Chapter 16 Section 4

The next day, I met Takemoto Yukihiro's younger brother at a coffee shop I had made an appointment with.On the business card he took out, "XX Industrial Co., Ltd. Masahiko Takemoto" was printed. Masahiko himself was much younger than he felt on the phone, probably only about twenty-five years old!Tall and in good shape.The short hair is slightly curly and looks clean. "What would you like to know about my brother?" he said in a more polite tone.Maybe it's because he just listened to my voice on the phone and thought I was younger! "All kinds of things." I said, "Like an accident... and things about work, I also want to know."

Masahiko nodded and poured the creamer into the black tea he ordered just now.His fingers are slender and seem to be very flexible. "You said you were a mystery novelist?" He asked me after taking a sip of black tea. "Hmm." I nodded. "Then you should be familiar with other writers too?" "It's not exactly like this. I still know a small number of writers." "So, have you ever heard of the name 'Soma Yukihiko'? He specializes in writing reports on events happening abroad, and then sells them to magazines." "Samurai?" I only thought for a moment before shaking my head and replied, "Unfortunately, the scope of my communication has not yet reached the field of reportage."

"Is that so?" He lifted his teacup to his lips again. "What happened to that man?" I asked. His eyes were fixed on the inside of the cup, and he replied, "He's my brother." "..." "Soma Yukihiko is my brother's pen name. I was thinking that maybe you would know, so I asked. Sure enough, his stuff is still not very popular!" "Is your brother a freelance writer?" I asked in surprise.According to what was published in the newspaper, it should be a freelance job. "Well. Until last year, he stayed in the United States. After returning to Japan, he didn't even return to his hometown before he encountered an accident. I never dreamed that he would die in Japan."

"Are there only two people in your family?" "Yes. My mother was still alive when the accident happened, but she died of illness in winter. It seems that my mother's body suddenly became weak because of the death of her brother. At this time last year, she was still alive. She is very healthy, and she also brought back my brother's body. But because I heard that my brother died in a terrible state, I think my mother might have been very frightened at that time!" "May I ask under what circumstances did your brother die?" "I don't know the details," he said, "I heard that when the rescue ship docked on the uninhabited island, he was already stuck in a nearby rock area and died. It seems that he was hit by a wave on the rock, but there were also people Said he swam it under his own power." Then he swallowed.I know his throat is hoarse. "However, there are also some unacceptable doubts." His tone became more different.I said "Huh?" in my heart.

"My brother was a good athlete when he was a student, and his swimming skills can be said to be at the level of the school team. If I want to believe that only my brother was swept away by the waves, I really can't do it." "..." "No, no, of course I know that it has nothing to do with how good you are at swimming! I said too much..." After he finished speaking, he picked up the water glass in hand and took a sip of water. "You said just now that you didn't know that Mr. Takemoto had returned to China until after the accident happened?" "Yeah." He nodded.

"Then you don't know why he went on that yacht trip, do you?" "I don't know the details. But I heard from my mother that because my brother knows the people in the sports center that he hosted, it seems that he participated through this relationship." "The people in the sports center, do you mean the staff inside?" According to this statement, it should not be impossible for him to become a member. "I don't know either... What's going on?" Masahiko shook his head, "My mother just said that." "So, you probably don't know that person's name or anything?"

"It's a pity, you're right...and actually, so far, I haven't paid much attention to it." That might be true, I thought.My elder brother has passed away, and these trivial things are irrelevant. "What kind of people are those who are close to Mr. Takemoto Yukihiro?" I changed the question.However, Masahiko's expression was not too surprised. "We've all lived our separate lives these past few years! So these things, I'm almost completely clueless." "That's it..." "However, I know he seems to have a girlfriend."

"girlfriend?" "A few days after the accident, I went to my brother's apartment to organize his things, but I didn't expect the apartment to be very clean. Although my mother seemed to go there after confirming the body, but at that time The apartment is different from what I saw later! When I was thinking about what happened, I found a note on the table, and a person who was very close to Yukihiro wrote on it - something like this happened It's so sad, I came to return the key, cleaned the room by the way--whatever. Then, there was actually a woman who returned the key to the caretaker. I heard it was a very beautiful woman!"

