Chapter 12 Suruga Nao no.4

As soon as I saw the whole family getting into the car, I immediately despaired. That is a model among the three members of the family who are most respected and kept at a distance. A fat man who looked like a father over forty years old was leading a little girl about three years old, and that little girl's legs were as fleshy as ham.The mother, who was fatter than the man, was holding a baby in her right hand, and a bulging paper bag in her left hand, which was probably full of necessary baby supplies when going out. The train from Mito back to Tokyo was very empty, and I had the four-seater chair alone, with my feet resting on the opposite chair, reading the newspaper leisurely.However, the good times didn't last long. Although the other seats had vacancies, there were 2 to 3 people sitting on them. It was impossible for the fat family who just got on the bus to sit down.

The mother glanced in my direction, and I immediately looked away and started looking out the window at night. "Ah, Dad, over there!" Reflected in the window, the fat mother came straight towards me, and there seemed to be a vibration in the ground. She put the paper bag next to me first, which should mean that I want to sit here!I had no choice but to put my feet down from the seat opposite. After a while, my father also came over. "Ha, there's an empty seat!" The father was about to sit down first, but the daughter immediately started to fuss, as if she was going to sit by the window.

"Okay, Xiaomei sit there and take off her shoes too." The father took care of the daughter, and the mother struggled a lot to put the paper bags on the wire rack. After a commotion for a while, the family finally calmed down.The mother with the baby sat next to me, the father sat opposite, and the daughter, pretending to be a little adult, sat next to him. "I'm sorry for disturbing you." Father finally apologized, but he didn't think he had done anything wrong in his tone.Nothing, that's all I can answer. Since there was no space, I had to fold the newspaper in my hand.The fat woman next to her took up more than half of the seat, and the space couldn't be smaller.I pretended to be nonchalant and readjusted my sitting posture to remind her to move, but the woman's big butt refused to move at all.

I gave away a tie. It's bad enough to be in mourning, but it's bad luck to have to suffer like this. The couple were talking about something, and I had no intention of eavesdropping, but the sound came to my ears.At first I didn't know what they were talking about, but it didn't take me long to hear that they were speaking ill of relatives.For example, the New Year's money is low, the wine is poor, and so on. They seem to have taken the newborn baby to relatives' homes.There is a subtle difference in the accents of the two people's speech. They are from Ibaraki, and I recognized it.Perhaps calling it recognition is a bit inappropriate, after all, I have been surrounded by people who speak this dialect until then.

Hodaka Makoto's second funeral was held at a gathering place in his native town.Because the official funeral has ended, this is actually a memorial service organized by local residents.In a large hall with about 20 stacks, many relatives and people living nearby were gathered. They mourned Hotaka's death while eating and drinking. Although I think Makoto Hodaka's popularity has passed its peak at that time, but at this time, there are still many people who can't let go of their feelings for him. He is still a star in the hometown of his birth.Everyone at the memorial service knew his work well and admired him well.There was an old woman crying on the seat opposite me, so I asked her if she knew Hodaka Makoto very well, but she replied: Although she lived very close, she had never met her.But the thought of this misfortune befell the most promising man in the town brought tears to my eyes.

Of course, it is just an illusion to think that Hodaka's popularity is still alive because of this. The anecdotes about Hodaka from the people who attended the memorial service all happened in his heyday without exception.It's been a few years since writing a novel that won an award, becoming a top-selling novel and turning it into a blockbuster movie.It seems that no one among them knows that Hotaka Project Company tends to decline because the movie produced by Hotaka Makoto himself is a big failure. In the middle of the memorial service, Hodaka Michihiko stood up and invited some respected people in the town to speak on stage.Honestly, that's where the problem lies.Those who were named to speak should have been arranged in advance, and the words were carefully prepared.But their uninhibited and tiresomely long sentences are no different from speeches at a wedding reception.And this time there is no time limit for the speeches, and the speeches one by one are longer than the wedding banquet.Don't listen, just staying there is a kind of suffering.It took a lot of effort to resist the urge to stretch.

