The brown skin worn by the years, the wood fibers that could not be bound to escape, formed a small forest of teeth and claws on the surface.

The old quartz clock wrapped in this grove, like the old man who will leave the world at any time, emits the broken sound of rotting wood pulling a cart.

The hollow mechanical sound echoed in the room.

There was neither Koga Mizuo nor Koga Shie.

In the quiet room, only Ziongzong, leaning over and standing, with the ancient machinery that can still make sound as a companion.

The small room, his figure cut thin, under the roof is impenetrable black, the floor tiles are paved with invasive cold.

In the corner, the cup noodle boxes stacked on the floor, built into a small mountain.

Around the mountain, there were disposable cans, sauces used as instant food mixes.

The amount of dust that clung to the floor made the footprints left after walking through it particularly conspicuous.

In addition to Ziongzong's footprints, there was a smaller, more scattered footprint.

Someone is living here, but what is happening here, can be called life?

-- No wonder, don't want to come back.

The sound of the quartz clock was a click-click-click, far from the lightness of the tick-tock.

In this room, except for the necessary compartment for the toilet, the bedroom, kitchen, and living room are all connected together.

Or maybe it's just that in this small space, these nominal spaces necessary for living are isolated, and there is no room to establish a name for them all.

But these mind-wearying thorns do not bring positive effects to the state of affairs.

There is nothing of note in this scattered space except an uncomfortable gray atmosphere.

--No, her school bag is here.

Mizuo's schoolbag remained open, lying on the floor.

Out of caution, Ziongzong inspected her bag anyway.

It was empty ...... except for a bag used to hold a camera.

Then, the scattered thoughts, began to parade in Ziongzong's mind.

Key points were highlighted in his brain, only, some relationships were not clear.

-- Koga Shie is undoubtedly disgusted with Mizuo as a burden on her life.

--And Mizuo, for her part, had no good feelings either.

--The ties that bind them together are anything but the cost of living.

Ziongzong's heart has a bold assumption.

---An organization is needed for such work as aid intercourse, and if the organization where Koga Shie is located has something to do with the previous missing children.

-- Yuuki was protecting the children, so she was on the opposite side of that organization, and Mizuo was trying to help Yuuki.

In Ziongzong's mind, the relationship between these individuals became clear all of a sudden, except for the two of them, Koga Shie and Koga Mizuo.

-- were they really hating each other?

Subjectively speaking, Ziongzong did not want it to be so.

But the world is never determined by the subjective consciousness of the individual, even if it is criticized as idealism.

Ziongzong set aside this point, what he needs to grasp at the moment is the people in this incident, the relationship of these people, which will help him sort out the chain of events and let him see clearly what will happen next.

If there is anything that can dominate the world without seeming too illusory, it is the prophecy that comes from wisdom.

The sunset outside the window continues to lengthen Ziongzong's shadow, urging him on.

The time is on the dial of the quartz clock, constantly departing.

He prioritized things in his mind, knowing that he could not procrastinate any longer because, at a time he did not know, at a place he did not know, he did not know what that capricious fellow, Mizuo, would do.

He was worried that that little girl did not know how to cherish herself.

Mood and reason are two completely separate areas, and although Ziongzong's mood was gushing lava, the gears of reason were turning unhurriedly. He was about to leave, but then he stopped.

--The unlocked door, the school bag thrown on the floor, the open zipper, the small footprints on the floor.

--Came back in a hurry, left in a hurry.

-- Mizuo was in a hurry to do something, time was short, but had to make a trip home, there were things that had to be done at home.

Ziongzong scanned the house again.

In addition to the camera thing, also need to find out more information from this room again.

So the newspapers scattered on the floor, the half-closed drawers, the swaying curtains, everything looked suspicious.

--No, it is easy to be misled by yourself in this preconceived state of mind.

What made the house gray and gloomy was a large amount of dust.

Objects that hadn't been used for a long time proclaimed their chastity with a gray veneer.

A nasty thought spread in Ziongzong's heart.

The cup-sided hill that rose from the ground struggled to block his steps.

Even so, on the kitchen table, Ziongzong saw the finger marks he didn't want to see.

-- that is to say.

The conclusion took on a life of its own in his mind, accompanying his ever-increasing pace. The railings of the iron staircase flew past behind Ziongzong, and the conclusion was grabbed by the throat of the enemy named Unknown.

--No, this path is not possible.

-- However, I still have chips.

The person who has insight into the rules of gambling is the player who is likely to win.

The world has never favored the lucky ones who instantly burst their luck, it is just a greed trap to bury people.

--Higashi-cho is four blocks away from here.

--It's a shame there's no bicycle.

Mizuo’s home, kitchen table, knife rack finger marks, as cruel as a branding iron in Ziongzong heart left an indelible worry.

Concentration of the spirit can make people temporarily forget about fatigue.

Like a race to walk through four blocks, the accumulated soreness in the calves gradually broke through the mental barrier, the pain from the flesh let the brain slow down its own rhythm.

--It's about time to find a place to change.

The reason why a person waitting the rabbit hit the stump itself is a fool is because it is an uncertain event whether the rabbit will hit the stump or not. On the contrary, if the rabbit is born to hit the stump of life, then the person who created the way of harvesting the rabbit, is the genius that future generations admire and envy.

And Ziongzong, after deep consideration, has decided to be this 'genius'.

Fifteen minutes later, the slim man named Itou Yoshihiro appeared in Akao's company.

"There's still something I can do, right? Today."

He leaned against the front desk with a frivolous attitude, a careless look that made the attendant sitting at the front desk frown in displeasure, but still put on a smile and told him about the work that still needed to be done today.

Today's job was to move the goods, and the large truck parked at the back of the company still had about half or so that had not been moved into the warehouse. Instead of immediately getting to work, Itou Yoshihiro looked around first.

He was the only one who was working, and the closed alleyway entrance, the one-sided open intersection, and the closed back door of the company were not considered safe for someone who needed to carry out a stealthy operation, but sometimes taking risks was necessary.

Itou Yoshihiro jumped into the van and opened a box located inside with swift movements.

Inside the box were office supplies filled to the brim.

After a moment of silence, he re-sealed the box and opened another box, two boxes, three boxes.

All with the same result.

--I was wrong?

Itou Yoshihiro carried two boxes of goods in one time and jumped off the truck and carried them into the warehouse.

--No, it's too early to tell.

When Itou Yoshihiro finished his work and returned to the front desk to ask for his paycheck, the receptionist thought he was joking.

"Stop joking around and come back after you've finished moving the goods, please. "

"I'm not joking, it's all done, you can go see for yourself. "

"......"

"What's wrong? What are you arguing about?"

During the conversation between Itou Yoshihiro and the receptionist, Akao's voice intervened.

"President Akao, this Mr. Ito has only been here for half an hour, and he said that he finished moving all the remaining goods on the truck, and he is the only one working now, I don't think that's possible. "

"I see, you go on with your work."

Akao swept a glance at Itou Yoshihiro and gestured for him to follow him.

"Have you really finished moving everything?"

"Good morning, Mr. Akao."

Itou Yoshihiro's answer was not the same.

"5 pm and you say good morning? If your brain out of function, don't come to work here. "

"It's not early. For me, the time of day when I start working is always very early. "

During the conversation, the two had walked through the back door and into the alley behind the office.

Akao glanced at the van and looked farther out at the warehouse, scratched his conspicuous blond hair, turned his back and walked back into the company, with Itou Yoshihiro following at a quick pace.

