Toubou Kyuukou

Also known as: 逃亡急行, Escape Express, Hours Until Death

by Chie Shinohara

This volume contains three one-shots by Shinohara Chie. 1. Toubou Kyuukou (逃亡急行) Natsumi is a young journalist who aspires to get that one big scoop that will put her on the map. Searching for something that might make a good story, she drives around at night and comes upon a murder scene. Wanting to find out more, she stops to ask questions of the investigators, but is taken hostage by a guy covered in blood! Is this story worth risking her own life?? 2. Shissou Toshi (失踪都市) Keiko wakes up one morning naked and with a huge hangover in a hotel room next to a guy that she had only met the night before. Horrified as she realized what she had done, she rushed back to her home, worried about what might happen if her strict husband ever found out. However, she discovers her husband dead at her house and she is now the prime suspect! Can Keiko prove her innocence? 3. Shikeidai no 72jikan (死刑台の72時間) Natsuki Kiriko has received a mysterious invitation to spend a few days at a fancy lodge called "The Orchard House". When she arrives, she finds 4 other young people there who had also been invited. After welcoming them, the hostess declares that the 5 of them had been chosen b/c they were all suspects of her son's murder 4 years ago. If one of them did not confess his/her guilt, they would all 5 die by the end of their stay! Kiriko knows she did not kill the hostess's son, but everyone else says the same. Can she find the real killer before she loses her life?? (Note: This story was published also in Shinohara Chie's "Umi ni Ochiru Tsubame")