Chapter 191 Tomorrow's Blossom

Along the way, Matsuda Jinpei drove the car as if it could take off at any time.

After passing several roads, leaving all the prosperous shadows of Tokyo behind the car, he finally saw the shadow of the town.

It was a very peaceful place, not big, and all the houses and fields could be seen standing next to the higher road. Hagiwara Kenji got out of the car, looked around first, and said, "The car can only be parked here, there is no road inside."

"If you take the train, it will probably take more than 40 minutes to get there." Date Ko got out of the car and stretched his waist, and heard a series of clicking sounds during the movement.

After Toru Amuro came out of the hospital, he was taken back to the cafe by the three men to work. The public security officer, who held multiple positions, knew that it was impossible for him to go to the orphanage with them in public. In the end, Matsuda Jinpei, Hagiwara Kenji and Date Kou came out. Halfway through the walk, they brought along a newly disguised Morobushi Kagemitsu.

This time they didn't forget about him.

"Let's go to the store and buy something first?" The public security officer, whose eyes still had the old color after the disguise, looked around and suggested.

They worked all night and hurried to the hospital to see Kasugawa Shugo in the morning. Now that they have relaxed a little, they feel hungry. However, the few people did not have the intention to sit down in the store and eat slowly. They were just anxious to get to the only welfare home in the town. Hagiwara Kenji looked around and said, "Let's find a store for takeout...how about that one?"

The few people looked at the voice and saw many stores on both sides of the path not far away. The police officer with semi-long hair was pointing to an old store in the middle, which was simply decorated. There were a few new-looking glass cabinets at the door, which contained several old-fashioned snacks. Further inside was a machine for making Taiyaki, and you could feel the faint heat when you got close.

Yi Dahang nodded. At this moment, they didn't really care what to eat as long as they could fill their stomachs. Seeing that the others also nodded in agreement, the man walked into the store and greeted everyone. Soon, an old man came out from the semi-open kitchen at the back.

Although he is an old man, the store manager who looks to be in his sixties looks very energetic. With a sweat towel draped over his shoulders, he greeted, "What would you like to eat, guests? Our signature beef sukiyaki, the beef was freshly slaughtered this morning."

"No, we want to buy some takeout." Morofushi Kagemitsu's gaze lingered on the 'Sukiyaki' sign hanging in the store for a moment, and he pointed to the snacks under the glass cover, "I'll eat this, what about you guys?"

"I want this. Hey, Hagiwara, what do you want to eat?" After shouting for a long time without anyone answering, Matsuda Jinpei turned around impatiently, only to see that his childhood friend had wandered into the room at some point. His tall stature seemed a little cramped in the small store, and he didn't know what he saw, but his whole demeanor sank.

"......What are you looking at?"

The black curly-haired police officer took a few steps to take a look. At the back, there was a very old message board with many words written on it. Many of them were rubbed out, making the board look a bit dirty. However, the people in the store were reluctant to wipe it off, so there were many words crowded on it.

It was too troublesome to find the target on it. Just when Matsuda Jinpei was about to ask, Hagiwara Kenji, who had been silent, stretched out his hand and pointed at the lower position, indicating that he should look.

The black curly-haired police officer frowned and moved a little closer. He saw a line of very old and small words at the position he pointed just now. The characters were round like a child, but they already had the shadow of the future handsomeness.

[Happy New Year, peace and health.

Thank you for the snacks sent by the store manager uncle last time. ——Asuka Kiri]

This sentence is consistent with the calm and serious character of the white-haired boy. Even the signature is different from the casual blessing next to it. Instead, he wrote his name seriously. However, there is an arrow under the word "dim sum". The direction of the arrow is a string of handwriting that is obviously from another person.

[Super delicious!!!]

Next to it is a small smiley face, and a little further back, another obviously more stable handwriting followed by a sentence [Thank you uncle]. Almost at a glance, you can tell who these two notes are from.

Matsuda Jinpei moved his eyes a little to the side and saw a small signature under Asuka Kiri's previous words.

It was the winter of ten years ago.

Seeing the two standing in front of the handwriting board, Morobushi Kagemitsu and Date Kou, who were still in front of the store, quickly felt something was wrong and walked towards the handwriting board. The store manager just thought that they were outsiders who were interested in the decoration in the store full of messages from old customers. With a smile on his face, he turned out the batter and red bean paste for making taiyaki and heated up the pot.

On the other side, facing the messy message board in front of them, several policemen searched it carefully as if it were some kind of criminal evidence.

