Last sentence(s) of page 108 for eBook readers:
その美しさにみんなうっとりしている。ところが、そのときだ。
Upcoming Schedule
Week
Start Date
Part
Page Numbers
Week 10
January 6th
Case Part 2
100 - 108
Week 11
January 13th
Case Part 3
110 - 118
Week 12
January 20th
Solution Part 1
120 - 129
Week 13
January 27th
Solution Part 2
131 - 139
Week 14
February 3rd
Solution Part 3
140 - 149
Vocabulary List
Please read the editing guidelines in the first sheet before adding any words!
Discussion Guidelines
Please blur/hide major events in the current week’s pages (however early they occur) and any later content, like so: [spoiler]texthere[/spoiler]
Err on the side of caution!
When asking for help, please mention the page number (or % for eBooks).
Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn and someone else will probably be grateful you asked!
People usually find that they engage with and enjoy the discussion much more if they don’t read ahead, though of course it’s up to you
To you lurkers out there: join the conversation, it’s fun!
Participants
Mark your participation status by voting in this poll:
I’m reading along
I’m still reading but haven’t reached this part yet
I’m dropping this book
0voters
If you’ve read it before but will join in the discussion (or have read ahead), please select “I’m reading along”!
Regarding pages 106, 107: The other day, I was in a conversation with someone about how a specific person in a news story looked “off” to them somehow, but they couldn’t put their finger on why. I pointed out the reason, and they said they that that’s what it was, and they never would have caught that detail on their own. Looking at the suspects, I see the inverse of that situation, so I think I know who to keep an eye on.
The diamond is only a distraction - the cats are the real target. Who’d want a diamond when you can have a whole bunch of cats?
A hundred cats, though? That’s evidently a much more populated area than I’d thought. Also, considering a hundred cats just got stolen, it’s a bit surprising Hanae lets Capone go out for a stroll on page 104, though I suspect that’s going to be important to the solution.
You mean, the guy with the freaky eyes? I caught that from the character introduction page. I’d almost peg that as being too obvious, though this is a kids’ book.
Can someone explain ねずみひげ? Aside from being the name for his moustache style, I’ve not the foggiest idea what it means, exactly. Google just gives me photos of mice.
Also, can we talk about the Easter Bunny and Zorro on pages 108-109? Who on earth decided the trio on the previous page were the only suspicious ones?
I took it literally: mustache like mouse whiskers. Don’t know if there’s anything more specific beyond that.
As for what I took notice of, nope, not the eyes.
Well, if you don’t mind a direct answer, page 106 it’s stated that everyone outside of the three are from around the neighborhood. I’m just trying to figure out, is this a costume affair or isn’t it? I’m getting mixed signals from the crowd.
Maybe someone who read the first book and thought it didn’t have enough cats, so they committed a cat crime to get more cats into the second book…
Oh, nono, I got that. That was a joke on how being a local automatically removes them from suspicion. I mean, the painter back in the first case was a local.
I figured the idea here is that Mouse isn’t from the neighborhood, so anyone recognized as being from the neighborhood cannot be Mouse. Thus, Mouse must be one of the three non-locals. (Although, based on book one, I’d say one of the suspects doesn’t measure up to Mouse’s stature.)
I have just seen the drawing of pg110* while trying to figure out which page was last this week and after reading this oh my god! I can say some interesting events are awaiting us next week. I am hyped
Also, I have been coming up with the form なんて
quite a lot. What is the meaning of it? examples at pg102
まったくおなじ日に事件がふたつなんて。
ねこどろぼうなんて, こまっちゃうよ。
Lastly, on the same page, I believe both とにかく and ともかく have the same meaning “anyway”
is there are a reason they are written differently?
An alternative meaning for ねずみ is “dark grey”, so I assumed it was just the colour of his moustache, rather than an exciting name for mouse-like facial hair. ひげ can also mean whiskers, so I imagine searching the whole phrase is effectively like looking up “mouse whiskers”.
Right? Totally bizarre range of outfits
You know, I had blithely followed along with this logic completely happily until I saw it written down like this - who says Mouse isn’t a local? Nobody knows what they look like or where they live…
Not that I’m aware - presumably they have some different nuance, but I think they’re largely similar. I’m not sure I’ve actually seen ともかく before - とにかく seems much more common - which suggests the former has some special connotation to have been included here. I think it has more of a “that aside” vibe, contrasting with the previous statement - indeed that’s one of it’s alternative actual uses - where とにかく is more of a generic “anyway, moving on”.
Hi and welcome to “radish8’s most hated words in Japanese”. To be fair, I’m becoming more comfortable with most of them, but they still hold a special place in my heart.
なんて can be used in a couple of ways. I feel I most often see it used to mean “or something; such things as; or whatever”. Sentences like “apples and oranges and so on”. “It was a snake or something”.
It can also be used to mean “what” in the emphasis sense, so you might say “what a big house”. I think it can also come near the end of a sentence/phrase for simple emphasis.
Finally, it can be used more literally to mean “what”, as in “what did she say?”.
Oh yes, I completely agree that it’s on purpose. Suspect one is sparkly, suspect two has cat eyes, suspect three has “mouse whiskers”. I just think it’s one of those slightly mixed meaning words; like how we might use “whiskers” literally to refer to somebody’s facial hair, and you can describe a person’s hair as “mousy”.
That’s true, I suppose she’d recognise them if it was someone local she knew. Okay, I’m back to being totally happy with this approach!
My understanding: The stage was behind the container and when all the cats came up to the stage, the doors of the truck closed and all cats were kidnapped.
I’m not able to imagine this set-up…? How were the stage and the truck set up, so that the cats were instantly taken just by closing the doors of the truck? Does this somehow mean the cats were kinda already inside the container…?
Otherwise I really have to wonder HOW they managed to get about a hundred cats into the truck? I mean… we all know what kind of personaities cats have… they just willingly let themselves be taken into a container? Not just two or three of them but a hunrdred? Neverrrrr.
I was imagining the stage set up inside a lorry, probably with the side of the lorry open?
Like this?
Not sure how you’d close the lorry up quick enough to make off with a hundred cats without anybody stopping you (or half the cats escaping)! This one is pretty fancy though - there are also ones where the stage is situated entirely inside the body of the lorry, and you just open up one side to see in (perhaps opening up the other side for rear access).
Inspector Kuroboshi sends a message, and in response a patrol car is urgently dispatched, but the truck with the cars can by no means be found. The inspector says despite being busy, he is worrying about the cat thief. He says he has to go and says something about tonight - “I’ve entrusted tonight” (maybe saying that hopefully tonight will bring some answers?). He expresses that there are two incidents on exactly the same day (just in case we hadn’t clicked they might be connected!)
刑事さんも変装してまざっているらしい。
Which I think says The inspector also is wearing a disguise and appearing to blend in. . Except he looks exactly the same as the last few pages!
I read it the same way, and thought the same thing. But I agree with @Belthazar’s assessment. I’m glad this was brought up, or I would have missed it completely.
Not sure how loose you were being with the summary, but I would say he “expresses amazement / frustration” that there are two incidents on the same day.
I wasn’t sure about the sentence construction for that 今晩たのんだよ bit, but I understood it as him referring to the request he’d made earlier that Hanae attend the party. Something like “I’m relying on you tonight”, but in the past because he’d entrusted her with the request previously?? Maybe more clunkily in English “This evening I entrust(ed) to you”.
I did not notice that at all! Eagle eyes…