Oh! So you mean she maybe wanted to give a hint to the detective in case he was still mulling over the case although it was officially closed? I never considered that
I always thought she simply wanted to say “I know who you are”. So maybe she relied on Hisako not being able to read and therefore thought the message would be well-protected from her?
I was rather thinking that she didn’t find the note but wanted to leave a hint to the detective saying “search here for further proof”. I think Hisako burned the bookstore because she was probably also not sure as to what the message meant. So she might have burned it just in case.
(And you know, if you already killed 17 people, then it doesn’t matter whether there is one more on the slate, I guess? )
Feeling very much the same here. I kind of dragged myself through this reading wanting something more substantial than the little bits here and there. I’m sure I’d enjoy it a lot if it were in English, but it doesn’t feel worth the effort in Japanese
Might have been an orange. Adorable but dumb creatures. I’m also reminded of how antifreeze is supposedly very enticing to children and pets which is why you must take care to store it away carefully.
I don’t have much to add other than that whole family seems more and more dysfunctional.
edit: I made this post and suddenly there are multiple new replies in the thread?! I think Discourse is behaving badly for me
I also thought that was weird! I don’t think a cat would be interested in juice even if it was unadulterated (especially if it was orange juice, most cats hate the smell of citrus). Even less likely if it smelled weird. I just assumed the author doesn’t know cats very well. And stop hating on orange cats! xD Plus I think the letter says it was a white cat?
The two orange cats I know personally are neither dumb nor adorable (in fact one of them keeps viciously attacking all other cats he can get his claws on, and the other one just meows for food but otherwise avoids humans at all costs). But yes, that specific cat was white. And apparently had adventurous taste buds.
Re chapter 12, who the letter is addressed to: he says 「君にもあの本のことは話したよね？僕らが子供の頃、あの事件に関わっていたことも。」I don’t think this fits the interviewer, since it should be obvious the interviewer knows he was involved in the incident. He’s like “I told you about this, right?”
The interviewer knows now, yes, but it seems quite plausible to me that the brother dying and sending them that letter might have been what kicked off the interviewer’s more serious interest in the incident and going out to interview people about it in the first place. The letter is at the end of the book, but I think if you put it on a chronological timeline it would be well before any of the interviews.
Interesting thought for sure. We still have no idea who the interviewer might be, and why they’re so interested. Or even why now. It’s possible that this is the central mystery of the book after all, and not whether Hisako murdered her family.
You are both missing out on the adorable dumbs. The orange tabbies I’ve had in my life have all been agents of adorable, foolish chaos inspired by the fact they never ever learn But you’re all right - it was a white cat, I forgot about that.
Lots of talk about reflections. Dreams. Voices that sound familiar but can’t quite be placed. The slightly different names in one of the first chapters. The idea that the incident is fading from existence as people forget about it…
I don’t know. I think there’s more to it than just “Hisako did it, here’s how.” It feels like maybe a similar incident has happened before. Or it’s some sort of multiple-universe story - except we don’t really have enough pages left to go in that sort of direction. I’m expecting something vaguely supernatural at least.
There’s a part I keep thinking about (from chapter 1 I think?) where Saiga happens to meet one of the detectives, hears about Hisako’s testimony from the prologue, and says that she would have written the book very differently if she had known that earlier. But since I don’t know why she wrote the book, it’s hard to say why & how she would want to change it. I don’t think she’s trying to catch Hisako though.
Oh I didn’t realize that… but it totally makes sense from the contents.
But didn’t he refer to the book? Oh, it must have been a different book if he sent the letter to Saiga because he said “I assume you are familiar with it as well” or something. It wouldn’t make sense to say that to the author of a book.
But which book might it be?
→ Ok I see omk clarified that one. Phew, one less confusion on my list
I must say I find it very hard to read right now because it just piles up more and more information and describes the same stuff over and over again (from different angles, and with new bits and pieces, but still…) I had actually thoughts crossing my mind about dropping the book altogether because the author truly lost me here with this information overload. (BTW this sometimes happens to me with the Saikawa&Moe books as well…) I guess my Japanese might not be on par to grasp or remember the fine details that are needed for these kinds of stories, I guess
But no, I won’t drop it, now I will see it to the end
And what Hisako said about the room and the flower is in the prologue. She remembered someone holding her hand as she looked at the blue room, and feeling afraid of the white flowers.
Which supports the theory that the red and white flowers are different people. Hisako’s voice may have been the red flowers of the bench, but the white flowers was someone else. Who could it be though? Who did the student hear as he was passing by the house? Why would Hisako be afraid of the flowers? Who are we overlooking?
I keep coming back to the mother being Christian. That was such a random detail. She had a special room to pray in. Were the flowers in front of that window? I don’t remember. Might she want to punish everyone because of some family sin or something? But the mother died too, so it can’t have been her voice the boy heard as he was passing by years later.
I was thinking of exactly this last night as I was falling asleep!
It would explain how some people like her and believe in her, and how others are creeped out by her to the point of believing her evil. Also why she sometimes looks like she can see perfectly. It wouldn’t explain why or how a twin would be hidden away so effectively though.
Edit: Oh hey, it could also just be a case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde I guess. One person, two personalities. I’m hoping for something better though.
)
But yes, that specific cat was white. And apparently had adventurous taste buds. 
