The Case of the Severed Head Balloon Pt. 2

**The Case of the Severed Head Balloon Pt. 2** is the 50th chapter of the *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga.

## Summary

Ron asks: why would the killer need to go to the trouble of making a head appear in mid-air? That is the key to solving the case.

But Amamiya and Toto are staring at Ron himself, and it is Toto who asks: why is Ron in pajamas? Ron is wearing his pajamas, home slippers, and his sweets delivery jacket. He raises an insulated bag, saying he hurried over so the ice cream sticks he brought would not melt. Toto sees through the weird excuse and wonders about ice cream in winter. But Amamiya lights up saying she loves ice cream. Ron cheerfully offers that she try all 12 flavors. Then he says he would like to hear about some details from Toto.

Amamiya enjoys the ice cream so much that she forgot she is not wearing makeup. Ron tells her he saw that face back at the onsen and it is lovely, making her blush profusely. Meanwhile after Toto briefs Ron on the case, Ron asks about a particular photo. Toto explains: one of the people they questioned took one of the building. They thought maybe the head was reflected on the side of the building. Ron is impressed, saying the two of them really did their work.

Toto receives a call from the forensics team. They found a match for the blood on the clown costume. The blood is from Omodo, a missing startup CEO. Omoda is the victim in the missing-person case Amamiya is assigned to. She summarizes that case: CEO Omoda received an anonymous death threat. After arriving at work three days ago, he completely vanished without any sign that he had left the office. Amamiya's team investigated his office last night, but could not find anything. Toto asks if there is any chance someone just missed him leaving. Amamiya could not see that happening: the company just moved into a building with cutting-edge security which is able to monitor even the weight of hand luggage, as well as monitoring people coming and going. They should be able to see that building from where they are, and they point out a tall building.

Ron looks at the tall building, then the picture on the cellphone. Then with a swish of his hair he says: the meeting of the severed head and the balloons was an accident.

Toto wonders if Ron solved it, as Amamiya keeps munching on ice cream. Ron takes Toto's ice cream stick, saying he will give a hint. He props the popsicle stick diagonally, with the remaining ice cream in the middle of the popsicle stick. Toto asks if Ron is giving the ice cream to the ants, saying it is a waste. But Ron says he is leaving, telling Toto that they have already met the killer. He also begs his leave of Amamiya, saying good luck in arresting the culprit. Amamiya thanks him, saying the ice cream was incredibly yummy, and that she is glad she came to investigate today.

Toto asks again why Ron is leaving before solving the case, but Ron just gives him a vague answer. Toto is aware that Ron is acting weird: Ron always wants to be at the crime scene. But this time he did not show up right away even after he told him about the case.

Toto talks to Amamiya, telling her what Ron said: that the killer is one of the people they questioned. He tells her as a hunch. He also presents the propped popsicle stick to her as a hunch, that it is a hint for this case. Amamiya observes the ice cream and stick for a while. The ice cream had melted a bit and slipped down the stick. Amamiya suddenly understands, telling Toto she knows what he is trying to say, that there is no mistaking it. Toto does not understand what is going on, but Amamiya tells him to hurry, they have to arrest the culprit.

Amamiya and Toto return to the old condo building. Amamiya is pretty sure the fifth floor has only one person living there. They meet with that only tenant, who is watering his plants when he greets them. Toto thanks him for his help before. Amamiya however says that he, Tonami Takumi, was the one who killed Onoda, and made his head float.

Toto asks about that, saying no drone was flying two nights ago, and there wasn't anything hanging down from above the building. Amamiya reminds him about the popsicle stick and ice cream example: if something slides at an angle between a high place and a lower one, then it can move through the air without touching the ground and without needing to be suspended from above. Using the same principle, if you string a wire between a tall building and a lower one, and suspended the head from the wire, then when it passed over the shopping mall, it would appear to be floating in midair.

Amamiya then gives the process, since Toto asks how would one string a wire as such: the drone that was flying around that night carried the wire and strung it between the buildings. What the witnesses saw was the severed head moving through the darkness at a diagonal. It was momentarily illuminated against the balloons, by pure chance. After that, they lost sight of the head as it kept moving down, because they were busy watching the balloons float away.

Tonami denies knowledge of the event. Why would he need to make a head fly in the middle of the night? Amamiya declares: it is because he was in the company building, and encountered a critical situation. Tonami killed Omoda inside the building, but because of the tight security, he had no way to get the body outside. He also learned that there had been an investigation request and that the police would be there to inspect the office that night. Thus there was only one option left: to carry the body outside through one of the windows on the north side that opens only 30cm (12inches) in any direction. He therefore cut the body into smaller pieces, and wrapped the head in the black cloth, but it must have fallen off during the descent. Amamiya had already looked into the logs, and Tonami was in the office working late that night.

Tonami deflects saying there were plenty of other people there as well. But, Amamiya says, the only one who lives directly across from the north side of the building was Tonami. Ron had figured it out by looking at the photo Toto showed him.

Amamiya meanwhile says she has a warrant to search the room, where she is certain they will find the body. Tonami is flustered, asking to be heard, saying he had no choice. He and Omoda had founded the company together, but Omoda ran him out. Amamiya stops him, saying she will listen to the story back at the station.

As Tonami is taken away, Amamiya says she does not think it is enough to catch up to Kawasemi, but they solved the case thanks to Toto, saying he did a good job. Then she says for him not to get full of himself! He is still a rookie! Then she is relieved, that she can go home and wash her face.

Toto then walks on to the the Kamonohashi apartment, wondering why Amamiya feels okay without makeup in front of him. He thus finds Ron's feet then all of Ron laying down on the sidewalk. Sitting up as Toto asks what he is doing out there, Ron says he slept hard and it looks like he did not make it back to his room. When Toto asks, Ron explains: this is because Ron took his medication to hold back the culprit-killing a few days ago. But lately the side effects do not go away even after he spends a whole day sleeping. Today, he managed to wake himself up when he got Toto's message and forced himself to go, but then fell asleep on the way home. Toto realizes that is why Ron is wearing pajamas.

He says maybe Ron should stop taking the medicine if the side effects are really that bad. But Ron says he cannot do that. Their next case has come in. Because of that he kept himself from taking the medication this time. The next case is important to Ron.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Ron Kamonohashi
* Amamiya
* Totomaru Isshiki
* Takumi Tonami