Chapter 24 Twenty-four Ghosts Behind

Toru Amuro once thought about what Akae Nazuki looked like in the eyes of others.

Because he was really curious about what kind of person could make a witch like Vermode mourn, make Kuroda Hei, who was accustomed to seeing death, feel guilty, and make an ordinary person willing to take risks and live as someone else for eight years for a promise that could not be fulfilled.

And now, from the mouth of Tsuda Atsushi, Amuro Toru gradually pieced together a shadow that lived in other people's memories.

Unlike the ghost behind him who always smiles brightly and innocently after a prank, the Chijiang Nayue in other people's memories always keeps people at a distance. Even if such a person smiles, it is often to achieve some purpose and he will not smile to anyone from the bottom of his heart.

Amuro Toru thought that this was probably because those people who could make the little devil smile sincerely were already dead.

According to other people, Akae Nazuki is cold, mysterious and elusive, but Amuro Toru does not think so.

In his eyes, Chi Jiang Na Yue is a childish and mischievous genius. She is always confident and outspoken, and has a strong desire to control her things. However, she actually has the ability to completely control others. She always has a plan B in hand, which is extremely dangerous.

In contrast to this seemingly effortless appearance, the other party's personality is particularly susceptible to straightforward language, which perfectly illustrates how to write the four words "high attack and low defense".

Of course, Toru Amuro knew that the so-called 'low defense' only applied to those recognized by Akae Nayue.

...Oh, now that I think about it, he has already been recognized?

Toru Amuro felt a strange sense of joy and a little pride in his heart.

Memories will constantly beautify the dead under the influence of time, so Toru Amuro knows very well that this dead boy has long been distorted in the memories of others, but is still alive in his reality.

His purpose of coming to Hokkaido has been achieved.

Unlike Toru Amuro, who concluded that Tsuda Atsushi was not lying and accepted the explanation without hesitation, Riko Kugi still seemed unwilling to believe that what Tsuda Atsushi said was the truth.

Or maybe she just didn't want to believe that someone like Chijiang Nayue would choose to die on her own initiative.

"Okay, I've told you all the secrets you want to know. Now it's your turn, Kuki." Tsuda Atsushi seemed to have recovered from his collapse and looked at Kuki Riko with a stern face, "Explain what I mean by 'feeling guilty for killing Akae-kun'?"

The red-haired actress froze, and gritted her teeth as she answered, "Who knew that the truth that your family had concealed for eight years was actually like this..."

Before she spoke, she glanced at Amuro Toru and found that the blond detective didn't seem to have any intention of leaving or avoiding her. She could only sigh and tell him what she knew.

"This detective boy should have known about our relationship from Da Jun, right? In high school, the four of us were in the same club. Except for Ling who was a year younger than us, the three of us were in the same class as Chijiang."

Kugi Riko still had the coat that the gentleman had lent Amuro Toru on her shoulders. She calmed down and explained their relationship to Amuro Toru: "Rei and I are good friends, and Tatsu-kun and I are in love. Tatsu-kun and Tsuda used to be neighbors."

"The four of us... or rather, you could hardly find someone in school who didn't admire Akae-san at the time." She shrugged, "Because of this, our relationship has always been very good. After Akae-san's death, things became a little tricky, but we still made an agreement to meet at Tsuda's hotel every year."

"Then, at the party two years ago, this guy got drunk for some reason." Kuki Riko said, pointing to the wall behind Amuro Toru, "Look, it's empty there now, right? In fact, there was a violin there until two years ago. It belonged to Akae."

Being cueed again, Akae Nazuki faced the strange gaze of Amuro Toru, twitched her mouth, and subconsciously floated back, moving a little away from Tsuda Atsushi who was collecting his relics, and lay back on top of Amuro Toru's head.

Tsuda Atsushi also looked a little uncomfortable: "That was left by Akae-kun in the old music room before he left. Later, his house was burned down, and the only thing left was the piano. Of course, I have to keep it well."

"Yeah." Kuki Riko returned to her sharp tongue and exposed him mercilessly, "You mean the party two years ago when you got drunk and cried and said 'I'm sorry, Nazuki-sama'? Did your Nazuki-sama know that you later played "Amazing Grace" on his piano while crying like sawing wood?"

…

Thanks, now I know.

Chijiang Nayue couldn't help but showed a disgusted expression.

He remembered that Tsuda Atsushi in the main world was not so outrageous. Could it be because he did not die in front of him when he was eighteen years old in the main world?

"The way you cried and said sorry was so shocking that we realized something was wrong. Even though you refused to tell us why and forgot everything after you woke up, we guessed that you were indeed related to the death of Chijiang."

