Pathway to Japanese Literature

The sound of gears. On a winter night under a clear moon, at a police box near the foot of a bridge close to Ginza-dori, a lone police officer stood watch through the night. It was well past one o'clock in the dead of night.

During the day, even the grand avenue where trains, buses, and cars crisscrossed in all directions became as desolate as a rural meadow. Only the four train rails glittered under the moonlight; nothing moved at all. It was a loneliness as if everyone in Tokyo had perished. The police officer stood motionless under the red lamp of the police box, carefully surveying his surroundings. From under his thick mustache, something like white smoke rose each time he breathed. His breath froze in the cold.

“Hmm, that’s a strange fellow.” “Could he be drunk?”

The police officer involuntarily muttered to himself. A man was walking right down the middle of the glittering train rails. A large man in a blue suit and wearing a blue soft hat. Despite this cold, he wasn't even wearing an overcoat. The man’s way of walking was truly strange. It was no wonder the police officer thought he might be drunk. However, upon closer inspection, he wasn’t drunk either. It wasn’t that he swayed unsteadily from side to side; rather, he walked as though both legs were prosthetics. It wasn’t that he walked with human legs; rather, it felt as though he moved on mechanical limbs.

His face was shadowed by his hat and hard to make out—a soot-black visage that never once glanced sideways, kept facing straight ahead like a sleepwalker as he walked with heavy mechanical clanks. But wait, there was something stranger still. From both his hands hung clusters of silver-glowing objects that swayed gently with each step, shimmering under the moonlight as beautifully as jewels.

But it wasn’t just his hands. From every single pocket of the man’s blue suit dangled silver objects, his entire body glittering and sparkling. To the police officer, who was at a distance, it was unclear what those glittering objects were. It looked as though he were carrying bundles of silver paper or perhaps clusters of strings with glass baubles attached. So he let it pass without even attempting to stop him, but later on, something astonishing came to light.

The shining objects the man had been carrying were all pocket watches. He had been carrying dozens of chain-attached watches in both hands and stuffed them into his pockets. A man nonchalantly walking past a police box at midnight, dangling clusters of watches—what manner of creature was this? Was he a fool? A madman? Or something more dreadful than any lunatic?

Later, that police officer thought of something strange. "Hmph, that must indeed have been a bundle of watches," he mused. "No wonder the sound of gears carried all the way here. Even small watches—gather that many, and their gears' racket turns downright monstrous."

However, was that truly the sound of pocket watch gears? If it had been a watch, the tick-tock of seconds should have been louder. Yet what the police officer heard wasn't the tick-tock of a timepiece, but a sinister grinding of gears—like the gnashing teeth of some colossal beast. Iron Fingers A little before that, a terrifying incident had occurred at a famous clock shop called Hakuhodo on Ginza Street. At ten o'clock, they closed the shop, fitted wooden storm shutters over the display windows from outside, and both owner and staff retired to bed. As Hakuhodo was a temporary structure, they hadn't yet installed iron shutters—all closures remained wooden storm panels.

In the dead of that same night, a terrifying noise—a splintering crunch followed by a metallic crash—suddenly erupted near the display window. The boy clerk who had been sleeping in the shop jumped up in alarm and, using the dim glow of the only small electric light left on, looked toward the source of the noise—only to find something long and blue squirming and rustling inside the display window. The boy clerk was so terrified he couldn’t utter a sound. He stood rooted to the spot, as if turned to stone, without moving a muscle, staring fixedly at the squirming thing.

At first, it had looked like a giant blue caterpillar, but soon revealed itself to be a human arm—a human arm clad in a blue suit. It was snatching up dozens of pocket watches one after another—the shop’s prized collection displayed on glass shelves. A large hole gaped in the thick glass of the display window’s outer pane, with the wooden storm shutters beyond smashed to splinters. That earlier crash had been the thief breaking through both shutters and glass.

“Thief!” A loud cry involuntarily burst from his throat. “What’s this? Where’s this thief?!” The young clerk, who had been awake all along and was emboldened by the boy’s cry, deliberately shouted in a booming voice meant to reach the thief.

Well, from then on, it was pandemonium. The owner and everyone in the shop woke up and came out, all beginning to shout at once. The quick-witted clerk called the police. Some rushed out through the back door and woke the neighbors. Before long, one brave clerk, gripping a club, threw open the entrance’s storm shutters and leapt out into the main street, whereupon two or three others followed after him. Outside, the moonlight was as bright as day. However, there was not a single soul on that main street. The thief had vanished without a trace.

In all the commotion, it took them some time to rush outside, but no matter how fast the thief had run, he couldn’t have gotten farther than a hundred meters away. They searched everywhere, thinking he might be hiding in an alley, but there was no sign of him anywhere.

“What do you mean?” “What are you mumbling about?” “Speak more clearly!”

In front of the shattered display window, one of the clerks was scolding the boy clerk from earlier.

"They were iron fingers." "Definitely—that guy’s fingers were made of iron." "They looked just like the iron fingers on an artificial human I saw at an exhibition once."

The boy said with a frightened look, eyes wide open.

"Idiot, you were half-asleep. An artificial human couldn’t pull off something as delicate as stealing watches."

“But I definitely saw it! The fingers were hinged and creaked as they bent in exactly the same way as exhibition robots.” “Hmm, now that you mention it, I saw it too. At first I thought he was wearing leather gloves, but that wasn’t it. You’re right. The fingers were definitely hinged.” The young clerk who had been second to shout earlier gave the boy an encouraging nod.

Nearby, the owner of Hakuhodo and five or six neighbors stood listening to this conversation, exchanging pale looks, but the owner regained his composure and ordered the staff. "We’ve already called police headquarters, but someone should also notify the police box." “Stop wasting time with idle chatter and have someone run over there at once.”

Then two young clerks dashed off. Feeling somehow afraid to go alone, they decided to head to the police box as a pair. "That's strange. Where'd he vanish to in just that short time?" "He's like some kinda monster, ain't he?"

“Hey, you—he’s not human.” “I really feel that way too.” “Maybe it was just an arm after all.” “It felt like there was no torso—just an iron arm crawled into the display window, y’know?” “If it’s just an arm flying through the air to escape, no matter how much you search, you’ll never find it.” “Hey now, don’t try to scare me.” “Ugh, this is awful.” “You’re always reading those weird ghost stories—that’s why you come up with such nonsense.” “This is the middle of Ginza!”

“Hmm, but Ginza at midnight is strangely lonely, isn’t it?” “It’s just like a desert, isn’t it?” “That blue caterpillar-like arm might be crawling around here somewhere, I tell ya.” “Hey, cut it out.” Because it was so frightening, they found themselves wanting to crack jokes instead.

While panting breathlessly and exchanging such words as they ran, they drew near to the police box at the foot of the bridge. A police officer stood exhaling white breath. That police officer was the one who had earlier seen the strange blue-clad man pass by. When the clerks all reported the details of the theft, the police officer, as if something had clicked with him, sharply questioned them. “He stole pocket watches, huh?” “A lot of them.”

“Yes, every single one that was in the display window.” “He completely made off with them.” “And you’re saying that guy was wearing blue clothes?”

The police officer peered searchingly down the moonlit avenue. Then, far off in the distance, the mysterious blue-clad figure could be seen walking with heavy, mechanical steps, appearing small. It was at that moment that the police officer remembered the sound of those gears. “That guy’s suspicious.” “Let’s go after him.” “Wait a moment.”

The police officer rushed into the police box, hurriedly exchanged a few words with a colleague resting in the back, and immediately darted back out.

“Alright, you lot come along with me.” The three of them exhaled white breath, their footsteps echoing through the hushed avenue as they broke into a sprint. On the asphalt ground, three pitch-black shadows twisted and writhed in a strange dance as they followed close behind.

Phantom Ascension The mysterious figure showed no sign of noticing the three men’s loud footsteps and continued walking mechanically with heavy, clanking steps. They rapidly closed in until the distance shrank to about fifty meters. Something glinting clearly showed in both of the monster’s hands.

“Ah! That’s them! “Those are the watches!” “That guy’s definitely the thief!”

One of the clerks keenly confirmed it and shouted. The three of them quickened their pace and ran. The mysterious figure still didn’t notice. The mysterious figure continued facing forward, making no attempt to turn around. The distance between them and their opponent now narrowed to about twenty meters. “Hey, stop!” The police officer shouted in a terrifying voice.

Then, at that moment, the blue-clad giant suddenly came to a halt and spun around to face them. Not only did it turn its head—it spun its entire body around to face them.

The moonlight illuminated the mysterious figure’s face directly.

Oh, that face. The police officer and the clerks would likely never be able to forget that face for the rest of their lives. It was not a human face. It was a bluish-black metal mask. It wasn’t black like iron. It was exactly the color of a bronze statue. Would you call this bronze-colored?

A large triangular nose; a mouth curved like a crescent moon in a grin; eyes without pupils—just two pitch-black holes—it was a mask so unnerving it seemed otherworldly, as if unearthed from a three-thousand-year-old Egyptian tomb. The three of them stood frozen in place as if nailed to the spot, overwhelmed by terror. They could hear it. Not the sound of their own heartbeats. It was indeed emanating from within the monster’s body. Grrind, grrind—the grinding of gears like a giant gnashing its teeth.

Even if dozens of pocket watches were gathered together, they shouldn’t produce such an eerie noise—there had to be something within the mysterious figure’s body generating that sound. Suddenly, the grinding sound grew startlingly loud. No—that wasn’t it. A different sound altogether came bursting forth from within the monster’s crescent-shaped mouth. It was an indescribably unpleasant noise. A metallic scraping—the monster laughed. This was how it produced that terrifying voice when laughing.

After laughing for a long time, the monster spun around sharply and dropped to all fours. In both hands, it still gripped the chains of numerous pocket watches. Then, the monster began running on all fours like a large dog. Oh, what was this?! It truly was a monster after all. A human running on all fours—such a thing had never been heard of. Could this thing even be an animal? No—this thing was more terrifying than any beast. The monster's way of running differed completely from that of dogs or cats. Both its front and hind legs moved with an awkward mechanical stiffness. It felt exactly like a wind-up tin dog running in unison.

As the monster dropped to all fours, the three caught a glimpse of its profile. At that moment, the blue soft cap fell off, revealing the monster’s head and the back of its neck. It was not wearing a mask. That terrifying face was not a mask—it continued all the way to the back. Even its ears and neck—and all the way to its hair—gleamed with the same bronze hue. The hair was tightly curled, forming countless balls like those on the head of the Great Buddha.

Could the monster have been wearing a bronze mask that covered its entire head, like the "Iron Mask"? No—could it be that not just its head, but its entire body was encased in bronze?

The moment it dropped to all fours, the grinding sound suddenly intensified. Somewhere within its body, gears meshed together with terrifying force. And as for its running speed— The location stood right beside the national railway underpass. The Bronze Demon dashed beneath its archway and veered along the tracks on the far side.

No matter how unsettling it was, they couldn’t let the thief escape like this. The three regained their composure and pursued the monster.

However, when they rounded the railway underpass and emerged onto the side street, something strange awaited them—there lay only a moonlit white road stretching endlessly ahead, without a single soul in sight.

“This is strange.” “It definitely turned this way.” “Yeah, no doubt about it.” The three of them stopped in unison and listened intently. Yet that grinding sound was nowhere to be heard. On one side stood rows of merchant houses with shutters closed tight; on the other beneath the railway tracks stretched an empty lot. It had once been used as a warehouse, but now even the wooden partition separating it from the road had been removed, leaving no obstructions—the entire area lay visible at a glance.

The three of them, just to be thorough, crawled beneath the railway tracks and searched everywhere, but there was no place where that giant could have hidden. The monster vanished completely without leaving even a shadow.

They then divided tasks and combed every inch of the area once more, but still found no clues.

A monster with a bronze neck and iron fingers couldn’t possibly have turned into gas and evaporated. Then could it be that its body became light like a balloon and floated up into the sky? The young clerk who loved ghost stories thought he faintly glimpsed the four-legged monster flying high into the moonlit sky—like a paper tiger leaping from fireworks.

Now, dear readers—what could this bronze-necked monster of unknown origin truly be? Why does it run on all fours? What could that grinding, gear-like sound mean? How on earth did that thing vanish without a trace? And why would it steal such an enormous quantity of pocket watches and nothing else?

All of this had its proper explanation. This was no ghost story. It would be a battle of wits between a terrifyingly cunning phantom thief and the renowned detective Akechi Kogoro alongside Kobayashi Shonen. Even this monster that seemed supernatural would eventually reveal its true nature. But before that revelation came, horrifying incident after horrifying incident would occur.

The Tower-Top Monster

The next day’s evening edition was filled with articles about this enigmatic monster—whether human or machine—sending Tokyo’s residents into a trembling panic. Everywhere was abuzz with terrifying rumors of the mechanical humanoid. However, this monster did not vanish completely after that. Over the next month or so, similar incidents occurred five or six times across various parts of Tokyo. The targets were always renowned watch shops or homes of collectors with rare timepieces; while common watches were utterly ignored, it would sweep away every last one—those embedded with gemstones, exorbitantly priced, or bearing ancient pedigrees.

The culprit was always that creature with the bronze statue-like face. And when pursued, it would drop to all fours like a dog and run—its speed was astonishing—and the moment it turned a street corner, it would vanish like smoke. They could simply not capture it. Newspapers were abuzz daily with articles about this monster, and the rumors grew increasingly exaggerated.

“They say its whole body’s made of iron or copper.” “Didn’t they say it showed up naked the other night?”

“Yep, that’s what they say,” “When a cop shot at its back with a pistol—clang!—the bullet went ricochetin’ right off!” “Invincible ain’t he?” “That monster’s like a damn armored vehicle!” There were others peddling rumors like these too.

Elsewhere,

“There might be a human inside, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.” “It’s definitely mechanical through and through.” “Its body is nothing but gears.” “As proof, when it appears, there’s supposed to be this grinding noise of gears clashing, right?” “Are you saying it’s an automaton?” “But is it really possible to create a mechanical human that functions so flawlessly?” “Maybe the culprit is hiding somewhere and remotely controlling it, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, that might be it! They’ve gone and built some terrifying machine! And to waste such an incredible invention on cheap thievery—what an outrageous fool! I want them caught fast so we can rip open its mechanical secrets!”

Then, in another part of town,

“But you say it’s made of metal—how can solid metal vanish like smoke?” “There are parts that just don’t add up logically.” “That’s why I say it’s a ghost.” “It’s a bronze ghost!”

“A ghost that only steals clocks?”

“Yeah, that’s it.” “I think it survives by eating clocks.” “Clocks are its sustenance.” “Since it’s a monster that runs on gears, it has to swallow a few clock gears every day to keep itself alive.” There were even those who believed such outlandish ideas. Even so, wasn’t the notion of a mechanical being surviving by devouring pocket watch gears a downright strange one?

However, precisely one month after the initial incident, something utterly unthinkable occurred. If the monster was stealing clocks to eat gears, then this time it had swallowed something so huge it would make you gasp.

Although located within Tokyo Metropolis, upstream along the Tama River there stood a modest hill amidst lonely fields—encircled by woods—upon which loomed an unusual clock tower. The house had been built around the end of the Meiji era by the owner of a renowned clock shop—the entire structure constructed from old-fashioned red bricks, with the clock tower itself assembled from bricks and crowned by a roof resembling a pointed hat. Even among Tokyo residents, many had been unaware that such a clock tower existed in such a remote location—but this incident made the tower instantly famous. This was because the tower's clock mechanism had been stolen away in a single night.

It was a night of fierce winds. That day, the young couple had gone out on an overnight errand, leaving only the elderly master over seventy, an aged nursemaid, and a housemaid at home. They had locked up early and gone to bed, but when they awoke in the morning, they found all four white clock faces on the tower gone and its internal mechanisms completely emptied. The clock faces were large, each with a diameter of about one meter, and since they were attached to all four sides of the tower, there were four in total. Not only had every last trace of those clock faces vanished, but the hands, spindle, and even the large gear-driven mechanisms that had been deep within were all gone—leaving the space beneath the tower’s roof utterly hollow.

The culprit was undoubtedly that thing. If not that clock-obsessed monster, who else could have committed such an eccentric act? It wouldn't rest until it had stolen every last clock in existence—this was undoubtedly the work of that Bronze Demon.

This bizarre incident became a major newspaper story and instantly spread throughout all of Tokyo. Then, once again, various mysterious rumors began to arise here and there. "Starting two or three days before the incident, every day around sunset, that statue-like monster of a mechanical human apparently stood rigidly atop the clock tower, grinning creepily." "Young people from nearby farms saw it clearly."

“Really?” “Then why didn’t they tell the household about it?” “They didn’t even inform the police.”

“They reported it to the officer at the police box, but he dismissed it as them having seen a phantom.” “The idea of a statue-like figure standing in front of the clock tower’s face—it’s just too absurd to take seriously.” “Even so, how on earth did they manage to steal such a massive thing?”

“Well, there’s a story about that,” “According to nearby farmers who saw it too—on that night of the incident, someone passing by the tower hill late while returning from town claims they spotted something strange squirming in the darkness from afar.” “So it was that mechanical human after all?” “Yeah, apparently there weren’t just one or two of them,” “About ten identical-looking figures were climbing up and down a long ladder, they say.”

“Huh, a ladder.” “Yeah, that ladder’s strange too. Something like a fire engine was parked in front of the building, and that mechanical ladder that rapidly extends into the sky—apparently it stretched all the way to the clock tower, with several mechanical humans climbing up and down that aerial ladder.” The rumors became embellished with ever more outlandish details, transforming into preposterous tales of the bizarre. In the end, there even appeared those who spread credible-sounding rumors of several mechanical humans flying high into the sky and disappearing into the clouds.

However, even if one could not believe such rumors, the theft of the clock tower's faces and mechanisms remained an irrefutable fact. Not only small pocket watches—if it bore the name 'clock,' regardless of shape, even that massive clock tower—there existed a creature that stole them all. This must have been what one might call a clock-obsessed madman—a type of lunatic. Moreover, since its true nature remained entirely unknown—whether human, machine, or some utterly unfamiliar creature that might have come from the starry realms—the eeriness of it all defied comparison.

However，it was certain that this monster desired clocks．Moreover，it was not targeting ordinary clocks but rather expensive ones，those with pedigrees，and rare items．The red brick clock tower built during the Meiji era must also have caught the Bronze Demon’s attention with its rarity．

Now, once this pattern became clear, those who possessed rare clocks known to society were already trembling in fear. When they thought their turn might come next, they couldn’t even sleep peacefully at night.

The Luminous Watch

Shoichi-kun’s father, Mr. Tezuka Ryunosuke, was also one of those anxious individuals. When Mr. Tezuka was in his thirties, he had been conscripted into the military and endured over five years of hardship on the battlefield. When he returned after the war ended—though fortunately his Minato Ward home remained unburned—his wife had become a pitiful sight after a long illness. Then, when she saw Mr. Tezuka’s long-awaited face—perhaps due to relief—she passed away mere days later.

In their place were the two children he had left behind five years prior—Shoichi-kun and his younger sister Yukiko-chan—who had grown so much and were thriving robustly. Shoichi-kun was thirteen that year, and Yukiko-chan was eight. Before the war, Mr. Tezuka had been extraordinarily wealthy, but having since shed most of his assets, only his sprawling estate remained. The household consisted of three family members, a live-in student, a maid, and six families displaced by the war—yet the mansion stood so vast it felt desolate.

Mr. Tezuka, even amidst such circumstances, had one treasure he would not part with and kept treasured. It was a large pocket watch said to have been cherished by an emperor of a minor European kingdom. Not only was its mechanism exquisitely crafted, but its platinum casing bore masterfully carved patterns adorned with countless diamonds and other gemstones, making it resemble a magnificent work of art more than a mere timepiece. Due to its countless gemstones emitting a rainbow-like light even in darkness, this watch had been named "The Emperor’s Luminous Watch."

Mr. Tezuka had grown worried after reading newspaper reports about the Bronze Demon precisely because he possessed this watch. "The Emperor’s Luminous Watch was so well-known to the public that it had even been featured in newspapers and magazines; there was no way that demon-like monster could have failed to notice it." Shoichi-kun was also unbearably worried about that matter, so one day he asked Father. “Hey, Father, is our Emperor’s Luminous Watch really safe?”

“You mean that bronze mechanical human.” Father responded immediately, his face betraying deep concern despite his words. “Nonsense—it’s perfectly safe. However demon-like that thing may be, retrieving it would be impossible! It’s secured in a safe within a reinforced concrete vault. Even if they breached the vault, they couldn’t open the safe. And smashing through concrete isn’t exactly subtle work, you know.”

