Chapter 25 Section 5

There was only one female customer left in the bar, and she held a brandy glass in one hand and fiddled aimlessly with the control stick of the football game. Kaga ordered a glass of whiskey and approached her with the glass in his hand, but she didn't notice Kaga at all. "Do you play this often?" Kaga put the toy ball on the side in the middle of the game board, and when Akiko Takayagi saw him, she called out softly: "Huh?" "I sometimes come here to drink alone." He walked across from her, manipulated the stick, and moved the middle player.He took a sip of whiskey as the ball went to the left.

"Is the case solved?" Akiko asked. "It can't be said that everything has been resolved," Kaga replied, "There is still a little bit left, but just this point has made us rack our brains." "Racking your brains?" "I mean." Kaga moved the player back and forth and passed the ball forward, "Just like this game, although it is only one step away from the goal, if you want to score a goal, you have to overcome various obstacles, such as the opponent's defender, Goalkeeper... Look, it's a failure." The shot hit the goalkeeper on Akiko's side and bounced back.

"Please tell me about what happened four years ago." Kaga said, "It's what happened after you and Yasuko Mori went to New York City, and I'm especially interested in her boyfriend." "Her boyfriend?" "It's Kazuhiro Aoki." After Kaga finished speaking, Akiko's gaze became erratic, and her mouth moved.He silently stared at her changes, and after a while, Akiko showed a smile that seemed to be directed at him, "Have you even investigated Aoki's affairs?" "It's our job. You know him, don't you?" "I saw him once, no," she tilted her head, "maybe twice."

"Are the two of them close?" "Not sure." Akiko avoided Kaga's gaze, and turned to the wall behind him, "It's hard to say how far they are, but they should, um... love each other." "Do you love each other...?" Kaga took a sip of his wine, and began to fiddle with the players on the game board again, "Although she is in love, she hasn't contacted him since she returned home, right?" Akiko seemed a little unsure of how to answer, and shook her head lightly, "This is something that can't be helped, our way of life stipulates that we must be like this."

"Is this the way of life? That's the way it is. Then things will become clear." Ok?She looked at Kaga anxiously. "I'm talking about the reason why you suddenly returned to China early. In fact, you were forced to return to China because she had a relationship with a man of unknown origin. Am I right?" But Akiko didn't answer, and was pressing the goal with the fingers of the hand holding the brandy.Then Kaga continued, "Or do you have to go back to Japan for other reasons?" Akiko combed her long hair, gulped down the brandy, exhaled hot air, and said:

"Mom and Oda-sensei really don't like actors becoming emotional, especially when actors are in love. They think that after a woman talks about a boyfriend, nothing good will happen." "Can't devote yourself to training?" Well, Akiko agreed, "And if you fall in love, you will definitely get married and have children. These will have a serious impact on ballet dancing. You know that I am an adopted daughter, right?" "I know." "My mom herself has lived a life of that kind consistently." "So they must not agree with Yasuko Mori's relationship?"

Akiko took a deep breath, moved the glass in her hand, and the brandy was shaking in her palm. "The timing was really bad," she said. "We knew Mom and Oda-sensei would be visiting us in New York, so Yasuko planned not to see him for a while. Her relationship with the man was right. The members of the dance troupe kept it a secret, and they didn’t have to worry about things being exposed. But her wishful thinking was wrong, and my mother came to New York a day earlier. After I went back to the room, the teacher suddenly came to the door. I cleverly confuse the fact that Jingzi was not there, but my mother was very worried. When I was about to go outside to find her, I happened to meet Jingzi’s boyfriend to see her off. return."

It was really unlucky, and Kaga began to sympathize with Yasuko. "After mother and teacher found out about the relationship between the two, they, as expected, strongly objected and ordered her to break up with the man immediately. Then, they felt that they could not allow her to stay in New York like this, so they asked her to return to Japan. It's not natural for her to go back alone, so they asked me to go back with me." "Did Yasuko Mori give in to this matter?" "yield?" Akiko's expression froze, as if she was thinking about the meaning of the word 'submit'. "Actually, it's not a question of whether to give in or not. It's just a person in the world of forbidden love, who had a dream for a while and then returned to reality, that's all."

"Didn't she want to continue the relationship? I mean, didn't she have a desire to continue the dream?" "Well..." She opened her mouth halfway, and her eyes fell on the football game board.After blinking a few times, he closed his mouth again and took a sip of wine. "that?" "Well, I think she thought about continuing, but she couldn't give up ballet in the end. Dancers are like that." "Then she can only let go of her boyfriend, who is Kazuhiro Aoki." Kaga stared at Akiko intently, and for a moment, her eyes turned to other places, but she immediately turned back and said, "This is something that can't be helped, I think Yasuko must be in pain too."

