Hen na E - Vol. 3 Ch. 12 - Mountain Hike in Memoriam

[MangaDex]

 

[Tsama0]

Some notes for this upload:

• That's that for vol 3. Finally caught up to the latest release, so I have no idea what's coming next.
• As an added bonus (honestly, it's not exactly an exciting read), I've translated Ren's blog. Since it's not part of the manga, I dumped the translation on this site: https://tsama0.wixsite.com/translations/rennanashino. If I missed any entries, I apologize, there were a LOT of entries to click through and translate and it was hard to keep track of it all. A few sentences that are in the manga are missing in the blog and vice versa, but otherwise seems to be identical. It does give a few additional details:
  • Takeshi was in his late 20s, Yuki was in her 30s at the time of her pregnancy
  • Takeshi was a manual laborer, perhaps in construction or road work since it seems he could see the streets from where he worked; Yuki was formerly an illustrator, but seemingly became a homemaker
  • Takeshi didn't think he was very intelligent, but was emotionally sensitive
  • Takeshi doesn't see himself as a "full-grown adult" despite his age (so, self-image issues)
  • Takeshi/Yuki didn't make a lot of money and lived in an apartment
  • Takeshi was obsessed with getting a driver's license
  • Takeshi didn't like summer vacations (and perhaps implied he wasn't allowed to play freely during childhood, and that he feared his father)
  • Yuki had heart problems, at least during pregnancy
  • There's likely more, but like I said, it's a long read and not exactly a page-turner
• But wait, there's more! In the near future (hopefully), I'll be translating another Uketsu manga called "Sana." Only around 20 pages, and seemingly it was released only on Kobo Japan. I've created an entry on Mangadex. But in order for readers to fully understand the context of the manga, I'll need to also translate the online story it's based on, called "Packages from an Unknown Sender" (if you're curious, you can view it here: https://omocoro.jp/kiji/362872/) I'll be releasing both at the same time, the manga on Mangadex, the original story on the Wix website. Dunno how long it'll take, there's quite a bit to translate.
• Still mulling over how all these stories are connected. I strongly suspect granny is connected to every murder/strange drawing so far, and even though there's no direct evidence of her being a murderer (stalker incident aside; I think that's more in the realm of self-defense), things seem to fall into place once you assume she is the murderer, or at least responsible for their deaths. So I'm rethinking my theory that she wasn't Yuki's murderer...
• Iwata started working just after he graduated high school (so around 18 years old), which makes Yuki around 20 years old in 1995. So then Yuki was 34-35 when she died, which means Takeshi was 28-29. That means granny (assuming she didn't give birth very young) was perhaps somewhere between 48-58 at the time of Yuki's death (so 54-64 during the stalker incident).
• As I mentioned in a previous chapter, it's very odd that Yuki looked so much like granny, and I doubt it's coincidental. I have a feeling granny was trying to replace Yuki's role as "mommy" after her death that she changed her hairstyle and used makeup to make herself look like Yuki. If so, I dunno how Takeshi felt about that. Or maybe granny and Yuki are related (please don't be another incest story...).

In any case, looking forward to the next Uketsu manga release, whenever and whatever that may be.

 

[Yukizakurasou]

I'm not entirely sure what the realization here is. Is it that Miura must have been making an alibi for one of the suspects and that's why the mountains were visible?

Anyways our wannabe reporter is out in the mountains all by himself and he didn't appear in the granny and Yuuta story so I'm guessing he gets offed when he confronts the killer :/

 

[fatto_catto]

I'm not entirely sure what the realization here is. Is it that Miura must have been making an alibi for one of the suspects and that's why the mountains were visible?

Anyways our wannabe reporter is out in the mountains all by himself and he didn't appear in the granny and Yuuta story so I'm guessing he gets offed when he confronts the killer :/

If the mountains are dark cause the sun is setting behind them, then to see them fully illuminated means the sun was on the opposite side, ie. it was dawn of the next day, and they got the possible time of attack wrong.

 

[Zreth]

I'm not entirely sure what the realization here is. Is it that Miura must have been making an alibi for one of the suspects and that's why the mountains were visible?

Anyways our wannabe reporter is out in the mountains all by himself and he didn't appear in the granny and Yuuta story so I'm guessing he gets offed when he confronts the killer :/

Basically, it shows that the killer was actively trying to spoof the time of death making it possible for some people who do have alibi's to be possible suspects.

 

[Yukizakurasou]

Basically, it shows that the killer was actively trying to spoof the time of death making it possible for some people who do have alibi's to be possible suspects.

