Chapter 4 Chapter Four

The arrival of the tram awakened Akio from his gloomy memory, and he left the platform, leaving behind the crowd. When I walked down the steps of the station, there were already several long queues in front of the bus stop.He was preparing to join in, but his eyes were attracted by the promotion of crystal cakes in front of the gate of the nearby supermarket, which was Zheng Hui's favorite snack. "Would you like some?" the young saleswoman asked her with a smile. Akio reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and found his wallet.But at the same time, Yaeko's unhappy expression also appeared in his mind.I don't know what's going on at home, so buying Zheng Hui's favorite food and going home at this time may add fuel to the fire.

"No, let's forget about today." He said apologetically, and then left. As if to replace him, a man in his thirties walked up to the salesperson selling crystal cakes. "Excuse me, did you see a girl in a pink sweatshirt? About seven years old." This unusual question made Akio stop and look back.The man was showing a photo to the salesperson. "About about this height, with hair reaching to the shoulders." The saleswoman thought about it. "Is she alone?" "should be." "Then I didn't see it, and I'm sorry." The man seemed disappointed, and after thanking him, he walked to the supermarket, probably to ask the same question there.

Akio thought that the child was probably lost. The seven-year-old girl hadn't come home yet, so it was natural for adults to come to the station to look for it worriedly.The man must have lived nearby. The bus finally arrived, and Akio followed the flow of people into the compartment, which was equally crowded.When he grabbed a ring, he had already forgotten about the man just now. About ten minutes later, the wobbly bus arrived.Akio walked for about five minutes after getting off the car, and came to a residential area with criss-crossed one-way lanes.In the era of the bubble economy, a house of any size was worth 100 million yen.He now regrets that he didn't try to persuade his parents to sell the house at that time.If there is 100 million yuan, the elderly can be sent to an apartment for the elderly with nursing services.Taking the remaining money as capital, the Akio family might have already bought the house they dreamed of, so they won't be in the current predicament.Knowing that it was too late to think about it, he still couldn't help thinking about it.

The light in front of the house that Akio failed to sell was dimmed. He pushed open the rusty door and twisted the doorknob of the entrance.But the door was locked.Feeling a little unbelievable, he took out his key and opened the door.She usually reminds Yaeko to lock the door, but she rarely does it. The room was very dark, and the lights in the corridor were not turned on. Akio didn't understand what was going on, as if he had walked into an empty house. As soon as he took off his shoes, the partition next to him was pulled open, which surprised him. Yaeko stepped out cautiously, wearing a black sweater and denim bottoms.At home, she rarely wears skirts.

"You're so late," she said in a weary tone. "I'll be right out after calling you—" He stopped in the middle of his words, because he saw Yaeko's face.Her face was pale, her eyes were bloodshot, and the dark circles under her eyelids made her look even older. "What's wrong?" But Yaeko didn't answer him right away, but sighed.She brushed back her disheveled hair, and rubbed her forehead as if trying to get rid of her headache, before she pointed to the dining room opposite, "Over there." "What's over there..." Yaeko opened the door of the dining room, and it was also pitch black inside.

There was a faint smell coming from the dining room, and the ventilation fan in the kitchen was probably turned on for this reason.Before looking for the source of the stench, Akio reached into the darkness and fumbled for the light switch. "Don't turn on the light!" Yaeko demanded softly but sternly, which made Akio withdraw his hand hastily. "why?" "You...you go to the yard and have a look." "In the yard?" Akio put the bag on the chair next to him and walked towards the glass door leading to the yard.He carefully raised the tightly drawn curtains.

The so-called yard is just a picture. Although there is a lawn, it is only the size of two lawns.But the backyard is bigger because it faces south. Akio took a closer look and found a black plastic bag on the ground not far from the concrete wall.He was puzzled for a while, because black plastic bags were never used for garbage at home. "What's with that plastic bag?" Hearing Akio's question, Yaeko took something from the table and handed it to him without saying a word. It was a flashlight. Akio glanced at Yaeko's face, but the other side avoided his gaze. He turned his head sideways to unlock the crescent lock on the glass door, and pressed the flashlight switch while opening the door.

After the light was turned on, he realized that the black plastic bag seemed to be just used to cover some "thing".He bent down and peeked under the plastic bag. He saw a small foot in a white sock, and a similarly small shoe on the other foot. For a few seconds, Akio's mind went blank.No, probably not that long.It's just that he couldn't understand for a moment why he saw such a scene in his yard.He wasn't sure if those little feet were human. Akio slowly turned his head, and Yaeko looked at each other. "That... what?" His voice trembled. Yaeko licked her lips, her lipstick had faded a lot.

"I don't know... which family's girl it is." "A child you haven't seen?" "right." "Why is it in our yard?" Yaeko lowered her head and did not answer. Akio can only continue to ask a decisive question. "Is she still alive?" He hoped to see Yaeko nodding, but the other party remained expressionless and motionless. Zhaofu felt hot all over his body, but his hands and feet were cold. "What's going on?" "I don't know either. When I came back, she had already collapsed in the yard. Then in order not to let others find out, I..."

"Cover her with a plastic bag?" "yes." "Did you call the police?" "How is it possible?" She glared at Akio with an almost defiant look. "But the child is dead." "So it's even more..." Yaeko bit her lip, her facial expression contorted in pain. Akio suddenly understood the current situation, and also figured out why his wife was so haggard and why he didn't want others to see the dead body. "Where's Naomi?" Akio asked, "Where is Naomi?" "In his room." "Go and call him."

"But he won't come out." Akio felt a desperate darkness hit him, and the girl's body was indeed related to his son. "Did he say anything to you?" "I asked a few words outside his room..." "Why don't you go into his room?" "But..." Yaeko looked at Akio with a contemptuous look, showing resentment. "Forget it, then why did you ask?" "I asked him what happened to that girl..." "what did he say?" "He thinks I'm annoying, and he said why ask so many questions." This really seemed like what Naomi would say, even Akio could imagine the tone.But he still didn't want to believe that the person who would only say that under such circumstances was his own son. "It's so cold...can you close it?" Yaeko stretched out her hand towards the glass door while trying to avoid the direction of the yard. "Is the child really dead?" Yaeko nodded silently. "Are you sure? Not in a coma?" "It's been hours." "but……" "I also hope that she is alive." Yaeko squeezed out such a sentence, "But, you only need to take a look to understand, and if you see it, you will too." "What's the situation?" "What's the situation?" Yaeko put her hands on her forehead and knelt down on the spot. "The floor was stained with piss, it should belong to that girl. The girl's eyes are just like this..." It seemed that she could no longer describe it, and a whimper sounded instead. Akio finally understood the source of the strange smell. The girl probably died in this room. "Is there no bleeding?" Yaeko shook her head, "I don't think so." "Really? Even if there is no bleeding, don't you see the wound? For example, you fell to the ground and kowtowed your head or something?" He sincerely hoped it was just an accident, but Yaeko shook her head again. "I didn't pay attention to this, but probably...he was strangled to death." Accompanied by a dull pain in his chest, Akio's heart beat faster.He wanted to swallow a mouthful of saliva, but found that his mouth was already parched.strangle?By who? —— "How did you know?" "I always feel... that's the case. I've also heard that people who are strangled to death will have urinary incontinence." Akio also knows this, most of them have seen it in TV dramas or novels. -------------------- Notes: