Arriving at a place where the taxi couldn't move forward, Toru Shimizu threw the door behind and sped through the dimly lit streets, through the dark and unmoving alleys, and finally saw the convenience store that Nanami called Nanami.

In the silence and seclusion of the night, the white-lit convenience store looks like an island floating in the depths of the ocean, and the person on the island looks uneasy at the undercurrent of the water.

Without approaching rashly, Toru Shimizu watched her from afar and dialed the phone.

"Hey, Shimizu? Have you arrived? ”

She reacted faster than expected.

Watching her look out of the store, Toru Shimizu lowered her voice: "I just arrived, and I'm in the park on the right hand side of the convenience store." Have you called the police? ”

Nanami retreated to the counter, holding her phone in both hands.

"I called the police an hour ago, but no one is coming."

"Was it the same before?"

"Before... Although no clues have been found, at least it will come... I don't know why this time..."

At this point, the exhaustion in her voice sounded heavier than the night.

"I wasn't going to bother you... But this time it's..."

"I see," Toru Shimizu interrupted her, "do you remember what that man looked like?" ”

"That's... Always wearing a hat and a mask, no distinctive clothes, medium height, looking very thin... That's all..."

This kind of outfit should not be improvised. Qing Shui Toru pondered for a moment and continued to ask, "You also saw him just now, right?" ”

"Hmm... There's probably a shadow..."

That's still around. Coming to this conclusion, Qing Shui Toru hesitated for a while before he spoke: "Nanami, can you believe me?" ”

-----

The night wind made Nanami Nanami feel a chill, and she couldn't help but look back at the convenience store that still emitted a pure white light, took a deep breath, and walked towards the dark path ahead, talking to herself on her mobile phone.

- "I'm going back now... Hmm..."

- "The school is scheduled to visit the art gallery next week..."

- "The photos taken in the last interview were very good..."

- "By the way, are you listening? ”

"Yes."

Startled by Toru Shimizu's sudden sound, Nanami almost threw her phone out.

Looking at her panicked appearance from afar, Qing Shui Toru hurriedly added: "It's almost time to put it away." If he was nearby, the person just now didn't dare to approach when he saw you on the phone, and he shouldn't have let go of this opportunity now. ”

"Hmm."

Nanami Nanami put away her phone pretending to be the end of the call, and glanced left and right, as if she had lost her courage, just moving forward with her head stuffy, and her steps were hurried.

Toru Shimizu also put on a blazer, let out a few breaths, let out a little more of the alcohol on his body from the izakaya, carried a can picked up by the roadside, dressed as a drunk office worker, and staggered out.

Looking at Nanami Nanami who was walking opposite, Toru Shimizu was holding her head like she was having a headache, but the shadows behind her were staring out of the corner of her eyes. There, a vague shadow lingered in the distance.

Like a stranger, he passed by her, and the shadow became a little clearer in Qing Shui Toru's eyes.

A baseball cap, a mask, and a dark jacket are exactly as Nanami described.

I didn't expect to run into someone else, but the person's pace suddenly slowed down, and he hesitated to turn around.

Toru Shimizu still pinched the can and approached slowly.

There were still a few meters away from him, and when they were about to meet, the man seemed to react suddenly, and turned around sharply and fled towards the alley next to him.

Ignoring the continued disguise, Toru Shimizu also took a step, shortened the distance in an instant, and kicked him to the ground with a flying kick.

He clenched his hands into fists and smashed them on the side of the man's face, twisted his hands behind his back, put his knees against his spine, and ripped off his mask, and saw a panicked mouse face.

"Shimizu!"

Nanami behind him also rushed over.

"Is that him?"

Feeling the struggle in his hand, Qing Shui Toru increased his strength a little.

"That's right," Nanami Nanami nodded slowly, walked around the man for half a circle, and couldn't help but exclaim when she saw that face, "Yamamoto-san? ”

"You know him?"

"Ahh Sort of my landlord..."

Seeing that his identity was exposed, the man also pulled down his face and shouted with his neck: "Nanami, let him let go of me, otherwise you don't want to continue to live..."

Without waiting for Nanami Nanami to respond, Toru Shimizu directly smashed the man's face in a circle to shut him up. I rummaged through his pockets again and found a wallet.

"Nanami, you take this."

"What?"

"How much do you rent a month?"

"Forty thousand yen... There is also a deposit and key money for each month's rent. ”

"Then count out the 100,000 and put the rest back for him."

After retrieving her rent, Nanami Nanami hesitated and said, "Then what now?" ”

"Where's the nearest police station?"

The man on the ground was indifferent when he was searched, but when he heard this, he suddenly struggled hard.

Qing Shui didn't notice it for a while, but he broke free. By the time he had reacted, the man had long since disappeared into the dark alley like a spider's web.

"Okay, I can't take care of him for the time being", Toru Shimizu chased him to the intersection, and couldn't find the direction in which the person fled, so he could only look back at Nanami Nanami, who had caught up.

"Nanami, do you have any plans now?"

Nanami stood under the street lamp, stroking her slightly undulating chest, revealing a wry smile.

"Anyway... There's no way to live here. ”

"Also, being escaped by that person is not safe even tonight. By the way, do you have a place to go? ”

"I had a few good classmates at school, and I had a friend who came to Tokyo from Hokkaido... Should... No problem, right? ”

She spoke, but there was some hesitation in her tone.

Actually, even if it's a friend, it's not appropriate to disturb in the middle of the night. What's more, everyone is crammed into a small room that can only accommodate one person, and there is not enough room to suddenly accept another person.

The night breeze brings more coolness. Toru Shimizu watched as the lights of the houses on both sides of the street turned on, and the figures behind the curtains swayed, as if awakened by the sound just now.

No longer suitable for a stay, Toru Shimizu grabbed Nanami's wrist and led her back to the park near the convenience store with her stunned expression.

The light reflected in the convenience store was still bright, and in its shadows, Toru Shimizu went through the words that he had thought of before several times in his heart, and finally spoke.

"If you can't find another place to go, why don't you go to my place for now... It's a bit far, but there's room for two people... It's also convenient to get to Dongyi University..."

As soon as these words came out, Toru Shimizu noticed the surprised look in her eyes, and looked away in embarrassment, only catching the sound of the night wind through her ears. After saying that, there was a long silence, and it took a long time to receive a response.

“... Then trouble you..."