Mizuide Yoshiko's mental state was quite unstable, especially when she saw her own paintings. Tanizaki Naomi and Hinata Hajime had to send her to the hospital. However, when Tanizaki Naomi tried to inform Mizuide Yoshiko's mother, she was rejected. Her mother claimed that Mizuide Yoshiko was crazy and she would never take care of a madman.

Her brows were tightly wrinkled, and she only reacted when she saw Hinata Hajime. Tanizaki Naomi forced a smile at Hinata Hajime.

"I'm sorry for making Mr. Hinata run all this way. Please let me accompany Yoshiko from now on."

"What about school?"

"It's okay, I'm taking a leave." Naomi Tanizaki sat on a chair next to the ward with a smile on her face, "I have good grades, the teacher won't make things difficult for me."

Hinata Hajime was a little worried, "Can you really do this alone?"

"Yes." Tanizaki Naomi nodded seriously, "Thank you very much, Mr. Hinata. Just leave this to me."

Hinata Hajime glanced into the ward and saw Mizuide Yoshiko had fallen asleep, but even in sleep there was an expression of pain that was hard to suppress on her face, as if the girl was crying in the dark even in her sleep. Tanizaki Naomi followed Hinata Hajime's gaze and when she saw Mizuide Yoshiko, there was a little heartache in her eyes.

"Ryoko is from a single family. Her father died early, and her mother and she have never had a good relationship, so she can be said to have grown up alone." Tanizaki Naomi smiled bitterly, "Sometimes I think that Yoshiko likes the teacher in the painting class because she lacks the love of the elders, so she can't help but be attracted to male elders who are friendly to her."

"It's not love, it's just desire."

If Mizuide Yoshiko is given a little more time, she will definitely be able to get over this relationship. Even crying is no problem. Mizuide Yoshiko is a strong enough person. She will wake up after crying enough.

However, when she was sad and desperate, she saw the Mouse City.

One cannot make decisions when one is emotionally unstable, because emotions will lead people to take more extreme actions. Therefore, under the stimulation of emotions, Mizuide Yoshiko chooses to enter the Rat City and abandon this secret in the Rat City.

When the abandoned memory is stimulated again, the obsession will return double.

"There is definitely more than one person who has abandoned the secret like Yoshiko, and there may be others who have fallen into negative emotions because of this. Mr. Hinata, please take care of it."

Naomi Tanizaki bowed seriously to Hinata Hajime.

After saying goodbye to Naomi Tanizaki, Hinata Hajime left the hospital. He was more determined than before to resolve this matter. This desperate incident had not yet developed to the most terrible point, but it had caused pain to many people, and most of the victims were even high school students.

Since it is an urban legend in high school, I have to go to the high school to ask. Fortunately, there are not many high schools in Yokohama, so even if I ask one by one, I can finish the investigation today.

So, Hinata Hajime traveled through the major universities in Yokohama throughout the day. Due to the popularity of the Armed Detective Agency, the principals and teachers of the schools were very polite and answered all the questions Hinata Hajime asked. They even found a few well-informed students to provide clues.

After thanking the principal and the students who provided clues, Hinata Hajime is on his way back to the detective agency.

[Sure enough, Mouse City is not widely circulated in the urban legends of the school, but it is unique among those urban legends because of its authenticity.]

So far, almost every school has students who claim to have encountered the Rat City. Some students ran away out of fear, while others went in to take a look. Those who have been in said that it was a dark warehouse inside. When the light was turned on, there was a hole facing the wind. They could tell their secrets in there, and there were papers and pens on the table next to them.

The student said that as long as you sign your name on it, the secret you just told will be cleared.

Not many people wrote their names on it, and when they forgot the secret, they all forgot their experience of entering the Rat City. However, there were indeed a few people who were discovered to have entered the Rat City.

"After all, some secrets are secrets to the parties involved, but I don't know how many people know them secretly." The man with glasses who provided the clue showed an awkward smile, "However, it is because of such people that we know that the secret clearing that Rat City said was not what we thought."

Mouse City does not change experiences, it only erases the memories of the people involved.

【There is no source.】

[Yes, we can't find the source of the Rat City transmission.] Hinata Sou sighed, [The Despair Fragment must have merged with the host to cause trouble, we have to find the source.]

However, no school could provide the earliest time when the news of Rat City spread. All of them said that they didn't know when the news started to spread. By the time they realized it, it seemed that the whole school was talking about Rat City. Some students even wanted to make an appointment to search for Rat City together and then exchange secrets in Rat City.

Unfortunately, people who are not truly suffering from a secret will never encounter Mouse City.

We need to find more people to understand the situation.

At this moment, Kamiya Izuru glanced behind him and saw a high school student in school uniform looking at him quietly from behind a tree. She had a knotted look on her face and seemed to not know what to do.

