Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture, Vol. 3 (light novel‪)‬

Delightful and spooky

This light novel series of paranormal cozy mysteries is set in contemporary Japan. It follows Naoya Fukamachi, a first-year student at Seiwa University in Tokyo, and an associate professor of folklore, Akira Takatsuki, who specialises in urban legends and ghost stories. Naoya helps the professor to explore all sorts of paranormal incidents, all of which have had very mundane explanations so far, much to the excitable professor’s disappointment.

As the subtitle tells, the third volume is about curses. Naoya’s classmate believes he’s been cursed because he didn’t forward a chain letter, so Naoya brings him to the professor who solves it in a very Takatsuki manner. Then the pair investigates a ghost story at a nearby library. The ghost leaves ciphers in books and whoever finds them is cursed if they fail to solve them. That turned out to have a lovely and sad explanation.

Third mystery takes Naoya, Takatsuki and his detective friend Kenji ‘KenKen’ Sasakura out of Tokyo to a remote mountain village. They’re supposed to be on a winter break, but Takatsuki has heard of a cave with a demon buried in it and wants to see it for himself. When they find bones that belong to a human, they suddenly have a mystery to solve. That too, turned out to be very sad.

The volume ends with a lovely bonus story from KenKen’s point of view, where he remembers how he and Akira first met when they were six and formed a friendship that’s lasted thirty years. It has a spooky ghost story too, that might shed light to why Akira is special—if only KenKen would reveal it to him.

In addition to mysteries, we learn more about Takatsuki. He hides a personal tragedy behind constant smiles and taking delight in all the small things, like hot chocolate with marshmallows. But the glimpses behind the scenes make the reader want to give him a tight hug and never let go. There is something dark in him too, which Naoya discovers to his horror, though it’s unclear yet if Takatsuki himself knows about it. Since Naoya and KenKen are determined to protect him at all costs, mostly from himself, neither of them will likely tell him.

Naoya, the point of view character, is more involved this time round instead of a mere observer that remains a bit distant. He realises that his time at the university has changed him, and that he might have made friends even. He’s not willing to admit it though, as all friends he makes usually leave him when they learn that he can hear their lies. He tells a few fibs himself, much to his distress. But best of all, he realises he’s become friends with Takatsuki beyond a mere student-professor relationship. Those looking for a romance will be disappointed though—unless the last line in KenKen’s story hints at that.

As always, I read this too fast and now have to wait for the next volume. Luckily there are several volumes to be translated still. I’m looking forward to reading them all.