Human beings live
Human beings fall.
There is no convenient shortcut
to save human beings, except that.
(From "Discourse on Decadence" by Sakaguchi Ango)
Sensei~! What is it?
Ho... look! A lot of riots in villages all over the country. There were even burnings.
Complaints about the draft and tax hikes...
That's really terrible. The government people are in trouble too, aren't they?
Yes, Okubo and Saigou are at loggerheads.
On top of that, the anger of the samurai is rising.
The government is split in two over what to do about it.
- The situation in the Meiji government was getting worse and worse, but...
(Thunder rumbling and knocking on the door)
Is that the young master? I wonder what's wrong with O-Mie
(Thunder rumbling) Hee~!
(banging on the door)
My dear...eh?
Oh, yes, welcome home.
I beg your pardon.
No, the young master, thank you for your hard work until late.
Ah, where's O-Mie...?
She didn't come out.
What is it? Is it the well, sir?
(Thunder rumbling) Oh, no!
Case 6 I See The Lightning
You heard it here, didn't you?
Yes, that's right.
I didn't call you here today.
Yes, Katsuie asked me to come.
Did you find O-Mie?
What is it to you?
Her name is O-Kane, she is live-in maid for the Katsuie family.
HAMANO MIE
She was a childhood friend of Hamano Mie, the maid who works here.
I'm the detective Toranosuke Izumiyama Toranosuke. This is my partner...
Fukuhara-san. - Can you tell us what happened since yesterday?
Ah, 32-year-old Hamano Mie, the Matriarch's maid, has been missing since last night,
MORI YUYA
but just after midnight last night, the Mori family's eldest son, Yuya, came home from school after stopping by a friend's house,
and was met at the door by the head servant of the family, Yokozawa Takeo.
Right after that, they heard a noise at the well.
A sound? Yes.
It's too dark to see anything.
We searched the well in the morning, but found nothing.
Then what was the sound?
It was probably the sound of something being dropped.
They were trying to make you think that someone had fallen.
Probably.
That plate was displayed in the guest room.
It's Nabeshima ware. It's worth at least 500 yen.
At the start of the Meiji era, the Japanese government created the Yen as a common currency in Japan. The Yen was pegged to the Mexican dollar, which was equivalent to the US dollar. So the plate was worth 500 US dollars at the time, which is worth over $10,000 in today's money.
5...500 yen?
Mr. and Mrs. Yokozawa and the maidservant O-Mie were the only ones in the house.
Yes, that's correct
Didn't anyone notice that the plate was broken?
- I'm embarrassed to say that my wife and I don't like thunderstorms...
so on days like yesterday, we stay indoors early.
Forgive us... for giving you such a difficult time.
Who is this?
This is one of the servants, Tokita.
This is the detective, Yuki Shinjuro-san.
I've heard the story. Masa, and O-Mie...
Tokita-san, where were you last night?
Yes, I had the first night off in a long time,
so I was drinking with my friend Yoshikawa.
Did you happen to notice anything strange about O-Mie-san?
Not really...
There aren't many people in this house, are there?
Yes, the Master and Mistress are currently on a long inspection tour in Hakodate.
Yuya-sama, the retainer, is taking care of matters
Alone...?
Yes.
I'm sorry, but the young master has an exam tomorrow,
so may we be excused now?
No, it's about the family
Don't worry about it. No, but...
Alright?
I got it.
I'm sorry. If you'll excuse me.
This is O-Mie's room.
It's so neat.
O-Mie has always been a very serious girl.
Growing up in the same tenement, she was like a little sister to me...
and even now, she sometimes comes to my place...
O-Kane-san... Oh, O-Mie, are you running an errand today?
Yes. Would you like some tea?
Oh, O-Mie-san. Just in time. Let's eat dango.
Yes!
O-Mie... where are you...
(crying voice)
In other words, O-Mie tried to steal the family heirloom plate,
broke it, got scared, made it look like she fell down the well,
and ran away.
Yes, I think that's reasonable. Is that the shallow thinkin of a poor maid?
Bancho Sarayashiki (The Dish Mansion at Bancho) is a Japanese ghost story, all versions of the tale revolve around a servant, after breaking a valuable plate, dies unjustly and returns to haunt the living.
So it's a fugitive drama disguised as the Bancho Sarayashiki.
That's for sure.
Shinjuro-san, he's peering again today.
