disqualified hero

I got another letter this past weekend.

The letter collection point is the old place, the mailbox of the Indian curry house, it is said to be an Indian curry house, the spices used to cook curry are not the kind that foreigners often eat, in the words of the boss, he has improved them (curry) It is more in line with Japanese tastes.

My favorite spicy curry does not belong to this category. The boss said that there are very few people eating it, but I have to eat it every time I go.

The boss said: To be honest, this should be a Chinese-style curry. Their spices can be spicy and fragrant.

"Excuse me." I opened the door and sat on the high stool in front of the bar skillfully. It is now 10:30 in the morning, and the store just opened. Almost no one would come to eat curry so early. The boss, who was in his prime, looked back at me Say "wait a minute".

A night of hot curry pork chop rice was placed on the counter, and he then handed over a letter.

"Just this one?" I asked.

"That's right." The boss said, "there are a little few letters lately."

"He said he adopted a child." I held out my hand, "Do you have a paper knife, boss."

"It's already ready." He said and handed over a knife.

I picked the tip of the knife into the edge of the envelope and cut it open. Today's letter is very short, only a thin piece of paper with a few words written on it.

"I raised a child." The boss can't stop smoking here. He is an old smoker himself. I said that smoking is not good for the health, and it will make the lungs into symmetrical black charcoal blocks. There is no chance.

I think half of the store's business is reasonable because of the non-smoking ban.

[But the curry is really delicious. ]

"Life will be very different if you have children." The boss said, "Most of the time will be spent on children, and my life will be compressed, because I have to spend time raising children and earn money to raise them." them."

"So you don't have kids?" I asked.

The boss said: "I am unmarried." He blew a smoke ring again, "There are many people like me in Japan now."

"Well," I said, "is that so?"

"Yes."

I finished the curry, wiped my hands with a hot towel, and read the letter.

/ Dear Mr. O: (The beginning is always one and one, I think)

Recently, because I am busy teaching that child, I seem to have less time to write letters. No, what I really want to say is not busy teaching, but "thinking about how to teach him". As you can see, I have no clue until now.

He didn't think the same as me, and his attitude towards me was very reserved. Generally speaking, he seemed like a person who was not good at words. I guess he didn't have nothing to say, but hid them in his heart.

This may not be a good thing.

What do you think I should do?

You confused D. /

I also don't know what to do.

No matter how precocious I am, I am only a 14-year-old teenager. In terms of universal value, my age can even be called a child. ) is not within my consideration, I thought for a while and decided to seek help from someone with more life experience, I asked the boss: "What should I do if the child is unwilling to talk to the guardian?"

"It's normal." The curry in the pot boiled, and there were small bubbles on the surface of the thick sauce. The window was wide open, and the range hood was working, but I could still smell the curry.

"When I was a teenager, I hated talking to my parents and shut and locked the door when I got home." That was decades ago.

I don’t have parents. To describe it in easier-to-understand terms, I’m an orphan. Whether it’s family education or the estrangement from my parents, these words are too far away for me. The boss knows these things, so he keeps silent about my past. Never ask, that's what a thoughtful adult would do.

In fact, there is nothing to say about my past, and there is nothing bad about it. The orphanage is nice, and I was able to complete my education. As for the work I am doing now, it is due to my sharp motor nerves and not so strong supernatural abilities.

I'm not ashamed of it, but content with it that I work to support myself even though I don't have parents.

"If you want your child to talk more, let him make friends. If you don't want to talk to your parents, you will talk to your friends." The boss said, "As long as you have friends, you can become a healthy person."

I don’t know if the boss is right, but since he said that, it should be reasonable. People should be in awe of older people. Part of their experience is very useful in society, so I asked him for a paper Pen reply.

My handwriting is not pretty, but it can be called neat. The boss said it was a small print, but I said probably, it was practiced according to the words in the book, and the bending angles of the hiragana arcs are exactly the same.

