Screams from the Dead

Screams from the Dead
General information
Case #	1
Initial release date	13th September 2020
Number of chapters	7 Chapters
Main characters	Kindaichi Hajime Nanase Miyuki
Number of suspects	12 People (8 Men & 4 Women)
Deaths	1 Person (1 Woman)
Setting(s)	Opera House Hotel, Uta Island, Japan
Case chronology
← Preceded by	Succeeded by →
-	TBD

“	A series of murders set in the opera house that will give you chills to the spine.....coming soon, Screams From the Dead, memento mori...	„
	—-Case teaser

Screams from the Dead is a case featured in The Kindaichi Case Files as the first case of the series.

Main characters

• Kindaichi Hajime (17) - Fudo High Student
• Nanase Miyuki (17) - Fudo High Student

Suspects

• Makabe Makoto (18) - Fudo High Senior - Student Guest Actor
• Hidaka Orie (17) - Fudo High Student - Student Actress
• Kenmochi Isamu (48) - Metropolitan Police Officer
• Murakami Souta (17) - Fudo High Student - Sound Technician
• Saki Ryuta (17) - Fudo High Student - Cameraman - Lighting Technician
• Ogata Natsuyo (37) - Fudo High Music Teacher - Drama Club Advisor
• Arimori Yuji (17) - Fudo High Student - Stage Props Maker
• Kurosawa Kazuma (63) - Opera House Hotel Owner
• Yuki Eisaku (42) - Doctor
• Kiryu Harumi (17) - Fudo High Student - Student Actress
• Saotome Ryoko (18) - Fudo High Senior - Student Lead Actress
• Senke Takashi (17) - Fudo High Student - Sound Technician

Plot

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7

In the middle of the night, a little girly silhouette, face bandaged, stood right on the hospital's rooftop, spreading her hands to the "audience" below, who were bewildered by the view they were witnessing, trying to stop the girl... But it was too late, she started to remove the bandage, revealing her disfigured face...

"I am the phantom of the opera..."

A bright morning at Fudo High while Nanase Miyuki is revising her studies inside the classroom, gazing at the blank spot next to her and wondering why "he" is still absent from class even after multiple punishments and warnings. However, suddenly, she hears some noises coming from outside the window before opening it. And that's when she sees her dorky childhood friend named Kindaichi Hajime, grabbing into the water pipe next to the window so tightly that it is about to break, clumsily explaining that he was "busy" sleeping on the school's terrace that he missed the classroom's bell. After getting helped by Miyuki and another classmate, Murakami Souta, the dork gets into the classroom.

The homeroom teacher, who is incensed with rage after seeing Kindaichi's usual antics, scolds the dork out with anger beheld on his face, telling him to sit down after hitting him in his head with his hand. While he returns to his seat, however, Miyuki angrily scolds him for his antics, and Murakami is seen laughing and worried at the same time. Kindaichi then apologizes to them while scratching his head off, and they begin to continue their studies back.

After the class is over, the homeroom teacher is seen in the school’s staff room with another music teacher, Ogata Natsuyo, who charmingly smiles at him. He then talks about Kindaichi's troublemaking manners with her furiously, telling her that the boy must be expelled. However, Ms Ogata merely laughs at that claim, saying that Kindaichi, despite his dork look, actually holds potential talents due to his IQ as 180. Much as the homeroom teacher’s surprise, Ogata continues to reveal that Kindaichi has passed the national entrance exam with the highest score among the students in Fudo High...

Meanwhile, along the hall during the school break, Miyuki and Murakami come up to him, telling Kindaichi to prepare his belongings as they were invited by Ms Ogata, who is also the advisor of the school’s Drama Club, to an opera house hotel in Uta Island with a yacht to spectate a rehearsal from the club for the annual High School Drama Contest, with the famous play “The Phantom of the Opera”. Obviously, as a member of the club’s sound department, Kindaichi has to go….albeit never wants to do so…

Nonetheless….what awaits the group there…..is not only a play…..

