‘Why are you so obsessed with this?’ Yuichi asked.
‘It was my little brother who found the body.’
‘Your brother? Seriously?’
Kikuchi nodded. ‘Yeah, he came and told me, so I went to look for myself. It was there, the body, really. I told my mom, and she was the one who called the police.’
‘No way.’
‘So because we found the body the police had us in for questioning like a hundred times. And they weren’t just asking about how we found the body, either.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The guy had his money stolen, right? Well, it turns out that sometimes the killer’s the one who takes the money, but sometimes it’s someone else.’
‘You mean —’
‘Like whoever found the body might’ve snatched the money before telling the police!’ A little smile came to Kikuchi’s mouth. ‘The cops didn’t stop there, either. They suspected my dad might’ve killed him, then had us find the body, see?’
‘That’s crazy.’
‘I know, but it’s totally true, just because we were poor. My mom used to go to Ryo’s shop, too. That had the cops real excited.’
‘But they cleared you, right? They didn’t arrest your dad, did they?’
Kikuchi snorted. ‘No, but they suspected him,’ he said. He didn’t elaborate any further.
After class Yuichi went back to the Seika Girls Middle School. He walked along the fence surrounding the school, stopping when he heard the sound he’d been listening for: a violin.
He looked around and once he was confident the coast was clear he climbed on to the fence and moved along it until he could see in through the window the music was coming from.
There was a girl inside sitting at a black piano, her hands on the keys. Her back was turned to Yuichi.
Yes! Yuichi thought, and shifted, craning his neck to see beyond the piano. There was a girl standing there in her sailor uniform, playing violin.
Miyako Fujimura.
She looked shorter than Yukiho. Her hair was short, too. He wanted to get a closer look at her face and was just craning his neck further when the sound of the violin abruptly stopped and, to his horror, the girl ran up to the window.
The window opened right in front of Yuichi and the girl stared straight out at him, a victorious smile on her face. Yuichi froze, unable even to climb down the fence.
Then Miyako Fujimura shouted something at him. Her voice hit him like a ton of bricks and he let go of the fence, tumbling when he hit the ground. Thankfully, he’d managed to land feet first.
The girl was still screaming inside the classroom. Yuichi ran for his life.
It was only later when he caught his breath that he was able to process what the girl had shouted at him through the window.
‘Cockroach.’
On Tuesday and Friday evenings, Eriko went to English lessons with Yukiho from seven to eight-thirty. The lessons had been Yukiho’s idea, of course.
The class was only a ten-minute walk from school, but Eriko always went home first to eat dinner before going. While she was doing that, Yukiho stayed at school to practise with the theatre club. Eriko was like Yukiho’s shadow these days, following her everywhere, but she had stopped short at trying to join the theatre club.
One Tuesday night after class the two were walking back home as usual. They were nearing school when Yukiho said she had to call home and went into a phone booth. Eriko looked at her watch. It was almost nine o’clock. They’d stayed too long after class finished, chatting.
‘Thanks for waiting,’ Yukiho said as she came out of the booth. ‘Mom told me to hurry home. How about we take a shortcut?’
‘Sure.’
Normally the two of them walked along the main road where the buses ran, but tonight, they took a back road they usually avoided because there weren’t many lights, which made it really dark, and there weren’t many homes, just empty car parks and warehouses. They were just passing by the storehouse for a lumberyard when Yukiho stopped.
‘Hey,’ she said, ‘see that thing over there? Isn’t that a school uniform?’ Yukiho pointed towards something white lying on the ground next to a stack of wood.
‘I don’t know,’ Eriko said, craning her neck. ‘Maybe it’s just a piece of cloth or something.’
‘No, that’s definitely a uniform.’ Yukiho walked over and picked it up. ‘See? What’d I tell you?’
She was right. It was torn, but it was definitely one of their school uniforms – the light blue collar was unmistakable. A small name tag was attached: MIYAKO FUJIMURA.
A nasty tingle ran down Eriko’s spine. She didn’t know why, but she wanted to leave this place soon as possible.
But Yukiho just stood there, looking around until she noticed that the door on the side of the storehouse was slightly ajar. Bravely, she walked up to it and looked inside.
‘Let’s go home,’ Eriko called out, but Yukiho gave a little scream and stepped away from the door, clapping her hand to her mouth.