Hey, can you find out where O-Mie-san is by looking at that?
Excuse me, is Yuki-sama here?
O-Sen-san, what's wrong?
WIFE OF YOKOZAWA O-SEN
Tokita's disappeared.
This is Tokita's room.
Is there anything missing from the house?
No, nothing in particular.
When was the last time you saw Tokita-san?
I called out to him when I was closing the door last night.
A maid and a servant are missing...
what on earth is going on?
I have no idea.
Yuya-san and Tokita-san aren't from Tokyo, are they?
When the two of them were talking, they had a slight accent.
Don't worry about it. I got it.
Both the young master and Tokita are originally from Ibaraki.
They came from a branch family in Ibaraki.
Both of them...
Is Yuya-san the only son of the Mori family?
The young master was adopted from a Mori branch family.
Is that so?
Tokita was in the service of the young master there,
but last year, there was a riot
and the house of the branch family where he belonged to was burned to the ground...
the young master's parents died there.
So the head of the family here took Yuya in.
O-Mie-san, I wonder if she went to Ibaraki with Tokita-san...
Why?
The two of them were in love.
Huh? No, it wasn't like that...
Tokita-san may have run away to Ibaraki with O-Mie-san to protect her.
Surely, the very path of love...!
Huh...!
What the heck is she saying? Who knows?
SAIGO TAKAMORI RESIDENCE
I'm here today because I'm worried about the two of you from Satsuma.
Is that so?
Both the samurai and the peasants are in distress right now.
In such a situation, if you and Lord Okubo, the pillars of this nation, were to part ways,
this nation would be shaken to its core.
In order to create this new world, we had to end the samurai world of the past.
But even if you ask them to find another profession,
they won't be able to change so suddenly.
They wanted to live as samurai and die as samurai.
And Lord Okubo is about to abandon them.
We have to make this country stronger as soon as possible!
Wasn't it for the sake of the government of the people?
There is no such thing!
Hahahahaha...
What is it?
Katsu-sensei, you've always been blessed by people.
What? What do you mean?
Interesting people are gathering around me.
You're always showing me where the times are headed, aren't you?
No, I've just been running along the path I believe in...
Thanks to you, I think I have a better idea of what I should do.
Bide your time, for a while
Any news on Tokita-san after that?
I'm afraid not. I see.
Tokita's been by my side ever since I was in Ibaraki.
I couldn't trust anyone but Tokita...
I envy you, Yuki-san. Me?
Yeah, you have so many friends.
Oh~! I'll try to be useful, too.
Ambitious.
What kind of ambition do you have, Shinjuro-san?
Huh...
Yuya-san, I will definitely find the both of them.
So please devote yourself to your studies.
Thank you very much.
Uhm, Yuki-sama.
O-Sen-san.
Please forgive me.
Actually, there's something I failed to mention.
What is it?
About two weeks ago, I saw Tokita and O-Mie talking about something serious.
Will you forgive me?
(Thunder rumbling)
A little more this way.
Is there something on your mind?
How did you and Katsu-san get together?
What's gotten into you?
No, I was just wondering how you connect with your significant other.
That man was very enthusiastic.
Enthusiastic? Yes.
No matter if it was raining or snowing, he waited outside all day until my party was over.
No matter what time of day it was, he would walk beside me.
That's how I knew I wanted to be with this person.
How nice...
It means we can never be apart.
Will you forgive me?
Something strange.
I too will accompanying you to Ibaraki... I'm fine!
We can never be apart... We can never be apart... We can never be apart...
Are you okay? Eh? ! Yes, yes!
It's for O-Kane-san's sake.
Just come right out and say it.
You just want to be with Shinjuro, don't you?
What?
That hurt...
What's wrong?
No, it's just that Rie-dono is....
It seems a bee landed on Toranosuke-sama's face and the young lady swatted it away
That's right.
(Thundering) Ah~! Ah...
Let's go
I think I won't come along after all!
What are you talking about after coming all the way here?
I hate thunder~.
Ah~! If you don't hurry, I'll leave you here.
Wait a minute! Oh no! Ah!
Come on, you can carry it yourself. I don't want to.
Let's go before it rains.
Do you know this servant of the Mori family, Tokita-san?
Yes, I remember him well.
Mori-san's son was so unruly that Tokita and another young servant
used to go around cleaning up his mess.
It took two people?
Well, that young man also died in the commotion.
