The Prince and Kimura retrieve and open the suitcase

The Prince and Kimura retrieve and open the suitcase in a Shinkansen sequence where apparent freedom is only another form of control. Kimura is allowed to move, but the Prince’s threat to his son makes escape an unacceptable risk. The hidden compartment yields the black suitcase; opening it reveals not only bundled cash but five debit cards, while Kimura’s impulsive treatment of a banknote gives the discovery an unexpectedly personal coda.

Coercion and the plan

The Prince removes the duct tape from Kimura’s wrists and ankles. This release does not mean that Kimura is safe to act against him: the Prince is counting on Kimura’s fear for his son. Kimura knows the threat is real and recognizes that the Prince is asking for his help in a way that might still leave his son out of danger if the task goes well. The possibility of a tolerable outcome keeps him from taking desperate action.

When Kimura asks what the Prince wants, he does so sullenly and rubs the places where the tape had been. He has to suppress his feelings and accept orders from someone he hates; the Prince, by contrast, finds the situation amusing. Their exchange establishes the unequal terms of the retrieval before either man approaches the suitcase: Kimura may be unbound, but his choices remain constrained by the danger to his son.

The Prince explains that the suitcase is in a trash receptacle farther back along the train, then clarifies that the receptacle is set into a wall panel that opens. Kimura understands the practical problem at once: the case cannot simply be brought back to their seats without attracting attention. The Prince agrees that there is nowhere near the seats to hide it. Their plan is therefore shaped by the train’s concealed storage and the need to keep the case out of sight, not by any confidence that the situation is secure.

The hidden compartment

At the wall, the Prince points out a round protrusion and gives Kimura the sequence of movements needed to open the panel. Kimura pushes, pulls, and twists it; the panel swings open, revealing the black suitcase on the top shelf. The concealed compartment turns an ordinary-looking feature of the carriage into the means by which the men can retrieve the case without carrying it openly from elsewhere on the train.

The Prince tells Kimura to take the suitcase and then directs him into the toilet to open it. He proposes a system of knocks so they can communicate without relying on an ordinary knock that another passenger might make. Five knocks are reserved for the possibility that people are waiting and Kimura should come out briefly; a pattern of three knocks with a pause is intended to warn him that someone suspicious is nearby. The Prince also considers the taller man who had been looking for the suitcase more dangerous and describes a separate warning pattern for that eventuality. The signals are part of the plan’s makeshift character: rather than eliminate the risks, the Prince tries to give himself and Kimura a way to respond as circumstances change.

Kimura calls the plan vague, but the Prince does not take the criticism seriously. He prefers to stay flexible and decide what to do when something happens. He orders Kimura to find the combination and open the case, then makes the threat explicit again: if Kimura leaves or runs, the Prince will contact his friend at the hospital, placing Kimura’s son in danger. The threat completes the logic of the scene. Kimura’s cooperation is not consent; it is the response the Prince has engineered by making his son’s safety depend on obedience.

Opening the case

In the train toilet, Kimura hunches over the suitcase and works the combination lock. Although the toilet is cleaned regularly and is not particularly dirty, he finds the whole situation repugnant. He turns a dial by one digit at a time and tries the lock repeatedly, without success. The Shinkansen sways rhythmically as he works, making the search for the correct number a private, constrained task within the moving train.

The lock clicks open at 0600. The narration associates the quick success with the Prince’s luck: there were many possible combinations, yet Kimura reaches the correct one rapidly. He lifts the suitcase onto the toilet and opens it fully. Inside are neatly stacked 10,000-yen notes. They are used and wrinkled rather than new, and Kimura is unimpressed by the amount; he has transported much larger sums before. The discovery is money, but it does not astonish him or alter his assessment of its value.

Several cards tucked into the suitcase’s webbing prove more revealing. Kimura finds five debit cards from different banks, each with its PIN written on the back in permanent marker. He reads them as an added means of accessing money, beyond the cash itself. The case is therefore more than a container of bundled notes: its contents combine readily available cash with bank access, although the scene does not establish what the accounts contain or whether the cards are used.

The banknote and the scene’s turn

Before closing the suitcase, Kimura feels an impulse and removes one 10,000-yen note. He says he doubts anyone will miss it, then tears the note into pieces. The narration specifies that he has always wanted to try doing this. He closes the case, moves it off the toilet, and throws the shreds into the bowl. The act is not presented as a practical step in the retrieval plan; it is a brief, private gesture made in the presence of money that otherwise leaves him unmoved.

The sequence moves from forced cooperation to successful access, but the opening does not resolve the danger surrounding Kimura. The Prince has secured compliance through the threat to Kimura’s son, and the suitcase’s contents introduce debit cards alongside the cash without showing their later use. The torn banknote provides the final contrast: an object treated as valuable by the plan becomes, for Kimura, something he can destroy on impulse. The episode’s central reversals remain sharply limited: Kimura is physically freed yet still controlled, the concealed case is found and opened, and its riches produce less wonder than a fleeting chance to do something he has long wanted to try.