(Well, I've done it now. When I didn't have my computer, and didn't know when I would have a new one, I totally un-blinded the liveblog. Oh well! I'll still continue on.
You'll have to wait 'til I reach the Endless Eight saga to find out what I think of it...)
So we start with the scene where they discover Tamaru Keiichi, the owner, stabbed in the chest. Haruhi goes over to where Keiichi is, and holds his wrist. It looks like she's checking for a pulse, but Arakawa-san doesn't think he should be moved. He pronounces him dead by fruit knife. Mikuru faints. Itsuki says it's not good. Mori tends to Mikuru, while Yuki moves the door close to closed. We see the latched window. Itsuki points out that the knife went all the way through the notebook, an indicator that the perpetrator must be really strong. Kyon figures that the culprit would have to be a man, as well, and since nobody's seen Yutaka around, he's the most likely suspect.
Itsuki asks Kyon what he wants to do about his little sister. Kyon doesn't want her to know about this.
Itsuki says it looks like they have a real mystery. He says they have a Closed Circle. It looks like a murder, in a room where the doors and windows are locked from the inside. Since both were locked when they got there, how did the killer get in and out while leaving both locked?
("Bouken desho desho?")
Back in the room where some of the Brigade would be sleeping, Mikuru is in bed. Yuki, Kyon, and his sister are watching over her. Haruhi is sitting on the end of the bed, not looking. Kyon's sister holds his shirt and asks if something bad happened. Kyon tells her, apparently again, that Keiichi got sick, and is resting in his room, so they have to stay there. She wonders if Mikuru got sick, as well. Mikuru whimpers a bit. Haruhi stands up, and asks Kyon if they can talk. They go to the hall, but before they leave, Haruhi instructs Yuki to lock the door and not to open it for anyone. Yuki understands. With that, Kyon closes the door behind them.
Out in the hall, Haruhi asks if Kyon thinks it was murder. Kyon thinks it looks like it. Haruhi never thought something like that would happen. Kyon points out that she kept saying she wanted something mysterious to happen. Haruhi says that yeah, because she didn't think it actually would. Kyon narrates to us a summary of the situation, and wonders what the chances of it were. He wonders if it's because Haruhi wished it. He thinks she looks like a naughty little boy whose prank went from bad to worse. Kyon says Yutaka's the prime suspect. Haruhi remembers being told by Mikuru about seeing the brothers arguing. Also, she remembers overhearing a phone conversation in which Yutaka said he was in a hurry, and it seemed like it was to get out of the country. Kyon wonders about the sealed room. He doesn't think it was to fake Keiichi's suicide, but wonders what the point would be in locking it up like that. Haruhi decides they're going to investigate the room again.
However, Arakawa says that he's called the police, and that the room is off-limits on their orders until they get there. Haruhi asks when they'll be there. Arakawa says that the forecast seems to indicate that it'll start clearing up tomorrow afternoon. We can see inside a little bit. Haruhi asks if the door was locked all night long. Arakawa doesn't know, as when he saw that the door was closed, he knocked, and that was all, as Keiichi keeps his work-related documents inside, and gave strict orders about not opening the door if he didn't answer it. Kyon asks if Keiichi and Yutaka didn't get along. Arakawa couldn't say, as he and Mori had only been employed there for one week, so they're not that familiar with them yet. It's a part-time temp job for them, lasting two weeks out of the summer. All Arakawa knows about their relationship is that Yutaka is also a former employee of Keiichi's. Kyon thinks something's not right. We have brief flashbacks to when Arakawa met the Brigade (and sister) at the boat. Kyon suddenly has a strange feeling.
The two are walking down the stairs. Haruhi calls to Itsuki and asks what he's doing. He replies that he's looking around the mansion, and can't find Yutaka. Haruhi wants to see if the boat's there. Mori interjects that they probably won't find it, as she recalls that he looked as though he was in a big hurry last night as he was heading for the front entrance. Itsuki asks if she's implying that he took the boat and left. She's not positive, but hasn't seen him since. Haruhi asks the time she saw him, and Mori says it was about 1 AM.
Haruhi drags Kyon out into the typhoon to look for the boat from the cliff. Kyon thinks to himself that one wrong step would lead to both falling, both Kyon feels that even if they do, he feels his chances for survival are pretty good with her. They go from her holding his wrist to them holding hands. She points at the dock. Indeed, the boat is gone. Kyon figures this means that Yutaka did it. The gray skies and black seas remind Kyon of a closed space, and he thinks he won't ever get used to a monochromatic world like this. Haruhi points at the mountainous area, possibly having seen someone. She wonders if someone else is out looking, or if what she sees is the murderer. She drags Kyon in that direction.
