From the first half of this mystery, it seems that Fujioka thinks that he will die early from a curse. Given how suspicious the claims he gave are, will Sakurako be able to expose his attempted cover up?
From the looks of it, it seems that the painting is cursed after all. Well, not so much as an actual curse, but the fact it used arsenic paint, which is poisonous. Although Fujioka wanted to use it to give a baby a good environment from the warm colors, he basically shutting himself in that room with the painting, it can explain why his health is declining. The paint as Sakurako reveals in a lengthy analysis can cause respiratory problems and even cancer. She also explained to him that stress can have huge impact on one’s health, especially for a man.
With that, does this mean that Sakurako proved that Fujioka is not cursed? Not really given how he behaved. Don’t you think it’s odd to see him accept the cursed painting and dog along with looking up his family tree and having Utsumi try to convince him that there is no curse so that he will live? Not only that, his family members have a history of financial trouble. There is no wonder the men in the family died early because of diseases caused by stress.
It took Sakurako a while to realize Fujioka was trying to cover up a suicide with an accident. It’s evident when his wife revealed that he bought expensive life insurance and invested a lot of money in the stock market, which he lost in a recent market crash. Of course, that is not the worse of it. It’s apparent that he was living beyond his means, which can explain why he is stressed out with the fear of being homeless given the amount of debt he has. There is no wonder why he wanted to cover it up the suicide as some accident in order for his wife to get the money from his life insurance despite not wanting to die.
Thanks to Hector with his barking, Sakurako managed to save him in time after realizing that she was deceived. While it’s understandable why Fujioka wanted a way out, especially when he is trying to fight his curse and stress from his misfortune in losing money while maintaining an unsustainable lifestyle, it doesn’t have to be this way. He could have sold his house and live a relatively comfortable life in a smaller home with his wife and daughter. Thankfully, the axe did not create a fatal wound since the handle split in half, allowing Sakurako to prevent Miyuki, Fujioka’s wife from losing her husband.
As a whole, I have to admit that while it’s nice to have a mystery that doesn’t involve a murder or death, it seems that Sakurako had another vision that Shoutaro is Soutaro by a tree at her house. Perhaps we will learn more about her past little by little as she solves more mysteries with Shoutaro. Either way, now that she owns Hector, it means that Sakurako can find dead bodies easier. Still, I wonder who is the shady guy towards the end of the episode. We’ll find out soon enough.
Shady guy will definitely make an appearance again. Maybe related Soutaro, who knows. Maybe.
I have a good feeling that it might be, but hopefully we will learn more in Episode 7 or towards the end of the series.