What was that young man's name?
Takada... or was it Yosuke?
Thank you.
Yuya-dono, was he such a violent man?
His parents were killed, so he turned over a new leaf.
And now, neither O-Mie-san nor Tokita are here, and there are no clues...
What is it with you guys?
You Satcho* dogs! *Satsuma and Choshu
Wait! We're here to talk.
There's nothing to talk about.
You guys killed my brother!
Get back! I won't forgive you!
Rie-san!
Are you okay? Yes.
You can't be so reckless as to try to fight them with that umbrella.
I'm sorry...
(thunder rumbling) Aaah! Aah!
Let's hurry up and get to the inn.
Toranosuke. Uh?
Please take Rie-san to the inn. - Eh?
I still have a place to go. I'll see you later.
Who are you?
I'm back.
How was Ibaraki?
I was attacked while walking in a local village.
He said the police killed his brothers during the revolt...
I couldn't find Tokita-san and the others.
I see... That's...
That's a tough time...
How did you do?
Well...
Saigou and I used to talk face to face until we
understood each other in order to protect Edo from war.
I can understand his mind.
So if we meet and talk, I'm sure we can find a plan... but...
You can't find it?
I guess so...
Saigou cares too much about people.
Okubo is in a hurry to catch up with the West.
Both are right.
But now they can't trust each other.
Doubt will eventually turn to hatred for each other.
That's what makes it so difficult.
People... and countries...
Satcho dogs! You guys are the ones who killed my brother!
They can't trust each other anymore.
Distrust...
(Thunder rumbling)
Alright, begin. Yes
Wait a minute.
I found out who did it.
Cul... Culprit?
First of all, the approach to the whole mystery was the broken dish.
Didn't O-Mie-san break the plate? No.
The murderer broke it in order to hide O-Mie-san's disappearance.
Hide her disappearance...?
What do you mean, "the murderer"?
O-Mie-san was killed on the night of the thunderstorm by Tokita-san, the servant of this house.
Tokita! She was killed!
That's a lie...
It's true.
But Tokita went home at dawn after drinking with a man named Yoshikawa that night.
He wasn't in this house at the time of O-Mie's disappearance.
Yes. That's what we were led to believe.
Yoshikawa-san loses his memory as soon as he drinks.
Tokita-san knew that and went out for a drink with Yoshikawa-san,
aiming for the night of thunder when you two, who hate thunder,
would be holed up in your room.
See you later.
After that, Tokita-san got Yoshikawa-san drunk, slipped out of the place,
and broke in from the back of the Mori house.
(Screams)
He killed O-Mie-san.
Tokita-san then hid the body in the room's closet
Then he put the plate on the floor, broke it apart quietly, and put it near the kitchen door.
Why would he do that...
This is a cover-up orchestrated by the murderers to hide something important.
Murderers? He wasn't alone?
Yes, weren't they...
Yuya-san?
What... what are you talking about?
You were also Tokita-san's accomplice
What? Why would I do that?
That day, Yuya-san definitely studied at school,
dropped by a friend's house, and came home late at night.
He deliberately delayed his arrival and knocked on the door to open it.
Tokita-san takes this as a signal to drop a large stone into the well.
With this, both Tokita-san and Yuya-san
pretended that they were not at home when O-Mie-san disappeared.
No way...
Isn't that right, Yuya-san?
Why would I do that?
That's because you are not Mori Yuya-san,
you are Takada Yosuke-san.
Ta... Takada!
What are you talking about?
I heard from a priest who knows about the branch family that the son that family, Mori Yuya-san,
was a violent man who could not be helped.
Are you sure you're talking about the young master?
Yes, that unruly Mori Yuya-san was being taken care of by Tokita-san
and Takada Yosuke-san, or rather, you
I borrowed this from your mother.
Who are you?
What is this...? How...?
When Yuya-san was killed in the riot, Tokita-san advised you
to become Mori Yuya and return to the main family.
And since the main family and the branch family had long since split up and Tokita-san guaranteed your identity,
no one suspected this impersonation.
It's a lie, isn't it? Young master.
However, O-Mie-san probably found out the truth at some point.
So you and Tokita-san plotted
to kill O-Mie-san her to make it look like she escaped.
Then where is the dead body?
Samejima-san, can you dig up the well?
But the well has already been dug once... I am requesting it.
O-Mie... Oh my god...
