After becoming a chaotic daughter

On an afternoon in late autumn, the streets of Yokohama are full of traffic.

Nanako was carrying her schoolbag and stood at the door of a small private movie theater on the way home from school. She raised her small face and stared at the poster on the glass door with a pair of dark round eyes. , stood motionless in place.

This is a small movie theater that has been in operation for a long time. It is just one street away from the detective agency. Nanako occasionally passed the entrance of this movie theater when she was in elementary school, but she never went in.Or to be more precise, Nanako has never been to any movie theater, and only watched movies at home on a computer or DVD player.

She used to seldom go out, although now she occasionally goes out to play, but she always hangs out in parks or shopping streets.Because the "movie theater" is a place she is not familiar with, she has never been there, and when they hang out with Sanlu during vacations, they rarely go to places that require "money".

Ranpo has never taken Nanako to a movie theater, because there are many "rules" there, and neither can speak loudly. If you tell the development of the "reasonable" plot, you will be stared at by other guests, so Ranpo He also doesn’t like to go there, unless it’s for the movie ticket bonus of a certain work, he will go to the queue early in the morning, and then buy the bonus, and then buy the online paid version directly on the official website, and use the big projection in the Detective Society’s meeting room screen to see.

On the glass door of the old movie theater, there are several layers of posters pasted one after another. There are old movie promotional pictures left over from a few years ago. Some are illegible, and some are newly posted promotional posters.

Nanako suddenly stopped and did not leave, just staring at the posters pasted at the entrance of the movie theater. Gogol, who came to pick her up and go back to the detective agency after school, also took back his steps, looked at Nanako, and then at the On those mottled posters, the golden eyes blinked.

"Do you want to go to the movies?" Gogol asked her.

Nanako didn't look at him, but just looked up at the posters on the glass door, paused for two seconds, then raised her hand, stretched out her finger, and pointed to one of the posters that seemed to have been posted for less than two weeks.

"This is a novel written by Henggou." She pointed to the poster with the three bright red Chinese characters "Prison Gate Island" and said.

"Hmm..." Gogol thought about it for a while, and then remembered that the "Henggou" she mentioned referred to the writer who serialized many novels in "Wild Times". He used his real name "Henggou Zhengshi" in his early years. When writing, I didn't start using the pen name "Kindaichi" until I wrote the third work, and it has been used until now.

However, this writer was "murdered" at his residence two months ago, and the murderer was Oguri Chongtaro, who was released on bail by the detective agency.He died from the criminal methods in the novel he was serializing. The scene was extremely weird and terrifying, which made him "famous" in that month. He was already a well-known Japanese novelist, and such a shocking death was superimposed Method, his works were immediately sold, and many people in the streets and alleys were discussing his death for a while. It was not until the "Five Decays of Heaven and Man" incident broke out and the detective agency was wanted by the whole country that the enthusiasm for discussing this matter subsided a little.

The release time of the movie written on the poster was exactly one month after Henggou's "murder".

Masashi Yokomizo is one of the few "writers" Nanako remembers his name and works, and is still writing, so Nanako reads "Wild Times" every month, just to read the novels he serialized in the magazine.

But Henggou passed away two months ago, and last month's "Wild Age" had his last serialization, which was handed over to the editor before he was "killed", so it was still published, but from this Since January, "Wild Age" has no works serialized by a writer named "Kindaichi".

This "Prison Gate Island" movie is adapted from Henggou's novel of the same name. To a certain extent, it is the last "legacy" left by Henggou's official history, just like the last serialization last month. Legacy".

Nanako wanted to go to a movie theater to watch this movie, but she had never been to a movie theater before, and she didn't know what to do when she went to a movie theater. Ever been to the cinema?"

"Maybe?" Gogol gave an ambiguous answer. If the huge screening hall in the underground base of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man was considered a "movie theater", then he probably "has been to a movie theater", although It is said that the audience is only him, Sigma, and Tosi, and what is shown is a classic Russian-style documentary, a kind of cold, vast, and artistic beauty.

