Aibou TV Season 5 Episode 9 - The Murderous Wine Cellar(殺人ワインセラー)

Subtitle: The Murderous Wine Cellar(殺人ワインセラー)

 Daizen Ishiba(石場 大善), the president of a money-lending company, is found dead from a blunt force trauma to the head, most likely caused a brick. Investigating the president's office, Inspector Ukyō realizes that President Ishiba was making personal loans at an illegal rate. The Inspector also notices that the president was making monthly visits to a restaurant called Rangue. How is Yuzuru Fujimaki(藤巻 譲), the owner of that restaurant, involved in this case?

Characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Yuzuru Fujimaki(藤巻 譲) - Famous wine critic and an excellent blind tasting expert. He owns a high class restaurant called Rangue(ランゲ), which the Inspector notices was built using red bricks. Just one shelf of wine in his restaurant's cellar has a value of 5 million yen(５千万円).

President Ishiba visited Rangue the night he died. Mr. Fujimaki recalls that he left the store shortly after Noriko Seki(関 紀子) left, and reached home around 1 AM. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Fujimaki drank some wine with his wife.

A long time ago, Mr. Fujimaki used to be a sommelier at a restaurant. One day, a group of famous wine critics and sommeliers visited the restaurant for a wine tasting session. The critics played a cruel trick on the young Mr. Fujimaki, telling him that he was drinking a glass of 1986 Romanée-Conti, a rare expensive wine, when in reality, there were serving him  vu~ōnu - romane(ヴォーヌ-ロマネ), a wine which was only worth 1/100 the value of the Romanée-Conti. Having lost confidence in his ability to recommend wine to customers, he quit his work as a sommelier shortly afterwards. He also felt that he couldn't properly study wine and hone his tasting skills if he were just serving wine. This lead him down the path to become a leading wine critic.

Impressed by Sergeant Kaoru's taste buds and Inspector Uykō's knowledge about wines, he invites them to a tasting session on Thursday 12/7 from 7 PM to 9:30 PM.

Tatsuko Fujimaki(藤巻 多津子) - Mr. Fujimaki's wife. She remembers that her husband did not use a decanter to pour the partnaire wine(パルトネール parutonēru) they drank the night President Ishiba died.

Hisashi Andō(安藤 久) - One of the wine critics who played the mean trick on Yuzuru years ago before Yuzuru went on to become a famous wine critic.  Inspector Ukyō brings him along to Mr. Fujimaki's tasting session at the end of the episode.

Daizen Ishiba(石場 大善) - Born 5/11/1962. President of Youth Finance(ユースファイナンス Yūsufainansu), a money-lending company. He used to eat out together with Yuzuru Fujimaki(藤巻 譲), but had recently stopped eating together since Fujimaki embarrassed him in public about his wine selection during a meal with raw oysters. Even after this falling out, he visited Mr. Fujimaki's restaurant Rangue(ランゲ) at least once a month.

He was killed between 12 AM and 2 AM from a blow to the back of his head with a red brick. Someone then moved his body to the top of a building and dropped him from there, leaving his shoes at the top of the building in an attempt to make his death appear to be a suicide. He had a scar on his left thumb that was made shortly before he died.

Tomomi Takanezawa(高根沢 ともみ) - President Ishiba's secretary. She nonchalantly tried to shred some documents while the Sōichi was there. Looking at the documents, Inspector Ukyō realized almost immediately that the document listed customers with their loans. The loans were illegal since he charged an interest of  20% to 30%.

She recalls that she went to eat with President Ishiba at a restaurant called Rangue(ランゲ) several times.

She later shows the Tokumeigakari pair that Yuzuru Fujimaki(藤巻 譲) tried to borrow money from the company but was declined for lack of collateral - Fujimaki's home an restaurant had already been used as collateral when he borrowed money from a bank. His wine collection could be used as collateral, but this company doesn't accept food and drinks as collateral.

Noriko Seki(関 紀子) - Sommelière at Mr. Fujimaki's restaurant Rangue(ランゲ). On the night President Ishiba died, she finished working at 11 PM. She left the store around 12 AM and reached her home around 1 AM.

While checking the store's wine inventory, she notices and reports that the 1986 partnaire wine is missing. Fujimaki, then confesses that he took the wine home and drank it with his wife the night President Ishiba died.

Yoshimi Shimajō(嶋定 好) - A wine critic who was with Hisashi Andō(安藤 久) when they played the cruel trick on Mr. Fujimaki. Inspector Ukyō brings him along to Mr. Fujimaki's tasting session at the end of the episode.

Wakatsuki(若月) - Reporter who is testing Fujimaki's wine blind tasting skills early in the episode

Taniyama(谷山) - Cameraman who is there with Reporter Wakatsuki.