Chapter 9 third quarter

How do parents here usually tell their children about preventive measures?No one thinks that even this should be taught to children by the school, right? My child holds chopsticks in a strange posture, how do you teach them at school?This is from a call I received a few days ago.Kid is in 4th grade and don't know what he's been doing all this time.Perhaps that parent had similar thoughts. Of course, the school did not warn children that if there is a suspicious person accosting them on the way to and from school, they must shout or press the siren on the schoolbag; they must not take other people's cars; they can run into nearby shops or houses Ask for help; try to walk where there are many pedestrians; report any situation to an adult, etc.

Some of you here may also be very thoughtful.Recently, a security website has provided a service, which is to send the information of bad actors to the mobile phone.Maybe there are a lot of people logging into this kind of website? This reminds me of one thing, a girl in my class reported to me a few days ago: "Teacher, on the way to school today, there was a strange uncle staring at me at the intersection." I ran quickly I went over to have a look, only to realize that it was the teachers of other grades who were making routine inspections.At that time, if we had been as vigilant as this child, we might have avoided the murder.

However, the adults at that time did not give any advice in this regard, not to mention that the place where the incident happened was a school, the man was wearing decent work clothes, and the request seemed very legitimate. Without Emili, we sat on the steps in front of the gymnasium to chat after we had passed the ball a hundred times in a row. After a long time, Emili did not come back.Soon, the sun was setting, and the music announced that it was six o'clock in the afternoon.In the small town now, "Seven Children" is broadcast, but in our small town, "Green Sleeves" is broadcast.

Is it too long?We became a little worried and decided to go to the swimming pool to find out.The swimming pool of our elementary school is very similar to that of this elementary school, but the entrance and exit will be open in summer.We went in from the entrance, walked across the pool, to the changing rooms.It was very quiet inside, and the cicadas could be heard in the distance. The locker room is unlocked.I walked in the front and opened the door of the locker room, but there was no sign of Emili or that man inside.Did you leave without saying hello?I was a little angry, but I didn't give up, so I decided to open the men's locker room to have a look.Akiko opened the door.The moment she opened the door with her backhand, a terrifying scene jumped into her eyes.

Emily fell to the ground, her head turned toward the door, her eyes wide open, and fluid could clearly be seen pouring from her nose and mouth.We called her repeatedly, but there was no response. We just realized that Emili is dead!Something big happened!I started assigning tasks to everyone on the spot. Akiko and Yuka ran fast, I told them to go to Emili's house and the police station respectively, and let the most honest Saei stay at the scene to wait, and I went to call the teacher.No one objected, Saying stayed there, and the other three ran away at the same time. Don't you think we are brave?Seeing the dead body of their friend, the ten-year-old children did not cry or scream, but split up.

The three other than me were indeed courageous. It was relatively short to go out from the back door, so the two who went to Emili's house and the police station left the swimming pool, walked across the playground, and ran towards the back door of the gymnasium.I ran towards the school building alone.There are two school buildings facing north and south. Building No. 2 faces the playground, Building No. 1 faces the main entrance of the gymnasium, and the teacher's office is on the first floor of Building No. 1. It is a common misconception that teachers also rest during the summer vacation, which is not the case at all.Teachers also go to work during the student holidays, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. During this period, they have paid vacations like ordinary companies, and they also have a rest during the Obon Festival.

So even during the summer vacation, if it is not a rest day, there should be teachers in the teacher's office, but, as mentioned earlier, the day of the murder happened on August 14th, the middle day of the three-day holiday of the Obon Festival, and the teachers are all off .Perhaps at least one person would have come to the school on errands in the morning, but by then it was past six in the afternoon. I ran to Building No. 1 and found that the five entrances of the school building, including the front entrance, were all locked.I ran to the atrium between the two school buildings, walked around to the window of the teacher's office, and could see through the gap in the white curtains without tiptoeing. There was no one in there.

