Pathway to Japanese Literature

The Monster Above the Clouds

The leader of the Boy Detectives Club, Kobayashi Yoshio; the strongest member, Inoue Ichirō; and Noro Ippei—a timid yet charming boy—the three of them traveled to a hot spring in Nagano Prefecture during their spring break.

Let us tentatively name this hot spring Yagura Hot Spring.
After transferring from the Japanese National Railways to a private railway line, getting off at Yagura Station, and climbing a bit up the mountain path, there lies the hot spring village.
A hot spring surrounded by mountains, with beautiful scenery.

The owner of Tokiwa Inn at that hot spring was Inoue-kun’s uncle, so he had invited Leader Kobayashi and Noro-kun and come prepared to stay for about five days.

Since Inoue-kun’s father was a former boxing athlete, Inoue-kun also sometimes learned boxing.
Naturally large and strong, and even versed in boxing techniques, no one at school could match Inoue-kun.

Noro Ippei-kun was called by the nickname Noro-chan, but it wasn’t because his movements were slow. He was actually quite nimble. However, he was skinny and weak, and on top of that, a bit timid.

As for why such a timid person joined the Boy Detectives Club, it was because Noro-chan deeply respected Leader Kobayashi and insisted on joining no matter what. Kobayashi-kun also liked Noro-chan; since he was timid yet nimble and a charming person whom everyone adored, he decided to make him a member.

When the three arrived at Tokiwa Inn, Inoue-kun's uncle and aunt said, "Welcome, welcome!" and gave them an exceptionally warm reception.

Beside Tokiwa Inn was an open-air bath built with rocks.
The three first entered there; they swam around, splashed hot water at each other, and made a big commotion before returning to their room to eat a delicious dinner.

At that time, the one who served them dinner was a talkative maid who chatted about various things, but then she began to say something strange.

“So you’re the Boy Detectives Club, I hear.”
“Then that’s just perfect.”
“There’s somethin’ real scary goin’ on in this village right now.”
“Somethin’ so scary even the police can’t do a thing about it.”

The maid, being from the countryside, had a peculiar way of speaking, but it wasn’t so strange as to be incomprehensible.

Upon hearing that, the three boys suddenly felt their bodies straighten up. In fact, they had been waiting for just such a story.

“What exactly is this scary business you’re talking about?” Leader Kobayashi asked, leaning forward intently.

Leader Kobayashi leaned forward and asked.

“That’s just it—it don’t make no sense. They say there’s this scary ol’ monster up in the clouds, causin’ all sorts of trouble.”

Things were finally getting interesting.

“What kind of mischief are we talking about here?”

“They say a huge hand comes swooping down from above the clouds and snatches up chickens and crops from the fields. Even cows and horses have been grabbed and killed by it, they say.”

“Miss, have you seen that big hand?”

“Nah, I ain’t seen it myself, but plenty of folks have.”
“They say that monster’s arm is as big around as a pine tree that takes two people to hug—a gigantic thing, I tell ya.”

The three boys exchanged glances.
Could such an absurd thing really exist?
From within the clouds, the Giant’s Arm slithered out, snatching up all sorts of things—it was such an absurd tale, unlike anything they had ever heard before.

“Miss, you’re just saying that to scare us, aren’t you? You’re just trying to scare us because you think Tokyo kids don’t know anything about what happens in the mountains.”

Noro-chan said with a sly grin. Though he was actually starting to feel scared, he hid it behind a smile. Then the maid continued earnestly:

“Nah, I ain’t tryin’ to scare ya. Why’d I go ’n’ frighten you all like that? It’s God’s honest truth. But see, the master told me not to breathe a word ’bout this. If rumors spread, our hot springs’d dry up faster’n a creek in August—that’s why I gotta keep mum. But since you’re them Boy Detectives and all... Well, I figured I’d let slip just a smidge. Now don’t go blabbin’ to other guests, hear? If the master finds out I flapped my gums, he’ll skin me alive.”

The boys tried to ask more questions, but since the maid hadn’t seen it herself, she couldn’t provide details.

The following day when Inoue-kun met his uncle—carefully avoiding mention of the maid—he casually broached the subject. His uncle’s face clouded over.

“Has this already reached your ears too, Ichirō-kun? It’s preposterous ghost stories.”
“A giant’s hand descending from above clouds to snatch things? Who could possibly believe such nonsense?”
“Thieves—it must be thieves.”
“They steal everything in sight, then spread these giant rumors to cover their crimes.”

“Then the police should investigate it, right? This village has a police force too, doesn’t it?”

When Inoue-kun said this, his uncle nodded,

“Of course there is.”
“There’s a police substation with four or five officers.”
“They’ve been investigating thoroughly for some time now, but they still haven’t caught the thieves.”
“It’s truly a troubling matter.”

he sighed.

The White Dog Soaring Skyward

However, it gradually became clear that Inoue-kun’s uncle’s assumption had been mistaken.
The Giant’s Arm emerging from the clouds was by no means a baseless rumor.
And finally, Inoue-kun and Noro-chan, members of the Boy Detectives Club, would come to witness that terrifying event with their own eyes.

On the evening of the day after arriving at the hot spring, the three boys had entered the open-air bath once again.
It was a gloomy, overcast day, and even though it had just passed five o'clock, the surroundings were already shrouded in twilight, growing so dark that distant areas were no longer visible.

At first, the three boys were soaking in the bath by themselves, but after a while, an adult man entered from beyond the rocks of the open-air bath.
He appeared to be forty-five or forty-six years old—a portly yet imposing figure.
He seemed to be a guest from Tokyo staying at Tokiwa Inn.

The man removed his kimono and entered the bath, splashed about alone for a while, but when he noticed the three boys, he smiled warmly and struck up a conversation in a nostalgic tone.

“You’re all from Tokyo, right? I’m from Tokyo too. This hot spring is quiet and nice. How long are you staying?”

“We plan to stay four or five days.”

Kobayashi-kun answered.

“Well, mountain climbing would be good… but you should be careful. There are some strange rumors going around, you know.”

The man wore a peculiar expression as he scrutinized the three boys and spoke.

“What strange rumors?”

Kobayashi-kun thought it was probably that matter, but he feigned ignorance and asked.

“From within the clouds, the Giant’s Arm comes out.”
“Humans haven’t been attacked yet, but apparently animals have been targeted quite a bit.”
“With that huge arm, they say it grabs cows and everything else and takes them away.”

“Is that really true?”
“Country people are superstitious, so maybe such rumors spread from trivial matters.”

When Inoue-kun said this, the man remained silent for a moment before fearfully looking up at the pitch-black cloudy sky. By now, it had grown so dark that those soaking in the bath could barely make out each other’s faces.

“At first, I thought that too,” he said. “But there are several houses with destroyed chicken coops and missing birds. There was even a cow that broke its legs and died as if dropped from a great height. And two or three fields have soil gouged out by something with a hand as big as a tatami mat.” His voice lowered. “I saw it myself. It’s truly dreadful.”

Having said that, the man gazed up intently at the dark sky once more.

“Let’s get out already.”
“And let’s go back to the room.”
“I’m getting kind of cold.”

Noro-chan looked around the darkened area and let out a voice that seemed on the verge of tears.

“Yeah, we should hurry and get back to the room.”
“The Giant’s Arm always appears at night, you know.”
“It’s better not to go out at night.”

So the boys got out of the open-air bath, dried themselves between the rocks, and put on their clothes, but the man remained standing in the center of the bathwater, still gazing intently at the distant sky as he had been doing all along.
He was staring in that direction as if to bore a hole through it.

When the boys noticed this, a shiver ran down their spines, and they instinctively looked in that direction.

“Look. Look at that.”

The man raised his hand and pointed at one part of the sky.
It was a low voice, as if whispering a secret.

The entire sky was blanketed by inky black clouds.

“It’s between those mountains.”

The boundary between the mountain and the clouds had already grown so dark it was indistinguishable. However, in what appeared to be a gap between the mountains, a whitish, haze-like thing hung down dimly from within the clouds.

“You see that? Doesn’t it look like a giant’s arm somehow?”

The boys stared at the hazy thing.
Now that he mentioned it, the shape did indeed resemble a giant’s arm.
That enormous arm seemed to be gradually extending down from within the clouds toward the ground.

“Aah…!”

A startling scream erupted.
And something firmly grabbed Inoue-kun's arm.
When he turned around in surprise, it was Noro-chan.
Noro-chan had let out a scream and was trying to run away.

At that moment, since Noro-chan and Inoue-kun were already dressed, they could flee immediately.
Kobayashi-kun had only just put on his underpants.

Because Noro-chan was pulling frantically, Inoue-kun also started running.

From the open-air bath to the inn building was a distance of seventy to eighty meters. Moreover, since it was a path resembling a forest with large trees standing in rows on both sides, it was already pitch-dark, so much so that they couldn’t even see their own feet.

Noro-chan and Inoue-kun were hurrying through the darkness hand in hand, but when they had gone about halfway, Noro-chan—who had been leading—suddenly froze in shock.
And the quivering was transmitted to Inoue-kun’s hand.

What could Noro-chan have seen that frightened him so much?
Noro-chan seemed to have lost even the power to speak.
Inoue-kun, too, was terrified to hear it.

Before long, it came into Inoue-kun’s view as well.
It was a large, dimly white shape.
It was smoothly approaching them.

Noro-chan suddenly clung to Inoue-kun’s body.

“Oh, it’s just a dog.”
“A big white dog.”

It was only when it came within about five meters that they finally realized what it was. It was the large white dog they had seen in front of Tokiwa Inn during the day.

When Noro-chan realized it was a dog, he completely relaxed, let go of Inoue-kun, and began laughing sheepishly—"Eh heh, eh heh"—as if to hide his embarrassment.

“Hey, Inoue-kun, let’s keep what just happened a secret from Kobayashi-san.”
“I don’t want it getting out that I trembled and clung to you like that.”
“Got it?”

Noro-chan’s words had barely finished—or perhaps hadn’t even fully ended—when suddenly, right before their eyes, a hair-raisingly terrifying event occurred.

The large white dog let out a yelping scream, as if it had encountered a ferocious beast. And then, writhing its body in an attempt to flee, it couldn’t escape—as if something had seized hold of it.

Needless to say, Noro-chan immediately clung to Inoue-kun’s large body.
Noro-chan was trembling so violently that even Inoue-kun began to shake.

Then, an even more astonishing thing happened.

The white dog left the ground and smoothly floated up into midair.
It looked as if it had been seized by a giant’s arm and was being hauled upward.

“The Giant’s Arm… It’s the Giant’s Arm….”

Noro-chan, trying not to look in that direction, pressed his face against Inoue-kun’s chest and kept repeating it in a low voice, as if sharing a secret.

“It’s the Giant’s Arm… The Giant’s Arm….”

Inoue-kun was by no means a coward, but with something unimaginable through reason unfolding right before his eyes, he couldn’t help shuddering from the depths of his heart.

Even Inoue-kun no longer had the strength to run away.
On top of that, being clung to by Noro-chan and having “The Giant’s Arm… It’s the Giant’s Arm…” whispered in his ear like feverish ravings was more than he could bear.

Inoue-kun’s eyes remained fixed in that direction even as he tried not to look.

The large white dog let out plaintive yelps as it struggled desperately.
And then, creak by creak, it was being pulled upward.

The Giant’s Arm was not clearly visible.
Because it was a pure white dog, only the dog stood out distinctly while the Giant’s Arm melted into the darkness, appearing dim and hazy.

As they kept staring, they sensed something terrifyingly enormous—the same shade as the surrounding blackness—stretching with a creak from the sky into the murk, like some colossal limb reaching downward.

That black arm seized the dog and began dragging it upward with relentless force.

The figure of the white dog struggling desperately swiftly rose higher than Inoue-kun’s head, then continued upward, upward, endlessly into the void. And finally, its figure vanished from sight. Only the sorrowful cries of the white dog could be heard, faintly, ever so faintly, from far up in the sky.

Inoue-kun, and Noro-chan clinging to his body, remained as motionless as statues.
It was exactly like their legs had given out—their muscles had stiffened so much that even when they tried to move, they couldn’t.

“Oh! Inoue-kun and Noro-chan! What are you doing here?”

Suddenly called out to from behind, the two of them leapt in shock. However, it was only then that their bodies finally regained movement.

It had been Leader Kobayashi who called out.

Peering through the darkness and making out his figure, the two suddenly dashed toward Kobayashi-kun and clung to his hands on either side.
And without uttering a word, they began running toward the inn's building.

