Week 4: 笑わない数学者 - Mathematical Goodbye (S&M Vol.3)

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笑わない数学者 - Mathematical Goodbye (S&M Vol.3) Home Thread

Week 4

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Start Date: Jan 15th
Previous Part: Week 3
Next Part: Week 5

Reading:

Week Start Date Chapter Page Count
Week 4 Jan 15th Chapter 4 ~42

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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  • I’m reading along
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  • I am no longer reading the book

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Proper Noun Readings

Previous Proper Nouns
Name Reading Notes Proof
犀川 創平 さいかわ そうへい (Week 1)
西之園 萌絵 にしのその もえ
片山 和樹 かたやま かずき Moe’s classmate
天王寺 翔蔵 てんのうじ しょうぞう Professor, grandfather of 片山 和樹
西之園 恭輔 にしのその きょうすけ Moe’s deceased father
湯川 ゆかわ Architecture researcher
天王寺 律子 てんのうじ りつこ Wife of 天王寺 宗太郎; actress
天王寺 俊一 てんのうじ しゅんいち Son of 天王寺 宗太郎 and 律子; genius mathematician; actor
鈴木 昇 すずき のぼる Driver; his mother works for the professor
天王寺 宗太郎 てんのうじ そうたろう Professor’s eldest son; mathematician; famous author; deceased
片山 亮子 かたやま りょうこ Professor’s daughter; 和樹’s mother; 俊一’s aunt; widow; relationship with 湯川
片山 基生 かたやま きせい 亮子’s deceased husband; 和樹’s father; architect who designed the remodelling of 三ッ星館; died of cancer
鈴木 君枝 すずき きみえ Professor’s housemaid
片山 志保 かたやま しほ 和樹’s older sister
諏訪野 すわの Moe’s butler
Name Reading Notes Proof
鈴木 彰 すずき あきら 昇’s father
萩原 はぎわら Police officer investigating the case on-premise
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This week's discussion and further speculations

This week was rather calm, no dramatic events :slight_smile:

But some interesting conversations and little things:

  • Moe arrived at the same conclusion as @miwuc (I think?) in that Shun’ichi was killed by accident because he made too much of a racket trying to get into his mother’s room. Congrats! That was a good call.
    (But it’s still pretty early in the book, so maybe this is a red herring after all and will later be dismantled by Saikawa?)

  • They talked about the professor’s son (Soutarou) dying in that car accident 12 years ago, and everything (including a manuscript of his latest book) going up in flames, and the same or the next day Noboru’s father disappearing. And all of a sudden 4 years later Noboru’s father sends the manuscript to Ryouko (iirc?)… Saikawa had the right instinct by asking whether the corpse in the car was really Soutarou, but then this thread was not developed further. What if it was not Soutarou but actually Noboru’s father in the car? And Soutarou rewrote the manuscript during those 4 years and sent it to Ryouko to publish it in his name? Why not to his wife? Would it be too obvious? Or would she not be able to handle the money well? :thinking: Confusing… Or maybe another red herring… :woman_shrugging:

  • Also, Noboru. There is still nothing that disproves that he could have been the murderer… even his fingerprints were on the murder weapon for Shun’ichi - maybe because he cleaned the room the day before but maybe because he set this up? …
    (Still the question remains how he could have moved the near-unconscious Ritsuko to the statue through the window by himself - brute force? -, and how he could have returned to her room without being seen - sheer luck?)

  • Just now I thought, what if Noboru knows that Soutarou killed his father, and he wants to revenge him by killing Soutaro’s wife? And his son? So was Shun’ichi’s murder maybe not accidental but in fact on purpose?

  • Also, Noboru heard that motorbike engine sound and confirmed it to the police. But if he is the culprit, then this may well be constructed altogether… Did anybody else hear the engine at night? I don’t recall…

  • We finally get to see the other side of the building (as the helicopter lands there). As I thought, it is flat concrete, just as the other side of the building, so nothing kills the theory of the rotating room so far. Even Saikawa starts to notice that the two side domes are equipped identically, with identical fans under the ceilings…

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Ha, yeah I noticed that too :blush:

And indeed it’s confirmed there’s another gate on that side…

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I’m grateful for the list of characters we have here in the threads :raised_hands: Things got a bit confusing when they talked about who were there 12 years ago when the the statue disappeared. So many father figures, I couldn’t remember who all of them were or the reading of their names, so having the list is quite useful :+1:

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Glad that it helps you find your way around the characters! I am also very happy about the list, I keep it open most of the time when reading this book :joy_cat:

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Your hypothesis of Noboru and Kazuki being siblings seems to be on the right track? Saikawa noticed multiple times how similar they looked when they played billiard :smiley:

The professorin the basement is very mysterious. I’m excited to see what role he’ll play in the end!

Trying to up my speed to two chapters per day, but ended up being short 5 pages yesterday.

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