On a narrow street in a residential area in Kanagawa Prefecture, a silver Toyota R□4 is parked. The reflective windows, stained red by the setting sun, slowly rolled down, revealing a crimson color that was even more brilliant than the blood-colored sunset. Nao looked at the small building across the street, holding up the piece of paper in his hand and comparing it with the number on the door.

"That's right, this is it. The first floor is the clinic, and the second and third floors are apartments...... It doesn't seem to be a very big family, and it's easier to handle than expected. Nao threw the note to the young man in the driver's seat beside him, moved his neck and turned his head sideways to ask him, "What do you do now, go in together or do I go by myself?"

"Hmm...... It's better for you to go alone. Matsuda looked at the information on the note and shrugged his shoulders at Nao, "The doctor's observation is very strong, and I don't want to be complained about anymore." After all, the guys up there are keeping an eye on me, and I've been miserably warned three or four times. ”

"Hey, it's strange who asked someone from the explosive ordnance disposal squad to intervene in the work of the search division again and again without warning you!" Nao loosened his seat belt, rolled his eyes at Matsuda, and pushed open the car door, "Be mentally prepared, the other party probably doesn't remember what happened three years ago at all." ”

"There's no way, you have to give it a try, don't you?" Matsuda took out a cigarette and put it to his lips, stretched out two fingers to his temples and saluted Nao, "Come on, little Nao!

"Make it up, ......" Nao flung the ends of her hair behind her and squinted at the plaque that read "Yagyu Clinic". After the last fake bomb incident, she had a hunch that there would come a time when she would have to lie again for the sake of some "justice". She sighed lightly and shook her head self-deprecatingly: "It's the second time...... That's it, this is also one raw and two ripe. ”

She tightened the school uniform and tie on her chest, and pushed open the door of the clinic on the first floor with her school bag. The bell on the lintel rang, but there was no response from inside the clinic. Nao had to stand in the hallway and wait, observing the small private clinic by the way. -- Non-slip marble floors, antique ceiling fans with four blades, wooden chairs on the left and right sides of the walls, chairs with potted foliage plants next to them, and a frosted glass partition separating the space between the clinic and the waiting room at the end. It is a clinic full of comfort and coziness. Whether it's its anti-Japanese décor or the lingering scent of plants in the house, it makes people feel relaxed from the soul.

Nao had been standing in the hallway for less than thirty seconds when the sound of thumping footsteps could be heard from the wooden staircase leading to the second floor. A teenager with thin-rimmed glasses appeared at the corner of the stairs and smiled apologetically at Nao as he descended the stairs. He wasn't very tall, he didn't look very old, and he was holding a middle school textbook that was exactly the same as the one in Nao's bag. Presumably, this young man heard the bell of the lintel when he was studying, and he even forgot to put down his book and hurried over. But this hurried move did not make the teenager lose his temper, but revealed an elegant temperament that was different from his peers from his peers.

"I'm sorry, but the doctor just went out. However, the clinic is not far from here, so if you don't mind, please wait here for a while. The young man stretched out his palm and motioned for Nao to sit down in the waiting area, put the book aside and walked to the tea set stand next to the treatment room, "Let's drink something while you wait, is it okay to have black tea?"

"Yes, thank you. ”

Nao placed her bag on the ground and sat down on the wooden chair in the waiting room. Before she could sit down, a cup of fragrant black tea was placed on the coffee table in front of her. She looked up at the boy who was making tea for her, and smiled at him a little embarrassed in the smell of tea, and put to good use the acting skills she had learned while exchanging cases with Matsuda.

"I'm sorry, did I bother you at this time?"

"Ah, there's no such thing, please don't mind!" The young man took a step back, and when he heard Nao's apologetic words, he hurriedly shook his hand to tell her not to care, pushed his glasses and looked at his own clinic with some emotion, "My father opened this clinic to make it convenient for people nearby, and I feel very honored to be able to help you, where is there any obstacle." ”

"But aren't you studying?" Nao secretly unbuttoned his cuffs, raised his finger and pointed to the textbook he had placed on the tea set, "That, it's a first-year textbook, right? You're also a first-year student?"

"Yes, I just entered the middle school of Lihai University this year...... Ah, you're hurt!" the young man subconsciously looked along Nao's arm, but suddenly saw a large bruise on her forearm that was exposed after her cuffs slid down, and hurriedly put the tray on the coffee table, pulled up her arm, and wrote unpretentious concern on his face, "How do you feel, is there any other place where you are injured?" If you feel uncomfortable, go upstairs to rest first, and let your mother help you take medicine first......"