‘What?’ Eriko asked, her voice shaking.
‘Somebody’s inside,’ Yukiho said. ‘I think they might be dead.’
It was Miyako Fujimura. Her arms and legs had been tied and her mouth was gagged, but she wasn’t dead. She was unconscious when help arrived, but came to soon afterwards.
After discovering her, the two girls had run back to the main road and, convinced they’d seen a body, called the police. Then they waited by the phone booth, holding hands and trembling.
Miyako was naked from the waist up. Everything from the waist down had been taken off except for her skirt. The rest of her clothes were scattered on the ground nearby along with a black plastic bag. The first responders carried her into the waiting ambulance, but the girl said nothing. Even when she saw Eriko and Yukiho she didn’t react and her eyes were vacant.
Eriko and Yukiho were taken to the nearby police station where they were asked some simple questions. It was their first time in a police car – an event that would have been cause for excitement under any other circumstances. But after what they had witnessed they were just happy to be safe.
The man asking them questions was a middle-aged detective, with white hair parted in the middle. He looked like the kind of man you might see behind the counter at a sushi bar, but the way he talked, and even the way he sat in his chair, were completely different. He seemed as if he was doing his best to be gentle with them, but the sharp look in his eyes made Eriko shrink in her seat.
The detective wanted to know everything that had led up to their discovery of Miyako and whether they knew anything about what had happened to her. Eriko and Yukiho told the policeman everything they could remember, frequently exchanging glances while they talked to make sure they got it all right. The detective just nodded and listened to them, but when he asked whether they knew anything about what had happened, Eriko and Yukiho had nothing to say.
‘Have you ever seen anyone unusual on your way home from school?’ a female officer sitting next to the detective asked. ‘Maybe someone who might have looked like he was waiting for somebody? Have you ever heard stories about anything like that from your friends?’
‘No, nothing,’ Eriko said.
‘Except,’ Yukiho said, ‘there’s been people looking inside the school, and taking pictures of us on our way home.’ She looked at Eriko. ‘Remember?’
Eriko nodded.
‘Was it always the same person?’ the detective asked.
‘No, there were a few of them. I don’t know if all of them were taking pictures, though,’ Yukiho said. ‘But I think they’re all from the same school.’
‘Wait, these are students you’re talking about?’ The female officer’s eyes widened.
‘I think they’re from Ōe Middle School,’ Yukiho said. She sounded so sure of it, Eriko was surprised.
‘Ōe? How could you tell?’ the female officer asked.
‘I used to live there. I’m pretty sure those uniforms
are from the middle school.’
The female officer exchanged glances with the detective.
‘Do you remember anything else?’ the detective asked.
‘Well, I know the name of the one who took my picture the other day. He had his name tag on his shirt.’
The detective’s eyes narrowed like an animal closing in on its prey. ‘What was the name?’
‘Akiyoshi, I’m pretty sure. Written with the characters for autumn and good luck.’
This all struck Eriko as extremely odd. Judging from her attitude the other day, she’d thought Yukiho was completely ignoring them. Yet she had been paying enough attention to even catch the boy’s name. Eriko didn’t remember seeing anything like that at all.
‘Akiyoshi… Right,’ the detective said, writing the name down. He whispered something in the female officer’s ear. She stood and walked out of the room.
‘There’s one last thing I want you to take a look at before we let you go.’ The detective brought out a plastic bag and put it on the table. ‘We found this in the warehouse. I wonder if either of you have seen it before?’
The bag contained a small figurine that looked like part of a key chain, except the chain was broken off halfway.
‘No, sorry. I’ve never seen that,’ Eriko said.
Yukiho’s answer was the same.
‘Hey, your key chain’s broken.’
It was lunch hour and they were at the store to buy some snacks. Yuichi was standing in line behind Kikuchi when Kikuchi pulled out his wallet. He used to have a keychain attached to it with a little figurine at the end, but now there was just a short piece of chain. The figurine was gone.
‘Yeah. I just noticed last night.’ Kikuchi made a sour face. ‘Sucks. You wouldn’t think the chain’d break that easy.’
Yuichi almost said that it was because it was cheap but swallowed his words. ‘Cheap’ was a forbidden word when he was talking with Kikuchi.
