Pathway to Japanese Literature

Wax Doll Museum

Beside Shinobazu Pond in Tokyo's Ueno Park stood a mysterious building. It was a round structure resembling a dramatically scaled-down version of Ryogoku's former Kokugikan, its outer walls and domed roof all painted a stark white. And there were no windows at all.

At the front was a small entrance, above which hung a sign reading "Madame Nakaso's Wax Doll Museum." In London, England, there existed Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, renowned throughout the world. This Shinobazu Pond Wax Doll Museum had been modeled after that establishment. When pronounced in French fashion, the name Tussaud became Chussaud. "The name 'Madame Nakaso' must surely be a play on 'Chussaud.'" The circular building contained two stories with a basement, its interior featuring a spiraling visitor path that wound through wax dioramas arranged along one or both sides of the walkway.

The wax dolls were all human-sized and dressed in clothes, but their waxen faces looked so lifelike that it was truly eerie.

In Madame Tussauds' Wax Doll Museum in London, they had created various scenes from history—terrifying and bloody ones—so much so that women could not enter alone.

Madame Nakaso’s Wax Doll Museum in Tokyo was also modeled after it, so naturally there were many frightening scenes, and women or people bringing children found it eerie and rarely entered. Despite having been painstakingly created, the Wax Doll Museum was not thriving at all.

It was a Saturday afternoon a little past three o'clock. Two boys came to Madame Nakaso’s Wax Doll Museum, bought tickets at the entrance, and went inside. One was Inoue Jirou, a first-year middle school student, and the other was Noro Ippei, a sixth-grade elementary school student; both wore Boy Detectives Club B.D. badges on their chests. Inoue was a strong boy with a sturdy build and tall stature who practiced judo. Noro was the biggest coward 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 boys had heard rumors about the Wax Doll Museum and came for the first time today. Being detective club members, they probably wanted to see such eerie things at least once. Even the cowardly Noro-chan had come along, clinging to the strong Inoue out of a morbid curiosity for scary things. When entering the Wax Doll Museum's entrance, a dimly lit corridor stretched onward. Not a single visitor was in sight. Somehow, it felt like stepping into an abandoned house, and it was unsettling.

“I don’t like this. Why is it so lonely here? Aren’t we the only visitors here?” Noro-chan said to Inoue as he walked pressed close against him. “No, there might be people further ahead. But even if there’s no one here, what’s wrong with that? It’s actually more fun with just us two.” Inoue seemed to be taking pleasure in the loneliness.

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

Backlit by the electric light, a pitch-black human figure emerged from the door.

“You’ve come at last. I will guide you there.”

It was a woman’s voice. When they closed the door, her appearance became visible. She was a beautiful woman of thirty-five or thirty-six. She wore a long black skirted outfit with her hair styled in an unusual updo, topped by a small hat perched neatly on her head. Both Inoue and Noro were reminded of illustrations they had seen in books depicting Western women from the Meiji era. “Aren’t you Madame Nakaso?”

Noro-chan suddenly noticed something and blurted out a question without reserve.

“Yes, I am Madame Nakaso,” she said. “I built this Wax Doll Museum, and every wax doll displayed inside was also made by me.” Madame Nakaso spoke proudly, then took the lead and guided the two boys toward the rear.

Iron Mask “Look here. This is where representatives from countries around the world have gathered to discuss how to abolish war, you see.” The right side of the corridor abruptly widened, revealing a splendid hall. From the ceiling hung a chandelier with glistening crystal orbs, the floor lay covered with a deep crimson carpet, the walls boasted a large fireplace, and above it was set a mirror measuring roughly two meters square.

In the center of that splendid room was placed a large oval table, around which sat about ten world-famous politicians in their respective national attires, seated in armchairs. Among them could be seen the face of America’s President Eisenhower. The face of Premier Khrushchev of the Soviet Union could be seen. Then there were also the faces of Chairman Mao Zedong of China, Prime Minister Nehru of India, and Prime Minister Kishi of Japan lined up.

The wax-made faces were grinning slyly; others were scowling, while still others had their mouths open as though they were speaking. They were wax dolls of human size. Their faces and limbs were made of wax, and their bodies were dressed in the respective national costumes of each country.

They seemed truly alive. They looked ready to spring into motion at any moment.

The two boys were startled and gazed intently at the scene. “How about that? They all look alive, don’t they? However, such a world conference has not yet been held. Discussions to abolish war have not yet been established. This scene is my fantasy, you see. 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.”

Having said that, Madame Nakaso continued her explanation.

In this Wax Doll Museum, there were more than twenty such scenes. Of course, it wasn’t just politicians. There were also dolls of famous thieves and detectives. There were scenes of Arsène Lupin running down the stairs of The Hollow Needle and Sherlock Holmes fighting the villain Moriarty. Then there were scenes created: the Iron Mask confined in a stone dungeon; the Golden Mask scaling a high tower roof like a golden gecko; a Bronze Demon crawling on all fours through nighttime Ginza; the Skull Mask descending the stone cellar stairs; the Laughing Mask materializing in a theater corridor; and many more masked fiends and artificial humans.

“If you walk along this path, you will be able to view all those scenes.” “Now then, please take your time observing them.” “As I have work to attend to, I shall return to the office.”

Having said that, Madame Nakaso walked away, leaving the two boys right where they stood. The two boys, having no other choice, continued walking toward the back just like that.

Just as Madame Nakaso had said, one scene after another appeared in succession. There were also several scenes featuring the likes of the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin and the great detective Sherlock Holmes. And then, in the next scene… “Ah, Kobayashi-san!” “Ah! Detective Akechi!”

Inoue and Noro shouted in unison and tried to rush in that direction. Because there stood the famous detective Akechi Kogorou and his assistant Kobayashi Shounen. Kobayashi Shounen was also the leader of the Boy Detectives Club.

When they tried to rush forward, they immediately collided with a wooden railing. Detective Akechi and Kobayashi Shounen were standing on the other side of that railing. Even when called out, there was no response at all. They did not so much as glance in their direction. They simply stood stock-still, not moving a muscle.

“Ah, this is also a wax doll! … I’m shocked. They look exactly like Detective Akechi and Kobayashi. They’ve really managed to replicate them so perfectly!”

Inoue was thoroughly impressed and murmured in admiration.

Then, after walking a little further, they came to the Iron Mask’s room.

A dungeon built of stone—an old one. A dim prison cell with nothing but a small window fitted with iron bars high up. There stood the famous figure whose face was concealed by the Iron Mask.

This was during the era of France’s Louis XIV—nearly three hundred years ago. In the Bastille prison there existed a criminal who had been forced to wear a mask. The man died of illness within those stone walls yet remained masked until his final breath without ever revealing his face.

Who on earth could this masked prisoner have been? That was a secret no one knew. 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 novels about the Iron Mask were translated. One was based on the original work by Dumas, and the other by Boagobe.

What Inoue-kun and Noro-chan were looking at was the Iron Mask confined in the stone dungeon of the Bastille. In front of him stood a sturdy man around fifty years old, bent at the waist as if in mid-speech. He must have been the jailer. The Iron Mask had hinges around the mouth area that allowed it to open, and when it was time to feed him, the jailer would use a key to unlock it. By keeping his mouth sealed this way, they must have been trying to prevent him from speaking recklessly.

Both Inoue-kun and Noro-chan had read the novel *The Iron Mask*, so they found this wax doll scene all the more terrifying.

The two boys stood stock-still before the scene and gazed at it for a long time.

“I wonder who the Iron Mask really was.” “Some say he was the king’s brother; others say he was a minister; others still say he was a bishop—there are all sorts of theories. Anyway, the fact that he had to hide his face means he must have been a prominent figure widely known in society.”

Inoue-kun told Noro-chan. “I wonder what kind of face is inside that Iron Mask.” “Since this is a doll, the inside of the Iron Mask is empty. Or maybe….” Inoue-kun had gotten that far in his words before falling silent.

If there were a human face made of wax inside that Iron Mask—when he thought about what kind of face it might be—he somehow began to feel afraid. “Let’s move on to the next scene.”

Inoue-kun pulled Noro-chan’s hand and walked off in that direction. As they rounded a corner where the next scene awaited, just as they turned that corner, Noro-chan yanked Inoue-kun’s hand firmly and signaled.

“We mustn’t let him notice us.” “Take a quiet peek.” “Look—it’s moving.” Noro-chan pressed his mouth close to Inoue-kun’s ear and whispered.

When Inoue-kun quietly peeked his head out from around the corner to look at the Iron Mask scene, something truly bizarre was happening there.

The Iron Mask wax doll began to walk. From wherever it was concealed, the Iron Mask took out something like a black cloak, draped it over its shoulders, crossed over the wooden railing to emerge into the passageway, and then proceeded to walk briskly off into the distance.

Mysterious Automobile “Noro, let’s tail that guy.” “Come along.” Inoue grabbed Noro’s hand and chased after the Iron Mask.

The Iron Mask appeared to have both its eyes and mouth covered, but there were thin gaps at the seams of the iron plates through which one could presumably peer outside. Otherwise, the Iron Mask wouldn’t have been able to walk so quickly.

Even so, it was a truly uncanny event. The Iron Mask, which they had thought was merely a wax doll, 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 passageway but suddenly halted, pressed against one wall, and—upon revealing a secret door there—was sucked inside as if drawn inward.

The two boys also immediately went there and pushed the door, which—apparently having been left unlocked—swung open smoothly, so both of them entered inside.

There was a dimly lit narrow passage. Since it was a straight path, continuing straight ahead brought them to what appeared to be a side back entrance of the Wax Doll Museum.

Outside, it was already dusk. In the distance spread Shinobazu Pond. Behind them glowed the neon lights of Densha-dori.

When they looked, right ahead of them, a black automobile was parked. The Iron Mask flung his cloak, rushed there, leaped into the automobile’s back seat, and slammed the door shut with a clack.

Then, as if that had been a signal, the automobile immediately began moving, receded into the distance, and soon disappeared as if melting into the twilight. Unfortunately, there were no other automobiles in the vicinity, and the two boys could not pursue the mysterious man.

Even so, what an utterly bizarre thing had just occurred! The wax doll from the Wax Doll Museum suddenly began to move, got into the automobile that had been waiting outside the museum, and fled to parts unknown.

The two boys, overwhelmed by the sheer strangeness of it all, stood there in a daze for a while, but upon finally regaining their composure, they hurried toward the main entrance to inform Madame Nakaso of what had happened.

The two entered from the ticket booth and knocked on the door in the hallway they had come through earlier.

“Please come in.”

From inside, Madame Nakaso's voice responded.

The two boys opened the door and entered inside.

The room appeared to be Madame Nakaso's office, with a large desk in the center and various documents piled up on top of it. Behind where Madame Nakaso was seated stood a large bookshelf crammed full with Western books and Japanese books.

“Ah, the boys from earlier? You’re terribly flustered, aren’t you?”

Dressed in Meiji-era Western attire and still wearing her hat, Madame Nakaso rose from her chair and approached the two boys. “The Iron Mask has escaped!” “He went out through the back entrance, got into a car, and disappeared somewhere.”

“Huh? What did you say?” Madame Nakaso asked back in surprise.

“That Iron Mask wax doll has escaped.”

Upon hearing this, Madame Nakaso burst into laughter.

“Could you all have been dreaming? A wax doll starting to walk? How could such a ridiculous thing be possible?”

“No, it’s true. If you think we’re lying, go look at the Iron Mask exhibit. Only the prison guard remains there now.” “Very well. Then let us go and see. You all must come along as well.”

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

“As I thought, you all must have been dreaming.” “The Iron Mask is right there, isn’t he?”

The boys gasped in unison. Just as Madame Nakaso had said，the Iron Mask had indeed returned unnoticed to its original place. It had apparently removed the black cloak and hidden it somewhere，and was back in its original appearance.

“That’s strange—it wasn’t a dream.” “The two of us saw it with our own eyes.” “The Iron Mask that escaped in the automobile—why has it returned here?” “I have no idea what’s going on—it’s completely beyond me.”

After saying this, Inoue-kun remained deep in thought for a while before suddenly noticing something. “May I try touching that doll?”

“Yes, certainly. Both of you—go inside and have a good feel.”

Thereupon, Inoue-kun and Noro-chan stepped over the wooden railing into the stone prison cell, approached the Iron Mask, and touched its body.

When they tapped its body, there was a knocking sound. The hands were indeed made of cold wax. They thoroughly examined the legs too, but inside the trousers lay only something as hard as wood. “This is strange. “This is definitely a doll. “But he walked out of here earlier. “Then got into a car and ran away.”

Inoue-kun muttered with a look of utter bewilderment.

Star Crown

The story shifted to that very night.

A terrifying incident occurred at the home of a boy named Arima Daisuke-kun in Minato Ward. The Iron Mask had indeed escaped from the Wax Doll Museum and sneaked into Arima-kun’s house. Arima-kun’s house was a large Western-style mansion, and his father was the president of a certain company. Daisuke-kun was the eldest son and a sixth-grade elementary school student.

Around eleven o'clock that night, Daisuke-kun suddenly woke up needing to use the bathroom, so he got out of bed still in his pajamas, took care of his business, and came back down the hallway.

In the corner of the wide hallway hung an old Western suit of armor. It was a suit of iron polished to a silvery sheen. Wearing an identical silver Western-style helmet and cheek guards, it looked exactly like a human standing there clad in full armor. At night, passing before it gave one an eerie feeling. Though accustomed to it and not particularly frightened, Daisuke-kun happened to glance at the armor as he passed by and sensed something different from usual.

Thinking it was strange, he stared intently at it again.

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

Ah! It’s the Iron Mask!

Daisuke-kun involuntarily cried out in his heart.

Daisuke-kun had read the novel called *The Iron Mask*. Wasn't the head portion of the armor before his eyes now identical to the Iron Mask from that novel's illustrations? An eerie feeling creeping over him, Daisuke-kun turned the hallway corner as intended—yet still unsettled, he peered out from around the edge with just his eyes visible, keeping watch on the armor.

Then, a strange, muffled sound—kuh, kuh, kuh, kuh…—could be heard from somewhere. It was a sound like a human laughing without making a voice.

The thought that perhaps a human was hiding inside that Iron Mask-clad armor struck Daisuke-kun so suddenly that he 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 bearing the Iron Mask's head began to move. At first it swayed unsteadily back and forth, but soon the silver armor started marching forward with heavy, thudding steps. Daisuke-kun, startled, tried to flee, but his assailant appeared to have already detected him hiding around the corner—in an instant, it came lunging toward him.

Then, the silver-glinting Iron Mask spread out to fill Daisuke-kun’s entire field of vision—and the silver armor’s hand clamped down on Daisuke-kun’s shoulder with a vice-like grip.

“Help me…!”

He tried to scream, but his mouth was suddenly covered by the monster's iron hand. Then, the Iron Mask picked up Daisuke-kun, carried him into the bedroom, tore a bedsheet to fashion a gag, bound his limbs, locked the door from outside, and vanished into the night.

Then, after some time had passed, the Iron Mask revealed its eerie form in the Arima family’s art room. Daisuke-kun’s father, Mr. Arima, was still awake and writing letters in his study when an urgent matter arose requiring him to inspect the Buddhist statues in the art room. He headed to the art room. And when he opened the door, he saw something strange moving inside the art room, so he hurriedly closed it, leaving only the narrowest of gaps, and peered intently into the room from there.

In the art room, there were numerous shelves lined with various artworks, and near the wall sat a safe. Inside it was stored the most important item among the artworks.

In front of the safe, a Western suit of armor was crouching and turning the dial, wasn’t it? The suit of armor that had been placed in the hallway had walked all the way here and was now 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 that there was a human inside the armor. It turned out that the thief had sneaked into the mansion during the daytime, hidden inside the armor, waited for night to fall, and come to steal the contents of the safe.

Mr. Arima quietly closed the door and hurriedly returned to his study. Then, picking up the desk phone receiver there, he began calling the office of private detective Akechi Kogorou, an acquaintance. "Is this Mr. Akechi? This is Arima - you once assisted me. Right now, something strange is happening at my house. Someone has entered the Western suit of armor displayed in the hallway and is trying to open the safe in the art room. Inside the safe lies my family's treasure called the 'Star Crown.' Could you please come immediately? ...Of course I'll notify the police. But this is no ordinary thief. I truly won't feel secure unless you come..."

Just as he finished speaking, the study door opened soundlessly. And there stood a silver-glinting Western suit of armor.

“You called Akechi Kogorou, didn’t you? “Trying to summon Akechi? “I won’t let that happen!”

A hoarse, deep voice leaked from the gaps in the Iron Mask.

Mr. Arima, overwhelmed by the sheer extremity of it all, stood frozen in stunned silence, utterly unable to speak.

The Iron Mask clanked toward Mr. Arima. Then, snatching the receiver from Mr. Arima’s hand, he held it in his left hand while brandishing a pistol in his right to silence him—and began addressing Detective Akechi through the phone. “So it’s Akechi.” “I’m a thief.” “A thief you can’t handle.” “Out there, they call me Terror King.” “I came to this house for the ‘Star Crown’.” “I studied that safe’s mechanism thoroughly—grabbing the crown was child’s play.” “Ha ha ha ha….” “So you needn’t bother coming.” “Even if you do, it’s pointless.” “By the time you arrive here, I’ll be far gone.”

Then, from the other end of the line, Detective Akechi’s calm voice responded. “Even if you tell me not to come, I must go—I was asked by Mr. Arima.” “You may try to run away, but no matter where you flee, I will surely catch you.” “You’ve left some clue behind by now.” “Fingerprints or anything like that—it’s no use no matter how much you wipe them off.” “There must be numerous other clues—ones you can’t even see.” “I’ll find them.” “And I will uncover who you are and capture you without fail.” “Ha ha ha….” “That’s my job, you know.”