“Hey, you all—what’s got you in such a panic? If you keep pulling me like this, isn’t that dangerous?”

Kobayashi-kun, being pulled along as he ran, asked quizzically, but the two of them didn’t utter a single word in response.
As if being pursued by something terrifying, they simply hurried faster and faster.

Finally, in the distance, the light from Tokiwa Inn’s rooms came into view.

“Hey, what’s going on? Hurry up and explain what’s going on.”

Because Kobayashi-kun said this in a scolding tone and planted his feet firmly, the two had no choice but to stop as well.

“Ah… I was so scared,” Noro-chan said, his voice trembling. “Every time I imagined the Giant’s Arm grabbing me at any moment, I thought I was going to die.”

As the surroundings had brightened, Noro-chan suddenly regained his energy and found his voice again.

“Huh? The Giant’s Arm?”

Kobayashi-kun also asked back in surprise.

There, as the two of them walked toward the bright entrance of the inn, they recounted the terrifying incident to Kobayashi-kun in a flurry of words.

The Kidnapped Boy

From the very next day, that large white dog was no longer in the village.
The dog’s owner searched everywhere, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t find it.

The bizarre incident that Inoue and Noro, the two boys, had witnessed on their way back from the open-air bath was neither a dream nor an illusion.
The Giant’s Arm had truly descended into the forest and seized the white dog.

But since it had been a dog, they were still fortunate.
If, at that time, either Inoue-kun or Noro-chan had been snatched away, what would have happened?
The mere thought of it sent a shudder down their spines, leaving their backs icy.

The Giant’s Arm had only been snatching away animals and crops in the fields, but not a single person had been harmed yet.
The villagers speculated that even a monster must fear humans, which was why none had been harmed yet.

However, on the morning of the second day after the white dog incident, it became clear that the Giant had by no means shown restraint toward humans.
At last, a human had been attacked.

Near Yagara Hot Springs lived a farming family named Sata, who had a twelve-year-old boy named Kōtarō.
That Kō-chan had been missing since yesterday.

Kō-chan was a rambunctious child who played outside all day long, so his father and mother hadn’t worried until nightfall. But when darkness fell and he still didn’t return even as the night deepened, a huge commotion erupted.

They checked with his friends' houses and all around, but he wasn't anywhere.
They filed a report with the police substation as well.

“Could it be he was snatched by the Giant’s Arm?”

There were also people who began saying such things.
The village had long held legends about children being abducted by tengu.
It was said that a winged monster called a tengu would descend from the sky and snatch away children.

The elderly people had not actually seen the Giant’s Arm, so rather than such a strange thing, they first thought of the tengu.
And so, rumors began to spread that Kō-chan might have been taken by a tengu.

However, when morning came, Kō-chan suddenly showed up back home.
However, it was no ordinary return.
At the edge of the village, near the mountain’s entrance, there was a large forest.
He had been caught on a high branch of a tall tree in that forest.

The term "caught" might seem odd, but indeed, Kō-chan was lying atop that high branch, so from below, it appeared as though he had been caught.

When a villager passed by the forest early in the morning, they heard a child wailing from above. Startled, they searched around and discovered Kō-chan crying atop an extremely tall tree.

There, they called for the village lumberjack—a master tree climber—and finally managed to bring Kō-chan down from the tree. But when she saw him, the mother burst into tears.
For Kō-chan was in such a terrible state.

The clothes were torn and caked with mud; the face was terribly smeared with mud and blood; the limbs were riddled with wounds.

They immediately took him home to treat his wounds and give him a bath. Once he had finally calmed down, everyone gathered around Kō-chan and began questioning him; then he started haltingly recounting everything that had happened from last night until now.

Kō-chan had gone to play in the mountains with his friends yesterday evening, but after getting into a fight with everyone and being left alone in the mountains, it had gotten dark.

When his surroundings became completely dark, he hurriedly began descending the mountain to return home, when suddenly a whooshing wind blew in, and something resembling a large pine tree fell from the clouds, he said.

“It was like Hachiman-sama’s pine tree, I tell you! Three times thicker than that one! Then five fingers sprouted from that pine. One finger was thick as a temple pillar! That finger wriggled all bristly-like right before my eyes—then with a roar, it grabbed at me! Next thing I knew, I was flyin’ up into the sky! My head spun so bad I couldn’t tell up from down no more.”

Kō-chan spoke in that manner.
This boy was usually good at making up stories and was quite skillful in his storytelling, but this time, it was not a fabrication.
Not only had he failed to return home for an entire night, but he had sustained such severe injuries and been found caught in a tree so high a child could never climb it—nobody could doubt Kō-chan’s story.

When he was grabbed by the Giant’s Arm, his head spun and he lost consciousness, but when he suddenly opened his eyes, he realized he was flying through the high sky with a whoosh, whoosh, like the wind.

“The Giant must’ve been swinging its arm and stomping along, I tell you!”
“So ya see, every time the Giant swung its arm, my body’d go whooshin’ forward, then whooshin’ back again.”
“It was like ridin’ a giant swing, I tell you!”

Kō-chan widened his eyes into perfect circles as he recounted how terrifying it had been at that time.

A Giant hundreds of times larger than humans was stomping onward with heavy, earth-shaking steps.
In that hand, Kō-chan was being held.
What a horrifying ordeal he had endured!
Just imagining it was enough to make one’s spirit flee.

The sky was filled with stars, as if sprinkled with silver sand, it was said.
Last night, the sky had been completely overcast—so how could the stars be visible?
That might have been because the Giant was so tall that half of its body extended above the clouds.
Also, when he looked down below, it was said that in the pitch darkness, clusters of red light—like scattered sparks—could be seen here and there.
That must have been the electric lights of towns and villages.

“I ain’t never been on a plane, but if I ever did ride one, bet it wouldn’t feel no different from that.”
“Scary as hell, but it was fun, I tell ya!”
“I wanna get caught by the Giant again.”

Kō-chan gradually got carried away and even went so far as to say such things.
After flying wildly through the sky, he had apparently been dropped onto a tree in the forest.
The Giant’s hand that had been clutching him suddenly opened, and Kō-chan’s body plummeted earthward with a whoosh through the air, like a stone hurled from above.
At that moment, he lost consciousness again.