While Mr. Tezuka spoke with apparent confidence, he seemed inwardly beside himself with worry. “Is it really safe? This isn’t an ordinary thief. Whenever chased, doesn’t it vanish like smoke? That thing might slip in like a ghost through even the narrowest crack.” “Don’t be absurd! But if you’re that worried, I suppose I could at least post a guard outside the storehouse.”

In truth, Mr. Tezuka had actually been considering posting a guard for several days now.

However, on that very evening when the two had discussed this matter, their fears became reality all too soon—a terrifying incident occurred. The reason Shoichi-kun went out into the garden then was because the crimson evening clouds were beautiful. Yet why he subsequently decided to enter the dim grove at the garden's depths remained unclear even when he later reflected on it. Was it some sixth sense? He simply felt compelled to go there for no particular reason.

The Tezuka family’s garden sprawled over a thousand tsubo, featuring artificial hills, a pond, and a dense grove resembling a forest at its rear. However, having gone untended since the war years, layers of fallen leaves had accumulated beneath the trees; each step sank into the soggy mass with an unsettling squelch.

Shoichi-kun found himself drawn into the chill of the dim grove. Trees thicker than a man could embrace stood layered together - five steps inward plunged him into darkness where six feet ahead dissolved into shadow. It felt like losing one's way in some primeval forest. His feet sank into sodden leaves with each step, their squelch now accompanied by an alien noise. A grinding rhythm pulsed through the air, like shells being scraped edge-to-edge.

Could it have been insects chirping? There was no way insects would sing now—this felt wrong. Wait... That sounded like someone grinding their teeth! When this realization struck，Shoichi-kun gasped and froze solid. Even after he stopped moving，the noise persisted. Worse yet，it kept growing louder—closer— Ah! The infamous teeth-grinding noise! He’d never actually heard it before，but every newspaper described it perfectly： The Bronze Demon’s gears were said to screech exactly like human molars gnashing.

That must be it. When I realized that thing was hiding behind the tree, I wanted to scream and run, but terror left my body numb—I couldn’t make a sound or move an inch.

In the dim gloom about six feet ahead, something swayed gently. Even if he tried not to look, his eyes became riveted in that direction, making it impossible not to see. From the shadow of the large tree, it emerged. Because it was dark, only a vague outline was visible—a statue-like face, a statue-like body. It was not wearing clothes. It was a monster entirely of metal. Its large face had two eyes wide open like gaping holes, from whose depths something glinted intermittently. They were the monster's pupils. And then, the mouth—bent into a tight crescent—this too had become a pitch-black hole.

It was exactly as described in the newspaper. No, its appearance was several times more terrifying than that.

The monster approached with a mechanical, awkward gait, creaking closer step by step. And the sound of gears resembling teeth grinding grew increasingly violent with each passing moment. Shoichi-kun stood motionless as if turned to stone, staring at the monster. It was not out of courage. On the verge of losing consciousness amidst a bewildering swirl of emotions, only his eyes remained fixed unwaveringly on the creature.

The monster’s right hand abruptly thrust forward. Between the hinged bronze fingers at the end of that hand, a single white sheet of paper was caught. The monster thrust it toward him in an ominous manner, as if trying to hand the paper to Shoichi-kun. Shoichi-kun had no courage whatsoever to take that paper. He still stood frozen like a fossil, not moving a muscle. Then the monster took another step closer, bent its upper body with a creak, and loomed over Shoichi-kun’s head—when suddenly, a sharp metallic grating sound leaked from the vicinity of its crescent-shaped mouth. It was a different sound from the gears—a much louder noise.

Creak, creak, creak—it was a sound like something grinding, yet somehow it also felt like meaningful words. It was like listening to a deranged radio. “To...morrow...night...TEN.” It might just have been my imagination. But somehow, that’s how it had sounded to me. Then again, “The... luminous... clock.” Such creaking noises could also be heard. It seemed as though these two phrases were being repeated over and over again.

After producing that eerie noise for a while, the monster straightened its bent body, spun around sharply, and slowly disappeared into the darkness beyond with its signature mechanical gait. Afterward, the white scrap of paper lay fallen as if silently commanding its retrieval. Even after the monster had left, Shoichi-kun stood blankly in place for a full minute. But when he finally regained control of his body, he abruptly snatched up the scrap of paper and broke into a sudden dash toward the house.

Akechi Kogoro and Kobayashi Shonen

The morning after the terrifying bronze robot-like monster threatened Shoichi...

In the study of the Akechi Detective Agency in Chiyoda Ward, the famous detective Akechi Kogoro and his assistant Kobayashi Shonen were deep in discussion. The spacious Western-style study had all four walls lined with bookshelves reaching nearly to the ceiling, tightly packed with books bearing gold lettering. In the center of the room sat a large desk the size of a tatami mat, with old-fashioned chairs carved on their backs facing each other across it.

Akechi Kogoro sat in the chair, propping his cheek on the desk while fiddling with his signature unruly hair using one hand.

Kobayashi Shonen, with his apple-like cheeks, sat facing the famous detective and spoke in an intensely earnest tone. "Sensei, the Boy Detectives Club members have been persistently pestering me." "Why isn't Sensei doing anything and staying silent?" they blame me. Readers who have read "The Boy Detectives Club" will likely remember. Kobayashi-kun is the leader of the Boy Detectives Club formed by upper elementary students and middle schoolers.

“There’s no need for such commotion. A client will come to me soon enough.” “The so-called Bronze Demon is an unfathomable monster—whether machine or human.” “The enemy leaves no openings.” “Kobayashi-kun, it’s been a while since you’ve had a chance to really show your skills.” Detective Akechi put his favorite pipe between his lips, slowly exhaled a plume of purple smoke, and formed a youthful smile. “Sensei, is that thing a mechanical bronze puppet?” “They say it remains unfazed even when shot with a pistol.” “But why does that mechanical doll disappear like smoke?” “I just can’t figure that part out at all.”

“There are various angles to consider,” “But one thing’s certain—it’s neither ghost nor Martian.” “It’s human.” “A fiendishly clever mind has hatched this outrageous scheme.” “Our task is to outmatch that cunning intellect.” “This is a duel of wits.”

“That’s right. But to win this battle, we first have to uncover its secret.” Kobayashi-kun’s apple-like cheeks flushed an even deeper red as he declared with fervor. “Exactly.” “You’ll see—the client will be here any moment now.” “Now that the Bronze Demon has become so notorious, its work will gradually become more difficult.” “Therefore, it will surely start issuing theft warnings.” “A cunning villain like that will do the opposite of what you’d expect.” “If that happens, whoever receives the warning will inevitably come to consult me.” “I’ve got a feeling that client might show up sometime today.”

Detective Akechi said this and stared fixedly into empty space when suddenly, his face assumed a mischievous expression as he smiled at Kobayashi-kun.

“Listen, the entrance bell just rang.” “It must be the client for this case.” Upon hearing this, Kobayashi Shonen sprang up from his chair with enthusiasm and dashed toward the entrance, but soon returned with an eager expression. “Sensei, you were right. They say they’re friends of Shinozaki-kun from the Boy Detectives Club—they came after hearing about us from him. It’s an elementary school student named Tezuka Shoichi-kun and his father. I’ve shown them to the parlor.”

When Detective Akechi and Kobayashi-kun entered the parlor, a distinguished gentleman in his early forties and an adorable boy in a school uniform rose from their chairs to greet them. After the initial greetings concluded, Tezuka-kun’s father gazed at Kobayashi Shonen’s apple-like cheeks and, “Is this young man Kobayashi-san? I’ve heard all about your exploits from Shinozaki-kun. Our Shoichi is only two or three years younger than you, but to achieve so much at such a tender age—remarkable indeed.”

Tezuka Ryunosuke continued his praise. Shoichi-kun was also gazing at Kobayashi Shonen with a look of respect. Kobayashi-kun's apple-like cheeks turned even redder once again.

When everyone took their seats, Shoichi-kun’s father explained that he possessed an extremely valuable family heirloom called the "Emperor’s Luminous Watch," and that the Bronze Demon seemed intent on stealing it this very night. He then spread out on the table a scrap of paper the demon had left before Shoichi-kun in the garden grove yesterday evening. “Hmm, this is unsettling handwriting.” Detective Akechi took the scrap of paper in hand and muttered.

“That it is. It’s distinctly unsettling handwriting—the sort a madman might scrawl. At first glance, you can’t tell whether these are characters or crude drawings. But look closely—they resolve into katakana.” “Could this mean ‘Asunoban ten o’clock’? And then ‘YAKOUNOTOKEI’?” “It only states ‘tomorrow night at ten.’ While unclear in full, given this comes from that clock-obsessed demon, it undoubtedly means he plans to seize the watch at ten o’clock. There’s no alternative interpretation.”

“When it says ‘tomorrow night,’ that means tonight, correct? So did you report this to the police?” “I reported it last night. Since I’m acquainted with Inspector Nakamura from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Investigation Division, I went to meet him personally. When I mentioned you during our discussion, Inspector Nakamura stated there would be no issue with your attendance.” “Naturally. I’ve long been acquainted with Inspector Nakamura. Now then, Mr. Tezuka—where exactly is this Emperor’s Luminous Watch kept?”

“It’s inside the safe within the concrete storehouse.”

“Hmm, that’s a heavily secured location.” “To steal it, one would have to break through the concrete storehouse’s wall and then also break open the safe. Even if it’s the Bronze Demon, it can’t just waltz in and steal it that easily. I considered entrusting the Emperor’s Luminous Watch to a bank’s underground vault, but I thought transporting it would be too dangerous, so I decided to keep it in its original location instead. In exchange, since last night, nearly ten police officers have been standing guard around the storehouse and at key points in the garden. If it were an ordinary thief, there would be no need for such a commotion, but given that our opponent is a demonic entity, the police have made special arrangements.”

“Understood.” “Then I shall take Kobayashi-kun with me and come to your house.” “There are a few preparations I’d like to make, and even a demon wouldn’t dare come in broad daylight, so we’ll pay our visit after nightfall today.” Having obtained Detective Akechi’s consent, Mr. Tezuka and Shoichi-kun returned home in high spirits.

After seeing them off, Kobayashi Shonen whispered something to Detective Akechi and hurriedly went out somewhere, while Detective Akechi sat down in front of the telephone and began feverishly turning the dial.

The Bronze Demon and the Famed Detective

That evening, the Tezuka household consisted of master Mr. Tezuka; siblings Shoichi and Yukiko; live-in students and maids; along with war-displaced individuals residing with the family—company employee Mr. Hirabayashi and his wife, her sister Aunt Miyoko, middle schooler Taiichi-kun, and Taiichi-kun’s two younger sisters not yet attending school—totaling eleven people. In addition, eight police officers were stationed at key points throughout the garden. Detective Akechi and Kobayashi-kun had not yet arrived, but even excluding the three little girls, there were sixteen people keeping watch. No matter how demonic it was, such a monster surely wouldn’t dare show itself here—or so Mr. Tezuka had somewhat let his guard down.

However, the brazen monster had somehow slipped into the mansion unnoticed and revealed its loathsome form before everyone’s eyes while daylight still lingered. Moreover, it had appeared in such a mysteriously eerie manner that defied all logic. From the direction of the kitchen came a woman's scream—a shrill, piercing cry that cut through the air. Startled, when the people nearby rushed over to check, they found Aunt Miyoko of the Hirabayashi family—who were living with them—collapsed and deathly pale.

When Miyoko-san passed by the bathroom and noticed something moving inside, she opened the door to find a large bronze statue-like figure standing in the dimly lit wash area. However, given that guards were stationed in the garden and people were present throughout the house's rooms, it seemed completely unthinkable that the monster could have entered or exited the bathroom without being seen by anyone. Since Miyoko-san was utterly terrified, they concluded she must have seen a phantom.

However, it was no phantom. Then, less than thirty minutes later, Shoichi-kun and Hirabayashi Taiichi-kun encountered the monster.

The Tezuka residence was an exceptionally large building with numerous winding corridors, but the gloomiest by far was the hallway before the storage room lined with chests. One side consisted of windowless walls, the other of shoji screens partitioning off a six-tatami-mat room enclosed by walls on three sides—a space so dimly lit it remained shadowy even in daylight. When Shoichi-kun and Taiichi-kun passed through this area, they noticed one slightly open shoji screen in the storage room. Peering inside, they saw a large human-shaped figure standing there.

“Father?”

Since it was too dark to see clearly, Shoichi-kun called out. Instead of answering, the figure swayed unsteadily before emitting a grinding of gears—the very sound they had heard in the garden grove, now unforgettable. Startled, they peered closer: there stood the statue-like monster. The boys shuddered and froze, then suddenly broke into a sprint back the way they'd come.

Then, in the very next room over, they caught sight of Mr. and Mrs. Hirabayashi—Taiichi’s uncle and aunt—so,

“This is bad! The storage room—that thing’s…!” They cried out involuntarily.

After a while, as the four timidly approached the storage room while linking hands—perhaps having heard the sound of the two boys fleeing—Tezuka-san and a live-in student came hurrying over from the corridor beyond the storage room. Following behind them came two police officers. “Shoichi, what’s wrong?” “Did you see something?” Shoichi-kun silently pointed at the storage room’s shoji screen. Even speaking felt terrifying.

Father and the police officers also approached the shoji screen. The two police officers were already gripping their pistols. Then, upon seeing Shoichi-kun’s pointing gesture, they leveled their pistols and abruptly stepped into the dark storage room.

Shoichi-kun was trembling in fear, expecting gunfire and a scuffle to break out at any moment, but no sound came from the storage room—then suddenly, the light snapped on. The police officer had flipped the switch. Bolstered by this development, everyone went to the open shoji screen and peered inside, only to find the two police officers standing there alone—the monster they had clearly seen earlier had vanished without a trace. The Bronze Demon had once again disappeared like smoke.

“This is strange. Could you have seen something wrong? If someone had been in this room, there’d have been no time to escape. We came from that side—you all from this—forming a pincer attack. This room only opens to the corridor on one side, with three solid walls. And the corridor’s windowless too—no way it could’ve slipped past us unnoticed.”

A police officer stared intently at Shoichi-kun’s face and asked suspiciously. “No, it wasn’t our imagination. That statue-like thing was definitely moving.” “That’s right. I saw it together with Shoichi-kun. And then I heard that sound of gears—grinding, grinding—it just kept going on and on.”

Even middle schooler Taiichi-kun had insisted so adamantly that the adults found themselves compelled to believe. The uncanny atmosphere grew so thick that everyone's faces drained of color. That a human-shaped being of metal could dissolve into gaseous form in an instant defied all scientific rationale. Then was it truly a ghost after all? Yet none could muster belief in specters or such supernatural matters. There remained no explanation but sheer mystery. But this strange occurrence would not be the end of it. Soon far greater wonders would manifest—and indeed, unfold before the very eyes of the renowned detective Akechi Kogoro.

When it became clear the monster had infiltrated the house, Tezuka-san tightened the storehouse surveillance further. Outside the storehouse, police officers stood stationed in pairs across three sides. The wide corridor before the main entrance held a long bench where Tezuka-san, Hirabayashi-san, and two police officers maintained constant watch over the storehouse entrance. Shoichi-kun, Taiichi-kun, and the live-in student were tasked with patrolling the perimeter.

They had turned on bright electric lights in every room of the mansion, with additional bright lighting installed not only in the corridor before the storehouse but within the storehouse itself.

Tezuka-san would occasionally unlock the storehouse’s large door with a key, enter inside, and inspect the safe’s contents—and yet the luminous watch remained securely within. Could it be that even the Bronze Demon was unable to infiltrate this heavily secured storehouse? Or was it keeping to the promise written on that scrap of paper, waiting for ten o'clock to arrive?

A little past six o'clock, Detective Akechi arrived with Inspector Nakamura from the investigation section. Kobayashi Shonen was nowhere to be seen. Though Akechi had stated he would bring Kobayashi-kun along, why hadn't they come together? There must have been some reason for this. Tezuka-san guided the two men before the storehouse, produced separate chairs for them to sit on, and gave a detailed account of the evening's events. "Given these circumstances, I tried calling your office several times, Sensei, but you had already departed."

“I must apologize for that.” “Actually，Inspector Nakamura and I had to coordinate our plans before coming here，which made me late.” “By the way，the piece is still in the storehouse，isn’t it?” “It’s already been confirmed.” “I’ve been checking repeatedly since earlier，but there’s absolutely no sign of anything unusual.” “And there are no escape routes under the floor of this storehouse，correct?” “That has also been confirmed.” “I have personally conducted thorough checks myself，and the police officers also performed a sufficient inspection during the daytime today.”

“Then unless it’s someone with power beyond human capability,” deduced Akechi Kogoro, “they couldn’t enter this storehouse—is that right?” “That’s correct,” replied Tezuka Ryunosuke. “However...” His fingers tightened around his chair’s armrests. “The opponent may possess power exceeding human limits.” A metallic grinding echoed faintly from distant corridors as he continued: “After all—we’re dealing with a monster capable of vanishing mysteriously like before.”

After that, tea and snacks were served as they passed the time chatting, but nothing particularly unusual occurred.

However, time was drawing closer to ten o'clock with each passing moment.

After nine o'clock passed, Tezuka-san seemed unable to stay calm, repeatedly taking out a watch to check the time, standing up and sitting down, appearing thoroughly unsettled.

“Sensei Akechi, Inspector Nakamura, I simply cannot feel at ease like this. “I will enter the storehouse and stand guard before the safe until ten o’clock. “As you can see, the storehouse entrance has a mesh door, so it’s clearly visible from outside. “I will only close this door without locking it, so when the time comes, please all rush inside.”

Though everyone tried to stop him, saying it wasn’t necessary yet, Tezuka-san insisted he couldn’t feel at ease, so he ultimately entered the storehouse. And there he was, pacing around and around the massive safe—about two meters tall—positioned in the center of the storehouse. The storehouse had electric lights on inside, and with its coarse mesh door, it was clearly visible from outside. At first, those inside and outside the storehouse discussed various matters, but eventually growing weary of it, both fell silent.

“Five minutes to ten.”

Inspector Nakamura checked his wristwatch and whispered softly to Akechi. Though he believed their strict surveillance should keep them safe, he could not help feeling anxious as the time drew near. The entire group before the storehouse watched with bated breath, motionless, their eyes fixed on the mesh door.

Tezuka-san continued pacing around the large safe. Then, as he moved behind the safe and momentarily disappeared from view, a sudden “Waaah!” of a scream pierced through everyone’s ears. To the eyes of the people who had leapt to their feet, a terrifying scene appeared through the mesh door. Tezuka-san staggered out from behind the safe, and from behind him loomed the monster, pressing in menacingly.

Ah! When had it entered? There stood the Bronze Demon. Grind-grind went the eerie gears—that same ominous sound. Pits of blackness for eyes, a crescent-shaped void of a mouth—the monster finally showed itself before the renowned detective. Bizarre and uncanny. Detective Akechi was first to throw himself at the storehouse's mesh door. Just as he gripped it with both hands to wrench it open— A violent crash resounded, plunging the storehouse into total darkness. The Bronze Demon must have shattered the light bulb.

The hallway lights were on, but their glow didn't reach into the storehouse's depths, making it impossible to see what the Bronze Demon and Tezuka-san were doing. Detective Akechi pulled out a prepared flashlight from his pocket, turned it on, yanked open the mesh door with a clatter, and suddenly leapt inside. Inspector Nakamura followed right after him. However, the flashlight's narrow beam made it impossible to see properly. From somewhere in the darkness came sounds of the Bronze Demon and Tezuka-san locked in a struggle, yet the beam stubbornly refused to reach that corner.

Before long, near the side of the safe came the heavy thud of someone collapsing. When Detective Akechi hurriedly shone his light there, it revealed Tezuka-san as the one who had fallen. In the flashlight’s circular beam, he grimaced and struggled to rise. While Inspector Nakamura helped Tezuka-san up, Akechi’s flashlight beam swept across the large safe’s front. “Ah! The safe—!” The cry came from Tezuka-san, now being supported upright.

When they looked, the safe door had been opened, and the drawers inside were left pulled out. Tezuka-san clung to the drawer. “It’s gone! The Emperor’s Luminous Watch is gone!” Ah! The Bronze Demon had indeed kept its promise. It had stolen that famous jeweled watch. However, there was no escape route. The corridor before the storehouse door was lit. Many eyes were gleaming. No one had exited from that entrance. What about the windows? The windows were also secure. Given that it was a storehouse, sturdy iron bars were installed on every window. The Bronze Demon must be inside the storehouse. It was now like a rat in a trap.

In the outer hallway, having heard the commotion, Shoichi-kun, Taiichi-kun, and others—including a student servant—gathered. In addition, there were two police officers and Mr. Hirabayashi. Akechi, having realized the safe had been opened, suddenly dashed to the mesh door and shouted.