Hearing the famous detective’s confident voice, the Iron Mask grew irritated.

“Alright then, have it your way!” “I have my own plans.” “You’ll regret this soon enough.” “You don’t yet know how much power I possess.” “Bwahahaha!” Then, abruptly hanging up the phone, he next dialed a different number, called someone out, and spoke for a while in what sounded like coded language—but even Mr. Arima standing nearby couldn’t make any sense of it. The other party was likely one of the thief’s henchmen or something of that sort.

Mysterious Room

Changing scenes—this was one room of the Akechi Detective Agency.

“Ha ha ha ha… This is getting interesting.” “A formidable thief has appeared!” “Kobayashi, Mr. Arima’s famous *Star Crown* has been stolen.” “A call just came from him.” “He told me not to come.” “As I thought, he’s scared of me.” “So I’ve decided to go right away.” “Call a car.”

Detective Akechi instructed his assistant, Kobayashi Shounen, who was by his side. “Are you going alone, Detective? Don’t I need to go?” Kobayashi Shounen grumbled.

“You’ll stay here.” “If anything happens to me, your duty is to come rescue me.” “You and I should keep our distance as much as possible.”

When told that, Kobayashi Shounen could find no words to retort. He obediently called the Hire Car Company.

After a short while, a car horn sounded at the entrance of the luxury apartment building housing Akechi’s office. It was a signal meaning, "We’ve come to pick you up." Detective Akechi entrusted Kobayashi Shounen with staying behind and came out of the entrance alone. Then he walked toward the car parked on the main street there.

Then, at that very moment, something strange occurred. From the darkness in front of the apartment, a man jumped out. He was a scruffy-looking guy around thirty. The man stealthily approached Detective Akechi from behind. The car door was open. Akechi tried to get inside, but sensing something, he hastily pulled back. He had realized it wasn’t his usual car. The driver looked shady, and in the back seat sat a man he’d never seen before.

As he tried to pull back, something collided into him from behind with a heavy thud. It was the scruffy-looking guy who had just emerged from the darkness.

He tried to forcefully push Akechi’s body into the car. Then, the guy inside rose to his feet, wrapped his arms around Akechi’s neck, and with all his strength dragged him into the car. With two assailants and having been caught off guard, even the renowned detective could do nothing. As it was nearly midnight, there were no passersby, and no one would come to rescue him.

Having no other choice, he tried to shout loudly. Then, the villains, having already anticipated this, used a white handkerchief-like cloth to cover Detective Akechi’s mouth and nose. A sharp, unpleasant odor pierced his head. It was anesthetic. ...Before long, the renowned detective had lost consciousness inside the car.

×　　×　　×　　×

Detective Akechi opened his eyes abruptly, as if waking from a dream. When he looked around, it was quite a comfortable room. Though small, it was a luxurious and beautiful room reminiscent of a French parlor from a century ago. From the ceiling hung a chandelier adorned with crystal prisms, a delicate white-painted table, and a splendid sofa with plush cushions.

Akechi finally remembered. Ah, I was captured by villains. And then I was made to inhale anesthetic and lost consciousness.

Wondering if he was still bound, he tried moving his limbs but found himself completely free. He had simply been lying on the sofa, fast asleep.

At that moment, as though someone had been impatiently waiting for Akechi to awaken, the door opened and a beautiful girl entered. She looked to be about high school age. In her hands, she held a silver tray bearing coffee. “Have you awakened?” The girl placed the silver tray on the table and spoke gently to Detective Akechi. “It was truly terrible, wasn’t it? But you aren’t injured anywhere.”

Detective Akechi, in a dreamlike state, spaced out for a while, but he couldn’t make sense of anything.

“Where on earth is this house?” “And who might you be?”

he inquired. “This is the home of the person who saved you.” “I am the daughter of that person.” “I see.” “I was forced into a car by villains, made to inhale anesthetic, and lost consciousness—but how much time has passed since then?” “And is this place still Tokyo, I wonder?” “Well, yes, that’s right—I suppose.” “But I’m afraid it would be better if you didn’t dwell on such matters just yet.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m quite alright now.” “I’m not hurt anywhere.” “Just a slight dizziness in my head.”

Akechi said this and tried to sit up on the sofa. However, when he raised himself up, perhaps because his body wasn't quite himself yet, he felt the entire room sway unsteadily and involuntarily pressed his hands against the sofa.

“Not yet. You’re dizzy. Somehow it feels like this room is floating weightlessly in midair.”

“Now look here.”

“You mustn’t overexert yourself now.” “But I feel perfectly fine. Please let me meet your host. I must express my gratitude.”

“That’s not necessary. Besides, my host isn’t here right now…”

At that moment, Akechi finally noticed that the construction of this small room was somehow unusual. “Oh! This room doesn’t have a single window.” “So that’s why you keep the electric lights on even during the daytime?” “This is a strange room.” “Is it day or night right now?” “It’s nighttime.” “It’s eight o’clock now.”

“What’s the date?”

“The sixteenth.”

The girl answered and, covering her mouth with her hand, giggled quietly.

“I was forced into the car on the evening of the 15th, so that means a full day has passed since then.” He muttered to himself, but something felt off. The girl’s oddly familiar manner of speech, the windowless room, and this persistent sensation that the space kept swaying—it all felt uncanny.

“What floor is this room on? It keeps swaying constantly—I feel like I'm standing atop some tall tower.” “That may well be.”

The girl spoke in a tone as if laughing inwardly.

“But isn’t it quite comfortable here? For the duration of your stay—which will be some time—I have been instructed to make you as comfortable as possible. Should anything displease you, please do inform me.”

The girl was quite smooth-tongued.

“You’re saying I’ll be staying here for some time?” “That’s no joke.” “I have urgent business to attend to.”

Detective Akechi was utterly flabbergasted. He felt as if he'd been tricked by a fox. "No, you mustn't get so worked up." "It would be best if you didn't think about anything at all."

The girl spoke in a tone as if soothing someone pitifully deranged, “Then I shall return shortly, sir. Please drink your coffee before it cools, sir.”

After declaring this, the girl hurried toward the door as if fleeing. Akechi called out, "Wait, please! Wait!", rising from his chair to pursue her. But after taking two or three steps, his foot caught on something, and he collapsed with a thud.

“Ohohoho… See here? That’s why it’s better for you to remain 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 ankles, with an iron chain attached to it secured to the leg of the long sofa. He could only move as far as the chain allowed—like a bear in a zoo.

Clown Mask

“You—you there! I need to use the restroom.” “Remove this chain at once.”

Akechi called out loudly to the girl who was trying to close the door.

Hearing this, the girl reluctantly came back.

“Is that true?” “Are you truly going to the restroom?”

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

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

After going to the restroom in the corridor outside the door and coming out, Akechi said with a grin. “So this means I’m free now. If I wanted to escape, I could.” “I could escape if I wanted to.”

Startled, the girl suddenly pulled out a small pistol from behind her clothes and aimed it at Akechi.

“You must not escape.” “No matter what you do, you can’t escape.” “Please don’t escape.” “I’m begging you.” The girl pleaded earnestly with a sorrowful expression. Akechi suddenly burst out laughing, “It’s a joke, I tell you! It’s a joke! As if I’d ever run away!”

Having lulled her into complacency with his reassurance, he seized the moment when the girl let her guard down—lunging at her and snatching away the pistol. “Oh, you mustn’t! You don’t know anything at all. You mustn’t, you mustn’t…” As he tried to shake off the clinging girl and make a run for it, something hard suddenly struck Akechi’s back with a thud.

“Raise your hands. Throw the pistol. Otherwise, I’ll put a hole in your back.”

The hard object against his back was the muzzle of a pistol. And there stood two masked men. Detective Akechi was taken back to the original room and, this time instead of a long sofa, was tightly bound with rope to an ordinary chair. “Hahahaha… If you’d behaved yourself, the iron ring on your legs would’ve been enough,” one sneered, “but since you had to pull that pointless stunt, you’ve ended up completely immobilized.” “Serves you right!”

The two men sneered spitefully and left outside with the girl. And with a click, the door was locked.

Detective Akechi, bound to the chair, remained perfectly still for a while.

They were quite formidable opponents. Thinking it was just the girl, I had let my guard down—that was my mistake.

“Moreover, this room feels somehow off.” First of all, there wasn’t a single window. Moreover, as if he were at the top of a tall tower, the entire room floated unsteadily, swaying incessantly.

“No, that’s not all. I suspect there’s some kind of mechanism in this room. It’s strange—when I woke up earlier, the girl came in immediately. Perhaps someone’s peeking from somewhere.” With that thought, Detective Akechi—still bound—swept his gaze around the room.

On the walls hung various oil paintings, masks made by South Seas natives, and peculiar clown masks among other things. Detective Akechi was looking around the wall here and there when his gaze came to a perfect stop on the clown mask. A face plastered with white powder like a wall; a bright red perfectly round nose; crimson sun circles on both cheeks; slit-like eyes with vertical black lines drawn across the 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, for some reason, staring at the mask so intently it might bore a hole through it.

The detective's eyes and the mask's eyes faced each other head-on, looking as though they were engaged in a staring contest. After a while of this, Detective Akechi's face broke into a grin. And then—ah! Look! The clown mask hanging on the wall had also grinned slyly!

“Ah hahaha… Hey there, Clown,” “You’re flesh and blood under that getup.” “Poking your face through a wall hole to play mask-and-mirrors.” “Been keeping tabs on me this whole time, haven’t you?” The wall mask—now exposed—jerked its eyelids wide and worked its mouth to reply.

“Finally figured it out, haven’t you? But for the renowned detective Akechi Kogorou, that was a tad too late.” The wall had originally displayed a clay clown mask, but the evildoer—after applying makeup identical to that mask on his own face—periodically retracted the mask into a hole in the wall, then thrust his face into its place to keep watch on Akechi.

“However, if you keep doing that, you’ll get tired. How about it? Won’t you come over here?”

Akechi addressed him as casually as if speaking to a friend. “Well, it’s exhausting,” “but no matter how tired I get, I won’t take orders from you.” The Clown Mask moved his thick crimson lips and answered.

“No, actually, I have a request for you.” “A request? You’ve got some nerve. Well, go ahead—say it. What’s this request of yours?”

“I want a smoke.”

“Hmph. So you want me to untie the ropes because you want a smoke? Not a chance.” “No, you don’t need to untie the ropes. Just take one cigarette from my pocket’s cigarette case, let me put it in my mouth, and light it for me. Because 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 too, so I get that feeling. Alright then—come over there and I’ll let you have a smoke.”

No sooner had he spoken than the Clown Mask retracted, and in its place, the real clay mask was swapped in.

The Great Detective’s Adventure

Before long, the door opened, and a man entered the room—his face that of a clown, his body clad in a pitch-black shirt and trousers that clung tightly to his frame.

“Where’s the cigarette case?”

“It’s here.” “It’s in the right inner pocket.”

When the man put his hand into the detective’s chest and took out the case, he snapped it open with a click. “What? There’s only one left?” “One’s enough. Anyway, just let me smoke it.”

“Go on then, put this in your mouth.” “I’ll light it for you.”

The man with the Clown Mask had him hold a cigarette in his mouth and lit it for him. “Well, take your time.” “I’ll take a little break over there too.”

With those words, the Clown Mask went outside.

Detective Akechi, left behind, remained tied to the chair. With evident enjoyment, he smoked his cigarette while staring intently at the clown mask on the wall. It was a mask made of clay. It had not yet been replaced with a human face.

No matter how much time passed, there was no sign of it being replaced. The man with the Clown Mask must truly be taking a break.

Detective Akechi grinned around the cigarette clenched between his teeth and began puffing on it in great haste. He must have had some plan.

The cigarette burned down close to his lips. Strangely enough, while the ash scattered away, the cigarette remained exactly the same length. And what's more, its burned end now glowed silver! Detective Akechi kept the cigarette clenched between his teeth as he bowed his head hard, pressing the silver part against the rope binding his chest. Was he trying to burn through the rope with the cigarette's ember? That wouldn't work. Since this was a new hemp rope, no cigarette ember could possibly set it ablaze.

Akechi rubbed the lit part of the cigarette against the hemp rope, extinguishing it. Then, what remained was something like a thin silver knife blade.

Akechi began vigorously scrubbing the hemp rope with that blade.

The blade of the knife had a handle attached. Gripping that handle firmly between his teeth, he moved his entire face up and down to saw at the hemp rope.

There was a thin knife hidden inside the cigarette. He had placed just one of them in his cigarette case and gotten the villain to let him put that cigarette in his mouth. On their side, thinking Akechi genuinely wanted to smoke, the villains didn’t suspect a thing—they let him hold it in his mouth and lit it for him. Ah, what an ingenious scheme. With this knife-equipped cigarette on hand, no matter how tightly you’re bound, there’s nothing to fear. Once you’ve severed just one rope around your chest, untying the rest becomes child’s play.

After vigorously sawing at it for about two minutes, the rope snapped clean through. Then, as he shook his body, the multiple layers of coiled rope gradually loosened until finally, both his hands and feet were free.

He left the chair, stealthily approached the door, listened intently to the situation outside, and quietly opened it. There seemed to be no one there. He stepped out into the hallway. He proceeded straight ahead. At the end of the hallway, there was a narrow staircase. Muffling his footsteps, he ascended it and came upon a door. He listened carefully once more, then gently opened it.

Outside was pitch dark. And then, strangely enough, there was a smell of the sea.

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

From somewhere, a shout rang out.

Akechi dashed into the darkness. The ground beneath his feet felt as though it were swaying unsteadily. From behind came the bang, bang of a pistol firing. They must have fired deliberately off-target to intimidate him.

Detective Akechi ran frantically. After running about ten meters，he collided with something hard. It was something like a staircase railing. “Bwahahaha… Were you 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 railing and saw water—water everywhere—discernible under the starlight. A vast, endless sea, pitch-black and undulating.

Ah, he realized—he was on a ship. He was on a steamship plowing through some uncharted vast sea. The reason there were no windows in the room earlier and why it had felt like it was gently swaying was because of that. He had never imagined it was on a steamship. Last night, after being made to fall asleep in the car, he must have been put aboard a steamship at Tokyo Port, and that steamship had advanced into this vast sea.

The phantom thief who called himself "Terror King" even possessed such a large steamship. It had to be an extremely large-scale gang of thieves. What manner of man could this leader - this "Terror King" - possibly be? Might the Clown Mask man who had earlier peered out from the ship cabin wall actually be none other than this very Terror King?

Detective Akechi had been driven to the railing of the steamship’s deck by the thieves. There was no escape route left but to leap into the sea. The detective was a good swimmer. However, leaping into this vast sea and swimming all the way to land was not something he could possibly manage. Even the renowned detective was absolutely desperate. Akechi’s mind raced frantically in that instant. This was precisely the moment to keep calm. And he had to devise a clever plan.

“Bwahahaha… Do you think you can swim across this sea, Mr. Akechi?” “Bwahahahaha….”

The Clown Mask’s voice drew closer. At that moment, a brilliant idea flashed through Akechi’s mind. “What good am I if I can’t even swim this far?!” After shouting that, he kicked the small barrel rolling at his feet into the sea, then immediately vaulted over the railing and pretended to leap headfirst into the water.

At that moment, the barrel that had fallen onto the sea’s surface made a *splash*—a sound just like a human diving into the water.

However, it was only the barrel that had plunged in; Detective Akechi was clinging to the ship's hull, hiding himself. It was a death-defying escape stunt.

“There! He jumped in! Launch the boat! Launch the boat!”

The Clown Mask’s shouting could be heard, along with the footsteps of two or three people running toward the ship’s stern (rear). At the stern of the steamship, an ordinary boat had been tied up. The thieves pulled this boat closer, climbed down a rope ladder to board it, then began rowing about and frantically searching the surrounding sea. Detective Akechi was hanging from the ship’s hull, but since he wore black clothes, he remained unnoticed from afar. They rowed away to the opposite side just like that.

It was safe now. Akechi climbed up the ship’s hull and flattened himself against the dark deck.

There was some kind of box there, so he hid in its shadow and stayed perfectly still.

Then came the clatter of footsteps approaching across the deck. Of course, there would still be members of the gang remaining aboard the ship. He might have come to see the boat rowing around the sea.

Akechi, hidden in the box’s shadow, circled around to the opposite side of where his opponent was approaching and lay there perfectly still with bated breath. “Hey…! Have you found Akechi yet…?”

Oh! That voice sounded familiar. Thinking it might be him, he quietly peeked out from behind the box and saw that it was indeed that Clown Mask man. It appeared this man was the leader. If the leader was the one who had disguised himself as the Iron Mask, then that villain calling himself "Terror King" must be the same person.

Detective Akechi stared intently at the man’s retreating figure. In his right hand, he gripped a pistol. Under the starlight, it was dimly visible. “Hmm… Where could he have gone…? We just can’t find him anywhere…” A shout rose from the boat below. “That can’t be… “He might be clinging to the ship’s underside… Go circle around it completely…”

The Clown Mask shouted out.

That was the moment.

Detective Akechi suddenly leaped out from behind the box and charged at the Clown Mask. And first, he managed to knock the pistol away. "You bastard! Who the hell are you?!"

Clown Mask suddenly grappled onto him. And the two of them, still locked in a grapple, went tumbling across the pitch-black deck.