"Go get your paycheck, triple it, and tell the receptionist that. "

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Akao."

It was a pleasure to receive triple pay, but Itou Yoshihiro walked slowly because there was something he wanted more than money here.

Then, on his way past the staff office, he noticed a key, a key that could open a certain box, and in that certain box, there was something he wanted to get.

"As of the beginning of October, six girls have been unaccounted for since June and are suspected to have been abducted, and the police are still working on them. "

Itou Yoshihiro stopped in front of a desk with a newspaper on it that had a report like this, and he deliberately read it out at a volume that could be heard by the whole office.

His actions caused a small commotion, and the response it deserved.

"What about abduction...... this world, it's scary just to imagine what the children who are sold will be used for."

"The people who would do it to a child are worse than scum."

"People like that should skip the trial and just be shot."

The staff members echoed each other's thoughts on what was right at the moment, but it was just unpleasant gossip.

"I don't think so, it's just a way to make money. There are so many dirty ways to make money in this world, and child abduction is not the only one that is scorned, like corruption and bribery. "

Itou Yoshihiro, his statement immediately attracted the angry stare of the next person, but before they opened their mouths to attack, Akao, who was watching from afar, made a move first.

'Itou Yoshihiro, you don't have to come tomorrow.'

The air in the office was suddenly cold.

"Does that mean I'm fired."

"What else could it mean? Come with me and collect your balance."

"...... Yes."

The employees in the company were all happy that Itou Yoshihiro had gotten his comeuppance for his disrespectful words, but Itou Yoshihiro was not discouraged at all, and he was even a little happy about it.

--He had found the right way.

He knew very well that he himself had no balance to collect.

So, that conversation just now was just Akao's blindfold.

The company had a surface and an inner layer, a structure that Itou Yoshihiro had already identified, but he didn't expect Akao to be so thorough as to make the surface layer look so elaborate, and even the employees on the surface layer were just employees on the surface layer.

He was the only one who was able to penetrate the surface and the inner layers.

"Would you be interested in another job? "

"Yes, of course, as long as I can get money, I won't say no."

"Good, I know how strong you are, can you beat people up."

"No problem."

"Punch me and see."

Akao said so, he thought that even the most daring person would hesitate to this request, after all, he is the boss

However, without hesitation, Itou Yoshihiro gave Akao a punch, a right straight punch with full force, straight to Akao's left cheek, which sent him flying off the seat and into the cabinet behind him.

"Is this enough? "

Holding his right fist with his left hand, Itou Yoshihiro stood up straight and looked down at Akao from above.

"...... hmm."

The impact of the punch filled his head with a sense of dizziness that could not be dispersed for a long time, and if he had not given permission for Itou Yoshihiro to punch himself in advance, he would have returned the punch.

But, having gained such a capable henchman, he felt that it was worth the punch he received.

"Write down your name, cell phone and bank account here, and I'll call you when I have a job. "

"Okay."

Itou Yoshihiro smiled blandly and wrote down the information on the form.

--What an idiot.

He signed so hard that he nearly scratched the paper.

--This punch is just an appetizer, the debt you owe, sooner or later you will have to pay.

It's past the first light of day, the night sky under Kyoto, the same star-studded residence.

The Uesugi family, which had grown accustomed to eating with five people over the past month, had only four sets of tableware on the table tonight.

"Ziongzong has been very busy lately. ...... Do you know what he's busy with, always talking about spending the night at his classmate's house or something? "

The Uesugi family table has no rules, it has always been an occasion to talk freely, Yukino while serving food to Uesugi Tano, while intentionally or unintentionally prying at Uesugi Yui.

"Academically, ...... is probably because he just transferred to a new school and are struggling, so he is looking for tutoring from his classmates, right? "

"You're in the same class. He should ask you. "

"She had no idea why Ziongzong had spent the night so often in the past two days.

"Is it because he's shy? ...... Yes, our Yui is not only a girl, but she's also pretty, so a boy would be embarrassed. "

"Mom, what are you talking about! "

Because all of a sudden Yukino was pulled into the topic, Yui, who was never good at being complimented, became a little excited, which was actually a concrete expression of her blushing.

"What are you shy about? I'm just quoting, and that's the next point... Yui, you've inherited my excellent genes, but if you want to compare your beauty with your mother's, you're not even close. "

The main purpose of the Uesugi family's most boastful and unashamed person, Yukino, was to declare, show off and affirm that she was beautiful and that she was more beautiful than a princess.

This is roughly the same thing.

And while they were comfortably eating dinner in the warmth of the house, Ziongzong, no, I should say Itou Yoshihiro at this time, he was still standing on the street, leaning on the telephone pole, with the cold of the night as well as loneliness as a companion.

This is not to blame the Uesugi family, it was Itou Yoshihiro's own choice to be in a situation where he had to do so, and he did not regret it at all.

He was still waiting for the rabbit.

He was still waiting for a rabbit named Koga Mizuo.

He thought that this rabbit would come 'here' with a camera and try hard to take some 'critical' pictures as 'evidence' of some event. So, instead of guessing and searching for this rabbit's trail, we should stay here and wait for it.

Itou Yoshihiro was smart and his considerations were full of logic, but the only thing he failed to consider was that the streets at night had nothing to do with the word comfort.

A cold wind blew by, and he, dressed in thin clothes, shivered like a sieve. After signing a new contract from Akao, Itou Yoshihiro ate something hastily and stayed here, near Akao's company, where he chose a pole at the entrance of the alley, a perfect place to monitor the movement of people in the area.

--I forgot to buy something to warm my body.

The nearest convenience store is ten minutes away, which is twenty minutes round trip. These twenty minutes are too important for Itou Yoshihiro, and it is likely that his plans, his setup and waiting for tonight will all be in vain, so even if he suffers physically, he has to grit his teeth and bear it.

PM 10:33

It is late at night, sitting on the ground Itou Yoshihiro, who was sitting on the ground with his legs bent, looked like a homeless vagrant. The hot air exhaled from his nose condenses into a white mist in the air, briefly twisting around him before disappearing into the air without leaving a trace. Such a sight had no more to do with beauty than to make him feel doubly cold.

--but for the night, it had only just begun.

Since he had made up his mind, he would not give up in any case. Noticing that his body was getting colder and stiffer, Itou Yoshihiro stood up, glanced around, noticed that no one was there, and after a little thought, he did an exercise that he had not done for a long time.

It is called the twenty-third set of radio gymnastics for primary and secondary school students.

The so-called radio gymnastics should be done with many people to reflect its feeling, so when a person does it, what is shown is often more lonely, and as for the heat it generates, the warmth it brings to the body, after being lightly brushed by the cold wind of the night, just a few minutes, there is nothing left.

"It's cold. ......"

Itou Yoshihiro repeated the action of breathing on the hands and then rubbing it, such an act has little significance for warming the body, but it can effectively divert one's attention to the local warmth to temporarily relieve the coldness of the whole body.

Then, he, from a distance, saw a certain figure that he had already known well.

--Why is she still outside at this late hour?

Unfortunately, the 'she' that came was not the rabbit that Itou Yoshihiro was waiting for at this moment.

The one who was approaching here a little bit was Katagiri Mai.

