stand-in creed

Beef tongue pickle, and cress pot.

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It’s not that it’s unwise, if even Kobayashi Yumei can fight against Nero, I think Dior would have fought in vain ten years ago...

Chapter 14

Thursday, June 1999, 4.

The renovation of Dongfang's house has come to an end, Jousuke sighed and returned to school in helplessness, and Nero, who returned to Du Wang Hotel, opened the address book and called Dongfang Ryohei, a policeman far away in Tokyo.

"Mr. Dongfang, is it convenient now?"

"Oh, it's Zeppelin, what's the matter?"

"I should have told you on the phone before that someone in Duwang Town is deliberately "manufacturing" a substitute messenger in a very dangerous way, so I would like to ask you if there have been any "cases" or The "event" has no clue yet, maybe we can start from this aspect. "

"In the case of a case or event..."

Dongfang Liangping on the other end of the phone began to think.

It's not that he couldn't think of it for a while, but Dongfang Liangping felt that there seemed to be a lot of such things.

"To be honest, Mr. Qibelin, since a long time ago, I felt that there seemed to be something wrong with this Moriou town where I have lived for decades. There are "several cases" of women disappearing almost every year. "

"...The woman is missing?"

"If it's a big city like Tokyo, it's normal for a few people to go missing every year. But in a small town like Moriwang Town with a total population of less than 6 people, it's not normal no matter how you think about it. It's normal. Looking at the specific data——

"—eight times the national average."

"Has the body of the missing woman been found, or has it turned out to have run away from home?"

"...Unfortunately, there is none. I was always confused when I read the files before, but since I learned about the stand-in messengers, I probably understand that these women are probably destroyed by some kind of stand-in ability. .”

Dongfang Lianghei sighed.

Nero nodded, but soon Nero realized something was wrong.

"Wait, these missing people are all women?

"The vast majority are women, and a few cases are men. Almost all of them are boyfriends or fathers of missing women. By the way, these women all have one thing in common, that is, they are very beautiful."

"...?"

this moment.

Nero thought of Yasujuro Katagiri, and Yumi Kobayashi who had encountered him.

It seems that something is not right.

"When did these disappearance cases start?"

"The number of "unsolved" disappearances first started to appear in late 1983, but the number of cases surged after 1986.

"...1986."

Nero frowned.

At this point in time, it is easy for him to think of Dior.

"Mr. East.

"According to the testimonies of Angelo Katagiri and Yumi Kobayashi, the person who turned them into messengers was very young.

"If the crimes started more than ten years ago, wouldn't it be that they started committing crimes in elementary school? Considering that the criminals' targets are mainly beautiful women, at least they must be at the age when they are biologically interested in the opposite sex. What's more, these characteristics obviously do not match "Katagiri Yasujuro" and "Kobayashi Yumi".

"Katagiri Yasujuro even mentioned Nijimura Kateo's words before his death - the more ferocious the criminal, the stronger the possibility of triggering this talent, so I chose you.

"Nijimura Xingzhao's purpose is to be a "substitute messenger" rather than a "female woman"... Wait! "

Nero's pupils shrank suddenly.

Dongfang Liangping on the other end of the phone also fell silent briefly, and took a deep breath.

"It seems that we are looking for someone else in Morioh Town besides the "Niji Village Shape Omen" you mentioned.

"In addition to Hongcun Xingzhao who secretly created a substitute messenger, there is a prisoner in Duwang Town who has been making disappearances for more than ten years."

"...It seems so." Nero nodded.

"I say, Mr. Detective."

"Detective?" Nero was taken aback.

"Hahaha, isn't what you are doing now the work of a detective?" Dongfang Liangping smiled.

"If there are superpowers in mystery novels, readers will scold them for making shit." Nero smiled, but soon became serious, "So Mr. Dongfang, what do you want to say?"

"If possible, please find the criminal under the premise of "guaranteeing your own safety". "

Dongfang Liangping did not want to force Nero to find the prisoner.

Not to mention that Nero is not a policeman in Morioh Town, Nero is not even Japanese, there is no need to gamble his life for this town.

It is best to find and "solve" it.

If it can't be solved, for the safety of the family, I can only let my daughter Tomoko and grandson Josuke completely move out of Morioh Town, and then I, an old policeman who will be buried in the soil in a few years, will work hard slowly.

"...I don't take it lightly to say big things like 'he must be caught', but I assure you that I will do my best. "

"Thank you."

Dongfang Liangping nodded with emotion on the other end of the phone.

Immediately, Dongfang Lianghei turned the topic back to the previous one: "Nero, I think of a rather bizarre incident, maybe it's okay, but maybe it's related."

"Huh?" Nero took out his notebook.

