# #36 「本人は脱出したいと思っていますか？」 - Show: 朝井リョウ・加藤千恵 信頼できない語り手 - Published: 2026-10-09 - Canonical: https://podc.club/en/episode/1874531482_2b91ef0ab646.html - Audio: https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/67122501-9b17-4d77-84bd-a93d00dc791e/119fad05-0faa-47c5-898b-b3e5005ceaac/f0e7a3e7-d212-4652-948c-b4de005e1826/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=418670c9-0dad-4937-80c6-b3e5005cef49 - Source: Edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. Not an official summary. Kato Chie (加藤千恵) recounts taking her 8-year-old to a Detective Conan real escape room — and discovering mid-game that the child was crying silently, convinced they were useless to the group. The episode also covers Asai Ryo (朝井リョウ)'s bitter college memory of a random-team escape room and his appearance in the final issue of the literary magazine Da Vinci (ダ・ヴィンチ) alongside Tsujimura Mitsuki (辻村三月). ## What this episode answers ### Why did Kato Chie's child start crying during the escape room? About 10–15 minutes in, the child had concluded they hadn't done anything, weren't helping, and had no reason to be there — and was crying silently. Kato was absorbed in the puzzles and hadn't noticed; it was Itakawa-san who spotted it first. ### What did Kato say to her child during the game and afterward? During the game, Kato kept it short: 'I'm glad you're here — I'm happy we came together.' At the Hawaiian restaurant afterward she explained more fully: 'The idea that you have to be useful is wrong; we have fun because we do it together, not because you're useful — I'm inviting you because I want you there, not because you're helpful.' ### Why is Itakawa-san a hero figure to the child? At a dinner at Kato's home, Itakawa-san picked up a Switch and cleared Super Mario World via the shortest route on the spot, cementing their permanent status in the child's mind as 'the person who's incredibly good at Mario.' ### What was Asai Ryo's experience with the final issue of Da Vinci? Every article Asai and Tsujimura had ever appeared in was printed out and laid across the table as a surprise before the shoot, leaving both wincing with 'I can't look'; facing debut-era choices of clothing and manner that felt like their best at the time, both agreed that human perception simply cannot be trusted. ### What happened during the escape room Asai Ryo played in college? The venue used random team assignments, so his group of four was split up; one teammate around 50 couldn't keep up and was told by more experienced players to 'just stay quiet,' and Asai described both the misery of wanting to contribute but being given nothing to do and the way the countdown transformed people under pressure. ## Article ## Taking a Child to the Conan Escape Room Kato Chie joined a real escape room based on Detective Conan after being invited by two friends: Itakawa-san, who works at TV Tokyo, and Yoshikawa-kun, a drama producer. Itakawa-san had tickets for a group of six, and Yoshikawa-kun vouched that the game would be perfectly fine for an 8-year-old second-grader — so Kato brought her child along. The child already knew they'd be 'solving mysteries' and was excited to hear that Itakawa-san had arranged the outing. Itakawa-san holds near-hero status in the child's eyes. At a dinner at Kato's home, Itakawa-san picked up a Switch and cleared Super Mario World via the shortest possible route, on the spot — earning the permanent title of 'the person who's incredibly good at Mario' in the child's mind. ## Ten Minutes In, the Child Cries Silently At the venue entrance, staff offered an easier parent-and-child version of the game, which the group declined. The format was a 60–70-minute timed challenge: six players gathered around a table spreading out papers and solving puzzles, with occasional movement around the venue. About 10–15 minutes in, Itakawa-san noticed something and brought it to Kato's attention. The child was crying silently — tears coming without a sound. Kato had been absorbed in the puzzles and missed it entirely. When asked what was wrong, the child said: 'I haven't done anything. I'm not helping. There's no point in me being here.' With no time to spare, Kato kept her response brief: 'I'm glad you're here. I'm happy we came together.' The rest of the group quietly found ways to involve the child — 'Can you stick this sticker?' or 'Can you go check that spot with Itakawa-san?' — folding the child into the work naturally and without drawing attention to it. ## Escape Failed — and the Real Conversation Comes After The group did not escape. Of the 15–16 tables in the venue, only about 3 cleared the game. Yoshikawa-kun had described it as 'easy mode,' but it turned out he had played a different, earlier session — the current difficulty was another matter entirely. Over pancakes at Eggs 'n Things in Harajuku afterward, Kato returned to the conversation with her child. 'The idea that you have to be useful is wrong,' she said. 'And it's not just about yourself — hold that standard for yourself and you'll end up holding it for others too. We have fun because we do it together. I'm not inviting you because you're useful; I'm inviting you because I want you there.' She added that Itakawa-san alone could have charged ahead perfectly well — at which the child immediately replied: 'But you still didn't escape.' The child had a firm grasp of the fact that six adults had failed. ## Asai Ryo's Bitter Memory from a College Escape Room Asai Ryo also played a real escape room once, back in his college days. The venue used random team assignments, so his group of four was split apart. One of his randomly assigned teammates was around 50 years old, struggled to follow what was happening, and at one point was told by more experienced players to 'just stay quiet.' Asai described the specific misery of those 60 minutes: wanting to contribute but being given nothing to do, the pressure steadily building, and the way the countdown — 'Ten minutes left' — pushed people to a breaking point and changed how they behaved entirely. ## The Final Issue of Da Vinci — Facing Your Past Self Asai introduced a conversation between himself and Tsujimura Mitsuki appearing in the final issue of the literary magazine Da Vinci, which went on sale October 9 — the day before this episode aired. The two writers' reading histories with Da Vinci didn't quite overlap: during the period Tsujimura read it, the magazine ran deep-cut features on university mystery-research clubs, and she recalled choosing her university partly because of an article featuring a cloaked male student introducing himself as club president. Before the photo shoot, the magazine surprised both writers by printing out every article they had ever appeared in and laying them all out across the table. Both reacted with pained laughter — 'I can't look.' Faced with debut-era articles, choices that felt like the absolute best at the time — outfits, poses, things they said — now read as mortifying. But those were their personal cutting edges then, they noted. Human perception, they concluded, simply cannot be trusted. ## Takeaways - Kato Chie told her child, who cried mid-game from feeling useless, that she invited them because she wants them there — not because they are useful. - Random team assignments at real escape rooms risk serious exclusion when experienced and inexperienced players are thrown together, as Asai Ryo's college experience showed. - The final issue of Da Vinci features Asai Ryo and Tsujimura Mitsuki in conversation, marked by a surprise display of all their past articles that left both too embarrassed to look.