Itou Yoshihiro made up his mind not to pay attention to her for two reasons, one is the presence of Katagiri Mai is more than this cool night, this is the main reason, the second is that Itou Yoshihiro knows Katagiri Mai, but Katagiri Mai does not know Itou Yoshihiro, all she knows is a boy named Ziongzong.

So, Itou Yoshihiro just waited for her to walk past him, as if nothing had happened.

But, you know, a person can be wise, but wisdom is not comprehensive, but one-sided, that is, a person can not be in all places at all times, in all situations can not show the same level of wisdom, and furthermore, people are often an organic combination of genius and idiot.

Katagiri Mai stopped in front of Itou Yoshihiro and looked directly at him with a subtle expression.

--What's wrong, this girl, isn't she always ice-cold and heartless, what's she doing stopping here?

"Are you okay? "

She, Katagiri Mai, struck up a conversation with Itou Yoshihiro, the one who had always been considered cold and iceberg by Ziongzong, and struck up a conversation with Itou Yoshihiro, who was a homeless person and whom no ordinary person would approach, on the side of the road, by a telephone pole, late at night.

"There is nothing good about ......, what are you referring to? "

This development completely exceeded Itou Yoshihiro's prediction, so he did not know how to respond to this Katagiri Mai, whom he knew, but did not know, for a while.

"It's cold, isn't it? Now, like this, standing on the roadside with so little clothing. "

Katagiri Mai said so gently, took out a scarf from her satchel, took two steps closer to Itou Yoshihiro, stood on her tiptoes, and leaned on his shoulders with her hands because she was still not tall enough, and put the scarf on him at a distance close enough to feel each other's breath.

"I think it will be warmer this way, right? "

A smile as refreshing as the breeze blossomed on her face, and Itou Yoshihiro was surprised by the angelic and kind-hearted Katagiri Mai, so much so that he froze in place, unable to answer for half a day.

"What are you doing standing here at this late hour? "

Not caring much about Itou Yoshihiro's mute reaction, Katagiri Mai held her satchel in front of her hands and leaned against the wall in the same position as Itou Yoshihiro, a little next to him.

--This is an illusion, right?

Itou Yoshihiro deliberately did not allow himself to look at Katagiri beside him, but looked straight ahead at nothing but a fence, so that he would feel more real.

"I'm ...... waiting for someone here. "

"Waiting for someone?"

"Well, yes."

"Have you made an appointment?"

"No ...... I didn't make an appointment, in fact, I didn't even make an appointment for the place, I just thought that she would come here, so I waited here."

"Wow - you're such an idiot. "

Katagiri Mai's surprised tone stretched out.

"Ah, I'm sorry, it's so rude to say that when we first meet. "

Then she realized that she had inadvertently said something rude and covered her mouth in embarrassment.

"It's okay, don't worry about it, I think it's silly to wait like that too."

--but there was no other way.

"By the way, wait here for a while."

Katagiri Mai dropped these words and ran away with her satchel.

Watching her disappear at the end of the alley, Itou Yoshihiro couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Just being alone with Katagiri for the past few minutes had made him so nervous that his body temperature had risen sharply, which had an excellent effect on warming up his body. If you want to say what makes him so nervous, it is probably the gentle and kind-hearted attitude of Katagiri Mai, which is very lethal to him, especially if he knows how cold Katagiri usually is.

-- Ah ...... was confused by her.

Although his mind was stirred up, Itou Yoshihiro smiled, so concise that it was the first time he showed it in this state.

'Sorry for the long wait.'

About half an hour later, Katagiri Mai ran back gasping for breath, hands propped up on his knees breathing heavily, looking very hard.

"Are you okay? ...... Why are you running so fast?"

"Nothing, nothing... Here."

Katagiri Mai waved her hand in a relaxed manner and took out a bottle of hot coffee from her satchel and slipped it into the hand of Itou Yoshihiro.

"Drink it while it's hot, it's very effective to warm up your body and refresh your mind. "

Her face was so sincere that Itou Yoshihiro had no reason to refuse this kindness.

"Well, thank you."

"It's getting late, I should go home, it's only two or three minutes from here. "

"Wait a minute."

Itou Yoshihiro took a booklet out of his pocket, quickly wrote down a series of numbers with a ballpoint pen, tore it down, and handed it to Katagiri Mai.

"This is my cell phone, send me an email when you get home, if you don't mind, and of course, if you run into any trouble on the way, please call me.

"Puff......"

Maybe it was the seriousness of Itou Yoshihiro's expression when he said that, or maybe it was Katagiri's attempt to relax him, she let out a puff of laughter, and her clear laughter echoed back and forth in the silent alley, very pleasant to the ear.

"What's wrong? "

"No, nothing, thank you for your kindness."

--No, I'm the one who should be thanking you.

But Katagiri Mai didn't give Itou Yoshihiro a chance to say thank you, and after she said that she ran away again, until she was about to disappear from Itou Yoshihiro's view, she raised her hand high and waved at Itou Yoshihiro.

"I'm sure she'll be back, so go for it, uncle! "

"Oh!"

In response, Itou Yoshihiro also raised his hand and waved, but the expression on his face was embarrassed because the name "uncle" hurt his heart - even though he has a real uncle's heart.

--I was supposed to be a youth when I first set up this person, Itou Yoshihiro, so how could I be called an uncle by junior high school students ......

Itou Yoshihiro struggled with this for about half an hour, and after half an hour, he received an email from Katagiri Mai.

--"I've arrived home, thank you for your concern=^____^="

-- It's good to be home.

He closed his flip phone with a snap and once again went into the pose of leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

"It's only two or three minutes away ...... and it took half an hour to get there. "

Itou Yoshihiro muttered.

-- probably to keep me from worrying.

--good thing it's okay.

The day faded, the night flowed away, and the day that was once called today receded into the past and was called yesterday.

Ziongzong, who looked a little haggard, sat in his seat, took a bite of cumin crusted toast and a sip of low-fat milk, and felt bored.

Yesterday, a fool named Itou Yoshihiro, standing in some alley all night long, blowing the cold wind all night, and then exhausted watching the sunrise rise a little over the horizon, bringing a new day, means that he did last night was all in vain, a day.

That rabbit, Koga Mizuo, did not appear.

This man who was determined to keep watch for the rabbit became a fool, a tangible fool.

Such an encounter would be unbearable for anyone, Ziongzong usually does not neglect exercise, but he is not superhuman, and even if he is superhuman, it is probably not possible not to sleep, so he decided to give up all classes for the day to catch up on sleep.

In fact, he gave up the course is not a day or two, most of the courses he can solve in self-study, pre-study, and the only let him cope with the inability to ancient article, poetry, literature, self-study pre-study is apparently ineffective, and even in class to listen carefully, he has no gains, apart from each single word he can understand, but when they are combined, it becomes something Ziongzong can not figure out. The teacher's words on the podium were not even the language of the earth.

At least it was for Ziongzong.

Catching up on sleep during the school day wasn't very effective, and it was a luxury, a waste of time after all, and besides, it was dangerous.

"Uesugi-kun, answer the third question."

Some teachers turn a blind eye to it, or they are kind enough to let it go, or they simply don't care about it because it's too much trouble, and some teachers have to protest about it for the sake of their students or for their own face.

"Did you hear that?

Ziongzong, who was woken up in his sleep, slowly stood up, scratched his messed up bangs, and swept a glance at the topic on the blackboard.

