The most unlikely duo meet and come together to discern evil doers sins. If they uncover the secrets thoroughly and correctly, there are both rewarded with something special. One is granted a job and place to live, and the other, a chance at ruling hell.
Author
Genre & Tropes
Info about this series (complete)
There are 10 volumes in Japanese. It is ongoing in English with four volumes currently released.
TL;DR
This is a light novel I would recommend to fans of detective mystery series, and Japanese mythology. There is a good balance of banter between the investigators and mysteries unfolding.
Official Synopsis (Yen Press)
DO THEY COME WHEN MISFORTUNE CALLS, OR DO THEY BRING MISFORTUNE WITH THEM? Seiji Tohno sometimes sees the people around him as monsters. It’s a curse that has driven him to a life of despair, living out of net cafés with nowhere to call home…but all that changes one twilit evening when he stumbles across a huge European mansion. There, Seiji meets a bewitchingly beautiful boy dressed in a white peony-print kimono who introduces himself as Shiroshi Saijou. This mysterious young man seems to know more about Seiji than he does himself, and before he knows it, Seiji has agreed to become Shiroshi’s part-time assistant. What he doesn’t know, however, is that Shiroshi’s “proxy service” is to consign yokai-possessed sinners to Hell, which will bring Seiji face-to-face with an unimaginable host of horrors!
My thoughts on this volume (Slight Spoilers!)
I first borrowed the manga prior to buying the light novel, and I’m glad I opted to go down the light novel route in the end. While the manga did fully draw me in, especially with those depictions of the monsters in the first chapter, the light novel does a beautiful job of portraying Seiji and Shiroshi’s unique relationship.
While this is a detective mystery series, I found the true heart of the story to revolve around the boy’s relationship. While Seiji is constantly referred to as something of a pet that Shiroshi is keeping, it’s clear that the two slowly grow fond of each other over the course of this volume. I appreciated that even when in the midst of investigating a crime, the author would take a moment to sprinkle in some relationship building. While the mysteries themselves are important, it’s the boys we follow from mystery to mystery. It only makes sense to want to know as much about them as possible, right?
This volume did a wonderful job of combining Japanese mythology and mystery investigating. Each “case” begin roughly the same way: a sinner is drawn to the manor that Shioshi and Seiji live in and request help from the boys. They then investigate and ultimately bring about the proper punishment to those deserving of it. Each of the sinners seems to be possessed by yokai—Japanese spirits. And Seiji just so happens to be able to see said spirits, though he doesn’t know exactly what they are. So, he would tell Shiroshi what he sees, Shiroshi would give him (and us) a little lesson in said yokai, and the story would move on from there.
The yokai that possess a person would give a hint to what the crime committed was, but investigating is always still necessary. For example, if someone was possessed by a yokai that is known to compel people to hang themselves, an investigator could assume that they were involved in a hanging…but they would still need to look into it. Were they compelled to sin by an outside force? Did they do it to save the life of an innocent person? Did they do it intentionally and maliciously? There is a lot of research to be done, and it isn’t always crystal clear.
Thankfully, Shiroshi possess the intellect of someone otherworldly, so it seems like there is no case too difficult for him to solve. Especially not if he has Seiji and his special eyes with him.
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