Chapter 60 Section fifty-eight

He left the prefectural police headquarters building before five o'clock. Because I received a call from Minako from the publicity office.Her tone was very flustered, saying that she had received a silent phone call at home.Unlike last time, this time because of the caller ID function, I know the number of the caller.The area code is in city D... Mikami intuitively thought that it wasn't Ayumi's call.No, not intuition, but the habit of stepping on the brakes will actively avoid the danger of falling into empty joy.When both couples fall into the same expectations, it can be terrible if the expectations are not fulfilled.But the body was still very honest, the palms of the hands holding the steering wheel were sweaty, and the foot on the accelerator was unconsciously exerting force, and ran through several yellow lights along the way.

Minako's pale face was waiting in front of the entrance.The door was open, and the phone could be heard as soon as it rang. "She's nearby." Minako said without blinking. "Anyway, let's go in and talk." Mikami grabbed the main unit of the phone in the corridor, stretched the phone cord and walked into the living room.Even taking off the jacket felt troublesome, so he just sat cross-legged on the tatami and pressed the button on the host to display the number on the LCD screen. It is indeed the area code of D city.The neat ten numbers seem to have been seen somewhere, and it seems that they have only seen the numbers recently.Mikami frowned involuntarily, and the phone number of Yoshio Amamiya's house flashed through his mind first, but his memory was too unreliable, and Minako's hope could not be destroyed just like this.

"What was the situation like?" "Just like last time, I hung up without saying a word." "Did you mention your name when you picked it up?" "No, I didn't say anything." That's not a wrong call.Although there are some people who make a wrong call and hang up without apologizing, if the person who answers the call does not give their name, at least they will say hello. "How many seconds does it take to connect?" "I'm not sure, but it's short. After I say hello a few times, the person hangs up." "Have you heard anything similar to the background?"

"Sound...? I don't remember it, I didn't hear anything." "So you're calling from home?" Because of the overwhelming publicity, most people should know that there is a caller ID service!If the call is for malicious or prank purposes, you should hide your number and not display the caller's number!Was it really Yugong calling?Because I have become indifferent to the world, I don't know about the new phone function.He wanted to discuss condolences with Mikami, but hung up hastily when he heard that a woman answered the phone.But it could also be Ayumi, she never dreamed that her home phone already had such a function.She only wanted to talk to Mikami, not Minako.No, this time I also plan to use silent means to spy on my parents...

Mikami pulled the phone over. "I can only call back and have a look." "What?" Minako didn't seem to have thought of doing this at all. "Dial this number again! This way, you can know where the call is coming from." As he spoke, Mikami's facial muscles began to tense.Minako's expression became even more rigid.Then he finally came back and stared at Mikami as if he was in a daze. "Well, let's do that." "give me a glass of water." San said while loosening the tie.When Minako walked into the kitchen, he used his body to shield him and quietly flipped through the notepad.I guessed wrong, it was not the phone number of Yu Gong's family.So it's really Ayumi?Is Ayumi in City D?

Minako walked back in two steps in three steps.Mikami was really thirsty.After taking the cup and drinking the water in it, he picked up the microphone and pressed the call back button. Prepare yourself for the possibility of calling Ayumi's friend's house, and count the number of times the phone rings.Minako quietly moved her face and knees closer. The phone was picked up.After a beat, a woman's voice came from next to my ear. Mikami was speechless. Hiyoshi Koichiro, a former technician of Kesouyan who stays at home, was called. "Ah, I'm sorry, I'm the county policeman who went to the house to bother you a few days ago, and I'm Mikami."

The other party must be Hiji's mother.Worried that something happened to Hiyoshi, he called Mikami for help.However…… Mikami was also puzzled by the suspicious tone of the other party. "It's okay, I called back because I received a call from the house." It's about work.Mikami covered the microphone and said to Minako. "About thirty minutes ago, there was a phone call from the house..." After Mikami explained the function of the caller ID, Hiyoshi's mother looked very embarrassed. It seems that the truth of the matter is that Hiyoshi made the phone call when his family was away.Three days ago and the day before yesterday, Mikami had Toriji's mother hand him a note.According to Hiji's mother, she stuffed the note into his room through the crack of the door.Presumably he had read it, and even called the phone number written on it.

