The Serialist (2013) - full transcript
Hey, Akaba.
I want you to tum in a story on...
the hot and steamy happenings
of a dating tour.
No need for finesse, just chum it out.
May I throw in a murder
that occurred during the trip...
and center the story
around finding the murderer?
- Make it like a whodunnit?
- Yes.
Would our readers want that?
Well...
Well, I guess it's fine to write
what you like once in a while.
You're a pretty good writer.
I don't quite have the sense for
what our readers want.
I'm counting on you.
Oh yes...
I'm sorry for your loss.
Here's the condolence money.
- You don't have to...
- Just take it.
Who is it?
Your father or your mother?
My father passed away ten years ago.
Oh yeah, that's right.
That was... When the story
about a vampire was... Right?
Now I recalled it.
"Vampire in Love"
It's a light novel
targeting young female readers.
It's not going to sell
if the author is man.
So I used your name and photo
for the author's profile.
I used your maiden frame "Sasaki".
The publisher has agreed to publish
my next book under my own name...
if this book sells.
Really?
I'm not sure things
will go so smoothly.
My mother was always at the patio
with a bunk an her lap.
Wanting to be by her side,
I became an avid reader myself.
My greatest wish was for Mother
to read the books I wrote.
She was my one constant reader.
"Need to put more effort into
delineating the morality play".
Even now when she is gone...
she remains my harshest critic.
Mother...
I am an unfilial son.
And a second-rate writer.
"The Serialist"
"Kobayashi and Akaba's"
According to the contract
you signed with my dad...
you should be paying me
your monthly rent of 90,000 yen...
while my dad is away in the States.
I know.
You're three months
behind on your rent.
I know things have been tough for you,
but I can't wait any longer.
If I tell my dad, you will be
out on the streets in a second.
- I know.
- No, you don't.
I'll be getting paid
for my manuscript tomorrow.
"The Awakening of Love by Akaba Ippei"
"His fingers teased and tantalized
Aiko till she could bear it no more".
"She finally gave in to him".
"Oh, yes..."
Could you please
write something less sleazy?
I set it!
Go back to your dormitory and
crack your books already.
You have school tomorrow, don't you?
What's this?
You came in ninth
for the nationwide mock exams?
Oh, I almost forgot.
This was in the mailbox.
The publisher had
this forwarded to me?
The sender is Kurei Daigo
from Tokyo Detention House.
Kurei Daigo?
"From: Kurei Daigo"
"To: Akaba Ippei"
Kurei Daigo,
a self-proclaimed photographer.
He murdered four women
he recruited for his photoshoots.
The women had their photos taken before
they were killed in their own house.
Kurei decapitated his victims
and placed flu wars around their bodies.
He sent photos of his victims in life
and in death to the police...
provoking a furore.
He was dubbed 'The Serial Photo Killer"...
and gained international infamy.
After his arrest,
he repeatedly changed his statement...
in bid to misdirect the investigation.
In spite of his attempts,
he was sentenced tn death in 2010.
The heads of his
victims were never found.
I'm Kurei Daigo,
a death-row inmate.
Not once have I breathed a word of
the truth since my arrest.
Neither during the interrogations,
nor during my trial.
I want you to hear my story.
Hear me out and write my memoir.
I want to come clean about
what really happened to those women.
And the real reason why I did it.
It would be an honor
if I can have a meeting with you...
at your earliest convenience.
Yours sincerely, Kurei Daigo.
He sure is frightfully polite.
Is this letter really from him?
The memoir of a serial killer.
That sounds like a bestseller, Ippei.
I haven't decided if
I'm going to see him.
Besides, I don't even know
if it's really from him.
- Maybe it's just a prank.
- Don't be such a coward.
This is exactly why
your fiancée left you.
If I were you,
I'd definitely pay him a visit.
Even if this tums out to be a prank,
this could be a lucky break for you.
But I have a deadline to meet...
Deadline for what?
Another piece of sleazy erotica, I bet.
Don't you want to be
a truly great novelist?
Erm...
Is that letter really
from Kurei Daigo?
We have one condition.
Do not publish a single thing he said
while he is still alive.
What?
You may publish whatever you like...
after his death sentence
has been carried out.
That's all.
So... this letter
really is from him?
There's one thing
I don't understand.
Publishers have been knocking down
our door trying to get a one-on-one with him.
He has turned them all down.
Why did he choose you?
Well, it doesn't matter.
I believe that he is innocent.
I will get his death sentence revoked.
Too bad for you.
You may get to write his memoir,
but you'll never get to publish it.
Doesn't Miss Maeda
remind you of a witch?
Everyone's scared of her.
She passed the
National Bar Exam in her fifties.
Sometimes, I wonder if
she's not quite right in the head.
Or maybe she's just too smart.
Passing the National
Bar Exam in her fifties?
Sounds like she knows
black magic all right.
Right?
Erm...
Does she really
think Kurei is innocent?
She's a beautiful woman.
And she passed the
bar exam in her fifties.
She was getting quite a lot of attention
even before she took this case.
The media accused her of taking on
this case as a publicity stunt.
This may sound strange, but Miss Maeda
is so convinced of his innocence...
that I can't help but think
maybe, he really Is innocent.
But Kurei...
All we know for sure is that
he photographed those dead bodies.
The hair found on the victims
matched his DNA.
That was why the police, the prosecution,
and the jury thought he was guilty.
"Visitor number sixteen,
please come to the tenth floor".
I'll wait here for you. Be careful.
"Vampire in Love"
Sorry-
This book...
Oh, this is one of my favorite books.
I've read it so many times that
it's all worn and tattered.
Is something the matter?
Thank you for coming.
I'm Akaba. Akaba Ippei.
- Am I how you imagined me to be?
- What?
I said, am I how
you imagined me to be?
Yeah...
Mr. Akaba.
You're exactly how
I imagined you to be.
An ineffectual man whose
only strength lies in being diligent.
But seeing how you have no qualms
meeting a heinous killer like me...
it seems you really want to
be a bestselling writer, don't you?
I have a question for you.
Just one?
WhY The?
"Aiko spread her porcelain-white legs
open provocatively".
"An involuntary moan escaped her lips
as she giddily recalled..."
"how she was grabbed by her hair..."
"and forced to watch herself being
humiliated and defiled in the mirror".
I love the way you write.
I'm your fan.
Well...
- About writing your memoir...
- Nothing's confirmed yet.
You want to write this tell-all,
you have to do one thing for me.
What?
Ever since my arrest...
I've been getting a lot of it.
Fan letters.
I have quite a devout
following out there.
Thanks to the media, I'm famous.
I get flooded by letters from my fans.
People who want to do what I did.
People begging me to many them.
People who wish to satisfy
my every desire.
Isn't life ironic?
I'm finally popular with women,
and I'm behind bars.
What is it that you want me to do?
I want you...
to write an erotic novel just for me.
I want you to write a love story
of me and my devotees.
That is the condition?
I will never get to touch
or photograph another woman.
This is all I have left.
I've already picked
out three devotees.
Please write a story about
each of them for me.
Let me think about it.
I'm very sure you will take this deal.
He's here.
What were you thinking?
How could you just
do what that beast said?
What?
We are the bereaved.
Kurei killed my wife.
I'm Mishima.
They are Mr. and Mrs. Harashima,
and Mr. Ikita.
Their daughters were killed.
That's Miss Hasegawa.
Her older sister was killed.
Please spare a thought for us.
Why would you dig at our old scars?
Please... hear me out.
I have only just met Kurei.
- I haven't decided if I would...
- Please make your decision now.
We long for his execution. Can you
understand what we're going through?
Speaking as the victims' families...
we don't wish to
see this book published.
I understand how you feel.
I would like some time...
to think over his offer carefully.
Remember what you just said.
Please write his memoir.
My older sister was
a bubbly and intelligent girl.
Everybody loved her.
My parents were proud of her.
Her death was so devastating for
my mother that she committed suicide.
My father had a mental breakdown
and is now institutionalized.
Kurei destroyed my family.
Even so, I want to know
what happened to my sister.
Knowing the details might just
make it all the harder on you.
But this may be the one chance to find out
where Kurei hid my sister's head.
I really wish to give my sister
a proper burial.
Can you understand that?
Please write his memoir.
I'm begging you.
So, what are you going to do?
What's holding you back?
Think about it.
If this book becomes a hit...
it might even be made
into a movie or a serial drama.
You will become an A-list writer.
You will have an assistant and
even a manager.
It's your dream to be
a successful writer, isn't it?
You have to grab this chance!
Hey, where are you going?
Out.
Take this.
Don't always drink cheap liquor.
Find a nice bar and
think this through carefully.
Take it.
Be wary of him.
That dude is real manipulative.
- I totally agree...
- He's right.
I can't accept money
from a high school student.
It has been a while, Mr. Konno.
Please come this way.
What a surprise!
How many years has it been?
Six years.
Let me make the introductions.
This is Akaba Ippei.
Hello. Is he an ex-boyfriend?
I'm her husband, Konno.
- He is...
- I know him.
Mr. Konno, I've read
several of your books.
- It's an honor to meet you.
- Don't say that.
Well, they are waiting for me.
Please excuse me.
Please come this way.
- Hello, I'm here.
- What a surprised.
I didn't know you're married to
such a famous writer.
What are you doing now?
Well...
You're still at your old job?
Would you be here for long?
- I can introduce you to them.
- No, it's fine.
I'll be writing Kurei Daigo's memoir.
Kurei Daigo?
That death-row killer?
That's amazing!
