Recap / The Kindaichi Case Files Tarot Mountain Hut Murder Case

"Tarot Mountain Hut Murder Case" (a.k.a. "Playing the Fool Case") is the eleventh case arc in the File Series of The Kindaichi Case Files.

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Tropes include:

• Bait-and-Switch: Early on in the case arc, Reika gets spooked from the sight of someone leaning on the bathroom window glass as she's bathing, prompting her to scream and dash out of the bathroom and run into Kindaichi's arms with only a Modesty Towel over her body. It turns out to be a skier who got lost in the mountain for four hours before managing to find the ski resort, which the caretaker states is lucky for said skier, as the harsh weather conditions in the local area have already claimed many skiers' lives.
• Big Brother Instinct: Part of the culprit's actions actually is based on his protective instinct towards Reika.
  • Reika's record production supervisor is on the culprit's hit-list due to lusting for Reika, going so far as to want to make her have sex with him as condition for potential loan forgiveness, though, in this case, he makes Reika's father do the dirty work of killing the guy via the Electrified Bathtub method.
  • His final act is pushing back to get her out of the way of an avalanche that would have consumed her otherwise, sacrificing his life in exchange for Reika's.
• Blackmail:
  • Shortly after arriving at the cabin, the reporter, having correctly deduced Reika's father had been involved in a case that ended with someone dead, threatens to reveal the truth unless he complies with a large-sum payment.
  • The culprit, having noticed Reika's father burying the body of the reporter, proceeds to manipulate him to do his bidding, under the threat of revealing his role in the reporter's death.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Upon discovering Reika's invitation letter to Kindaichi, Miyuki remarks that she recalls Kindaichi having done a part-time job in Hokkaido where an incident occurred.
  • The Opera House murder case gets brought up when the physician Kindaichi met during said murder case turns out to be among the visitors gathering in this case arc as well.
• Contrived Coincidence: The physician Kindaichi met in the Opera House murder case appears as a visitor in this case as well, much to the surprise of both Kindaichi and Miyuki.
• Convicted by Public Opinion: One of the stories a reporter brings up early in the case arc was an incident regarding a group of university members on an expedition that went wrong on a mountain hike in the Yamagata Prefecture and ended with only one male among the group of ten as the Sole Survivor after a week of isolation, and the cause turned out to be infighting among the members for food rations. While the charges against said survivor were dropped since his acts of sacrificing the other nine were judged as self-defense, the mass media marked him as a demon, and he eventually vanished, never to be seen again.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: As Kindaichi keeps breaking apart the culprit's tactics on building the alibi, the culprit resorts to insisting that Kindaichi was the actual killer, but Reika, having unwavering faith in Kindaichi's innocence, screams at the culprit for Mr. Hayami's death, causing the culprit, in a moment of desperation to calm her down, to let slip about having murdered Mr. Hayami, realizing too late that the room full of guests had just witnessed his confession, even without him making a full statement of it.
• Diving Save: The culprit pushes Reika back to get her out of the way of an avalanche while the latter unwittingly wanders into its path outside. This saves her life, in exchange for his own.
• Dirty Old Man: Played for Drama. Reika's record production supervisor turns out to be one, as he's a man in his 50's who covets Reika — during the murder case, he actually wants her to have sex with him as condition for (possibly) forgiving the loan he gave to her. As Reika privately confides with Kindaichi after said supervisor's murder, he had made advances to her many times, though nothing ever happened.
• Electrified Bathtub: Reika's record production supervisor is killed when a blow dryer is tossed into the bathtub that's filled with water while he's bathing.
• Exact Words: During the phone conversation between the culprit and Reika's father after Kindaichi corrects deduces that Reika's father has a hand in the murders of two people, the culprit promises him that he has a way to remove Reika's father from the suspect list, under the condition that Reika's father keeps doing what he's told. What the culprit doesn't reveal, however, is that the method he has in mind would turn Reika's father into the final murder victim and set Kindaichi up as The Scapegoat for the murder case.
• Family Relationship Switcheroo: This is a major part of the backstory to this case.
  • Reika's "father" turns out to be her kidnapper who murdered the real father of her and her brother.
  • Reika and her brother both suffer Trauma-Induced Amnesia as a result of the kidnapping and murder case, not remembering the case or their family, both surviving and dead, though her brother regains his memories after arriving at the cabin, where the murder case takes place.
• Forced into Evil: Reika's father is forced via Blackmail by the culprit to murder Reika's record production supervisor.
• Frame-Up: After knocking Kindaichi unconscious and taking him away from the cabin, the culprit places the master key in Kindaichi's room in order to set him up as the killer of Reika's father. Unfortunately for the culprit, Kindaichi manages to return to the cabin and undo the culprit's effort.
