Chapter 60 Section VII

Newspapers on January 3 reported the seizure of a large number of bootleg copies of "Super Mario Bros."The location of the seizure was the parking lot of a resident of a middleman who also handled second-hand software for video game consoles. Judging from this report, Tomohiko believes that the middleman is Matsuura.Matsuura's whereabouts are unknown. The police believe that the suspects and channels that produced pirated software are likely to be linked to the underworld, but there are no other clues, and there is no mention of Kirihara at all. Tomohiko immediately called Kirihara, but only heard the ringing, but no one answered.

On January 5, "MUGEN" opened its doors as originally planned.However, Kirihara did not show up, and Tomohiko and Hong Hui completed the work of purchasing and selling.The school is still on winter vacation, and many junior and high school students come to visit. Tomohiko called Kirihara several times during his free time, but no one answered. "Could something happen to Kirihara?" Hiroe said anxiously when there were no customers in the store. "I don't think there's anything to worry about. I'll stop by and have a look when I get home." "Yeah, let's go and have a look."

Hong Hui looked at the chair Tong Yuan usually sat on, with a scarf hanging on the back of the chair, the same one that Tong Yuan wore on New Year's Eve. On the wall behind the chair, slightly higher than the chair, hung a small picture frame, which was brought by Hong Hui.Inside the frame are paper-cuts of boys and girls that Kirihara cut out with great skill that night. An idea suddenly popped into Tomohiko's mind.He hastily opened the drawer of Kirihara's desk - the box for storing the pair of scissors was gone! Suddenly, Tomohiko had a premonition that Kirihara might never show up again.

After work that day, Tomohiko went to Kirihara's residence before returning home.He kept ringing the doorbell, but there was no movement behind the door.He came outside the building again, looked up at the window, and the room was pitch black. The next day and the next few days, Kirihara did not show up.Later, Kirihara's phone seemed to be deactivated and he couldn't get through.Tomohiko went to his residence to inquire, and happened to meet several strangers moving out furniture and electrical appliances from his residence. "What are you guys doing, please?" he asked someone who seemed to be taking the lead.

"We... are cleaning the room, commissioned by the residents here." "How many are..." "Housekeeping service company." The other party looked at Tomohiko in surprise. "Kirihara moved?" "It should be, he returned the house." "Where did he move to?" "I haven't heard of it." "I haven't heard... Aren't you going to move things there?" "The other party told me to dispose of all of them." "Dispose of? All?" "Yes, the money has been paid in advance. Sorry, I still have work to do." After speaking, the man began to give orders to others.

Tomohiko took a step back and watched them move Kirihara's things out one by one. Hearing this, Hong Hui seemed at a loss. "Why...how did he leave suddenly?" "He has his own ideas. Anyway, now we can only rely on us to support the store." "Will Kirihara contact us in the future?" "It will. Until then, let's work together." Although Honghui looked uneasy, he still nodded to Tomohiko. On the afternoon of the fifth day after opening, a man came into the store.This person is about fifty years old and wears an old herringbone jacket.He was tall and broad-shouldered for a man of his day, with thick single eyelids and eyes that were both soft and keen.Tomohiko immediately judged that he was not here to buy a computer.

"Are you the person in charge here?" the man asked. "Yes." Tomohiko replied. "Oh, so young, about the same as Kirihara-san..." When he mentioned Kirihara, Tomohiko couldn't help but widen his eyes. The man seemed very satisfied with his reaction.He said, "May I bother you? I have something to ask." "This guest..." The man waved his hand. "I'm not a guest, I'm in this business." The man took out his police ID from the inner pocket of his coat. It was not the first time that Tomohiko had seen this. When he was a sophomore in high school, he was asked by the police for questioning.The man in front of him exuded the same smell as the two policemen at that time.He was very lucky that Honghui happened to be out of the house.

