Chapter 16 Section 3

Misako has been listening to music and knitting since she returned to the annex in the morning.Akihiko told her not to go out as much as possible, and when she saw the strange policemen walking around unscrupulously, she lost the desire to hang clothes on the balcony. But it's not that she's completely uninterested in what's going on outside, but she frequently peeps from the window.Except for the two policemen who came to the house in the morning, it seems that two or three more came later, and there has been no change. After confirming this, Misako exhaled lightly and planned to continue knitting.

She was actually looking for Yuzu Wakura.Thinking that he might come later, her heart flew to the main house uncontrollably.However, he has not been seen so far. Presumably every policeman has a responsible position, and it will not change today. Misako recalled the scene of the reunion yesterday.From the collar of the white shirt worn by Yusaku, it can be seen at a glance that it has not been washed for two days, and he does not wear a platinum ring on his ring finger, and he is probably still single. Misako caressed her cheeks. She thought her skin was still elastic, but it was not the same as that of Girls' Generation in her teens.In his eyes, what kind of woman am I? Will he feel a trace of feminine charm from me? She shook her head, not knowing what she was thinking—in his eyes, she was already someone else's wife, but she was married to someone else. A person involved in a murder case.

However, it would be great if we could have a good chat with him.Maybe I can be intoxicated in the dreamlike atmosphere like back then... Misako thought, she hadn't tasted that kind of feeling for several years. When she was thinking about these things in a daze, the doorbell in the porch rang, which startled her.She was about to take a break and listen to classical music starting at one o'clock.Maybe he is here! She hastily picked up the microphone of the intercom. "It's me." It was Yuanzi's voice that came. "Oh, why are you here?" Misako opened the door and beckoned my sister-in-law to enter.

"There's nothing to do at home, so I came to play with you." Sonoko replied.She asked for leave from school today. At this time, Ayeko probably didn't want to force her to go to school. "Will it bother you now?" "No, come in. I'll make tea." Misako took Sonoko to the living room and made black tea.The main house is clearly visible from the living room, and men in suits can be seen prowling the courtyard through lace curtains.Misako drew the heavy curtains tightly. "They've been investigating for a long time." "They seem to want to reproduce everyone's actions." Sonoko said, looking at the biscuit box.

"Reappearance?" "Hmm. It seems that they are checking whether there are any suspicious places where the people who visited the house yesterday. They seem to have confirmed that the murderer is among relatives." "No way, because the murderer used that crossbow." "Who told Dad to keep that kind of weird thing?" Yuanzi pouted and sipped the black tea, "By the way, I just heard that there seemed to be three arrows, and I found another one at the bottom of the wooden cabinet .” "Oh." Misako nodded, thinking, Sonoko was talking about that arrow.

"Do you know about this?" "Well. I happened to see it the night before, but forgot to tell the police." "Ah." Sonoko pressed her lips against the teacup, showing a slightly deep look in her eyes, "Did the police ask you anything?" "Well, something about the alibi." "Alibi..." Misako remembered the question that the western police department had asked this morning.After finding white petals in the porch, he asked: "During the period from last night to this morning, were there any visitors at the house?" He heard Yayezi answer "No", paused deliberately, and asked again: "Only the house is there, isn't it?"

What does that white petal mean? Misako was lost in thought. Yuanzi said: "Brother Hongchang was also asked about the alibi by the police." "Hongchang was asked too?" Hongchang didn't go to school today either. "Unlucky, he said he didn't have an alibi. He was alone during his lunch break from twelve to one." "Really? How did it turn out?" "Well, I seem to have been asked a lot by the police. But I think Brother Hongchang also has an indirect alibi." "What is indirect?" "It takes about 30 minutes to drive from the university where brother Hongchang studied to Zhenxian Temple. Even if he leaves the university at 12:00, he will arrive at 12:30. Thinking about it this way, he seems to have time to commit the crime , but this way, he won’t have time to go home to get a crossbow, because it will take thirty or forty minutes to go back and forth between Zhenxian Temple and home.”

