I guess Spitz spots the plush dog lying on the ground and wants to do something with that. But I have no idea what his plan is… I’m so tempted to look at the next few pages but I won’t.
And Nara-san looks a bit suspicious? He wants to wait at the west gate to catch the criminal and he suggests that Spitz and Alan help out Oumi-san to wait at the east gate. So Nara-san would be all alone at the west gate. And I don’t think the mentioned police box really is a factor because they don’t want to notify the police. If the police doesn’t know that they should look out for someone trying to escape with a money bag, they won’t be of much help? So if Nara-san is the criminal he could easily escape because no one else is watching the west gate…
Just some comments on gammar/vocab/kanji:
The use of commas in the first sentence of page 121 threw me off for a moment.
page 122
おれは広場のまんなかにあるタチ公の銅像までいってみた。
The use of one more kanji here would have made it easier for me to understand this sentence. I think they mean 行ってみた here…
タチ公を台からはずしている。
I had to think for a moment what was removed from what but with the help of the illustrations it was clear that hachiko the dog statue (タチ公をはずしている) was being removed from the podium (台から).
Great section this week. I was able to add lots of grammar and vocab to bunpro and KameSame. I’m noticing I’m much more proactive about that while reading わんわん than I was with なぜ？どうして？, allowing me to read without referring to jisho/vocab sheet as frequently.
One tricky sentence that I tried to breakdown… pg 123 アランは動くのはにが手だが「まて！」と命令されれば、そのまま、じっとしていることはできる。
アランは動くのはにが手だが、Alan’s bad at moving
「まて！」と命令されれば “wait!” if/when ordered
そのまま、じっとしていることbeing completely motionless
はできる。is able to
Alan is bad at moving, but when ordered “wait!”, is able to be completely motionless.
Wild speculation about what the heck could be going on
I agree that Nara seems suspicious. The police box should be a non-factor since police haven’t been involved at all up to this point. Maybe part of Spritz’s plan is to alert the police so that Nara will be caught off guard.
I may have misread (I was practically speed reading since I wanted to get the speculation running wild ASAP), but we don’t actually know what Spritz wanted to borrow from Hanae? The illustrations have a dog costume and a plush dog, as well as a broom/wand. I’m wondering if those’ll factor in somehow, as a way to help Alan keep his leg raised to match タチ公の銅像.
Although nobody had put any words for page 121 (the first page of this week) into the spreadsheet, so I straight up skipped over it until I saw people talking about gates
theories
Well, there are only two people besides Spitz and Hanae in the story, so it kind of has to be one of our employers. I’m assuming it’s Nara, because he’s all alone at the West gate. It’s reasonable to point out the risk of the police box, but presumably he’s picked the West gate specifically so that he can use that excuse to make sure he’s the only one stationed there.
It also makes sense that somebody who works in the office at the cram school would have access to be able to steal the papers.
I’m not sure how he thinks he’s going to outrun the dog, as he doesn’t know it’s a geriatric. But I guess that, knowing the plan from the inside, he can probably bring some tasty treats or something. Or wear body armour
I guess that Spitz is going to use a plush dog in the shape of the statue, and maybe have Alan hiding behind the pedastal or something? There is also a dog costume, I think???
Yar
Yep - ハチ公 is associated with the を particle, so it’s the one having something done to it.
Just came across a Japanese fairy tale called Hanasaka Jiisan, in which a dog directs an old man where to dig for buried treasure. Presumably this old tale is the inspiration for the the story of Tachiko in our story. In fact in the picture book the dog says exactly what the dog in our story says:
Thanks! It’s based on the historical Phryne, who was pretty badass The show you mentioned sounds fun, I love mysteries (big surprise, haha) and costume dramas!!
I’m surprised there’s only two solution sections until we’re done this book. I was already tempted to read ahead so I’m guessing next week will be the real struggle to not just rush through and finish the book.
I won’t be able to read next week’s until the Friday so I’ll be able to rush through both sections in pretty short order, but only after a long wait trying to avoid spoilers…
Just caught up to this section after some travelling got my reading schedule off. I’m enjoying this case a lot more than the last. I wonder how Spitz will get out of this one (I haven’t read all of this week’s reading yet so maybe he already has).
I know! Time has flown by since this book club started!
But now I am dying to talk about it! Alas, what have I done to myself? 
so I’ll be able to rush through both sections in pretty short order, but only after a long wait trying to avoid spoilers…