Pathway to Japanese Literature

Wax Doll Museum By Shinobazu Pond in Tokyo's Ueno Park stood a strange building. It was a round structure resembling a drastically shrunken version of Ryogoku’s former Kokugikan Sumo Hall, its outer walls and domed roof entirely painted pure white. And there were no windows at all.

At the front stood a small entrance, and above it hung a sign reading "Madame Nakaso's Wax Doll Museum." In London, England, there was Madame Tussauds’ Wax Museum, known throughout the world. This Shinobazu Pond Wax Doll Museum was an imitation of it. If the name "Madame Tassō" was read in the French style, it became "Chussō." The name "Madame Nakaso" must have been a play on "Chussō." The round building had two stories and a basement, with a path for visitors winding through it in loops, and along one side or both sides of the path were arranged various scenes with wax figures.

The wax figures were all life-sized and dressed in clothing, but their waxen faces looked so alive that it was truly eerie.

At Madame Tussauds’ Wax Museum in London, they had created various terrifying historical scenes and bloody scenes, and it was said women could not enter alone. Since Tokyo’s Madame Nakaso’s Wax Doll Museum was modeled after it, the museum naturally featured many horrifying scenes, so women or those bringing children were unnerved and seldom visited. Despite having been painstakingly built, the Wax Doll Museum remained far from thriving.

It was a Saturday afternoon just past three o'clock. Two boys came to this Madame Nakaso’s Wax Doll Museum, bought tickets at the entrance, and went inside.

One was Inoue Jirou, a first-year middle school student; the other was Noro Ippei, a sixth-year elementary school student. Both wore Boy Detectives Club B·D badges on their chests. Inoue-kun was a strong boy with a sturdy physique and tall stature who practiced judo. Noro-kun was the most timid among the Boy Detectives Club members, but being nimble, mischievous, and skilled at making everyone laugh, he was quite popular. He was called by the nickname Noro-chan.

The two had heard rumors about the Wax Doll Museum and had come for the first time today. Since they were Boy Detectives Club members, they probably wanted to see something eerie at least once. Even timid Noro-chan, drawn by morbid curiosity, had come clinging to the strong Inoue-kun. When they passed through the entrance of the Wax Doll Museum, a dimly lit corridor stretched ahead. Not a single visitor was in sight. It felt like stepping into an abandoned house, and the eeriness was overwhelming.

“Ugh, this is so creepy. Why is it so deserted? Aren’t we the only visitors here?”

Noro-chan said to Inoue-kun as he walked pressed close against him.

“No—if we go further ahead, there might be some visitors. But even if there’s no one, isn’t that fine? Being just the two of us makes it more interesting.” Inoue-kun seemed pleased by the desolation.

At that moment, a square of light abruptly illuminated the right side of the dim corridor. The door there was opened. Inside the door, a bright electric light was on.

With the lamp's light at their back, the pitch-black figure of a person emerged from the door.

“You’ve come after all,” she said formally. “I shall guide you there.”

It was a woman's voice. When she closed the door, they could finally see what she looked like. She was a beautiful woman in her mid-thirties. She wore a long black skirt and jet-black clothing, her hair arranged in a peculiar updo with a small hat perched on top. Both Inoue-kun and Noro-chan recalled illustrations of Western women from the Meiji period that they had seen in books.

“Ma’am, aren’t you Madame Nakaso?” Noro-chan suddenly noticed and asked bluntly. “Yes, I am Madame Nakaso. “It is I who built this Wax Doll Museum, and every wax figure displayed inside was also crafted by my own hands.” Madame said proudly, took the lead, and guided the two toward the back.

Iron Mask

“Look here. This is where representatives from countries around the world have gathered to discuss abolishing war.”

The right side of the corridor abruptly widened, and there appeared a splendid hall. From the ceiling hung a chandelier adorned with glittering crystal balls; the floor was covered with a bright red carpet; the walls featured a large fireplace; and above it was embedded a mirror measuring roughly two meters square. In the center of that splendid room was placed a large oval table, and around it sat about ten world-famous politicians, each in their own distinctive attire, seated in comfortable chairs.

Among them could be seen the face of American President Eisenhower. The face of Soviet Premier Khrushchev could be seen. Then too were lined up the face of China’s Chairman Mao Zedong, the face of India’s Prime Minister Nehru, and the face of Japan’s Prime Minister Kishi. Those waxen faces—some grinning slyly, others scowling fiercely, still others with mouths agape as though mid-speech—appeared uncannily lifelike. They were life-sized wax figures. Their faces and limbs were made of wax, their bodies clad in garments from their respective nations.

They seemed truly alive. They looked about to start moving at any moment. The two boys, startled, stared fixedly at this scene. “How about that? “They all look alive. “However, such a world conference has not yet been held. “Discussions to abolish war have not yet taken place. “This scene is my fantasy. “In this way, if the representatives of the world’s great nations were to gather in one room and pledge never to wage war again, I think how wonderful that would be.”

Madame Nakaso said this and continued her explanation.

There were more than twenty such scenes within this Wax Doll Museum. Of course, they were not limited to politicians. There were also wax figures of famous thieves and detectives. There were scenes where Arsène Lupin was running down the stairs of the Castle of Carcassonne and where Sherlock Holmes was fighting the villain Moriarty. There was also the Iron Mask confined in a stone prison cell; the Golden Mask scaling a high tower roof like a golden gecko; the Bronze Demon crawling on all fours through nighttime Ginza; the Skull Mask descending stone stairs in a basement; the Laughing Mask appearing in a theater corridor; and many other scenes featuring masked fiends and artificial humans.

“If you walk along this path, you’ll be able to see all those scenes.” “Now, please take your time to look around.” “I have work to attend to, so I will return to the office.” Madame Nakaso said this and left the two boys behind as she walked away. Having no other choice, they walked further into the back.

Just as Madame Nakaso had said, one scene after another unfolded before them. There were also several scenes featuring Arsène Lupin and Sherlock Holmes. And then, in the next scene...

“Ah, Kobayashi!”

“Ah, Detective Akechi!”

Inoue-kun and Noro-chan cried out in unison and attempted to dash in that direction. For there stood Detective Akechi Kogorou and his assistant, Kobayashi Shounen. Kobayashi Shounen was also the leader of the Boy Detectives Club. As they tried to dash forward, they immediately collided with a wooden railing. Detective Akechi and Kobayashi Shounen were standing on the other side of that railing.

Even when they called out, there came no response at all. They didn’t even attempt to look their way. They stood completely motionless, not shifting a muscle. “Ah, this is a wax doll too... That’s shocking.” “Their faces look exactly like Sensei and Kobayashi-san.” “They replicated them perfectly.” Inoue-kun murmured admiringly, thoroughly impressed.

Then, after walking a short distance, they came to the Iron Mask's room. It was a stone-built ancient prison. It was a dark prison cell with only a small window fitted with iron bars high up. There stood the figure whose face was concealed by that famous Iron Mask.

Since it was the era of Louis XIV of France, this was nearly three hundred years ago. In the Bastille prison, there was a prisoner who had been made to wear a mask. The prisoner died of illness in prison, but until his death, he remained masked and never once revealed his face. Who exactly was this masked prisoner? That was a secret known to no one. French novelists imagined this secret in various ways and wrote novels about the Iron Mask. Because of this, the name of the Iron Mask became even more famous. In Japan as well, two Iron Mask novels were translated. One by Dumas and one by Boagobe.

What Inoue-kun and Noro-chan were looking at was the Iron Mask confined in a stone cell of the Bastille. In front of him, a sturdy man around fifty years old was crouching down and saying something. He must be the jailer.

The Iron Mask had hinges at the mouth that allowed it to open, and when letting him eat, the jailer would use a key to unlock it. Keeping the mouth sealed in that way was likely to prevent him from speaking recklessly.

Both Inoue-kun and Noro-chan had read novels about the "Iron Mask," so they found this wax figure scene even more terrifying.

The two stood rooted before the scene, gazing at it for a long time. “I wonder who the Iron Mask really was.” “Some say he was a king’s brother; others say a minister; others say a bishop—there are still various theories. In any case, the fact that he had to hide his face means he must have been a prominent figure—someone widely recognized in society.” Inoue-kun explained to Noro-chan.

“What kind of face do you think is inside that Iron Mask?” “Since this is a doll, the inside of the Iron Mask is empty. Or maybe…” Inoue-kun started to say that much but fell silent.

If there were a human face made of wax inside that Iron Mask, when he thought about what kind of face that would be, he somehow began to feel scared.

“Let’s move on to the next scene.” Inoue-kun pulled Noro-chan’s hand and walked off in that direction. When they turned a corner where the next scene awaited—just as they rounded it—Noro-chan firmly pulled Inoue-kun’s hand and gave a signal. “If he notices us, it’ll be trouble.” “Take a quiet peek.” “See? He’s moving right now.”

Noro-chan brought his mouth close to Inoue-kun's ear and whispered. When Inoue-kun quietly peeked his face out from around the corner to observe the Iron Mask scene, something truly bizarre had started to happen there.

The wax figure of the Iron Mask started to walk. From where it had been hidden, he took out something like a black cloak, draped it over his shoulders, stepped over the wooden handrail into the passage, and began walking briskly off in that direction.

Sinister Automobile

“Noro-chan, let’s tail him. Come on.”

Inoue-kun pulled Noro-chan’s hand and chased after the Iron Mask. The Iron Mask’s eyes and mouth appeared completely sealed, but there must have been a narrow gap at the seam of its iron plates through which he could see outside. Otherwise, the Iron Mask couldn’t have walked so quickly.

Even so, it was a truly bizarre occurrence. The Iron Mask, which they had assumed was merely a wax figure, suddenly began to walk. Of course, it was not a doll—it had to be a living human.

The Iron Mask, unaware that the two boys were tailing him, walked briskly down the corridor but suddenly halted. When he pressed against one side of the wall, a secret door appeared there, and the Iron Mask was sucked inward as if drawn inside.

The two boys also went right there and pressed on the door, whereupon it opened smoothly—apparently having been left unlocked—so both of them entered. There was a dim, narrow passageway. Since it was a single path, they continued straight ahead and emerged at what appeared to be a side exit of the Wax Doll Museum. Outside, dusk had already fallen. Before them spread Shinobazu Pond. Behind them glowed the neon lights of the tram street.

When they looked, there was a black car parked right ahead. The Iron Mask flipped the cloak, rushed to the spot, leaped into the car’s back seat, and slammed the door shut. As if that had been the signal, the car immediately started moving, drove off into the distance, and soon disappeared as if melting into the twilight.

Unfortunately, there were no other cars in the vicinity, so the two boys couldn’t pursue the mysterious man. Even so, what a bizarre thing occurred. The wax doll from the Wax Doll Museum suddenly began to move, boarded the car waiting outside the museum, and fled to parts unknown.

The two boys, overwhelmed by the sheer strangeness of it all, stood there dazedly for a while. But once they regained their composure, they hurried toward the front entrance to inform Madame Nakaso of what had occurred. The two boys entered through the ticket booth and knocked on the door in the corridor they had seen earlier.

“Please come in.”

From inside came Madame Nakaso’s voice in response. The two boys opened the door and entered. The room appeared to be Madame Nakaso’s office, with a large desk at its center piled high with various documents. Behind where Madame sat stood a large bookshelf crammed full of Western and Japanese volumes. “Ah, the boys from earlier,” “You look terribly flustered.”

Dressed in Meiji-era Western clothing and still wearing her hat, Madame Nakaso stood up from her chair and approached the two boys.

“The Iron Mask has escaped.” “The Iron Mask went out through the back door, got into a car, and went off somewhere.”

“What? What did you say?” Madame Nakaso asked back, looking startled. “That wax figure of the Iron Mask has escaped.” Upon hearing this, Madame burst out laughing. “Are you all dreaming? How could there be such an absurd thing as a wax doll walking around?”

“No, it’s true.” “If you think it’s a lie, please look at the Iron Mask exhibit.” “Only the jailer remains there now.” “Very well.” “Then let us go see.” “Please come along with me.”

Having said that, Madame took the lead, exited the room, and briskly walked in that direction. The two boys followed after her. Passing through various scenes, they reached the Iron Mask exhibit.

“As I thought, you all must have been dreaming. Isn’t the Iron Mask right there?”

The boys let out a startled "Ah!" Just as Madame Nakaso had said, hadn't the Iron Mask somehow returned exactly to its place? The black cloak had already been removed and seemingly hidden away somewhere, restoring its original appearance.

“How strange... It’s not a dream.” “The two of us saw it with our own eyes.” “Why has the Iron Mask that escaped by car returned here?” “I can’t make heads or tails of any of this.”

Inoue-kun said this and was thinking for a while, but as if suddenly noticing something,

“May I try touching that doll?” “Certainly, by all means. Both of you, go inside and touch it to your heart’s content.” Thereupon, Inoue-kun and Noro-chan stepped over the wooden railing into the stone cell, approached the Iron Mask, and touched its body. When they tapped its body, a knocking sound echoed. Both hands were indeed made of cold wax. They thoroughly examined the legs as well, but inside the trousers, there was only something as hard as wood.

“That’s strange… “This is definitely a doll.” “But this Iron Mask just walked out from here.” “And then it got into a car and fled.” Inoue-kun muttered, his face brimming with bewilderment.

Star Crown

The story shifted to that very night.

At the house of a boy named Arima Daisuke-kun in Minato Ward, something terrible occurred. The Iron Mask had indeed escaped from the Wax Doll Museum and infiltrated Arima-kun’s house. Arima-kun’s house was a large Western-style mansion, and his father was the president of a company. Daisuke-kun was the eldest son and a sixth grader.

Around eleven o'clock that night，Daisuke-kun suddenly woke up needing to use the bathroom；still in his pajamas，he got out of bed，took care of his business，and returned to the hallway. In the corner of the wide hallway，an old Western suit of armor was displayed. It was iron armor polished to a silvery sheen. Because it was fitted with a Western-style silver helmet and visor of the same color，it looked exactly as if a human wearing full armor stood there.

At night, when passing in front of it, it feels eerie. Daisuke-kun, being accustomed to it, didn’t feel particularly scared, but as he passed by, he suddenly glanced at the armor and felt that something about it was different from usual. He thought it was strange and stared intently.

Ah, that was it. The helmet and cheek guards were different from usual. The color was the same silver, but the shape was different.

Ah! It was the Iron Mask!

It was the Iron Mask!

Daisuke-kun involuntarily cried out inwardly.

Daisuke-kun had read the novel titled Iron Mask. Wasn't the head of the armor right before his eyes now exactly like the Iron Mask depicted in that novel's illustration? As an eerie feeling came over him, Daisuke-kun turned the hallway corner but remained too concerned to leave. From around that corner, he peered out with just his eyes fixed on the armor. Then came a strange sound—clunk… clunk… clunk… clunk…—echoing from somewhere. It resembled human laughter made without any voice.

When the thought struck him that there might be a human hiding inside that armor wearing the Iron Mask, Daisuke-kun felt a chill run down his spine, his hair standing on end.

At that very moment.

This time, something even more terrifying occurred.

The Western suit of armor with the Iron Mask’s head began to move. At first, it swayed its body back and forth unsteadily, but soon enough, the silver armor began walking with heavy, clanking steps. Daisuke-kun, startled, tried to flee, but the figure seemed to have already detected him hiding around the corner and lunged toward him in an instant.

And then, the silver-glinting Iron Mask filled Daisuke-kun’s entire field of vision, and the silver gauntlet’s hand clamped down on his shoulder.

“Heeelp…!”

He tried to scream, but his mouth was suddenly covered by the monster's iron hand. Then, the Iron Mask lifted Daisuke-kun up, carried him into the bedroom, tore the bed sheets to fashion a gag, bound his hands and feet, locked the door from outside, and vanished without a trace. After some time, the Iron Mask appeared in the Arima family's art room in its sinister form.

Mr. Arima, Daisuke-kun’s father, was still awake and writing letters in his study when something arose that required him to inspect the Buddhist statues in the art room, so he headed there. When he opened the door and saw something strange moving inside the art room, he hurriedly closed the door, leaving only the narrowest gap, and peered intently into the room from there.

In the art room, there were many shelves with various art pieces arranged on them, and by the wall sat a safe. Inside it was stored the most important item among all the art pieces. There, crouching in front of the safe, was the Western armor, turning the dial. The armor that had been placed in the hallway walked all the way there and was attempting to open the safe.

Mr. Arima did not notice that the armor's head had changed into the Iron Mask, but in any case, it was certain there was a human inside the armor. The thief had sneaked into the mansion during daytime, hidden inside the armor, waited for night to deepen, and come to steal what was inside the safe. Mr. Arima quietly closed the door and hurried back to his study. Then, picking up the receiver of the desk telephone there, he proceeded to call the office of his acquaintance, private detective Akechi Kogorou.

“Is this Mr. Akechi? This is Arima, whom you once assisted. Right now, something strange is happening in my house. Someone has entered the Western armor displayed in our hallway and is trying to open the safe in the art room. Inside that safe lies my family’s treasure called the Star Crown. Could you please come immediately? ...Of course I will inform the police. But this is no ordinary thief. Truly, I cannot rest assured unless you come yourself...”

Just as he had spoken that far, the study door swished open. And there stood a silver-glinting Western suit of armor.

“You called Akechi Kogorou.” “Are you trying to summon Akechi?” “I won’t allow it!”

From the gaps in the Iron Mask leaked a hoarse, thick voice.

Mr. Arima, overwhelmed by the sheer extremity of it, stood frozen in stunned silence, having lost all power to speak. The Iron Mask resolutely approached Mr. Arima. Then he snatched the receiver from Mr. Arima’s hand, held it in his left hand, brandished a pistol in his right, and—while threatening Mr. Arima into silence—began speaking to Detective Akechi on the line. “You’re Akechi-kun, I see.” “I am a thief.” “I am a formidable thief.” “In the world, I am called the Terror King.” “I came to this house to take the Star Crown.” “I’d thoroughly studied how to open the safe, so I easily got my hands on the crown.” “Ha ha ha ha….” “So you don’t need to come anymore.” “Even if you come, it won’t do any good.” “By the time you get here, I’ll be long gone.”

