"Murder Restaurant" is the thirteenth case in the Short File Series of The Kindaichi Case Files.
In this murder case arc, Kindaichi and Kenmochi decide to dine in at a restaurant. In addition to serving food, the restaurant in question also serves as a murder crime scene.
Tropes include:
- Body in a Breadbox: The murder victim's body in this case is hidden inside the refrigerator in the restaurant.
- Dying Clue: An accidental version. The calendar hanging inside the restaurant has dates of official holidays marked on it — plus one that is NOT an official holiday at all. Kindaichi surmises that the victim was using the calendar as a baking sheet while making cookies with cookie cutters right as the killer sneaked up and committed the murder, with the victim's own blood flowing onto the calendar. The reason it's not obvious to everyone from the get-go is because the shape of the bloody mark, due to the influence of the cookie cutter at the moment, matches the shape of the official holiday stamps.Kindaichi: You could consider this an accidental dying clue. That is the reason I knew there had been a murder here today.
- Eat the Evidence: While Kindaichi is listing off the things that count as evidence proving that the restaurant is the murder crime scene, Kenmochi asks him what the culprit used as the murder weapon of choice. Kindaichi's answer? The roast ribs the culprit served Kenmochi earlier.Kindaichi: (to Kenmochi) You didn't notice my hint!
- Eek, a Mouse!!: Kindaichi jumps from his seat at the sight of a rat suddenly darting out near him, causing his booth chair to fall and reveal... fruits and vegetables hidden inside said booth chair.
- Humiliation Conga: The culprit in this case arc goes through a lot of bad experience. Kindaichi and Kenmochi arrive at the restaurant shortly after the culprit had just committed the murder, so the culprit is forced to hide the rest of the evidence as much as possible at a moment's notice and pose as the restaurant owner/server withal. A package containing a frilly dress arrives during meal time, forcing the culprit to put on the dress and pretend to be a Crossdresser to keep up the facade. Then Kindaichi, noticing a guitar on display with an owner's note granting permission to accept requests for song performances, asks for the culprit to play a song, so the culprit, being no good with a guitar, breaks a plate and gets their own finger cut on purpose while trying to make it look accidental in order to avoid having to play, only to get some fingers burned while trying to get bread out of the oven due to not being the one to have started the baking process in the first place. Even after all of the efforts in trying to hide the evidence, Kindaichi still ends up Spotting the Thread quickly, which gets the culprit busted soon, and the culprit's last-ditch attempt of escape by running out of the restaurant is quickly met with being caught, body-slammed to the ground, and handcuffed by Kenmochi.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Realizing the roast ribs that he had consumed was used to bludgeon the victim to death and, therefore, likely contaminated with the victim's blood results in Kenmochi retching at the nearby sink with his back to the readers.
- Internal Reveal: Downplayed. The readers are clued in on the culprit's murderer status due to the culprit's inner thoughts being disclosed in plain text. Kindaichi himself actually suspects the culprit soon after the case arc starts, but he keeps quiet and plays along because he's hungry, waiting until it's almost time to pay for the food to start The Summation. Kenmochi, meanwhile, is entirely unaware of the things that cause Kindaichi to suspect something is amiss until Kindaichi informs him.
- Nobody Poops: Subverted in this case arc, as Kindaichi asks to use the toilet and requests for toilet paper. This ends up being among the clues that help to build up his argument when it's time for The Summation.
- No Name Given: Neither the culprit nor the victim is named in this case arc.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Late in The Summation, the culprit opts to get out of the restaurant, but Kenmochi catches him and gets him handcuffed before he can escape.