"The triangle CDE is similar to the triangle AFG, so the triangle CDE is also similar to the triangle ADF, that is proofed. "

Although Ziongzong looked very confused when he stood up, he answered without delay and spoke quite fast, finishing the answer in less than five seconds, and then he answered with 'Is there anything else?' He looked at the teacher standing on the podium with an expression that looked arrogant for a student, and he was shocked by Ziongzong's performance.

"Uh ...... is fine, please sit down."

The teacher awkwardly scratched the top of his bald head, as if nothing had happened, and continued to talk about the problem, and Ziongzong also continued his plan to catch up on sleep, as the saying goes, sharpening the knife does not miss the woodwork, he knows he still has a lot of trouble unsolved, but the time to rest must be rested, no matter what, reluctantly never have good results.

After class at noon, Ziongzong compressed his time for lunch to zero, he bought a little bread and drink and used the car ride on the way to have it, the place he arrived at was Akao's company, after entering, Ziongzong quickly observed the interior of the company, no different from when he came in as Itou Yoshihiro, except for the curious looks he received from the employees. Then, he went straight to the front desk.

"Excuse me, is Mr. Akao here?"

"No, he hasn't been here today. What can I do for you?"

"Nothing, sorry to bother you."

Ziongzong smiled gently and drew back to leave.

At this point, Ziongzong confirmed that Mizuo was still safe, as well as that she wouldn't be coming to Akao's office today either.

Even, he already knew where Mizuo was.

The more detailed the thinker is about the person in question, the more accurate he or she will be.

-- No matter how complicated and troublesome things are, Koga Mizuo is just a sixth-grade elementary school student.

--No matter how covert the tactics can be, Akao's company is on the surface just a veneer of legitimate business.

--And then, Yuuki is a good, gentle girl who would do anything for her friends.

-- Yuuki knows something and doesn't want me to know, or can't let me know.

The hardest thing to figure out is the human heart, because people are creatures who can deceive even themselves.

And now, the fickle human heart is flailing in front of Ziongzong, who is calm and collected, observing it, analyzing it, trying to understand it.

The ringing of the school bell is not the end of the day for many people, but the beginning of life, the repetition of day to day work has been driven out of the house by life, and is called daily, not life.

And, Ziongzong, too, left school to begin something far more important than a day or two of schooling.

Although youthful exuberance is often used as a compliment, Ziongzong's uncle heart is filled with a good feeling for this righteousness of youth.

This precocious over-ripe, a little toasted junior high school students, is shuttling through the streets and alleys.

Surreptitiously shrinking in the corner of that figure, broke into Ziongzong's line of sight, interrupting his retrospective.

From a long distance, he saw the short hair, delicate body, shrinking into a ball like a kitten, quite nervous, not knowing what to look at.

Ziongzong crept up behind her, squatted down and came close to her ear.

'Got you, Mayumi Araki!'

The momentum was so fierce that Ziongzong was unable to pull out of the way and was hit on the chin by the head of Mayumi Araki, and his entire body was lifted upward by the force of the blow, nearly falling on his back.

Mayumi Araki was even more hurted than Ziongzong, despite the cushioning of her hair, but the impact on her skull was so great that it took her a while to regain her vision, and then the dizziness that came with the pain filled all her senses, and she spun around in a daze, holding onto the wall for a long time before she recovered.

"What's that? ...... How come it's you?"

"I just happened to be passing by.

Ziongzong rubbed his chin and couldn't hide a smile on his face because the dazed Mayumi Araki looked very cute.

"Oh, no, I don't have time for you, I'm doing my job. "

Mayumi Araki said this, scanned the alley through the corner, and quickly ran away.

--What is she following?

Out of curiosity, Ziongzong also quickly followed, following behind Mayumi Araki.

"What the hell? Don't follow me without permission."

"I'm just worried that my homeroom teacher will be tailing some poor young boy."

"What the hell, I'm the bringer of justice now."

"Where is that poor guy?"

"Shh...!"

Mayumi Araki forced the brakes in the rush and helped Ziongzong with her buttocks. She pointed her finger to a location about 70 or 80 meters away and gestured for Ziongzong to look.

And after seeing what was there, Ziongzong knew he had Mayumi Araki to thank and owed her a favor, a big one that Mayumi Araki herself could not perceive.

There stood Akao, with blond hair.

"Why are you following him?"

Realizing the seriousness of the problem, Ziongzong put away his joking attitude and became strict, lowered his voice, leaned close to the wall to shrink his figure, and entered fully into the situation.

"The blonde pervert was following a schoolboy, and had already gone quite a long way, the schoolboy was walking alone, and no one came to pick him up, so I worry and I followed him. "

"Where is the student?"

Mayumi Araki felt a little puzzled, Ziongzong, who was not very serious just now, became even more nervous and urgent than she was, as if it was something related to him.

The success of the stalking, like its secrecy, was often determined by a split second.

"The blond pervert was following him cautiously, keeping a distance of nearly 100 meters from the young student.

"I'll take a shortcut to get in front of him and get in between him and the schoolboy in case anything happens, you just keep following like this and contact him by cell phone if anything happens. "

Mayumi Araki nodded in approval of Ziongzong's proposal, and Ziongzong then quickly dashed into another alleyway and disappeared.

--This kid is full of energy today.

For Mayumi Araki, it was the first time she had seen Ziongzong so serious, this student who was almost arrogant enough to dare to be her equal, and just now, Mayumi Araki saw in Ziongzong what could make him dare to do so.

The stalking continued.

After the blond man disappeared around the corner for a few seconds, Mayumi Araki followed up and when she cautiously head out from the wall, she sucked in a breath and almost screamed out, but she covered her mouth in time.

The blond man was at the other end of the corner, less than two meters away from Mayumi Araki, but he had his back to Mayumi Araki and did not notice Mayumi Araki's movement.

--What's the situation?

She couldn't decide whether to retreat quickly or stay put and watch what happens.

--" The schoolboy had returned home, and the blond had just turned down the alley and gone out into the street. --Ziongzong"

Ziongzong's text message arrived just in time. Mayumi Araki, somewhat alarmed, poked her head out again and found that the blond man was nowhere to be found, the alley was so empty that there was no one there, and at the same time, she didn't see Ziongzong's figure.

A few moments later, Mayumi Araki's cell phone vibrated again.

--I think it's better to report this matter to the police today, because there are still things to do, so I won't go, I'll leave it to you, Miss Mayumi Araki.

--The more she thought about it, the more she felt that she had been taken advantage of by this student named Uesugi today, so she decided to take revenge later.

As she thought this, she walked towards the nearest police station.

--By the way, when did this kid ...... start calling me teacher again?

Ziongzong, who had left Mayumi Araki's place on the pretext of "I had something to do", was not far from home. If Mayumi Araki knew that the so-called "business" was to hurry home, Ziongzong thought that he would probably be hung upside down and tickled with a feather.

The mere thought of it makes people feel scared.

When Ziongzong stayed up all night on the street with no luck, he really felt like he was going to be knocked down by a sense of powerlessness, not physically, but mentally.

Like a mouse wandering in a glass room for days, finally found a way out, but found that the glass door blocked access to the same feeling.

The person sinking in the sea, whose mouth spits out, is the bubble with hope, abandoning himself, floating on the surface, up and down, going with the flow.

Such negative emotions can be felt by anyone, especially in times of defeat. Unlike the average person, Ziongzong simply forgets these frustrations in the course of a single blink and looks ahead instead. Timid and cowardly, discouraged, tired and helpless, these do not fit his desired image, he threw all of them to his uncle heart to destroy and deal with.