Inside the yacht, a lot of members are there, including Kindaichi and his friends who sit on the back row. The dork seems to enjoy himself with the scene of the vast blue sea before Miyuki hands him a copy of the script. Kindaichi, who is frustrated after reading half of the script, throws it to the ground before Miyuki has to persuade him to finish the reading so that he can help manage the volumes since per Miyuki, a girl just quit the club. Curious, Kindaichi asks her what has happened, only for Miyuki to realize something and then tell Kindaichi not to worry about it. Right then, a mysterious masked figure lurks behind Miyuki, frightening her.

The guy with the mask is revealed to be a guest actor for the drama club, senior Makabe Makoto, who asks Miyuki to join him playing cards with the others. The girl voluntarily agrees and asks Kindaichi to join in, but is stopped by Makabe, who arrogantly tells her that Kindaichi is just a pathetic loser, making the dork offended while hearing that in another seat. Moments later, Makabe shows a mind-reading card trick, surprising Miyuki and another girl as Makabe can know exactly which cards the girls have picked. Kindaichi then pops out from the backseat during Miyuki’s turn, watching Makabe doing his magic trick and smirking at him. Before an annoyed Makabe tries to shoo Kindaichi away, the dork tells the girls to look at the corner of the card’s backside, only for them to discover a small symbol, which is exposed to help Makabe realize which card the girls were holding. The dork then continues to overwhelm everybody with his card magic tricks.

Makabe, totally left humiliated, stormed off while everyone nearby applauded Kindaichi. Soon then, the other girl from earlier approaches him but calls his name wrongly as Kindani, making the boy drop to the ground, shouting his real name as Kindaichi Hajime. The girl apologizes and then smiles at him, introducing herself as Hidaka Orie, an actress of the club. She then compliments Kindaichi, saying how he reminds her of a real magician. Upon Hidaka’s question about how Kindaichi can learn magic so well, the boy grins...

“Actually, it came from my super badass grandfather - Kindaichi Kousuke the famous detective!” - Kindaichi gives a thumbs up, winking as Miyuki smiles at him...

Everyone nearby are totally surprised towards the grandson of the great detective, with Hidaka insistently asks him if she can be his manager once he becomes a professional detective, flattering Kindaichi while irritating Miyuki, who stomps on his feet to “get him back to the reality”. Then, a young man, in a pair of glasses and a blue-striped shirt, turns his back at Kindaichi with a broad smile on his face…

“Heh, your name is, Tibbar-ichi right?” - The dork once again falls into the ground, knowing that the boy in glasses is doing that on purpose. Introducing himself as Arimori Yuji, in charge of the stage props, Arimori then continues to tease Kindaichi, making everybody nearby chuckle until a female shouts coming from the end of the yacht, telling everyone to be quiet so that she can revise her parts. While Kindaichi is annoyed, Arimori winks at him, saying that Kiryu Harumi - the girl Kindaichi is referring - would turn into a wholly different person on stage.

As soon as the club arrives at the Uta Island, they are warmly welcomed by the hotel owner, Kurosawa Kazuma, who proceeds to lead the students and Ms Ogata to the main facility, where the students are amazed at how great the hotel is, just like a retro building coming from a movie. The club then gets to the hotel's theater, stunned in front of how marvellous it is. Soon after, Kurosawa introduces them to the sound room where he has to do a little sweep as the place hasn’t been used for a long time, making it full of dust, yet the sound quality still remains quite impressive.

It starts to rain when the members start to rehearse their “The Phantom of the Opera” drama at the theater. On the stage, Hidaka plays the role of a young girl who goes approaching Makabe, as a black silhouette nearby….who turns out to be the phantom of the opera, making the girl shocked, screaming for help... Yet, the scene is then cut by Ms Ogata, saying that Hidaka’s scream is not loud enough, telling her to put more strength as she just saw the opera phantom in the flesh.

The rehearsal continues as Miyuki helps Kindaichi with the volumes. Suddenly, a pair of hands grab Kindaichi’s shoulders from behind, making the dork freak out and scream even louder than Hidaka just did earlier. The boy who just scared him off turns out to be Kindaichi’s childhood best friend, Senke Takashi, who gives him a broad grin at his pouting face. The duo then continues to chat a little when Arimori, holding a box full of stage props, appears and shouts at Senke, telling him to help organize the props. Excited, Kindaichi pulls out a crossbow inside the box and shoots it right to the stage, thinking it as a fake prop before Senke and Arimori stop him, saying that the crossbow is real….

