JSWGAS Chapter 15

Chengzi thought of many things.

When she still bore the surname Tsurumi, she often sat in the yard of her grandparents’ old home in the countryside of Hyōgo Prefecture on summer evenings to cool off. In the yard was a very large and tall tree, where birds would sing in the early morning and summer insects would chirp softly late at night. And she would sit under the tree, next to her grandfather, and gaze with him at the starry night sky.

Grandfather always said, “Chengzi is like Grandfather’s star, coming from the sky to Grandfather’s side.”

She didn’t know why she could remember such distant things at this time. Her grandfather passed away when she was in high school, and she missed seeing him one last time because she was participating in a performance.

Chengzi is about to return to the sky now.

She thought so.

The lack of oxygen made her limbs weak, but fear still urged her to resist. Tinnitus swarmed in, and her lungs tried to suck in air from between the fabric pressed tightly against her nostrils, the fabric in front of her soaked with tears.

…Pain.

The man behind her hadn’t diminished his strength in the slightest.

Do you want to kill me?

Chengzi wanted to ask him that.

He silently answered with his actions.

Chengzi’s strength gradually disappeared. She felt herself rising, continuing to rise, her reason gradually blurring, gradually losing the ability to think. She couldn’t see anything, couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t feel anything. Like embracing sleep, she embraced the unknown shore.

At the end of the other shore, there was a tree.

A tree almost exactly like the tree in her old home.

Chengzi stared intently at the tree. The rough, deep texture of the bark, the tall canopy almost shoulder to shoulder with the sky, seemed to hide thousands of stars behind it. She couldn’t help but walk a little closer, and then a little closer, birds chirping loudly in her ears, summer insects singing softly in the gaps.

There were two chairs under the tree, and Chengzi felt that as long as she sat down, she would be able to see her grandfather.

But before she sat down with a smile, as if possessed, she raised her head and saw a hawk standing on a branch.

The hawk was looking down at her. His gaze was sorrowful, as if he were attending a funeral.

Her hawk. Her child.

She woke up from the confusion of death: What about her hawk? Would her child have to live alone from now on?

The tree and the hawk disappeared, and Chengzi returned to a darkness again, the man behind her pressing down on her with a force that almost crushed her.

She suffered for it, trembled for it. Her limbs, which had become limp, were suddenly injected with vitality—she breathed deeply, trying her best to fight for that little possibility of survival. Her organs faithfully obeyed their master’s orders, operating sluggishly yet diligently.

But to the man, this was just the last struggle of the fish on the chopping board.

Kokonoe Sumiko had almost lost consciousness.

“Bang!”

“Thud!”

Distant, strange sounds fell in her ears, and the weight pressing on her body was suddenly lifted. Kokonoe Sumiko was turned over and held in someone’s arms. She coughed violently, the fear of dying and the relief of escaping fear making her force her eyes open, tears streaming down her face.

A familiar yet unfamiliar face, black hair and gray eyes.

Kokonoe Taka was looking at her, looking at her like the hawk standing on that tree. His face was exaggeratedly twisted, his eyes clearly without tears, but a strong sorrow seemed to surge out from that gray sea of ​​fog.

Kokonoe Sumiko wanted to comfort him, wanted to say don’t worry. But her face was already as pale as a dead person, her pupils were dilated, and she was trembling violently. “I’m sorry… Mom… Mom tried very hard…”

Her voice was hoarse, almost disappearing into the air. Kokonoe Taka held her tightly, he seemed to be shivering along with her violently trembling body.

“It’s okay, Mom,” Kokonoe Taka said, squeezing her limp hand hard, “…I know, you tried very hard.”

Kokonoe Sumiko wearily closed her eyes and fainted. She had no strength to think about why her son would suddenly appear at this time to save her.

…

…………

The detective said, “You have to go back.”

When he said this, Kokonoe Taka had just buried his head in finishing the remaining half box of oden. He thought: It’s too bad, how could there be such a bad thing? It’s salty and astringent, and the fishy smell and sweetness are mixed together, drowsy and dizzy.

Hearing this, Kokonoe Taka gave a short reply and threw the remaining packaging box into the trash can.

“Here.” Then he stuffed the bag into the detective who was bored to the point of counting the ripples splashed by the raindrops falling, which contained the untouched rice balls and milk.

Edogawa Ranpo awkwardly took the things and glanced at the torrential rain outside the eaves. It seemed that the hourly rainfall had reached more than 10 millimeters. He opened his emerald green eyes that looked like a vast and boundless forest, and suggested, “You can ask the convenience store uncle to take you to the station.”

He curled his lips, “That uncle is surprisingly enthusiastic, Ranpo-sensei hid outside for a while and he pretended to go out to breathe to try to find out if I was lost—it’s not me who’s lost.”

After skimming over the last sentence at a very fast speed, the detective turned around and said, “Otherwise, at your speed, you might not make it in time.”