It was Hodaka Michihiko who brought me back to my senses, and he suddenly called my name.He said that he would like to hear the speeches of his long-term cooperation comrades-in-arms. As much as I wanted to decline, the atmosphere at the scene did not allow me to do so.I had no choice but to go to the front and reveal two or three interesting topics to the audience, such as going on an interview trip with Hodaka, and clinking glasses together after the success of the work.After realizing that many people listened to my words and stopped crying, I realized that I might be exaggerating. None of the relevant personnel from the publishing house or other people in the industry came, because I had no contact with anyone, and Michihiko Hotaka asked me not to contact me.He seemed worried that the media would flock to it too.The reason is simple. He didn't want to explain clearly to the attendees about the cause of Hodaka Makoto's death.

Died in an accident and the cause is under investigation, Hodaka Michihiko mentioned these words many times.And he made it clear from the beginning, "Although there are many rumors and rumors, I still believe in sincerity." Because even in Ibaraki, the news also reported that Hodaka's death was related to Namioka Junko's suicide. He made the foreshadowing in case others asked about it. After the memorial service, Hodaka Michihiko stopped me and said he wanted to talk to me about something.I answered while looking at my watch, it should be fine within an hour. He took me to a nearby coffee shop where a small man was waiting for me.Michihiko Hotaka said that it was a tax director he knew well.

The reason they called me here was to ask about the current operating conditions of Hodaka Planning Company and to determine the future development policy.Although they said that I must have the priority in the current situation, the implication is that they will take over after the announcement. I told them the current situation of Hotaka Planning Company without any concealment, and it would be of no benefit to me if I concealed it. Listening to this, Hodaka Michihiko's expression turned ugly.The tax director was also confused.The insolvency must have come as a surprise to them.Maybe they thought Hotaka Project Company was a chicken that lays golden eggs.

"So, what is the main source of income for Hodaka Corporation?" the tax director asked gently.It seems to be saying, we understand the liabilities, let's talk about the assets. "Publications, audio-visual products, stamp duty, and copyright fees for video or TV dramas...that's about it. If you write the original manuscript, there is also a manuscript fee." But now no one writes the original manuscript. "How much can I earn?" the tax director asked, with a hopeless expression. "This varies from time to time, and the detailed figures can only be obtained after returning to the office."