• Hanging Around: Reika's father is found dead hanging in his own bedroom with the "Hanged Man" Tarot card placed in the room as well.
• He Knows Too Much: Both Reika's father and the culprit try to off Kindaichi for figuring out their role(s) in the murders — the keyword being "try".
• I Didn't Mean to Kill Him: When a reporter who knows of the Dark Secret about Reika's father tries to Blackmail him for money, he pushes the wrong button during the process by suggesting that he can reduce the price if he gets to have his way with Reika. Reika's father strikes him in anger with the intention of making him back down, but the force of the blow ends up killing him instead.
• I'll Kill You!: The Loony Fan says this word by word upon seeing Kindaichi being the recipient of Reika's affection, and he possibly means it, too, given he takes a swipe with a shovel at Kindaichi in reaction. Nothing serious happens, however, because Reika's record production supervisor stops him early enough.
• Imagine Spot: As Kindaichi is packing to get ready to go and meet Reika, he harbors a fantasy of being trapped in a snowstorm with her, him falling ill due to the snow, and her warming him up "physically". It doesn't last long because Miyuki announces her presence behind him before he can keep it going further.
• Ironic Echo: Soon after the caretaker talks about a windmill at the nearby hill and points to a picture of it, Miyuki notes that the windmill looks like one of the tarot cards. Not long after the very same card is found — but with blood on it this time — where the reporter is supposed to be staying, everyone heads to the hill and finds the dead body of the reporter being tied to said windmill.
• Kill the Parent, Raise the Child: It turns out that the kidnapper killed Reika's biological father and abducted her before raising her as his own daughter.
• The Killer Becomes the Killed: The kidnapper abducted Reika and killed her biological father via strangulation in said kidnapping case, only to become a murder victim himself in the present-day murder case — via strangulation, at that.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: On the morning after Reika's father accidentally kills a reporter who presses his button once too many, the guests notice a bloodied Tarot card nailed to the door where said reporter is supposed to stay in but is absent and start searching for him. When the search in the cabin ends with no success:
  Skier: Hm, the appearance of a Tarot card after a person disappears... it's just like a detective story, right?
• Long-Lost Relative: Reika's manager, who's also the culprit in this case, turns out to be Reika's own brother, whom she's separated from due to the kidnapping case that ended with Reika being taken away by her kidnapper, who also murdered their birth father.
• Loony Fan: One of the visitors in this case confesses as one in his own introduction, stating that he got a ticket for the resort by hacking in the website of the travel agency, and he physically tries to attack Kindaichi upon seeing Reika getting more intimate with Kindaichi. He also fantasizes the possibility of being stuck with Reika, which drives him to sabotage the cable car machine, itself a move that helps to cause the Closed Circle effect for everyone involved in this case.
• Love Triangle: This case arc is where Kindaichi's relationship with Reika and Miyuki is properly set up as this trope, since Reika and Miyuki meet for the first time here and their romantic rivalry toward Kindaichi is explored throughout the case.
  • As if to drive the point home further, the case arc ends with Reika on TV promoting a new song she personally wrote that she states is dedicated to her rival in love. The song title is "Never Gonna Give Up". Miyuki becomes noticeably uncomfortable in reaction to this bit of news.
    Miyuki: Could... could it be...
    Kindaichi: Miyuki, what's wrong?
    Miyuki: No... nothing! Nothing's wrong...!
    Kindaichi: Eh? I'm pretty sure there's something!
    Miyuki: (nervously) No! It's really nothing!
• Not What It Looks Like: Played for Laughs. When Kindaichi isn't awake on one morning, Reika volunteers to wake him up, which prompts Miyuki to do the same. Miyuki arrives in Kindaichi's guest room and finds Reika kneeling close to him, before the scene pans to reveal Reika watching him sleep.^note  That being said, Miyuki doesn't appreciate Kindaichi saying words that make her believe he's dreaming about something perverted while he's talking in his sleep, and so she hits him to make him wake up.
• Out-of-Character Moment: Miyuki discovers an invitation letter Reika sent to Kindaichi at the start of the case arc. In an attempt to explain, Kindaichi goes full Motor Mouth-mode, which only serves to make Miyuki more suspicious, if anything, and she promptly decides to tag along as well.
• Predator Turned Protector:
  • Part of the backstory goes that, after the botched kidnapping case took place, Reika's kidnapper became her "father", and all signs show that their "familial" love for each other is genuine.