Now they're inching along a narrow ledge. Kyon asks if she's sure she saw him go that way. She says he had to, as it's the only path. Suddenly, the rocks break out from under her, and they both fall! She falls on top of Kyon, and gets up after a few seconds. Worried, she shakes him by the shoulder and says "Kyon!" a few times until he stirs. She asks if he's all right and alive, and he guesses he's okay. However, they're in a tough spot, and may not be able to get back to the path. Haruhi spots a cave.
It's warm there, possibly indicating geothermal activity. Haruhi has her shirt off, but we can't see anything. As Kyon removes his, she says she knows she saw a shadow. Kyon asks if she's sure it was a person, and she is. We look at Haruhi's upper back. She looks like she's about to remove her bra, but it doesn't happen. Take that as a disappointment or a relief as you will. She asks Kyon if he really thinks Yutaka killed Keiichi. Kyon wrings his shirt out and asks what she's getting at. Haruhi's been thinking about it. She recalls what Mori said about Yutaka's time of departure. She also recalls him being still warm when she touched him, meaning that he couldn't have been dead long before they found him. Kyon asks if that means Yutaka left the mansion at night in the middle of a typhoon, hid until morning, then stabbed him before leaving the island. Haruhi doesn't think that's it, because even if he were killed an hour before they get there, they should have seen or heard somethin while they were all awake and wandering around. Kyon brings up that otherwise, he stayed alive for hours, and managed to lock himself in his room after being stabbed.
Haruhi suddenly has what she thinks is the answer: Yutaka did stab Keiichi, but Haruhi is sure it was an accident. They were arguing, and Yutaka lost his temper, picked up a fruit knife, and waved it around, leading to it stabbing him. However, it didn't reach his heart because of the notebook. Keiichi went into shock and passed out. Yutaka, thinking he had killed his brother, bolted. Since Keiichi wasn't dead, he came to in the morning. Dazed, and a little wobbly, he got up. Remembering how his brother tried to kill him, he went to lock himself in. Having done so, he then tripped on his own feet and fell face-down... driving the knife well and truly into his chest.
Kyon isn't so sure that's what happened. He believes Yutaka would have made sure one way or the other. Also, they found him face up. Haruhi almost thinks she had another revelation, but she says it's nothing. Just then, Itsuki's voice calls into the cave, asking if they can hear him and if they're okay.
Back in a room, Kyon spends some time with a hair dryer. He notes in his head that Haruhi's deduction crumbled. He thinks that if Yutaka wasn't even there at the time, then the murderer was someone else. In the kitchen, he sees his sister trying to "steal" food and picks her up by the shirt. She's gotten hungry, it seems. Mori apologizes and says she'll bring something up right away. Imouto doesn't think it's fair that someone already got to eat. It's a plate with Western utensils, interestingly enough. Mori says it was Arakawa's meal, since he hadn't had a thing to eat since the morning, so she delivered his meal first.
On the way back to the room, Kyon remarks to his sister that she always finds a way to embarrass him. When they get to the room, they find that Yuki... isn't opening the door for anyone, per orders. Haruhi explains that she didn't mean the Brigade and sis, but Yuki doesn't budge on what she was told. Kyon takes it that Mikuru is still unconscious, and Itsuki takes from her silence that she is. Sis brings up that she didn't say anything when she left, but apparently she only took the orders to mean for entry, not exits. Finally, Kyon steps up and retracts Haruhi's order, offering to give her a new one. He also says that his sister's out there, and asks her to open up. This is done. Haruhi tells her that she doesn't have to be so literal all the time. Kyon thinks that was her way of playing a joke on them, but can't read her face or vocal cues to be sure. Sis thanks her and goes in. (Is Mikuru trapped in a nightmare or something?) Koizumi asks what they should do now, and if she wants to keep trying to find the answers. Haruhi doesn't think she does anymore, thinking she's not the great detective she thought. She figures they'll let the police handle it.
Kyon and Itsuki talk about the conversation in the cave. Kyon thinks it strange that she wanted to play detective, then dropped the whole thing. Koizumi has a theory about that. Up to a certain point, Haruhi is correct, but was wrong at the last: what killed him wasn't falling onto the knife, but the force of the door opening after he unlocked it when he heard pounding. So in a way, he was killed by Arakawa, Itsuki, and Kyon. Itsuki thinks that must have been the revelation that she said was "nothing". Kyon says it makes sense, but it's too bad he had to figure it out, because now he has to kill him to keep it quiet.