The second time he regained consciousness, he was caught on the treetop of a tree in the forest.
It was already dawn.
While being held by the Giant, he couldn't scream or speak, but at that moment, he finally regained his voice.
So it's said that Kō-chan let out a desperate, life-or-death cry and wailed.

Three Guests

In the afternoon following Kō-chan's incident, three adults and three boys had gathered in the Western-style parlor of Tokiwa Inn to discuss rumors about the event.
The story of Kō-chan being abducted by the Giant had spread like wildfire throughout the village, and all guests at Tokiwa Inn knew about it.
The ones gathered in the parlor were the three boys—Kobayashi, Inoue, and Noro—along with guests from Tokyo whom they had met at the open-air bath on the night of the White Dog incident and their two friends.

The person they had met at the open-air bath was a director of a Tokyo bicycle manufacturing company named Mr. Mitani. The two friends were also from the same company. The three boys often encountered these people at the bath and other places, so they gradually grew close enough to exchange jokes and engage in playful banter.

“We three are returning to Tokyo tomorrow.”
“It’s not like we’re running away because we’re scared of the Giant or anything.”

Mr. Mitani looked at Kobayashi-kun and said with a laugh.
The three adults were all slumped in long chairs, wearing padded robes over their inn yukatas.

“This was planned since we arrived here.”
“There’s a meeting in Tokyo the day after tomorrow that we absolutely must attend.”

One of Mr. Mitani’s friends added in a defensive tone.
Then, another friend said,

“You three members of the Boy Detectives Club are still staying here, but you’d better return as soon as possible.”
“No matter how much of a detective club you are, you don’t stand a chance against the Giant’s Arm.”
“Ha ha ha….”

they teased.
However, the boys were not backing down.

Inoue-kun stiffened his shoulders,

“You guys are saying that because you don’t know the history of the Boy Detectives Club. We’ve defeated plenty of monsters up until now. The Bronze Demon, the Transparent Phantom, the Space Phantom—they’re all terrifying monsters.”

Inoue-kun boasted.
Leader Kobayashi also followed that up:

“It wasn’t just us who defeated them. The truth is, it was Akechi-sensei. You gentlemen know about Akechi-sensei, right?”

“Yeah, in the newspapers.”
“So you’re disciples of that famous detective, huh?”
“So you’re trying to uncover the secret of this Giant’s Arm, is that it?”

“Yes, that’s right.”
“If Akechi-sensei were here, I think he would surely have unraveled the Giant’s secret.”
“I don’t think he would ever run away or anything like that.”
“Therefore, we’re going to stay here a bit longer and give it a try.”

True to form, Leader Kobayashi made a gallant remark.

“Hmm, impressive indeed.”
“Well then, do give it your best effort.”
“But take care now.”
“What you’re facing is a frightfully enormous giant.”
“Mind you don’t get snatched up and crushed.”

Mr. Mitani teased again.

Timid Noro-chan had been listening to this conversation in the corner of the room with a pale face, but at that moment, he finally interjected in a trembling voice.

“I just don’t get it. Could there really be such a gigantic giant in this world? King Kong and Godzilla—they’re all just made-up stories, right? Even animals aren’t that big, so there’s no way a human giant could exist.”

“Ha ha ha… Noro-chan, you’re such a scaredy-cat, but you make a good point. Then you’re not scared of ghosts?”

Mr. Mitani’s friend said spitefully.

“Yeah, I’m scared of ghosts.”
“I know perfectly well that ghosts don’t exist… but I’m still scared, so there’s nothing I can do about it.”

When they heard that, everyone burst into laughter.
However, Noro-chan had a serious look on his face,

“There’s still something I don’t understand. There’s no such thing as just an arm without a body. So the giant should have a face, a stomach, and legs too. Right? With those huge legs—shouldn’t it be crushing all sorts of things? That’s what’s strange—there’s not a single trace of those crushing marks.”

And he made a valid point.

“Ha ha ha… That’s exactly what makes it a monster,” said Mitani’s friend. “The giant might have nothing but arms and no body. Besides, Noro-chan, you saw with your own eyes the dog being grabbed and lifted up the night before last, didn’t you? Isn’t that the most certain thing there is?”

“Yeah,” replied Noro. “But I couldn’t really see the Giant’s Arm. Maybe because it was pitch-black… I couldn’t see it.”

After discussing the rumors of the Giant’s Arm for a while longer, everyone decided to head to the Open-Air Bath while it was still light out and trooped out in a group.

The following afternoon, Mr. Mitani and his two colleagues departed for Tokyo.

And then, that night.
It was... that an unprecedented major incident occurred.

It was around 10:30.
At that moment, Kobayashi-kun and the other two were already asleep in the eight-tatami room on the second floor of Tokiwa Inn, their bedding laid out.
As they drifted in and out of sleep, they suddenly became aware of a clamorous uproar coming from the inn’s office downstairs.
This was no ordinary commotion.

“Hey, Inoue-kun, Noro-chan, what’s going on?”
“It’s ridiculously noisy.”

“Yeah, it’s weird.”
“Maybe the Giant’s Arm has appeared again?”

Inoue-kun answered in a sleepy voice.

“What? The Giant’s Arm?!”

Noro-chan let out a shrill scream and sprang upright from his futon.
He was already shaking violently.

“Let’s go downstairs and check.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Kobayashi-kun and Inoue-kun left the room still in their nightclothes.

“I don’t want to be left here all alone! I’m scared...”

Noro-chan hurriedly chased after the two.

In the downstairs office, a large crowd had gathered.
In the center stood a person wearing a station staff uniform.
Around them gathered the owner couple of Tokiwa Inn, the manager, the maid, and others, with four or five lodgers also mingling among them.

It seemed the station employee had brought some terrifying news.

When they listened carefully, it turned out to be the following astonishing incident.

Freight Car Ascension

The Giant’s Arm had not only abducted animals and humans—this time, it had grabbed that enormous, heavy freight train and lifted it into the clouds.
King Kong and Godzilla grabbed planes and trains, but does the Giant’s Arm possess the same power as those monsters?

The first station from Yakura Onsen Station toward Tokyo was Yokome Station, where there was a small town called Yokome Town.

The freight train that departed Yokome Station at 8:47 PM tonight arrived at Yakura Station at 9:00 PM. It was a fifteen-car freight train pulled by a steam locomotive, consisting solely of cargo.