Then, from the other end of the phone, Detective Akechi’s calm voice responded. “Even if you tell me not to come, I must go because Mr. Arima has asked me to. You’ll probably try to run, but no matter where you flee, I’ll make sure to catch you. You will inevitably leave some clue behind. Fingerprints—no matter how much you wipe them off, it’s useless. There should be plenty of other, invisible clues left. I will search for them. And I will uncover who you are and capture you without fail. Ha ha ha…. That’s my job.”

Hearing the famous detective’s confident voice, the Iron Mask became irritated. “Fine! Then do as you please.” “I have my own plans.” “You’ll regret this soon enough!” “You don’t yet know how much power I possess, you see.” “Bwahahaha!” Thereupon, he abruptly hung up the phone, then dialed another number to call someone, and spoke in code-like words for some time—but Mr. Arima, standing nearby, could not understand any of its meaning. The other party was probably one of the thief’s underlings or something.

Mysterious Room

Now, shifting the scene—here was a room in Detective Akechi’s office.

“Ha ha ha ha… This is getting interesting!” “A formidable thief has appeared!” “Kobayashi-kun, Mr. Arima’s famous Star Crown has been stolen.” “He just called.” “He told me not to come.” “After all, he’s scared of me.” “So I’ll head there right away.” “Summon the car.” Detective Akechi commanded his assistant Kobayashi Shounen who was nearby.

“Are you going alone, Sensei? Do I not need to go?” Kobayashi Shounen said sullenly. “You’re staying behind. If something were to happen to me, it’s your role to come help me. It would be better for you and me to stay apart as much as possible.” When told that, Kobayashi Shounen had no retort. He obediently called the hired car company. After a short while, a car horn sounded at the entrance of the luxury apartment building where Akechi’s office was located. It was the signal meaning, “We’ve come to pick you up.” Detective Akechi entrusted Kobayashi Shounen with staying behind and came out of the entrance alone. And he walked toward the car parked on the main street there. Then, just then, something strange occurred. From the darkness in front of the apartment, a man came leaping out. He was a disreputable-looking man around thirty. The man was stealthily approaching Detective Akechi from behind. The car door was open. Akechi tried to enter inside, but sensing something, he abruptly recoiled. He had realized it wasn’t his usual car. The driver was suspicious too, and in the back seat sat a man he had never seen before.

As he tried to pull back, something thudded into him from behind. It was the disreputable-looking man who had emerged from the darkness earlier. That guy tried to push Akechi’s body relentlessly into the car. Then, the man inside also rose to his feet, wrapped his arm around Akechi’s neck, and with all his strength, pulled him into the car. Since there were two opponents and he had been caught off guard, even the famous detective could do nothing. Since it was close to midnight, there were no passersby, and no one would come to his rescue.

Since there was no other way, he tried to shout loudly. Then the villains, having anticipated this immediately, used something like a white handkerchief to cover Detective Akechi’s mouth and nose. A sharp odor that pierced through his head—unpleasant—hit him. It was anesthetic. …Before long, the famous detective had lost consciousness inside the car.

×　　×　　×　　×

Detective Akechi opened his eyes abruptly, as though roused from a dream. Looking around, he found himself in a remarkably comfortable room. Though small, it was an opulent and beautiful space that evoked a French parlor from a century earlier.

From the ceiling hung a chandelier adorned with crystal balls, a white-painted delicate table, and a splendid sofa with plush cushions. Akechi finally remembered. “Ah, I was captured by villains. And then, I was made to inhale an anesthetic and lost consciousness.” He wondered if he was still bound and tried moving his limbs, but was completely free. It seemed he had merely been lying on the sofa, fast asleep.

At that moment, as though impatiently waiting for Akechi to awaken, the door opened and a beautiful girl entered. She was around high school age. In her hands was a silver tray bearing coffee. “You’ve awakened?”

The girl placed the silver tray on the table and spoke gently to Detective Akechi.

“It must have been truly dreadful for you. But you aren’t injured anywhere.” Detective Akechi remained in a daze for a while, feeling as though he were in a dream, but he simply couldn’t make sense of anything.

“Where on earth is this place?” “And who are you?” he asked.

“This is the home of those who saved you.” “I am their daughter.” “I see. “I was forced into a car by villains and made to inhale anesthetic—how much time has passed since I lost consciousness? “And...is this place still Tokyo?”

“Yes, well, that’s correct. But it would be best if you didn’t think about various things just yet.” “Oh, I’m already fine. There’s nothing wrong anywhere. It’s just a slight lightheadedness.” With those words, Akechi sat up on the sofa. However, when he tried to sit up like that—perhaps because his body wasn’t fully recovered—he felt the entire room swaying unsteadily and instinctively placed his hands on the sofa.

“I’m still no good. I feel dizzy. Somehow, it feels as though this room is floating in midair.”

“See? Look.” “You mustn’t push yourself now.” “However, my condition is perfectly fine.” “Please let me meet your master.” “I must express my gratitude.” “That’s quite all right.” “Moreover, my master isn’t here right now, and…”

At that moment, Akechi finally noticed that there was something unusual about how this small room was constructed.

“Oh, this room doesn’t have a single window. So you keep the lights on even during daytime? It’s a strange room. Is it day or night right now?” “It’s night. It’s eight o’clock now.”

“How many days?” “The sixteenth.” The girl answered and, covering her mouth with her hand, giggled softly.

"Since I was forced into the car on the evening of the 15th, that means a full day had passed since then."

He muttered to himself, yet somehow felt strange. This girl's uncannily familiar manner of speech, the room without a single window, and above all, this persistent sensation that the room kept swaying endlessly.

“What floor is this room on? It keeps swaying like this—it feels like I’m atop a tall tower.” “Somehow it’s always swaying... Making me feel like I’m at the top of some high tower.”

“That may be the case, sir.” The girl spoke in a tone that seemed to laugh inwardly. “But isn’t it comfortable here? We have been instructed to make your stay as pleasant as possible during your time here. Should anything displease you, please do let me know.” The girl was remarkably adept at flattery.

“Stay for a while? Don’t be absurd. That’s no joke! I have urgent business to attend to.”

Detective Akechi was utterly dumbfounded. He felt as though he'd been bewitched by a fox.

“No, you mustn’t get so flustered.” “It would be best if you didn’t think about anything at all.”

The girl spoke in a tone one might use to comfort a pitiable madman,

“Then I shall return later, sir. Please drink your coffee before it gets cold.”

As the girl finished speaking and moved toward the door as if fleeing, Akechi called out, “Wait, please wait!” while standing up from the chair to pursue her, but after taking two or three steps, something caught his foot, and he collapsed with a thud. “Hohohoho… See? Look. That’s why it’s better if you stay still, you know.”

The girl said mockingly and walked toward the door. When he came to his senses, Detective Akechi realized an iron ring had been fastened around his ankle, with an iron chain attached to it secured to the leg of the long bench. Just like a bear in a zoo, he could only move as far as the chain allowed.

Clown Mask “You there, you there—I need to use the restroom.” “Remove this chain for me.”

Akechi called out loudly to the girl attempting to close the door. Upon hearing that, the girl reluctantly came back. “Is that true? Do you really need to use the restroom, sir?”

“It’s true.” “Please untie the chain.”

Hearing this, the girl crouched at Akechi’s feet, took a small key from her pocket, and snapped off the iron ring around his ankle with a click.

After going to the washroom in the corridor outside the door and exiting, Akechi smiled and said: “With this, I’ve regained my freedom.” “If I wanted to escape now, I could, right?” Startled, the girl suddenly pulled out a small pistol from behind her clothes and took aim at Akechi.

“You mustn’t escape.” “No matter what, you can’t possibly escape.” “Please don’t escape.” “I beg you.” The girl pleaded with a sorrowful expression, her entreaty utterly genuine. Akechi suddenly burst into laughter, “It’s a joke—just a joke.” “As if I’d ever run away.” After saying this to reassure her, taking advantage of the girl’s lowered guard, he lunged at his opponent and snatched away the pistol.

“Ah! You mustn’t!” “You don’t know anything.” “You mustn’t— you mustn’t…”

As he shook off the clinging girl and tried to run, suddenly something hard clunked against Akechi’s back.

“Hands up.” “Drop the gun.” “If you don’t, I’ll put a hole in your back.” The hard object against his back was the pistol’s muzzle.

And there stood two masked men. Detective Akechi was taken back to the original room, where this time—instead of being secured to the long chair—he found himself bound tightly to an ordinary chair with rope wound round and round. “Hahahaha... If you had behaved yourself quietly, the iron ring on your leg would have sufficed. But since you pulled such a pointless stunt, you’ve ended up completely immobilized.” “Serves you right!”

The two men sneered dismissively and went outside with the girl. With a sharp click, the lock engaged on the door. Still bound to the chair, Detective Akechi remained utterly motionless for some time.

They're quite a formidable opponent. Thinking it was just the girl alone and letting my guard down was my mistake.

Moreover, there's something off about this room.

First of all, there wasn’t a single window. Moreover, the entire room kept swaying unsteadily without cease, as if he were at the very top of a tall tower.

"But that wasn't all. I had a feeling there was some kind of mechanism set up in this room. It was also strange how the girl came in right after I woke up. There might be someone peering in from somewhere."

Detective Akechi, thinking this, looked all around the room while still bound. On the walls hung various oil paintings, masks crafted by South Seas natives, and peculiar clown masks. Detective Akechi had been examining the walls here and there, but soon his gaze came to an abrupt stop on the clown mask.

A face plastered white like a wall; a bright crimson perfectly round nose; scarlet sun-like circles on both cheeks; thread-like eyes with vertical black lines across their upper and lower eyelids. And it was a clay mask of a Western clown wearing a red-and-white striped pointed hat. Detective Akechi was staring at the mask with such intensity it seemed he might bore a hole through it. The detective's eyes and the mask's eyes faced each other directly, appearing as though engaged in a staring contest.

After a while of this, Detective Akechi's face broke into a grin.

Then, ah, look! The clown mask hanging on the wall had also smirked, hadn't it?

“Ahahahaha… Hey, you there, Clown.” “You’re a living human, right?” “You’re sticking your face out from a hole in the wall and pretending to be a mask, aren’t you.” “And then you’re keeping watch on me, aren’t you.” Exposed by Akechi, the wall mask snapped its eyes wide open and moved its mouth to respond. “Finally figured it out, did you?” “But for the great detective Akechi Kogorou, that was a bit too late.”

The wall had originally hung a clay clown mask, but the villain had applied makeup identical to that mask to his own face. Periodically retracting the mask through a hole in the wall, he would then thrust his own face into its place to keep watch over Akechi. "But if you keep that up, you’ll get worn out. How about it—why don’t you come in here?" Akechi addressed him as though speaking to a friend.

“Sure, I’d get worn out. But no matter how worn out I get, I won’t take your orders.”

The Clown Mask moved his thick, bright red lips and replied. "No, actually, I have a favor to ask of you." "A request?" "What an impudent guy." "Fine, let's hear it." "What kind of request?" "I want to smoke." "Hmph. So you want a smoke, and that's why you're telling me to untie the rope?" "Not a chance." "No need to untie the rope. Just take a cigarette from the cigarette case in my pocket, let me hold it in my mouth, and light it for me. Since I haven't smoked a cigarette in a full day, more than food or anything else, I want a cigarette first and foremost."

“Ahahaha… I see.” “I’m a smoker myself，so I understand that feeling.” “Alright，then I’ll go there and let you have a smoke.”

No sooner had he said this than the Clown Mask withdrew, and in its place, the real clay mask was restored.

The Famous Detective’s Adventure Soon, the door opened, and a man entered the room—his face made up like a clown’s, his body clad in a black shirt and trousers that clung tightly to his frame. “Where is the cigarette case?”

“Here it is. “It’s in the right inner pocket.” When the man reached into the detective’s chest and retrieved the case, he snapped it open with a click. “What? There’s only one left!” “Even one is fine. “Anyway, just let me smoke it.” “Alright then, put this in your mouth. “I’ll light it for you.” The Clown-masked man had him hold a cigarette in his mouth and lit it for him.

“Well then, take your time. I’ll take a break over there too.”

Having said that, the Clown Mask went outside.

Left behind, Detective Akechi remained bound to the chair, quite skillfully smoking a cigarette while staring intently at the clown mask on the wall.

It was a mask made of clay. It had not yet been swapped with a human face. No matter how much time passed, there was no sign of it being swapped. The Clown-masked man must truly be taking a break.

Detective Akechi smiled with the cigarette still between his lips and began puffing rapidly, hurriedly smoking it down. There seemed to be some reason behind this. The cigarette burned down close to his lips. Strangely enough, though the burnt ash scattered away, the cigarette’s length showed no sign of diminishing. What’s more, its burned end now glinted silver. Keeping the cigarette between his lips, Detective Akechi sharply bowed his head and brought its gleaming silver tip toward the rope binding his chest.

Was he planning to burn through the rope with the cigarette's ember? That wouldn't work. Because it was a new hemp rope, one couldn't possibly burn through it with a cigarette's ember.

Akechi rubbed the lit part of the cigarette against the hemp rope, extinguishing it. Then, what remained was a thin, silver knife-like blade. Akechi began vigorously sawing at the hemp rope with that blade. The knife blade had a handle attached; clamping it tightly between his teeth, he moved his entire face up and down to work through the rope. Inside the cigarette had been hidden a thin knife. He had placed just one of them in his cigarette case and had tricked the villain into letting him hold that particular cigarette in his mouth.

On the villains' side, thinking that Akechi truly wanted to smoke a cigarette, they didn’t suspect a thing and let him hold it in his mouth and lit it for him.

Ah, what a brilliant idea! As long as he had this cigarette containing a knife inside, no matter how tightly bound he might be, there was nothing to fear. So if he could just cut through the single rope around his chest, then after that, he could easily undo the rest of the ropes. After vigorously sawing away for about two minutes, the rope snapped clean through. Then, when he shook his body, the multiple layers of coiled ropes gradually loosened until finally, both his hands and feet were free.

He left the chair, cautiously approached the door, listened intently to the situation outside, and quietly opened it. There didn’t seem to be anyone there. He stepped out into the hallway. Straight ahead, he proceeded.

At the end of the hallway was a narrow staircase. Muffling his footsteps, he climbed them and came face-to-face with a door. After listening intently once more, he gently opened it.

Outside was pitch black. And，strangely enough，he smelled the sea.

“Hey! He’s escaped!” “Detective Akechi cut the ropes and escaped!”

A shout came from somewhere.

Akechi dashed through the pitch-black darkness. The ground beneath his feet seemed to sway unsteadily.

From behind came the sound of a pistol—Bang! Bang! They must have fired deliberately off-target to intimidate. Detective Akechi ran frantically. After moving about ten meters, he collided with something hard. It was something like a staircase handrail.

“Bwahahaha... Surprised, Mr. Akechi? “Do you even realize where you are? “Can you swim? “Or do you think you can swim across this vast sea?”

It was the voice of the Clown Mask. Startled, he peered below the handrail and saw—under the starlight—water, water, water stretching endlessly. A pitch-black sea heaving in limitless expanse. Ah—he was aboard a ship. A steamship advancing across a boundless sea of unknown location. This explained why the earlier room had no windows and why everything had felt unsteadily swaying.

He never would have imagined it was aboard a steamship. Last night, after being put to sleep in the car, he had been taken aboard a steamship at Tokyo Port, and that steamship must have advanced into this vast sea. The phantom thief who called himself "Terror King" even possessed such a large steamship. They must have been an extremely large-scale gang of thieves. What kind of person could this leader, the "Terror King," really be? Perhaps the man with the Clown Mask who had shown his face from the cabin wall earlier was none other than that "Terror King"?

Detective Akechi had been driven to the steamship's deck railing by the thieves. There was no escape route left but to leap into the sea. The detective was a strong swimmer. Yet plunging into this vast sea and swimming all the way to land was simply impossible. Even the great detective found himself in a completely hopeless predicament.

Akechi's mind raced frantically in that instant. This was precisely when he had to remain calm. And he had to devise a clever plan. “Bwahahaha... How about it, Mr. Akechi? Do you think you can swim this sea?” “Bwahahaha….”

The Clown Mask's voice drew nearer. At that moment, a brilliant idea flashed into Akechi's mind. "What kind of detective would I be if I couldn't swim this little stretch of sea?!" After shouting that, he swiftly kicked the small barrel lying at his feet into the sea, climbed over the railing, and pretended to plunge headfirst into the water. At that moment, the barrel that had fallen onto the sea surface made a loud splash—exactly like the sound of a human diving in.

However, only the barrel had plunged in; Detective Akechi hung concealed along the ship's flank. A death-defying gambit risking everything. "Ah! He jumped!" "Lower the boat! Lower the boat!"

The Clown Mask’s shouts could be heard; the sound of two or three people running toward the ship’s tomo (stern). A regular boat was tied to the ship’s tomo (stern); the thieves pulled it closer, climbed down the rope ladder, boarded it, and began frantically maneuvering the oars to search the surrounding sea.

Detective Akechi was hanging from the ship's side; wearing black clothes, he remained unnoticed from afar. Just like that, they rowed away toward the opposite side. I'm all right now.

Akechi climbed up the ship’s side and laid flat on the pitch-black deck. There was a box of some kind placed there, so he hid in its shadow and remained motionless.

Then came the clomping sound of footsteps approaching across the deck. Of course, some gang members must have remained aboard the ship. One of them might have come to check on the boat rowing around below. Akechi, hidden behind the box, moved to the opposite side of his approaching opponent and lay flat there, holding his breath completely still. "Hey... Found Akechi yet...?" Oh—that was a familiar voice. Thinking it might be him, he cautiously peeked out from behind the box and saw it was indeed the man with the Clown Mask. This guy seemed to be their leader. If he was the leader, then he must be both the one who'd disguised himself as the Iron Mask and that villain calling himself the "Terror King."

Detective Akechi stared fixedly at his back. In his right hand, he was gripping a pistol. By starlight, it was dimly visible.

“Where’d he vanish to…? Can’t find him anywhere…” A shout could be heard from the boat below. “No way…! He might be clinging to the ship’s underside—circle around it and check, I tell you…!”