/ Dear Mr. D:

I have never raised children, but the owner of the curry shop who often goes to said that they can make more friends, as long as they stay away from parents, children will become lively. (He only asked me this question, and there is only so much I need to answer. As for life, it is the same, nothing more than studying and working, and I haven’t read a good book recently, so I don’t need to talk to Mr. D.)

your faithful O/

Mr. D is the most knowledgeable person I know, he knows everything.I usually like to read. The reading content is not limited to novels, but also some professional books related to human bones. Once I was troubled by a question, and I couldn’t find the answer. Annoyed, I didn't expect to get a complete and precise explanation next time.Since then, our correspondence and conversations have become more educational in nature, which is really good.

I folded the letter paper into a square, stuffed it into an envelope, and then glued it on. After leaving the curry shop, I walked west all the way. At the end of the road, there was a dark green mailbox. Even in Japan, I would like to communicate through letters. There are not many people there, and the mailboxes are probably empty. At most, there are some postcards. They are all written by foreigners. Buy postcards with Yokohama characteristics, and carry the expectations of friends across the ocean and sail to unknown distances.

The letter between me and Mr. D is not like this.

I stood there and waited for the postman, who took my letter out of the bucket and put it in his bag, with a faint anticipation in his heart.

[When will I receive the next letter? ]

……

"Is there any problem?" Detective Bird asked.There is a small room next to his office. There is a large oval table and chairs in the room. A white curtain is rolled up on the wall at the top of the table. There is a projector device in this room, which is usually used for their meetings and strategizing.

Two adults moved a document bag half the height of an adult from the basement. Fortunately, the dust on the kraft paper cover had been wiped clean, and there was no dust raised on the table.

"What?" Dazai asked.

"It's a kid." Asuka realized that he didn't know the kid's name, or even his relationship with Osamu Dazai, so he could only be called by his age, "Letting him crawl around outside alone, even with Sasaki following him, wouldn't be good. "

"A friend told me," Dazai opened the first document bag, "the secret to children's healthy growth is to keep them out of the sight of adults and make friends independently."

[That’s actually true. ] Asuka thought, [But judging from the age difference between Sasaki and the children, they can't be friends no matter what. At best, adults bring children to see the scene. ]

[By the way, what is the relationship between Mr. Dazai and the children?Is it father and son?How old is Mr. Dazai? ] Asuka's brain was also tired, so he couldn't concentrate on his work, but instead thought wildly. He looked at Osamu Dazai from the corner of his eye, and felt that this man really couldn't tell his age.

He looked like he was only 20 years old, maybe younger, eighteen or nineteen?But his eyes are really not what a 20-year-old would have, let alone a 45-year-old, they may not be the same as him, and there is no light in his eyes.

[Probably in his twenties. ] Detective Asuka guessed, [If this is the case, it is indeed possible to give birth to such a big child, so they are still father and son. ]

"So the kid said that? Let him follow Sasaki?" Asuka asked.

"Mr. Sasaki's words, didn't you encounter a big case?" They all heard about it just now, and the information in the police station spreads quickly, "And it is related to the matter we are investigating." Dazai Osamu said, "If this is the case, let Xiuji Please follow him, it will be of great help."

Asuka also tried to dispel Dazai's thoughts, he said: "You should stop thinking about it." He said, "The risk of investigating the case is very high, in case of injury..."

"It's okay." He laughed again while talking, Dazai really likes to laugh, but his smile is different every time, the arc of the corner of his mouth is different, and the deep meaning contained in it is also different, now, he His face looked extremely pale under the cold incandescent light, like a flimsy piece of paper, his white teeth just bit his upper lip, so that the two red lips were unnaturally congested with blood, and he was so gorgeous and aggressive, "I know everything about that child." Even he didn't feel it, he looked very much like Miss Ji when he said this.

Osamu Dazai was reflected in Asuka's pupils, he, he trembled.

The influence of the family of origin is unparalleled.

"That's all he'll do."

