Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 136, Date A Live
PS: Because I have the flu and have been coughing, there is only one update today, please forgive me~ I will add this update to 4500 words, which is about the same as two updates when rounded up!
Time flies, it's the second year since Uesugi Sosetsu awakened his inner world abilities, in Gunma Prefecture.

Winter in Gunma Prefecture is a Zen painting of snow and hot springs. When the ridgeline of Akagi Mountain is outlined with soft silver edges by the first snow, the hot spring bath in Kusatsu Onsen Street is steaming with milky white mist. The "Yumomi Stage" built with century-old cedar wood is full of crystal clusters, and snowflakes fall into the rolling jade-colored hot spring water, turning into a wisp of green smoke in an instant. After nightfall, the Tang paper lanterns of Echigoya Inn cast a warm yellow halo on the snow corridor, reflecting the fan-shaped patterns carved on the snow by the female soldiers' wooden clogs. The ice waterfall at the source of the Tone River hangs down thousands of crystal curtains, snow monkeys shake off the white flowers on the pine branches and jump into the open-air bath, and the intermittent tremolo of the shamisen is wafting from the sweet sake house in the old street of Yujuku - in this winter banquet that has lasted for a hundred years, even time has condensed into rime on the treetops.

This day was the third day of the New Year holiday. According to the agreement with senior Mai, Uesugi Sosetsu came to Gunma Prefecture.

Uesugi Sosetsu was surprised by the sudden invitation from senior Mai.

Why did this goddess senior of mine suddenly invite me?

Since the last Fujitai case, Uesugi Sosetsu and Shirakawa Mai have not met again. The two sides have only chatted on Line. Mai is still very busy with her work, and Uesugi Sosetsu himself is also very busy. After handling the Chiba Prefecture serial murder case and the night shift attack case he experienced, Uesugi Sosetsu focused his energy on his own affairs.

If it wasn't for Senior Mai inviting him, Uesugi Sosetsu would have forgotten that they had such an agreement.

But Uesugi Sosetsu also had concerns about Shirakawa Mai's invitation.

The entertainment industry is so dirty that it is normal for both parties to act in a consensual manner. Both parties can be extremely affectionate on the show, but in private they are complete strangers, or even hostile strangers to each other.

Uesugi Sosetsu has encountered this. His deskmate in front of him at Tokyo High School was a very polite boy who was serious about his work, enthusiastic, and had a sunny smile. At that time, Uesugi Sosetsu had not yet awakened his memories of his previous life. Because his grades were not good, he often asked the deskmate in front of him for help. The deskmate in front of him was also very enthusiastic and serious in answering his questions, and even added a line at Uesugi Sosetsu's request.

At first glance, this is a good classmate and a good deskmate, right?

However, after a few days, the class monitor suddenly found Uesugi Sosetsu and said that XXXX at the table in front of you told me that you should stop disturbing him like this, as you are invading his free time and personal privacy. He hates you and doesn't want to talk to you anymore.

Uesugi Sosetsu was shocked and quickly apologized to the guy sitting in front of him. However, the guy at the front table could still smile at Uesugi Sosetsu and say he didn't mind and was very affectionate in front of others. However, he had deleted them as his Line friend in private.

This is the Japanese. In this respect, the Japanese are very similar to the Germans. The Germans can be very serious at work, very serious in cooperation, and can go for a drink together after work, but in private, they are almost like strangers to each other. Uesugi Munen remembers the "troika" of Inter Milan in the 90s. Matthäus, Brehmer and Klinsmann were three people who quickly went from the honeymoon period to the end of friendship. Their relationship was extremely bad, but this did not affect the tacit cooperation on the field at all.

There is no need to take seriously verbal agreements such as those made in the entertainment industry or between senior and junior students.

But senior sister Mai still took the initiative to invite him seriously. After thinking for a long time, Uesugi Sosetsu decided that he should still meet with senior sister Mai.

So he came and came to Gunma Prefecture.

