Chapter 23: You'll Meet Familiar People After a Disaster

Suzuki Sonoko stood on the side of the roller coaster waiting tunnel, watching Kudo Shinichi standing in the middle of thousands of people showing off with an expressionless face.

The onlookers were in a good mood to marvel at the rare murder mystery. Gin looked around calmly, and except for his gaze lingering a little longer on Kudo Shinichi, he used the remaining little patience to study the cash cow beside him.

The money tree gnashed his teeth as he watched Xiaolan act as a supporting role for the annoying guy - how do you think this guy solved the case? He has to wait for someone to ask before he can say the next sentence?

So she secretly rubbed Gin's waist with her elbow.

"I say," she completely ignored the killer's dilated pupils and, using the standard gossipmongering manner, asked Gin in a serious tone, "How much would it cost if I hired you to kill him?"

Gin squinted his eyes and smiled. Considering that she was a cash cow, he resisted the urge to hit her with the butt of the gun and just raised his palm to pat her on the back of the head.

Little did she know that Miss Suzuki had been accustomed to being touched on the head since she was a child. Gin restrained his strength in these few pats, but instead of having any warning effect, they caused Sonoko to subconsciously tilt her head back and rub her hair in his palm.

After rubbing, she winked at Gin very naturally.

There seemed to be a line of big words about to come out of those deep brown eyes.

——Is there something wrong with you taking pictures of me?

Gin looked at her almost in surprise, and hummed a faint laugh that got stuck in his throat. Compared to the impulse of almost beating the hostage just now, he inexplicably wanted to laugh.

She seems to be so ignorant of the dangers of the world. Even if she is not the daughter of the Suzuki family, I'm afraid someone has spent a lot of effort and money to create her.

Let’s not talk about the reasoning process of the case for now. The murderer who was finally found out was the deceased’s ex-girlfriend.

She was in a magical state of love and hate for the deceased. While the roller coaster was moving, she strangled the deceased with the pearl necklace that the deceased had given her.

Of course, the pearl necklace that could strangle someone must have been modified, and the pearls were strung with piano wire. For this purpose, she also prepared a bloody sharp knife, trying to frame the deceased's current girlfriend after the incident.

When Kudo Shinichi pointed out the murderer, she still refused to admit it. When the police officer who went to collect evidence picked up a handful of pearls from the depths of the tunnel, she collapsed instantly.

The coincidence that Suzuki Sonoko had been looking forward to suddenly happened at this moment.

The police captain stepped on a stone from nowhere while running and fell suddenly in the smooth tunnel. The pearls in his hand were thrown into the sky and fell to the ground. One of them hit the murderer's eye just right. She screamed and started to back away, and unknowingly bumped into the deceased's current girlfriend.

The girlfriend's boyfriend was beheaded and she was almost framed as the murderer. She felt creepy and angry when she saw the murderer.

In addition, she was a noisy and impatient person by nature, so I was so scared that I hurriedly pushed her with my hands, shouting "Go away! Don't come near me!" while pushing her.

In a chain reaction, the female murderer who was in a state of pain stress and the female witness who was in a state of mental tension fell into the crowd while fighting. She twisted her heel and knocked down three policemen in succession.

Once the police fell, the equipment also fell. The suspects who were being questioned had to fall as well while dodging the equipment rolling on the ground. They also had to fall in a panic.

The last policeman was bagging evidence, carefully holding the knife he had used to frame others, and trying hard to avoid the crowd. He didn't see who kicked him in the crowd, and he fell and tripped, sliding almost a meter in the air!

Then the evidence in his hand slipped out of his palm and flew in the air with a whooshing sound.

The prop turned into a hidden weapon, flashing a dull silver light in the dark tunnel. After a very strange change of direction, it shook illogically and rushed straight towards Gin.

In the blink of an eye, silver light flashed before his eyes!

Just when Sonoko was about to be pulled over by Gin to block the knife with a confused look on her face, another scattered pearl rolled out.

It rolled quietly in the chaotic crowd, and was hit by someone's heel. In an instant, it was like a bullet fired from a gun, hitting Mr. Killer's eyes from another strange angle.

Yes, it was such a coincidence, it hit my eye again.

When he can see, Gin tends to use all the tools (including people) and cover (including people) around him to help him act, but when his vision is affected, the killer's first reaction is to rely on himself.

