Chapter 4 4. A costume that lost one sleeve

Kosuke Kindaichi regarded Tsurunosuke's invitation as a challenge to himself, and he was definitely not exaggerating or overconfident. If you just listen to what he said, everyone will be dubious.But Kosuke Kindaichi still has a secret in his heart that cannot be revealed to others, and this secret is still a mystery to Kosuke Kindaichi himself, and he is troubled by it. It was the summer of Showa 11, one month before Tsurunosuke disappeared, Tsurunosuke had commissioned him to secretly spy on the latest whereabouts of a woman.That woman is called Li Yuanqiu and she is 35 years old. Tsurunosuke just told him the woman's name, age, and where she lived, but nothing else.When Kindaichi Kosuke asked about his relationship with the woman and the purpose of the investigation, he asked back: "Mr. Kindaichi Kosuke, isn't this your duty? If you are really what you usually say, what is it?" A famous detective shouldn’t ask too many questions, hahaha!”

Recalling afterwards, Tsurunosuke's laughter at that time contained a certain sense of loss, and he was in the midst of disturbed thoughts.Later, he quietly said to Kosuke Kindaichi, "Mr. Kindaichi, this matter must be kept absolutely secret. No one should know, let alone that woman. She is a very violent woman. Once she knows that someone is secretly investigating I really don't know what will happen to her situation! Mr. Kindaichi Kosuke, you must be careful first!" There was a strange light in Tsurunosuke's eyes, and beads of sweat oozed from his forehead. Kosuke Kindaichi was not very interested in investigating the privacy of men and women at first, but because it was a good friend's request, Tsurunosuke's request was very sincere, so he had to accept it.

Unexpectedly, this investigation was a complete failure. When he started the investigation, Akira Kojihara no longer lived on the second floor of the Asakusa Baji pancake shop provided by Tsurunosuke, and he did not find out about that The whereabouts of the women, therefore, is a failed investigation.Although he didn't find out the woman's recent whereabouts, he found some information about her past, which shocked Kindaichi Kosuke, so he was even more puzzled by the investigation proposed by Tsurunosuke. In the 14th year of Taisho, at the age of 23, Shu Yuanqiu quit his job as a nurse and married a civil architect.In the autumn of the following year, she poisoned her husband to death with Tu Ning.The reason was that her husband was addicted to alcohol, and she couldn't stand his abuse.After court investigation, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison the following year, and was released in May of Showa 11.She has neither parents nor siblings.This situation shocked Kindaichi Pinsuke.He didn't understand why Sanochuan Tsurunosuke wanted to associate with such a woman, and what was the relationship between him and her?

If Tsurunosuke has any privacy with her, judging from the biography, it is unbelievable.Tsurunosuke was only 19 years old when Akira Kohara killed her husband. Generally speaking, if he had any affair with her, it should be before Akira Kohara got married, but Tsurunosuke was only 18 years old when Akira got married. , still a child. Of course, it is not unique for 18-year-old men to interact with women, and Tsurunosuke is a young man who matured earlier.Even so, it depends on what kind of woman the other party is.It is easy for a young, beautiful and well-known actor to conquer women, but having sex with a female nurse who is 5 years older is unbelievable, not to mention that the woman is said to be black , an ugly monster with yellow curly hair.

It is quite a pity that Kosuke Kindaichi has never seen this woman with his own eyes. Judging from other people's dictation and newspaper photos, although she is not as ugly as the rumors, she is not beautiful anyway. It is said that she His hands and feet are stiff and his movements are clumsy, like a man. Kosuke Kindaichi thinks: Even if Tsurunosuke is a womanizer, he should never have an affair with this woman, but if there is no such romance between the two people, why would Tsurunosuke associate with Akira Kohara... It's really elusive. Later, when Kosuke Kindaichi met Tsurunosuke, he wanted to understand the mystery. When Tsurunosuke heard this, he hurriedly stopped him and said, "Ah! Mr. Kosuke Kindaichi, please don't mention this again, too Please, thank you...Kosuke Kindaichi, please, let's make an agreement: from now on, no matter what the situation is, or in front of anyone, we must keep our mouths shut and never mention that woman again, is that okay?"