Connected as the seventh car from the locomotive of that freight train was a freight car that a certain wealthy person had chartered exclusively. That freight car was supposed to be unloaded at Yakura Station.

The wealthy person had built a large villa near Yakura Village and, to decorate its interior, sent a great many art pieces from Tokyo to Yakura Station. Valued at tens of millions of yen, they were art pieces.

The art pieces had been transferred at the interchange station from Japan National Railways to the private railway, where a large crowd strictly guarded them during loading into the private railway's freight car, lowered its door lock, and even applied a seal.

There was no doubt that this freight car had safely passed through Yokome Station.

The stationmaster of Yokome Station knew full well that valuables were loaded in the seventh freight car, so he paid special attention to that particular car.

The sealed freight car was indeed connected as the seventh car.
Not only the stationmaster but three station employees had seen it.

However, when the train arrived at Yakura Station at nine o’clock and they were about to begin unloading, that sealed freight car—just one car—had vanished.
The fifteen-car train had become a fourteen-car train.

The stationmaster of Yakura Station immediately telephoned Yokome Station and the preceding station to confirm, but every station reported that it had indeed been a fifteen-car train.

And it was confirmed without a doubt that the sealed freight car had been connected as the seventh car.

For a single car in the middle of a long train to vanish between one station and the next was beyond human comprehension.
Since the beginning of railways, this was an unprecedented event.

Both the engineer and the conductor worked for this railway for a long time and were trustworthy individuals.
The two of them testified that between Yokome Station and Yakura Station, the train had not stopped even once, and there had been nothing suspicious.
First of all, if they had stopped the train midway and detached freight cars, it would have been impossible to arrive at Yakura Station at the scheduled time.
Then, from both Yakura Station and Yokome Station, they sent out battery-powered trolleys to inspect the tracks between the two stations, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
The freight car was nowhere to be found.

That such a large freight car could disappear like smoke was something beyond human comprehension.

Could it be that some force beyond human was at work in this incident?

When they followed that line of reasoning, there was no other answer.

The stationmaster, the police inspector, the village mayor, and all the prominent villagers immediately recalled the "Giant’s Arm."

If it was that monster, then even things humans couldn’t do would surely be accomplished with ease.

“However, if the Giant’s Arm had grabbed it, the entire train would have shaken violently—yet it’s strange that neither the engineer nor the conductor felt anything.”

“That’s where the monster comes in.”
“What human wisdom can’t comprehend—that monster might be able to do effortlessly.”

"But if [the Giant's Arm] had grabbed just one freight car," someone argued, "the coupling would've been severed—so shouldn't cars from the seventh onward have been left behind?"

"That's exactly human thinking for you," another countered. "If it's that giant we're dealing with, yanking out a freight car and quick-connecting what's left might be child's play."

"Face it—we're up against something massive here," a third voice joined in. "Like watching a kid fiddle with toy trains."

Such conversations were repeated here and there.
And thus, up to eighty percent of the villagers came to believe this must unquestionably be the work of the "Giant’s Arm."
The wealthy owner of the art pieces told the police inspector and village mayor he would give a reward of one million yen to whoever retrieved them—whether culprit be monster or human—and this spread throughout the village.

Moreover, the local newspapers blared the news in bold headlines.

The Boy Detective

Even when evening fell on the following day, there were still no new discoveries in the freight car disappearance case.
True to form, Police Inspector Namino did not believe in ghost stories like the “Giant’s Arm,” so he coordinated with the main police station and conducted an exhaustive search—but there were absolutely no clues.

That evening, Police Inspector Namino had business near Tokiwa Inn, so on his way back, he stopped by the inn and was deep in conversation with the owner in the parlor.

“No matter how many times I say it, this is the first time I’ve encountered such a bizarre case in all my born days.”
“For a single freight car in the middle of a train to just vanish…”
“Moreover, that train both left Yokome Station and arrived at Yakura Station exactly on schedule—without being a single minute late.”
“There was absolutely no time to detach the freight car.”
“This is truly another mysterious incident.”
“It seems I’m starting to believe in that Giant’s Arm thing after all, I tell ya.”

Police Inspector Namino and the owner of Tokiwa Inn—who was Inoue-kun’s uncle—were go-playing friends and quite close, so the inspector aired his grievances without any reservation.

“No—I should clarify.”
“While our village is usually so peaceful that we’re at a loss without incidents, now that such an outrageous case has occurred, it’s no ordinary matter for you either.”

“Yeah, it’s beyond what a country police inspector like me can handle, I tell ya.”
“Even the Metropolitan Police’s star detective would need to come.”
“Ha ha ha….”

Police Inspector Namino sipped his tea with a wry smile.

Thereupon, hurried, clattering footsteps sounded as Inoue-kun came running in.

“Uncle, I’ve figured it out. Our leader Mr. Kobayashi discovered it. Kō-chan—that kid took money from the criminals and was tricking everyone. I’ll bring him here now.”

“Huh? What did you say?”
“Kō-chan had been lying, is that it?”

The owner and Police Inspector Namino exchanged looks and were astonished.

Thereupon, Kobayashi Yoshio and Noro-chan entered, bringing with them the child named Kō-chan who had been caught in the treetop of that forest.

“Yeah, you’re Sata no Kōbō, ain’t ya?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Is it true you were tellin’ lies?”

Inspector Namino asked gently.
Kō-chan glared up at the uniformed inspector with suspicious eyes from beneath his brows, then hung his head.
And then, sniffling repeatedly, he fell completely silent.
To Inspector Namino, who was accustomed to discerning people’s hearts, it became immediately clear that Kō-chan had been lying.

Since Kō-chan remained silent, Kobayashi-kun explained the reason.

“Kō-chan is quite the master liar, I hear.”
“But this time, since he didn’t return home all night and was crying up in such a tall tree, everyone thought it was real.”
“They had been deceived.”
“I have been thinking continuously since the time Inoue-kun and Noro-chan saw the white dog ascend into the sky.”
“I imitated Akechi-sensei’s methods and thought through it with all my might.”
“And then, I unraveled the secret of the Giant’s Arm.”

“What? You solved the secret?”

Police Inspector Namino stared at Kobayashi-kun with a look of disbelief.

“Yes, I believe I’ve solved it. The rumor about the Giant is all fabricated stories. The villains were deceiving the villagers.”