[Have you seen Nightingale?No, not the canary, it is even rarer, with a melodious voice that sings cheerfully every night. ]

[But singing is in a cage. ]

Dazai said: "Okay, let's not talk about this issue, let's sort out Mr. Fujiwara Shimizu's life." He said, "I insist, this is the most critical part of solving the case."

[Because Mr. Fujiwara was the first victim. ]

……

Today is February 5.

This year's wife looked up at the calendar. Her family's calendar is hung on the wall, and one is torn off every day. The paper is recycled paper, which not only does not waste it, but also creates opportunities for them to be used again.

Having said that, there are fewer and fewer manufacturers of such calendars on the market.

Yesterday, my mother made a special call from Arima. She and her father were recuperating in Arima Hot Spring. People will have various problems when they get old, and their joints and bones will become weak. Soaking in hot springs can relieve pain.

"Tomorrow is the third anniversary of Qing Shui's death." Mother said, "Remember to bring Jinping Burdock to see him, Ah Zhi."

"He is a good boy, and he is good to you, but your life is not good."

This year only holds the phone in the right hand. These days people rarely buy a landline at home. Most of them connect the north and the south with a mobile phone across the earth. This is not the case in her house. The old phone is a relic from before marriage. She insists on connecting the phone line. Same as her insistence on using only the simplest non-smartphone.

"Okay, Mom." She bowed subconsciously even though she knew that no one was in front of her eyes. The back of her feet arched inside the slippers, and she poured all her patience on the snow-white feet that no one knew about. Her five toes were curled up and clinging to the soles of the feet. .

This action is neither elegant nor ceremonial. If a young mother saw it, she would definitely hit her instep with a thin bamboo stick.

"Is there any man you know recently, Ah Zhi?" On the other end of the phone, an elderly woman holds the phone receiver in both hands. Her left hand is close to her ear, and her right hand is close to her cheek. Where the traces of time were gone, the silver hair was dyed black and hidden in the bun.

She even arched the back of her hands.

"Not yet, Mom."

The phone hangs up.

[always like this. ] As long as I think about it this year, she is very indifferent, from her expression to her heart, her heart is like the autumn wind, and her body is like unmelted snow. Whenever she hears her mother say these words, she thinks [How many times have I heard it? ]

"It's your fate, Ah Zhi."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have named you that."

"Mr. Shimizu is a very good person."

It was the same when she got married. I heard that Fujiwara Shimizu was her senior in junior high school. I used the word "heard" because the other party knew her and got a diploma with the same school badge. But their school has three grades and [-] students. Students, how could she know the seniors from the previous year?

One day a young man in a suit and leather shoes knocked on the door of their house. This year was not at home. She went to a girls' high school. When Fujiwara visited, there were only father and mother in the house. He was already very tall at that time, and he was handsome in the eyes of his parents. Handsome boy, his father told him a thousand or eight hundred times that he knelt down and asked his parents to marry him.

The father felt absurd rather than the atmosphere: "You have only met Ah Zhi a few times, as if asking for a kiss? She never mentioned you to us."

"Please, uncle." There must be something wrong with Fujiwara Shimizu, he is more paranoid than a mental patient, "I only have this one wish, I can't live without her."

"It's nonsense!" The father sternly reprimanded, "If you want to marry my daughter, you must at least be successful!"

He asked persistently: "If you are successful and famous, can you marry Ling Qianjin?"

"That will have to wait until you have achieved something!"

[Fujiwara is Desperate Saburo. ] Now that things have happened, this year I can recall my ex-husband with infinitely calm thoughts, [He worked very hard, he was promoted to senior police detective at a young age, and his father was very satisfied. Decent, my mother was worried that he would die young, and then knew that Fujiwara had no parents, and was willing to let me be the only beneficiary after the sacrifice, so even she agreed. ]

[To describe it in modern language, this behavior is undoubtedly selling their daughter, but they are not short of the money, which means that they think that Fujiwara has a bright future and decided to marry me to him. ]

"The military and police are not capable of long-term careers, and they can just help your father when you retire."

"I have to find an heir to pass on the family business. I think he is good." "The temperament is also suitable."