How did you get him to agree to it?
Have you already met him?
We had a brief chat.
I took Kurei's deal
without thinking twice.
Just as Kurei predicted.
I paid a visit to the first devotee.
Chino Yuka, thirty years old.
A bank employee.
In her letters to Kurei...
she vowed her undying love
and pledged total loyalty to Kurei.
I'm divorced.
He saved me from loneliness.
He touched my innermost desires.
His words to me are
like a gift from the heavens.
Even so...
it's not possible for you to
ever be with Kurei.
I'm not asking for
him to be my husband.
I don't even need
his physical presence.
Physical presence?
All I have to do is close my eyes...
and I can feel him.
He can feel me too.
I'm fine with it remaining a fantasy.
I've been intimate with Kurei
in my mind time and again.
Mr. Akaba, do you
prefer the flesh to the spirit?
May I tell you my darkest fantasies?
This is a pretty good story.
There's nothing she wants more
than for me to kill her.
Your descriptions are
a bit too straightforward though.
Let me see...
it reads more like
an essay than a novel.
I wanted it to sound realistic.
It's essential to build the tension
and keep it going.
I see.
- May I ask you a question?
- You may not.
I found an article saying...
you were abandoned
by your mother as a child.
Don't ask me this kind of questions!
Well... okay.
Well, happy hour's over.
I did strike a deal with you, fire away.
I'm sorry. It's just that
our meeting time is limited.
The article says you were abandoned
by your mother when you were five.
I wasn't abandoned.
We were separated by the police.
Was it because of
your mother's occupation?
Occupation?
You mean what she did for money?
Yes, she was a hooker.
Long story short...
Some guy slept with my mother,
got her pregnant, and she gave birth to me.
Then he ditched her for another woman,
leaving her with a huge debt.
So my mother sold herself for living.
That's all.
What's wrong?
Another article says you hated
your mother for abandoning you.
That's why you killed
and decapitated those women.
What a cheap story.
No one knows the truth except for me.
But I can tell you this...
my mother was beautiful.
Was your mother beautiful?
Yes.
Same as my mother.
How unfortunate.
We were always on the move
to escape our debtors.
Don't you just hate the winter sea?
I spent most of my childhood
shivering by the beach...
staring at the winter sea and
waiting for my mom.
Mom sold herself
to the truckers that drove by.
I want more.
But no matter where we were...
mother made sure we had breakfast
together every morning.
Daigo!
- Stop there! Wait!
- Leave her alone!
- Daigo!
- Stop resisting arrest.
Daigo...
Daigo... Stop it! Let go of me!
Mom...!
Stop it!
Let go of me! Mom...!
You loved your mother
dearly, didn't you?
Did you ever see
her again after that?
No, I never saw her again.
She died shortly after.
How about your mother?
- She passed away recently...
- It's about time.
"She sold herself as we traveled
from place to place".
"We always had breakfast together".
"Don't you just hate the winter sea?"
Please answer the door quickly.
I'm Machida from the police.
What is this about?
I'm here about Kurei's memoir.
Please don't write it, okay?
Who are you to come to my house
and tell me what to do?
Spare a thought for the bereaved.
Moreover, the truth
has already been uncovered.
I'm only doing my job as a writer.
Trying to convince us...
with your professional ethics
as a writer of cheap erotica?
I doubt the bereaved will be convinced.
That's very rude of you.
Besides, not all of the bereaved are
against publishing the memoir.
You mean Hasegawa Chinatsu?
She's not what you think.
Are you referring to her job?
So you know she works at a hostess bar?
She didn't tell me.
But I could tell from how she dresses
and the way she treats waiting staff.
She works at an exclusive club
where important figures visit.
There are many rumors about her.
Be careful of that woman.
Not only are you telling me
not to write the memoir...
you're also telling me
who I can associate with?
Tm the man who arrested Kurei
{an years ago.
Mark my words.
When you get tangled up with Kurei...
it changes everything around you.
"Kaburagi's"
The second devotee is
nineteen-year-old Kaburagi Juri.
She was a victim
of school bullying.
Now she locks herself
in her room all day.
Coming from a fatherless family...
her mother seems to be
out at work during the day.
I was invited into her room.
My dream...
is to be a killer.
Do you understand?
I have to be with him.
My dream is to
go on a killing spree with him.
That would be awesome!
Wait...
Most people dream of killing someone
but don't have the guts to do it.
Man, just the thought of doing it
gets me so high.
Don't you think so?
I want to have wild,
animal sex with him.
"And she smiled. The smile of a bodhisattva
who has attained enlightenment".
"One Way Ticket"
This story is good.
These girls who worship killing
like they worship fashion trends.
All you have to do
is feed them sweet nothings...
and they'll cling on to you
like the happiest girl on earth.
Have you ever considered
becoming a writer yourself?
A writer?
Never.
I love to talk, but I have
no desire to write them down.
You know...
readers and writers are of
two different realms.
Readers can never dive into books
and meet the author.
And that's why it is such an honor
for me to be able to talk to you personally.
Who do you hate the most?
Who do I hate?
Myself, perhaps.
What a self-centered man.
No wonder you're stuck in life.
Then who do you hate the most?
Kudo Mieko.
Your foster parents?
She was always whaling on me.
With a shovel, no less.
What a bad kid!
That frickin' old shrew. Swinging
that shovel like there's no tomorrow.
She's wrong if she thinks she can
live out her life...
glued to the TV in
that filthy old shack.
- But she did raise you...
- She did it for the money!
They received financial aid
for fostering me.
They splurged all that money
on themselves...
while I was never
given a proper meal.
That's why I would sneak out of
their house with the camera.
Of course I didn't have any film.
All I did was peek
through the viewfinder...
and hit the shutter in my mind.
The most important
thing in photography...
is to wait patiently
until your target appears.
When the wind stops blowing
and time stops flowing...
it's time to hit the shutter.
That's howl started taking pictures.
I would like to see those pictures.
The objects that
caught your fancy as a boy.
I didn't know what art was back then.
It takes time
to build a reputation as an artist.
Are you afraid of death?
Well...
YES, I am.
I'm not afraid of death.
Because my art will live on
in the minds of people forever.
That's the case for your work, too.
Your books will live on forever in the hearts
of those that have been touched by it.
You never know.
Although It does sound unlikely.
"An Accomplice of Love"
The third devotee is
twenty-four year-old Dojima Sara.
She is a porn star.
Mr. Kurei has given me orders
to give myself to you.
I'm very sure you will take this deal.
Excuse me.
May we continue our interview?
I'm coming in.
Miss Dojima?
A woman has been killed.
Yes, it's murder!
Mr. Akaba,
was it you who called the police?
You shouldn't have left.
We need to ask you some questions.
Mr. Machida...
there's another dead woman here.
What?
Juri? I think she's in her room.
- Excuse me.
- Wait! Wait a minute...
Juri? I'm coming in!
Dam it!
"Special Investigation
On The Headless Bodies Case"
I didn't kill them!
Please calm down, Mr. Akaba.
Since Kurei is safely behind bars...
the only person who is related to
all three victims is you.
It is only natural for us to seek
your assistance in this investigation.
You killed them for
your novel, didn't you?
Just how many times
do I have to repeat myself?
Did you sleep with those women?
What?
We will be collecting
a DNA sample from you.
If you've had any sexual contact with
the victims, we will find out.
I didn't do it.
Why would Kurei choose a second-rate
writer like you to write his memoir?
Were you Kurei's accomplice
twelve years ago?
This is too much!
Oh come on, you have neither the motive
nor the guts to kill those women.
How can you be so calm?
Quick, write down the details of
the police interview before you forget.
I haven't slept
a wink since yesterday.
Why didn't you choose to spend
the night in the detention house?
It would be great
fodder for your book.
- Fodder?
- That's right.
If Kurei's memoir becomes a bestseller...
you can write another book about
your experience writing his memoir.
"Obscure Writer, Murder Suspect".
Or maybe "Second-Rate Novelist
Under Suspicion"?
I'm going to bed.
"Three headless female bodies
have surfaced thus far..."
Ouch!
"Could this be
the work of the Serial Photo Killer..."
"who first made appearance
twelve years ago?"
"I'm going to interview Kurei's
defense attorney, Maeda Reiko..."
"who has always insisted that
Kurei is innocent".
Miss Maeda, are you going to
confront the police?
"Has there been
new circumstantial evidence?"
"Miss Maeda...?"
What's so funny?
Every event that happens in life
is essential and inevitable.
Therefore there is no point in
being sad or depressed about things.
So.
Where's my third story?
Did you forget to bring it?
Hand it over. Dojima Sara's story.
There's no way I
could write her story.
Then I have nothing
to say to you today.
A deal is a deal.
You are not the murderer.
The only explanation
for the three new murders...
is that the real killer is still out there
and back on another killing spree.
You are trying to live as the murderer.
But that's totally useless.
But... Why at this late date?
There's a rumor saying
Kurei is about to be executed.
Perhaps the real killer found out that
Kurei is planning on releasing a memoir.
The Photo Killer is a psychopath.
And like all psychopaths,
he is extremely egocentric.
The arrest of Kurei allowed
the real killer to get away scot-free.
But by releasing a memoir, Kurei
would be claiming all the "credit"...
for the real killer's deeds.
And Kurei would, once again,
usurp all the attention.
The real killer couldn't stand for that.
And he set me up because
I'm writing Kurei's memoir.
Who is the real killer?
Who knows?
Perhaps he did this to warn you off.
"Warning"!
