Episode 19: “The Move of Recollection“
Summary: At Hani-meijin’s place, he and Ayumi are analyzing the game Shion and Satoru played earlier, but is interrupted when Sasakada gives meijin call. It appears that he doesn’t want Ayumi to hear his conversation so he tells him that he can go home now. It seems that Sasakada is also working for the meijin as he warns him that after Satoru and Shion’s game, Satoru told Shion that he may be able to help her find her parents’ murderer. Meijin thanks him for this information.
At the Yasuokas’ residence, Hisatani and Saori joins them for a little celebratory dinner for Shion’s victory against Satoru. Hisatani tells Shinji about what Satoru told Shion regarding helping out with the case. Shion asks Sachiko about Kazumi. Sachiko says Kazumi was a good person but had a weak heart. She celebrated Christmas with them before when Shion was still young and that Kazumi videotaped them at that event. Shion remembers that a bit. At the police station, the detectives find that Satoru’s fingerprints did not match the fingerprints they have on file that belonged to the culprit. They then receive a call from Shinji who informs them of Satoru’s interest in helping them find the culprit. The older detective instructs the younger one to look into Kazumi’s death once more while he will try and get in touch with Satoru. Meanwhile, Satoru calls Sasakada and asks him to give him enlarged copies of the photos from the crime scene at the Ishiwataris. Satoru reviews and re-examines the photos trying to identify anything that he might have missed that might confirm his suspicions.
Later, Hani-meijin leaves for his match, leaving Ayumi cleaning at his place. Satoru drops by as soon as Hani-meijin leaves. Ayumi tries to stop him from snooping around, Satoru pushes him aside causing the trash bag that Ayumi was carrying to scatter its contents on the floor. Satoru then notices a videotape with Kazumi’s handwriting among the trash. He then asks Ayumi if he wants to protect Shion. They then go to Satoru’s old apartment. Hani-meijin tries to call Satoru but is ignored. Satoru asks Ayumi to look at the crime scene photos and asks to let him know anything that Ayumi might notice that seems odd. Satoru informs him of the main facts of the case. As Ayumi is looking at the photo with the shougi board, he notices that the bag and box where the pieces which are usually placed under the table are on the floor instead. Ayumi then realizes that this reminds him of Hani-meijin whom he noticed to usually put his bag and box on the floor as well. Satoru shows Ayumi the photo where the necklace is lying near the dead body of Shion’s mom, saying that the necklace is not a memento of Shion’s mom but that it must be the murderer’s. He shows Ayumi the similar necklace that he is wearing, adding that it is a memento of their mother when she died. A memento for him and his older brother. Ayumi realizes that Satoru is strongly suspecting Hani-meijin of committing the crime. Meanwhile, Hani-meijin drops by Satoru’s office. He learns that he hasn’t been to the office for a while. The detective then bumps into him there, asking about Satoru’s whereabouts. The older detective later gets a call from the younger detective who informs him that Kazumi seems to have convulsed and died in the entryway of her house, probably due to some sort of shock which triggered her weak hear to fail. Back in Satoru’s house, they watch the videotape Kazumi shot. In his surprise, he hears Kazumi addressing “Onii-san” as she was taping Shion during Christmas. Satoru informs Ayumi that Kazumi did not have an older brother, and that the only “onii-san” she could be referring to was his own older brother. Ayumi and Satoru concludes that Kazumi must have been asked by Hani-meijin to take a video of little Shion, her family and their house. The older detective visits Sasakada at his workplace, wondering why he was asking around about Kazumi as well. He tries to say that it’s out of his own curiosity. Sasakada then gets a call from Hani-meijin which he tries to hide from the detective, but he grabs his hand and sees who is calling, exclaiming that Sasakada is in contact with both Satoru and Hani-meijin, which is suspicious.
Later that night, Shion is studying some of the kifu (a record of the shougi moves) from the meijin’s past matches. She then remembers Saoru’s words, that he finds her shougi to resemble his brother’s. She then receives a text message from Ayumi, wishing her good luck for her big game against the meijin the next day. We learn that Ayumi is asked by Satoru to keep what they discovered to themselves for now and keep it a secret from both Shion and the meijin, to which Ayumi agrees. At Hani-meijin’s place, we see him staring out the window seemingly in contemplation. It appears he is aware now that Satoru suspects something, though Hani-meijin wishes that he’s be able to play against Shion first before Satoru does anything.
~ end of episode
Impression: Heh, it took me 17 episodes to realize that Hani-meijin is acting suspiciously! (^_^;). Now, it’s almost certain. OMG, the necklace was a memento of Satoru and Hani-meijin’s mother! That was the defining piece of evidence for Satoru (and myself, at this point) to consider the fact that Hani-meijin might be the real culprit indeed. Shion’s shougi resembles his because his style was the one that had the most impact on her, along with the trauma that she had to endure seeing her parents murdered in front of her and then playing against the murderer.
Why? Why? WHY? That is the big question that’s bugging me right now. Why did he kill Shion’s parents? Why did he have to do all those cruel things? Etc., etc. I wonder if Sasakada suspects something too. He’s working for Hani-meijin and Satoru as well, and I don’t think Satoru knows that Sasakada is somwehat working for the meijin behind his back.
It’s quite obvious now that Kazumi didn’t merely die because of heart failure, instead there is a cause why her heart failed. By what the detective found out, I think perhaps she was tasered or something as she was entering her house. She could have been caught offguard. Based on Kazumi’s voice messages for Satoru around that time, Kazumi must have found out about Hani-meijin’s plans and wanted to do something about it by calling Satoru. Now that Ayumi knows that Hani-meijin is most probably the culprit, what will he do? Along with Satoru, I think he might play a big part in the last few upcoming episodes. What is Hani-meijin really up to? Could there be another twist coming up? It’s just 3 more episodes to go before the end and the storyline is getting better and better. I’m at the edge of my seat!
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