The Great Detective’s Disguise

And then, a fierce struggle began. Now on top, now underneath, they tumbled wildly across the pitch-black deck—until finally Akechi gained the upper position, leaving the Clown Mask pinned and motionless. Akechi used a judo hold to strangle his opponent’s throat, causing him to lose consciousness.

He looked around, but there was no sign of anyone on the deck. Because the two had been grappling in silence, the subordinates in the cabin remained unaware of what was happening.

Detective Akechi dragged the limp body of the Clown Mask into the shadows of the deck, removed his own clothes to dress his opponent in them, took off the Clown Mask’s mask and put it on his own face, then grabbed the pointed hat and placed it on his own head. It was a human substitution. The one lying limp on the ground was Detective Akechi, and the one standing appeared to be none other than the Terror King in his Clown Mask.

Detective Akechi had made it a rule that whenever he had to embark on some adventure, he would wear a snugly fitting black shirt and black undershorts beneath his white shirt. Since he had worn that today, all he needed to do was put on the mask and remove his outer clothes and white shirt to impersonate the gang leader. Then he brought a long rope, bound the leader’s limbs by coiling it tightly around them, gagged him with a rope bit, pressed hard on a vital point of the leader’s body, and made him regain consciousness.

Even after regaining consciousness, the bandit—bound hand and foot and gagged—could do nothing.

Akechi spread out a piece of canvas that had been rolled up nearby and covered the leader’s body. Then, he picked up the pistol that had fallen on the deck earlier, impersonated the gang leader, and entered the cabin.

Then, he entered the finest room, surveyed his surroundings, and pressed the call bell button on the desk. A subordinate appeared and inquired, “Boss—do you require something—?”

“Yeah. You know where it is.” “Tell me where I hid that ‘Star Crown’.”

Akechi imitated the gang leader’s booming voice and spoke in a deliberately rough manner.

“Hah! Did you forget where you stashed it yourself, Boss?”

The subordinate made a strange face and asked in return. “No, of course I know. But I’m testing whether you know it or not. Well? Where is it? Let’s hear it.” “It’s obvious, isn’t it? It’s the cabinet where you always keep the most important things, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, right. It’s here.” “But it’s locked.” “You know where the key is?”

“It’s in the desk drawer. The top right drawer, slipped between the notebooks. Did you forget that, Boss?” “As if I’d forget! I was just testing you. Alright! Then I have no more use for you. You may go now.”

The subordinate man withdrew just as he was. Because he wore the Clown Mask and looked exactly like their leader, no one even suspected this was Detective Akechi’s disguise. Akechi took out that key, opened the cabinet, retrieved the box containing the "Star Crown" wrapped in a purple cloth, opened it, and inspected the contents.

A golden crown studded with countless gems glittering like stars. Even the great detective could only gaze vacantly at its beauty for a time. Akechi rewrapped it exactly as before, tucked it under his arm, and dashed out to the rear deck again. On the way, he passed by the window of the subordinates’ cabin, but none suspected their leader.

When he stood at the edge of the deck and looked down at the pitch-black sea, the lifeboat had just finished circling the steamship and was returning. Akechi thrust his Clown Mask-clad face out from the ship's side to show himself to the subordinates in the boat. "Boss! It's no use!" "No matter how much we searched, there wasn't nothin' at all!" "That Akechi guy must've been eaten by sharks or somethin'."

From the boat came the shouts of the subordinates. “Very well. Alright then, stop searching and come back up.”

Akechi imitated the leader’s voice and issued the command.

Then, the three subordinates tied the lifeboat to a rope hanging from the stern and climbed up to the deck via a rope ladder. “Good work, men. Go into the room and help yourselves. …Akechi-sensei, you’ve finally become a worthless fool. Now that that nuisance is gone for good, we can finally get down to business without any worries.” Akechi persistently maintained his disguise as the gang leader and brazenly muttered such things.

When the subordinates entered the cabin, Akechi climbed down the rope ladder they had used to come up and descended to the lifeboat below. In this way, the great detective had successfully achieved his objective. While being held captive by the enemy, he quietly subdued only the gang leader, took on the leader’s identity, reclaimed Mr. Arima’s “Star Crown,” and managed to transfer to the lifeboat. When he transferred to the lifeboat, he untied the rope and began rowing toward Tokyo across the pitch-black sea. Fortunately, there were no waves. Large swells were only rolling in slowly and heavily.

Since maneuvering two large oars alone was difficult, Akechi devised a method, using one oar like a scull from a Japanese boat, and rowed the boat.

Swiftly，the distance between them and the steamship grew．By the time it had stretched two hundred，then three hundred，and finally five hundred meters，even the great steamship’s form had melted into night’s darkness，no longer clearly visible．

Defeated Terror King

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

There was no sign of their leader anywhere. Even after searching the entire ship, they still couldn't find him anywhere. When they rushed to check the room where they had bound Detective Akechi on a hunch, they found the ropes had come undone in pieces—of course, there was no trace of Akechi to be found. This was getting serious. The Terror King had vanished as well. They divided tasks and searched through the ship once more.

One subordinate was shining a flashlight and walking all around the rear deck.

Then, somewhere, there came a clattering sound.

“Who’s there…?” But even as he shouted, there was no response—only the same clattering sound continued unabated.

"This is strange," he thought. He listened intently to pinpoint the sound’s direction, then shone his flashlight there.

A piece of canvas was moving. There might have been some living creature hiding beneath it. The subordinate man warily approached it, grabbed the canvas, and flung it aside in one swift motion. “Hey! It’s Akechi…!”

There lay a man in a black suit bound hand and foot. The subordinate saw this and became utterly convinced it was Detective Akechi. With his mouth gagged by cloth and wearing Akechi’s suit jacket, it was only natural he’d mistake him for the detective at first glance.

That subordinate suddenly ran off 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?” “Then, did the leader tie up Akechi?”

Exchanging such words among themselves, they approached the fallen man. “Wait! This isn’t Akechi! Akechi’s hair was way bushier!” “What the hell? If this ain’t Akechi,” “then who’d you say it is?”

“That’s what I don’t get.” “This is weird.” At that moment, the fallen man raised his bound legs high and slammed them down on the floorboards with a thud. He seemed to be throwing a tantrum. “Let’s get a better look at his face.” “Let’s 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 leader!” “This is the leader!”

“Hurry up and untie these ropes! What’re you all dilly-dallying for?!”

As if to cover their embarrassment, the subordinates said such things while untying the leader’s ropes.

“You idiots! What a bunch of bumbling fools!” “Akechi’s bastard has put on my Clown Mask, taken on my exact appearance, and is hiding somewhere!” “Split up and track him down!” “But boss, we’ve already searched every inch of the ship.” “We can’t find him anywhere.” “Huh—something’s wrong!”

One of the subordinates let out a shrill voice.

“Boss! Did you just call out to us from the deck earlier—tell us to come back up now that it’s settled?” “I didn’t do any such thing. That wasn’t me.” “Then that must’ve been Akechi? He was wearing the Clown Mask for sure.” “Wait—hold on!”

“Boss, something terrible has 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 kept, would you?”

“Would I ever ask such a thing? I haven’t forgotten a damn thing about where I stashed the ‘Star Crown.’” “Ah! Then that’s him! That must’ve been Akechi’s bastard!” “Hey! What’re you blabbering about? Did Akechi ask you that?!” “Well, since we had no clue that was Akechi, we thought you were askin’ something weird, boss.” “Y-you bastard! Then… could it be…?”

“Boss, I’m sorry. “It was that guy who took the Star Crown.”

“Was it that bastard Akechi impersonating me?” “Huh.”

Smack... The leader’s open hand flew to his subordinate’s cheek. The foolish subordinate clutched his cheek and staggered backward. “Now, everyone, search for Akechi! He must be hiding somewhere. If we let him take back the Star Crown I worked so hard to steal, I’ll lose face. No matter what happens, we’ve got to catch that bastard Akechi...”

Then, once again, a massive search began throughout the ship.

After a while, the three subordinates who had boarded the boat earlier came whispering furtively to the edge of the rear deck. “Hey, let’s check it out. Maybe he’s on that lifeboat.” “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.” The three men leaned against the railing and peered into the pitch-black sea. “Ah, it’s not here!” “The lifeboat’s gone.”

When they pulled the rope, it came up with a creaking sound. The lifeboat that had been tied up ahead was nowhere to be seen.

The three men ran into the ship’s cabin to inform their leader of this.

“What?! The lifeboat’s gone?”

The Terror King also came running out. A large group of subordinates followed after him. And everyone leaned against the railing of the rear deck and peered down at the dark sea. If it had been daytime, they might still have been able to see the lifeboat Akechi had boarded, but in this darkness, there was nothing they could do. The Terror King steered the ship toward Tokyo and searched for the lifeboat, but ultimately failed to discover Detective Akechi. Because if they got too close to Tokyo, their own safety would be at risk, they couldn’t search as thoroughly as they wished.

Then, about one week later, on a certain day.

A strange call came through to the Akechi Detective Agency.

When Akechi answered the phone, a low, sinister chuckle suddenly came through—a laugh dripping with malice. “Hmm-hmm-hmm… So it’s Detective Akechi, eh?” “I am the thief known as Terror King.” “The other day truly gave me an opportunity to witness your prowess firsthand.” “That was my loss.” “I certainly lost.” “But I won’t let this end at mere defeat.” “I will have my revenge—you can count on that.” “Detective, you’d better watch out.” “I haven’t yet shown you the true terror of Terror King.” “If you let your guard down, something unthinkable will happen.”

“But I’ve already given up on the Star Crown. When I fail at something, I cleanly abandon it and target other, bigger prey—that’s my way. So what do you think I’ll go after next? Hmm-hmm-hmm… Not even the great Detective Akechi could guess this one. I’ll make the whole world gasp. No—I’d rather make you gasp than the whole world. This time it won’t be something gentle like the Clown Mask. A terrifying mask. A mask of terror that will make all Tokyo tremble in fear.”

When he heard this, Detective Akechi began to laugh.

“Ha ha ha ha, so you’re challenging me over the phone, eh? Very well. I’ll accept your challenge anytime. On that steamship last time, since you had so many henchmen, I settled for just retrieving the Star Crown—but this time, I’ll make sure to capture you. You’re the one who needs to watch out.”

“Hmm-hmm-hmm… This is getting interesting.” “Great Detective Akechi versus the Masked Terror King, huh?” “A clash of titans versus terrors—that’s what they call it, huh?” “Well then, until that time comes—take good care of yourself, Detective Akechi.” “Well then, so long.” And then, the line went dead with a click.

Golden Mask

Then about a month passed without incident.

And then, one day.

A strange incident occurred at Kyoto’s Sanjūsangen-dō Temple. Inside Sanjūsangen-dō Temple’s elongated hall, leaving only a pathway for worshippers, hundreds of glittering golden Buddha statues—each roughly human-sized—stood densely packed, filling the entire space.

That evening, two sixth-grade elementary school boys—Takahashi and Maruyama—were walking along the pathway inside the temple hall. As dusk had already begun to fall, all the worshippers had returned home, leaving the temple hall deserted except for the two boys. However, even without people, golden Buddha statues—each as large as a person—stood densely packed in countless overlapping rows.

The sight of those hundreds of golden Buddha statues, silent and utterly still, clustered in the twilight was indescribably eerie.

“Let’s go home already. There’s no one left anymore, right?” Maruyama said uneasily.

Then Takahashi suddenly came to a halt and, with a startled expression, stared at the midst of the clustered Buddha statues. “Takahashi, what’s wrong? What are you staring at so intently?” When Maruyama asked, Takahashi raised a finger to his lips in a shushing motion and silently indicated the direction with his eyes.

Maruyama-kun followed Takahashi-kun’s gaze and looked into the cluster of Buddha statues.

What the—?! What was going on here? Right in the center of the swarming crowd of Buddha statues stood a single figure of entirely different appearance. It was larger than the others—anyone looking closely would notice immediately—with golden cloth wound about its head like an Indian turban and draped in a loose golden cloak-like garment. Though golden-faced like its counterparts, this one bore a larger visage with an unsettling subtlety reminiscent of a Noh mask.

Perhaps it was their imagination, but that strange statue seemed to be staring fixedly back at them with its golden face. The two boys were having a long staring contest with the Buddha statue. Then, something bone-chilling happened. The strange Buddha statue’s body swayed unsteadily. Then, the golden face’s lips curled upward in a crescent shape, forming a thin black slit. It laughed. The golden face grinned slyly.

The two boys were so terrified that their bodies froze stiff, but Takahashi-kun mustered his courage, grabbed Maruyama-kun’s hand, and led him away to where they could no longer see the strange statue. Then, putting his mouth close to Maruyama’s ear, he whispered.

“Did you see that guy? It’s not a Buddha statue. He’s alive. He moved, didn’t he? And then he looked our way and laughed, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, exactly,” “What a creepy guy.” “Could it be a ghost?” “Ghosts don’t exist in this world.” “He’s definitely a villain.” “He’s hiding among the Buddha statues in that golden form and plotting something.” “Let’s keep watch from here.” “He might move again, you know.”

The two boys decided to hide themselves in the shadows and stealthily peek out.

The boys’ assumption had been correct. That strange statue-like figure began to move.

The mysterious figure parted the clustered Buddha statues and emerged onto the worshippers' pathway. With that, his entire body came into view—beneath the golden cloak was a snugly fitted golden shirt, golden pants, and even golden shoes. The mysterious figure walked leisurely down the center of the pathway. The two boys kept their distance and followed after him. “Hey, that guy—it’s the Golden Mask.” Takahashi kept up his pursuit while whispering to Maruyama.

“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’s already dead, he’s not Lupin. He must be imitating the old Lupin and taking on the guise of the Golden Mask.”

Ah, Golden Mask.

The Golden Mask—that mysterious villain who once terrorized all of Japan—had appeared once again. And now, right before their eyes, he was walking away.

The two boys felt as though they were seeing a terrifying dream. At the temple entrance, there was a guard, but Golden Mask passed right in front of him with an unfazed expression.

The guard was startled, froze in place, and so overwhelmed he couldn’t even muster the strength to speak. The mysterious figure exited the hall and walked slowly without ever looking back, but when the two boys carelessly approached from behind, he suddenly turned around.

And he laughed. With that sinister crescent-shaped mouth, he grinned slyly.

The two boys stood frozen in place, unable to move a muscle. They turned deathly pale and could only stare at his golden face. Then, a strange, hoarse voice could be heard. The Golden Mask spoke.

“Heh heh heh... Hey, you kids. You’ve got some nerve following me.” “But it’s no use.” “I’m not human, you see.” “Because I can fly through the sky as freely as a bird.” “There’s nothing you kids can do about it.” “Heh heh heh....”

No sooner had he spoken than the mysterious figure whirled around to face the opposite direction and dashed off. With his golden cloak billowing behind him, he ran with a speed like that of a demon. And in the blink of an eye, he vanished into the dim twilight.

When their opponent vanished from sight, the two boys finally regained their composure and gave chase. After walking a short distance, there stood a large shii tree that seemed to reach about thirty meters in height. When they looked up, despite there being no wind, the branches of the shii tree swayed gently.

“That’s weird. Couldn’t he have climbed up this tree?”

Takahashi said.

Then, at that moment, a young monk serving as a guard—wearing a white robe with a waistcloth—came rushing up from the direction of the hall in a fluster.

“Hey, you kids! Where did that golden monster go? We’ve got to call the police and catch him…”

Takahashi pointed to the top of the shii tree and answered. “Huh? Look how much that tree is swaying.” “He might have climbed up there.” The monk shaded his eyes and looked up at the shii tree branches, but because they were enveloped in twilight, he couldn’t see clearly.

At that moment. No sooner had the treetop rustled with violent intensity than something golden shot out from it into the air with a whoosh.

Ah, it was him. The Golden Mask was flying through the sky. The mysterious figure flew high in the air with his body turned sideways and both arms stretched straight out in front of him, gliding as though swimming through water. The golden cloak fluttered and flapped, looking exactly like the Superman from the movies. The golden Superman was flying higher and higher through the twilight sky. The two boys and the monk stood gaping in astonishment as they stared upward, but the Golden Mask rapidly receded into the distance, its form growing smaller and smaller until it finally resembled a single golden star before swiftly vanishing into the twilight sky.

It goes without saying that the next day’s newspapers sensationalized the bizarre incident in bold headlines.

Takahashi and Maruyama, the two boys, were surrounded by everyone at school and found themselves repeatedly begged to tell the story of the Golden Mask.

The Crescent Smile

Then, about a week later, the stage shifted to Tokyo, and yet another terrifying incident occurred.

One night, Boy Detectives Club members Kinoshita-kun and Miyajima-kun were sitting in the audience seats of a small movie theater called Queen in Setagaya Ward.

These two were sixth-grade elementary students who had just joined the Boy Detectives Club, but as official members, they proudly wore B.D. badges on their chests.

The reason they had gone to such a small theater was that there was a sign reading "Nostalgic Memory Film Week," and tonight they were screening an old film called *Golden Mask* that had been a major hit over ten years ago. It was the film adaptation of the book *Golden Mask*—the same story about Lupin’s exploits that Takahashi, the boy from Kyoto, had reportedly read. The two boys had read the book but had never seen the film, so when they spotted Queen Theater’s sign, they promptly decided to go see it.

The film began with Golden Mask stealing a small tower—about thirty centimeters tall, crafted from thousands of pearl beads that had been displayed at Ueno Park’s exhibition—and gradually progressed through scenes until one moment where only his face filled the entire screen in an enormous close-up. It was a monstrously colossal face—thousands of times larger than an ordinary human’s. Moreover, it was a golden face, shaped with an eerie uncanniness like a Noh mask.