That would make a
good title for a novel.
What are you talking about?
Maybe it's too late to say this...
but enough of this memoir nonsense.
It's not enough.
You don't want to write
this memoir badly enough.
What do you mean?
Good writing is driven by compulsion.
It's a pity, but you lack the drive
and desire to write my memoir.
I have many more devotees out there
who send me fan mail.
Please think about it.
I said, stop this nonsense!
Let me give you a
sincere piece of advice.
If you want to create art, you need to
find that one holy place, you hear me?
The holy place.
It could be a desolate stretch of
wasteland with no signs of life anywhere.
But once a light
pierces through the darkness...
a holy cross would appear.
Stay right there with
your most sincere desire...
and true art will be born!
You hear me?
- True art!
- Quiet!
That's enough already.
Isn't it your dream
to write detective novels?
Start behaving like
a private detective.
Listen...
a mystery author gets to set up
the mystery before unraveling it...
You'll be saving lives
if you can unravel this case.
And it will certainly make any novel
you publish a bestseller.
Such miracles would
never happen to me.
I'm Hasegawa. Hasegawa Chinatsu.
Sony for the sudden visit.
Is something the matter?
I'm terrified at the thought that
Kurei is not the perpetrator.
And the real killer
is still out there...
I can't take it anymore!
I understand.
Calm down first.
We'll figure out what to do next.
What do you see?
I see your desire.
It's so beautiful.
There is beauty in chaos.
Is there any connection between
Kurei's killings twelve years ago...
and the three new deaths?
We decide to investigate Kurei's past.
This was where Kurei had
his photoshoot with his victims.
And he sent the very photos to the police.
I see a car in the rearview mirror
that has been behind us for a while.
The silver car, right?
It caught my attention too.
Why don't you make a quick tum?
Is it still following us?
No, it went straight.
Is this where Kurei
spent his middle-school years?
Excuse me?
Hello?
We're here to ask about Kurei Daigo.
My husband is dead.
No, it's pot about your husband.
It's about Mr. Kurei.
What a beautiful sunset.
Where did you take that?
This is not working.
Ai!
- Are you okay?
- It hurts...
Stand up slowly.
You're bleeding!
Let's go back to the car.
I'm fine.
No, the wound needs to be
disinfected immediately.
I doubt there is anything ahead.
Let's go back.
Easy...
The factory boss's wife was
Kurei's last victim.
Kurei worked part-time here once.
"Mishima Factory"
See you tomorrow.
Why are you here?
Mr. Mishima...
You're one of the bereaved.
What are you doing,
going around with that man?
What were you thinking?
As one of the bereaved,
you ought to know better, don't you?
Mr. Mishima...
I'll say this again.
Stop writing Kurei's memoir.
His book will only intrude and
mess up our lives.
It will affect all of us badly.
Do you think it's right to do that?
Please stop writing it.
And get out of my sight.
Mr. Mishima was the one who asked
Kurei to take pictures of his wife.
The person he blames most
is probably himself.
- You lost your sister...?
- Yes.
You visited Juri once, didn't you?
Can you tell me why Juri was
so obsessed with a man like Kurei?
I don't know.
I only had a brief chat with her.
But there's one thing I could tell.
Juri was a good girl.
Thank you.
You wish to have
a look around her room, right?
Please go ahead.
I haven't been able to bring myself
to set foot in her room.
The police took almost everything.
She must be shocked that
her daughter was a Kurei fan.
I found her letters
in the family shrine.
I found it after she passed away.
But I didn't want
the police to misunderstand Juri...
so I didn't give these to them.
These are from Kurei?
My daughter...
Juri was not a good girl.
She locked herself in her room
for three years.
She was always angry.
But I had no idea
what she was mad about.
I thought...
perhaps you would
understand my daughter.
That's why I want
to give these letters to you.
I couldn't understand her.
I loved her with all my heart
and raised her to the best of my efforts.
She was...
my most cherished daughter.
It's all right...
I want to...
I want to...
kill the man who did this to her!
Chino Yuka's house
is at the end of the road.
Are you all right?
I'm sorry, but I think I'd rather
wait in the car.
Let's just go home for today.
No, we're already all the way here.
You should go ahead.
- Let's take shelter at my place.
- Okay.
"Hasegawa-s"
I moved out right after
I graduated from the high school.
I didn't get along with my sister.
Everyone was always comparing me to
her cheerful, likeable self. I hated it.
I shut her out of my life...
back when she was alive.
I didn't even want to think about her.
But now, she talks to me everyday.
"Why are you the one who lived?"
"Why do you get to live, but not me?"
"Why should I be the one killed?"
"You're nothing.
You should be the one who died!"
She keeps talking to me...
every single day...!
Ippei!
Good morning.
What's the matter?
You suck at reading people.
That woman is weird.
I can feel it.
Be careful of her.
Of her?
My instincts are never wrong.
Do you need my help?
No.
Do you have any idea
who the shooter might be?
Not at all.
There were no witnesses.
And you didn't have a scratch on you.
What does that mean?
Are you implying I made it all up?
Stop playing the innocent.
You took these pictures, didn't you?
Wasn't Hasegawa Chinatsu with you
at the time of the shooting?
Where isn't she here?
I was the only one who got shot at.
I didn't think
you would need her to be here too.
Can you tell Chinatsu
that I would like to see her here?
"Yours, Hasegawa Chinatsu"
Dam it...
"To Kaburagi Juri"
"Visitation"
Kurei, you have a visitor.
Hey!
I don't want to.
Kurei!
I don't want to.
It has been a while.
We need to talk.
My, you look stem.
I'm getting all nervous.
It's about your memoir.
You never intended to publish
a memoir, isn't it?
It's all part of your
plan to get out of jail.
Am I right?
I can't hear you.
Why did you pick me when you could have
very well written the memoir yourself?
You just wanted to use me, didn't you?
I read your letters to Kaburagi Juri.
You're a much better writer
than I could ever be.
You have such a way with words...
it's no wonder those women fell for
everything you said.
Be honest, you don't think much
of my writing, do you?
You used such beautiful words
to get me to see you...
plied me with flattery
and convinced me to take the deal.
I bet you were laughing
at me all the while!
Calm down, will you?
In here, I've got nothing but plenty
of time o read a wide range of books.
I merely regurgitated whatever I could
remember from the books in those letters.
You think too little
of yourself, Mr. Akaba.
It's you who thinks
so little of your writing.
Have you ever had the one thing
you never stopped wishing for...
appear before you? I have.
Something so beautiful and fragile,
right before your eyes.
I was so mesmerized, my body started
trembling uncontrollably.
I felt like I was about to faint.
If only time would stop right now...
yet I didn't want it to stop.
I cannot faint right now.
I've found my holy place.
Listen.
I can create moments so beautiful...
it is beyond the imagination
of ordinary people.
I will hit the shutter
and preserve the beauty forever.
I will freeze my work
in its perfection.
That way, I will always tremble
before its beauty.
You hear that?
Listen up now.
If you really want to
be a topnotch writer...
you have to write about the real me.
Who I really am.
Who I really am!
The real me!
Who I really am!
That's what you should write about.
Please don't stop.
I've chosen another devotee for you.
She's a strange one.
I killed her sister,
but she sends me letter after letter.
Hasegawa Chinatsu.
You've decided
not to write the memoir? Why?
It's none of your business.
No, don't do this!
If you give up now,
you will be back at square one.
How are you going
to pay for your rent?
- I will pay up.
- How?
Well...
I'll get a part-time job or something.
Pick it up.
I don't want to have anything more
to do with the case.
Are you giving up
because of Chinatsu?
No.
I refuse to let
Kurei have his way anymore.
Ippei, don't you have any guts?
You're pathetic!
You're just a kid.
What do you know?
- Who are you to judge...
- Forget it!
I get it.
This is just the kind of guy you are.
- I'm so disappointed!
- Shut up!
Stop poking your
nose into my affairs!
Idiot!
Don't you just hate the winter sea?
My mother was beautiful.
Was your mother beautiful?
If you want to create art,
you need to find that one holy place.
The holy place.
You have to write about the real me.
It's not enough.
You don't want to write
this memoir badly enough.
Have you seen the news?
No, I'm not here because of that.
What happened?
You will find out soon enough.
Miss Maeda hasn't slept for days.
Be careful.
Welcome back.
I apologize for calling you here
on such short notice.
It's okay.
The Supreme Court may accept
my appeal for retrial.
Which means it's very likely
Kurei's case will go to court again.
I just want to let you know that
the memoir you're writing...
cannot be published
if that's the case.
I see.
Moreover, the victims' families
have sent me a protest letter.
You have been carrying out
some investigation oi your own'!?
I won't be writing Kurei's memoir.
And I won't visit him anymore.
A wise decision.
It's one good news
after another today.
I came to tell you that.
And also, whether or not
anything can be published...
I will continue to write about him.
I want to know more about Kurei.
I want to understand him.
I'm feeling rather confused right now,
but this is what I want to do.
What does he see?
How does he feel?
What is it that he hates?
And what does he love?
What was going through his head
all this while?
I see.
Then go ahead.
She's wrong if she thinks she can
live out her life...
glued to the TV in
that filthy old shack.
How does Kurei know how
his foster mother is doing right now?
Help... anyone!
Ippei? I'm sorry about yesterday.
I'm in your room now.
I told you not to come by my house
until this matter blows over.
I want to apologize to you.
When will you be back?
Who's there?
Ai? Hello...?
Ai!
Ippei...!
Bloody hell...
Ai!