"No, it's okay. Nao smiled at the young man, the sharpness and firmness in his eyes flashed, "These are all left during training, and they are not some serious wounds. It's just that there are too many of them, so it's a problem for training, so I want to come here to prescribe some medicine to make the wound heal faster...... After all, you can't stop training for this wound. ”

"This is really messy, there are scars on women's skin, but it's Yan zhòng's business!" The young man suddenly got up, and a white light flashed from the transparent lens, "No matter how strong your belief is, you can't let yourself be hurt, and if you drag down your body, you won't be able to continue your ideals!" He saw Nao's slightly stunned expression, and smiled a little embarrassedly: "Ah, I also have some sports training, and I can understand your eagerness, so I said it unconsciously...... I'm really sorry. ”

"You didn't say anything wrong, there's no need to apologize. Nao smiled lightly at the young man, closed his eyes slightly, touched his injured forearm, lowered his head and trembled a little, "It's just that that's not ideal, it's something I have to do...... That man must be caught, he must be punished as he deserves, and his uncle's soul must be laid to rest. For this goal, even if I can't get up again on the training ground, I won't regret it. ”

"That person must be caught......" The boy repeated Nao's words in a low voice, and suddenly raised his head suddenly, "You mean that your relatives were involved in the incident, so you ......"

"Yes, I did everything I did to catch the prisoner with my own hands. -- The prisoner who somehow made my uncle rush into the middle of the road three years ago and was hit by an oncoming truck and died tragically on the streets of Tokyo!" Nao bit her lip and clenched her fists tightly, "Three years ago, when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school, in the winter of January 6, Suwa Stadium Avenue in Kabatomachi, Tokyo, the sound of brakes and the blood on the road...... I'll never forget!"

yes, I can't forget. The man who had kept Matsuda Jinpei's fool tracking for three years, the man who took his friend's life, the bomber who made him track down even if he was warned by his superiors. Matsuda's expression when he happened to talk about his friend Kenji Hagiwara, who was killed in that incident, is afraid that Nao will never forget it for the rest of his life. With a little nostalgia, a little self-blame, a soft but resolute expression, Nao has never seen it in him. On January 6 of this year, another big number was sent to the police station, two last year and one this year. Others may not know, but Matsuda told her - it was the countdown of the bomb timer. Next year, on January 6 of the next year, the bomb that Matsuda has been tracking for three years will be detonated.

"In the winter of the fourth grade, on January 6th, the ...... of Kakutomachi, Tokyo," the teenager, who had just been shocked, suddenly fell into deep thought, put his hand on his chin and muttered to himself, "It seems that there was an explosion in the neighborhood that day, and there was indeed a car accident on that street...... I seem to ...... Is that person ......?"

Nao had been secretly observing the boy's expression, and when she heard his whisper, her eyes suddenly lit up, and the corners of her lips picked up in a place that others couldn't see. Looking at his expression, there was no mistake, he still remembered what happened at that time! Nao took a deep breath and grabbed the young man's hand, his golden-green eyes staring straight at his eyes that were blocked by the reflection of his eyes.

"You, do you know? You also know about that incident?!" Nao looked surprised, his narrow eyes opened into two round, shining apricots, and he grabbed the young man's hand and kept shaking, "Sue me, please sue me!"

"I do remember some things at that time, you sit down and I will tell you slowly. The boy didn't break free of Nao's strength enough to pinch the palm of his hand, but patted her shoulder to soothe her, "Come, smell the aroma of black tea, and then take a sip gently." If you are too impatient and too impatient, you will not only be unable to remember details, but your thinking and reasoning skills will also be affected. And...... My hand hurts, haha!"

"Yes, I'm sorry. Nao let go of his hand with an embarrassed expression, picked up the steaming black tea at the boy's signal, and took a deep breath.

"Have you calmed down?"

The young man smiled gently at Nao's gradually calming expression, got up and carefully added black tea to Nao, took out a pen and paper in the consultation room, and placed them flat on the coffee table and nodded to Nao.

"So, let's get started. ”

**

Inside the silver car, Matsuda Jinhei was bored playing with the lighter in his hand, but his eyes were staring straight at the photo tucked in the rearview mirror. In the photo, the young man wearing sunglasses, holding a cigarette, with black curly hair and a calm face is himself, and the long-haired young man next to him, wearing a gray shirt, giving a thumbs up to the camera, and baring out a mouthful of white teeth, is his lifelong friend - Kenji Hagihara.

Hagiwara, who is cheerful and optimistic and likes to tell bad jokes from time to time, is a classmate at the same university as Yan Sù, who is cautious and seems to be a little too rigid, and after graduating, he entered the explosive ordnance disposal class of the first security class at the same time. Hagiwara's often maddening personality at that time was completely different from his: he always restrained Ogiwara with rules and regulations, and Ogiwara also infected him with his enthusiasm and uninhibitedness, so the two personalities seemed to complement each other well, and their excellent abilities were also important figures in the security lesson. They are indispensable in any tricky bombing, and they will always be seen in any press conference about the case. This harmony did not change until the events of three years ago.

