He Ma carefully looked at the girl in front of him, and it was a good face, an average figure-this is generally a conclusion drawn by comparing the girls of their own who have a flat model level figure.

"That's a bit interesting," said Kazuma, "have you always thought that your friend Watanabe-kun was killed by him?" ”

The girl hesitated for a moment, then nodded with a look of great determination, "Yes." It's not convenient to talk here, can we say it in another place? ”

As she spoke, the girl glanced at the whitening water marks on Bai Feng Qingliu's clothes, and said, "Ah, I'm waiting in the room, you two can deal with your own affairs first." ”

With that, she began to back away.

"Then I'll go first. I live in room 217. ”

Before Kazuma and Qingliu could say a word, the girl ran away.

Qingliu looked puzzled: "Why did she run so fast?" Shouldn't this be the reaction of ordinary people when they encounter a 'detective' who can be turned to for help? ”

Hema glanced at Qingliu and understood: "Qingliu, take the paper and wipe you here, yes, this is it." ”

He said as he gestured with his hand to himself.

Qingliu looked down suspiciously.

"Damn, this is just spilled with milk!"

"Yes, but apparently Miss Akasai didn't see the scene where your milk was spilled. She must have thought that ......" and the horse shut up and smiled at Haruu without saying a word.

"Forget if others misunderstand, what do you mean? Bastard! Perverted! Haruru let out a curse that would excite tsundere lovers as she pulled out a tissue to wipe the stains on her yukata.

Kazuma: "Do you want to help?" ”

"Die, stay away from me, pervert!" Haruru raised her foot to kick the horse's calf bone, but was quickly dodged.

Kazuma: "Okay, I'll stay away, just when Miss Akasai invited me to her room, I'm leaving!" ”

"Wait a minute, I'll go too!" Haruru throws the tissue in the trash and runs to catch up with Kazuma.

**

When Akasai Feng opened the door, he looked at Qingliu who was following behind Kazuma with a surprised expression.

"This is my apprentice, and now he is a guest assistant." And Ma explained, "And the white marks you saw just now are actually when you drink milk......

"Isn't it even more suspicious that you deliberately explain it like this?" Haruru interrupted Kazuma's words, and it looked like if it weren't for Akasai being in front of him, he would have kicked Kazuma directly.

"Anyway, I don't have that relationship with Qingliu."

Akaxi Feng glanced at Qingliu, "oh", and took a step back: "Please come in." ”

Kazuma entered the room and looked around: "Miss Akasai lives in such a big house alone?" ”

"It's already the smallest room in the hotel." Miss Akasai smiled, "We don't have any other girls in the Fantasy Biology Research Society, the boys squeeze into a room, I sleep by myself, and I want to sleep with other girls, so I can chat or something." ”

And Ma was shocked, this woman naturally used the technique of "Versailles literature"!

Miss Akasai pointed to the small coffee table by the window: "Sit over there, I just boiled the water, and when the water boils, I will make tea and bring it over." ”

Kazuma nodded, came to the coffee table, and sat cross-legged on the cushion.

According to etiquette, the room of the woman he just met should be sitting, but Kazuma especially hates Japanese-style sitting, and thinks that it is a form of torture, and he must sit cross-legged as long as he does not force him to sit upright.

Qingliu was going to sit upright, but when she saw that she was cross-legged with the horse, she thought about it and sat down cross-legged on the left hand side of the horse. As a result, as soon as her butt touched the cushion, she felt that it was inappropriate, so she changed it to a duck seat.

Kazuma: "You're not a rock girl, it's okay to sit cross-legged like a man." ”

"That's who I used to be." Haruru replied.

Kazuma glanced at Miss Akasai, who was still guarding the kettle and preparing to make tea, and felt that it would take some time to come over there and start business, so he continued to chat with Qingliu: "Then what are you now?" ”

"Ordinary adolescent girl." Haruru replied.