Kuki Riko stroked her wrist with her fingers, looking dissatisfied: "Who told you to keep silent? As a crazy admirer of Akae, not only did you not attend his funeral, you also gave up the violin and returned to Hokkaido to inherit the family business after graduation. Every time we mentioned Akae, you looked like you were keeping a low profile."

Needless to say, after she explained it in such detail, Toru Amuro and Nazuki Akae suddenly understood what they were thinking at the time.

"If we had known earlier..." Kumu Li Ke gritted her teeth, "How could we have mistakenly thought that you were the one who killed Chijiang, and that's why you became like this... Dajun thought very close to it. He said that even if you didn't kill him, you must know that there was something strange about his death. In order to find out the truth, we made this plan."

"……plan?"

"Just like Dajun and I actually never broke up, the fight between Ling and I this afternoon was also acted out."

At this point, Kumu Li Ke no longer concealed the truth and readily admitted, "You know, Ling admires Chijiang just as much as you do. It should be said that she is the only one among the three of us who really thinks that you killed Chijiang."

At this point, she became anxious again: "It's just that Ling's plan clearly didn't include attacking Dajun, and that man seemed to be serious... Could he really be one of the men in black you saw eight years ago?"

"According to the time, the police should be here soon. Their target is me, and they are unlikely to attack Fujimiya and the others." Tsuda Atsuya became nervous and analyzed solemnly.

"...No." Kumu Li Ke's face turned a little pale. "Ling's disappearance was staged by her. We didn't plan to let your receptionist really call the police. According to the plan, he would have been knocked unconscious by Ling when he was going down the mountain."

He really shot himself in the foot.

Unlike the other two, Toru Amuro knew that the 'Black Label Whisky' was actually Vermouth in disguise.

Both He Lai Ling and Fujimiya Tatsuya were probably knocked down by Vermouth. Since that woman has defected to the FBI, she won't kill people casually, so they think they will be fine.

Chi Jiang Na Yue hummed and said lazily, "It's really okay. Bermode knows that they are my classmates. Even if I am not familiar with them, she will not kill them."

After all, there are still people in this world who remember Akae Nayue. Killing one is one less person. Amuro nodded imperceptibly to indicate that he understood, and then began to think about how to find He Lailing and the others before the two men called the police.

His cell phone suddenly vibrated. Amuro Toru paused, turned on the screen, and saw a new message on it.

[from: Bellmoto

rockery]

Amuro Toru narrowed his eyes, remembering that he had indeed seen a small garden with rockery behind the hotel when he checked out the location in the afternoon.

Ha, it seems that Bermode, who was observing outside, also realized that he knew she was here.

"About the man who took Fujimiya away, maybe I can help." Amuro Toru turned to the two and said, "In fact, he is related to the case I am investigating. I would like to ask you two not to call the police for the time being. I will bring them back."

Kugi Riko obviously doesn't trust Amuro Toru very much, but Tsuda Atsushi, who had unilaterally revealed the truth in the woods before, seemed to be thinking about something. He obviously thought that Amuro Toru was someone who was tracking down that mysterious organization.

He didn't understand the mysterious organization, but he knew that they were not able to fight against it. In response, Tsuda Atsushi looked frightened and looked at Amuro Toru seriously and asked, "Can you guarantee it?"

He received a gentle smile from the detective as he turned back before leaving the door: "I promise."

"Poor you, Atsushi, you got fooled by the lousy police." The young man behind him hung on Amuro Toru's shoulder and teased with a smile, "Why don't you just tell them that you're going on a date with a female celebrity? They won't tell anyone anyway."

Under the cover of night, Amuro Toru finally couldn't help but cover his face and uttered a small voice from between his teeth: "Don't tell horror stories."

He's dating Belmode? As if he didn't need to do this because of the "Kaluuya" in Manhattan, the little devil!

When they walked past the two rockery hills, the figure leaning against the tree became very conspicuous.

Still wearing a disguise mask, Vermouth looked up at Amuro Toru who was approaching with a smile, and asked in the voice of Black Label instead of her own, "You must have seen my face during your investigation, right?"

"Ah, yes." The intelligence officer's lips curled up, but there was no smile in his eyes. "I saw it in the death report. Bermode, you pretended to be a dead person and appeared in front of me. What do you want to talk to me about?"

"Shouldn't you know what I want to talk about, Bourbon?" Bermode reached out and tore off the mask, revealing a face that was favored by time and had no expression on it at the moment. "Why don't we talk first..."

"Where did you know the code name Kaluya?"