Chapter 19 third quarter

That day, after coming out of the back door of the school and separating from Akiko, I ran to the police station.The police at the police station seem to change every two or three years. At that time, the young policeman stationed in the town was named Ando.Although I was sent to report the crime, I was still worried that a child would be criticized if he went in casually.I went in with trepidation and found that the police officer was listening to an old woman who seemed very enthusiastic.I breathed a sigh of relief. I was going to report a homicide, and I could have interrupted them, but when I came to the police station for the first time, it was like I was in the waiting room of a hospital, and I just stood aside and waited.Seeing me like this, the police officer probably felt that I had nothing important to do, so he kindly said to me: "Sit down and wait for a while." He asked me to sit on the folding chair next to the grandma, and his voice sounded similar to his The appearance is very inconsistent.

The grandma was talking about the theft of French dolls in a dialect reserved for the elderly.She said that the one who stole the doll must be from Tokyo.I listened by the side, anxious in my heart.I suddenly remembered which family this grandma belonged to. The children of that family once boasted that they would go to Disneyland during the Obon Festival. The grandma must have come here because she was bored. I couldn't help feeling sorry for her. Yeah, that was shortly after Emili was killed.I'm not as scared as other kids, aren't you dissatisfied?But it's true, I wasn't scared at the time.It's not that I'm cruel, and it's not that I feel resentment because Emilia treats me like a thief, it's just that I didn't see it clearly at the time.

A few days ago, when I was cleaning my house to welcome relatives, I accidentally stepped on the glasses I usually wear.No way, I had to wear my old glasses, so I couldn't see clearly that day. At that time, I only saw Emili lying in the dark locker room, but I didn't see it clearly, so I didn't feel any sense of urgency. I didn't realize that something big had happened until I returned to the swimming pool again. After the grandma left, the policeman asked me kindly, "I'm sorry I kept you waiting for a long time. What's the matter?" I said, "My friend collapsed in the school's swimming pool." I just reported what I saw.

"It's such a big thing, you should have said it earlier!" The policeman immediately contacted the ambulance, maybe he thought someone was drowning.Immediately afterwards, he took me to the school in a police car. The police officer realized the seriousness of the matter after he saw you in the swimming pool.You sat in the men's locker room holding Emili, and kept calling her name. It was only when I saw you that I knew that Emili was really dead. In order to protect the scene, it is best not to pick up the corpse, the police officer advised you tactfully, maybe you didn't hear it at all.

There was another person at the scene, Saying.She squatted outside the locker room door, with her eyes closed and her ears plugged with her hands. She didn't even look up when we called her, so I explained what happened to the police. We were playing volleyball in the shade of the gym when an uncle in overalls came over and said he was fixing the ventilation fans in the locker room and wanted someone to help him out, so he took Emily there.A few of us played for a while, and at six o'clock, "Green Sleeves" sounded and she hadn't come back, so we all went to see what was going on, and found Emily collapsed in the men's locker room.

The police officer listened to my story very carefully and wrote it down in his notebook. During this period, the ambulance came, the police car from the county police headquarters also came, and the people nearby came to watch the excitement... The swimming pool was suddenly crowded.Saying was carried back by the mother who came in a hurry, and Akiko and Maki's mother ran to see what happened. I still remember Akiko's mother shouting, "My child ran back with blood on his head." Maki's mother shouted her daughter's name and looked around.There was a commotion all around, and almost no one paid any attention to the two of them.

Among the crowd, only I was left there alone.I was a witness to the murder, but no one noticed.The town police officer is reporting what he has learned from me to the county police headquarters. Maybe the suspect is hiding in the crowd, and no one will notice if he takes me away quietly.So many people, but no one can save me... Is there anything more terrifying than this? I was desperately trying to figure out what else to report to the police in order to get someone to notice me.I went to get the volleyball in front of the gymnasium, handed it to the police, said it might have fingerprints from a criminal, and showed Emily lying there when I found her in the women's locker room.It can be said that I tried my best.

