Chapter 10 Chapter 10: The Mystery of Formulas

When Kosuke Kanedaichi, Police Officer Hibino, and Detective Kondo left Yazaki by car, the stagnant water in that area had receded a lot, and the overgrown weeds on the roadside surfaced, forming a sandbar scene. Kindaichi Kosuke suddenly thought of something. "By the way, Hoshino Onsen seems to be in the north of Nakakaruizawa?" "yes." "Then, isn't the 'Shirakaba Camp' where Dikoji stayed last year on the way to Hoshino Hot Spring?" "Yes, what's the problem?" "If it's convenient, I'd like to stop by and have a look. Do you need to make a big detour?"

"That's not necessary. Gibbon, stop by 'Birch Camp'." "understood." It takes about twelve or three minutes to drive from Yazaki to Shirakaba Camp. When they drove from the circular area at the entrance of the old road to Rokuppon, they happened to pass by the taxi of Atsuko Futekoji, but no one noticed this. . When Kosuke Kindaichi passed by "Shirakaba Camp" before, it was in chaos due to the passing of a typhoon. Now the original landscape has been restored, and the dilapidated wooden houses have been repaired. There is a communal kitchen in the center of the thirty wooden houses, with a light restaurant and management room next to it.

When Kindaichi Kosuke and his group stepped into the fast food restaurant, they saw two student-looking campers talking with the boss Nezu across the counter. "It's Feng Chiyoko's husband..." This thoughtless remark made Kindaichi Kosuke, Police Officer Hibino and Detective Kondo look at each other. Seeing Police Officer Hibino and Detective Kondo, Nezu immediately winked at the two students and said: "Welcome! Mr. Kondo, I heard that another husband of Chiyoko Fuze died?" Detective Kondo glanced at the two students and said: "You have sharp ears! But boss, it's better not to speculate casually before the truth comes out. Were you talking about Mr. Shen Gongwu just now?"

"Boss, who are these people?" one of the students asked. "It's Mr. Police." One of the students shrugged disapprovingly, while the other looked a little embarrassed. "We didn't talk about it, and we didn't mean any harm." "How much do you know about this incident?" There was a sharp look in the eyes of police officer Hibino under the lens. "No, we're talking about the accident last year." "Oh? Then what do you guys know about the murder of Di Xiaolu?" Detective Kondo interrupted and asked. "No! We met a strange man in Karuizawa yesterday... Before explaining this, let me introduce myself. This is Fujita Shinzo, my name is Matsumura Katsura, both of us are Q Big students usually like to join in the fun."

"Nonsense! Just because you like to join in the fun doesn't mean that I am the same as you." "Okay, whether you two like to join in the fun has nothing to do with us, we just want to know how much you know about the case last year." Fujita Shinzo deliberately put on a bitter face, and was very cautious in using words to condemn. "We were talking about meeting a strange man in Karuizawa yesterday, but after hearing the boss mention it, we realized that the man was Nobuyoshi Tashiro, a student of the Music Department of the University of Arts." When Kindaichi Kosuke heard this, he couldn't help but glance at the student.

"Tashiro Nobuyoshi? Who is he?" "Officer Kondo, you are so forgetful! Didn't a couple die in Lishan last year? The man who was rescued was Nobukichi Tashiro." The boss said while wiping the counter. "I heard you say that, and I remembered it too. What happened to that man?" "At that time, you only cared about the drowning incident of Fue Koji, so you didn't know that there was such a thing. Tashiro Shinkichi died in love with a woman on August 16 last year, and Fue Koji's body was also found on that day. The night before yesterday Nobukichi Tashiro lives here."

"So, he was with Di Xiaolu that day?" Detective Kondo's emotions became agitated. "Well, and before Fute Koji left here that night, these two students saw Fute Koji and Tashiro Nobukichi chatting on the opposite hill!" "You also saw Tashiro Nobuyoshi in Karuizawa this year?" This is the question raised by Kosuke Kindaichi. Kosuke Fujita looked at Kosuke Kindaichi and replied: "Yes, I saw it yesterday." "where?" "Hoshino Onsen." Matsumura Katsuki on the side replied. "Hoshino Onsen is holding a modern music festival. Nobuyoshi Tashiro appeared at the symposium at noon yesterday. He still looks cool; I told Fujita that he won't want to repeat the old things again!"