“Mr. Hirabayashi, go inside and attend to Tezuka-san.” “Then have the student servant hurry with the light bulb.” “You two officers, go inside and search thoroughly.” “The rest of you, keep strict watch here. If any suspicious figure emerges, shout at the top of your lungs.” Thereupon Mr. Hirabayashi and the two police officers entered the storehouse, and soon after, the student servant hurried over with a light bulb. After letting those people inside, Akechi slammed the mesh door shut and planted himself before it, scrutinizing the storehouse’s interior without lowering his guard.

Inspector Nakamura swiftly replaced the shattered bulb with the one the student servant had brought. In the suddenly illuminated storehouse, Mr. Hirabayashi stood in one corner, supporting Tezuka-san as if cradling him. Blood flowed from Tezuka-san’s forehead, though it wasn’t a serious wound. Inspector Nakamura went to the window, pressed his face against the iron bars, and called out to the police officers keeping watch outside.

“Do you see any abnormalities from outside?”

“No abnormalities detected.”

“No abnormalities detected.” “Good. Needless to say about the windows—make sure to thoroughly watch the walls and roof too. If you spot any suspicious figures, blow your whistles immediately!” The garden had outdoor lights scattered about, and since all six police officers carried flashlights, they rarely missed anything. Then, under the bright electric lights, a thorough search of the storehouse commenced. This was because the Bronze Demon had hidden somewhere and was nowhere to be seen when they looked around. Inspector Nakamura, two police officers, the student servant, along with Tezuka-san—who had mostly recovered his vigor—and Mr. Hirabayashi joined forces to search every corner of the storehouse.

The storehouse interior contained large boxes holding kimonos, chests of drawers, and other implements lined up in rows. They opened each one to inspect their contents, checked the walls behind them, examined the floorboards, and scoured every conceivable hiding spot large enough for a person. Finally, they scrutinized the walls, floor, and ceiling across the entire space—yet nowhere could they find the Bronze Demon. They determined there were absolutely no secret escape routes or anything of the sort.

Throughout this search, Detective Akechi never once left his position in front of the mesh door entrance, his sharp eyes scanning every direction. He had reasoned that while everyone was engrossed in the search, the monster must not be allowed to slip out through this entrance.

The search that lasted over an hour ended in utter futility. The police officers who had been keeping watch on three sides of the storehouse asserted that not even a single mouse had slipped out through windows, walls, or roof. Meanwhile, those stationed before the storehouse entrance insisted no one had exited through the mesh door. Since there were no abnormalities whatsoever in the storehouse's thick floorboards, there was no possibility that the monster had burrowed underground. In short—from within that iron box-like storehouse devoid of even a single gap front, back, left, right, up or down—the enormous metal monster had vanished as though wiped away.

How could this be explained? Was that thing some sort of apparition—visible yet insubstantial as vapor? No, such a being couldn’t exist in this world. Or had every last person involved in the search fallen under hypnosis? No—in such a critical situation, it was unthinkable for everyone to succumb to hypnotism. People had clearly witnessed the monster’s terrifying form assaulting Tezuka-san. What possible explanation remained now? How could this baffling mystery ever be solved?

Tezuka-san and family members, Inspector Nakamura, and the police officers all found themselves overcome by a strange sensation, as though trapped in some terrible dream, and could do nothing but blankly exchange glances with one another.

Even the renowned detective Akechi Kogoro appeared to lack the ability to solve this mystery immediately. He leaned back in the chair before the storehouse, running his fingers through his trademark unruly hair as he sank deep into thought.

However, this was strange. Wasn't it Akechi's habit to run his fingers through his hair whenever a good idea struck him? So had this mystery—which no one could solve—begun to unravel for Akechi? That's right. Our renowned detective was, at that moment, contemplating something truly outlandish. This strange mystery had almost been solved within Akechi's mind. However, it was his habit as a renowned detective not to say anything until solid evidence was obtained. That evening, when Inspector Nakamura teased—

“Even the great Akechi-kun seems a bit stumped by this monster, eh?” Even when teased, he simply smiled without offering any reply.

Street Urchin Task Force

It was the evening of the same day that the mysterious incident occurred before the Tezuka family's storehouse.

In a certain open space of Ueno Park as dusk began to fall, a boy in dirty khaki clothes and wooden clogs, bareheaded, was whistling incessantly. For a vagrant boy, he had a healthy complexion, with cheeks like apples. That face looked familiar. Ah, now it became clear. It was Kobayashi Shonen. His outfit was different, but this was unmistakably Kobayashi-kun—Detective Akechi’s assistant. Now, the reason Kobayashi-kun hadn’t come to the Tezuka residence with Detective Akechi became clear. But just what was Kobayashi-kun doing in a place like the park, disguised in such a peculiar way?

After whistling for some time—evidently using it as a signal—a single twelve- or thirteen-year-old street urchin boy emerged from the grove ahead, dressed in similarly shabby clothes as Kobayashi-kun. The points where this child differed from Kobayashi-kun were being two or three years younger, having wildly overgrown hair, and having a sickly complexion. “Hey, Kobayashi Bro, you need somethin’?”

The street urchin approached Kobayashi-kun with a look of familiarity and said something peculiar. “Yeah, got somethin’ I need you lot to do today.” “Round up the whole crew.” Kobayashi-kun, evidently acquainted with this grubby street urchin, spoke in a friendly manner.

The street urchin suddenly took off running, but after a while, he returned leading fifteen or sixteen similarly grubby vagrant children. “Alright, everyone—form a circle around me and line up.”

Following the command, the children quickly lined up around Kobayashi-kun. Kobayashi-kun seemed to be quite popular among these street urchins. Now then, Kobayashi-kun cleared his throat with an “Ahem” and began his peculiar address. “Gentlemen—I’m talking about you all—you’ve been making your living through *moku-hiroi* under your boss’s orders—that’s collecting cigarette butts.” “That much is fine.” “But you lot sometimes swipe things too.” “No use denying it.” “I know everything.” “But you’re not doing this petty theft because you want to.” “You’re doing it ’cause you’ve got no choice.” “Right? That’s how it is.” “It’s ’cause you’ve got no fathers or mothers.” “No one to look after you.” “But keeping this up won’t lead anywhere good.” “So here’s my proposal.” “How ’bout it? Join our Boy Detectives Club!”

“What’s this ‘Boy Detectives Club’?” The street urchins asked in unison.

“Wait, wait—I’ll explain now. Do you all know the famous detective Akechi Kogoro?” “I don’t know no Akechi bastard.” “Yeah, some do know—they know. Sometime ago, Mitchan’s older brother mentioned it. He’s some amazing private detective, right?” There were five or six who knew Akechi’s name. “Alright, got it. Anyway, he’s this damn amazing private detective. I’m Detective Akechi’s apprentice. They call me the junior assistant. Anyway, as that disciple, I became the leader and created what’s called the Boy Detectives Club with elementary and middle school students. So we’ll do what kids can to catch bad guys and make the world better—that’s the idea.”

“By the way, I assume you all know about the villain called the Bronze Demon?” “I know.” “I know.” All the street urchins raised their hands like pupils and answered. That monster had caused such an uproar across Tokyo in just over a month since first appearing in newspapers.

“The enemy is that Bronze Demon. Are you scared?” “Scared? As if! I’ve actually talked to that guy before!” Street urchins sometimes told these kinds of lies. However, unlike ordinary children, not a single one of them showed any fear. “Under normal circumstances, this would be a job for our Boy Detectives Club, but given that our opponent this time is who they are and it’s nighttime work...” “We can’t have our members who attend school handle this.” “I’ve been strictly ordered by Sensei Akechi that we mustn’t let them do dangerous things.”

“But you lot don’t bat an eye at midnight.” “That’s not how it should be, but you’ve all gone and become like adults.” “So here’s the deal—I’m putting this job in your hands.” “But I won’t make you proper members yet.” “If I let your sort join properly, the other members would throw a fit.” “We’re forming something called the Boy Detectives Club Street Urchin Task Force.” “Today’s the inauguration!”

“Calling us ‘Street Urchins’? No way.” “At least give us a better name than that.” Two or three of them voiced objections. “You all don’t know this, but there’s a Mr. Great Detective in England.” “They call him Mr. Sherlock Holmes.” “This great Mr. Holmes also used assistants like you street urchins and adult vagrants to catch villains before.” “The name of that British detective group was ‘Bakery Town’s Ruffian Squad’.” “This Ruffian Squad accomplished such great deeds that they became known worldwide and are praised by everyone, see?” “So you see, ‘Street Urchin Task Force’ isn’t a bad name at all.”

Kobayashi-kun was quite clever with his words. Having been flattered in this manner, the Street Urchin Task Force members—perhaps now convinced—fell completely silent.

“Now then, about tonight’s job—we know that around ten o’clock tonight, the Bronze Demon will be sneaking into a certain house.” “You’ll hide outside the house’s wall, and when you see the Bronze Demon escape, follow it quietly.” “Don’t all go after it together.” “Just two or three who spot it should follow.” “Then track down that monster’s hideout.” “Once you do that, the police will catch it.” “How does that sound?” “Isn’t this an amazing job?” “I’ll stake out with you all too.”

“And then, if you all prove yourselves, I’ll ask Sensei Akechi to make sure you won’t have to do scrap collecting or anything like that anymore. And I’ll get you all into school too.”

The Street Urchin Task Force members were naturally adventurous by disposition. Tailing people came effortlessly to them. While adults would immediately draw suspicion if they tried shadowing someone, nobody paid heed when twelve- or thirteen-year-old street urchins trailed behind. Moreover, their compact frames and nimble movements made them ideal for covert pursuits. All sixteen members readily accepted Kobayashi-kun's proposition. Kobayashi Shonen purchased train tickets for the group before dividing them into five units and discreetly ferrying each contingent aboard separate cars bound for Minato Ward near the Tezuka estate.

The Street Urchin Task Force members, having even experienced life as vagrants, were truly skilled at operating without being noticed by others. Even without Kobayashi-kun needing to issue individual orders, they astutely positioned themselves around the Tezuka family's wall—two here, three there—efficiently dividing roles until not a single member remained visible.

It was just past eight in the evening. Enduring about two hours of remaining hidden and still by the cold roadside was no ordinary hardship for them. Ordinary children would have immediately caught colds, but the Street Urchin Task Force members, being accustomed to such hardships, had scavenged straw mats and rugs to wrap themselves in, now waiting eagerly—almost gleefully—for the monster’s appearance.

The Sky Monster

Kobayashi Shonen took up position in the most desolate spot behind the Tezuka residence along with two Street Urchin Task Force members and was waiting patiently. In the shadow of a small thicket of trees near the wall，they spread out a straw mat；because of the cold，the three huddled together and gazed into the darkness.

It was already past ten o'clock. If the Bronze Demon had kept its promise, it should have already appeared inside the vault. "I wonder if Sensei Akechi managed to capture the Bronze Demon." "If it had been captured, there should have been a signal from Sensei Akechi—but since there was no sign of one, perhaps the Bronze Demon had managed to escape." "Or maybe that letter was just a bluff?"

As Kobayashi-kun was pondering such things, a human-sized black shadow drifted into view before the wall about ten meters ahead.

“Ah! That’s him!” Kobayashi-kun instinctively gripped the shoulders of the Street Urchin Task Force members on either side of him tightly. Although it was a moonless pitch-black night，the black figure that appeared before the white concrete wall was clearly visible. The black shadow had a truly strange shape. It wore a baggy black overcoat with its collar turned up，hiding its chin，and pulled down its soft cap’s brim firmly over its eyes. Under normal circumstances，the area beneath someone’s hat would appear faintly pale，but this figure’s face was dreadfully pitch-black.

But that wasn't all. The way it started walking off in that direction! That mechanical, clumsy gait. Moreover, when they listened closely—ah! There it was. Wasn't that the gear-grinding sound they'd heard described—like teeth gnashing—now reaching their ears?

Kobayashi-kun signaled to the two Street Urchin Task Force members and stood up. Then, taking care not to alert their target, they began trailing the monster. The street urchins quickly grasped Kobayashi Shonen's intent too, hunching their backs stiffly as they cautiously followed behind. After proceeding a short distance, they came upon a vast burnt-out field. Broken concrete walls stood scattered about with bricks piled in low mounds—a desolate place containing nothing else. Far in the distance rose the concrete chimney left from some factory, faintly visible as it towered into the sky.

The monster, unaware it was being tailed, walked on with large strides in its strange, jerky manner. At times, the gear noises would grow startlingly loud, only to fade again to near inaudibility. When the noise grew stronger, perhaps the monster was recalling something infuriating and getting angry. Kobayashi-kun and his companions were on edge, certain the Bronze Demon would turn around at any moment with a loud clatter of gears to chase them down, but fortunately the mechanical entity never once looked back as it continued straight ahead. The chimney towering in the distant sky gradually grew larger. In other words, the Bronze Demon was rapidly approaching that chimney.

And finally, it arrived at the base of the chimney. At that spot remained a brick structure resembling a small hut where a boiler had apparently once been installed. The roof was gone and the walls on all four sides were half-collapsed, but even so, it still somewhat retained the shape of a hut. The monster entered the brick hut. “Huh, something’s off here. “Perhaps there’s a basement inside there after all. “And that might be where the Bronze Demon’s hideout is, don’t you think?”

Kobayashi-kun peered timidly into the hut from a distance. Though it was dark and hard to see, the monster hadn't vanished underground; instead, it sat on what appeared to be stone steps at the back of the hut, resting motionlessly. Even after watching for some time, there was no sign of it suddenly moving.

Kobayashi-kun thought: Now was the moment. He reasoned that if they could swiftly return to the Tezuka residence, inform Sensei Akechi, and have police surround the area, the monster would become a trapped rat. Thereupon, he quietly whispered instructions to two Street Urchin Task Force members—to maintain strict surveillance and follow wherever the monster might move—before hastening back through the darkness toward the Tezuka residence.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes passed as the Street Urchin Task Force members kept nervous watch, yet somehow the Bronze Demon remained seated in its original spot without moving a muscle. What on earth was this mechanical being thinking? Soon they sensed something stirring in the surrounding darkness - here and there. Black shadows were approaching from all directions. "Hey! Cops came swarmin'!" "And they dragged all your pals here too!"

At the Street Urchin's ear, Kobayashi Shonen's whisper sounded. Then from behind Kobayashi-kun's body, his fellow Street Urchin members' faces peeked out and nodded firmly. Before long, it seemed the police squad had completely surrounded the brick hut. Suddenly, a piercing whistle shrilled as multiple beams from large flashlights converged into the hut, followed immediately by repeated gunshots—Bang! Bang!

The police squad had received orders not to kill the monster, so they were deliberately firing wide. The Bronze Demon smoothly stood up within the overlapping beams of flashlights. And from within its body resounded a terrifying screech of metal grinding against metal—Screech! Screech! The monster wasn’t screaming in human language—it was shrieking something in mechanical screeches. The Bronze Demon’s mouth gaped open and shut, while from its cavernous eyes came a sinister, gleaming light. And then, its statue-like massive body began clanking toward them with heavy, metallic thuds.

The police squad recoiled in terror with a collective “Agh!”, but they intensified their barrage of warning shots. The Bronze Demon exited the brick hut and stood rigidly surveying its surroundings, but with flashlight beams pouring in from all directions and gunfire even more intense than before—likely concluding escape was impossible—it abruptly approached the chimney’s base. Gripping metal rungs embedded in the concrete surface like a ladder, it began rapidly scaling the chimney.

Was it declaring its intent to escape into the sky? However, no matter how much it climbed the chimney, being surrounded on all sides left no possibility of escape. Could it be that upon reaching the chimney's summit, its body would become light as a balloon and vanish into the dark night sky? This chimney stood far taller than those of bathhouses. The monster ascended like a mechanical monkey - never pausing, climbing at tremendous speed - until the flashlight beams could no longer reach it. Yet through the darkness they could still see a black shadow rapidly scaling the faintly pale silhouette of the towering chimney.

The black shadow grew smaller as it ascended, finally reaching the summit of the great chimney. And from that distant sky came the nasty screech of metal grinding against metal—Kee! Kee!—echoing ominously as if mocking the people below.

The True Identity of the Monster

Forty or fifty minutes later, the area around the chimney descended into a commotion akin to a blazing inferno. At Inspector Nakamura’s direction, a call was made to the nearest fire station, and a fire engine arrived equipped even with a small searchlight. The searchlight was connected to a nearby power line, its dazzling beam illuminating the chimney’s summit. The Bronze Demon had not ascended to heaven; it still remained there. Perched atop the chimney, it swung its two metal legs loosely, spread both hands toward the sky in a threatening posture to glare down at the world below, all while emitting those familiar unpleasant screeches—Kee! Kee!

For police officers to climb the chimney and capture the monster was utterly impossible. The footing was poor, and they were dealing with a being whose strength remained unknown. Inspector Nakamura then conceived the idea of requesting the fire station to direct hose water at the monster. He believed this would force the creature down in desperation. Yet this assumption proved erroneous. The monster never once descended.

The engine of the fire truck pump roared to life, and the firefighters gripped the hose nozzles, bracing themselves. With a terrifying roar, water gushed from the hoses, enveloping the Bronze Demon high in the sky in a spray of pure white. The water from the fire hoses had enough force to blow away the Bronze Demon atop the chimney. However, if they were to knock it down and kill it, that would achieve nothing, so they carefully adjusted their aim, merely tormenting it by spraying water at its face.

However, the Bronze Demon showed not the slightest sign of distress. Because the mechanical being didn’t breathe, no matter how much water they poured on it, it remained unfazed. The firefighters grew frustrated and gradually intensified their water spray. The Bronze Demon's figure appeared to sway unsteadily. Ah, dangerous! If they kept this up too harshly, it would fall from the top of the chimney. By the time people thought this and clutched their hands in suspense, it was already too late.

Whether the pump’s water was too powerful or whether the monster had done it intentionally—no sooner had its bronze body swayed violently from side to side than its figure vanished from atop the chimney. Yet this time it had not disappeared like smoke. It had fallen. From distant skies above came its plummet—a black mass hurtling earthward like an arrow. The crowd involuntarily cried out with a collective “Agh!”

It was at that moment. At that very moment, in the darkness on the ground, something utterly inexplicable was happening.

At that moment, Kobayashi Shonen was looking up at the chimney top from far behind the police squad when the monster fell; he tried to rush toward the spot. And when he took that first step—suddenly feeling as though a black cloud had descended over his head—his vision vanished completely. His body seemed to float weightlessly through the air before sliding down into a deep hole-like void until everything went dark. The crowd remained fixated on the monster amid pervasive darkness; no one noticed what had happened to Kobayashi-kun. Yet from that moment onward—as if erased—his figure disappeared. In other words, he vanished from this world.

Over here, because the Bronze Demon had crashed to the ground with a terrifying noise, the police officers all rushed to the spot at once. Since the flashlight beams proved insufficient, they moved the fire engine and illuminated the area with its headlights—only to find the monster lying there in a wretched state, slammed into the ground. Of course, it was dead. But what a bizarre corpse it was! Its limbs were twisted and bent, its belly torn open, yet not a single drop of blood flowed. And protruding from its torn belly were not entrails, but countless gears of various sizes.

Ah! So even its insides were entirely mechanical after all. It was truly a mechanical being.

Even so, what on earth had been the source of power that moved those gears? There was no way something this large could have been powered by a spring. Even if it had been powered by electricity, installing a storage battery large enough to move such a massive doll seemed utterly inconceivable. Could someone have made an invention that no one had ever known before? Then what on earth could this inventor be? Inspector Nakamura approached the Demon's corpse and nudged its shoulder area with his shoe tip. Given that this was an unknowable demonic creature, he tested whether it might still be alive even in this state. However, the mechanical being remained limp, showing no signs of movement. It was indeed dead.

“What? So the Bronze Demon was just... this?” Looking at the scattered gears, they felt somehow mocked. Yet when they recalled how this machine had committed such evils and so often vanished like smoke, it still felt eerie. An indescribable strangeness gripped them.

The people stood frozen around the strange corpse, utterly silent. Overwhelmed by the sheer strangeness, they couldn't grasp what to think or what to say—utterly at a loss.

At that moment, parting through the crowd, the renowned detective Akechi Kogoro appeared. Akechi silently approached the mechanical being’s corpse, crouched beside it, and began examining every inch. “Hmm, what’s this?” Muttering to himself, he lifted the monster’s right hand. When he looked, the bronze fingers with their hinge joints were tightly clenched, and from between them protruded the edge of a white scrap of paper. Akechi carefully extracted the scrap of paper to avoid tearing it, smoothed out the wrinkles on his knee, and held it up to the fire engine’s headlight to examine.