People from the prefectural police headquarters asked me about the suspect in detail.Someone paid attention to me, I was very excited and desperately recalled the scene at that time, but for many details, especially the appearance of the suspect, I have no impression at all.It's not that I can't remember, as I said before, I can barely see the suspect's face.It is said that I have to pass the ball one hundred times in a row, and I am the one who misses the most, and I am also the one who bounces the ball to the suspect's feet because of missed catches.I am very upset.If you wear normal glasses, even if you can't see clearly, you can at least have a little impression of the suspect's general characteristics.Such as moles or scars.

I was very angry with my mother, she always said that my sister couldn't do it, and made me stand on a chair and clean the dusty shelves.Also, so many people from the town have come, but there is no sign of my mother.Although my home is in the West District, it is some distance away from the school, and I may not know what's going on here.Mom must be here soon, I thought and waited.Even though I was a little angry, I still liked my mother very much. The investigation continued late into the night and I was sent home by the officers around nine o'clock.Mom opened the porch and saw that it was the police, she was very embarrassed.

Oops, I'm so sorry, I was just about to pick it up.Shinohara called to say something happened in elementary school. However, my eldest daughter has been unwell since this morning. She has severe asthma and has not eaten. In the evening, she said she wanted to drink some vegetable soup. No, I am making it. It's on.The cold thick soup I specially made, I can drink a little even when I feel uncomfortable.In addition, my husband is the eldest son in the family, you see, he is still busy... A murder happened, and my mother can still say these things with a smile on her face!Watching this scene, I shed tears.I don't know if I feel miserable or sad... I see you holding Emili's body and crying.I think if it was my sister, my mother would hug and cry; if it was me, even if I was killed, my mother would not go to the scene.

