This Japanese Story Is Not Too Cold

Anyway, business was not good, so Akiyama Caiyin simply invited Beichuan Temple to the counter: Actually, Mr. Beichuan, you are the right person to ask about this matter. I was one of the parties involved in the case of the missing child.

One of the parties?

Beichuan Temple gave Akiyama Caiyin a strange look.

Aren't all the parties missing? Why is there another party here?

Akiyama Ayane also realized that she had said the wrong thing. She gave a dry cough, then waved her hands vigorously and said, I didn't mean that, Beichuan-kun. I just said that I also played games with Huaze and the others back then...you see , It’s that game of hide and seek.”

Beichuan Temple's expression moved, and he said in surprise: Miss Qiushan, do you mean that you often sneaked to Yuchuan Elementary School at night with those four missing children?

Um...

Akiyama Caiyin lowered her voice subconsciously: Actually, only my parents knew about this matter. It was the night Huaze and the others disappeared, and my father caught me sneaking out of the yard that day, and then they beat me up. Dun, lock me in the house... Afterwards I heard Huaze and their parents contact my parents and ask them to help—”

After all, we want to be a small town that is much more closed than the outside world. Everyone is familiar with it. If something like this happens, we will definitely help.

Akiyama Ayane rubbed her temples: This incident left a deep impression on me, so I still remember it very clearly. Fortunately, I didn't go out that day, otherwise I might become one of the missing members.

On the second day after the accident, some residents gave up one after another, and the only ones who haven't given up are Huaze and their parents.

After that, the police came and searched for another three days, and finally announced that the search and rescue failed, and Huaze and the others were officially included in the list of missing persons.

Then there are frequent disappearances of children around the abandoned Mikawa Elementary School, right?

Beichuan Temple suddenly said.

Akiyama Ayane glanced at Beichuan Temple unexpectedly, but she didn't expect him to investigate so clearly: Well, just as Beichuan-kun thought, after the disappearance of the children, a few elementary school students who often passed by the road of Yuchuan Elementary School , also disappeared strangely, and then the adults invited eminent monks, and it seems that Yuchuan Elementary School has been sealed, and all kinds of charms have been pasted on the entrance gate of the elementary school.

Just when Akiyama Caiyin was about to say something, Beichuan Temple asked again:

Before the disappearance case, didn't other unusual things happen in the town?

Other unusual things...? Akiyama Ayane's eyes showed a look of thought, and she murmured to herself with some uncertainty: You say so... It seems that there was a strange thing... It’s just that I didn’t have a deep impression on me about that incident, so I forgot about it, but my memory seems to be related to our very famous river god ‘Michuan God’.”

Mikawa God? Mikawa God again?

Beichuan Temple's complexion changed.

Originally, he thought that Mikawa God did not exist, but Akiyama Caiyin's words led the already somewhat clear context of events into the mist.

Akiyama Ayane secretly glanced at Beichuan Temple who was thinking.

Beichuan Temple's face became more attractive the more he looked at it, and he was indeed very handsome.

She gritted her teeth, as if she had made up her mind: If Mr. Beichuan doesn't mind, I can take you to see the abandoned Yuqian Elementary School after my work here is over.

Well--

Beichuan Temple froze for a moment, showing a somewhat unexpected expression.

What's the matter with this girl?

I just met her not long ago, right? Why did you suddenly recommend yourself? This is too happy.

He shook his head to get his distracting thoughts out of his mind, and then continued: If it's convenient for Ms. Qiushan, it would be great.

This kind of cheapness is not taken for nothing.

And Beichuan Temple thinks that he is not a bad person, even if Akiyama Caiyin is not too defensive about him, there is no problem.

Well... I will leave work at about seven o'clock, and there is still more than an hour. Beichuan-kun can go shopping in other places first, and I will send you a message when the time is up. Seeing that Beichuan Temple agreed, Akiyama Caiyin agreed a little After thinking about it, he said.

Of course, I plan to go to the library in the town next time.

Then let's get back in touch then.

good.

After agreeing with Akiyama Caiyin, Beichuan Temple left the wagashi shop with a small wooden box.

 …

There is no need to repeat the process of going to the library. Beichuan Temple came to the town library according to the guidance of the map.

Looking at the pure wood library in front of him, which looks quite old, Beichuan Temple's heart moved.

