The Case of the Island Observatory Murder Pt. 4

**The Case of the Island Observatory Murder Pt. 4** (孤島天文台殺人事件④, *Kotō tenmondai satsujin jiken ④*) is the 12th chapter of the *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga.

## Summary

Ron tells Toto that an instructor from BLUE was killed and asks him if he knows what this means, though he answers the question himself: Grizzly was the "closed circle" instructor at the world-renowned BLUE Academy. His knowledge and skills came from the experience he had gained through extensive field work. If the culprit managed to do this to him, then they must be quite formidable. Ron lays down beside Grizzly's body, promising he will avenge him. Toto also promises, telling Ron they will catch the culprit together. They took two human lives. He will never forgive someone like that.

Like in a practical exercise, Ron says he will begin his deductions. He touched him earlier, and judging by his body temperature, he must have just died. His clothing shows no sign of struggle, so he was either shot from far away, or very suddenly, before he fell. Ron notices that Grizzly is holding something in his right hand. He takes it and finds fishing line.

Meanwhile, Jumonji drenched without an umbrella and Donzawa with a clear-film umbrella arrive on the scene, with Donzawa saying he heard a gunshot. Jumonji pins it on Ron. Donzawa thought Ron was handcuffed and confined, and also says it was Ron. Toto defends Ron, saying he was not the one who shot Onodera, but it will take too long to explain. Ron tells him to stand back, he will explain in thirty seconds; he does this by talking rapidly.

Back inside in the lobby, Toto shows the confiscated gun to the guests. When he went out to check out the roof, he found the same gun that was used to shoot Onodera. It seems the culprit stole the gun from Grizzly, who had confiscated it. Unno loudly complains about there being another murder.

In order to determine the circumstances at the time of Grizzly's murder, Toto summarizes everyone's alibis. Jumonji was resting in his room, and he came out when he heard the gunshot. Donzawa was in the first floor restroom when he heard the gunshot and ran into Jumonji in the lobby. Unno was sleeping with earplugs on. Princess Ori was wearing headphones to check the sound from her performance recording, so she did not heard the noise. This means none of the them have an alibi, and any of them could have killed Grizzly.

The guests are concerned, and Donzawa is worried about a repeat of the tragedy from ten years ago. He cries that the island really is cursed, and they are all going to end up as corpses. Ron replies they are not. He deflects to Toto, saying from the looks of it Officer Isshiki is incredibly angry. He loves mysteries more than anyone, and even thought that is what he is skilled at, he hs been caught in a trap, and two people have been killed on his watch, including a detective he respected. The culprit has blended into this group after causing chaos and fear, and is probably smirking underneath the mask of fear they are wearing. Then Ron sits up, glares at the assembled guests, and tells them that the culprit is going to regret it as they have angered the one person they should not have.

The typhoon intensifies outside. Ron and Toto go back to the observatory dorm, to re-investigate the first murder. Toto says they heard the gunshot from the observation dome, so they ran to the entrance but the door was locked. Grizzly, Jumonji, and Toto tackled it open, broke the lock and went inside. Ron asks Toto how does he think the culprit sealed off the room. The master key was sealed inside the room in Ron's pocket, so how did the culprit lock the door? Ron then shows him the fishing line.

Toto guesses that the suspect slipped the fishing line through the gap at the top of the door, dangled it down, the turned the lock. But Ron says that is wrong. Toto is sad, since he finally got to do his own deduction. Ron just says he did his best, but to take a good look at the door. Where could they get the fishing line through? Toto checks the door again, and finds that there is glue along the edge of the door. There is no way even a thin key could get through. Between the key and the glue, the room was double-sealed. Toto asks why they would use the glue in addition to the lock. Ron says this has gotten more interesting, that the culprit really is formidable. But if they couldn't think of something like this, it wouldn't be worth defeating them. Toto notices that Ron is energetically rising up to meet the impregnable mystery, that this is the usual Ron he knows.

Ron asks Toto to tell him about the time after they broke down the door, so Toto narrates that the three of them entered the dome, that it was pitch-black. When they used the flashlights Unno brought to look around, they found Ron and Onodera. But Ron had walked off to crouch beside Onodera's body. As Ron figured, the telescope blocked Ron from view of the victim. All one can see is the vent, but a person could not fit through it.

Ron asks Toto to turn out all the lights. Toto puts off all the lights, making the room pitch-dark for some moments. But as Toto's eyes adjust, he notices the emergency lights for the switch that opens the dome roof, and finds it shining. Onodera is lying right in front of the switch that opens the roof. Ron realizes something and smiles. Toto also realizes that the dome's roof opened just before they heard the gunshot. Did Onodera flip the switch just before she was shot. But Toto begins to panic. Even if the dome's roof was open, there is no way the killer could have gotten out through the ceiling after shooting her. Everyone has an alibi for the time of the murder. There is no way that any of them could have committed that murder in a perfectly sealed room. Toto begins to despair because the mystery is getting more confusing, and might be too much even for Ron.

Toto says that he will now turn on the lights. Ron tells him to wait, but he was too late; Toto turns on the light and reveals Ron hula-hooping. Toto says it looks like Ron has thrown in the towel and cannot do anything but spin a hoop around. But Ron says what is he talking about? It looks like some fishing line got wrapped around the hula hoop when he was setting it up. Toto tells him to stop playing around with their vital clues. Ron replies that this is the key to solving the mystery. Ron tosses the hula hoop as he declares he has solved the mystery of the locked room. Now they just ned to find the culprit. Toto is hit by the hoop on the way down.

Princess Ori finds them in the room. She got worried that the typhoon might knock out the power so she wondered if there were any flashlights not being used. Toto says Unno would know about that. But Princess Ori says she asked Unno, and Unno seemed pretty high-strung. Unno complained that everyone always makes her bring the flashlights, that it is the third time. Look for them yourself! she said. Toto says he can picture Unno snapping like that, as Ron considers the flashlights, and grins. He complements Princess Ori as the Orion idol. Just like Orion, the master hunter from Greek mythology, she has hunted down the mystery for them, he declares with a swish of his hair. They now have everything they need thanks to Princess Ori.

Toto asks if Ron knows who the culprit is. Ron says he will now leave the rest to Toto, it is now his turn. They will now start the counterattack.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Ron Kamonohashi
* Totomaru Isshiki
* Takumi Jumonji
* Eisaku Donzawa
* Minami Unno
* Princess Ori