On the afternoon of August 16th last year, Nobukichi Tashiro and Yuki Komiya died in love at Lishan Mountain. As a result, Yuki Komiya died and Nobukichi Tashiro was rescued. The day after tomorrow is the first anniversary of Yuki Komiya's death. Although Kosuke Kindaichi didn't know what happened to Nobukichi Tashiro, he learned from Yuki Komiya's suicide note that the two agreed to die in love together.The autopsy report stated that Yuki Komiya had a serious chest disease, so Nobukichi Tashiro was not prosecuted. "Did you ask Tashiro Nobukichi where he lives?" "No, we didn't talk, and we didn't know him very well. We only knew that he was the leading actor in the incident of dying in love last year."

"We like to join in the fun, so when we heard about the martyrdom in Li Shan last year, we followed the rescue team to see the situation, only to find out that he lives in the 'Baihua Camp' just like us." "On the night before Tashiro Nobukichi died in love, did you still see him talking with Fute Koji?" Officer Hibino finally asked. "At that time we didn't know who Di Xiaolu was, nor did we know that he was Feng Chiyoko's ex-husband." Katsura Matsumura answered bluntly. "But you didn't talk to the boss just now..." "No, no, that's how it happened."

Since Katsura Matsumura's tone was not very good, Kinzo Fujita quickly stopped him and spoke on his behalf: "That night was the 15th, that is, the Menglan Bon Festival. There are dance festivals everywhere in Karuizawa. So our camp wanted to hold a campfire party, and the boss was with us at the time." "I'm not only playing with you, I was also a sponsor at that time!" "Of course! It's more difficult to ask you to treat guests than to go to heaven." "Shut up! The policeman is very serious..." The boss also joins the conversation. "Futekoji and Tashiro Nobukichi... I didn't know their names at the time, but I refused to let those two go to the campfire party, because the party had just started, and Fuekoji was already drunk. In fact, I invited him to attend earlier At the party, he was already drunk. At that time, he was sleeping alone in the wooden house. While he was muttering, he also used rusty nails to carve words on the wooden board in front of the bed; later, he was still hugging in the wooden house. drunk from a bottle of whiskey, so..."

