Chapter 12 Running Corpse Chapter 5

That strange thing happened suddenly. Just as we were playing the music vigorously, the room was suddenly dark, and the power went out? "The power went out?" I don't know who said it.We ignored it and continued playing.He was on the verge of getting excited, but such a small episode had a special taste.Everyone probably thought the same as me: Mrs. Itoi, come here later with a candle or something. At that time, the big clock in the house rang the time music.Before the music ended, Natsuki's voice came from behind us: "Hello, Mr. Kubo!" At about the same time, the glass door on the balcony opened with a "crash", and someone rushed in.Our eyes hadn't adapted to the dark, so we didn't see who it was at all.But at this moment someone (it seems to be Mrs. Itoi) turned on a flashlight.In the light and shadow, the man's back can be vaguely seen.He ran across the living room and headed for the door.In the flickering light of the flashlight, you can see the velvet hat on his head, which is Kubo.He opened the door and ran out without looking back, and the door closed again with a "bang".

What happened to Kubo?Everyone continued to play while making differences. "No more!" Mrs. Itoi screamed. We stopped the instruments in our hands in twos and threes.The flashlight was shining on the table, and in the circle of light, there were only six things, namely five watches and a ring.Mrs. Itoi's pearl necklace has disappeared without a trace.Did Kubo take it? "What's wrong?" At this time, Xia Shu asked and walked in from the balcony.Although it was very dark and couldn't see his face, he could tell it was him just by hearing the voice. "My necklace was stolen," Mrs. Itoi said.

"That's terrible!" Xia Shu was very surprised. "I'm going to chase Kubo!" Xia Shu said, running towards the door, Achi and Afu followed. "Everyone put away your watches and come back again! I'll go after them first!" Xia Shu yelled, and rushed out the door alone. A Chi and A Fu hesitated for a moment, and someone quickly ran out of the door beside them.I put down the saxophone and followed closely.The door was open, and it could be seen by the light in the corridor that it was Mitarai who ran out. Mitarai was galloping along the wet corridor, and when I glanced over, I happened to see Natsuki turning right hastily.Mitarai followed Natsuki to the right and caught up with Natsuki at the end of the corridor, at the bottom of the T-shaped apartment, and I soon caught up with them.Behind me, Achi and Afu followed closely.

"What's going on?" Mitarai asked Natsuki.We stood there, and soon Itoi and Asami joined us. "This..." Xia Shu leaned out from the escalator and looked at the ground at the bottom of the building for a while.His back was soaked, and it seemed that he had been exposed to rain a lot. "There seems to be no safe passage here?" Xia Shu said to himself.Mitarai and I were by his side, following his example and looking down.Perhaps because of a power outage, it was pitch black below, and only the roof of a white RV could be seen. "However, I did see Kubo running here, climbing over the railing, and then disappeared." Xia Shu said seriously, "I saw him jumping over the railing here with my own eyes, so I thought there must be a safe passage here .And he ran away from the passage.” The power was cut off, but the dim light of the mercury lamp flickered in the distance, making his face still distinguishable.

"There are no stairs here!" The heavy rain was still falling, and Itoi's words sounded very weak. "There are no stairs on the opposite side of my house, but there are stairs at the end of the west corridor. Go through here and turn right, and you can see it." Itoi pointed He said behind his back. "So, maybe Kubo thought it was there too, so he..." "What about him..." Mitarai asked. "He just jumped out from here and fell to his death!" We looked at each other, feeling ridiculously weird.Then, everyone turned around and ran to the elevator. The elevator was at the intersection of the T-shape, but the elevator didn't come because the power had been cut off long ago!We suddenly realized, looked at each other for a few seconds and then ran down the stairs by the elevator together.

