Chapter 20 Chapter Nineteen

When there was still half of the coffee in the cup, the door of the cafe opened, and a man in a suit walked in.He was about forty-five years old and not very big. The man looked around the shop, his eyes fixed on the paper bag that Nakaoka put on the table.It was a bag from a famous supermarket, and it was also a sign of recognition. Nakaoka stood up to meet him. "Mr. Negishi, right?" Yes, the other party replied a little nervously.Probably not much dealing with the police.Nakaoka could even hear his slightly messy breathing. Nakaoka handed over his business card and introduced himself.The other party also handed over a business card.The title of the editor-in-chief of the editorial department of literary and art books is printed on it.

Negishi called the waitress and ordered drinks.Nakaoka also asked her to remove her cup and ordered another cup of coffee. "I'm sorry to disturb you during your busy schedule." After sitting down, Nakaoka apologized again. "On the phone, you said you heard my name from Mr. Da Yuan, right?" "Yes. I'm investigating a case, and I need to investigate Mr. Amakasu Saisei, so I'm asking all kinds of people related to him. I heard that your company originally planned to publish a book by Mr. Amakasu, right?" "There is indeed such a plan. It should be in January last year. Mr. Amakasu contacted me suddenly, saying that he wanted me to read a manuscript. We haven't seen each other for eight years, and I'm a little surprised."

"That is to say, you two knew each other before?" "I only published a book for him once, which was the novel version of the movie "Frozen Lips". The book sold well and the reviews were very high. I suggested to him that there should be a second volume, but it ended without a problem. I thought Mr. Amakasu I don't want to publish a book anymore..." The waitress brought two cups of coffee, but Nakaoka took a sip without adding milk. "After so many years, I contacted you again. How does Amakasu-san look?" Negishi stirred the coffee with a small spoon, his expression seemed to be recalling.

"To sum it up in one sentence, he's a different person. He wasn't fat before, but he's even thinner now. But his complexion isn't bad, he can't be called haggard." "It seems to be quite energetic?" "Not really, the expression is very calm, but I always feel that the atmosphere is a bit strange. I don't know if it should be called Daguan." "Haha...so, what did you guys talk about?" "He said that he wrote his own experience into an autobiographical novel and wanted me to read it. I read Mr. Amakasu's blog, so I asked him, did he compile the articles on the blog into a book? He said, The article on the blog is just an introduction, and the focus is on how I lived after that. So, I immediately replied that I would like to read it. I have been following that blog, and I really want to know how Mr. Amakasu lived. Figure it out."

"Then you have read the manuscript." "of course." "How is it written?" Negishi opened his mouth, closed it again, licked his lips, and said, "It's a masterpiece." "What's the content?" "Using a pen full of sense of the scene, he described in detail how he walked all the way after the tragedy happened." "The blog only writes up to six years ago, and the book also writes about what happened after that, right?" "yes." "What are the details? Can you tell me the general content?" Negishi made a bitter face.

"Unpublished works cannot be leaked casually. This is a principle, not to mention that this is an autobiographical novel based on actual experience. It is a matter of privacy." "Even if it's for investigation, isn't it okay?" Negishi scratched his cheek with his fingertips. "Speaking of which, what incident is this investigation about?" "Sorry, sorry for not revealing." Negishi frowned in surprise, "Could it be that Mr. Amakasu is suspected?" No, no, Nakaoka shook his hand. "That's not the case. Actually, what I want to know about is his son, Mr. Amakasu Kento. I don't know how their father-son relationship has been in the time since the blog ended."

Negishi seemed to understand, nodded his head and said: "If this is the case, even if you listen to the contents of the notes, it will not be of any help." "why?" "Because his son basically didn't appear in the notes." "Is that so?" "Yeah, just up to the part on the blog." This surprised Nakaoka.The son is Amakasu's only relative left in the world. Even if he doesn't remember his father, according to common sense, Amakasu should miss him very much. "Can you understand?" "It's understandable to understand, but there may be some places for reference, so I still need you to tell me the outline, please."

Negishi wrinkled his nose, thought for a while, and finally nodded reluctantly. "Don't talk about it." "of course." Negishi nodded again and opened his mouth. "After the blog stopped updating, Mr. Amakasu started his wandering journey. In the words of the book, he cut off all ties with the past and looked for the door to the future. But this journey is extremely cruel, and he bears a heavy burden. He couldn’t sleep for several days and was trapped by hallucinations. When he was tossing around, he even felt that he was not looking for the door to the future, but looking for his own burial place. It makes people feel sad. "

Nakaoka frowned while taking notes.Just listening to it makes me feel heavy. "However," Nakaoka's voice sank, "Mr. Amakasu's trial is far from over." "Trial? What do you mean?" "The following details, please be sure not to spread them to the outside world. Actually——" Negishi licked his lips and continued, "He found the reason for his daughter's suicide." "Huh?" Nakaoka looked up from his notebook, "Really?" "However, Mr. Amakasu said in the postscript that this is still just his own imagination. Moreover, Moe may not be his own child."

Nakaoka took a deep breath. "Why do you say that?" "Mr. Amakasu met a man in a rural movie theater. In the text, the English letter A is used instead. Both of them liked movies, so they chatted. After walking out of the movie theater, they went drinking together. A didn't seem to know that he was born with Amakasu , said some strange things. He said that he had a friend who would go to Tokyo once a month to see his daughter. The mother of this daughter is a married woman with her husband and a son. And this husband , seems to be a famous film director—” "Based on these alone..."