"Here is one." Morobushi Kagemitsu said, and with the advantage of his position, he quickly found another familiar handwriting next to it. There was a relatively straight handwriting mark at the height of his chest, and the handwriting below was very floating.

[Grown taller! ! ! ]

[Just five centimeters. ]

Kenji Hagiwara stretched out his hand, his fingertips lingered on the panel for a moment, and then quickly withdrew his hand as if he was afraid of erasing the handwriting. From this line of words, I thought of the white-haired boy who had his height measured, with helplessness on his face as he wrote these words that were much more stable than his brother's. There was

another line of words below this line, which was also full of helplessness and smiles.

[You are too excited]

Several people stood for a long time and found no less than ten traces. The signatures spanned several years. There were three people who measured height alone. The time span was less than two years. The boy in the growth period grew more than ten centimeters taller. The one with a brisk handwriting would write a long string next to the scratch every time, and he seemed happier than he was growing taller.

The content of each place is different. After going to the amusement park, some people sighed about the hot summer and the crowds. Most of them were greetings for holidays. The only thing in common is that almost every place has the handwriting of three people. Even if there are one or two places with two people's notes, there will be another person mentioned on them.

The vivid handwriting spread from more than ten years ago to seven years ago. In the past seven years, it may be because they moved to Beika Town, so there is little writing on the panel.

Several people looked at it one by one, and until then, they really felt that there were many fragments of Kasugawa Shugo from a period they had never seen in this town.

"Guests, your Taiyaki is ready." The manager, who was sweating from the heat of the stove, put the fresh Taiyaki into a white oil paper bag next to it, and then put it in a bag with the store logo printed on it. He called out, and finally made the people crowded in the store come back to their senses.

"Thank you

, boss." Seeing that the people paid but did not leave in a hurry, but stood in front as if they had something to ask, the manager quickly wiped his sweaty forehead with a towel and said, "Is there anything else for the guests?"

"It's like this, a few of us are here to help a friend get something, but the road here is a bit difficult to walk on." Zhu Fu Jingguang blinked, as if he had completely forgotten that he could see the entire town and the conspicuous welfare home when he got off the car before, and lied with his eyes closed, "Excuse me, how do I get to the welfare home in the town?"

"Welfare home?" The store manager blinked, stopped what he was doing, looked at a few people suspiciously, and felt that they didn't seem like bad people, but still asked, "Why do you want to get something there?"

"Our friend lived in an orphanage when he was young. He mentioned in a previous chat that he left something his family left for him in the orphanage, but he was too busy with studies and work to come back and get it. We happened to be here on a business trip today, so we thought of helping him get it back." Hagiwara Kenji quickly understood what his friend from the same period meant, and quickly added, "You can clearly see the orphanage from the other side of the highway, but who knew that you couldn't find the direction once you walked into the town."

"So that's how it is." The store manager heard this, and most of his doubts were resolved. He smiled and waved to the few people, "Just follow this road straight in, and turn right after the second intersection. The orphanage has built a new building in recent years, so it's still easy to find."

"Thank you, uncle." Hagiwara Kenji smiled and asked casually, "Uncle, are you familiar with the orphanage? If we want to get something, do we have to visit the director of the orphanage first?"

"Yes, the director's office is easy to find. She does a lot of things herself. You can find her by knocking on the door of the orphanage." After answering this question, he responded to the first question, "The children in the orphanage often come to my place to eat. When the chef of the orphanage is on leave, I will go to help cook, so I am familiar with him... Excuse me, what is the name of your friend."

Matsuda Jinpei frowned, but did not give a direct answer. He looked at Hagiwara Kenji next to him and changed the topic, "Most people changed their names after leaving the orphanage. It's not clear if you say their names. His hair is curly, and..."

"Is it... the one with chestnut hair and round eyes?" The manager said the rest of the words hesitantly with just an adjective. Several people's eyes lit up and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, it's him."

"I remember his name was Kasuga... I forgot his name a little, but I still remember his appearance. That kid came here often." The store manager smiled, because this familiar person was the link, and the more he looked at the people in front of him, the closer he felt.

"Did he come with the other two?" Zhufu Jingguang asked.

"No."

The few people were stunned for a moment, and none of them expected this answer.

"He often comes alone. He comes back from doing odd jobs outside. At that time, only our store was still open. He would come to buy snacks that were not sold out today, and rest on the table for a while, and then leave again."

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