"Chidamari's Room Murder Case" is the sixth case arc in the New Series of The Kindaichi Case Files.
Kindaichi, Miyuki, and Kenmochi are recruited for the Fudo High School club at the last moment before the scheduled upcoming training matches in Go (a Japanese tabletop Board Game) against members of the rival club from a prestigious high school in a villa, which is the annual tradition that has been ongoing for 20 years, is to take place. The already-tense atmosphere within the villa due to the Go matches soon yields to something much more morbid when a rival high school Go club member is found dead the next day.
Tropes include:
- Connected All Along:
- The teacher serving as the Fudo High School Go club director turns out to have been a classmate of Kenmochi in the past.
- The murderer and the victim turn out to have been acquainted in the past despite not attending the same high school due to having once attended the same Cram School. The fact that they both knew how to play Go helped them connect with each other more easily.
- Dark Horse Victory: When Kindaichi is up against the president of the rival Go club, no one really expects much out of him — his claim beforehand that he never won against his grandfather, who taught him how to play it, does nothing to boost anyone's confidence in him. The match ends with Kindaichi winning, much to the shock of everyone who's present.One rival Go club member: What just happened?!
Fudo High School Go club president: So he really can play Go after all!
Miyuki: That was amazing, Hajime-chan! You're so good! I thought you said that you never won a game of Go before?
Kindaichi: Well, I never managed to beat my own grandfather... - Disappeared Dad: The culprit confesses to have always been living without a father or a male parental figure. Whether the culprit's father died or walked out on his family is never made clear.
- Dying Clue: After the murder victim's body is discovered, stones that are used for Go matches are found in the victim's back pocket — 88 in total, with 52 of them being white and the other 36 being black. As Kindaichi reveals during Summation Gathering, the murder victim collected these before being murdered to allow others to identify the culprit.
- Evil Counterpart: The culprit serves this role to the Fudo High School Go club president.
- Both of them picked Fudo High as their school of choice in their respective second round of admission exam due to not being admitted into their first choice, but the culprit was actually admitted into the first choice initially until the victim-to-be sabotaged it while the club president failed without foul play from any external factors.
- The culprit has always been bitter about the kinds of cards life dealt after being cheated out of the hard-earned reward, and the culprit's mother's subsequent suicide borne out of work-induced depression pushed the culprit over the edge and into murder after realizing the saboteur was a friend. The club president, meanwhile, takes the bad feeling of failing one's own exam to heart by studying hard in the hope of getting into a public university later on.
- Exact Words: A lighthearted example. Kindaichi claims to have never won a game of Go despite his grandfather having taught him how to play the game. He's technically right: It turns out he never won because he always played against his grandfather, an excellent Go player who never went easy on him.
- Hanging Around: The culprit's mother died by hanging when she was Driven to Suicide on one summer day due to overwhelming depression. The fact that her depression came about solely due to someone sabotaging the culprit's school admission eventually drove the culprit to murder once the culprit finds out the truth.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: The Chidamari ("blood reservoir") Room certainly sounds ominous enough, though it's named after a particular section of the Go game-board — the hole located on the back section of the board, to be precise. The culprit invokes it after murdering the intended target by placing said target's head onto the hole of a Go game-board that's been turned upside-down, which is within the Chidamari Room itself.
- Informed Ability: Among the participants in the scheduled matches in Go, only Kindaichi and the rival school club president get to show their skill, with the latter suffering The Worf Effect to boot.
- Innocently Insensitive: The Cram School teacher the culprit talked to regarding the admission process did so by asking the culprit about high school life together with the victim under the assumption that the culprit and the victim both got admitted into a prestigious high school together, never knowing that the victim had sabotaged the culprit's admission in the first place.
- Irony: The Fudo High School Go club president's strategic plan about winning the 3-on-3 Go matches involve getting Kindaichi to take a loss and the other two winning their respective matches. Not only does Kindaichi manage to pull off a Dark Horse Victory by merit alone, the president is the one losing the next match as well, which the president is personally all too aware of and not happy toward at all.Sorry about that...
- I've Come Too Far: The culprit has this thought once Kenmochi brings up the fact that Kindaichi is the grandson of famous detective Kosuke Kindaichi — only this time it's before the murder happens.Culprit: [thinking privately] The grandson of a detective? What the Hell? But no! I refuse to turn back, not now! I don't want to stop! No, I can't stop! No matter what, I have to go through with this plan!
- Japanese School Club: This case arc involves two of them, with one from Fudo High and the other from its rival school counterpart, both focusing on the game of Go.
- Motive Rant: Besides the confession the culprit makes late in the case arc, the culprit also made one such tirade towards the intended target shortly before committing murder.Culprit: I know everything! You used my name so you could withdraw me, right? Because of that, my mother became depressed and committed suicide! It's the same as if you killed her! That's why you should die here as well! Right here! Right now!
- My God, What Have I Done?: Two incidents might indicate that the victim actually ends up regretting the sabotaging move. One of them is the victim outright claiming to be a traitor when talking to a classmate, who's also a fellow club member. Then Kenmochi relays to Kindaichi, after the case is wrapped up, that the victim sent a letter baring the full confession about the sabotaging act on the culpritnote and a statement of withdrawal from the school to the Home Room teacher.
- Neck Lift: Played for Laughs, with "collar" in place of "neck". After Kindaichi manages to pull off a Dark Horse Victory in the game of Go, Kenmochi hoists him by the collar of his school uniform while introducing him as the grandson of famous detective Kosuke Kindaichi to everyone present, much to the displeasure of Kindaichi, due to the way Kenmochi is treating him at the moment.Kindaichi: [thinking privately] You're treating me like a cat...
