Chapter 40 Section 6

It's January, but the streets of Ginza don't feel alive.The downturn is still going on, have people not let go of the gloomy mood in the past?From time to time, you can see the display windows that are still decorated for the New Year, but they always feel a little empty. As soon as Zhe Lang opened the door of "Cat's Eye", two female PRs came forward immediately.One is Hiromi, and the other has never been seen. "Alone today?" Hiromi asked, taking his coat. "Yes, I'm sorry. Oh, I'll just sit at the bar." Zhe Lang glanced around the store quickly, and then sat on the seat at the bar.The guests sat six minutes full, but Mochizuki was not seen.

After handing over the towel, Hiromi sat beside him. "Is mother-san not there?" "I think she's coming soon. Do you have anything to do with Mama-san?" "Well, I have something to ask her, yes," Zhe Lang looked around the store again. "Miss Xiangli is still resting?" He asked knowingly. "That's right. I'm sorry, I'm the one taking the stage. Shall I find a younger lady?" Hiromi said still in a dramatic tone. "No, no need. By the way, are you familiar with Kaori?" "Well, I'm familiar with it."

"Have you ever traveled together?" "Travel? He Xiangli? Oh, I haven't. Our store has held activities similar to employee travel, but she doesn't seem to participate." "Have you been to her house?" "Hmm...I delivered a package to her house. I remember it was near Kinshicho." "Have you ever lived in her house?" "No." Hongmei shook her head, then glared at Zhelang with the eyes of a female publicist. "You were like this before. You were very curious about Xiangli's affairs. She always talked about it." "What can I do? Don't the customers of this kind of shop come for the lady they like?" Zhe Lang picked up his glass and said tentatively.

"That's true, but who keeps saying that the lady is not in the store." Hongmei puffed up her cheeks.Of course, this must be acting. Hongmei's kind face made people feel that she was not good at lying, but Zhe Lang told himself that she should not be fooled by this mask.She and Kaori have worked together for a long time, and it's unlikely that she didn't realize Kaori's true gender. However, while drinking, he thought, he still can't believe that Xiangli is not a real woman. But Suenaga Mumi concluded that he must be a man. "I was taken aback at first. Even though I knew that in a place like that you have to look at a person's outside and inside separately, and I think I can see through that kind of thing better than the average person, I still couldn't believe he was a man. However, since I have said so, I think it should be right.”

Zhe Lang convinced himself that since Mumei, who can see through Miyue's essence at a glance, said so, there was nothing he could do if he didn't notice.He thought that if he hadn't volunteered, even the regulars wouldn't have known. Mumei said that at that time, the other party claimed to be Lishi, and only knew his last name, but did not know his name.It is said that Tateishi took the initiative to talk to Mutsumi. "He asked me if I would worry about household registration. After all, people will know my gender when they look at the household registration, and many formal procedures also require the name on the user registration, so he asked me if I would worry about it. In principle, I am still a woman on household registration, and I only live as a woman in my daily life, so I told her that I will not worry about this matter at the moment, but there may be troublesome things in the future .”

After Mumi finished speaking, Tateishi told her to contact him if she wanted to discuss with someone, and handed her a note with the contact information.Unfortunately, Mutsumi lost that note not long after.However, she remembered that it was not Lishi that was written on the note, but a woman's name.Zhelang asked her if she was Saeki Kari, and she replied that she seemed to be. Zhe Lang seemed to see the truth bit by bit.However, he is not sure whether the truth behind the cloud is correct. There was the sound of the door opening, and Zhe Lang heard someone say, "Good night." He glanced at the door, and his mother Makiko Kuwano was about to come in.She was wearing a dark purple kimono.

After Makiko Nosue said something to the other female publicists, she greeted the guests sitting in their seats. "I want to talk to Mama-san." Zhe Lang said to Hiromi. "Okay. Then, wait a minute." Hiromi stood up.However, she did not immediately go to Nosue Makiko's side.Talking to Mama-san probably depends on the timing. When Zhelang was about to drink his second glass of wine, Makiko Nosue finally came to his side.There seems to be a bit of reproach behind the business smile on her face. "I took care of you last year. Mr. Nishiwaki, please take care of me this year too."

"Sorry, I'm so busy and I still need you to come over." "where." "It's like this," Zhe Lang looked around and moved his face closer to her. "I want to ask you about Xiangli." Nosue Makiko sighed softly.Although she had a smile on her face, she seemed to be expressing her displeasure: This thing again? "She's not here anymore." Instead of saying: She's still resting. "I know that. That's why I think you should tell me the truth." "Did I panic about Mr. Nishiwaki?" "You didn't tell me about Xiangli honestly. No, if this kind of statement is not acceptable," Zhe Lang reconfirmed that no one around had pricked up their ears to eavesdrop, and continued: "It's okay to call her Standing Stone."

Makiko Nosue still had a smile on her face, but that smile froze like pressing the pause button of a video recorder.But that was only a moment of course, and she immediately regained her vivid expression. "Standing stone? Who is he?" "It's useless for you to pretend to be stupid, I already know." So she stared into Zhe Lang's eyes and nodded. "I don't know what you know, but since you know, isn't it good? Then you don't have to ask us all about things?" Zhe Lang felt that she was going to stand up and touched her shoulder with his hand.

"I want to know the details. I won't trouble you, I'm just looking for Mizuki Hiura." Makiko Nosue probably didn't expect the name to come out of his mouth, and blinked in astonishment.The smile finally disappeared from her face. Saying Mizuki's name was a bet.However, Tetsura was sure Makiko Nosue would not tell the police.This woman should know more secrets than herself. Makiko Nosue lowered her mascara-coated eyelashes, and said after a long time of contemplation: "You walk in the direction of Shimbashi from the road in front, and there is a coffee shop called 'Shaft' on the left. Please go to the second floor of that shop. Wait, I'll be there right away."