The Clown Mask shouted.

At that very moment.

Detective Akechi suddenly leaped out from behind the box and charged at the Clown Mask. First, he knocked the pistol away. “Wh—Who the hell are you?!”

The Clown Mask suddenly grappled with him. And then, still locked in combat, the two of them went rolling across the pitch-black deck.

The Great Detective's Disguise And then, a fierce struggle began. Tumbling over and under each other, the two rolled across the pitch-black deck with heavy thuds until finally Akechi gained the upper position, leaving the Clown Mask pinned motionless beneath him. Using a judo hold, Akechi choked the opponent's throat until he fell unconscious.

He looked around, but there were no human figures on the deck. Since the two had been locked in silent combat, the subordinates in the ship’s cabin remained unaware of anything. Detective Akechi dragged the limp body of the Clown Mask to a shadowy spot on the deck, removed his own clothes to dress his opponent in them, took off the Clown Mask from the man’s face to place it over his own, then grabbed the pointed hat and put it on his head.

It was a human substitution. The one lying limp was Detective Akechi, while the figure standing could only be perceived as the Terror King wearing the Clown Mask. Detective Akechi had long followed a practice of wearing form-fitting black undergarments—a shirt and undershorts—beneath his white dress shirt whenever anticipating adventures requiring such preparations. Having worn them this day too, donning the mask while shedding his outer clothes and dress shirt sufficed to let him flawlessly impersonate their gang leader.

Then, he brought a long rope, coiled it tightly around the leader’s limbs to bind them, gagged him with a muzzle-like restraint, pressed hard on a vital point of the leader’s body, and revived him. Even after regaining consciousness, the leader remained bound hand and foot with the gag in place, rendering him powerless. Akechi spread out a piece of canvas that had been rolled up nearby and draped it over the leader’s body. Then he picked up the pistol that had fallen on the deck earlier and, impersonating the gang leader, stepped into the ship’s cabin.

Then, he entered the most splendid room, looked around, and pressed the call bell button on the desk.

Then, one subordinate appeared. “Boss… Do you have some business…?”

the subordinate inquired. “Yeah, you know already. Now, tell me where I hid that ‘Star Crown’.” Akechi imitated the gang leader’s booming voice and spoke in a deliberately brusque manner. “Heh, Boss, did ya forget where you stashed it yourself?” The subordinate made a strange face and asked in return. “No—of course I know. But I’m going to test whether you know. Now, where is it? Go on, tell me.”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s that cabinet where you always keep the most important things, Boss.” “Yeah. Right. Here it is. But it’s locked. Do you know where the key is?” “It’s in the desk drawer, you know? It’s in the top drawer on the right side, sandwiched between some notebooks. Did ya forget that, Boss?” “As if I’d forget! I was just testing you, that’s all. Good. Then I have no further business. You may go now.”

The subordinate man withdrew as he was. Since he was wearing the Clown Mask and looked exactly like the leader, he never even suspected that this was Detective Akechi in disguise.

Akechi took out that key, opened the cabinet, retrieved the box of the “Star Crown” wrapped in a purple cloth, opened it, and checked its contents. It was a golden crown studded with countless jewels that sparkled like stars. Even the great detective could only stare blankly at its beauty for a time, utterly captivated. Akechi wrapped it back up, tucked it under his arm, and then dashed off toward the rear deck again. On the way, he passed by the cabin windows of his subordinates, but none suspected their leader.

When he stood at the edge of the deck and looked down at the pitch-black sea, the boat had just completed circling around the steamship and was returning. Akechi thrust his Clown Mask-covered face out over the ship’s side to show it to the subordinates in the boat. “Boss, it’s no use.” “We searched everywhere—there’s nothin’.” “That Akechi guy must’ve been eaten by sharks or somethin’.” From the boat came the shouts of his subordinates.

“Alright. Then stop searching and come up.” Akechi imitated the leader’s voice and issued the command.

Then, the three subordinates tied the boat to the rope hanging from the stern and climbed up the rope ladder to the deck.

“Well done. Go into your room and have your fill… Mr. Akechi—you’ve finally become a decoy, haven’t you? Now that this nuisance is gone for good, we can finally work without any worries.” Akechi, thoroughly impersonating the gang leader to the last, brazenly showed himself muttering such things. When the subordinates entered the cabin, Akechi climbed down the rope ladder they had used earlier to the boat below.

In this way, the famous detective had brilliantly accomplished his objective. While being held captive by the enemy, he had quietly subdued only the gang leader, impersonated him, retrieved Mr. Arima's "Star Crown," and succeeded in boarding the boat. Once aboard the boat, he untied the rope and began rowing across the pitch-black sea toward Tokyo. Fortunately, there were no waves. Only large swells came rolling in, slowly swelling and subsiding.

Since maneuvering two large oars alone was difficult, Akechi devised a method, using one oar like a traditional Japanese scull to row the boat. Before their eyes, the distance between them and the steamship grew. By the time two hundred meters, three hundred meters, and then five hundred meters had been put between them, even the form of the large steamship had blended into the darkness of night, becoming no longer clearly visible.

Defeated Terror King

At that moment, a great uproar was occurring aboard the steamship.

The leader’s figure was nowhere to be seen. Even after scouring every corner of the ship, they simply couldn’t find him.

If they thought "What if...?" and went to check the room where they had tied up Detective Akechi, they found the ropes untangled and scattered—of course, there was no trace or form of Akechi to be seen.

Things were getting really serious now. The leader had vanished somewhere as well.

They divided tasks and searched through the ship once more.

One subordinate was shining a flashlight and pacing back and forth across the rear deck.

Then, somewhere, there came a clattering sound.

“Who’s there…?” But even when he shouted, there was no answer—only the same clattering sound continued. “This is strange,” he thought. He listened intently to determine the direction of the sound, then shone his flashlight there. A piece of canvas was moving. There might be some living creature hiding beneath it.

The subordinate man timidly approached it, grabbed the canvas, and flung it aside in one swift motion.

“Ah! It’s Akechi…” There lay a man in a black suit, bound hand and foot. The subordinate saw this and became absolutely convinced it was Detective Akechi. His mouth was gagged with a cloth and he wore Akechi’s suit—at first glance, thinking this was Akechi seemed only natural. The subordinate suddenly dashed toward the cabin and called everyone, so six or seven subordinates immediately gathered.

“What’s going on? What’s going on?” “What? You’re saying Akechi’s bastard is tied up?” “So did the leader tie up Akechi?”

While saying such things in unison, they approached the fallen man. “Hey, this isn’t Akechi! Akechi’s supposed to have a bushier head!” “What the...?” “If this isn’t Akechi, then who the hell is it?” “That’s what I don’t get.” “This is strange.”

At that moment, the fallen man raised his bound legs high and slammed them down on the floorboards with a heavy thud. He seemed to be throwing a tantrum. “Let’s get a better look at your face.” “Take this off.” One subordinate approached and removed the gag cloth from the man’s mouth.

Oh, the face that appeared from beneath it!

“Gah! It’s the Boss!” “It’s the Boss, I tell ya!” “Hurry up and untie me already!” “What’s taking you idiots so long?” While muttering such things to cover their embarrassment, the subordinates untied their leader’s bonds. “You idiots! What a bunch of bungling fools!” "Akechi's bastard has put on my Clown Mask, taken on my exact appearance, and is hiding somewhere." “Split up and track that bastard down!”

"But Boss, we've already completely searched the entire ship." "But there's no trace of that bastard anywhere."

“Hmm, this is strange...” One of the subordinates let out a shrill voice. “Boss! Boss! Did you just call out to us from the deck earlier—tellin’ us in the boat that it was settled and to come up now?”

“I wouldn’t do such a thing.” “That wasn’t me.” “Wait—was that Akechi?” “He was wearin’ the Clown Mask for sure.”

“Wait—hold on.” “Boss, this ain’t good—somethin’ terrible’s happened.”

Another subordinate rushed in breathlessly and said.

“What? What’s so terrible?” “Boss, you wouldn’t have called me to your room earlier and asked where the Star Crown was hidden, right?” “Would I ask something like that? I haven’t forgotten where I hid the Star Crown.” “Ah! Then it’s him!” “That was Akechi’s bastard!”

“Hey! What’re you blabbering about? Did that Akechi bastard grill you?!” “Well see—had no clue that was actually Akechi! Thought you were askin’ some mighty odd questions there, Boss.” “Y-You... Then that means... Don’t tell me...”

“Boss, I’m sorry. The Star Crown... He’s the one who took it.” “Is it Akechi’s bastard disguised as me?” “Y-yes…”

Smack... The leader’s open hand flew to his subordinate’s cheek. The foolish subordinate grabbed his cheek and retreated backward.

“Now everyone, search for Akechi! He must be hiding somewhere! If we let him take back the Star Crown we worked so hard to steal, I’ll be utterly humiliated! Whatever it takes... We must catch that Akechi bastard...”

And then, once again, a great search commenced throughout the ship.

After some time had passed, the three subordinates who had boarded the boat earlier came to the edge of the rear deck, whispering furtively about something.

“Hey, check it out.” “Maybe on that boat.”

“Yeah, I was thinkin’ the same thing.” The three leaned against the railing and peered into the pitch-black sea. “Ah! It’s not here! The boat's gone."

When they pulled the rope, it came up with a dragging sound. The boat that had been tied up ahead was gone without a trace. The three of them ran into the cabin to inform their leader of this. “What? The boat’s gone?”

The Terror King came running out. A crowd of henchmen followed behind him. They all leaned against the stern deck's railing and stared down at the pitch-black sea. Had it been daytime, they might still have glimpsed Akechi's boat. But in this suffocating darkness, they stood utterly helpless.

The Terror King had the ship steer toward Tokyo and searched for the boat, but ultimately failed to locate Detective Akechi. This was because venturing too near Tokyo would endanger their own safety, preventing them from conducting as thorough a search as they wished.

Then, about a week later, one day—

A strange call came through to the Akechi Detective Agency. When Akechi picked up the receiver, a sinister laugh immediately echoed through the line. "Hmm-hmm-hmm... So it's Akechi-sensei." "I am the thief they call the Terror King." "I got a real good look at your skills last time." "That was my loss." "I lost fair and square." "But I ain't about to take this lying down." "I'll pay you back for sure." "Better watch your back." "I haven't shown you the real horror of the Terror King yet." "Let your guard down for one second... and hell'll break loose."

“But I’ve given up on the Star Crown.” “If I fail, I cleanly move on and target another, bigger prize—that’s my way.” “So, what do you think I’ll target this time?” “Heh heh heh… Not even the great detective Akechi-sensei could figure this one out.” “I’ll shock the world.” “No—I’d rather shock you, Akechi-sensei, than the whole world.” “This time, it won’t be something soft like the Clown Mask.” “It’s a terrifying mask.” “A mask of terror that would make all of Tokyo tremble in fear.”

Upon hearing that, Detective Akechi burst into laughter. “Ha ha ha ha! So you’re challenging me over the phone? Very well. I’ll accept your challenge anytime. During the recent steamship incident, since you had so many subordinates there, I restrained myself to just retrieving the Star Crown—but this time, I will capture you. You’re the one who should watch out.”

“Hmm-hmm-hmm… This grows intriguing.” “The Great Detective Akechi versus the Masked Terror King.” “A colossus clashing with a monstrosity—that’s the tale they’ll tell.” “Well then, Akechi-sensei—guard your health until our next encounter.” “Farewell for now.”

And then, the line went dead with a click.

Golden Mask

About a month passed uneventfully.

And then, one day.

A mysterious incident occurred at the Thirty-Three Bay Hall in Kyoto City. In the long, narrow hall of the Thirty-Three Bay Hall, leaving only a pathway for worshippers, hundreds of glittering golden Buddha statues—each about human-sized—stood densely packed throughout the entire space.

That evening, two sixth-grade elementary school boys—Takahashi-kun and Maruyama-kun—were walking along the pathway inside the hall. As it was already growing dark, all the worshippers had gone home, leaving the deserted hall empty save for the two boys.

However, though there were no people, golden Buddha statues—each the same size as a human—stood arrayed in countless layers, piled one upon another.

The sight of those hundreds of golden Buddha statues—silent and utterly motionless—crowded together in the gathering dusk was indescribably eerie. “Let’s go home already,” he said timidly. “There’s no one left anymore.”

Maruyama-kun said timidly. Then Takahashi-kun suddenly came to a halt and stared at the midst of the clustered Buddha statues with a surprised look.

“Takahashi-kun, what’s wrong? What are you staring at so intently?”

When Maruyama-kun asked, Takahashi-kun raised a finger to his lips in a "shh" gesture and silently indicated the direction with his eyes. Maruyama-kun followed Takahashi-kun’s gaze and looked into the cluster of Buddha statues.

Oh! What was this? In the midst of the teeming Buddha statues stood a single statue of entirely different form. It was larger in body than the others—close inspection revealed a golden cloth resembling an Indian turban wrapped around its head, and something like a loose golden mantle draped over it. The face too was golden, larger than those of the surrounding statues, eerily reminiscent of a Noh mask in its subtle unsettling quality.

Perhaps it was their imagination, but that strange statue seemed to be staring back at them with its golden face. The two boys had been engaged in a long staring contest with the Buddha statue. Then, something spine-chilling occurred. The strange Buddha statue’s body swayed unsteadily. Then, the golden face’s lips creaked upward into a crescent shape, forming a thin black gap. It laughed. The golden face grinned slyly.

The two boys, overwhelmed by terror, found their bodies frozen in place—but Takahashi-kun summoned his courage, grabbed Maruyama-kun’s hand, and led him out of sight of the strange statue. Then, cupping his hand around his mouth near Maruyama-kun’s ear, he whispered: “Did you see that guy? It’s not a Buddha statue. It’s alive! It moved! Didn’t you see? And then it looked our way and laughed, didn’t it?”

"Yeah." "He looks suspicious." "Could he be a ghost?" "Ghosts don't exist in this world." "That guy's definitely up to no good." "He's hiding among the Buddha statues dressed in gold plotting something evil." "Let's keep watching from here." "He might move again." The two boys decided to hide in the shadows and quietly keep watch.

The boys’ hunch had been right. That strange statue-like thing indeed started to move. The mysterious figure parted through the clustered Buddha statues and emerged onto the worshippers' pathway. Now that its entire body was revealed, beneath the golden mantle it wore a snug golden shirt and golden pants, with even its shoes gleaming gold. The mysterious figure walked unhurriedly down the center of the pathway. The two boys kept their distance and followed after it.

“Hey, that’s the Golden Mask!”

Takahashi-kun continued tailing the figure while whispering to Maruyama-kun. "I once read a book called *The Golden Mask*. The photo that came with that book looked exactly like him. That Golden Mask was a disguise used by Arsène Lupin—the great French thief—but since Lupin had died already, he couldn't be Lupin. He's definitely imitating Lupin from long ago and disguising himself as the Golden Mask."

Ah, the Golden Mask. The Golden Mask—that mysterious villain who once made all of Japan tremble—appeared once more. And now, it was walking ahead right before their eyes.

The two boys felt as though they were trapped in a terrifying dream. At the entrance to the hall stood a guard, but the Golden Mask passed before him with undisturbed composure. The guard froze in shock, too overwhelmed to utter a word. After exiting the hall, the mysterious figure walked slowly without turning back—but when the boys carelessly drew near behind him, he suddenly whirled around to face them.

And then it laughed. With that sinister crescent-shaped mouth of its, it grinned slyly.

The two boys stood rooted to the spot, unable to move a muscle. They turned deathly pale and could only stare at its golden face.

Then came an eerie rasping voice. The Golden Mask spoke. "Hmm-hmm-hmm... You two show remarkable courage following me." "But it’s futile." "I am no mere human." "For I can soar through skies freely like birds." "You stand powerless against me." "Hmm-hmm-hmm..." The instant those words faded,the masked figure spun sharply away and broke into a sprint. His golden cape streaming behind him like some demonic banner, he dissolved into dusk’s gloom before they could blink.

When their adversary vanished from sight, the two boys finally regained their senses and gave chase. After proceeding a little further stood a large shii tree about thirty meters tall. Looking up despite there being no wind they saw its branches swaying gently. "That's weird. Maybe he climbed up this tree?"

Takahashi-kun said. Then, at that moment, a young monk serving as a guard came rushing over from the direction of the hall, wearing a white robe with a waistcloth.

“Hey, you guys! Where did that golden monster go?” “We’ve got to call the police and catch him…!” Takahashi-kun pointed at the top of the shii tree and answered.

“Look! The tree’s swaying so much.” “He might’ve climbed up there.” The monk shaded his eyes and looked up at the shii tree branches, but enveloped in twilight, he couldn’t see clearly.

At that moment. Just as the treetop rustled with particular intensity, a golden figure came darting out from there into the air—what do you know! Ah, that was him. The Golden Mask was soaring through the sky. The mysterious figure was flying high in the air—body turned sideways and both arms stretched straight forward—in a form just like swimming through water. The golden mantle fluttered and flapped, looking exactly like Superman from the movies. The golden Superman was flying away higher and higher into the twilight sky.

The two boys and the monk stood with mouths agape, utterly dumbfounded as they stared upward, but the Golden Mask rapidly retreated into the distance. Its form gradually shrank until it became like a single golden star before vanishing with a whoosh into the twilight sky. Needless to say, the next day’s newspapers sensationalized that mysterious incident in bold headlines. Takahashi and Maruyama, the two boys, found themselves surrounded by everyone at school and repeatedly pressed to tell the story of the Golden Mask.

Crescent-shaped Smile

About a week later, the stage shifted to Tokyo, and yet another terrifying incident occurred. One night, Kinoshita-kun and Miyajima-kun, members of the Boy Detectives Club, were sitting in the seats of a small cinema called Queen in Setagaya Ward. These two were sixth graders in elementary school and had only just joined the Boy Detectives Club, but as official members, they proudly wore B·D badges on their chests.

The reason they had entered such a small cinema was that there was a signboard reading "Nostalgic Retro Film Week," and tonight they were screening an old film of *The Golden Mask* which had been a major hit over ten years prior. It was the film adaptation of the book in which Lupin disguised himself as the "Golden Mask" that Takahashi-kun from Kyoto had read. The two boys had read the book but had never seen the film, so when they saw the signboard at Queen Cinema, they promptly decided to go watch it.

The film began with the Golden Mask stealing a small tower—about thirty centimeters tall and crafted from thousands of pearl beads that had been displayed at an exhibition in Ueno Park—and as the scenes gradually progressed, there came a moment when only the Golden Mask’s face filled the entire screen in a massive close-up. A face thousands of times larger than an ordinary human’s—an impossibly gigantic visage. Moreover, it was a golden face shaped like a Noh mask, its form thinly eerie.

The face contorted its mouth into a crescent shape and grinned slyly. The mouth was a narrow, crescent-shaped hole; though there should have been teeth and a tongue within, nothing was visible—only pitch blackness. There, the music had stopped, and no sound could be heard. The spectators held their breath; the auditorium was utterly silent. Breaking the silence, a bloodcurdling shriek—*Kyaaa!*—erupted from a corner of the auditorium. The woman, overwhelmed by terror, involuntarily let out a scream.

The spectators shuddered violently at the scream, but as if to hide their embarrassment, laughter and murmurs arose here and there. Spectators are the kind of people who laugh when they’re scared. In the next instant, the laughter stopped abruptly. Because something terrifying had happened on the screen. The Golden Mask was laughing across the entire screen when, from the right corner of its crescent-shaped mouth, crimson liquid began dripping down. The film wasn’t in color—it was a black-and-white movie. Suddenly, crimson-colored liquid began to flow across that black-and-white screen.

It was blood. From the faintly eerie crescent-shaped mouth, blood flowed down. And only that blood alone was crimson in color.

The Golden Mask was still laughing. The Golden Mask was laughing a soundless laugh. And from its mouth, it was spewing blood.

Even if it wasn't a color film, if someone were to carefully color each frame with a magnifying glass, it might look like this. However, if someone wanted color, they could just shoot a color film—these days, there's no reason to go through such painstaking efforts. In fact, that film had no color applied to it at all. Yet, tonight of all nights, crimson blood began to flow.

The spectators were startled into motion and began fleeing as they rose from their seats. But what surprised them even more was the film technician. Startled by the sight of blood, he stopped the machine. He removed the film and turned on the theater lights to examine it closely. The large projection on the screen flashed off, and the spectator seats lit up.

Each member of the audience thought they might have gone mad. Because such a horrifying film could not possibly exist.

Therefore, when the screen’s image vanished and the auditorium brightened, they felt as though waking from a dream. Kinoshita-kun and Miyajima-kun, members of the Boy Detectives Club, were also watching this bizarre film from the front rows of the auditorium, but suspecting some criminal connection, they forgot their fear and began peering restlessly around the theater.

That was when it happened. A deafening uproar erupted from the audience seats. And each person scrambled up from their seats and tried to flee toward the cinema entrance. That was only natural. On the stage before the screen, something terrifying was unfolding.

Ah, look! There, in front of the screen, an unfathomable monster shambled into view.

That was an exact replica of the Golden Mask from the film. It seemed as if it had escaped from the screen, materialized into reality, and appeared. A golden face; on its head, a golden turban; a golden cloak; golden trousers; golden shoes. It stood blocking the screen, gazing down at the audience seats.

When the cinema staff saw it from the back of the audience seats, they turned pale and dialed 110. Then, in less than three minutes, a patrol car that had been circling nearby arrived, and two officers rushed into the movie theater.

The commotion that followed was beyond description.

The two officers passed through the corridor and rushed up onto the stage. As they crossed paths, the Golden Mask nimbly leapt down into the audience seats and began darting between chairs toward the entrance. The remaining spectators, realizing how dire it would be to be caught by the Golden Mask, dodged aside and cleared a path for it. Because of this, those who had been at the back fell over, and with children’s wails and women’s screams, it became an indescribable uproar.

Kinoshita and Miyajima, the two boys, were among them, but even as members of the Boy Detectives Club, there was nothing they could do against this monster. They could do nothing but watch the uproar.

The Golden Mask burst through the audience seats and, instead of exiting outside, raced up the stairs to the second-floor balcony, shattered the front-facing window there, and emerged onto the eaves roof. The road outside became packed with fleeing spectators and passersby, and several cars were unable to move. The Golden Mask looked down at the crowd below and sneered with that crescent-shaped mouth. Then, when it reached one corner of the eaves roof, it grabbed the edge of the main roof that sloped down there, nimbly leapt onto it, and began clambering up the steep main roof—now on the verge of slipping—like a golden lizard.

The two officers had gone out through the window and reached the eaves roof, but they couldn’t possibly climb up to the main roof. The Golden Mask was as light-footed as an acrobat—no ordinary human could imitate such feats. Then, after a short while, a collective roar erupted from the crowd gathered before the movie theater, all staring up at the roof. Every person was shouting while gazing at the night sky. Their eyes fixed on a point higher than the main roof. What on earth was happening?

Oh, yet another aerial flight! The Golden Mask fluttered its golden cloak and flew straight through the vast night sky toward the south. Like Superman, it flew onward.

Countless stars twinkled in the sky. Beneath them flew a golden avian figure—shining more brilliantly than the stars—at terrifying speed. And before one could blink, the Golden Mask's form rapidly shrank until it disappeared among the twinkling stars.

The Golden Magician The Terror King, disguised as the Golden Mask monster, sprang from the cinema rooftop into the starry vastness of the night sky. Before this, a close-up of the Golden Mask's face spewing blood had filled the cinema screen. In the black-and-white film, only the blood flowing from the mask's crescent-shaped mouth appeared crimson red. Later investigations revealed that the Terror King had stolen the film reel, scrutinized each frame under a magnifying glass while applying red paint, then returned it to the projection room. By painting each frame with gradually thinning red pigment, he made it appear as though blood dripped and flowed when projected.

That much had been clarified, but how the Terror King as the Golden Mask could fly through the sky like a bird remained unknown to anyone. Was he a sorcerer?

Now, about a week after the cinema incident, something terrifying occurred at the Katagiri residence in Meguro Ward.

The Katagiri residence was a spacious Western-style mansion located in a quiet residential district, where two children named Ichirou-kun and Miyoko-chan lived. The older brother Ichirou-kun was a sixth-grade elementary school student, while the younger sister Miyoko-chan was a third-grade elementary school student. One evening, as the two sat reading books at their aligned desks in the study room, something glinted outside the glass window where the curtains hung open. Even while absorbed in their reading, they caught sight of it from the corners of their eyes.

"Oh my, what was that?" "Yeah, that's strange. It kind of flashed brightly." However, since nothing could be seen outside the window anymore, the two of them began reading again. A short while later, something flickered once more. Ichirou-kun stood up from his chair and went to peer outside. There was nothing but a pitch-black garden stretching into darkness. At that moment, the monster crouched directly beneath the window - though from inside the room, they couldn't see that far.

As they were reading their books again, a third flicker flashed. And this time, it didn’t vanish. The shining thing was staying still outside the window. Miyoko-chan let out an unearthly shriek and clung to Ichirou-kun. Ichirou-kun stood up from his chair and instinctively recoiled. Pressed against the window glass, something terrifying was peering in. It was a sinister face, golden and gleaming like a Noh mask. The face creaked its mouth open into a crescent shape—wasn’t it laughing?

Ichirou-kun suddenly remembered the monster called the Golden Mask that had been making headlines in the newspapers lately. It was the Golden Mask. It had to be him. He was standing right outside the window.

“Waaah…!” Ichirou-kun let out a terrified scream, pulled Miyoko-chan’s hand, and dashed into the hallway. Then they rushed into their father’s room.

“Papa, something terrible! The Golden Mask—” “What? The Golden Mask?!”

“He was peering in from outside our study room window.” “Hurry, call the police…!” Mr. Katagiri, their father, summoned two students and ordered them to search the garden. And he himself dialed 110 on the telephone.

The two students, armed with flashlights and wooden swords, rushed out into the pitch-dark garden. The garden had many large trees growing thickly. The brave students shone flashlights and searched through the thicket of trees.

“Ah, there he is!” One of the students whispered and directed the flashlight beam in that direction. Then, the monster that had been hiding in the shadow of the trees slowly and eerily revealed its entire body in the light. A golden turban, a golden face, a golden mantle, golden trousers and shoes. Its mouth creaked open into a crescent shape and grinned slyly. When the two students saw that, they falteringly stepped back.

“Ufufufu… Listen well. Make sure you tell your master properly. Three days from today, at exactly ten o’clock in the evening on the thirteenth, I will take the Katagiri family’s treasure. Do we have an understanding? In the art room of this house, there is a national treasure bodhisattva statue. I will take that. I will certainly keep my promise, so stay vigilant and keep watch without fail.”

After saying just that, the Golden Mask swiftly turned around and dashed toward the back of the garden. When the two students saw their opponent start to flee, they suddenly regained their vigor,

“Hey! Stop! You won’t escape!” With that shout, they suddenly gave chase after the monster. “Ah! He jumped onto the wall!” That’s right. The Golden Mask had leaped onto the high concrete wall, effortlessly scaled it, and turned once toward them— “Bwahahaha…!” No sooner had that crescent-shaped mouth laughed than he jumped down to the wall’s far side. The students tried pursuing him by climbing the wall too, but it stood too tall—utterly insurmountable. For the Golden Mask moved with an acrobat’s lightness—a feat beyond ordinary human capability.

"It'd be quicker to go around through the gate than dawdling here." When one said this and started running, his fellow student followed after him. As they exited through the gate right then and there—a patrol car arrived and two officers leaped out from inside. "Oh! Are you police? The Golden Mask escaped over this wall! This way! Hurry please!"

The students took the lead ahead of the officers and rushed to the side street outside the wall. "He jumped down from around here. He couldn't have gone far yet, but…"

When they looked, a figure was approaching from the darkness ahead. One of the students abruptly flashed a flashlight at the figure. It was a stooped old man around seventy years old. He wore khaki-colored, dirty clothes, carried a cloth-wrapped bundle under one arm, and shuffled along while leaning on a cane. His long, flowing hair was pure white, and a salt-and-pepper bushy beard extended down to his mouth and chin.

“Hey, old man! Did you see a golden guy just now? He jumped down from this wall.” When the student asked, the old man stretched his back with a grunt and squinted at the flashlight. “Ah, if it’s him, he ran off that way. From head to toe, he was covered in gold.”

The old man indicated behind him with a gesture. “Thanks. So he ran off that way.” The four individuals immediately started running off in that direction.

Then, the old man began walking again while leaning on a cane,

“Heh heh heh….”

With that, he let out a low chuckle. Why was he laughing? What was so funny? Ah, perhaps... The two police officers and two students searched far into the distance, but the Golden Mask's figure was nowhere to be seen. Finally giving up, they turned back toward the Katagiri residence's gate. "That's strange..." "No matter how fast he is, it's weird he isn't visible on that main street." "We could see all the way over there, you know."

When one of the students muttered this, the other suddenly stopped in his tracks and said the following.

“Oh, right! That old man from before was suspicious! The Golden Mask’s like some kinda sorcerer—he’s gotta be good at changing his appearance. I bet he was disguised as that old man! He must’ve wrapped his golden cloak in that cloth bundle…”

The Boys in the Attic

It was the afternoon of the 13th—three days after the Golden Mask had announced he would steal the national treasure Buddha statue from Mr. Katagiri’s residence.

This was the Akechi Detective Agency in Kōjimachi. Detective Akechi Kogorou had gone to Fukui Prefecture for a case he had been commissioned with, leaving his young male assistant Kobayashi-kun and young female assistant Miss Hanasaki Mayumi to house-sit. Around 3:30 PM, when the phone rang and Kobayashi-kun picked up the receiver, it was Detective Akechi. “I returned to Tokyo around noon. The man I’d asked to wait at Shinjuku Station reported to me, so I discovered the Golden Mask’s whereabouts. I’ve just confirmed it. The Golden Mask will arrive at an abandoned house in Shibuya Ward at 7 PM today. That’s why I want your Boy Detectives Club’s help. Call and gather every member you can reach by phone—have them come to that abandoned house by 6 PM. Bring as many Hooligan Task Force members as possible too. Understood?”

And then he explained in detail the route to that abandoned house in Shibuya Ward.

"Mayumi-san, it's from Sensei. He found out where the Golden Mask is." "Huh? When did he return?" "Around noon today. And he's already tracked down the Golden Mask's whereabouts in that time."

“Around noon today, he said. And then, in the time since then, he had already tracked down the Golden Mask’s whereabouts,” Kobayashi-kun declared proudly, as if he himself had accomplished the feat. The two of them were well-informed about the Golden Mask incident through the newspapers. They also knew that Mr. Katagiri’s Buddha statue was being targeted and that today was the promised day. Then, Kobayashi-kun made calls to various places and gathered the Boy Detectives Club members. After that, the members with phones notified those without phones and the Hooligan Task Force boys, and soon ten Boy Detectives Club members and seven Hooligan Task Force members gathered, all arriving at the Akechi Detective Agency by 5 PM.

Kobayashi Shounen entrusted Mayumi-san with house-sitting duties, then led those seventeen boys to Shibuya via streetcar and subway, hurrying toward the abandoned house they’d been directed to.

The abandoned house was located in a desolate residential area about one kilometer from Shibuya Station. The boys took a bus to the vicinity and properly arrived in front of the abandoned house’s gate by the promised six o'clock. It was a three-story wooden Western-style mansion surrounded by a brick wall. It was somehow an old, sinister building.

By now, the surroundings had grown dim, but there at the abandoned house’s gate stood Detective Akechi in his black suit, lying in wait. “Sensei.” As Kobayashi-kun called out and rushed over, Detective Akechi pressed a finger to his lips in a hushing motion, signaled with his eyes for them to follow, passed through the gate, walked along the paved stone path, opened the front door, and entered the Western-style mansion. The door didn’t even seem to be locked.

The inside of the house was pitch dark. The lights also appeared to be turned off, and even after searching for the switch and pressing it, the light did not come on. "You brought flashlights, right?" At Detective Akechi's words, Kobayashi-kun immediately took out a fountain pen-shaped flashlight from his pocket and switched it on. Following his example, the boys each turned on fountain pen-shaped flashlights. This flashlight was one of the Boy Detectives Club's seven essential tools.

Because many people turned on their flashlights, the inside of the house suddenly brightened. “Impressive, impressive. You all didn’t forget the seven essential tools.” Detective Akechi said this, took the lead, passed through the corridor, climbed the stairs, and ascended from the second floor to the third—but just when they thought that was the end, there was still another staircase. It was more like a ladder than a staircase. It was a narrow, steep ladder. At the top of that ladder was a large trapdoor, and when they pushed it upward, a dark mouth gaped open. The space above was the third-floor attic.

“Are we hiding in this attic?” When Kobayashi-kun asked this, Detective Akechi— “Yeah, that’s right.”

Detective Akechi answered. All seventeen boys climbed up into the attic. The ceiling retained the roof’s shape, while the edge was so low that one would bump their head. The timbers supporting the roof were left completely exposed, while on one side there was a small skylight. Detective Akechi had the boys move further back while he himself stood blocking the trapdoor entrance, but then—for some reason—he began to chuckle quietly.

“Ufufufu… How amusing. “You’ve all been locked up in this attic.” The detective was saying something strange.

Something felt off. What on earth was happening? "Sensei, why are you laughing?" "What's so funny?" Kobayashi-kun asked with a puzzled expression. "Ufufufu... Don't you understand?" "Huh? What do you mean 'don't understand?'"

“You just called me ‘Sensei,’ didn’t you.” “Why would I be your Sensei?”

Things grew stranger by the minute. Moreover，for Detective Akechi to be saying “I” like that was downright strange. “Ufufufu… You’ve all been neatly tricked. Who do you think I am? I’m a master of disguise. I can disguise myself as anyone—even Detective Akechi!”

His voice was no longer Detective Akechi’s. It had become an unidentifiable, gravelly rasp. Then—could this person truly not be Detective Akechi? And if so...? “Ufufufu… Making such ridiculous faces, aren’t you?” “Finally figured it out?” “Exactly right.” “I’m not your precious Detective Akechi.” “That fool’s still stumbling through Fukui Prefecture as we speak.”

“Then… that phone call earlier was…” “Exactly. That was me imitating Akechi’s voice—a fake call.” “Wait—then you’re…” “The thief they call the Terror King. “These days, some know me as the Golden Mask. “Tonight, I’m stealing Katagiri’s national treasure Buddhist statue. Couldn’t risk him calling Akechi’s office and you brats meddling. So I locked you up first.” “Hahahaha! Thorough, aren’t I?” “Now sit tight and enjoy your stay.” “…See ya.”

No sooner had he spoken than the figure disguised as Akechi leaped lightly down the ladder beneath the entrance, slammed the trapdoor shut with a bang, and locked it from below with a decisive click. This explained why the trapdoor had been fitted with a lock beforehand.

Kobayashi Shounen, "Ah!"

With that cry, he rushed to the trapdoor and tried to lift it with both hands, but it wouldn’t budge an inch.

“Everyone, help me! Break this wooden door!” Thereupon, they all gathered around the wooden trapdoor, pounding and kicking in an attempt to break it down. However, as it was an extremely sturdy door made of thick planks, they soon realized there was no hope of breaking through. Moreover, even if they were to break through this trapdoor, their opponent might be hiding somewhere and watching. Rather than that, wasn’t there some clever strategy where staying perfectly still like this would leave their opponent astonished?

Kobayashi-kun crossed his arms and was deep in thought, but after a while, as if struck by a sudden realization, his eyes lit up.

“Ah! I have an idea.” “Does everyone have the seven tools ready?” “The black silk rope ladder—you should have that wrapped around your waists right?”

Hearing this, the Boy Detectives Club members, “We have them.” “We have them.”

With that, they answered in unison.

“Alright, then if we connect three of those rope ladders together, they should reach the ground,” he said. “If everyone takes turns climbing down using that, it should work. We’ll lower the rope ladder from that window.” “Yeah, that’s it,” they replied. “Yeah, that’s the way to go….” They all immediately agreed.