Ouch...!
Chinatsu...
She is the killer...
She's Kurei's mother.
Did you kill my sister?
Where is it?
Where did you hide her head?
I fed it to the pigs!
Don't shoot. Don't!
Police! Freeze!
Mr. Machida.
Where's Chinatsu?
We let her go after
we took her statement.
As for your niece, Kobayashi Ai...
she only suffered minor wounds.
I've contacted her
parents in the States.
I have good news and bad news.
Please tell me the good news first.
Maeda Reiko confessed to killing
the three Kurei devotees.
We've recovered the murder weapon as well
as the decapitated heads from her home.
What's the bad news then?
Those weren't the only murders
she confessed to.
She confessed to the Photo Killer
killings from twelve years ago too.
No way...
I saw through those
models immediately.
They wanted to seduce my son
with their filthy bodies.
They wanted to
steal my lovely boy from me!
She followed the women back to
their houses after Kurei's photoshoot...
and killed them there.
She sent those photos to the police
because she hates us.
But her son ended up being
wrongfully arrested for her deeds.
In order to save her son,
she studied hard to become an attorney.
She even changed her identity.
Her confession
tallies with all of our evidence.
What a woman.
What she did is
beyond anyone's imagination.
How did you know
she's Kurei's mother?
Because of the photos.
The photos hanging on
the walls of her office.
I realized those
photos were taken...
around the hill behind
Kurei's foster parents' home.
I still believe Kurei is behind
those killings twelve years ago.
But to be honest...
I've had a few moments
of doubt about it.
Are you sure it's fine for me
to read these files?
I'm going out for a break.
What you do with these files meanwhile
is none of my business.
This is Hasegawa Koharu.
The photos of the
decapitated bodies are in here.
Do you want to see it?
"Housewife, Mishima Nobuko.
Aged thirty-eight"
Where is Mrs. Mishima's photo?
We arrested Kurei
soon after she was killed.
He hadn't had time
to send us her photos.
We searched Kurei's house.
But we didn't find Mrs. Mishima's photos,
only unused film.
"Inventory of Seized Items"
"6. Camera
7. Camera film"
Maeda Reiko isn't
the shooter who assaulted you...
near Chino Yuka's place
and in the hills.
The rifling pattern on the bullets
we retrieved doesn't match that of her gun.
Moreover, Maeda Reiko was in court...
appealing for a retrial
at the time of the shooting.
Call me when you're ready to go.
I will send you home,
just to be safe.
Okay?
Goodbye.
Megumi?
Mr. Akaba.
Were you brought in
for questioning too?
Yes. It was exhausting.
They wanted to know every single detail
about Miss Maeda's life.
This must come as quite a shock.
I don't think I can
ever trust anyone again.
I guess you can't just blindly
believe everything you see.
I suppose not.
You're right!
Excuse me, and thank you.
Why are you back here, Mr. Akaba?
Did something strike you?
You can't just blindly believe
everything you see.
What are you talking about?
Were any drugs detected in
those headless bodies?
Not at all.
Something struck me as odd
when I first saw these photos just now.
Their pupils are
dilated in every photo.
You're right.
We did check with a professional
photographer about this.
He said that happens
when the camera flash is used.
Yes, that's the case when
the standard positive film is used.
But...
the only type of camera film
the police found at Kurei's house...
were tungsten film.
What? What does that mean?
Tungsten film is
normally used for night shots.
You don't use the camera flash
with this kind of film.
The pupils of Kurei's photo subjects
shouldn't be dilated.
These portrait shots were not taken
before the victims were killed...
but after!
Wait a minute.
So you're saying the
victims were killed...
photographed
and then decapitated at home?
That doesn't make sense.
If I'm not wrong...
these bodies are actually
finely-made dolls.
Probably using silicon
or something similar.
Look.
All three victims were clothed from
neck to toe in the photos.
Kurei brought their heads home...
fixed them onto the dolls,
and took these portrait shots.
Why would he do this?
I don't know...
Good job realizing
that the bodies were fake.
You look more confident now.
- Your mother is still alive...
- What do you know about us?
Why did you kill those women?
Do you know what a beautiful sight
a woman who is bleeding makes?
I was reunited with my mother
after I graduated from middle school.
She investigated
my foster parents to track me down...
and she seduced my foster father.
Like countless times before...
my mother used her body
to dupe him for money.
She was still so beautiful.
But one day...
I went up the hills with
my empty camera like any other day.
I heard my mother screaming...
and my foster father shouting.
You stupid woman!
I rushed towards where
the shouts were coming from...
and found my mother...
bleeding under a tree.
I don't remember why...
but I went up to her
and laid in her arms.
Her blood was all over me.
But she held me close nonetheless.
That night, we embarked on
another journey, just the two of us.
I left my holy place.
We slept in the car,
and traveled across Japan.
The first time I killed a woman
was when I was twenty.
My mother welcomed me back...
with a big smile on her face.
I've always been driven
by the compulsion...
to seek out beauty.
To etemalize it in art.
That's why I came to Tokyo.
I can have my pick of women in Tokyo.
All I need to do is ask for models,
and they come flocking to me.
You mean those women
you killed twelve years ago?
They were so beautiful.
I enjoyed every moment of it.
Oh, the pleasure.
People are dead because of you.
"They were so beautiful"?
Is that your reason for killing them?
Yes.
You should seek beauty like I do.
Come up with works like mine.
Beauty?
Actually...
the one person you really wish to kill,
decapitate and take pictures of...
is your mother, isn't it?
You wanted to kill your mother.
You love your mother
with all your heart.
And you hate her just as much.
But still, you love her.
You killed those women...
because you wanted
to be one with your mother.
Through sharing the experience
of murder with your mother...
and the spilling of blood...
you are united with your mother,
creating beauty and art.
Not bad.
There is hope for you
as a topnotch writer, after all.
But all you really
are is a little boy...
who would do anything unquestioningly
for his mother to stay by his side!
You know nothing.
You are ignorant of the world!
You have no idea what art is.
You don't know a thing about beauty!
There is nothing in your photos.
You thought you captured beauty,
but you're just deluding yourself!
Shut up!
You don't understand my art.
You don't know what real art is!
You're nothing but a second-rate writer.
- Kneel down before me!
- I'd rather be second-rate...
then to be like you!
Second-rate or not, this is who I am.
At least I am honest about it!
- Kneel down!
- This is who I am!
Hello, Mr. Machida?
I think I know where the heads are.
"There are signs of digging here.
We will focus on this spot for now".
"Roger that".
We found it!
They found it!
"15:02, a skull has been found".
- And photos too.
- "I repeat".
"15:02, a skull has been found".
Ikita Mitio, Harashima Atsusa...
and Hasegawa Koharu.
I don't see Mrs. Mishima's skull.
Is this all?
That's weird.
If Kurei killed all four women...
why would he bury
Mrs. Mishima's head somewhere else?
There is more to this case.
Mr. Mishima!
Kurei didn't send
your wife's photos to the police.
And that's because...
he didn't kill your wife.
You expanded your factory
after your wife's death, didn't you?
I'm guessing you did it
using her insurance payout.
I need to search your car.
- Stop it!
- That bloody woman!
Why shouldn't I kill her?
She cheated on me...
and she had never once
made me a proper dinner!
Yes, I did it! I killed that slut!
Grab him!
- She deserved it! She was a filthy slut!
- Don't move...!
That filthy slut.
I had no idea these
are Kurei's pictures.
I worked with her every day,
but I never knew her true character.
I have one thing to tell you.
I'm sorry...
but I already have a boyfriend.
No, it's not that.
You know the book you like so much?
"Vampire in Love".
Actually, I wrote that book.
What are you talking about?
The author of that book is a woman.
Someone called Sasaki Ikuko.
The publisher said this book would
sell better if the author were a female.
I used my mother's maiden name
and her old photo.
I see.
I totally fell for it.
I'm sorry.
- Mr. Akaba.
- Yes?
I would love to read the sequel
to "Vampire in Love".
Please consider writing it.
Make it more thrilling
than the first book.
Maeda Reiko is dead.
What?
She hanged herself.
I wonder how her
death will affect Kurei?
I'm washing my hands off this case.
Thank you for all your help.
It's nothing.
Take care.
Ai!
Are you better now?
Sony for making you worry.
Look, I'm okay now.
Don't worry.
I'll be moving to the
States to join my dad.
I see.
All right.
So I guess this is it.
No, not this.
The rent you owe me.
Oh, right.
I'm kidding.
Just wire it to New York. Bye.
But...
Ippei!
I'm looking forward
to your next book.
Everyone has left me.
I've never felt more alone.
Kurei.
It's time for the execution.
"To: Akaba Ippei"
To second-rate writer, Akaba Ippei.
The wardens have agreed to send
this letter to you after my execution.
(Prayer chanting)
I'm glad to have met you.
I like your writing and
I've enjoyed our conversations.
I think highly of your work.
If only you can learn to love
your gift for writing.
I will leave you with the words of
German poet, Hermann Hesse.
"All the books in the world
will not bring you happiness".
"But they will quietly lead you..."
"back inside yourself".
Thank you for
walking with me to my death.
Yours, Kurei Daigo.
"Portrait of a Death-row Inmate"
"I am a second-rate writer".
"And that is a second-rate
opening sentence".
"I received a letter..."
"Portrait of a Death-row Inmate
by Akaba Ippei"
"The true colors of Kurei Daigo"
A book I once read said...
"A child can never
break away from his mother“.
Kurei's story...
could be anyone's story.