Let the police dig up the well once, make sure there's nothing there,
then drop the dead body and have it buried.
This must be Tokita-san's idea too.
If so, why is Tokita dead?
DISTRUST.
Tokita-san couldn't believe it anymore... did he?
What the hell, you...
I noticed it during the lightning.
You fell by the well.
Young Master! Please tell me it's not true!
The Master was really happy that you succeeded him.
I was scared...
In the middle of the riot...
Young Master... It's already too late.
Why...
It's payback for being so selfish.
MORI YUYA
Yo...su...ke...
young master...
Yuya-sama passed away.
But I heard that someone from the main family would be coming soon.
If I didn't do something, I'd be blamed for leaving Yuya-sama to die.
Then, Tokita-san...
You're the young master now.
None of the people from the main family know what you look like.
If you do, you can go to school in Tokyo.
It's now or never.
I always wanted to go to Tokyo to study.
So I came to the main family and lived as Mori Yuya...
and everyone was so kind...
and I was so happy it was unbelievable.
But I was scared that they would find out.
And then, when O-Mie-san read the letter Tokita-san had written, she found out.
Yes.
Tokita-san said he'd take care of it...
I was terrified to find out that he killed her...
Then why did you even...
I tried to turn myself in.
But he said he wouldn't...
and then he tried to drop O-Mie-san's body into the well...
In an attempt to stop him, Tokita-san fell down the well...
Here is Tokita-san's letter.
It was sent when he sent money to Yosuke's mother.
"Yosuke is well taken care of by everyone in the Mori family in Tokyo
and is doing well at school. Please don't worry about him.
Delicious? Yes, it is
You lost Tokita-san like that.
I'm sorry...
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry...
Yuya-sama... (Sobbing)
I'm really... sorry.
Yosuke-san.
Please continue to study hard.
But...
O-Mie-san, Tokita-san, they can't come back
I want you to live to make amends to them.
The lightning bolt illuminated you.
It told you to walk the path of sincerity.
In other words, Takada Yosuke aided and abetted Tokita's murder,
and even fought with him to the death.
But Yosuke did not kill Tokita.
He worked hard at his studies and was loved by his family...
I want him to walk the path of sincerity.
I didn't hear anything.
What? !
To find the path, one must stray.
"Sincerity is the path of heaven".
Lord Saigo...
Katsu-san, I've decided to return to Kagoshima.
If I stay in the government, there will be unnecessary quarrels.
I see.
I would like to ask Okubo to do the same for me.
He's too concerned about appearances.
Hahahaha, that's right.
It's not that he's bad.
He is a man who is needed in this new era.
You believe in Okubo, don't you?
Yes, I believe that I have been faithful in my own way.
So I've decided to leave here.
I hope we can meet again.
I hope so too, O-Min-san.
Well then...
Katsu-sensei, please take care of yourself.
Yes.
Saigou-san, you too.
Yes.
Yuki-don, please be sincere to Katsu-sensei as well.
I'm sure you can do that.
Saigou-san is going back to Kagoshima.
I don't know if I'll ever see him again...
You shouldn't knead it too much. That's right.
That's too big to cut, O-Ito-chan
Yes, I'll change it
It's baked.
It smells good.
Hey! O-Kane's back.
O-Kane-san, over here.
What's this?
Rie-dono and the others made it. They want you to be cheerful.
O-Kane-san, please don't be discouraged.
The other day, Master gave me these cookies. They're really sweet.
I'd like to try them.
Oh, next time I get some, I'll save some for you too.
Really? Thank you very much! Yay~.
(sobbing)
Thank you very much.
Thanks to Shinjuro-sama...
O-Mie will be able to rest in peace...
(sobbing)
Ah~ Don't let your tears ruin the mood. Let's eat!
Come on, come on, please.
Yes, I'll eat it.
Delicious. - I'm glad!
I'm glad.
It looks like they're having fun.
Yeah.
(laughs)
Now then.
What's going to happen to the government now that Saigou-san is gone?
I don't know.
*the saying means adversity strengthens the foundations
But it might be like the weather...
"the rain falls and the ground hardens"*
What? How will it harden?
I don't know.
And that's the end of this discussion.
Shinjuro-san.
Um... thank you for this.
Please hold on to this.
Eh...
Hey, there are still some biscuits...
They're in the middle of something important right now. You really have a sense of bad timing
Case 7 THE FINAL MOVE