"Excuse me..." Hodaka Michihiko interjected, "Now that something like this has happened and attracted everyone's attention, will the books he published before become popular again?" I looked at his face that seemed honest and honest, and at the same time, I recalled that he worked at a credit bank (a financial institution that handles deposits, loans, discounts, etc. for small and medium-sized enterprises). "I will sell some more or less." I replied. "More or less..." "I can't estimate how many, it might be a hit, or it might just be a few copies. I don't know." "But there will always be some sales, right?" "That should be it," I said. Hodaka Michihiko and the tax director glanced at each other, their faces were mixed with confusion and contradiction, and they were probably doing various calculations in their heads.I can seem to hear the sound of their abacus. In the end, they said they would still contact me in the future, so they said goodbye to me.But at this time, my mind has been made up, and I will not be nostalgic for this sinking ship at all. At that funeral in Tokyo, I was convinced that it would do no good to hang on to Hotaka's plan.Although the editors, producers, and film-related personnel that Hodaka knew during his lifetime were basically all there, few of them greeted me proactively.Most people just express their regret.And most of those who took the initiative to talk to me just want to confirm the future of the work assigned by Miwako Kanbayashi to the Hotaka project.Of course they want to start over. "I don't know what the firm itself will do with it," I answered them.After hearing this, they obviously showed a relieved expression, as if the purpose of attending the funeral had been more than half achieved. All the rats have escaped from the ship, and the next thing is to wait for the ship to sink, I thought to myself. The baby in the arms of the fat woman next to him began to cry again, and the woman shook her body in an attempt to coax him.Her shaking made me fall into a more depressed situation. "Is he hungry?" said the father. "But I just fed the milk!" "Is that because the diaper hasn't been changed?" "That's right!" The mother quickly put her face close to the baby's lower body and smelled it, "It seems not." The cry of the baby became louder, oops, oops, the mother murmured, but she couldn't think of a specific countermeasure at all. "Excuse me." I took the newspaper and stood up from my seat. The mother immediately got up with the baby in her arms and saw that I was going to move to another seat.It is estimated that they are also waiting for that moment. I walked down the aisle looking for an open seat.However, the seats were still very empty just now, but now they are basically full.Although there are not no empty seats, there are always reasons why there are vacant seats, either next to a strong man or with a child in his arms.I had no choice but to stand by the door, leaning against the handrail. In order to cope with the shaking of the car body, I used my feet to maintain balance.I'm such a fool, if I knew this, wouldn't it be okay to change seats immediately after the family got on the bus? In the end, the mistake I made at work, isn't it exactly like this?I recalled.It would have been nice if I had given up on the Hotaka project earlier and started looking for another job.The price of not recognizing the fact that Hodaka Makoto's talent has been exhausted seems too painful. At the funeral in Tokyo, several writers who had communicated with Makoto Hotaka came, and some of them were celebrities in the novel world in recent years.In the past, Hodaka had half-jokingly suggested that the trivia about visualizing their works should be handled by Hodaka Planning Company.After becoming a best-selling novelist, various production companies often propose to adapt the book into a movie or TV series. After the corresponding plan and actual production are determined, the trivial matters are actually quite cumbersome.In addition, people like writers are generally not very good at negotiating copyright fees, so they have to be represented by Hotaka Project.Of course, Hotaka didn't just want to be an intermediary, he also considered using the project used by the writer's original work to recommend himself to the TV station. On the way to the funeral, I approached several writers to ask if they needed a representative, and it turned out, as expected, that no one wanted someone from Hodaka Project to fill the position. In other words, I can no longer survive in this industry. But it was none other than me who chose this path in the first place.Even if Hodaka is still alive, it is only a matter of time before Hodaka Project faces bankruptcy, and I just shortened this time.I have no regrets about this matter at all. A man can make a living anywhere.But if the soul is wiped out in this way, the value of living will be lost. The baby was still crying, and the sound of the mother coaxing the baby came again.so troublesome!This is really a disaster for the people around. However, if Junko Namioka was here, she shouldn't even frown.I recalled that every time she saw women holding babies or children, she always looked at them with envious, sad and regretful eyes.At such times, she would unconsciously touch her lower abdomen with her hands. I recalled the text of the suicide note again. What kind of mood did she write it with? Thinking of Junko Namioka, my stomach and chest became slightly hot again, and the heat rose and fell, sometimes stimulating my tear ducts, so I bit my lip to hold back. Back in her room, Sally came out from behind the corrugated boxes piled up in the room. After meowing, she straightened up and stretched herself. After I had changed out of my mourning clothes into casual clothes, the