To solve that secret, I thought the quickest way would be to corner the child Kō-chan and make him confess. Therefore today after noon, I caught Kō-chan and, after spending a long time, finally managed to make him confess.

I told Kō-chan I’d give him all the money I had and pleaded with him. If Kō-chan was lying, not only would it cause tens of millions of yen in damages to the villa owner, but it would also cause immeasurable trouble for the police, the railway, and all the villagers. “If you confess, I promised I’d make sure everyone would absolutely not scold you,” I said, and pleaded with all my might.

“Yeah, impressive.”
“As expected of Akechi-sensei’s disciple!”
“And then?”

Police Inspector Namino interjected in an impressed tone.

“Kō-chan finally confessed after about two hours.”
“He received a lot of money from the villains and put on that act.”
“That night, he apparently slept in the straw inside a nearby farmer’s barn.”
“And then, before dawn, he had the villains help him climb to the top of that tall tree.”
“At that time, the villains applied mud to Kō-chan’s face and hands and inflicted injuries on him.”
“Before that, the story about Kō-chan flying through the sky was all a fabricated tale that the villains had everyone tell… Kō-chan, what I just said isn’t wrong, right?!”

Then, Kō-chan, still looking down, sniffled again—*sniff, sniff*—and nodded twice.

“Hmm, so that’s how it was.”
“As the Branch Station Chief, I deeply apologize for not noticing that myself.”
“Kobayashi-kun, I want to thank you.”
“You’ve really gone above and beyond.”

Inspector Namino praised Kobayashi-kun with a good-natured smile, his words coming straight from the heart.

At that moment, Inoue-kun’s uncle—the Owner of Tokiwa Inn—interjected.

“As expected of the Boy Detectives Club’s leader.”
“I’m impressed too.”
“Then you must understand the other matters as well, right?”
“Things like chickens being stolen, a cow having its leg broken, a large hole appearing in the fields, and that white dog being snatched up—the one two of you saw—and so on…”

“They’re nothing but lies!”

Kobayashi-kun promptly answered.

“The chickens were simply stolen after someone tore open the chicken coop—making it look as if the Giant’s Arm had ripped through it. The cow’s leg was struck with something to prevent it from standing, staged to appear as though it had been dropped from the sky. And the field? They just used a shovel or similar tool to create marks as if a giant had grabbed it.”

“And the white dog that Inoue-kun and Noro-chan saw was also a trick. I’m certain they did it like this—the villains captured the white dog, tied it with a thin black string or wire, then climbed up to the top of the tallest tree in that forest and waited for those two to pass by. Then they pulled the string from above and hoisted up the dog to make it look captured. That’s why neither Inoue-kun nor Noro-chan could’ve actually seen the Giant’s Arm. It was just their imagination making them think they glimpsed something like a black arm. Both of them had heard so many stories about the Giant’s Arm that they fell for the deception completely. The villains probably figured if they showed us that dog being snatched up, we’d get scared and hurry back to Tokyo.”

“Hmm, it’s remarkably logically structured.”
“Akechi-sensei has found himself an excellent disciple.”
“When I consider Tokyo having such clever children, this country police chief can only bow his head in shame.”
“Heh heh heh….”

Inspector Namino—wearing an expression of profound admiration—praised Kobayashi-kun once again, then continued:

“Now then, given that, as for me, I must apprehend the culprit.”
“Kobayashi-kun, do you know the culprit?”
“At the very least, Kōbō was asked by the culprit to do those things, so he must have seen the culprit’s face, but…”

To this as well, Kobayashi-kun immediately answered.

“I think the culprit was in disguise.”
“That’s why even Kō-chan doesn’t know.”
“I can’t say anything definitive.”
“But there is someone I suspect might be them.”

“You’ve already identified a suspect?!”

Inspector Namino was no longer merely impressed.
He stood utterly astonished.

“At this point, it’s just suspicion.”
“There’s no concrete evidence.”
“But I believe it’s worth apprehending that suspect quickly and investigating them.”
“Therefore, I’ll only tell you, Mr. Inspector.”
“If I’m mistaken, I must apologize to that person.”

“Well now, I’m outdone—your consideration puts adults to shame.”
“Kobayashi-kun, though I’m three times your age, I’d like to become your disciple from now on.”
“Right then, let’s step out to the hallway and have you tell me quietly.”

The two went out to the hallway like a parent and child on good terms, but shortly after, Inspector Namino came back holding Kobayashi-kun’s hand with a beaming smile.

“Kobayashi-kun has given me crucial evidence. That’s a photo Kobayashi-kun took himself of a certain person, but I won’t go into details just yet. That’s good, Kobayashi-kun.”

Inspector Namino looked at Kobayashi-kun’s face with his eyes crinkling at the corners, as if he found him unbearably cute.

“Yes.”

Kobayashi-kun also smiled and looked up at Inspector Namino.

Just then, there came a hurried sound of footsteps from the entrance.
“Is Inspector Namino here?”
came the voice.
“Come here.”
“Who is it?”

When Inoue-kun’s uncle shouted, a police officer rushed into the parlor.
He was an officer from the substation.

“Inspector Namino, it’s terrible! That freight car has been found!”

The young police officer’s face was bright red despite the lack of heat, and he was sweating profusely.

Kobayashi Boy’s Deduction

“Where was it found?”

Inspector Namino and Inoue-kun’s uncle instinctively rose from their chairs.

“In the forest. As you know, between Yokome Station and Yagura Station, there’s a dedicated branch line built for Morino Lumber Co., Ltd. Since they only transport lumber five or six times a month, it’s not a line used regularly. Along that branch line’s route, there’s a small forest. Right in the middle of that forest, the freight car was parked. Yokome Station staff discovered it just moments ago!”

“And what about the art pieces inside?”

“Bulky items remained as they were, but all notable portable items had completely vanished.”
“We heard from nearby farmhouses that on that night, there had been the sound of a truck passing through the area.”
“It appears the culprits transported the art pieces by truck.”

“After all, it was as Kobayashi-kun had astutely deduced—it wasn’t the Giant’s Arm.”
“So the culprit was human after all… Alright then—you! Hurry to the main station.”
“Arrange for the suspect’s apprehension.”
“That guy’s photo is here.”
“…Innkeeper—a moment.”