"Young Master Ling, is anyone in the room now?" "Can I forward this call to him?" Hiji's mother stammered.Maybe it's because they don't want to cause trouble anymore.Even if it is a nightmare, if you have it continuously for fourteen years, you will get used to it.But…… "It's better to think of this matter as an opportunity. This is the call that Young Master Ling took the initiative to call!" Mikami said nonchalantly. "Has something like this happened in the past? Has Mr. Ling ever called anyone else?" "Is there a wireless phone in the house?"

"Then, just say I called and left the handset outside his door. If he wants to answer it, I'll tell him well." Riji's mother's voice suddenly rose an octave. There was the sound of slippers snapping in my ears.The pace is very hasty.Went up the stairs and stopped.Then came the voice calling for Aiko.The gentle tone, but also a little trembling.After a while, there was the sound of a microphone being placed on the ground, and finally the sound of footsteps of slippers gradually going away. Then there was an unbearable silence, and it seemed that the handset was placed on the floor.Ten seconds... twenty seconds... thirty seconds... Mikami waited patiently, concentrating all his energy on his ears, no matter how small the sound was, he could not escape his ears.Minako's face came into his line of sight inadvertently.What happened?Mikami stopped her soft questioning with his hand, and the forceful gesture made Minako stop asking.

Because there was finally movement on the other end of the microphone.It sounded like a door opening, followed by a murmur.The handset was picked up.Mikami felt that even his earlobe, which was close to the microphone, was tightly pinched. The sound of the door closing... I don't know if it was the sound of sitting on the chair or the sound of the bed... It was confirmed that the microphone had been brought into the room, and Mikami finally spoke. "Is it Hiji?" no response.After waiting for a while, I still couldn't even hear the sound of breathing. "I'm Mikami, and I'm the broadcasting officer of the prefectural police. You called me just now, right?"

