怪人二十面相 🦹 (IBC) - Week 12

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怪人二十面相 :supervillain:
Intermediate Book Club
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Week 12 March 21th, 2026
Chapter(s) 25+26 名探偵の危急 + 怪盗の巣くつ
Audio version [1] video 12
Previous week Week 11
Next week Week 13

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  1. female narrator, playlist, 聴いてみよう江戸川乱歩 ↩︎

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怪人二十面相 :supervillain: (Intermediate Book Club)
怪人二十面相 :supervillain: (IBC) - Week 11
怪人二十面相 :supervillain: (IBC) - Week 13
怪人二十面相 :supervillain: (Intermediate Book Club)
2

25 名探偵の危急

Summary

The disguised beggar tells Akai the plan. One of the thief’s henchmen, a woman, will pretend to need Akechi’s services and request that they go straight to search her house. On the way the car will stop at a remote cemetery where they will ambush Akechi and use anaesthetic to put him out. This is indeed what transpires. They all have unloaded pistols and Akechi doesn’t put up a fight. Then they head for the thief’s den

thoughts

I’m wondering since Akechi told Kobayashi he would see him in danger if Kobayashi is disguised as Akai? But this whole plan is so risky, who does this? Trusting that the thief won’t really hurt him is a pretty tall order, even if Akai is an ally of some kind.

26 怪盗の巣くつ

Summary and some thoughts

They arrive at a place with a nameplate that says 北川十郎 and go through various security checks to get inside, with the new member being noticed.

The security sounds like Kobayashi’s kit, there might be some fantasy here. I like how the thief has a way to get visuals which you can imagine is video surveillance until it’s finally described as something like in a submarine periscope. But essentially something like a surveillance system is what the author was imagining. Which is impressive. The very beginnings of that kind of tech seemed to be during WWII but the first police departments that even had such a thing were in the 60s.

I thought the new guy Akai sounded a bit more polite when they get to the house and I wasn’t sure if that was natural for the situation or if Akai is Akechi’s associate or Kobayashi as suspected and he’s breaking character. Probably wishful thinking

We’re at the thief’s real lair and he brags about it to Akai and says he’ll show him his treasure room sometime.

Akai kicks Akechi and gets some praise, but the thief doesn’t want them to hurt Akechi

Well, by the end, I’m still wondering if Akai is a friend of Akechi’s or even Kobayashi.

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I read through this week’s part as well. Nothing much to report from my side.
I’m still solidly in the camp that believes 赤井 is an ally of 明智 and 明智 has some kind of grand plan that we hopefully learn in next week’s reading.

I don’t think that would fit, since we learned in an earlier chapter that his build is still that of child. I don’t think they could mistake him for some normally sized adult.

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oh right, I wasn’t thinking of that!

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One day early, 'cause you can’t tell a thief what to do, next thread is already up:

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Fun fun! I liked the description of the 二十面相 lair. Expecting to see Akechi handily breeze past all these traps! I’m also wondering if Akai is an ally. Now that I’ve read most of the book I’m finding it pretty easy/quick to read these sections.

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