I feel like this chapter makes me pretty confident that Miura definitely drew the picture, whether it was because his hands were tied, I'm not sure.

If the mountains are dark cause the sun is setting behind them, then to see them fully illuminated means the sun was on the opposite side, ie. it was dawn of the next day, and they got the possible time of attack wrong.

Oh, that makes sense. Then that means that the bun and sandwich weren't missing and he ate them during the night, before dying (and getting force fed?) at ~6:30? <logic error on my part oops Presumably that only leaves the wife as the killer if Kameido and Toyokawa made it to school/work on time (unless she has to take her son to school, then there's a third party?)

 

[Zreth]

I feel like this chapter makes me pretty confident that Miura definitely drew the picture, whether it was because his hands were tied, I'm not sure.

Oh, that makes sense. Then that means that the bun and sandwich weren't missing and he ate them during the night, before dying (and getting force fed?) at ~6:30? Presumably that only leaves the wife as the killer if Kameido and Toyokawa made it to school/work on time (unless she has to take her son to school, then there's a third party?)

Yes, Miura drew the picture and the killer was trying to spoof his time of death to make a alibi for themself. The picture is proof that he died at a later time then they believe he died.

 

[alfirizkyr]

The panel where Toyokawa got his job at a design firm says Miura instead, I think that one was a mistake.

Otherwise, thanks for the chapter and the additional note!

 

[Tsama0]

The panel where Toyokawa got his job at a design firm says Miura instead, I think that one was a mistake.

Otherwise, thanks for the chapter and the additional note!

Ah, you're correct, whoops! Correction uploaded, thank you for catching that.

 

[ramfall]

From my understanding.
He wasn't killed at 5 pm, but rather in the mornning, since the mountains were visible.
They found the bento in his stomach, so I guess He didn't eat it on 4th station, he might have eaten the sandwich at 4th station, and the bento before going to sleep or in the morning, so that's why they didn't find the sandiwch (propably in the morning, looking at previous chapter they said that it takes up to 3 hours to digest a meal).
It was his collegue (potential murder) who said that he ate the bento on 4th station, so He probably lied since he know they would find it in his stomach.
The sleeping bag could be also taken taken by him.

Looking again at the previous chapter, that guy has na alibi since around 7 in the morning he was was seen, wife also was seen in the morning, so maybe it was that student girl, since she only had alibi for previous day.

 

[77BLc9JwJGpLVARkamJx]

So mountain range in the drawing should be different due to the light. inb4 the art girl went yandere and killed him, and now stalking her dead teacher kid because they look the same

 

[aaaaa8]

Thanks for the translation and all the TL notes and stuff
Is the kiddo Takeshi, I wonder? He seems too young but idk

 

[Tsama0]

Gonna put on my Kurihara specs and write down a theory I've been building the past few weeks.

I said above that I suspect granny is connected to every picture/murder in this story, and here's my thinking.

I still believe she's A-ko, and therefore murdered her mother, although another reader pointed out the psychologist looks around the same age as granny, which is giving me pause for thought. Makes me wonder if the psychologist is a makeup wizard, too.

As for Miura's murder, I believe the time of death was somewhat spoiled by chapter 9, it shows that he was still alive when it was dark out, so the supposed 5:00 pm time for the murder seems wrong. As another reader pointed out, his drawing seems to indicate he was alive when it was bright again, sometime early morning before he was discovered. Whatever the case, the time of death is now uncertain. Now Toyokawa and Miura's wife had alibis for early the next morning after the hike, so it seems unlikely they were the murderers (if they were, the murder would have to be around 3-4 am, too dark for Miura's drawing). But another reader had a theory that kind of appeals to me, which is that Yuki was an accomplice. Now I don't see any evidence or motive for this, but a few things do fall into place if this is true. Yuki and Miura's wife perhaps worked together to tie up Miura, the wife leaves the mountain, leaving Yuki to do the murdering, and so the wife has an alibi for the next morning (and Yuki seemingly doesn't).

As for Toyokawa, it seems suspicious that he disappeared from the trail the day of the hike, so it seems pretty plausible he was stalking Miura, too. Makes me wonder if maybe all three suspects were working together, and therefore all three of them now have dirt on each other. Toyokawa took advantage of this by making moves on the wife, she was unable to do much about it because he now had dirt on her. Makes me wonder what he's doing during the stalker incident, or if he's even still alive.