"Are you scared? The phone call now..." Mikami was about to explain, when he suddenly remembered that Hiyoshi used to work in the cutting-edge department of NTT, and he was already very good at using computers long before he started to stay at home.There is also a computer in the room, of course I know the popularity of caller ID.It is because I know that I deliberately do not hide my number when I call. —Is it a distress signal? "Have you read the letter I wrote to you?" Hiji's time stopped.Stopped on that day, stopped at Amamiya's house, stopped at the moment when Urushihara whispered in his ear.In case there is something wrong with little sister Xiangzi, it will be all your fault. "As I wrote above, it's not your fault." There was a sound like breathing in. "Hiji." "Hello Hiyoshi. Are you listening?" Then nothing happens.But Mikami knew he was there, and he was listening, and he was waiting with bated breath for what Mikami would say next. Mikami thought to himself, he had to say something that could move him.You must let what you say reach the heart that believes that you killed the girl and imprisoned yourself for fourteen years. Mikami closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "That's really a very unfortunate thing." Mikami started talking. "Of course the victim and her parents, it is a very unfortunate thing even for the girl's friends, the school and the local area, and the D County Police." "Of course it is also for you. It is really a very unfortunate and unlucky thing. You obviously didn't need to go to the scene of the crime, but you were sent to the victim's home. Obviously, it worked quite smoothly during the test The tape recorder, when it was really going to come in handy, went wrong. The person in charge of directing the home team was the most despicable man as a person. Everything was too unlucky. Everything went to the worst The direction of development. The girl died, I know you are in pain, and I can understand your self-blame, but the murderer who killed the girl is not you." "It is true that there was a problem of recording failure, which is indeed a very serious negligence, but you should also know that the omissions in the investigation of this case are definitely not the only one, but one after another that cannot be counted. Small flaws have accumulated. I’m not lying to you. There are loopholes in almost every investigation of this kind of thing. The result of adding up all the loopholes is that the D county police did not rescue the girl, nor did they catch the murderer. It is the responsibility of the D County Police, not any one individual. You can blame yourself, which means you are still a person with a conscience, but you don’t need one person to shoulder the responsibility of the entire organization, that’s impossible, and neither do you This ability. Everyone should share the burden, and everyone involved in the investigation should share the pain and guilt equally. Do you understand." There seems to be a vacuum in the ear.There is no such perfect silence in the world.The hand holding down the microphone was so hard that the back of the hand almost lost the feeling, and then I focused all the senses of the whole body on the ears and listened carefully. "I don't know if you still remember, but I also went to Amamiya's house and met Mr. Amamiya and his wife. I was sitting in the car that was responsible for following the ransom delivery, so I also witnessed Mr. Amamiya coming from the bridge. The way I threw the suitcase into the river. When I think about it now, my heart still hurts. Whenever I pass by the store designated by the murderer, the scene at that time will resurface again, full of regret and self-blame. Yes, just There is only that moment. Unlike you who have been stuck in the past. Although I have not been stuck in regret and self-blame, but trouble and self-blame have always been there. I have not forgotten, and it is impossible to forget, let alone think about forgetting .Me, Koda, and Kakinuma all live with more or less regret and self-blame. We are not allowed to lick each other's wounds, and the girl and her family will not allow us to do so. So we can only share silently, what Don't say anything, and there can be no excuses. Everyone can't get rid of the entanglement of guilt until they die. You alone, no matter how hard you think, is not enough. Everyone must remember together. The dead girl can live forever. Live in everyone's memory. That's what I call shared responsibility." "Did you hear that? Are you listening?" Mikami felt like he was shouting into the darkness.The deep forest, the deep sea where light cannot reach.The first letter said: "Tell me where you are, and I will find you if I can"... "Why don't you say a word? Don't you just call me when you have something to say?" "Say it! I'm willing to hear anything." "What happens when you say something?" The other end of the microphone was still in the silent darkness, and even Mikami was about to be swallowed into it, which was a bit scary. "Fourteen years, fourteen years have passed." "You can't just stay in your room for fourteen years. That's why I wrote to you and asked where you are? Where is it? Heaven? Or hell? Is it the bottom of the ocean? Or heaven? Why can you be alone? Stay there? Please talk until I can understand. Can't everyone else go? Not even family?" "The letter was written in a family restaurant. I didn't know what to write, and I was so upset that I could only write that sentence. That's my heart. I want to know, please tell Me, where are you?" "Tell me how to go? What should I do to find you? If it still doesn't work, at least let me hear your voice, even if it's just a sentence, please say a word..." With a sound of "Pfft!", the phone was hung up. Ayumi... Mikami couldn't get back to his senses for a while, feeling that his soul was taken away by "the other end of the microphone". But that wasn't Ayumi. Or maybe Ayumi.Perhaps the silent world connects everything together. He forgot to put the microphone back.He let out a sigh of relief from his dantian, pulled himself together and made another phone call to Hiyoshi's house.It was his mother who picked it up.Although Hiji didn't say a word from the beginning to the end, the mother still thanked her repeatedly with tears in her eyes. Mikami felt so exhausted that he didn't even have the strength to stand up.So when he noticed that Minako looked different, it was too late.Minako was sitting at the kitchen table, with her back to Mikami, her lonely back was shocking.She was thinking about Ayumi.No, maybe she was thinking about her husband who kept calling other people's names. Mikami looked