Gunma Prefecture is located in the northwest of the Kanto Plain. It is a part of the Tokyo metropolitan area, one of Japan's three major metropolitan areas. It belongs to the Kanto region in Japan, about 100 kilometers northwest of Tokyo. It borders Tochigi Prefecture to the east, Nagano Prefecture to the west, Saitama Prefecture to the south, and Fukushima Prefecture and Niigata Prefecture to the north. Its land area ranks 21st in Japan.

In ancient Japan, this area was called "Ueno Province" according to the Ritsuryo system. It was the starting point for the ancestor Uesugi Kenshin to repeatedly go to Kanto. The repeated conquests of Kanto began from here. For the revival of Kanto Kanrei, Kenshin began to go out from Ueno Province many times since 1561, trying to restore the former glory of the Uesugi clan, but in the end it was in vain. Finally, due to many difficulties, Uesugi Kenshin was forced to form an alliance with the Odawara and later Hojo clan, known in history as the "Sai-etsu Alliance", and completely lost his righteous reputation.

The Kanto lords such as the Satake clan and the Satomi clan have hated the Uesugi clan since then, making Uesugi Kenshin's "Kanto Kanrei" a joke. You must know that the Yamanouchi Uesugi clan and the Ogigayatsu Uesugi clan were both destroyed by the Hojo clan. Uesugi Kenshin, who inherited the Yamanouchi Uesugi clan, actually chose to ally with the Hojo clan. He was in a bad position and his reputation was completely ruined.

As for Kenshin Uesugi's "title of military god", in fact, as a descendant of the Uesugi clan, Uesugi Munesetsu can safely say that most of it contains elements of "exaggeration in the novel". For example, the so-called "undefeated military god" says that Kenshin had 51 wins and 49 draws in 2 battles in his life, but in fact, Kenshin Uesugi himself admitted that he failed more than ten times in the Kanto expedition, not to mention the battle with Takeda Shingen and the Hokuriku expedition in his later years. Although Kenshin Uesugi did not suffer a fatal defeat, he had more or less some small defeats in each strategic direction.

Lord Kenshin was indeed good at fighting wars, but he was not as exaggerated as a "military god", and his political ability was very average. The Yangbei people in his territory rebelled and surrendered all the time, and Lord Kenshin had no way to deal with them. He was never able to evolve himself from a shugo daimyo to a senso daimyo. Except for some achievements in the Hokuriku expedition in his later years, Kenshin Uesugi did not gain much from fighting wars all his life.

As he thought about it, it was getting colder and colder. Uesugi Sosetsu hummed a song, looking forward to the meeting.

"If you come in three winters, I will have a city covered in snow, and my longing will bloom in the wind~"

"The beauty of the sky sways gently, and turns into tears as I wake up crying~"

"If you come for three winters, freeze the love of my life, when I look back after dreaming, you are gone~"

"Whenever the leaves fall, I wave goodbye and can't swallow the chicken steak. The scene has always brought back memories~"

Sure enough, as he sang, Uesugi Sosetsu felt warm, as if the sun was shining on him, and he was no longer cold.

The meeting place agreed upon by Mai-senpai was at the entrance of Tokiwa Junior High School in Ota City, Gunma Prefecture. After all, they were alumni and both had an impression of that store.

When Uesugi Sosetsu arrived, he found that the school gate was very desolate and there was almost no pedestrian on the road. During the New Year holiday, both the school and the shopping street were in silence. Only the snow-covered streets and the distant forest made faint sounds in the snowy wind. In the silence, the world covered in silver seemed quite strange.

The bluestone paved ground was extremely smooth. Uesugi Sosetsu walked slowly towards the place in his memory alone.

Grandpa Konno and Grandma Konno's shop was still open, although there was only a small entrance left. From the outside, it didn't look like it was open for business. However, Uesugi Muneyuki still braved the cold wind and gently lifted up Nuan. Sure enough, the familiar scene was still there, impacting Uesugi Muneyuki's somewhat confused memory. The two white-haired and white-browed old men had obviously been waiting for a long time: "You are Brother Uesugi, right? We saw you on TV, a celebrity, a celebrity, welcome!"

