Pitch-Black Infatuation

Sasaki Agency Series #2

by Rokakoen, Cal Hampton (Translator)

Toshihiko is a cram school teacher and, by all accounts, a very handsome young man. But his life takes a sudden turn when a strange woman starts stalking him. Hoping to solve his problems, he seeks out the Sasaki Investigation Agency. Meanwhile, a bizarre urban legend starts making the rounds among the local elementary schoolers.

Genres: Horror, Light Novel, Supernatural

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 22, 2022

Reviews

[Emi · Rating 4 out of 5]

佐々木事務所シリーズ第2弾。このシリーズのカバーイラスト好きすぎる。集中力がないからちょこちょこ読みしがちなんだけど、このシリーズは読み出したら止まらなくて一気読みしちゃう。
前作もおもしろかったけど、私的には今作の方が更におもしろかった。登場人物キャラぶっ飛びがちでおもしろい。ホラー的な怖さもあった。最後がショック。次作も楽しみ。

[Lanie Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toshihiko is beautiful, almost supernaturally so, which leads to many uncomfortable situations with people. Men, women, and people who do not fit in those specific gender boxes simply do not know how to act around his beauty and that has lead to several unforunate stalking incidences. He is however, pretty laid back about it, he is aware of what his appearance does to people so when he gets a new stalker he doesn't think much of it, so far it's just been creepy letters and the feeling like someone is constantly watching him even if the letters are escalating at an alarming rate he doesn't believe it will turn physical. Until it does, after school one day while speaking with one of his students a woman appears out of nowhere and attacks his student, Toshihiko himself is hurt in the process and the student he had been speaking with quits attending classes. When he reports the attack to the police they can find no evidence that there was a woman at the scene at all, suspecting his stalker may be of supernatural originals he turns to the Saski Agency for help.

This definitely solidified Rokakoen as a new favorite author for me!

It is going to be ridiculously difficult to review this without having just a ton of spoilers, so I am keeping this one pretty vague though.

This story discusses several pretty hefty topics in terms of "pretty privilege" and how those who experience it respond to it both from a male and female perspective, how we view people who sit outside of gender "norms" in terms of appearance, and how guilt can turn into something very ugly, especially in terms of children who feel guilt for something they did or did not do to an abusive mother. It was an interesting choice for the second book featuring Rumi and Aoyama. Given what we know of Rumi's upbringing having to deal with an abusive mother would be difficult to say the least. Luckily, she has Aoyama who takes on the bulk of this case for her.

What made this really stick out though is when the stalker is finally revealed. It was definitely not who I thought it was would be and unlike the last one where I had zero sympathy for the bad guy I had so much sympathy for them. While I kinda wish they had seen a freaking therapist at some point in their lives what they had gone through at the hands of their mother who was supposed to love them unconditionally made it difficult to not be completely understanding.

Now, that all being said Mononobe is going to have a conversation with Aoyama and you'll want to really pay attention to what he says, because it's going to come back in the worst possible way at the end of the book.

[Tyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, Festival of Heresies was so fucked up, but no, it didn't stop me from wanting to read the next Sasaki Agency book, Pitch-Black Infatuation. Yes, it's still twisted, even though probably not as twisted as the first book, but still it made me think "Wtf are all these characters?!" It's not like disgust is all you'd feel towards these characters, though. I find Toshihiko, despite his weird hobby (at least that's what he calls it), an endearing character. I also love the way this book started as two mysteries that turned out to be connected. It's merciless to the final page though, sending a kick to Aoyama's gut (and mine) right when we'd think it's all over.

(A good book to be read during the Hallowe'en season, by the way. Oh, those grinding sounds!)

[Farid Hanif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book after Festival of Heresies straight up, it's actually kind of breeze? While Festival of Heresies show us the heretical twist of bible and body horror, this one more grounded and based on the kind of Lla Lorona and Mad Ballerina? Tho in the end the conclusion given to us is something similar to how Nishio Isin wrote Monogatari

[Hollow kiwi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Underwhelming, tbh. Whilst I did like the twist, I expected it to be a lot darker.