Chapter 12 Section 12

The bamboo shoot rice, steamed egg custard and grilled yellowtail prepared for dinner are all Heisuke's favorites. "Bamboo shoot rice seems a bit salty," Naoko said.However, Hirasuke felt that it was no different from usual.Naoko is very sensitive to salt, and it has become a habit of her to nag that the food is too salty. "What happened to this morning?" "What happened this morning?" "It's about Tajima and Endo. Didn't I confuse them?" "Oh." Naoko smiled, "This matter, isn't it, it's really dangerous. But it doesn't matter, no one seems to care about this matter."

"That's good. Children grow up so fast. It's only been a year, and so much has changed." "I have also suffered a lot for this today. Especially in the sixth grade, some children not only changed their shape, but also their appearance changed a lot, so I had to remember their appearance and appearance again. Name." "Well, do you remember?" "I can't remember it at all. Let's fool it first, and then I will remember it slowly." Naoko said while eating bamboo shoot rice.She held her own bowl in her hand, not the small bowl that Sami Nami usually used, which made Heisuke feel a little weird.

"Also, what is the origin of that boy named Endo? How did he get so close to Naoko, it should be Sai Nami?" "You seem to care a lot." Naoko smiled secretly. "What are you doing, laughing like that." "It's nothing, haha. I think you really care about it. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Even I care about it." "Don't be so secretive. You must have investigated it?" "That's right. That Endo is Sami Nami's first boyfriend." "First? What are you talking about?" "Don't there be first ladies and second ladies like Arab kings? That's the feeling."

"Nonsense. According to you, does she have a second or third boyfriend?" "Well, it seems that the second and third boyfriends haven't been settled for the time being. Anyway, Endo is her first boyfriend at this stage. The relationship between the two seems to have heated up sharply since this winter." "It's unreasonable. A child at such a young age starts to think about such things!" Heisuke took a sip of egg custard after speaking.The smell of the yellowtail makes the egg custard extra delicious.As expected of Naoko's cooking!he thought so. "Hey!" Naoko laughed.

"Although Heisuke is a boring person, Sami Nami doesn't let you go. I heard that when she walks in the corridor, boys from other classes often pat her and run away." "That was just teasing her." "What a stupid trick! When boys in elementary school want to attract girls they like, they will always do things that make girls dislike them. Heisuke also has personal experience in this regard?" "This kind of thing, I have long forgotten." After dinner, Heisuke helped Naoko clean the dishes.His role was to rinse the bowls she had scrubbed with detergent.Naoko said to him, "You've never washed the dishes for me before."

"Although I know that you are actually Naoko, when I saw these small hands, I felt a little uneasy. I was worried that if the plate was not held, it would fall and break." "That being said, there is not much difference between Sami Nami and I, regardless of height or hand size, but Sami Nami's hands are thinner than mine." "Of course it's thinner than yours!" Heisuke said after thinking about Naoko's original appearance.Her original height was 158 meters and her weight was more than 50 kilograms. "You don't know, Sami Nami has been able to do a lot of housework recently. It is estimated that she can already cook the most dishes today."

"Ah, really?" "She can also do a fine needle. She sewed the buttons on your black and gray blouse. Don't you see?" "I didn't see it at all. Oh, this kid is already so capable." After speaking, Heisuke looked at Naoko affectionately—that is, the figure of Sami Nami, and at the same time thought to himself that he must cherish that coat buttons. "However—" Naoko turned to Heisuke, "I don't think I have much strength, and my wrists are sore just washing the dishes." "Yes, because your wrist is only half of its original thickness now." Heisuke said in his heart.

"By the way, what was the result of today's rally?" "Alas, there's still no progress." Hirasuke talked to Naoko about the compensation.Even after hearing the number "80 million yen", Naoko didn't seem to respond, she just said "Is that so" and then turned her neck. "He said the target was 80 million, and it's estimated that it will be much lower than that in the end." "That's for sure." After washing all the dishes, Naoko rinsed off the detergent on her hands with water. "In addition to these, some unexpected things happened after the meeting."

"A surprise?" "Yeah." Then Heisuke reported to Naoko about Kajikawa Seiko's presence and about going to her house on the way back.Naoko rolled her big black eyes while listening to Heisuke's narration. "Looks like it really broke you." "How should I put it, it was quite an accident." The two returned to the Japanese-style bedroom.Normally, Heisuke would turn on the TV right away, but today, before he picked up the remote control, Naoko said: "I just heard what you said, and suddenly remembered something." "What's up?"

