Chapter 8 Section 1

Kiyomi Nagai was waiting for someone in a yellow suit.This kind of yellow is reminiscent of lemon, which is Qingmei's favorite. The coffee shop is very big and there are many people, but thanks to Qingmei wearing this bright yellow body, Tadao Hosoya quickly found her from the crowd. "I'm sorry, just as I was about to come out, the section chief suddenly gave me an urgent task." Hosoya slapped himself in the face, and sat down opposite Qingmei.It was 7 o'clock when they agreed, and now Xi Gu was nearly 20 minutes late. Qingmei was obviously upset, her lips pouted. "If you're five minutes late, I'll be back."

"Didn't I apologize to you—oh, give me a cup of coffee." Hosoya said to the waiter. He thought to himself: You are always half an hour late, and I am late once in a while, and you are like this.But he didn't dare to say what was in his heart, because he knew that if he said it, Qingmei would turn around and leave immediately. "People's stomachs are starving." "Understood, just order whatever you like, I treat you as an apology." "As long as it's what I like? Seriously?" Qingmei's expression changed slightly. "Hmm. Really."

"Well, I have a place I really want to go—" Kiyomi opened the Gucci bag and took out a piece that seemed to be cut out of a magazine. It was an introduction to a famous French restaurant. Compared with the taste, its price was astonishingly high. In this regard, Hosoya Also heard.Xi Gu's money is not rich, so his eyes go dark, but he doesn't want to make Qing Mei unhappy again. "Okay, but this seems to require an appointment in advance." "Can't we just call and book now?" "Okay." Xi Gu stood up holding the newspaper clipping, walked out of the store, and used his mobile phone to call the French restaurant to make a reservation. He was expecting a reply such as "today's reservations are full" from the phone, but due to The current economy is not the worst, so he can easily book a seat.

After returning to his seat, he reported to Qingmei. Qingmei's eyes lit up and she smiled. "Thanks a lot." Her mood finally improved.Staring at her smiling face like a little witch, Xi Gu picked up the coffee and took a sip without adding sugar, thinking, this is the disadvantage of falling in love with someone. After eating, Kiyomi checked the time frequently.Under her influence, Hosoya also looks at his watch.It was just past 10 o'clock in the evening. "Is there anything else?" Sasuke asked. "Well, sorry, I have to go back right away." "I remember you talking about getting ready for the trip, right?"

"Yes, I'm leaving tomorrow, and I haven't packed anything yet." Qingmei stuck out her tongue. "Singapore?" "right." "It's not about finding a new love to go together?" "What are you talking about?! I went on a shopping trip with my friends from women's university days." After speaking, Qingmei smiled, but immediately frowned sadly. "He's definitely going to call me again tonight." Xi Gu immediately understood what she meant: "Is it that guy?" "Perhaps. He always calls when he is resting in the store."

"That guy is really stubborn." "It's so distressing, but I can't be too indifferent to him." Xi Gu sighed: "Wouldn't it be better to make it clear earlier and let him give up? Otherwise, it's not good for him." "I know this, but I can't say it. Is it okay to tell you?" "There's nothing to do about it. Sooner or later, he will know about our love affair." "But I can't say it." Qingmei said with a bitter face. "Then I'll tell him?" Hearing what Xi Gu said, she was suddenly surprised.After thinking about it for a while, he finally nodded.

"Yeah, you've been helping me so much by doing that." "I'll tell him as soon as possible." "In this way, won't it affect your friendship?" Qingmei said with a smile, giving the impression that she was not worried but just curious. "Oh, let's wait and see about this kind of thing." Hosoya replied. After leaving the hotel, they walked to the street in order to take a taxi.An empty car came immediately, and Hosoya was about to wave, "Ah, wait a minute." Qingmei stopped him. She took out a small camera from her bag, raised her waist slightly, and pointed the lens at the electric pole next to her.There was a little tabby cat there, probably a wild cat.She triple-clicked the shutter and the flash went on and on.

"You still carry a camera with you," Hosoya said. "Yeah, maybe there will be something to take sometime." She put the camera back in her bag. During their first date, Hosoya heard from her that she was obsessed with photography and showed him some of her work.It's well done, but nothing special.Hosoya thought to herself that she was pressing the shutter with a sense of fashion. As for her dream—to hold a personal photography exhibition, Hosoya thought it was too unreliable. "You take random photos of everything like this, and occasionally you get some weird photos, right?" Hosoya asked her after getting in the taxi.Kiyomi lives in an apartment in Gaodan Temple, and Hosoya always takes her home first, and then returns to her home in Nerima.