"Really? It doesn't look like it. ”

"Even if you blatantly move your gaze to my chest, I won't be angry about this."

If you lie to someone, you will obviously be angry, and even fools can see that they are angry!

At this time, Miss Akanishi came over with a tray: "I simply made some tea, I hope Kiryu doesn't mind." ”

"Thank you." He Ma took the tea, took a small sip politely, and put the teacup down.

Qingliu didn't even take a sip and put down the teacup directly, looking at her, the teacup should be too hot.

Miss Akanishi sat down across from Kazuma, "Kiryu-sensei already knows my name, but let me introduce myself formally." My name is Kaede Akanishi, a sophomore at Meiji University, and I am a member of the Fantasy Biology Research Association. ”

"Kiryu and Ma." Kazuma's self-introduction is simple and clear, and it's all a formality anyway.

Haruyu: "I'm Kiryu's apprentice, Haruu Shiramine." ”

"I know, Miss Hakuchi, newspapers and magazines have published a lot of stories about you and Kiryu-sensei."

Haruku: "Then you should also know that most of the news is fake, right?" ”

Hema: "Don't beat all the news to death with a stick, there are still reporters who insist on reporting the truth." ”

"Is there one?"

"Yes." And Ma is also not sure, "Off topic." Our business is not important, it is your business that matters, Miss Akanishi. Do you always think Watanabe-kun was killed by him? The reason? ”

Miss Akanishi's eyes were lowered, and her hands on the coffee table clenched the cup full of hot tea.

The teacup must be very hot, and he and Ma himself have just taken the teacup, so they naturally know this.

But Miss Akanishi didn't seem to notice that the teacup was hot.

She stared at the tea stalk floating in the teacup, as if searching for the vertical tea stalk that represented good luck — in Japan, the tea stalk in the tea was erected to indicate that good things would happen.

Kazuma: "Miss Akasai? ”

"It was the god of the shrine who killed Watanabe-kun." Akasai suddenly whispered.

"Oh?" Kazuma expressed his feelings at the moment with a long note of a ninety-degree turn, "Why do you think so?" Don't talk about women's intuition, we're going to talk about evidence. ”

"Because Watanabe-kun found out that the god lord was abnormal." Miss Akasai continued.

"What's not normal?" Leaning forward with the horse, pressing his elbows against the coffee table.

Miss Akasai thought for a moment and said, "I'll start from the beginning."

"We are a fantasy creature research society, and outsiders think that we are a group of stupid hats who focus on finding mallet snakes, but in fact, we mainly study the actual origin and evolution of various fantasy creatures, such as the formation and evolution of the legend before Tamamo."

When Kazuma heard this, he suddenly wanted to tell the girl: "You are busy in vain, because Tamamo is not a legend before, she really exists......"

But he didn't speak, after all, it was not good to interrupt people's conversations.

Miss Akanishi continued, "Last year, I was a new member of the research group with Watanabe-kun and Oda-kun, and we came from the same high school......"

"Three high schools from Meiji University in the same year?" Haruru interrupted Miss Akanishi.

It stands to reason that at this time, she can't intervene as a lady on the horse side, but the rock girl doesn't bird the rules and regulations of Japan.

Miss Akasai tilted her head: "yes, is there anything wrong with this?" ”

"Isn't that a super difficult university to get into?"

"It's really hard to get into, but I went to a prestigious private school with a high admission rate. Every year, we have six students from our school who go to Tokyo schools. ”

Hema: "This is the case with famous private schools, like Peking High School, where I studied in high school, is an ordinary public high school, and there are two students in the same class, one Keio School and one Shangzhi, so that's called a miracle." Miss Akanishi, you continue. ”

Chi Xifeng nodded: "Okay." We went on to Meiji University from the same private high school, and when we were in high school, we were in the supernatural club, and we were passionate about discovering the causes of urban legends......"

Well? Why does the content of this supernatural ministry feel a little familiar?

“…… So when we arrived at Meiji University, we were very interested as soon as we saw the recruitment of the Fantasy Biology Research Association.

"Of course, we went to the supernatural department of Meiji University first, and it turned out that it was full of real supernatural enthusiasts who were keen to share information about various urban legends.

"After we decided that the Psychic Department of Meiji University was not suitable for us, we went to the Fantasy Biology Research Institute and stayed until now."

Kazuma: "You've been there until now. ”

"No, Minister Takei said that Watanabe-kun and Oda-kun would never be removed from the ministry roster. It doesn't matter. Last summer, we saw a report in a tabloid about the discovery of a mallet snake, which was located near here.

"Minister Takei immediately went to book a room in the hotel, but he didn't expect that all the hotels in the 'place of discovery' were booked for lovers looking for mallet snakes.

At this time, the minister saw the advertising flyer of this hot spring street, and thought to himself that the geographical difference is only ten kilometers, and if there is really a mallet snake, its habitat must also include this hot spring street.

"If you don't have a mallet snake, you might be able to investigate the folklore related to it here."

Hema: "As a result, you only found out that there are only demon foxes who like to eat children's hearts and livers. ”

Miss Akasai smiled, "Yes, and it's a common legend in the countryside to scare children and make them go home early." On the first day we came here, we knew it was going to be a no-brainer.

"But Minister Takei said that the funds were all spent, and something had to be done, otherwise wouldn't it be like a bastard who cheated the funds and came out to eat, drink and have fun, so we began to go up the mountain every day to find the mallet snake and exercise properly."

Qingliu: "Your synopsis is long enough. ”

"Uh, this ......"

Hema: "It's okay, this kind of detail is a very important part of understanding the truth. ”

In fact, he really wanted to know about the discovery of the mallet snake last year, but in 1981 there was no Internet, and he could not easily find a lot of information by typing a few keywords in the search engine.

He could only ask Miss Akasai: "Do you have any reports about the mallet snake that led you to start this hot spring trip last year?" ”

"Yes, I've been collecting relevant evidence since I suspected that Watanabe-kun was killed, and I cut out this report and pasted it in my newspaper clippings."

Miss Akasai stood up, rummaged through her luggage by the door, came over with a newspaper clipping book wrapped in a plain book cover, and opened one of the pages and put it in front of Wama.

"This is the report."

Kazuma glanced at it and nodded, "Okay, I don't know what the use is, but please Miss Akasai keep this newspaper clipping." Let's go back to the topic just now, how did Watanabe-kun find out that the god was abnormal, what was the abnormality? ”

Miss Akasai nodded, "The three of us were keen to investigate the causes of various legends when we were in high school. The story of the demon fox told by the old women in this hot spring town seems to be unremarkable, but we investigated it anyway. Then we found something interesting. ”

"What's interesting?" And the horse is very cooperative to ask questions in this place.

"The legend of the demon fox on this hot spring street seems to have been formed after the Great Kanto Earthquake during the Taisho period."

Kazuma: "We heard that there used to be a tradition of sending children who could not afford it to the mountains and forests to be thrown away, but after the Meiji Restoration, it basically disappeared, and it did not come back until it entered a difficult period again after the Great Kanto Earthquake. ”

"The guy who said it also warned you not to sing the "Passage Song" in the mountains, right?" Miss Akasai said.

"Ah, yes. Are you also a detective? He Ma quipped.

But Akaxi Feng was very serious, and he didn't mean to joke at all: "We also heard about this statement last year. But we also heard more.

"We visited Granny Noda many times in the hot spring town to help her clean the house, cook her food, and so on, and we used to use this method to woo the elderly when we went to ask them about the old legends.

"This time it worked. When we asked Grandma Noda where she had heard the legend of the demon fox, she told us that it was not a legend, but that she had seen it with her own eyes when she was a child. She woke up one night and heard a noise in her neighbor's house, so she got up and leaned on the window to look out.

