Anyway, business is not good, Akiyama Caiyin simply invited Beichuan Temple to the counter: "Actually, Beichuan-kun, you are the right person to ask about this matter, and I was one of the original parties in the case of the child's disappearance." ”

One of the parties?

Kitagawa Temple gave a strange look at Akiyama Saine.

Aren't all the parties missing? Why is there another party here?

Akiyama Ayane also realized that she had said the wrong thing, she coughed dryly, and then waved her hand vigorously and said, "I didn't mean that, Kitagawa-kun." I'm just saying, I also made games with Hanazawa back then... You see, it's that game of hide and seek. ”

Kitagawa Temple looked moved, and said in surprise: "Miss Akiyama means that you often sneaked to Mikawa Elementary School with those four missing children at night?" ”

"Hmm..."

Akiyama Caine subconsciously lowered her voice: "This matter is actually known to my parents, it is the night Hanazawa and their disappearance, when I slipped out of the yard that day, I was caught by my father, and then they beat me up and locked me in the house... Then I heard Hanazawa's parents contact my parents and ask them to help—"

"After all, we want to be a much more closed town than the outside world, everyone is actually familiar with it, and we will definitely help if this kind of thing happens."

Akiyama Aine rubbed her temples: "This incident impressed me too much, so I still remember it very clearly." Luckily I didn't go out that day, otherwise I would have gone missing. ”

"On the second day of the accident, some residents gave up one after another, and those who didn't give up were their parents."

"After that, the police came and searched for another three days, and finally announced that the search and rescue failed, and Hua Ze and they were officially listed as missing."

"And then there are a lot of cases of children going missing around the abandoned Mikawa Elementary School, right?"

Kitagawa Temple suddenly spoke.

Akiyama Ayane glanced at Kitagawa Temple unexpectedly, but she didn't expect him to investigate so clearly: "Well, just as Kitagawa-kun thought, after the child's disappearance, several elementary school students who often pass by the road of Mikawa Elementary School also disappeared mysteriously, and then the adults invited the monks, and I heard that it seems that Mikawa Elementary School was sealed, and various charms were pasted on the entrance door of the elementary school. ”

Just as Akiyama Caine was about to say something, Kitagawa Temple opened his mouth and asked again:

"Didn't anything else unusual happen in the town before the disappearance?"

"Other unusual things...?" Akiyama Ayane looked thoughtful, and she muttered to herself with some uncertainty, "You say that... It seems that something strange happened to me... It's just that I didn't have a deep impression of that incident, so I forgot about it, but it seems to be related to the famous river god 'Mikawa God' in our area. ”

Mikawa God? It's the god of Mikawa again?

The face of Kitagawa Temple changes.

Originally, he thought that the god Mikawa did not exist, but Akiyama Saion's words led the already somewhat clear context of events into the fog.

Akiyama Ayane secretly glanced at the thinking Kitagawa Temple.

The face of Kitagawa Temple becomes more and more durable the more you look at it, and it is indeed very handsome.

She gritted her teeth, as if she had made up her mind: "If Beichuan-kun doesn't dislike it, after my work is over, I can also take you to see the abandoned Yuzen Primary School." ”

Uh-

Beichuan Temple was stunned, showing an expression that he didn't expect.

What's going on with this girl?

You've only known her for a short time, right? Why did you suddenly recommend yourself? It's also too painful.

He shook his head, threw the distracting thoughts out of his mind, and then continued, "If Miss Akiyama is convenient, this is naturally the best. ”

This kind of cheapness is not taken advantage of.

And Kitagawa Temple thinks that he is not a bad person, even if Akiyama Ayane is not very defensive against himself, there is no problem.

"Hmm... I'll get off work at about seven o'clock, and there's still more than an hour, so Kitagawa-kun can go to other places first, and I'll send you a message when the time comes. Akiyama Aine said after thinking a little about seeing that Kitagawa Temple agreed.

"Of course, I'm going to check out the town's library next."

"Then we'll get back in touch then."

"Okay."

After saying goodbye to Akiyama Aina, Kitagawa Temple carried a small wooden box out of the Wagashi shop.

......

The journey to the library does not need to be repeated, and Kitagawa Temple followed the guidance of the map to the town library.

