is later present when Totomaru reveals what happened: The beach hut owner killed Manba. He has no ice anymore although barely anyone is at the beach because he used all of it to build a raft. He combined the ice blocks with salt; this is the reason why the sand is so salty. The beach hut owner dressed the passed-out Manba in a dry suit so that he would not get chilblains or marks from the rope that tied him to the raft. Manba was dropped in the ocean. Eventually, the ice melted, and Manba woke up. He clung to the rest of the ice raft, getting chilblains on his hands, and drowned when the raft fully melted.

The beach hut owner protests against this accusation, and Totomaru tells him that his fingerprints were found on the surfboards outside the inn where Manba and his friends were staying. The hut owner looked through them all to find Manba's. However, he did not know which one was his, so he left without taking a surfboard—or wiping his fingerprints from the boards. The beach hut owner killed Manba because his shop already received three complaints of food poisoning. He feared Manba would report him as well, and the health bureau would finally close his shop.

Accepting that he has been cornered, the beach hut owner says that he will confess if they will lighten his sentence. Mofu slaps him for making light of someone else's life. He is then arrested.

## References

1. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 30, page 10
2. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 28, page 15
3. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 29, page 3
4. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 30, pages 5-7
5. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 29, pages 2-3
6. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 30, pages 9-10
7. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 29, page 11
8. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 28, page 11
9. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 28, page 14
10. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 29, pages 8-13
11. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 30, pages 3-14