26

At a table in the barbecue restaurant, Noel was sitting in pain, wondering if he was experiencing Mercury retrograde recently.

His mood could be said to have fallen from the clouds into the abyss. He never thought that he would meet Officer Hagiwara just when he came out to eat barbecue.

And because of the momentary jam caused by the shock, he was successfully led to his table by the other party.

"What a coincidence..." After a long silence, he responded awkwardly, then slowly came back to his normal state and asked:

"Uncle, why are you here?"

He asked while looking at the people at the table.

One was Officer Jinpei Matsuda, whom I had met twice before. He still had that lazy look, and his face always had a cold and stern temperament. He looked more like a gangster than me. The other one was strong and looked very decent. Although I had never seen him before, it was not difficult to guess who he was.

It should be Ida Kou, the only one among the five members of the police academy whom I have never met. It is worth mentioning that although the other four knew each other since childhood, Ida Kou has a girlfriend, and he is the only one.

"Let's have a meal together as buddies." Hagiwara Kenji had already asked the waiter to add a pair of bowls and chopsticks and placed them in front of Noel in an extremely natural manner.

"Just pick the one you like."

"This time?" Noel also knew that most people would go to sleep during this time.

"After all, it's not easy to date the squad leader." Hagiwara Kenji looked at Date Kou with a smile and said, "The detectives in the investigation department are too busy. Even if they have some time, they give it to their girlfriends."

"Is this the kid that Matsuda mentioned who always called Hagiwara uncle?"

Date Kou said this while laughing, successfully making Hagiwara's smile freeze. It was obvious that he was also a black-bellied type. After all, he was able to play together with the other four people who were eager to create chaos in the world.

"Squad leader, he even calls me uncle, what do you think he will call you?"

Hagiwara Kenji said with bad intentions, and his cocky look was somewhat silly, which made Matsuda Jinpei unable to bear to look at him. He tapped his friend with his chopsticks and successfully earned an accusing look from him.

Hagiwara Kenji rubbed his head, thinking that the child seemed to have never met Date Kou before, and quickly introduced him:

"Xiaokong, let me introduce you. You've met Xiaozhenping before. This is Yida Kou, our squad leader when we were in the police academy. We are close friends."

"Hello, Officer Ida." Noel felt like he had a social phobia. Why did he suddenly have to face this kind of déjà vu of meeting his relatives? He vaguely recalled a similar scene in the summer and imitated it clumsily.

"Good evening, I'm Sora Natsukawa, this year..."

Wait, Hagiwara Kenji is not my parent, and the person opposite is not my relative, why should I introduce myself, and who should I call Xiaokong?! Are we familiar with each other?

Seeing Hagiwara Kenji's eyes full of laughter, Noel stopped talking immediately and didn't want to say anything more.

"Why didn't you come with your brother?"

Kenji Hagiwara asked again, while using the serving chopsticks to pass the already grilled meat to Noel. After observing him, he was sure that the other person would not mind. After all, the contrast between his reserved and motionless appearance and the eager look when he looked at the meat was too funny, and he almost laughed out loud.

"Xiao Guang is at home. What's your business if I go out to find something to eat?" Noel looked at the meat on the chopsticks and put it into his plate, feeling a little confused. He had only eaten barbecued meat by himself before, and this was the first time he encountered such a situation. When the soft barbecued meat was illuminated by the dim light, the oily sheen on it looked like it was covered with a layer of holy clothes, and his eyes almost popped out.

This is for me, right?! He put it on my plate. This plate is mine, right? Then this piece of meat is also mine, right?!

After going through a series of questions and confirmations, Noel immediately picked up the chopsticks and swallowed the meat. The slight burnt surface did not affect the tender meat from bursting with juice in his mouth. His tongue was instantly wrapped in the fragrance, as if he had fallen into heaven.

tasty!

Noel's mind was filled with the word "two" and he chewed the meat carefully and swallowed it, then looked straight at Hagiwara Kenji.

"If you want to eat it, pick it up yourself."

Kenji Hagiwara looked at the other person's glowing eyes and said helplessly.

Noel quickly understood the meaning of this sentence, his eyes widened slightly, and then he picked up the chopsticks and entered the battlefield.

Noel's thinking is actually very simple, just like a wolf falling into the lion's territory. Naturally, he will not rashly compete with the other party for the prey. But if a lion shares the meat with him and says that it is not recommended to share the prey, he will definitely not be polite.

Obviously, for three young men in their prime and one growing teenager, the dinner table is a battlefield, and it soon becomes a comparison of how much they eat.

"Oh my god, Xiaokong, you eat so much, you're really at the age of growing up." Hagiwara Kenji was stunned. He found that Natsukawa Sora could eat as much as him and Matsuda, and maybe even the monitor.

"What the hell..." Noel had meat in his mouth and his speech was unclear. He could only wait until he swallowed the meat before speaking again:

"I haven't eaten properly all day."