As for Yuki, I don't really know what motive she could possibly have to be a part of the murder. But the way she hangs around the surviving Miura family seems to show that Yuki and Miura's wife had some sort of prior relationship (again, please don't be an incest story...), or maybe she was forced into this situation in some way. Years later, Yuki marries Mr. Miura's son, who I strongly believe is Takeshi (and therefore Miura's wife is granny). For one thing (and another reader already pointed this out), granny's and Takeshi's ages more or less matches Miura's wife and son (actually, the son MIGHT look a bit too young...). If my estimation's correct, granny would be 31-41 at the time of Miura's murder, and Takeshi would be 11-12. Another reason is, in his blog, Takeshi implied he wasn't allowed to play freely when he was little, and perhaps had some sort of fear of father figures, which does match what was revealed in chapter 9 during the interview with Miura's wife.

Perhaps Yuki felt guilt over being an accomplice, or maybe she and granny had a falling out, and granny feared that Yuki would rat her out. To silence her, granny planned to murder Yuki. Yuki, sensing that something was happening, made the future prediction drawings to tell Takeshi what was happening, but couldn't directly tell him what happened, because if she did, she would reveal that she was an accomplice (otherwise how would she know granny's the murderer of his father?). Now I had a hard time understanding how granny could have killed her during childbirth, but after reading the blog a few times, I wonder if it has something to do with the vitamin supplements. Yuki's heart palpitations seemed to have started after she started taking supplements. Since granny was the "third person" living with Takeshi and Yuki (or so I believe), maybe granny replaced or added something into the supplements and was counting on the strain of childbirth to give her some sort of heart attack. I only think this because Yuki's heart problem to me is a pretty conspicuous detail in the blog.

Meanwhile, Kumai survived his cancer (it's been 20 years, so presumably he got treatment), but maybe it came back and, figuring he had nothing to lose as a dying man, started to stalk granny to go after the one case he couldn't solve - instead, gets stabbed.

That's my current theory, but there are some holes. There's not much evidence to some of the stuff I said, I don't see any motive for why Yuki would be involved in her crush's murder (like I said before, perhaps she was forced to do so?), and inducing a heart attack to kill someone during childbirth seems to be a shot in the dark at best. Plus, unlike my previous theory, it doesn't explain why the hospital would give such terrible advice to Yuki regarding her breech baby. The only real reason I'm going with this is because granny seems to be involved in every major incident, and she seems to be what's tying all the stories together.

 

[Tonigi]

Thanks for the chapter.

For granny murder Yuki. I think granny may have more or less with some medic things, when she make a call to cemetery on chapter 7 page 34, she's scrolling her mobile phone and there are the contact list of pediatric and orthopedic clinics. At the time of Yuki pregnant she may worked or knew someone in those clinics.

For the mountain picture. I think, If Miura write/draw some dying message and the murderer noticed it and he/she then draw over it to make it look like mountain drawing to hide that message, they leave it at the corpse because it's a reciept, that contains the list of meal Miura bought.

 

[Babymech2]

Zooming in on the business card makes me think this is gonna be another kanji mystery

 

[Setsura]

Zooming in on the business card makes me think this is gonna be another kanji mystery

The business card is simply to tell the readers that Ms. Kameido is really Yuki, Takeh's wife from the 1st and 2nd case.

Gonna put on my Kurihara specs and write down a theory I've been building the past few weeks.

I said above that I suspect granny is connected to every picture/murder in this story, and here's my thinking.

I still believe she's A-ko, and therefore murdered her mother, although another reader pointed out the psychologist looks around the same age as granny, which is giving me pause for thought. Makes me wonder if the psychologist is a makeup wizard, too.

As for Miura's murder, I believe the time of death was somewhat spoiled by chapter 9, it shows that he was still alive when it was dark out, so the supposed 5:00 pm time for the murder seems wrong. As another reader pointed out, his drawing seems to indicate he was alive when it was bright again, sometime early morning before he was discovered. Whatever the case, the time of death is now uncertain. Now Toyokawa and Miura's wife had alibis for early the next morning after the hike, so it seems unlikely they were the murderers (if they were, the murder would have to be around 3-4 am, too dark for Miura's drawing). But another reader had a theory that kind of appeals to me, which is that Yuki was an accomplice. Now I don't see any evidence or motive for this, but a few things do fall into place if this is true. Yuki and Miura's wife perhaps worked together to tie up Miura, the wife leaves the mountain, leaving Yuki to do the murdering, and so the wife has an alibi for the next morning (and Yuki seemingly doesn't).

