Chapter 16 Chapter Four

The next day was the 12th, Hashimoto went to the Shirahama Police Station after breakfast. He explained about Yumi Ibebe in the reception room and showed the photo. "She stayed at Hotel S from September 5th to 7th; she checked out around 10:00 am on the 7th, but her whereabouts were unknown afterwards." After Hashimoto finished speaking, a police officer named Harada asked, "Could she have committed suicide?" "Her family members are also worried about this, and from witnesses, they all feel this way. Can you find out whether the deceased has been found in the Shirahama area from the 7th to today?" Hashimoto asked.

So Harada checked the list of suicides and accident deaths from the 7th to today. Within the jurisdiction of the Shirahama Police Station, five people died in six days.These five are all not locals, but tourists.Two young men from Tokyo ignored the warning and swam in the sea before the typhoon. On the morning of the 11th, their bodies were found drowned.Both are colleagues in the same company. The other three people, a couple in their thirties and their five-year-old child, died in a traffic accident.They were driving back to Osaka on the 8th when they collided head-on with a truck, killing all three.The truck driver, a man in his 20s, has been arrested, but it appears that both parties were at fault.

"That's all. There is no dead person named Yumi Inobe." Harada said. "Can you think of it this way: she committed suicide by throwing herself into the sea before the typhoon came, and then was washed away somewhere by the typhoon?" Hashimoto asked.He didn't want that, but he couldn't ignore it. "It's possible that this is not the case." Harada also nodded. "Is there no hiding place for 'sad' young girls around Shirahama?" When Hashimoto asked, Harada asked a little puzzled, "How do you say that?" "For example, in order to calm themselves down for a week or two, don't they live in a nearby monastery?" Hashimoto said.

"Yes." Harada said after thinking for a while, "Practitioners often go to Koyasan. I have never practiced, but if I am interested, I will go to Koyasan." "Has the young girl gone?" "There is also a nun's Cisonin Temple in Koyasan. In the past, women were forbidden to go to Koyasan, but you can enter the Cisonin Temple. The locals call it 'Woman Koya', and it is also a beautiful place!" Harada said. Koyasan was opened by Master Kobo, and the Cisun Temple was the residence of the master's mother. What Hashimoto was concerned about was that on the way to Koyasan, there was a place called Ryujin Onsen.Recently, bathing in hot springs has become very popular among young girls in the city. Maybe Yumi will live there when she goes to Koyasan.

So Hashimoto went straight to Koyasan again.