“Ah! Just as I thought—it’s a letter,” he muttered. “This thing is trying to tell us something through this letter.” On the scrap of paper were strange marks—unclear whether they were letters or drawings— “FUKUSHUU” —only five characters were written there. “It must read ‘Revenge’.” In other words, it was their usual threatening message: “We’ll have our revenge.”

But how could a dead monster exact revenge? It made no sense at all. But the creature was monster-like through and through. Even in death, its soul might linger, plotting some terrible scheme. After deliberation, they decided to transport the mechanical humanoid’s corpse to the Metropolitan Police Department’s forensic laboratory for detailed analysis and have the police officers and firefighters withdraw. But it was then that Detective Akechi noticed Kobayashi Shonen was nowhere to be seen.

The boys of the Street Urchin Task Force, completely bewildered by the terrifying events that just unfolded, huddled together discussing something. But when Akechi inquired about Kobayashi Shonen, one of them stepped forward from their group and uttered something peculiar. “Hey, somethin’ ain’t right here.” “I ain’t got a clue.” “Big Bro Kobayashi… he just up an’ vanished.” “I was right next to Big Bro Kobayashi back then.” “Wasn’t able to see much ’cause it was dark, but he definitely up an’ vanished.” “He just up an’ vanished.”

They couldn't quite make sense of what the street urchin was saying, but there was no mistaking that Kobayashi had disappeared. They all divided tasks and searched as thoroughly as possible, but they simply couldn't find him. And even when the next day came, Kobayashi-kun did not appear from anywhere.

Ah! What on earth had happened? The Bronze Demon appeared dead, yet could it still be alive? Even so, how had they managed to conceal Kobayashi-kun? If this was indeed the Demon's revenge, no vengeance could be more dreadful than this. Where could Kobayashi-kun be now? Surely he couldn't have truly disappeared. There had to be some reason behind this— some terrifying reason beyond anyone's comprehension.

The Demon in the Mirror

The terrifying Bronze Demon had finally died, but as for whether this meant the demon's rampage was over, it seemed that was not the case. The Bronze Demon’s spirit seemed to linger somewhere, plotting a terrifying revenge.

The one who became the target of revenge was Detective Akechi's young assistant, Kobayashi-kun. During the commotion of the demon's collapse, in the blink of an eye, a pitch-black cloth came covering over Kobayashi-kun's eyes, and just like that, he lost consciousness. After an unknowable amount of time had passed, Kobayashi-kun's eyes snapped open as if awakening from a nightmare. The room was filled with an unfamiliar reddish glow. Wondering what kind of light it was, he turned his gaze toward it and saw a strangely shaped oil lamp hanging from the ceiling by a thin iron chain.

When he looked around, he found himself in a strange room unlike anything he had ever seen before. The walls on all four sides were stone embankments like those of a castle moat. The ceiling was constructed from thick wooden beams crisscrossed together, with heavy planks laid over them. The floor was also laid with large stones, uncovered, and the only furnishing was a single wooden bed. On that bed was where Kobayashi-kun had been lying all this time.

"Where on earth am I?" As he pondered this, he recalled how—while watching the Bronze Demon plummet from the chimney—something pitch-black had suddenly enveloped his head from above, leaving him completely disoriented.

So I'd been unconscious all along... Still—whose house was this place?

Kobayashi-kun tried to get down from the bed, but his entire body felt constricted, leaving him unable to move freely. After much effort, he managed to stand on the stone floor and stagger forward a few steps—but instantly cried out and froze in place. For he had seen something truly terrifying. In the stone embankment wall ahead was a window through which the room beyond was visible. There, at the window, stood something startling. It was the Bronze Demon.

The monster that should have died falling from the chimney calmly reappeared. Kobayashi-kun wondered if this was a dream. The monster stood perfectly still like Kobayashi-kun, staring this way. It tilted its head as if pondering something. When he regained awareness, the familiar grinding noise reached his ears. Strangely enough, Kobayashi-kun felt the noise was emanating from near his own stomach.

Since they could keep glaring at each other endlessly without resolution, Kobayashi-kun tentatively took a step forward. Then the monster too—as if mimicking him—swiftly took a step forward. When he raised his hand, the figure opposite raised its hand as well. When he tilted his head, the figure opposite tilted its head as well. "Huh, this is strange!" A thought suddenly flashed through Kobayashi-kun's mind. It was an utterly preposterous idea, but he decided to test it out. He steadily approached the window. Then the monster also steadily advanced toward him. At the window, their faces seemed about to collide.

Kobayashi-kun resolutely extended his right hand forward. Then, it was just as he had thought. There was cold glass there. Kobayashi-kun’s hand struck the thick glass pane, and it clinked sharply. Kobayashi-kun shuddered as if doused with cold water. What approached from the other side was not the Bronze Demon, but Kobayashi-kun’s own face.

It wasn't a window—this was a large mirror. The mirror had been hung on the stone wall. The figure of Kobayashi-kun reflected in that mirror was the spitting image of the Bronze Demon. He involuntarily looked at his own body. He extended both hands in front of him and gazed at them intently. And he confirmed that not only in the mirror's reflection but even when looking directly, his own body had, at some point, completely transformed into bronze.

The reason his body had felt so stiff and awkward when he climbed down from bed earlier was because of this. For soft flesh had，without him noticing，become encased in armor-like bronze.

Kobayashi-kun reached up with both hands to touch his face. He then touched his hair. As he did, both his face and hair clinked with metallic sounds. Ah—had Kobayashi-kun been transformed into a living bronze statue through the Demon's sorcery?

“Heh heh heh heh heh…”

Suddenly, a strange laugh came from behind. There was a guy laughing derisively, as if mocking people.

Kobayashi-kun swiftly turned around. And there, once again, stood a heart-stopping, unknowable monster.

Underground Clown

Even though it was a monster, it was not the Bronze Demon. As if utterly out of place in this location, a single clown-like figure stood there—its face deathly white, its crimson mouth gaping wide—laughing with a derisive "Heh-heh-heh."

He wore gaudy red-and-white striped pajamas that hung loosely on his frame, his face painted white like a plaster wall, both cheeks stained red like the Hinomaru emblem, lips smeared bright crimson, and atop his head sat a pointed hat also adorned with red-and-white stripes. As Kobayashi-kun gazed vacantly at the clown-like figure’s face with a dream-within-a-dream sensation amid the successive wonders occurring around him, the man finally stopped laughing and said these words.

“Mr. Street Urchin Detective, you’re surprised, aren’t you? Hey, where do you think this is? This here’s the Bronze Demon Kingdom at the earth’s core! As for yours truly here, I serve as Lord Demon’s secretary, interpreter, and attendant—the one and only human in this kingdom. In this kingdom, there ain’t a single flesh-and-blood human besides yours truly.” “So the Bronze Demon wasn’t alone after all.” Kobayashi-kun tried to voice this thought, moving his mouth, but his voice emerged as a hoarse screech like grinding gears—so distorted he could barely recognize it himself. Ah, had even Kobayashi-kun’s voice been transformed into that of a bronze being?

“Yeah, exactly,” he sneered. “The one that fell from the chimney and broke was just a doll.” “The real Lord Demon remains safe and sound right here in the earth’s depths.” Kobayashi’s gear-grinding voice appeared perfectly audible to this clown. This must have been what they meant by interpreter. “Then why did you make me look like this? You know why, don’t you?”

When Kobayashi-kun asked in that same metallic squeak, the clown made his crimson mouth twist into a smirk, "That’s payback for cornering Lord Demon atop the chimney." "If we turn you into a Street Urchin Demon here in the depths of the earth, you won’t be able to cause any more trouble like before." "Soon, we’re going to bring your teacher Akechi Kogoro here and turn him into a bronze human too." "Heh heh heh…"

As he listened and gradually came to understand the situation, Kobayashi-kun felt completely relieved. Kobayashi-kun had not been turned into a mechanical doll down to his very core; he was merely being made to wear something like a bronze armor-like suit. His face too was merely covered by something like a mask that enveloped everything from the neck up. There must have been some mechanism around the mouth area so that when he spoke, it emitted a creaking, gear-like sound. Moreover, around the abdomen of the bronze armor was a spring-driven mechanism where gears could constantly be heard grinding.

“So, the Bronze Demon that fell from the chimney was just a replacement dummy doll? When did you swap it with the real one? I didn’t notice a thing.”

Ah, what a bizarre spectacle this was! One was a clown-like figure with makeup as white as a wall and a pointed hat; the other was a boy clad head to toe in bronze. There they were, conversing beneath the dim reddish glow of a lamp as though they were friends. “Heh heh heh… That’s exactly it—that’s what they call the magic of the Demon Kingdom. It’s a mystery even the great detective Akechi can’t solve. As if a street urchin like you could ever understand.”

“Hmm, so the Bronze Demon disappearing like smoke is magic after all?”

“That’s right—the first magic of the Demon Kingdom. There are many other kinds of magic as well. In time, you’ll come to understand too. Since you’ve entered this Demon Kingdom, you’ll never return to the world above—so I’ll tell you everything. This here’s an art museum without equal in all the world. Every imaginable artwork Lord Demon has collected over many years fills seven chambers to bursting.”

“Among them is a room called the Clock Room—these days Lord Demon’s been gathering timepieces to fill it with,” said the clown, his red-striped sleeve fluttering theatrically. “Every last one of those rare clocks that’ve made a name for themselves out there? We’re snatching ’em all up.” He jabbed a white-gloved thumb toward shadowed corridors branching off from where they stood. “Right now I’ll show you all seven chambers—but first,” his grin widened until crimson lips threatened to meet ear-to-ear beneath pancake makeup, “let’s hit the dining hall first. Bet that metal gut of yours’s growling like an empty oil drum by now.” When the clown beckoned with fingers curled like spider legs, Kobayashi followed—each step producing mechanical clunks from his bronze-plated joints that echoed through stone passages. Though he tried moving naturally, the armor forced his legs into piston-like motions reminiscent of wind-up toys sold at festival stalls. Even I find this unsettling, he thought as his bronze-sheathed hands brushed against tunnel walls slick with condensation. But trapped inside this clanking shell? No choice but to march like tin soldiers from foreign picture books.

The spaces between rooms were connected not by corridors but by narrow stone tunnels. After walking about ten steps through the dimly lit tunnel, the path split into two. At the end of the left branch stood a sturdy wooden door, tightly shut. The Underground Clown gestured as if to say, “Open it.” Kobayashi-kun absentmindedly used his stiff bronze fingers to push open the heavy door, but the moment he glimpsed inside, he recoiled in shock and instinctively slammed the wooden panel shut.

Because within that vast stone room, the statue-like Bronze Demon had loomed imposingly, glaring in their direction. Little Demon “Heh heh heh… Did that surprise you?” “But there are still plenty more surprises in store.” “Three minutes—exactly three minutes—hold that door tight so it doesn’t open from inside.” “Got it? Three minutes exactly.” The clown, with his crimson mouth stretched in a broad grin, rolled up the sleeves of his garishly patterned pajamas and gazed at the splendid jewel-encrusted wristwatch. This wristwatch too must surely have been something the Bronze Demon stole from somewhere.

Kobayashi-kun had been standing dazedly before the door, his capacity for thought utterly drained by the relentless string of incomprehensible events since earlier. When three minutes appeared to have passed, the clown—

“Alright, you can open the door now. “Heh heh heh.” With that, he let out another unpleasant laugh. Kobayashi-kun opened the door with a “to hell with it” resolve and cautiously peered inside. Then—Oh! What on earth was this? The room was utterly empty—the Bronze Demon that had been there moments before had vanished without a trace. Wondering if there was another exit somewhere through which it had departed, he looked around the room, but aside from the door Kobayashi-kun had just opened, there were only stone-paved walls—no doors or windows.

Could there be a hidden door somewhere in the stone-paved floor that it exited through? The Underground Clown declared there were no hidden doors or escape routes anywhere, then led Kobayashi-kun around to inspect all four walls of the room. Apart from small air vents opened here and there, there were no suspicious spots anywhere else. The statue-like giant had vanished like smoke within those three minutes.

“Heh heh heh… How about that? This is what they call the magic of the Demon Kingdom.” “A mere sample of it.” “Now then, let’s eat.” “First we fill our bellies—then comes meeting Lord Demon. That’s the proper order.” “Plenty more surprises lie in wait for you yet.” In the center of the spacious stone room stood an imposing table, solidly anchored, surrounded by six tall chairs with carved backs arranged around it. The clown settled into one chair and motioned for Kobayashi-kun to take another.

This room too was illuminated by kerosene lamps. A splendid lamp with glass decorations, like a chandelier, hung from the ceiling. On the large table stood a gate-shaped ornament, inside of which hung a small bell. The clown took the golden rod placed nearby and struck the bell in rapid succession. Clang clang—the beautiful sound resounded into the distance.

Whether that sound had been a signal or not, after a short while, a small monster appeared from the entrance that remained open. It too had a bronze face and bronze body, but was smaller than Kobayashi-kun and somehow endearing in appearance. The Little Demon held up a large silver tray with both hands. On the tray were arranged plates of Western-style dishes. No sooner had the Little Demon placed the tray before Kobayashi-kun than yet another monster appeared at the entrance. This one was about half the size of the previous Little Demon—a toy-sized Bean-Sized Demon. The Bean-Sized Demon also held a silver tray, upon which sat a cup containing a coffee-like beverage.

The Demon Kingdom had children too. Do mechanical beings bear children as well? And would the population of the Demon Kingdom keep growing like this? The Little Demon who entered first might be the older brother, and the Bean-Sized Demon who came later could be the younger one. The older one appeared to be twelve or thirteen, and the younger one around seven or eight. The Underground Clown smirked with crimson lips as he observed the situation, “Ah, right. If I don’t open this for you, you won’t be able to eat your feast, will you?”

Muttering to himself, he took a small key from his pocket and clicked it against Kobayashi-kun's bronze jaw area—when suddenly, the lower part of the mask snapped open, allowing him to breathe freely at last. "Now, take your time and eat the feast." "I'll just go inform Lord Demon, alright?"

The Underground Clown gave another broad grin and exited through the entrance just like that.

Left behind were Kobayashi-kun, the Little Demon, and the Bean-Sized Demon—three figures now remaining. Taking advantage of his mask’s jaw having come off and being able to speak, Kobayashi-kun tried addressing the Little Demon standing there. “Are you human, or are you a mechanical doll made of gears all the way to your core?” Hearing this, the Little Demon took one step closer to Kobayashi-kun and emitted a sharp series of gear noises—Kee, kee, kee, kee—but Kobayashi-kun couldn’t comprehend a single word of what was being conveyed.

The Little Demon, realizing that no matter how much it spoke its words weren't getting through to the other party and seemingly growing frustrated, suddenly began writing characters on the table with its slender bronze fingers.

“Oh! Does this Little Demon know human writing?” Kobayashi-kun wondered in astonishment as he watched closely. He realized it was writing the same phrase repeatedly in katakana. “What did you say?” “Bo, ku, ha... Right?” “Hmm, then next: Te, Zu, Ka, right?” “Shi, Yo, U, I, Chi— Huh? What did you say? Write it again.” “Un, Bo, Ku, Ha, Te, Zu, Ka, Shi, Yo, U, I, Chi… Ah! So you’re Tezuka Shoichi-kun!” “And the small one over there—wh-what did you say?” “Yu, Ki, Ko… Ah, that’s Yukiko, right?” “That’s your little sister Yukiko, right?” “I see, I see. So you’ve both been through the same ordeal as me.” “You were dragged down to this underground lair, had bronze masks clamped over your faces, and forced into bronze armor, right?”

The Little Demon and the Bean-Sized Demon nodded deeply again and again in response to Kobayashi-kun's words.

Shoichi-kun and Yukiko-chan were Mr. Tezuka’s children—the ones whose “Luminous Clock” had been stolen. The Bronze Demon had pilfered not just timepieces but living treasures before anyone noticed. It must have harbored resentment toward Mr. Tezuka for involving both police and Detective Akechi in hunting down its criminal operations. To exact vengeance，it had even transmuted these blameless siblings into mechanical constructs.

What could the Bronze Demon possibly have been planning to do with these three children it had taken captive? Did Detective Akechi know about this? No—he probably did not know yet. Even Akechi had been outmaneuvered by the Demon.

Devil's Art Museum

Just then, the Underground Clown returned. “Now then, I’ll show you the seven treasure rooms. You’ll be shocked, I tell ya.”

The Underground Clown guided Kobayashi-kun and the others through the Devil's Art Museum. The various treasures amassed through theft by the Bronze Demon were displayed across seven rooms in the earth's depths. In the Clock Room, timepieces of every size stood arranged like a horologist's shopfront, while a full-sized clock tower dominated one corner. At the chamber's heart—positioned where no eye could miss it—the Emperor’s Luminous Clock glittered upon an opulent black velvet dais, freshly plundered from Mr. Tezuka’s vault.

In the Buddha Statue Room, enormous Buddha statues stood lined up as if in a museum; in the Painting Room, ancient Japanese masterpieces and famous Western oil paintings hung in perfect rows. Beyond these were rooms like the Gem Room, Textile Room, and Maki-e Lacquerware Room—the sheer volume of stolen treasures left one speechless. No wonder the Bronze Demon bragged about calling this place a "museum." Kobayashi-kun stood utterly amazed, yet simultaneously felt burning hatred for the Demon flare up within his chest. What a terrifying villain! This monster couldn't be left free for even a day. "I'll escape from here no matter what," he resolved. "And I'll tell Mr. Akechi and the police everything—we'll capture that Demon and return these treasures to their rightful owners. I swear I'll do it," he vowed fiercely in his heart.

“Ehehehe! How about that? Lord Demon’s art museum is something else, isn’t it?” “Now then, once you’ve finished looking around, you’ll get to meet Lord Demon.” “Well now, Kobayashi-kun—it’s your first audience with Lord Demon.” “Nah, there’s nothing to be scared of.” “He won’t go so far as to capture and eat you.”

The Underground Clown led the way, winding through the stone tunnel until they reached a dimly lit room at its depths. The space measured about ten tatami mats, with black velvet draperies hanging like curtains along the walls and an oddly shaped pendant lamp suspended from the ceiling. Its gloom far surpassed that of any chamber they'd seen before. When Kobayashi-kun's group stepped inside, the velvet curtain ahead swayed faintly. From its parted folds emerged the Bronze Demon's form, abruptly unleashing that familiar harsh grinding of gears. The mechanical entity roared something in a thunderous voice.

“Now then, I’ll translate Lord Demon’s words for you, so listen up.” “Listen well. ... Kobayashi, you’ve truly made me suffer.” “But I possess mystic powers.” “Though I fell from that chimney and died, look—here I stand alive!” “I’m not some fool who’d be caught by your precious Akechi.” “Understood?” “Thus, your punishment—I’ll seal you underground forever.” “From today, you’re no longer Akechi’s disciple—you’re mine now.” “Well? Delighted?” “What—grieving over missing Akechi? Wahahaha! Fret not.” “I’ll arrange your reunion soon enough.” “We’ll capture him like you and forge him into a bronze human too.” “Then you’ll see Akechi daily.” “Wahahaha!”

The Underground Clown abruptly closed his mouth at that point. No sooner had the Bronze Demon stopped grinding its teeth and swung its bronze arms menacingly wide than it withdrew behind the curtain once more, vanishing completely. Kobayashi-kun wanted to retort, but between his immobilized jaw—the lower half that had briefly been unlocked during meals now firmly sealed again—and the Demon's instantaneous disappearance, he found himself robbed of any chance to speak.

For about a week after that, the three of them—Kobayashi-kun and the others in the form of Little Demons—continued their strange subterranean life. Whether there was only one Bronze Demon or two or even three—they couldn’t quite figure that out. Apart from their initial encounter in the black velvet room, the Bronze Demon never allowed Kobayashi and the others near it again. They only caught intermittent glimpses of it walking through tunnels or entering stone rooms from afar. Since they all looked exactly the same, they couldn’t begin to estimate how many adversaries there were. Even when they asked the Underground Clown about it, he would only grin foolishly and never give them an answer.

Kobayashi-kun and the others weren’t subjected to any particularly harsh treatment, nor were they confined to a single room—they were only made to occasionally carry various things or help with cooking, so there was nothing particularly difficult about their situation. However, being unable to escape from this underground prison was what pained them most.

At one end of the stone tunnel, there was always an iron door kept tightly shut. This appeared to be the exit to the surface, but since it seemed locked, the door wouldn't budge no matter how hard they pushed or pulled. One time, as Kobayashi-kun was inspecting the door, a voice suddenly called out from behind. “Ehehehe... No good! No good! Going beyond that door will cost you your life!” “A dreadful hell awaits there with jaws agape.” “I’m not saying this to be cruel.” “Don’t you dare even consider stepping through that door.”

