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准教授・高槻彰良の推察 #5
Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture (Light Novel), Vol. 5
During the summer of his second year of university, to find out the truth behind his uncanny ability to detect lies and the “Festival of the Dead,” Naoya decides to head out towards the old village of Koyama in Nagano with Takatsuki and Sasakura. It was a village he visited many times as a child, the village where his beloved grandparents lived. But now, it’s no better than a ghost town. Reconnecting with his cousin, Naoya then hears of the ominous saying his late grandmother whispered until the day she “Naoya was taken by the mountain gods.” Arriving at the village where, according to the rumors “the dead walk,” the group begins their investigation. But suddenly, Naoya and Takatsuki are once again invited back to that midnight festival where it all began…
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 21, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 29, 2025
Well I certainly wish I hadn’t read this the day I got it in the mail because now my wait for the next volume will be ever so long!
This volume was so so so good. The tension during the forest sequence was insane and I shed many a tear about Naoya and Akira’s experiences and the way Akira tried to give his life away. Thank god for Sae, she really is great and I hope we get to see more of her. That ending was crazy! I’m sad that this volume ended where it did but just grateful it didn’t end sooner, I would have died if it ended before the festival stuff was resolved.
The extra chapters at the end are always good and I enjoyed this one from Ruiko’s perspective as well. Now begins the long wait for volume six 😩
This volume was so so so good. The tension during the forest sequence was insane and I shed many a tear about Naoya and Akira’s experiences and the way Akira tried to give his life away. Thank god for Sae, she really is great and I hope we get to see more of her. That ending was crazy! I’m sad that this volume ended where it did but just grateful it didn’t end sooner, I would have died if it ended before the festival stuff was resolved.
The extra chapters at the end are always good and I enjoyed this one from Ruiko’s perspective as well. Now begins the long wait for volume six 😩
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2025
I didn't think anything could top that scene in volume two when Akira goes to Naoya's house to cook him dinner when he's sick. The gentle way the prose washed over me touched something deep inside that I didn't know even needed acknowledging. But this volume has, spectacularly, outdone that scene in more ways than one.
This volume starts with a bit of a lighter scenario in chapter one, with Akira and one of his first-years holding a 100-horror stories night, the kind where you blow out the candle with every story you tell until everyone's swallowed by the darkness and something supernatural is supposedly prone to happen. Of course, things go slightly awry and while eerie things do happen, Akira gets to the bottom of the mystery while the author drops some contemplative tidbits along the way. I think this is an interesting way to begin this volume in particular because it raises the question of to what extent our own fears give way to supernatural happenings rather than them existing on their own. Our fears create an "other," and that "other" becomes something to fear, a cycle that can expand endlessly. Is it because we believe these events are inexplicable that we link them to the supernatural, and does believing that hurt our understanding of how the world works? If it brings comfort and doesn't cause any harm, is it up to Akira or anyone to break another's illusion? As these questions are being softly raised in this first chapter, they linger in the background as the real meat of this volume starts in the second.
The crew arrives in Naoya's grandma's old town, which has been shrinking rapidly as time passes. The people are suspicious of others more than ever, but luckily Naoya has an in... until he accidentally reveals his abilities, and then things get super eerie. The author does a really great job of building the atmosphere in this chapter, you feel like anything could jump out at any moment and cause all sorts of mayhem. Climbing an isolated mountain, getting warned about snakes slithering about ancient rocks contained by a single rope, the sounds of drums from far away. It's fantastically unsettling.
And then... the scene I was referring to at the beginning. Naoya is lost in the darkness. He has followed the wrong hand in his haste and gotten stuck in a seemingly totally dark void of no escape. He panicking, keeps getting ransacked by all the hurtful memories of his past that were caused by that one night when he was ten and made that fateful decision and... it's exhausting. He wants to give up. He's tired of fighting this battle without end, tired of people misunderstanding him. Tired of this loneliness that encompasses him. He just wants to close his eyes and sleep. But... a seemingly nonsequitur scene from that first chapter comes to mind. After all the mayhem of the 100-horror stories, everyone had gone out to light sparklers, and Akira had playfully lit his own using Naoya's. That soft glow, the comfort of being surrounded by people relieved that they've survived a big scare, the camaraderie of being surrounded by people who accept you despite your flaws. That soft glow flickers in Naoya's mind, and he remembers. Akira is out there. Kenken, Nanba, and others are waiting for him. It hits him: He's not alone. He's not alone. And then he hears it, a voice in the distance. He desperately follows it, and there's Akira, lit up ethereally in a way that doesn't seem possible. He is Naoya's lighthouse out of the dark that had been slowly suffocating him for all these years. This is a simplified version of something so beautiful, it's hard to summarize.
There's more that happens of course. A huge bomb dropped at the end of the volume that has to do with Akira's own mystery that I can't wait to find out more about. But that scene in the forest... like all cases in this series, it's more than the climax of Naoya's mystery, though it is also that. It's about human connection, finding a light out of the dark, a way to continue living on despite the pain. The way these two things weave together so seamlessly is magnificent, and I don't think I can ever give due explanation to how warm this series truly is.