phone rang.I bent down and picked up the cordless phone from the bed: "Hi, hello." "Is it Mr. Suruga?" The voice was deep and low, "It's me, Kaga from Nerima Police Station." Suddenly, my chest was shrouded in black mist.The already tired body added another heaviness. "What's the matter?" My voice couldn't help but stiffen. "There are two or three things I want to ask you. I'm nearby. Can I visit your mansion now?" "No, it's not very convenient...the room is messy." "Then I'll wait in a nearby coffee shop, can you come out?" "Sorry, I'm very tired, please let me go today!" "Just a few questions, please be sure to cooperate." "But……" "Then I'll drive the car downstairs to you, and it won't take much time for you to come out for a while. I want to ask you something in the car." He is still semi-compulsive. If I drive him away now, he will definitely come back tomorrow. "Okay, please come to my room and sit for a while, but it's really messy." "It doesn't matter, please don't take it too seriously. Then I'm here now." Kaga finished speaking in a calm tone and hung up the phone. What is he asking?My heart became extremely heavy, the detective was skeptical about Zhuozi's death from the very beginning, saying that her hair was stained with weeds or something—— The doorbell rang, and it was only 3 minutes since I hung up the phone. He seemed really close, maybe he had been lying in wait for me to show up. I grabbed the handset of the walkie-talkie and said, "Here we come!" "I'm Kaga." "It's so fast." "Because I'm near here." I pressed the unlock button of the automatic door lock on the first floor. If it takes another minute or two, Kaga will come to the door again and press it again.I quickly checked the room to see if there was anything the guy couldn't see.Although the house was a mess, I couldn't find that kind of thing.This is of course, let alone this room, there should be no traces left to prove what I did. When Sally heard the doorbell, she hid under the chair in fear. I picked her up and prepared to open the entrance door. After opening the door, Kaga was found standing at the door wearing the same black suit as the previous few days.He wanted to bow his head to greet me, but when his eyes fell on Sally, he stared in surprise.Then he smiled and said, "Is it a Russian Bleu cat?" "You really know how to do it." "I just saw the same kind of cat at the vet's station recently." Oh, I nodded, "Is that the veterinary station where she works?" "The vet station where she works?" "Kikuchi Animal Hospital is the hospital where Miss Langoka works." Oh, it's Kaga's turn to nod this time, "No, it's another animal hospital, so I haven't seen cats in Kikuchi Animal Hospital, I don't know if it's a coincidence, but all I saw at that time were dogs .” "Other animal hospitals?" I asked, as if realizing something. "What kind of pets do you have?" "No, I don't have one. I really want to, but because of my job, I spend a lot of time away from home, so I had to give up. A friend of mine has a large lizard. I'm a little bit..." The policeman smiled wryly. . "Then you're going to another veterinary station for..." "For investigation." Saying that, Kaga nodded. "Any other case?" "No." Kaga shook his head, "It's the case of Miss Langoka that has been under investigation." I couldn't help frowning. "Because of this case, is there any need to go to another veterinary station?" "Well, there are various purposes." Kaga said with a smile, as if he had no intention of continuing on this topic. "Then let me ask you something." "Excuse me." Kaga walked into the room and observed the room with interest. The smile on the corner of his mouth might be a fake to heighten my sense of fear.His eyes glowed like a carnivore's in search of prey. We sat face to face across the table, and I let Sally go. "What's going on in Ibaraki?" Kaga asked, looking at the mourning clothes hanging on the hanger. "Ah... it ended without incident." Immediately, I felt like I had been punched, which was obviously within his expectation.Maybe he just knew about it and figured out the time of my return. "It seems that none of the relevant people at work went." Kaga said. "Did you find out from someone else?" "Well, the people from the publishing house told me." "All people related to work attended the funeral at Kamishakami, but the one held in Ibaraki is only going to invite some relatives, so please ask me not to invite them." "So that's how it is." Kaga took out the note and flipped it through in slow motion. "Maybe this question is a bit impolite, please bear with me, we are also trying to find out the truth." "Excuse me." I said, now that I've reached this point, it doesn't matter how rude I am. "According to some people, the Hodaka Planning Company's business conditions don't seem to be very good. Is this really the case?" "How should I put it?" I squeezed out a bitter smile, "I think whether the business situation is good or not is a very subjective question. According to my personal opinion, I don't think there is anything wrong with it." "But your debts have been increasing in the past few years, especially in many businesses related to film production. Because of this reason, you and Hodaka seem to have some conflicts of opinion on business policies." "After all, we are human beings, and it is only natural for us to have conflicting opinions from time to time." "Then the situation of conflicting opinions," Kaga said, looking at me meticulously, "does it only appear on management issues?" "What do you mean?" I felt my cheeks twitch slightly. "I learned a lot from Namioka's acquaintances." "and then?" "Miss Langoka once discussed this with her best friend: There is a person who likes me very much, and I don't hate him, but I fell in love with the man I met