Looking at the library in front of him, which was made of pure wood and looked quite old, Kitagawa Temple's heart moved.

Maybe you can really find some clues in this.

And the god of Mikawa that Akiyama Aine said... What does that mean... Could it be that there are indeed gods and spirits in this world?

Kitagawa Temple thought about it and entered the library.

The library is divided into two floors, and the librarian is a bald uncle.

This town library should not have a new book for a long time, Beichuan Temple casually pulled out a book from the shelf, and you can see that the paper on it has begun to oxidize and yellow, and the handwriting is just just right to read clearly.

"Excuse me, I'd like to ask, where is the newspaper news area?" Kitagawa Temple came to the bald uncle and asked.

"Go to the second floor, and that's the innermost row." The bald uncle raised his head, he glanced at Beichuan Temple and continued:

"Are you a visitor to Mikawa?"

"Hmm."

"If you're a tourist, I recommend the guide on the first floor."

"No thanks." Kitagawa Temple declined the kindness of the bald caretaker and went up to the second floor.

As with the not-so-good appearance, the library is not visited on either the first or second floor, but the bookshelves are surprisingly free of dust.

Kitagawa Temple walked around the low bookshelves and walked inside.

In front of him is a neatly arranged newspaper newspaper, but the newspaper here is not comparable to the total number of newspapers in the Shimaji City Library.

There seems to be very little news about this remote and secluded town.

But it also saves time at Kitagawa Temple.

Kitagawa Temple glanced at the newspapers in front of him, one by one, and excluded them downward.

Festivals, events of yesteryear, sensational wood carving awards...

None of this news was of much use to Kitagawa Temple.

Well?

Kitagawa Temple, who was rapidly flipping through the newspaper, stopped with his fingers.

'The disappearance of children in Mikawa Town! ’

The title, which occupies most of the page in huge bold letters, attracted the attention of Kitagawa Temple.

"This should be the scanned version circulating on the Internet..."

Like the scanned version of the newspaper that Kitagawa Temple found on the Internet, the missing child's portrait is blurred.

But the name under the child's avatar is much clearer than the online version.

Now, Kitagawa Temple finally knows the names of the bear children who blocked him when he rescued Mio Sakura that day.

The four missing children are Takuya Hanazawa, Shuchu Sato, Yuji Ida, and Jun Hanayama.

Three men and one woman.

The specific process and end of the case are similar to what Akiyama Aine said, so there is no need to continue to describe it here.

But skipping the disappearance of the child, in the lower right corner of the newspaper, Beichuan Temple found a small headline.

'Drowned children? Mikawa is a haunt? The four children are emotionally unstable and may be related to the disappearance. ’

"Huh?" Kitagawa Temple fingers stopped.

Mikawa is a haunt...?

Could it be that Akiyama Caine's mention of the god of Mikawa is referring to this matter?

Following the printed handwriting on the newspaper, Kitagawa Temple continued to look down: the time occurred a month before the child's disappearance... A child in Mikawa was accidentally pushed into the water and drowned by his friend while playing with him after school. Because the children involved are too young to constitute criminal responsibility, they will not be investigated... In order not to interfere with the children's development, and at the wishes of their respective parents, the names of the children are not published here.

"Don't report the name yet?" Kitagawa Temple put down the newspaper in his hand.

Missing children, drowned children... Four children are emotionally disturbed... Mikawa is haunted... No accountability...

I see.

Kitagawa Temple finally understood why Akiyama Ayane said that she couldn't remember what happened at the beginning.

It's not that I can't remember, it's that adults are vague about the 'Mikawa gods'.

Because as a resident of Mikawa Town, this kind of scandal similar to 'that child killed that child and several families even got into a lawsuit' is naturally not easy for Akiyama Ayane, who is still a child, to know.

That's why the adults at that time used the word 'Mikawa Kamisaku' to fool the children at that time.

But in fact, every resident of the town knows that this is not actually a problem of Mikawa's god at all.

The playfulness between children contributed to the tragedy.

And this tragedy was ignored by all the people of Mikawa... To be precise, all the people of Mikawa are on the side of the victims.

And the four emotionally disturbed little ones... There is a high probability that it is Takuya Hanazawa.

So is there such a possibility?

The lack of accountability, the town's indifference, and the wait-and-see attitude towards the incident fueled the resentment of the parents of the drowning children.

