Mitsuda Madoy's Mystery Translations

  Released in 2019, The Time Traveler's Hourglass was the winner of the 29th annual Tetsuya Ayukawa Award and instantly labeled its author as a name to know in mystery fiction. It is the first book in the Ryuuzen Clan series. In 1960, the Ryuuzen Clan was thought annihilated, the family vacation home buried under tons of earth following a landslide. But even more unnervingly, forensic analysis of the recovered bodies confirmed that even before the rocks fell, the family had already been the subject of a massacre. A surviving heir was found, but as though the family were under a curse, she and her descendants continued to die at young ages. The once prestigious family has now been reduced to one member: Kamo Rena, who herself lies in a hospital bed, days left to live. Her husband, Kamo Touma, was once just another of the endless parade of sleazy tabloid journalists looking to exploit a prominent family's misfortune to sell magazines. Unlike most of his ilk, however, Kamo found...

A boy in about sixth grade was sitting on a bench at a bus stop. He looked kind and level-headed, but there was a sadness in his eyes that didn't belong on a boy his age. None of the adults walking past payed him any attention. “...Have you ever heard of the Hourglass of Miracles?” When the boy looked up in surprise, he saw a man in black-rimmed glasses standing in front of him. The boy did know the urban legend. He'd heard it talked about in school. But right now, fear was overriding all of that and he tried to run away. However, he stopped when he saw what the man had taken out of his breast pocket. On the end of a silver chain was an hourglass full of white sand. The man continued as though they were talking in private. “Just between you and me, this is that hourglass. I've already gotten a miracle, so you can have it.” The man forced the hourglass into the boy's hand. “Why me...?” As the boy stammered in confusion, the man, who had been leaving, turned back with a g...

When he opened his eyes, he saw a familiar sight. Stone walls and weeping cherry blossoms... the wards of H. Medical Center were visible beyond the parking lot. “...I'm back.” “I set our destination to 1:20 P.M. on May 19th, 2018, but judging by the position of the sun, it appears to be after 3:00.” Hearing Hora's report, Kamo couldn't hold back a laugh. “I don't care about an error that small... Man, it's cold.” He took off his jacket, which was still wet from the rain, and rubbed his arms with his hands. It seemed that when he time traveled, he brought with him the raindrops and chunks of the ground under his feet, so for 1.5 meters around him, the ground was wet, and cut grass and dirt were scattered around. Kamo had burned D. Cassiopeia. The hourglass was instantly engulfed in orange flames and eventually shattered. Amamiya stared at them with the face of a living corpse. Then he seemed to lose all will to resist, got up, and left the trailer, walking in the dir...

They heard the chaka-chaka noise from somewhere. It was Ayaka's pocket watch. It seemed it was about to run down. Kamo took it from his pocket and opened the lid. “It's been a bit under eleven and a half hours since we time traveled in the camping trailer, which means... D. Cassiopeia will remain powerless for about thirty more minutes.” Amamiya looked shocked, but quickly bit it down. “Come to think of it, the last time Ayaka wound her watch was soon after we first entered the trailer, right? That was just before I went back out and D. Cassiopeia sent you all forward in time.” “After that, you tampered with the hands of this watch, so the time it shows now, 9:33, can't be trusted. However, we can still use the watch as a timer. After all, it was custom made to have the mainspring last exactly twelve hours.” Amamiya lifted his bound hands a bit so he could shrug. “So that's how you measured the twelve hours until her ability to move through space and time are restored? ...

“...This was all a trap, wasn't it?” Amamiya sounded utterly defeated. After a brief struggle, Kamo and Genji had pinned him to the floor. Other than a few bruises to Amamiya's face and the sacrifice of Kamo's glasses, no one was hurt. Without answering him, Kamo tied his hands. The rope he'd used to tie the trailer's door shut came in handy once again. After checking that the rope was secure, Kamo picked up his glasses where they'd fallen to the floor. The frame was bent and one lens was cracked. He gave up on them and placed them on the table. Amamiya seemed to realize there was no point in resisting and sat down on the bed. Ayaka, Tsukie, and even Genji, who only a moment ago had been called a murderer, stared at him with naked anger. Amamiya looked down at his bound wrists and just smiled. “I thought it was strange... Hora's usually such a loudmouth, but he's been silent ever since we entered the trailer.” “Oh, he was waiting in the lantern pretendin...

“...And when did that happen?” Kamo asked as he thought on Ayaka's claim. “I think it was right as we entered the trailer. At that time, there was one person outside the trailer, and the rest of us were inside.” Kamo began to search his memories. “If I recall correctly, Genji and Amamiya were the first to enter the trailer to check if it was safe, right? Then Genji stepped outside for a smoke. Right after he came back, Amamiya went out to retrieve the umbrellas... I think he was the last to go out.” Amamiya, who seemed to also remember, was suspicious. “But Mr. Genji was outside for five minutes, far longer than I was. I think I was outside for less than a minute.” “That's long enough.” Ayaka's words froze Amamiya with his mouth still half open. She explained. “Hora told us, right? Humans aren't the only things that can travel through time and space... With the human, there they can also move a cube with sides up to six meters.” As she said so, Ayaka spread her arms and...

As he waited in the trailer for everyone to arrive, Kamo glanced down at the green wine bottle. It was the same bottle he'd filled with tap water and brought with him last night. He checked that the cork was firmly in, then threw it in the drawer of a wardrobe in the back of the trailer. The rain had subsided a bit, but the sound of it tapping against the roof of the trailer was still quite annoying. He opened the pocket watch, which he was still borrowing, and checked the time. 7:45. It was awfully dark for that time of day in summer, but with the curtains open, they didn't need lights. When he looked out the window, he saw Ayaka and the others coming through the broken front entrance. He noticed how tense Ayaka's face was as she held her umbrella, but it was still clear they were all safe, so he sighed with relief. Kamo made sure the end of the pendant's chain was still in his breast pocket before going to open the trailer door. After arranging the food and drinks the...