As the god of his own world, if even he can not change at will, and how to change his own world?

So many people are just people of their own world, the protagonist of their own world, but also just one of their own world, ordinary people.

The sun has gone down, and the shadows are blurred by the play of the streetlights. Ziongzong's shadow is shifting with them, reaching for the unreachable horizon.

The boy who has become the god of his world is about to change the landscape he sees, he only wants to see what he wants to see, and the landscape he does not want to appear, he will do his best to obliterate it.

Home, the Uesugi family is close at hand, Ziongzong's pace is methodical, a little closer, today's Uesugi family, for him, has a very different meaning.

About.

Why did Koga Mizuo fall all over the roadside.

Why did Koga Shie treat Koga Mizuo so badly.

Why did Koga Mizuo have a complete change of attitude at the second meeting.

Why did Uesugi Yuuki choose to avoid talking to Ziongzong about some things.

Why did Mizuo Koga disappear from school and home.

Why Koga Mizuo did not appear around Akao's company that night.

Koga Mizuo's skipping class with Uesugi Yuuki, the stolen camera at school, Akao's stalking of the elementary school students, the case mentioned in the newspaper.

All these have formed a complete circuit in Ziongzong's mind, and the overall situation now, the development trend, and the ending, are already clear to him.

And, what to do to avoid feeling the frustration of "powerlessness" again, is what Ziongzong is doing now.

Yuuki arrived home before Ziongzong, but when Ziongzong rang the doorbell, he didn't hear the familiar popping sound. Yuuki, who always loves to welcome her family home and is eager to open the door, was a bit of an anomaly today.

And Ziongzong knew what the reason for this abnormality was.

Yuuki's room was on the first floor, on the corridor that Ziongzong had to pass through when he went up to the second floor to return to his room, so when Ziongzong walked past the door of Yuuki's room, it was not clear whether he intended to pass by, or whether it was just his ordinary act of returning to his room.

What was clear was that the door to Yuuki's room was closed tightly, like a box, waiting for a key, and that Ziongzong, who had this key in his hand, was in no hurry to open the box.

When eating dinner, although around the same table, Ziongzong did not feel her gaze once.

This is one of the perverse behaviors.

If it was usual, even if there was no deliberate looking, there would be an unintentional crossing of eyes, but today's Yuuki, it was as if she was trying her best to avoid contact with Ziongzong.

-- If you continue to ignore me I was going to tell you your little secret.

Ziongzong tried to send this joking words to her with his gaze, however, unfortunately, the signal sent out was not accepted, so the signal strength weakened to zero after countless reflections.

Time was consumed on its own, unable to reach the other side where anyone wanted.

Is that so? No, it is not.

The minute hand chased the hour hand to bring time to the evening.

After washing up, the house gradually quieted down, and everyone went back to their respective rooms to make preparations for tomorrow.

Ziongzong, on the other hand, was in his room doing maintenance work on his nine-section whip, as the saying goes, if the work is to be done well, the tool must be done well first.

His chess game went on step by step, not only was he playing chess, he himself was one of the many pieces, and the only piece he could manipulate was himself. And little by little, the moment of the battle is getting closer and closer.

Thinking it was about time, Ziongzong set out for Yuuki's room.

--I don't think there is anyone else but me who visited my sister's room three times in a few days.

Ziongzong, who has a high awareness in many aspects, is also simple in some aspects.

KONG KONG KONG

After knocking gently on the door, Ziongzong looked a little nervous and uneasy waiting for a response.

But there is no way to know if that is pretend or real.

Unfortunately there was no sound of Yuuki's voice coming from the door.

What reassured Ziongzong was that there was some noise from inside the door.

But still no one came to open the door.

KONG KONG KONG

Ziongzong knocked again, but the result did not change, after waiting quietly for several minutes, he was a little bored, childish, lightly kicked the door.

Then the door was kicked open by him.

The result of "......"

made Ziongzong freeze for a moment, and to describe it in detail would be a dull expression and petrified movement.

The door wasn't closed, it was just pretend to be closed.

Ziongzong had expected an awkward meeting, but Yuuki wasn't in the room.

--Should I exit now?

In this situation, standing at the door and waiting for the room owner to return is the most correct choice.

But Ziongzong did not choose to do so, he walked straight into Yuuki's room without a care in the world, and sat down on the cushion with his butt.

There are times when being too conformist can get things bogged down, while being spontaneous may not be the best way to go, but it can lead to a breakthrough.

--Huh?

His butt felt a hard touch, ran his hand over it, and pulled out a cell phone from under the cushion.

-- Well ...... I didn't mean to, I saw it by accident.

On the screen of the phone, it just shows the recent calls, among them, there is a string of numbers signed as "Mizuo", and the last call time is yesterday at 3pm.

Ziongzong's accidental seeing, got so much information at once, just when he wanted to accidentally see something again, his body reacted faster than his reason, and hid the phone behind him in a flash.

Because, Yuuki, was standing in the doorway.

So, Ziongzong is now a burglar who forced his way into the house? Robber? And in a situation where people are getting all the stolen goods.

The half-opened doorway, the light coming through the crack of the doorway, lit up the corner of the room.

At the side of the lighted corner is Ziongzong's rushed figure, with one hand hidden behind him and the other in the air.

Standing on the side of the doorway was Yuuki.

She had a bath towel over her head.

She had a bath towel wrapped around her body.

And so it was just like that.

Both of them, each other's brains, went blank for a long time.

Then Ziongzong's brain was stuffed with a whole lot of stuff again.

For example, flying around in the sky with a fat piggy on top, diving in the deep sea with a fat camel on top, running on snowy mountains with a fat horse on top, and so on and so forth, the thriving scene.

No.

The first is the guilt of doing something bad and being found out, although Ziongzong does not feel like doing anything bad.

Secondly, there was the embarrassment of Ziongzong not knowing where to turn his eyes to with the way Yuuki was dressed now.

So, as if it was as precise as a ground-to-ground, air-to-air, ship-to-ship missile, Ziongzong's psychological suggestion to Ziongzong gradually strengthened, like a spell of brainwashing that strong ......

-- she is just a P6 student.

-- is my sister, this year is only 11 years old only.

--She's just a P6 student.

--is my sister, just 11 years old this year.

-- She's just a P6 student.

--It's my sister, who is only 11 years old.

Snow-white bath towel, wrapped around a delicate body, slightly red cheeks surrounded by vaguely visible water vapor.

This is probably a bathing scene.

Ziongzong's brain is still a mess, the brainwashing spell is not very powerful.

Did you know that Alaska is a state located on the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States, the 49th state to join the United States of America, its also the largest state in the United States and the largest enclave in the world, the state's postal abbreviation is AK.

-- I am a healthy teenager with a normal sexual orientation.

Yuuki's white with pink skin, just the right amount of dripping with a few crystal drops of water.

And that what, Tibetan mastiff also known as the Tibetan dog, Qiang dog, native to the Tibetan plateau in China, is a tall, fierce, droopy ears, short-haired dogs.

--The fact that my sister, who had just finished her bath and was wrapped in a towel, was now staying in a house with me was not much of a stretch.

Transparent droplets of water slid down the luscious curves of Yuuki's body, leaving wet, circular marks on the floor.

Besides then, Sanskrit is the standard written language of ancient India. It was originally the language of the upper intellectual class in northwest India, as opposed to the common language (Prakrit) used by the general folk, also known as the elegant language.