at his own hand, the hand that pushed Mina away...he was terrified from the bottom of his heart.Gathering the courage to leave the phone and walk to the kitchen, sit on the chair across from Minako.Minako lifted her head, and it looked like the backlash of gravity had driven her into the motion. "Is it tricky?" Just asking casually.But Mikami deliberately showed a troubled expression and said: "It's the guy who stayed at Kesouyan before. He quit his job because of the many things that happened in the kidnapping case, and he's locked himself in the room ever since." "Yes……" "It's been fourteen years, and his mother is too pitiful." "..." "If only I could help him out." "I think you're really amazing." After saying this, Minako immediately buried her face in her hands.From the way she looked, it was obvious that she was mocking herself. "Minako..." Mikami couldn't help but stretched out his hand to wrap her thin shoulders, but Mina stepped back, holding only a handful of air in his hand. I didn't expect things to turn out like this.Mikami stared at Mina's face covered by hair, couldn't think of a word of comfort in his mind, and didn't know what else to do, so he could only withdraw his hand resentfully. The phone in his pocket vibrated, and the sound of the vibration spread throughout the kitchen.Mikami took it out and opened it to see that it was Suwa calling. "Yes!" Mikami stood up and turned his back to Minako. Mikami walked slowly, went around behind the bar area in the kitchen, looked back at Minako in front of the counter.Her back is full of sadness. "No, I can't go away." "sorry to bother you." Obviously, what should be said has been said, but Suwa still didn't hang up the phone, just kept silent.Mikami lowered his voice and said: "It's a call that has nothing to do with it, please tell Zangqian and Meiyun for me." Mikami put away his phone and returned to the dining table.As if to relay with him, Minako stood up and prepared dinner.The sound of kitchen knives cutting vegetables was faintly heard.Looking from her back, it seems that the old woman is preparing a dinner for herself, full of loneliness. Neither during dinner nor when they moved to the living room to sit, there was no conversation at all between the two.Mikami turned on the TV and switched to a mild quiz show.Minako was sitting in the corner of her line of sight, staring at something that had nothing to do with the screen world.The call wasn't from Ayumi.Her ridicule towards Mikami must have pierced her heart too!Mikami thought that he had to say something, but the feeling of being rejected still clearly remained in his hand, which made him hesitate.Murakushi Mizuki's words echoed in his mind. "It's okay?" Did I really say this to Minazi?Could it be just a story made up by Rui Xi?There is no memory of this scene after marriage.Although they have lived together for more than twenty years, has he ever noticed the ups and downs in Minako's mood and said a thoughtful word? Going to bed at eleven o'clock, Minazi just said: "Good night." Mikami replied: "I'm tired too, I'm going to bed." The whole body ordered him to do so.What lies next to him is an existence more important than anything else.Even if they are praying together for the safety of their daughter, it is impossible to derive a special relationship beyond the husband and wife.Between the two of them now, it must be the fragile and dangerous relationship that couples all over the world have. It was freezing cold in the bedroom.Minako turned off the small bulb of the night light, and even the white handset next to the pillow was gradually submerged in darkness.Mikami held his breath in the bed, not even daring to turn over.There was a faint sound of Mina's breathing.It feels like the oxygen is getting thinner and thinner, and I am almost out of breath.But there was no sleepiness at all, and five minutes felt like an hour.The same goes for Mina!Because she finally let out a soft sigh, which sounded like a sigh when she couldn't hold on. "Can't sleep?" Using the power of darkness, Mikami said, "The wind has stopped!" "……Ok." "It's too quiet and you won't be able to sleep!" "yes!" "Sorry." "What's up?" "I actually talked on the phone for so long at that time, and I still lost myself in talking to other people's sons." "..." "If you treat others well, others will treat you well in the future. As long as you do good deeds, there will be good rewards." "..." "Don't you regret it?" He knew that Minako had turned her body towards him. "...What do you regret?" "Marry me." There was a short gap. "And you?" "Me?...how could I regret it!" "……That's good." "how about you?" "I've never regretted it." "Really?" "That's right! What's wrong with you?" There was a hint of anger in Minako's tone, which was already as considerate as she could.He messed up Minazi's life. Life clearly has infinite possibilities, but he let her walk on the most bumpy road.Thoughts like these came in like huge waves. "Actually, you don't have to resign." "what?" "You quit your job as a policewoman because you got married! Is this really good?" "Why are you asking this all of a sudden?" "Because Murakuchi said that you are a more serious and enthusiastic policewoman than anyone else." "Even if I wasn't married, I thought about quitting my job." "Eh?" "Because I'm not suitable for the job of a policewoman." Not suitable?This is the first time I heard her say that. "I don't think so." "In the beginning, I was really desperate, and I really thought that I should do something for the world and make society a better place." "You have done something for the society!" "No. It didn't take me long to find out that I just wanted to be liked to be a policewoman." Mikami opened his eyes wide in the darkness. "So I can't like this society. Whether it's events, accidents, or people who do whatever they want, everything is disgusting. When I know that I only become a police officer to be liked and to be appreciated, it's true. What made me feel so depressed was that I even started to feel timid. People like me can’t protect the safety of citizens at all. How could I think that I can maintain law and order? But..." A long silence followed. "I think if it was a smaller world, maybe I would be able to protect it. Even someone like me can build a happy family and protect it..." Minako's voice was a little hoarse. Mikami sat up, turned around and reached into the quilt beside him, found Minako's slender wrist and held her hand tightly.Mina also held it back, but the strength was very weak. "That's not your fault." "..." "Ayumi is sick." "..." "Maybe I caused her to become like that. I never wanted to understand her. I