He subconsciously eliminated all uncertain factors that might delay his movements - for example, he kicked away a middle-aged man who fell in front of him and might interfere with his movement.

For example, he subconsciously threw the obstacle (garden) that blocked his way to use his weapon (gun) to a place at least an arm's length away, then lowered his body and quickly assumed his most familiar defensive posture.

Miraculously, Suzuki Sonoko was thrown with such great force that she not only did not fall anywhere, but unexpectedly rolled onto the chest of a bystander.

Yuanzi, still feeling frightened, put his hand down and touched it. Oh, it was soft.

After an innocent bystander was implicated and screamed, the isolation line was broken. Then the murderer, crying and shouting that her eyes hurt, dragged a dozen or so bystanders into the crowd.

The bustling crowd was suddenly filled with screams one after another.

When he was pushed and swayed left and right, and finally freed from the various legs, feet and arms, Miss Suzuki Sonoko was surprised to find that -

There's no one around her?!

With her back pressed against the tunnel wall, Yuanzi looked to the left and saw that less than a hundred centimeters away from her arm was the iron gate of the employee passage, the same path she had used when she first rushed in.

She looked three steps away and saw a bunch of people rolling on the cement in the tunnel, their arms and legs scratching, their hats and glasses flying.

Sonoko looked at the iron gate leading to safety at hand, and put her hand into her pocket expressionlessly: the key she had taken from the main control room before still carried her constant body temperature.

Ms. Suzuki, with a mysterious and calm expression, calmly inserted the key into the keyhole. Before leaving, she turned back to take a last look at the chaotic crowd.

The handsome guy who kidnapped her had his eyes closed at this moment, half-kneeling sideways in the other corner away from the crowd. The fat black man with sunglasses who was wearing matching outfits with him was buried in the crowd and was trying hard to move towards him.

While moving, Vodka saw Yuanzi standing by the door, but the density of the people around him was not optimistic. Before he could turn around, he was hugged tightly by a frightened lady, who screamed in his ear.

For a moment, everyone in the room was shocked.

Only Miss Suzuki, who was out of the matter, stood behind the iron gate, closing and locking the door while feeling a myriad of emotions in her heart.

Ah, I'm really lucky.

=====

After Suzuki Sonoko ran out of the tunnel, she thoughtlessly found an alley and went into it. She leaned against the colorful walls of the tropical park and took a deep breath.

This was purely roller coaster sickness, and maybe a bit of energy expended from all the pushing and shoving, but I was definitely not scared.

Sonoko was very confident in her strange luck. Based on her experience of being kidnapped as a child, she initially thought that the killer would have a sudden heart attack, a misfire or a hand cramp, or that his dual personality would suddenly switch.

Who knew that the final result would be so boring?

But now that they've all come out, it would be a bit troublesome to tell Mr. Ghost his last name beforehand...

——But think about it, if it weren’t for the last name Suzuki to delay for those few minutes, Pearl wouldn’t have come to save her, right?

So Miss Suzuki Sonoko rested for a while with peace of mind, and began to walk towards the employee control room dragging the blood-stained long cloak. While walking, she fumbled for her cell phone, wanting to call Xiaolan who was still in the center of the melee, and tell her that there were two killers hiding among the crowd.

When he touched his pocket, his cell phone disappeared.

Fortunately, among the few phone numbers she could remember, one was from Xiaolan.

As a result, she ran to the visitor center to find a phone, but couldn't get through after trying for a long time. Yuanzi was in doubt between life and death for less than five minutes, and resolutely ran back the way she came.

She went against the flow of people through various garden alleys, and was scolded by an old man driving a street sweeper for not looking at the road.

When she ran to the small garden in front of the venue, panting, she happened to see a flash of gold passing by from the corner.

Gin was wearing a black hat and smoking against the wall not far from the entrance.

Yuanzi quickly pulled an obstacle from his hand and covered his face with it, then bent down and started to crawl into the bushes.

——Oh my god, isn't he going to kill people with a gun? Why did he come out only now?

The small garden is actually a children's garden restaurant with a tropical tree theme. There is also a dedicated person to help look after the children. If parents want to play some dangerous activities that are not suitable for children, they can safely leave their children here.

Because the main customers are children, everything in the area is small, and the gardeners have to curl up on chairs to sit. However, in order to cater to the children, many amusement facilities have been built with shrubs as obstacles.