In that strong hatred, it gradually evolved into killing intent.

The parent abducted and killed Takuya Hanazawa and the children when they entered Mikawa Elementary School to hide and seek.

This also explains the tattered wounds on the bodies of the children who were seen in the spiritual realm of Mikawa Elementary School.

There is no such thing as an Okawa god, it is simply a man-made killing.

But if that were the case, the police at the time would have suspected the parent of the drowning child first.

After all, he had enough motive to kill.

"But the investigation was unsuccessful."

Logically speaking, this is impossible, and as long as the police have the heart to investigate a planned and targeted homicide case, they will naturally be able to figure everything out.

Kitagawa Temple rubbed his eyebrows.

"But just the current progress of the investigation can explain some of the previous doubts, besides-"

Kitagawa Temple's eyes were deep, and he put down the newspaper and called someone as he left the library.

......

After contacting Akiyama Ayane, Kitagawa Temple walked side by side with her on a long-abandoned ramp by the Mikawa River.

"This is the ramp that used to lead to Mikawa Elementary School, and Kitagawa-kun, you see, there are actually cherry blossom trees planted on both sides, but no one has come here to enjoy the cherry blossoms since that incident."

Akiyama Aya introduces Kitagawa Temple.

"Hmm." Kitagawa Temple responded simply.

It's getting late now, and Kitagawa Temple needs to walk up with a flashlight.

The surroundings are extremely lonely, and the cherry blossom trees on both sides of the road are far less beautiful than during the day, and the branches are intertwined with each other with a flashlight, and there is an inexplicable sense of hideousness and horror.

"Hah..."Akiyama Ayane exhaled a white breath and muttered a little strangely, "What's going on...?" Why did the temperature suddenly get colder? Is it a delusion? ”

Yes, as Akiyama Ayane said, now the chill is gradually dissipating, as if time is back to cold January.

But Beichuan Temple didn't care, he silently continued to climb up.

I believe that at Mikawa Elementary School, there will be answers he wants to know.

Kitagawa Temple and Akiyama Saion walked one after the other, and the two of them didn't take many steps to reach their destination.

After all, this is only a ramp for an elementary school, and naturally it is impossible to build too high.

After finally climbing over the ramp, what caught the eyes of the two was the steel wire fence that had been somewhat twisted and deformed.

Behind this distorted and twisted fence is the gloomy old schoolhouse, pressed against the hypotenuse.

That terrifying architectural shadow may be Mikawa Elementary School.

"I haven't been up for years, and I didn't expect the wire fences that were neatly lined up to become distorted, which is also weird... Kitagawa-kun, do you think there really are ghosts in this world?

Akiyama Aine seemed to deliberately want to scare Beichuan Temple, and deliberately spoke.

In this regard, Beichuan Temple only glanced at her: "There must be a reason why the neat iron fence has become what it is now." ”

He analyzed in a flat tone:

"As far as I know, there have been earthquakes in the town of Yuchuan in recent years, and it is estimated that those small earthquakes changed the original location of the fence, and the force of pulling made the iron fence become what it is now."

"Huh? It's really a disappointment, Kitagawa-kun, don't you believe that there are ghosts in this world? ”

Akiyama Saine pouted.

As a perennial resident of Mikawa, of course she knew that there was nothing wrong with the inferences of Kitagawa Temple, but the other party said this too incomprehensibly, which made her can't help but complain a little.

As soon as she said this, she didn't expect Beichuan Temple to suddenly look at her with an extraordinarily serious expression.

His gaze was so deep that he could see Akiyama Saion's scalp tingle, and it took him a long time before he spoke, "There are indeed spirits in this world. ”

There was a mountain wind blowing by, and the voice of Beichuan Temple sounded so terrifying and weird in the wind.

The cold chill of the forest permeated the back of Akiyama Caiyin, and her complexion changed slightly, and she felt that the Beichuan Temple, which was so easy to get along with just now, was so terrifying.

"Miss Akiyama, don't worry, I don't have any thoughts of doing anything to you." After saying this coldly, Kitagawa Temple turned his head to look at Mikawa Elementary School behind the fence again.

His cold voice rang out again:

"It's just... There are indeed resentful spirits in this world. ”