"Smell, not bad." Misako agreed with Sonoko.On the morning of the murder, after Hongchang went out, the crossbow was still at home. If he was the murderer, he must have time to come back to get it. "So, the police basically won't suspect him?" "Well, I don't think so." Sonoko said firmly, then lowered her head, "However, it must be very uncomfortable to be doubted like that." Misako agreed. "Misako," Sonoko raised his head and said, "You really didn't see anything? It looks like someone entered Dad's study..."

"I didn't see it." Misako immediately denied it.She didn't lie, but she couldn't let go of a certain image in her mind, which was the figure from the back of the kitchen who looked like Akihiko.However, this kind of thing cannot be said. "I see. But..." Sonoko said, "Someone stole the crossbow, shouldn't it be true?" "It seems so." The two chatted for a while, Yuanzi got up and glanced at the clock, it was almost two o'clock.The detectives seem to have finally closed their team, and the mansion has calmed down. Not long after Yuanzi left, the phone rang.The phone is in the living room.Misako was about to continue knitting, and impatiently reached for the microphone.

"Hello, this is Guasheng's family." After a breath, the voice came from the microphone. "Hey, are you... Misako?" For a moment, Misako felt a throbbing pain in her chest. "Well, I am." She tried to answer calmly, but couldn't hide the excitement in her heart. After another brief silence, the other party said calmly, "It's me, Wakura... Wakura Yuzuo." "En." Misako's heartbeat accelerated, and it seemed that she couldn't calm down soon. "Are you...alone now?" "Ok……" "I'm near your house. I want to go there later. Is it convenient?" I don't know if it was done on purpose, but Yong Zuo's tone was very businesslike.