Maybe some clues from the beginning can be found here.

There is also the Mikawa god that Akiyama Ayane mentioned... What does that represent... Could it be that there are gods and spirits in this world?

Beichuan Temple entered the library after thinking about it.

The library is divided into upper and lower floors, and the librarian is a bald uncle.

This town library probably hasn't received new books for a long time. Beichuan Temple casually took out a book from the bookshelf, and he could see that the paper on it had started to oxidize and turn yellow, and the handwriting was barely legible.

Excuse me, I want to ask, where is the news section of the newspaper? Beichuan Temple came to the bald uncle and asked.

Go to the second floor, that's the one in the innermost row. The bald uncle raised his head, glanced at Beichuan Temple and continued:

Are you a visitor to Mikawa?

Um.

For tourists, I would recommend the guide on the first floor.

No, thank you. Beichuan Temple declined the kindness of the bald administrator and walked up to the second floor.

Just like the unremarkable appearance, no one visits the library either on the first floor or the second floor, but the bookshelves are surprisingly free of dust, presumably this is because the bald man is serious about his work.

Beichuan Temple bypassed the low bookshelves and walked inward.

In front of him are neatly arranged news papers, but the news papers here are simply incomparable with the total number of news papers in the Island Road Municipal Library.

There seems to be very little news about this remote and secluded town.

But it also saved Beichuan Temple's time.

Beichuan Temple scanned the newspapers in front of him and eliminated them one by one.

Festivals held, past events, blockbuster woodcarving awards...

For Beichuan Temple, none of these news were of much use.

Um?

Beichuan Temple, who was rapidly flipping through the newspaper, stopped her fingers.

‘The incident of missing children in Yuchuan Town! '

The title with huge bold characters occupying most of the page attracted Beichuan Temple's attention.

This should be the scanned version circulating on the Internet...

Like the scanned version of the newspaper that Beichuan Temple searched on the Internet, the portrait of the missing child was blurred.

But the names under the children's portraits are much clearer than those on the online version.

Now, Beichuan Temple finally knows the names of those brats who blocked him when he rescued Sakura Mio and the others that day.

The four missing children are Hanazawa Takuya, Sato Hidenaka, Ida Yuji, and Hanayamain Jun.

Three men and one woman.

The specific process and ending of the case are similar to what Ayane Akiyama said, so there is no need to continue the description here.

But skipping the missing child incident, Beichuan Temple found another small headline in the lower right corner of the newspaper.

'Drown children? God Mikawa is causing trouble? The four children were emotionally unstable and may be related to this missing case. '

Huh? Beichuan Temple stopped his fingers.

God Mikawa is at work...?

Is it possible that the mischief of Mikawa God mentioned by Ayane Akiyama refers to this matter?

According to the printed words on the newspaper, Beichuan Temple continued to look down: the time happened a month before the disappearance of the child... A Michuan child was accidentally pushed into the water by a friend while playing with a friend after school drowning. Since the children involved are too young to constitute criminal responsibility, they will not be investigated... In order not to affect the growth of the children, and in accordance with the wishes of their respective parents, the names of the children will not be reported here.

Don't report the name yet? Beichuan Temple put down the newspaper in his hand.

Missing children, drowning children... Four children are emotionally unstable... Mikawa God is behind it... No accountability...

I see.

Beichuan Temple finally understood why Akiyama Caiyin said that she couldn't remember what happened back then.

It's not that they can't remember, but that the adults are vague about the matter of God of Yuchuan.

Because as a resident of Yuchuan Township, this kind of scandal similar to 'that child killed that child and the family is involved in a lawsuit' is naturally not easy for Akiyama Caiyin, who is still a child, to know.

So the adults at that time used the term Michuan God's trouble to fool the children at that time.

But in fact, the residents of every small town know that this is not a problem caused by Michuan God at all.

The playfulness between the children led to the tragedy.

And this tragedy was ignored by all Mikawa people... To be precise, all Mikawa people stood on the side of the perpetrator.

And those four emotionally unstable children...there is a high probability that they are Hanazawa Takuya and the others.

So is there such a possibility?

The irresponsibility that cannot be pursued, the indifference of the whole town, and the wait-and-see attitude towards this incident have contributed to the hatred of the parents of the drowned child.

In that strong hatred, it gradually evolved into killing intent.