"But not right now. He might still be hiding somewhere, so let's wait a little longer." With that, Kobayashi-kun approached the window, quietly opened the glass pane, and peered downward. Outside, the lingering twilight's faint glow still remained, making the ground far below dimly visible through the haze.

A spacious garden overgrown with wild grass.

Since it was a Western-style mansion, there was no central roof, and it rose straight up to a terrifying height. Though called a rope ladder, the Boy Detectives Club’s version consisted of a single cord made of twisted silk threads with knots formed every thirty centimeters—which they gripped between their toes to descend, making it an adventure akin to an acrobatic stunt.

The boys had to undertake that adventure in the pitch darkness.

Great Struggle

The Boy Detectives Club's rope ladder was dangerous for small children to use carelessly, so only Leader Kobayashi and the middle school members always carried it wrapped around their waists under their jackets. Since it was a silk cord, when bundled up, it became slender enough to remain undetectable from the outside even when worn around the waist. At that time, with two middle school members present, they connected Leader Kobayashi's rope ladder with three others, lowered it out the window, and one after another, everyone climbed down to the ground.

After securely fixing the iron hook attached to the end of the silk cord into the window frame, the middle school member descended first via the lowered rope ladder. The silk cord had large knots every thirty centimeters, so they gripped them between their toes as they descended. Therefore, everyone removed their socks, stuffed them into their shoes, and hung those shoes from their waists as they descended.

After that, the elementary school members and Hooligan Task Force descended one by one. Then, another middle school member positioned himself in the middle, helping the younger members as they descended, and finally, Leader Kobayashi came down.

By then, it was already completely dark, so there was no risk of being seen from outside the wall. The Terror King’s subordinates did not seem to be keeping watch over the garden, and the seventeen boys managed to safely exit through the gate. They left the rope ladder hanging from the window. If it were just one ladder, they could shake the cord from below to detach the hook, but with three connected together, it was utterly impossible to remove them. Though regrettable, they left the rope ladder as it was.

The boys then immediately boarded a bus and hurried to Mr. Katagiri’s house in Meguro. Since the Terror King had declared he would steal the national treasure Buddha statue from Mr. Katagiri’s art room at 10 PM tonight, the Boy Detectives Club had to interfere. Since Detective Akechi was absent, they had to fight the fiend in his place.

It was already around 8:30 when everyone arrived outside the wall of Mr. Katagiri's house. There was still time until ten o'clock. However, the Terror King might sneak into Mr. Katagiri's house before then.

So the boys decided to split up, hide themselves in the darkness surrounding Mr. Katagiri’s wall, and keep watch.

Near the gate, Kobayashi Shounen and two middle school members kept steady watch on the entrance from the shadows of street corners and utility poles. Inside the gate, two police officers patrolled back and forth. After maintaining their vigil for over thirty minutes, four black shadowy figures emerged hurriedly from Mr. Katagiri's gate in a tight cluster, as if they had waited for the officers to pass by. Three wore jet-black shirts and trousers, among whom stood a single golden figure.

"Ah! The Golden Mask!" Kobayashi-kun couldn't help but exclaim inwardly.

However, something felt off. The golden figure—perhaps injured—was limp, leaning against the three black-clad men, who were walking while supporting it from three sides. No sooner had the four figures exited the gate than another small, pitch-black figure leaped out from behind them. And he proceeded to follow after the four. It somehow had the feel of a tailing operation.

"Ah! Pocket Boy. As expected, he's nimble." Kobayashi-kun muttered to himself. That was Pocket Boy of the Hooligan Task Force. He was so small he could fit into a pocket—hence the nickname—but was remarkably bold and nimble. He had already accomplished many feats for the Boy Detectives Club on numerous occasions. Leader Kobayashi had stationed Pocket Boy alone inside the gate to keep watch, and that [Pocket Boy] was now tailing the suspicious foursome.

When the Golden Mask's group and Pocket Boy had turned the dark street corner ahead, two police officers came rushing out from inside the gate. Since the Terror King was expected to come tonight as Golden Mask, three police officers had been stationed at Mr. Katagiri's house for surveillance, but when two of them learned that the fiend had fled, they gave chase.

The police officers looked around restlessly, but there were no suspicious figures in the vicinity anymore. As they hesitated about what to do, Kobayashi Shounen leaped out from the shadow of a nearby utility pole.

When they saw this, the police officers braced themselves for a suspicious figure, but Kobayashi-kun strode briskly up to them and whispered something to the officers. “Yeah, got it. Alright, which way did they go?” “This way.” With that, Kobayashi Shounen took the lead ahead of the two police officers and hurried toward the street corner where the group of fiends had vanished moments earlier. After turning the street corner and proceeding for a short while, at the entrance of a narrow alley stood Pocket Boy, a pitch-black figure. Then, when he saw Kobayashi Shounen, he immediately approached him, bringing his mouth close to his ear, and whispered something.

“At the end of this alley, there’s a small vacant house." “The four guys apparently went inside there.” When Kobayashi-kun explained, the two police officers nodded and,

“Alright, then we’ll split into front and back and storm the vacant house from both sides.” “You all should stay as far away as possible because it’s dangerous.” The police officers said this and rushed into the alley under Pocket Boy’s guidance. Kobayashi Shounen, standing at the entrance of the alley, took out the detective whistle from his pocket and blew it—trill trill trill trill… He was summoning the Boy Detectives Club members. This detective whistle was also one of the seven essential detective tools.

If someone’s detective whistle was heard, the members were each to blow their own detective whistle to alert everyone.

Because Kobayashi-kun had blown his detective whistle, the sound of members keeping watch outside Mr. Katagiri's wall blowing their whistles one after another could be heard from afar.

And after a short while, a large number of members gathered around Kobayashi-kun. Kobayashi Shounen explained the situation to the members and decided to split into two teams to storm the vacant house from both the front and back entrances.

At that moment.

Out from the pitch-black alley, something came leaping forth like a gust of wind.

Thinking "Ah!" and looking closer, he saw that they were the three men in black shirts from earlier. Where had the Golden Mask gone? His figure was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey! It’s these guys!” “Everyone—grab them!”

Kobayashi-kun shouted this and leaped at one of the three.

Seeing this, the dozen-odd members also leaped at the three men, and a great struggle broke out in the darkness. The opponents were three; their side had a dozen-odd members. With four or five clinging to each one, even children couldn’t be taken lightly. Some leaped from behind to hang onto necks, others wrapped around arms, and there were even those who bit at wrists.

“Ouch!” “Damn it!” When they tried to break free with all their might and flee, another boy would sweep their legs out from under them, sending them crashing to the ground.

Even the strong villains had been thoroughly worn down, but since our side mostly consisted of small elementary students, they lacked the strength to keep restraining the villains indefinitely. One by one thrown off and struggling to rise back up, during this time of recovery, the three men in black shirts finally fled into the darkness.

Still, what had happened to those two police officers? The boys found it strange that despite their fierce fighting, no help came. Ah, that was it. The Terror King (Golden Mask) must still have been inside the vacant house. The officers were likely battling him two against one. The boys who had let the three villains escape crouched dejectedly at the alley's entrance. Some remained fallen, unable to rise. Others finally got up and rubbed their sore backsides. But fortunately, none had sustained serious injuries.

At that moment, from within the alley, a small pitch-black object came tumbling out. It was Pocket Boy. Pocket Boy searched through the darkness for Leader Kobayashi's figure, then drew near and whispered something in a hushed tone.

“Huh? The Golden Mask...?” Kobayashi-kun, startled, stood up.

“Yeah, that’s right. So the police officers told everyone to come.”

That was truly an astonishing piece of news. What on earth had happened to the Golden Mask?

“Alright, then let’s all go check it out.” Kobayashi the leader gathered the boys and proceeded into the alley. Ah, what could be waiting inside the vacant house? Wasn’t something dreadful going to occur? Or perhaps…

10 PM

This was the art room inside Mr. Katagiri's home.

Mr. Katagiri, the master of the house, and two students placed chairs in the center of the art room, sat down on them, and scrutinized every corner of the room. Needless to say, they were guarding the national treasure Buddha statue targeted by the Terror King. Mr. Katagiri’s children, Ichirou-kun and Miyoko-chan, remained awake in the tearoom with their mother. A plainclothes officer stood watch nearby. This precaution existed because letting the Terror King kidnap the two children would spell disaster.

This plainclothes officer had not noticed that the two uniformed officers had gone out the gate in pursuit of Golden Mask’s gang. Therefore, the three in the art room also had not known about this in the slightest.

Still, why had Golden Mask and his subordinates fled from Mr. Katagiri’s house before the promised 10 PM? What in the world could have been the reason for this? Inside the art room, Mr. Katagiri and two students patiently continued their vigil.

It was nearly ten o'clock. In the deathly quiet room, only the sound of the shelf clock could be heard—tick-tock, tick-tock. The clock's hands pointed to ten minutes to ten. Tick-tock, tick-tock—time marched inexorably forward.

Five minutes remained. ...Three minutes remained. The three of them turned their gaze in unison toward the golden Buddhist statue standing against the far wall—a figure roughly the size of an adult human. It was the national treasure Bodhisattva statue. Though said to be a masterpiece from the Nara period, its craftsmanship made it appear almost alive. A gentle, serene face and plump body radiated golden magnificence.

How on earth did the Terror King intend to steal such a large, heavy Buddhist statue? There was only one minute left. It was now one minute before ten o'clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock—the sound of the seconds being carved away marched on without rest.

Thirty seconds before... Twenty seconds before... Ten seconds before. And then, Ding, ding, ding, ding... went the shelf clock as it struck ten o'clock.

However, nothing happened. Had the Terror King finally given up on stealing it?

The three, still staring at the Buddha statue, let out a sigh of relief.

And then, at that very moment. The golden face of the Buddha statue they were staring at—didn't it just grin?

The three of them shuddered and found themselves unable to move. It had indeed laughed. The thousand-year-old Buddha statue laughed as if alive. But there was no way such a thing could happen. It must have been a trick of the eyes. It must have been an illusion.

But could it really be possible for all three of them to see the same illusion?

Then, yet another terrifying thing occurred.

The golden Buddha statue swayed unsteadily. “**Bwahahaha…**” Ah! The Buddha statue had started laughing in a terrifying voice. It was shaking its body and laughing.

“Bwahahaha… How’s that? Surprised?” “You’d forgotten I can transform into anything, hadn’t you?” “How’s that? This disguise is perfect!” “You never dreamed I could disguise myself as a Buddha statue, did you?” “Bwahahaha….”

As he said this, he stepped down from the pedestal and came thudding toward them. The golden Buddha statue started walking.

The three of them were too terrified to utter a word. They remained seated in their chairs, doing nothing but staring vacantly at the Buddha statue. “How about that? Have you grasped the Terror King’s techniques? Since I’ve disguised myself as the Buddha statue, the real one has long since been stolen away. “Last night, I sneaked in here and stole the Buddha statue, hiding it away in the garden shed. And tonight, my subordinate sneaked into the garden, took it from the shed, and carried it off.”

"But the promise was for tonight at ten o'clock, so until then, the Buddha statue had to remain here. If it had disappeared before ten, that would have meant breaking the promise." "I hate breaking promises." "So that's why I became the substitute Buddha statue like this and kept you all reassured." "Bwahahaha... And since I revealed my true identity exactly at ten o'clock, it still counts as keeping my promise." "The Buddha statue had been standing right here until this very moment, you see. Bwahahaha..."

The Terror King was now executing his signature precision. He was utterly delighted at having disguised himself as the Buddha statue and deceived everyone.

If the three of them had mustered their courage and lunged at the Terror King, being three against one, they might have been able to capture him. However, Mr. Katagiri and the students were so shocked by the Buddha statue starting to move like a ghost that they had no energy for such a thing.

At that moment, yet another strange thing occurred.

No sooner had the laughter from the Terror King's Buddha statue faded than another laugh echoed from somewhere like its reverberation.

“Bwahahaha….” It was much fainter than the Terror King’s voice—almost like an echo—but there could be no echo inside such a house. The three of them stared in shock at the Buddha statue’s mouth. Yet that mouth remained tightly shut, not laughing in the slightest.

So where on earth was this laughter coming from? “Bwahahaha….”

The laughter suddenly grew louder. Apparently, it seemed to be coming from behind. The three of them turned around.

The entrance door opened, and there stood a boy laughing. It was Kobayashi Shounen, the leader of the Boy Detectives Club. "You...!"

The Terror King, disguised as the Buddha statue, stared at Kobayashi-kun’s face in surprise. “Hahaha… You thought you’d locked us in the attic by disguising yourself as Akechi-sensei, but we escaped ages ago. “And I turned your own scheme against you.” “Hahaha… Do you get it?” “You went through all that trouble to disguise yourself as a Buddha statue, but it ended up being completely useless. “Hahaha… Do you get it?”

Kobayashi Shounen laughed as if thoroughly amused.

Storage Shed

“What? It didn’t accomplish anything at all?” The Golden Mask halted abruptly as if startled. Knowing Kobayashi Shounen’s cleverness all too well, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the situation was turning against him.

“Hahaha… That’s right. Your subordinates stole the Buddha statue and went out through the gate, flanking it from both sides. We of the Boy Detectives Club were lying in wait for that and gave chase. And we found that your subordinate had hidden the Buddha statue in an abandoned house and duly recovered it. Two police officers will be bringing it here any moment now.” “You went to all that trouble disguising yourself as the Buddha statue to fool everyone, but since the real one has been recovered, your disguise wasn’t any use at all. Do you get it now? Hahaha….”

When the Terror King heard this, he was truly astonished. He had never even dreamed that the Buddha statue had already been recovered. His disguise as the Buddha statue had turned out to be a complete waste of effort.

The Terror King stood silent for a moment, but he wasn’t one to be defeated by something like this. Finally regaining his composure, he burst into mocking laughter. “Bwahahaha… Kobayashi’s little hoodlums have pulled off quite the impressive trick.” “But you should know I’ve always got a backup plan ready.” “Hahaha… No matter how much you hoodlums strut around, I won’t budge an inch.”

Kobayashi-kun stiffened his body at this critical juncture, thinking the Terror King might produce a pistol. Sensing this immediately, the opponent— “Hahaha… I don’t carry dangerous tools like weapons,” he said. “I detest the sight of blood. What matters is intellect. My weapon is wisdom whose depths none can fathom.” “Hmph. Spoken like a sore loser,” Kobayashi shot back. “So what’s this ‘intellect’ of yours?”

Kobayashi-kun wasn’t about to back down either. “Well, you see… like this!” No sooner had he shouted than the Terror King, disguised as a Buddha statue, suddenly charged at Kobayashi-kun. The momentum was so fierce that Kobayashi-kun nearly got knocked down, making him instinctively dodge sideways and let it pass by. Then, just as he braced himself for the Terror King to lunge at him, the villain—having evaded his grasp—raced past Kobayashi-kun’s side and dashed toward the entrance like an arrow. He had escaped.

“Everyone, please come here. He got away, so please catch him...”

Kobayashi-kun gave chase while shouting in a voice that echoed through the house.

Hearing that voice, Mr. Katagiri and the two students came running out. When they exited the entranceway, it was a pitch-black garden. Kobayashi-kun looked around restlessly, but there was no sign of where the golden Buddha statue might have hidden itself. Just then, from the front gate came two police officers carrying the genuine Buddha statue. Trailing behind them came members of the Boy Detectives Club and boys from the Hooligan Task Force, filing in one after another.

“The Terror King disguised as a Buddha statue has escaped. Did you see any sign of him?”

At that moment, Mr. Katagiri, who had arrived there, called out to the police officers.

“No—we didn’t encounter any suspicious individuals.” “When did he escape?”

“Just now. If he left through the gate, he should have passed by you all.” “Then he didn’t escape through the gate.” “We didn’t encounter anyone.” “Then I guess he’s still hiding among the trees in the garden.”

“Let’s search.” “Let’s all split up and search.” Mr. Katagiri, two students, two police officers, seven or eight out of the seventeen members of the Boy Detectives Club and Hooligan Task Force (the remaining eight or nine were surrounding the wall and keeping watch). With this many people, there was no way they could fail to find him wherever he was hiding. Moreover, both the boys and the police officers were carrying flashlights.

Then, in the vast, pitch-dark garden, flashlight beams darted here and there like giant fireflies among the trees, searching every last corner. A police officer led five boys along the side of the building toward the back entrance, but when an adult approached from ahead, suspecting it might be the Terror King, he swiftly directed his flashlight toward them. However, it wasn’t a suspicious individual but another police officer who had been guarding the back entrance until now. Three police officers had come, and one of them had been persistently guarding the back entrance.

Thereupon, this police officer informed them that the Terror King disguised as a Buddha statue had escaped and asked if they had seen any suspicious individuals, but they answered that they had seen nothing. Now, things were growing uncertain. Where on earth had he vanished to?

At that moment, Kobayashi-kun came running up, swinging a flashlight. "No one escaped over the wall," he said. "The remaining Boy Detectives Club members and Hooligan Task Force were surrounding the perimeter on watch—they couldn't have missed him. He must still be in the garden." Kobayashi-kun suddenly lowered his voice and whispered something into a police officer's ear.

“Hmm, that might be it. Let’s check it out.”

The police officer said this and whispered something to another officer as well. Those present here were two police officers, five boys, and Kobayashi-kun.

Kobayashi-kun walked toward the far side of the garden, leading the group. A short distance from the main house, a storage shed stood among the trees. When they arrived near it, Kobayashi-kun stealthily muffled his footsteps as he approached the entrance door, listened intently, and peered inside to check the situation. It occurred to him that perhaps the Terror King was hiding inside this storage shed.

At that very moment.

Suddenly, the storage shed door swung open from the inside. And then, a strange man came slinking out! The boys instinctively recoiled, but upon closer inspection, it was a completely different person.

A disheveled man wearing khaki-colored pants and a jumper, with a salt-and-pepper beard covering his entire face.

“Wh-who are you?”

Kobayashi-kun demanded in a strong voice. “I’m the old gardener here at this house. There’s nothing suspicious about me.”

Come to think of it, there was supposed to be an old gardener at the Katagiri residence. "What were you doing in a storage shed at this hour?"