When the wooden door was pushed open, the copper bell on the eaves rang softly, and the thirty-story hall was shrouded in dim light and paper lanterns. The bamboo lampshades hanging from the rafters filtered out fine spots of light. The edges of the reed mats were worn down by time, and tea stains from the years seeped into the cracks, but they still stubbornly exuded the fragrance of hay.

Twelve cypress columns support the high-ceilinged space, with amber resin seeping out from under the cracked paint on the columns. The Tang paper screen used as a partition is painted with faded pine and crane paintings, and when lifted by the draft, it reveals a dry landscape courtyard hidden in the dark at the back - half a maple leaf lies in the raked sand pattern, and the stone lanterns are covered with moss, and traces of moss crawl into the room along the wooden lattice window frames.

A curtain with vigorous ink marks hangs on the old cedar door lintel. When it is opened, the aroma of fried tempura and grilled eel wafts out, mixed with the unique rich moisture of old wood. When the sliding door opens and closes, I catch a glimpse of an old knife rack on the wall of a Japanese-style room. The scabbard is covered in dust but still has a dark golden luster. A black pottery jar with a single camellia branch is placed on the low table below.

When Uesugi Sosetsu stepped into the store, the whole building suddenly came alive, the beams and pillars sighed, and from a corner came the unique sound of Panasonic TV turning channels from the last century. "Welcome!" Grandpa Konno and Grandma Konno were still so kind, and Uesugi Sosetsu also smiled when he saw this, and bowed deeply: "Sorry to bother you, I'm sorry to interrupt your New Year holiday!"

"Haha, it's okay. We're actually quite lonely during the New Year. It's just right that you can come."

These two old men have run a shop here for many years. Many teachers at Tokiwa High School said that these two old men had already run the shop when they just started working. However, in Uesugi Sosetsu's memory, the two old men still had a lot of black hair on their heads. At this time, Grandpa Konno's hair is almost all white, and Grandma Konno's hair is also gray.

The spring flowers fall into mud, and another year has passed in the blink of an eye. I ask you, where the flowers bloomed, was it the ground or the sky?
I don't know how Sister Mikoto is doing.

Uesugi Sosetsu was filled with emotion and sat down. Grandpa Konno and Grandma Konno brought him a cup of hot barley tea, indicating that he had come early and asked him to wait a moment.

Grandpa’s back is not as straight as before, and grandma’s movements are not as agile as before, but they are still working hard at their jobs.

This situation is very common in Japan. Japan began to show signs of aging in 1970, and began to experience deep aging after 1990. Today, people over 65 years old in Japan account for more than 25% of the total population. It is already a super-aged society, and the social problems caused by this have long attracted the attention of the people.

Japan's pensions are roughly divided into three categories: national pension, employee pension and enterprise pension. Among them, national pension is compulsory, employee pension is a mandatory payment for full-time employees of enterprises, and enterprise pension is a guarantee given to employees within the enterprise, which is given in a lump sum upon retirement.

However, unless civil servants or full-time employees of large companies retire, the pension is mostly not enough, and the elderly in Japan still have to go out to work. There is a "753" law, that is, more than 60% of people aged 65-7 are still working, 65% of people aged 70-5 are still working, and nearly 70% of people aged 75-3 are still working.

Even so, Japan's pension funds are still in deficit and are in crisis every year. The Japanese government even encourages people who retire at 65 to start receiving pensions at 70 or even 75 (they can receive 40-80% more). The elderly have to work to make a living, and Japan's pension insurance system adopts a pay-as-you-go system of "the next generation supporting the previous generation". With the deepening of aging and low birth rates, the working-age population is decreasing and the number of elderly people receiving pensions is increasing, which naturally puts great pressure on pensions.