This place of Garden Cat is just right opposite the exit of the roller coaster. Although it is not very comfortable, it is hard to find a better place to stay for the time being.

fine!

Yuanzi shrank her feet in grievance: Just bear with it for a while, wait until Mr. Killer leaves, or Xiaolan comes out, then she can leave right away -

"that……"

Just as Yuanzi was trembling and adjusting her posture on the small stool, a thin and weak voice sounded vaguely in her ears.

Suzuki Sonoko turned around.

The little girl dressed like a waitress had a red eye mask on her face and a pair of red wings tied behind her back. She was poking her shoulder with her fingertips with a red face.

Miss Suzuki suddenly realized: It’s definitely not okay to just squat in someone else’s store for nothing, this girl probably wants her to place an order!

So she looked around and saw that the children around her were eating things like cat cookies and pumpkin pudding. Desserts couldn't be too bad, so she waved her hand and said, "As long as it's edible, you can have any portion!"

Although the waitress blushed, she still answered yes loudly and professionally. But after saying "yes", she did not leave for a long time.

Sonoko blinked in confusion: "What... are you going to do?"

The shy little girl pursed her lips and pointed under her neck.

Yuanzi looked down as well.

She just grabbed something to cover her face, and now she looked at the big red pointed hat in her hand. Although it was indeed suitable as a cover-up prop, when compared with the waiter's little red wings, no matter how you looked at it... they looked like a set!

Ryuzaki Sakuno, who was working part-time, said carefully in a voice not much louder than a mosquito: "That, is mine..."

"Yeah?"

In order to ease the embarrassment, Sonoko used a familiar expression of sudden realization, nodded exaggeratedly, and handed the hat back to the little girl.

Wait, something seems wrong.

Ms. Suzuki Sonoko, the legal representative of the amusement park industry chain, suddenly grabbed the waitress's hand and asked her seriously, "Are you an adult?"

——When did their family start employing child labor?!

"That's not it..."

In fact, Ryuzaki Sakuno was not so shy that she couldn't speak. The main reason was that the person in charge of this area had already started looking in this direction. Instead of answering the guests' irrelevant questions, she now wanted to do some serious work quickly and show the foreman that she had no intention of being lazy.

Yuanzi looked in the direction her eyes frequently turned and understood.

So, she forcefully grabbed the girl's hand with earnest words, forcing her to sit next to her. She mimicked the usual expressions of a host of a sentimental TV show and comforted her in a tone that sounded quite false: "Don't be afraid. No matter how rampant the darkness of capitalism is, it will eventually succumb to the evil power of money."

Yuanzi nodded at himself seriously: "That's me."

Ryuzaki Sakuno said "Huh?" with a confused look on her face.

"I'm saying," Sonoko patted the back of her hand like an old mother, "you can just report any violations of the rules and regulations like employing child labor and exploiting minors. As long as it's proven to be true, I'll give you an explanation right away!"

The heiress of the Suzuki family said righteously, "Even if our family doesn't want the money, we will never do something that will be condemned by social morality at any time!"

Ryuzaki Sakuno still didn't understand what she wanted to do.

The tropical theme park is a newly developed area. Compared with the middle-aged and elderly people, teenagers are the main consumer group. Therefore, at the beginning of its official opening, the person in charge and some schools jointly planned a practical activity.

——Students from various schools are assigned to simple jobs in the park that can help them develop their skills. As long as they work for eight hours in total within a week, they can exchange them for a game ticket that can be used in the park.

Ms. Ryuzaki Sakuno, as a top-performing first-year student at Seigakuen Junior High School, was fortunate enough to be directly called by the teacher and brought into the venue.

“So it’s not child labor…”

What Yuanzi actually meant by this was a bit of disappointment: she had originally thought that she had found a management loophole and could act with great vigor!

As a result, due to her lack of social experience, Ryuzaki Sakuno was unable to fully understand and just thought that she still didn't quite believe it. In order to maintain the reputation of her alma mater, she took out her student ID and library card from her pocket and showed them to her.

Suzuki Sonoko took the stack of documents in confusion.

At first glance, she felt that the document looked inexplicably familiar.

Looking closely, there is a place that looks particularly familiar.

—For example, in the photo, this little girl looks like this without the eye patch.

——For example, the surname “Ryuzaki”.

=====

Suzuki Sonoko's great uncle was Suzuki Jirokichi. Since he was seventeen years old, he had been a cynical, self-centered and annoying guy. He had a lot of personal interests, but each interest did not last long.