At this time, a burst of fear struck, is it just me and the person who killed Emili on the campus... He is hiding nearby, and then he will stare at me... When I came back to my senses, I was running as fast as I could Pass the atrium, exit the main entrance, and run back home.I didn't stop when I entered the house. I threw off my shoes at the porch, ran into my room, closed the door, pulled the curtains, covered the quilt and began to tremble. There was only one thought in my mind: fear!afraid!afraid! After a while, my mother rushed into my room, lifted the quilt and said, "So you are at home! What happened?" When I came back, my mother went shopping. On the way, she heard that there was a big accident in the elementary school, so she hurried away. When I arrived at school, I searched for a long time in the chaos and didn't see me. I thought I had to tell my father, so I went home first, but found my shoes lying in the hallway, and ran into my room immediately.

I cried and said that Emili died in the locker room of the swimming pool.The mother reprimanded loudly: "Such a big thing happened, why didn't you tell us immediately after you came back, but hid?" I was about to say that it was because of fear, when I suddenly thought, what happened to the other children? I thought, even I, who was always very strong, ran back in fright, and everyone else must be no exception.Mom heard that something happened from Akiko's mother. Akiko was injured on the head, and was taken home by her brother, who reported to her mother that something happened to Emily in the swimming pool.Akiko's mother was about to go to see what was going on. When she met my mother, they went to elementary school together. On the way, she met Saying's mother carrying Saying back home.

At that time, Emili's mother was in the swimming pool, and the policeman from the police station and Yuka were also there. Yuka, who was usually unobtrusive, clearly described what she saw. What did you do?You should be the calmest at this time, why are you the only one hiding here?Really useless! No prospect, no prospect... I was scolded like this, and I was hit on the head and back several times. I cried and said sorry repeatedly, but I didn't understand why and who I was apologizing to. As you may already know, I was the only one who escaped, and the other three completed their tasks well.It must have been terrible to report her daughter's death to Emili's mother, and it must have been terrible to tell the story to a serious-looking policeman who had never dealt with anything in normal times, and it must have been even more terrible to guard the body there.

I am weak.Not only that, but because of what happened to me, I lost something important. What I lost was the value of my existence. I have also accepted the investigation and evidence collection of Emilia's murder alone, but in most cases, the four of us, accompanied by teachers and parents, were interrogated together.Questions such as: Where did the suspect come from, how did he strike up a conversation, whether the clothing, body shape, and appearance are similar to which celebrity. I tried my best to recall the day when the case happened, and I was always the first to answer.It was guilt that drove me to make amends, and another reason was that when my mother accompanied me, she always poked me in the back and said, "You take the lead." Surprisingly, the children who answered behind me denied my statement one by one. "He was wearing gray overalls." "No, a little green." "The eyes are small." "Really? I don't think so." "Looks nice." "Nonsense. It's not kind at all. It's just that he said to buy us ice cream, so it feels that way." Conversations like this come up all the time.Even after Emily dominated everything, the three of them never refuted my opinion, but this time everyone began to deny me, looking at me as if to say: "What nonsense are you talking about?" They also said in unison Said: "I can't remember the suspect's appearance." I couldn't remember it myself, but denied my statement. I think everyone realized that I was the only one who ran away.No one accuses me directly, but they must be very angry and despise me. They will definitely think, usually a self-righteous look, isn't it you who are the most timid in the end?Now it's back in the limelight. However, if that is all, even if there is a sense of guilt, it should not be troubled by guilt.Anyway, I went to the teacher's office, my worst sin in this case was not getting cold feet. I have committed a greater sin and confessed here for the first time today. I remembered the suspect's face, but said I couldn't. I remember the process from being accosted by the suspect to discovering the body, but when asked about the most crucial point—the suspect’s appearance, the other three shook their heads and said they didn’t know. I was very puzzled seeing this scene.How could it be possible to forget only the appearance?I can't believe it.If that's the case, don't deny my correct answer, I'm pissed, and actually want to say that, and at the same time I'm contemptuous of them, I'm the best student of the four, they're so stupid. However, I am even more timid than such a child... Thinking of this, an idea popped into my mind.The three people other than me completed the task alone. This should be more terrifying than four people discovering the body together. Is it because the fear at that time prevented everyone from remembering the person's appearance?I can remember because nothing was done after that. When asked what everyone had done after the body was found, I replied that there was no one in the teacher's office and thought I needed to call an adult, so I went home.There were several houses on the way from school to my house, some of which I visited when I was looking at the dolls, but I passed the door without entering and ran home, and even though there was my father and some relatives at home, I didn't say anything. If I had reported to the adults in time, would it be possible to collect more information about the suspect?This idea came about recently. At the time I thought it was a bad thing to remember what a suspect looked like.If I was the only one who could answer correctly, even the police and teachers would realize that I was the only one who did nothing, and would reprimand me.However, I don't regret answering that I didn't remember at the time.Later, I even deeply realized that maybe it would be better to do so.Because the criminal was not caught.If I remember, if the criminal knows about it, the next target will be me.I can protect myself by saying I don’t remember. It may be because the friends we made at that time were not limited to people of the same age or living nearby, but had grown to be willing to associate with like-minded people, or it might be because we didn’t want to recall that murder again. In short, after that incident, the four of us They seldom act together.After entering the fifth grade, I joined the volleyball club, and when I was in the sixth grade, I was a candidate for the vice president of the Children's Association, and was finally elected.The post of president is held by a boy, so my mother asked me to run for vice president.I made new friends, had a new environment to show myself in, and I worked hard to restore my reputation.After entering middle school, I took the lead in undertaking the work of student cadres and actively participated in community voluntary activities.So people around me praised me for being strong. I didn't realize that it was all an escape.From a distance, I saw Sae who was always trembling and timid, Akiko who often skipped school, and Yuka who was addicted to night tours and went astray in theft. I thought I was the one who worked hardest after that incident, and I have already Fully fulfilled the responsibilities that should be assumed in the case.I kept thinking that way until one day we were called home by Emili's mother. Three years after the murder, Emili's parents are returning to Tokyo.It is said that her mother did not want to leave the small town before the case was solved, but due to her husband's work arrangements, she had to decide to leave.Her mother was overly saddened by the tragic death of her daughter, and suffered a great mental blow, and was even bedridden for a time.She wants to solve the case more than anyone else, but she is not strong enough to stay in the small town alone to find the criminal. In the summer of the first year of junior high school, the four of us were called home by her, who was slender and slender like a female star.She said she wanted to hear about the day one last time before leaving, and said it was the last time.We couldn't say no. Emery's father's driver picked us up one by one in a large car and drove to the employee apartment at the Adachi factory, where the four of us had visited.It was the first time for the four of us to act together after the murder, but we didn't talk about the misfortune at all during the trip, just talking about some irrelevant topics, such as how the activities of the interest group were, how the final exam was and so on. Only Emili's mother was home alone. It was Saturday afternoon, the weather was fine, and the room looked like a high-end hotel. From the building, you could have a panoramic view of the whole town. There were many fruits that I couldn’t name on the cake, which were said to be specially shipped from Tokyo. Black tea is also very good.If Emily was there, it would have been an extremely elegant farewell party, but Emily was killed.Contrary to the sunny weather, the atmosphere in the room is dignified. After eating the cake, Emili's mother asked us to tell the story of the case, and the four of them, with me as the main one, gave a rough account of the day.Suddenly, Emili's mother yelled hysterically: "Enough! You are like idiots, always repeating that you can't remember your face, and because you are so stupid, the criminal has not been caught after three years. Emili is Killed for playing with idiots like you, all because of you, you are murderers!" WE ARE MURDERERS—her attitude has turned 180 degrees.After that murder, we were in great pain, and we never gave up our efforts. Unexpectedly, not only did we fail to atone for our sins, but it turned out that it was our fault that caused Emily's death.Emily's mother continued: "I will never forgive you. Within the statute of limitations, you must find the murderer! Otherwise, you must atone for the crime until I am satisfied. If I can't, I will revenge you. I have Your money and rights are several times higher than your parents, and I will definitely let you suffer a worse punishment than Emily, only I, as Emili's mother, have such rights." Compared to that criminal, Emili's mother seemed more terrifying. Sorry, I remember what that man looked like. If I had said that at the time, maybe I would not stand in front of you today and repeat the old story.It's a pity that I really forgot the man's appearance at the time. The characteristics of the man were not very obvious, and I have been hinting that I "do not remember" for a long time. Three years is enough to forget. The day after leaving a big promise for the four children, Emili's mother left the town.I don't know how other children feel, I have been trying my best to think of a way not to be retaliated against. It was impossible to catch the criminal, so I chose the latter, an act of redemption that Emili's mother would approve.