"Do you mean?" "Like photographing a ghost or something." "Oh," Qingmei opened her mouth and nodded, "I have photographed things like that a few times." "real?" "I just said it was something like that, like white, thin shadows, etc. But what it was, I couldn't figure it out either." "Then you have to exorcise evil spirits." "Come on, it's not a big deal." She looked at Xi Gu mischievously, "Actually, I wanted to take a photo like this once before." "How to shoot?" "I went to a legendary place. It is said that as long as you take pictures there at night, you will definitely be able to take pictures of souls. But because I went alone, it felt very scary."

"Then did you catch it?" "Ok." "What was the result?" "Depending on the angle you look at the photo, sometimes you can see something like that - that's all." "what……" "Do you want to see it next time? But there is nothing to see." "Yes, I want to see it." Xi Gu swallowed. "Actually," Qingmei licked her lips, "Compared with this, I took even better photos." "Hey, what photo?" "Well, I can't say that, anyway, it's a lucky photo for me." "What the hell is it? You're terrified of me."

"Sorry, I told you a bunch of messy things, don't take it to heart. Besides——" Qingmei changed the topic to a completely different direction, and it seemed that she regretted saying the "lucky photo".Hosoya echoed her words at the right time, but he was always thinking about the photo she said. After sending Qingmei home, Hosoya took out his mobile phone in the taxi and found the name "Koichi Kosugi" in the address book. Kosugi and Hosoya have been friends since college. Although they are in different departments, they are both members of the rugby team.In a blink of an eye, it has been almost 10 years since they graduated, but they have always kept in touch, meeting each other at least once a month. One month ago, Xiaoshan contacted him, saying that he found a new store and invited Qing Xigu to have a drink after get off work.Hosoya was quite surprised, because he had rarely heard such words from him before. The store is located in Shimbashi, and the customer base is relatively young, and the atmosphere in the store is relaxed and lively.After seeing the waitresses receiving the guests, Hosoya was even more surprised.Xiaoshan has always been bad at interacting with women, so it was a bit unexpected that he would come to such a store. Kiyomi Nagai works in this shop.Seeing Xiaoshan, she immediately came over and sat on the chair opposite. Although she was not very beautiful, she had an aura that skillfully blended purity and coquettishness.She was also wearing yellow at the time. Hosoya was attracted by her at first sight.But judging from Kosugi's expression, it's not hard to see why he often comes here.Obviously, Kosugi also has a strong affection for Qingmei.Kosugi, who has always been taciturn in front of women, is now trying to attract Qingmei's attention. After coming out of the store, when Hosoya asked, Kosugi immediately confessed.He had to do everything possible to chase her. "However, it didn't go as smoothly as expected. How should I chase after her type of girl?" Xiaoshan scratched her short hair and asked Xigu. Hosoya still regrets now, why didn't he tell him directly at that time that this type of girl is not suitable for him.If I had done that then, things would have been much simpler.But he didn't say that, but encouraged him: "Then try hard to express your thoughts." On the other hand, Hosoya is getting close to Kiyomi without telling Kosugi.Many times, he went to the store alone.Finally, he extended an invitation to Qingmei, but unexpectedly, she readily agreed. "I also felt that I hit it off with you the first time I saw you." After going to the hotel for the first time, she said so. Of course, Kosugi doesn't know anything about the relationship between the two, not only that, but recently he said to Hosoya on the phone, "I'm finally going to capture her heart".But in Qingmei's words, "it hasn't changed from before, he is just a customer." The sooner you pick it out the better.Thinking about it, time has passed for a long time. However, it was time to solve this problem - Hosoya pressed the call button on the phone. After ringing twice, someone answered the phone. "Hi, hello." A man's voice came, obviously not Xiaoshan. "Hello. Is this Kosugi's house?" "Well, it's the Kosugi family...ah, you're Hosoya, right?" Hearing the other party's voice and tone, Hosoya also guessed who he was. "So it's under the mountain, what are you doing there?" "Xiaoshan asked me to help him look after the house. But there's nothing to do, and I'm feeling bored. Just so you called. Come out here. Where are you?" "On the Seventh Ring Road, I'm taking a taxi heading north." "Then ask the driver to drive to the left. I'll be waiting for you. There's plenty of wine, let's have a good drink tonight." After finishing speaking