Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven

With so much going on, I could almost panic at any moment. Even so, the next day, I tried to pull myself together and try to get to work.The store is still crowded, but the main reason is the stimulation brought by Ms. Hosoya's words to persuade me to concentrate on my work. I didn't dare to glance around the store carelessly, and found that the table legs that had been scratched by tick-tock urinated and wiped the floor immediately, and quickly delivered towels to customers who had been rubbed with saliva by other dogs.After discovering that there was a long queue at the back, but the female customer who wanted to chat at the cash register, Nachi claimed that he was hungover, so he even had to bring him headache medicine.

Of course, even while working, somewhere in her mind was still thinking about Chie. I wish I could go to Okayama as soon as possible to find out the details of the matter, but Ms. Hosoya thinks that asking too hastily will only be counterproductive.She said that after waiting for a while, it would be easier for Chie's parents to open their hearts. In the end, she said she would run for me next week, but it was a long time before that.Whether it's Chie's affairs or the follow-up of that diary, the pain of just waiting is really unbearable. Towards evening, Yohei called. I have been worried about whether he can successfully obtain the transcript, but I have not taken the initiative to contact him.Because it was hard for me to get my job on track, and it would be hard to turn back if I got off the track a little bit.We had made an appointment to meet in the evening, so I had decided to hold out until then.But as soon as he picked up the phone, it was all in vain, and the track easily collapsed.

"Xiao Liang, it's me. I want to stay here for one night." As soon as he opened his mouth, the stupid brother said so. "What? Have you got the transcript? You said you would stay there for one night, so what if you don't meet tonight?" Fortunately, I was the only one in the store who hadn't had my lunch break yet, so I winked at the female worker student next to me, put my phone to my ear and went straight to the second floor. "I got it. I'll fax it to you from the hotel later. Think about it, it's just a transcript for you, and there's no need to meet up. Anyway, I've already come, at least I have to go sightseeing in Tokyo. The steak is fine." , you help me pay for the accommodation."

"Accommodation fee? You guy..." If you just want to get the transcript, it is true that you can use fax, but I always feel that I have missed it. To be honest, I really hope to meet Yohei tonight as scheduled.Facing it, my mind was full of questions and complaints I wanted to ask Yohei's scientific mind. I don't know if he understands his brother's heart, but after a moment of silence, his brother hastily threw out the big news. "I'll start from the conclusion that Mom does have a younger sister." "what……" "It seems to be missing."

"Missing? So it means that the person is gone? Can you even check the household registration for such a thing?" "It says that the court has declared disappearance as death. After I fax it over, you can read it for yourself." "What the hell is going on? When? What year was that?" "Well... it says that the court declared that it was in the ninth year of Heisei." "What? Wasn't that a long time after we moved to Komagawa? Well...that was when you were in elementary school in my country." "This is the time of the announcement, but of course the disappearance was earlier."

"...Hey, do you know how serious this is? That diary is indeed true. That younger sister was killed." "I knew you would say that. Forget it, after you receive the transcript, you can go with your delusions to your heart's content. When your mind is clearer, I will accompany you to dinner." It was obvious from his voice that he just wanted to hang up the phone. "Yanghei, hey, wait a minute, did you find anything else?" "Everything else is fine. Dad has never been divorced, and there is no birth or death registration of suspicious children other than you and me. Let's leave it at that."

What is called just like this first. I threw my phone on the bed and sat down on the crumpled sheets.But he stood up immediately and walked around in the small room.Even if you do that, it won't calm you down. I looked down from the window, and the dogs locked in the pen were still running around and playing foolishly.With a satisfied face, they seem to be in groups, and they seem to be independent.It seems to be scattered, but it remains within the scope of subtle laws. Every time I look at it like this, I always feel that my mood is gradually calming down.A creature like a dog should not emit any substances that can relax humans.

