This is the final part of the ‘case’ section for Story Two, so once you’ve read this section you should have all the clues needed to solve the case (it doesn’t half have a long solution this time though).
As before, please put your theory behind a details tag, so that others can post their own theory before reading other people’s (and agreeing or disagreeing!).
My theory is based on bark from page 69 and looking through pictures.
Marusia's guess
Painter was writing on the gate and Arapasu can smell him.
I don’t think we have enough clues yet of the reason for the crime. Speculations - painter seas how Mr. Fukaoka treats others and wants a revenge. He may even want to use the pay for the paint job to return money to others. My wild imagination, nothing else.
On page 70, I’m a bit confused on the final sentence.
そっちにまでお金がまわらないんだ
I think I understand the meaning from context, but I’m not sure on this usage of まわる. I assume it’s 回る, but I can’t find a definition that makes sense in this context.
Here’s my thoughts on what it’s saying:
Loose translation: “My money doesn’t go any farther than that.”
Yeah I meant to ask about this too - I assumed the same sentence meaning as you.
I think it’s sort of tied to meaning 2, “to visit several places”. So it’s like his money can’t go that far / to that place. I assume it’s basically a slightly different slant on the English way of expressing that.
my theory!
Okay, so it was obviously the painter, because he’s the one Alps reacts to. It could just be a reaction to the same smell of paint, but Spitz made a point of noting how strongly the smell of roses would come through if it were the florist, for example. Also, it specifically notes how tall the painter is, and the graffiti is painted really high up the door (beyond Spitz’ height, for example).
It doesn’t really give us enough story to guess the motive. However, we know that the old guy is a cheapskate, so maybe he never gets his building repainted, or he had it recently painted but refused to pay the full price. So this is probably a way for the painter to drum up more business, or perhaps enact revenge. Maybe he’s a vigilante extracting justice for the others in the form of paint jobs.
General comment on this story (spoilers for story one and my theory!): I’m a little disappointed that the detective work is based on scent work again. Especially as it doesn’t really tie into a specialty of Alps (apparently his ‘thing’ is that he’s big!) - Spitz even laments how he wishes he’d gone to fetch Bobo instead (the dog from the first story). I suppose there are limited ways a dog can help an investigation, and perhaps Alps will come into his own in the next part but even the solution appears to follow exactly the same pattern as story one - the dog correctly reacts to the culprit, but because nobody suspects them, they don’t realise..
Also, this story has a very long solution, and so I imagine we’ll learn more about the motivation in that part. It might have been nice if we’d received more clues on that front in the case, so that we could detect a little more ourselves..
@Micki - I totally think it is a ladybird after all
I agree that poor Alps seems under appreciated here, just look at that face, how could you not appreciate that?
Based on the graffiti itself I’m assuming the motivation for the graffiti is something to do with Fukuoka’s stinginess, but over what? It would have been nice to have a few more clues.
As for the culprit, pretty sure it’s the painter since Alps barked at him.
I think it is the painter due to アルプス’s reaction to him, but I can’t really figure out a motive.
While looking through the pictures I did notice that the flowershop owner’s hat had something that looked like bugs in it (maybe they’re leaves but I thought bugs first).
I don’t know if this is related; I was just looking for anything which resembled the graffiti on the wall and the final picture in this section.
It does feel like a stretch though
I think we can see more clearly now what is in the graffiti. What I thought was an equals sign is actually a コ going across the gap between two pages of the book. And the word is タコ - octopus. The other one is some sort of bug.
I think the octopus is a reference to the tempura shop. And the bug is a reference to the flower shop. Someone is getting Fukuoka back as a revenge for both his stingy acts.
The painter seems like the main suspect, although I agree it seems disappointingly similar to the last case in that Spitz doesn’t seem to have appreciated the dog reacting to the culprit. But why is the kind looking painter acting as local vigilante??
I’m also reading through the author’s original detective series, and there are some really good cases in there. Ones that seem like you know who the culprit is, but then after looking over the pictures, you find the clue isn’t what you at first thought. So you realize who the actual culprit is, but then you learn that’s not the case either, leaving the case seemingly unsolvable. And then when it’s revealed, you think, “How could I have not even considered that? It was right there in front of me!”
If the much earlier stories are any indication, I expect the わんわん series cases to pick up from here. (Hopefully!)
My Crazy Theory
It’s the flower lady and the tempura guy. They worked together. The gate has a mix of flower and oil smell together, so Alps didn’t bark at either alone. The painter stopped by the florist and the tempura stall, and now smells like flowers and oil, so he got barked at.
I’m only proposing this theory because it being the painter seems a bit too obvious. I’ve been tricked by this author more than once in the Detective Milky series!
Similar to @ChristopherFritz I suspect some kind of collaboration. We have three people as suspects and there are three graffiti paintings: a face of someone sticking the tongue out (maybe referencing the painter?), the bug (referencing the florist) and the octopus (referencing the tempura guy). The style of the graffiti seems to be the same, though, so I still guess only one person painted them. Maybe the florist and tempura guy paid the painter to do this…?
I’ve finally finished the reading, and I’m a little stumped. The only thing I feel certain about is that one of the bits of graffiti is actually a bug , not someone blowing a raspberry (sorry Micki) as well as an octopus , and a pig’s snout ?.
My paltry theory
Going off what happened in the previous story, I’m inclined to think the painter may be involved (a way to create work for himself), but it could just be that the painter smells like the paint used for the graffiti as a consequence of his job, and wasn’t previously at the ‘crime’ scene.
I’m thinking that overall, 福岡さん is the criminal of the story for the way he treats everyone around him…
I thought that they looked like flower buds with a pair of leaves and a stem.
but even the solution appears to follow exactly the same pattern as story one - the dog correctly reacts to the culprit, but because nobody suspects them, they don’t realise.
, not someone blowing a raspberry (sorry Micki) as well as an octopus 
, and a pig’s snout 
?.