  • As Reika confides with Kindaichi, a dream she used to have as a child was a Red Riding Hood Replica, where she was the Little Red Riding Hood being dragged away by a wild wolf. She expected the wolf to kill her, but the wolf simply stared at her instead. She would then notice the wolf was injured, tend to the injury, and cause the wolf to become tame and remain by her side.
• Red Riding Hood Replica: During Kindaichi's date with Reika after the murder case concludes, Reika tells him of a dream she used to have as a child, in which she was Little Red Riding Hood being dragged away by a wild wolf and expecting the wolf to kill her, only for the wolf to stare at her until she noticed the wolf had an injured leg and tended to it, causing the wolf to be a Predator Turned Protector.
• Relationship Sabotage: Soon after Reika's initial introductory meeting with Miyuki, she tries to keep Miyuki separated from Kindaichi by suggesting to him that it's impossible for him to have any "funny business" with her before telling her manager to get close to Miyuki, going so far to claim that going into her room at night is acceptable (both conversations are done privately).
• Retired Outlaw: After the botched kidnapping case, Reika's kidnapper took her away, became her "father", and raised her as if she were his own daughter. He managed to keep himself hidden for 15 years... until the murder case arc brings his Dark Secret to the surface once more.
• Shared Unusual Trait: Reika and the culprit both have strong aversion to wearing something around their necks, which Kindaichi reveals during Summation Gathering. This is what clues Kindaichi in as to the culprit and Reika being Long-Lost Relative to one another.
• Slipping a Mickey: As Kindaichi reveals during The Summation, Reika's father, under the culprit's instruction, spikes nearly everyone's coffee with sleeping pill to allow the culprit unlimited access to move about within the cabin — the key term is "nearly everyone", however, as Miyuki's drink is left untouched so that she'd be the witness for the culprit's alibi.
• Snow Means Death: Zigzagged.
  • The culprit attempts to force it on Kindaichi by knocking him out when Kindaichi is outside on his own and dragging him away from the hut while Kindaichi is still unconscious. Unfortunately for the culprit, Kindaichi manages to survive and make his way back to the cabin.
  • Played straight with the culprit, as an avalanche sweeps him away as the case is concluding, though his body is never found.
  • Reika comes dangerous close to suffering such a fate, but the culprit pushes her back and saves her life, at the cost of his own.
• Sunglasses at Night: Zigzagged during Kindaichi's date with Reika after the murder case ends. While Reika wears sunglasses after her date with Kindaichi ends and Kindaichi himself does the same, if briefly, neither of them does this otherwise, which gets discussed between them before their date starts, due to Reika's Idol Singer status.
  Kindaichi: You could at least wear some sunglasses, right?
  Reika: Wearing sunglasses only attracts more attention.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: After the truth about the culprit and the kidnapping incident that took place 15 years ago is fully revealed, Reika does NOT embrace the culprit with open arms despite being his sister. Instead, she storms out, feeling both still angry at having lost the one person that was the only family member she knew for much of her life and confused as to whom she could trust, especially now that she's forced to confront the fact that her "father" turns out to have been the kidnapper who murdered her biological father.
• Tarot Motifs: Unfamiliarity with how a Tarot deck works is used to point out the murderer in this mystery. Ironic, given that the culprit places a Tarot card after completing setting up a murder scene.
• Tempting Fate:
  • After two people are murdered, Reika's father agrees to do the culprit's bidding once more, as the culprit promises him that he would be removed from the suspect list. What the culprit doesn't say at the time is that he would become the final murder victim instead.
  • The culprit asks for a date with Miyuki after the murder case is over, which she relays to Kindaichi. The date will never happen after the culprit is lost and presumed dead in an avalanche as the case ends, though his body remains undiscovered.
  • Early on in the case arc, Reika dons a beautiful dress that she wears when performing as an Idol Singer and shows off to Kindaichi (Miyuki is shocked into Stunned Silence in reaction), before telling him that this would be the last time for her to wear it. She intends to quit show business around that time, but the get-well letters she receives from her fans after she's hospitalized following the end of the case cause her to change her mind and decide to keep working at her job instead.
• Trauma Button: Reika doesn't like stuffs around her neck, clearly seen when she freaks out right after Kindaichi gives her his scarf around her neck. It's because she saw how her real father was killed by strangulation. It turns out that his also applies to her brother.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Both Reika and her brother lost their memories about the kidnapping case that ended with their birth father being strangled to death by their kidnapper and Reika being separated from her brother. Reika's brother, however, regains his memories after arriving at the cabin and meets Reika's "father".
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The Shared Unusual Trait Reika and her manager both have is their strong aversion to wearing something around their necks.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The culprit kills Reika's father after he has done everything the culprit asks him to do.