Chapter 22 Section VI

On the next Friday of the following week, as soon as Kuroda stepped into the room, Takashi asked him about the situation with bright eyes. "Have you seen that girl?" "Um...no, I didn't see you." "Why? Hasn't the address of her home been found out?" "Zha found out, but I still haven't seen her. She's not at home." Kuroda silently told himself that he was not lying. "yes?" Takashi drooped his shoulders with a look of disappointment, but his expression was still cheerful.This made it harder for Kuroda to speak the truth.

"But you should have visited her house?" "Well... that's right." "How? It should be a mansion, right?" "Well... But it's not as expected, it feels more ordinary." "Compared to my family?" "Huh? Compared with your family?" Kuroda paused for a moment, "Let's evenly share." "Really? It's about the same." Takashi cast his twinkling eyes into the sky.In his heart, he should also be depicting and imagining the girl's home.Kuroda couldn't help but look away from him. "I've been there this week, too."

Hearing what Xiaozhi said, Kuroda let out a "hey" and hurriedly asked, "Where have you been?" "Gymnasium, needless to say?" "Ah." Kuroda wiped his face, "Yes, indeed, there is no need to talk about it. How is it? Have you met her?" As soon as he finished asking, Kuroda felt a strong sense of self-loathing and emptiness attacking him. "Still haven't met." Xiao Zhi shook his head, "She probably has given up practicing at night." "That's right... maybe she has given up." "But I've decided that every time I come home from cram school, I'll check it out. Maybe someday she'll start practicing again, won't she?"

"Well, it's true." In the end, Kuroda still didn't say anything that night. The next day, Kuroda met a female friend in a cafe.The girl's name was Jiang Lizi, and she was in the same department as Kuroda.He checked the student roster last night and found that this girl graduated from S Academy.Facing Kuroda's sudden invitation, Jiang Lizi was a little surprised, but when she heard that Kuroda was inviting guests, she immediately agreed. "The new gymnastics club of S Academy? I'm not familiar with that place." While chewing on the chocolate puff, Jiang Lizi replied indifferently.

"Just ask me a little bit. I'll figure out what to do next." "What's your intention? Could it be a high school girl you're looking for?" "It's just something wrong. Please, let me treat you to a steak." "It's so troublesome." Saying that, after eating the chocolate puffs, she stood up from her seat, "Let's go." By Saturday afternoon, only the members of each team were left in the school.Standing in front of the main entrance of S Academy, Kuroda stared blankly at the students running around on the playground.He was waiting for Jiang Lizi.She said she would bring members of the new gymnastics department here.

——She must have looked at it from afar like this... Looking at the energetic students in front of him, Kuroda thought of the girl who committed suicide.At that time, she must have cursed in her heart that she was not favored by the heavens, and at the same time, she also harbored a trace of hostility towards the girls in front of her who were favored by the heavens.Wanting to burn away the melancholy in my heart, that's why I went to the gymnasium to practice at night.For her, that time may be all her youth, the only moment when she can be the protagonist. However, why did she abandon such time and choose to commit suicide?This point was the question in Kuroda's mind.

After a while, Jiang Lizi came back.Following her was a little girl with short hair and a boyish face.The skin tone is not too dark, and the tight lips give people an impression of not admitting defeat. "Unfortunately." Jiang Lizi's tone sounded businesslike. "There is no one in the new gymnastics department today. Can I ask someone from the gymnastics department?" "Hey? Why is there no one?" "Saturday is the time for the new gymnastics department and the gymnastics department to take turns practicing." The girls in the gymnastics department explained.It appears that the problem has something to do with the use of gymnasiums.

"It's all right. It's not that bad anyway." Jiang Lizi said nonchalantly.The girls in the gymnastics department also said "What do you want to ask", waiting for Kuroda to ask questions. ——Well, anyway, this matter is a dead horse as a living horse doctor... Kuroda thought to himself, and asked. "About three months ago, there was a girl who came to the gymnasium every Wednesday night to practice new gymnastics. It's just that the girl is not a student here... Have you heard of this?" Kuroda felt that this made him tell a ghost story.If it is not done well, it may make the other party feel uncomfortable.

However, the girl in the gymnastics department nodded heavily, and said loudly, "Are you talking about that incident?" Kuroda was slightly surprised, "You know?" "It's not only known, but it's been told all over the school. Everyone calls it 'Wednesday Showgirl Incident.'" "event?" Since just now, she has mentioned the word twice.This made Kuroda feel a little concerned. "That girl seems to sneak into the gymnasium every Wednesday, pretending to practice the new gymnastics. Nothing happened before, but one night, several members of the new gymnastics department secretly hid in the gymnasium to monitor. After the girl appeared, As soon as they picked up the props to play with, they swarmed over, grabbed the girl and gave her a hard scolding. The people in the new gymnastics department are quite petty."

In her words, she seemed to be quite critical of those members who were in ambush, which made people feel that there might be some rift between the gymnastics department and the new gymnastics department. "Teach me a lesson...how can I teach you a lesson?" "I'm not too sure about the specific situation. I guess it's either to make the girl kneel down, or let her wipe all the props clean. Anyway, it's too much." "……yes?" Kuroda felt his heart sink, perhaps that was the reason why the girl committed suicide.Those members not only deprived her of the time to show the value of life, but also suffered humiliation at the hands of this group of people who were most hostile to her.It is not unthinkable to think of death.

"Speaking of which, how did the people in the new gymnastics department know about the girl sneaking in? Didn't everyone know about it before?" The girls in the gymnastics club answered Kuroda's question nonchalantly. "I guess it's because I'm too busy studying." Xiaozhi nodded, as if he was saying to himself, "Although she likes the new gymnastics to the point of practicing at night, the courses in high school are much more difficult than those in junior high school, so she has to study hard for a while. Her family My mother must be as nagging as my family, and I must let her get her grades up first before practicing new gymnastics." The new year is coming soon, but he still can't forget that "dancing girl".Kuroda never brought it up on his own initiative.Even so, Takashi would mention the girl in front of him.Sometimes he would ask Kuroda if he should write a letter, or go to the girl's house.Every time he encountered such a situation, Kuroda would say, "This approach is very irrational" and perfunctory it. Takashi continued. "And it's been quite cold recently. Maybe she wants to wait until the new year is over and the weather gets warmer. What do you think, Mr. Kuroda?" "maybe……" Kuroda's answer was somewhat hesitant.He didn't know how many times he would answer like this in the future.If everything is said, it's all over.But doing so would be too cruel for Takashi. Every time he saw Takashi talking like this, Kuroda would recall what the girl from the gymnastics department said at that time.What he said when he asked those in the new gymnastics department how they knew about the "Wednesday Dancer." That's what she answered at the time. "I heard people say that every Thursday morning, they would find a few bottles of sports drinks in the entrance of the gymnasium. In addition to the drinks, there seemed to be a letter to the new gymnastics department. The members didn't know anything about it. As far as I know, from this point of view, someone should have secretly released the drink on Wednesday. In order to find out who put the drink, the members hid and waited for the rabbit, but they found the girl. Because there is a relationship between the girl and the sports drink It has nothing to do with the time, so it is the girl's bad luck. I guess she usually enters and exits the gym through the back door, so she didn't notice the bag at the entrance." This thing is the root of everything. If he told Xiaozhi about this, maybe he could completely abandon his fantasy about her in his heart. However, Kuroda didn't have the courage to tell him, "Actually, you were the one who killed the 'Dancing Girl'—"