Fortunately, he has good abilities, so he can still achieve some results in various aspects, which makes him even more arrogant on top of his originally bad character.

If a person is like this from the age of seventeen to seventy, then he must have offended many people consciously or unconsciously during these long decades of his life.

The self-centered Mr. Jirokichi Suzuki has always been a fan of that psychotic idol group from more than 20 years ago, and he has always been a hater of that invisible member of that psychotic idol group who was trying to gain popularity.

But between the black and pink, there is a gray figure who turns from pink to black.

——That person’s name is Echizen Nanjiro.

As mentioned earlier, Suzuki Jirokichi gave Sonoko an apartment in his early years, which was decorated according to the principle of "building in the absolute field of a scientist." Unfortunately, his dream of becoming a scientist was only established for two or three days, and his interest turned to sports.

You ask why...

It's because he turned from a fan of Echizen Nanjiro to a hater.

In the early years, when this "Samurai" was still playing in domestic competitions, Suzuki Jirokichi paid close attention to him and occasionally provided some sponsorship.

When Echizen Nanjiro stepped onto the world stage and began to break records one after another, Uncle Suzuki's love for talent, fueled by his patriotic enthusiasm, burned fiercely!

That true feeling...

——During the years when Echizen Nanjiro played professional tennis, the sponsors of various tour masters cups were all surnamed Suzuki!

Every day, the uncle muttered to Yuanzi: he wanted to create records for the country with this person, he wanted to write a new chapter in the world with this genius, and so on.

Shortly before Echizen Nanjiro's last race before breaking the world record, Suzuki Jiroyoshi was so excited that in addition to sponsoring the race, he was also planning to set up a private TV station and take advantage of this great opportunity to make history to shoot a documentary about the "Samurai"!

He wrote the script enthusiastically for three days, even to the point of having dark circles under his eyes. But on the morning of the fourth day, Echizen Nanjiro yawned and announced at a press conference that he was retiring.

Jirokichi Suzuki suddenly felt dizzy and was almost hospitalized for a stroke.

At that time, Suzuki Shiro and Suzuki Tomoko were busy flying around the world. Suzuki Ayako regularly went to live with her fiancé to cultivate their relationship. Because Sonoko was "mentally retarded", even though there was a nanny, the Suzuki family still insisted that at least one blood-related adult should accompany the second girl.

So apart from playing, Uncle Suzuki's main responsibility is actually to look after the garden at home.

Suzuki Jirokichi really loves his children, but he is also a very self-centered person. So in the early days, his way of looking after his children was to bring Suzuki Sonoko along to become fans of Echizen Nanjiro. Later on...

Didn’t Nanjiro retire and run away to America after a disagreement later on?

Uncle Suzuki was so angry that veins on his forehead were throbbing. He vowed to go to the United States to bring him back, and wait for him to come to his senses and continue to win glory for the country!

——In order to fulfill his responsibility of "taking care of the child", he took the seven-year-old Yuanzi with him before boarding the plane.

Because her chuunibyou symptoms began to improve at the age of four, Sonoko actually has a very clear memory of that period.

Before boarding the plane, her uncle took him to visit a family, and tried to persuade the teacher who was respected by the "samurai" Nanjiro, to go with him to find the "lost lamb", by appealing to their emotions and reasoning with them.

When his earnest persuasion failed, he immediately tried to use threats and inducements.

The teacher who taught me was named Ryuzaki.

My uncle's goal was to let Echizen Nanjiro win glory for the country, so naturally he would not use any force. As a result, he dragged on in the United States for several months without seeing any results.

During that period, the first thing he did when he got up early every morning was to scold Echizen Nanjiro for having "no sense of national responsibility". After brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth, he would scold him, "What kind of man is it to desert at the critical moment of battle?" When he sat at the dining table to prepare to eat, he would complain again that he was so angry that he was full of anger.

After breakfast, Zhengyi straightened his expression, but still held his breath and continued to talk with Echizen Nanjiro.

Yuanzi went with him, carrying a box of biscuits.

Because Suzuki Jirokichi is a sponsor and has provided various kinds of help to Samurai during his career. Moreover, many of these things were done out of his so-called "responsibility to cultivate talents for the country" mentality. He just gives without asking for anything in return, and that is not selfless enough.