Did you say my dad?I heard that my father had been drinking with his uncles during the day, and at night he was completely drunk and fell asleep with his head covered. Even if he was awake, he might not come to pick me up, and he might even complain that I was annoying.Although my father doesn't have any property, but as the heir of the family, he is overly favored, and he hardly pays a second glance to my second daughter who can't inherit the family business and is too far away from expectations. Seeing me crying, my mother said again: "Yuka, you are already in the fourth grade, right? It would be nice to come back alone." The implication is that if that's the case, she won't be ashamed.It's the same with me or without me, even my parents. No matter how good someone's vision is, they probably won't notice me, just like my blurred vision. Just thinking about it, the police officer next to her said to her mother, "We are the ones who left your daughter there. I'm really sorry." Then he turned to me, bent his burly body, and touched my head, "You must be scared too, but you still told us a lot about the situation calmly, thank you. I will leave the rest to our police uncle, Get a good night's sleep today." His hands were big and rough, but warm, and they almost completely covered my head.I will never forget the feeling at that time.I've been looking for the same hand as that one since that day. After the incident, the biggest change was my sister's attitude towards me. Maybe the mother was still a little embarrassed after all, because she was the only one who didn't pick up the child.She suddenly became nice to me inexplicably, and even asked me if I had an appetite and what I wanted to eat. The video rental shop in the neighboring town had interesting tapes, should I borrow them... I have never had such a phenomenon in my memory. Well, I want to eat gratin. I said so, but that night there were still cold noodles and steamed chicken with plums on the dinner table. I said that my sister would feel sick when eating hot food and couldn't eat it.In the end, the videotape was not lent to me, because my sister didn't like noisy things like animation. All I can think of is my sister.Are you all thinking, it would be nice if I was killed? I couldn't stand it anymore, and yelled and knocked over the cold noodle bowl, this was the first time I had this attitude.So far I have been enduring it, thinking that my sister is more uncomfortable than me, but at the time it was obvious that I needed more attention.Unexpectedly, at this moment, my sister burst into tears. It's all my fault, it's all my fault, if I'm in good health, Yuka won't be so sad, I can make gratin to make Yuka happy, if my body is healthy...why To make me so miserable?Mom, you tell me. My sister cried and confided.Mother hugged her sister tightly and said, "I'm sorry, Mayu, I'm sorry." This happened the day after the murder. After that, whenever my mother and I went to assist in the investigation, my sister would definitely feel unwell, so Maki's mother often asked Maki's mother to take me there.When the news about Emily's murder was broadcast on TV, when my father asked me "what did the police ask", my sister always put down the chopsticks and complained unhappily why we talked about such a disgusting topic, which hurt her a little Appetite is gone.Gradually, because of my sister, that case became a taboo topic in my house.As before, my sister is still the object of protection, and I am still left aside. It's useless to complain, so I give up, but it's not that I don't care at all, it's not just that I don't care, the feeling of uneasiness is even increasing day by day.I used to believe that the murderer would be arrested soon, but after a long time, there is still no result. In a sense, it can be said that it is our fault.Although they were children, the four witnesses said they couldn't remember the suspect's face clearly.The terrified Sae was usually in a daze, and Akiko suffered a head injury. They could understand that they couldn't remember. I don't believe that even Maki couldn't remember, because even I can remember everything that can be seen. However, the lack of progress in the investigation must not be due to this alone.For example, it happened to be the Obon Festival that day, and the murderer might have come by car. Usually, strange cars come to town, and some people might find it strange, so pay attention. Driving instead of trams, the town is full of private cars or taxis with out-of-county plates, so sightings of suspicious vehicles may be few and far between. In addition, even if there are strangers active in the town, unless there are special circumstances, they will generally be regarded as relatives of someone else.Moreover, if the murderer changed his work clothes and stuffed them into a bag and carried them away, everyone would feel like visiting relatives and friends. In the past, even during the Obon Festival, if you saw a stranger, maybe some people would care about where the person came from. However, since the Adachi factory was completed, many strangers came, and gradually everyone got used to it.If things go on like this, this small town must be like a big city, and the relationship between people will gradually become indifferent. It may be comfortable to get used to indifference, but I really want others to pay attention to me.At times like this, Officer Ando, ​​who sent me home the night of the murder, came to mind.He listens to me patiently and protects me from bad guys.In order to be able to go to the police station to see him, I racked my brains for an excuse. Yes, well-behaved and sociable, you must be very puzzled why you need to make excuses.Wouldn't it be enough to walk in with a smile and say "Hello", and then talk to him about the school, or chat about gossip?However, at that time, I couldn't do such a thing. When I first walked in, if someone asked me something, I would not be able to answer it, and I would definitely turn around and run away.Even if my sister is not sick, since our family is a farmer, whether it is a day off or not, I have often heard adults say, "I'm busy, go and stay elsewhere." Others don't need a reason to care. At the beginning, I just reported some clues that didn’t seem to have much effect on the detection of the case. For example, although I didn’t remember the suspect’s appearance, I felt that the voice was similar to a certain actor, or there was a French doll in the West End. Dolls were stolen from dozens of households, and the dolls stolen on the night of the ceremony were all from the top ten households. As a result, no suitable excuse could be found within five times. I also went to hand in the change I picked up on the side of the road a few times.It is impossible to encounter this kind of thing often, so I took out a hundred yuan coin from my wallet on the way and handed it over.Now that I think about it, paying someone to meet and have someone listen to you is like going to a boys club.In fact, for the next ten years, I was so caught up in it that I don't realize until now that I had hit a dead end. To be honest, I hate you very much. Even talking to you like this now, I can't say I'm in a good mood.However, talk to others, and things that you can't see before will become clearer and clearer.The few of us haven't played together since that case, and we haven't talked about it together again. If the four of us talk in depth again, maybe the result won't be as bad as it is now. Speaking of bad things, the first time I stole something was half a year after it happened. It hurts, it hurts... wait five minutes.