The arrow hits right inches in front of Makabe who is playing the phantom’s role on the stage… Shocked for a second, Makabe then yells and throws his mask at Kindaichi for his clumsiness, only for the mask to be caught by Ms Ogata before it hits Kindaichi. Ogata then turns to Makabe, straight face, telling him not to lose his temper and end up breaking the props, especially the mask. The members go silent as Ogata wears it on her face, saying that the white mask is the Phantom’s trademark, used to hide his ugly face from the rest of the world….

The club remains quiet as Ogata finishes the opera phantom’s story….while the music teacher smiles at them and comes back to her seat, signalling the club to continue the rehearsal before a gorgeous actress in a floral gown comes to the stage… She starts to raise her voice, showing her charming face and graceful gestures to the audience….

Much as Kindaichi is stunned by the actress, Senke pops up, admiring the performance while grinning at Kindaichi, revealing that the pretty girl is, in fact, the one whom Kindaichi said to play the old lady role earlier on the yacht - Kiryu, who would turn different on stage with her hair down and her nerdy glasses taken off. Kindaichi, after realizing that the girl is Kiryu, was completely left surprised at how much a person can change. Murakami then arrives at the theatre after taking a break in the bathroom, appreciating Kiryu’s acting skills… However, the boy then slips out...

“Kiryu is indeed a good actress…. But the biggest star on stage...was still definitely Tsukishima Fuyuko...”

Before Kindaichi even asks about the name Fuyuko...he catches Senke and Arimori glaring at Murakami, who just realizes what he did. Murakami then tells Kindaichi that it is not a big deal to care about… Suddenly, the boys see Hidaka being shoved by another brunette girl on the stage, who angrily calls Hidaka the worst actress ever…

The girl is revealed to be the club’s star actress Saotome Ryoko, who then storms off the stage. While Miyuki tries to run after Saotome, the club’s cameraman and lighting technician Saki Ryuta grabs her in the hand, saying it is no point trying as Ryoko will just be more furious due to her diva personality. Annoyed, Saki then convinces Ms Ogata to take down Saotome’s leading role, only for him to be rejected by his teacher, who tells him that the club only has two weeks left for the contest, changing the lead actress would be too risky. Hopeless, Saki places his video camera down the chair, opening his mouth…

“Everything would have been better if Fuyuko was still alive…..”

The club members shudder, quietly looking at Saki as he leaves the stage with his camera. Confused, Kindaichi turns to Murakami, asking if Tsukishima Fuyuko was the club member who committed suicide… Murakami facepalms, admitting the fact and saying that Ryoko then became the heroine after Fuyuko’s death...

Meanwhile, Hidaka is seen feeling unwell… Miyuki approaches the girl and asks if she witnesses something wrong. Yet, Hidaka remains silent, although her eyes are still wide….as if something horrible is after her...

That evening, Kindaichi helps Arimori with the stage props before the dork asks Arimori about Tsukishima Fuyuko… The blond guy goes quiet for a second but decides to tell Kindaichi the whole story about why the club members always avoid mentioning her name. Per Arimori, Fuyuko was a sweet and beautiful girl who looked like a perfect angel on stage... Until one month ago, she stumbled upon a bottle of sulfuric acid in the school’s chemistry lab. As a result, her gorgeous face was severely disfigured and had to be fully bandaged, so bad that even surgery wouldn’t help… He also revealed to Kindaichi a secret that no one except the club members knew… One day, all members, except Miyuki who had a fever, decided to visit Fuyuko in the hospital, but ended up witnessing her on the rooftop, removing the bandage and revealing her disfigured face while opening her mouth…

"I am the phantom of the opera… I am the ugliest creature on Earth…. And even while the fires of hell burn this ugly creature, I'll still dream of a place in heaven!"

And those were Fuyuko’s last words before she jumped off from the rooftop and killed herself, scaring everyone witnessing. Arimori then mentions that those words of Fuyuko represent the Phantom from the play when Christine sees his disfigured face. Until now, Arimori and the other members still cannot get the image of her disfigured self and her last words off their head, making Kindaichi understand why her name is avoided mentioning now...