Dongfang Ryohei said: "Jusuke's Putaogaoka High School had an incident during the holidays before the start of the school year, that is, in March - a student in the third-year group C used a mechanical pencil to goug out his left eye .”

"...?"

"According to the injured person, "When he came back to his senses, he used his remaining right eye to see the left eye that he dug out"—isn't it scary?It's like a horror movie, but it really happened. "

"How is the police's current characterization?"

"There's nothing qualitative about the police. This matter can't be filed as a case at all, so it's called an incident. I just heard about it. As for the conclusion given by the hospital, it's probably a mental problem. The specific medical I don't understand the terminology very well."

"Still in the hospital?"

"Yes."

"I need the address of the hospital, the person's name and ward number."

"Wait a minute, I'll make a call and ask, and I'll call you in a few minutes."

"it is good."

A moment later, Nero got information from Dongfang Ryohei.

At noon, I found some food in the shopping street, and rushed to the hospital in the afternoon. When I came to the ward, I saw the sunken left eye tied with gauze. The boy who was supposed to be studying happily at school.

The boy's mother forcibly showed a smile and cut the apple for the boy. The boy's only right eye could not see any emotional fluctuations, but numbly took the apple slices cut by his mother and swallowed them whole.

Nero took a deep breath and stepped forward to introduce himself.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen, my name is Nero Zeppelin, and I am a—

"--detective."

Chapter 15

Although Nero felt that he had nothing to do with the word detective, he just introduced himself in this way because he simply thought that the profession of "detective" would help him obtain the testimony of the other party, and said, "The case I am investigating may be related to what happened to your son. It is related to misfortune."

But there is one thing to say.

When a person looks like a detective, says he is a detective, and does what a detective should do, even if he is actually a superhuman, he is a detective.

So when Nero pondered and understood this matter, he realized that he seemed to have accidentally embarked on a strange path, becoming another Mori Kogoro in the Heisei era.

Fortunately, Nero, who could not be a lawyer, finally found his second job in life--a detective.

Yagami Takayuki called the expert directly.

Closer to home, Nero did get such a testimony——

“—I had some disputes with my friend “Mata Toshikazu” that day because we had different views on a certain idol. "

Mata Toshikazu.

A student in Group C of Grape Hill High School in the third year.

This information was recorded in the notebook by Nero.Although there are no photos, Nero tentatively asked the other party about the general height and hairstyle of Toshikazu Mata, as well as some other physical characteristics.

After that, we drove straight to Grape Hill High School.

Looking at the guard at the concierge not far away, Nero stretched his muscles and opened a bottle of mineral water.

"— Stairway to Heaven."

The wind is lingering.

Water lingers.

Light lingers.

The vortex of water mist wrapped around his body like clothes and refracted the light, making Nero a transparent person at this moment.

But the trick isn't perfect.

People with keen insight will definitely find that the scenery where Nero is standing seems to be somewhat "distorted" and thus confirm Nero's position, just like a StarCraft player's sharp eyes sweeping Jingle Bells and Hidden Swords.

But it is more than enough to deal with the yawning guard in the concierge, or the students and teachers laughing and chatting in the campus.

That's it, Nero walked into the campus of Grape Hill High School openly and aboveboard.

And just as Nero entered the teaching building, the bell rang for the end of get out of class, and Jousuke's voice came from a certain classroom of the first grade.

"Kang Yi! Do you want to go to the bathroom or not!"

"can!"

It is normal for boys in school days to go to the toilet in groups.

At this moment, Dongfang Jousuke was walking out of the classroom door with the little friend he met in study, and walked towards the toilet.However, as soon as he stepped out of the classroom door, Jousuke found that there seemed to be something wrong with the air in front of him.

"……Um?"

"What's wrong, Josuke?"

The white-haired boy Hirose Koichi looked at Higashija Jousuke who stopped in his tracks in confusion.

Dongfang Jousuke scratched his dung head, and said with some confusion: "It doesn't seem to be my illusion, why does it feel that the air here is a little distorted... Woohoo!!!"

For an instant.

Jousuke saw a transparent figure in the distorted air——

Nero was smiling at him.

"Ni, Nini, Nini..."

"It does seem a bit weird, but Josuke, why did you react so suddenly?"

"..."

Higashikata Jousuke didn't reply.

He just heard Nero's whispered words drifting into his ears.

"I'll come to your school to investigate the case, you don't have to worry, just study well."

This sentence was left behind.

This twisted mass of air floated upwards, towards the ceiling, and then disappeared from Jousuke's vision after floating up the stairs.

Jousuke shook his head.

"It's nothing...although I'm really curious, but I can't hold my urine anymore, let's go, Kang Yi!"

"Ah, um!"

Nero floated leisurely to the floor where the third grade was located, and came to the third grade C classroom.