The face contorted its mouth into a crescent shape and grinned slyly. The mouth area became a narrow, crescent-shaped hole—though there should have been teeth and a tongue within, nothing was visible—only pitch blackness.

The music had stopped there, and no sound could be heard. The audience held their breath, utterly silent.

The silence was shattered as a blood-curdling shriek erupted from the corner of the audience. A woman, overwhelmed by terror, had involuntarily let out a scream. The audience shuddered at the scream, but nervous laughter and murmurs broke out here and there, as if to mask their fear. Audiences, after all, are the kind who laugh when frightened.

In the next instant, the laughter came to an abrupt halt. 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, a bright red liquid trickled down. The film was not a color film but a monochrome one. Suddenly, a bright red liquid spread across the colorless screen. Blood.

From the eerie crescent-shaped mouth, blood flowed down. And only that blood was a bright red color. The Golden Mask was still laughing. The Golden Mask was laughing a soundless laugh. And it was spewing blood from its mouth. Even if it weren’t a color film, if one were to meticulously paint tiny details on each frame while examining them through a magnifying glass, it might appear this way. However, if you wanted color to appear, you could just shoot a color film, so there’s no reason anyone would go through such a time-consuming process nowadays.

In fact, that film had no color at all. Yet tonight of all nights, bright red blood had begun to flow.

The spectators, startled, scrambled to their feet trying to flee their seats. But even more shocked than them was the projectionist. When he saw the blood, he stopped the projector in alarm. He removed the film to examine it closely and turned on the house lights. The enlarged image on the screen vanished abruptly, and the audience seats brightened. Each spectator wondered if they had lost their sanity. There was no way such a terrifying movie could exist.

Therefore, when the screen went dark and the theater brightened, it felt like waking from a dream. Boy Detectives Club members Kinoshita-kun and Miyajima-kun were also watching this bizarre film from the front rows of the audience seats. Suspecting this might be connected to some crime, they forgot their fear and began glancing restlessly around the theater.

That was when it happened.

A roar-like commotion erupted through the audience. And in a chaotic scramble, they rose from their seats and tried to flee toward the movie theater’s entrance. And that was only natural. On the stage in front of the screen, something terrifying was happening. Ah, look there! And there, before the screen, lumbered into view an unfathomable monster—its very nature unknowable!

It was identical to the Golden Mask from the film. One could only think it had broken free from the screen, materialized into physical form, and appeared.

A golden face. A golden turban on its head. A golden cloak. Golden trousers. Golden shoes. It stood blocking the screen, looking down at the audience seats.

When the movie theater staff saw this from the back of the audience seats, they turned pale and called 110. Then, in less than three minutes, a patrol car that had been circling nearby arrived, and two police officers rushed into the movie theater. The commotion that followed was beyond description. The two police officers passed through the corridor and rushed onto the stage. In a swift countermove, the Golden Mask leapt nimbly into the audience seats and darted between the chairs toward the entrance.

The remaining spectators, thinking it would be terrible if they were caught by the Golden Mask, stepped aside and cleared a path for it. Because of this, the people in the back fell over, and with children wailing and women shrieking, it became an indescribable uproar. Kinoshita and Miyajima, two boys among them, were also there, but even members of the Boy Detectives Club could do nothing against this monster. They could only watch the chaos unfold.

The Golden Mask burst through the audience seats but instead of exiting outside dashed up the staircase to the second-floor viewing gallery shattered the front-facing window and emerged onto the eaves roof. The road outside had become packed with fleeing spectators and passersby leaving several cars unable to move. The Golden Mask looked down at the crowd and grinned slyly with that crescent-shaped mouth. After reaching one corner of the eaves roof he grabbed the edge of the main roof that sloped down there nimbly leapt up and began crawling like a golden lizard across the steep main roof that looked ready to send him sliding off at any moment.

The two police officers climbed out the window and reached the eaves roof, but they couldn’t scale up to the main roof. The Golden Mask was as light-bodied as an acrobat, so ordinary humans couldn’t possibly imitate that feat.

Then, after a short while, a roar erupted from the crowd that had gathered in front of the movie theater, staring up at the roof. Everyone was looking up at the night sky and shouting. They were looking up at a point in the sky even higher than the main roof. What on earth was happening? Oh! Once again—aerial flight! Golden Mask fluttered his golden cloak and flew straight through the vast night sky, heading south. He flew like Superman.

In the sky, countless stars were twinkling. Beneath them, the Golden Birdman—shining more beautifully than the stars—was flying at a terrifying speed.

And before you knew it, Golden Mask's figure rapidly shrank until it vanished among the twinkling stars.

The Golden Magician

The Terror King, disguised as the Golden Mask monster, leapt away from the movie theater rooftop into the starry sky. Before that, a close-up of the Golden Mask’s face spewing blood had filled the movie theater screen. In the black-and-white film, only the color of blood flowing from the mask's crescent-shaped mouth appeared a vivid red. Later, upon investigation, it was discovered that Terror King had stolen the film reels, examined each frame under a magnifying glass while painting them red, and then returned them to the projection room. He had painted each frame with red paint, gradually thinning it out, so that when projected, it appeared as if blood was trickling down.

That much had been understood, but the secret of how Golden Mask, the Terror King, could fly through the air like a bird remained unknown to anyone. Is he a magician?

Now, about a week after the movie theater incident, something terrifying occurred at the Katagiri family’s home in Meguro Ward.

The Katagiri family’s home was a spacious Western-style mansion in a quiet residential district, and there lived two children named Ichirou and Miyoko. The older brother, Ichirou, was a sixth grader at elementary school, and the younger sister, Miyoko, was a third grader. One evening, as the two children were reading books at their desks in the study room, something glinted outside the glass window where the curtains had been drawn. Even as they read their books, they caught sight of it in the corner of their eye.

“Oh! What could that be?” “Yeah, that’s weird. It kinda flashed for a second there.”

However, since nothing could be seen outside the window anymore, the two began reading their books again. After a short while, it flashed again. Ichirou stood up from his chair, went to the window, and peered outside. There was nothing but a pitch-dark, spacious garden spreading out there. At that moment, the monster was crouching right beneath the window, but from inside the room, they couldn’t see that far.

As they were reading their books again, it flashed a third time. And this time, it did not disappear. The glinting thing remained perfectly still outside the window. Miyoko-chan let out an indescribable shriek and clung to Ichirou-kun. Ichirou-kun also stood up from his chair and instinctively moved to flee. Pressed against the windowpane, something terrifying was peering in. It was a golden face, like a Noh mask, with a sinister expression. The face creaked open its mouth into a crescent shape—and wasn't it laughing!

Ichirou-kun suddenly remembered the monster called Golden Mask that had been stirring up commotion in the newspapers lately. It was Golden Mask. There was no mistaking it. He stood right outside the window. "Aah...!"

Ichirou let out a terrified scream, grabbed Miyoko's hand, and dashed into the hallway. Then they rushed into their father’s room.

“Dad, it’s terrible! Golden Mask—” “Golden Mask—….” “What? Golden Mask, you say?”

“He was peering through our study window! Quick—call the police!”

Mr. Katagiri, the father, summoned two student lodgers and ordered them to search the garden. And he himself dialed 110 on the telephone.

The two student lodgers, carrying flashlights and wooden swords, rushed out into the pitch-dark garden. The garden had many large trees growing thickly. The brave student lodgers shone their flashlights and searched through the thicket of trees. “Ah! He’s over there!”

One of the student lodgers whispered and turned his flashlight that way. Then, the monster that had been hiding in the shadow of the trees stepped fully into the light.

A golden turban, a golden face, a golden cloak, golden pants and shoes. His mouth stretched into a crescent shape with a creak as he grinned slyly. When the two student lodgers saw this, they faltered and staggered backward.

“Heh-heh-heh… Listen well—make sure to tell your master.” “Three days from today—on the thirteenth at ten o’clock sharp—I’ll be taking the Katagiri family’s treasure.” “Do you understand?” “In the art room of this house lies the national treasure bodhisattva statue.” “I’ll be taking that.” “I’ll surely keep my promise, so keep a close watch without fail.”

Golden Mask, having said just that, swiftly turned around and dashed toward the back of the garden. When the two student lodgers saw their opponent fleeing, they suddenly regained their vigor, "Hey! Stop! We won’t let you escape!"

And with that, they suddenly gave chase after the monster.

“Ah! He jumped onto the wall!”

That was correct. Golden Mask leaped onto the high concrete wall, smoothly climbed up it, and once turned toward this direction,

“Wahahaha….” No sooner had he laughed through that crescent-shaped mouth than he leaped down to the other side of the wall. The student lodgers chased after him and tried to climb the wall, but it was too high—they couldn’t possibly scale it. Golden Mask moved with an acrobat’s lightness; ordinary people stood no chance of imitating such feats.

“Rather than dawdling here, it’d be faster to go around through the gate.”

As one said this and started running, the other student lodger followed after him. As they rushed out the gate, a patrol car pulled up right there, and two officers leaped out from inside. “Ah! You’re the police officers? Golden Mask has fled outside the wall. This way! Please hurry!”

The student lodgers took the lead ahead of the officers and rushed to the alley outside the wall. “He jumped down from around here. “He shouldn’t have gone far yet…”

When they looked, someone was approaching from the darkness ahead. One of the student lodgers abruptly illuminated the figure with his flashlight.

He was a stooped old man around seventy years old. He wore shabby, khaki-colored clothes, carried a cloth-wrapped bundle under his arm, leaned on a cane, and trudged along. His long hair was pure white, and a salt-and-pepper bushy beard extended around his mouth and chin. “Hey, old man—did you see a golden guy just now? He jumped down from this wall, but…”

When the student lodgers asked their question, the old man stretched his back with a grunt, squinting against the flashlight's beam as he looked at them. "Yeah, if you mean that guy—he ran off that way. From head to toe, he was a guy all in shining gold."

and pointed behind him.

“Thanks. So he ran off that way.” The four of them immediately dashed off in that direction.

Then, the old man leaned on his cane and started walking again,

“Heh-heh-heh….” ...he let out a low chuckle. Why would he be laughing? What was so amusing? Ah, perhaps...

The two police officers and two student lodgers searched far and wide, but Golden Mask's figure was nowhere to be seen. Finally, they gave up and turned back toward Mr. Katagiri's gate.

“That’s strange… No matter how fast he is, it’s weird we can’t spot him on that main street. We could see all the way down there.” When one student lodger muttered this, the other suddenly stopped in his tracks and declared: “Ah! That’s it! That old man’s suspicious! Golden Mask’s like some magician—he must be great at disguises. He must’ve been disguised as that old man! The golden cloak and stuff were probably wrapped in that cloth bundle…”

The Boys in the Attic

Three days later, on the afternoon of the 13th—the day Golden Mask had declared he would steal Mr. Katagiri’s national treasure Buddhist statue to prove his capability—

This was the Akechi Detective Agency in Kōjimachi. Detective Akechi had gone to Fukui Prefecture for a case he had been entrusted with, and his boy assistant Kobayashi and girl assistant Hanasaki Mayumi were keeping watch over the place.

Around 3:30 PM, when the phone rang, Kobayashi picked up the receiver and found it was Detective Akechi on the line. “I returned to Tokyo around noon. The man I had asked to wait at Shinjuku Station reported to me, so I found out Golden Mask’s whereabouts. I’ve just confirmed it now. Golden Mask will come to a vacant house in Shibuya Ward at 7 PM today. That’s why I want to enlist the help of you, the Boy Detectives Club. Gather as many as you can reach by phone and have them come to that vacant house by 6 PM. And bring as many members of the Chinpira Special Unit as you can. Understood?”

And he gave detailed directions to the vacant house in Shibuya Ward. “Mayumi—it’s from Mr. Akechi.” “He found out where Golden Mask is.” “What? When did he return?”

“He said around noon today.” “And in that short time since then, Mr. Akechi had already tracked down Golden Mask’s whereabouts.” Kobayashi-kun declared this boastfully, as though he himself had pulled off the feat. The two were well-informed about the Golden Mask case through newspaper reports. They knew Golden Mask was targeting Mr. Katagiri’s Buddhist statue and that today was the promised date. Then Kobayashi-kun began making calls everywhere to gather the boy members. The phoned members notified those without phones and the Chinpira squad boys, until soon ten Boy Detectives Club members and seven Chinpira Special Unit members had gathered, all arriving at the Akechi Detective Agency by 5 PM.

Kobayashi entrusted Ms. Mayumi with guard duty, then led the seventeen boys to Shibuya via tram and subway, hurrying toward the vacant house they had been directed to. The vacant house was located in a desolate residential area about one kilometer from Shibuya Station. The boys took the bus to the vicinity and properly arrived at the gate of the vacant house by the promised six o'clock.

It was a three-story wooden Western-style mansion surrounded by a brick wall. Somehow, it was a sinister old building.

Though the surroundings were already growing dim, there at the gate of the vacant house stood Detective Akechi in his black suit, poised and waiting. “Mr. Akechi.” As Kobayashi called out and ran up, the detective pressed a finger to his lips in a hushing gesture, signaled with his eyes for them to follow, then passed through the gate. He walked along the stone-paved 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 black. The lights also appeared to be switched off; even when they searched for the switch and pressed it, no light came on. “You brought flashlights, I trust?”

In response to Detective Akechi’s words, Kobayashi immediately took out a fountain pen-style flashlight from his pocket and switched it on. Taking their cue from this, the boys each switched on their fountain pen-style flashlights. This flashlight was one of the seven essential tools of the Boy Detectives Club.

Because many people turned on their flashlights, the inside of the house suddenly became bright.

“Impressive, impressive. Everyone, you didn’t forget the seven essential tools, did you?” Detective Akechi took the lead with those words, passed through the hallway, climbed the stairs, and ascended from the second to the third floor—but just when they thought that was the end, there was yet another staircase. It was more like a ladder than a staircase. It was narrow and steep—a ladder. At the top of the ladder was a large trapdoor, and when they pushed it upward, a dark opening gaped wide. Above that was the third-floor attic.

“Are we hiding in this attic?”

When Kobayashi-kun asked, Detective Akechi,

“Yeah, that’s right.”

he answered.

All seventeen boys climbed up into the attic.

The ceiling retained the shape of the roof, and at the edges, it sloped down so low that one’s head would bump against it. The timbers supporting the roof remained fully exposed, while on one side there was a small skylight window. Detective Akechi had the boys proceed to the back while he himself stood blocking the trapdoor entrance, but then, for some reason, he began to chuckle quietly.

“Heh heh heh... How amusing... “You’ve been trapped in this attic.”

The detective was saying something strange. Something felt off. What in the world was happening? “Mr. Akechi, why are you laughing? What’s so funny?” Kobayashi-kun inquired curiously. “Heh heh heh... Don’t you get it?” “What? You don’t get it?” “You just called me Mr. Akechi, didn’t you? Why would I be Mr. Akechi?” Things were getting stranger by the minute. Moreover, for Detective Akechi to refer to himself as “I” was downright strange.

“Hee hee hee... You were all cleverly tricked.” “Who do you suppose I am?” “I am a master of disguise.” “I can transform into Detective Akechi or anyone at all!”

His voice was no longer Mr. Akechi’s voice. It was an unidentifiable, hoarse voice. Then, could it be that this person wasn’t Mr. Akechi after all? Then, could it be… “Heh heh heh... You’re all making such strange faces, aren’t you? “Have you finally figured it out?” “That’s right.” “I’m not Detective Akechi.” “By now, that guy’s still fumbling around in Fukui Prefecture.”

“Then, that earlier phone call was also…” “That’s right. That was also a fake phone call where I imitated Akechi’s voice.” “Huh? Then you’re…” “I’m the thief known as Terror King, you see.” “These days, I’m also called Golden Mask.” “Since I’m stealing the national treasure Buddhist statue from Katagiri tonight, and since there’s a chance Katagiri might call Akechi’s office and you brats could interfere, I’ve taken the initiative to lock you up here—you see.” “Ha ha ha ha! I’m quite the cautious one, don’t you think?” “Then, you all can take your time resting here.” “…Adios.”

No sooner had he said this than the mysterious figure disguised as Akechi nimbly leapt down the ladder below the entrance, slammed the trapdoor shut with a bang, and locked it from below with a click. This was why a lock had been pre-installed on the trapdoor beforehand.

Kobayashi Shounen, “Ah!”

With a shout, he rushed to the trapdoor and tried to lift it with both hands, but it didn’t budge an inch.

“Everyone, help me! Break down this wooden door!” So everyone gathered around the wooden trapdoor, pounding and kicking it in an attempt to break through. But since it was a sturdy door made of exceptionally thick planks, they soon realized there was no hope of breaking it down. Moreover, even if they managed to break through this trapdoor, the opponent might be hiding somewhere, watching their every move. Rather than that, wasn’t there some clever strategy where they could stay perfectly still like this and catch their opponent off guard?

Kobayashi-kun crossed his arms and stared fixedly in thought, but after a while—as if he had suddenly realized something—his eyes lit up. “Ah! I’ve got an idea. Everyone has your tools ready, right? That black silk rope ladder—you should have it wrapped around your stomachs right now.”

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

they replied in unison.

“Alright then—if we connect three of those rope ladders together, they should reach all the way to the ground.” “Everyone can take turns climbing down one after another.” “We’ll lower the rope ladder from that window.”

“Yeah, that’s right… That’s the way…”

Everyone immediately agreed. "But not right now. Since that guy might still be hiding somewhere, let's wait a little longer." Having said that, Kobayashi-kun approached the window, quietly opened the glass door, and peered down below. Since dusk's faint light still lingered outside, the ground far below could be faintly seen.

