64 Chapter 64
◎The haunted house and his disappearance◎
Chapter 64 [Haunted House and His Disappearance]
There were small groups of people of various sizes on the road during the holidays. The three-person group that Sayuki Agatsuma was in was just an ordinary one judging by the number of people.
It’s just that the three girls are beautiful in their own way, and they attract the attention of passers-by from time to time.
Nanatsuki Koshimizu has neat short hair, more than a year of detective career in high school and experience in managing my wife's family business in southern Japan, which makes her stylish and capable.
Kana Mizuguchi possesses a uniquely Fukuoka-inspired aura. While sporting a youthful, girl-next-door hairstyle and a forest-style wardrobe that harmoniously blends urban and natural elements, she possesses the boldness and warmth of Fukuoka's people. Her straightforward personality is evident in the brief time we spend together.
My wife, Sayuri, was the most reserved of them all. She was used to being surrounded by beauty, and clothes without sparkling decorations looked too plain. She worried that her face would be dull without bright colors.
In fact, she is still beautiful without makeup, but she needs to be appreciated from a different angle.
Her eyebrows and eyes are pure, and her pronounced double eyelids make her eyes appear large and bright. Unlike the hard-to-focus look she gets when wearing cosmetic contact lenses, the real her is like a deer surviving in the forest, lively and agile.
Her tall height makes her the tallest among the three. If she looks straight ahead, she can see the tops of 80% to 90% of the heads of people on the street.
If this trio were seen on any other day, it might have attracted some attention. But these days, it happened to be a holiday, and even in Japan, which has long been plagued by concerns about its declining birthrate and aging population, there were too many people traveling.
So they attracted some attention, but not much.
My wife Sayuri also reflected on whether it was because of the large number of activities related to my wife's company and community in the past few days that made working people and stay-at-home people develop the habit of paying attention to passers-by.
Other habits may cost money and effort, but this habit can make money.
“What’s today’s schedule…?” Agatsuma Sayuri was called out directly without knowing where they were going.
Nanatsuki Koshimizu pointed at the Haido Shopping Plaza from a distance and said, "Of course, shopping!"
Who would go to Tokyo just for shopping?
If it's them, then it's okay.
If there was some unfamiliarity between Agatsuma Sayuri and the other two people at first, it quickly disappeared during the shopping process.
Seeing the notice posted on the road looking for Keimitsu Morofushi, Agatsuma Sayuri's mood gradually improved.
"I'm not the only one worried about Jingguang." She thought so, trying to cheer herself up.
Regardless, Morobushi Kagemitsu plays a crucial role in the main storyline, influencing the relationship between Rei Furuya and Shuichi Akai. In this world, aside from her and the Agatsuma family, who are inherently uncertain, no one else can change his fate.
"Sister Sayuri, come quickly——"
It was only a short delay before Mizuguchi Kana, who was walking in front, raised her hand and called her.
At this moment, my wife Sayuri was shocked to realize that in just half a day, they had already switched from addressing each other by their unfamiliar surnames to addressing each other by their first names. She quickly responded and took a few quick steps to catch up with the two people in front.
They didn't notice that when Mizuguchi Kana called out "Sayuri", a pair of eyes were cast towards them.
=
Trying on clothes and buying souvenirs, the whole morning slipped away like quicksand.
By the time the three of them, feeling a bit hungry, decided to find a restaurant to sit down, eat, and rest, it was already 1 p.m. By this time, Sayuri, my wife, had gotten used to her relaxed and carefree state, chatting and laughing with her new friends without worrying about her appearance.
"Wow, I've been wandering around for too long and missed the deadline."
It wasn't just the three of them who missed mealtime. There were many more people than expected who had spent too long shopping in the mall or had gone out too late and were only able to eat now.
It seemed that there were always people lining up in front of every restaurant.
"How about we just have a quick meal at a street shop?" suggested Kana Mizuguchi.
In fact, she was used to the plain store designs in her hometown, and she was a little uncomfortable seeing the luxurious stores in Tokyo.
Nanatsuki Koshimizu flatly refused: "No, you've finally come to Tokyo, so of course you have to try the local flavors!"
As the old saying goes, the guest should follow the host's wishes, but in reality, neither Nanatsuki Koshimizu nor Kana Mizuguchi can be considered "hosts".
Even my wife, Sayuri, lacks any sense of ownership. There's nothing she can do about it; she has no sense of being Japanese.
Speaking of food, though, after a moment's thought, Agatsuma Sayuri decided she had a place she could recommend. It wasn't too far away: the milk tea shop where she used to work. It was lunchtime, so surprisingly, not many people were buying drinks there.
Because this shop is famous for milk tea, even though the manager retained the previous coffee and baking business, there were few customers at noon.
Recently, the baking business has been transformed into a family restaurant, adding many home-cooked dishes for Tokyo residents.
Although it's not well-known, it tastes pretty good. At least my wife, Sayuri, who has a Chinese stomach, found it very suitable for her taste.
It just so happened that my wife Sayuri could also go meet the store manager and Kawakami Mika. I don't know if it was because she was too tired from work, but my wife Sayuri never saw Kawakami Mika in the activity room of my wife's family.
"Where does Sayuri-san work part-time? I want to go!"
This idea not only agreed with Kana Mizuguchi's opinion, but also allowed her to visit where my wife Sayuri worked. The girl immediately agreed.
Nanatsuki Koshimizu couldn't seem to find any reason to object—there were long queues in front of the restaurants along the entire commercial street—so she could only nod reluctantly.
However, after Mizuguchi Kana held her arm and told her various interesting stories, she quickly forgot about this resentment.
My wife Sayuri smiled kindly beside them, with the mentality of an old aunt who watched children quarrel and make up.
The milk tea shop was just across the street from the dorm where my wife Sayuri first lived, and only a block away from the house she rented for the second time. To describe it as "very close" was absolutely true.
In Tokyo, a job within an hour's commute is considered "close." For someone like her, who only needs to walk for five or fifteen minutes, it's a perfect commute.
After working here for a long time, my wife Sayuri has come to know many familiar faces.
But for some reason today, when she greeted several people, they either didn't respond or looked confused. This made my wife Sayuri withdrawn, and she didn't know how to explain the two new friends she was with.
After repeating this several times, she stopped greeting acquaintances and just smiled and nodded. If the other party reacted, that was great; if not, she would just consider it politeness.
However, no one seemed to react until they reached the door of the milk tea shop.
My wife Sayuri volunteered to buy milk tea, while the other two went into the restaurant, found a seat and ordered first.
Mika Kawakami was also at work today, and Agatsuma Sayuri greeted her happily, and after she responded enthusiastically, she started to place her order.
After placing three orders and checking out, the cashier complimented my wife Sayuri on her good taste while giving the change and ordered the store's treasure milk tea.
Treasure milk tea exists for my wife Sayuri. She was about to explain when she found that the person chatting with her was a colleague she knew in the store.
She hasn't come to work properly for a while, but the staff in the store haven't changed much. They are all familiar faces. Logically, they should all know the origin of this milk tea.
My wife Sayuri was puzzled when she saw the partially reflective floor-to-ceiling windows in the restaurant, and her smile froze.
In the half-transparent, half-hazy floor-to-ceiling window glass, there was her reflection. She had forgotten that she had gone out without makeup...
Maintaining an awkward smile, my wife Sayuri pretended not to know anyone in the store, took the prepared milk tea, and rushed into the restaurant as if fleeing in panic.
She hardly knew what she had eaten, and was only concerned with preventing people in the store from seeing her face.
At this moment, my wife Sayuri deeply regretted her decision to have lunch here.
Fortunately, Nanatsuki Koshimizu and Kana Mizuguchi praised the food here and had a wonderful time.
Perhaps sensing my wife Sayuri's discomfort, the two of them ate quickly. After finishing their meal, they didn't even linger in the shop, but simply walked out with their half-finished milk tea in their hands.
After walking some distance away from the milk tea shop and making sure that the staff couldn't see her unless they stuck their heads out, Agatsuma Sayuri breathed a sigh of relief. She seemed to come back to life and began to introduce the surroundings to the two little friends beside her.
"...Come to think of it, this place is actually pretty close to the house I rented last time. I spent quite a bit of money on it back then, but it ended up being haunted, so I had to move again after only six months."
Even bustling cities have ordinary residential areas, and for visitors from Fukuoka, the ordinary streets of Tokyo are not so novel. Agatsuma Sayuri casually introduced herself to the haunted rental house and described her own haunted experience.
This actually caught Koshimizu Nanatsuki's attention, "Haunted? How could there be ghosts in this world?"
She said that she had to go see what a ghost looked like, and then she walked towards the room that my wife Sayuri pointed to.
"Let's not go... Nanatsuki!" Mizuguchi Kana was a little scared. She wanted to pull Nanatsuki Koshimizu, but her friend pulled her upstairs.
"Sayuri~"
So the high school student pitifully asked for help from Agatsuma Sayuri, and the hopeful look in his eyes was no different from that of a whimpering puppy.
Agatsuma Sayuri's heart was struck by that look, and she truly experienced the feeling of the "Hart Soft" emoticon pack.
"There's really no way..." Saying that there was no way, she reached out and grabbed Mizuguchi Kana, trying to give her some courage.
A one-person adventure became a one-to-two adventure.
Nanatsuki Koshimizu stopped at the door, hesitated for less than 0.1 second in front of the locked door, took out the hairpin from her pocket, and prepared to open the door.
My wife Sayuri quickly stopped her, "Don't bother, I have the key."
She took the key out of her pocket and handed it to Nanatsuki Koshimizu.
This is the property of my wife's family. The keys should have been returned to the landlord, but my wife Sayuri dragged her feet and the other party didn't say much.
"There's still some discarded furniture in the room from the move, so it's a bit messy..."
As the door lock clicked, the door opened lightly, revealing a dark room behind it.
As light shone in through the increasingly larger gap in the door, the scene at the entrance was revealed in front of the three girls.
As my wife Sayuri had said, it was a bit messy. A4 sheets of paper, for whatever purpose, and flyers forced from the mailbox were scattered on the floor.
Agatsuma Sayuri, who had lived here for a while, instinctively wanted to clean up. She squatted down and casually picked up a few pieces of paper, but she didn't expect to find a clear footprint under the picked up advertisement.
"Strange, has anyone been here?"
Nanatsuki Koshimizu, who wanted to go straight into the room, turned around and stopped Agatsuma Sayuri when she was about to reach out to pick up the advertising paper.
"Don't move!" As she said that, she also squatted down and carefully observed the shoe prints.
"The shoe prints belong to a man, injured..." She stood up and looked towards the corridor. "And, most likely, he hasn't left here."
【Author’s words】
The heroine: The haunted house, the missing him, the scared me and the adventurous others
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