through that person. What should I do? — that sort of thing." I fell silent, or rather speechless.Because he never expected that he would jump from the company's management to this matter all of a sudden. "Is she talking about you?" Kaga said, he probably expected that he had poked my pain spot correctly, and his tone was full of confidence. "Well," I tilted my head, and although I thought it would be useless to show such an expression, I smiled slightly. "How should I put it, it's a bit indescribable." "Miss Langoka should think that you like her, isn't she presumptuous?" I sighed, "I do have a crush on her." "To what extent?" "To what extent..." "Is it the level that your pet will go to the veterinary hospital where she works to see her if she is not sick? Or is it the level that you invite her to drink tea because of the time when she gets off work?" Kaga Lianzhu After he finished speaking, he looked straight into my eyes. I shook my head slightly and rubbed my chin with the palm of my hand, feeling that my beard had grown a bit. "Mr. Kaga, you are really cunning!" Kaga's expression softened, "Really?" "Since you have investigated to this extent, there is no need to ask me specifically." "To be honest, I really want to hear these words from my own mouth." Kaga tapped on the table a few times with his fingers. The silence lasted for a few seconds, then there was the sound of a gust of wind blowing, and the window frame shook accordingly.Sally came out of nowhere and curled up at my feet After a sigh, my shoulders relaxed, "Can I have a bottle of beer? This topic cannot continue without a drink." "please." I got up and opened the refrigerator, and the canned Kirin was properly chilled. "Mr. Kaga, will you also have a can?" I asked holding up the black can. "Is this pure black beer?" Kaga smiled, "Then let me have a can." I was a little surprised and put a can of unicorn in front of him, thinking that he would refuse on the grounds of work. I returned to my seat, opened the can and took a sip, and the unique aroma of dark beer spread in my mouth.But even more thankfully, it improved my thirsty throat. "I like her." I looked at Kaga and said bluntly, because continuing to hide it would only further stimulate the detective's sense of smell. "It's just," I went on, "that's all. I have nothing to do with her. It's true, as the old saying goes. So after she dated Hotaka, I have nothing to do with her." Quan accuses her of anything, and it's not even a matter of hating Hotaka. After all, this is just my unrequited love." Having said that, I took another sip of my drink. Kaga's deep eyes stared at me without blinking, trying to penetrate my sincerity.After a while, he opened the beer can and raised it like a toast. "Opt out for her well-being, like Serrano of Bergerac?" "I'm not that lofty." I said with a smile, "I fell in love with her unilaterally and got dumped unilaterally." "But you still want her to be happy?" "Of course, I'm not so dark that I would curse the other party for misfortune after being abandoned." "So," Kaga said, "when you learned that Hotaka abandoned Namioka Junko and married Kamibayashi Miwako, didn't you have any special thoughts?" "Special idea?" "Well," the detective nodded, "a special idea." I gripped the beer can tightly and wanted to take another sip to moisten my throat, but at this moment the nausea in my stomach made me lose the desire to drink. "I don't have a type of idea," I said, "Mr. Kaga, I know what you are thinking. The woman you like is abandoned like garbage, and you kill Hodaka when you get annoyed. Is that what you think? ?Although the reasoning is reasonable, it is not the case. I am not such a simple person." "Did I tell you that you are simple?" Kaga straightened up suddenly, "You are a person with your own thoughts, this is the conclusion I have come to after a series of investigations." "It's not like a simple compliment. You seem to think that I'm the murderer." "To be honest, I'm so skeptical, you are one of the suspects." After Kaga said firmly, he drank the beer in one gulp. "Huh?" I crossed my arms, "What about the suicide note?" "Suicide note?" "It's Junko Namioka's suicide note, the one that advertised being single. The newspaper said that the handwriting on it is the same as hers, right?" "You said that." Kaga nodded, "Well, I can confirm that it was written by Ms. Langoka." "So everything was resolved soon? Didn't she insinuate in that letter that she was the one who killed Hotaka?" Kaga put down the beer can and pressed his temple with his index finger. "She didn't insinuate, she just wrote that she went to heaven first, that's all." "Isn't that sentence an allusion?" "I can feel that she very much wants Hodaka to die, but this does not mean that she is the one who killed Hodaka." "It's really hard to reason." "Really? I just want to state the objective facts." Kaga's calm and composed attitude made me a little impatient. "Anyway," I still gripped the beer can tightly, "I don't know what kind of whimsical imaginations you have, but I'm not a murderer, so I can't kill Hotaka!" "How do you say that?" "Hodaka died from taking poison, right? It's called Stirling Nitrate...is that right? How can I get this kind of thing?" Then Kaga lowered his gaze, and flipped open the notebook like a trick. "In the daytime on May 17th, you and Suigao went to an Italian restaurant, but we learned from the staff in the store that you were the only one who left the restaurant on the way. Only your order was canceled midway, and this record is clear Just keep it." At this point, Kaga raised his head, "What's going on? I left the dinner without permission in the middle of the dinner, something very important must have happened!" I felt the sweat dripping from the palm of my hand holding