Of course, this is Japan's national condition and has nothing to do with other countries.

After waiting for a while, there was a voice coming from the door.

Everyone in the store turned their eyes towards the door at the same time.

"Da da da"

The high heels made a crisp sound on the bluestone floor, and then a gorgeous woman appeared in the sight of everyone in the store, with soft black hair falling down her shoulders and a slightly curled bangs flowing sideways on her flawless face. Her delicate skin was transparent and white, as smooth and translucent as jade. The woman's pair of bright eyes looked straight ahead, and she wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on her high nose bridge. Her plump red lips shone with crystal luster, and her slightly made-up face was full of bright colors. This woman was really beautiful, but her expression looked a little cold, and the first impression she gave was that she didn't look so approachable.

She was wearing a French-style left-side fluorescent turmeric jasmine winter cashmere long skirt, and a light blue winter cashmere coat on the outside. The coat was the kind without buttons, which made the woman look heroic and capable as she walked.

The long skirt inside was a small V-neck design, revealing a small section of graceful collarbone. A string of exquisite and gorgeous pendants sparkled brightly on her slender neck. A pair of proud and towering snow-white jade breasts stood upright in it, stretching the neckline tightly.

Following the woman's slender waist downwards, the thick jasmine-colored long skirt fabric looks very soft and skin-friendly, blending in with the outside world under the matte finish. On her white and tender feet are a pair of black and white high-heeled short boots with fine flowers. The heels are slender and should be about 7 cm long, showing off the woman's perfect leg shape as she walks.

The bright and beautiful lady was already used to being the focus of the whole crowd. She walked gracefully to the side of Uesugi Sosetsu in her high-heeled boots without stopping. She looked at Uesugi Sosetsu with her charming and bright eyes, and said with joy, "Junior brother, you are here already?"

Seeing the woman sitting down next to Uesugi Sosetsu so gracefully, Uesugi Sosetsu nodded and slowly took his seat, then turned his gaze again to the mature and beautiful woman sitting in the main seat. This woman was none other than the top star of the Soul Agency, the current national actress, and Uesugi Sosetsu's senior at Tokiwa Junior High School, Shirakawa Mai.

"Hello, Senior Mai." Uesugi Sosetsu nodded.

Just like last time, the other person's appearance made his heart beat faster, his emotions were almost out of control, and the blood in his body was circulating rapidly. Listening to the other person's voice and seeing the friendly attitude he expressed towards him, Uesugi Sosetsu felt his heart shaking again and his head a little dizzy.

At this moment, he finally confirmed one thing: the strong feeling he had for Senior Mai was not caused by secret love at all, but the legendary suspension bridge effect!

The other party's appearance made him feel dizzy, and the reason why Xin Sheng was shaking and couldn't control himself was not because of an extremely strong infatuation. On the contrary, it was because his golden body was reacting and the spirit in his body began to activate.

I feel excited and agitated, which may not necessarily mean that I have a crush on her, but it may also be that I instinctively enter combat mode.

And judging from her performance, this woman is very strong, very strong!

"Haha, the fact that you are here means that you already know something, am I right?" Senior Mai smiled brightly. She sat down slowly, clasped her hands together and said softly, "Otherwise, you wouldn't have come, am I right?"

Senior Mai signaled to the Konno couple: she wanted to talk to Uesugi Sosetsu in private, so you can go and prepare today's dinner.

After closing the paper door and taking off their shoes, Uesugi Sosetsu and Shirakawa Mai sat opposite each other across the table. There was a heater lit in the small room. The two looked at each other, feeling both familiar and unfamiliar, and both felt a strong desire for each other and a slight wariness.

But senior sister Mai is obviously the calmer one. The fact that Uesugi Sosetsu appears here means that he is more eager than her and has a stronger need.

Sure enough, the two looked at each other in silence for a long time, and Uesugi Sosetsu finally spoke.

"You were the one who shot the arrow that night, right?"

(End of this chapter)