"Then did he agree?" Kaga asked, "No, the word 'agree' is not appropriate, it should be said that he gave up." Akiko said. She picked up the toy football, fiddled with it for a while, then put it back on the board, and the ball stopped at the feet of Kagakata's players.She said, "I think I should give up, because no matter what I do, it won't help." Well, Kaga drank up the whiskey while talking, asked the boss for a second glass, and returned to the football game board with the wine after a while. "Did you know that on the day you returned from New York, there was an attempted murder in a suburban hotel?"

He put the wine glass in front of Akiko and asked.She licked her lips and said in silence for a while, she didn't know. "That victim was Kazuhiro Aoki," Kaga said. "He stayed at the hotel with a woman, and then he was assassinated, and the woman disappeared." "What do you want to say?" She was visibly vigilant. "Aoki claimed to the police that he was assassinated by a woman he met on the road, and the police searched according to his account, but did not find a woman who met the requirements. Why didn't they find it? Regarding this point, I think the following assumptions can be established , Aoki is lying, in order to cover that criminal woman, he made up a lie." "But Jingzi is with us." "This is just your one-sided statement. After assassinating him in the hotel, you are likely to collude." Yaxizi shook his head, "Why do you have to kill him?" "So what I said probably wasn't premeditated. For example, he insisted on calling Jingzi to the hotel. To put it bluntly, he might have made up his mind to elope with her. But Jingzi didn't have this intention, or changed his mind halfway. So In order to get rid of him, I had no choice but to assassinate him." She stared at Kaga as if she saw a monster, put the wine glass aside, and picked up the bag. "It's nonsense, it's absolutely impossible for such a thing to happen." "Really, I'm not talking nonsense at all." Akiko shook her head again and walked slowly towards him. "It's just nonsense, it doesn't make sense at all." After finishing speaking, she quickly paid the bill, and was about to walk out of the bar without thinking. Before opening the door, she glanced back at Kaga. "I'll definitely find out the whole thing." Kaga said, her back trembled, she took a slow breath, opened the door and walked out. "Sorry I was too loud." Kaga said to the boss at the bar.But the boss acted as if he didn't hear it, and replied, it doesn't matter. Kaga was passing the ball around the game board, feeling like he was talking too much.But there are also gains. Judging from Akiko's reaction, he is more convinced of the correctness of his reasoning. Now let’s recap the findings so far: Four years ago, Yasuko, who went to New York, fell in love with Kazuhiro Aoki, an art student there.Then in the end this relationship came to nothing, and Yasuko returned to Japan.Unfortunately, Aoki was stabbed by someone, and later changed his residence and continued to live in New York. Then two years later, an international student from Japan met Aoki, that is Toshiyuki Kazama.Kazama was deeply attracted by Aoki's paintings—especially the ballerina on the back. Two years later, Aoki waited in his ruined apartment for a call from Japan, and when the last call didn't come, he committed suicide. On the other hand, almost at the same time, Kazama sneaked into the building of the dance troupe, but was resisted by Saito Ye Liuzi and died.Kazama had planned to leave for America in two days. "It almost makes sense." Kaga couldn't help talking to himself. After sorting it out, the facts are indeed gradually emerging, but there are still some things that are still confusing. He conceived two reasonings: one is what he said to Akiko just now, that it was Yasuko Mori who assassinated Aoki, and the other is that Aoki should be waiting for a call from Yasuko or Kazama, because the time when Kazama died and the time when Aoki was waiting for the call totally agree. What he still doesn't understand is the matter of Kazama sneaking into the Gaoliu dance troupe. Considering all the clues, the only person he wants to find is Yasuko, why did he sneak into the dance troupe. If Kazama infiltrated Yasuko's apartment, and Yasuko killed him in self-defense, it would all make sense- Kaga was thinking about it in a daze, but the thought suddenly woke him up.In fact, if this is the case, the case is very clear, but the fact is that Kazama entered the Takayanagi Dance Troupe and was killed by Saito Ye Ryuko. Then came the case of Oda. When Kaga rubbed the corners of her eyes and reasoned that it was Yasuko who stabbed Aoki with a knife, she felt that she should hate Oda who forcibly separated the two of them, but she couldn't figure out why she was doing this until now. It's time for revenge. "It's still one step away." Kaga encouraged himself, and started to try to shoot on the game board again.