Nanako automatically took Gogol's answer as "yes". She carried her schoolbag and walked to the glass door covered with posters. She held the door handle with both hands before pushing the door open.Gogol propped the door behind her, letting Nanako go in through the open door first, and then he followed in, with the hem of his cloak raised, and drifted into the room before the glass door closed automatically. Not caught by the door.

This is a very small and old movie theater. The front hall is dimly lit and deserted. There is only an old woman sitting behind the counter which is roughly the ticket office, knitting a sweater, and the easy chair under her body is shaking.

Nanako saw a blackboard hanging on the wall with today's screening schedule written on it. It is now four o'clock in the afternoon. There is only one youth campus love movie and one cartoon to watch. "Prison Gate Island" will not be screened until evening .

Gogol also saw the reflection form on the blackboard. Standing beside Nanako, he tilted his head and asked her, "Do you want to see it later in the evening?"

But at night, it will be nine o'clock after the movie.

Nanako scratched her head, her thin eyebrows furrowed a little bit in distress.She has to go to school tomorrow, so she doesn't want to go to bed late. ...but she wanted to watch a movie again.

Because in the future, she may not see the new works of Henggou Zhengshi again, and even when she wakes up tomorrow morning, she will forget about it, or she may just lose interest all of a sudden, so she will never see it again. Come see this movie.

She still remembers and still wants to see it, so she thinks she would like to finish watching the movie today if she could.

After all, the official history of Henggou is the first writer she can remember, noticed, and is still writing novels.Just like the first flower that falls in spring, it may be picked up to make a bookmark and put in a book, or it may just stop for a while and continue passing by normally.When she still wants to choose the former, it's better to complete the former sooner.

"I want to watch it today." She turned her head and said to Gogol, without blinking her dark eyes.

Or you can go to another movie theater to see it.

Nanako thought so, but Gogol only thought about it for a few seconds, then said "Okay then", and walked towards the ticket office.

He stopped by the counter, with a completely harmless smile on his face, and said to the old woman who was knitting a sweater in the easy chair, "Grandma, can I watch "Prison Gate Island" now?"

The old woman covered in a woolen blanket raised her head and glanced at him. She wondered if she had heard the brief conversation between him and Nanako just now. She helped a pair of reading glasses on the bridge of her nose and said slowly, "A few pictures ticket?"

"Two." Gogo leaned on the counter with a smile inside, stretched out two fingers and gestured for "2". It was so easy to block the time slot that should have been showing campus romance movies and cartoons. Enter a reasoning suspense film.

"Two tickets, 1700 yen, Hall 2."

Two small movie tickets were handed out from the counter, and Gogol handed in the change, took the tickets from the grandmother, turned around, and waved lightly at Nanako.

"Now you can call and talk to Mr. Ranpo, we won't be back for dinner until later~" he said.

*******

There were only thirty or forty seats, and the small auditorium was empty, except for two people sitting quietly in the middle seat in the last row.

The lights are off, and in the dark auditorium there is only a faint light on the big screen. This is just a deserted small theater, and even the snacks for watching movies are only the simplest. Nanako only needs a small poke When watching a movie, Gogol and I ate popcorn one by one.

Various characters appear on the screen one by one, the seemingly clumsy detective, the young and beautiful three sisters, the self-respecting monk, and the patriarch who is constantly fighting for power. The gorgeous and weird gloomy atmosphere gradually unfolds, almost isolated from the world Bizarre and mind-shocking murders happened one after another on the island of the island, and the beautiful woman turned into a miserable corpse in an instant, and even the scene of death carried a strange and sad beauty.

The detective went to Prison Gate Island to protect his friend’s three younger sisters for his friend’s will, but none of them were saved. Even if the murderer was finally revealed, the dead could not be brought back to life. A "failure".