One of the police officers asked. “Oh, well, I left my cigarettes here during the day, so I came to get them.” “Look, here they are.” The old man said this and showed the “Shinsei” cigarettes he was holding in his hand. And then, without even turning around, he walked off somewhere.

Since the old man had gone inside, there was no way a suspicious person could be hiding in the storage shed. So they began walking to search elsewhere, but just then, Kobayashi-kun—as if struck by a thought—suddenly cried “Ah!” and stopped in his tracks.

The Person in the Tree

“Hey, Officer.” “The Terror King is a master of disguise, isn’t he?” “So, perhaps….”

“Huh? So you’re saying that old gardener we just saw is suspicious?” “Yes, perhaps that guy was actually the Terror King in disguise. Ah, I have an idea. Let’s check it out.” “Huh? You mean check it?” Ignoring the police officer’s puzzled expression, Kobayashi-kun suddenly flung open the door and stepped into the storage shed. Then, using his flashlight, he searched inside the shed—and found it almost immediately.

“Ah, I knew it! Officer, look at this!”

At the sound of his voice, the two police officers entered the shed. “Look, here it is.” Kobayashi-kun was holding a golden mask, a golden robe, and golden shirts and underpants in his hands. These were the disguise costumes used to impersonate a golden Buddhist statue. “Ah! Then that old man was…!” “Exactly. “He hid the old man’s fake beard and clothes here and changed into them.” "He had swiftly transformed from the golden Buddhist statue into the old gardener."

"Darn it! Has he finally escaped?" "No need to worry. The Boy Detectives Club are keeping watch around the perimeter wall. If he tries to flee, they'll sound their signal whistles. That means he can't possibly get outside yet—he must still be somewhere within these grounds." "Right! Let's regroup with others and search again!" One officer sprinted away to alert their comrades.

Then once again, the large firefly-like flashlight beams darted busily across the pitch-dark garden. "There he is! Over there!" It was Kobayashi Shounen who had spotted this too.

The flashlight's light faintly illuminated the old man from earlier running through the trees ahead. Peep-peep-peep... The summoning whistle resounded.

From out of nowhere came a loud cry, and everyone who had been searching the garden gathered around—Mr. Katagiri, two live-in students, three police officers, and seven or eight boys. Everyone, shouting something all at once, chased after the old man.

“Oh no!” “He’s started climbing that tall shii tree!” Oh, look there! The old gardener clung to the thick trunk of a tree so tall it must have been ten meters and was climbing up it with the agility of a monkey, wasn’t he? Everyone gathered under the tree and illuminated the old man’s figure with numerous flashlights, but before long, his figure vanished into the thick foliage.

“We’ll be fine keeping watch here. Even if he climbs to the treetop, he can’t go anywhere – he’s bound to get tired and come down eventually. We just need to wait here patiently.”

The police officer made such a complacent remark.

However, their opponent was none other than the sorcerer Terror King. Was everything truly going to be alright?

At that moment, the little Pocket Boy, who had been mingling among the boys, approached Kobayashi-kun and whispered something. “Oh right! That could be it!” Kobayashi-kun also immediately noticed that and spoke to the police officers. “This is bad! He can fly through the air! Look—didn’t that guy once fly into the sky from the top of a tree near Kyoto’s Thirty-Three Bay Hall? Then just the other day, he flew into the night sky from Queen Cinema’s roof. He can fly through the air!”

Urged by Kobayashi-kun, the police officers finally realized what was happening. Ah, when dealing with an opponent who could fly through the air, there was nothing they could do.

In that case, it would make sense to climb the tree and catch him before he took flight, but none of them could scale a tree like the Terror King. The idea that someone could climb such a thick, branchless trunk so effortlessly was beyond imagination. The police officers cursed, “Damn it!”, seething with frustration, but there was nothing they could do.

Meanwhile, up in the tree... Disguised as the old gardener, the Terror King climbed swiftly through the dense branches and leaves with the agility of an acrobat. He had already reached near the treetop. At that moment, a rustling sound—as if something was moving—came from above. Was there perhaps a bird at the top of this tree? No—it didn’t seem to be the flapping of a bird’s wings. It was the sound of something much larger moving.

The Terror King, startled, stopped climbing and pricked up his ears. The opponent was still rustling around. "Who's there? Who's there?" The Terror King involuntarily shouted.

And then—ah! What on earth was happening? Suddenly, from above, “Bwahaha….”

A human laugh came echoing down. The Terror King started and cowered. “Bwahaha… Hey, you there! I’ve destroyed your device. “You can’t fly anymore.”

The Terror King grew increasingly astonished and fell silent for a moment. But the sheer vexation of someone lying in ambush at the treetop became unbearable, and he found himself shouting back involuntarily. “Y-you bastard... Wh-what... What are you?”

Then, from above, laughter rang out again, "The person you fear most." "Hahaha... Don't you get it?" "I'm Akechi Kogorou."

“What… Akechi…?”

Oh, what an unexpected turn of events! At the very top of the oak tree in Mr. Katagiri’s garden, the famous detective Akechi Kogorou had been hiding. That was something even Kobayashi-kun hadn’t known at all. “Hahaha… Even the great Terror King is surprised, huh? If you're a magician, then I'm a magician too. “You claimed I had returned from Fukui Prefecture and deceived Kobayashi by impersonating me. And you locked the boys in the attic, didn’t you? However, just a little after you, I truly returned.”

Then I returned to the office, heard about this incident from Mayumi who was keeping watch, immediately called Mr. Katagiri, and came to understand all the circumstances. So I had Mr. Katagiri promise not to tell anyone about my return, waited for nightfall, sneaked into this garden, and searched through the tops of tall trees one after another. "What do you think I was looking for? A propeller attached to the back—like a miniaturized helicopter. Hahaha... I knew about that. About five years ago, a certain thief got hold of a small propeller invented in France and used it. He strapped the machine to his back and could fly through the air. Since I'd seen that machine before, when I heard you planned to fly through the sky, I immediately remembered it."

“And I found that machine hidden at the top of this oak tree. Ha ha ha! If I say this much, you should understand by now. You had hidden that propeller here in this tree for emergencies. That’s how I went ahead and destroyed it to make sure it wouldn’t work.” When Akechi’s lengthy explanation concluded, the Terror King muttered bitterly, “Damn it…,” and made as if to flee.

However, if he climbed down, a crowd of people surrounded the tree trunk. If he climbed up instead, even should he manage to push Akechi off, with the crucial propeller already destroyed, there would be nothing he could do. Even the Terror King was now stymied on all fronts.

“You are Twenty Faces!” “Ahahaha… How’s that? Did you ever imagine I’d be hiding at the very top of the tree?” “And I’ve destroyed your final trump card—the aerial flight propeller.” “Hahaha… Hey, Terror King, aren’t you going to say something?” Akechi's voice came from above, filtering through the leaves.

“I give up. “Never imagined you’d outmaneuvered me this completely. “What now?”

“I just wanted to surprise you, that’s all.”

“You want to surprise me? You’re not done yet?” “Yeah, there’s even more.” “What on earth is it?” “Your true identity.” “What? My true identity?” “Your true identity is Twenty Faces!”

Akechi's voice resounded from the darkness of the thick foliage like thunder.

The Terror King remained silent. Akechi's voice continued.

“Following your established pattern, you skillfully escaped prison using a dummy bullet.” “Then, after about two months had passed, the masked Terror King appeared.” “Through your disguises, I had mostly figured out you were Twenty Faces.” “But it was only after you took flight that I became certain of it.” “The one who flies through the sky with a small helicopter-like machine attached to their back—there’s no one else but you.” “It’s the propeller you purchased from a French inventor back when you disguised yourself as a space alien.” “After all, in all of Japan, only Twenty Faces possesses such a machine.”

However, while Akechi kept talking like this, the Terror King Twenty Faces was doing something strange.

Twenty Faces, disguised as the old gardener, sat down on a tree branch, grabbed a higher branch with his left hand, pulled out a flashlight from his pocket with his right hand, stretched that arm out toward the outside of the wall, and flicked the light on and off repeatedly. “Hey, Twenty Faces, quit keeping quiet. Why don’t you take off that helmet already?” When Akechi spoke as if delivering the final blow, a burst of laughter suddenly echoed back.

“Wahahahaha… Akechi-kun, I’ll obediently come down now. But you see, I’ve always got backup plans for my backup plans ready. I disguised myself as the Golden Mask, as a Buddha statue, as the old gardener—and finally tried to escape by propeller, but you got in my way. But my backup plans don’t end here. There might still be layer upon layer of backup plans hidden away. Hahahaha….”

Twenty Faces' voice gradually grew quieter. He seemed to be descending down the tree trunk while talking. “Hey! He’s coming down now! Look out!” “Be careful not to let him escape!” After shouting this warning, Akechi himself began climbing down. Below, over a dozen people were lying in wait. Twenty Faces, seemingly with some plan in mind, obediently descended the tree trunk and held out both hands in front of everyone. Three police officers stepped forward, and one of them snapped handcuffs onto Twenty Faces' wrists with a click.

Then, they decided to call a patrol car to take him to the Metropolitan Police Department, and the group of over a dozen people surrounded Twenty Faces and headed out to the main street beyond the gate. Just then, No sooner had they heard the roaring VROOOOM... than something enormous came barreling into their midst with terrifying force. It was a scooter. They cried "Ah!" and cleared the path. Then, someone—with acrobatic agility—leapt onto the scooter speeding away at a terrifying pace.

“Ah! That’s him!” “He’s getting away!”

The police officers cried out in unison.

The one who jumped onto the back of the scooter was Twenty Faces. He had somehow managed to remove the handcuffs without anyone noticing. Slipping out of handcuffs was child’s play for a magician like Twenty Faces.

And the monstrous scooter, leaving behind everyone's shouts, dashed away down the pitch-dark avenue like an arrow.

One police officer rushed into the Katagiri residence, called the police station, and requested that a cordon be set up. The remaining two officers jumped into the patrol car waiting ahead and chased after the suspicious scooter. About twenty minutes later, the patrol car discovered the suspicious scooter lying abandoned in a clump of grass within a lonely field of a town far away.

However, despite their best efforts, they could find neither hide nor hair of where the guy on the scooter or Twenty Faces had gone. The next day’s newspapers blazoned this incident in bold headlines, leaving society utterly consumed by rumors of Twenty Faces. Whether in trains, buses, barbershops, or cafés—whenever two or more people gathered, the conversation would inevitably turn to Twenty Faces.

Ah，Twenty Faces came again. He had been captured time and again. But no matter how many times they caught him，he would escape from prison like a phoenix and reemerge into society. And thus，he made not just Tokyo but all of Japan’s people tremble in fear. Where on earth was Twenty Faces hiding? After all，he was a master of disguise. No matter what form he took or where he concealed himself，even the considerable power of the police could not easily discover him.

Inside the Trunk

It was an evening about a week later, on a dreary, overcast day.

Kobayashi Shounen and Pocket Boy were walking along a desolate avenue in Setagaya Ward. On both sides, ordinary residences and shops were intermingled and lined up, but it wasn’t bustling enough to be called a shopping district. The foot traffic was extremely sparse when, at that moment, a large automobile came driving from the opposite direction and passed right in front of Kobayashi Shounen and his companion. “Hey, that car looks suspicious!”

Pocket Boy shouted. “Huh? Why is it suspicious?” Kobayashi-kun inquired. “But it glittered! It glittered gold, I tell you.”

“What glittered?” “I didn’t notice.” “The face! It glittered!” “The face of the guy driving the automobile was golden, I tell you.” “Wait… Then, the Golden Mask…?” “Could be, I tell ya.” “Ah! The automobile stopped.” “Look!” “He’s coming down!”

That's right.

The automobile came to a stop about a hundred meters ahead, and from inside emerged a peculiar man. He had turned up the fluffy collar of his black mantle and wore a black soft hat pulled down low. Because it was evening, they couldn’t see clearly, but from beneath the soft hat with its brim pulled down low, something golden glinted. It was indeed the Golden Mask. The Golden Mask is none other than Twenty Faces.

The man in the black mantle entered the premises of a reputable art dealer operating there. “Let’s check it out.”

Kobayashi Shounen led Pocket Boy and quietly approached the art dealer’s front. The parked automobile was empty. Twenty Faces had driven it here himself. The art dealer had a splendid show window. Inside stood a gilded Buddha statue that was much smaller than the Katagiri family’s yet still ancient, surrounded by an array of small Buddhist statues and ancient dolls unearthed from the earth.

When they peered into the store, the man in the black mantle was pointing at the gilded Buddha in the show window and saying something to the clerk.

“Hey, Mr. Kobayashi, he’s going to either buy or steal that gilded Buddha, load it into the automobile, and take it back to his place. So, let’s do what we always do and tail him, okay? Then we’ll find out where his hideout is.” Pocket Boy whispered.

“Yeah, that’s a good plan.” “I was thinking the same thing.” “Alright, let’s test whether that automobile’s trunk will open.”

Kobayashi-kun said this and approached the rear of the automobile, taking care not to be noticed by the man in the black mantle inside the store. Pocket Boy also followed after him. “Ah, perfect! “It’s not locked.” Kobayashi-kun looked around, confirmed there was no one passing by, then opened the trunk lid and climbed inside. After that, Pocket Boy also climbed in.

Fortunately, since there was nothing inside the trunk, the two of them were able to bend their bodies and lie down horizontally.

But was this truly safe? Mightn't some troublesome consequence arise later? The pair had overlooked one crucial matter. Had they realized it, they wouldn't have hidden in a trunk but rather used a red telephone to notify either Detective Akechi or Inspector Nakamura, entrusting adults with apprehending Twenty Faces. That would indeed have been the safest approach. The error stemmed from Kobayashi-kun and Pocket Boy both desiring to claim glory through their own efforts without seeking adult assistance. The two were fated to soon encounter a dreadful fate.

Putting that aside, let us return to the art dealer’s shop. The clerk finally noticed the golden face of the man in the black mantle, gasped in shock, turned deathly pale, and stood frozen in place. In the shop, there was only the clerk, and there was no one to help him. Even if he tried to call for help, he was so terrified that he couldn’t muster the strength to raise his voice. Twenty Faces as the Golden Mask briskly entered behind the show window, opened the glass door there, took out the gilded Buddha statue, and then swiftly exited out front.

Twenty Faces emerged onto the main street, looked around, concealed the gilded Buddha statue inside his mantle, and approached the automobile.

Oh no, this was bad! Twenty Faces had circled to the rear of the automobile before opening the driver’s door, hadn’t he? Of course. He meant to put the gilded Buddha statue into the back trunk.

Why on earth hadn't Kobayashi-kun and the others noticed that? They had known in advance that if Twenty Faces stole a Buddha statue, he might put it in the trunk. Kobayashi-kun and the others had carelessly overlooked that. The trunk lid opened smoothly. And there stood the golden-faced figure. "Ah, you're Kobayashi and Pocket Boy, aren't you?" "Very well. If you want to follow me that badly, I'll take you along as you wish." "However, you can't try to escape midway." "Got that?"

No sooner had he spoken than he shoved the Buddha statue between Kobayashi-kun and the others, snapped the trunk lid shut, and clicked the lock into place. Oh no, things took a terrible turn. Kobayashi-kun and Pocket Boy became captives of Twenty Faces. They had no idea where they were being taken. And they had no idea what kind of terrifying ordeal awaited them.

The automobile started moving. Inside the trunk, no matter how much they shouted, it wouldn’t be heard outside. There was no one to save them. The automobile kept moving endlessly. Had an hour already passed? From around that time, the road suddenly began to worsen. As the automobile jolted and shook violently, the two of them wrapped their arms around their heads. If they didn’t, they would bash their heads against the metal plate.

The road was not only bumpy, but as they began climbing a slope, the automobile's speed gradually decreased. Could they have entered a mountain pass? It had already been two hours since departing from the art dealer's shop. After driving another thirty minutes, the car finally stopped. Had they reached Twenty Faces' lair at last? A short time later came the click of a lock, and the trunk lid opened. Peering out nervously, they saw not the black-mantled man but two brutish fellows who appeared to be Twenty Faces' underlings, standing with gleaming eyes.

It was already pitch dark outside. A cold wind swept in. It was the smell of mountains. It was the smell of the forest. This place was near Tokyo—it had to be somewhere in the mountains. “You punks, get out!” The subordinate shouted in a loud, hoarse voice.

With no other choice, Kobayashi-kun and Pocket Boy climbed out of the trunk. One of the subordinates carried the gilded Buddha statue under his arm. Then the two of them grabbed Kobayashi-kun and Pocket Boy by their hands and proceeded to drag them off somewhere.

In the darkness, a black building loomed dimly into view. It was a two-story brick structure. An aged Western-style mansion. Strange that such a mansion stood in these mountains—though they would later learn why. The four opened the iron entrance door and stepped inside. Perhaps operating their own generator, dim electric lights illuminated the broad hallway.

After turning many corners through that hallway, the two boys were led to an innermost room.

It was a splendid, spacious room with a cut-glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling that brightly illuminated the entire space.

It was a beautiful room, as if studded with jewels. This was because splendid glass display cases were lined up around the room, each containing all manner of artworks. Ancient Buddha statues, gleaming swords and other blades, crowns studded with jewels, necklaces, beautiful jewelry boxes and vases—all were artworks that made one’s eyes widen. As the two boys looked around at it, standing dumbfounded, the front door opened, and Twenty Faces appeared. He was disguised as the Golden Mask.

A golden turban, a golden face as eerie as a Noh mask, a golden mantle, golden trousers, golden shoes. The monster opened its golden mouth with a creak into a crescent shape and laughed. “How about that? Isn’t it something?” “This is the treasure I’ve collected.” “Since you discovered Kimen Castle and ruined that museum there, I built a new one here.” “No—not only here.” “I have many other museums.” “This place is merely one part of it.”

“You went through hell at Kimen Castle, didn’t you? I’ve got a special score to settle with Pocket Boy here. That’s why I brought you brats here—to make you understand what happens when you cross me. I don’t kill. Murder turns my stomach. But I’ll give you nightmares that’ll haunt your sleep. Let this be a lesson to anyone stupid enough to challenge Twenty Faces!”

