Detached villa

On the second day, Mitarai seemed to have finished all his work. We settled for lunch at the restaurant downstairs. Out of habit, I chose a quiet place with few families.

Afterwards, I met Takegoshi, who called to make an appointment in the morning, at a cafe elsewhere.

As expected, Takekoshi didn't know anything about this small matter of ignition before that, and he hurriedly collected some information and information from his colleagues before meeting us.

"From September No. 12, that is, last week, ignitions of the same scale have occurred in Xidi for five consecutive days." Takegoshi dug out his notebook, which is different from the usual ones, which seem to be for his personal use record book.

"Because they are all lit after sunset, they shine brightly in the dark night, and many nearby residents have noticed. According to records, the first to report the case was an old couple who took a walk after dinner. According to them, they There is a fixed route.”

"Did you see who lit the fire?" I asked.

"I didn't see it." Zhu Yue replied, "Because although the fire looked bright, it was not very big. Many people around thought that someone lit the fire in the yard by themselves. You also know that kind of big yard, and no one else reason to interfere."

"Although it happens every night, after all, the fire has not been lit for a long time and no one really pays attention to this kind of thing. It wasn't until the couple went for a walk and saw that the fire was going on in the corner instead of their own house. call the police."

"By the way, the couple went on a trip a few days ago, so they haven't been able to find out in advance."

"Did the police and fire brigade do nothing?"

"Listen to them, we sent people to block people at a fixed location." Takegoshi glanced at Mitarai secretly, "But that person is very smart, he changed the location that day."

"And then you gave up?"

After Mitarai asked this sentence, Takegoshi's face turned red.

"Of course not!" He retorted, "But since there are no casualties or losses, I don't think it's necessary to spend so much effort, just send someone to pay attention every day."

"What do people around you say?" I asked. "Are there no protests?"

"I heard from people who have been to the scene that the place where the fire started was really in a remote corner." Zhuyue flipped through several pages, "The only two villas that were really affected were the two closest villas. Our people went to I asked, and those two houses are no longer inhabited, and the buildings are empty. The rest of the living places are far away, so I don’t bother to take care of them if they don’t affect them.”

"It's been so many years, and you still haven't made any progress." Mitarai sneered and didn't bother to say anything more, "Compared to these obvious and useless news, you didn't find anything. After you find out that there is no impact, let go." I took a deep breath and gave up solving it, and when the incident really happened, I was at a loss."

"Compared to the above information, you should find out who lived in the two villas and why they moved away, and what was burned by the fire."

"Is this news important?"

"Otherwise, what do you think the purpose of the igniter is?"

I could see that the sliver of interest that Mitarai had been trying to show had worn off.

"As long as you investigate such a boring thing, everything will be fine. Hurry up and investigate it before anything happens."

"What will happen, Mitarai-san?" Takekoshi asked anxiously.

"Of course," Mitarai snorted disdainfully, "Remember to apply for an investigation order first, you need the authority to investigate the villa."

Takekoshi obediently recorded Mitarai's instructions. The police officer and I both knew Mitarai's lack of explanation. Since we would know sooner or later after the time was over, we didn't bother to follow his train of thought.

"If Ishioka-kun is free in the afternoon, go find a fire extinguisher and bring it with you at night, as well as a plastic bag or folder."

When I heard Mitarai calling me, I froze for a moment.

"Are you going to block the igniter at night? Isn't it dangerous?"

"That's not necessary, that person is not a dangerous person." Mitarai retorted, "Just destroy his plan. It would be bad if he succeeds tonight."

It sounds like my restless friend has a pretty good idea of ​​who the perpetrator is, but sadly I, sharing a shared profile with him, don't know anything.

"Act quickly."

When I saw Mitarai throwing such a sentence, I wanted to leave.

"Wait, Mitarai-san, what are you going to do?" Takegoshi asked.

However, Mitarai ignored him and left, leaving me and the police officer staring at each other.

After that, I separated from Police Officer Takegoshi, and then managed to get a set of tools to put out the fire.All this is not very troublesome. After finishing the work, I went home.

Looking at the Yokohama Bashamichi house, it seems that Mitarai has already returned once.I went around a few times and didn't find out what he took, but the things at home were turned into a mess by him.

I had no choice but to give up my original plan. I cleaned up everything first, then cleaned again, and then washed Mitarai's clothes.

It still takes a while to get from the carriageway to Xidi, so I set off again without taking it with me for a long time at home.

I don’t know how many times this was the first time I left Yokohama to go to Nishigi. I still remember the tragedy that happened when I met Mitarai for the first time. The funny thing is that I didn’t want to believe Mitarai no matter what he said.

But it was such a miraculous thing that a friendship was established without Mitarai even knowing what my name was, and this wonderful relationship has continued to this day.

Now imagine that it is not easy for someone like Mitarai to stay in Japan for 20 years.As far as I know, Mitarai knows many languages, no matter what level of understanding, but just from the books on the bookshelf at home, you can know a wide range of languages. In addition to English, Latin, German and Spanish, there are also some from Chinese and Chinese. Books from Korea.

Believe me I mentioned earlier, Mitarai never seemed to think of himself as Japanese in his heart, he always seemed to be the kind of person who wandered around the world.

I seem to have heard that he has teaching experience in the United States before, but I don't know if it is true or not.

When I arrived at the agreed place, the sun had already set. For some reason, there were no street lights in this area, maybe because it was all large villas.

Mitarai stood waiting for me at the corner of the street. He was still in a state of excitement, and seemed very happy to see me holding a fire extinguisher in my hand.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Nothing at all."

I have some doubts, it seems to make him very happy for nothing.

"Okay, then we can just wait slowly."

"What if that person doesn't come?"

"He dare not not come." Mitarai looked indifferent, "There is a time limit for this matter, and it will be useless when the time is up."

I couldn't figure out what Mitarai meant, so I could only wait with him in the dark.

In order not to be discovered, we all stuck in the corner and got very close.I could even hear Mitarai's breathing clearly, which made me a little uncomfortable, but after being held down by Mitarai, I didn't move any more.

For the same reason, I didn't check the time, and I didn't know how long it had passed, but suddenly there was a bright light in the distance, which was very conspicuous, and immediately attracted the attention of Mitarai and me.

"Walk."

Mitarai whispered in my ear, then grabbed the fire extinguisher in my hand, and rushed towards the fire without looking back.

I was worried, but my physical strength couldn't keep up. By the time I caught up with Mitarai, he had already put out the fire.

"How about it?"

I asked.

After putting out the fire, Mitarai looked around without hearing anything, so I followed suit, but found nothing.However, Mitarai looked very satisfied and commanded me:

"Put away all these burning things on the ground, and be careful."

I had no choice but to copy them, although I had no idea what Mitarai collected them for.

"Is there anything else that needs to be done?"

I asked him.

"No need." Mitarai stretched, "Just wait for tomorrow."