Okay, okay. This week was good as well. I got my wish granted.
But OMG, what in the hell did he get himself involved in. 木崎 seems scary.
I was surprised everything went so smooth. 靴のまま他人の家に入る懐かしい違和感 is such a Japanese thing to think during a robbery. I had to smile multiple times during this robbery. Also, their excuse “字が読めない” when they pretend to be Chinese and speak pretty good Japanese got a giggle out of me.
It was so clear to me that they intended to kill the poor guy. I mean, did our group seriously think 後処理 is just cutting some phone lines? But honestly, killing a government official of such high rank and stealing (probably) government documents, really takes some guts. And apparently it was a coordinated attack against multiple persons. It really is better not knowing what is going on.
Poor 石川, hey come help us drive a little further, all alone. Nothing will happen, you scaredy-cat → never to be seen again
I have no idea how the story will continue now. I suspect we jump back to the present and get involved in something with 木崎 again…
I am currrently on level 2 of WaniKani and my ひらがな + カタカナ still needs some polish, so I cannot join you yet.
But, this seems fun! Perhaps I may join, once I get better.
There are other book clubs that tackle easier books or manga here in the forum as well. I would recommend to start with something easier when you dip into reading. The first book you’ll read written for natives is always hard and requires some patience compared to learner materials.
That said, welcome to the wonderful world of Japanese and feel free to put stuff like reading this book on your “want to achieve in the future” list to give you motivation
My guess was that the documents they got from the safe implicated the other people as allies in whatever shady business the old guy was doing, and so then 木崎 knew who to target, because those killings happened 2 days after they got the documents.
Now we know why our guys assumed 石川 was dead in the present day chapters at the beginning of the story…
I was a little puzzled. I wasn’t sure whether 石川’s disappearance was planned all along. (I got a little mixed up by all the talk of leaving Tokyo.) Am I right in understanding that the boss had learned that 石川 was planning to leave Tokyo, but before he could do so, inveigled him in on the house invasion? I presume then, that they were never planning to let him leave after the job.
(Why did they have to kill him? Does he know too much? Is he in too deep?)
But am I right in thinking that the messenger arriving at the station at the end of the chapter means that 西村 was wrong to trust 立花. The latter must have passed on the details of 石川’s note?
That’s one way to interpret that. Concrete evidence where 木崎 got the info from wasn’t given as far as I know.
I was a certainly surprised that he gave the info of the note to 立花.
