Chapter 23 Section 3

On the road in front of the station, at the end of the shopping street, there is a small family with a signboard of 'Aoki Fudosan'.The glass door at the entrance is covered with rental profiles of various apartments and buildings, such as: one-bedroom, with bathroom, 63,000 yen, only for women. "It's here, right?" Ota, who was standing at the door, said that this was their second time here.He had evidently recalled it. After opening the glass door and walking in, there is a small counter facing you, and two desks are placed side by side on the opposite side.A middle-aged man was sitting at one of the desks and stood up when he saw Kaga and the two of them.

"We're not here to rent an apartment," Kaga said. "We want to ask about Kazuhiro Aoki." The white-haired man glanced at the police IDs they showed, and his expression became tense as if he had suddenly realized. "Is it the police? I'm so sorry. I will habitually be vigilant when I see two male customers." He bowed a few times, "What do you want to know about my son?" He asked seriously again. "That's what happened." Ota thought for a while and said, "Let's go to Zhuxiang first." Open the door on the back side of the office, and there is a house inside. After entering, there is a Japanese-style room with a Buddhist altar with a black frame on it, and there is a photo of Kazuhiro Aoki inside.It was a long-faced young man with sunken cheeks, and the first impression was a little nervous.The focus of the two eyes is slightly interlaced, giving people a feeling of emptiness.

After burning a stick of incense, I returned to the office and saw a young girl open the glass door and walk in.Kaga knew that she was not a customer.And when she first saw them, she thought they were guests, but she immediately remembered, "Ah, you are the police..." "Thank you a few days ago." Kaga said, "We just finished offering incense for your brother." "Oh." She whispered back. When I came here before, the store was closed, and she was the only one waiting at home.Dad went to New York to claim his son's body.Kaga was still impressed by what she said back then:

My brother was swallowed by New York— Kaga Ota and Aoki Kazuo sat face to face on the sofa used to entertain guests, and Kagao patted his white-haired head from time to time, and began to talk. "I have no objection to Yi Hongxue painting, because doing what I want is the best choice, although I always feel that painting can't make a living. I think he will come to me as a school painting teacher in the future. This shop helps, and I can slowly consider it in my lifetime. But I never thought that he would choose to go to the United States." "Even so, didn't you object?" Ota asked.

"No, I think that's okay, and it's good to learn more while you're young." Kazuo Aoki is a father who belongs to the kind of empathetic. "Do you keep in touch often?" Ota asked again. "At the beginning, he often wrote to me, but gradually it became less and less, but until last summer, he still kept in touch. It's just that he didn't tell me his address, so I couldn't take the initiative to contact him." Daughter Junko made tea and walked in, the fragrance of tea was everywhere. "Then I thought, as long as he is safe and sound, because when the case happened four years ago, I broke out in a cold sweat."

"Is that the one who contacted you?" His father also knew that the case was unexpected. "It was the call from the police. I was relieved when I heard that my life was not in danger, but I was also seriously injured. Because I couldn't get away, I asked a relative to visit him for me. I felt it again. The horror in the United States, after he was discharged from the hospital, I wanted him to come back, but he didn't listen. He even moved the place of his own accord. I didn't expect to see him turned into ashes this time." Aoki Kazuo smiled sadly, holding the teacup in both hands and took a sip.

"Where does Kazuhiro live?" Kaga asked. "Very dirty and messy place." Kazuo frowned, "The apartment is like a trash can, full of strange smells everywhere, it makes me want to vomit... the most in Kazuhiro's room is alcohol, like a painted A room full of alcohol. The person who informed me of Ichihiro’s death was a Japanese living next door. This person’s room is the cleanest. He himself said that he lived in such a place specially for studying music. I don’t know this theory Where did it come from. Hey, it's a terrible place anyway, I think I'll get sick just by living in it."

Judging from his repeated emphasis on this point, it should be really messy.Such a scene appeared in Kaga's mind unconsciously. "By the way, have you learned anything about your son's death?" Ota asked, and Kazuo shook his head remorsefully. "I don't know, his neighbors said he seemed to be a bit depressed." "Did he say anything wrong happened before he killed himself?" "That person is actually not very familiar with him. By the way, about ten days before he committed suicide, it seems that someone called Yihong. Of course, there is no phone in Yihong's room. The call was made to the concierge, and it was International call from Japan."