"No wonder." Hagiwara Kenji easily accepted this explanation, "But you still have to eat in moderation, it's not good for your stomach."

"It doesn't matter. Men of this age have stomachs made of steel. They will be fine no matter what they eat!" Instead, Ida Hang patted Noel's shoulder happily. He had a very good impression of this young man with a big appetite. Then he skillfully handed him the freshly grilled meat. Seeing the boy's eyes light up instantly, he felt a special sense of accomplishment.

"Class leader, you are biased!" Kenji Hagiwara noticed the other party's actions and immediately started complaining until Matsuda stuffed the meat into Hagiwara's mouth.

[When you say you didn't eat well for a day, do you mean six steamed buns in the morning and four servings of pasta and three burgers at noon? ]

[Yeah, I ate in such a hurry that I didn’t even taste the food properly.]

Complaining in the mind does not affect eating, so Noel began to complain incessantly about Toru not leaving him time to eat properly in order to complete the task quickly.

[Are you so used to calling him names? ]

[After all, there aren't many people called that in the original book, so I got it! ]

[You really like to give people unique names.]

Whether it is the name Xiaohei, Xiaoguang or Tou, these are names that few people would use.

【This is quite different.】

Noel just said this and continued eating.

"Waiter, please give me some more beef." Seeing the empty plates on the table, Date Kou generously asked the boss to add more meat.

"You guys eat a lot of rice." The restaurant staff couldn't help but complain, but they also quickly told the kitchen to cut more meat.

"Ha ha ha ha."

While the barbecue was coming up, Hagiwara Kenji turned around and looked at Noel. His eyes suddenly became serious, which made Noel's heart skip a beat.

"But it's still suspicious that you're eating alone in this state."

Noel was eating so happily that he almost forgot about it. Soon, he felt the same look from Matsuda Jinpei across from him. He was looking at his clothes, as if he was being seen through by X-rays.

"You're dressed like this in the middle of winter and you haven't eaten much all day?" Apparently, Noel's casual remark was misunderstood and became favorable evidence to frame himself.

"I'm just out for a stroll..."

"Don't you have classes tomorrow? If you go out to eat at this time, it will be so late when you get home. Can you get up tomorrow morning?"

Hagiwara Kenji's tone was gentle, but his words hit home.

"Tomorrow is Saturday." Noel suddenly thought of the time and replied calmly, "So I can play tonight and sleep all day tomorrow."

He thought that his explanation was not reliable but not impossible to explain. However, he did not expect that the three people at the table became serious at the same time.

"Xiao Kong, you should be a high school student, right?" Yi Dahang asked first.

Noel nodded in confusion, after all, at his age, he was normally a high school student.

"We in Japanese high schools only have one day off a week, kid." Matsuda Jinpei added lazily with a smile on his face.

[Oh my god! I actually forgot that Japan had one day off a week before 2002! ]

As the name suggests, Japan now has six days of classes a week, with only Sunday off.

"It turns out that I still need to talk to your parents." Hagiwara Kenji spread his hands, looking helpless.

"No!" Noel denied it subconsciously, and then quickly added: "They are on a business trip recently."

"You live with your brother?"

"Yes." Noel did not deny this point. After all, this was a clear point in Xia Chuankong's identity.

"I was just about to say this, you're running away from home, right?" Matsuda Jinpei said with a rising tone at the end, seeming to be a little uncertain.

"How is that possible!" Only Noel refused to admit it.

"Then I need to call your guardian."

"What does it have to do with you?" Noel immediately became alert. After all, he couldn't find a ready-made person to pretend to be a guardian.

"We are the police. We have caught a kid who ran away from home and has been skipping classes for who knows how long. Of course we need to contact the parents."

"They are all on business trips abroad, so it's inconvenient."

At this point, Noel has already realized that this group of policemen with a strong sense of responsibility have no intention of letting him go.

What to do?

Noel couldn't explain why he, as a minor, was alone in such a situation, and the more he tried to cover it up, the more suspicious the other party became.

"Ding-a-ling--"

The phone suddenly rang, breaking the tense atmosphere.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" Kenji Hagihara asked, smiling and pointing at Noel's pocket.

There was only one person who would call at this time, and Noel made up his mind and quickly answered the call.

"Hey, Xiaoguang, don't worry about me, I'll be home soon!" Noel said as quickly as he could the moment the call was connected, fearing that the other party would say something wrong.

On the other side, Morobushi Jingguang, who had just breathed a sigh of relief because the other party answered the phone, suddenly heard the other party's words. He realized that the other party was talking to Xiachuan Guang using the identity of Xiachuan Kong. Before he had time to think about the other party's current situation, an extremely familiar voice suddenly rang out, causing him to almost drop the phone.

"Hello, is this little Hikaru Natsukawa? Your brother is with us police officers, don't worry about him, we will take him back later."