Suddenly, Detective Kondo interrupted: "You said that Di Xiaolu carved words on the wooden board?" "Well, I don't know where he picked up the rusty nail." "Boss, which room did Xiaolu live in?" "He lives in Room 17. Nobugen Tashiro, who arrived later than him, lives in Room 18 next to him." The reason why Nezu has a deep memory of the room they live in is because the behavior of these two people is very strange. "Does that room still retain the words carved by Di Xiaolu?" "Yeah! It's been there all the time, do you want to see it?" "See you later, you continue to talk." Under the urging of Detective Kondo, Fujita Shinzo went on to say: "After the campfire party started, everyone got drunk and started singing loudly: 'An elephant stepped into a spider's nest...' Only those two people stayed on the opposite hill talking. Since then, I've been keeping an eye on them both... the fog was thick that night, but when I climbed up the hill I could see the stars clearly in the sky." "What are you doing up the hill?" "I just want to invite the two of them to be lively and lively with everyone!" "The result was rejected by the other party?" "Yes! That's what happened." Fujita Shinzo said with a wry smile. "Why did Di Xiaolu reject you?" "He said: 'No, thank you for your kindness.' I continued to lobby: 'Let's get together and have fun!' But he replied: 'Neither I nor Tashiro are interested.'" "What did the two of them talk about?" "I didn't hear it because they stopped talking when they heard my footsteps." "You are so stupid, why don't you just tiptoe over there? In this way, can't you tell the policeman some information?" "Hahaha... yes!" "What happened next?" "Later, when I returned to the party, I didn't even notice when Fuekoji left, and I didn't talk to Tashiro. That's all I know, and the report is over." Fujita Kinzo left the seat at the bar, stood in front of Police Officer Hibino and raised his hand. "Director, should we go to Room 17?" There were not many guests staying overnight last night, and Room 17 happened to be vacant. The travelers who stayed here joked that this is a "dog house" because its space is not much larger than a dog house.Each wooden house is elevated by four pillars. There is a wooden door at the entrance, and there are only three stacks inside; there are wooden steps outside the house connected to the floor inside the house, with a total of three steps. A group of people walked up the stairs and opened the simple wooden door. There was a musty smell from the wooden walls and floors inside; weeds emerged from the small holes in the floor, and the whole room felt chilly when the wind blew past. There was only one window for daylight in the room, and the light was very dim. "Fujita, which side is Fuekoji's head sleeping on?" "He slept with his head on the left side, then used his left hand as a pillow, and his right hand was carved on the wooden board." Kosuke Kindaichi took out a lighter to Police Officer Hibino. "Ah! Thank you." Police officer Hibino bent over to look around with the faint light of the lighter. "Mr. Kindaichi, is this it?" "Where?" "It looks like an equation or something engraved here." The font carved by Fute Koji Yasuhisa is crooked and written from left to right. It looks quite difficult, but it can still be read. "A plus Q is not equal to B plus P...Is that correct?" "What the hell is this?" Kosuke Kindaichi bent over to look at the words carved on the wooden board. "Mr. Kondo, how do you think it should be pronounced?" "I am the same as the director, that is, A plus Q does not equal B plus... But, what does this mean? Mr. Kindaichi, you are well-informed, do you really have such an equation?" Kindaichi Kosuke scratched the back of his head with his hand and said: "This...I'm not very knowledgeable, so I don't know what the equation is. But, Police Officer Hibino, have you investigated this wooden house after the accident in Dikoji last year?" "Yes, but I didn't find this line of equations engraved on the wooden board." "A+Q≠B+P?" Detective Kondo repeated in a low voice. "What exactly did Di Xiaolu want to express? Director, did Di Xiaolu engrave other words?" "Yes!" Using the light of a lighter, Police Officer Hibino found some of the same nicks under the aforementioned equations. These nicks were not clearer than the equations just now, as if they were accidentally scratched. Kosuke Kindaichi and Police Officer Hibino looked carefully at those scratches, and finally found them out. The words were carved on the floor, in smaller and smaller letters. "Mr. Kindaichi, it seems that it can only be pronounced as Sasuke." "Yes! These notches can only be read in this way." "From the capitalization of the first letter, could it be a proper noun? Sasuke...Sasuke...Director, among the people involved in this incident, is there anyone named 'Sasuke'?" No one at the scene had an impression of the name "Sasuke". (Taiku Fuekoji left such words before he died. Is this his last book? Or was he scribbling while he was drunk? And...he met Shinji Tsumura at noon on the same day when he engraved these words, and talked on the phone Ri threatened Feng Chiyoko, saying that he had heard some things from Ritsumura Shinji, and if Feng Chiyoko did not meet him, he planned to tell Asuka Zhongxi about these things. If this is the case, is this equation and the name "Wisuke" related to the murder case? ) When Kosuke Kindaichi was thinking about these questions, Police Officer Hibino was also thinking about the same question. "Why does Dikoji insist on meeting Tsumura? Kondo, you go and ask the forensics personnel to come here to take pictures and store evidence, no... I think it's better to remove this piece of wood and use it as evidence." "Yes, anyway, this is not a high-end place." "Also, I'll go to Room 18 next door to take a look. During this period, you go to the front and ask the two students what Tashiro Shinkichi looks like; besides... Mr. Kindaichi, the day after tomorrow is the anniversary of the death of Tashiro Nobukichi, I don't know Will he go to Mount Li to mourn the dead woman?" "I'm guessing too." "If that's the case, he should be living somewhere in Karuizawa now. If we can find Tashiro Nobukichi, maybe we can learn from him what