As for Toyokawa, it seems suspicious that he disappeared from the trail the day of the hike, so it seems pretty plausible he was stalking Miura, too. Makes me wonder if maybe all three suspects were working together, and therefore all three of them now have dirt on each other. Toyokawa took advantage of this by making moves on the wife, she was unable to do much about it because he now had dirt on her. Makes me wonder what he's doing during the stalker incident, or if he's even still alive.

As for Yuki, I don't really know what motive she could possibly have to be a part of the murder. But the way she hangs around the surviving Miura family seems to show that Yuki and Miura's wife had some sort of prior relationship (again, please don't be an incest story...), or maybe she was forced into this situation in some way. Years later, Yuki marries Mr. Miura's son, who I strongly believe is Takeshi (and therefore Miura's wife is granny). For one thing (and another reader already pointed this out), granny's and Takeshi's ages more or less matches Miura's wife and son (actually, the son MIGHT look a bit too young...). If my estimation's correct, granny would be 31-41 at the time of Miura's murder, and Takeshi would be 11-12. Another reason is, in his blog, Takeshi implied he wasn't allowed to play freely when he was little, and perhaps had some sort of fear of father figures, which does match what was revealed in chapter 9 during the interview with Miura's wife.

Perhaps Yuki felt guilt over being an accomplice, or maybe she and granny had a falling out, and granny feared that Yuki would rat her out. To silence her, granny planned to murder Yuki. Yuki, sensing that something was happening, made the future prediction drawings to tell Takeshi what was happening, but couldn't directly tell him what happened, because if she did, she would reveal that she was an accomplice (otherwise how would she know granny's the murderer of his father?). Now I had a hard time understanding how granny could have killed her during childbirth, but after reading the blog a few times, I wonder if it has something to do with the vitamin supplements. Yuki's heart palpitations seemed to have started after she started taking supplements. Since granny was the "third person" living with Takeshi and Yuki (or so I believe), maybe granny replaced or added something into the supplements and was counting on the strain of childbirth to give her some sort of heart attack. I only think this because Yuki's heart problem to me is a pretty conspicuous detail in the blog.

Meanwhile, Kumai survived his cancer (it's been 20 years, so presumably he got treatment), but maybe it came back and, figuring he had nothing to lose as a dying man, started to stalk granny to go after the one case he couldn't solve - instead, gets stabbed.

That's my current theory, but there are some holes. There's not much evidence to some of the stuff I said, I don't see any motive for why Yuki would be involved in her crush's murder (like I said before, perhaps she was forced to do so?), and inducing a heart attack to kill someone during childbirth seems to be a shot in the dark at best. Plus, unlike my previous theory, it doesn't explain why the hospital would give such terrible advice to Yuki regarding her breech baby. The only real reason I'm going with this is because granny seems to be involved in every major incident, and she seems to be what's tying all the stories together.

My current theory is that all three work together to kill Miura yeah, and now that Toyokawa is a nuisance, Yuki and the granny are trying to pin the murder on Toyokawa somehow while getting off scott free. The fact Toyokawa and Iwata aren't in the future pretty much imply that both of them were killed, probably even arranged to be mutual kill by the granny and Yuki.

If Toyokawa is an accomplice as well, that pretty much explains the faked time of death. Reading back, it is Toyokawa's testimony that says Miura ate the bento for lunch at the 4th waystation. If this testimony is a lie, then the time of death is practically anywhere after 5 pm and the time of discovery. And given this chapter established Miura couldn't have died until sunrise, that narrowed the time of death even more. Given Toyokawa and the granny had an alibi for the morning, chances are high it was Yuki that committed the direct murder though we still have no idea what would even be the motive at this point. Though if she is A-ko it might simply be impulse on what she saw as abusive parent (given A-ko killed her mother). Granny also had abusive childhood and might have joined the crime to eliminate what she saw as abusive husband.

There is a possibility that Miura was mauled and then left to bleed to death, and he drew the grid drawing with his dying breath, but given the extent of his injury, it is probably impossible to be able to draw something that complicated in that kind of situation while bleeding to death. But just like usual Uketsu, at this point the motive is far more interesting than the murder method. The culprit is nearly obvious (I am happy that at least it isn't a sudden 3rd party), so I am more focused on the why rather than the how.

 

[Babymech2]

The business card is simply to tell the readers that Ms. Kameido is really Yuki, Takeh's wife from the 1st and 2nd case.

Fair - to me, every kanji is a kanji mystery

 

[EchoGirl]

“All the benches are taken “ I mean I see one empty one unless the kids running off but up from that bench and he still saw it as claimed

Thanks for the update