Case 0013 · October 27, 2026

The Bicycle on Chawan-zaka

Every night at nine she rode down to the bathhouse. Tonight she never reached the bottom of the hill.

Tonight's case — free to play Difficulty: ●●○○○

The briefing

Kiyoko Fujimura painted kimono silk by hand, the slow Kyoto way, in a narrow machiya workshop at the top of Chawan-zaka. Every night at nine she rode her old black bicycle down the steep lane to the public bath by the Shirakawa canal.

The rest of the briefing is waiting in the case file.

The victim

Kiyoko Fujimura, age 71Kyō-yūzen dye masterKiyoko painted silk for kimono for more than fifty years and trained apprentices who now work all over Kyoto. She kept a strict routine: dyeing by daylight, tofu from the shop at the bottom of the lane at six, and the public bath at nine.

The suspects

Kenji FujimuraOffice manager · Son
Aoi TanakaJunior apprentice
Shinji MoriSenior apprentice
Hideo NakagawaSilk merchant · Supplier

How to play this case

DifficultyGentle (2/5)
The suspects4
TimeAbout ten minutes

4 suspects and 14 pieces of evidence wait in the file. Sweep your flashlight across the scene, listen to every voiced statement and pin what doesn't add up. You have three accusations to name the killer, the method and the motive; after that, the morning paper tells the whole story.

About this case

Case 0013, “The Bicycle on Chawan-zaka”, opened on October 27, 2026. Difficulty: Gentle (2/5). It puts 4 suspects and 14 pieces of evidence in front of you, all connected to Kiyoko Fujimura. Like every Midnight Casebook file, it is a fair puzzle: there is no trick ending and no outside knowledge needed — everything that points to the answer is somewhere in the scene, the evidence or the statements.

Questions about this case

Is “The Bicycle on Chawan-zaka” free to play?

Yes. It is tonight's case, so it is free for everyone until the next case opens at midnight. Play it in your browser or in the iPhone or Android app — no account needed to start.

How hard is this case?

Difficulty: Gentle (2/5). Difficulty follows the week: Monday's case is the gentlest, Friday's and Saturday's are the toughest, and most players close a daily case in about ten minutes.

What if I get stuck?

Hints open one at a time: the first points to evidence worth a closer look, the second to a contradiction, the third explains one part of the puzzle. Free players get one hint per case, plus an extra one on hard cases during their first seven solves; Casebook Pro unlocks all three. Each hint costs 10 points and each wrong accusation 20, but time never counts against you.

Do I need to download anything?

No. The case plays in any modern browser at midnightcasebook.com/play, and there are also iPhone and Android apps. Sign in with Apple or Google when you want to keep your streak, scores and badges on every device.