“So you’re planning to torture us, huh?” Pocket Boy shouted. “No—I’m not going to torture you. I won’t subject you to pain. I’ll just make sure you experience something terrifying.” “But if you keep us locked up here for long, Akechi-sensei will come to rescue us. Akechi-sensei knows everything there is to know, you know. Then you’ll be ruined. The museum you went to all this trouble to build will be ruined too, you know.”

Kobayashi-kun said confidently.

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear your threats.” “You’re headed straight to hell.” “Now see for yourselves what terrifying ordeal awaits you.” “There...!”

No sooner had he spoken than the floorboards where Kobayashi-kun and Pocket Boy stood vanished in an instant. The two boys suddenly floated in midair and then smoothly fell downward. The floor there had been made into a trapdoor. When Twenty Faces pressed a button somewhere, the trapdoor's opening had been set up to open. The two landed hard on their backsides in the pitch-dark depths underground.

For a while, they lacked even the strength to rise up, but when they suddenly became aware of their surroundings, two blue glowing objects had appeared lined up in the darkness ahead. They seemed like the eyes of some terrifying monster. Gorilla. “Hey, Mr. Kobayashi—should we try turning on our flashlights?”

Pocket Boy whispered softly. They thought illuminating their surroundings would reveal their location and prove dangerous, but since not knowing their adversary's true nature felt even more unnerving, Kobayashi-kun resolved to turn on his flashlight. "Yeah, then I'll turn mine on too. Ready? One, two, three...!" Then the two of them each pulled out a fountain pen-style flashlight—one of their seven essential tools—from their pockets and abruptly shone them forward.

“Oh no! Turn it off!” “Turn it off!” The two hurriedly turned off the flashlights.

What was it that had been revealed in the flashlight’s beam? It was a large gorilla. It was that terrifying gorilla they had seen at the zoo. Moreover, it was a massive brute, as big as a human. The creature was staggering toward them in an unnatural gait! When they turned off the lights, two blue glowing eyes began creeping closer through the returning darkness.

Without a moment to think, they took each other's hands and fled in the opposite direction.

The basement was spacious, but there were walls on all four sides. Once they reached the wall, there would be nowhere left to go.

The two pressed their bodies tightly against the cold brick wall and edged sideways to put as much distance as possible from the gorilla's eyes. "Ah! There's something like a door here!" Pocket Boy, who had been feeling along the wall, exclaimed. "Where?" "Oh! Right." "It's a door." "Let's test whether it opens." Kobayashi-kun put his strength into pushing the door-like structure.

Then, with a creak—the thick wooden door swung open to the other side. “Listen. Jump out and close it right away. If that thing gets out, we’re done for.” With those words, Kobayashi-kun grabbed Pocket Boy’s hand, pulled him outside, immediately shut the door tight, and leaned against it to prevent it from opening from inside. The two pressed their backs against the door and braced themselves.

Since this building stood on a mountainside slope, what was a basement when viewed from the front was at ground level with the mountain from the rear. "I wonder if there's a stick or a large stone around here. If we do that, we could keep the door from opening, though."

Kobayashi-kun said this and shone his flashlight around the area, but found nothing. Since they were in the forest, there were plenty of trees growing around, but nowhere could they find a suitable piece of wood to use as a prop. Although pebbles lay scattered across the ground, there were no stones large enough to keep the door from opening.

Before long, the wooden door they were pressing their backs against began to creak and move. The gorilla inside was pushing. "Put your strength into it! If this door gets opened, we're done for." Kobayashi-kun tried to encourage Pocket Boy, but given that he was a small child—small enough to fit in a pocket—he had no strength. Moreover, even as the leader of the Boy Detectives Club, Kobayashi-kun was still just a boy himself.

Grunting and straining as they braced their feet, but clearly the gorilla inside was stronger. The feet they'd planted were scraping and sliding forward!

Inside the cave “It’s no use anymore. Let’s run. Run that way!” Kobayashi-kun grabbed Pocket Boy’s hand, abruptly moved away from the door, and started running.

From inside, something had been pushing with all its might; when resistance gave way abruptly, the door flew open with a clatter—and a large brown mass came tumbling out with a thud.

The two boys looked back over their shoulders as they ran, catching sight of it. Because their eyes had adjusted to the darkness, the surroundings became faintly visible.

They saw the large gorilla, carried by its momentum, tumbling head over heels. Apparently having struck something, it continued rolling and remained unable to rise for some time. “Now’s our chance! Let’s get out of here! Hurry, hurry….”

Kobayashi-kun grabbed Pocket Boy's hand and ran for dear life. Since Pocket Boy had short legs, he couldn't possibly run that fast. He followed along as if being dragged bodily. It was a narrow path like a valley floor, sheer rocky cliffs towering on both sides. They kept running frantically, but after covering about a hundred meters, the path abruptly disappeared.

Ahead, tall rocky mountains towered on both sides, making the path resemble a dead-end alley. The path came to an abrupt end there.

Kobayashi-kun turned around. Then, oh—it was hopeless. The enormous gorilla filled the valley path, staggering toward them. "Grrr…." A terrifying growl echoed through the valley, reverberating ominously. The gorilla swung its long arms loosely while hunching its back, thrust its head forward, and snapped open its fanged mouth in a growl.

It growled as if to say, “You punks think I’ll let you escape?” The two no longer felt alive.

In front and on both sides, they were blocked by sheer rocky mountains, and behind them was the gorilla. They had completely lost all means of escape. The gorilla was still staggering forward. If it were to run on all fours, it could reach here in a single bound, but instead, it was walking in an uncanny manner using only its hind legs. Perhaps it had injured itself somewhere when it fell earlier.

“Ah! There’s a deep cave here!”

Pocket Boy noticed it and shouted. Because it was dark, they couldn’t see clearly, but there was indeed an opening to a cave there. It was a large cave, spacious enough for a person to stand and walk through. There was no time to think about anything. Their only escape was here. The gorilla was already almost upon them. The two abruptly entered the cave. They rushed in frantically, but upon reflection, it was that ill-advised cave. In the depths, there was no telling what might be lurking.

A musty, chilly earthy smell hung in the air as cold droplets plopped down—plop, plop—from above onto the backs of their necks. But they pressed onward regardless, advancing about three meters. "Do you think that gorilla will notice this cave?"

Pocket Boy whispered worriedly. "Yeah, it'll definitely notice. It can probably see even at night and sniff out our scent. It'll be here any minute now. But before that, we need to check what kind of place this cave is..." Kobayashi-kun said this, turned on his flashlight, and shone it around the area.

Upon entering, the area was rocky for a short distance, but further in became an earthen mound. On both sides of the tunnel stood thick log pillars, with similar logs laid horizontally across them as crossbeams. They served to prevent soil collapse. When he shone the light further ahead, those pillars and crossbeams appeared to continue at intervals of about two meters, stretching into the distance. "This must be some sort of mine. They dug this tunnel to extract ore. I've been inside mine shafts before—that's how I know. But this one's been abandoned for ages. Look—those wooden pillars and crossbeams have completely rotted away. They could collapse any moment. You need to watch your step here."

Kobayashi-kun continued explaining as he gradually made his way deeper into the cave.

It was later discovered that this cave had been created long ago not for mining ore, but to excavate Ōban and Koban gold coins from the Tokugawa period. During the Meiji Restoration, there was a legend that the Tokugawa Shogunate had hidden its official funds within these mountains, and a person who obtained the ciphertext indicating their hiding place spent an enormous sum to dig these holes. This cave was extremely deep, with numerous branching paths where one could easily lose their way and become unable to escape.

It is said that the red-brick Western-style mansion serving as Twenty Faces’ hideout was specially built by the person attempting to excavate the gold coins so they could settle there and work.

However, that was already thirty years ago. No matter how much they dug, they couldn't find any gold coins, and eventually, with their funds exhausted, they gave up. The Western-style mansion was left abandoned as it was, uninhabited. Twenty Faces had discovered that old Western-style mansion, made various repairs and improvements, and turned it into his hideout.

Now, it was when Kobayashi-kun and Pocket Boy had fled ten meters into the cave.

A low, rumbling growl…

An indescribably terrifying growl echoed through the cave and resounded.

“Ah! The gorilla! It’s come in!” “The gorilla’s come in!” Pocket Boy said in a trembling voice.

Kobayashi-kun swiftly swung his flashlight toward the cave entrance.

Just as he thought. There, about ten meters ahead, stood that enormous gorilla, blocking their path! Kobayashi-kun hurriedly turned off the flashlight. Even with it off, this might prove futile—the creature could likely see in darkness—but keeping it lit would only make them more vulnerable. It was when they had advanced another five or six steps. With a terrifying flapping sound, something large grazed over the heads of the two.

Eyes of the Monster “Ah! It looked like a big bird.” “What was that?” Pocket Boy latched onto Kobayashi-kun. “It’s definitely a bat.” “In caves like these, there are usually bats living here.” Kobayashi-kun explained.

At that moment, a blood-curdling shriek—"Gyaaa!"—rang out from behind them, accompanied by the frantic flapping of wings.

“Ah, I see. The gorilla’s catching and eating bats… That should delay it from coming this way for a bit. Let’s escape while we can!”

Kobayashi-kun pulled Pocket Boy along, pressing deeper into the cave's depths. The pitch-black uneven path forced them to intermittently flash their flashlight; otherwise, safe passage would be impossible. Yet they always promptly switched it off. Keeping it lit risked transforming its beam into a gorilla-attracting beacon. Had they penetrated twenty meters deeper? When they flicked the flashlight on again, their environment had transformed.

The dripping water from above grew increasingly heavy; the soil turned clammy and soft as it cascaded down from both sides of the path. In that area, log pillars had also multiplied—erected at one-meter intervals—but they were rotted through, some among them collapsed entirely. There was no telling when soil might come crashing down from overhead. Moreover, their feet kept catching on dirt sliding across the path, making even walking require bone-wearying effort.

"Grrr..." Once again, the gorilla's growl echoed through the air. However, it came from much farther back. Why didn't the gorilla immediately leap at the two boys? Perhaps it had been injured somewhere and couldn’t run quickly? Or perhaps, just as a cat delights in toying with a mouse rather than devouring it immediately, the gorilla too might have been amusing itself by playing with them.

At that moment, Kobayashi-kun let out a cheerful voice. “Ah! A branch path!”

When he flicked on the flashlight, he caught sight of it. The cave passage split into two paths - right and left. The right side appeared wider than the left. "Alright, we'll take the right path." "Don't turn on the light." "We need to make sure they don't know which way we went." "That way, the gorilla might head into the left tunnel." "And we might actually escape." "I've been waiting for a branch path like this all along."

With those words, Kobayashi-kun took Pocket Boy by the hand and proceeded into the right cave passage.

After proceeding a short distance, the path curved in such a way that they could no longer be seen from behind, so they hurriedly flicked on the flashlight and snapped it off again.

In that instant, from what they could see at a glance, the state of the cave passage hadn’t changed much from before.

Still, there was the soft soil threatening to collapse at any moment; piles of earth spilling onto the path; rotten log pillars. “Walk quietly. “Even the vibrations from our footsteps could make the soil collapse.”

Kobayashi-kun continued pressing deeper while saying this, but after taking five or six steps, he suddenly stopped and listened intently.

From the distance came the sound of footsteps crunching through the soil—crunch, crunch.

“Oh? Has it come this way?” “If it had gone into the left hole， there’s no way we’d be hearing footsteps this clearly.”

Kobayashi-kun whispered and stared fixedly into the darkness. However, with a bend immediately ahead, there was no way to see through. Crunch... crunch... crunch... The footsteps gradually drew closer. And then, in the darkness, a round, blue-glowing object flickered into view. First one appeared, and then another. Eyes. The gorilla's eyes. Kobayashi-kun didn’t know whether gorilla eyes could glow in complete darkness, but these eyes were indeed shining like phosphorus. There must have been some reason for this.

When they saw those terrifying eyes, the two involuntarily cried "Ah!" and sprinted deeper into the cave passage. They had no time left to consider whether their footfalls might trigger another soil collapse.

They had only run a short distance when another cry of "Ah...!" rang out. They had tripped over something and fallen. And the two thrust their faces into the cold soil. There lay a large mound of collapsed earth. The mound was blocking the path's left side. The two were momentarily startled, but once realizing this, they couldn't remain lying there. Because the gorilla was closing in right behind them.

Those two blue eyes were glowing just about five meters ahead. The two scrambled to their feet, frantically groped through the mound of soil with their hands until they found a gap on the right side, slipped through it, and circled around to the back of the mound. The gorilla had come right up to the other side of the soil mound. When they turned around, the two phosphorus-like glowing eyes appeared to blaze with anger, shining even more intensely.

Ah, that was when it happened.

A terrifying event occurred—as if the very world had been turned upside down.

Cave-in.

Suddenly, a whooshing sound came from somewhere, and soft soil began clattering down on their heads like an evening shower.

In that instant, Kobayashi-kun thought the gorilla might be scooping up soil with its hands and flinging it at them, but that wasn't the case. It was something far more terrifying. At that moment, a major catastrophe occurred inside the cave. A deep, earth-shaking rumble could be heard. And then, with a thunderous crash, large rocks and clumps of soil came raining down from above, completely sealing off the cave in an instant.

It was a cave-in. That massive collapse of earth often occurs when digging mine shafts. In mines, cave-ins can bury many people—dozens at a time—alive. You must be familiar with how frequently such newspaper articles appear. After the terrifying sound—as if heaven and earth had been overturned—and the earth-shaking rumble continued, suddenly everything fell into dead silence. Ah—had Kobayashi-kun and the others finally been crushed beneath the cave-in?

But no—that didn't seem to be the case. At least the nimble Pocket Boy remained alive. When the dreadful noise struck, he instantly twisted his body deeper into the cave and survived. Pocket Boy too felt anxious about Commander Kobayashi. Earlier, amid the earthslide's rumble, he'd heard an unspeakably horrific scream. It was a shriek defying categorization—neither human nor animal, a shrill unearthly cry. If that had been Commander Kobayashi's final scream...

Pocket Boy hurriedly turned on the flashlight and shone it around the area. Oh, thank goodness. Commander Kobayashi was not crushed beneath the soil; he was merely lying collapsed. That was close. If he had been fifty centimeters further, he would have been crushed.

However, he remained collapsed without moving. Pocket Boy grew worried again. Could it be that he had been struck on the head by a falling rock and died? Pocket Boy went to Kobayashi-kun’s side and placed his hand over his mouth to check. He was definitely breathing. He’s okay—his life was saved. But could he be seriously injured?

Pocket Boy tried to lift Kobayashi-kun up. However, being a small child who could practically fit into a pocket himself, he couldn't manage to lift him. After much struggling and trying every approach he could think of, Kobayashi-kun finally opened his eyes.

“Oh, did I pass out?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Did you get hurt?”

Kobayashi-kun rubbed his entire body to check. "I'm fine." "I must've hit my head on something." "Oh! There's blood coming from your forehead." "Yeah." "I hit my forehead here." "That's why I passed out."

Kobayashi-kun had taken out a handkerchief and was pressing it against the wound when his face suddenly grew worried. "How long was I out?" "Just a bit. About a minute." "So not much time has passed since the cave-in then." "And what about him?" "Him?" "It's obvious, isn't it? The gorilla." "Oh, that guy. When the soil fell, he let out an incredible scream. But since he was way beyond the dirt pile where we'd been hiding, he might've escaped. Ah, Kobayashi! We're saved, aren't we? The soil collapsed and blocked the path—that guy can't get through here anymore."

Pocket Boy was relieved, but had the two of them truly been saved? Could there not be something even more terrifying than the gorilla lying in wait? “Anyway, since we can’t get out from here, we have no choice but to head deeper in.” “If we head deeper, somewhere along the way the path might loop back around, and we might be able to get out of the cave.” So both of them turned on their flashlights and, swinging them around to illuminate their path, proceeded deeper into the cave. And when they had walked about twenty meters.

“Oh no! The soil on this side is collapsing too!”

Kobayashi-kun shouted. The passage was blocked by soil like a dead end. The soil appeared to be from an old cave-in and had dried. Because the pillars and crossbeams were rotten, there might be cave-ins like this throughout the area. Since both ends of the cave were blocked, the two boys found themselves sealed inside a tunnel approximately twenty meters long.

There was no longer any hope of rescue.

“Won’t we end up unable to breathe before long?” Pocket Boy, already having noticed this, said in a disheartened voice. That was true. Even if it was twenty meters long, it was still a narrow tunnel. If the oxygen in the air were to run out, the two of them would have to die in these pitch-dark depths of the earth. “We’ll be fine. The flashlight batteries will last longer than that. During that time, we’ll rack our brains and think.”

Kobayashi-kun said in a way that would reassure Pocket Boy.

“We’ve got no choice but to dig through this soil and tunnel our way out.” “Yeah, but digging at the current collapse site won’t work. Because it’s all waterlogged—no matter how much we dig, soil just keeps falling down from above. If we’re not careful, there might be a second cave-in. And this time, we might actually get buried for good.”

“Hmm… You’re right… This is bad…”

Pocket Boy crossed his small arms and shook his head as if deeply troubled.

Ah, what on earth was to become of the two of them? Would any clever idea come to Kobayashi-kun’s mind? (If it didn’t come to mind…)

The Power of Perseverance

“Then let’s try digging through the soil over there. Since it collapsed long ago, it might’ve dried out by now.” “Yeah. Let’s try it. There’s no other way for us to get saved.”

So Kobayashi-kun went to the site of the older cave-in and tried removing the soil with both hands. Since the soil wasn’t too hard, they could manage to dig through it by hand. Rotten wooden pillars leaned at an angle, buried in the soil, but even when they dug through the earth beneath them, there was no sign of anything else collapsing further. They had become caught against something and stopped moving. There seemed to be no risk of a second cave-in occurring.

Kobayashi-kun scooped out soil with both hands and dug a hole about fifty centimeters deep. When he pushed the excavated soil backward, Pocket Boy carried it to a spot where it wouldn't hinder their work.

