The House with a Long Passage

***The House with a Long Passage*** (長い廊下がある家, *Nagai Rōka ga aru Ie*) is a collection of Japanese short stories by Alice Arisugawa in his Himura Hideo series.

## Plot Overviews

"**The House with a Long Passage**" (長い廊下がある家, *Nagai Rōka ga aru Ie*)

     (First published on *Jarro*, Fall 2009 issue)

In an abandoned village at the back of a certain mountain, there lies a mansion with a very long passage connecting two underground houses. The mansion and the passage are known to be haunted, and it was where students lost their way to investigate. A student who ended up spending the night there decide to drink with three people, later having the chance to have an experience at the infamous underground passage. The passage connecting the east and west houses has a swing-type door in the middle, and there is nothing abnormal during their walk at night.

The next morning, however, the door is locked, and there is a puddle of blood flowing from under the door; apparently, an incident had occurred in the passage on the other side. The three people go to the uninhabited west house, break the glass window, and go to the underground passage. There appears to have been a quarrel the previous night, and they find the fourth man, who supposedly went home due to anger, dead with a knife stuck on his chest.

"**Snow and A Golden Wedding**" (雪と金婚式, *Yuki to Kinkonshiki*)

     (First published on *Anniversary50*, December 2009 issue)

The morning after an elderly couple's golden wedding anniversary, a man who lived away from the couple is found killed with a string wrapped around his neck. The previous night, when the couple were looking through the window looking at the snow, they did not notice anything wrong or suspicious. They presume the footprints that were heading away must have been left after the snow had stopped falling. The culprit is believed to have jumped over the fence near the site, ambushed the victim, then escaped over the fence again after performing the crime. There were also traces of the criminal sweeping its footprints with a broom in between the fence. He seemed to have something to do with the elderly husband in this case, and, when he was about to go to the police, he fell over and temporarily lost his memory. Himura is asked to solve the mystery without having looked at who the culprit is.

"**Eye in the Sky**" (天空の眼, *Tenkū no Me*)

     (First published on *Jarro*, Spring 2010)

Alice is consulted by his neighbour's high school teacher, Saori Mano, about a haunted photo taken by a former student. It is said that misfortunes have been occurring ever since the photo was taken. Apparently, the university student fell from the house of a certain company president. The police proceed with the investigation with a view to homicide, as the railing of the rooftop where the student fell was intentionally broken. Once again, Mano consults Alice. A university friend, who pointed out that the photograph of the former student who fell to death was haunted, asked for the appraisal and disposal of the photograph. However, this student was seen by witnesses to have been in a violent argument with the late student, hence being questioned by the police.

Alice goes to Tōhoku, where the haunted photograph was taken. The house, where student fell and died, seemed to be where a relative of the friend lives. Identifying the place where the haunted photo was allegedly taken, Alice solves the mystery without Himura through mere townsfolk statements.

"**Logical Death Game**" (ロジカル・デスゲーム, *Rojikaru Desugēmu*)

     (First published on *Ōru Yomimono*, January 2010 issue)

After being deceived by an auditor named Chifune, who attended one of his lectures, Himura is brought to a certain house and challenged to a death game perpetuated by Chifune himself. In this death game, only one of three glasses contains a lethal dose of poison infused in the drinks; the one who drinks from the poisoned glass dies and loses, while the other survives and wins. Furthermore, Chifune is a mastermind behind four recent (and successful) serial suicides, with a reward of ¥1 million if he loses to the alleged suicide applicants. Himura becomes the fifth person, but Himura, who is not a suicide applicant, angrily rejects the game, but is forced to play along after Chifune points a gun at him.

The rules of the game are simple: Chifune puts poison in one glass, and Himura gets to choose the first glass. Chifune, who knows which of the three is poisoned, drinks from the safe glasses. After that, Himura is given a chance to choose one glass that he thinks is not poisoned and drinks from it at the same time with Chifune, who drinks from the last glass which was not chosen. Victory and defeat are decided after 20 minutes when the poison takes effect.

## See Also

* "Logical Death Game": The episode adaptation from the drama based on the eponymous short story from this collection.

## References

1. ↑ 作家アリスシリーズ — Wikipedia (Japanese)
2. ↑ 有栖川有栖「火村英生（作家アリス）シリーズ」『長い廊下がある家』あらすじとほんのりネタバレ感想 — I Want to Solve All Mysteries (Japanese)