This volume starts with a bit of a lighter scenario in chapter one, with Akira and one of his first-years holding a 100-horror stories night, the kind where you blow out the candle with every story you tell until everyone's swallowed by the darkness and something supernatural is supposedly prone to happen. Of course, things go slightly awry and while eerie things do happen, Akira gets to the bottom of the mystery while the author drops some contemplative tidbits along the way. I think this is an interesting way to begin this volume in particular because it raises the question of to what extent our own fears give way to supernatural happenings rather than them existing on their own. Our fears create an "other," and that "other" becomes something to fear, a cycle that can expand endlessly. Is it because we believe these events are inexplicable that we link them to the supernatural, and does believing that hurt our understanding of how the world works? If it brings comfort and doesn't cause any harm, is it up to Akira or anyone to break another's illusion? As these questions are being softly raised in this first chapter, they linger in the background as the real meat of this volume starts in the second.
The crew arrives in Naoya's grandma's old town, which has been shrinking rapidly as time passes. The people are suspicious of others more than ever, but luckily Naoya has an in... until he accidentally reveals his abilities, and then things get super eerie. The author does a really great job of building the atmosphere in this chapter, you feel like anything could jump out at any moment and cause all sorts of mayhem. Climbing an isolated mountain, getting warned about snakes slithering about ancient rocks contained by a single rope, the sounds of drums from far away. It's fantastically unsettling.
And then... the scene I was referring to at the beginning. Naoya is lost in the darkness. He has followed the wrong hand in his haste and gotten stuck in a seemingly totally dark void of no escape. He panicking, keeps getting ransacked by all the hurtful memories of his past that were caused by that one night when he was ten and made that fateful decision and... it's exhausting. He wants to give up. He's tired of fighting this battle without end, tired of people misunderstanding him. Tired of this loneliness that encompasses him. He just wants to close his eyes and sleep. But... a seemingly nonsequitur scene from that first chapter comes to mind. After all the mayhem of the 100-horror stories, everyone had gone out to light sparklers, and Akira had playfully lit his own using Naoya's. That soft glow, the comfort of being surrounded by people relieved that they've survived a big scare, the camaraderie of being surrounded by people who accept you despite your flaws. That soft glow flickers in Naoya's mind, and he remembers. Akira is out there. Kenken, Nanba, and others are waiting for him. It hits him: He's not alone. He's not alone. And then he hears it, a voice in the distance. He desperately follows it, and there's Akira, lit up ethereally in a way that doesn't seem possible. He is Naoya's lighthouse out of the dark that had been slowly suffocating him for all these years. This is a simplified version of something so beautiful, it's hard to summarize.
There's more that happens of course. A huge bomb dropped at the end of the volume that has to do with Akira's own mystery that I can't wait to find out more about. But that scene in the forest... like all cases in this series, it's more than the climax of Naoya's mystery, though it is also that. It's about human connection, finding a light out of the dark, a way to continue living on despite the pain. The way these two things weave together so seamlessly is magnificent, and I don't think I can ever give due explanation to how warm this series truly is.
January 23, 2025
In this volume, we finally get to what we’ve been waiting for: Naoya returns to the village where he accidentally entered the festival of the dead and gained (or was cursed with) the ability to hear lies. It doesn’t go well.
It’s the summer break of Naoya’s second year at the Tokyo university. He has no plans, as he’s estranged from his family and doesn’t really have any friends that he’s aware of having. When Professor Takatsuki invites him to participate in the night of one hundred horrors arranged at the university premises, he agrees, even if he’s not particularly interested.
The event is held at night in candle light. Every participant tells a ghost story until a hundred of them has been told. At the end, something supernatural is supposed to happen—and it does. But to Naoya’s surprise, Professor Takatsuki isn’t showing his typical enthusiasm for the event, which has to mean it’s fake. The mystery part of the first story is about finding out who and why, which is easily solved and isn’t terribly exciting.
Then it’s time for Naoya, Takatsuki, and KenKen to travel to Nagano and the small village there where Naoya’s grandmother used to live. He is warned against going by his new acquaintance who has also attended the same festival and gained the ability to hear lies, and by Miss Sae, the mystery woman who may be a mermaid. But Naoya needs to find out the truth.
The villagers try to keep them away too, but no one tells them why. No one wants to talk about the festival either. But Professor Takatsuki is determined to learn everything. They join a similar festival at a village nearby, and on their way back at night, they finally find what they’re looking for. Everything seems mundane at first, until Naoya stumbles into the real festival of the dead, held in the realm of the dead, and accidentally pulls Takatsuki with him.
There they finally learn why everyone wants to keep them away. The mountain god collects the people who return to the festival and keeps them forever. And this time, the price for being let out is steeper than it was when Naoya was a child.
This was a good volume. The first part wasn’t terribly spooky, despite the topic, as the ghost stories weren’t recited to the reader, and it’s mostly about Naoya observing people. The second part was great. We meet Naoya’s cousin who tells stories about his childhood, and in the realm of the dead, Naoya goes over his life in flashes, and we learn that he was very unhappy and lonely as a child. It almost makes him give up, but he also remembers the good things and friends he’s made at the university, which gives him strength to fight free.
