Henshin Interviewer no Yuuutsu
変身インタビュアーの憂鬱, Henshin Intabyua no Yuutsu, The Melancholy of the Transformer Interviewer, Transformation Interviewer's Depression
Shirakawa Jiro is a genius author. At the age of 15, his novel for a magazine won the top prize. He has written 99 mystery novels as a trick genius since then. Shirakawa is tackling what would be his milestone 100th novel, but he has not been able to write anything and this has gone on for more than three months. Aonuma Kiryu is a genius interviewer who is able to get people to loosen their tongues. Taking pleasure in being an imposter, the unattractive Shirakawa has transformed into the handsome Aonuma. He does so in order to listen to what people say. While he has no interest in the truth, he seeks a real case which he had found through the internet as material for his 100th novel. It is the unsolved and sensational Tulip Murders which occurred during the summer of 1999. The grotesque abandoned corpses of two housewives were found with their skirts tied up around their necks by a homeless man. This was followed by yet another murder one year later. Together with the beautiful editor Kahiyama Rika, Shirakawa heads to the small town of Keshinohara where the cases occurred. As Aonuma, he interviews the people involved one by one and gets close to the hidden truth with his formidable powers of deduction. There is a miracle spring, a power healer; an affair, embezzlement, and cover up. What is happening in this hermetic town?