Hah, I can help on this one - this is やがる - Jisho.org - to have the nerve to.
and off goes the lurker into the background 
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!!! I know that wording but it did not click in that sentence for me. I wonder if the past tense is what threw me off 
Thank you!
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By now @Myria explained this phrase to me about a hundred times or so 
so I’m happy to be finally able to pass on the knowledge 
I didn’t continue to read your notes because it dawned on me that there might be spoilers inside and I’m still planning to read the book at some point, but I read the first question faster than this thought could form in my head 
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Replies on some notes
I keep coming across なめる and I’m never quite sure how to deal with it. It seems to basically mean “underestimate” and variations thereof. Here it is something like “they dare underestimate me (like that)” or basically, “they must be joking”, or as you say, “what a load of crock”. なめる in this sense is apparently always in kana if that helps.
He’s calling in the accused now. Once the accused is called in for questioning, the prosecutor is not allowed to fail. Which is why he had been taking his time reading about the case carefully before calling him in.
The ままよ gave me some trouble too. I think it all means something like “So be it. I’m fully prepared for this to be leaked”. The guard is from the police, and he visibly reacted to the question. He’ll definitely leak everything (筒抜け also means leak information). As for の上だ, I think this definition covers it:
The definitions are so vague. I feel sure I had found a clear definition somewhere but I can’t find it again for some reason. Anyway, I’m convinced that, at least in this context, it means “following (someone) in death by committing suicide right after”.
I thought you had already read this week’s assignment and didn’t dare to look at your notes at first 
I always think of „to underestimate“, „to take lightly“, and it usually works 
It’s a grammar point as well.
In this case, following his wife and committing double suicide.
I didn’t really think deeply about this, but googling it, it does indeed seem to be primarily used for copycat suicide.
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Only blurring things directly relating to the plot / not strictly grammar
I’m going to remember this, I suspect it will be helpful!
I think that’s the thing that’s not clicking for me, but it’s likely just the differences in mentality / process between what I grew up with and the criminal justice system in Japan.
Ah that makes sense. It feels kind of redundant to me, but I feel like that happens a lot in Japanese (feeling redundant).
Yeah that does make much more sense!
I didn’t realize 明後日の方を向く was an idiom 
I usually catch those!
I looked up the wrong one 
Thank you!
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Finished chapter 2! I have to say,
this week‘s reading didn’t grip me as much as the last few weeks. Maybe I was too tired when reading.
There’s definitely a lot of power play going on. Especially now with the 横領 case.
I wish 志木 and 佐瀬 didn’t have to be so secretive about their „cooperation“
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Finished chapter 2! I did find it just as gripping as always, but some parts were exhausting to follow, and some sentences were 90% unknown vocabulary . This kind of interdepartmental power play and balance games are hard to follow in any language, especially if you’re not familiar with the structures and roles, so in Japanese it’s naturally extra hard.
Anyway, difficulty aside, I’m enjoying the book very much. But I still don’t understand why the 県務 would go to such lengths to protect the secrecy of 梶’s two missing days. How damaging do they expect the truth to be? I’m also a little surprised at 鈴木’s open defiance. I thought this kind of thing was rare in Japan? Although now that I think about it, his loyalty is to the organization as a whole more than his direct superior, so if his superior looks like he’s acting independently and against the interests of the whole, then it makes sense to defy him.
Lots of new names! (please check for possible mistakes)
岩国鼎ーいわくに・かなえ；W地検検事正
今井綾子ーいまい・あやこ；製薬会社の専務の秘書。自殺
千鶴子ーちづこ； 佐瀬の元妻?
植村学ーうえむら・まなぶ；佐瀬と司法研修所で一緒だった男
島村康子ーしまむら・やすこ；梶啓子の姉。５６歳
稔ーみのる；佐瀬の息子？
田沼満男ーたぬま・みつお？；K駅の目撃者
藤原ーふじわら；書記官。来年定年
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I’m very late to finish this week’s reading, and had to rush and not take notes. I am loving the power play and finding it the most exciting part. I suspect 志木 will come into the picture again because we haven’t really gotten the full picture of his past yet, but it does appear the ‘mysterious background’ for 佐瀬 has been revealed so he might fade out a bit? Curious to see!
I’m going to miss next week’s reading and week 7, but I do intend to catch up both later, before the end of the club. I don’t want to derail discussion much so reasons why in toggle
tldr life is very busy right now
Work is sending me to the head office in another country (on another continent) for a week with relatively short notice and I’ll save the details but let’s just say “rocky communication” and “quite disorganized” cover it. There is also an unwritten understanding that I will be socializing with these coworkers each night so reading time will likely be zero.
I also volunteer with a local org on weekends, and my responsibilities with them have slowly ramped up and lately that’s been pouring too, in the sense of ‘when it rains, it pours’. Great stuff for the org, not so great for my free time.
On the plus side, flying to Japan on the way back from HQ is relatively cheap, so I’m sneaking in a small trip to Japan where I can hopefully decompress a little bit as I’m close to burn out at the moment.
So if you don’t see me around for a bit, that is why. I’ll presumably be back online as normal mid-February.
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Read this week’s portion. I was wondering who we were going to follow next. The journalist who overheard 佐瀬’s accusations makes perfect sense.
So many new names again. This is getting out of hand.
Please check for possible mistakes.
