Greetings everybody! It’s time once again to delve into the peculiar universe of the Shoushimin Series. Our intriguingly elusive characters are once more embarking on a curious journey to decipher the riddle surrounding Osanai’s swiped bicycle. With a lead pointing them to Sakagami, who is attending a motor training center at the town’s periphery, Jogoro firmly believes that a few strategic inferences can dissolve the enigma. However, unveiling this would involve reverting to his intrinsic self, deviating from his ongoing quest for ordinariness, a decision that’s shaping his association with Osanai. This leads us to an interesting topic, the noticeably razor-like genuine personas camouflaged under our protagonist’s docile appearances.
Jogoro’s outburst directed at Kengo gives us a surprising, though greatly anticipated insight into his apprehensions. He openly resents how his innate inquisitive nature and sharp intellect have only served to alienate him from his colleagues, as they detest being scrutinised and ‘resolved’ like subjects of a lab experiment. In a similar vein, Osanai too appears to be at odds with the uncertain, metaphysical ‘human component’, perceiving her fellow students’ interferences as a problem beyond solution, a liability that can only be compensated through vengeance.
Their purity and fervor seem incompatible with the trivial social dynamics of high school life. It’s evident that they’ve both perceived within their counterparts a mirror to their own brutally analytical selves. This harsh mutual understanding has galvanized their retreat into the hazy, vex-free quagmire of painstakingly planned ordinariness. Yet, their original selves peek through their masks with each progression they make. With even Kengo currently asserting that Jogoro has to accept who he truly is, their mimicry of normality seems to be at its nadir.
While Hyouka celebrated genuineness and relentless self-articulation, Shoushimin Series counter poses by questioning what would happen if the sincere personal identities we reveal would only invite disdain from the world. We come back to Jogoro engaging with Kengo in dissecting the case minutiae. Our attention is drawn to Jogoro repeating a central question to Kengo, making his intentions crystal clear by surmounting the boundaries of their previous discussion and inviting him to partake actively.
Jogoro continues to stress on the importance of discerning patterns in Sakagami’s motives as a prime move in the investigation, a foundation that can lead him to determine how things transpired. Jogoro is left pondering three main queries. He assembles the random percentages Kengo offered about Sakagami’s conduct, pushing Jogoro to deduce from Kengo’s own estimation that Sakagami is indeed dubious.
Kengo echoes a sentiment frequently projected towards Jogoro, ‘You’ve always been this way, such a pain.’ Jogoro takes the jab in stride, ‘For now, let’s just consider that a compliment.’ Kengo unwittingly demonstrates he shares the same pedestrian reactions as others to Jogoro’s conduct, but paradoxically, esteems Jogoro’s intellect more than his personal pride. Both grudgingly admit that the most plausible motive could be an attempt to raise money.
While pondering over the requirement for a discrete identity that’s still associated with a townsperson, Jogoro’s memories lead him to the burglary incident at Iokibe’s home. Jogoro proposes a potentially severe crime, the existence of an organized consortium regularly pilfering homes to enable identity fraud. Kengo is enlightened about Osanai’s impending transformation by Jogoro, who reveals that while she is content around sweets, previously she exhibited maximum joy in retributing injustices inflicted on her.
‘I’m not buying into this idea unless I witness it,’ Kengo expresses his frank incredulity, which provides a refreshing contrast to Jogoro’s far-fetched theories. Jogoro aptly employs the same deceptive strategy they theorized Sakagami used to flag down the vehicle from the motor training center. His concern lies not with the binaries of right and wrong, but with uncovering the absolute truth.
While sweeping across the motor school, they run into Osanai. Finally, they manage to solve the mystery with five students apprehended on the charges of fraud, leaving Sakagami with a criminal record, even though he seems to have been used merely as a gambit. ‘Considering a surrender? I’m infamous for my tenacity, that’s my nature. Your trait is probing, that’s you.’ ‘No point in calling it off now.’ Osanai reaffirms her commitment to normalcy.
Jogoro, meanwhile, is already intrigued by the wedding ring of her companion on the date. It’s becoming increasingly hard for them to escape their intrinsic selves. Consequently, our protagonists find themselves caught in a cycle of pledging for ordinary lives yet breaking the promise almost simultaneously, unable to resist the attraction of a fresh puzzle or the driving force of a new resentment.
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