Week 2: 容疑者Xの献身 - The Devotion of Suspect X 🌹

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容疑者Xの献身 - The Devotion of Suspect X :rose: Home Thread

Week 2

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Start Date: Jan 30th
Previous Part: Week 1
Next Part: Week 3

Reading:

Week Start Date End Chapter End Page Page Count
Week 2 Jan 30th [End Chapter 3] 66 38

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun! :durtle:

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Proper Noun Readings

Previous Proper Nouns
Name Reading Notes Proof
石神 いしがみ (Week 1)
新大橋 しんおおはし
隅田川 すみだがわ
清洲橋 きよすばし
靖子 やすこ
米沢 よねざわ
小代子 さよこ
金子 かねこ
錦糸町 きんしちょう
美里 みさと
富樫 慎二 とがし しんじ
赤坂 あかさか
Name Reading Notes Proof
扇屋 おおぎや
湯川 学 ゆかわ まなぶ
草薙 くさなぎ
帝都大学 ていとだいがく
旧江戸川 きゅうえどがわ
岸谷 きしたに
間宮 まみや
篠崎 しのざき
山辺 躍子 やまべ ようこ
亀戸 かめいど
1 Like

I don’t quite get this sentence on page 49:

「ファミリーレストラン・・・ですか」
目撃者はいない、と期待する材料は何もないと石神は思った。

Is 石神 saying something like „Looks like I can‘t expect there to be no witnesses“? Basically „Someone definitely saw them together in the restaurant“?
I hadn’t seen 材料 used with the meaning „grounds, basis“ before :smiley: very interesting.

I just finished this week’s reading. The style is really easy to read and the plot is moving forward nicely. I like the book so far!

Here’s this week’s list of names (most of them from chapter 3) in order of appearance. I hope I didn’t forget any.

扇屋 おおぎや
湯川 学 ゆかわ まなぶ
草薙 くさなぎ
帝都大学 ていとだいがく
旧江戸川 きゅうえどがわ
岸谷 きしたに
間宮 まみや
篠崎 しのざき
山辺 躍子 やまべ ようこ
亀戸 かめいど

帝都大学 is interesting, apparently it’s a fake university that is often used in fiction.

@Myria I’m not entirely sure either. I interpreted it like you, “There is no element that would indicate (make one expect) there are no witnesses”? Something like that.

5 Likes

Your first interpretation is correct in my view. Ishigami says that “it cannot be known for sure that there are no witnesses”. Not the same as saying that “definitely someone saw them”. So there is a probability, but it is not 100%

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Nice list!

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Had a little trouble with the start of ch. 3. Are they playing chess or just talking about chess? Was that a flashback before they’re at the crime scene?

They’re finishing a game of chess. There’s no flashback no. Kusanagi has been spending the last 20 minutes trying to find a good move and Yukawa is like dude, forget it, you’ve lost already. Then Kusanagi complains about the rules of chess, because you can’t use the pieces you’ve captured, unlike shogi. They end the game, and Yukawa wonders if it’s ok for Kusanagi to be slacking off like that (I learned the phrase 油を売る). He says it’s ok because they just solved a big case (stalker murder), and that’s when Kusanagi gets called to the crime scene. There’s also a sentence a couple sentences to explain that they’re in a lab room at Teito University.

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Oh that’s right! For some reason I thought that was a flashback.

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Me too!

First I thought it was gonna be a flashback to 石神‘s youth, back to when he was in university or something. Took me a while to realize that no, it’s not a flashback, it’s just the introduction of the police counterpart in this crime (hype).

I also really liked the fact that the police were rather quick in identifying who this guy is, makes it feel more real compared to something in the style of „we did the perfect murder hurr durr“. But there’s so much book left :laughing:
I do wonder though why they didn’t take 富樫‘s hotel key and checked out on his behalf? Seems kinda the logical thing to do. I doubt the staff would even remember what he looked like.

3 Likes

The mother shouldn’t have listened to her daughter :sweat_smile: . Also just wondering, if the teacher had urged them to give in themselves, would they have conspired against the teacher as well?

Wouldn’t you? Snitches get stitches.

I had to do a double take, I’m reading the hardcover version which much be larger because chapter 3 ends on pg. 58 lol
I was thinking this chapter would be absurdly long.

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I wouldn’t :laughing: I would びびる at the possible outcomes

And done! Now it gets interesting. I’m not used to reading crime from this perspective so I’m really curious where this is going.

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Finished the reading for week 2! I like Kusanagi’s perspective a lot. From being a sore loser during the chess game, not looking at the body, pretending to look around the crime scene while really leaving it to those who specialize in it, and then his observations of the owner of the bicycle, I found him subtly funny and different from the detective characters I’m used to.

Also, the first time reading this I was really surprised that they already got to Togashi’s identity!

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There is!

I also expected them to do that when they found the keys in his jacket. I wonder if they went to take our some of his stuff? There seemed to be not much left in the room.

Luckily I’m late and don’t have to wait a week to continue reading. :joy:

3 Likes

Since マスカレード・ホテル was not picked this time but I would like to read a book by 東野圭吾 next and since this book has been heartily recommended to me by an acquantaince, I went for 容疑者Xの献身. And it certainly starts of as a very fast and engrossing read! :smiling_face:

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