It took at least 5 minutes to run from the 11th floor to the first floor.They finally reached the first floor, regardless of how urgent the rain was, they just rushed into the rain curtain, and soon arrived at the place we looked down from the 11th floor.I looked around in horror, but there was nothing.The mercury lamp in the distance has been repaired, so the visibility on the concrete floor is not low, not to mention the corpse, not even a drop of blood can be seen. "It's so strange." Xia Shu's face turned pale with fright. "What the hell is going on here!" In the rainstorm, his voice was like a trapped animal, desperate and helpless.In my opinion, he was definitely not pretending this time, he was really scared and flustered.

Despite the heavy rain, Mitarai carefully looked up at the escalator on the 11th floor. I also looked up, and only saw the straight outer wall without any protrusions to catch the falling people.The raindrops hit the wall, causing bursts of smoke and dust. ※Bandhammer Academy's E-Book※ "Forget it, let's find a place to hide from the rain." Mitarai said, and ran to the corridor on the first floor first, and we followed. Xia Shu looked nervous, regardless of the water flowing everywhere, almost lying on the asphalt ground desperately looking for something.He must have thought it was too incredible, he even looked under the white RV parked over there, and leaned over the window to look at the driver's seat.

"Is that your car?" Mitarai asked him loudly. "Yes!" he replied loudly. At that time, across the road, the trams speeding past on the elevated line suddenly made a sharp screeching sound of brakes.Natsuki stared blankly at the elevated road, Mitarai ran out from the corridor, and I ran into the rain with him.Looking up, you can only see the roof of the tram.The headlights were still on, but the tram stopped, silently in the rain. Mitarai was back under the roof, so I went back too.But Xia Shu seemed to have lost confidence, and ran back to the apartment with us. "All in all, there are no corpses here," Mitarai said.

"That's right!" Xia Shu nodded in agreement. "Let's go back to the house first?" "Okay, okay! Otherwise, everyone will catch a cold." Chaomei shouted. "There is one more thing before we go back." Mitarai said again. "You seemed to call 'Mr. Kubo' on the balcony just now, and then he ran into the house alone. Did anything happen to you two?" He turned to Xia Shu and asked. "I don't want to answer your question, why should I say it? You are not a policeman!" Xia Shu replied angrily. "Really? You have your reasons. Forget it, let's all go back first."

We climbed up the stairs to the 11th floor one after another. Xia Shu seemed to stand alone in the rain for a while with a little regret, but he quickly caught up. Back in the candle-lit room, everyone was baking in front of the stove while wiping the rainwater from their bodies. Ishioka asked Mitarai: "How is it?" Mitarai explained to him. "Should we call the police first?" Itoi said.His wife also nodded in agreement. "The pearl necklace must have been stolen by Kubo." As he said so, he picked up the phone and dialed the police station. I picked up the blank piece of paper for mental games. The watch and ring had returned to their respective owners, and the paper was slightly water-stained.

"It's incredible!" Ishioka exclaimed after hearing Mitarai's words. I put the white paper back on the table and glanced at the wall clock inadvertently.It's already 10:20. Suddenly, the phone rang.Mrs. Itoi picked up the receiver: "Hello, this is the Itoi family." Every face in the candlelight turned to her. "Yes, yes. Just now he was at my house, yes, but... what? No way!" The lady's voice changed.Something must have happened, everyone in the room listened nervously. "Yes, yes, got it. I will, bye." Before Madam put down the receiver, Itoi asked her loudly, "What's going on?" The lady turned around slowly and said, "Mr. Kubo, he... committed suicide." "What!" Everyone was shocked. "Where?" "On the tram line. Suicide by lying on the tracks." However, this point is an elevated line, suicide by lying on the rail?I'm afraid it's not that easy to jump into orbit. "Is it at Asakusabashi Station? From the platform..." Itoi asked his wife again. "No. The scene seems to be the section of the railway near our house, just behind the apartment." "That means Kubo took a walk by the railway line?" Itoi said with a puzzled look on his face. "How did the police know the phone number here?" Xia Shu asked. "There's a small piece of paper in Kubo's pocket that says the phone number here." "They said they want to confirm whether it is Kubo. People who are familiar with Kubo are invited to go to Asakusabashi Station to identify it as soon as possible." The lady continued. Everyone shudders at the thought of the dismembered body of a railroad suicide. I suddenly remembered that I heard the sound of the tram suddenly braking just now. Could it be that... Didn't everyone go to Asakusabashi?The two women stayed at home, while Ah Fu, Ishioka and the critic Oguan also stayed, nominally to protect them. "Who is that Mitarai?" When I was alone with Ah Fu, he asked. "Not an astrologer?" "That guy's level is really good. Even Miles' band, he can get in without any trouble. A world-class jazz player! At least he can be regarded as the top of the top in Japan! But why is he in such a place?" "This..." I didn't understand either. "Have you heard the name Mitarai before?" "It seems not." "Oh, there are people beyond people, and there is a sky beyond the sky! In order to keep up with his rhythm, I was almost exhausted, and I didn't even know where my head was. In the end, it was like being dragged by him to run! I used to follow him I have worked with several professional musicians, but it is the first time in my life to see someone as outstanding as him!" "Yeah, that song "The Other Side of the Seventh Galaxy" is really amazing, the impact is so strong, I was so moved that I was about to cry." I also said. "Go and ask Ishioka, Mitarai seems to be his friend." Looking back, Ishioka was talking to Asami, so it's not easy to interrupt.But their topic seems to be Mitarai as well. "What kind of person is he?" Chaomi asked a question that everyone was interested in. Of course, she knew Mitarai earlier than us, and knew him better than we should. "He often came to our store and gave some inexplicable speeches. I tried to understand at first, but the more I listened, the more confused I became..." "He's a lunatic." Shi Gang said coldly. "But..." Chaomei seemed to want to refute, "He is a genius, everyone says so." "No, a lunatic!" Shi Gang replied without hesitation. From this point of view, he and Mitarai are by no means close friends. I turned to the critic, Obuki: "Mr. Mitarai's guitar is amazing!" I naively thought that the real jazz critic would agree with me. Unexpectedly, he also said coldly: "Really? I don't think so." I choked for a moment, and embarrassingly dismissed the idea of ​​continuing to speak. "He played very well, but it wasn't jazz." The critic, seeing my embarrassment, managed to add, "So-so." "So-so?" I was disappointed.Do these critics in Japan have ears?Could it be that in their eyes, only Charlie Kerris and Satchmer are jazz musicians?Has he ever heard the music of Miles, Chic Colia, Stanley Clark and others? I was not in the mood to talk to him anymore, and returned to Ah Fu. A Fu sneered and said: "No society, no world can accommodate geniuses! Whether it's Charlie Parker or Gauguin, aren't they only recognized after death?" Someone opened the door with a key, and the door It was originally locked.Itoi took the key and went out, but none of us heard the door opening because of the loud wind and rain. Those who went out came back.Whether it's Itoi or Natsuki, they still look listless. "It's like a nightmare." Itoi said to his wife, "The corpses of those who committed suicide by lying on the rails are really terrifying. Da Guan asked with concern: "Is the corpse scary?" "It's all torn apart and covered in mud and water, it's terrible!" Itoi replied. The people who stayed at home couldn't help but frown. "Is it really Kubo?" Otsuki asked again. Those who went to identify the corpse nodded together. "Of course it's true." Mitarai replied, as if he was the only one with a calm face and didn't care.Could it be that he is used to seeing corpses?What a weirdo. "Where's the necklace?" asked Madame. "It's in the body's pocket. Return it to us tomorrow. There is no damage at all." Itoi said. The lady seemed relieved. A Chi leaned over to me and whispered, "Kubo is bald, no wonder he always wears a hat." "yes?" "The corpse didn't wear a hat. The body is already in disrepair. This is the first time I've seen such a situation. I almost vomit..." I thought to myself, it's a good thing I didn't see it. "Did Kubo jump off by himself?" Ah Fu asked. "It doesn't seem to be the case. He was lying in a pool of water in the middle of the track. It was so dark that he couldn't see clearly, so the tram driver didn't pay attention. He just drove past like this. When he reacted and braked suddenly, it was too late. At that time It was like 10:13." The critic suddenly shouted loudly, we were startled, and we all stopped: "Okay, anyway, this matter is settled, right? Kubo is very pitiful, but he is a thief. We don't have to worry about this kind of person." Regret or sadness. And the necklace is unscathed, so it's over, right?" "But, you can't say that." Mitarai, who was lazily sitting on the sofa, continued, "Actually, a strange thing happened now." "What strange thing?" Achi turned to him in surprise. Itoi, Natsuki, and others also looked at him curiously. "Huh? You didn't find any flaws?" Mitarai asked everyone in surprise. They looked at each other, but no one spoke. "When Kubo ran into the house, stole the necklace, and ran out the gate, the clock struck ten o'clock." Hearing him say that, I remembered, too.indeed so.As the clock began to strike 10 o'clock, we heard "Hi, Kubo-san!" from the balcony, and it was Natsuki's voice.Before the ten bells had finished striking, someone ran in from the balcony and knocked on the glass door. "At that time, everyone was playing in high spirits, but my instrument was an electric guitar, and when the power went out, there was no sound, so I remember very clearly that it was 10 o'clock when the power went out. It was 3 minutes before Kubo fell on the rails and died, it is said that it was 10 o'clock. 13. The testimony of the tram driver should be correct. The train departed from Asakusabashi Station at 10:11. "Yes, at 10:13, some of us were looking for Kubo's body outside, because at that time we all heard the sound of the tram suddenly braking." "The lying track scene is on a high line. It is impossible for a person to climb up the high line from the road. In this way, it can only be said that Kubo ran out from here, ran all the way to Asakusabashi Station, and entered through the ticket gate. , and then jumped off the platform, ran along the tracks all the way back to the scene of the crime, and lay there waiting to die. Now there is only one explanation." Everyone nodded involuntarily. "Kubo was here until 10:00, and he was run over to death at 10:13. In other words, within 13 minutes he had to run to the scene of the lying track. But when we went to Asakusabashi Station just now, It only took 10 minutes one way." Huh?Everyone suddenly realized.A Fu and I walked from the station, and it took a full 15 minutes. "What if he went by car?" Achi asked. "He doesn't have a car. Kubo came here by train. I remember he told me before that he hasn't taken his driver's license yet." "Where's the taxi?" Asami also asked. "With such a big typhoon, there are no taxis at all." Shi Gang replied. "What if I run as hard as I can? As long as I arrive at Asakusabashi in half of the 13 minutes, that is, within 6 minutes and 30 seconds, it will be fine?" Itoi asked. "Impossible." Achi said, "It might be possible for a professional sprinter. Kubo is already 40 years old. Besides, it is impossible to go through the ticket gates and go up and down the stairs of the platform." "Is it really impossible?" "I actually tried it once before. I ran from here to the station. At that time, I ran downstairs to Asakusabashi just to catch the tram 7 minutes later." "Didn't catch up?" "Just in time." "Look, isn't it okay?" "But it was only a one-way trip. After taking the tram, I was too tired to speak. But Kubo had to turn around and run to the scene at the same speed. If I absolutely couldn't do it, then the 7-minute run The past is already the limit of the limit." "You are 23 years old, and you say you can't do it. Kubo, who is in his forties, definitely can't do it." "What