Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 68 Little Adults and Big Children

"Sakurako, Sakurako, I'm scared!"

Xuecun Kuihua held onto the cupboard and shouted in a trembling voice.

Ping Yingzi stood on the cupboard, looking down at her frightened face, and said expressionlessly: "I'm not afraid, so what are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid you'll fall down." said Xuecun Kuihua.

"You are an adult, you can't be afraid." Ping Yingzi raised her head and continued to scrape the ceiling with the shovel: "Other adults are not as timid as you."

Xuecun Kuihua couldn't help sucking her thumb. Her long hair was disheveled and she asked with a confused look on her face, "What do other adults look like?"

"Take my dad for example. He drinks, brings food back, scolds and beats people, and looks like he's not afraid of anything." She said nonchalantly while chiseling the ceiling, "His fists hurt a lot, his slaps hurt too, and he uses belts, clothes hangers, tea cups and other things as weapons."

"Eh... is that so... Then I don't want to be an adult. Adults are so scary." said Xuecun Kuika.

Ping Yingzi sighed and said helplessly: "You are already an adult. Do you see the marks on the wall? You are taller than the toilet door frame. You are an adult among adults."

"Sir?" Xuecun Kuihua tilted her head. She found it a little difficult to understand.

"Idiot." said Ping Yingzi.

Xuecun Kuihua was not angry, she just smiled foolishly.

Ping Yingzi ignored her and concentrated on carving on the ceiling. When dusk came, they cleaned the wall paint on the ground, lay side by side on the cloth bed, and looked up at the ceiling. The setting sun shone in from the window, and the light and shadow painted two faces on the ceiling.

Xuecun Kuihua pointed at the ceiling happily and shouted like a child: "That's me! That's you! They are exactly the same!"

"Ah."

Hira Sakurako's pupils reflected the golden spots: "This is us."

Memories suddenly came flooding back. She still remembered the day when her father knocked her unconscious. After waking up, she dazedly heard her father questioning the doctor, asking her why she couldn't speak normally like her peers, admire her father like her peers, and had to make him angry... The doctor said she had high-functioning autism. She didn't know what that meant, but looking at her father's eyes, she knew it was her problem.

They all said, "Hira Sakurako is as cold as a robot"; they also said, "Hira Sakurako doesn't consider us friends at all"; even my father said, "You have always looked down on me, right?", "Do you think it's embarrassing to have such an alcoholic father?"

She didn't know how to answer, she could only say 'yes', 'yes', 'yes'.

Gradually, she began to be afraid to go out, afraid to leave her small kitchen wall. But her father would drag her out from under the kitchen wall every night, questioning her like crazy, roaring at her - she began to have hallucinations, and the outside world became a dangerous place.

Thick bristles grew on her father's face, his teeth became sharper, and his eyes glowed red. She couldn't stay there any longer, she felt that she would die sooner or later, so she had no choice but to run away.

But she didn't dare go out. The world outside had turned into a dark forest. The corridor was littered with thorns, dead branches like ghost claws poked out of the windows, insects crawled in the darkness, and monsters hid everywhere.

Besides, where could she escape to?

Until one day, she saw a rental advertisement under the leftover lunch box: a dream home close to Sunshine City and full of sunshine. New tenants can enjoy free water and electricity, and only need a low rent to get a warm home near a large shopping mall.

Hira Sakurako was tempted. She stole her father's money, used a landline to call the door-to-door mail service, and packed herself into a suitcase with food, water, and a screwdriver. The courier loaded the suitcase into the car and mailed it to the mailroom of the Sugamo apartment building. She sneaked out in the middle of the night, covered with the suitcase and ran through the alley, like a turtle running with its shell on its back. Whenever pedestrians passed by, she would hurriedly shrink into the suitcase.

She found a public phone booth and called the number on the crumpled rental ad. The landlord didn't care who she was or whether she had any identification, as long as she could get the rent.

When the rental house was delivered, they didn't even meet each other, but just left the rent and house keys at the agreed location.

In this way, Ping Yingzi finally had a new home.

She was very satisfied. The new home was small, so she felt safe. The only window allowed her to see the sun. The advertisement was not deceptive. The warm home with low rent actually existed.

But just having a home is not enough, she must make money. Without money, she will starve to death at home.

To do this, she had to go out and take risks, traveling through the terrifying steel forest with a suitcase, stealing newspapers and advertisements from other people's doors from house to house. These were precious information to her.

She searched through a pile of newspapers and advertisements for a job she could do. She secretly went to a phone booth late at night and made calls full of hope, but was disappointed again and again.

She lived frugally every day, and the savings she stole from her father's house became less and less.

Thinking of this, Ping Yingzi turned her head and looked at the profile of Xuecun Aoi.

She still remembered the night they first met, when she stood on her suitcase, tiptoeing to make a phone call. Xuecun Kuihua appeared from nowhere, wearing a hospital gown, and stared at her through the glass, her cheeks squeezed like a pig's head.

"Hey, have you seen my sister?" asked Xuecun Kuihua.

She was so scared that she retreated back into the suitcase, her heart pounding. After waiting for a while, she quietly opened a crack and looked out. Xuecun Kuihua was actually lying next to the suitcase, tilting her head to look at her.

"I'm so hungry, can you give me something to eat?" Xuecun Kuihua asked again.

She is very pretty, with a fair face, a straight nose and big eyes, just like a stray cat. She is obviously an adult, but her tone of voice is like a five or six-year-old kid.

"I don't have much food left," Ping Yingzi whispered, "I'm hungry too."

"Oh, is that so?" Xuecun Kuihua said, "Then wait for me a moment."

After saying that, she stood up and ran away barefoot. Ping Yingzi took the opportunity to escape and ran all the way back to the apartment with the suitcase on her head. Just as she was still in shock, Xuecun Kuhua's voice came from downstairs.

Many people in the apartment building were alarmed, and they saw a beautiful woman holding an unsealed fruit basket and yelling. Someone had evil thoughts and went downstairs to grab the woman and tried to drag her away.

"Where are you!!" Xuecun Kuihua struggled and shouted, "I brought food!!"

Ping Yingzi saw this through the window, and she shouted "The police are coming", scaring off the bad guys. Xuecun Kuhua also saw her and ran upstairs. Ping Yingzi opened the door a crack and waved at her, and Xuecun Kuhua ran over like a happy puppy.

"I can only take you in for one night," Ping Yingzi said with a straight face, "You should go back to your own home tomorrow morning."

(End of this chapter)