Well, what is this ambiguous atmosphere that makes people uneasy?

The red cheeks of Yuuki made even Ziongzong's face feel hot.

Legend has it that Chi You is the leader of a tribe in Chinese mythology, famous for fighting the Yellow Emperor in the Battle of Zhuo Lu.

Ziongzong's brain, still floating at a frantic pace with all sorts of knowledge,

- obviously in the orphanage, it was all boys and girls together naked in the bathhouse, I am now in What do I care?

--What do I mind? What is there to mind?

--It's just that my sister came back to the room with only a towel!

--It's not like you're not wearing a towel!

--So what if she didn't have a towel on!

--It's just a schoolgirl!

--It's only natural for a schoolgirl to be seen by her brother without a towel!

In the midst of the confusion, Ziongzong's brain made a rather shocking statement, this idea is already a crime, right?

Ziongzong's uncle heart sighs at the sub.

The two of them, just like this look at each other for more than ten seconds.

"Brother, brother."

Yuuki have a reaction before Ziongzong, to be exact, physically, ah, no, to say that it is physically, in fact, Ziongzong has already reacted ...... eh? It is not right to say so, it seems to cause misunderstanding? Anyway, we know which side of the reaction is good, hmmmm, right, the health side.

Then, from the unexpected situation back to consciousness, Yuuki, with the speed of lightning hid outside the room, and then, leaning against the doorway peeked out a small head.

"...... brother? "

She just couldn't understand the sudden appearance of Ziongzong in her room.

"Ah, that, Yuuki, that, that ......"

Ziongzong felt himself panicking.

In fact, his voice had betrayed him.

"In any case, let's put on your clothes first! "

Ziongzong rushed out of the room and then braked to a sharp stop at the corner of the corridor.

If he used tires, it is not surprising that he left a steaming brake line.

So, after the abrupt stop, Ziongzong felt his heart still beating wildly, as if there was a drug addict in his chest, hitting his head against his chest cavity desperately trying to get out.

This is a strange way to compare the beating of the heart.

-- Being a teenager is quite difficult

Ziongzong used the breathing method, which was passed down by the paranoid dean, to relieve himself while using his hands to soothe his heart, which was in high spirits.

Although the pace was disturbed, but because of that shock, also let Ziongzong's mind converted to a good state.

-- A good shy and well-behaved sister who does her best to help out her friends.

-- Yuuki, a person who needs protection.

--and I, as her brother, am the one who can protect her.

--And then, Mizuo, who is capricious but also vulnerable, also needs my help.

--This is enough.

Ziongzong is not a person who trusts easily, but once he believes, he will not waver.

With such a stable and determined mood, he knocked on Yuuki's door again.

'It's me, Ziongzong.'

'Please come in.'

Yuuki had already changed into her pajamas and was blowing her hair with a hair dryer.

The shower gel mixed with body scent made people feel comfortable and warm.

"I'm sorry, Yuuki, I just entered your room casually. "

Ziongzong lowered his head sincerely, and took a peek at the cushion. The cell phone that Ziongzong had put on the cushion was gone, and I don't know where it had been put by Yuuki.

--I don't think it's been discovered that I touched her phone.

Ziongzong looked at Yuuki's face and thought she didn't notice.

"It doesn't matter, I left the door open. "

Yuuki smiled unconcernedly.

"I didn't close it in the first place, I thought no one would come at such a late hour, that's why I wrapped myself in a towel and ......"

She blushed and lowered her head.

The room was left with the noisy hair dryer still whirring and whirring and whirring.

"That ...... brother, so late, what's the matter? "

The person who took the lead in breaking the silence was still Yuuki.

No matter what time it is, getting to know someone is a process, not a result. When we first met, Ziongzong thought that Yuuki was an introverted and shy child, but that was the surface, during the time we lived together, Ziongzong saw many sides of Yuuki, the brave side, the side full of responsibility, the side that exerted leadership.

Even the two embarrassments in this short period of time, it was Yuuki who took the lead in reacting, not Ziongzong.

She is a child who looks soft, but will not lose to anyone.

Realizing this, Ziongzong made a small change to his plans for the night.

"No - in fact, there is nothing important, just feel that these days have not talked much properly, so I came over to look for you, such as what do not understand in homework, or what problems in life can not be solved ...... and so on. "

Ziongzong said casually, sweeping the window out of the corner of his eye and noticing that the curtains were closed.

"So, sit down, brother."

After holding a cushion and handing it to Ziongzong, Yuuki sat down on the edge of the bed herself.

The two looked at each other, and there was a silence, because Ziongzong inadvertently led the source of the conversation to Yuuki, that is, 'Does Yuuki have anything to say to Ziongzong'.

Ziongzong felt that he could not just put the heavy burden of guidance on his sister... ...Also, for his plan, right now, he had to do something about the topic to do so.

"I heard from Yukino-san that Yuuki is a good student and a self-reliant person, and she is very capable. "

"Ah ...... thank you."

Ziongzong's sudden compliment made Yuuki lower her head uneasily, her hands were clasped and she didn't know how to place them.

"School life is not only studying either, I think there should be a lot of interesting things too, like ......"

The last word at the end of the sentence was stretched by Ziongzong without ending, he searched the room for something he could use as a talking point, and as he wished, he found it, and it was a useful topic for him.

"For example, in the social science course, the book on the table is the book you have in class, right, Yuuki?

"Well, yes, it's just started this semester."

"It's interesting, this class, I loved to look at the stars when I was a kid in the countryside, but when I moved to the city, I couldn't do it because of light pollution. "

Ziongzong said, while standing up, walked to the window, and casually pulled the curtain, outside the window is a deep night sky.

"But it's a lucky thing that you can still see the stars at night in Kyoto. "

Using his finger as a point, Ziongzong showed Yuuki the wonderful pattern made by the dots of light in the night sky.

"Of the four seasons, the autumn sky is the loneliest, because there are not many bright stars. "

"But it doesn't mean that there aren't any."

"For example, on a beautiful day like tonight, we can easily find the bright Pegasus in the northeast corner, and you can see the bright quadrilateral, which is the core of Pegasus. "

Yuuki was piqued by Ziongzong's explanation, and went to the window next to Ziongzong, looking for the star Ziongzong mentioned.

"Well, there, I see it! "

In the dark, endless night sky, searching for and finding those persistent little dots of light was a joyful and inspiring thing.

Yuuki, who was completely absorbed, had her face pressed against the glass window without any care, and her nose was flattened adorably.

"In the autumn, the constellation of Pegasus is an important signpost to find the North Star, and similarly, Cassiopeia, which is next to it, is one of the guides to the North Star.''

The waving finger dances in the night.

"See the five stars arranged in the shape of a W? "

"Well--"

Yuuki frowned and strained her face, looked hard, searched, and then ......

"There there! I see it, brother!"

She jumped up and down with joy, waving her little hands, such a jumpy Yuuki, Ziongzong is the first time to see, she is like those active children full of energy, not a shadow of shyness can be seen.

Only when she realized that Ziongzong was watching her did she stop in embarrassment.

"That's all for today, Yuuki, it's getting late. "

"...... hmm."

It's a pity to end like this, and Yuuki's face was full of expressions of unfulfillment.

"Ah, there's one more thing."

Ziongzong stopped when he was about to close the door, because there was something that had to be said.