[I got married in a daze, I only ate a few meals before the marriage, and I was told that this is my fiancé, and the restaurants I chose were high-end crab dishes, kaiseki dishes, etc. I sat face to face with Fujiwara, I always feel that I am a crab on a porcelain plate, who can be chopped into pieces by diners' sight. ]

Looking back at myself at the age of this year, I always feel that I am looking at flowers in the fog. Over the past ten years, she has become more tenacious and stronger, so that the emptiness and arrogance at that time are precariously hanging on the smile on the face and the hatred and helplessness in the heart. All were covered in a mist.

[The mother wept and said: This is fate. ]

That's what a mother always says when she loses her first child, when she loses her second, when her husband disappears.

[Don't complain about anyone, Ah Zhi, it's your fate. ]

"Is my life really bad?" She looked at the calendar on May [-]rd and asked herself in the empty room.

[I never think so. ]

She walked into her own room, which was the room she had when she was a girl. She hadn’t lived in it since she got married. After Fujiwara’s death, she moved back home and found that her parents only closed the door of the room and covered the bedside with a dustproof cloth. The wardrobe, bookshelves, Tennis racket, ukulele, vanity mirror, the remnants of her girlhood untouched.

This year sat in front of the vanity mirror with the dignified posture unique to Miss Gui. Before sitting down, she made sure that the skirt was spread flat on the chair and stretched out her hands to smooth out the wrinkles.

She painted her lips with bright red.

The upturned corners of the mouth resemble a smiling face.

……

Legend has it that a crane carried a package in its mouth and delivered it to a kind couple. The kind farmer opened the package and found a child inside.

[My current mood is about the same as that of a peasant couple. ]

The door was knocked three times by crooked fingers. He didn't understand why he didn't ring the doorbell when he was outside. He wondered whether to open the door with his hand, so he saw Shuji Tsushima.

They met in the afternoon.

"You..." subconsciously looked at the phone screen, ten thirty-two in the evening, it really shouldn't be the time for children to roam the streets, they broke up at six in the evening, and Sasaki also invited Shuji Tsushima to eat a crepe.

"Why are you here?"

"My guardian doesn't want me anymore." Shuji Tsushima's first words made him want to pull out his mobile phone to call the police. It is too bold for someone to dare to challenge the law of abandonment these days.

"I lied to you." Shuji Tsushima said suddenly after he pressed the third phone button in shock, and laughed when he saw him cancel the call in a hurry.

It was a harmless prank.

"But that's basically the same thing. They are still working overtime. I don't even have a place to go, so I can only come to you."

Sasaki said, "What should I say?"

"Just say please come in."

He was still at a loss until the child came into the room: [What is going on. ]

……

"Well, in fact, it's just as he said." Sasaki knew that the adult who came to see Hu Lai only the next morning was probably the elder brother or father of the child who claimed to be Shuji Tsushima.The specific identity is not clear, Senior Asuka only said that the other party is an airborne detective with astonishing power.

Senior Asuka quietly told him: "If the request is too exaggerated, it doesn't matter if you refuse, I will try my best to help you negotiate."

[Having said that, since it is the airborne superior, even the seniors will find it difficult. ] Sasaki thought, [It's not a big deal in the first place, and the child is pretty well-behaved. It's not a big deal to keep him for two days, so don't owe your senior any more. ]

So he said: "No problem, Senior Asuka." He immediately paused, "But can I see that Mr. Guardian?"

Sasaki meets Dazai.

"What should I say at a time like this?" The man who could be called a young man raised his long legs and jumped up from the chair. His movements were full of exaggerated drama and childishness. Dazai bent down deeply, and put one hand On the chest, a nondescript Western etiquette was performed, "Our child has caused you trouble."

His exaggeration will undoubtedly make the well-behaved Japanese man feel uncomfortable. He thought a little rudely: [Such a man can really push the child away, right? ]

"Such a man can really push the child out, right?" Sasaki thought he had spoken out what was in his heart, and broke out in a cold sweat, but found that it was the young man in front of him who said, "Sir, you have written all over your face." Say something rude."

