“Everything changes in the last four letters!”
It is rumored to be the greatest twist in Japanese mystery history.
The novel that has become true in itself, 『Rumor』, is being republished!

A false rumor is spread to promote a newly launched perfume.
A rumor that sounds like an urban legend: 'Rain Man, a serial killer from New York, appears in Shibuya at midnight, kills girls, and cuts off their ankles, but if you sprinkle Muriel Rose on them, it will be okay.'
This rumor spread through Shibuya through the mouths of high school girls, and the perfume became a huge hit, and the word-of-mouth strategy was a huge success.
But the rumors become reality, and the bodies of girls with their ankles cut off are discovered one by one… .


Hiroshi Ogiwara's suspense thriller "Rumor," which was first published in Korea in 2009 and was considered the best twist novel among mystery readers, has been reborn.
The front of the Japanese edition of 『Rumor』 reads as follows:
“A shocking last line that will make you gasp.” And the phrase that continues on the back of the belt is:
“Be careful, once you start reading, you won’t be able to stop because you’ll be curious about what happens next.” 『Rumors』 is exactly that kind of novel.
A novel that you can never put down once you pick it up, and when you reach the end, you will involuntarily let out a groan, almost like a scream.

"Did you hear that? The rumor that something terrible happened at Himonya Park."
"no.
“What’s going on?”
“If you go to that park alone with a boy in the middle of the night... they say it comes out.”
“Me? What?”
“Rain Man.”
“Rain Man?”
“Yeah, even on a clear day, a man wearing a hooded black raincoat and a mask…….”
“Why is that? Is it dangerous?”
“Yeah, it’s totally dangerous.”
“When that guy opens the front of his coat, it kind of dangles all over his naked body?”
“No, it’s not that bad.
I'm telling you, it's really dangerous.
If you run into Rain Man, it's over.
They say they knocked the man down and took the woman.
What's even more horrific is that he cut off the girl's foot.
“Both ankles are slapped!”
"lie.
“That’s ridiculous!”
“I’m telling you, it’s true.
A kid who goes to Meguro High School was also hit.
But Rain Man never touches the kids who sprayed Muriel.
“Isn’t it awesome?”
“Muriel?”
“Don’t you know the perfume that just came out? Chanel and Calvin Klein aren’t effective, only Muriel’s rose is effective.”
"really?"
“I told you it’s true.”
--- pp.7~8

“The power of WOM is amazing.
There was a bank that eventually went bankrupt after a panic over deposit withdrawals was caused by someone saying, "That bank is dangerous," without any basis.
The toilet paper and rice hoarding incidents that occurred in the past were also due to groundless rumors.
Not long ago, a single online complaint damaged the reputation of a major home appliance brand. This demonstrates how word-of-mouth (WOM) can ruin a company.
It can kill people.
“The reason so many people from the Korean Peninsula died during the Great Kanto Earthquake was because of a rumor spread by someone.”
Tsuemura said that information about negative images spreads ten times faster than information about positive images.

“For example, gossiping about other people.
People want to say and hear insults or provocative stories rather than compliments.”
And what is more effective than negative image information is the method of stimulating fear.
“Do you know the most famous WOM? It probably originated in France, but now it’s spread all over the world.
It's dangerous for a woman to enter a foreign boutique's changing room alone. The mirror will spin and people will disappear. There's a story about a human trafficking ring hiding behind the mirror and taking them to a prostitution den.
This story has several patterns.
For example, a kidnapped woman had her limbs and tongue cut off to prevent her from escaping, or when she met her lover again a few years later, she was drugged and looked like an old woman.
It's a truly frightening story. The biggest psychological factor that contributes to the widespread spread of WOM is human potential fear and anxiety.
“For girls, scary stories and upsetting stories are the most effective.”
--- pp.24~25

“Have you heard of Rain Man?”
Before Gogure could finish speaking, Natsumi's eyes widened again.

"also."
“As expected?”
"That's the incident? Is that why you're late every day? I see.
“That’s Rain Man after all.”
Goguryeo also thought to himself, 'As expected.'
Rain Man, for some reason, all teenage girls know this name, which adults have no idea about.
Natsumi's answer wasn't much different from what the girls I met today said.

“It’s a famous story.
I heard it from several kids.
Of course, I thought it was a made-up story, but these days everyone believes that Rain Man is real.”
My daughter's face somehow felt like that of an unfamiliar girl.
Come to think of it, the girls I met today were all sixteen or seventeen years old.
Natsumi is at an age where it wouldn't be strange for her to dress up extravagantly and mix in with the kids who hang out in the crowds in the downtown area.
(…)
“He is called Rain Man because he wears a raincoat. Some say the coat is black, some say it is yellow, and some say it has a picture of Mickey Mouse on it.
"Isn't that totally creepy? Some say five people died, others say nine, and some say over twenty."
(…)
Let's talk to Najima tomorrow.
This is what I'm talking about.
“I finally figured out the Rain Man story.
It's a ridiculous rumor circulating among high school girls.
“My daughter knew it too.”
--- pp.191~194

Gogure showed Miyuki's mother a perfume with the logo MURIEL on it.

“When did you get this? Do you know?”
"well."
Mother tilted her head.

“There are three of the same bottle.
“It doesn’t seem like something I bought with money.”
Miyuki's mother made a face as if she was reminded of her.

“Come to think of it, I once saw a shopping bag full of cosmetics in Miyuki’s room and asked what it was.
I'm worried that maybe you secretly stole it from a cosmetics store.
I'm embarrassed to say, but that happened to me once before.
Then he got really angry and said he got it because of his part-time job.
Now that I think about it, this might have been what was in that shopping bag back then… … .”
“When will that be?”
Miyuki's mother put her hand to her temple for a moment and fell into thought.

“I rarely went into Miyuki’s room because she didn’t like me coming into her room.
I went in… … Ah, it’s about time I started using the air conditioner, so I decided to clean the filter… … .
I think it was around the beginning of July.”
We finally figured out why the two victims used the same perfume, and what the two people who had never met had in common.
The two people had the same part-time job.

--- pp.279~280