"Well, yes." "Then, please wait for me in the backyard. I hope to keep others from seeing me as much as possible, so I want to go in through the back door. I will call you then. Until then, please do as usual." "that……" "what?" "Are you coming alone?" Misako asked. After a while, a slight breathing sound came from the microphone. "I'm alone. Can't I?" He said harshly. "No, that's not what I meant... Well, I'll go to the backyard later." Putting down the microphone, Misako hurried to the bedroom, sat in front of the dresser, looked at the clock, combed her hair, and reapplied her lipstick.She thought regretfully, she would have put on makeup early in the morning.She got up, looked in the mirror, checked her dress and appearance, then glanced at the clock again.This sequence of actions took about four minutes. Then, following Yusaku's instructions, she headed to the backyard.While pretending to be looking at potted plants, she heard someone calling "Madam" in a low voice.Looking at the back door, Yusaku was standing opposite. "I forgot to ask one thing yesterday. It's not really a big deal, but can I take up some of your time?" Yuzuo was probably afraid of being heard by others, and his choice of words was the way the police deal with people involved in the case. "Well, if only for a while..." Misako's acting skills were not as good as his, but she still pretended to open the back door. Yusaku said "excuse me" and walked in. On the way to the annex, neither of them spoke a word, and they didn't even meet their eyes.Although Misako walked straight ahead, her mind was focused on the footsteps behind her, and Yusaku Wakura was right behind her... Entering the house from the porch, after closing the door, the two faced each other.Misako said "Please...", but couldn't continue with the word "Jin".The moment her eyes met Yusaku's, her entire body froze.Would he just hug himself tightly like this? The two were standing so close that Yusaku could indeed do that. However, Yusaku looked away, said "excuse me" again, and started to take off his shoes, Misako hurriedly prepared slippers for him. Misako took him to the chair where Sonoko had been sitting just now, thinking that it was a good thing she drew the curtains beforehand. "How about some coffee?" Misako was about to go to the kitchen, Yusaku looked at her sincerely and said, "I don't want anything, can you stay here?" His tone was no longer as blunt as before, so Misako sat opposite him, but she didn't have the courage to face him.Although there were endless words to confide in him, there was not a single word that could come to mind. Soon, he said, "I was really shocked yesterday. I never dreamed that you would be here." "I was shocked too." Misako finally made a sound, but it was extremely hoarse. "How long have you been married?" "Five years." "Five years... It's been five years." Yusaku closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and lamented the passage of time, "Do you have any children?" Misako shook her head. "Oh." Yusaku responded briefly. "What about you? Single?" Misako asked. "Well." He replied, "Besides the lack of fate, it's mainly because I'm not in the mood to talk about relationships, and I probably won't be in that mood again in the future." He shook his head slowly, lowered his head to take a deep breath, and raised his head again to stare at her lids. "How was your life after that? Breaking up with me, being a college student..." Misako put her hands on her lap and clasped her fingers. "It took me a long time to get back together. Even in college, there was a big hole in my heart every day... what about you?" "I've been depressed too. However, I lead a very disciplined life at the police academy, and I honestly don't have time to be depressed." "Is life in the police academy hard?" "It's hell." A smile appeared on Yusaku's face, "Just like the army, everything is strictly controlled. Many people dropped out of school in the first month." "Have you ever thought about giving up?" "I have thought about it. However, I can't give up. I only have this way to go. I can't give up when I think of sacrificing the precious things I had before." Yusaku looked into Misako's eyes, "When I am in pain, I will Thinking of you. Although I decided not to miss you before I entered the police academy, I still can't help myself." "I... have never forgotten you." Misako said affirmatively, "Even if I gave up on you, I still have expectations for you. I thought that you might contact me one day. As long as there is a letter in the mailbox, I will I just expected it to be from you. However, this expectation always comes to nothing.” "I also hesitated to contact you." Yong Zuo said with a sad face, "When my father passed away, I had just graduated for two years. However, I don't want to disturb you who have returned to a peaceful life." Misako frowned, shaking her head. "It's not peaceful at all, I'm living an empty life every day." "Even so..." Yusaku lowered his head, showing a painful expression, "Even so, I still feel that I made the best choice for each other. In fact, after breaking up with you, my life is really a mess .Fortunately, you were not involved." Yusaku raised his head and looked around the room, as if confirming her current living situation. "I'm already mentally prepared for you to be married, and that's natural. Where did you meet Akihiko Kuwao?" "Introduced by his father." Misako briefly told him that she had worked at UR Densan, and thus met Akihiko. Hearing her say "That's why I didn't get married in love", Yusaku showed a sad yet relieved expression. "Oh, you're not..." "Frankly, I also want to get married because of love." Yusaku sighed, rubbed his face with his left hand, and smiled self-deprecatingly. "I couldn't sleep last night, thinking about you. No, it should be said that I was cursing the trick of fate. I have already prepared for you to get married, but I didn't expect him to be the one." "Do you know my husband?" Misako asked in surprise. "It's not just an acquaintance," Yusaku said, "long before I met you, he and I were connected by a wonderful fate. However, this is definitely not a good thing for me. If I really want to say, he should be mine... Enemy." "Old enemy... opponent?" "However, maybe he didn't take me seriously at all." Yusaku went on to mention the first time he met Akihiko, and