blueteamnovel Chapter 50: Come out, stop hiding!
Chapter 50: Come out, stop hiding!
Our first stop was the coffee shop "Anka" on Nakanoshima Island.
It's not even rush hour yet, but taxis are already hard to find on the street.
Kiryu Yaya stood at the bank entrance, his black umbrella tilted slightly, his cuffs quickly soaked by the wind and rain.
After waiting for two minutes, a yellow taxi finally slowly glided out of the rain.
"Anchor coffee shop next to Nakanoshima Public Hall."
The driver responded, and the car drove into the rain.
The windshield wipers were swinging wildly from side to side, but they still couldn't clear away the layer of water that kept splashing up.
The whole of Osaka seemed to have been suddenly put into a giant fish tank. The neon lights blurred through the rain, red like blood and yellow like old lamp oil. In the distance, the Dojima River was just a dark reflection.
Kiryu Yaya sat in the back seat, one hand resting on the handle of the black umbrella, the other seemingly casually placed on his knee, but in his mind he was going over the route for the evening again and again.
Token of trust.
Get the receipt.
Go to Dojima.
If Akio Uesugi is real, then what we can get tonight might be the first nail to pry open the hollow building that is Miyazawahara.
If it's fake—
That means someone set up a trap for him on a rainy night.
However, given his proficiency in swordsmanship and his status as a bank employee, Miyazawa Hara dared not do anything to him.
The car was parked in front of the coffee shop.
Kiryu Yaya got out of the car, pressed down his black umbrella, and quickly went inside.
The brass bell on the door rang once.
Yesterday, the middle-aged female shop assistant, upon seeing him, seemed to have known he would come. She didn't ask anything, but simply took an ordinary brown paper bag from under the counter and whispered:
"It was left by that lady from yesterday."
"Thanks."
Kiryu Yaya took the paper bag, but didn't open it immediately; he just weighed it lightly in his hand.
It's very light.
He went back into the rain and only opened the paper bag after getting into the car.
Inside was a light-colored handkerchief.
Wrapped in the handkerchief was a deep blue, everlasting pen.
The pen body has minor wear, and there is a faint, barely noticeable mark on the edge of the cap, indicating that it has been used for many years.
Kiryu Yaya held the pen in his hand; it was cool and steady, carrying a weight of age.
This is a keepsake left by Keiko Miyazawa's father.
This was also the key that made Akio Uesugi speak tonight.
In addition, there was a very small note.
The above is Keiko Miyazawa's handwriting.
"Kiryu-kun, please be careful."
Kiryu Yaya folded the note, put it into his briefcase with the blue pen, and then said to the driver:
"Yodoyabashi, Judicial Scribe Office."
"Okay."
The car turned around.
The second stop was to pick up the supplementary receipt for the mortgage registration of Baishi Refrigeration Equipment from the legal representative.
This was originally a serious matter.
This is also the most reasonable outer shell for him after leaving the branch tonight.
A dozen minutes later, Kiryu Yaya received the receipt stamped with the Legal Affairs Bureau's acceptance seal from an old-fashioned office.
The old scribe was still lamenting how heavy the rain was today, and how almost no one was there to get things done. Kiryu Yaya had already tucked the receipt into his briefcase and turned to go back into the rain.
"Dojima."
The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror.
"Why would you go to Dojima in this kind of rain?"
"It's urgent."
"The old warehouse area around Dojima is going to be difficult to navigate today."
"Just drive to the nearest place."
The car started again.
The rain is getting heavier.
The sky grew increasingly dark.
Around 5:20, the sky over Osaka seemed to have turned dark early.
The edges of the high-rise buildings were all pressed down by dark clouds, and the old buildings on both sides of the Dojima River were only dark outlines in the rain, like a row of black beasts lying by the water.
Kiryu Yaya got off the bus some distance from the old warehouse.
The driver refused to drive any further.