"Have you got that note?" Unfortunately he shook his head. "I kept it for a while! But then I lost it. That woman never contacted us again." "Is there no signature on the note?" "No." "Then Mr. Xingyu's room, apart from being tidy, is there anything different about it?" "It's different..." Masahiko's face showed an expression as if he remembered something, "One of my brother's things is missing." "What is it?" "Skittle [bottle in arms]." "Skittle?" "It's a metal wine bottle, flat in shape. Mountain climbers put whiskey in it."

"Ah..." I had seen it in an outdoor store. "That's the only thing my brother has on me besides the clothes. I heard it was because my brother tied it to his belt, so it didn't get washed away by the waves. My mother originally planned to bring the wine bottle back in two days. home, so I temporarily put it in my brother's room, but it just disappeared like this." "Huh?..." I don't know who stole the wine bottle, but why did that person steal this kind of thing? "Then I discussed with my mother whether the woman wanted to take the wine bottle as a relic from her boyfriend, so she took it away privately. But on the day of the funeral, there was no one like that woman!"

"So you don't have a clue about that woman either?" "Well, just like I told you at the beginning." "That's it..." A woman's name came to my mind. "Mr. Masahiko, do you know a woman named Yasuko Furusawa?" "Gu Ze? I don't know—" Masahiko shook his head, and my expectations fell through.Then I took out the list of members of that trip and spread it out in front of him. "Among them, is there anyone whose name you have heard?" After looking at the row of names on the list for a while, he sighed softly. "Nope," he said. "Are these all traveling people?" "That's right." "Oh." After he finished speaking, the expression on his face didn't change much. "When I called your house, you seemed to say something strange?" Oh tried his best to maintain a calm expression, and nonchalantly moved the topic to the next part, "I remember saying something like 'the ghost near my house Sneaky'." Masahiko showed a wry smile, picked up the wet towel that had been kept beside him and wiped his forehead. "I'm really sorry at that time! I thought you must be the companion of those guys..." "The group of guys?" "That said, I actually don't know their real identities." "What the hell is going on?" "What's going on? I can't figure it out myself!" He shrugged. "At the beginning, an old woman who lived nearby said to me without thinking: 'Mr. Takemoto, are you getting married?' After asking, I found out that there was a man who had been inquiring about my detailed situation. As a result, the old woman mistakenly thought that I was getting married, so the bride's side would come to inquire about my net worth. Besides, listen to Said that when I was not in the company, someone called the company, it seems to be investigating my latest vacation date or something!" "Yes..." When I heard these words, I thought it was someone from the police, but I immediately dismissed this idea.Because if it is a policeman, when asking about things, they will report their names. "Then you don't know why you are being investigated by those strangers, do you?" "I don't know! And I don't plan to get married either." "It's really strange." "Really!" Masahiko Takemoto said with a bored expression. The situation was still ambiguous——After finishing the conversation with Masahiko, I sat on the Odakyu Line tram on the return trip, swaying along with the moving tram, and rearranging the information in my head. First, Kawazu Masayuki was killed.He knew he was being watched, and seemed to know who the culprit was. Question 1, why didn't he intend to tell the police at that time? Furthermore, Masayuki went to the Yamamori Sports Plaza to meet with President Takuya Yamamori before he was killed.For this matter, President Yamamori explained that it was just a simple interview. Question two, is it really just a simple interview?If not, why did the two of them meet? Next, some of Kawazu Masayuki's information was stolen.Speaking of documents, Miyuki Nisato once wanted Masayuki's documents as well.However, this information is probably about the shipwreck accident that happened last year, and the protagonist who encountered the accident at that time was the group of people centered on President Yamamori. Question 3, what was written on those materials? Finally, the death of Miyuki Shinsato.Obviously, she knows something inside. At my wit's end, I sighed. No matter how hard I rack my brains, I want to string together all the clues beautifully, but there are too many chaotic and unclear parts, so I can't even figure out a rough prototype. However, only one fact is unshakable. That is—the culprit of this series of events was undoubtedly the shipwreck accident that happened last year. Especially Yukihiro Takemoto's death, there must be some secret behind it? What Masahiko said came to my mind: Only my elder brother with excellent swimming skills died alone, I really can't believe it——