【Chuang, there is someone behind.】

[Is there anyone here?] Hinata Sou turned around and looked back. He was now on a crowded street, right at a traffic light intersection. There were at least seven or eight people behind him, if not a dozen.

But Hinata Hajime quickly noticed the girl in school uniform. Hinata Hajime was not that stupid. It was not yet time for high school students to get out of school. A high school student in school uniform looked a little strange no matter how you looked at him. Moreover, the girl immediately dodged when her eyes met Hinata Hajime's, and finally clenched her fists as if she had made up her mind.

She walked up to Hinata Hajime, her eyes full of nervousness, not even daring to look at him, "…Um, are you here to investigate Rat City?"

This posture reminded Hinata Hajime of Sinki.

"Yes." Hinata Sou lowered his voice after regaining consciousness. "What's your name? Do you know what's going on? Don't be afraid. I will believe you."

The girl's face turned red. She kept fiddling with the hem of her skirt with her hands, and her fingers turned slightly white from the effort.

"Please, please help Midori!"

The girl mustered up her courage, but because she was so nervous her mind went blank and what she said was incoherent and even a little strange.

"Well, I'm sorry! Midori is so pitiful. Please help Midori. I'm willing to do anything you ask me to do. Please!" The girl started crying. "I haven't seen Midori for a long time. I'm sorry. I'm so worried about her!"

Looking at the onlookers around him, Hinata Hajime gave an awkward smile.

"Okay, no problem, stop crying, how about we go somewhere else to talk?"

…

In a private room in the cafe, Hinata Hajime handed the drink in his hand to the girl opposite who was still sobbing. Regardless of why there were other drinks in the cafe, Hinata Hajime felt a little worried when he saw the crying girl.

He never knew how to comfort a crying girl.

"Are you feeling better?" Hinata Hajime asked cautiously, "Would you like some water?"

"I'm sorry, I can't stop." The girl covered her face, trying hard to suppress her crying, and finally she managed to hold back her tears.

Seeing that the girl finally stopped crying, Hinata Hajime breathed a sigh of relief, "Who is Midori you are talking about?"

"Miyo is my friend." The girl held onto her school uniform tightly and didn't let go. Her voice was as small as a mosquito. "My name is... Yuki Tomikawa, and Miyo's last name is Chida."

From the girl's intermittent narration, Hinata Sou finally understood why the girl followed him here.

Yuki Tomikawa and Miyo Chida were both students at the previous high school, but their lives were not as good as those of ordinary high school students. Their families all had some problems. Miyo Chida had no mother, and she moved from the countryside, so she became the target of cyber violence.

There is no reason for malice. The fact that they are different from others is the reason why other students dislike them.

They were often beaten, their homework books were torn up, they were forced to do things they didn't want to do, and they were even locked in the gymnasium warehouse at night. The teachers ignored them and their parents just told them to be patient. Their lives were very hard, and at times like these, the two of them were each other's comfort.

But one night, Chida Miyo suddenly came to find Tomikawa Yuki with injuries all over her body. She asked Yuki: Have you heard of the Rat City?

Yuki Tomikawa had no idea what Rat City was. She was extremely afraid of rats and was shocked when she heard the name Rat City.

Seeing Yuki Tomikawa's frightened eyes, Chida Midori smiled at her, then told her that she was going to Mouse City, where she would no longer suffer endless bullying, and asked Yuki Tomikawa if she wanted to go with her.

Yuki Tomikawa was frightened. Not only did she not want to go, she also didn't want Chida Midori to go. However, she was completely unable to stop Chida Midori.

Since then, Chida Midori has disappeared, and the legend of Mouse City has gradually spread to major universities.

"I couldn't find Midori, and no one was at her home. I heard that Midori's father had passed away. I started to wonder if she had left, and then I heard the rumors about Rat City." Tomikawa Yuki's face turned pale. "Once, those people bullied me again and forced me to go to Rat City. They also locked me in the school, saying that Rat City would only appear at night."

"That day, I finally climbed out of the school window and saw the sign of Mouse City." Tomikawa Yuki covered her face with her hands, tears streaming from her fingers. "I don't know why, but I always think I can hear Midori's voice, and she always tells me to hurry up."

"Miyo, she must be in Rat City."

Hinata Hajime leaned back in his chair, picked up his coffee and took a sip, trying hard to digest the conversation he had just had with Tomikawa Yuki.

[If what she said is true, then Chida Miyo's disappearance should have occurred before all the victims we know about, and none of the victims are missing.]

【The credibility is very high. 】

【I think so too. 】

Hinata Hajime looked at Tomikawa Yuki who was still crying across from him.

A girl who was so scared of strangers, who was bullied at school, and whose every move was like a frightened little animal, but even so, she dared to ignore the teacher and run out of the school at this time, following behind Hinata Hajime and forcing herself to talk to him.

Just to save my friends.

Hinata Hajime was willing to believe her.