The story described by Maijo Keisuke this time took place in the flower street called "Rokukendan" in the third year of Showa (1928).
Ever since Yi Qian let go of a Platycodon flower and died in the smelly ditch of Flower Street.
The entire Flower Street fell into an atmosphere of panic.
The protagonist of the story "I" is a young policeman wearing thick round glasses and very unsure of his appearance.
I followed Detective Hishida as the person in charge of the Ichizen Matsu case and began to investigate the case.
Yiqian Song is a well-known figure in the flower street of "Liuxuanduan". He often goes to romantic places to play and spends a lot of money.
Combined with the loss of Ichinson's money bag, Detective Hishida and I suspected that money was the cause of the trouble.
At the same time, it was also investigated that on the day of his death, Ichinson visited a romantic place called "Saofengkan".
"Saofengkan" is an extremely dilapidated romantic place with a worrying sanitary environment. When Detective Hishida and I arrived there, the attitude of the landlady was extremely bad.
But after hearing that we were the police, he showed a flattering expression.
There are only two maids in the entire "Shaofeng Pavilion" who are responsible for receiving guests. The woman who received Ichinson on the day of the crime was named Changzi.
At the same time, the girl who was receiving guests in the room next to Masako was named Suzue.
Suzue's room stinks. Although she looks younger, she wears a faded purple dress one size larger and always has a look of panic on her face, which makes people feel a little pitiful.
The guest Suzue received that day was named Fukumura, a puppet show performer.
Fukumura gave Suzue a lot of dolls, and those dolls were piled up in Suzue's room like corpses, looking eerie and weird.
Detective Hishida and I learned that Ichinmatsu brought 500 kuai with him that day, which was a lot of money in Showa 2.
And Fukumura happened to leave the "Shaofeng Pavilion" with Ichinsomatsu, and the 500 yuan that Ichinsomatsu carried with him disappeared!
Detective Hishida and I naturally believe that Fukumura is the real culprit who killed Ichinson!
The most important evidence was not the money bag, but Detective Hisashida's discovery that there was a cup in Suzue's room, and the water in the cup was very turbid.
It was a simple vase that Suzue used to put platycodon flowers. After Fukumura left, the platycodon flowers disappeared.
I followed Detective Hishida out of the "Safukan", and when I looked up, I happened to see many platycodon flowers growing on Suzue's balcony.
I looked at the platycodon flowers on the second floor, and I felt that those flowers might be Suzue living in the rancid room, the only spiritual comfort, right?
This is my second encounter with Platycodon flowers.
When we met for the third time, I was not as a policeman, but as a guest.
I said the customer was a bit strange, so I just took off my thick round glasses and deceived the landlady into entering Suzue's room.
Because I wanted to talk to Suzue alone about the details of the case that day, especially the platycodon flower Ichinson was holding in his hand.
Suzue didn't seem surprised by my arrival, and she started to take off her clothes directly. Although I paid, I would not have sex with Suzue.
After all, I kind of pity this girl because she reminds me of an old friend.
When I was young, I often played with my neighbor's sister named Sachiko.
It's a pity that Sachiko's background was very poor. She had rough hands like a man. When she reached age, she was sold by her parents to a man who was a businessman.
Even after many years, the scene of Sachiko leaving from the embankment is still vivid in my mind.
I chased after her, but she just smiled and waved her hand at me. I knew that she was sold to a sad place, but there was nothing I could do about it.
I don’t know what happened to Sachiko later, but that smile was the last portrait of Sachiko left, and it is deeply imprinted on my heart.
Therefore, when facing Suzue, who is similar in age to Sachiko, I always hope to drag her out of the quagmire and make up for the regret of not being able to protect Sachiko.
I chatted a lot with Suzue in the room, and learned that she was sold here for some reason, and she had no idea about the future, because the redemption price was five hundred yuan, and the longer the time went by, the more she owed.
I expressed pity for her, but whenever I mentioned platycodon flowers, Suzue asked me if I wanted to sleep with her. When I refused, she said that I was as weird as Fukumura.
Every time Fukumura came here, he would do nothing but twist paper, set off fireworks, or perform a puppet show for her.
But she also said that Fukumura and I were different, but how exactly we were different? Suzue fell asleep without saying anything.
I looked at her innocent sleeping face and listened to her peaceful breath.
Thinking that Fukumura might have wanted to pull Suzue out of the sea of misery because of her innocent sleeping appearance, he killed Ichinson and took away 500 yuan.
After all, that was five hundred yuan. Unless you robbed it, ordinary people would not be able to get this amount of money in the second year of Showa.
The morning bell rang, and when I was about to walk out of the room, Suzue suddenly stopped me.
I turned around and saw Suzue hesitated to speak.
But when I asked her what was wrong, she shook her head again and turned her face away.
I didn't know what Suzue wanted to say, and I couldn't bear to look at her pitiful appearance anymore, so I turned around and left.
Time flies, and more than half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.
The murderer Fukumura identified by the police has not yet been arrested.
In order to investigate where Fukumura went, I went to the "Shaofukan" twice more.
Just because I went during the day, I didn’t see Suzue both times.
Although I also ran to "Shaofengkan" alone once.
But all I could see was the red light coming from the second floor window, dyeing the platycodon flowers on the balcony red.
About a month had passed since the death of Ichinson, and the news of Fukumura came unexpectedly.
But at that time, he was already a corpse, lying in the ditch like a pine tree, holding a white platycodon flower in his hand!
I was very surprised when I saw the platycodon flower, so I visited the "Safukan" again with Detective Hishida.
As expected, I saw Suzue again, but I don't know if she avoided me on purpose or completely forgot about me? She didn't even look at me once.
The investigation turned out to be fruitless, and we still don’t know who killed Fukumura.
When I left the "Saofengkan", my shoelaces were untied and I was about to leave after I tied them.
But I found something passing over my face and falling at my feet.
I raised my foot, and although the thing was crushed by my feet, I could clearly see that it was a Platycodon flower.
I raised my head and looked upstairs and found myself under Suzue's window, but her curtains were hung and there was no one there.
I took a step forward, and another one fell out.
I knew without thinking that this must be the flower deliberately thrown at me by Suzue who was hiding behind the curtain.
Maybe I'm stupid, I just thought Suzue wanted to tell me the truth of the case.
But he didn’t understand Suzue’s unspeakable white language at all…
Eryumi was touched by Maijo Kyousuke's poignant writing style, so she naturally stopped mentioning what happened in the hot spring pool.
Just looking at the manuscript paper with only two pages left in my hand, I couldn't bear to read it.
Because I clearly remember that Maijo Kyousuke once said at the dinner table that this story is based on the seventh girl in the Eight Hundred Houses.
Therefore, the final ending must be bitter and embarrassing.