Nanako has read the novel "Prison Gate Island", and she can probably remember which part of the novel corresponds to the plot in the movie, but she doesn't really like reading mystery novels, after all, it seems a bit brain-intensive, but Because this is a novel written by "Henggou Zhengshi", she will read it.

The two-hour movie ended, and it was already six o'clock in the evening when we left the movie theater. As night fell, a light lit up at the door of the movie theater, illuminating the open space in front of the glass door.

"Going back?" Gogol stood under the dim light, turned his face to Nanako and asked, without expressing any thoughts about the movie he just watched.

Nanako also didn't have any thoughts, she just thought she should watch this movie, so she watched it, but she didn't think about anything about the movie itself.

She didn't even understand the motives of the murderers. She just felt that the reason why they killed the three girls was inexplicable, but she didn't try to understand it seriously. It has been said that the people on this island are all "lunatics".

"Henggou Zhengshi" died, and her life didn't seem to have changed much, but among the people she remembered who "used to be a writer of novels", she found the first person who was also a "writer of novels" now People, now there is "nothing".

"Yeah." She nodded and replied to Gogol, "Go back and have dinner."

The night in late autumn was already very cold. Nanako was wearing her school uniform, and her knee-length skirt made her chilly, so she took away Gogol's cloak and put it on for herself, and gave Gogol her schoolbag. With their hands in their hands, Cai and Gogol walked slowly towards the detective agency on the other side of the street, and the old red brick building that was already in sight in the distance was already lit up.

When they returned to the detective agency, the agency was preparing dinner.

Some members who brought their own bento were already chatting while having dinner, and the warm aroma of food wafted from the kitchen across the corridor.The heating was already turned on in the room, which was much warmer than outside. Nanako stuffed Gogol's cloak back into his arms, then took her schoolbag from his arms, and ran to the chaotic desk with the schoolbag in her arms. , put down the schoolbag.

"Father, do you want to write a novel?" She asked Ranbu.

It’s been a long time since Nanako asked Ranpo this question. The last time she asked was like a year ago, and at that time she asked “Dad, when did you start writing novels”—this has completely presupposed for Ranpo” must write novels” premise.

"Don't write." Ranbu propped his head with one hand, was leaning on the office chair and playing mobile games, and answered her with a lack of motivation.

【…】

Dad and Henggou are really different.Nanako thought confidently in her heart that Henggou in this parallel world could still write novels, but her father couldn't. Continue to be a detective.

"Then you have to work hard." Nanako said to him dryly.

Ranpo didn't answer, and after a few seconds, he said to Nanako, "Nanako."

"Ah."

"Do you want to go home?"

"I haven't written my homework yet.... After eating, I will finish my homework before going home."

Nanako buried her head in her schoolbag and flipped through her homework, without lifting her head.

I ran to the movies, but it turned out that she still had to do homework after dinner, and there were no homework to copy today, they were all exercises, so she had to write them herself—she didn’t dare to give her homework to Gogo After all, it is different from the copybook where you can tear out the pages at will. If there is a problem with the exercise, she can't even tear it up and write it again.

"..." Luanbu looked at her expressionless little face, and couldn't see any expression, so it seemed that she was flipping through the schoolbag very seriously, with round dark eyes, staring intently at the inside of the schoolbag , without even blinking.

Why do people in the world always like to say "Parents' love is selfless"?

Edogawa Ranpo couldn't understand it at all. He felt that he was a "selfish father". Let go out and be someone else's daughter.Nanako is stupid, what should she do if she goes to "other people's house" and gets bullied?And if Nanako becomes "other people's daughter", then he can't continue to be Nanako's "father".

In that case, Nanako would definitely feel that it was his "fake father" who didn't want her.

"Then go home tonight."

Ranpo finally said so to Nanako.

Nanako let out a "huh", put all the homework books she had dug out on the table, then dragged an empty office chair from the side, sat at the desk of Ranbu, and began to immerse herself in writing her homework for today. homework.