"From Japan?" Kaga leaned closer, "Who is the other party?" "I don't know." Kazuo replied, "But it is said that my son's mood improved a lot after receiving that call." "I feel better." Ota tilted his head, "Did you only call once?" "That's the only time I called." Kazuo said, "But it seems that there was another time that he promised to call. A few days after receiving that call, he said to the concierge 'I will call from Japan today', but in the end The call never came and he was said to be extremely disappointed."

"He's waiting for a call..." To hear Kaga's opinion, Ota turned to him.He shook his face from side to side, as if to say 'I don't know'. Speaking of this, a guest came in, and Kazuo said "Let's take my leave for a while" and left the seat. "Who is calling?" Ota asked softly. "If the answer I'm looking forward to, it should be Yasuko." "That should be the case, but how did this relationship rekindle?" The guest who came in said a few words and left immediately. He was a very young, student-like man. "The recent students are really extravagant." Kazuo Aoki walked back with a wry smile, "What audio-visual, video recorder, bed, in short, the living area is constantly expanding just because of the large amount of luggage."

"Parents have worked hard." Ota, who has a son and a daughter, shrugged helplessly as if it was his own business. "Who says no." Kazuo Aoki sat down again. "Speaking of luggage, what happened to Kazuhiro's luggage?" Kaga asked in a pretext. "Those worthless things were thrown away there, and I brought back all the things that can be used as relics." "Can we take a look?" "Can." The store was handed over to Junko, Aoki walked into the back room again, Kaga and the two followed, waited for a while in the room where the alcove was placed, Aoki came out from the side room with a suitcase and a few canvases . "Some odds and ends are in this bag." The suitcase is filled with drawing tools, books, radios, drinking glasses, jeans, T-shirts, sunglasses, pens, and other miscellaneous items.When Kaga asked if there were any diaries or photo albums, Aoki said with a slightly regretful expression that he had looked for them, but there were no such things. "This is a picture drawn by my son, and I think it's pretty good." As he spoke, he took out more than a dozen canvas paintings and spread them on the ground one by one.As a result, Kaga and Ota had no place to sit, so they had to stand up. Each of Kazuhiro Aoki's paintings has a dark tone, just like the impression given by the photos on the alcove, and the slender strokes are its characteristics.Many of them use the street at night as the background, and the expressions of every character depicted on them are sad, as if they are troubled by troubles. "Hello." Ota tapped Kaga with his elbow, because he saw the picture that Aoki took out at this time, Kaga also widened his eyes, and there was a picture of a dancer on it. "It's Yasuko Mori." Ota said to himself. The background is still the street at night, with the shadows of several tall buildings lined up behind it.Nearby was a ballerina in a white tutu, posing with her face facing the other side. Judging from her figure, it was Yasuko.Wei Wei's face looking back is indeed somewhat similar to hers. "Isn't this a good picture?" As if realizing that the police were staring at him, Kazuo Aoki's voice became cheerful. "I think this painting is the best. Although I don't know anything about those professional things, I feel attracted by something when I look at this painting." "Do you know who this dancer is?" Ota asked. "I don't know. I didn't leave anything like an address book in Kazuhiro's room. Who is it? There is only a back view, and the face can't be seen clearly." Back—— In Kaga's memory, a certain sentence suddenly came to mind.Back—— Ah, he couldn't help crying out. "Ota, do you still remember Miyamoto Kiyomi being dragged by Kazama to be a model?" "Huh? Ah, so there is indeed such a thing." "At that time, Kiyomi said that Kazama asked her to turn her back to him, and after drawing in the sketchbook for a while, Kazama also said something like 'I have been asking myself since I left Japan, can I draw well' Woolen cloth." Hearing Kaga's words, Ota opened his eyes wide, "Kazama must have seen this painting..." "I think it's very possible." Kaga said, "Besides, Kazuhiro Aoki is the only Japanese person Kazama knows there. Yasuko and Aoki met four years ago, and Kazama and Aoki met by chance two years ago." .”