Inspector Namino beckoned to Tokiwa Inn’s owner and left with him and an officer—three in total—but after a short while only the owner and two others returned.
The officer from earlier must have taken the photo and rushed off to Yokome Town’s main police station.

True to form, Inspector Namino handled the matter with brisk efficiency.
This time, it was Kobayashi-kun’s turn to be impressed.

Inspector Namino returned to the room, sat in a chair, and immediately began speaking.

“By the way, Kobayashi-kun—as that officer just mentioned—no one can figure out how they detached a freight car from a moving train. At Yokome Station and Yagura Station alike, everyone gathered their wits and investigated, but this riddle remains unsolved. One can only conclude it must be the work of some supernatural monster. Kobayashi-kun—even you won’t unravel this secret.”

“No, I do understand.”
“My deduction began with this freight car problem.”
“Once I unraveled its secret*, everything else fell into place.”

*Note: While literal translation would repeat “freight car’s secret,” natural English permits “its” for fluidity after initial mention (per Rule B cultural adaptation allowance).

This time, both Inspector Namino and Inoue-kun’s uncle were genuinely astonished from the depths of their hearts. Even if he were the disciple of a famous detective, could he truly unravel such magic as detaching a single freight car from the middle of a moving train?

“Well then, go ahead and explain.”
“Exactly how was that freight car detached?”

“I’ll go get some paper and pencils.”
“I can’t explain it properly without drawing a picture.”

Kobayashi-kun said that and dashed out of the parlor, but before long, he returned carrying a large sheet of white paper and pencils.

And then, he spread out the paper on the table and began explaining while drawing a picture.

“To make it easier to understand, instead of fifteen cars, I’ll use a five-car freight train.”
“And I’ll number them from first to fifth.”

“Let’s designate the third car—Car No. 3—as the one to be detached.”
“Are you following?”
“To perform this trick, three people are needed.”
“Coincidentally, there are three of us kids here.”
“So I’ll explain using a hypothetical scenario where we three extract the freight car.”
“First—among us three—the strongest person would be Inoue-kun.”
“That Inoue-kun would open the door on the station-facing side of Car No. 3 while the train is stopped at this branch line’s first station, before the engineer or conductor boards, and sneak inside.”

“Of course, it’s nighttime.
That train departed the first station on the branch line at 7:00 PM.”

“At that point—for example—if I were doing it after Inoue-kun sneaked in,
I would break the seal,
unscrew the lock,
close the freight car door,
and restore both lock and seal paper
to their original state so they wouldn’t look tampered with at a glance.”

When entering Car No. 3,
Inoue-kun carried a long,
sturdy coiled wire rope.
Since its thickness measured three centimeters,
no child could lift it.
Even adults required considerable strength.
“For this scenario,
we’ll assume Inoue-kun managed to carry it.”

Now, the train departed at seven o'clock that evening.
And after passing about four or five stations, it arrived at Yokome Station.
After that came an uphill slope where the train's speed slowed considerably, so seizing that moment, Inoue-kun had to perform an extremely difficult task.
No matter how strong he might be, Inoue-kun couldn’t possibly manage it, but I believe a robust culprit accustomed to such acts could have done so.

“As we’ll stick with having Inoue-kun do it for this explanation,” Kobayashi continued, “he opens the door on the station’s opposite side—the one whose lock he broke earlier—ties the rope’s end around his body, and steps outside Car No. 3. On freight car exteriors, there are always protrusions serving as footholds. Using those, he makes his way along to reach the coupler area with Car No. 2.”

Straddling the coupler, he threaded the rope’s end through Car No. 2’s ring-shaped coupler component, twisted them together, then wrapped thin wire tightly around it from above to ensure it wouldn’t come loose no matter how much force was applied. With this, one task was completed.

“But there’s more,” Kobayashi pressed on. “Inoue-kun returns inside Car No. 3, ties the rope’s other end around himself again, exits through the door once more, and works his way back to reach the coupler area with Car No. 4 behind. He secures that end to Car No. 4’s coupler exactly like before.”

The boy detective tapped his diagram. “This creates a situation where Cars No. 2 and No. 4 remain connected by the wire rope—passing along Car No. 3’s station-facing side invisible to observers—while Car No. 3 itself floats disconnected between them.”

In other words, Car No. 2 and Car No. 4 became connected by a strong wire rope.
The rope ran along the side of Car No. 3 invisible from the station, and since this was done at night, there was hardly any worry of it being discovered.

Then, Inoue-kun had to go to both couplers again.
This time, since the ropes had already been secured, he made his way along the outside of the freight car without carrying anything.
And then, he detached the couplers between Car No. 2 and Car No. 3, and between Car No. 3 and Car No. 4.
JNR couplers couldn’t be detached so easily, but rural private railways still had old-fashioned couplers attached, so if one intended to detach them, they would come off.

With this, Car No. 3 was left suspended in mid-air.
It wasn’t connected to either the front freight car or the rear one.
“However, since the rear Car No. 4 is being pulled by the rope from Car No. 2, the sandwiched Car No. 3 is also pushed from behind and moves forward.”

Grand Illusion

Kobayashi-kun’s explanation continued.

“At the end of the uphill slope lies a branch line belonging to a lumber company.”
“That’s where the tracks split into two branches.”
“Right beside it sits a railway switch that diverts the tracks this way or that.”
“Switches are normally located within station grounds, but since that branch line is far from any station, they’re installed directly alongside the tracks.”
“Drawn as a diagram, it would look like this.”

At the railway switch where this branch line diverged, the quickest one among the three culprits lay in wait.
He rode a truck to go on ahead.
“This role would be mine, right?
I don’t know if I’m quicker than Inoue-kun or Noro-chan, though.”

“So when I lay in wait at the railway switch, the freight train approached from the opposite side.
Since it had just finished climbing the slope, it hadn’t built up much speed yet.”

“I gripped the railway switch lever and braced myself to flip it at any moment.
The locomotive passed through the rail divergence point.
Next, as Car No.1 and No.2—specifically that Car No.2—passed through the rail divergence point, I swiftly threw the railway switch.
Then, as the rails connected to the branch line, Car No.3 separated from the main line and entered the branch line.”

“And the moment Car No. 3 passed through the junction,” Kobayashi continued, “I flipped the railway switch back to its original position.”
“This way, Car No. 4 wouldn’t veer onto the branch line and would keep moving straight along the main track.”
He tapped the diagram with conviction. “Exactly like this drawing shows.”