I sat down at my desk and turned on my laptop.Fifteen minutes is the customary lunch break, but I wanted to investigate a little bit about the missing announcement my brother said. The fax of the transcript was received after eight o'clock. While waiting, I ate fried rice defrosted in the microwave at a table in the restaurant.Usually the meal is on the second floor, but the fax machine is only available downstairs, so I had to wait in the shop. What I faxed over was the copy of my father's and grandfather's expulsion from the family register, which is the household registration that is now useless after the original residence was moved to Komagawa City.

Although there are not many words, such things as household registration have always been difficult to understand, let alone before computerization.I didn't eat well, so I just studied back and forth for a long time, and finally figured out a few facts. First of all, my family, headed by my father, moved from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture to Maebashi City when I was hospitalized at the age of four.Neither my brother nor I have been there, but Sendai was my father's birthplace, and he also lived there with his unmarried aunt after his parents died. After the fire, when I stayed at the house of my grandparents in Maebashi, I not only moved out of residence from somewhere in Tokyo, but also seemed to have moved my domicile in Miyagi Prefecture at the same time.Obviously, that native will be moving to Komagawa City in just a few months.

The mother is the wife on household registration and the eldest daughter of my grandparents.After marriage, I moved into my father's household registration in Miyagi, but the date of birth and the time of marriage are completely consistent with the facts we have heard. In other words, what my younger brother said was right. There was nothing suspicious about my father's expulsion certificate except for a short-term relocation to Komagawa City. The problem lies in the transcript of my grandfather's household registration. After the mother's name, Misako, another name, Emiko, was registered as the second daughter.

I stared at those words.Eiko...that was the name that the grandmother in the nursing home blurted out while crying. Since it was the expungement transcript, of course all the names on it had been crossed out with slashes.The same is true for Hideko, but in the column of her identity, there are strange records that are different from others. On the 10th of the first month in Heisei 7, he was deemed dead. On August 5, 2019, the court declared his disappearance. On the 7th of the same month, his father, Kosuke Yanagihara, applied for expulsion of citizenship. There is no punctuation mark, just such a line of records, Yanagihara Kosuke is the name of the deceased grandfather. Although I had heard about it on the phone, I witnessed it with my own eyes, and there was another icy shock slowly climbing up from the bottom of my abdomen.The quiet silence in the deserted store at night suddenly made me feel suffocated. Hideko Yanagihara...is this my real mother? The existence of this mother, and the fact that she abandoned me and was probably dead, I have lived to this day without knowing it?If this mother is the murderer who wrote that diary, then I have the murderer's blood in my body. I froze for a while.All the words, sentences and scenes written in the diary were circling in my mind, and finally the woman in a patterned summer dress holding a parasol and the white handbag reappeared in the void.Although the facial features are blurred, I can feel the gentle smile she throws at me.I even think she has something to say to me. Why did she disappear? According to the results of searching the Internet during the day, after a person disappears, if seven years have elapsed since his life and death are unknown, as long as the relatives apply to the court, the court will make a declaration of disappearance and be regarded as dead. What happened to Hideko Yanagihara?How did you take your last breath?Even though it is irreversible until now, I want to find out. After figuring it out, even if I have inherited such a sinful blood from this mother, I can only bear it in general.Thinking of this, I suddenly want to cry. Among the two transcripts of expulsion from Maebashi City, my father's was also deregistered in Showa 63 when he moved to Komagawa City, but my grandfather's was deregistered ten years later in Heisei 10.They obviously moved to Komagawa together, why didn't they go through the formalities at the same time? There is only one answer. In order to separate the name of Yingshizi from the whole family.As long as the court declares her missing and judged dead, that name will no longer appear on the new household registration.They waited for that period before moving their grandfather's household registration to Komagawa. Grandfather, grandmother, father, and mother Misako are all in the same group, that's all I can think of. I unconsciously closed my eyes and reached out to press my temples. Standing still like this, light seemed to shine through the dark bottom layer of doubt, and a vague outline gradually appeared. There is no need to guess what happened.By now, everything is clear, I just don't want to admit that fact easily... After a while, I picked up the spoon and continued to eat the thawed fried rice that had been cold and as hard as raw rice.