Aibou TV Season 4 Episode 3 - A Bride in a Black Dress(黒衣の花嫁)

Subtitle: A Bride in a Black Dress(黒衣の花嫁)

 What was supposed to be happiest day for Motoaki Ebihara(海老原 元章), Constable Serizawa's college friend, turns out to be his worst when he is found dead on his wedding day. Motoaki apparently walked into his house as it was being robbed, and as a result, he was knocked out and stabbed to death. Unfortunately for Motoaki, he just moved into this new house, and the security system was to be activated next month. Constable Serizawa, left out of the investigation, works with the Tokumeigakari to track down his friend's killer. Unresolved issued with Motoaki's former girlfriend and a dark past between the future couple's families turn up during the investigation. Who killed the groom and why?

Other Notes

Constable Serizawa hadn't seen everyone since the seminar training camp eight years ago. He had high fever and was the only one who was resting most of the time during the camp.

Motoaki's bachelor party started around 7 PM. Everyone drank, told tales about the past, and took pictures. Motoaki left the store around 10 PM to get ready for the wedding next day. Taichi Furui(古井 太一) and Hajime Uji 'ie(氏家 肇) accompanied Motoaki outside to see him off. According to them, they saw Motoaki catch a cab and ride back home. Everyone else stayed and drank until 2 AM when the party ended.

Later, Inspector Ukyō asks the constable to gather his friends together at the same store they held Motoaki's bachelor party.

Characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Motoaki Ebihara(海老原 元章) - The groom-to-be who was murdered the day before his wedding. He apparently had something very important he wanted to tell Mizuki before they got married, but he sent an email to her shortly before the meeting to tell her that he will discuss the matter with her another day. He was killed soon afterwards. He had already told Mizuki numerous secrets about his past, including his past relationships with other women. The final email he sent had the word "wedding" typed out using a slightly different set of characters :"ウエディング" than the characters he normally used: "ウェディング".

He was the young president of a second generation precision machinery maker. His company Tekuno Seiki(テクノ精機) had been in the black for the last few years.

Mizuki Tsushima(津島 瑞希) - Motoaki's bride-to-be. Her father ran a factory that went out of business after Tekuno Seiki(テクノ精機), an important customer, stopped placing orders. Her father committed suicide shortly afterwards. Motoaki's father, who was Tekuno Seiki's president at the time, was the person who came up with and went through with the plan to cut off its subcontractors, including Mizuki's father's factory. She decided to marry Motoaki even though she knew all this.

Harumi Asaba(浅葉 ハルミ) - Motoaki's former girlfriend for eight years including their college years. Even though she and Motoaki had made a promise to get married, Motoaki left her when he came to believe that she was only after his background and not him as a person. She came in wailing during Motoaki's funeral and slapped Mizuki on the cheeks, blaming her for Motoaki's death.

She is a web designer and claims to have been working on a project for her company at her home when Motoaki was killed. She recently worked on a home page for a bakery selling cakes.

She also reveals that Motoaki tried to commit suicide during the summer of his senior year in college, around the time they all attended the seminar training camp. After the camp, Motoaki started to act strangely, including fooling around with multiple girls. He never explained why he tried to commit suicide.

Tetsuya Nobuchika(信近 哲也) - He was a member of the college seminar. Today, he is a city council member(市議会議員 shigikai giin) of Sachiura City(幸浦市 Sachiura-shi). He was Motoaki's most trusted friend who helped Motoaki when Motoaki had a drinking problem. He coordinated Motoaki's wedding.

Atsu Tamura(田村 厚) - He was a member of the college seminar. lawyer. After the seminar, he couldn't concentrate on his studies for some reason and failed the bar exam that everyone thought he was going to breeze through. He writes "wedding" as "ウエディング.

Taichi Furui(古井 太一) - He was a member of the college seminar. He accompanied Motoaki to the parking lot after his bachelor's party.

Hajime Uji 'ie(氏家 肇) - He was a member of the college seminar. He accompanied Motoaki to the parking lot after his bachelor's party.

Kōji Sakanoue(坂之上 浩二) - He was a member of the college seminar.

Ōhiko Yokoyama(横山 欧彦) - He was a member of the college seminar.

Obuchi(小渕) - He was a fisherman who passed by the seminar members (excluding Constable Serizawa) on the fateful summer camping trip 8 years ago.