Kokonoe Taka quietly looked at the detective’s expression for a while, and said in a low voice, “Thank you.”

Ranpo snorted softly, and glanced at the young hawk rushing into the convenience store out of the corner of his eye.

The store owner, who had dyed his hair silver and looked fierce, agreed without saying a word after hearing Kokonoe Taka’s request. He hurriedly put on his clothes, and took out a coat from the room behind and threw it to him.

“Don’t cause trouble for others!” he said fiercely, “I don’t want to be infected with a cold.”

Kokonoe Taka thanked him in a low voice, “…Sorry to bother you.” After hesitating for a moment, he took out what was left on his body. “Sorry… um, use these things as collateral for now, can you lend me some money so I can buy a ticket…?”

The store owner rudely pushed back the keychain, the broken mobile phone and the wallet containing the documents, “No need.”

“Taking the Shinkansen also takes into account the time waiting for the train, do you want to get home late at night? With such heavy rain, there probably won’t be many customers today.” He took out the car keys, “Consider it me being in a good mood today, I’ll take you straight back—”

He paused slightly, his expression becoming a bit more fierce, “If you’re worried…”

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Kokonoe Taka.

“Please.” He bowed, “…Please.”

“…Then let’s go quickly.”

The store girl smiled and said goodbye to them, and the detective had disappeared under the eaves at some point. Kokonoe Taka sat in the store owner’s minivan, and cast a brief look from the car window at the narrow corner where he and the famous detective had talked.

“Goodbye.”

He said goodbye to the famous detective in his heart.

The store owner’s driving skills were as wild as his gray hair, and he drove the minivan with great energy. People who didn’t know would think he was an active racing driver continuing to compete. “You don’t get carsick, do you?” He tilted his head slightly and laughed twice teasingly.

Kokonoe Taka held on to the handrail tightly… “No…”

The store owner had obviously seen through that he was trying to hold on, and finally kindly explained a few words, “It’s almost two hundred kilometers from here to Miyagi, if it weren’t for this speed, it would probably be slower than the Shinkansen. After all, I did make a big statement, I can’t let that sentence become a joke.”

“If you’re not comfortable, I can slow down a bit.”

“…No need.” Kokonoe Taka said immediately, “Please continue driving… I’m fine, I’m just a little uncomfortable.”

The store owner stopped talking.

Once he calmed down, Kokonoe Taka’s heart inevitably became anxious and tormented. He always had a bad feeling, his heart beating more violently than ever before. A kind of uneasiness, as if the dirty organ in his chest was about to explode, enveloped him.

Kokonoe Taka’s gaze turned from the dense and continuous rain outside to the decorations inside the car. There was an opened pack of tobacco thrown in the car, and a small basketball pendant was hanging on the rearview mirror in the car.

In order to divert his attention, “Do you play basketball?” he asked, looking at the cute mini basketball.

The store owner glanced at it, “Ah, that. I used to be a small forward in the high school basketball club, but now I rarely play basketball.”

He wanted to take the cigarette case next to the driver’s seat, but restrained himself because there was a minor in the car, “But my eyesight is still good.” He said, “What, boy, do you play basketball too?”

“…” Kokonoe Taka was silent for a moment, “No, I play tennis.”

He added, “My name is Kokonoe, Kokonoe Taka.”

The store owner was thoughtful, “Tennis? Hiss, that little thing really hurts when it hits people… Haisaki, Haisaki Daisuke. Just call me Uncle Haisaki.”

It was hard for Kokonoe not to think that he was trying to act older, after all—“Uncle Haisaki? But you seem to be only… a little older than me?” And that fashionable gray hair made him look even younger.

Haisaki Daisuke laughed. He looked fierce, and when he laughed, it was easy for people to think that he had bad intentions.

“Don’t look at me like this, I even have a son.” He raised his eyebrows, a little proud, “Two little brats—the older one is about your age, and the younger one is only three years old.”

…He really couldn’t tell.

But, “Also because I’m already a father, I found that I can’t leave a kid like you alone.”

He didn’t look at him, “What about you, kid? Are you in such a hurry to go back because you’re afraid of being scolded by your parents?”

The anxiety that Kokonoe Taka had deliberately forgotten appeared again, or it had never left. Perhaps because of Haisaki Daisuke’s unrestrained attitude, Kokonoe Taka hesitated for a moment, “…I’m a little uneasy, I’m worried about my mother.”

Haisaki Daisuke didn’t ask any further questions, but instead commented, “That’s good.” He said, “I really hope that my brats can be as considerate of their mother as you are.”

The minivan quickly came out of the tunnel, and the sound of rain gradually subsided. Haisaki Daisuke glanced at the GPS and estimated in his mind, “There’s probably another hour and a half to go.”

Kokonoe Taka glanced at the built-in clock in the car, which showed that it was now 7:30 PM on September 30, so the arrival time would probably be 9 PM.

He held the handrail tightly and gritted his teeth.