"'Shaft' is it?" Zhe Lang got down from the high chair. He immediately understood why she told him to wait on the second floor.After climbing the dark stairs, there are four tables, but not half of the guests.In this way, you don't have to worry about being overheard, and you don't have to worry about someone peeking from outside. Makiko Nosue appeared almost at the same time that the waitress delivered the coffee ordered by Zhe Lang.The waitress asked what she wanted and she said no. "Sorry, I asked you to move the frame here." Makiko Nosue smiled and lit a cigarette.She smoked a Marlboro. "Who did you hear about Xiangli from?" "I just met someone. She met Kari at a party about men and women." "Really, the world is really small." She turned her face away and took a puff of cigarette. "Of course Mommy knows she's a man, right?" "Well, you know it." "I didn't expect a store like 'Maoyan' to hire such people." "If the guests know the truth, they will probably be angry." "But none of the guests know." "It should be that no one knows, and I can't say." "Why did you hire her?" After finishing speaking, Zhelang thought that using the term "her" was not appropriate. "It was introduced by an old friend, but I never expected that it would be a man." Makiko Nosue smiled, this time it seemed to be a smile from her heart. "Haven't you thought about refusing?" "If I knew he was a man from the beginning, I would probably say no 100% of the time. But to be honest, I didn't know he was a man until after I decided to hire him. I liked him the first time I saw him. But with him After discussing it in detail, I realized that it was really the case. Of course, I was hesitant at the time. But ah, he is so beautiful, so I came to a conclusion, anyway, even if the guests knew about it, they probably wouldn’t complain.” Among the hotel owners, there are some who will ask female public relations to sell their bodies.But Makiko Nosue is not that kind of person. "He is indeed a beauty. To be honest, I still can't believe it." Nosue Makiko nodded, as if to say: "Yes." "He is a castrato." "The castrato...?" "yes." Eunuch singers refer to male singers who underwent castration surgery when they were young in order to retain the bel canto of their youth when they grow up.Zhelang once saw a movie featuring the famous singer. "Will anyone still be castrated in order to keep their childish voice?" As soon as Zhelang said, Makiko Nosue shook her head and waved her hands with a smile. "I mean he's like a castrato. But actually, he was castrated as a kid." "Who? Why do such things?" "He did it himself." "No way." "That's what I said. He said it happened when he was in elementary school. He had a brother and a sister, and he wanted to be like his sister. He seemed to have grown up believing that he would be like his sister." But the people around him told him that it is absolutely impossible for you to become like that.So, what will become of it?When the boy knew that he would become like his brother with a thick body and a rough voice, he began to worry about how to avoid becoming like that.Soon, he knew that the root cause of his ugly appearance was the objects hanging from his crotch.Since that day, it has become the object of his loathing.I don't want this kind of thing, as long as I don't have this... The boy's family runs a bakery.Where bread is made there is a machine for slicing the toast.One night, the determined boy slipped into the kitchen and cut off his testicles. "I heard that when his parents heard the screams and rushed away, the whole floor was covered in blood." Makiko Nosue said, she couldn't laugh after all. "He also said that he had been hospitalized for nearly two months. His parents asked him why he did that, and he spoke his mind for the first time. Although his parents said they could understand his feelings, they did not agree to let him be a woman. Survive as an identity. It’s a difficult problem for parents.” "So, what happened to his injury?" "At first glance, he seemed to be cured, but he almost completely lost his original functions. So as he wished, he neither changed his voice nor developed into a man's body. After more than ten years, he finally got his sister's body .” Zhe Lang thought to himself, now he finally unlocked the secret of Xiangli's beauty.He is an out-and-out neutral person. "His real name is indeed Tateishi, right?" "Li Shizhuo is his real name." She wrote the words "Li Shizhuo" on the table with her fingers. "Did you tell the police about this?" Hearing Zhe Lang's question, she stared intently into his eyes. "Is it better to tell the police?" "No, I'm not in a position to say good or bad." "About the people and customers in the store, unless there is a reason for me to accept it, I won't say anything. Even if the other party is a policeman, I'll just say that I don't know much about it." "But you told me about Xiangli." "It's because Mr. Nishiwaki knew he was a man. I thought, rather than asking you around, I would tell you." She seemed to mean that the matter was a secret.Of course, Zhe Lang had no intention of telling others. "Where is she now?" "I don't know. He just said he's going to disappear for a while, don't worry about him." "What about Hiura Mitsuki? She seems to call herself Kanzaki Mitsuru in the shop. "It's the same with her, I don't know where she is or what she's doing now." "I think the detective should have stalked you and asked about your missing bartender." "Yes. But, I have only one answer." The answer seems to be again, I don't quite understand the old saying. Zhe Lang drank the cold coffee in one gulp, then pointed to Marlboro's cigarette case. "Can I have one?" "Please." She opened the lid of the cigarette box.As soon as he took out the cigarette, she immediately lit it with the lighter with deft movements. "Mizuki Hiura and I are old acquaintances. I can't tell you the details, but she seems to be related to Akio Tokura's Toshio murder case, so that's why I'm trying to find her whereabouts. To be honest, how is Mama-san? How about you?" How about the two of them?" Makiko Nosue rested her hand on the table and held her chin, and let out a long breath while tilting her head. "To be honest, I once doubted Ah Chong... when Miyue disappeared after the murder happened." Zhe Lang nodded.It's human nature for her to suspect that it's impossible for Mama-san to not know about Tokura pestering Kaori and Mitsuki sending Kaori back to the apartment. "However, I decided to trust them. Although I don't know the ins and outs of the matter, I want to protect them." "why?" "Kari once said to me that he said, 'Mom-san, we are not criminals. I didn't kill Mr. Tokura, and neither did Mizuki. At least please believe that.'" "Mei Yue didn't kill him..." "That's right, she didn't kill him either. I want to believe that." Makiko Nosue nodded. -------------------------------- Note: