Chapter 26 Chapter Four

When Kurita was on the verge of forgetting about it, the situation progressed.A week later, Xiaochun called just after noon. According to Xiaochun, when she was cleaning the living room with a vacuum cleaner, she suddenly felt someone peeking out the window, and saw the top edge of the woolen hat retracted at the other end of the cement brick wall. Xiaochun hurriedly rushed out of the house, but there was no one there. Instead, she found a strange thing, but she said it was inconvenient to explain the details on the phone. Kurita immediately called the coffee shop owner.Because Aoi doesn't have a mobile phone, let alone a smartphone.

"Which era are you from?" Kurita wanted to ask Aoi, but it was useless to ask.Therefore, the coffee shop owner will use the function of the message board for the two of them every time. Fortunately, Aoi happened to be at the coffee shop at the time.She also said that after drinking coffee, she planned to go to Kurimaru Hall to play. Kurita skipped work to join Aoi outside. Aoi is carrying a beautiful satin satin satin satin bag today. "Did you buy a new bag?" "This bag looks good, right? Don't you think it looks like a mature woman?" When Kurita was distressed and didn't know how to answer, Aoi showed a worried expression, put her finger on her lips and said, "...is it too fancy? Or is it too bright?"

"No, it's not ugly." "Great." Aoi narrowed her eyes with a carefree expression. When Kurita faced Aoi's transparent smiling face at close range, his heart beat faster. However, now is not the time to play around, Xiaochun is still waiting for them, so the two headed towards Sumino's house quickly. "Sorry, let you two make a special trip..." "It's nothing, and it's not far away." "I'm thinking about it too, so the timing is just right..." In the living room of Sumino's house, Kurita, Aoi, and Koharu sat around a table.With the combination of these three people, the atmosphere at the scene seemed to be a little tense.

Cong sat on the ground not far from the three of them and played with toys. A small folded piece of paper was placed on the table, and Kurita and Aoi's eyes were naturally drawn to the paper. "So, Haru, that's what you mentioned on the phone, right?" "Yes. Be careful not to spill it." "Spill it out...?" Koharu gently pushed the paper to Kurita. After Kurita carefully opened the folded paper, he found that it contained a small amount of white powder and countless small fragments that were also white and about a few millimeters in diameter. "……What is this?"

Kurita picked up the powder with his fingertip and sniffed it, but found that the powder had no smell. There were a lot of small pieces, all dry and rough to the touch.Although the core of the shards is hard, the surface is fragile, and it will slowly peel off and shatter when you rub it with your fingers. "Didn't Ms. Kui say last time that if any suspicious person appears again next time, do you want me to check the ground? When I heard what Ms. Kui said, I didn't notice it. It was only later that I realized that if the prisoner's things fell on the ground, I would You can call the police. So, I checked the ground carefully near where the suspicious person was standing, and found that the powder was scattered on the ground."

"It's thanks to you that you can find such an inconspicuous thing." Kurita said in admiration while stirring the white powder on the paper. "If Ms. Kui hadn't reminded me, I would never have found it. I barely found these powders because I saw a group of ants gathering there." "—Did you lick it?" Hearing Aoi's sudden words, Haru opened her mouth half-open in surprise. "No...that's something that fell on the ground? It's not safe. What if it's poisonous? I think it looks a bit like boric acid." "Huh? From what you've said, it's indeed possible."

"...Miss Aoi, are you not as confused as you appear on the outside?" "No, that shouldn't be the case. I'm actually quite stable." Kurita muttered beside him: "No one would say that I am stable." "I think I'm always serious about doing various things, but I don't know why, and I often don't get everyone's understanding." Koharu looked like he didn't know how to react, while Kurita who was sitting across from Koharu was lost in thought. "So that's how it is... Your actions are indeed difficult to understand, but they are not incomprehensible. I am getting more and more involved."

"As expected of Mr. Kurita! Then, let me show the two of you what these powders are." "--What did you say?" Aoi suddenly put the satin bag she brought on her lap, then opened the bag and rummaged through it. There seems to be a lot of stuff in the bag.Aoi fished out a rectangular flat carton from the innermost part of the bag, and opened the lid. Aoi used her slender fingers to grab something out of the cardboard box, and placed it in the middle of the table with a bang. "The true identity of the white powder is this!" Xiaochun's expression changed instantly.

"...Wasanpen!" Xiaochun yelled in a voice similar to a scream, and held his throat in a thoughtful manner. What exactly is going on?Kurita's eyes were as round as beans, and his speed of understanding couldn't keep up with the changes in the status quo. The things that Aoi put on the table are common things in wagashi shops.It was a white dried fruit about five centimeters in diameter, imitating the shape of a flower. "The white powder is the powder that fell from this wagashi unintentionally. What the suspicious person eats is this kind of dried fruit." The so-called dried fruit refers to wagashi with a water content of less than 10% and which can be stored for a long time.

Dried fruits include Kaminarimon Rice Fragrance, which is famous as a famous product in Asakusa, and rice crackers such as senbei, pancakes, and beans, as well as konpei sugar and small steamed buns. What Aoi just brought out was dried wagashi that has been pressed and processed, that is, dried wagashi that is mixed with sugar and various powders, poured into a wooden mold, and pressed into shape. This type of dried fruit brings out the original flavor of the ingredients.The real high-quality pressed dried fruit will melt on the tongue, leaving only a delicious taste without any impurities in the mouth.

Xiaochun held her throat as if enduring discomfort.No matter how Kurita looked at it, he felt that Xiaochun's reaction was not right. Not long after, Xiaochun shook his head, and asked in a suppressed voice: "...What's going on? This is He Sanpen, right? Ms. Aoi, why did you—" "Ah, I'm sorry! I seem to have omitted too many details. I'll explain them in order now." Aoi began to explain fluently. She said that on the way back from Sumino's house that day, she suddenly noticed something. "I saw a few children playing with the juice spilled on the ground. I thought it was a special game at first, but as I walked, I still felt very concerned. Because according to Mr. Kurita, the suspicious person is hiding in the concrete brick wall Side...then, the children's play place is near the place where the suspicious character appears." Kurita thought to herself as if she had discovered something new, so Aoi was thinking about these things while walking. "After I took a closer look, I found that ants were excitedly coming and going around the children's feet. Because ants live underground, their vision is not very developed, and they rely on pheromones to find their way. Therefore, Ants go into a state of confusion when they can't smell the pheromones... did you know that?" "I've heard of it." Kurita nodded. "The snaking traces of the juice spilled on the ground speak volumes for that fact." Aoi continued with a confident tone: "The children are playing by deliberately blocking the path for the ants to find food... The ants escape very quickly. In other words, there were more ants gathered in that place." "I see." Kurita thought: "It turns out that Aoi is thinking backwards." Using the state of "nothing" to speculate about the state of "existence" can make the scope of reasoning wider. Kurita had just realized that since ants would gather, it meant that the white powder was not poisonous and might even contain sugar. Having said that, there should actually be more ants than imagined, otherwise it would be impossible to interest mischievous children. They stayed at Xiaochun's house for about thirty minutes.To gather so many ants in such a short period of time means that the sugar content of the white powder is very high. Moreover, based on the location, it can be guessed that the white powder may be traces left by suspicious persons. Did the suspicious person leave traces that time exceptionally, or did they leave such traces every time? After thinking about these situations, Aoi told Xiaochun: "The next time the other party appears again, please be sure to check the ground carefully." There were still many uncertainties at that time, so Aoi could only leave such mysterious words, but now after seeing Xiaochun's reaction, Aoi seems to be convinced.Her eyes were piercing and her expression was full of life. "However, I don't understand why Miss Kui's bag just happened to have this kind of dried fruit? Even if I had a hunch, it must be a good guess, right? There should be many other possibilities." "hey-hey……" After Aoi smiled mischievously, she opened the shiny high-end bag and showed it to Kurita. "—Pfft!" Kurita suddenly couldn't help making a puff. "What's the situation..." "Actually, I brought a lot of possible things here..." In addition to boxed and bagged wagashi, Aoi's bag also contains a lot of other cheap snacks. When Kurita goes out, he usually carries nothing with his hands, so every time he sees a girl’s bag, he can’t help thinking: “What’s in a girl’s bag?” The bag is full of snacks. For Kurita, this shocking image was like a dream.No, it should be said that it may appear in a dream when you sleep at night. "Wow……" Aoi's bag seems to be a well-known brand-name bag, and even Xiaochun said with an unbelievable expression, "It's the first time I've seen someone use this kind of bag to hold so many snacks." Aoi looked embarrassed and explained: "No, no! I don't usually do this when I go out. It makes me feel like a foodie. I think these things should be needed in the near future, so I plan to leave them in the coffee shop The boss. Because I saw a small amount of suspected sugar powder on the ground that day, I chose a lot of things that use sugar." "Ah...so that's the case." Kurita looked inside the bag with a probe, and found that the bag contained only wagashi with sugar as the main ingredient. In other words, Aoi chose the correct dried fruit from the list of candidates prepared beforehand after seeing the large pieces that Xiaochun found today and confirming the taste and texture of the pieces. "I'm guessing that the suspicious person should often go out with this kind of dried fruit for some reason. Because the number of pieces is more than expected, the suspicious person should break it with his hands and eat it. From this, it can be inferred that the suspicious person His teeth probably aren't very good. Coupled with Mr. Kurita's eyewitness information, the other party is "a man in his fifties with a small but strong physique". As long as all the information is gathered, the answer should be ready to come out. right." Xiaochun looked down with a livid face, and bit her lips tightly. Aoi urged in a calm tone: "Miss Xiaochun, you should know who that person is?" Xiaochun nodded, and said the answer with a look of embarrassment from the bottom of his heart: "That person should be... my dad." Kurita and Aoi widened their eyes in surprise.