Meanwhile, Miyuki goes to check up on Saki at his room, seeing if he already feels better or not yet. The boy then calmly tells Miyuki that he has recovered and nothing goes wrong, making Miyuki feel relieved and then say goodbye, telling Saki to go to the dining room early… Yet... the boy is seen sorrowfully taking out a picture from a book after Miyuki leaves… A picture of Fuyuko…

In the dining room, with the ticking sounds of the alarm clock next to a big beautiful doll placed on the shelf, Kindaichi and Senke show up, surprised that no one is still there yet. The dork then begins to take a seat, only to be yelled at by an old man, who tells Kindaichi that the seat is for him and points his name tag - Kenmochi Isamu - on the table. Kindaichi then annoyedly leaves Kenmochi’s seat just as everyone arrives at the dining room. The club members then take their seats with their corresponding name tags and begin to have their dinner as Kindaichi and Murakami are grossed out at another weird guy named Yuki Eisaku who just wants to eat with his own scalpel instead of the normal cutlery. While having her meal, Miyuki spots that Hidaka is still not present, pointing at her empty seat. Along with her strange actions earlier, Miyuki is worried that something bad may happen to Hidaka, prompting the group to split out and search for the girl...

All of a sudden, a female scream is heard during the stormy night…

Possibly from Hidaka herself... The group freaks out while speeding up the progress in finding Hidaka with Arimori searching outside and the others searching around the lobby… After trying to search up nearly every place in the hotel but cannot find the girl, everyone again hears a loud bell ringing sound coming from the theater. Kindaichi and Miyuki then rush to the theater’s main doors, only for the duo to witness a gruesome scenery after turning the lights on….

It’s Hidaka, lying on the stage, dead… with a giant set of stage lights crushing her body. The girl who always looks cheerful now turns cold and stiff just like a horrifying artwork. The ghastly scene causes Miyuki to faint, with Kindaichi holding her, scared...

Minutes later, Miyuki wakes up from the faint. Realizing the bloody scene she just witnessed, the girl panics, telling everyone to help save Hidaka, only to be interrupted by Yuki, the weird man with a scalpel earlier, who claims to be a doctor… Dr Yuki turns to Miyuki, saying that her friend Hidaka died instantly due to the lights crushing her spine, making the broken ribs puncture many of her vital organs. Disgusted and hopeless in saving Hidaka, the club members start to freak out, only to be stopped by the tough-looking guy named Kenmochi, who orders them to calm down. Much to everyone’s surprise, Kenmochi then reveals himself as a police inspector from the Homicide Unit of the Metropolitan Police Department. Annoyed since his vacation is ruined by a murder, Kenmochi starts to scout around the crime scene quickly, deducing that Hidaka’s death is an accident caused by the looseness of the rope used to tie the spotlight, believing that the rope was getting old and accidentally made the lights fall right into Hidaka below… Suddenly, a voice stops him...

“This was not an accident! This was murder!” - Everybody’s eyes go wide as Kindaichi sedately grabs Inspector Kenmochi’s shoulder, trying to get his attention before pointing to the rope which held the stage lights, whose end is seen to be sharply cut. Judging from that sharp end of the rope, Kindaichi believes that someone had cut it with a knife since the rope’s end would be frayed if it was old and worn. This is equal to the fact that someone cut the rope in purpose, making it crush Hidaka’s body…

Embarrassed, Kenmochi then begins an investigation, telling everyone present at the crime scene to go back to the dining room for interrogations. Due to the extreme weather that makes the police unable to come, Kenmochi himself has to carry out the work. The inspector then asks for the students’ grades and names before moving on to the adults, saying that everyone there could be behind Hidaka’s murder. As Kenmochi continues, Ogata turns to him, stating the fact that Hidaka cannot be killed by everyone there, as they all were at the dining room when hearing her screams. Right when Ogata finishes her sentence, Kurosawa - the hotel owner - suddenly remembers a suspicious event… He starts saying, shivering...