As a result, she saw the white-haired demon fox come out of the neighbor's house, holding the neighbor's child who was asleep in his arms.

The demon fox saw her, too, and grinned and bared its fangs. She screamed in fright and crawled away from the window.

Then the demon fox began to knock on the window, and the shadows of everything in the room seemed to come to life at the same time......

Miss Akasai stopped and gasped for air, as if the scene she had just narrated had made her a little breathless.

After a while, she said, "When Granny Noda told me about this scene, it was so scary that I couldn't even reproduce a tenth of her. ”

Kazuma: "I think it's okay." ”

Akanishi Kaede shook his head repeatedly, then took a few deep breaths before continuing, "Granny Noda's words made us very excited, because we felt that we had discovered something 'different' this time, and when we were investigating supernatural legends before, we had never encountered such a situation where a 'first-hand witness' told us directly. ”

Kazuma thought to herself, before I go back and introduce you to the real Tamamo, she can tell you a lot of stories that she has experienced.

"Watanabe-kun, in accordance with our previous practice of club activities, went to the shrine to inquire about the situation. Because shrines often record local legends and other things, this is one of the duties of the priest, and in some places, the local chronicles are also written by the shrine. ”

This seems to be quite common outside of China.

Most of the regional scripts were basically in the hands of nobles and priests, and it is rare in the world for a poor family in China to be able to read and write, and even to pass the examination for meritorious officials and prime ministers.

Japan has been learning from China for hundreds of years, but many powerful things have not been learned at all. In a rural area like this, before the Meiji Restoration, only priests could read and write, and naturally there were priests who wrote everything in the local chronicles.

Kazuma: "So Watanabe-kun saw something at the shrine, right?" ”

"Yes. He came back from the shrine that day, his expression was ugly, and when I asked him what happened, he didn't say anything, he just said that he was tired and wanted to take a bath and sleep, so he went into the men's bath.

I was worried about him, so I asked Oda to take the opportunity to take a shower and ask him what was wrong. Oda agreed, took a change of clothes and went into the men's bath, while I went to the women's bath and listened to their movements while taking a bath. As a result, there was no movement.

"When I came out, they had already washed up, and sat on the bench at the door of the bathhouse, one of them holding a can of milk that drank more than half of it, and looked solemn."

Kazuma and Qingliu glanced at each other, and then said in a speculative tone, "Then, I guess something happened to them the next day." ”

Miss Akasai nodded solemnly: "Yes." Before entering the mountain that day, Watanabe and Oda were talking seriously and avoiding me, and as soon as I passed, they started talking about pornography, which they definitely don't usually do.

"Then I turned my mind and shouted to them, 'Don't leave me out!'

"Then Watanabe-kun came over and patted me on the shoulder and said, 'Don't worry, it's not a big deal.'

"And then they ......"

Miss Akasai lay on the table and began to cry.

He Ma suddenly asked: "I heard that when you came down from the mountain that day, you vomited while waiting for the news of the search and rescue team, are you nervous?" ”

Miss Akasai cried and said, "Of course! I had a very bad premonition and my stomach was cramping. And I was so thirsty that I kept drinking water, and I threw up. ”

"Was it hot last year?" And the horse asked.

"It should ...... Not as hot as this year. Why do you ask this? Miss Akanishi looked up and looked at Kazuma suspiciously.

"You said you were thirsty, maybe hot?"

Miss Akasai shook her head, "I don't know. It may also be that they are so nervous that they want to drink water, and many people eat when they are nervous, which may be the kind of reaction. ”

Kazuma nodded: "I understand." So you have always wondered what Watanabe-kun saw at the shrine, and then he was killed by the god. ”

"That's it."

Kazuma thought to himself, this is interesting, and the god also suspects that Watanabe-kun was killed by him, and judging from the words of the god lord, it seems that his relationship with Watanabe-kun is okay.

Well...... Kazuma touched his chin and fell into deep thought.