Not only could Echizen Nanjiro not avoid him, but even though he was annoyed to the point of having a headache, he was still too embarrassed to argue with him.

After almost three months of awkward chatting, Mr. Warrior couldn't stand it anymore and told him the truth, saying that he had found something more meaningful to do than continue playing tennis.

Suzuki Jirokichi asked with a dark face: "What do you want to do?"

Echizen Nanjiro then pointed to the corner of the living room, where on a navy blue cotton carpet, Suzuki Sonoko was holding a large white rag doll, sitting cross-legged and eating biscuits seriously.

The Echizen family's youngest son, who is not even two years old, has a silicone tennis racket sitting on his butt. He is using his palm, which is not much bigger than a rice dumpling, to pick up a bright yellow ball.

He slapped the ball and it rolled away. When it rolled to the foot of the garden, she kicked it back. The little boy with cat eyes stared at the ball, and when the ball rolled back to his hand, he slapped it again.

It's a repetitive cycle, extremely boring.

Suzuki Jirokichi thought this was extremely unreliable.

——You are obviously in your prime, why do you take care of your child if you don’t play well?

——It will take at least fifteen or sixteen years for him to grow up and play basketball!

Is it possible that Japanese tennis will remain at zero on the international stage for the rest of this period?

He left with a dark face that day.

Suzuki Sonoko was yawning in the car, not knowing why, and listened to her uncle's complaints without quite understanding what was going on. Later she realized that the main reason that made him so angry and had a headache seemed to be the little thing that hit the ball on her legs every day!

When they arrived at the Suzuki family's villa in the United States, the uncle covered his head and went to take antihypertensive drugs. Only Miss Suzuki Sonoko, who had an IQ of only seven years old but whose logic was already different from that of ordinary people, decided to solve this problem for her uncle.

For example, stealing the child.

Of course, the plan to steal the child did not succeed. When she was seventeen, she needed a driver to kidnap a normal person, let alone want to kidnap a two-year-old at the age of seven.

Ryoma Echizen is not a crybaby. They have been playing tennis together for several months. When Sonoko tried to pull him, he didn't struggle. He held his tennis ball in one hand and let the girl pull him with the other hand, following her step by step.

Because the back seat of the car was quite high, the driver had to carry Ryoma Echizen into the car.

Echizen Rinko was standing in the courtyard hanging clothes. From a distance, she shouted with a bright smile, "Be careful! Come back soon!"

Yuanzi was very worried at that time.

She took the ball from Longma and sighed at it: "What should I do..."

The two-year-old warrior struggled to stand up and reach the ball, but was stuck by the straps of the toddler seat. He stretched his arms out and shouted short phrases like "That's Ryoma's."

Sonoko returned the ball to him, kissed the little boy on the forehead, and said bitterly, "Why isn't your mother worried? Why don't they love you so much? If this is the case, even if I secretly ship you back to Japan, your father won't come back to you..."

The soft childish voice was so full of emotion that the driver in the front seat couldn't help but burst out laughing. He thought to himself, you took the child out so openly, but do you really think you are a child stealer?

Even if they wanted to steal the child, they should have asked Master Jiroyoshi to do it. He could just take this child who inherited excellent genes away and raise him well. It would definitely be better than sulking now, right?

Unfortunately, although Suzuki Jirokichi was very self-centered, he had no intention of committing a crime.

So, after Echizen Ryoma "played" at Suzuki's house until dinner time, he was "transported" back by the driver under Sonoko's regretful gaze.

Just two days after Suzuki Sonoko's fishing plan failed, Suzuki Jiro Yoshimoto's bad temper reached its critical point. When Sonoko woke up in the morning, they had already boarded the plane home.

Uncle Suzuki really irritated Echizen Nanjiro this time, and he was so angry that he was ready to throw the ball away.

Why bother doing scientific research and being a scientist!

If there is no one left in the Japanese tennis world, I will do it myself!

In this way, Mr. Jirokichi Suzuki, who was 62 years old at the time, embarked on the path of a professional tennis player.

He had plenty of money to find the best coach, but among all the old coaches in Japan, only one star like Echizen Nanjiro could be trained. So the stubborn old man firmly believed that only Echizen Nanjiro was a reliable coach.

So after he came back from the United States, he tried to poach Echizen Nanjiro's tennis coach to be his personal trainer.

Then he was politely declined by his 50-year-old coach.

The coach who rejected their family was the same one named Ryuzaki.