always felt that even if I left her alone, she would grow up on her own." "..." "It's all my fault for being so ugly. That child is doomed to work harder than others when he is born." "not like this." Minako interrupted him. "It's not a question of good or bad, it's that we may not be suitable for it in the first place." Mikami's mind went blank.we do not match? "What's the meaning?" "No matter how much we try to understand Ayumi, we may not really understand her after all. I don't think parents can necessarily understand what their children are thinking." Mikami was taken aback by her words. "What are you talking about? We have lived together for sixteen years! She was born and raised by you..." "It's not a matter of time. No matter how hard you try to understand things that you can't understand, you can't understand them. Even if they are parents and children, they are still independent individuals. It's not surprising that there are differences in cognition!" "You mean she shouldn't have been born in our family?" "That's not what I mean. I just think that what Ayumi really needs is probably neither you nor me." "Otherwise who would it be?" "I think there must be a person who will not ask Ayumi to become this or that, but is willing to accept Ayumi as she is. That person will wait for her silently and say to her, 'You are fine, As long as you keep your original appearance, it’s fine. The place where there is that person is the place where Ayumi lives and lives. As long as she is by that person’s side, Ayumi can live freely. But this is not that place, we also It wasn't that person, that's why Ayumi ran away from home." It was painful for Mikami to hear.What exactly is Mina trying to say?Has she already started to give up on herself?Is she planning to give up on Ayumi?Or is she trying to grab some straw to save her life?In any case, it was the darkness that made her say such words.It just happened to occur to me that the thoughts that were not sincere at all continued to expand and become insolent in the darkness. "I can not understand what you say." Mikami lay down again.Once upon a time, the hands that the two held tightly had been loosened. "I understand, because I am the same. Since I was a child, I have always felt that home is not a place where I can rest assured." "But you..." "My parents seem to have a very good relationship, right? But their relationship is actually very bad. My father has a subordinate who has been with him for a long time, so my mother is always in a state of emotional instability. When my mother died a few years later, I When dad remarried, you said it was a good thing my dad could find someone willing to take care of him in his later years, and that person was actually his subordinate." Mikami was very confused, this was the first time he had heard of this, and only then did he understand why Minako seldom contacted her father.but…… "This is not the same as our family's situation!" "Of course it's different. And it's not that I don't want to stay at home because my parents have a bad relationship. I didn't know about them until I was older. And my father and my mother were very good to me, but I just I feel very lonely, and I never told my parents what I really think, and I never felt that there was a connection between each other. Because I know that no matter what I say, they will not understand. I don’t know why, but I just I know. When I got home from school, my mother was at home, but there seemed to be no one at home. I knew what she would ask, it was nothing more than what happened in school today, and I knew how I would answer it. A very empty feeling. Even when my dad comes back, there is still the feeling that there is no one in the house. Even when I think about it now, my memory is full of scenery without people, such as the wind and sunshine blowing in from the window, and the thread is unraveled. couches, dusty dolls on shelves..." Mikami stared at the darkness, the more he listened, the more he felt that what Minako said had nothing to do with Ayumi's problem.Although her head couldn't keep up, Minazi's mental journey still became a thread connecting the two.She is not close to her parents and longs for love, so she wants to engage in a career that can please people.Everything started because of this, and because of this, I got into a dead end, trying to deny my most primitive mentality. In the end, even the work of the policewoman became very painful... Are you ok? In what mood did Minako interpret Mikami's words?It was the second day when her life fell into a low ebb and she cried all night.She just closed the door of her heart tightly and airtightly.So she thought that what Mikami saw through was not her crying until dawn, but her whole life, so she felt trembling.She thought that what Mikami said was to herself who grew up in "other people's house" and was always imprisoned in this bondage... This is really a big misunderstanding.Or maybe he knew it was a misunderstanding but still regarded it as a revelation from God, which is why Minazi is now lying next to him, helpless at the home where his daughter ran away from home. Minako stopped talking, and Mikami also closed his eyes.The darkness grew deeper.Is Minako already asleep?Or are you still looking into the darkness?Everything was so quiet, even the sense of time disappeared, and even the feeling of lying in the quilt was about to disappear, when Minazi's voice came from my ear. "If only her son could come back." "Ok?" "It would be great if Kesouyan was willing to come back." Just come back... "It's true, if he is willing to come back..." "Maybe it's you too." "What's the meaning?" "You may be what that person needs." Is that right…… He didn't want to think anymore, and couldn't think anymore.Sighing lightly, darkness enveloped the entire space again. Mikami had a nightmare. I dreamed that my father's comrades in arms opened their elbows and gave an army-style salute.Then wept like this. Who killed her?Why kill her? Shoko Amamiya is lying naked inside a giant pearl shell, her face and hands glistening with colorful lights.Taking a closer look, it was Mei Yun's face, which had turned khaki, and her nose and lips had begun to rot. I don't want this face!I want to die!I'd rather die!It's better to die! Sigh... I obviously became a police officer because I wanted to be liked. Alas... I obviously only have such a wish. It's so pitiful, how could it be so pitiful! Father's comrade-in-arms cried and murmured.Both father and mother cried, their noses turned red, and even the young Mikami at his feet cried too.No matter what the broken mirror can't recover, it can only let out desperate sobs.