"To the memory of my late friend".
I want you to tum in a story on...
the hot and steamy happenings
of a dating tour.
No need for finesse, just chum it out.
May I throw in a murder
that occurred during the trip...
and center the story
around finding the murderer?
- Make it like a whodunnit?
- Yes.
Would our readers want that?
Well...
Well, I guess it's fine to write
what you like once in a while.
You're a pretty good writer.
I don't quite have the sense for
what our readers want.
I'm counting on you.
Oh yes...
I'm sorry for your loss.
Here's the condolence money.
- You don't have to...
- Just take it.
Who is it?
Your father or your mother?
My father passed away ten years ago.
Oh yeah, that's right.
That was... When the story
about a vampire was... Right?
Now I recalled it.
"Vampire in Love"
It's a light novel
targeting young female readers.
It's not going to sell
if the author is man.
So I used your name and photo
for the author's profile.
I used your maiden frame "Sasaki".
The publisher has agreed to publish
my next book under my own name...
if this book sells.
Really?
I'm not sure things
will go so smoothly.
My mother was always at the patio
with a bunk an her lap.
Wanting to be by her side,
I became an avid reader myself.
My greatest wish was for Mother
to read the books I wrote.
She was my one constant reader.
"Need to put more effort into
delineating the morality play".
Even now when she is gone...
she remains my harshest critic.
Mother...
I am an unfilial son.
And a second-rate writer.
"The Serialist"
"Kobayashi and Akaba's"
According to the contract
you signed with my dad...
you should be paying me
your monthly rent of 90,000 yen...
while my dad is away in the States.
I know.
You're three months
behind on your rent.
I know things have been tough for you,
but I can't wait any longer.
If I tell my dad, you will be
out on the streets in a second.
- I know.
- No, you don't.
I'll be getting paid
for my manuscript tomorrow.
"The Awakening of Love by Akaba Ippei"
"His fingers teased and tantalized
Aiko till she could bear it no more".
"She finally gave in to him".
"Oh, yes..."
Could you please
write something less sleazy?
I set it!
Go back to your dormitory and
crack your books already.
You have school tomorrow, don't you?
What's this?
You came in ninth
for the nationwide mock exams?
Oh, I almost forgot.
This was in the mailbox.
The publisher had
this forwarded to me?
The sender is Kurei Daigo
from Tokyo Detention House.
Kurei Daigo?
"From: Kurei Daigo"
"To: Akaba Ippei"
Kurei Daigo,
a self-proclaimed photographer.
He murdered four women
he recruited for his photoshoots.
The women had their photos taken before
they were killed in their own house.
Kurei decapitated his victims
and placed flu wars around their bodies.
He sent photos of his victims in life
and in death to the police...
provoking a furore.
He was dubbed 'The Serial Photo Killer"...
and gained international infamy.
After his arrest,
he repeatedly changed his statement...
in bid to misdirect the investigation.
In spite of his attempts,
he was sentenced tn death in 2010.
The heads of his
victims were never found.
I'm Kurei Daigo,
a death-row inmate.
Not once have I breathed a word of
the truth since my arrest.
Neither during the interrogations,
nor during my trial.
I want you to hear my story.
Hear me out and write my memoir.
I want to come clean about
what really happened to those women.
And the real reason why I did it.
It would be an honor
if I can have a meeting with you...
at your earliest convenience.
Yours sincerely, Kurei Daigo.
He sure is frightfully polite.
Is this letter really from him?
The memoir of a serial killer.
That sounds like a bestseller, Ippei.
I haven't decided if
I'm going to see him.
Besides, I don't even know
if it's really from him.
- Maybe it's just a prank.
- Don't be such a coward.
This is exactly why
your fiancée left you.
If I were you,
I'd definitely pay him a visit.
Even if this tums out to be a prank,
this could be a lucky break for you.
But I have a deadline to meet...
Deadline for what?
Another piece of sleazy erotica, I bet.
Don't you want to be
a truly great novelist?
Erm...
Is that letter really
from Kurei Daigo?
We have one condition.
Do not publish a single thing he said
while he is still alive.
What?
You may publish whatever you like...
after his death sentence
has been carried out.
That's all.
So... this letter
really is from him?
There's one thing
I don't understand.
Publishers have been knocking down
our door trying to get a one-on-one with him.
He has turned them all down.
Why did he choose you?
Well, it doesn't matter.
I believe that he is innocent.
I will get his death sentence revoked.
Too bad for you.
You may get to write his memoir,
but you'll never get to publish it.
Doesn't Miss Maeda
remind you of a witch?
Everyone's scared of her.
She passed the
National Bar Exam in her fifties.
Sometimes, I wonder if
she's not quite right in the head.
Or maybe she's just too smart.
Passing the National
Bar Exam in her fifties?
Sounds like she knows
black magic all right.
Right?
Erm...
Does she really
think Kurei is innocent?
She's a beautiful woman.
And she passed the
bar exam in her fifties.
She was getting quite a lot of attention
even before she took this case.
The media accused her of taking on
this case as a publicity stunt.
This may sound strange, but Miss Maeda
is so convinced of his innocence...
that I can't help but think
maybe, he really Is innocent.
But Kurei...
All we know for sure is that
he photographed those dead bodies.
The hair found on the victims
matched his DNA.
That was why the police, the prosecution,
and the jury thought he was guilty.
"Visitor number sixteen,
please come to the tenth floor".
I'll wait here for you. Be careful.
"Vampire in Love"
Sorry-
This book...
Oh, this is one of my favorite books.
I've read it so many times that
it's all worn and tattered.
Is something the matter?
Thank you for coming.
I'm Akaba. Akaba Ippei.
- Am I how you imagined me to be?
- What?
I said, am I how
you imagined me to be?
Yeah...
Mr. Akaba.
You're exactly how
I imagined you to be.
An ineffectual man whose
only strength lies in being diligent.
But seeing how you have no qualms
meeting a heinous killer like me...
it seems you really want to
be a bestselling writer, don't you?
I have a question for you.
Just one?
WhY The?
"Aiko spread her porcelain-white legs
open provocatively".
"An involuntary moan escaped her lips
as she giddily recalled..."
"how she was grabbed by her hair..."
"and forced to watch herself being
humiliated and defiled in the mirror".
I love the way you write.
I'm your fan.
Well...
- About writing your memoir...
- Nothing's confirmed yet.
You want to write this tell-all,
you have to do one thing for me.
What?
Ever since my arrest...
I've been getting a lot of it.
Fan letters.
I have quite a devout
following out there.
Thanks to the media, I'm famous.
I get flooded by letters from my fans.
People who want to do what I did.
People begging me to many them.
People who wish to satisfy
my every desire.
Isn't life ironic?
I'm finally popular with women,
and I'm behind bars.
What is it that you want me to do?
I want you...
to write an erotic novel just for me.
I want you to write a love story
of me and my devotees.
That is the condition?
I will never get to touch
or photograph another woman.
This is all I have left.
I've already picked
out three devotees.
Please write a story about
each of them for me.
Let me think about it.
I'm very sure you will take this deal.
He's here.
What were you thinking?
How could you just
do what that beast said?
What?
We are the bereaved.
Kurei killed my wife.
I'm Mishima.
They are Mr. and Mrs. Harashima,
and Mr. Ikita.
Their daughters were killed.
That's Miss Hasegawa.
Her older sister was killed.
Please spare a thought for us.
Why would you dig at our old scars?
Please... hear me out.
I have only just met Kurei.
- I haven't decided if I would...
- Please make your decision now.
We long for his execution. Can you
understand what we're going through?
Speaking as the victims' families...
we don't wish to
see this book published.
I understand how you feel.
I would like some time...
to think over his offer carefully.
Remember what you just said.
Please write his memoir.
My older sister was
a bubbly and intelligent girl.
Everybody loved her.
My parents were proud of her.
Her death was so devastating for
my mother that she committed suicide.
My father had a mental breakdown
and is now institutionalized.
Kurei destroyed my family.
Even so, I want to know
what happened to my sister.
Knowing the details might just
make it all the harder on you.
But this may be the one chance to find out
where Kurei hid my sister's head.
I really wish to give my sister
a proper burial.
Can you understand that?
Please write his memoir.
I'm begging you.
So, what are you going to do?
What's holding you back?
Think about it.
If this book becomes a hit...
it might even be made
into a movie or a serial drama.
You will become an A-list writer.
You will have an assistant and
even a manager.
It's your dream to be
a successful writer, isn't it?
You have to grab this chance!
Hey, where are you going?
Out.
Take this.
Don't always drink cheap liquor.
Find a nice bar and
think this through carefully.
Take it.
Be wary of him.
That dude is real manipulative.
- I totally agree...
- He's right.
I can't accept money
from a high school student.
It has been a while, Mr. Konno.
Please come this way.
What a surprise!
How many years has it been?
Six years.
Let me make the introductions.
This is Akaba Ippei.
Hello. Is he an ex-boyfriend?
I'm her husband, Konno.
- He is...
- I know him.
Mr. Konno, I've read
several of your books.
- It's an honor to meet you.
- Don't say that.
Well, they are waiting for me.
Please excuse me.
Please come this way.
- Hello, I'm here.
- What a surprised.
I didn't know you're married to
such a famous writer.
What are you doing now?
Well...
You're still at your old job?
Would you be here for long?
- I can introduce you to them.
- No, it's fine.
I'll be writing Kurei Daigo's memoir.
Kurei Daigo?
That death-row killer?
That's amazing!
How did you get him to agree to it?