"Yuuki, you and Mizuo are good friends, right? "

"Well, yeah?"

This sudden question made Yuuki answer with confusion, although the answer was yes.

"Has Mizuo ...... come to see you in the past two days? "

What this conversation pointed to was the missing rabbit.

"No, no, what's wrong with her? "

Yuuki still looked confused.

Ziongzong felt that the reason for the failure of the rabbit watch was that there was someone else the rabbit needed to see before she left, and that person, was Yuuki Uesugi.

"She ......"

Ziongzong stuck the words "she's gone" in his throat and didn't say it.

"She?"

Yuuki tilted her head, looking like she didn't understand what Ziongzong was talking about.

"No, I thought she might come over to play with you or something."

"Mizuo used to come over, but not in the past two days, usually when she's on vacation. "

"Really? ...... I just happened to have something I wanted to say to her."

Ziongzong paused for a moment, when the forward can not find the exit, it is time to stop in due course.

"I thought she also treated me as a good friend, but it seems not that way, just no matter what, I will continue to treat her as a friend, just like what Yuuki did, do my part to help my friend. "

"I'm sorry to bother you tonight, Yuuki, good night. "

After leaving such an abrupt statement, Ziongzong gently closed the door and faded away with the sound of footsteps diminishing.

After Ziongzong left, Yuuki leaned her back against the door, her whole body lost its strength, and slid softly against the door to the floor.

"He went out."

She said to the empty room.

Then, the closet where the clothes were kept opened by itself ...... was someone hiding inside and pushed it open.

The person who came out of the closet was Mizuo, Koga Mizuo, who was wearing Yuuki's pajamas, and the twin ponytails that have always been a distinguishing feature were not tied up, but hanging loosely over her shoulders.

The expression on Mizuo's face was like a very lightly brewed tea, which at first glance did not look like anything, but after a moment, a faint bitter taste spread through her heart.

"Is this good, Mizuo? He seems to be worried about you."

"There's no need to hide from him like this, right?"

Yuuki's expression was complicated, she had just lied to her brother for her friend, even though it wasn't too bad of a lie, it was able to make her feel uneasy because she could feel Ziongzong's seriousness in his tone of voice.

"I don't care about him, the only good friend I can trust is you, Yuuki. "

Mizuo didn't look at Yuuki to speak, but flung her face to Yuuki's bed and buried her face into the blanket.

--I don't want to bother more people, it's not worth it for me.

"Is it really okay, Mizuo? "

Yuuki still nestled by the door, seemingly not caring about the cold floor, just looking at Mizuo.

"It's okay ......"

Like the reluctant Yuuki, Mizuo wrapped herself in the blanket and spoke.

--I'm sorry, Yuuki, for making you do all this for me.

"It's just that I ran away from home, so there's no need to exaggerate, I just had a little disagreement with my mother. "

The way Mizuo said this was so natural that Yuuki couldn't detect any falsehood in it.

"I should go home after tonight, it's not good to make mom worry too much. "

"So, go to bed, Yuuki, don't you have duty tomorrow?"

"Well ...... then, good night."

Yuuki still sat on the floor for a while before she got up. She always felt that Mizuo was hiding something from her, but she felt that she was just being overly concerned, and she was torn between suspecting her friend and trusting her friend, not knowing which side was the right way to care.

She is honest, and prefers to believe.

Yuuki, who was about to turn off the light, noticed the bright light outside the window, so she went over and closed the curtains, turned off the light, and fell into darkness together, inside and outside the house, and went to sleep.

"It was late, but a junior high school student was still outside, standing on a three-story private house, holding a high-powered telescope in one hand and a smile in his pocket.

"Hoo-ah-"

He breathed a sigh of relief again, then lifted his hand and stretched a big lazy back, in a happy mood.

-- Yuuki's unusual behavior today.

-- Yuuki was not in the room, but there was a ringing heard before I entered the room.

--On the phone call, the time when Mizuo last called.

-- Rabbit is still just a little rabbit after all, there are still a lot of things to do before going to challenge the big bad wolf, for example, find a friend you can trust.

Ziongzong feels as if his biological clock has been disrupted because of yesterday's all-nighter, the concrete manifestation of which is that he is now very refreshed and not at all tired. Even today, he only had a very poor quality of catch-up sleep in class.

This may be due to the contrasting hyperactivity brought about by overwork, that is, the nerves have lost the ability to regulate the degree of fatigue, such as after midnight rejuvenation of the kind of symptoms that Ziongzong is well aware of, but no matter how tired this body bemoaned, he also all as if he did not know.

He knows he should endure these, in order to complete more important things, no matter can endure, or can not endure, have to persist.

After confirming the location and safety of Mizuo, it did not mean that Ziongzong could go to bed and rest, because he was only partially done with his plans for the night.

Kyoto is not particularly quiet at night, the roar of the passing locomotives from time to time, spoiling the quiet beauty of the late night barking dogs.

Except for Ziongzong, all the members of the Uesugi family have already gone to sleep, after all, tomorrow is not a weekend.

And Ziongzong, he just jumped down from the tree in the yard.

Thanks to the blessing of that night to bring home secretly Mizuo, he has been able to use the tree next to the house to enter and leave the room stealthily, just now with the binoculars out in too much of a hurry, considering the need for action tonight is still a long time, Ziongzong returned to his house to regroup and quietly left home.

At 12 midnight, the junior high school student, with simple clothes, was walking on the empty street, with loneliness and cold, step by step, without slowing down, towards the town of Genmyourenji, where Mizuo's "home" was.

Today's situation is that everything is ready, the bullets are loaded, the aim is aligned, and the target is locked.

All that was missing was a firing pin to make a spark.

The road in the early hours of the morning was more crowded than Ziongzong had imagined.

Drunken men staggered past him, or let out a muffled grunt and sat on the ground in disarray.

Most of these people are wearing shirts and pants, and if they are sober, they should add a tie.

When they are working normally, a large part of them are the middle and upper class people in the society, but at night they become the equal drunks of all people.

This is the same in both China and Japan.

Above the lower level, below the middle level of the workforce, or below the upper level, above the middle level of senior employees, always driven to madness by this society, in order to compete to survive, in order to survive to compete, gradually forget their original dream.

As for the few people who are at the top looking down, they are hiding in their own nest without being referred to as a class.

They, occasionally, recall the pain of the past, they can only see like Ziongzong now, begging alcohol to give themselves a path. And people who do not want to beg alcohol, most of them will be in abandonment , smiling to society to put a black.

Now, the group of people Ziongzong's spearhead is pointing at were the same people who were laughing about what they were going to become and achieve.

They lost to school before they lost to society.

Or rather, lost to far less competition for survival in society, competition for higher education, exams, and scores.

People who lose in school have nothing to feel inferior about, not at all, it is just a stupid choice made by human beings.

Using exams and scores to judge people's merits is the same as forcing everyone to play soccer, play piano, write calligraphy, paint, and then assign a merit.

Everyone is different, so why look for winners and losers in the same thing.

In Japan, after all, there are clubs, so that people who are not good at examinations have a direction to play; while in China, the road to prosperity is to dedicate their youth to education, the so-called road to prosperity is full of corpses, everyone knows, and in addition to this road to prosperity, are covered with thorns of the path, these hurt thorns, not the natural persecution of people, not the lack of material, but the care for each other People, unconsciously hurting each other, bent on imposing what they think is good to their loved ones, such thorns hurt people invisibly, only silently dripping blood, but also with a smile on their faces.