"Are you going to ask about Kirihara?" "Yes. Can I sit here?" The man pointed to the chair opposite Tomohiko. "Please sit down." "Then I won't be polite." The man sat down on the chair, leaned his whole body against the back of the chair, and looked around the store. "The things you sell are really difficult to understand. Will children come to buy these?" "Most of the customers are adults, but sometimes junior high school students come to buy." "Oh," said the man, shaking his head, "This world is getting worse and worse, and I can't keep up with it."

"Excuse me, what's the matter?" Tomohiko was a little anxious. The policeman seemed to enjoy observing Tomohiko's expression, showing a slight smile. "The owner of this store was originally Ryoji Kirihara, where is he now?" "What do you want Kirihara to do?" "I want you to answer my question first." The policeman laughed a little. "He's...not here now." "Well, I know that. The apartment he lived in last year was also terminated, and the house is all empty, so I came to ask you." Tomohiko sighed, it seemed pointless to prevaricate. "Actually, we have a headache because the boss suddenly disappeared."

"Did you call the police?" "No," Tomohiko shook his head, "I always thought he would contact us soon." "When was the last time you saw him?" "On New Year's Eve, he was there until closing time." "Then on the phone?" "No." "I didn't say a word to your partner, so he disappeared? How could this happen?" "That's why we have a headache." "Oh." The man rubbed his chin, "The last time you saw Kirihara-san, was there anything unusual about his appearance?" "No, I didn't notice anything unusual, it's the same as usual." Tomohiko tried to remain calm, thinking about why this person added "classmate" when he mentioned Kirihara.

The man reached into his coat pocket and took out something. "Do you have any impression of this person?" It's a photo, an inch photo of Matsuura. Tomohiko had to quickly decide how to respond.In the end, the conclusion is to lie less. "Yes, it's Mr. Matsuura. I heard that he worked in Kirihara's family before." "Has he ever been here?" "I've been here a few times." "What are you here for?" "I don't know." Tomohiko tilted his head deliberately, "I only heard that he hadn't seen Tong Yuan for a long time, so I came to him. I hardly talked to him, so I don't know much about it." "Oh." The man stared intently at Tomohiko's eyes, it was the eyes that wanted to see how many lies there were in his words.Tomohiko desperately resisted the urge to turn his head away. "After Mr. Matsuura came, how did Kirihara-san react? Is there anything that impressed you?" "It's nothing, they chat like nostalgia." "Very nostalgic?" Tomohiko felt the man's eyes light up. "yes." "Oh..." The man nodded with great interest, "Do you remember what they talked about? I think it should have mentioned the past." "It seems to be, but I didn't hear the details because I was busy greeting guests." Tomohiko remembered that Matsuura had mentioned the murder of Kirihara's father, but he subconsciously decided that it would be best not to mention it now. At this moment, the door opened, and a young man who looked like a high school student walked in. Tomohiko greeted the guest by saying "Welcome". "Well," the man finally stood up, "I'll come back another day." "Excuse me... what did Kirihara do?" When Tomohiko asked, the man showed a hesitant expression for a moment, and then said, "I don't know yet. But he must have done something, so I came to him." "What have you done……" "Hey!" The man turned a deaf ear to Tomohiko's words, and turned his gaze to the picture frame with the paper cut, "He cut this?" "yes." "His hands are still as clever, and it looks like a boy and a girl holding hands, which is really good." Tomohiko thought, how did he know that Kirihara cut it?He believed the man wasn't just there to track down suspects who made pirated "Mario" copies. "Excuse me." The man walked towards the door. "Excuse me..." Tomohiko stopped the figure from behind, "May I ask your name?" "Oh," the man stopped, turned around and said, "My name is Sasagaki." "Mr. Sasagaki..." "Farewell." The man left. Tomohiko pressed his forehead, Sasagaki...he had heard of this surname before, so it should be Matsuura who said it.He said that for the murder of Kirihara's father, the detective who repeatedly confirmed the alibi was named Sasagaki. Tomohiko turned around and stared at the paper-cut left by Kirihara.