Have you already met him?
We had a brief chat.
I took Kurei's deal
without thinking twice.
Just as Kurei predicted.
I paid a visit to the first devotee.
Chino Yuka, thirty years old.
A bank employee.
In her letters to Kurei...
she vowed her undying love
and pledged total loyalty to Kurei.
I'm divorced.
He saved me from loneliness.
He touched my innermost desires.
His words to me are
like a gift from the heavens.
Even so...
it's not possible for you to
ever be with Kurei.
I'm not asking for
him to be my husband.
I don't even need
his physical presence.
Physical presence?
All I have to do is close my eyes...
and I can feel him.
He can feel me too.
I'm fine with it remaining a fantasy.
I've been intimate with Kurei
in my mind time and again.
Mr. Akaba, do you
prefer the flesh to the spirit?
May I tell you my darkest fantasies?
This is a pretty good story.
There's nothing she wants more
than for me to kill her.
Your descriptions are
a bit too straightforward though.
Let me see...
it reads more like
an essay than a novel.
I wanted it to sound realistic.
It's essential to build the tension
and keep it going.
I see.
- May I ask you a question?
- You may not.
I found an article saying...
you were abandoned
by your mother as a child.
Don't ask me this kind of questions!
Well... okay.
Well, happy hour's over.
I did strike a deal with you, fire away.
I'm sorry. It's just that
our meeting time is limited.
The article says you were abandoned
by your mother when you were five.
I wasn't abandoned.
We were separated by the police.
Was it because of
your mother's occupation?
Occupation?
You mean what she did for money?
Yes, she was a hooker.
Long story short...
Some guy slept with my mother,
got her pregnant, and she gave birth to me.
Then he ditched her for another woman,
leaving her with a huge debt.
So my mother sold herself for living.
That's all.
What's wrong?
Another article says you hated
your mother for abandoning you.
That's why you killed
and decapitated those women.
What a cheap story.
No one knows the truth except for me.
But I can tell you this...
my mother was beautiful.
Was your mother beautiful?
Yes.
Same as my mother.
How unfortunate.
We were always on the move
to escape our debtors.
Don't you just hate the winter sea?
I spent most of my childhood
shivering by the beach...
staring at the winter sea and
waiting for my mom.
Mom sold herself
to the truckers that drove by.
I want more.
But no matter where we were...
mother made sure we had breakfast
together every morning.
Daigo!
- Stop there! Wait!
- Leave her alone!
- Daigo!
- Stop resisting arrest.
Daigo...
Daigo... Stop it! Let go of me!
Mom...!
Stop it!
Let go of me! Mom...!
You loved your mother
dearly, didn't you?
Did you ever see
her again after that?
No, I never saw her again.
She died shortly after.
How about your mother?
- She passed away recently...
- It's about time.
"She sold herself as we traveled
from place to place".
"We always had breakfast together".
"Don't you just hate the winter sea?"
Please answer the door quickly.
I'm Machida from the police.
What is this about?
I'm here about Kurei's memoir.
Please don't write it, okay?
Who are you to come to my house
and tell me what to do?
Spare a thought for the bereaved.
Moreover, the truth
has already been uncovered.
I'm only doing my job as a writer.
Trying to convince us...
with your professional ethics
as a writer of cheap erotica?
I doubt the bereaved will be convinced.
That's very rude of you.
Besides, not all of the bereaved are
against publishing the memoir.
You mean Hasegawa Chinatsu?
She's not what you think.
Are you referring to her job?
So you know she works at a hostess bar?
She didn't tell me.
But I could tell from how she dresses
and the way she treats waiting staff.
She works at an exclusive club
where important figures visit.
There are many rumors about her.
Be careful of that woman.
Not only are you telling me
not to write the memoir...
you're also telling me
who I can associate with?
Tm the man who arrested Kurei
{an years ago.
Mark my words.
When you get tangled up with Kurei...
it changes everything around you.
"Kaburagi's"
The second devotee is
nineteen-year-old Kaburagi Juri.
She was a victim
of school bullying.
Now she locks herself
in her room all day.
Coming from a fatherless family...
her mother seems to be
out at work during the day.
I was invited into her room.
My dream...
is to be a killer.
Do you understand?
I have to be with him.
My dream is to
go on a killing spree with him.
That would be awesome!
Wait...
Most people dream of killing someone
but don't have the guts to do it.
Man, just the thought of doing it
gets me so high.
Don't you think so?
I want to have wild,
animal sex with him.
"And she smiled. The smile of a bodhisattva
who has attained enlightenment".
"One Way Ticket"
This story is good.
These girls who worship killing
like they worship fashion trends.
All you have to do
is feed them sweet nothings...
and they'll cling on to you
like the happiest girl on earth.
Have you ever considered
becoming a writer yourself?
A writer?
Never.
I love to talk, but I have
no desire to write them down.
You know...
readers and writers are of
two different realms.
Readers can never dive into books
and meet the author.
And that's why it is such an honor
for me to be able to talk to you personally.
Who do you hate the most?
Who do I hate?
Myself, perhaps.
What a self-centered man.
No wonder you're stuck in life.
Then who do you hate the most?
Kudo Mieko.
Your foster parents?
She was always whaling on me.
With a shovel, no less.
What a bad kid!
That frickin' old shrew. Swinging
that shovel like there's no tomorrow.
She's wrong if she thinks she can
live out her life...
glued to the TV in
that filthy old shack.
- But she did raise you...
- She did it for the money!
They received financial aid
for fostering me.
They splurged all that money
on themselves...
while I was never
given a proper meal.
That's why I would sneak out of
their house with the camera.
Of course I didn't have any film.
All I did was peek
through the viewfinder...
and hit the shutter in my mind.
The most important
thing in photography...
is to wait patiently
until your target appears.
When the wind stops blowing
and time stops flowing...
it's time to hit the shutter.
That's howl started taking pictures.
I would like to see those pictures.
The objects that
caught your fancy as a boy.
I didn't know what art was back then.
It takes time
to build a reputation as an artist.
Are you afraid of death?
Well...
YES, I am.
I'm not afraid of death.
Because my art will live on
in the minds of people forever.
That's the case for your work, too.
Your books will live on forever in the hearts
of those that have been touched by it.
You never know.
Although It does sound unlikely.
"An Accomplice of Love"
The third devotee is
twenty-four year-old Dojima Sara.
She is a porn star.
Mr. Kurei has given me orders
to give myself to you.
I'm very sure you will take this deal.
Excuse me.
May we continue our interview?
I'm coming in.
Miss Dojima?
A woman has been killed.
Yes, it's murder!
Mr. Akaba,
was it you who called the police?
You shouldn't have left.
We need to ask you some questions.
Mr. Machida...
there's another dead woman here.
What?
Juri? I think she's in her room.
- Excuse me.
- Wait! Wait a minute...
Juri? I'm coming in!
Dam it!
"Special Investigation
On The Headless Bodies Case"
I didn't kill them!
Please calm down, Mr. Akaba.
Since Kurei is safely behind bars...
the only person who is related to
all three victims is you.
It is only natural for us to seek
your assistance in this investigation.
You killed them for
your novel, didn't you?
Just how many times
do I have to repeat myself?
Did you sleep with those women?
What?
We will be collecting
a DNA sample from you.
If you've had any sexual contact with
the victims, we will find out.
I didn't do it.
Why would Kurei choose a second-rate
writer like you to write his memoir?
Were you Kurei's accomplice
twelve years ago?
This is too much!
Oh come on, you have neither the motive
nor the guts to kill those women.
How can you be so calm?
Quick, write down the details of
the police interview before you forget.
I haven't slept
a wink since yesterday.
Why didn't you choose to spend
the night in the detention house?
It would be great
fodder for your book.
- Fodder?
- That's right.
If Kurei's memoir becomes a bestseller...
you can write another book about
your experience writing his memoir.
"Obscure Writer, Murder Suspect".
Or maybe "Second-Rate Novelist
Under Suspicion"?
I'm going to bed.
"Three headless female bodies
have surfaced thus far..."
Ouch!
"Could this be
the work of the Serial Photo Killer..."
"who first made appearance
twelve years ago?"
"I'm going to interview Kurei's
defense attorney, Maeda Reiko..."
"who has always insisted that
Kurei is innocent".
Miss Maeda, are you going to
confront the police?
"Has there been
new circumstantial evidence?"
"Miss Maeda...?"
What's so funny?
Every event that happens in life
is essential and inevitable.
Therefore there is no point in
being sad or depressed about things.
So.
Where's my third story?
Did you forget to bring it?
Hand it over. Dojima Sara's story.
There's no way I
could write her story.
Then I have nothing
to say to you today.
A deal is a deal.
You are not the murderer.
The only explanation
for the three new murders...
is that the real killer is still out there
and back on another killing spree.
You are trying to live as the murderer.
But that's totally useless.
But... Why at this late date?
There's a rumor saying
Kurei is about to be executed.
Perhaps the real killer found out that
Kurei is planning on releasing a memoir.
The Photo Killer is a psychopath.
And like all psychopaths,
he is extremely egocentric.
The arrest of Kurei allowed
the real killer to get away scot-free.
But by releasing a memoir, Kurei
would be claiming all the "credit"...
for the real killer's deeds.
And Kurei would, once again,
usurp all the attention.
The real killer couldn't stand for that.
And he set me up because
I'm writing Kurei's memoir.
Who is the real killer?
Who knows?
Perhaps he did this to warn you off.
"Warning"!
That would make a
good title for a novel.
