Chapter 4 Chapter Three Patrol

The sea water in October is clear and blue, as if the painting of Utagawa Hiroshige has been integrated into the Seto Inland Sea. The undulating waves weave snake-like silver lines on the sea, and the Shiobu Islands are dotted with silver lines. The more you go uphill, the wider the sea becomes. Kosuke Kindaichi had read Mori Ogai's "Improvisational Poet" when he was a student, and he yearned for the beautiful Italian seascape, so seeing such a scene on a small island in the Seto Inland Sea, he couldn't help but feel that Mori Ogai's "Impromptu Poet" The article in "The Impromptu Poet" is even more beautiful.

It's just that there is no woman like Anuchada here, and there is no poor beggar like Maria. As for the beautiful boy like Antonio... Kosuke Kindaichi suddenly remembered the beautiful boy with a coquettish face that he saw in the mirror just now, and remembered that his name was Ukai. His short hair, the faint blue hairline, his smooth forehead glowing like high-grade silk, his fair skin, and his dark and deep eyes are turning uneasily, and there seems to be a cunning and deep in the eyes. intrigue. When Ukai saw Kosuke Kindaichi in the mirror, a moment of uneasiness flashed in his eyes, and he immediately turned his eyes away. The uneasy look in his eyes can especially arouse a strong desire for protection in women.

Kosuke Kindaichi walked slowly on the sloping road, while carefully recalling the Ukai he saw just now. The boy was wearing a striped jacket and jacket, and a purple wide belt around his waist. He looked a bit like a Kabuki actor, but he lacked the frivolous look of a Kabuki actor. Perhaps it was because Kosuke Kindaichi had been staring at him all the time, the boy was so shy that his whole face flushed red all of a sudden. Kindaichi Kosuke remembered what the barber shop owner said, and couldn't help but sighed. After coming to this island, a series of amazing events happened.First Sanae, then the three Gorgon sisters, then Shiho who came to the temple to look for him, and today's beautiful boy, he bent a finger every time he counted one.Is there a fifth surprising thing?

Thinking of this, Wantai's intermittent and indistinct voice sounded in Kosuke Kindaichi's ear again when he was dying: "...to Prison Gate Island...to Prison Gate Island...the sisters will be killed by them...cousin...cousin..." Kindaichi Kosuke shook his body desperately as if trying to shake off the nightmare, then raised his head and looked towards the sea, only to see the "Hakuryu" sailing in the fjord, and three or four small boats were rowing to the side of the big boat, loudly talking to the boat. people answered. Then, someone lifted something from the "White Dragon". He widened his eyes and took a closer look. It turned out to be a bell.

"Ah! The bell has been brought back." Kosuke Kindaichi's eyes searched back and forth on the small shuttle boat, but he couldn't see the monk clearly, so he had to continue walking uphill step by step. In fact, if he wanted to go directly back to the temple, he should go to the left. Now he is going to the right because the house of the Guitou family's branch is in this area. The Guitou main family and the branch family are facing each other across a mountain. If Qianguang Temple is the checker in chess, then the Guitou family should be the rooks on both sides of the checker.The two roads in front of the two families twisted in the mountains and merged into one at the bottom of the valley.If you take a roundabout uphill road from the bottom of the valley, you can come to the high and steep stone steps in front of Qianguang Temple.