We now know 中尾’s first name and age:
中尾洋平 ーなかお・ようへい；東洋新聞の記者。32歳
久本ーひさもと；警務課長
片桐ーかたぎり；東洋新聞の首席デスク
設楽ーしたら；東洋新聞のサブデスク
栗林絵美ーくりばやし・えみ；東洋新聞の支局のオペレーター
山辺ーやまべ；東洋新聞の記者
小島ーこじま？；東洋新聞の記者
東山ーひがしやま？；捜査一課次席?
阿久津ーあくつ；東洋新聞の上位の者。 伊予のT大の後輩
宮内ーみやうち；東洋新聞の東京本社の記者
諸積ーもろづみ；新宿署刑事一課
多々良ーたたら；県民タイムズの記者。梶の東京行きを示唆する記事を書いた者
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Read next week’s portion too, and finished the chapter.
It got oddly exciting in this latter half. I very much enjoyed his meeting with the drunken 佐瀬 especially. It’s quite ironic how he wants to expose the secret dealings between police and prosecution, when he very much takes part in secret dealings himself all the time, in and out of the newspaper. It seems to me that the internal conflict in each organization is more intense than the conflict between organizations. I found the mercenary-regular soldier divide very interesting, and uniquely Japanese. As for the article at the end, wouldn’t it be considered libel? Everything in it may be true, but it’s just things he deduced out of more or less thin air, with no proof to show for any of it.
No new names!
(Unbelievable. Maybe I just missed them)
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Finished week 6 (chapter 3.4). Slowly catching back up!
I wish 中尾 would talk less, especially to 桑島… I wasn’t even sure if 桑島 knew about 佐瀬‘s suspicion yet. He was the one who was talking to/close to 伊予, right? Which is why 佐瀬 decided to talk to their boss instead of 桑島.
But having the journalist perspective is quite interesting.
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Finished chapter 3.
I also found the ending really cool,
especially when he said 「グリーニッカー橋」を渡った。 Showed the conflict really nicely.
I have to say this is getting increasingly complex, especially with all the deals between the organizations and all their different interests. Also the big part about „saving face“, メンツ, which is a strong enough motive for the 検察 to let the 梶 case slide.
I also liked 志木‘s metaphor with the conveyor belt. This probably happens a lot in real life.
Everyone seems so unhappy with how things played out. 志木, 佐瀬, and now 中尾. They all seem so depressed about the turn of events, but they somehow accept this is the only way… let’s see if this trend continues or if everything will resolve itself by the end.
I hadn’t heard of this bridge tbh, it’s „Glienicker Brücke“ in German.
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I didn’t recognize the name either, but I did know it as “The Bridge of Spies”. So surprising that someone in Japan would know the actual name!
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I have caught up and just finished chapter 3! I was rushing through (well, reading it like a normal book) so no grammar notes, though there were definitely a few confusing sentences sprinkled in.
Oh my GOSH. I was dying of tension reading 中尾’s conflict over the ネタ he was offered in exchange for not writing about 梶 and then that ending. Just brutal perfection. I loved it. I’m excited to see where this leads.
It seems to me like there are people assuming others know why 梶 went to Tokyo, but no clear indication that anyone actually does?
Also
所詮、ヨウヘイはいつまでたってもヨウヘイのままってことさ
feels very おいしいごはん-esque in a way. But while おいしいごはん is petty, vicious office politics in a way that had me cackling, this has me squirming in sympathetic anguish for 中尾.
I might be a bit late to this week’s reading, but shouldn’t be terribly so as I’m finally at least no longer behind in any of my clubs.
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Read 4.1 and 4.2.
4.1 spoilers: This is the old acquaintance of 佐瀬 who sent him a relocation letter! I was wondering how he’d fit in, but it seems he may actually get to know more than the others. I’m convinced the sister-in-law knows what’s going on, and I’m dying to know why she wants to communicate with 梶!
New names
梶昭介ーかじ・しょうすけ；梶の祖父
植村謙一ーうらむら・けんいち； 植村学の兄
藤見泰造ーふじみ・たいぞう；植村学のボス弁
藤見範夫ーふじみ・のりお；藤見泰造の息子
植村亜紀子ーうらむら・あきこ；植村学の妻
植村亜真実ーうらむら・まみ；植村学の娘
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Ohh, I remember! I was wondering where the connection was
I also read 4.1 and 4.2 today, and another person with an absolutely miserable home life 
Is anyone even happy in this book. not that I mind, I just find it remarkable
The whole “you have to ask his blood relative to get permission” feels very RPG quest-like. xD
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And yes, the whole 4.2 was rather depressing. From the sacrifices his family has done (and is still doing) for him, to his basically fake, loveless marriage and his failed career, I couldn’t wait to move on to happier matters like murder
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Read 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5. No new names!
I’m loving how morally (dark) grey everything is. 4.3 spoiler:How can the signature of an elderly man in the condition 昭介 is in be considered valid, even if he had actually signed himself? And shouldn’t 梶 himself choose his own lawyer, instead of his next of kin? 4.4 spoiler: I almost thought we’d get to know something at last, but no! The message was just a mysteriously innocuous short phrase. And I doubt 梶 himself will be willing to reveal anything more.
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I‘m half expecting a plot twist where the guy observing him in the facility will end up revealing the „forgedness“ of the signature it probably won’t happen though.
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