Before they knew it, the Underground Clown had arrived there and was grinning foolishly. At that moment, Kobayashi-kun thought the Underground Clown’s words were merely a bluff, but he would later realize they were no empty threat. Outside that door lay a truly hair-raising hellscape.

The bottom of an old well

If that iron door was indeed the sole entrance to the surface, then whenever the Bronze Demon went outside, the door should have been opened. Perhaps while Kobayashi-kun and the others were sleeping at night, the Bronze Demon had come and gone through there many times.

"That's it—tonight I won't sleep. I'll secretly keep watch over that door." "And if the Bronze Demon opens it, I can slip out right behind him."

After consulting with Shoichi-kun, Kobayashi-kun decided to stay up all night that evening to keep watch. That marked exactly one week since they had been brought underground. As Kobayashi-kun in the form of a Little Demon hid himself in the pitch-black recess at the stone tunnel's bend and kept patient watch, around midnight—just as anticipated—the Bronze Demon passed before him with that machine-like gait.

When Kobayashi-kun quietly followed, the Bronze Demon unlocked the familiar iron door with a key and disappeared into the darkness outside. And then, the iron door closed tightly again. Kobayashi-kun had intended to slip out quickly after the Bronze Demon, but there was no time for that. With no other choice, he went to the closed door and pushed it with all his might as if clinging to hope. Then something incredible happened. The iron door smoothly swung open! Had the Bronze Demon forgotten to lock it? Or could it be that he had known Kobayashi-kun was following him and deliberately left it unlocked?

But Kobayashi-kun had no time to dwell on such thoughts. Overjoyed, he rushed to the room where Shoichi-kun and Yukiko-chan were sleeping, woke them both, and taking their hands, returned to the original doorway. With their hearts pounding, the three of them stepped out through the entrance and closed the iron door behind them, but found themselves in utter darkness, unable to discern anything about their surroundings. If the Bronze Demon was still nearby, it would spell trouble, so they stayed perfectly still and listened intently for a while. But the monster seemed to have gone far away—not a single sound reached their ears.

There, Kobayashi-kun, who had brought matches from the kitchen in preparation for such a moment, struck one with a swift motion and looked around. To their shock, about one meter ahead lay a large, deep hole. Had he not struck that match, the three of them might have tumbled into that hole. When they approached the edge and peered down, they found stone steps attached. The bottom lay two or three meters below. The hole measured about half a tatami mat in size—a perfectly square pit reinforced with concrete like a box.

When they struck another match and examined it closely, they realized that on the far wall of the box-like structure was a black hole just large enough for a single person to pass through. That narrow hole must be the exit to the surface. There was nowhere else to go. Even so, it was a strange entrance and exit. To get to the surface, why on earth did they have to descend into this hole? Since he had no idea it concealed such a terrifying mechanism, Kobayashi-kun found it puzzling. However, if there was no other path forward, strange or not, they had no choice but to descend into the hole.

The three of them descended the stone steps they had memorized under matchlight, holding each other's hands and comforting Yukiko-chan who seemed on the verge of tears. When they reached the bottom of the hole, they struck another match. Looking around, they saw that the concrete floor was covered in water that splashed with each step. Moreover, the concrete walls had a damp, water-stained hue. Since they were in the depths of the earth, water must have been trickling down from somewhere.

The three of them, harboring no particular suspicion, passed through a hole in the opposite wall—just barely large enough for a single person to squeeze through—and emerged outside. And then, there, when they struck another match and looked around, though they thought they had come outside, they realized this place too was another narrow hole of the same kind. It was a circular hole about one and a half meters in diameter, extending upward like a tube so far that the light of their match couldn’t reach the top. And here, instead of concrete, the walls were made of large stacked stones. It was a place that somehow resembled the bottom of an old well.

"Ah, I see. If we climb this stone wall, we can reach the surface." Kobayashi-kun had noticed that, but the straight stone wall had neither steps nor any footholds, making it impossible to climb. Kobayashi-kun had no idea what to do. Even if he wanted to consult with Shoichi-kun, in the pitch darkness, he couldn't very well show him written characters. He thought about giving up and returning to the original basement since there was no other choice, but it would be such a waste to turn back after coming this far.

However, at that moment, a terrifying noise could be heard. Dododo~~~~~—a sound like a waterfall crashing down. Kobayashi-kun should have turned back earlier and more decisively. But it was already too late. In the blink of an eye, water gushed in through the hole they had just crawled through, as if a dam had burst. No—merely flowing was far too gentle a description. A solid wall of water filling the hole slammed into them with a violent crash.

The torrent swept their feet out from under them, and all three slammed onto their backsides at once. By helping each other up, when they finally managed to stand, the water had already risen to around their waists. The only escape route was the hole they had crawled through earlier. Yet from that very hole, water was gushing out like a waterfall. If they approached, they would immediately be repelled.

Nevertheless, Kobayashi-kun mustered his courage and, holding Yukiko-chan, pressed on toward the hole—but it was no use. Due to the water's force, they were driven underwater as if struck by a massive hammer. Finally standing up and checking, they found the water had already reached around their chests. And it was rapidly rising higher. In the blink of an eye, it reached their necks. Then, it reached their chins…

Because Yukiko-chan was short and would have drowned if left alone, Kobayashi-kun was holding her up. However, Kobayashi-kun himself was becoming unable to breathe. Shoichi-kun clung to Kobayashi-kun in desperation. With Yukiko-chan in his arms and now Shoichi-kun clinging to him, there was nothing he could do. Kobayashi-kun thought he was truly going to die now. Then, having given up completely, he relaxed his body and closed his eyes.

The Bedroom's Sorcery

What would become of Kobayashi-kun, Shoichi-kun, and Yukiko-chan? Would they drown like this? Yet where had that dreadful water come welling up from? Could it be the Bronze Demon had installed such a mechanism to take the three children's lives? That didn't seem to be the case. There must be some reason behind this.

While such a commotion was occurring underground, at that very moment, another terrifying incident was unfolding on the surface.

At the Tezuka residence in Minato Ward, a major commotion was underway because Shoichi-kun and Yukiko-chan had gone missing and had not returned for over a week. Moreover, the Bronze Demon—unsatisfied with merely abducting the two children—continued to appear at the Tezuka residence from time to time, prompting the police to station detectives around the house on constant watch.

It was exactly when Shoichi-kun and the others were drowning. At midnight, a detective stood vigil in the Tezuka residence's garden. Crouching between dense thickets, he could see Mr. Tezuka's bedroom window through the foliage. The yellow curtains hung drawn, and with the bedside lamp's glow cast upon them, only that window floated in the darkness like a cinema screen.

The detective had been casually watching that window when he noticed a strange shadow cast on the curtain and jolted upright. It was a human figure. However, it was not Mr. Tezuka's shadow. It was a shadow that moved awkwardly, as if clad in Western armor.

"Could it be?!" thought the detective as he muffled his footsteps and approached the window. It was a window with iron bars. He pressed his face against the iron bars and peered through the gap in the curtain into the room... Ah, so it was true after all! It was there. There, at the foot of Mr. Tezuka’s bed, the terrifying Bronze Demon loomed menacingly, poised to lunge at him!

At that moment, Mr. Tezuka, who had been sound asleep, woke up. And when he noticed the monster's form, he sat up halfway on the bed with a start.

It was a terrifying standoff. The Bronze Demon stared fixedly at Mr. Tezuka from within its two black, cavern-like eyes. Mr. Tezuka, like a frog transfixed by a snake, stared fixedly into the monster’s eyes, unable to move a muscle. Gradually, Mr. Tezuka’s face twisted as if he were about to burst into tears. And finally, with great effort, a scream burst forth from his mouth. It was a bone-chilling, indescribably monstrous scream.

Hearing this, the detective instantly left his post by the window, flew like an arrow to the back entrance, then raced along the corridor to reach Mr. Tezuka’s bedroom door. Because there were iron bars, he couldn’t enter through the window. The bedroom door was tightly shut. Even when he turned the handle, the door wouldn’t open. As a precaution, Mr. Tezuka always locked the bedroom door from the inside before sleeping. The detective blew a shrill whistle.

Pounding footsteps echoed through the corridor as another detective, a student servant, and others rushed to the scene. The two detectives combined their strength and slammed into the door. With a creaking and cracking sound, the plank gave way. Kicking through to widen the hole and peering inside, they found no trace of the Bronze Demon—only Mr. Tezuka collapsed on the bed. Was he unconscious, or perhaps... The detectives slipped through the broken door and rushed into the room. They searched behind the curtains, under the bed, inside the wardrobe—but nowhere could they find any trace of the Bronze Demon. The only door was locked. All the windows had iron bars. There was no escape route anywhere.

Ah, it was magic again. The monster had vanished like smoke.

Fortunately, Mr. Tezuka had not sustained any injuries. When the detective helped him up and he regained consciousness, he managed to say, “Mr. Akechi… hurry…,” before collapsing again.

The detective called Inspector Nakamura’s home and Detective Akechi’s residence. Inspector Nakamura responded, “I’ll come immediately,” but from Detective Akechi’s residence came the reply: “He left the office the night before last and still hadn’t returned. They were worried.” Where on earth had the great detective gone? Ah, could it be that he had fallen into the Bronze Demon’s trap and been dragged down to its underground lair?

The detectives helped up Mr. Tezuka, who had collapsed on the bed, gave him wine and the like to drink, and tried to revive him. Then, Mr. Tezuka—finally able to speak—began to say in a terrified, halting manner: “It took my hand and tried to drag me somewhere. It only made grinding gear sounds and didn’t speak, so I couldn’t understand what was happening—but then I felt it urging, ‘Come with me.’ This time, it seemed to be saying, ‘I’ll steal you away.’ I resisted with all my might. The demon had me in its grasp and was about to drag me off somewhere, but I somehow managed to hold my ground. Then when I heard you breaking down the door, the Bronze Demon—startled—let go of me and vanished like smoke.”

“Where did it escape from?” “I do not believe there was any possible exit point.”

When the detective pressed him, Mr. Tezuka shuddered and—

“That’s what I don’t understand. It didn’t run away—it must have vanished. Its figure gradually grew fainter, turning hazy before disappearing completely. It’s a demon. A terrifying demon.” As this exchange unfolded, Inspector Nakamura arrived at the scene upon receiving a phone alert. Under his direction, they re-examined the bedroom but found no clues. Midnight had already fallen. They resolved to post strict guards and let Mr. Tezuka and his household rest until morning. When these arrangements concluded,

“Oh, Mr. Tezuka seems to be missing. Where has he gone?” Inspector Nakamura noticed the empty bed, was shocked, and asked. “Earlier, when he said he needed to use the restroom, Detective Tanaka accompanied him, but...”

As they were saying this, Detective Tanaka turned pale and came rushing up. "Mr. Tezuka was kidnapped! I'm terribly sorry! At the corridor's turning point, he vanished in a flash! The shutters there were slightly open! The Bronze Demon must have been lying in wait in the darkness outside those shutters! I immediately rushed out into the garden and searched the area with my flashlight, but there was no sign of him anywhere!"

It was Detective Tanaka’s grave blunder. However, there was no use scolding him now. Inspector Nakamura immediately launched a massive search of the Tezuka family’s garden, enlisting not only detectives but also students and others to assist. The beams of flashlights and lanterns darted through the wooded garden in every direction. However, they were unable to discover anything. Not only had the Bronze Demon vanished, but Mr. Tezuka too had disappeared as if melting into thin air.

Rope ladder

The following morning, around five o'clock when it was still dim, the renowned detective Akechi Kogoro quietly appeared at the Tezuka residence.

“Ah… Thank goodness.” “Akechi-kun! You’re unharmed!”

Inspector Nakamura called out cheerfully. "It's even taken Mr. Tezuka." "So we'd been worried that thing might have gotten you too." "But you hadn't returned home for two days—where on earth had you been?" "Hmm, that'll become clear soon enough." "Right now we need to track down Mr. Tezuka's whereabouts... Let's move."

Akechi suddenly started to leave somewhere, so Inspector Nakamura was startled, “Where on earth do you plan to search?” “We’ve combed through every inch of the garden since last night but found no clues whatsoever.” “Well, I’ve got a general notion.” “You come with me.” “And one detective too.” Akechi radiated absolute confidence.

“Of course I’ll go along, but where are we headed?” “To the garden’s woods.” “We searched those woods thoroughly already—found nothing suspicious at all.”

"However, there's just one thing you've overlooked." Though they couldn't grasp what Akechi was thinking, Inspector Nakamura resolved to follow the famous detective's instructions without protest—given his track record of solving numerous cases—and silently complied. Akechi had his shoes brought to the engawa, descended into the garden, and vigorously made his way into the wooded area. Inspector Nakamura, accompanied by a detective, followed after him. A vast garden spanning a thousand tsubo. The interior of the forest where large trees stood densely packed was so dark that even at noon it seemed dim. Akechi seemed to know exactly where he was going, proceeding without glancing to the side, but he suddenly stopped and whispered, "This is it," pointing ahead.

It was an old well. An ancient well with old-fashioned walls made of hardened earth, now half-collapsed. Inspector Nakamura wore a puzzled look,

“We thoroughly checked that well too.” “The inside is lined with stones, but there doesn’t seem to be any hidden passages.” “Shh! Don’t speak loudly.” “He’s down here.” “You do have a pistol, right?” Akechi now spoke in an even softer whisper. “Keep your pistol in hand.” “We could be attacked at any time.” Hearing this, Inspector Nakamura suddenly tensed and drew his pistol from its holster.

“Look at the bottom of this well.” When Akechi illuminated the inside of the well with his flashlight, Inspector Nakamura peered in, then looked up in surprise. “Oh! The water’s completely gone. When we looked last night and when we checked before that, the bottom of this well was full of pitch-black water, but…” “That’s where the ‘magic’ comes in. When he chants the spell, the well’s water drains away completely. And this here becomes the entrance and exit to the underground chamber.”

“So, you’re saying the Bronze Demon’s lair is beneath this ground?” “Exactly. Mr. Tezuka, Shoichi, Yukiko, and Kobayashi—they’ve all been taken underground.” “Hmm, that’s astonishing. To think that the bandit’s hideout is inside Mr. Tezuka’s garden well—what an audacious fellow.”

“That’s the magician’s way of thinking.” “They do everything contrary to ordinary people’s ways.” “So you can’t uncover his secrets using ordinary logic.” “We have to use the opposite approach too.” “Alright, I’ll go down this rope ladder first. You all follow after me.” “And if it comes down to it, don’t hesitate to fire your pistol.”

“Is three people enough?” “Aren’t there a lot of them?” “Don’t worry. I’ve already uncovered most of their secrets.” “Three would be more than enough.” Detective Akechi untied the small newspaper-wrapped package tucked under his arm, retrieved a slender yet sturdy rope ladder made of twisted black silk thread from within, fastened its curved metal hook to the well’s edge, lowered the ladder into the well, and cautiously began descending it rung by rung.

The well was about three meters deep, surrounded by moss-covered old stone walls, with its bottom paved in concrete. Compared to the well’s age, this concrete was strikingly new. Reinforcing a well’s bottom with concrete was unheard of. As Akechi had stated earlier, the Bronze Demon must have installed some mechanism here as the entrance to its underground lair.

The bottom of the well was spacious enough for two adults to stand comfortably. After descending the rope ladder, Akechi wordlessly directed his flashlight toward one section of the stone wall. This was to show Inspector Nakamura—who had climbed down after him—the underground passage.

One section of the stone wall had become a hole just barely large enough for a single person to pass through. Akechi took the lead and crawled through the hole. The other side opened into a concrete square box-like space. There were stairs leading up, and when one ascended them, a large iron door stood closed ahead. Dear readers, you must have had an 'Aha!' moment by now. That's right. It was the bottom of that very same well. This was the hole where Kobayashi, Shoichi, and Yukiko had faced that terrifying water trap.

Even though only about eight hours had passed since then, had all that water been completely sucked into the depths of the earth? No, that couldn't be. The bottom of the well had been completely reinforced with concrete. Then how had the water disappeared? And what had become of Kobayashi and the others since then? If they had drowned, there should have been three corpses. Yet there was no trace of such things anywhere.

And then, there was something even more mysterious. When Kobayashi and the others tried to escape, the Bronze Demon had stopped them by flooding the chamber. Therefore, had it realized Detective Akechi and his team had entered, it should have been able to prevent them by flooding it again. Why wasn't the Bronze Demon releasing water? Or was it completely unaware that the detectives had come?

All of this would soon become entirely clear. And thus would you come to understand just how extraordinary a detective our Akechi Kogoro truly was.

The Great Detective’s Magic

Detective Akechi had the key to the iron door at the front—how he had obtained it. He took it out from his pocket, turned it with a few clicks, and the large door creaked open. Inspector Nakamura steadily aimed his pistol, fearing the Bronze Demon might be standing imposingly in the darkness beyond, but there was only a dimly lit tunnel stretching deep into the distance, devoid of any human shadow.

Akechi swung his flashlight around and fearlessly proceeded deeper into the tunnel. Inspector Nakamura and the detective followed after him, vigilantly scanning their surroundings. Akechi proceeded boldly forward without the slightest hesitation at every turn, as though walking through his own home. And the place they finally arrived at after winding through the dimly lit stone tunnel was none other than that room draped with black velvet curtains—the very one where Kobayashi Shonen and the others, led by the clown, had confronted the Bronze Demon—already known to you, dear readers.

As soon as the three of them entered the room, they noticed a person lying collapsed at the hem of the velvet curtain in the back.

“Ah! Tezuka-san!” Inspector Nakamura inadvertently blurted out. There lay Tezuka-san in his usual nightclothes, his hands and feet bound, collapsed as though he had lost consciousness. The three of them suddenly rushed to his side, untied the ropes, and tended to him, but Tezuka-san slumped weakly, lacking even the strength to speak. He could only weakly raise his right hand and point toward the black velvet curtain across the way.

There, deeply pleated curtains hung doubled over, appearing to conceal something suspicious. Suddenly, they realized—ah, that sound. Girigiri, girigiri—the eerie grinding of gears crept in from nowhere. The three instinctively gasped and braced themselves. Tezuka-san’s finger was steadily pointing toward the seam of the velvet curtain. His face was deathly pale with fear.

Perhaps it was their imagination, but the heavily pleated curtain appeared to move ever so slightly. Had the lamp hanging from the ceiling swayed? Or was the Bronze Demon behind the curtain shifting its stance, poised to leap out at any moment? Inspector Nakamura raised his pistol and assumed a firing stance.

“Wait! Don’t fire recklessly.” “I’ll take custody of that pistol.” Akechi, for some reason, confiscated the Inspector’s pistol. Since the detective did not have a pistol, the sole weapon ended up in Akechi’s hands. Akechi then went to the room’s entrance, firmly closed the door, and summoned the detective.

“Please stand guard in front of this door. “Until I give the okay, no matter what happens, you must not open this door here. “Understood?” “Even if it’s Nakamura-kun, Mr. Tezuka, or even myself—you must not let anyone take a single step outside here. Understood?” At Akechi’s strange instructions, the detective blinked in bewilderment, but this was an order from the great detective who had uncovered the Demon’s lair. Even if he didn’t understand the reason, he had no choice but to obey. The detective stood before the tightly shut door, straining not to let even a single rat slip through.

“Nakamura-kun, it’s time we face the Bronze Demon.” With those words, Akechi briskly approached the seam of the velvet hanging curtain. At that moment, Inspector Nakamura couldn’t help but notice the strange look Akechi had briefly cast in his direction. Inspector Nakamura thought, “Huh?” That was unmistakably the look of a mischievous boy about to cause trouble. His eyes had a look as if stifling a laugh. Why did Detective Akechi have such a strange look on his face at this critical moment? The Inspector simply could not fathom the reason for this.

At that moment, Akechi parted the seam of the curtain and swiftly stepped inside. Ah, what a reckless thing to do! On the other side of the curtain, the Bronze Demon was certain to be lurking. It was into this that Akechi leapt all alone. Inspector Nakamura stared intently at the curtain and clenched both fists. He kept watching intently without taking his eyes off it, expecting a struggle to break out at any moment and the curtain to ripple like a wave.

However, instead of a struggle breaking out, after a while, the curtain's seam swelled outward with a prolonged creak toward them. Then, bit by bit, bit by bit, the seam began to part left and right, and from within emerged something bluish-black. And when the curtain had fully opened, there—slowly looming—appeared a statue-like figure: that fearsome Bronze Demon revealed itself.

Inspector Nakamura clenched his fists and involuntarily faltered backward. The Bronze Demon, with its crescent-shaped lips, grinned slyly and advanced toward them as if pursuing something. It emerged from behind the curtain with a creaking sound, walking in an odd manner as though someone were pushing it from behind.

What had become of Detective Akechi? In that instant, could it be that he had been taken out by the Bronze Demon? And could it be that he had collapsed behind the curtain? If that were true, there could be no delay. Inspector Nakamura, with desperate resolve, prepared to leap at the Bronze Demon. And just as he took a step forward…

“Everyone, please remain calm. The great detective Akechi Kogoro was certainly no fool. At that moment, he nimbly leaped out from behind the Bronze Demon. Moreover, he emerged while grinning broadly. ‘Nakamura-kun, there’s no need for alarm. I’ll subdue this creature right now. Now, watch closely! My magic begins! If the Bronze Demon is a magician, then I’ll show you this Akechi is a magician every bit its equal.’”

No sooner had he spoken than Akechi moved behind the Bronze Demon, crouched down, and made a clicking sound. Then, ah—what on earth had just happened? No sooner had the Bronze Demon swayed unsteadily than its imposing bronze body abruptly lost all strength—its head drooping forward, its once-proud shoulders deflating with a hiss—until it became utterly limp like melted candy art, crumbling before their eyes and dissolving completely in the span of a gasp. It crumbled away like a melting snowman. And at the feet where the Bronze Demon had once stood blocking the way, a lump of bluish-black lay flat, as if someone had rolled up a kimono.

“Nakamura-kun, the ‘magic’ that let the Bronze Demon vanish from a sealed room is this.” “This is the secret behind its ‘magic’.” With those words, Akechi stomped his foot down on the limp, rubbery mass to demonstrate. Then, that bluish-black, jellyfish-like mass quivered like some strange living creature.

*Rubber Doll*

“Nakamura-kun, this is the true form of the Bronze Demon.” Akechi said with a grin. Inspector Nakamura and his men were so overwhelmed that they couldn’t immediately respond, wondering if they were dreaming.

“Ha ha ha ha! Did I surprise you? As you can see, this thing is a rubber doll made of thick rubber. On the soles of both feet are large holes secured with clamps. I just removed those clamps now. That snap you heard was from that. Because all the air rushed out at once from the two large holes in the soles of its feet, it instantly flattened out completely.”

Ah, what an inconceivable turn of events! That fearsome Bronze Demon being nothing but a rubber balloon doll was utterly beyond belief. A lifeless rubber figure couldn't possibly steal objects or dash about. Inspector Nakamura stood stupefied, eyelids fluttering rapidly. "Restoring this contraption to its demonic form is simplicity itself," Akechi declared. "Observe closely."

Akechi said this and went behind the curtain, but soon emerged holding the end of a long tube resembling a gas pipe. “This tube connects to the air compressor behind the wall.” “When the button is pressed, the machine activates, and air gushes out through this tube with terrifying force.” “It’s the same mechanism as that air compressor used to inflate car tires.”

Akechi searched all over the flattened rubber mass, found the small air inlet hole, and inserted the screw at the end of the tube into it. Then, with a hiss, the rubber doll—which looked like nothing more than a crumpled rag—began to stir and swell up, little by little. “If you attach the clamps on the soles and leave it like this for a while, it’ll return to being the Bronze Demon, but there’s no need to go that far. After all, it’s enough just to understand how the rubber doll works.”

Even without attaching the clamps, the air pressure proved so powerful that it rapidly swelled up, taking on the shape of a large bluish-black sea turtle crawling in place. Air had also infiltrated the neck section, and the Bronze Demon's eerie face—now shrunk to half its original size and covered in wrinkles—twitched spasmodically.

“Ah, I see now.” “It’s a decoy.” “That thing isn’t the real Bronze Demon—just a decoy made to resemble it, right?” Inspector Nakamura had finally grasped the truth.

“That’s right. Rubber dolls can’t move on their own, you see. During the Bronze Demon’s absence, this one stands behind the curtain serving as a decoy. You need human help to manage that. To crack the curtain open just enough to show its form, or make those gear noises—all requires an extra pair of hands. And for that, there’s this oddball here among the Demon’s lackeys—a fellow dressed up like some circus clown.”

Akechi suddenly stopped mid-sentence and strode over to Inspector Nakamura. Pressing his mouth close to Nakamura's ear, he whispered something in a hushed tone. Inspector Nakamura then beckoned to the detective barring the entrance and murmured something in return. When Akechi next moved to approach Mr. Tezuka, he halted abruptly in surprise. "Oh! Mr. Tezuka - you look pale," he said. "Are you feeling unwell?"

Mr. Tezuka had the ropes binding his limbs—tied by the demon—untied by the inspectors, but he appeared utterly exhausted, slumped in his original spot with a pale face, still crouched down. "No, it's nothing. I'm all right."

He responded in a low voice, his teeth clenched. “Inspector Nakamura, stay by Mr. Tezuka’s side. If he seems to be feeling terribly unwell, it might be best to take him out of here for now…” Inspector Nakamura and the detective drew close to both sides of Mr. Tezuka, almost embracing him, and remained attentive. “No, it’s not that bad. More than that, I'm worried about Shoichi and Yukiko. What has become of those two? Where could they be?”

Mr. Tezuka seemed unable to bring himself to abandon his two beloved children and leave the Bronze Demon’s lair.

Ah, Shoichi, Yukiko, and our Kobayashi Shonen—what on earth had happened to those three? At the bottom of the old well where they’d been trapped by rising water—nearly drowned—had they managed to escape? “Rest assured,” came Akechi’s voice. “Shoichi and Yukiko are safe.” He leaned closer to the pale-faced man. “I’ll reunite you with them shortly.” Akechi gently steadied Mr. Tezuka’s trembling shoulders. The three had been saved—that much was certain. But by whom? And how?

Jack-in-the-Box

“Akechi, we’ve figured out the secret of the rubber doll, but then where on earth is the real Bronze Demon? Surely you don’t mean this rubber doll brought Mr. Tezuka here?” Inspector Nakamura, who had squatted beside Mr. Tezuka, asked skeptically. “That too will become clear soon. Just wait a moment. But first, there’s something I want to show you. Inspector Nakamura, and you too, Mr. Tezuka—I’m about to do something rather peculiar, so keep your eyes peeled.”

Akechi, smirking for some reason, slipped smoothly into the black velvet hanging curtain and disappeared. At Akechi’s meaningful words, the three of them fell silent, waiting to see what would happen, when suddenly the velvet curtain swayed gently, and from its seam, a bright red object came leaping out. As if a clown doll had sprung from a jack-in-the-box, a clown appeared.

Red and white checkered baggy clothes; a pointed hat; his face painted chalk-white with makeup, red sun circles on both cheeks. The three stood dumbfounded, staring wide-eyed and speechless, when the clown stepped in front of them and burst into raucous laughter. "Wahahahaha! How's that for a quick change?" "White makeup applied, rouge added, clown costume donned—all in one minute! Hahaha... Still don't recognize me?" "It's me—Akechi." "Just tried out being the Bronze Demon's apprentice clown for size."

“Oh, so it was you!” “You scared me!” “With that disguise—what on earth are you trying to do?” Inspector Nakamura asked in an angry-sounding voice. “No, last night at midnight, I did some great work in a certain place like this.” “By posing as a clown, I outwitted the enemy.” “Mr. Tezuka, do you understand my method?” “You see, detectives also perform quick-change disguises like this.”

“So you took that clown’s costume, then.” “Then what on earth happened to the real clown?” “Surely you don’t mean you…” As Inspector Nakamura began to voice his concern with a worried look, Akechi stopped him with a gesture and laughed again. “Hahahaha~, I’ll show you that right now.” “Just wait a moment.” With those words, he darted back into the velvet curtain with the same swiftness as when he had emerged. Moments later, the curtain billowed as if struck by a gale, rolled up, and its edge caught on a rope hanging from the ceiling. In other words, the curtain had opened, revealing what lay beyond.

There stood Akechi, grinning. The clown had vanished as if erased, leaving Detective Akechi standing in his original form. Not a trace of rouge or white makeup remained on his face—when had he wiped it all away? It was a magician-like quick trick. “Now, I shall present to you the real clown.” Behind Akechi stood a large black-lacquered cupboard shaped like an altar for housing Buddha statues. Akechi approached it and, jangling the keys, swiftly slid open the Kannon-style doors to either side.

The only light came from oil lamps hanging from the stone ceiling, making the cupboard's interior barely visible—but there was indeed a human inside. A large man stripped to his shirt lay curled up, his limbs tightly bound with coils of rope. "Hahahaha~! Do you understand now?" "I've kept this fellow locked up here for two whole days." "And during that time, I served as the clown's substitute." "Of course, I made sure to feed him occasionally." "Do you grasp it now, Mr. Tezuka?" This altar cabinet had originally enshrined a Buddha statue stolen by the Bronze Demon from some temple. "I relocated that statue elsewhere and placed our clown here in its stead—that's how it worked."

“So that guy’s another accomplice of the Bronze Demon!” Inspector Nakamura shouted with such force that he seemed about to pounce. “That’s right. But if we keep him like this, he’ll never escape. It’s perfectly safe.” Akechi closed the Kannon-style doors and locked them again.

“Mr. Tezuka, thank you for waiting,” he said. “Now I’ll guide you to where Shoichi and Yukiko are.” Hearing this, Inspector Nakamura pulled a strange face and rebuked Akechi sharply. “So you knew all along? Then quit dawdling around with clown disguises and just go there already!”

“No—there’s an order to these matters.” “I wanted to show you, Mr. Tezuka, that I’m quite the master of disguise myself.” “Now then, Mr. Tezuka—follow behind me along with everyone.”

Akechi took the lead, opened the entrance door, and headed out into the stone tunnel. Inspector Nakamura and Detective Tanaka flanked the pale Mr. Tezuka protectively between them and followed close behind.

The culprit is here.

After turning a corner in the dimly lit tunnel, there was the entrance to another room. This was, dear readers, none other than the clock room you’re already familiar with. Needless to say, the three of them stared wide-eyed at the countless clocks of all sizes lining the shelves. “Mr. Tezuka, take a look.” “Your Emperor’s Luminous Clock is here.” “It’s safe now.” “You can just take it back when we leave here.”

Mr. Tezuka was staring at the clock with shining eyes, but as Akechi strode ahead, he couldn’t linger there for long.

Then they passed through the painting room, the textile room, and others, and entered the Buddha statue room. It was the eeriest room. In the dim light of oil lamps hanging from the ceiling, monstrous Buddha statues stood overlapping and lined up in rows.

“I’m astonished,” said Inspector Nakamura, his voice thick with emotion. “Creating such an expansive underground facility and amassing this quantity of artworks couldn’t have been simple. When did the fiend find time to execute such an enormous undertaking?” “I was equally surprised at first,” Akechi replied. “But now I comprehend the truth. The majority of these artworks were accumulated over many years, previously concealed elsewhere. As for this underground complex—it was originally constructed at the close of the Tokugawa era by a certain daimyo for clandestine gatherings. After the Meiji Restoration, ownership changed hands, the entrance was sealed, and its existence faded from memory.”

The Bronze Demon, after the war, learned of this underground facility’s existence through certain ancient documents, secretly restored it, and transported artworks inside. In order to bring in large Buddha statues, they destroyed the stone wall at the bottom of an old well—traces remain even after restoring it to its original state. “How about that? Mr. Tezuka, even you—the owner of this land—are unaware of things I know.” “Hahaha!”

For some reason, Akechi laughed meaningfully. Then, as the group proceeded between the Buddha statues, Akechi—who had been leading the way—suddenly vanished from sight. Amidst the numerous human-sized statues arrayed around them, he blended into their midst, leaving no trace of his whereabouts.

“Akechi-kun! Where did you go?” “Akechi-kun… Akechi-kun….”

No matter how much they called, there was no response. The dimly lit room fell deathly silent, and the faces of the standing Buddha statues all seemed to be smiling. Even Inspector Nakamura, for all his experience, had begun to feel an uneasy dread creeping over him. The three of them wandered among the Buddha statues while searching for Akechi when suddenly, from nowhere, a dreadful, dreadful sound began to reach their ears. Ah, that sound. Grind-grind, grind-grind—that sound of gears, like a fiend grinding its teeth.

The three of them gasped and froze in place, rooted to the spot.

Then, from between the overlapping Buddha statues, a bluish-black something flashed into view. It gradually grew larger until, suddenly, that monster—the Bronze Demon—appeared right before the three of them. The three edged backward inch by inch. The Bronze Demon drew nearer, slowly, slowly, as if pursuing them. It was not a rubber doll. Moving its legs, it walked toward them in the same manner as a human. The Bronze Demon spread both arms wide, looking ready to grab them at any moment.

However, when they noticed, something even stranger had occurred. Behind the large demon, another bluish-black something was darting about restlessly. Yet it still bore the demon's form. It was a small demon. Did demons have children? One, two, three... three small demons. Holding hands, they came trotting out from behind the large demon.

“Stop! Take one more step and I’ll shoot!” “You don’t stand a chance!”

Inspector Nakamura positioned himself to shield Mr. Tezuka and aimed his pistol.

Then, oh! Yet another shocking occurrence took place. From somewhere unseen came a snickering laugh, which gradually grew louder until it erupted into roaring, mocking laughter. The Bronze Demon was laughing. The Bronze Demon was doubled over with laughter. As they stood dumbfounded, the Bronze Demon clutched its head with both hands and then thrust them upward with force. Then, the Bronze Demon’s head came off cleanly and floated in midair. No, that wasn’t it. The Bronze Demon’s face split into two. A face supported by both hands, floating high above its head, and another face still attached to the original torso.

The face attached to the torso was not bronze-colored but an ordinary human face. It looked somehow familiar. The face smiled warmly. "It’s me! It’s me. I’m sorry for startling you time and again. I wanted to show you all that there are demons of this sort in addition to the rubber doll."

That was Detective Akechi. What had appeared to be a detached head was actually him removing the bronze headpiece he had been wearing and supporting it with both hands. At the back of the bronze headpiece, it was designed to split vertically. When opened with a key, it could be freely detached. “This is the true identity of the Bronze Demon.” “In other words, it’s wearing bronze armor and a bronze headpiece.” “This way, it can move around freely... Now then, what do you make of these three small demons behind me?” “None other than Shoichi-kun, Yukiko-chan, and Kobayashi.” “They’re wearing the demon’s robes.” “The large one is Kobayashi, the medium-sized one is Shoichi-kun, and the smallest one is Yukiko-chan.”

Hearing this, Mr. Tezuka cried out “Oh!” and staggered forward. The small demons formed a tight cluster and approached Mr. Tezuka. Mr. Tezuka spread both arms and embraced the smallest demon—that is, Yukiko—as though overcome with longing.

The children were safe. The precious Luminous Clock had also been found. All that remained was to capture that detestable Bronze Demon. “Akechi, as always, I must take my hat off to your prowess.” “You’ve startled me time and again—that’s your bad habit.” “But never mind that.” “Now then—where’s the main culprit? Where’s the Bronze Demon?” “Surely a man of your caliber didn’t let them escape?”

Inspector Nakamura pressed up to Akechi and said reproachfully. "There's an order to things. Handing over the culprit comes last. I won’t let him escape." Akechi answered with a confident air, smiling. "Well done, Akechi. So where’s the culprit then?" "He’s here." Inspector Nakamura was startled and looked around restlessly. In the dimly lit stone room, human-like Buddha statues stood in rows—a perfect place for hide-and-seek.

“There you go again with your old habits. Don’t keep me in suspense—just tell me clearly. Where the hell is he?” “He’s right here.” “Here?” Akechi—whose body from the neck down was an exact replica of the Bronze Demon—raised his right hand, straightened the bronze index finger, and pointed directly in front of him. Inspector Nakamura started and stared in the direction of the pointing finger. Strangely enough, there was nothing suspicious in that direction. There was only Mr. Tezuka, the three small demons, the detectives, two Buddha statues standing behind them, and the entrance door.

However, Akechi’s finger remained fixedly pointed at a single spot and did not budge an inch. He might as well have been saying, "Don’t you understand this?"

Inspector Nakamura once again looked in that direction. He fixed his gaze and stared intently. Akechi’s finger seemed to be pointing at Mr. Tezuka. No matter how many times he looked, he could only conclude that this was the case. Inspector Nakamura was perplexed. Because he thought there was no way Tezuka-san could be the Bronze Demon.

The Secret of the Old Well There was no way Mr. Tezuka could be the Demon—that was utterly absurd. Mr. Tezuka was a victim who had his clock stolen and his children kidnapped, after all.

So, was the Bronze Demon hiding inside one of those large Buddha statues standing in rows? Everyone stood dumbfounded by this mystifying statement, their eyes fixed on the famous detective's face. "No, Inspector Nakamura—it's only natural you wouldn't grasp it." "Then I'll explain more clearly." Akechi lowered his pointing right hand and began speaking while remaining planted in his original position, blocking the way.

“Earlier I mentioned that I’d sneaked into this basement two days ago, locked the Bronze Demon’s henchman—the Clown—in a cupboard, and taken his place in disguise.” “Then last night, wearing that Clown’s guise, I carried out significant work as I described.” “Let me begin by explaining that.”

It was three nights ago at midnight when I discovered that old well in Mr. Tezuka’s garden served as the entrance to the Bronze Demon’s lair. Even though there had always been water at the bottom of the old well, that night when I peered in with my flashlight, it had completely vanished. Since I thought it strange, I hid in the shadow of the forest trees and kept watch for a long time. Then, sure enough, the Bronze Demon clambered out of the old well.

Since I thought investigating the old well should take precedence over chasing the Demon, I waited for the Demon to leave the area and peered into the well. Then, what do you think happened? From somewhere, water came rushing into the bottom of the well with frightening force, creating white-capped waves. “Hmm, do you get it? You. That’s a truly ingenious mechanism they devised. Since the old well’s bottom is always full of water, no one suspects anything. They only need to drain the water when the Bronze Demon comes and goes. You see—as I found out later upon investigating—there’s a large tank hidden behind the stone wall at the bottom of the well. When the switch is pressed, the motor’s power sucks up the well’s water into that tank. The Bronze Demon is stealing electricity from nearby power lines.”

After draining the water, the Bronze Demon would throw the hooked metal end of his rope ladder, catch it on the well’s edge, and climb up to ground level. Though called a rope ladder, it consisted of a single sturdy silk cord with knots tied about every thirty centimeters—when rolled up, it could fit into a pocket. After exiting the well, he would roll it up, tuck it into his pocket, and depart. Then, in less than a minute, the tank’s opening would automatically release water with a gush, instantly filling the well’s bottom. “And that way,” Akechi concluded, “not a trace would remain.”

I wanted by any means to enter the underground hideout while the Bronze Demon was away, but since the water only drained for a brief period, I couldn't properly get in at all. So I once returned home, made sufficient preparations, then at the following midnight after carefully watching for when the Demon had left, went down into the well using my rope ladder. Of course, I had resolved to dive through the water. I wore form-fitting rubber shirt and pants.

It was quite a chilling experience, but diving to the bottom of the well, searching for the side tunnel, passing through it, and climbing up into the underground passage took less than a minute. After thoroughly drying myself off, I put on the clothes I had brought in a rubber bag and stealthily surveyed each underground room. And I found the three small demon figures and confirmed that only that Clown was keeping watch over them. I hid in the shadows, carefully memorized the Clown’s mannerisms and speech patterns, then lunged at him without warning, tied him up, stuffed him into a closet, stole his clown costume, and disguised myself as the Clown. “The key to the closet was also in that clown costume’s pocket.”

“Disguised as the clown—it took me two days to confirm the Bronze Demon’s true identity.” “It was an excruciatingly difficult task.” “The Demon spent most nights out—only briefly showing itself around midnight—which made confirming its nature grueling work... but I ultimately unraveled its secret.” “I kept even those three children transformed into small demons unaware of my true identity—letting them believe I remained their captor’s clown accomplice—but last night’s momentary lapse led to catastrophe.” “The children secretly conspired—entering the well’s depths after watching their captor depart.” “They became ensnared by water erupting violently from that accursed tank.” “All three nearly drowned before I intervened.”

Dear readers, you must remember how Kobayashi Shonen, Shoichi, and Yukiko were caught in that terrible water trap at the bottom of the well. Akechi is now recounting those events.

The Exposed Trick

Detective Akechi's story continued. “After some time, when I noticed this, I rushed to the scene in alarm, pressed the switch, activated the motor, had the water sucked up, and rescued the three.” Though it was freezing, they were soaked from head to toe, so I made them remove the Bronze Demon’s armor, dried their bodies, and took them to the electric stove in the kitchen to warm them up. “I had already secured the key to remove the Demon’s armor by then.”