- Off with His Head!: The murder victim is found this way, with his decapitated head on the game board that's flipped upside-down.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Played for Laughs, or lighthearted at least: Kindaichi brings up the fact that he managed to beat the rival club president in Go twice after managing to pull off a Dark Horse Victory, much to the chagrin of the rival club president, especially after Kindaichi mentions it the second time.note Why, you... be quiet!
- Rubik's Cube: International Genius Symbol: On the bus ride to the villa, Miyuki remarks to Kindaichi that she notices the rival club president having been playing with the Rubik's cube the whole time and solving it over 100 times. This, in conjunction with the rival club hailing from a prestigious high school, helps to build up the rival club president as a genius, albeit an insufferable Jerkass.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: As the two matches taking place prior to the murder end with each school taking one win and one loss, the score is tied, with the third match being the tie-breaker. The intended premise of the school club member training matches is out the window once the murder case unfolds, with the anticipated challengers being killer and victim, respectively, before the match can proceed.
- Small Role, Big Impact:
- The teacher serving as the director of the Go club only made appearances in the flashback sequences, but said sequences justify involvements from Miyuki — and Kindaichi by extension, if indirectly, as the result of Miyuki enlisting him for help — and Kenmochi, which ultimately ensures that the murder case will be solved quickly.
- According to the culprit's confession late in the case arc, the Cram School teacher divulged the full details about the correspondences he had made with the victim when the culprit asked him, never knowing that the victim had made additional moves to ensure the desired enrollment result. His innocent words of inquiring the culprit about being in the prestigious high school together with the victim only served to unknowingly rub more salt into the open wound, if anything.
- Tempting Fate:
- The rival school club president, like anyone else, thinks little of Kindaichi's capability as a Go player when playing against him and gets especially incensed at the Unwanted Assistance the Fudo High School Go club president tries to give Kindaichi, outright vowing to "turn the whole board white" — for clarification, Kindaichi plays with black pieces. The match ends up with Kindaichi securing a Dark Horse Victory, much to everyone's shock.
- After two training matches in Go conclude, Kindaichi invites a rival Go club member to play a different tabletop board game, but said member is called away shortly after the game start for a Go strategy meeting and tells Kindaichi that they'll continue later. Sadly, the promise ends up forever unfulfilled because the rival Go club member is found dead the next day.
- This Is Unforgivable!: The culprit outright says so regarding the target's sabotaging act. Even as a rival club member recounts the conversation with the victim, who flat out claims to be a traitor, in an attempt to shed light on the victim's potential regret for the act, the culprit shouts to stop the club member from saying more.STOP IT! Even if I hear that story now, I won't forgive him! I'll never forgive him!
- Tragic Dream: Both the murderer and the victim had hoped to enroll in the same prestigious high school and then an elite university together, but the test result dashed that hope. Each of them also harbored hope individually for such an enrollment for oneself, and the victim's desperate action with the intended goal of making it happen destroyed the same dream the culprit had and eventually led to murder.
- Unwanted Assistance: Downplayed. Advising on the game from spectators is highly frowned upon and treated as cheating at least, though the results of such action in this case arc are Played for Laughs.
- When Kindaichi is up against the rival club president, the Fudo High School Go club president whispers to Kindaichi "remember, just end this quickly" due to holding no faith in him. Not only does Kindaichi chide the Fudo High School Go club president for whispering advice as a spectator, he also ends up proving he doesn't need help by pulling off a victory that surprises everyone.
- The case arc concludes with Akechi providing assistance to Kenmochi while the latter is playing Shogi against Kindaichi, resulting in Kindaichi protesting against Akechi for butting in as a spectator and Akechi, in turn, suggesting for Kindaichi to play against him next.
- We Used to Be Friends: The culprit and the victim were once friends with the shared goal of being admitted into a prestigious high school and then an elite university together, but the victim ended up on the reserved status while the culprit was admitted. Things took an unexpected turn when the paperwork from said high school didn't arrive past the expected time for the culprit. When the culprit inquired the high school administrators, it was then a shocking revelation emerged: Someone had pretended to be the culprit and withdrew from the admission process using the alias, and it was already too late to reverse course by the time the culprit called the school administrators. Left with no choice, the culprit had to enroll in Fudo High, and the culprit's mother pushed herself too hard at work since then until depression overwhelmed her into hanging herself. Once the culprit discovered that the victim was the saboteur, the resolve for murder was set.
- The Worf Effect: The rival school club president is propped up as a formidable Go player. This makes Kindaichi's Dark Horse Victory against him in their respective match all the more shocking to everyone.
- You Didn't Ask: Played for Laughs. The teacher serving as the real director of the Fudo High School Go club makes such a mistake when recruiting Miyuki and Kenmochi as replacement club member and director, respectively, the day before the scheduled club training matches are to occur.
- First, the teacher enlisted Miyuki due to her having won third-place in a contest without bothering to find out what it was she competed in, Miyuki herself assuming the teacher already knew the full story, and the teacher having already left in a hurry by the time Miyuki realized she agreed to something without knowing what it was.
- On the night before the training matches, the teacher in question had drinks with Kenmochi and ended up too hung over to join the club members, which prompted him to ask Kenmochi to serve as his substitute for a favor, failing to mention to Kenmochi what the club was about until his arrival in the morning.Kenmochi: Go? I have no idea about that!
Miyuki: So he didn't give you a proper explanation, either.