When Tsurunosuke said these words, his mood was extremely depressed.Two or three days later, Tsurunosuke cleverly disappeared from under Kanedaichi Kosuke's nose. Thinking of this situation, Kosuke Kindaichi decided: Tsurunosuke invited himself to watch a play and disappeared in full view, clearly he was challenging himself. Kosuke Kindaichi judged: Tsurunosuke eloped with Akira Kosuke.But why did he run away with this woman?This is an unsolved mystery. Kosuke Kindaichi abided by the gentleman's agreement, so far he has not revealed the whole story of this matter in front of Renren, and even the name of Akira Kazuhara has never been revealed.

That day, when he was talking with Zihong, he kept trying to get some information from Zihong, but finally he didn't say anything.After a while, the two walked out of the hotel and waved goodbye. Before breaking up, Zihong invited Kosuke Kindaichi again and again, and would often go to the stage to play in the future. August 2nd was the first performance of "Inazuza" theater to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the disappearance of Tsurunosuke.On this day, Kindaichi Koji accidentally came to the theater involuntarily.Because it was the first performance, there were almost no empty seats in the theater, but compared with the hustle and bustle on and off the stage 16 years ago, it was far inferior at this time. This is because the performance of "Catching Carp Alive" with pool props has already been held in Tokyo. It is not a unique repertoire of the "Inazuma" theater.

After the first performance, Kosuke Kindaichi thought behind the scenes and went to visit Zihong.When I came to the corridor, I accidentally ran into drama critic Kameo Sato. They met each other because of drama investigations before, and they are very familiar with each other. "Oh, isn't this Mr. Kindaichi? I haven't seen you for a long time!" "Ah, Mr. Sato, thank you for taking care of me last time, thank you so much!" Kameo Sato noticed that Kosuke Kindaichi was a little distracted, and hurriedly asked, "Mr. Kindaichi, what is your urgent matter?"

"Ah... no, I just want to go behind the scenes and visit Mr. Zihong." Sato looked at Kosuke Kindaichi in surprise, and said, "Mr. Kindaichi, did Zihong entrust you to investigate something?" Kameo's tone was unusual, and Kosuke Kindaichi felt his heart tremble.He looked at Sato and asked, "No, Mr. Sato, did something happen?" "You don't know yet, yesterday... ah! It should be dawn today. It is said that something happened in the 'Inazuma Seat'. It may be your duty..." "What? . . . something happened, . . . what happened! . . . "

"Isn't Zihong really the one who invited you here?" "No, Zihong really didn't invite me!" "Well, shall we go have a cup of tea together?" The two entered the teahouse one after the other, and the second show started again.There were only the two of them left in the teahouse, and Zuo Lian began to talk slowly. "I just heard about it too. In order to welcome today's performance, the 'Inazuma' troupe rehearsed today's show in the theater last night. This rehearsal was very formal and it was a simulated performance. The stage was decorated with The props and actors were all put on make-up and costumes, Xiao Ling personally sat on the stage to direct, Lei Zang was the director, and the actors performed very seriously. The last rehearsal program was naturally "Catching Carp Alive". It was 4 o'clock in the morning, and the actors all went back to rest, and soon, a strange thing happened..."

"Strange thing?" "The actors and band were all evacuated, and the props remained on the stage untouched. Due to the long rehearsal time, the attendants and apprentices all lay down and rested on the spot, so..." "So?...Ah, Mr. Kosuke Kindaichi, have you seen the play "Catching a Carp Alive?" "I've seen it, I saw it here 16 years ago." "Great, it's this scene, the last scene. When everyone was lying down and was about to fall asleep, they suddenly heard a movement on the stage. Someone opened their eyes and saw that the 'widowmaker' was actually From behind the window props, it wobbled out..." Kosuke Kindaichi opened his eyes wide in horror, and took a breath: "What... what, what? Carp essence..." "That's right! It's the carp spirit in the play, wearing a scale costume with a belt tied on his chest, drooping... He was whispering to the lady in the boudoir, was discovered by the housekeeper, and after a fight, he showed his original shape and wobbled Shake the scene." Kosuke Kindazu was stunned, stared straight at Kameo Sato, and said, "Mr. Sato, are you joking?" "How could it be a joke? I just heard it from someone in their regiment. Someone witnessed this scene at the time, so it cannot be a hallucination." "What happened later? The carp spirit..." "After the guy appeared from the window prop, he got into the iron pipe, but there was no splash, and the pool was very calm." "Then what happens later..." "Because all the people present were stunned and were too scared to breathe. When they came to their senses, a few people thought of it, and they ran to the basement to check, but there was no one. Watch. So people are all in a mess, saying there's a ghost." "ghost?" "Yes. Don't you know what happened here 16 years ago? Raizo's father, Tsurunosuke, disappeared from the stage just like that." "I know that. I saw him disappear that day with my own eyes. I still don't know his whereabouts!" Sato also looked at Kosuke Kindaichi with a little suspicion, and wanted to say something, but changed his words and said: "Ah, is that right? The disappearance of Tsurunosuke happened before, so 16 years later, this play was staged again and spread in the society. All kinds of speculation, for example: maybe the same thing 16 years ago will happen again, etc. Therefore, when the carp spirit appeared on the stage at night, people were stunned for a moment, scared and at a loss!" "It turned out to be like this. That's why everyone mistook the carp spirit for Tsurunosuke's ghost. But, did people see his face?" "Because after the rehearsal, most of the lights have been turned off, and the lights on the stage are relatively dark. Carp Jing's hair is disheveled, so I can't see his face clearly. However, Uncle Yin said with a mournful face, that is indeed the young master." "Speaking of Uncle Yin, I remembered, he is Tsurunosuke's follower, is he healthy?" Sato looked at Kosuke Kindaichi in surprise again and said, "Ah, so you know Tsurunosuke so well, Uncle Oto is now Raizo's follower." "So that's the case. Then, Uncle Yin must have seen that 'ghost'?" "Yes, after the rehearsal was over, Lei Zang went home. But Uncle Yin stayed. He said that the costume worn by the 'ghost' had no left sleeve. It is said that when Tsurunosuke disappeared from the theater 16 years ago, he had At the lower part of the iron pipe, the left sleeve was scraped off, so Uncle Yin believed that the 'ghost' was the young master, and cried and said: I really regret it, why didn't I say a word to him at that time!" Kosuke Kindaichi was silent for a while, for some reason, an inexplicable sense of fear arose from the bottom of his heart, as if a big cold hand was reaching out to his head.He couldn't help but fight a cold war. "Sato-kun, on the 16th anniversary of Tsurunosuke's death, to perform "Catching the Carp Alive", whose idea is this?" "Of course it was Xiaoling, who came up with this idea in order to restore the long-term depression of 'Inazuma'. I don't think it will have any effect. This small theater is already too dilapidated. Even if there are excellent actors No matter how good the performance is, it will not attract many viewers. Zihong has completely lost confidence in this, and threatened to participate in W company to perform. It is said that W company is also planning to annex the "Inazuma" And said: Although the theater is small, the actors in it are top-notch, such as Zihong and Lei Zang. In two or three years, Kabuki will be the world where they can show their talents. However, what did Xiaoling say? I also disagree, saying that although her eyes are not good, she still has to be determined to stick to the 'Inazuma seat', and she has to make a show to show W Company. Unexpectedly, her eyes are getting worse and worse, and now she is finally blind. " "Xiaoling's eyes are blind?" "Yes, although she is blind, she is a strong woman. Therefore, Zihong and the others have been chained tightly to the small theater of 'Dao Wife', suffering bitterly." Kosuke Kindaichi recalled the scene when he met Zihong four or five days ago.Although Zihong didn't mention this, did the indifferent and gloomy expression on his face come from this situation?