Tokyo Mystery Writers

Chapter 94: A Stunning Scene

Hearing Maijo Kyosuke's explanation of "Summer of the Ubume," Eri Ryu gained a deeper understanding of the story.

At the same time, I also understand why I felt a sense of astonishment after reading "The Summer of the Ubume" and learning the whole truth, which I didn't have in other books.

It turns out that not only did Maijo Kyosuke set up multiple mysteries to be solved all at once in the last 150 pages of the book, but he also set up the unreliable narrator "Sekiguchi Tatsumi" to achieve a double explosion of the truth!

As the truth is revealed in two ways, all the foreshadowing from before is recycled and reused, pushing the story to its climax!

Thinking of all this, Jiang Liumei smiled, her eyes filled with joy and admiration as she looked at Maishiro Kyosuke!

If we say that "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" is a masterpiece that only a demon could have possessed by Kyosuke Maijo, then...

"A Bellflower" is a stroke of genius by Kyosuke Maijo, a new bottle for old wine, born from a burst of inspiration.

"Convergence" is a wildly imaginative work that combines Schrödinger's cat with the whimsical idea of ​​quantum entanglement.

So, "Summer of the Ubume" is a masterpiece by which Kyosuke Maijo showcases his skills to all Japanese mystery writers!

The riddles in the sky, coupled with a lot of "showy knowledge" to support the story, and the metaphor of the Guhuoniao bird to represent people, successfully confused mental problems with supernatural events, adding a lot of horror to the riddles, and making people wonder if there really are supernatural forces in the story.

Just when readers think that ghosts and monsters really exist in the story, the author uses a lot of foreshadowing and amazing sophistry to bring the mystery back to reality and give the most unexpected answer in this framework!

Jiang Liu Meili admired him immensely for his extraordinary imagination and amazing planning skills, and was even more grateful that she had met the reasoning genius, Mai Shiro Kyosuke, at the most opportune time!

If... I had been unlucky enough to be poached by another publishing house and ended up on the opposite side of Maishiro Kyosuke, I'm afraid I wouldn't have had time to resign before long!

Fortunately, everything is moving in a positive direction.

Jiang Liumei shrugged, opened her notebook, and skillfully began to draw her own six-dimensional radar diagram of reasoning.

"There's almost nothing to say about Maishiro-sensei's writing style. She manages to integrate a large amount of complex neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and yokai studies into her stories without making the reader feel tired at all. This is already a top-notch writing style, so the writing style category gets 100 points."

"For the second point of resonance, I would also give it 100 points, because although it was despicable for Ryoko Kuonji to kill the baby with a stone."

"But it was under immense pressure from multiple sources that she transformed into the terrifying Ubume! She was once a mother, but she witnessed her own child being brutally killed by her mother and then preserved in a jar containing formaldehyde!"

"In the end, it's not Ryoko's fault, nor Jigo, nor their mother Kikuno's fault. It's the tragedy of a backward era. As women of the Kuonji family, they were destined to be unable to escape the curse of the Kuonji family. So I feel that their pity outweighs their hatred. Under this emotional resonance, I have to give full marks to the resonance category."

Jiang Liu Meili looked at the logic on the six-dimensional radar chart, then looked up at Maishiro Kyosuke who was looking at her and smiled:

"As for logic? Mr. Mai, although I really like your work 'Summer of the Ubume,' my evaluation of a work has always been very critical and rigorous."

"I give 'The Summer of the Ubume' zero points for its logic, because the entire story is piled up on the sophistry of the detective you wrote, namely 'Kyogoku-do,' and the truth is revealed by a 'charlatan'-like person. Under such circumstances, the so-called logic simply cannot stand up!"

"As for the trick on the other side of the chart, it's the same principle. Mu Lang's so-called disappearance in the secret room is just as foul as the 'Convergence' you gave me, Teacher Wu Cheng!"

"Although both provide very meticulously crafted locked-room mysteries, the locked room in 'The Convergence' can be opened by anyone, so it's not a locked room at all. The locked room in 'Summer of the Ubume' is even more outrageous; the corpse isn't even moved; it's just blatantly placed in the room!"

"Therefore, the score for 'trickery' is also zero!"

Jiang Liumei drew a straight line on the aspect of temperament:

"His temperament is impeccable, without a doubt, especially the exorcist and detective Kyogoku-do in the story."

"When Ryoko's personality transformed into Kyoko, and Kyogoku grabbed Ryoko by the neck and said, 'You're not the one I want to see! Get out of my way!' I thought that was incredibly cool!"

After Jiang Liumei finished speaking, she added two more strokes to the six-dimensional diagram, completing the six-dimensional radar diagram for the reasoning of "Summer of the Ubume".

"The final lingering impression is also a perfect score of 100, because the work 'Summer of the Ubume' has contributed so many amazing and memorable scenes."

"For example, the terrifying atmosphere after Enokizu Reijiro and Sekiguchi Tatsumi open the door to the secret room."

"Kyogoku-do appears to be chanting incantations to exorcise demons, but in reality, he is using his own methods to conduct 'psychological reasoning' on all members of the Kuonji family."

"When Gengzi's body reached its limit, her stomach burst open, and Sekiguchi Tatsumi had a peculiar vision of Gengzi giving birth to Makirou."

"The eerie thing about Makirou is that he witnesses his wife, Kyoko, having an affair with Naito, yet he still wears a smile on his face."

"The shocking scene of Ryoko killing the mother who murdered her child, and Ryoko standing in the pouring rain holding her baby, transforming into the Ubume!"

"Although this is a mystery novel, it felt like watching an extremely long movie. Whenever I thought about these scenes, I could always imagine the corresponding scenes in my mind!"

"That alone is enough for me to give 'The Summer of the Ubume' a perfect score for its lingering aftertaste!"

After Jiang Liumei finished speaking, she closed her notebook and fell into a brief silence.

Just as Maishiro Kyosuke was wondering what was wrong with Jiang Liu Meili, he saw that Jiang Liu Meili's face was unusually flushed, as if it were about to drip water:

"Ms. Mai, I have another question I'd like to ask you..."

Maishiro Kyosuke raised one eyebrow, puzzled.

"What's the problem?"

Jiang Liumei gently bit her lower lip and said somewhat embarrassedly:

"It's about... Tatsumi Sekiguchi... Ryoko... is there anything between them?"

Maishiro Kyosuke was momentarily stunned by Jiang Liu Meili's words.

"That one? Which one?"

When Jiang Liu Meili heard Mai Cheng Jingjie's questioning, she bit her lower lip even harder:

"That's the one, right? Teacher Maijo hinted at it many times in the story through Tatsumi Sekiguchi, wasn't it?"

"When Tatsumi Sekiguchi was delivering a love letter to Ogiko, he encountered Ryoko, who was under the influence of datura and was being violated by the perverted doctor Hiroyuki Kanno."

"Tatsumi Sekiguchi said that Ryoko seemed very open-minded at the time, and it was clear that she was trying to seduce him."

"Furthermore, in the story, Tatsumi Sekiguchi often says that he feels sorry for Ryoko."

"So, Ms. Maishiro...did Tatsumi Sekiguchi and Ryoko actually do *that* back then?"

"Is it possible that the baby in Ryoko's belly isn't Maki's, but Sekiguchi's?"

Jiang Liu Meili looked at Mai Cheng Jingjie with a mixture of curiosity and shyness, clearly eager to know the other truth hidden within the story...