Now, we see Sis running down the hall, calling for help, she finds Arakawa, and says Itsuki's been stabbed in the chest. Arakawa says it's impossible. A shadowy figure peeks from behind a door, and steps out once they're gone. Now, we see two pairs of black-clad legs standing beside the original victim. We hear Haruhi's voice saying she never thought he'd be such a badass. Kyon tells her to just keep her mouth shut so he won't have to kill her, as well. So he fabricates the idea that Yutaka snuck back and killed Koizumi, and only he knows the motive. He was acting weird or off or something. Haruhi asks if the police would buy it. Kyon thinks they will, but first, they'll have to stab the corpse a few more times to make it look like Yutaka was a total psycho. They go to stab him... and Keiichi's eyes suddenly open as he yells for them to wait. Itsuki walks up behind them, and says that they've been found out: the game's over and they lost.
At the Summation Gathering, Arakawa says they beat them fair and square. Sis apologizes, and that she was acting under Kyon's orders. Haruhi has her Supersleuth armband pinned to her sleeve. Haruhi announces that she, supernatural genius and #1 sleuth, will reveal the results of her amazing detectiving. Kyon thinks to himself that she should pat herself on the back a bit harder. By now, it's clear that the mystery was a hoax designed and orchestrated by Ituski, the Tamaru brothers, and the staff. Haruhi calls it an impressive plot, especially with the red herring. Itsuki says it was a nice observation. The hoax was all in fun, though: a surprise party with a twist. Kyon thinks to himself that Yuki probably knew from the start. Haruhi says they had her going until the fake solution with the door pushing the knife into him. She realized that the door, having done so, should have had evidence of contact with the knife handle, but there was none. Kyon remembers noticing that. Keiichi says the door was sturdy, and therefore shouldn't have been much to go on. Haruhi points out something else that was fishy: Itsuki said, "I haven't seen you in so long" when he saw Arakawa, but Arakawa later said they had only been employed under Keiichi for a week. Arakawa says she's correct. Kyon remembers figuring that out, as well. She also noticed that Itsuki, despite this being his first time, went straight to Keiichi's room, as if he knew where it was. Itsuki can't believe he slipped up twice. Keiichi doesn't think it odd, as he could've found out which room was his anytime he wasn't with the others.
The final clue, however, was the empty plate Kyon found. She lets him take that one, since she wasn't there. Kyon says that he noticed that Keiichi is the only one on the island who eats with a fork and knife. He admits that Arakawa might eat with a fork and knife, but he realized it was Keiichi's when he saw that the carrots were untouched. (Wow. If he'd just not been served something he wasn't going to eat, that'd be one less clue.) Haruhi dramatically gives the conclusion: There never was a murder, and Keiichi is still alive. Sis is amazed, and claps, Kyon is sure the applause is amplified in Haruhi's mind. So, Haruhi says, they decided to turn the tables and put on an act of their own. Mikuru realizes that the fight she saw was an act, and Yutaka reveals that the phone call was, as well. Itsuki was planning on revealing it at some point. Keiichi, holding the fake book and knife, is amazed they solved it so quickly. Kyon says to Haruhi that it was her sleuthing that made the scheme unravel, and says it was some nice detective work. Haruhi quotes one of the most famous "Beam Me Up, Scotty!"s of Sherlock Holmes fiction.
Back on the boat that brought them to the changeover point, or at least one like it, Kyon and Itsuki are talking. Kyon has found out that this was something his organization came up with, to keep her mind occupied, though bringing Sis was not part of the plan. Kyon recalls Itsuki saying at the beginning that his organization wasn't involved, but Itsuki says that he couldn't exactly let on then. He asks Kyon when he caught on; Kyon says he knew from the beginning. He doesn't think a thing like that could really happen, as he doesn't believe Haruhi would ever wish for someone to be murdered. That's just how she is. As he says this, we zoom in on the back of Kyon's neck, at the base of his skull. There's a brown spot there with a thin black thing attached to it, wiggling. Itsuki notes that he really trusts her. Kyon recalls that Haruhi said she saw a shadow. Itsuki doesn't know anything about that. Kyon looks doubtful, so Itsuki says he has no reason to keep playacting. Kyon thinks she saw something, and asks what she thinks it was. Itsuki theorizes that she wished for an actual murderer to be there, and that was the shadow. Kyon lets that thought process, but then decides it was the storm making her see things. Haruhi asks where they want to go next, and suggests the Bermuda Triangle. Sis asks if Bermuda is really a triangle.
(At this point, I'd be calling Yuki over in a way that seems normal, then asking her if there any entity that wasn't supposed to be there manifested itself on that island.)
("Hare Hare Yukai")
Next Time: Someday in the Rain!