"My goodness, sorry Inspector Kenmochi… I just remembered… There is one more guest staying with us - It’s Mr Kagetsu... He's one particular fellow...a strange man actually... He came here yesterday and booked a stay, leaving specific instructions not to be bothered because he was working on something… And the creepiest part is that… his face is wrapped with bandages…"

Kurosawa finishes as the word “bandages” makes every club member shudder… and the image of Fuyuko’s fully bandaged face after her unfortunate incident appears in their mind…

Kenmochi then tells Kurosawa to lead him to Kagetsu’s room, only to find everything there slashed into pieces but no traces of Kagetsu in person… Senke then discovers a suitcase in the corner of the wall before Kindaichi opens it, which turns out to have a bandage inside. While Kindaichi judges that Kagetsu isn’t injured and the bandage was only used to hide his face, Miyuki panics, telling Kindaichi to look at the bathroom’s wall… as some red words are written on it...

“Burn in the fires of hell”

The image of a bandaged Fuyuko and her voice through Arimori’s words come into Kindaichi’s mind immediately. Yes... that is the poor girl’s last words before she jumped off the hospital’s rooftop, the Phantom’s line from the play….

Makabe panics, saying that he has enough and doesn’t want to stay inside a hotel with a murderer on the loose. The senior then collects his backpack and rushes to the yacht, with some more students following behind, who also want to leave despite the yacht unable to go in such stormy weather. Much to their shock, the students see the yacht breaking free of the dock, sailing far away… which is equal to that everyone is stuck on the island. Senke then approaches the dock, only to find the line, which keeps the boat docked, was cut sharp… A panicking Makabe then gets furious, blaming Kagetsu for the fuss, before Kindaichi, with a serious look on his face, tells everybody to calm down… The boy then states the fact that no one can leave the island until the storm is gone, making the students fall silent...

The atmosphere is now filled with the sounds of thunder and lightning… or is that the evil laughter coming from our very own Phantom!?

Later that evening, Kindaichi, Miyuki, and Kiryu are seen walking down the hotel’s hall, discussing the murder before Kiryu reminds how Kagetsu also has his face bandaged like the late Fuyuko, proposing a theory that Fuyuko's ghost returned from the grave to haunt everyone down. After the theory is denied by Kindaichi who tells her that ghosts cannot kill humans, the girl adjusts her glasses as she comes back to her room. Suddenly, Kiryu turns back to Kindaichi and Miyuki, asking them who had killed Hidaka before opening her mouth….

“Wouldn’t it be interesting if it was someone who has their body and soul possessed by Fuyuko’s ghost?”

The girl smiles at them before locking the door, leaving Kindaichi and Miyuki, chilled…

Later in Kindaichi’s room, the boy lies on the bed, wondering about Kiryu’s words earlier. Judging from her tone, Kindaichi thinks the girl may hide some pieces of truth... or even worse that she may be behind Hidaka’s murder…

Meanwhile, the door of the hotel opens, revealing a mysterious silhouette walking towards Miyuki’s room. The silhouette then holds the door’s handle, awaking Miyuki by its clicking sounds. Soon after, the figure comes inside the room…

“Hmph….Who’s there..?” - Miyuki, still asleep, turns her head to the mysterious person…

“My name is Kagetsu.”

As Miyuki’s eyes go wide, the man who calls himself Kagetsu continues... “Yet, I also have another name as well…”

“The Phantom of the Opera!” Finishing his sentence, the masked man starts to charge towards Miyuki, choking her neck with both of his hands. While struggling in the pain, Miyuki uses all of her strength… to grab Kagetsu’s mask away, revealing the phantom’s face…….

Suddenly everything fades away, the girl freaks out…. Turning out that her encounter with the Phantom earlier was just a dream… While still wondering what had happened, Miyuki hears sounds of footsteps… The girl then turns her head to the window… only to see... a figure wearing a white mask dashing outside… eyes staring at her...

“Am I still dreaming!?”

The next morning, Kindaichi gets a phone call from Senke, who informs him that another corpse has been found… Shocked, Kindaichi grabs his umbrella, running straight to the big tree outside the hotel, where he sees everyone already there… and all gazing at her… Kiryu…

While the rain still continues, the poor girl’s dead body is seen hanging, slowly swinging from the big tree, with a thin wire making a creaking noise as it sways in the wind…