The 40-kilogram suit is full of pockets for utensils, and even in the sub-zero winter, it feels like being in a sauna. The delicate work of disarming a bomb in such a suit allows a person to concentrate and emit a lot of heat. Five minutes is unbearable, no, it's impossible. Unlike him, who always demanded self-discipline, Ogiwara didn't seem to wear the bulky explosion-proof suit once. For this reason, he scolded the pig's head who was looking for death more than once, but never received any effect. -- Including the bombing that changed their minds.

It would be nice to keep an eye on him a little more......

It would be nice to scold him a few more times......

He thought about it all the time. If Ogihara had been wearing an explosion-proof suit, he would not have been evaporated by the high temperature at the moment of the explosion, and he would not have even left a corpse, and it would have even been possible to sit in the car and grin at him instead of leaving a sad last word and disappearing without a trace.

(Well, if I die, you can avenge me!)

(--I'm really angry!)

(Hahaha, just kidding!, would I do that kind of stupid thing?)

(Anyway, you quickly solved it, I'll wait for you at the old place.) ）

(Oh, yes! If you're in for a treat, I'll take care of it at full throttle!)

"Hey, I want to have a treat, and it's okay to have a lifetime guest...... But can you come?" Matsuda snorted, turning his face away from the smoky photograph. Knock, the sound of fingers tapping on the window sounded. He turned his head in astonishment, and in a trance, he seemed to see the handsome face that made people want to beat it again.

"That's it, it's easier than you think. Nao opened the car door and sat inside, raising the paper in his hand, "Yagyu is thirteen years old, and he was in the fourth grade of elementary school. When I went to Tokyo with my family, I got separated on the street, and I happened to witness the incident when I was buying a drink at a roadside vending machine. When the crowd came around, he was less than ten meters away from the scene of the crime, and saw a person next to the vending machine who seemed to be watching the scene angrily, and then disappeared into the side path within two minutes. ”

"Oh, that's supposed to be that guy. Matsuda smiled self-deprecatingly, rubbed his face and began to listen carefully to Nao's clues, "Height, age, body type, characteristics, are they all there?"

"What's the hurry, I'm just starting to say. Nao looked at Matsuda, who seemed to be a little different from just now, a little puzzled, but she shook her head again and didn't take this matter to heart, and continued to summarize the clues she had gathered, "To put it simply...... A man in his mid-30s is about 1.7 meters tall. Dressed in a suit without a tie and glasses with large lenses, he looks like a very serious person, presumably working as a teacher, accountant, or other clerical worker. ”

"Oh, the work has been calculated, not bad!"

"It's not me who deduced it, it's the boy who witnessed it, Yagyu Hirus. Nao shook his head slightly, looking a little tired, "His observation is not ordinary, and he wears glasses that make people unable to see expressions, so he has no idea what he is thinking." Although the attitude has always been very good and the words are more organized, it always makes people feel that something is wrong. ”

"Isn't that right?" Matsuda looked sideways at Nao, "You mean there's something wrong with these clues?"

"No, there is no problem with the clues, I have thought about it myself...... It just felt that something was wrong, as if his intentions had already been seen through by him...... Maybe I'm too sensitive. Nao bit the nail of his thumb and thought, but then gave up again, "How about it, is this clue helpful? Isn't it too few, there are at least tens of thousands of such people in the country, and it is simply too difficult to find out with these clues, no, it is impossible." ”

"Is it impossible?" Matsuda smiled, "Judging from the current situation, if the criminal does not continue to commit crimes, it is indeed a little unlikely that he will be found based on these clues alone...... But Nao-chan, do you know?" Matsuda snuffed out his cigarette, put his hand behind his head and looked in the rearview mirror and said to Nao, "If the truth is a picture that can be read, then every clue is a puzzle piece that can make the painting come together. Although sometimes we can get a glimpse of the main idea of the painting without putting it all together, when we are at a loss, any small piece of the puzzle may lead us to the right path and lead us to an important part of the main theme of the picture. This is not the case now, at least the general extent of the prisoners can be determined. He picked up the paper with the clue recorded, and the corners of his mouth twitched, "Besides, even if it's impossible, you have to continue...... Who told me to make an appointment with that guy? ”

Listening to Matsuda's voice getting lower and lower, Nao lowered her eyes and sighed softly. Do you want to continue even if it's impossible...... Then she'll be with her to the end. Who made this guy now her family?

"I said, can we go to dinner?

"A treat...... Okay, let's go eat some ramen!"

"Hey!!"

"Haha, lie to you. How about going for a barbecue?"

As Nao and Matsuda argued about not being nourished, the silver cart slowly started and slowly drove away from the door of the Yagyu Clinic. On the second floor of the clinic, a pair of reflective lenses appeared behind the half-curtain window, watching them leave.