People will panic when their minds are punctured. He almost wanted to bow and apologize, but he heard the person in front of him talking to himself: "But what he said is actually right. Compared with following me, it's better to be with you." Be more cheerful, Xiuzhi-kun will become lively whenever he is not in front of me, it makes sense when you think about it."

"Take him with you, Mr. Sasaki, isn't it just that you are investigating the unknown skeleton incident? With the help of that child, you will get twice the result with half the effort."

[It’s actually true to say that. ]

[but……]

"That's too dangerous." Sasaki couldn't help but said, "Sir, you should also know that our work has a high risk factor, and maybe we will encounter vicious revenge and terrorist attacks, and let a child follow in and out of danger." It really shouldn't be something that parents should do." He tried his best to restrain himself, but what he said would still offend his superiors.

Osamu Dazai was unmoved: "Ah, it's okay."

"There are many things that can hurt Mr. Xiuzhi, but danger is not included."

[What's more, it would be too boring for me to solve this matter alone. ] He thought almost bored.

……

Due to the above reasons, Sasaki's house welcomed a tenant who did not know the date of departure.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Ozawagawa called Sasaki on the phone: "The bone age has been measured," he said, "They are all strong men between 23 and 30, which fit the age group of the missing Tarota-kun and others. In addition, I also found The filming reports of Baotian, Duomenduo, and Jincun Temple at that time." He was sitting on a chair, his legs raised high, his heels pressed against the table, and the back of the translucent X-ray was raised above his head. The soft and thin plastic material was very Toughness, the head of the film hangs down, his fingers holding the film are the only fulcrum, the phone is sandwiched between the cheek and the shoulder, the head is slightly tilted to the left, and then flicks the film with the extra right hand, making a crisp sound .

"You should really come and take a look, even the cracks in the bones are exactly the same." He was a little happy when he said this, "If you start from this angle, you can determine the identity of the deceased."

Sasaki's heart sank.

"Congratulations," Ozawagawa said, "they are definitely breakthrough clues. I heard that the disappearance case has been backlogged for several years, right? If you take this opportunity to solve it in one fell swoop, you will be hired as Mr. Sasaki."

[That's what he said, but he couldn't be happy. ]

"Well, Fujisui solved several major cases in a row and was promoted all the way. It's a pity when you think about it. He was almost able to become a supervisor without field work." Ozawagawa talked about a new and unrelated topic, I don't know if Sasaki was suspicious or not, but he always felt that the other party's words meant something.

"By the way, there is one last thing." He added, "Although those bones belong to mature men, they are brittle in texture, as if they have been soaked in a soluble liquid, and they are abnormally soft."

He finally said, "Work hard, Mr. Sasaki, I really hope you can be promoted to the office."

"Speaking of sitting in an office or something..." Sasaki hung up the phone and began to study the map of underground water pipes. Tokyo's pipes are intricate and complex. From the place where the bone fragments were found all the way up, there are countless branches. He can only delineate one. It's a very wide area, but it's not sure where the murderer came from. What if he borrowed a public pipeline to wash down the broken bones?

"It's not a public pipe," Shuji Tsushima stood by the table, [When did he come? ] Sasaki didn't notice.

"The broken bones are washed down from the pool as kitchen waste." He said, "Originally, Tokyo's drainage system is divided into pure water drainage and toilet drainage. The latter uses purified recycled water that does not meet human consumption level. The pipes for circulation are also different, as for the kitchen water, the washbasin water supply belongs to another system.”

"I've considered that too." Sasaki argued first, "But it's impossible to go through the kitchen pipes. The pipes there are very thin, and the bones are slightly wider, so they get stuck immediately."

"Have you seen the kitchen plumbing?" Shuji Tsushima said suddenly.

"No, I haven't seen it."

The child sighed exaggeratedly: "I hate that, but most vulgar ones do."

