Chapter 2 chapter 2

Shunsuke Kusanagi picked up a cigarette and lit it.He was about to throw the lit matchstick into the ashtray when he stopped suddenly.There was still an unsmoked cigarette in the ashtray, which was only burned by about 1 cm.He remembered that he had just put it in a minute ago. Makita, who was sitting next to him, secretly smiled. "Kusanagi, it seems that you have been quite tired recently." Kusanagi rubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray. "The body is not that tired, but, how should I put it, I can't lift my spirits, and I always think about what I am doing, and whether I have done something meaningful."

"Me too," Makita tilted his coffee cup, "However, reflection is also part of the job." "With you, I can't say a line like 'people are always growing'." "yes?" "Come on, let me tell you," Kusanagi turned his face towards Makita, "People can grow, and that's not long after becoming a criminal policeman. After working in this job for a long time, people will gradually become bad. Look at our section chief. understood." Makita couldn't help but burst out laughing. "So, Kusanagi, you've already turned bad?"

"Well, it's gone bad, and I won't be able to return to society if I'm not transferred sooner." At this time, the waiter passed by, and Kusanagi asked her to add another glass of water. The waiter showed a surprised expression on his face, probably because he didn't drink coffee at all, and only asked for water every time. As long as there is something in the cup, you can sit in the coffee shop for a long time without being kicked out-this is his old tune.But since someone was coming soon, he thought it might be necessary to add another coffee. "Ah, is it that person?" Makita asked, pointing to the door of the coffee shop.

A man walked in in a polo shirt and jeans, a bag tucked under his arm.Maybe it's because of his three-to-three-quarter hairstyle, but he looks very stable at only 27 years old. The man's gaze patrolled the store for a week, and fixed on Kusanagi and the others, because no other customers sitting together looked more like criminal police officers than them, and the others were families, couples, or groups of high school students. "Are you Mr. Nakamoto?" Kusanagi asked the approaching man. "Yes." The man nodded.Maybe because he thought the other party was a criminal policeman, he looked a little nervous.

"I'm Kusanagi who called you, and this is my colleague Makita. I'm sorry to bother you to make a trip on a day off." Today is Saturday. "You're welcome, it's just a way out." Nakamoto sat down.A waiter came over and Nakamoto ordered a cup of coffee. "Do you play golf?" Hearing Kusanagi's question, Nakamoto showed an unprepared surprised expression. "How did you know?" "Your left hand told me. Your right hand is very tanned, but your left hand is barely tanned, so I presume you have practiced a lot." "I see. My sister already said that this hand is ugly." Nakamoto put his left hand under the table, showing embarrassment.It can be seen that his tension has eased a lot.

"Did you tell your family you wanted to meet us?" "No. I'm afraid that if I tell them that something happened to my former classmate and ask me to see the criminal police, they will think wildly." "Yes," Kusanagi nodded, "I also told you on the phone, we will definitely not cause you trouble, we just want to see what we said." "I understand, I have already brought it." Nakamoto put the bag on his lap, and took out a graduation album from it, "Please take a look, I have a sticky note in the place you mentioned." "Thank you, then please allow us to take a look." Kusanagi took the souvenir book in his hand.

This is really an old souvenir book, with a plaid hard cover on the outside.Although Kusanagi was also interested in other content, she still opened the page with the yellow sticky note first. He couldn't help exclaiming: "What a beautiful painting!" "That guy is good at drawing," Nakamoto said. It was a doll drawn in colored pencils, girlish, with chestnut hair and blue eyes that looked like a foreign doll.She was wearing a red dress with a white hem fluttering in the wind.The shoes are also red, and the socks are white. Next to the doll is written with a signature pen, "Please take care of me even after I go to middle school! - Nobuhiko Sakamoto".But what caught Kusanagi's attention the most was a small umbrella painted in one corner, under which the names "Nobuhiko Sakamoto" and "Remi Morisaki" were written side by side.

"It seems that there is indeed," Kusanagi put the souvenir book on the table and unfolded it, pointing to the part where the umbrella is drawn, "here." "Really?" Nakamoto responded with a smile, which was a bit complicated. "Mr. Nakamoto, have you ever asked him who the owner of this name is?" "He said it was his future lover, and that was the only thing he would answer no matter who asked. There were no girls with that name around, and we hadn't even heard of the last name 'Morisaki'. So we thought it was something he made up. come out with a name."

"Are you sure you wrote it when you were in the sixth grade?" "Yes, I asked all the students in my class to write this before I graduated." "Where was this memorial book placed later?" “It’s always been in a cardboard box in the closet. When I went through this, it gave me a chance to tidy up the closet as well.” The waiter brought the coffee, and Nakamoto took a sip without adding sugar. "Did you only have a close relationship with the suspect Sakagi at that time?" "It can't be called close, but we were classmates in the fifth and sixth grades of elementary school. We have never been in the same class in middle school, and we are not in the same school in high school. We have never met each other after graduating from middle school."

"It's enough to have the memory of those two years. What kind of kid was he then?" "I don't remember that very well. But the interesting thing is, I remember very well what he said about his future lover. In short, he is a strange person. He doesn't play with people very much, and I don't. Never met him outside of school." "So is he a doormat or autistic?" "How should I put it?" Nakamoto said with a wry smile, "According to the current statement, it might be, but I didn't realize it at the time." Nakamoto kept using an uncertain tone.

Kusanagi looked at Makita and asked him if he had any questions.The junior detective shook his head, and replied with his eyes: What else is there to ask about this situation? "Excuse me," Nakamoto said, "Is what I read in the newspaper true? The family that Sakagi invaded was named Morisaki, and the daughter of that family was named..." "Please wait a moment," Kusanagi interrupted Nakamoto, "I think you must have a lot of questions to ask, but until the truth is revealed, we cannot disclose any information about the search. This is a rule." "Ah...really?" Nakamoto scratched his head. "Can we keep this temporarily?" Kusanagi asked him after closing the yearbook. "Oh, of course." "I'm sorry, I'll return it to you as soon as the appraisal is over." "Don't worry, it's nothing valuable anyway." Nakamoto took another sip of his coffee. After leaving the coffee shop, Kusanagi handed the souvenir book to Makita. "Take this, go back to search the headquarters first. Didn't you find some of his childhood notebooks and notes from Sakamoto's house, compare them with those handwritings. I guess even if I don't say this, others will teach you to do it of." "Then where are you going?" "I'm going somewhere by the way." "By the way? The section chief is going to complain again." Makita snickered. "Just tell him I went to Galileo so he won't whine." "Ah, so I went to Mr. Yukawa." Makita nodded understandingly, "I see." "I'm going to be ridiculed by him again as a science idiot, I can't bear it anymore." "Speak to him for me, we all look forward to him." After Makita finished speaking, he walked towards the station.