the can.Although I was mentally prepared for the police to notice this, I still wanted to muddle through this part. "Does this have anything to do with my inability to obtain the poison?" I asked, keeping as calm as I could. "We think that you may have come into contact with Junko Namioka at that time." "Contact? What is contact?" However, Kaga did not respond to this, probably thinking that the futile conversation was a waste of time.He folded his hands on the table and looked at me. "Answer my question, why did you leave the restaurant midway?" I straightened my sitting posture, now is the critical moment. "There is one thing that I have to finish within the day, because I just remembered it at that time, so I withdrew first." "It's so strange. According to the testimony of Ms. Yukisa and the restaurant waiter, your cell phone seemed to have rang before that." "I made it myself." "Own?" I reached for the phone that was charging, and then switched to the ringtone setting operation screen, and pressed the OK button.The familiar ringtone came from the phone speaker. "I just let them think that someone is calling. If it is a sudden call from outside, it will be more convenient to leave the meeting." Kaga looked at my phone seriously, with a faint smile on his lips. "What kind of important matter is it? Will it be too late to deal with it after the dinner?" "Maybe it will be too late, but I am worried that it will be too late. I am going to collect materials for a novel, and Hodaka is going to take it to the wedding trip, so I must finish it that day. Unexpectedly, I forgot, and I was eating again. I remembered." "Is that file here now?" "It's gone, it's been handed over to Hotaka." "What kind of content?" "It's about pottery materials. There are about 20 sheets of A4 paper." "It's pottery... ah." Kaga wrote down my words, still showing a shivering smile. Although he saw through my lie, he still enjoyed it--you can see it in his smile. He must have thought that it was Junko Namioka who called me, but there should be no proof yet.The mobile phone she used has already been disposed of by Hotaka, and I have also discarded the charger.Since the mobile phone was not originally applied for in her name, there is no need to worry about the call records being investigated. After thinking about it for a while, Hotaka asked again, "When did you give that document to Hotaka?" "Saturday night." "Saturday night? Why? Isn't Hotaka planning to take it on a wedding tour? Then just give it to him on the day of the wedding ceremony?" "The wedding day will be very busy, maybe there will be no time to give it to him. Hotaka doesn't want to wear the groom's clothes and still carry that kind of document, right? The most important thing is, I'm afraid that I will forget it on that day." Kaga nodded silently, then reached out to the beer can.While drinking, he cast sharp eyes on me, not so much trying to see through the lie itself, but more like trying to see the essence of the liar. The pottery materials do exist, and I handed them over to Hotaka two months ago.It's just that the thing may still be lying in that drawer in Hotaka's study.Kaga expected this, so he asked me when I handed over the materials to Hotaka.If I said that I would hand it over to him that day, it would be right in his arms.In this way, it is very suspicious that the information does not appear in the travel luggage.But I now answer that it was the day before, at least at first glance it is reasonable.In this case, even if the document did not appear in Hotaka's luggage, there is no contradiction, because it is very likely that he changed his mind before leaving and didn't plan to take it, or forgot to put it in the suitcase. "Do you have any other questions?" I asked. Kaga closed the notebook and put it in his jacket pocket, shaking his head slightly. "That's all for today, thank you for your assistance." "I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help." Hearing my words, Hodaka stopped the body that was about to stand up from the chair, "No, I have gained a lot, and I have gained a lot." "Really?" I straightened my back and met the criminal policeman's eyes. "Can I ask you another question?" Kaga raised his index finger and said, "It has nothing to do with the search, you can just take it as a question asked by a man over thirty out of gossip, if you don't want to answer no You can also answer." "what is it then?" "You have feelings for Junko Namioka." Kaga was standing facing me, "What kind of relationship is it? Don't you love or hate it?" Since the question was too straightforward, I couldn't help but startled and almost took a few steps back. "Why do you want to know this?" I asked. Kaga smiled, and to my surprise, there was a smile in his eyes too. "Didn't I say it, you can just pretend to be gossip about me." The detective's demeaning expression made me feel very puzzled. What is his purpose? I licked my lips and said, "I don't want to answer." "That's it." He nodded with a understanding expression on his face, and glanced at his watch. "I have delayed you for a long time, and I am really sorry to visit you when you are quite tired. Then I will go first." Nothing, I whispered.At this time, Sally ran past me without making a sound, and walked towards Kaga who was putting on her shoes.I quickly hugged her up. Kaga scratched the heel of her ear with his right hand, and she closed her eyes comfortably. "The cat looks so happy," he said. "It would be nice if it was true." "Then we'll see you next time." Kaga bowed, and I returned the salute to him.Please don't come again, I really want to say that to him. After Kaga walked out the door and confirmed that his footsteps were fading away, I crouched down with Sally in my arms, and she licked my cheek.