alone, Yamashita hung up the phone. There is no other way, let’s go there—put the phone back into the jacket pocket, and Hosoya said to the driver: “I’m sorry, the place I’m going to has changed, go to Kuwoshan.” Xiaoshan's residence is a very old two-story building, and the building is connected to the neighbor's house.The interior is a layout of two bedrooms, one living room and one kitchen.In Xiaoshan's words, since there is a small courtyard, it feels like a single family. Yamashita waited in the room drinking beer.Yamashita is also a teammate of the rugby team. He used to work in a design firm. The firm closed down last year and he is looking for a job. "Xiaoshan left this evening. He said he was going to drive to Osaka after the interview. There will be an interview tomorrow morning. It seems that being a sports reporter is quite hard." Yamashita was already a little slurred. Xiaoshan is very talented in literature. After graduating from university, he did not find a job. He worked as a freelance writer while working in a publishing house.Of course, he had no trouble finding work at first, but he has now written for several magazines and newspapers. According to Yamashita, Kosugi went to Osaka to interview a certain youth football club. There is a white Persian cat in the corner of the room, and Xiaoshan has never heard of him raising a cat before. "It seems to be an acquaintance's cat. It was fostered by him a week ago. This time, there was an interview suddenly, and he asked me to look after the house. Rather than looking after his house, it's better to say it's a care cat." "I see." "I never had a cat before, and I was worried about whether I could take care of it well. But now it seems to be fine, it is very obedient and knows how to relieve itself." "How much does he pay you for housekeeping?" "Including necessary expenses, 5,000 yen per day. For me who is unemployed, this is already very good." Yamashita smiled self-deprecatingly. The two drank beer, whiskey, and Japanese sake one after another while reminiscing about the past.Housekeeping also has this advantage: the food in the refrigerator can be eaten at will, and the wine can be drunk at will.There are large bottles of beer in the refrigerator, as well as an unopened bottle of whiskey and a bottle of Japanese sake. Maybe before Xigu came, Yamashita had already drank a lot, and he was a little confused just after midnight.When it was almost 1 o'clock in the middle of the night, he was already snoring loudly, and he couldn't wake up no matter how hard he shook it. There is really no way to deal with this guy—— Xi Gu took the blanket beside him and covered him, then stood up.He planned to go to the room on the second floor to rest.As soon as he stepped on the stairs, he turned off the switch on the wall next to him, and the room instantly became pitch black. It may be because the darkness was beyond imagination, and Hosoya was indeed a little drunk, for a moment he felt his body lost his balance, he swayed twice, and his knees fell to the ground. No way, I didn't expect alcohol to be really strong. He rubbed his face, and was about to stand up, at this moment - in front of the window facing the yard, stood a person, that person was staring into the room. He was taken aback, and in the next moment, another surprise hit him. Qingmei? Despite the lace curtains, that person definitely looked like Kiyomi.That lime oak suit was exactly what he had seen with his own eyes a few hours ago.The clothes were particularly dazzling under the dim light in the courtyard. "Qingmei—" Hosoya walked towards the door, however, probably because his eyes hadn't adapted to the darkness, and because he was drunk, his body kept swaying from side to side, bumping into something next to him.After opening the door, he ran out barefoot. "Qingmei!" He called her name. Without hearing her answer, Xi Gu came to the window barefoot, but she was nowhere to be seen. what happened. —He was a little uneasy, and his mind was in a mess.Ordinarily, it is impossible for Qingmei to come here, she has been avoiding Xiaoshan all the time. Hosoya began to feel tightness in his chest. He took out his mobile phone and called her in the room first, but no one answered, then called her mobile phone again, but the result was the same. Hosoya thought for a while, then dialed another number, which was Fujiko Oda's number.Fujiko is Kiyomi's friend, they live in the same apartment and work in the same store.Hosoya once went to karaoke with them and asked for her cell phone number. "Hello!" Fujiko's voice came from the phone. "Hey, Fujiko? It's me, Hosoya." "Ah. Is there something going on so late?" "I'll explain it to you later. Could you please go to Qingmei's room?" "Go to Kiyomi's room? Now? Why?" "Didn't you just tell me the reason? I'll tell you the reason later. Anyway, please go there right away." Xi Gu shouted into the phone.