“And I had the three children put back on the Demon’s armor—Inspector Nakamura, do you know why? There’s truly no need to dress them in such armor. After all, the clothes they wore when first brought here have been properly stored—we could’ve simply put those on them instead. I deliberately dressed them in the armor. You’ll understand why soon enough.”

At that point, Akechi smirked knowingly. There must be some secret that no one but Akechi knows.

“In those two days, I completely unraveled the Bronze Demon’s trick.” “Until now, we’d all assumed the Bronze Demon had only one fixed form.” “That was our critical mistake.” “Though every appearance showed the same figure, there were actually three distinct types of Demons—each deployed strategically depending on the situation.” “Therein lay that fiend’s devilishly clever scheme.”

“The first type of Bronze Demon takes the form of this armor I’m wearing now.” “Because there’s a human inside, it can move freely.” “It can even get down on all fours and start running.” “Just because it got down on all fours doesn’t mean it could run any faster, but that fiend made such a show of running in that manner to appear thoroughly mechanical.”

“The second type of Bronze Demon was what we knocked down from the chimney top using hose water,” Akechi explained. “This one’s entirely mechanical down to its core—even pistol fire couldn’t faze it. That’s precisely why they’d deploy this type in places you couldn’t approach closely, deliberately letting it get shot to demonstrate its invulnerability.” He leaned forward, tapping the armor’s chestplate. “Being a counterfeit, this model couldn’t walk independently. The genuine Bronze Demon would slip out under cover of night to position these fakes and retrieve them later. Take the chimney incident—the real Demon climbed to the summit, then swapped places with this mechanical decoy.”

“Are you asking how they switched it?” “You see, at that time, they’d predetermined the escape route would be the chimney top.” “They’d hung a decoy—its belly crammed with gears—inside the chimney’s peak beforehand. The real Bronze Demon propped that decoy on the chimney’s edge, then climbed down using a long rope ladder they’d rigged along the inner wall earlier. There, he stripped off his demonic armor in a flash, assumed an ordinary human guise, and vanished into the chaos.” “Naturally, he bundled the armor and ladder in cloth to take away.” “They weren’t fools—they’d never leave evidence at the scene.”

“Next, the third type of Bronze Demon is the rubber doll we just deflated. This one was responsible for vanishing like smoke. The Demons that appeared in Mr. Tezuka’s bathhouse, storage room, storehouse, and even his bedroom last night were all these rubber dolls.” “An air compressor’s hidden somewhere in Mr. Tezuka’s house. They’d pull a hose from it to inflate the doll and leave it standing in dim areas. When someone spotted it and ran off, they’d release the clasps on both legs and drain all the air at once.” “Since the soles of both feet were designed to swing fully open, it’d flatten completely before you could blink. By the time those who fled came back with others, the doll would’ve vanished without a trace.” “That’s how it worked.”

"The machine producing that grinding noise was about the size of a table clock, so it could be hidden anywhere. 'If you wound that screw, it would make that unpleasant noise.' The flattened rubber doll would then be folded compactly and stashed away—during the bathhouse incident, they likely temporarily crammed it into a bucket and covered it up. 'For the storage room case, they probably slipped it into a wardrobe drawer.' 'In the storehouse, they seized the moment when the light bulb shattered and darkness fell to hide it beneath kimonos in a large chest.'"

At that time, everyone thoroughly searched the storehouse, but since they were looking for something as large as a statue, it was unimaginable that it could be folded up as small as a kimono and hidden at the bottom of a box. “And then, in last night’s case in Mr. Tezuka’s bedroom—it was either hidden in the drawer of that Western-style wardrobe over there or perhaps beneath the bedsheets…” “Mr. Akechi—wait.” “Then how would you explain this?” “The Bronze Demon was often seen running through town before vanishing suddenly—but a rubber doll can’t run at all!”

Inspector Nakamura, having waited impatiently for Akechi’s words to pause, inquired. “Yes, there’s another trick for that.” “The Bronze Demon had privately installed manholes all over the place.” “Hmm, do you get it?” “It’s quite a clever idea, you know.” “Sewer manholes—they exist in every town, but even when walking right over them, nobody can quite recall their exact locations if asked.” “It’s the same reason no one knows how many steps there are on the stairs at the school they attend every day.”

“In other words, it’s exploiting gaps in human attention,” Akechi explained. “Taking advantage of that gap, the Bronze Demon would dig an octopus pot-like hole in its planned escape direction after completing a job, cover it with a manhole lid under cover of night, and have everything prepared in advance. When they stole the clock from Ginza’s Hakuhodo and vanished near the railway underpass, a fake manhole had been constructed in that sparsely populated area. The fiend had jumped into it, closed the iron lid from inside, and held its breath in silence.”

“When we asked Kobayashi about it, he said that during the chimney incident, something like a large cloth was thrown over him from behind, and in the blink of an eye, he felt like he was falling underground. That too was because a fake manhole had been installed at the scene.” “Kobayashi was temporarily thrown into that one, you see.”

“Hmm.” “So that was the trick.” Inspector Nakamura crossed his arms and sank into deep thought. To think we were deceived by such a childish trick—it was utterly mortifying.

“Even so, making multiple sets of bronze armor and rubber dolls… that’s no easy task either.” When the Inspector voiced his suspicion, Akechi answered nonchalantly. “He has a secret workshop. Since we already know its location, we intend to seize it eventually. It took them two whole years to manufacture those.”

“It’s Kaijin Nijū Mensō!”

“Mr. Tezuka.”

At that moment, Akechi turned back toward Mr. Tezuka and called out firmly.

“I’ve uncovered all of the Bronze Demon’s secrets.” “Why don’t you take off the helmet here?” “Huh? Take off the helmet? What do you mean?”

In pajamas, Mr. Tezuka held Shoichi-kun and Yukiko-chan—the two small Bronze Demons—in his arms and looked back at Akechi with a bewildered expression. "The Bronze Demon is none other than you." "Huh? Me? The Bronze Demon?" "Ha ha ha ha ha! What are you saying?" "Not only were my two adorable children kidnapped, but I myself was brought here and tied up until just moments ago." "That I—the Bronze Demon? Th-that’s utterly absurd...!"

“You weren’t tied up.” “You tied yourself up.” “Last night, you pretended to be kidnapped by the Bronze Demon—still in your pajamas—jumped from the corridor into the garden, then hid here after passing through the old well.” Thus Mr. Tezuka had vanished. He had sought to bring an end to this Bronze Demon performance. Both Mr. Tezuka and the Bronze Demon were never meant to reappear in this world again.

However, a strange thing occurred. When you peered into the well, there wasn’t a single drop of water at the bottom. Normally, you would descend halfway using a rope ladder, press the button hidden in the stone wall’s crevice, and the motor would start to suck up the water—but before you could press that button, the water had already completely vanished. You were startled, climbed down the rope ladder, entered the underground passage, and pressed the button to release water—but whether from mechanical failure or not, not a single drop emerged. When you checked the motor behind the stone wall, the electric power line was severed. There was nothing you could do immediately. While you were pacing around, dawn broke before you knew it. The clown you were counting on had vanished without a trace. At that moment, the sound of our voices could be heard outside the well. It seemed someone was descending via a rope ladder. “Well, your luck has run out.”

However, he wasn't someone who'd be defeated by something like this. In a flash, he came up with a clever idea. He could just bind himself and lie there. And then, when we entered, he could simply claim that the Bronze Demon had subjected him to such an ordeal. "However, Tezuka-kun, the electrical line wasn't severed naturally. It was I who cut it beforehand. When I chased you and came in here, water would've been a nuisance—so I made sure the machinery couldn't operate at all."

“You weren’t kidnapped by the Bronze Demon—you came here of your own accord. Well? Is there any mistake in the sequence I just described?”

However, Mr. Tezuka still did not remove the helmet. His face turned deathly pale, mouth working soundlessly as he said this.

“Then what about these two—Shoichi and Yukiko? Do you think any parent would subject their own children to such cruelty?” “Those two are not your children.” Akechi stated it point-blank.

“Wh-what? What did you say? These aren’t my children?” “Mr. Tezuka was conscripted during the war and did not return for over five years. He went missing on the battlefield. Your wife waited endlessly for his return, but with no news of his death in battle, her worry grew so severe that she fell gravely ill—to the point where she could no longer speak a word. That’s when you returned, pretending to be Mr. Tezuka. Since your wife was in critical condition, she couldn’t recognize you. How could two children—thirteen and eight years old—who’d been separated from their father five years earlier possibly remember his face clearly? Moreover, you were Japan’s greatest master of disguise. You targeted that weakness. And you succeeded in perfectly becoming Mr. Tezuka.”

Dear readers, please take a moment here to review the chapter titled "The Luminous Clock" from earlier in this story. It described the time when Mr. Tezuka returned from military service.

“Hmph, that’s just your nonsense.” “Would anyone go through such trouble just to take a single Luminous Clock?”

“However, your objective lay elsewhere.” “You see, you wanted to shock the world.” “No, more than that—you wanted to make this Akechi Kogoro gasp in surprise.” “You must hold quite a grudge against me.” “What do you mean, a grudge against you?”

“That’s right. How many years has it been since we met in the Okutama limestone cave? Back then, you were immediately imprisoned, but within a year escaped and vanished without a trace. You seemed to refrain from wrongdoing during the war, but once it ended, you reverted to your old ways.” “Wh-what... I’ve no idea what you’re—” “Hahaha! Enough feigning ignorance. No disguise can deceive my eyes. You are Kaijin Nijū Mensō.”

Akechi thrust out his bronze right hand, pointing straight at the center of Mr. Tezuka’s face. Mr. Tezuka—no, Kaijin Nijū Mensō—startled and faltered. “Nakamura-kun,” Akechi declared, “though I hadn’t told even you until now—this man is Kaijin Nijū Mensō, who holds a mountain of grudges against the police.”

Ah, Kaijin Nijū Mensō. The sorcerer-like monster said to possess twenty different faces had finally been exposed. Dear readers who have enjoyed books such as *Kaijin Nijū Mensō*, *Shōnen Tantei-dan*, and *Yōkai Hakase*, you are well acquainted with that very fiend. This time, he had invented the Bronze Demon—a terrifying guise—and was causing an uproar across society. Both Inspector Nakamura and the detectives were of course well acquainted with Kaijin Nijū Mensō. When they heard that name from Akechi’s lips, it was as if a light had burst open before their eyes—all the mysteries dissolved. If it was Kaijin Nijū Mensō, he was exactly the sort who would stop at nothing—no matter how outlandish. Wasn’t the Bronze Demon a scheme perfectly suited to him?

However, when Inspector Nakamura and the detective lunged toward Nijū Mensō, the swift fiend had already grabbed the two small demon forms of Shoichi and Yukiko under his arms and started running away with lightning speed. Weaving through the rows of Buddha statues, he fled to a corner of the room, pinned the two children down with his foot, reached into a gap in the stone wall there, pulled out a cylindrical object, and suddenly raised it above his head.

“Bwahahahaha~! Akechi-kun, as expected—your skills haven’t dulled yet. “But I won’t be caught.” “I’ve prepared countless secret plans.” "Come on, take even one step closer." “With this hand grenade, I’ll blow you to smithereens!”

The cylindrical object he had somehow obtained was a terrifying explosive. Ah! Danger! If Nijū Mensō threw his life into the attack, everyone in this room would be slaughtered. Did Akechi Kogoro flee in surprise? No, no—far from fleeing, the great detective stood blocking Nijū Mensō's path and suddenly burst into laughter. He shook his shoulders as he laughed uncontrollably, as though he found it unbearably amusing.

“Ahahahaha… Do you really think that thing will explode?” “Take a good look and see.” “Hasn’t it been completely emptied out?” Street Urchin Vice-Leader Kaijin Nijū Mensō froze in shock and lowered his raised hand. “Hey there, Mr. Twenty Faces, you’ve forgotten how Akechi operates.” “After completely removing the bullets from your pistol, it’s my habit to declare, ‘Your services are needed!’” “Hahaha~! Hand grenades are no different.” “I discovered it yesterday and had completely removed all the explosives inside, you know.”

Kaijin Nijū Mensō examined the hand grenade, realized Akechi wasn’t lying, and tossed it to the ground with a clatter. “Hmph, Akechi-kun—as expected, your skills haven’t dulled.” “Interesting.” “You’re still the same as ever, but I like to think I’ve grown a bit wiser.” “You see, my trump card’s yet to be played!” Kaijin Nijū Mensō brazenly sneered.

“For example?”

Akechi, not to be outdone, kept smiling. "For instance, these two adorable children." "If you all try to capture me, these children might lose their lives." "I loathe murder." "Never once killing or harming anyone had been my pride until now—but this time is different." "I can't let myself be captured, you see." "I might just make these two my substitutes."

Kaijin Nijū Mensō said spitefully and bore down with his foot, applying forceful pressure on the two small demon forms he had pinned down.

However, this time too, Akechi didn't panic in the slightest. With an unperturbed face and calm smile, he seemed to declare without words: "If you have a hidden move, then I have one too."

“Mr. Twenty Faces, I’m afraid it seems this round is also my victory.” “Huh? What did you say?” “Look here—you’re trembling already.” “Exactly right—you lose.” “Now listen—for instance—who do you suppose this little demon behind me really is?” “When you first forced this armor onto someone—my assistant Kobayashi was indeed inside.” “But do you truly believe Kobayashi remains within it now?” “Could they have swapped him for another child?” “Hahaha! You’ve gone pale.” “Have you realized?” “Then let’s take a fresh look.”

Akechi took out from his pocket the key to open the bronze mask that he had previously confiscated from the clown, approached the small demon behind him, inserted it into the mask’s keyhole, produced a click, opened the mask, and smoothly removed it. From beneath the mask emerged the face of a single boy. The eyes of everyone stared at that face as if magnetically drawn. “Ah!” Both Kaijin Nijū Mensō and Inspector Nakamura, upon seeing this, involuntarily let out cries of astonishment.

There was the face of a filthy child that bore no resemblance to Kobayashi Shonen. His hair grew wildly like a palm-fiber broom, his face stained reddish-black with grime, from which two wide, startled eyes glared intensely. “Hahaha~! No matter how skilled Kobayashi is at disguises, he couldn’t pull off such a perfect one!” “Hey, you. Who are you? State your name.”

When Akechi said this, the filthy boy grinned slyly. And in a booming voice, he triumphantly declared his name.

“Me?” “I’m the vice-commander of the Boy Detectives Club’s Street Urchin Task Force—Noppo no Matsu-chan, that’s me!” “Heh heh heh~! Twenty Faces over there’s pullin’ a crybaby face, huh? … Me? I was followin’ Mr. Akechi’s orders—wore the Demon’s armor as Commander Kobayashi’s stand-in!” “You were totally fooled, huh?” “Heh heh heh~! Serves you right!”

At the beginning of this story, Kobayashi Shonen had organized the Street Urchin Task Force by gathering street children from Ueno Park to punish the Bronze Demon, and before anyone knew it, they had taken on such a significant role. Akechi, as if greatly amused, “How about that, Mr. Twenty Faces.” “Now that we’ve reached this point, even those two children you’re so carefully holding onto are looking rather questionable, aren’t they?” “If this isn’t Kobayashi, then the ones inside that armor over there might not be Shoichi-kun or Yukiko-chan either. Why don’t we take a fresh look?” “Look, here’s the key.”

With that, he threw the key to open the masks before Nijū Mensō. Nijū Mensō hurriedly picked it up and, with trembling hands, fumbled several times before finally removing the masks from the two small demon forms. Then from within emerged—of course—not Shoichi-kun or Yukiko-chan, but two filthy street urchins’ faces. “Ahahahahaha!” “Ehehehehehe!”

The street urchins, as if they’d been waiting for this moment, wrinkled their grimy faces until their entire visages were all gaping mouths, doubled over with laughter. Even Kaijin Nijū Mensō found himself momentarily stunned by the street urchins’ antics—their contemptuous disregard for human decency—leaving him standing dazed as though he’d forgotten his own peril.

The Final Trump Card So, had Kaijin Nijū Mensō exhausted his final trump card and been captured there? No, no—this was Kaijin Nijū Mensō, the fiend known as a monster. He wouldn’t be defeated by something like this. The fiend still had a terrifying trump card remaining. Kaijin Nijū Mensō, his eyes bloodshot, darted his gaze around wildly—but when three street urchins roared and lunged at him, he nimbly twisted away as if signaling the start of combat.

His swiftness was as if a whirlwind had sprung up. Kaijin Nijū Mensō shoved aside the clinging street urchins and darted between the rows of Buddha statues like a panicked mouse scurrying in circles. Even the great Detective Akechi found himself momentarily stunned by this sudden maneuver. He instantly realized there was some trick at play but couldn’t discern what it was.

Akechi believed he had uncovered every one of Nijū Mensō’s secrets, but there remained a single oversight. For a great detective, it was a rare misstep—and what’s more, an astonishingly grave one. As Nijū Mensō darted between the Buddha statues—a blur too swift to follow—the onlookers watched dumbfounded until his figure vanished with a poof. The shadow that had been whirling about disappeared as if wiped away, leaving only Buddha statues of varied sizes standing like trees in a windless grove, plunged into absolute silence.

“Akechi-kun, he’s vanished again. “He vanished while still in Mr. Tezuka’s form.” After hurriedly scanning between the Buddha statues, Inspector Nakamura spoke reproachfully. The Bronze Demon disappeared because it was a rubber doll, but Nijū Mensō in the flesh was no rubber doll.

"The Buddha statues! There was a mechanism in the Buddha statues." "I had overlooked that." Akechi muttered regretfully and began examining the Buddha statues, which stood like a forest, one after another.

This was about Kaijin Nijū Mensō. He might be hiding inside one of the Buddha statues, disguising himself as a deity and standing there with an innocent expression.

The three street urchins also followed Akechi’s lead, pounding one Buddha statue after another with their fists.

“Ah! This is it!”

Akechi had finally found it. The back of a Buddha statue—larger than a human—opened like a door. It was crafted so skillfully that one couldn’t tell at a glance, but when tapped, it produced a different sound. After much struggle, Akechi finally located the door and cautiously, gingerly opened it. Could Kaijin Nijū Mensō be standing there with a terrifying visage, blocking their path? Akechi, bracing himself for such a possibility, carefully opened it—only to find the Buddha statue’s interior was merely a pitch-dark cavity devoid of any presence.

Akechi took out a flashlight from his pocket and illuminated the interior of the Buddha statue to inspect it. “Ah! An escape passage. There’s a secret passage here. Kaijin Nijū Mensō may have already escaped. Nakamura-kun, you come with me. Detective, take the three children and rush to the old well’s entrance as quickly as possible. This escape passage likely connects to that old well nearby.”

The interior of the Buddha statue's pedestal led underground, where a narrow, steep ladder—barely wide enough for one person—hung suspended. Akechi illuminated his path with a flashlight as he took the lead down the ladder. Inspector Nakamura followed close behind. Upon reaching the bottom of the ladder, they encountered a cramped tunnel that forced them to hunch their backs—a passage so narrow they could scarcely walk through it, stretching endlessly before them. Akechi and the inspector advanced through it with measured caution yet pressed forward at their swiftest pace.

If there had been branch paths, it would have been troublesome, but fortunately, there were none, and the path stretched straight ahead. After advancing for a while, Akechi suddenly came to a halt. “Hmm, what’s this?” There was a hollowed-out hole in the tunnel wall, inside which lay a crumpled bundle of clothes. Akechi took it in hand and unfolded it to examine.

“Ah! These are Mr. Tezuka’s clothes.” “They’re still warm.” “Kaijin Nijū Mensō had prepared disguise clothes and other items here in this hole.” “When fleeing just now, he must have stripped off this outfit and transformed into a completely different appearance.” “Hmm. He’s an exceedingly cautious villain.” “But what disguise did he adopt to escape?”

The voices of the detective and Inspector Nakamura. “It’s Nijū Mensō. There’s no telling what unexpected person he’s disguised himself as.” Dismissing this, Akechi once again started running while keeping his body bent.

After proceeding a bit further, they spotted a jagged hole about two feet square ahead. This must be the tunnel’s exit.

“Ah! I see,” said Akechi. “The escape passage’s exit is normally blocked by a stone wall. In his panic, Kaijin Nijū Mensō fled without resealing this secret exit after removing the stone. Beyond this hole must lie a passage near the old well.” As they approached the opening in the stone wall, they noticed strange figures outside peering in with gleaming eyes.

“Detective! They’re here! They’re here! A suspicious guy’s crawling through the hole here!” It was a familiar voice—the shouting of “Tall Pine,” vice-leader of the Street Urchin Task Force. “No need for alarm. It’s Akechi and Nakamura. We must be near the old well now.”