"Look, for example, Mr. Sasaki, you obviously haven't seen the kitchen plumbing, so you preconceived that it is impossible to put broken bones in it, and you have already denied it without verification, and you don't pay attention to evidence at all. "

[Surprisingly, was reprimanded? ] He was dumbfounded but had no room to refute, so he lowered the boneless neck of an adult and said, "I'm really sorry."

He ran out to a hardware store and bought pipes, proving well that just putting in little by little the bones could be washed down, and if there was nothing else in the way, they would go smoothly to where they found them.

"This is a miracle that only happened in Japan." When Shuji Tsushima said this, he didn't mean to approve, "Look, in any other country, finely divided kitchen waste will be directly flushed into the pipe, The citizens of this country don’t know how, even the oil stains on the bowls should be wiped off with newspapers and classified as combustible garbage, so as not to let the oil spill into the sewer and cause a burden to the people in the drainage system, let alone broken bones.”

No matter how high or low your character is, you are extremely self-disciplined in this regard.

"Then why can't it be thrown in a public pipe?" Sasaki felt that Shuji Tsushima's words could not completely convince him, "If it is thrown in a public pipe, there is nothing wrong with it."

Shuji Tsushima smiled exaggeratedly: "Then you can check the blockage of public pipes, which is far worse than that in family residential areas."

"Why?" Didn't you just say extreme self-discipline?

"Because of tourists." Shuji Tsushima said, "Social public channels are for the majority. Japan receives as many as 8000 million foreign tourists every year. It's not that they will throw garbage at will, and they can't distinguish the country's intricate garbage classification. It is only natural that the wrong garbage is thrown into the public pipes and flushed away."

[All right. ]

Sasaki thought: [I am totally convinced. ]

"However." Shuji Tsushima rubbed his chin with two fingers, "There is one thing that I can't figure out."

[Why, throw broken bones into the sewer? ]

[It's like deliberately showing flaws and saying "I did it" to other people. ]

……

On May [-]th, night, the sky was cloudless.

I just went to visit the grave this year. There is no Jinping burdock, but at most two or three white flowers. She is wearing a black dress, embellished with white pearls, which is soft and legal. Slight swing.Sitting on the tram this year, the tram in the bronze statue cemetery does not have a lot of passengers, no matter men or women, they can't help but look back at her when they pass by this carriage.

Black cat and black dress, holding bouquet of white flowers, like a newly mourned young woman.

The cemetery is quiet, surrounded by iron fences, forming a private territory. Behind the fence is a half-person-high bush, which cleverly blocks the peeps from inside and outside, even more so than the stone monuments that lined up side by side.The gardener took good care of the cemetery. There were no yellow leaves in the bushes, and there were still small yellow flowers blooming on the ground, three or two of which stalked. Their vitality neutralized the silence of death.

Walking on the small road this year, I don't feel scared, but feel like I'm home.

She turned the last corner and saw a person standing in front of Fujiwara Kiyomizu's grave.

"Long time no see, Sen-senpai." This year said in a familiar tone, "Is the term in the government over? We haven't seen each other for three years."

"Hmm." The man in the white coat turned around, "It's not so much the end, it's better to say that I was kicked out, and now I've become a jobless vagrant with nothing to do, what a tragedy, what a tragedy." He looked at It's very gentle, and even has the decadent air of a middle-aged uncle, which may be caused by the beard on the man's chin not being cleanly shaved.

"It's too idle. When I looked at the calendar this morning, I suddenly found that it was May [-]th. I thought I hadn't seen Fujiwara-kun for a few years, so I came to see you. I didn't expect to meet you." He asked, "How are you doing recently? So, Mr. Sui, have you resumed your old career? Your grades in medical school are very good, so you should be a famous doctor now, right?"

"You remember wrongly, Sen-senpai." Madam this year said, "I got married directly after graduation, and I didn't spend even a day in the hospital."

"Really." The man in the white coat touched the back of his neck with his hand, "I guess I remembered it wrong."

He sniffed his nose and suddenly said, "Did you wear perfume, lemon scent?"

"No." Said the year, "makes the air freshener smell."