"It was on the bus." "Be more specific." "I overheard some conversations between the two drivers. At that time, the car entered an expressway service area, and the other passengers got off to rest. Only Sami Nami and I stayed in the car. Sami Nami slept soundly at that time , I really couldn't bear to wake her up. At this moment, I heard someone talking in front. The seat in front of us is for the driver who was replaced to rest, and the driver's seat is further forward." "Did you hear anything strange?" "It's not really weird, but it still caught my attention. I heard them saying things like, 'Health in the bottle', 'Maybe the coffee garden is going to last', etc. But I don't know who's doing it To whom."

"I see." Hirasuke folded his arms.From their dialogue, it can also be confirmed that there is indeed a problem of fatigue driving. "Should we tell the police about this?" Heisuke asked, tilting his head. Shortly after the accident, the police in Nagano County came to Hirasuke and offered to chat with Sami Nami.At that time they were vigorously gathering testimonies from survivors.At that time, Heisuke refused on the grounds that his daughter could not speak for the time being due to the fright.A few days later, the police made the same request again, presumably because they saw Sugita Sami Nami being able to speak on TV.Heisuke refused again.This time his reason is that Sami Nami's mental state is still very unstable. She was sleeping when the accident happened and she didn't know anything.The reason for doing this is because Hirasuke doesn't want anyone to see Sao Kumi easily, and the reasons are naturally needless to say. "Isn't it okay to tell the police about this kind of thing?" Naoko asked. "That's true." Ping Jie nodded.But his decision not to want Naoko on the witness stand remained unchanged. "They didn't finish talking here, and then they said some more." "What did you say again?" "One of the drivers said this: You are working hard, at least you should take a break on a day like today. What are you working so hard to make money for?" "Hmph, it seems that they themselves know that they are driving tired." "That's not what I want to emphasize. Don't you think it's weird? You think about the sentence 'what are you doing so hard to make money'. Didn't Kajikawa's wife say that his husband didn't see much money no matter how hard he worked? ?" "That's exactly what she said." "If you don't have a lot of compensation for working overtime. The person will say 'what are you doing with your money?' So I guess they still get paid a fair amount." "Yeah, I personally think he can make a lot of money." "But judging from the actual situation you have seen, you can't see that their family's life is very luxurious, right?" "That's right." A two-room apartment, cheap furniture, a teacup as a gift... "What's going on here? You obviously made money, but the family has no money." "What else could be going on?" "You mean that driver Kajikawa didn't give the money he earned to his family, but used it elsewhere?" "probably." "Like gambling?" "Or women." "Oh, yes, there's that possibility. And it's more likely. His wife doesn't seem to know it." "Maybe I really don't know, maybe I'm pretending to be confused on purpose." "You're right." The thin face of Kajikawa Seiko appeared before Heisuke's eyes.It doesn't look like she's lying, but maybe she's just too good at acting. Naoko suddenly pursed her lips and laughed.Heisuke looked at her face in surprise.She didn't seem to be smiling because she saw some funny picture, a pair of slightly raised eyes-this is also a characteristic of Sami Nami-gazing at a point in the sky. "What's wrong with you?" Hiroshi asked. "It's really unreasonable to think about it." She said, with an elusive smile hanging from the corner of her mouth. "There is no law of heaven? What is there no law of heaven?" "Have you ever thought about it?" Naoko looked at Hirasuke, "Think about the cause of the accident, don't you think it's unreasonable? Whether it's for women, or for gambling, in short, in order to make this kind of money, the driver insisted on driving, It turned out to be an accident and so many unrelated people lost their lives. Sami Nami and I were among the victims of this.” After finishing speaking, she added: "His death is simply stupid." This sentence is like the tip of ice, both cold and sharp. "I will investigate." Heisuke said, "I must find out what the money that Kajikawa made was used for." "Forget it, you don't have to do that, I just complained casually." Naoko said with a smile.This time the smile was not the unnatural smile just now. "No, if that's the case, I won't be reconciled." After speaking, Heisuke turned his gaze to the photo of Naoko placed on the altar.