It was a spacious garden overgrown with wild grass.

Since it was a Western-style mansion, there was no central roof, and it rose straight up at a terrifying height. Though called a rope ladder, the Boy Detectives Club's version consisted of a single cord made by twisting silk threads together, with knots tied every thirty centimeters. To descend, they had to clamp these knots between their toes—making the entire endeavor nothing less than an acrobatic stunt.

The boys had to undertake this perilous adventure in total darkness.

The 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 with them, wrapped around their waists under their jackets. Since it was a silk cord, when bundled up, it became thin enough that even when wrapped around their waists, it remained undetectable from the outside. At that time, since there were two middle school members, they connected Leader Kobayashi’s rope ladder with two others, lowered them out the window, and one after another, everyone climbed down to reach the ground.

They firmly lodged the iron hook attached to the end of the silk cord into the window frame, then using the lowered rope ladder, the middle school member descended first. The silk cord had large knots tied every thirty centimeters, so they descended by clamping them between their toes. Therefore, everyone took off their socks, stuffed them into their shoes, and hung those shoes at their waists as they descended. Then, the elementary school members and Chinpira Unit descended one by one, followed by another middle school member who positioned himself midway to assist the smaller members as they climbed down, with Leader Kobayashi coming last.

By that time, it was already completely dark, so there was no chance of them being seen from outside the wall. Terror King’s subordinates didn’t seem to be keeping watch over the garden either, so the seventeen boys managed to safely exit through the gate. The rope ladder remained hanging from the window; they had left it behind. If it had been just one ladder, they could have shaken the rope from below to dislodge the hook—but with three connected together, there was simply no way to remove it. It was a shame, but they left the rope ladder behind as it was.

The boys immediately boarded a bus and hurried to Mr. Katagiri's residence in Meguro. Since the Terror King had declared he would steal the national treasure Buddhist statue from Mr. Katagiri's art room at ten o'clock tonight, the Boy Detectives Club had to thwart his scheme. With Detective Akechi being absent, they had to confront the fiend in his stead.

By the time everyone arrived outside the wall of Mr. Katagiri’s residence, it was already around 8:30. There was still time before ten. However, the Terror King might sneak into Mr. Katagiri’s house before then. Therefore, the boys decided to split up, conceal themselves in the darkness surrounding Mr. Katagiri’s wall, and keep watch.

Near the gate, Kobayashi Shounen and two middle school members kept watch from the shadows of street corners and utility poles, their eyes fixed intently on the entrance. Inside the gate, two police officers were coming and going. After patiently keeping watch for over thirty minutes, as if waiting for the police officers to pass by, four black shadowy figures emerged in a cluster from Mr. Katagiri’s gate, walking briskly. Three were dressed in jet-black shirts and pants, and among them was a single golden figure.

Ah! It was Golden Mask!

Kobayashi-kun involuntarily cried out in his heart.

But something felt off. The golden figure must have been injured—he was slumped against the three black-clad figures, who walked while supporting him from all sides.

Just as the four exited the gate, another small jet-black figure came darting out from behind them. He began trailing after the four from behind. It somehow felt like a tailing operation. "Ah! It's Pocket Boy." "As expected—he's quick."

Kobayashi muttered to himself. That was Pocket Boy of the Chinpira Unit. He got his nickname from being small enough to fit in a pocket, but he was actually quite bold and nimble. He had already accomplished many feats for the Boy Detectives Club on numerous occasions. Leader Kobayashi had stationed only Pocket Boy inside the gate to keep watch—he was now tailing those four suspicious figures.

When Golden Mask’s group and Pocket Boy turned the dark street corner ahead, two police officers rushed out from inside the gate. Since it was said that the Terror King Golden Mask would come tonight, three police officers had been standing guard at Mr. Katagiri’s residence—but when two of them learned that the criminal had escaped, they gave chase.

The police officers looked around nervously, scanning their surroundings, but there were no longer any suspicious figures in the area. As they hesitated about what to do, Kobayashi Shounen dashed out from the shadow of a nearby utility pole. Seeing this, the police officers braced themselves for a suspicious intruder, but Kobayashi-kun strode purposefully up to them and whispered something.

“Hmm, 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 suspicious figures had vanished earlier.

After turning the corner and walking a short distance, at the entrance of a narrow alley stood Pocket Boy in his jet-black attire. Then, upon seeing Kobayashi Shounen, he immediately approached, pressed his mouth close to Kobayashi’s ear and whispered something.

“There’s said to be a small vacant house at the back of this alley. “The four guys are said to have gone inside there.” When Kobayashi-kun explained, the two police officers nodded,

“Alright, then we’ll split into front and back and raid the vacant house from both sides.” “You’re in danger here—you’d better not get too close.”

The police officers said that and, guided by Pocket Boy, rushed into the alley. Kobayashi Shounen, standing at the entrance of the alley, took out the summoning whistle from his pocket and blew it—trill trill trill trill… It was to summon the Boy Detectives Club members. This summoning whistle was also one of the detective’s seven essential tools. If someone’s summoning whistle was heard, each member was supposed to blow their own whistle to alert everyone.

Because Kobayashi-kun blew the summoning whistle, the sound of the club 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 had gathered around Kobayashi-kun.

Kobayashi Shounen explained the situation to the members and decided to divide into two teams to storm the vacant house from both the front and back entrances.

At that moment. Something came darting out from the pitch-dark alley like a sudden gust of wind.

“Ah!” he thought. When he looked closely, it was the three men in black shirts from earlier. Golden Mask’s figure was nowhere to be seen. “Hey, it’s these guys! Everyone grab ’em!” “Grab ’em all!” Kobayashi-kun shouted and lunged at one of the three. Seeing this, a dozen club members leaped at them too, turning the darkness into a chaotic brawl. Three opponents versus a dozen on their side. With four or five clinging to each man, even children couldn’t be underestimated.

Some leaped from behind to cling around necks, others wrapped around arms, and there were even those who sank their teeth into wrists. "Ah! It hurts!" "Damn brats!" Just as they tried to shake free with all their strength and flee, another boy swept their legs out from under them, sending them crashing to the ground.

Even the strong villains were thoroughly harassed, but since most of their group were still just small elementary schoolers, they lacked the strength to restrain the criminals indefinitely. Thrown off one by one, and while they struggled to rise, the three men in black shirts finally fled into the darkness.

Still, what had become of those two police officers from earlier? The boys found it strange that they hadn’t come to help despite their fierce fighting. Ah, that was right. The Terror King Golden Mask must still have remained inside the vacant house. The police officers might have been fighting Golden Mask two against one—or so they wondered.

The boys who had let the three villains escape crouched dejectedly at the alley entrance. Some remained fallen and unable to rise. Others had finally managed to get up and were rubbing their sore bottoms. But fortunately, none had sustained serious injuries.

Just then, from within the alley, a small pitch-black thing came tumbling out. It was Pocket Boy.

Pocket Boy searched for Leader Kobayashi in the darkness, then drew near and whispered something in a hushed tone. "Huh? Golden Mask...?"

Kobayashi-kun, startled, stood up. “Yeah, that’s right. That’s why the officers told everyone to come.” That was truly astonishing news. What on earth had happened to Golden Mask?

“Alright, then let’s all go check it out.”

Leader Kobayashi gathered the boys and headed into the alley.

Ah, what could be waiting inside the vacant house? Could it be that something terrifying was about to happen? Or perhaps...

10 PM

This was the art room inside Mr. Katagiri's house. Mr. Katagiri, the master of the house, and two student lodgers placed chairs in the center of the art room, seated themselves upon them, and were scrutinizing every corner of the space. Needless to say, they were there to protect the national treasure Buddha statue targeted by Terror King.

Mr. Katagiri's children, Ichirou and Miyoko, were still awake in the tearoom with their mother. A plainclothes officer stood watch nearby. It would be disastrous if the two children were kidnapped by Terror King.

This plainclothes officer did not notice that the two uniformed officers had gone out the gate in pursuit of Golden Mask’s gang. Therefore, the three in the art room did not know about that at all.

Even so, why had Golden Mask and his subordinates fled from Mr. Katagiri's house before the promised ten o'clock? What could possibly have been the reason behind this?

In the art room, Mr. Katagiri and two student lodgers continued to keep a patient watch.

It was nearly ten o'clock. In the deathly silent room, only the sound of the shelf clock could be heard, tick-tock, tick-tock. The clock’s hands pointed to ten minutes before ten. Tick-tock, tick-tock—time advanced relentlessly.

Five minutes remained. ...Three minutes remained.

The three, as if in unison, stared at the golden Buddha statue standing by the far wall, its size that of an adult human body.

It was the national treasure bodhisattva statue. It was said to be a masterpiece from the Nara period, crafted so exquisitely it seemed almost alive. A gentle, serene face; a plump body—all of it shone resplendently in gold. Why would Terror King intend to steal such a large and heavy Buddha statue? There was only one minute left. It was now one minute before ten o'clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock—the sound marking the seconds of time advanced without ceasing.

Thirty seconds remaining... Twenty seconds remaining... Ten seconds remaining. And with a ding, ding, ding, ding..., the shelf clock struck ten o'clock. However, nothing happened. Had Terror King finally given up on stealing it? The three, still staring at the Buddha statue, let out sighs of relief.

And then, at that very moment.

The golden face of the Buddha statue that the three were staring at—didn't it just grin slyly! The three froze in terror, completely immobilized. Indeed, it had laughed. The thousand-year-old Buddha statue had laughed as though alive.

However, such a thing couldn't possibly happen. It must have been their eyes playing tricks. It must have been a hallucination. But could three people really share the same hallucination? Then something terrifying happened again. The golden Buddha statue swayed unsteadily. "Wahahaha..." Ah! The Buddha statue began laughing in a dreadful voice—hadn't it just! It shook its body as it laughed.

“Wahahaha…! How’s that? Surprised?” “You had forgotten that I can transform into anything, hadn’t you?” “How’s this for a disguise? Isn’t it splendid?” “You never imagined I’d disguise myself as a Buddha statue, did you?” “Wahahaha….” As he said this, he stepped down from the pedestal and began lumbering toward them with heavy thuds. The golden Buddha statue started walking.

The three of them were so overwhelmed with terror that they couldn’t even muster the strength to speak. They remained seated in their chairs, blankly staring at the Buddha statue. “How about that? Have you figured out Terror King’s methods?” “Since I’ve disguised myself as the Buddha statue, the real one has long since been stolen.” “Last night, I sneaked in secretly, stole the Buddha statue, and hid it in the garden shed. And tonight, my men sneaked into the garden, took out the Buddha statue from the shed, and carried it away.”

"But since the promise was for ten tonight, the Buddha statue had to remain here until then. If it had vanished before ten, that would've broken the promise. I detest breaking promises. That's why I became the Buddha statue's substitute and kept you all reassured—that's how it worked."

“Hahahaha… And since I revealed my true identity exactly at ten o’clock, I still kept my promise after all. The Buddha statue was properly standing right here up until this very moment, hahaha….”

Terror King was now at the peak of his trademark theatrics. Disguising himself as a Buddha statue and deceiving everyone was utterly delightful to him. If the three of them had mustered their courage and lunged at Terror King, being three against one, they might have been able to capture him. However, Mr. Katagiri and the student lodgers were so shocked by the Buddha statue moving like a ghost that they had no such energy left.

At that moment, yet another strange thing occurred. No sooner had the laughter from Golden Mask’s Buddha statue faded than another laugh echoed from somewhere, as if in response. “Wahahaha….”

It was far smaller than Terror King's voice—almost like an echo—but echoes couldn't occur inside such a house. The three, startled, stared at the Buddha statue's mouth. However, its mouth was tightly shut, and it wasn't laughing at all—wasn't it just!

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

The laughter suddenly grew louder. 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...!"

Terror King, disguised as the Buddha statue, stared at Kobayashi in shock. “Hahaha…! You disguised yourself as Detective Akechi and tried to lock us in the attic, but we escaped long ago. “And we outmaneuvered your scheme.” “Hahaha… Do you get it?”

“You went through all that trouble to disguise yourself as a Buddha statue, but it didn’t do you any good at all. Hahaha… Get it?”

Kobayashi Shounen laughed with evident delight.

Storage shed “What? It didn’t serve any purpose at all?”

Golden Mask stopped in surprise. Knowing full well Kobayashi Shounen’s cleverness, he was beginning to feel somehow uneasy.

“Hahaha… That’s right. Your men stole the Buddha statue and, flanked on both sides, slipped out through the gate. We from the Boy Detectives Club had set up an ambush and chased them down. Then we found your subordinates had hidden the Buddha statue in an abandoned house and took it back properly. Two police officers will be bringing it here any minute now.” “You went through all that trouble disguising yourself as the Buddha statue to trick everyone, but since the real one’s been recovered, your little act was completely useless. Get it? Hahaha….”

When Terror King heard this, he was genuinely shocked. That the Buddha statue had already been recovered was something he had never even dreamed of. Disguising himself as a Buddha statue had turned out to be a completely wasted effort. Terror King stood silent and motionless for a while, but he was not one to be defeated by something like this. Finally regaining his composure, he burst into a mocking laugh.

“Wahahaha… Kobayashi’s brats pull off some quite amusing tricks. But you should know I always have a hidden card up my sleeve. Hahaha… No matter how much you brats boast, I won’t even flinch.” Kobayashi stiffened his body, fearing Terror King might pull out a pistol at this critical moment. Then, he had already perceived it and—

“Hahaha… I don’t carry dangerous tools like weapons.” “I can’t stand the sight of blood.” “No—it’s wits.” “My weapon is wisdom from unfathomable depths!” “Hmph, making sore loser excuses now?” “So what’s this grand scheme of yours?”

Kobayashi wasn’t backing down either. “Well, here’s how it’s done!”

No sooner had he shouted than Terror King, disguised as a Buddha statue, suddenly charged at Kobayashi. The force was so violent that Kobayashi was nearly bowled over; reflexively, he dodged aside and sidestepped him. And just as Kobayashi braced himself for what seemed an imminent lunge toward him, Terror King—having been sidestepped—slipped past his side instead and went dashing toward the entrance like an arrow. He had fled.

“Everyone, please come here!” “He’s escaped! Please catch him…!”

Kobayashi shouted in a voice that echoed throughout the entire house as he gave chase. Hearing that voice, Mr. Katagiri and two student lodgers came running out.

When they exited the entrance, the garden was pitch-dark. Kobayashi looked around frantically, but the golden Buddha statue was nowhere to be seen—it had hidden itself away.

Just then, from the front gate, two police officers entered carrying the real Buddha statue. Following after them came the Boy Detectives Club members and the boys of the Chinpira Unit, trailing along.

“The Terror King disguised as a Buddha statue has escaped. Didn’t you see him?” Mr. Katagiri, who had come out there, called out to the police officers. “No, we haven’t encountered any suspicious individuals,” they replied. “When did he escape?” “Just now. If he had exited through the gate, he should have passed by you.”

“In that case, he didn’t escape through the gate. “We didn’t encounter anyone.”

“In that case, is he still hiding among the trees in the garden?”

“Let’s search then. Let’s all split up and search.” Mr. Katagiri, two student lodgers, two police officers, and seven or eight of the seventeen Boy Detectives Club members and Chinpira Unit members (the remaining eight or nine were surrounding the wall and keeping watch). With this many people, there was no way he could remain hidden anywhere undetected. Moreover, both the boys and the police officers all carried flashlights.

Then, in the vast, pitch-dark garden, flashlight beams like giant fireflies darted here and there among the trees, searching every last corner.

One police officer led five boys along the side of the building toward the back entrance, but when an adult came walking from ahead, suspecting it might be Terror King, he swiftly directed his flashlight beam. However, that was not 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.

There, this police officer explained that Terror King, disguised as a Buddha statue, had fled and asked if he had seen any suspicious individuals, but the answer came that he had seen nothing.

Well, it was getting unclear. Where on earth could he have vanished to?

At that moment, Kobayashi came running up, waving his flashlight.

“No one seems to have escaped by climbing over the wall. The remaining members of the Boy Detectives Club and Chinpira Unit were surrounding the wall and keeping watch, so there’s no way they could have missed him. He’s definitely still somewhere in the garden.” There, Kobayashi suddenly lowered his voice and whispered something into one police officer’s ear.

“Yeah, that might be the case. Let’s go check it out.”

The police officer said that and whispered something to the other police officer. Here were two police officers, five boys, and Kobayashi-kun. Kobayashi-kun took the lead and walked toward the far side of the garden.

A short distance from the main house stood a storage shed among the trees. When they reached its vicinity, Kobayashi approached the entrance door while muffling his footsteps, listened intently, and peered inside to gauge the situation within.

Kobayashi wondered if perhaps Terror King was hiding inside this storage shed.

Just then,

Suddenly, the storage shed door swung open from the inside with a clatter. And then, a strange man came sliding out! The boys instinctively recoiled, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a completely different person. A man in khaki-colored pants and a jumper, with a salt-and-pepper beard covering his face—a dirty-looking man.

“Wh-who are you?”

Kobayashi demanded in a strong voice.

“I’m just the old gardener here. Nothin’ suspicious about me.”

Now that he mentioned it, the Katagiri family did have an elderly gardener. "What were you doing in a storage shed at this hour?"

One of the police officers asked. "Oh, it's nothing. I left my cigarettes here during the day, so I came to get them." "See, here they are."

The old man said this and showed the "Shinsei" cigarettes he held in his hand.