The two of them worked diligently in the pitch darkness. The flashlights had been turned off to conserve the batteries. Before long, Kobayashi-kun found dirt painfully packed under his fingernails until he couldn't bear it any longer. "Hey, you—take over for a bit. I need to find something to dig with." After saying this, he had Pocket Boy take over, then turned on the flashlight and scanned the area while doing so.

“Ah, found it! This will do.” It was a flat, triangular stone. When they dug it out from the soil and tried using it, they found it worked quite well as a substitute for a shovel. After finding this stone shovel, their work suddenly progressed rapidly. The hole they had dug gradually deepened until they had to crawl into the narrow space to continue their labor. It was grueling work. Though the soil wasn’t particularly hard, after digging forward a little over a meter, they were completely exhausted.

“You can’t keep doing this alone—you’ll wear yourself out completely.” “Let’s take shifts.” “You and I will take turns doing the digging.” If one person dug, the other would carry the soil out of the hole. After transporting the soil thirty times, they decided to switch. And then, once again, they continued their work with all their might. “Hey Kobayashi, even if we manage to escape here after all this struggle, we don’t know what’s on the other side.”

In the darkness, Pocket Boy spoke up while carrying soil.

“Yeah… you’re right about that.”

“What if the tunnel ahead is completely filled in? No matter how much we dig and dig, won’t we just end up trapped?”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Even if the tunnel ahead isn’t blocked, walking through it would just lead to a dead end, wouldn’t it? No matter which path we take, we might not survive this.”

Pocket Boy said in a voice on the verge of tears. “Hey hey now – none of that spineless talk! I've read plenty of adventure stories where perseverance through tough times makes all the difference! You've got to push through no matter what! Do that and fortune might just smile on us! Heaven helps those who help themselves! Give up now crying 'It's hopeless' and we're done for! Even God won't lift a finger for quitters! Listen Pocket-kun – keep at it! So long as we keep digging our way out – something good'll come our way!”

However, because Kobayashi-kun kept urging "Keep going, keep going!" with such fervor, something outrageous happened.

It was when they had dug two meters further. A rotten pillar buried in the soil stood in their way, and just as someone tried removing it with a forceful tug—krrrk...—the earth there came crashing down onto Kobayashi-kun's head. Everything from his waist up became completely buried.

“Ugh… ugh…,” he groaned, but could neither shout nor move. His face lay completely smothered under soil—unable to breathe, let alone cry out. Left like this, death seemed certain. Startled by the thunderous collapse, Pocket Boy switched on his flashlight and aimed its beam into the hole’s depths. Commander Kobayashi’s legs twisted in tortured writhing. His head remained buried, invisible beneath the earth.

“Whoa, this is bad!” Pocket Boy suddenly grabbed Kobayashi-kun’s legs with both hands and tried to pull him out with a heave-ho, heave-ho effort.

Because the soil was heavy, it wouldn’t budge easily. But since it would be disastrous if his beloved Commander Kobayashi died, Pocket Boy continued pulling on the legs with his face turning crimson, enduring with all his might. Buried in the soil, Kobayashi-kun also realized this, so within the earth, he moved both hands with all his strength and tried to shift his body backward. In this way, with their combined strength, Kobayashi-kun’s body was able to emerge from the soil, one centimeter at a time, one centimeter at a time.

However, this required a long, patient effort that had to be sustained. It truly was one centimeter at a time, one centimeter at a time. It took quite some time to pull his entire body out. “Ah, what a terrible ordeal I’ve been through.” Kobayashi-kun was wiping his mud-streaked face with a handkerchief while huffing and puffing, his shoulders heaving with each breath. It must have been terribly suffocating. “What on earth happened?”

Pocket Boy shone his flashlight on the Commander’s pitiful face and asked. "It was my fault. As I was digging along, a wooden stick in the soil got in the way, so I tried to yank it out with all my strength. The force of that caused soil to come crashing down from above. It’s not a full cave-in or anything, though. We’ll be more careful when digging from now on." "So you’re still planning to dig, even after all that?"

Pocket Boy was amazed by Kobayashi-kun’s courage. “Of course. Now that it’s come to this, we'll leave our fate to heaven. And then we'll try everything within human power. Persevere to the very end.”

After resting for a while, the two entered the hole again. Kobayashi-kun was using the flashlight to examine the area that had collapsed earlier, but

“It’s safe. Up above there’s another wooden beam lying horizontally—this one won’t budge at all. If we dig beneath it, there’s no danger.” With that, they immediately set to work. True to form, they took turns digging, and from that point onward, the two worked with truly astonishing efficiency. If they worked slowly, the oxygen would run out and they would die—there was no option but to hurry.

It was already midnight. When they checked the wristwatch, it was one o'clock. Pocket Boy also worked hard. Kobayashi-kun was utterly astonished at how effectively the boy was pushing through.

The depth of the hole had already exceeded three meters. But how much longer could this grueling task continue? Their arms, shoulders, and hips had all gone numb, refusing to obey commands. The two would occasionally crawl out of the hole to rest. There they would massage their numb limbs, struggling to recover strength. Pocket Boy no longer uttered a single complaint. He seemed to have resolved himself to dig until death itself claimed him.

Then, the two entered the hole again and began working. It was when they had scooped out soil three or four times using a flat stone as a makeshift shovel. When they pushed hard against the stone, it slipped through to the other side without meeting any resistance.

There, a gaping hole had opened. From that hole came rushing cold, sweet air—lo and behold! Kobayashi-kun started in surprise and shone his flashlight through the opening to peer outside.

“Ah! We finally broke through!” It was an exultant shout.

Beyond the hole stretched a vast cavern extending far into the distance. Through their persistent efforts, they had broken through the thick cave-in wall. Just as Kobayashi-kun had said earlier, God was on the side of those who persevere until the end.

The two dug out the breakthrough hole wider and squeezed through into the spacious cave beyond. But had they truly been saved now? What if this passage led to another dead end somewhere?

Before long, the flashlight batteries were bound to run out. If that happened, they would have to wander through utter darkness, groping their way forward. “Kobayashi-san, will we make it?” “What if we end up buried alive like this?” Pocket Boy spoke again in a voice that quivered as if he were about to cry.

"The Gorilla in the Soil"

“Well, let’s entrust our fate to heaven and try to go as far as we can. Before long, something good might happen. But if we just keep waiting patiently and stay still, we’ll die for sure.” Kobayashi-kun took Pocket Boy’s hand and walked through the pitch-black cave while encouraging him. Though they had a flashlight, they would only flick it on occasionally to check the cave’s condition before immediately turning it off again, lest they carelessly drain the batteries.

From their earlier efforts, both of them were completely exhausted. Barely managing to resist the urge to collapse right where they stood, they trudged onward with faltering steps. They had been apprehensive that it might come to a dead end, but there was no sign of that. The hole continued winding and twisting endlessly. "They must've heard old tales about buried gold coins and dug as far as they could," Kobayashi-kun said as if muttering to himself. "And since they say they didn't find anything at all, they must've had terrible luck. "They must've spent a tremendous amount of money."

Kobayashi-kun muttered as if talking to himself. As mentioned before, there had been rumors that Tokugawa Shogunate government funds were buried in this mountain, and a certain wealthy person had ordered these mine-like holes dug in search of them. "That's what happens when you get greedy." "The idea of buried gold coins here is pure nonsense." Pocket Boy retorted in an irritated voice. "It's all because of these damn holes that we wound up in this mess!"

“Hey now, Pocket-kun, have you forgotten that thanks to this hole, you were saved from the gorilla?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true, but…” They walked in silence for a while before Pocket Boy spoke up in a sorrowful voice. “I’m starving.” “I can’t walk anymore.” “I’m the same way.” “We have to endure—there’s no other way.” “This isn’t just hunger—if we stay still, we’ll die.” “We’ve got no choice but to keep walking if we want to survive.”

Kobayashi-kun continued onward, encouraging Pocket Boy as they went.

After some time,

“There’s something strange about this path. Let’s try turning on the flashlight.”

With that, he turned on the fountain pen-shaped flashlight and illuminated what lay ahead.

“Ah! A fork.” “Which way should we go?” “You’re right.” “This tunnel goes on forever.” “The left path looks slightly wider.”

“Yeah, that’s right.” “Then let’s go with the left side.” The two proceeded into the left passage but after advancing about ten meters encountered another fork.

“Whoa, another fork.” “Let’s go left after all.” “If we keep switching between right and left, we might end up backtracking.” “Once we decide on left, let’s stick strictly to the left.”

With that, the two turned left. Then, after proceeding a short distance, they encountered another fork but again chose the left path there as well.

And then, after walking for some time, their surroundings began to change. The air grew damp and heavy, making it hard to breathe. Kobayashi-kun thought this strange and tried switching on his flashlight. "Ah! A dead end!"

Pocket Boy shouted. Beyond the hole, a wall of soil loomed imposingly. Finally, they reached a dead end. Were the two truly beyond saving now? At that moment, from somewhere, "Groan... Groan......" A groaning sound could be heard. The two of them, startled, glanced around restlessly at their surroundings.

“Ah, that’s it. “That’s the gorilla! “That guy’s half-buried in the dirt and suffering.” Looking closer, from beneath the soil at the dead end, the gorilla’s head and back were visible. Soil had fallen from above, and it seemed he had been crushed beneath it. “Ah, I’ve got it!”

Kobayashi-kun exclaimed in a voice full of surprise.

“Pocket-kun, I’ve got it. This is the opposite side of where we encountered the cave-in earlier. The gorilla had been chasing us all the way here. Then another cave-in occurred there, so he got crushed underneath. That guy was injured and couldn’t escape.”

“But that’s strange. How come we managed to get to the opposite side?”

“There were three branch paths, and with all those sharp turns, we ended up circling back to where we started without even realizing it.” “So then, Kobayashi-san, if we’d turned right instead of left at that fork earlier, we could’ve made it out of the cave after all!” Pocket Boy noticed this and said cheerfully. “Exactly! You’ve got it.” “To retrace our steps from here, we just need to take that left fork again.” “Then we’ll make it out of the cave.”

Kobayashi-kun also said in a bright voice. “Groan... Groan......” The groaning continued. However, that groaning sounded odd coming from such a large gorilla. It resembled a human’s groan.

“Ah, the gorilla’s back is split open!”

Pocket Boy shone his flashlight on it and shouted. Looking closer, the back of the gorilla—lying face down and half-buried in soil—was indeed split open. Had it been struck by a rock during the cave-in and suffered serious injuries? No, this wasn't an injury. The fur on its back had torn open like ripped fabric, revealing something black beneath instead of red blood. The two boys cautiously approached and touched it with their hands.

“Ah, this is a human!” “A human’s wearing a gorilla suit!” Pocket Boy shouted. What was visible through the tear appeared to be a black shirt. “Then he must be wearing a gorilla mask over his head too?” Kobayashi-kun tried moving the large gorilla’s head. The texture felt strange. It seemed to be a taxidermied gorilla head. “Pocket-kun, let’s try taking this off.”

As they said this and worked together to twist and pull at the gorilla's head, it gradually separated from the torso until it finally came off cleanly.

“Oh, so he was wearing something like this. Look—glass is fitted over the eye sockets with small blue bulbs attached inside.” Kobayashi-kun showed the hollow interior of the gorilla head. Those terrifying glowing blue eyes had been small blue bulbs. Beneath the removed gorilla head lay the face of a man around thirty. His face twisted as if in agony, emitting low groans of “Ugh... Ugh...”

This man had put on a gorilla pelt, disguised himself as a gorilla, and had been frightening the two boys.

Major Discovery

“Is this guy one of Twenty Faces’ lackeys?” Pocket Boy looked down at his face spitefully and said.

“That might be the case. But maybe….” Kobayashi Shounen started to say that but paused to think. “Huh? What could it be?” Pocket Boy stared at Kobayashi-kun’s face in surprise. “Would he really assign such an important role to a subordinate? This guy is definitely Twenty Faces. None of us have ever seen Twenty Faces’ real face. He’s always in disguise, you know. So this must be Twenty Faces.”

The two boys exchanged glances and remained silent for a while. That they could see the terrifying face of Twenty Faces this close up was something they had never imagined. However, he lay pinned beneath the soil, groaning. If left like this, he would certainly die. Kobayashi-kun thought that no matter how much of a villain he might be, he couldn't bring himself to kill him. He had to save him. And then hand him over to the police. To do that, he first had to confirm whether this guy was Twenty Faces.

“Hey, you’re Twenty Faces, aren’t you? Tell the truth.” When Kobayashi called out like that, the groaning—those “Ugh... Ugh...” sounds—stopped. Then, in a strained voice, the man spoke faintly. “W-will you... save me?”

“I’ll save you for sure. In return, tell me the truth. You’re Twenty Faces, aren’t you?” “Y-yes... Th-that’s right.” “Good, I understand. But we can’t handle this alone. I’ll go call an adult now, so just hang on a little longer.” With those words, Kobayashi-kun began turning back toward the hole’s exit. At that instant— “Whoa! This is insane!”

Pocket Boy’s piercing scream reverberated through the cave.

“Wh-what’s wrong, Pocket-kun?”

Kobayashi Shounen asked in surprise. “They’re gold coins! Gold coins! They’re everywhere! Look! Here too, and over there….” In the beam of the flashlight, what glittered brightly were indeed old gold coins. They were mixed throughout the cave-in debris. Kobayashi-kun picked up one of them. It was unmistakably a heavy gold coin. When they counted, even just those protruding from the soil numbered over a hundred. Above them in the dirt, rotted and broken wooden boxes could be seen. The box packed with gold coins had broken apart, scattering its contents.

“Oh, I get it now,” Kobayashi Shounen exclaimed. “The box of gold coins had been buried above this hole’s ceiling. The cave-in must have brought them crashing down here. Who knows how many more coin-filled boxes might still be hidden up there!” This marked an extraordinary discovery. The shogunate’s treasury funds—which wealthy excavators of old had failed to uncover despite digging cavernous pits—had finally been revealed through collapsed earth, brought to light by Kobayashi Shounen and Pocket Boy.

"But these won't become ours." "No kidding. The children or grandchildren of whoever dug this hole must still hold the rights to it. Anyway, we need to tell the police about this fast..."

Kobayashi-kun pulled Pocket Boy's hand and attempted to leave the spot. Then, Twenty Faces, buried in the soil, “H-hey, K-Kobayashi-kun... H-hurry... s-save me...” he called out in a strained voice. He must have thought that being left like this would be disastrous. “Alright, I know. I’ll get you out soon, so just hang on a little longer.”

With those words, the two hurried toward the hole's entrance. It was a long path, but since they had passed through it once before, there was no longer any need for worry. Before long, far in the distance, the brightly lit entrance of the hole appeared small. Finally seeing sunlight, they felt revived. Fresh air wafted in gently. As they advanced toward that small bright opening, it gradually grew larger until finally, they emerged into the refreshing light of dawn. They had spent the entire night in the hole since late yesterday evening. When they checked the watch, it was 5:00 a.m.

“Twenty Faces’ car should be parked inside the Western-style mansion’s gate. Let’s drive that to notify the police in the nearby town. We’ll bring a doctor along while we’re at it. Twenty Faces is badly hurt, so we need to have him treated.” When Kobayashi-kun said this, Pocket Boy looked concerned. “If we just leave like this... Is it really okay? Twenty Faces’ subordinates are inside the Western-style mansion. If those guys get into the hole, rescue Twenty Faces, and run off with the gold coins, it’ll be a huge problem.”

“It’s okay. They’re still snoring away. Besides, even if they notice that cave, getting all the way to where Twenty Faces is buried would be tough—and even if they did go there, they wouldn’t be able to rescue him easily. Even if those subordinates were to abandon Twenty Faces and try to steal the gold coins, just digging through that hole’s ceiling to retrieve all those boxes of coins would take them three or four hours alone. First of all, once we get in the car and leave, they won’t be able to do anything about it. If they try to escape on foot through these mountains, they’ll just end up wandering around until they get caught.”

After hearing Kobayashi-kun's explanation, Pocket Boy also felt reassured. Kobayashi-kun was skilled at driving automobiles. The two boarded Twenty Faces' automobile, quietly started it, and began descending the mountain.

About four hours later, the Western-style mansion in the mountains was bustling with eighteen people. From the nearby town's police came eight officers and a doctor; via telephone coordination, Detective Akechi, Inspector Nakamura of the Metropolitan Police Department, and five of his detectives also arrived. Kobayashi Shounen and Pocket Boy were there as well.

Five automobiles were parked in front of the Western-style mansion's gate. First, they rescued Twenty Faces, who had been pinned under the cave-in, laid him on a bed in the Western-style mansion, and a doctor treated him, but it was determined that Twenty Faces would be unable to move for some time.

The four subordinates who had been in the Western-style mansion were all handcuffed and taken to the police by automobile.

It was two days later that they excavated all the boxes of gold coins concealed in the cave's ceiling. Fifty boxes of gold coins emerged. The sum was astronomical. The legend stating that the shogunate's official funds had been buried there proved genuine after all. The vast fortune was transferred to the individual holding mountain rights, who consequently resolved to present Kobayashi Shounen and Pocket Boy with five million yen in cash—amounting to one percent of the total—as an expression of gratitude.

The two had no one to give the money to since neither their father nor mother had passed away. They decided to entrust all five million yen to Professor Akechi and use it for the detective agency and the Boy Detectives Club.

Some time later, when the Boy Detectives Club had a gathering, the members asked Commander Kobayashi.

“What do you suppose Professor Akechi plans to use that money for?” “That’s still unclear. He said he intends to use it for whatever most benefits detective work.” “Then Commander Kobayashi, what would you use it for?” “If it were me, I’d want portable wireless telephones. Even five or six would do—if we could carry those and communicate with the detective agency, imagine how convenient that’d be. Even if villains captured and locked us up somewhere, we could calmly talk to the professor at the agency from there.”

“Wow, that’s brilliant!” “Let’s do that.” “We should ask Professor Akechi to get them ready for us.” “Perfect, perfect!” “Hooray for the Boy Detectives Club!”

Vigorous applause arose among the boys.

This plan was sure to meet with Detective Akechi’s approval. And the day when the Boy Detectives Club would have portable wireless telephones might not be far off. If that came to pass, they would perform great deeds unlike any seen before. Wasn’t that day something to look forward to?