What are you talking about?
Maybe it's too late to say this...
but enough of this memoir nonsense.
It's not enough.
You don't want to write
this memoir badly enough.
What do you mean?
Good writing is driven by compulsion.
It's a pity, but you lack the drive
and desire to write my memoir.
I have many more devotees out there
who send me fan mail.
Please think about it.
I said, stop this nonsense!
Let me give you a
sincere piece of advice.
If you want to create art, you need to
find that one holy place, you hear me?
The holy place.
It could be a desolate stretch of
wasteland with no signs of life anywhere.
But once a light
pierces through the darkness...
a holy cross would appear.
Stay right there with
your most sincere desire...
and true art will be born!
You hear me?
- True art!
- Quiet!
That's enough already.
Isn't it your dream
to write detective novels?
Start behaving like
a private detective.
Listen...
a mystery author gets to set up
the mystery before unraveling it...
You'll be saving lives
if you can unravel this case.
And it will certainly make any novel
you publish a bestseller.
Such miracles would
never happen to me.
I'm Hasegawa. Hasegawa Chinatsu.
Sony for the sudden visit.
Is something the matter?
I'm terrified at the thought that
Kurei is not the perpetrator.
And the real killer
is still out there...
I can't take it anymore!
I understand.
Calm down first.
We'll figure out what to do next.
What do you see?
I see your desire.
It's so beautiful.
There is beauty in chaos.
Is there any connection between
Kurei's killings twelve years ago...
and the three new deaths?
We decide to investigate Kurei's past.
This was where Kurei had
his photoshoot with his victims.
And he sent the very photos to the police.
I see a car in the rearview mirror
that has been behind us for a while.
The silver car, right?
It caught my attention too.
Why don't you make a quick tum?
Is it still following us?
No, it went straight.
Is this where Kurei
spent his middle-school years?
Excuse me?
Hello?
We're here to ask about Kurei Daigo.
My husband is dead.
No, it's pot about your husband.
It's about Mr. Kurei.
What a beautiful sunset.
Where did you take that?
This is not working.
Ai!
- Are you okay?
- It hurts...
Stand up slowly.
You're bleeding!
Let's go back to the car.
I'm fine.
No, the wound needs to be
disinfected immediately.
I doubt there is anything ahead.
Let's go back.
Easy...
The factory boss's wife was
Kurei's last victim.
Kurei worked part-time here once.
"Mishima Factory"
See you tomorrow.
Why are you here?
Mr. Mishima...
You're one of the bereaved.
What are you doing,
going around with that man?
What were you thinking?
As one of the bereaved,
you ought to know better, don't you?
Mr. Mishima...
I'll say this again.
Stop writing Kurei's memoir.
His book will only intrude and
mess up our lives.
It will affect all of us badly.
Do you think it's right to do that?
Please stop writing it.
And get out of my sight.
Mr. Mishima was the one who asked
Kurei to take pictures of his wife.
The person he blames most
is probably himself.
- You lost your sister...?
- Yes.
You visited Juri once, didn't you?
Can you tell me why Juri was
so obsessed with a man like Kurei?
I don't know.
I only had a brief chat with her.
But there's one thing I could tell.
Juri was a good girl.
Thank you.
You wish to have
a look around her room, right?
Please go ahead.
I haven't been able to bring myself
to set foot in her room.
The police took almost everything.
She must be shocked that
her daughter was a Kurei fan.
I found her letters
in the family shrine.
I found it after she passed away.
But I didn't want
the police to misunderstand Juri...
so I didn't give these to them.
These are from Kurei?
My daughter...
Juri was not a good girl.
She locked herself in her room
for three years.
She was always angry.
But I had no idea
what she was mad about.
I thought...
perhaps you would
understand my daughter.
That's why I want
to give these letters to you.
I couldn't understand her.
I loved her with all my heart
and raised her to the best of my efforts.
She was...
my most cherished daughter.
It's all right...
I want to...
I want to...
kill the man who did this to her!
Chino Yuka's house
is at the end of the road.
Are you all right?
I'm sorry, but I think I'd rather
wait in the car.
Let's just go home for today.
No, we're already all the way here.
You should go ahead.
- Let's take shelter at my place.
- Okay.
"Hasegawa-s"
I moved out right after
I graduated from the high school.
I didn't get along with my sister.
Everyone was always comparing me to
her cheerful, likeable self. I hated it.
I shut her out of my life...
back when she was alive.
I didn't even want to think about her.
But now, she talks to me everyday.
"Why are you the one who lived?"
"Why do you get to live, but not me?"
"Why should I be the one killed?"
"You're nothing.
You should be the one who died!"
She keeps talking to me...
every single day...!
Ippei!
Good morning.
What's the matter?
You suck at reading people.
That woman is weird.
I can feel it.
Be careful of her.
Of her?
My instincts are never wrong.
Do you need my help?
No.
Do you have any idea
who the shooter might be?
Not at all.
There were no witnesses.
And you didn't have a scratch on you.
What does that mean?
Are you implying I made it all up?
Stop playing the innocent.
You took these pictures, didn't you?
Wasn't Hasegawa Chinatsu with you
at the time of the shooting?
Where isn't she here?
I was the only one who got shot at.
I didn't think
you would need her to be here too.
Can you tell Chinatsu
that I would like to see her here?
"Yours, Hasegawa Chinatsu"
Dam it...
"To Kaburagi Juri"
"Visitation"
Kurei, you have a visitor.
Hey!
I don't want to.
Kurei!
I don't want to.
It has been a while.
We need to talk.
My, you look stem.
I'm getting all nervous.
It's about your memoir.
You never intended to publish
a memoir, isn't it?
It's all part of your
plan to get out of jail.
Am I right?
I can't hear you.
Why did you pick me when you could have
very well written the memoir yourself?
You just wanted to use me, didn't you?
I read your letters to Kaburagi Juri.
You're a much better writer
than I could ever be.
You have such a way with words...
it's no wonder those women fell for
everything you said.
Be honest, you don't think much
of my writing, do you?
You used such beautiful words
to get me to see you...
plied me with flattery
and convinced me to take the deal.
I bet you were laughing
at me all the while!
Calm down, will you?
In here, I've got nothing but plenty
of time o read a wide range of books.
I merely regurgitated whatever I could
remember from the books in those letters.
You think too little
of yourself, Mr. Akaba.
It's you who thinks
so little of your writing.
Have you ever had the one thing
you never stopped wishing for...
appear before you? I have.
Something so beautiful and fragile,
right before your eyes.
I was so mesmerized, my body started
trembling uncontrollably.
I felt like I was about to faint.
If only time would stop right now...
yet I didn't want it to stop.
I cannot faint right now.
I've found my holy place.
Listen.
I can create moments so beautiful...
it is beyond the imagination
of ordinary people.
I will hit the shutter
and preserve the beauty forever.
I will freeze my work
in its perfection.
That way, I will always tremble
before its beauty.
You hear that?
Listen up now.
If you really want to
be a topnotch writer...
you have to write about the real me.
Who I really am.
Who I really am!
The real me!
Who I really am!
That's what you should write about.
Please don't stop.
I've chosen another devotee for you.
She's a strange one.
I killed her sister,
but she sends me letter after letter.
Hasegawa Chinatsu.
You've decided
not to write the memoir? Why?
It's none of your business.
No, don't do this!
If you give up now,
you will be back at square one.
How are you going
to pay for your rent?
- I will pay up.
- How?
Well...
I'll get a part-time job or something.
Pick it up.
I don't want to have anything more
to do with the case.
Are you giving up
because of Chinatsu?
No.
I refuse to let
Kurei have his way anymore.
Ippei, don't you have any guts?
You're pathetic!
You're just a kid.
What do you know?
- Who are you to judge...
- Forget it!
I get it.
This is just the kind of guy you are.
- I'm so disappointed!
- Shut up!
Stop poking your
nose into my affairs!
Idiot!
Don't you just hate the winter sea?
My mother was beautiful.
Was your mother beautiful?
If you want to create art,
you need to find that one holy place.
The holy place.
You have to write about the real me.
It's not enough.
You don't want to write
this memoir badly enough.
Have you seen the news?
No, I'm not here because of that.
What happened?
You will find out soon enough.
Miss Maeda hasn't slept for days.
Be careful.
Welcome back.
I apologize for calling you here
on such short notice.
It's okay.
The Supreme Court may accept
my appeal for retrial.
Which means it's very likely
Kurei's case will go to court again.
I just want to let you know that
the memoir you're writing...
cannot be published
if that's the case.
I see.
Moreover, the victims' families
have sent me a protest letter.
You have been carrying out
some investigation oi your own'!?
I won't be writing Kurei's memoir.
And I won't visit him anymore.
A wise decision.
It's one good news
after another today.
I came to tell you that.
And also, whether or not
anything can be published...
I will continue to write about him.
I want to know more about Kurei.
I want to understand him.
I'm feeling rather confused right now,
but this is what I want to do.
What does he see?
How does he feel?
What is it that he hates?
And what does he love?
What was going through his head
all this while?
I see.
Then go ahead.
She's wrong if she thinks she can
live out her life...
glued to the TV in
that filthy old shack.
How does Kurei know how
his foster mother is doing right now?
Help... anyone!
Ippei? I'm sorry about yesterday.
I'm in your room now.
I told you not to come by my house
until this matter blows over.
I want to apologize to you.
When will you be back?
Who's there?
Ai? Hello...?
Ai!
Ippei...!
Bloody hell...
Ai!
Ouch...!
Chinatsu...