Ancient people have said that what you do not want, do not do to others.

Well, today there are words.

What you want, not what people want.

Ziongzong remembered that once, the paranoid dean cheerfully showed him the medals he had won, and then, for some reason, abruptly sank his face.

He said that being born in troubled times was what gave him the meaning of survival. If it had been a time of peace, he would have been nothing more than a piece of shit.

---'It's my luck, but China's misfortune.'

The look on Dean's face when he said this was still vivid in Ziongzong's mind.

This society, the world's society, is still directing its own script, which is an illusion.

People put their own misfortune to the pedantry of society, but do not realize that the composition of society is precisely the people themselves, by what fate, it is the fate of their own hands.

The streetlights are bright and flickering, Ziongzong's pace is gradually accelerating.

Ziongzong walked cautiously all the way to Mizuo's house, fortunately did not encounter the patrol, because a junior student still wandering around on the road in the early morning, was taken to the bureau is a sure thing.

He neatly climbed over the fence, avoiding the sight of the doorman, and crept up the stairs.

It took him more than ten minutes to reach the third floor and push open the door of Mizuo's house, which was only hidden.

--This place is about to become a place where no one lives, because it is not even a home.

Ziongzong had this premonition, and this premonition made him unhappy.

As soon as you open the door, there is a disgusting stench to the face, not in time to clean up the noodles and the remains of fast food, began to breed bacteria, even if you have been here once, but the atmosphere here, still let Ziongzong feel overwhelmingly depressed.

This kind of cup noodles piled into a small mountain, is the life of an elementary school student should live.

Ziongzong once again, to Koga Shie brought to her own daughter's poor quality of life, and their relationship between the two, feel deeply tired.

He covered his nose with one hand, one hand with a flashlight, and began a second inspection.

Just as a written article will have a different discovery after a period of time, Ziongzong felt that here, there are also places that he missed and should pay attention to.

And those places, with the possibility of proving another of his suspicions, the vital possibility.

The gradually decreasing temperature made Ziongzong feel the chill, this steel-frame structure of temporary housing at night seems extra cold, and the occasional night residents of the sound of coming upstairs, but also Ziongzong was frightened to shiver. While watching out for possible administrators, the search put a considerable burden on Ziongzong's mind, which made the work even more difficult.

The newspapers and advertising slips scattered on the floor looked suspicious yet worthless, and the cooked food bought from the supermarket still had labels on them, dated from the day before yesterday, which could be interpreted as the time when Mizuo last bought something in. The kitchen, as a matter of course, was generally covered with dust, except for the place that Ziongzong had noticed last time.

That was the knife rack, where the fruit knife should have been.

It was because Mizuo had gone out with this item that Ziongzong's already uneasy mood became panicky.

In places where you need to carry knives in order to meet, no matter what, nothing good can happen, especially when the person holding the knife is a schoolboy who can do anything.

Ziongzong suppressed the rush, striving to dissect this room to the extreme, not missing any details.

After working patiently and deliberately for almost half an hour, Ziongzong found some of the things he wanted in the huge cupboard.

It was a very clean iron box, and before opening it, Ziongzong had realized something.

Because this iron box is different, is completely different from the tone of this room, obviously all the objects are indiscriminately dusty, only this iron box is clean, this contrast is not easy to notice, but in the hands covered with dust, when Ziongzong's hand touched the iron box and left a gray trace, this contrast, the iron box of the sense of incongruity. A sudden reveal.

--This will be another key.

Ziongzong first let himself calm down for three seconds, and then snapped open the lid of the iron box.

This kind of moment like opening the exam paper and seeing the result always makes people's heart beat.

The exam is not bad, this should be a result that can be bragged about.

These are the thoughts of Ziongzong after he saw what was inside the metal box.

In the box, there are two things, a stack of envelopes and a photo album.

Generally speaking, even a stack of envelopes, its thickness is not as thick as a photo album, but in this iron box is the opposite, the envelope is very thick, the photo album, but very thin.

After a little hesitation, Ziongzong chose to look at the album first, such a thick album, is the childhood of Mizuo, Ziongzong can not imagine, if this is the photos that Koga Shie took of Mizuo, in view of the current is really impractical, but the significance is very small.

With a complicated feeling, Ziongzong opened the album.

"......"

He pursed his lips, unable to breathe for a long time, and could not take his eyes off.

What he saw was beyond his expectation.

It was just an empty album.

--No.

Ziongzong turned the whole album over and found two photos, for this album of hundreds of pages, only two photos is really shabby, and behind this shabby, this shabby insinuate, is Mizuo's depressed life.

It is worth saying that it is fortunate that both photos have Mizuo on them, although there is a big age difference.

The more recent one is a photo of Mizuo and Yuuki, the two of them in a school classroom, leaning against the window, smiling brightly, Yuuki holding Mizuo's arms, glued to her body, looking very sweet, while Mizuo, also showing beautiful dimples, one hand with ‘’V’’ gestures, quite happy look.

In contrast, the happiness of the other photo does not come so pure.

The background of the photo is a park, a young Koga Shie, holding a baby that looks just a few months old, smiling warmly.

Is that baby Mizuo? It could only be Mizuo.

The significance of such a large album to hold these two paper-thin photos is clear from the paper.

Ziongzong closed the album and put it away, the next thing to look at is the stack of envelopes, through the cover of the top one, Ziongzong already understood what these are.

Koga Shie to Mizuo's living expenses, a monthly letter, all in an envelope, even the date are clear, never early, nor postponed, are the fifteenth of each month.

What does this mean, Ziongzong does not have the authority to comment, but one thing is easy to see, at least for Ziongzong who is used to being poor since childhood.

Every month, accurate to give money by the day, a fixed amount, this is not an easy thing no matter who it is for, let alone for Koga Shie who is doing the hard work, at her age, the value of this job, far from being as rich as people casually imagine, is much more shabby, tormenting the body and mind.

What does this mean for Mizuo, what does it mean for Koga Shie, and what can Ziongzong, who is a bystander, understand from it, these, determine the direction of this matter next.

Ziongzong sighed, and then, drew out the only different special case in the stack of envelopes.

The envelope dated for this month, the money inside is still there, not because it has not been opened, but opened and put away.

What does this tell us?

Ziongzong pulled the envelope out independently and after careful observation found another thing worth noting, - the back of the envelope was a little dirty and had a small degree of wear, as if it had been dropped on the floor.

What does this mean? It is not impossible that Mizuo herself took the envelope to vent her anger, but so many letters only this one, but also the most recent one, Ziongzong prefer to have some more imagination about it.

For example, to this letter, and Mizuo's body scars that night linked together.

This is far beyond the imagination possible to do, to link them together there is no bridge except fabrication and conjecture, but Ziongzong prefer this path, because the possibilities offered by this path is much more beautiful.

Because Ziongzong knows that the person who can really help Mizuo is not himself.

After this iron box, Ziongzong spent another hour or so looking for clues, but unfortunately nothing, just finding that iron box alone, for Ziongzong has also been considered a windfall.

Leaving the house, he went over the fence and swept his hands over the goose bumps on his arms from the cold and prepared to leave.

Then, he saw a figure he had seen under the streetlight at the far end, slowly moving away.

The purple dress, and the white flowers dotted on it.

In the night, the blooming, gorgeous wisteria.

Perhaps, this is the greatest harvest in this night.