do you know! Maybe Kubo wants to die, even if he has a heart attack?" The critic said another inhumane thing. "It's really strange, why did he have to run back desperately, and why did he have to die on the railroad tracks near here?" Mrs. Itoi interjected. "Yeah, it's a mystery." Itoi also said, "Even if you jump directly from Asakusa Bridge, you can still die if you stand on the rails near the platform." "There is no mystery, he just did it, and he died like this." The critic was really cold, "Kubo played all his potential, and would rather run to vomit blood than die on the line near here. Understand it this way. It’s strange that you think about it, I really don’t understand what to analyze. Facts speak louder than words.” After hearing everyone's words, Mitarai suddenly said: "Everyone, we have actually overlooked a very important detail, and that is the elevator! Today there is a power outage and there is no elevator, so Kubo spent more time than we inferred." Itoi agreed, "Yes, that's true." Mitarai went on to say: "Just now we all ran down the stairs together. This is the 11th floor, and it will take several minutes to run to the bottom, and it is very tiring." A Chi also said: "Yes, it will take at least 5 minutes. It took us more than 10 minutes to go up and down the stairs just now!" "Subtract these 5 minutes, there are only 8 minutes left." Shi Gang said. "It's only 4 minutes one way." Mitarai replied calmly. "Oh, that's absolutely impossible," said Itoi. "Even if Kubo is an Olympian, he can't do it at all!" "Then what's going on?" Shi Gang said to himself. The critics were also thoughtfully silent. "In addition to this, there is another mystery." Mitarai continued, "Natsuki said that he clearly saw Kubo running from the corridor on the 11th floor to the northernmost end of the apartment, and climbed over the fence, didn't he?" "I do think I saw that figure..." "We all guessed that Kubo mistakenly thought that there was a passage downstairs, and he could leave safely after climbing over the railing, but in fact there was no passage there, and we all thought he accidentally fell downstairs and died. But we ran downstairs immediately. Searched for the body, found nothing." "Kubo fell from the 11th floor and disappeared in mid-air?" Ishioka asked. "That's right! Ishioka, this mystery is really getting weirder and weirder now." Mitarai replied, rubbing his hands in excitement. Then, we started the discussion again: "Can people climb the elevated line from the ground?" The result of the discussion was: it was as incredible as running to the station in 4 minutes.The elevated line is at least as high as a three-story building, and it's not just high. There are some obstacles protruding out of the periphery, which are sharp and terrifying, and it is difficult for professional mountaineers to climb up. At around 11:00, the police called again, asking everyone to go to the next day for interrogation and telling none of us to go home.We all had to stay at Itoi's house, but fortunately the next day was Sunday, and besides, his house had enough rooms. "Why can't you go home?" Natsuki said dissatisfiedly to Itoi who had just put down the receiver, "Isn't the matter already clear? Kubo committed suicide, and we have nothing to do with his death." Itoi seemed to be lost in thought. Hearing Natsuki's question, he pondered his words and slowly replied: "The police said they made some new discoveries. Until I answered the call just now, I always thought that Kubo jumped by himself." Desperate to seek death, but..." "Isn't it?" Mrs. Itoi exclaimed. "There is something else hidden on the phone." Itoi continued, "There are rope marks on Kubo's neck, it is likely that he was strangled to death first, and then dumped on the track!" "What!!" Asami exclaimed exaggeratedly. "Ah? That is to say, after being strangled to death, Kubo ran to the elevated track to lie on the rails?" Achi's slightly teasing joke made my blood almost freeze.But Mitarai, who was sitting by the side, seemed to find it very interesting, and bent over with a smile. "How is that possible!" The critic still looked aggressive and had no sense of humor.He went on to express his opinion, "The dead will neither run nor jump off the platform to commit suicide by lying on the track. Although he has strangle marks on his neck, maybe that is not the cause of his death. He was strangled, but he did not Death, this matter can only be explained in this way!" "That's also possible." Everyone nodded, and fell silent again. "Anyway, since there is a suspicion of homicide, all of us have also become suspects, so the police station does not allow everyone to go back." Itoi smiled a little self-mocking, and said apologetically to us.