the relationship between the two since then.Indeed, as he said, perhaps it should be called a wonderful fate. "I couldn't win against him in junior high school. I could only be reduced to second. I would never be number one. It was all because of him. No matter what I did, I was defeated by him. Although everyone around me admired me, I But I never felt satisfied. The easiest solution was to change schools, but I didn’t do that. Later, Guasheng and I applied for the same high school. Because I didn’t want this competition to end when I failed completely.” "But," Yong Zuo scratched his head to suppress the anxiety in his heart, "the result is still the same. No matter where I go, I will not change the fact that I am defeated by him, only the humiliation in my heart keeps accumulating. I am completely defeated by him, no matter what I can't do anything better than him. I've given up because I can't beat him. But I figured we'd end up in different colleges and the rivalry would be over. But in my senior year, I heard something It was like a bolt from the blue—Gua Sheng aspired to be a doctor and decided to go to the National Medical University. His aspirations were the same as mine, and I had an ominous premonition. I thought this might be a decisive victory. Sure enough. As expected, he passed the exam, but I failed, and I happened to meet you at that time." "So it's like this..." She also felt that this was a trick of fate. "The hospital where I met you was also the place where I met him for the first time. So I expected that after meeting you, my fate would change. As a result, you also know that when we meet again more than ten years later, you are already married to Guasheng. Although I don't believe that there is a god in this world, but you should be able to understand how I want to confide in such an ironic encounter, right?" Misako stared at her hand motionlessly, unable to answer anything. Yong Zuo was a little puzzled by her reaction, and added a little flusteredly: "Of course, I don't hate you. No matter who you marry, as long as you live happily. My mood at that time will not change. This is the same as How you feel about Gua Sheng is a completely different matter." Misako was a little disgusted with the word "happiness". Could it be that Yusaku felt that she was living a happy life now? But she didn't express anything, but instead asked, "Are you still hostile to my husband?" "I don't think the term hostility is appropriate, but I do want to settle the grievances of the past with him." "That's it..." "Actually, I went to see him today." "My husband?" Misako raised her eyebrows. "However, it's not a big deal. He's the same as before, completely unchanged, still extremely calm, even in the face of criminal police, he can deal with it calmly." "For him, that scene is nothing at all." "It seems to be." After finishing speaking, Yusaku stretched his waist slightly, and brought his face close to her, "Do you...do you love him?" Misako stared at her ex-lover with wide eyes, all kinds of thoughts intertwined in her mind. "Do I have to answer this question?" Misako asked back. Yusaku looked astonished, then smiled wryly. "No, it's fine if you don't want to answer. Perhaps you don't think it needs an answer at all." Misako pursed her lips tightly.In fact, she couldn't answer it, and she was afraid that once she said the answer, she would lose control completely. "I came here for another reason besides wanting to see you." Yusaku changed his tone slightly, "I have something to ask Mrs. Akihiko Guasheng, and I hope you will answer truthfully." Misako swallowed.She had an ominous premonition and couldn't help straightening her shoulders. "What's up?" "I want to ask you something that happened yesterday. Did Gua Sheng return to this room before noon yesterday?" Facing Yusaku's question, Misako subconsciously held her breath, her heart beating wildly. Yusaku was keenly aware of her subtle changes. "He really came back?" "No".Misako shook her head, "I didn't see it, he should have been in college all the time." She knew her voice was trembling.She thought to herself that her acting skills were really bad. He looked at her quietly with sharp eyes, trying to pry into her heart. "He should have come back," he whispered, "come back to get the crossbow, then go back to the university with the bow, and then go to the cemetery to kill Sugai Masaki." "Why should you doubt him?" "Intuition, my sixth sense is particularly keen on him." Yong poked his temple area with his index finger, "On his way back to the university from here, he called a meal shop near the university and asked the clerk there to deliver food to him to get an alibi. However, it would be bad if the takeaway was delivered too early, so he ordered the set meal that took more time. As soon as I knew the set meal he ordered, my sixth sense was activated. He ordered Had the Kabayaki set meal." "There are eels..." Misako was at a loss for words, and then realized the meaning of Yusaku's words. "You seem to know it," he said. "Of course you do. I also know that he hates eels since he was a child. If he insists on ordering that kind of set meal, there must be some reason in it." Akihiko really hated eels, Misako knew this, and never served eels on the table. "Even if you really didn't see him, I still trust my intuition. However, judging from your reaction, I'm sure my intuition is correct. He came back here during the day yesterday." Every word that Yusaku said strongly shook Misako's heart.This was not only because her mind was seen through, but also made her breathe a sigh of relief: if she had to keep her doubts about Akihiko deep in her heart and face it alone, she would only suffer a lot. "I think this is the last chance God gave me, the only chance in my life to beat him. So, even if you do everything possible to protect him, I will definitely reveal the truth." Misako's heart was cold. "I... won't protect my husband." "Huh?" Yusaku half opened his mouth. "How could I... Protect my husband, after all, I don't even know how to protect him. I don't know anything. I have been married into this family for several years, but I don't know anything about him. " "Xiaomei." Yong Zuo blurted out, that's what he called her before. Misako said to her old lover: "My life... has always been controlled by an invisible rope of fate."