Review of Kagi no Kakatta Heya Ep 9

This episode focuses on the central theme of behavioural habits where Enomoto goes about his usual routine of explaining how behavioural habits can be manipulated by those who know it and that it is precisely what was being used by the culprit in this case. To a certain extent, most people wouldn't know their own habits until someone points it out to them. If one tries to change his or her habit consciously, it usually comes off as rather unnatural and becomes a conscious action rather than a habit.

Serizawa and Aoto are having lunch when she remarks that no matter how busy Serizawa is, he would always find time to sit down and have a proper meal. Serizawa states that this is the key to his ability to stay healthy and handle his heavy workload because irregular meals and a deviation from his routine would break his momentum. Just then, Enomoto calls Aoto and asks to speak to Serizawa who tries to call Enomoto affectionately by a nickname. Although Enomoto is stunned for a brief moment, he resumes his usual self and talks to Serizawa politely about a corporate deal he is about to introduce to him. Serizawa is worried that this might be another closed room case but Enomoto explains that it is a corporate case and asks them to meet his acquaintance today.

However, to Serizawa and Aoto's horror, they find that the trading company which Enomoto talked about doesn't seem to be like the usual offices they've been to. Amid the tight security features of multiple locks on the doors and iron bars as window grilles, it gives the impression that this company is involved in some shady business. Moreover, the employees in this company are all men who dress in men and speak loudly as if to intimidate those who are speaking to them on the phone so these signs make the two of them wonder if they are in a gang's office. Enomoto explains to them that this company is involved in the trading business and he had come to know the president of the company because it had hired Enomoto's company to set up a security system for the office. Serizawa tries to probe further whether this is a gang-related company but Enomoto is clueless about Serizawa's apprehension and doesn't provide the answer the latter is asking for.

One of the directors in this company Nonogaki arrives at the office and greets Enomoto in such a friendly manner that makes Serizawa wonder about Enomoto's relationship with the people in this company. Enomoto explains that he's been to this company a couple of times and this time, he's here to replace a temporary lock he fitted a few days ago. The truth is, the vice president of this company was found dead in his office but the murderer had not been found yet. As a result, the police are still suspecting one of the employees Hatta because he was the only one in the office with the vice president (although they were in different rooms and Hatta had been sleeping) at that time. However, as the police did not find anything incriminating yet, Hatta was released from police custody. When Hatta sees Serizawa and Enomoto, he tries to explain that he is innocent and describes what happened that night. However, he appears as if he has something important to say regarding what happened that night but is interrupted when Nonogaki calls him to enter his office.

Just then, Hatta's daughter Misa comes to the office in order to pass her father's wallet to him. She approaches Aoto and even asks for her namecard in case Hatta gets into trouble in future. Misa suddenly looks at Enomoto intently and remarks cheerfully that he looks very cute and is her ideal type. Aoto teases Enomoto for being popular with girls while he tries to hide how he feels by Misa's sudden confession.

At the same time, Togashi, the president of the company, asks Serizawa if he can assist in the legal affairs regarding a business tie-up with a foreign company. However, Serizawa is worried about being implicated in this shady company's affairs and tries to reject the deal. Unexpectedly, after asking a few questions about Serizawa's habits, Togashi remarks with a smiling face that he already has an idea about Serizawa's routine so he will be able to make the latter do his bidding. This makes Serizawa freak out and he hurriedly leaves the office with Enomoto and Aoto.

A few days later, it seems like any other day where Hatta is left alone in the office as a guard for the night while the rest knock off. Nonogaki is about to leave with his colleagues Sakaguchi and Inuyama when he asks them to head downstairs first and goes to tell Hatta something. When Nonogaki comes down to the car park, he asks for a cigarette from Inuyama even though he's supposed to be quitting smoking. Sakaguchi hurries Nonogaki to stop smoking since the latter has asked for a ride home as his car is under repair. While chatting, they hear a gunshot coming from above and immediately rush back to the office. However, Hatta does not respond despite their shouts and the key is inside the office. They have no choice but to ask Enomoto to come and break the lock. As soon as they get in, they see Hatta slumped on the sofa with a gun...

Misa goes to look for Aoto at the law firm and asks Serizawa to help with the investigation of her father's death. Although police had said that Hatta could have committed suicide after being implicated as a suspect in the vice president's death, Misa believes otherwise. Serizawa is reluctant to get involved with that trading company and asks Aoto to take over the case with Enomoto.

During the course of their investigation, Enomoto and Aoto start to realise that Nonogaki's actions and out-of-his-usual-routine actions on the night when Hatta died suggest that he is involved in both murders. At the same time, Serizawa is approached by Sakaguchi who also suspects something about Hatta's death and asks Serizawa to investigate something.

As the Kagi trio try to find out how Nonogaki could have succeeded in killing the vice president and Hatta despite not being at the crime scenes which were supposedly closed rooms, Nonogaki seems to have realised that they are getting closer to the truth and shows up at Enomoto's office nonchalantly with a thinly-veiled threat for them to stop probing around. Undeterred by his demands, Serizawa shows up and challenges Nonogaki to try stopping them if he can which makes the latter walk off in a huff. Although Serizawa appeared to be fearless in front of Nonogaki, he had been worried whether Nonogaki would resort to violence to make them do his bidding and his legs give way as soon as Nonogaki leaves.

When it's time to have a final showdown with Nonogaki, he is still adamant about his guilt and even pulls a gun to point at the Kagi trio and Sakaguchi. At this moment, Togashi appears and chides Nonogaki for doing all these just to save his skin and even killing Hatta who he had brought into the company. This makes Nonogaki come to his senses and he crumbles like a defeated man...

To be honest, this is one of those episodes where the culprit is too easy to guess and the only excitement left for the viewer is to guess how the culprit did it and not who did it. As such, I do feel a bit of disappointment because even before the 2nd murder took place, the telltale signs there were so obvious and hard to ignore. Luckily, there were still some funny moments e.g. when Serizawa and Aoto were trying to confirm with Enomoto if they were in a gang's office and how they tried to get the message across to the very dense Enomoto so it made this episode a bit more bearable. The final two episodes are actually linked and should reveal Enomoto's background at one go. I would have wanted things to get slowly heated up from the revelation where Enomoto was said to be a criminal in the police database but that fizzled out very quickly and the last few episodes did not capitalise on that subplot to build up anticipation for the final episode. I think that's a great pity though so I hope that the revelations in the last 2 episodes are worth the wait and that I won't feel like I'm taken on a ride to nowhere...again.