‘Speaking of yesterday,’ Kikuchi said, lowering his voice, ‘I saw Rocky!’
‘Hey, cool,’ Yuichi said, even though he was thinking: I thought you said the tickets were too expensive.
‘We got free tickets,’ Kikuchi added, as though he had read Yuichi’s mind. ‘Some customer gave them to my mom.’
‘You lucked out.’ Kikuchi’s mom worked at a market near the school.
‘Anyway, when we checked the tickets, we found out that they were only good until yesterday. Guess that’s why they gave ’em to my mom in the first place. Man, we only just made the last show.’
‘So, how was it?’
‘It was great!’
For a while they just talked excitedly, trading notes on the movie.
They were just getting back to class when one of Yuichi’s classmates told him that their homeroom teacher had been looking for him. Their teacher taught science and everyone called him Bear.
Yuichi found Bear waiting for him, a serious look on his face.
‘Some detectives from Tennoji are here. They want to talk to you.’
Yuichi’s mouth gaped. ‘With me? About what?’
‘They say you were taking pictures at the Seika Girls Middle School?’ Bear glared at Yuichi with dark eyes.
‘I – no, uh —’ Yuichi stammered. He might as well have confessed on the spot.
‘I don’t believe it,’ Bear said, scowling as he stood. ‘What will you idiots think of next? You’re an embarrassment to the whole school.’ He walked out of the room, motioning with his jaw for Yuichi to follow.
Three men were waiting for them in the school office. One of them was the guidance counsellor. He was glared at Yuichi through thick glasses.
Yuichi had never seen the other two men before. One was middle-aged and the other was a little younger. They were both wearing plain dark suits. These must be the detectives, Yuichi thought.
Bear introduced Yuichi to the detectives, who were looking him over from head to toe.
‘So you’re the one they say has been taking pictures of the students by the Seika Girls Middle School?’ the middle-aged detective said. His voice was calm, but there was a growl beneath the surface that was more frightening than anything Yuichi had ever heard from any teacher. Yuichi shrank in his seat, wanting to disappear.
‘I, er—’ He tried to talk, but his tongue felt like it was tied in knots.
‘One of the girls saw your name tag,’ the detective said, pointing at Yuichi’s shirt. ‘It’s a pretty unusual name. Guess that’s why she remembered it.’
No way, Yuichi thought.
‘Well? Were you taking pictures? Tell the truth, now.’
The younger detective joined in glaring at Yuichi. Meanwhile, the guidance counsellor was practically simmering in his chair.
‘Yes,’ Yuichi said, lowering his head. He heard Bear give a big sigh.
‘You should be ashamed of yourself,’ the guidance counsellor scolded him.
‘Let us handle this,’ the detective said, holding a hand up to the guidance counsellor before looking back at Yuichi. ‘Were you taking photos of a particular student?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘You know her name?’
Yuichi nodded. His voice was caught in his throat.
‘Think you could write it here for me?’ The detective pushed a piece of paper and a pen over to Yuichi.
Yuichi wrote Yukiho Karasawa’s name on the paper. The detective took a look at it and nodded.
‘Anyone else?’ the detective asked him. ‘You just took pictures of her?’
‘Just her, sir.’
‘She your favourite or something?’ the detective asked, a knowing smile spreading across his face.
‘Not my favourite exactly. More like my friend’s. I was just taking the pictures for him.’
‘Why couldn’t he take them himself?’
Yuichi looked down at the floor and bit his lip. The detective watched him, then chuckled. ‘You were selling the pictures?’
Yuichi flinched.
‘I don’t believe it,’ Bear muttered next to him. ‘Of all the stupid —’
‘You the only one taking pictures?’ the detective asked. ‘No one else was doing the same thing?’
‘I don’t think so, sir.’
‘What about the kids on the fence by the athletics field? You one of them, too?’
Yuichi looked up at the detective. ‘That wasn’t me. Honest, sir. I only took the pictures.’
‘So who was on the fence, then? Any idea?’
Yuichi was sure it was Muta and his gang, but he didn’t say anything. Who knew what they would do to him if they heard he’d squealed.
‘Understand: if you’re hiding something it’s not going to go well for you.’ The detective gave him a meaningful look. ‘But right now what I want you to tell me is what you were doing yesterday after school. Be as detailed as you can.’