When the separation was approaching, Kosuke Kindaichi deliberately slowed down, wanting to take a closer look at the surroundings of the separation. It turns out that the branch family is the same as the main family, standing on a granite cliff, with white walls and long house doors, but in terms of scale and style, the branch family is slightly inferior, and there seems to be no black tile houses and warehouses inside the walls. There are so many of them. Kosuke Kindaichi walked in front of the branch house, and the road suddenly turned to the right. After he bypassed this bend, the road turned to the left again. At this turn, there is a small platform called Tengubi, standing there overlooking the Mase. Indoor sea surface.At this time, Kosuke Kindaichi found a patrolman standing on the platform, observing the sea with a telescope.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, the patrolman quickly removed his binoculars and looked back. "Hi!" The bearded patrolman smiled and greeted Kindaichi Kosuke warmly. There is only one police station on Prison Gate Island, with a motor boat and a patrolman who has to be in charge of land and water.This patrolman is responsible for monitoring fishing areas, reminding fishing seasons, issuing fisherman's licenses, etc. There are more jobs on the water than on land. This patrolman named Qing Shui was about forty-five or sixteen years old, a strong man with a beard, and a good man.Since these days, Kosuke Kindaichi has gotten along very well with him.

"Look at the scenery here! Is there any change at sea?" Kindaichi Kosuke also greeted the patrolman cordially. "There are pirates infesting again, I will call immediately to inform everyone to be alert!" Shimizu said solemnly. "pirate?" Kindaichi Kosuke widened his eyes in disbelief, and then laughed. Before he arrived on Prison Gate Island, he had seen the news of pirates in the Seto Inland Sea published in newspapers by Kubo Ginzo, but he had never taken it seriously. He did not expect to hear the news of pirates from Shimizukou today. "It's true that the more I live, the more I look back."

"It should be said to be a cycle of history! From the looks of it, the size of this group of pirates seems to be quite large. There are at least a dozen people in a group, and they are still carrying guns. I heard that they are all demobilized soldiers! Hmph!" "What? I'm also a demobilized soldier!" "You too... Forget it! Let's smoke a cigarette." Shimizu sat down on the ground with an expression of nothing special about the sky falling, then took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Kosuke Kanedaichi. "Okay! Here's one."

The two sat side by side on the tengu nose platform and chatted. "You just came back from having your hair cut, right? Are there many people? If not, I want to get a haircut too." "Go as soon as you want, the pelican should be cut soon." "A pelican?" Shimizu stared at Kosuke Kindaichi in surprise and asked: "You know him?" "I don't know him! It was the owner of the barber shop who called him Ukai, and I only knew his name." Shimizu smoked a cigarette with a sad face and remained silent. "That man is so handsome!" In order to get him to talk, Kindaichi Kosuke praised him.

Shimizu finished smoking in silence, carefully stamped out the cigarette butt with the tip of his shoe, and then looked at Kosuke Kindaichi with a very solemn expression. "Mr. Kindaichi, I have always had a strange premonition. Speaking of it, you may think it is ridiculous, but just like insects can predict natural disasters, I always feel that something terrible will happen on Prison Gate Island. Let's call that one a pelican. Let’s talk about the man you live in! You just said that he is a beautiful boy. Although he is beautiful, he is not a boy at the age of twenty-three or four. I heard that he is from Tajima, and his father is the principal of a primary school, but it is true or not. Not sure either. I asked him why he came to this island, and he said the war brought him here." Qing Shui pointed to the mountain behind Qianguang Temple and said: "Have you ever climbed that mountain? If you haven't, you might as well go and have a look. On the top of the mountain are the lairs of former pirates, and there are watchtowers on it. For the sake of war, the government established an air defense surveillance post and The anti-aircraft artillery positions, the whole mountain is full of holes dug everywhere, and many soldiers have been sent, Ukai Zhangsan is one of them." Kaneda Kazuko looked at Shimizu with bright eyes, as if urging him to speak quickly, so Shimizu cleared his throat and continued: "Although he is also one of the soldiers, wearing a khaki military uniform still gives people a pitiful feeling. In addition, he is young and has delicate skin and tender flesh. How can he go to the front to fight? It happens to be these surveillance posts and anti-aircraft artillery positions. Soldiers often have to go to the villages below the mountain to collect food, especially at the end of the war. Perhaps because of the unfavorable battle, the soldiers became more and more arrogant. The grumpy fisherman even wanted to beat them up! Later, as long as the grain is collected, the military will definitely send Ukai Shozo.” "I see." When Kosuke Kaneda was happy, he scratched his head randomly, and the hair that the barber shop owner had finally combed neatly for him turned into a sparrow's nest again. "They are taking advantage of beautiful men to win women's favor!" "Yes, the soldiers often requisitioned various supplies from the two onitou families, so Uki Sho San often went to these two houses. At that time, Kaemon was still alive. He was a very shrewd person. He treated the soldiers unreasonably. Requests, never pretending to flatter. Although Ukai is often rejected, he secretly gets along very well with those three girls." "It seems that the military's strategy really works." Kosuke Kindaichi said somewhat insincerely. "It worked? It was so useful. Later, the three of them went up the mountain to find him without even waiting for Yukai. People in the village said that the three of them were cheated by Yukai. It is said that Yukai and the three of them There are some shameful things between the girls. I don’t know the details, but before the end of the war, the three of them sent a lot of money and supplies to the mountain. With these things in hand, they were immediately demobilized and returned to their hometowns.” "The ukai has been used up, but can't be demobilized and returned to the hometown?" "Of course he went back to Tajima after the war, but within a month, he came back again, saying that there was a new stepmother in his hometown and he couldn't stay any longer, so he came to ask Guitou to take him in. Jiayouwei of the family The door collapsed shortly after he returned from a stroke." When Shimizu said this, he temporarily stopped.Kindaichi Kosuke was still silently watching the sea. This silent atmosphere made him feel tight in his chest, and he felt speechless. After a while, Shimizu went on to say: "Kaemon is like Taiko-sama, no one in the island except Shiho dares to contradict him! Ukai may really be unable to get along with his stepmother and leave home, but he shouldn't live in the branch house either. !" Shimizu glanced at Kosuke Kindaichi, and found that he was looking at him with interest, with an expression of wanting to listen carefully, so he went on to say: "Before Ukai returned to his hometown, I don't know whether there was a private agreement with Shiho, or Shibao wrote a letter to ask him to come. But I dare say that all of this was manipulated by Shiho behind the scenes. She let Ukai Dressed like an actor, and let him idle all day long, the purpose is to learn from the captain's strategy, use the pelicans to seduce the three girls Yue, Yuki, and Hana, and want to bring down the family. Although Kayouemon also knows her However, there is no reason to prevent the branch family from taking in the owls. After all, even Lord Taige cannot interfere with other people taking in outsiders." Shimizu rubbed his knees, stood up, looked at the sea in the distance, seemed to want to end the topic, and said to Kindaichi Kosuke: "Think about it, it is because of Shiho's disobedience that the proud Taiko-sama realizes that apart from the Kamogawa water, monks, and dice rolls, there are unsatisfactory things in the world. Proximate cause of stroke." It was dusk, the sun was about to end, and the cold wind was blowing.Shimizu and Kindaichi Kosuke shivered unconsciously, but their shivering was not caused by the cold wind, but by the dark cloud that could not be shaken over the entire Prison Gate Island. At this time, Kosuke Kindaichi seemed to hear footsteps coming from behind, up and down, like waves crashing on the shore, like distant thunder, gradually approaching him step by step... Not long after breaking up with Shimizu, Kindaichi Kosuke returned to the temple.I saw the monk, the village head Araki, and the doctor Murase Koan all sitting in the abbot's room, and there was a solemn and heavy atmosphere in the room. As soon as the monk saw Kosuke Kindaichi coming in, he immediately said in a heavy tone: "Mr. Kindaichi, there is an official announcement today." After speaking, the monk raised his jaw towards the village chief. Village head Araki immediately added: "We don't doubt what you said, it's just that we still have a glimmer of hope before we receive the official notification." "Now that everything is settled, I think it's better to hold the funeral as soon as possible." Dr. Koan Murase twirled his goatee and said sadly. Kosuke Kindaichi didn't have anything to say, he seemed to hear the sound of footsteps up and down again, walking towards him step by step...