"The road ahead is flooded, making it difficult to turn around."
"This is fine."
Kiryu Yaya paid the money and opened the black umbrella.
The wind was blowing in from the river, almost flipping the umbrella over.
He pressed down on his wrist, stabilizing the umbrella, and stepped onto the path leading to the old warehouse.
The ground beneath my feet was soaked cement.
On both sides are abandoned warehouses and rusty iron gates.
The area around Tangdao is a bit remote. During the day, there are still some old logistics company vehicles coming and going, but when it rains heavily at dusk like this, it seems to have been forgotten by the times, leaving only the wind, rain and echoes.
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky in the distance.
The tin roof of the old warehouse lit up for a moment before plunging back into darkness.
When Kiryu Yaya arrived at the agreed location, it was just past 5:50.
The side door of the warehouse was half-open.
The lights were off inside.
Only a sliver of hazy sunlight seeped through the crack in the door.
He didn't go in immediately, but stood outside the door and listened for two seconds.
The sound of rain.
The sound of the wind.
The faint sound of the sheet metal vibrating.
and also--
A very light breath, deliberately suppressed.
Kiryu Yaya's gaze darkened slightly.
But he didn't show it on his face; he simply pushed open the door and went inside as usual.
The warehouse was filled with the damp smell of rust and the sour odor of moldy wooden crates.
In the corner, there were some discarded pallets piled up. The ground was uneven, and there were several leaks. Rainwater was dripping down the cracks in the roof.
Deep inside the warehouse, a tall, thin middle-aged man stood beside an old wooden table.
His hair was a little messy, his suit jacket was soaked through on the shoulders by the rain, his face was pale, but his eyes were unusually tense.
It was Akio Uesugi.
Upon seeing Kiryu Yaya, he first glanced instinctively at the door to make sure no one else had followed him in before speaking in a low voice:
"You're...one of Ms. Miyazawa's people?"
Without saying a word, Kiryu Yaya took out the dark blue eternal pen from his inner pocket and placed it on the wooden table.
Akio Uesugi's breath hitched.
He almost immediately reached out and picked up the pen.
My thumb traced the faint mark on the edge of the pen cap.
He slowly unscrewed the pen cap and glanced at the nib.
The next second, as if he had finally confirmed something, his eyes flickered violently.
"This is the president's pen..."
When Akio Uesugi looked up at Yaya Kiryu, his guard finally relaxed a little.
Okay. I believe you.
After saying that, he quickly took out two account books from an old document bag at his feet.
It's not particularly thick.
A dark brown hardcover ledger with the title "Rokko Golf Development - Monthly Report on Fund Management" on the cover.
The other book was thinner, wrapped in oil paper, and had no cover, like a secret book that had been temporarily hidden away.
"These are two sets of accounts."
Akio Uesugi lowered his voice and spoke very quickly.
"There's one set of accounts, one set of accounts. What Sumitomo Bank, the lawyers, and the finance department usually see is the first one. The second one is where the real flow of funds and supplementary records of guarantees are kept."
"After the chairman fell seriously ill, what happened to the executive director—"
He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.
Because Kiryu Yaya did not go to pick up those two ledgers.
He simply stood in front of the table, his black umbrella folded at his side, the tip of the umbrella gently touching the ground, his gaze slowly sweeping towards the deeper shadows of the warehouse.
Akio Uesugi was startled.
"What's wrong?"
The raindrops pounded on the tin roof, making a sound as urgent as a barrage of arrows.
Yet, amidst the noise, Kiryu Yaya could hear it clearly.
In the southeast corner, the sound of breathing could be heard.
more than one.
Kiryu Yaya's hand slowly tightened its grip on the umbrella handle.
At that moment, the long black umbrella in his hand no longer resembled a rain gear.
It's more like a knife sheathed.
He looked at the shadow, his voice not loud, but it carried clearly throughout the empty warehouse:
"Come out, stop hiding."