Fuekoji told him." "Director, the newspapers and media have reported on the death case, maybe he has changed his name." "That's why I want you to ask Tashiro Shinkichi what he looks like! He probably won't live in this camp this year, and a young guy like him won't live in a high-end hotel, maybe in a relatively cheap small hotel. In short , the first priority is to find Tashiro Nobukichi as soon as possible." "Then shall we go to Hoshino Hot Spring?" "I can go by myself... Ah! I think Mr. Kindaichi will go with me!" There were no major clues in Room 18 where Nobuyoshi Tashiro stayed last year. Like Room 17, the floor and walls were wet from the heavy rain in the morning. Police officer Hibino grabbed Nezu as soon as he walked out of Room 18, negotiated with him to remove the wooden board, and brought it back to the police station as evidence.Nezu looked embarrassed, neither agreeing nor opposing. The two students listened curiously to their conversation. At this time, Kindaichi Kosuke suddenly shouted: "Boss! Did anyone live in Room 17 after the murder happened last year?" "Of course, that person didn't die in this room." "Have you kept the names and addresses of the guests staying at the hotel?" "I could show it to you, but..." "Not available?" "No, it's just that I can't guarantee that the people who lodge here will fill in their real names and addresses, just like these two students now..." "Ouch! I'll fill in everything truthfully." "So what? Isn't Fujita Shinzo just a fake name? Aren't you the person you're looking for in a major case?" "How dare you expose my bottom!" Kosuke Kindaichi ignored the two students, turned around and said to police officer Hibino: "Officer Hibino, can we ask the boss to provide a list of the tenants who lived in Room 17 after the murder last summer?" "Mr. Kindaichi..." Officer Hibino originally wanted to say something, but suddenly changed the subject and said: "Boss, you have heard what this gentleman said, just do as he said." Next, the car they took left the "Baihua Camp". "Mr. Kindaichi, do you doubt that after that incident, there will be people related to the murder living here? If there are people living here, who will it be?" Officer Hibino thought for a while, then suddenly whispered in astonishment: "Could it be Shinji Tsumura?" "This part needs to be carefully investigated, and those inscriptions should also be investigated in detail." "You mean it's possible for someone else to add some more strokes to the lettering?" "This will only be known after it has been appraised by an expert. I personally admire the way you decided to dismantle the plank and hand it over to an expert." Officer Hibino fell silent after being praised by Kosuke Kindaichi. After a while of silence, Kindaichi Kosuke spoke first: "Officer Hibino, about Tashiro Nobuyoshi, I know him too..." "Mr. Kindaichi, you... why? Are you friends?" "There is something you probably haven't heard of. I was the one who found out that Tashiro Nobukichi and Komiya Yuki were killed in love last year. At that time, I handed my business card to the detective and left..." "It's you?" "Yes, I was also in Karuizawa at this time last year. On the afternoon of August 16, I climbed up Lishan Mountain alone. When I reached the top of the mountain, the weather was fine. I accidentally found a cave full of bats. Then I heard a rumbling sound, because the weather was about to turn bad, I hurried down the mountain, when the fog had begun to cover my surroundings, on the way down the mountain, I met two men and women who went up the mountain, and I reminded them that it was very dangerous to go up the mountain at this time , but they ignored my advice and still walked up the mountain." Kosuke Kindaichi took a breath and continued: "I continued to walk for about five minutes, the fog became thicker and thicker, and I was still sitting on the big rock by the roadside waiting for them to go down the mountain, but the couple was still nowhere to be seen, so I decided to go up the mountain to find them. When I reached the top of the mountain At that time, the whole person was in the thick fog, and I suddenly remembered the cave I discovered earlier, so I went to investigate and found that the man and woman were lying in the cave, the woman had died, and the man still had a pulse..." The car just passed the level crossing in Nanyuan, and drove westward on National Highway No. 18. "What did you do after that?" "I immediately went down the mountain, and stopped an empty car near the 'Baihua Camp' and went straight to the police station. Unexpectedly, another incident occurred in the flute path, and the police station was enveloped in a tense atmosphere. At that time, I told a criminal policeman the details. I also left a business card for him; the address on the business card is my temporary residence in Nanyuan. Do you know lawyer Seiichiro Nanjo? He is an elder from my hometown. Every time I go to Karuizawa in the past two or three years, I will live in him in the villa." "I see." "I wrote down the phone number of Nanjo Villa on the back of the business card and gave it to the criminal police. It was already past 4:30. I thought the police would contact me, so I stayed in the villa and dared not go out, but I never heard from the police. At around 7:00 in the evening, a business owner came to the Nanjo Villa. Because he spoke very loudly, I learned that the couple who died in love were found in Lishan. The woman was dead, and the man was transferred to the hospital for treatment. With peace of mind, I boarded the 'Maruike' at 7:54 back to Tokyo. "After that, I learned from the newspaper that the rescued man was Nobukichi Tashiro, a student of the Music Department of the University of Arts, and the woman was Yuki Komiya, a member of the Opera House. After leaving the theater, she worked as a call girl." "If you hadn't told me this, I wouldn't have known that you were the one who discovered the incident of dying for love!" "Later I asked Mrs. Nanjo if the police had contacted me, and the answer was no." According to subsequent investigations, the criminal policeman Kosuke Kindaichi contacted at the time accidentally lost his business card while directing the rescue team to climb the mountain.