「これは記憶媒体？」
「記憶じゃない、思い出だよ」
『名探偵コナン 純黒の悪夢』
"Is it a memory stick?"
"It's not memory storage... it's a memory."
"Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare"
It is no secret that I am a fan of puzzle plot mystery stories that feature supernatural powers, or fantasy or science-fiction elements. Some might mistakenly think that these "unrealistic" elements make a true fair puzzle plot impossible, but that is no true: as long there's consistency in what's possible in the specific world, a puzzle plot mystery works, whether it's our "real" world or a world where people can teleport and walk through walls. The key is of course to use the non-realistic elements to come up with a mystery story you couldn't otherwise, to utilize the tools specific to that world to create a plot that follows the internal rules, like the Three Laws of Robotics or specific rules to casting magic. Today's book is another interesting example of a puzzle plot mystery that uses a supernatural setting.
This is funnily enough not even the first time I've seen psychometry used in a mystery story. The manga Psychometrer EIJI is pretty famous, written by the author of Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo. I've also reviewed the videogame Glass Rose in the past, wich had a protagonist who could read memories from people and objects. The power to read an object's memory might sound like a cheat for a detective story: an esper could just read the murder weapon and see what happened, right? Imamura however manages to do a few interesting things with the device of psychometry that makes this short story collection a worthwhile read. First of all, given that Yukari's just a high school student, Shinsuke obviously can't just take evidence with him to have Yukari touch it. But besides this practical reason, there's also a structural reason why psychometry isn't a cheat here. What Imamura does here is build her stories around a crucial contradiction between the facts as the police confirm them, and what Yukari learns through her psychometric powers. While the methods differ, the facts obtained from both sides are treated equal, and the mystery of these tales thus revolve around why there's a contradiction between these facts.
The opening story, 3-ji 10-pun no Shi ("Death at 3:10"), is by far the best story in the collection. One of her first friends Yukari made when she moved to Tokyo was Sanae, who worked at the flower shop, and she, or to be exact, her boyfriend Junpei is in trouble. Junpei's wealthy uncle was killed, and he is the main suspect, especially as a neighbor says he saw Junpei leave the house in the middle of the night. His alibi that he was with Sanae isn't trusted by the police, but Yukari learns that this alibi is correct, as she touched Sanae's necklace and read its memories. But who did kill the man then at 3:10, as shown by the broken clock? This is a really ingenious story that not only makes good use of the concept of psychometry to present a contradiction and a mystery (we, as the reader, know that Junpei's alibi holds), but the solution surrounding the mystery of the time of death also very devilishly clewed.
In the title story Hasami no Kioku ("Memories of Scissors"), Yukari is basically kidnapped by Noriko, a friend of Shinsuke and a manga artist, who desperately needs an emergency assistant to help finish up the last few pages for her deadline. After they're done, Yukari is chilling in Noriko's room when she touches a pair of sewing scissors and reads emotions of death, and memories of a loving mother and her son in pain from it. Most of Noriko's interior consists of things people threw away or discarded, and Noriko had picked up this pair of scissors too, from in a box with a handsewn teddy bear and more, only a few weeks ago. Suspecting the pair of scissors had been used to kill the boy from the memories, Yukari and Noriko start searching for the original owner, but they learn that she has died, and strangely enough, they learn of an episode years ago, when her son was still a child, where her young son accidently stabbed his mother with a pair of scissors, even though the memories of the scissors say otherwise. Compared to the first story, this story is far more focused on figuring out the exact relations between the various characters, which make it a less involved mystery story in my eyes, but still a tricky one. The first one would be the "technical" mystery, while this story I'd describe as the more "human drama" based one.
Bentoubako wa Shitteiru ("The Lunch Box Knows") is I think the shortest story, and involves the murder of a middle-aged man who had recently been let go by his company. He had been happily married with his wife for seven years, with many of his colleagues jealous of the lunchboxes she made for her husband, but some days ago, his wife suddenly disappeared, as the past caught up with her: an old boyfriend who was so crazy about her that he killed another man was recently released from prison and is now trying to find her. Fearing that not only she, but the man who actually married her, are in danger, she ran away, but it was too late, as her husband was found murdered at home. Shinsuke however discovers some discrepancies between the facts, and manages to get hold of one particular object that would allow Yukari to solve the case. A simple story, with a rather obvious conclusion/'punchline' coming up, but it works fairly well. There's not much of a mystery going on here though, as Shinsuke himself manages to work most of the story out himself.
Neko no Ongaeshi ("The Cat's Return of a Favor") has slight fantasy undertones. We are introduced to Masamichi, an elderly vet who quit his clinic after his son Masahiro died in a tragic traffic accident as he swayed to avoid a cat. Masamichi runs into Yukiko, a woman who says she was classmates with Masahiro, back in elementary school when he was living with Masamichi's sister for a short period to recover from an illness. Learning of Masahiro's death shocks her greatly. As she recently came to Tokyo to find work, hoping that Masahiro would help her out, Masamichi decides to have her live with him in the house, doing the housekeeping until she finds another job. Funnily enough though, Yukiko appeared soon after a stray cat Masamichi often fed disappeared from the streets, and more than once, Yukiko seemed to show signs of perhaps being that cat, with her knowing the way around the house before Masamichi even said anything. Yukari learns of this story through the drawing assistant of Noriko, but Yukari's suspicions are instantly raised, as she knows of a recent murder case, where a woman swindled her way into the life of an elderly, single man, living with him for a while after which she robbed him of all his money and his life. She informs Shinsuke of this, who goes to take a look, but he finds that Yukiko has already gone, but without stealing anything. The hand mirror she left behind however allows Yukari to solve the mystery of Yukiko. The mystery here is a bit simple, as one particular memory Yukari manages to read from the mirror is basically the solution as is. Cute story though.
Imamura died in a rather tragic manner in 2013 and Hasami no Kioku thus remains the sole story collection with Yukari and her psychometric powers. While not all four stories in this collection are as strong as mystery stories, the way Imamura manages to use psychometry in meaningful manners for this contradiction-based stories is quite admirable, and overall, this book is quite an entertaining read and a good example of how supernatural powers can still work in a fair play mystery story.
Original Japanese title(s): 今邑彩 『鋏の記憶』：「３時１０分の死」/「鋏の記憶」/「弁当箱は知っている」/「猫の恩返し」
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