The parent abducted and killed Hanazawa Takuya and these children when they entered Mikawa Elementary School to play hide-and-seek.

This can also explain why when Beichuan Temple saw those children's wraiths in the spiritual realm of Yuchuan Elementary School, they had tattered wounds on their bodies.

There is no Mikawa god at all, it is simply a human killing.

But if that was the case, the police at that time should have suspected the parent who drowned the child first.

After all, he has enough motives to kill.

But the investigation was unsuccessful.

Logically speaking, this is impossible. As long as the police are willing to investigate murder cases with a plan and purpose, they will naturally be able to figure out everything.

Beichuan Temple rubbed his eyebrows.

But just the current progress of the investigation can explain part of the previous doubts, besides—

Beichuan Temple looked deeply, he put down the newspaper, and made a phone call to someone when he left the library.

 …

After contacting Akiyama Caiyin, Beichuan Temple walked side by side with her on a long-abandoned ramp by the Michuan River.

This is the ramp that used to lead to Yuchuan Elementary School. You see, Beichuan-kun, there are actually cherry blossom trees planted on both sides, but after that incident, no one came here to enjoy the cherry blossoms.

Akiyama Caiyin introduced it to Beichuan Temple.

Yes. Beichuan Temple responded simply.

It's getting late now, and Beichuan Temple needs to go up with a flashlight.

The surroundings are extremely lonely, and the cherry blossom trees on both sides of the road are far less beautiful than in the daytime. Holding a flashlight and shining them on, the branches intertwined with each other has an inexplicable sense of horror.

Ha... Akiyama Caiyin exhaled white breath, and muttered a little strangely: What's going on...? Why did the temperature suddenly become cold? Is it an illusion?

Yes, just as Ayane Akiyama said, the chill is gradually spreading now, as if the time has returned to the cold January.

But Beichuan Temple didn't care, he continued to climb up silently.

I believe that at Yuchuan Elementary School, there will be the answer he wants to know.

Beichuan Temple and Akiyama Caiyin walked one behind the other, and they reached their destination within a few steps.

After all, this is just the ramp of the elementary school, so naturally it is impossible to build it too high.

And after climbing over the ramp with great difficulty, what caught the eyes of the two of them was the twisted and deformed steel wire fence.

Behind this deformed and twisted fence, there is an old school building gloomy on the hypotenuse.

That terrifying building shadow may be Yuchuan Elementary School.

I haven't been here for many years. I didn't expect that the wire fences that were neatly lined up in the past became distorted and deformed. This is too strange... Beichuan-kun, do you think there are really ghosts in this world? ?

Akiyama Caiyin seemed to want to scare Beichuan Temple deliberately, and said deliberately.

Regarding this, Beichuan Temple just glanced at her: There must be a reason for the neat iron fence to look like this.

He analyzed in a flat tone:

As far as I know, there have been earthquakes in the town of Yuchuan in the past few years. It is estimated that those few small-scale earthquakes changed the original position of the fence, and the pulling force made the iron fence look like it is now.

Hey? What a disappointment, Mr. Beichuan, don't you believe that there are ghosts in this world?

Ayayama Ayane curled her lips.

As a long-term resident of Yuchuan, she certainly knew that Beichuan Temple's deduction was correct, but the other party's words were too incomprehensible, which made her complain a little.

As soon as she said this, she didn't expect that Beichuan Temple suddenly looked at her with a very serious expression.

His eyes were so deep that Akiyama Caiyin's scalp felt numb. It took him a while before he said, There are indeed spirits in this world.

There was a whistling of the mountain wind, and the voice of Beichuan Temple sounded so terrifying and strange in the wind.

The cold chill permeated Akiyama Caiyin's back, her complexion changed slightly, and she felt that Beichuan Temple, who was easy to get along with just now, was so scary.

Miss Akiyama, don't worry, I have no intention of doing anything to you. After Beichuan Temple said this sentence coldly, he turned his head and looked at Michuan Elementary School behind the fence.

His cold voice sounded again:

It's just...there are indeed vengeful spirits in this world.

Going to get a haircut tomorrow...! It's almost time for school again. The happy summer vacation is coming to an end again.

Thanks to chishude who eats books, fried eggplant is not easy, and powder spiritual domain for the reward! Thank you so much!