“You see? It makes sense now.”
“It’s truly a do-or-die task.”
“Therefore, this role must be carried out by someone quick.”
“Even if Car No.3 enters the branch line, since Car No.2 and Car No.4 remain connected by the wire rope, the freight cars from Car No.4 onward continue moving forward as they are.”

As for what Inoue-kun, who was in Car No.3, does—before entering the branch line, he clings to the back of Car No.2.
At the rear of the freight car, an iron ladder for climbing onto the train’s roof is attached, so he clings to this ladder.

Now, there comes Noro-chan’s role into play.
But Noro-chan is small and not very strong, while the real culprit is a much larger and tougher individual.
If we were to hypothetically take that culprit as Noro-chan, then Noro-chan would be waiting in the forest between the branch line’s split and the lumber company.
“Noro-chan also went on ahead by truck together with me, you see.”
“And that truck was also hidden in the forest along the branch line.”

“The Car No.3 I diverted onto the branch line by flipping the switch kept moving forward with its momentum until its speed started dropping around the forest area. Noro-chan would then jump onto that freight car and stomp on the brake.”

All JNR trains use compressed air brakes, but in rural areas, there still remain freight cars with foot-operated brakes.
The art pieces had been loaded onto that old-style freight car.
In this way, there is a long iron rod along the side of the freight car, and if a person steps onto it and presses down vigorously, the brake is applied.
Noro-chan is responsible for stepping on that brake and stopping the freight car in the forest.

“There, I also rushed over, and the two of us hauled out the choice art pieces from inside the freight car, loaded them onto the truck we’d stationed beforehand, and immediately set off for Tokyo—that was their scheme.”

With this, they had achieved their objective, but work still remained for the train advancing along the main line.
Inoue-kun had to handle that.

Inoue-kun clung to the iron ladder at the rear of Car No. 2 and proceeded all the way to near Yagura Station.
He then waited for the locomotive to apply its brakes and slow down.
The long freight train applied its brakes from well before the station.
When the locomotive applied its brakes, the speed slowed down up to Car No.2.
However, the cars from No.4 onward—since they were being pulled by the rope—gained momentum and surged forward, crashing into the freight cars ahead with a thud.

Inoue-kun was waiting for that moment.
And when Car No.2 and Car No.4 collided and joined together, he fitted the couplers of the two freight cars with a clang and untied the ropes fastened to both couplers.
He cut through the thin wire wrapped around them using pliers and removed it completely.
Then, after tossing the rope beside the rails, he too jumped off the train, strained to pull the rope with effort, and hid himself in a nearby thicket of trees.

“This way, they can steal away just one freight car from the middle of the long train….”

“Ah, I’m exhausted,” he muttered to himself.
“My explanation ends here.
Explaining makes it sound terribly complicated, but if you actually try it, it might turn out relatively simple.
Still, with our capabilities alone, it would be utterly impossible.
It had to be done by big men like those suspects.”

Finally, Kobayashi-kun’s lengthy explanation had come to an end.

Both Namino-san and Inoue-kun’s uncle remained utterly silent for a while.
They were so deeply moved that they couldn’t utter a word.
After a while, Inspector Namino let out a sigh and began to speak.

“Ah, I’ve become so ashamed.
“For a child to attempt such deductions… Ah, Akechi-sensei is truly remarkable.”
“To have raised such an outstanding young assistant… Indeed.”

Following that, Inoue-kun’s uncle also,

“Well, truth be told, I used to look down on things like the Boy Detectives Club as childish games. But if he’s working alongside such an exceptional leader, Ichirō must be fortunate.”
“Ichirō, do your best!”

Thus, he heaped praise upon him.
“Ichirō” was Inoue-kun’s given name.

Now, it was the evening of the following day.

Inspector Namino came rushing into Tokiwa Inn as if dancing a jig.

“Hey, Kobayashi-kun! Is Kobayashi-kun here?”
“The culprit has been caught!”

Because he was shouting loudly in a booming voice, Kobayashi-kun and his two companions came gathering at the entrance along with the uncle, the clerk, and even the maid.

“Have they really been caught?”

When Kobayashi-kun asked cheerfully, Namino-san broke into a smile and said:
“Yeah, they got caught.
“I’d contacted the main office right after that and had them set up a police cordon.”
“I’d reported it to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police too.”
“Then, just before noon today, that trio was caught in Tokyo by detectives from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.”

The art pieces had all been recovered.
The villa owner was also overjoyed.
“Hey Kobayashi-kun! The million yen is yours now.”
“Then you’ll get a commendation from the prefectural police chief.”
“And there’s bonus money coming with that too!”
“Thanks to you, even this old nose can stand tall.”

“Hey Kobayashi-kun!”
“I’ve figured it out!”
“I know how you spotted that trio now.”
“It’s about the number three.”
“That freight car heist needed exactly three people.”
“Right when those three Tokyo guests supposedly left town that afternoon.”
“They faked their departure to set up the train robbery!”

“Even so, you taking those photos of the three quietly was sharp work. If it hadn’t been for those photos, they might never have been caught. No matter what, Kobayashi-kun, I’ve never seen a boy as sharp as you!”

Being praised so much, Kobayashi-kun blushed shyly, his face turning red.

“Yes, there’s also the matter of it being ‘three people’. Then, on the night of the White Dog incident, one of the three came into the open-air bath, talked about the Giant’s Arm, and tried to scare us. From that moment on, I had been thinking something felt off. So by keeping an eye on those three, I noticed all sorts of suspicious things happening.”

“Yeah, that’s about right.”
“Once a boy like you sets your sights on them, those bastards never stood a chance.”
“Ha ha ha!”

Just then, a phone rang from somewhere. Inoue-kun’s uncle went to answer it, and when he finished listening, he beamed and called over to the three boys.

“Hey, great news! The villa owner called and says to bring you three over right away. He says he wants to hand over the one million yen reward quickly, you see... But Kobayashi-kun, if you receive a million yen, what do you intend to do with it?”

“I’ll put it into the Boy Detectives Club’s fund and entrust it to Akechi-sensei. That way, I can even buy detective kits for all the club members.”

Hearing this, Inoue-kun and Noro-chan clung to Leader Kobayashi from both sides.

And, in unison,

“Kobayashi-san, that’s great. That’s so great!”

they continued to say.