Reassured by Akechi’s voice, the detective outside answered. “Yes, right after entering the old well.” “Wasn’t Kaijin Nijū Mensō inside the escape passage?” “He’s not here.” “You didn’t run into him either, did you?” “Yes, it seems he has managed to escape.” “I just checked—the rope ladder we left hanging in the well when we entered is gone.” “He must have taken it, fearing we’d chase him.”

Akechi and Inspector Nakamura crawled out of the hole and stood beside the detective and three street urchins. "Akechi-kun, you don't have a replacement rope ladder, do you?"

“Even I don’t carry two rope ladders.” “It can’t be helped.” “Break down the door to that room over there and make a ladder.” “It can be done in twenty or thirty minutes.” Akechi remarked nonchalantly. “But Akechi-kun, if we dawdle for twenty or thirty minutes, he’ll get far away! And given that he’s a master of disguise, tracking him down won’t be easy.” “At the final moment, we’ve been completely suckered by him.”

Inspector Nakamura said irritably, glancing sideways at Akechi, who wore a nonchalant look. “Nakamura-kun, you don’t need to worry. The reason I’m being so carefree is that I still have a trump card up my sleeve.” “Huh? A trump card?” “If Nijū Mensō has a trump card, then I have one too.” “Noppo no Matsu-kō here was acting as Kobayashi’s substitute.” “So where is Kobayashi now?” “Oh? Can’t you see?” “I anticipated such a scenario, so since this morning, I’ve had the members of the Street Urchin Task Force—with Kobayashi as their leader—keeping watch outside the well.” “Even excluding the three here, the Street Urchin Task Force still has thirteen members left.” “As you saw during their performance in the recent chimney incident, these street urchins—appearing and vanishing like ghosts—have skills even adults cannot match.” “And when it comes to Kobayashi, he’s my right-hand man.” “No matter how skilled Nijū Mensō may be, he won’t be able to make a clean escape that easily.”

“Hmm, so that’s how it was,” Inspector Nakamura muttered. “As always, you leave me speechless. But our opponent is the infamous Twenty Faces. Relying solely on children is too precarious. Let’s build that ladder with all haste. Fortunately, we’ve captured that clown—interrogating him should yield plenty.” After removing the door from the inner room and constructing an emergency ladder, within twenty minutes the seven individuals—now including the captive clown—had safely emerged outside the ancient well.

Kobayashi Shonen's Peril

Meanwhile, outside the old well.

The grove-like trees in the Tezuka family’s vast garden, beneath the dull winter sun, stood utterly still. Despite the absence of wind, something occasionally flickered and darted among the shadows of the tree trunks. Was it an animal? No, that was not the case. It was some sort of figure wearing dirty, torn khaki-colored clothes. They were darting their faces out from behind tree trunks here and there, only to pull them back again.

In the center of that grove lay the old well. Before long, emerging quietly from the well was none other than the famous detective Akechi Kogoro. Akechi stepped over the well's edge and exited outside. After surveying his surroundings, he pulled up the rope ladder made of strong silk cord, rolled it into a small bundle, and placed it into the bag he carried in his hand. It was a strange bag. A large, floppy thing—more like a tanned leather pouch than a proper bag. No one had ever seen Akechi carrying such an item before. What in the world was going on?

When Akechi came into view, from behind a large nearby tree emerged a boy wearing tattered khaki clothes—yet with apple-glossed cheeks and an endearing appearance. He asked in a whisper: "Sensei, did it go well?" "Ah, Kobayashi-kun?" For some reason, Akechi stopped as if startled, but soon smiled and answered.

“Yeah, everything went smoothly.” “The culprit has been arrested by Inspector Nakamura and confined in the basement.” “Since I’ve discovered the hideout of his kind, I’m heading there now.” “You come along too.” Akechi was saying something strange. However, Kobayashi Shonen, disguised as one of the Street Urchin Task Force members, answered “Yes” without showing any sign of suspicion and followed behind Akechi. Akechi, carrying the bag, took Kobayashi Shonen with him and walked across the wide garden toward the main house.

Then, at that very moment, something truly mysterious occurred. In the withered grass beneath the grove, something lay flattened like a snake, rustling as it crawled. One, two, three—when counted, there were more than ten of them. Their hair hung long like palm-fiber brooms, their faces smeared with grime, their khaki clothes torn to rags—these were children. In other words, they were the Street Urchin Task Force members. For some reason, these children had begun crawling through the withered grass like snakes, trailing after Akechi and Kobayashi.

Unaware of this, Akechi Kogoro—taking Kobayashi Shonen with him—first entered the Tezuka family’s main house, informed the family members about Nijū Mensō’s capture, and then approached Inspector Nakamura’s automobile waiting at the gate. The Metropolitan Police Department driver, who knew Akechi well, smiled and greeted him when he saw the famous detective. “You—the culprit has been arrested.” “The details… Nakamura will fill you in later.” “Regarding that, I’ve got to spring a surprise on the culprit’s accomplices, so I’ve decided to borrow Nakamura-kun’s car for a bit.”

Akechi hurriedly explained the situation, convinced the driver, and climbed into the automobile, but after closing the door, he suddenly called out to the driver as if remembering something. “Ah, I nearly forgot completely. “You—sorry about this—there’s a square package wrapped in kraft paper on the table in the reception room. Go fetch it for me. “It’s tied crisscross with thin string, so you’ll spot it right away.” “Ah, understood!”

The driver exited the car in a great hurry and rushed into the gate. Akechi Kogoro waited impatiently until the driver disappeared from view, then suddenly climbed over the partition from the back seat, slid into the front driver’s seat, and gripped the steering wheel. The car abruptly started moving. It sped off at tremendous speed, leaving the driver behind. Kobayashi Shonen seemed slightly surprised, but perhaps because he was accustomed to Akechi’s outlandish methods, he showed no particular sign of suspicion.

Akechi's behavior inside the automobile was strange, but something even stranger was occurring on the car's roof.

One of the Street Urchin Task Force members who had been tailing Akechi earlier had somehow gotten ahead and concealed himself in the shadow of the automobile. And during that brief interval when Akechi Kogoro and Kobayashi Shonen entered the automobile and sent the driver away, that street urchin clambered up the vehicle's rear like a monkey, ascended onto its body, then lay flat on the roof like a huntsman spider. He draped what appeared to be an adult-sized raincoat over himself and remained perfectly still beneath it.

The automobile started moving with this street urchin still on its roof. The hands and feet of the tree-climbing expert street urchin clung tightly to the roof as though equipped with suction cups; no matter how violently the car shook, he remained firmly anchored. Moreover, even if someone had peered down from the windows of tall buildings as the car sped through town, they would never have detected a child concealed beneath the raincoat. At most, they might have thought some large wrapping cloth had been laid out there.

The automobile driven by Akechi passed through Shiba Park, entered Kyobashi, crossed Eitaibashi Bridge, went a short distance further, and stopped at a desolate spot along the Sumida River.

Along the charred riverside where small makeshift shacks stood scattered, there rose a slender five-story concrete building that jutted upward like a tower. A shabby structure resembling an abandoned house, its ornamental bricks flaking away. Akechi stepped out of the car and, taking Kobayashi Shonen by the hand, entered the building.

Then, as if having waited impatiently for this moment, the raincoat on the automobile's roof began to bulge and heave. The street urchin swiftly jumped down, opened the door through which Akechi and the others had entered just a slit, and slipped through the gap to vanish inside.

Here were Akechi and Kobayashi Shonen. After climbing the narrow stairs and entering the fifth-floor room, Akechi locked the door from the inside for some reason. A desk and three chairs—aside from these, it was a room devoid of any decoration, like a vacant house. Akechi continued gripping Kobayashi Shonen's hand tightly, not sitting in a chair, as a meaningful faint smile played on his lips. "Kobayashi-kun, who do you think I am?"

Akechi Kogoro said something strange. However, Kobayashi-kun showed no sign of surprise whatsoever. “Kaijin Nijū Mensō.” Grinning, he stated it point-blank. “Heh heh heh… So you had noticed.” “However, it’s too late now.” “You’ll have to endure a bit of discomfort for a while.” No sooner had he spoken than Nijū Mensō—who looked exactly like Akechi—suddenly pushed Kobayashi-kun to the floor. With practiced ease, he bound the boy’s limbs using thin cord retrieved from that familiar bag and sealed his mouth with a gag resembling a monkey’s muzzle.

Kobayashi-kun, seemingly having some plan in mind, offered no resistance whatsoever and allowed himself to be handled.

Kaijin Nijū Mensō threw Kobayashi-kun into the empty closet, slid its wooden door shut with a sharp clack, and entered the adjacent room connected by a single door.

Before long, Kaijin Nijū Mensō’s voice could be heard from there. He was making a call somewhere. Since there was only a single wooden door separating them, even Kobayashi-kun could faintly hear the voice. “Hmm... Time to bid Tokyo farewell at last.” “...Is the boat prepared?” “Have it brought here immediately... And fill the tank to the brim.” “We may need to push it to the limit...” “Good. Understood.”

Kaijin Nijū Mensō finished his phone call, returned to the front of the closet, and called out. “Kobayashi-kun, I’ll send a telegram now. Once night falls, the real Akechi-sensei will come to rescue you.” “Just endure a little longer.” “I must go out now to handle various matters.” “After all, even I have someone who’ll lament my departure.” “Moreover, I can’t leave this automobile here as a marker—I must dispose of it properly.” “Now stay quiet and behave yourself for a while.”

With those words, he left the room. Needless to say, he locked the door from the outside.

However, no sooner had Kaijin Nijū Mensō left than a street urchin boy emerged from a corner of the hallway, as if he had been hiding there all along. Then, pulling out something like a wire from his torn pocket, he worked at the door’s keyhole until the lock clicked open. This street urchin appeared to be an expert at this sort of thing. Then, like a thief, he stealthily pushed the door open about five sun—roughly six inches—and through that narrow gap slipped into the room as nimbly as a harvest mouse. Needless to say, it was that very Street Urchin Task Force member who had been hiding on the automobile’s roof.

The street urchin, having perhaps peered through the keyhole, darted to the front of the closet, flung it open, and abruptly removed Kobayashi-kun’s monkey gag before untying the thin cords binding his hands and feet. “Hurry! Tie me down! “I’ll act as the Commander’s decoy and lie here.” “If he comes back, it ain’t good.” “Hurry! Hurry!” Kobayashi praised the street urchin’s quick wit and, just as had been done to him, bound the boy’s limbs and rolled him into the closet. Then, as nimbly as a squirrel, he dashed out of the room.

Two Akechi Kogoros

About forty minutes later, Kaijin Nijū Mensō—disguised as Detective Akechi—returned to the fifth-floor room, his face flushed as if he had been drinking somewhere. Upon entering the room, he immediately opened the closet and checked inside. When he saw Kobayashi Shonen lying there in his original form, he appeared completely relieved. In the dimly lit closet, the figure lay facing away; thus, it never occurred to him that a street urchin in similar ragged clothes had been substituted at some point.

“Ufufufu… Most impressive, indeed. Just endure a little longer.” “Stay quiet and behave now.” “But there’s something I must tell you.” “I want you to relay these words to your precious Akechi-kun.” “Listen well—this time I’ve lost to Akechi-kun.” “Thoroughly defeated.” “But know this—even in defeat, I’ll never be captured.” “For now I’ll leave Tokyo…but someday I’ll return and give Akechi-sensei a surprise that’ll make his head spin.” “Make sure you tell him every word clearly—you hear?”

It was the moment Kaijin Nijū Mensō finished speaking. Somewhere came a strange clank. It wasn’t from inside the closet. Kaijin Nijū Mensō jerked toward the sound’s direction. The door bordering the adjacent room was slowly, slowly opening. Not the wind. There was a human. A human was opening that door. “Who’s there? Who’s there?!” He shouted reflexively, but the door kept widening regardless. When it finally stood fully open, there on the other side stood a man identical to Nijū Mensō—or rather, identical to Akechi Kogoro—grinning broadly.

“There’s no need to relay messages. Because I’m right here. By the way, I must ask you to retract that claim about Nijū Mensō never being caught. I came here to capture you.” This was the genuine Akechi Kogoro, who had rushed from the Tezuka residence upon Kobayashi Shonen’s urgent alert. Even the formidable Kaijin Nijū Mensō, caught in this sudden ambush, instantly sobered and turned ashen pale.

“Hmm... You... How did you get here—?” “That’s thanks to the Street Urchin Task Force led by Kobayashi-kun.” “The one in that closet isn’t Kobayashi—it’s one of our street urchin members.” “The real Kobayashi is right here.” As Akechi shifted slightly, Kobayashi Shonen’s face emerged from behind him, his cheeks round like apples. He had changed clothes at some point and now wore a proper student uniform with a stiff collar. The real Akechi and the imposter stood facing each other three feet apart. True to his reputation as a master of disguise, Kaijin Nijū Mensō resembled him so perfectly that even side by side, one couldn’t tell which was genuine. They might as well have been twins.

The two remained utterly still, staring into each other’s eyes for about three minutes without moving a muscle. It was a terrifying standoff—the kind that made sweat ooze relentlessly from one’s pores. “So. What will you do?” Kaijin Nijū Mensō said in a confrontational voice.

“You’re caught—and I’m not alone. This building is completely surrounded by police officers. You can’t escape any longer.” “Hmph. You really believe that?” “Of course I do.”

“But I’ll show you I can escape.” “Now, how about this?!”

Kaijin Nijū Mensō leaped out the door like a soaring bird.

With dizzying speed, he reached the staircase. However, at the base of that staircase, uniformed and plainclothes officers were packed tightly together with Inspector Nakamura at their head. Breaking through this line was utterly inconceivable.

Kaijin Nijū Mensō feigned descending the stairs before suddenly whirling around and dashing in the opposite direction. In the dim corridor's corner stood an upright iron ladder. He abruptly began scaling it. Nothing lay above the fifth floor but the rooftop. This was a ladder leading to the roof.

Since there were no adjoining buildings, even if he reached the rooftop, there would be no escape route. What on earth could he possibly be planning to do?

Akechi and Inspector Nakamura climbed the iron ladder in pursuit of Nijū Mensō. However, by that time, the large hatch-like door at the top of the ladder had been lowered, and even when two or three people pushed from below with all their might, it wouldn’t budge an inch. As they struggled with this, a roar of voices rose up from outside the building. Something extraordinary seemed to be happening.

The End of the Bronze Demon Kaijin Nijū Mensō, who had fled to the rooftop, took out a bundle of black silk cords from that sack-like bag he hadn’t forgotten to bring along. It was a sturdy, long rope ladder with knotted rungs at every shaku interval—the same type used during that chimney incident some time ago. He grasped it and peered down from the rooftop railing at the ground far below. Since this was a fifth-floor rooftop, the height neared twenty meters. Beneath his gaze stretched a road leading to the riverbank, where several police officers stood in formation. Beside them swarmed over a dozen grubby children who looked like street urchins. They were the Street Urchin Task Force.

Kaijin Nijū Mensō attached the rope ladder's metal fittings to the edge of the rooftop's protrusion and threw the long rope downward with a swift motion. When he peered down, the rope's length reached only about two-thirds of the building's height. Even if one were to climb down this rope, it would not reach the ground, leaving them dangling midway with no other option. Kaijin Nijū Mensō, aware of this, began climbing down the rope. What on earth could he possibly be planning to do?

The building faced a road at the front and overlooked the Sumida River at the back, but Kaijin Nijū Mensō now dangled from its side. That side had almost no windows, eliminating any risk of the rope being cut midway. The crowd below seemed to notice Nijū Mensō's aerial stunt. A collective roar surged upward from beneath his feet. The figures looked as small as toys at such a height. Gripping each knotted rung with meticulous care, he descended step by step while wind whipped through the sky, making the rope sway perilously and threatening to send him sliding down at any moment. Had he let go, he would have plummeted like a bullet to certain destruction below—a death-defying feat that made one's hair stand on end. When Nijū Mensō finally reached the rope's end, Akechi and Inspector Nakamura stood visible on the ground far beneath him. Though he'd descended fully, the rope still dangled seven or eight meters above the pavement—utterly beyond their reach.

It was exactly like a spider hanging from a tree branch, swaying in the wind. Kaijin Nijū Mensō clung precariously to the end of the silk cord, like a solitary spider. As they watched, the spider’s thread began swaying increasingly violently. It wasn’t just because of the wind. Kaijin Nijū Mensō was pumping with great force, as if swinging on a swing. Soon, the bizarre aerial swing began swaying rhythmically left and right like a clock's pendulum, whooshing through the air with each movement. Its arc grew wider by the moment, now swinging more broadly than the width of the building itself.

By that time, those on the ground had finally grasped Kaijin Nijū Mensō's true scheme. He had been orchestrating a dreadfully audacious maneuver. His plan was to swing the pendulum-like rope to its widest arc before releasing his grip and plunging into the Sumida River. Looking down, they saw a lone motorboat drifting precisely where his trajectory would land. Ah—that vessel must have been positioned there to retrieve him mid-dive.

As soon as they noticed this, they abruptly started running toward the upper reaches of the river. Since Kobayashi Shonen had thoroughly eavesdropped on the phone call and learned of Kaijin Nijū Mensō's order to prepare a boat, they too had stationed a high-speed watercraft. The people hurried toward that watercraft.

It was at that moment.

Just as everyone had anticipated, it happened. Kaijin Nijū Mensō swung the rope ladder to its fullest extent before suddenly releasing his grip. His curled body shot through the air like a bullet, slicing through the wind with a whoosh. A terrifying spray of water erupted about ten meters offshore. The waiting thieves' motorboat rushed toward the cascading water, scooped up the resurfacing Nijū Mensō, and immediately roared away at full engine power toward Tokyo Bay.

Fortunately, by that time, the water police’s large launch had completed its departure preparations. Onboard the launch, in addition to water police officers, were Detective Akechi, Inspector Nakamura, Kobayashi Shonen, and five representatives from the Street Urchin Task Force. The distance between the thieves' motorboat and the launch was approximately 100 meters. A truly terrifying water race began. The motorboat, true to Kaijin Nijū Mensō’s preparations, had astonishing speed. Like a flying fish leaping, the hull nearly lifted off the water's surface as it glided through the air. The water spray cut by the bow split magnificently to both sides, as if a great fountain were racing along.

Maintaining almost the same distance between them, both boats left Tsukishima behind, approached Odaiba, and in an instant—with Odaiba already receding into the distance—raced toward the center of the vast Tokyo Bay. “Waaah, it’s the Bronze Demon!” At the Street Urchin Task Force’s shouts, they suddenly noticed that inside the thieves’ boat, the bronze statue-like Bronze Demon had turned toward them, stood up straight, and was frantically waving both hands. Kaijin Nijū Mensō, to stage this final spectacle, had donned his memorable bronze armor—flaunting it before his pursuers and taunting them.

For over ten minutes, both pursuers and pursued charged forward with all their might—as if to tear the engines apart—but in the end, the small motorboat was no match for the large launch. Signs of fatigue began to show in the thieves' motorboat. Perhaps a malfunction had occurred in the engine, for it began moving in a staggering manner. The roar of the distant engine was also losing its rhythm.

However, for Kaijin Nijū Mensō, he absolutely had to escape successfully at all costs. The Bronze Demon on the boat was waving his hands and stamping his feet, seeming to yell at the engineer to go faster and faster.

However, the end finally came.

With a thunderous boom came a terrifying spray of water like that from a dropped bomb. A deafening explosion roared. In billowing black smoke flickered serpent-tongued flames; there, momentarily engulfed in fire like the wrathful Buddhist deity Fudō Myōō, the Bronze Demon's dreadful form was caught in flickering glimpses.

Before long, as the smoke thinned over the sea, there was no trace of the motorboat to be seen—neither shadow nor form.

This was the tragic end of the Bronze Demon—that is, Kaijin Nijū Mensō. It goes without saying that the police launch immediately approached the scene and endeavored to rescue survivors, but not a single member of the boat’s crew had survived—and despite exhaustive searches, the corpse of Kaijin Nijū Mensō clad in bronze armor could not be discovered. Perhaps due to the weight of that armor, it sank into the sea and was unable to resurface.

Unfortunately, they were unable to apprehend the mastermind, but the Bronze Demon’s secrets were fully exposed, its accomplices captured, the secret factory dismantled, and the underground treasures returned to their respective rightful owners.

The fame of renowned detective Akechi Kogoro and his boy assistant Kobayashi grew ever higher, and with it, the exploits of that Street Urchin Task Force were widely covered in newspapers. As an innocent photograph of the sixteen urchins laughing with their arms around each other’s shoulders appeared in every newspaper, their reputation became tremendous. And in time, through Detective Akechi’s efforts, these street urchin boys found their paths—some entered schools, while others took up professions, each finding themselves in fortunate circumstances.