But he’s not the only one remembering his past. Takatsuki does too. He finally remembers parts of what happened to him when he was abducted. But in a cruel twist and an annoying cliffhanger, before he can tell what it was, the entity inside him makes him forget everything—including the adventure in the realm of the dead they just had. I hope he’ll get his memory back in the next volume. It would be too upsetting if he forgets the first real supernatural event he’s witnessed. I’ll definitely read on.
In the extra story, one of Takatsuki’s graduate students reflects on the professor and why she’s not in love with him even though all her girlfriends assume she must be. It’s a nice addition to the character profiles so far.
It’s the summer break of Naoya’s second year at the Tokyo university. He has no plans, as he’s estranged from his family and doesn’t really have any friends that he’s aware of having. When Professor Takatsuki invites him to participate in the night of one hundred horrors arranged at the university premises, he agrees, even if he’s not particularly interested.
The event is held at night in candle light. Every participant tells a ghost story until a hundred of them has been told. At the end, something supernatural is supposed to happen—and it does. But to Naoya’s surprise, Professor Takatsuki isn’t showing his typical enthusiasm for the event, which has to mean it’s fake. The mystery part of the first story is about finding out who and why, which is easily solved and isn’t terribly exciting.
Then it’s time for Naoya, Takatsuki, and KenKen to travel to Nagano and the small village there where Naoya’s grandmother used to live. He is warned against going by his new acquaintance who has also attended the same festival and gained the ability to hear lies, and by Miss Sae, the mystery woman who may be a mermaid. But Naoya needs to find out the truth.
The villagers try to keep them away too, but no one tells them why. No one wants to talk about the festival either. But Professor Takatsuki is determined to learn everything. They join a similar festival at a village nearby, and on their way back at night, they finally find what they’re looking for. Everything seems mundane at first, until Naoya stumbles into the real festival of the dead, held in the realm of the dead, and accidentally pulls Takatsuki with him.
There they finally learn why everyone wants to keep them away. The mountain god collects the people who return to the festival and keeps them forever. And this time, the price for being let out is steeper than it was when Naoya was a child.
This was a good volume. The first part wasn’t terribly spooky, despite the topic, as the ghost stories weren’t recited to the reader, and it’s mostly about Naoya observing people. The second part was great. We meet Naoya’s cousin who tells stories about his childhood, and in the realm of the dead, Naoya goes over his life in flashes, and we learn that he was very unhappy and lonely as a child. It almost makes him give up, but he also remembers the good things and friends he’s made at the university, which gives him strength to fight free.
But he’s not the only one remembering his past. Takatsuki does too. He finally remembers parts of what happened to him when he was abducted. But in a cruel twist and an annoying cliffhanger, before he can tell what it was, the entity inside him makes him forget everything—including the adventure in the realm of the dead they just had. I hope he’ll get his memory back in the next volume. It would be too upsetting if he forgets the first real supernatural event he’s witnessed. I’ll definitely read on.
In the extra story, one of Takatsuki’s graduate students reflects on the professor and why she’s not in love with him even though all her girlfriends assume she must be. It’s a nice addition to the character profiles so far.
February 10, 2025
This series is just so entertaining, the paranormal aspects are always so unique and well-crafted and the found family angle just gets stronger each volume. Naoya realizing that not only is he not alone but he has multiple people pulling him towards warmth and light and home was so rewarding! I continue to love every time Sasakura shows up on the page, and his and Akira's friendship. Takatsuki continues to be ridiculously charming and now with yet more mystery surrounding him and memory loss? I am into it. I also love Sae, even if she is a bit of a deus ex machina.... these boys freaking need that negl.
January 16, 2022
It feels like the climax is almost there. I love Sae. She’s a good character.
February 7, 2025
Oh wow, another page-turner that I finished in one day! This volume is truly fascinating as Naoya, Takatsuki, and Sasakura finally go to the hometown of Naoya's grandparents, where he once attended a festival for the dead and ended up with his disturbing ability to perceive lies. The first story is also exciting on its own right, based on a favourite summer activity of telling 100 ghost stories in Japan, another of "is it really a supernatural phenomenon or not?" like other Takatsuki stories before it. But the second story is really where it gets serious and scary: a dying village, an old, mysterious tradition held to appease the dead, and... is it really the dead, though? Is it really like what Takatsuki has been hoping to encounter: a truly supernatural phenomenon? I read it all with bated breath, and the cliffhanger really made me unable to patiently wait for the next volume!
January 30, 2025
Yay! We finally get actual supernatural happenings in this volume. Also...the mystery of Takatsuki deepens.
May 12, 2025
As always a great continuation of the series. I really enjoyed getting answers finally for Naoya's past. It was also interesting this time for the book to be mostly one story instead of a few cases. We had the initial incident at the beginning of the book but the rest was about uncovering the truth about Naoya's powers. I hada great time with this story but I'm even more excited for the next book after that grand finale. What a great cliffhanger to leave us on.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews