Chapter 31 chapter Five

After the commercial break at 11:20 in the morning, it was finally Akiko's turn to be on the show.Prior to this, three men and women have each stated the family members they are looking for. I wonder if it is because each of them has enough time to express, when they are still on the screen, they have already received the news of the person they are looking for. All three are safe and sound.Standing in the corner of the studio, Junping was amazed by the large number of missing persons and the magic of television transmission. Akiko's scheduled time was only three minutes before the end of the program.The host introduced Akiko in a hurried tone, and briefly explained the disappearance of Akiko's husband and sister, and the hard work of Akiko working as a maid to support herself independently.Akiko did not mention the possible death of Xia Mu and her sister to the producer beforehand, so this paragraph was omitted in the host's explanation.The staff of this show did not know what happened to Akiko, and apparently Akiko's purpose was to find out if her husband was still alive.

Someone was standing in front of the screen blocking his view, so Junping looked at the display on the terminal TV next to him.This feeling of watching TV in the studio is very strange, different from the usual feeling of watching TV.Three photos of Akiko's husband were displayed on the screen. After briefly describing his characteristics, suddenly Akiko's close-up shot filled the entire screen.Akiko was wearing a kimono made of gauze, with a simple hairstyle that matched her clothes. Akiko's crow's feet in the lens are particularly eye-catching, giving the impression of a hard-working wife left by her escaped husband.At this moment, Junping felt the pain of seeing a beautiful thing exposed to the wind and rain.The flowers on the roadside can only bloom beautifully quietly when no one is watching!However, at this moment, Akiko was the focus of attention of millions of people all over Japan.

Akiko answered the host's question nervously: "My husband may be living alone at the moment." She seemed to want to tell something, but she only said in a firm tone: "Don't worry about anything. I just hope you can come home. If you don't want to come back, just contact me." It's ok... I'll continue to pay the loan, so the family is still the same as before. I don't hate you at all, please contact me!" While she was speaking, the contact phone number of the TV station continued to appear at the bottom of the screen. The show ended with soft background music, and Akiko and Junping waited in the lounge.An hour later, still no one called.Generally, people around the missing person call to inform the person of the current situation, but at this moment, there are no such calls.

Just when Akiko looked at Junping as if she had given up, and Junping also guessed that the deceased was probably Pinzi's husband, the producer rushed in: "A man who claimed to be your husband called, and the call will be transferred to you immediately." .” After the quick notice, he picked up the microphone in the corner of the room and handed it to Akiko.After a moment of hesitation, Akiko grabbed the microphone tightly. "I'm Akiko...Ichiro...It's really you, where are you now?...It's been so hard to find you...Well...No matter what, I must go to see you tomorrow. No, no, I just want to talk to you. There are too many things to discuss face to face with each other!...Understood. Okay...ok..."

Finally, I took out a pen and paper, wrote down the address I asked in detail, said "Please be sure to wait for me at home" as if pleading, and then hung up the phone.Turning around, I told everyone with a voice that still remained excited that it was indeed her husband's voice. He was still renting a small apartment in Niigata and living alone.And make an appointment with her to meet and talk. "So, what is your sister's current situation? Would it be better to show Mingmei's photo as well?" Akiko seemed to be deliberately avoiding the problems of this tall, honest-looking producer. After thanking and presenting the gift, she looked at Junping.After sighing, he closed his eyes, and the eyes he opened again were full of peace of mind.

"can be opened?" The producer unwrapped Akiko's thank you gift, took out the tie, and wrapped it around his wrist to confirm the quality.Junping was inspired by his actions and remembered something subtle, but he didn't bring it up on the spot. "Great!" Ten minutes later, the two walked out of the TV station, and Junping said immediately.The words mean that Orihara Ichiro is still alive, and Shirane's death is Xia Mu's matter. "I figured out why the position of the watch on Xia Mu's body was different from his usual habit. According to the police, the wrists of the two corpses were tied together with ties. Because Xia Mu, who is left-handed, had to end their lives with a knife, So after the tie is tied, use the knife with your stronger left hand! When you want to tie the wrists of two people tightly with the tie, the watch must become a burden! That’s why I moved it to the left hand.”

Just now, the producer's action of wrapping the tie around his wrist sparked Junping's inspiration. "That's right! It must be like this! I took this matter too seriously. Junping, after I met my husband, I explained the real identity of the deceased to the police. Not only should I go to the police station, but I should also go to the district. The office has registered for divorce—” "Divorce? Stupid. Didn't it take so long to find your husband?" Under the strong wind that is rare in summer, Akiko shook her head while brushing her hair disheveled by the wind.

"It was decided in the three minutes I was on TV just now. If my husband is still alive, we will break up when I see him again..." "But……" Akiko shook her head again, looking away as if to avoid what Junping was going to say next, and began to walk down the stairs of the subway.At Ueno Railway Station, Akiko bought a ticket for the night train.If you get on the bus now, you should be able to reach Niigata at night, but Akiko said she hates going at night.Junping can also understand her mood, and he must discuss with her husband the death of his sister and Xia Mu, as well as their divorce.And she wanted to choose to think about these embarrassing things during the day.

"I don't want to go home and go straight to Niigata. Can you stay with me until the evening?" Junping agreed, but there were still about ten hours before the driving time.The two decided to go to the teahouse, but the avenue in front of the train station was full of customers, probably during the lunch break.Going in and out, I don't know how many houses I have found, Akiko suddenly stopped when she saw a narrow alleyway. "There are neon lights at this time!" Following Akiko's example, he peered into the alley, and saw a neon-flashing advertisement board at the innermost part of the dark alleyway with concrete walls on both sides.Two red hearts that say accommodation and rest are connected together.It happened that a middle-aged man who looked like a staff member and a young lady who was as old as his daughter walked in with their heads down.

"It seems that the head of the section and the female staff are taking advantage of the lunch break. I heard it's quite popular recently." Junping felt as if he saw something annoying.Just as he was about to ignore Akiko's words, suddenly Akiko's hand clenched his wrist, and when she was pulled by her hand, Junping took a step towards this small dark alley. Jingzi looked up at Junping: "Junping, how many women have you known?" Reflexively, as if trying to block the scattered words from Akiko's mouth, Junping raised his hand: "Five? Not one?"

Akiko misunderstood the meaning of Junping who opened a palm in front of him.wrong! ——Just before Junping was about to say these words, Akiko had already bent Junping's thumb. "First?" "No—" Junping wanted to express her mistake in guessing, but Akiko misunderstood again. "Then there are six people! I only have these..." Akiko stretches out her middle finger and index finger to represent two people.Then he glanced at the red heart on the neon light, and slowly stretched out his ring finger to catch Junping's thumb. "Six people plus three people... can fill the teahouse!" There was a playful smile on her lips, but her eyes were serious.It was the first time I saw Akiko's eyes like this.It was a woman who was five years older. She was tired of life, and her life was a little slack. She wanted to express her loneliness but had no way to talk about her eyes.It also seems to accept the changes in the eyes of the world.Just now, when Jingzi was on TV, Jun Ping felt that millions of eyes were looking at Jingzi, and she felt that she was no longer the original her.Even so, the woman on the screen was still beautiful, and Junpei stood there in disbelief, looking straight into Akiko's eyes.A strand of hair blown by the wind was fluttering, every time it fluttered, Junping felt that the mirabilis in her black eyes was shaking. At noon in Tokyo, the street next to it was full of people, and the two of them were in a dead corner amidst the noise, fingers representing six and three intertwined, as if there was nothing else to do Stand still. "You're not that kind of woman, are you?" "What kind of woman is that?" "..." "That kind of woman! The kind who lied to me. You still have something to hide from me..." When Akiko finally understood the anger in Junping's eyes, she sighed and then smiled.A smile that seemed to give up something with a sigh. "This finger also lied..." After finishing speaking, he retracted his ring finger and hid it in his sleeve. "I don't mean this. I want you to accompany me to a place. Come with me." Junping led the way out of the alley, went straight to the main road, and entered a department store.After taking the elevator up to the roof and stopping in front of the ticket office of the sightseeing car in the amusement area, Junping, who hadn't looked at Akiko all this time, turned back to look at her.To Akiko, who couldn't guess Junhei's intentions and was wearing a kimono that didn't match the occasion, but stood there blankly, she said, "Just take this kind of car!" "But...they are all children!" Because it is summer, the rooftop playground is full of children.Whenever the cage-style ferris wheel painted in different colors is swayed by the wind, there will always be bursts of screams from inside the cage. "This place should be better than the kind of place where you have to hide from people's eyes and eyes." After buying the ticket, Junping called out to the hesitant Akiko again.The two sat in the car cage facing each other.The car rose slowly, and finally the streets of Tokyo were under one's feet. As the car gradually descended, the streets became wider and clearer.Sitting in the shaking cage, Akiko's face was a little pale, motionless like a portrait. Junping calmly waited for the car to go up, and he took out the paper bird that he asked for from Akiko yesterday from his pocket.Spread its wings and wait for the strong wind to blow. "Fly!" He suddenly threw it into the air.In an instant, the paper bird danced with the wind, but soon, the wind weakened, and it began to sink powerlessly.fly! ——Junping shouted again in his heart.As if hearing this sound, the paper bird was inspired to fly high again.It hovered beside Jun Ping for a while, drifting down in the air from time to time, and finally made a big roll along with the sound of the roof orchestra suddenly playing a small trumpet. At that moment, the bird was like a living thing, riding the wind and slowly falling down. In the sky of Tokyo, the gray clouds are constantly flowing, and the sun can only be seen in the tiny gaps in the clouds.For a moment the sun, overwhelmed by the summer winds with too much brilliance, disappeared.The sky and the streets, in the wide tapestry of light and shadow, are stitched with blue curves and thin lines, which are constantly flowing. The ferris wheel began to descend, so it felt like the birds were flying up.Then, it was mixed into a crevice of the bright and dazzling sunlight again, and disappeared without a trace. "Where did you fly to?" Akiko murmured. Junping knew the direction in which the paper bird disappeared.Akiko once referred to Junping as a magnet.Then, the paper bird has the direction in which life flies away, which is the direction in which Akiko wants to go with Junping as the needle. However, Junping was silent.Just looking at the direction where the paper bird disappeared, I followed the blue color of the bird in the sky in a daze.Akiko was the same as him... Finally, the sky in Tokyo stopped flowing, and the caged car reached the roof. The two broke up at Ueno Train Station late at night.Before boarding the train, Pinzi said, "I'll be back tomorrow evening, and I'll call you when I get home." The driving bell continued to ring, and after Akiko said "goodbye" with her lips in the window, she began her trip to Niigata. trip.