Fear of the Fire Beast!

胸を焦がす Fire...
恋人も 燃える

『逆転裁判4』

 

Fire... charring my heart

Burning even my love

"Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney"

Yes, the title of today's book makes it very, very hard to look up in its romanized form. At least in Japanese, it's a kanji you don't see that often so that makes things easier...

After the traumatic experience on Kazune Island, where a group of friends were murdered one after another, Uyuu has mostly recovered. At least, physically, that is. However, after being saved and recovering at the hospital, he slipped on a banana peel, and hit his head, which caused him to lose his memories of his time on Kazune Island, though he still remembers everything before it: Uyuu remembers he was working part-time for a local culture magazine, how he's friends with Touri, a high school student who often swings by the magazine's editorial department, how the two were sent to Kazune Island to do an article on a gathering there.... but he doesn't remember what happened on that island, he only knows of it from the news. Which is why he also has no recollection of Touri and him becoming a couple on the island, even though Touri insists that is what happened. Uyuu has been given a full-time contract now, which his co-workers suspect might be because he underwent such ordeals because he had been sent to the island for work, and now Uyuu finds himself working on several articles, like one on shrines in their town of Kyoto and a series on local modern artists. This brings him into contact with Mikogami, who creates litera-art (art using written words), and his assistant Wapiko. Uyuu becomes friends with Wapiko, occasionally meeting her outside of work, with her telling him about studying under Mikogami and her own litera-art. But one night, Uyuu suddenly wakes up and finds himself standing near a temple, holding a lighter and burnable materials. While he is conscious of what he is doing, he can't help himself setting the temple on fire and ends up fleeing on his bicycle. The following morning, he is shocked to learn this is not just a case of arson however: a murdered man was found lying inside the temple that was burned down. Uyuu has no recollection of committing such a murder, nor does he know the victim, but he can't believe it's just a coincidence the fire and the murder happened at the same place and time. He visits a club for mystery fiction afficionados to hear the member's thoughts about the arson case, and among the members are the famous detective Kisarazu and his Watson Kouzuki, who seem to have some rather sharp observations regarding the case. Uyuu also runs into the detective Mercator Ayu, whom he met earlier briefly in the aftermath of the Kazune Island incident: Mercator has taken an interest in Uyuu, and seems to want to nudge him into a career of detection. However, Uyuu has other things to worry about, as he finds himself committing arson more often, and each time, a dead body is found at the site. Can he evade both Mercator and Kisarazu as he tries to figure out what's wrong with him in Maya Yutaka's A ("Disease", 1995)?

Maya Yutaka's work is seldom straightforward, but that holds especially for this book: A is a direct sequel to 1993's Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata ("A Sonata for Summer and Winter", also known as Parzival), starring once again Uyuu as he deals with the trauma of the events of the previous book. And at the same time, this book is a crossover book, as Maya's series detectives Mercator Ayu and Kisarazu Yuuya make appearances too, each taking an interest in Uyuu in their own ways. And that is not all, for A is actually also a kind of prologue to Maya's debut work Tsubasa Aru Yami - Mercator Ayu no Saigo no Jiken ("Darkness with Wings - The Last Case of Mercator Ayu"). Oh, and let me warn you right now: A also contains spoilers for both of these books. Yes, you had perhaps expected spoilers for Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata, as A is a sequel to that book. For the most part, A functions as a prologue to Tsubasa Aru Yami, but one part is set after that book, and Maya decided to just spoil a major event happening in Tsubasa Aru Yami in A too, because...

I don't know why actually. I think A is simply not written for a general reading audience who want to pick a random mystery novel and enjoy it as is. A is clearly meant to be read as part of Maya's oeuvre, as part of the Uyuu/Mercator/Kisarazu series and I'd say that is also the only reason why I'd recommend this book to people, as on its own, standalone merits as a detective novel, A is really not one I'm very positive about. 

For those invested in seeing how Uyuu turned out after the events in Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata, sure, this is a pretty interesting book. The incident on Kazune Island ended in a catastrophic manner, offering an ending that not only seemed very suggestive towards future events, but also leaving a lot of questions unanswered. A does not contain the answers you'll be looking for, but it does, very subtly, build further on the suggestive implications of the ending. The book is very focused on Uyuu's mental struggles as he tries to move on with his life, but finds himself, without understanding why, committing arson and as the stories unfolds, he sees things around breaking down once again. Meanwhile, we see how both Kisarazu and Mercator show interest in Uyuu: Kisarazu is a member of a club for mystery fiction fans and they all have some discussions on not only the arson cases, but also about mystery fiction in general. Kisarazu also realizes Uyuu is indeed the survivor of the Kazune Island incident and hopes to learn more about it once Uyuu has recovered fully mentally. At the same time, Mercator is being his usual suggestive self, seemingly being of the opinion Uyuu is a rather sharp person and could be shaped in a detective himself and therefore (as always, somewhat forcefully) dragging Uyuu along while he's investigating another incident. For those interested in the Maya literary universe, seeing these characters all interact is quite interesting.

However, as a mystery, A doesn't fare as well. Some parts of the mystery, like the underlying reason why Uyuu is committing these arsons, are fairly relatable and I find perfectly fine, but the exact reasons why the murders were committed at the same temples Uyuu was setting on fire, and the mechanics behind it are far for satisfying: it is the kind of trick that is basically unfair, and while that can be kinda expected considering the things Maya pulled off in Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata, I still found that one more convincing that what's done in A. I do have to say Maya did attempt to hint at it properly, and it works better because of the focus on Uyuu, but still... There's also a whodunnit aspect to the book that is set-up better, with multiple hints and some well-executed misdirection, but it is a relatively minor part compared to the 'why is Uyuu committing arson and why are people being murdered at the same place' mystery. Some parts of the mystery might seem outdated though by today's standards, even if this is a book from 1995. 

I thought this book was long out of print by the way, and there's no digital version either, so when I saw a (rather large) bookshop had a new copy in stock, I was rather surprised. And then I was shocked it was actually a relatively new print run from 2019. Interesting how even in 2019, they did have a new paper run of the book, but still didn't release it digitally. I wonder if they lost the text data or something, because the printing quality is a bit weird (it looks faded), and it almost looks like they scanned the pages of the original pocket and printed that, suggesting the publisher doesn't have the actual text data anymore. Then again, if that was true, the faded ink would only hold for the original parts, but the updated parts (like the copyright/print run info page) also look faded...

If you liked both Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata and Tsubasa Aru Yami, I think A is a book worth reading, as it ties things together and considering what happened in Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata, I can imagine readers being curious as to how Uyuu coped with all of that, and in that sense, A does deliver, even if it's certainly not a really hopeful story. I however can't recommend this book seperate of that context: if you have not read the two books above, not only are you going to encounter some major spoilers, but A as "just" a mystery novel just feels unfair, and hardly satisfying. So it's really just a book for the Maya Yutaka fans. I am glad I read it because I did read the other two novels, but I wouldn't tell you to go out of your way or spend a lot of resources to track a copy of A.

Original Japanese title(s): 麻耶雄嵩『痾』