Aibou TV Season 4 Episode 6 - Murderous Heater(殺人ヒーター)

Subtitle: Murderous Heater(殺人ヒーター)

 An arsonist is responsible for a series of fires using electric heaters, three that turned out to be fatal. The Sōichi capture a suspect who set fire to buildings owned by companies that rejected his job application, but he only took responsibility for the first, the third, and the fifth arson cases. Inspector Ukyō notices that the same model of heater was used in all the fires that had fatalities. Is this a coincidence?

Characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Shōichi Uzuki(卯月 庄一) - President of Yotsuba Electric(ヨツバ電気). He recommended the o miai(お見合い), a marriage meeting to Kiriko Koyanatsu(小柳津 桐子).

Kenjirō Oki(沖 健次郎) - Manager of Yotsuba Electric(ヨツバ電気)'s productions. He is also the warehouse manager.

Yoshio Onda(恩田 義男) - Product inspection manager(検品課長 kenpin kachō) for Yotsuba Electric(ヨツバ電気), He was the manager of product design (設計部長 sekkei buchō) until last year but was demoted because of Kiriko Koyanatsu(小柳津 桐子). A washing machine he designed had a function called "Baikinburokku(バイキンブロック, Germs block)" which could clean the wash tub with a push of a button. Before the units shipped, it was discovered that the function wasn't working when the washing machine's timer was used. The defect could be solved by replacing the foundation of the machine, but Kiriko Koyanatsu(小柳津 桐子) insisted that the entire product be reevaluated in the light of the defect. The problem was that the inspection process would stop production. Since advertisements and business plans were already made, a full reevaluation meant billions of yen in losses. After she threatened to reveal the design defect to a trade newspaper, the full inspection was carried out. Yoshio was forced to take full responsibility for the company losses and was demoted.

Mr. Onda also designed the world's first rechargeable cordless heater which won many industry awards. It is powerful enough to heat an area the size of hachi-jō(八畳), an area covered by eight tatamis. That cordless heater, however, was the source of fire at the three arson cases where there were fatalities. In the first two of those cases, the heater was stored in a warehouse.

Kiriko Koyanatsu(小柳津 桐子) - She was a 42 year old single customer service employee and union president from Sapporo, Hokkaidō who died by suffocation in the fire at Yotsuba Electric(ヨツバ電気). A fire extinguisher was discovered close to her body, placed there as if she or someone expected a fire to start. She had stayed late at work recently and went home using the services of a different taxi company each night.

She nominated herself to become the union president. She became an active president who had a strong sense of justice. However, the company only wanted her to negotiate with employees, and her constant complaints about company products made many powerful enemies in the company. There even was an unflattering quote repeated often throughout the company: Koyanatsu wa yana yatsu(小柳津はやなやつ) - "Koyanatsu is an ass monkey." For some odd reason however, she recently agreed to and attended an o miai(お見合い), a marriage meeting suggested and arranged by President Shōichi Uzuki(卯月庄一).

Hitoshi Asano(浅野仁志) - Koyanatsu's kouhai at Yotsuba Electric(ヨツバ電気). He says he didn't visit Kiriko the night she died. He also tells the Tokumeigakari pair that Kirko planned to take the Prince Cab back home the night she died.

Shigeru Kawakami(河上茂) - Employee and union officer at Yotsuba Electric(ヨツバ電気). He says he didn't visit Kiriko the night she died.

Hideaki Kurokawa(黒川 英明) - Serial arsonist who torched companies that rejected his job applications. The Sōichi capture him when he breaks into MSS Kaikei jimusho(MSS会計事務所) one night to start a fire using an electric heater and paper there. Even though he got a perfect score on the written portion, the interview went badly. He admits his crimes, although he claims he was responsible only for the first, third, and the fifth arson cases. He graduated from an elite university and is a first class bookkeeper.

Timeline of the Cases

1st Case - 10/21 - Friday
Sōki Shuppan(創紀出版) - Sōki Publishing

2nd Case - 10/24 - Monday
Sofutoejji(ソフトエッジ) - Soft Edge
Deceased - Yumi Ishihara(石原由美)

3rd Case - 10/28 - Friday
Orenjikonpyūta(オレンジコンピュータ) - Orange computer (computer maker)

4th Case - 11/3 - Thursday
Yotsuya Bungu(四ツ谷文具) - Yotsuya Stationery
Deceased - Ōkawa?(大川?)

5th Case - 11/1 - Thursday
Yorozuya Shoten(萬屋書店)

6th Case

Yotsuba Electric(ヨツバ電気)
Deceased - Kiriko Koyanatsu(小柳津 桐子)

Taxi cab companies Kiriko Koyanatsu(小柳津 桐子) used

Castle Transportaion(キャッスル交通 Kyassuru kōtsū)

Gurīn musen(グリーン無線) - Green Radio

Hōwa takushī(宝和タクシー) - Howa taxi

KM Rain(KM ライン) - KM Line

Ōji kyabu(王子キャブ) - Prince Cab

Taxi Tickets recovered from Yotsuba Electric(ヨツバ電気)

Hiroshi Saitō(斉藤 弘志) - Taxi, Castle Transportaion(キャッスル交通 Kyassuru kōtsū), 24:10

Kazunori Hayashi(林 和則) - Taxi, Castle Transportaion(キャッスル交通 Kyassuru kōtsū), 25:08

Kiriko Koyanatsu(小柳津 桐子) - Castle Transportaion(キャッスル交通 Kyassuru kōtsū), 24:06