The New Kindaichi Files 2: Murder On Line

244 Pages·27.26 MB·English

by  Seimaru Amagi, 天樹 征丸, Yuriko Tamaki

MURDER
ON-LINE
bySeimaru Amagi
llustratedbyFutTliya SatO
m TranslatedbyYuHkOTamaki
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The New Kindaichi Files 2
Murder On-line

THE NEW
K1NDA1CH1 FILES 2
Murder On-line
by
SeimaruAmagi
Illustrated by
Fumiya Sato
Translated by
Yuriko Tamaki
Kodansha International
PublishedbyKodansha InternationalLtd.,
17-14Otowa 1-chome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
112-8652. First published in Japanese by
Kodansha Ltd., under the title Kindaichi
shonen nojikenbo, dennosansosatsujinjiken,
©
copyright 1996bySeimaruAmagi. Eng-
©
lishtranslationcopyright 1998byKodan-
sha International Ltd. All rights reserved.
Printed inJapan.
ISBN 4-7700-2315-4
Firstedition, 19^8
CONTENTS
Prologue 7
Chapter 1
SevenHandleNames 13
Chapter2
UninvitedGuests 31
Chapter3
The Trojan Horse 60
Chapter4
PerfectAlibis 86
Chapter5
A
PosthumousOn-line Message 115
Chapter6
The Truth 154
Epilogue 194
Notes 199
•THE MAIN CHARACTERS'
Hajime Kindaichi Miyuki Nanase InspectorIsamu
Kenmochi
Prologue
A
peaceful morning in late summer.
A well-built young man with close-cropped
hairturned intoaside streetandenteredacoffee
shop.
The aroma ofroasting coffee beans filled the
room.Theyoungmangaveaquickglancearound
before sitting at a table next to a large window.
He wanted to be able to see outside. Only half
the eight tables were occupied. He was the fifth
customer.
As the waiter came to take his order, the
young man looked around again. There was a
youth with the air ofa college senior in the job-
hunting season hurriedly eatinghis toast; a man
in his seventies reading the morning paper; two
women in their thirties with heavy makeup
chatteringnonstop, probably on theirwayhome
aftertaking theirchildren tokindergarten.
The young man had arranged to meet a
teenage girl here. She had called him last night,
hervoicequivering, andhad threatened tocom-
mit suicide. He didn't know her and thought it
was some sort ofprank atfirst. Whenhe realized
she was serious, he tried desperately to talk her
out ofit.
The girl said she wanted to meet him, and
toldhim to be at this coffee shop at 8:30 the fol-
lowing morning. Then she'dhungup.
So here he was on the outskirts oftown.
I doubt she'll come, he thought, as he took a
sip ofhotcoffee. Maybe itwas ajoke, ormaybe I
managed to coax her out ofit. Ifshe comes, I'll
do everything I can to stop her.
Theyoungmanhadhis ownreasonsforwant-
ing to help the girl. He wanted to rid himselfof
the guilt he had been feeling for the past few
months.
Six monthsbefore, he hadbeen a teacherat a
private high school in Tokyo. He really cared
about his job and his students, with the result
that he was sometimes too strict. But that was
his wayr He did not want to be like some col-
leagues ofhis who would do anything to avoid a
confrontation.
One day, astudent ofhiswas caughtbypolice