Chapter 30 Section 5

After breaking up with Yusuke, I went north to Aomori Prefecture, visited Mount Osore, returned to Aomori Station, and checked into a business hotel.As I showered, I imagined the feast above the lighthouse. Tonight, the lighthouse keeper would surely be buying the local brew, and Yusuke would be swigging bourbon.The two of them will drink so much that they won't return until they're drunk. Yusuke's alcohol capacity is also very good.Normally, he should be the same as me last night, not easily drunk and unconscious. But things will be different tonight. When I met him this morning, while he was going to the bathroom, I dug out the bourbon bottle from his backpack and put my sleeping pills in it.

Tonight, no matter how much he drinks, he will still fall asleep. Then what happens? —— The next day, I took a bus over Mt. Hakkoda, got off at Okinase, and walked to Lake Towada.I saw many young people who looked like students walking along the stream.After visiting Lake Towada on a sightseeing boat, I took a bus to Morioka. In Morioka, I found an inn that doubles as a Wanko soba shop and stayed.Wanzi Soba is a local snack in Morioka. You can eat soba noodles in a small bowl in one bite. It is famous for adding more until customers tell you to stop.I ate a full seventy-two small bowls, and my stomach was about to burst. I finally couldn't stand it anymore and went back to my room to rest.

I turned on the TV casually and watched the news absently.I was so shocked that I nearly jumped up when a report came into view. The above is the general history of the incident thirteen years ago. The next day, I hurriedly bought a newspaper to learn more about the incident, and carefully cut out the relevant parts of the report and put them in the guide book for the Northeast. That clipping is now pasted in this photo album. Yusuke is the only person who has seen this newspaper clipping besides me.After the tour, we met again. His photo album faithfully records his trip that ended abruptly at the end of the small cape.And the look on his face when he looked at my photo album is something I will never forget.

He didn't say anything about my cutting out the news and pasting it in my notebook, and he didn't ask what it meant. Of course I won't say much. Regarding this matter, I am afraid that the two of us have nothing to say.This can save a lot of trouble. Before closing the photo album, I read the old story again—the lighthouse keeper on a small cape was killed on top of the lighthouse in the middle of the night. The murder weapon was a fruit knife.I knew it must be the knife with the rolled blade. According to the police's speculation, the time of death was between five and eight in the morning, and the victim was killed in his bedroom in his sleep.No signs of a fight were found at the scene.The blanket was stained with the victim's semen.

I was very interested in the entanglement between the two, but I couldn't ask Yusuke about it. I quietly closed the photo album.I'm afraid it will take another ten years before I read it again. Then again, no matter what happens, the "good relationship" between Yusuke and I may continue for a long time.