"One more thing," Negishi said, "A also said that the daughter committed suicide three years ago. The timing is exactly the same." Nakaoka straightened his body slightly, and brought the coffee cup to his mouth. "How did Amakasu-san react?" "Of course I asked A, what was the name of his friend. A refused to answer, so Mr. Amakasu revealed his identity and said that his daughter committed suicide. After hearing this, A turned pale and said that although he was a friend, but I don't know him very well, and the matter of that person's daughter was also mentioned by others, so I don't know if it's true or not. Mr. Amakasu said it doesn't matter, and insisted that A tell the name of that person. A finally said that the person's name is TADOKORO, I mentioned my workplace. Ah, but, TADOKORO is a pseudonym, so I can't tell you my real name." "Did Amakasu-san go to see that TADOKORO-san?" "I went to that person's company, but—" Negishi shrugged, spread his hands, and shook his head slightly, "TADOKORO is dead, he committed suicide by hanging, and it was also three years ago, about two years after the death of Mr. Amakasu's daughter. a week." Nakaoka held his breath and said, "Could it be that knowing that my daughter committed suicide, I don't want to live anymore?" "Mr. Amakasu thinks so too. He investigated TADOKORO's past actions and found that he did go to Tokyo very frequently. TADOKORO is single, but he once told the people around him that he has a child." "This...maybe it can be concluded." "Mr. Amakasu thought about it and remembered a lot of things. For example, he often heard Mr. Qianren say that when he was not at home, his wife and daughter would go out together. At this time, the daughter would always look depressed, I was in a bad mood. I asked her what was wrong, and she just said it was nothing... Mr. Amakasu wrote in the book that she thought she was an adolescent girl and had nothing to do, so she gave up, but in fact, she might be very entangled in her heart." "Tangled, refers to..." "Miss Moe must have discovered that the man her mother took her to meet was actually her biological father. She understood that this was a betrayal of her father on the household registration, and that her mother had an affair, and she felt tortured by the guilt looking at her. I don’t think such speculation is groundless.” Nakaoka was silent, nodded, and he agreed with Negishi. "In view of Ms. Moe's sensitive character, Mr. Amakasu pointed out that she may even have doubts about her own existence. Can a child born to a mother who has committed adultery live in the world brazenly? All kinds of factors are expanding in her heart , finally broke out, leading to that tragedy. This is Mr. Amakasu's reasoning. However, it is impossible to confirm, because the relevant personnel are no longer alive." Negishi panted heavily, took a sip of coffee, and looked up. "Thus, Mr. Amakasu had a new trouble. He didn't understand again, what is he to his family? Where is the heart of his wife and daughter? What is that thing that he thought was family? He couldn't see it at all. It's like the soul has come out of the shell, and it doesn't even have the strength to live." "He got up from this state again." "Mr. Amakasu was completely exhausted, and he survived tenaciously with just a little belief in 'I can't die'. He told himself that the only thing he could do now was to survive. So he started walking again, traveling around and contacting various places. All kinds of people, healing their wounds little by little. These chapters are particularly touching and full of literary flavor.” For example, Negishi continued to tell that he helped a couple whose young son was killed to run a toy store, told a white-collar worker who was fired from a well-known company for stealing, how to survive homelessness, and so on.He also took a black dog named "Bei" as a companion on the journey. "Finally, Mr. Amakasu has reached a state: what he sees, there is no distinction between right and wrong. The inside story and the truth are equally pale. He has obtained a happy past from his wife, daughter, and son. Said, this is also very good." Negishi let out a long breath, "The above is the summary of the notes." Nakaoka writes like a fly, writing "what he sees with his own eyes". "thank you very much." "Looking at the contents of the notes, Mr. Amakasu never went to see his son again." "It seems so. When will the book be published?" "This, it hasn't been decided yet. I called and wanted to ask Mr. Amakasu to talk about my thoughts. I said, this book is great and I plan to publish it soon. But Mr. Amakasu said that he still has some considerations of his own and hopes to revisit the book. Talk about a publication date." "Consider? Consider what?" "I didn't ask. But, probably—" Negishi lowered his voice, "He wants to use the diary as the original work and make a movie, right? In the postscript, he said that he wants to use this diary as an opportunity to return to the film industry .” Nakaoka nodded while taking notes.Since I was originally a film director, it is only natural to think so. "Later, have you two still contacted?" "No. I have a lot of things to do, so I put this book on hold. To be honest, if you didn't call, I would have forgotten about it. Actually, I'm here today I also called Mr. Amakasu before, but he turned off the phone and couldn't get in touch." Nakaoka pointed to Negishi's chest with the tip of a ballpoint pen. "Do you know Mr. Amakasu's contact information?" "I know, but I only know the phone number. He doesn't seem to have a fixed address." "Can you tell me?" Negishi hesitated a little, but still said "Okay then", and took out his mobile phone. The number in the phone is different from what Dayuan and the others know.Probably changed it while wandering. After saying goodbye to Negishi, Nakaoka immediately called.But as Negishi said, the other party turned off the phone and couldn't get through.Nakaoka wrote a text message, sent his identity and phone number, and asked Saisheng Amakasu to contact him.