And then, just like that, without even turning around, he walked off somewhere. Since the old man had gone inside, there couldn’t possibly be anyone suspicious hiding in the storage shed. At that point, they began walking to search another area, but just then Kobayashi-kun—apparently struck by a thought—exclaimed “Ah!” and stopped in his tracks.

The Person in the Tree

“Say, Officer... Terror King is a master of disguise, isn’t he? So maybe he...” “Huh? So you mean that old gardener we just saw was suspicious?” “Yes—maybe that guy was Terror King in disguise. Ah! I’ve got an idea! Let’s go check it out.” “Check it out? What do you mean?”

Ignoring the police officer who looked puzzled, Kobayashi suddenly opened the door and entered the storage shed.

Then, using a flashlight, they searched inside the shed and soon found it. “Ah! Just as I thought! Officer, look at this!”

At his voice, the two police officers entered the shed. “Here, this is it.” 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 disguise oneself as the golden Buddha statue. “Ah! Then that old man was...”

“That’s right. He hid the old man’s fake beard and clothes here and changed into them. He rapidly transformed from the golden Buddha statue into the old gardener.”

“Damn it! So he finally got away?” “No, it’s alright. The Boy Detectives Club are keeping watch around the walls. If he tries to escape, they’ll sound the summoning whistle. That’s why he can’t get outside. He must still be in the garden.” “Alright! Then we’ll go inform the other officers and search again!”

One of the police officers ran off. It was to inform the others about this.

Then once more through the pitch-black garden, flashlight beams like enormous fireflies darted busily about. "Ah! There! He's over there!" It was Kobayashi Shounen who had spotted him.

In the faint glow of flashlights illuminating the area, the old man from earlier was darting through the trees ahead. Trill-trill-trill... The summoning whistle resounded through the air.

From somewhere unseen came a “Waaah!” cry, and everyone searching the garden rushed over. They were Mr. Katagiri, two student lodgers, three police officers, and seven or eight boys. Everyone shouted in a clamor as they chased after the old man. “Oh no! He’s started climbing that tall shii tree!”

Oh, look! The old gardener was clinging to the thick trunk of a towering ten-meter tree and climbing up like a monkey—wasn’t he?

They gathered beneath the tree and illuminated the old man’s figure with numerous flashlights, but before long, his form disappeared from view within the thick foliage. “We’ll be fine keeping watch here. “Even if he climbs all the way up that tree top—he can’t go anywhere from there! He’ll tire himself out soon enough and come back down. “We just need to wait patiently right here.”

The police officer said this rather nonchalantly.

However, their opponent was none other than the Terror King—a veritable magician. Was this truly safe? At that moment, Pocket Boy—the tiny figure who had been blending in among the boys—drew close to Kobayashi Shounen and whispered something. “Ah! That’s right—that must be it!”

Kobayashi-kun also noticed it immediately and spoke to the police officer.

“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 Sanjūsangen-dō Temple in Kyoto? And then, just the other day, he flew from the roof of the Queen Movie Theater into the night sky. He can fly through the air!” Prompted by Kobayashi Shounen’s words, the police officers finally realized it. Ah—when dealing with an opponent who could fly through the air, there was nothing they could do.

In that case, they should have climbed the tree and captured him before he could take flight—but they were nowhere near capable of climbing trees like the Terror King could. The thought of someone scaling 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, high above in the tree...

Disguised as the old gardener, the Terror King climbed through the dense branches and leaves with acrobatic agility. He was already nearing the treetop.

At that moment, a rustling sound like something moving came from above. Could there be a bird at the top of this tree? No—that didn't sound like the flapping of a bird's wings. It was the noise of something much larger shifting about.

Startled, the Terror King stopped climbing and pricked up his ears. The opponent was still rustling about. “Who’s there? Who is it?”

The Terror King involuntarily shouted. Then—oh! What in the world was happening?

Suddenly, from above, “Bwahahaha….” resounded the sound of human laughter—wasn’t that right?

The Terror King started and cowered. “Bwahahaha! Hey, you there—I’ve broken your little gadget. You can’t fly anymore.” The Terror King grew increasingly shocked and remained silent for a time, but the fact that someone had been lying in wait at the treetop was so infuriating he couldn’t bear it, and he involuntarily shouted back. “Y-you... What the hell are you?”

Then, from above, laughter rang out again,

“The person you fear most. “Hahaha… Don’t you know?” “I am Akechi Kogorou.” “Wh-what… Akechi…?” Ah, what an unexpected turn of events! Atop the large tree in Mr. Katagiri’s garden was none other than Akechi Kogorou, the famous detective. This was something even Kobayashi 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 that I had returned from Fukui Prefecture, disguised yourself as me, and deceived Kobayashi." "And you locked the boys in the attic, didn't you?" "But I really did return—just a little after you did." Then I returned to my office, heard from Mayumi—who was keeping watch—about what had happened, immediately called Mr. Katagiri, and pieced together the entire sequence of events. "So I had Mr. Katagiri promise not to tell anyone about my return, waited for nightfall to sneak into this garden, and searched the tops of the tall trees one after another."

“What do you think I was searching for? A miniature helicopter-like propeller attached to your back. Hahaha…. I knew that. About five years ago, a certain thief obtained a small propeller invented in France and used it. He could strap the machine to his back and fly through the air. Since I had seen that machine before, when I heard you could fly through the air, I immediately remembered it.”

“And I found that machine hidden at the top of this shii tree. Hahaha! After all this explanation, you must understand now. You had hidden that propeller in this tree for emergencies. So I got there first and destroyed it to make sure it wouldn’t work.” When Akechi finished his lengthy explanation, the Terror King muttered bitterly, “Damn it…,” and made as if to flee.

However, if he went down, a crowd of people were surrounding the tree trunk. That said, even if he climbed up and managed to push Akechi off, with the crucial propeller broken, there was nothing he could do. Even the Terror King found himself at a complete impasse. "You are Twenty Faces!" "Ahahaha… How’s that? You never expected me to be hiding at the top of the tree, did you? And I’ve destroyed your last trump card—the aerial 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. I didn’t know you’d gotten this far ahead. So what do you want me to do?” “To surprise you.” “Surprise me? You think there’s more?”

“Yeah, there’s more.”

“What on earth is it?”

“Your true identity.” “M-my identity?!” “Your true identity is Twenty Faces!”

Akechi’s voice thundered through the darkness of the densely leafed branches. The Terror King fell silent. Akechi’s voice continued.

“Following precedent, you used a body double and skillfully escaped from prison. Then, about two months later, the masked Terror King appeared. From your methods of disguise, I had mostly deduced that you were Twenty Faces. But it was only after you flew through the air that I became certain of it.”

“The only person who attaches a small helicopter-like machine to their back and flies through the air is you. It’s the propeller you bought from a French inventor when you once disguised yourself as a space alien. In all of Japan, Twenty Faces is the only one who possesses such a machine.”

However, while Akechi kept talking like this, Terror King Nijū Mensō was up to something strange. Twenty Faces—disguised as the old gardener—perched on a tree branch, grasped a higher branch with his left hand, pulled a flashlight from his pocket with his right, then stretched his arm toward the outside of the wall and flicked the light on and off sharply, multiple times.

“Hey Twenty Faces—quit lurking in silence and take off that helmet already.”

When Akechi spoke as if delivering the final blow, a burst of laughter suddenly rang out. “Wahahahaha… Akechi, I’ll obediently come down. But you know, I’ve always got a backup plan for my backup plan ready.” He disguised himself as the Golden Mask, as a Buddha statue, as the old gardener, and finally tried to fly away with the propeller—but you got in his way. But his backup plans didn’t end there. There may still be backup plans for his backup plans’ backup plans hidden away. “Ha ha ha ha….”

Twenty Faces' voice gradually grew fainter. He seemed to be talking while climbing down the tree trunk. "Hey! He's coming down now!" "Don't let him get away!"

After shouting that, Akechi also began to descend.

Below, over a dozen people were poised and ready. Twenty Faces, seemingly with some plan in mind, obediently climbed down the tree trunk and extended both hands before everyone. Three police officers stepped forward, and one of them snapped handcuffs onto Twenty Faces' wrists.

Then, after calling a patrol car to take him to the Metropolitan Police Department, the group of over a dozen people surrounded Twenty Faces and headed out to the main street outside the gate.

And then, at that moment—

No sooner had they heard the deafening roar of "Brrrooom…" than something massive came plunging into their midst with terrifying force. It was a scooter.

Everyone said “Ah!” and cleared the way. Then, a figure suddenly leaped onto the terrifyingly fast-moving scooter as if performing an acrobatic stunt. “Ah! It’s him. He’s getting away!” The police officers shouted in unison.

The one who leaped onto the back of the scooter was Twenty Faces. He had somehow slipped out of the handcuffs without anyone noticing. Escaping handcuffs was no trouble at all for Twenty Faces, the master magician. And the demonic phantom scooter, leaving behind everyone’s shouts, sped away down the pitch-black main street like an arrow.

One police officer rushed into Mr. Katagiri’s house, called the police station, and requested that a cordon be set up.

The remaining two officers jumped into the waiting patrol car and chased after the phantom scooter.

About twenty minutes later, the patrol car discovered the phantom scooter abandoned and lying on its side in a grassy field of a desolate, far-off town.

However, both the one who had been riding the scooter and Twenty Faces had vanished; no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't be found.

The following day’s newspapers blared headlines about this incident, and the public was utterly consumed by rumors of Twenty Faces. In trains, in buses, in barbershops, in cafés—wherever two or more people gathered, the topic of Twenty Faces would inevitably come up.

Ah, Twenty Faces had come again. He had been caught countless times before. But no matter how many times he was caught, he would break out of prison like a phoenix and reappear in society. And thus he would send not only Tokyo but all of Japan’s people into trembling terror.

Where on earth could Twenty Faces have vanished to? After all, he was a master of disguise. No matter what form he took or where he hid, even the considerable might of the police could not easily discover him.

Inside the Trunk

About a week later, on a gloomy, overcast evening,

Kobayashi Shounen and Pocket Boy were walking along a desolate main street in Setagaya Ward. On both sides, ordinary houses and shops intermingled and lined the street, but it wasn’t lively enough to be considered a shopping district. Pedestrians were few and far between when a large automobile came driving up from ahead and passed right in front of Kobayashi and the others.

“Ah! That car’s suspicious!”

Pocket Boy exclaimed. “Huh? Why’s that suspicious?”

Kobayashi asked. “Because his face was shining! It was shining gold!”

“What was shining? I didn’t notice.”

“His face was shining! The face of the guy driving the car was golden!” “Huh? Then...Golden Mask?”

“Could be.” “Ah! The car stopped.” “Look!” “He’s coming down.”

That was correct.

The car stopped about a hundred meters ahead, and a strange man emerged from within. He stood up the collar of his billowing black cloak and pulled a gleaming black fedora low over his head. Though evening dimmed their view, a golden glint flashed from beneath the hat's deeply pulled brim. There was no doubt—it was Golden Mask. Golden Mask—that is to say, Twenty Faces himself.

The man in the black cloak entered the stately art dealer's shop that stood open there. "Let's check it out."

Kobayashi Shounen led Pocket Boy and quietly approached the front of the art dealer’s shop.

The parked car was empty. It was Twenty Faces who had driven himself here.

The art dealer had a splendid show window. Inside stood a gilt Buddha statue that, while much smaller than Mr. Katagiri’s, was similarly old, surrounded by small Buddhist figures and ancient dolls excavated from the earth that were densely lined up around it.

When they peered into the shop, the man in the black cloak was pointing at the gilt Buddha statue in the show window and saying something to the clerk.

“Hey, Kobayashi—he’s gonna buy or steal that gilt Buddha statue, load it into the car, and take it back to his place. So, let’s do it the usual way and tail him, okay? Then we’ll find out where that creep’s hideout is.” Pocket Boy whispered.

“Yeah, that works. I was thinking the same thing. Then let’s test whether that car’s trunk opens or not.”

So saying, Kobayashi carefully approached the rear of the automobile, taking care not to be noticed by the black-cloaked man inside the shop. Pocket Boy also followed after him. “Ah! Perfect! It’s unlocked!”

Kobayashi looked around to confirm there was no one passing by, then opened the trunk lid and crawled inside. Following that, Pocket Boy also crawled in. Fortunately, since there was nothing inside the trunk, the two of them were able to bend their bodies and lie sideways.

But was this really safe? Wouldn’t this lead to some sort of trouble later on?

The two had forgotten one crucial thing. If they had noticed that, they wouldn’t have hidden in a trunk but instead used a red telephone to notify either Detective Akechi or Inspector Nakamura, having the adults capture Twenty Faces. That was the safest method. Kobayashi and Pocket Boy’s desire to achieve glory on their own without relying on adult help was what had gone wrong. The two of them were destined before long to encounter a terrible ordeal.

Now, turning our attention to the art dealer’s shop.

The clerk finally noticed the golden face of the man in the black cloak, gasped in shock, turned deathly pale, and stood frozen in place.

In the store, there was only the clerk, with no one to come to his aid. Even if he had wanted to call for help, he was so paralyzed with terror that he couldn’t muster the strength to utter a sound.

Twenty Faces, the Golden Mask, briskly entered behind the show window, opened the glass door there, took out the gilt Buddha statue, and then swiftly exited out the front. Twenty Faces stepped out onto the main street, glanced around, then concealed the gilt Buddha statue beneath his cloak and approached the automobile. Oh no! Twenty Faces, before opening the driver’s door, went around to the back of the automobile—didn’t he?

It was obvious. It was to place the gilt Buddha statue into the rear trunk. Why on earth hadn't Kobayashi and the others noticed that?

If Twenty Faces stole a Buddha statue, it was something they had anticipated beforehand that he might put it in the trunk. Kobayashi and the others had carelessly overlooked that.

The trunk lid slid open smoothly. And there stood the golden-faced figure. "Ah! So you're Kobayashi and Pocket Boy." "Very well! If you're this desperate to follow me, I'll indulge your wish and take you along." "But in return, no escaping midway!" "Understood?"

No sooner had he spoken than he shoved the Buddha statue between Kobayashi and the others, slammed the trunk shut, and clicked the lock into place.

Ah! Things took a terrible turn. Kobayashi and Pocket Boy became Twenty Faces' captives. They didn't know where they were being taken. And they had no idea what kind of terrible ordeal awaited them. The car started moving.

Inside the trunk, no matter how much they screamed, it wouldn't reach the outside. There was no one to come to their rescue.

The car kept driving endlessly. Had an hour passed already? Around then, the road suddenly started worsening. The car rattled and jolted so violently that the two boys had to clutch their heads with both hands. Otherwise, they would bang their heads against the metal panel.

Not only was the road rutted, but before long, as the car seemed to enter an uphill slope, its speed began to slow.

Were they approaching some mountain road? It had already been two hours since departing from outside the art dealer's shop. Then after driving another thirty minutes,the car finally stopped. Had they reached Twenty Faces' lair at last?

After a moment came the click of a key, and the trunk lid opened. When they timidly peered out, instead of the man in the black cloak, there stood two brutish men who appeared to be Twenty Faces' subordinates, their eyes glinting.

Outside was already pitch dark. A cold wind swept in. It was the smell of mountains. It was the smell of the forest. This must be somewhere in the mountains near Tokyo.

“Come out, you brats!”

The subordinate bellowed in a loud, hoarse voice. Reluctantly, Kobayashi and Pocket Boy climbed out of the trunk.

One of the subordinates tucked the gilt Buddha statue under his arm. Then, the two of them grabbed Kobayashi and Pocket Boy by the hands and began dragging them off somewhere.

In the darkness, a black building loomed dimly into view. It was a two-story brick structure. An old Western-style mansion. They found it strange why there would be a Western-style mansion deep in these mountains—but later came to understand the reason.

The four of them opened the iron door at the entrance and went inside. Perhaps they were generating their own electricity, for dim lights were on in the wide hallway. After turning down numerous corridors, the two boys were led to a secluded room. It was a splendidly spacious room, with a crystal 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 every manner of art piece. Countless old Buddhist statues, gleaming swords, jewel-studded crowns, necklaces, beautiful lacquer boxes and vases—all were eye-opening works of art.

The two boys were looking around at them, standing dumbfounded, when the front door opened and Twenty Faces appeared. He was disguised as the Golden Mask. A golden turban, an eerie Noh mask-like golden face, 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? Quite something, isn't it? "This is the treasure I've collected." "Since you brats discovered Kimenjo and ruined that museum, I've built a new one here." "No, not just here." "I have plenty of other museums." "This place is merely one part of it."

“During the Kimenjo incident, I had a terrible time because of you brats.” “I hold a particular grudge against Pocket Boy.” “That’s why I thought I’d bring you here and make you realize...” “I won’t kill you.” “I despise murderers.” “However, I’ll make sure you suffer a terrible ordeal.” “I’ll make sure everyone knows—anyone who dares oppose Twenty Faces will end up like this!”

“So you’re planning to torture us, huh!”

Pocket Boy shouted. “No, I’m not going to torture you. I won’t make you suffer any pain. But I’ll just make you experience something terrifying.” “But if you keep us locked up here for long, Detective Akechi will come to rescue us. Detective Akechi can figure out anything, you know. Then you’re finished. The museum you went through all that trouble to build will be ruined too.” Kobayashi declared confidently.

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear your threats.” “Straight to hell with you—now!” “You shall witness what a terrifying ordeal awaits you.” “There...!”

No sooner had he spoken than the floorboards where Kobayashi and Pocket Boy were standing suddenly vanished. The two boys abruptly floated in midair before smoothly plummeting downward.

That floor had been a trapdoor all along. When Twenty Faces pressed a button somewhere, the trapdoor's opening was set to spring open. The two landed hard on their bottoms in the pitch-black depths of the earth.

For a while, they lacked even the strength to get up, but when they suddenly became aware of their surroundings, there in the darkness ahead were two blue glowing objects lined up side by side. They seemed like the eyes of some terrifying monster. gorilla “Hey Kobayashi—why don’t we try turning on our flashlights?”

Pocket Boy whispered softly. Kobayashi thought illuminating their surroundings would reveal their position and make them more vulnerable, but not knowing their adversary's true identity felt even more unnerving. He resolved to risk switching on his flashlight.

“Okay, then I’ll turn mine on too. Ready? One, two, three...!”

And the two boys each took out one of the seven tools—a fountain pen-shaped flashlight—from their pockets and suddenly shone them forward.

“Oh no! Turn them off!”

The two of them hurriedly turned off their flashlights. What had been revealed in the flashlight’s beam? It was a single enormous gorilla. It was that terrifying gorilla they remembered seeing at the zoo. Moreover, it was a hulking beast as large as a man. And here it came—staggering toward them with an unnatural, lumbering gait! When they turned off the lights, two blue glowing eyes began creeping closer through the restored darkness.

The two had no time to think; hand in hand, they fled in the opposite direction. The basement was spacious, but there were walls on all four sides. If they ran to the walls, there was nowhere else to go. The two pressed their bodies tightly against the cold brick wall and began sidling sideways along it, trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the gorilla’s glowing eyes.

“Oh! There’s something like a door here!” Pocket Boy, who had been feeling along the wall, exclaimed. “Huh? Where? Oh, right! It’s a door. Let’s see if it opens.” Kobayashi put all his strength into pushing what seemed to be a door. Then, with a creak—the thick wooden door swung open to the other side! “Ready? Jump out and close it right away. If it gets out, we’ll be in real trouble.”

After saying this, Kobayashi pulled Pocket Boy’s hand, leapt outside, immediately shut the door tight, and leaned his body against it to keep it from opening from within.

The two pressed their backs against the door and were bracing their feet.

Because this building stood on a mountain slope, while its front side contained a basement, exiting through the rear brought you out to ground level even with the mountainside. "I wonder if there's a stick or large stone around here." "Then we could keep the door from opening... if we had one."

Kobayashi said this and shone his flashlight around the area but found nothing. Though trees grew thickly in the forest, nowhere could they find a suitable piece of wood to use as a prop. Pebbles lay scattered across the ground, but there were no stones large enough to keep the door from opening. Before long, the wooden door they were pressing their backs against began creaking and shifting. The gorilla was pushing from inside.

“Put your back into it! If this door gets opened, we’re done for.” Kobayashi encouraged Pocket Boy, but being a child small enough to fit in a pocket, he had no strength. Moreover, even though Kobayashi was the leader of the Boy Detectives Club, he was still just a boy. Grunting, they braced their feet against it, but clearly, the gorilla inside had the upper hand in strength. The feet they had planted were now scraping and sliding forward, inch by inch.

Inside the cave “We can’t hold on any longer! Let’s run. Run that way!” Kobayashi pulled Pocket Boy’s hand and abruptly broke away from the door, breaking into a run. Having been pushed with all its might from inside, the door burst open from the momentum—and with a heavy thud, a large brown mass came tumbling out.

As they ran, the two boys glanced back over their shoulders and saw it. Because their eyes had adjusted to the darkness, they could faintly make out their surroundings.

They saw the large gorilla, carried by its momentum, tumbling head over heels. Having apparently struck something, it lay where it had fallen, unable to rise for some time.

“Let’s escape while we can!” “Hurry, hurry...!”

Kobayashi pulled Pocket Boy's hand and ran desperately. Since Pocket Boy had short legs, he couldn't possibly run that fast. He was practically being dragged along as he followed. It was a narrow path like a valley floor with sheer rocky cliffs towering on both sides.

They were running in a frenzy, but after going about a hundred meters, the path suddenly vanished.

Ahead, tall rocky mountains towered on either side, forming what looked like a dead-end alley. The path came to an abrupt end there. Kobayashi looked back. Then—oh, it was hopeless. There was that enormous gorilla, sprawled across the entire width of the valley path, staggering unsteadily toward them! “Grrrooo….” A terrifying growl echoed through the valley, reverberating.

The gorilla swung its long arms limply as it hunched its back, thrust its head forward, snapped open its mouth full of terrifying fangs, and let out a growl.

It growled as if saying, "You brats think I'll let you escape?"

The two boys no longer felt any semblance of being alive. Steep, towering rocky mountains blocked their path ahead and on both sides, with the gorilla at their rear. There remained absolutely no escape route. The gorilla continued lurching forward unsteadily. Though it could have reached them in one bound had it run on all fours, the creature instead advanced on hind legs with eerie deliberation. Perhaps its earlier fall had left it injured somewhere.

“Ah! There’s a deep hole here!”

Pocket Boy noticed it and shouted.

It was dark, so they couldn’t see clearly, but sure enough, there was the mouth of a cave gaping open. It was a large cave, big enough for a human to stand and walk in.

They had no time to think.

There was only one place left to escape. The gorilla was now almost upon them. The two abruptly plunged into the cave. They plunged into the cave in a frenzy—though upon reflection—it was your reckless choice of a hole. There was no telling what might be lurking deeper within. A musty, chilly earthy odor hung in the air as plink, plink—cold droplets trickled down from above onto the napes of their necks. But they pressed on regardless, advancing about three meters.

“That gorilla... Do you think it’ll notice this cave?”

Pocket Boy whispered anxiously. “Yeah, it’ll definitely notice. That gorilla can probably see even at night, and it can track our scent. It’ll come after us any moment now, no doubt about it. But before that... we need to figure out what kind of place this cave is...” With that, Kobayashi turned on his flashlight and shone it around. Upon entering, the initial section was rocky mountains, but further in lay an earthen hill. Thick log pillars stood on both sides of the passage, with similar logs laid horizontally atop them. They were meant to prevent the earth from collapsing. When they shone the light further in, those pillars and crossbeams seemed to continue at intervals of about two meters as far as they could see.

“This is some kind of mine. They dug this hole to excavate ore. I’ve been in a mine shaft before, so I know this well. But this is an old shaft they stopped digging long ago. Look—those wooden pillars and crossbeams have rotted and crumbled; they could collapse any moment now. Be careful—it’s dangerous!”

Kobayashi continued explaining as he gradually made his way deeper inside.

Later, it was 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 coded message revealing the hiding place spent a vast fortune to dig this hole. The cave was extremely deep, with numerous branching paths—so many that if one wasn’t careful, they could easily get lost and become unable to escape.

It is said that even the red-brick Western-style mansion serving as Twenty Faces' hideout had been specifically built by those who attempted to excavate gold coins to establish their base of operations here. However, that had been thirty years prior. No matter how much they had dug, they had been unable to find any gold coins, and when their funds had finally run out, they had given up. The Western-style mansion was left just as it was—abandoned and devoid of inhabitants.

Twenty Faces had found that old Western-style mansion, carried out various repairs, and made it his hideout.

Now, just as Kobayashi and Pocket Boy had fled ten meters into the cave.

“Grrr…”

An indescribably terrifying growl echoed through the cave, resounding all around.

“Ah! It’s the gorilla! The gorilla’s come in!” Pocket Boy let out a trembling voice. Kobayashi quickly swung his flashlight toward the cave entrance.

Just as they’d feared. There, about ten meters ahead, stood that enormous gorilla, blocking their path.

Kobayashi hurriedly turned off his flashlight. Even having turned it off might achieve nothing—since his opponent was a creature that could see in darkness—but keeping it lit would only heighten their peril.

And then, just as they had advanced five or six more steps— With a terrifying flap-flap-flap sound, something large grazed past right over the two boys’ heads.

Monster's Eyes “Ah! It looked like a huge bird,” “What was that?”

Pocket Boy clung to Kobayashi.

“It’s definitely a bat. In caves like this, bats usually make their homes, you know.” Kobayashi explained.

At that moment, from behind them came a bloodcurdling scream—"Gyaa!"—followed by the frantic flapping of wings. “Ah, I get it. The gorilla’s catching and eating bats… That should slow it down a bit. Come on, let’s get out of here while we can!”

Kobayashi pulled Pocket Boy along, advancing deeper and deeper into the cave. The path was pitch-dark and uneven, so they had to flick their flashlight on intermittently to avoid stumbling. However, they turned it off immediately each time. If they kept it illuminated too long, it would become a beacon for the gorilla. Had they advanced some twenty meters deeper? When they flicked on the flashlight again, their surroundings had changed.

The dripping water from above grew increasingly heavy, the soil turning damp and soft as it flowed down from both sides of the path.

In that area, log pillars had also become more numerous, standing at one-meter intervals, but they had rotted, and some among them had even collapsed. There was no telling when soil might come crashing down from overhead. Moreover, because their feet kept getting caught in the dirt that had flowed down onto the path, even walking became terribly strenuous. "Grrr…" Once again, the gorilla’s growl reverberated. However, it came from much further back.

Why wasn't the gorilla immediately pouncing on them? After all, was it perhaps injured somewhere and unable to run quickly?

Or was the gorilla amusing itself by toying with the two boys, just as a cat delights in playing with a mouse instead of devouring it right away?

At that moment, Kobayashi let out a joyful voice.

“Ah! A branching path!”

The moment they flicked on the flashlight, they spotted it. The cave split into right and left paths. The right path seemed wider than the left.

“Alright, let’s go right. Don’t turn on the light. We need to make sure it doesn’t find out which way we went. If we do that, the gorilla might head into the left tunnel. And then, we might be saved. I’ve been waiting impatiently for a branching path like this.”

With that, Kobayashi took Pocket Boy’s hand and advanced into the right cave.

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

In that instant, they could tell at a glance that the cave's condition hadn't changed much from before. Sure enough, there was soft soil on the verge of collapsing, piles of dirt that had slid onto the path, and rotten log pillars.

“Walk quietly. Even the vibrations from our footsteps might cause the soil to collapse, you know.”

Kobayashi continued advancing deeper into the cave as he spoke, but after taking five or six steps, he suddenly halted and strained his ears. Scratch, scratch—from somewhere in the distance came the sound of footsteps moving through the soil. "Oh? Has it come this way? "If it had gone into the left tunnel, there’s no way we’d be hearing footsteps this loud."

Kobayashi whispered and stared fixedly into the darkness.

However, there was a bend in the path just ahead, making it impossible to see through.

Scratch, scratch, scratch... The footsteps gradually drew nearer. Then in the darkness, something round and glowing blue flickered into view. First one appeared, then another. Eyes. They were the gorilla's eyes. Kobayashi didn't know whether gorilla eyes could glow in complete darkness, but this gorilla's eyes were indeed shining like phosphorus. There had to be some reason for this.

When they saw those terrifying eyes, the two boys instinctively cried out “Ah!” and dashed further into the cave. They had no time to worry about whether their footsteps might cause the soil to collapse.

After running a short distance, another cry of “Wah…!” erupted once more.

They tripped over something and fell. And the two of them plunged their faces into the cold soil.

There lay a large mound of soil that had flowed down. The mound was blocking the left side of the path.

The two were momentarily startled, but once they realized what it was, they couldn't stay lying there. Because the gorilla was closing in right behind them. Those two blue eyes were glowing just five meters ahead. The two boys hurriedly stood up, felt around the mound of soil with their hands, found a gap on the right side, passed through it, and made their way around to the back of the mound.

The gorilla bastard had come right up to the other side of the dirt mound. When they turned around, the two eyes glowing like phosphorus appeared to blaze with fury, their glow intensifying even further. Ah, that was when it happened. A cataclysmic, terrifying event occurred - one that seemed to overturn heaven and earth itself. Cave-in.

No sooner had a sudden rushing sound echoed from somewhere than softened soil began pattering down onto their heads like a sudden evening shower. In an instant, Kobayashi thought that the gorilla was scooping up dirt 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 low, earth-shaking rumble could be heard. And then, suddenly, large rocks and clumps of soil came crashing down from overhead, and in the blink of an eye, they completely blocked off the cave. Cave-in. That large collapse of earth that often occurs when digging mining tunnels. In mines, there are cases where many people—dozens even—get buried alive due to cave-ins. You’re probably familiar with such newspaper articles that often appear.

After a cataclysmic sound that seemed to upend heaven and earth and an earth-shaking rumble continued, suddenly, the surroundings fell into an eerie dead silence.

Oh, could it be that Kobayashi-kun and the others were finally crushed beneath the cave-in?

No, that didn't seem to be the case. At least Pocket Boy—nimble as ever—remained alive. When the terrible noise struck, he instantly twisted deeper into the cave and survived.

Pocket Boy was worried about Leader Kobayashi too. Earlier, mixed with the cave-in sounds, he had heard an indescribably horrific scream—a shrieking "Gyaaah!" that defied categorization as human or animal. If that had been Leader Kobayashi's final cry... He hurriedly switched on the flashlight and swept its beam around the area. Oh thank goodness—Leader Kobayashi hadn't been buried under the soil, merely lying collapsed where he fell. It had been dangerously close. Just fifty centimeters further and he would've been crushed.

However, he lay motionless where he had fallen. Pocket Boy grew worried once more. Had he been struck on the head by a falling rock and died?

Pocket Boy went over to Kobayashi’s side and placed his hand over Kobayashi’s mouth. He was indeed breathing. It’s okay—his life was saved. But what if he's seriously injured?

Pocket Boy tried to lift Kobayashi up. However, being a small child who could fit into a pocket, he couldn’t manage to lift him up. After struggling and trying various things, Kobayashi opened his eyes. “Oh, did I pass out?” “Yeah, that’s right. You didn’t get hurt?” Kobayashi rubbed his entire body to check.

“I’m fine. “I wonder if I hit my head on something.”

“Oh, you’re bleeding from your forehead!”

“Yeah, that’s right.” “I must have hit myself here.” “That’s why I passed out.”

Kobayashi-kun had taken out a handkerchief and was pressing it to his wound, but suddenly his face took on a worried look, "How long was I out?"

“Just a bit. About a minute.”

“So then, not much time’s passed since the cave-in.” “What happened to that guy?” “That guy?” “Isn’t it obvious? “The Gorilla.”

“Oh, that guy. When the dirt came crashing down, he let out a horrible scream. But since he was way beyond the dirt pile where we hid, he might’ve gotten away. Oh, Kobayashi, we made it! The soil collapsed and blocked the path—he can’t get through to us now.”

Pocket Boy rejoiced, but were the two of them truly saved? Wasn’t something even more terrifying than the Gorilla lying in wait for them?

“Anyway, since we can’t get out from this side, our only choice is to head deeper into the cave.” “If we go deeper, the path might loop back somewhere and lead us outside.”

Thereupon, the two of them turned on their flashlights and, swinging them around to illuminate the way, proceeded deeper into the cave. And it was when they had walked about twenty meters.

“Oh no! This is bad! The soil over here is collapsing too!”

Kobayashi-kun shouted.

The passage was blocked by soil as if it were a dead end. The soil was dry, apparently from an old cave-in. Since the pillars and crossbeams were rotting, there might be cave-ins like this all around. With both sides of the cave blocked now, the two boys had ended up trapped in a passage about twenty meters long.

There was no longer any prospect of them being saved.

“Won’t we run out of air before long?”

Pocket Boy, having already noticed this, said timidly.

That was right. Though it measured twenty meters, it was 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 okay. The flashlight batteries will run out before this does. In the meantime, we’ll rack our brains and think.” Kobayashi-kun said reassuringly to Pocket Boy. “We’ve got no choice but to dig through this dirt and tunnel our way out.”

“Yeah, but the current cave-in won’t work. Because it’s all soggy from water—no matter how much we dig, dirt will just keep falling from above. If we’re not careful, a second cave-in might occur. And this time for sure, we might just end up getting buried, you know.” “Hmm...” “This is bad...”

Pocket Boy crossed his small arms and shook his head, looking thoroughly troubled.

Ah, what in the world would become of the two of them? Would a clever idea come to Kobayashi-kun's mind? (If it didn't come to mind...)

The Power of Perseverance

“Then let’s try digging the soil over there. Since it fell long ago, it might already be dry.” “Yeah. Let’s try it. There’s no other way out.”

So Kobayashi-kun went to the older cave-in site and began removing soil with both hands. Since the soil wasn’t too hard, they could dig through it by hand. A rotten wooden pillar had collapsed diagonally and lay buried in the earth, but even when they dug into the soil beneath it, there was no sign of further collapse. The pillar had become wedged against something and stopped moving. There appeared to be no danger of a second cave-in occurring.

Kobayashi-kun scooped out the soil with both hands and dug a hole about fifty centimeters deep. When he shoved the scooped-out soil backward, Pocket Boy would move that soil to a spot where it wouldn't be in the way.

The two boys worked diligently in the pitch darkness. The flashlight had been turned off to conserve the batteries.

Before long, soil had worked its way under Kobayashi-kun’s fingernails, becoming unbearably painful.

“Hey, you, take over for a bit. I need to find something to dig with.”

With that, he had Pocket Boy take over, and during that time, he turned on the flashlight and looked around.

“Ah, found it! This will do.” It was a triangular flat 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 discovering this stone shovel, their work suddenly progressed faster; the hole they were digging gradually deepened until they had to crawl into the narrow space to continue working. It was grueling labor. Though the soil wasn’t particularly hard, after digging just over a meter, they were completely exhausted.

“If you keep doing this alone, you’ll get too exhausted. Let’s switch to shifts. You and I will take turns digging.”