She is the killer...
She's Kurei's mother.
Did you kill my sister?
Where is it?
Where did you hide her head?
I fed it to the pigs!
Don't shoot. Don't!
Police! Freeze!
Mr. Machida.
Where's Chinatsu?
We let her go after
we took her statement.
As for your niece, Kobayashi Ai...
she only suffered minor wounds.
I've contacted her
parents in the States.
I have good news and bad news.
Please tell me the good news first.
Maeda Reiko confessed to killing
the three Kurei devotees.
We've recovered the murder weapon as well
as the decapitated heads from her home.
What's the bad news then?
Those weren't the only murders
she confessed to.
She confessed to the Photo Killer
killings from twelve years ago too.
No way...
I saw through those
models immediately.
They wanted to seduce my son
with their filthy bodies.
They wanted to
steal my lovely boy from me!
She followed the women back to
their houses after Kurei's photoshoot...
and killed them there.
She sent those photos to the police
because she hates us.
But her son ended up being
wrongfully arrested for her deeds.
In order to save her son,
she studied hard to become an attorney.
She even changed her identity.
Her confession
tallies with all of our evidence.
What a woman.
What she did is
beyond anyone's imagination.
How did you know
she's Kurei's mother?
Because of the photos.
The photos hanging on
the walls of her office.
I realized those
photos were taken...
around the hill behind
Kurei's foster parents' home.
I still believe Kurei is behind
those killings twelve years ago.
But to be honest...
I've had a few moments
of doubt about it.
Are you sure it's fine for me
to read these files?
I'm going out for a break.
What you do with these files meanwhile
is none of my business.
This is Hasegawa Koharu.
The photos of the
decapitated bodies are in here.
Do you want to see it?
"Housewife, Mishima Nobuko.
Aged thirty-eight"
Where is Mrs. Mishima's photo?
We arrested Kurei
soon after she was killed.
He hadn't had time
to send us her photos.
We searched Kurei's house.
But we didn't find Mrs. Mishima's photos,
only unused film.
"Inventory of Seized Items"
"6. Camera
7. Camera film"
Maeda Reiko isn't
the shooter who assaulted you...
near Chino Yuka's place
and in the hills.
The rifling pattern on the bullets
we retrieved doesn't match that of her gun.
Moreover, Maeda Reiko was in court...
appealing for a retrial
at the time of the shooting.
Call me when you're ready to go.
I will send you home,
just to be safe.
Okay?
Goodbye.
Megumi?
Mr. Akaba.
Were you brought in
for questioning too?
Yes. It was exhausting.
They wanted to know every single detail
about Miss Maeda's life.
This must come as quite a shock.
I don't think I can
ever trust anyone again.
I guess you can't just blindly
believe everything you see.
I suppose not.
You're right!
Excuse me, and thank you.
Why are you back here, Mr. Akaba?
Did something strike you?
You can't just blindly believe
everything you see.
What are you talking about?
Were any drugs detected in
those headless bodies?
Not at all.
Something struck me as odd
when I first saw these photos just now.
Their pupils are
dilated in every photo.
You're right.
We did check with a professional
photographer about this.
He said that happens
when the camera flash is used.
Yes, that's the case when
the standard positive film is used.
But...
the only type of camera film
the police found at Kurei's house...
were tungsten film.
What? What does that mean?
Tungsten film is
normally used for night shots.
You don't use the camera flash
with this kind of film.
The pupils of Kurei's photo subjects
shouldn't be dilated.
These portrait shots were not taken
before the victims were killed...
but after!
Wait a minute.
So you're saying the
victims were killed...
photographed
and then decapitated at home?
That doesn't make sense.
If I'm not wrong...
these bodies are actually
finely-made dolls.
Probably using silicon
or something similar.
Look.
All three victims were clothed from
neck to toe in the photos.
Kurei brought their heads home...
fixed them onto the dolls,
and took these portrait shots.
Why would he do this?
I don't know...
Good job realizing
that the bodies were fake.
You look more confident now.
- Your mother is still alive...
- What do you know about us?
Why did you kill those women?
Do you know what a beautiful sight
a woman who is bleeding makes?
I was reunited with my mother
after I graduated from middle school.
She investigated
my foster parents to track me down...
and she seduced my foster father.
Like countless times before...
my mother used her body
to dupe him for money.
She was still so beautiful.
But one day...
I went up the hills with
my empty camera like any other day.
I heard my mother screaming...
and my foster father shouting.
You stupid woman!
I rushed towards where
the shouts were coming from...
and found my mother...
bleeding under a tree.
I don't remember why...
but I went up to her
and laid in her arms.
Her blood was all over me.
But she held me close nonetheless.
That night, we embarked on
another journey, just the two of us.
I left my holy place.
We slept in the car,
and traveled across Japan.
The first time I killed a woman
was when I was twenty.
My mother welcomed me back...
with a big smile on her face.
I've always been driven
by the compulsion...
to seek out beauty.
To etemalize it in art.
That's why I came to Tokyo.
I can have my pick of women in Tokyo.
All I need to do is ask for models,
and they come flocking to me.
You mean those women
you killed twelve years ago?
They were so beautiful.
I enjoyed every moment of it.
Oh, the pleasure.
People are dead because of you.
"They were so beautiful"?
Is that your reason for killing them?
Yes.
You should seek beauty like I do.
Come up with works like mine.
Beauty?
Actually...
the one person you really wish to kill,
decapitate and take pictures of...
is your mother, isn't it?
You wanted to kill your mother.
You love your mother
with all your heart.
And you hate her just as much.
But still, you love her.
You killed those women...
because you wanted
to be one with your mother.
Through sharing the experience
of murder with your mother...
and the spilling of blood...
you are united with your mother,
creating beauty and art.
Not bad.
There is hope for you
as a topnotch writer, after all.
But all you really
are is a little boy...
who would do anything unquestioningly
for his mother to stay by his side!
You know nothing.
You are ignorant of the world!
You have no idea what art is.
You don't know a thing about beauty!
There is nothing in your photos.
You thought you captured beauty,
but you're just deluding yourself!
Shut up!
You don't understand my art.
You don't know what real art is!
You're nothing but a second-rate writer.
- Kneel down before me!
- I'd rather be second-rate...
then to be like you!
Second-rate or not, this is who I am.
At least I am honest about it!
- Kneel down!
- This is who I am!
Hello, Mr. Machida?
I think I know where the heads are.
"There are signs of digging here.
We will focus on this spot for now".
"Roger that".
We found it!
They found it!
"15:02, a skull has been found".
- And photos too.
- "I repeat".
"15:02, a skull has been found".
Ikita Mitio, Harashima Atsusa...
and Hasegawa Koharu.
I don't see Mrs. Mishima's skull.
Is this all?
That's weird.
If Kurei killed all four women...
why would he bury
Mrs. Mishima's head somewhere else?
There is more to this case.
Mr. Mishima!
Kurei didn't send
your wife's photos to the police.
And that's because...
he didn't kill your wife.
You expanded your factory
after your wife's death, didn't you?
I'm guessing you did it
using her insurance payout.
I need to search your car.
- Stop it!
- That bloody woman!
Why shouldn't I kill her?
She cheated on me...
and she had never once
made me a proper dinner!
Yes, I did it! I killed that slut!
Grab him!
- She deserved it! She was a filthy slut!
- Don't move...!
That filthy slut.
I had no idea these
are Kurei's pictures.
I worked with her every day,
but I never knew her true character.
I have one thing to tell you.
I'm sorry...
but I already have a boyfriend.
No, it's not that.
You know the book you like so much?
"Vampire in Love".
Actually, I wrote that book.
What are you talking about?
The author of that book is a woman.
Someone called Sasaki Ikuko.
The publisher said this book would
sell better if the author were a female.
I used my mother's maiden name
and her old photo.
I see.
I totally fell for it.
I'm sorry.
- Mr. Akaba.
- Yes?
I would love to read the sequel
to "Vampire in Love".
Please consider writing it.
Make it more thrilling
than the first book.
Maeda Reiko is dead.
What?
She hanged herself.
I wonder how her
death will affect Kurei?
I'm washing my hands off this case.
Thank you for all your help.
It's nothing.
Take care.
Ai!
Are you better now?
Sony for making you worry.
Look, I'm okay now.
Don't worry.
I'll be moving to the
States to join my dad.
I see.
All right.
So I guess this is it.
No, not this.
The rent you owe me.
Oh, right.
I'm kidding.
Just wire it to New York. Bye.
But...
Ippei!
I'm looking forward
to your next book.
Everyone has left me.
I've never felt more alone.
Kurei.
It's time for the execution.
"To: Akaba Ippei"
To second-rate writer, Akaba Ippei.
The wardens have agreed to send
this letter to you after my execution.
(Prayer chanting)
I'm glad to have met you.
I like your writing and
I've enjoyed our conversations.
I think highly of your work.
If only you can learn to love
your gift for writing.
I will leave you with the words of
German poet, Hermann Hesse.
"All the books in the world
will not bring you happiness".
"But they will quietly lead you..."
"back inside yourself".
Thank you for
walking with me to my death.
Yours, Kurei Daigo.
"Portrait of a Death-row Inmate"
"I am a second-rate writer".
"And that is a second-rate
opening sentence".
"I received a letter..."
"Portrait of a Death-row Inmate
by Akaba Ippei"
"The true colors of Kurei Daigo"
A book I once read said...
"A child can never
break away from his mother“.
Kurei's story...
could be anyone's story.
"To the memory of my late friend".