When one person dug, the other would carry the soil out of the hole. They decided to switch roles after transporting the soil thirty times. And so they resumed their work with all their might once again. "Hey, Mr. Kobayashi, even if we manage to struggle our way out of here, we still won't know what's on the other side." In the darkness, Pocket Boy spoke up while hauling soil.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“What if the hole ahead gets completely blocked? What’ll we do? Even if we keep digging and digging, there’ll be nowhere to escape.” “Yeah... That’s true.”

“Even if the hole ahead isn’t blocked, walking through it might just lead to a dead end.” “We might not get saved either way, you know.” Pocket Boy said in a voice on the verge of tears. “Hey, hey, don’t go saying such spineless things. “I’ve read all sorts of adventure stories, you know. In times like these, persevering with patience is what matters most.” “We have to keep pushing through no matter what.” “If you do that, fortune will open up for you on its own.” “God will help us.”

“If you give up and say it’s hopeless, then it’s really over. Even God won’t lift a finger to save such a weakling. Hey, Pocket, you’ve got to keep going. As long as you keep pushing, something good will definitely happen.”

However, because Kobayashi-kun kept urging him on with such fervor—"Keep going! Keep at it!"—something terrible happened.

It was when they had dug forward two meters. Because a rotten pillar buried in the soil was in their way, when they tried to remove it by yanking hard—or so they thought—a clattering sound rang out, and soil came crumbling down onto Kobayashi-kun's head from above. And from the waist up, his entire upper body had become completely buried.

“Ugh... ugh... ugh...” He managed to utter something, but couldn’t scream or take any action. His face had become completely smothered in soil—he couldn’t scream, let alone breathe. If left like this, he would die. Startled by the loud noise, Pocket Boy turned on the flashlight and shone it into the depths of the hole. Leader Kobayashi’s legs were struggling painfully. His head was hidden in the soil and couldn’t be seen.

“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. The soil was heavy, so he wouldn't budge. But if his beloved Leader Kobayashi were to die, that would be disastrous, so Pocket Boy, his face flushed crimson, kept pulling on the legs with dogged persistence.

Even Kobayashi-kun, buried in the soil, had realized this, so within the earth he moved both hands with all his strength and tried to shift his body backward. Thus, with their combined strength, Kobayashi-kun's body was able to inch its way out of the soil—one centimeter at a time, one centimeter at a time.

However, maintaining this required prolonged, patient effort. Truly one centimeter at a time—one centimeter at a time. Extracting his entire body took an immense amount of time.

“Ah, I went through hell.”

Kobayashi-kun wiped his mud-streaked face with a handkerchief while panting heavily, his shoulders heaving with each breath. It must have been excruciating. “What on earth happened?”

Pocket Boy asked, shining the flashlight on the leader’s pitiful face. “It was my fault. As we dug along, there was a wooden stick in the dirt blocking our way, so I tried to yank it out with all my might. That jolt made the soil come crashing down from above. Though it’s not what you’d call a full cave-in. From now on, we’ll dig more carefully.” “So you’re still planning to dig, even after something like this?”

Pocket Boy was astonished by Kobayashi-kun’s courage. “Of course we are. Now that we’re here, we’ll entrust our fate to heaven! And with human strength, we’ll try everything we can. We’ll keep going till the very end!”

After resting for a while, the two entered the hole once more. Kobayashi-kun was examining the collapsed area with his flashlight.

“It’s okay. Up above there’s another wooden beam lying horizontally—this one won’t budge an inch. If we dig beneath it, there’s no danger.” With that, they promptly set to work. True to form, they took turns digging, but from that point onward their work proceeded with truly remarkable efficiency. If they went slowly, the oxygen would run out and they’d die—there was no choice but to hurry.

It was already midnight. When they looked at their wristwatch, it was 1 o'clock.

Pocket Boy also worked diligently. Kobayashi-kun was thoroughly astonished at how effectively Pocket Boy's efforts were proving. The depth of the hole had already surpassed three meters. But just how much longer would this grueling work continue? By now, their arms, shoulders, and backs had gone completely numb and refused to obey. From time to time, they would exit the hole and rest. Then they would massage their numb arms and shoulders to recover their strength.

Pocket Boy no longer complained at all. He seemed resolved to keep digging until death.

Then, the two of them once again entered the hole and began their work. And then, just as they had scooped out the soil three or four times with a flat stone serving as a shovel— When they pushed the stone forcefully, to their surprise, it slipped through to the other side without any resistance. And there, a gaping hole had opened up. And then—from that hole, cold, delicious air came flowing in with a whoosh!

Kobayashi-kun started, then shone his flashlight through the hole to peer outside. "Ah! We've finally broken through!" It was a cry that seemed to leap into the air.

Outside the hole stretched a wide cave that continued far into the distance. Through their relentless efforts, they had broken through the thick cave-in barrier. As Kobayashi-kun had declared earlier, God truly favored those who persevered to the end. They widened the breakthrough hole and squeezed through into the spacious cavern beyond.

However, were they truly saved by this? If this hole were to become another dead end somewhere along the way, what were they to do? Before long, the flashlight’s batteries would surely run out. If that happened, they would have to wander through utter darkness, groping their way forward.

“Mr. Kobayashi… will we survive?” “Couldn’t… couldn’t we get buried alive here?”

Pocket Boy let out a voice that quivered on the verge of tears.

The Gorilla in the Earth “Ah, don’t worry. We’ll leave our luck to heaven and go as far as we can.” “In time, something good might happen.” “But if we just endure patiently and stay still, we’ll die after all.”

Kobayashi took Pocket Boy by the hand and walked through the pitch-black cave while encouraging him. Though they carried a flashlight, they couldn't use it carelessly or the batteries would die, so they would flick it on briefly to check the tunnel's condition before immediately turning it off.

From their earlier efforts, the two were completely exhausted. Barely resisting the urge to collapse where they stood, they trudged onward with feeble steps. They were apprehensive about hitting another dead end, but there was no sign of one. The tunnel wound and twisted endlessly before them. "They must've heard about old gold coins being buried here and dug as much as they could. And since they didn't find anything at all, they must've had terrible luck. They must've spent an awful lot of money."

Kobayashi-kun muttered to himself. As mentioned earlier, there was a rumor that government funds from the Tokugawa shogunate were buried in this mountain, and a wealthy person had these mine-like holes dug in search of them. "They lose because they're greedy." "The idea of gold coins being buried here is nothing but a lie." Pocket Boy said in an angry voice. "It's all because of this damn hole that we ended up in such trouble!"

“Hey now, Pocket Boy, have you forgotten we were saved from the gorilla thanks to this hole?” “Yeah, that’s true, but...”

They walked in silence for a while, but Pocket Boy spoke up in a sorrowful voice. “I’m starving. “I can’t walk anymore.” “Me too. “We have to endure—there’s no other way.” “It’s not just about getting hungry—if we stay still, we’ll die after all.” “There’s no way to survive except to keep walking.”

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

After a while,

“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 the path ahead. “Ah, a fork in the path. Which way should we go?” “You’re right. This tunnel is long, huh. The left side looks a bit wider.” “Yeah, you’re right. Then let’s take the left path.”

The two of them proceeded into the left tunnel, but after going about ten meters, there was another fork in the path. “Whoa, another fork in the path. Let’s stick with the left. If we keep going right and left, we might end up going back in circles. Once we decide on left, let’s just keep going left.”

Having said that, the two turned left. After moving forward a bit more, they encountered another fork in the path, but once again chose the leftward route there as well. And as they walked on for some time, the surroundings began to change. The air hung damp and heavy, creating a suffocating sensation. Kobayashi-kun thought something was strange and tried turning on the flashlight. “Ah! It’s a dead end!”

Pocket Boy cried out. Ahead in the tunnel, an earth wall stood blocking the way. At last, they came to a dead end. Were the two of them finally beyond saving? At that moment, from somewhere,

“Ugh... ugh....”

A low groan could be heard. The two of them startled glanced around nervously at their surroundings. “Ah! That’s it! “It’s the gorilla!” “It’s half buried in the dirt and suffering!” When they looked from beneath the earth at the dead end the gorilla’s head and back were visible. Soil had fallen from above and apparently pinned it down. “Ah! I’ve got it!”

Kobayashi-kun cried out in a startled voice.

“Pocket Boy, I get it. This is the opposite side of where we encountered the cave-in earlier. The gorilla had been chasing us and came all the way here. Then when a cave-in happened there，it got pinned underneath．That guy was injured，so he couldn’t escape．”

“But that’s strange. How did we end up on the opposite side?”

“There were three forks in the path, and since it bends sharply, we ended up back where we started without realizing it.” “So Mr. Kobayashi, if we hadn’t turned left at that fork earlier and had gone right instead, we could’ve gotten out of the tunnel, right?” Pocket Boy noticed this and said happily. “That’s it! You’re exactly right. If we want to get back from here, we should turn left at that fork in the path after all. If we do that, we’ll be able to get out of the tunnel.”

Kobayashi-kun also said in a cheerful voice.

"Ugh... ugh...."

The groaning continued. Yet coming from such a massive gorilla, the sound felt oddly wrong. It bore an uncanny resemblance to a human moan. “Ah! The gorilla’s back is split open!”

Pocket Boy shone his flashlight on it and shouted. When they looked, the back of the gorilla lying face down and half-buried in the dirt was indeed split open. Had it been struck by a rock during the cave-in and suffered major injuries?

No, it wasn't injured. The fur on its back had split open as if torn, and beneath it, instead of red blood, something black was visible. The two boys hesitantly drew closer and reached out to touch it with their hands. "Ah! This is a human! A human's wearing a gorilla skin!" Pocket Boy cried out. What was visible through the torn part looked like a black shirt. "Then does that mean he's wearing a gorilla head too?"

Kobayashi-kun tried moving the large gorilla's head. The texture felt strange. It seemed to be a taxidermied gorilla head. "Pocket Boy, let's try to take this off."

As they worked together, twisting and pulling at the gorilla's head, it gradually separated from the torso and finally came off cleanly.

“Oh! So he was wearing something like this. Look, they’ve fitted glass over the eye sockets and attached small bulbs inside.”

Kobayashi-kun revealed the hollow interior of the gorilla's head. Those terrifying, glowing blue eyes were actually small blue bulbs.

Underneath where they had pulled off the gorilla's head lay the face of a man around thirty, lying sprawled out. That face was contorted in apparent agony, groaning "Ugh... ugh...." This man had been wearing a gorilla pelt to disguise himself as a gorilla and scare the two boys.

Great Discovery “Is this guy one of Twenty Faces’ henchmen?” Pocket Boy said spitefully, looking down at the man’s face.

“That might be the case. But perhaps…”

Kobayashi Shounen started to say that but paused to think. “Huh? What do you mean ‘maybe’?” Pocket Boy stared at Kobayashi-kun’s face in surprise. “Would he really entrust such an important role to a subordinate? This guy must be Twenty Faces. None of us have ever seen Twenty Faces’ real face. Because he’s always disguising himself. So this guy must be Twenty Faces.”

The two of them exchanged glances and fell silent for a while. They had never imagined they would see the terrifying face of Twenty Faces this close up. Yet there he lay, pinned beneath the dirt and groaning. If left like this, he would surely die. No matter how evil he was, Kobayashi-kun couldn't bring himself to let someone die. He had to save him. Then turn him over to the police. But first, he needed to confirm whether this man was truly Twenty Faces.

“Hey, you’re Twenty Faces, aren’t you?” “Tell the truth.” When Kobayashi-kun called out like that, the “Ugh... ugh...” groaning stopped. Then in a pained voice came faint words: “W-will you... save me?” “I’ll definitely save you.” “But in exchange, tell me the truth.” “You’re Twenty Faces, aren’t you?” “Yeah... th-that’s right.” “Alright, I understand.” “But we can’t handle this alone.” “I’ll go get adults now—just hang on a little longer.” Having said this, Kobayashi-kun began retreating toward the hole’s exit. At that moment— “Whoa! This is bad!” Pocket Boy’s shrill scream echoed through the cave. “Wh-what’s wrong?” “Pocket Boy?” Kobayashi Shounen asked anxiously. “Gold coins! They’re everywhere!” “Look—here too! Over there!” In the flashlight beam glinted unmistakable antique koban coins. They lay scattered throughout the cave-in debris. Kobayashi-kun picked one up—a heavy golden piece. Just those visible numbered over a hundred. Above them rotted wooden boxes protruded from the earth— containers that had split open to spill their contents. “Ah! I get it!” “They buried coin-filled boxes above this tunnel!” “The cave-in brought them crashing down!”

Kobayashi-kun said that and started to retreat toward the outside of the hole.

Just then. “Whoa! This is terrible!”

Pocket Boy’s sudden, shrill scream resounded through the cave. “Wh-what’s wrong, Pocket-kun?” Kobayashi Shounen asked in surprise. “It’s gold coins! Gold coins are piled up everywhere! Look! Here... and over there...!” In the beam of the flashlight, what glittered brightly was unmistakably old gold coins. They were thickly mixed in the soil from the cave-in.

Kobayashi-kun picked up one of them. It was indeed a heavy gold coin. When they counted, there were already over a hundred gold coins just from those protruding from the soil. In the upper part of the soil, decayed and broken wooden boxes could be seen. The box packed with gold coins must have broken, scattering the coins.

“Ah，I get it now．The boxes of gold coins had been buried in the ceiling of this hole．That must have fallen here because of the cave-in．There’s no telling how many more boxes might still be buried up above！”

It was truly a monumental discovery. Long ago, wealthy individuals had dug such massive holes yet failed to find the shogunate’s funds, but thanks to the cave-in, Kobayashi Shounen and Pocket Boy discovered them. "But this won’t be ours, right?" "Of course not. The children or grandchildren of whoever had this hole dug must still hold the rights to it. Anyway, we need to quickly inform the police about this…"

Kobayashi-kun pulled Pocket Boy's hand and tried to leave the spot. Then, Twenty Faces, buried in the dirt,

“H-hey, K-Kobayashi-kun... H-hurry… s-save me…”

He called out in a pained voice. He must have thought things would go badly if left like this. “Alright, I know. I’ll get you out soon, so just hold on a bit longer.”

With that final remark, the two hurried toward the hole's entrance. It was a long path, but since they had passed through it once before, there was nothing to worry about.

Before long, far ahead, the bright entrance of the hole suddenly appeared small in the distance. Finally seeing the sunlight, they felt revived. Fresh air gently flowed in.

As they advanced toward that small, bright opening, it gradually grew larger, and finally, the two emerged into the refreshing light of dawn. They had spent the entire night in the cave since late last evening. When they checked their watches, it was 5 AM.

“Twenty Faces’ car should be inside the gate of the Western-style mansion. Let’s drive that to notify the police in the nearby town. We’ll bring a doctor along too. Twenty Faces has been badly hurt – he needs medical treatment.” When Kobayashi-kun said this, Pocket Boy looked worried. “If we just leave like this... will it be okay? There are Twenty Faces’ henchmen inside the Western-style mansion. If those guys get into the hole, rescue Twenty Faces, and make off with the gold coins, it’ll be a disaster!”

“It’s okay.” “Those guys are 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 went there, they couldn’t rescue him easily.” “Even if those henchmen abandoned Twenty Faces and tried 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 off, once we get in the car and leave, there’s nothing they can do about it.” “If they try to escape on foot through these mountains, they’ll just wander around and get caught.”

After hearing Kobayashi-kun’s explanation, Pocket Boy also felt relieved.

Kobayashi-kun was skilled at driving a car. The two got into Twenty Faces' car, started it quietly, 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 from that town, and through telephone communication, Detective Akechi Kogorou, Inspector Nakamura of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, and five of his subordinate detectives arrived. And Kobayashi Shounen and Pocket Boy. Five cars were parked in front of the Western-style mansion’s gate. First, they rescued Twenty Faces from beneath the cave-in debris, laid him on a bed in the Western-style mansion, and had a doctor treat him, but it was determined that Twenty Faces would likely 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 car.

It was two days later that they finished excavating all the boxes of gold coins hidden in the cave's ceiling. Fifty boxes of gold coins were recovered. It was an enormous sum. The legend that the shogunate's official funds had been buried there proved true after all. The vast fortune was handed over to the person holding rights to the mountain, who in turn decided to give Kobayashi Shounen and Pocket Boy five million yen in cash—equivalent to one percent of the total—as a token of gratitude.

Since both their fathers and mothers were still alive, there was no one to give the money to. They decided to have Akechi-sensei take custody of the entire five million yen 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 Leader Kobayashi. “I wonder what Akechi-sensei intends to use that money for.”

“That’s still unclear,” Kobayashi replied. “He intends to use it for whatever would most benefit our detective work.” “Then what would you use it for, Leader Kobayashi?” a member asked. “If it were me,” Kobayashi said with a grin, “I’d want portable radios! Five or six of them! Just imagine—if we could carry those and communicate directly with the agency office, how incredibly useful that’d be! Even if villains caught us and locked us up somewhere, we could calmly talk to the teacher at the office right from our prison!” “Wow, that’s awesome!” came multiple voices at once. “Let’s do that! Let’s ask Sensei to get those for us!” “Yes! That’s perfect!” “Hooray! Long live the Boy Detectives Club!” The boys broke into enthusiastic applause.

“Wow, that’s fantastic! Let’s do that! Let’s ask Akechi-sensei to prepare that for us!”

“That’s good, that’s good.” “Hooray! Long live the Boy Detectives Club!”

A vigorous round of applause arose among the boys. Detective Akechi would surely approve of this plan as well. And the day when the Boy Detectives Club would have portable radios may not be far off. If that comes to pass, they will perform great feats unlike anything seen before. Isn’t that day something to look forward to?