３．Ｓａｔｕｒｄａｙ Ｍａｒｃｈ １６， ２０１９
文字数 3,157文字
The time was noon. Maruta parked his car in the parking lot of a restaurant in the urban areas where they returned.
"Also, shall we have lunch like last week?" This time Kira suggested.
"That's still fine. Kira-san, would you like to have lunch here?"
"I don't mind either way."
The name 'Casa Canary', a name Maruta had never heard of, gave him the impression that it was one of the several restaurants opened in the countryside. However, the sign posted at the end of a long pole could be spotted fairly early on by him while driving.
When they took the seats they were shown, Maruta spoke up.
"This is the closest restaurant to the site we just left."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, it's roughly ten kilometers(6.2 miles) in a straight line from the crime scene to here."
Kira was left with a blank stare, as he was unable to extract any unspoken meaning from Maruta's words.
Soon, a waitress, who appeared to be a housewife, came to take their order. They ordered the "Daily Vegetable Lunch" and also added tea and bread as a set, which was a savings of 150 yen.
As the waitress was about to leave after reciting the order, Maruta stopped her.
"Sorry to bother you, but do you know these people?"
The smartphone Maruta held out shows the five members of 〈Tokyo Spread〉.
The middle-aged waitress looked at the small screen, then somewhat annoyingly said she didn't know. However, when Maruta briefly told her about the incident of 〈Silva〉 and the five people involved, she gasped, holding her mouth with her hand.
"There," Maruta is quite indifferent to her confusion. "There may be some part-time student workers here. If any employee claims to have seen them on the day of the incident, please call this number, even at a later date."
Maruta handed her one of his ever-present business cards. It even has a QR code for the messenger app printed on the back of it. Finally, he added this.
"Rest assured. I'm not trying to hit on you. Across from me is Yuya Kira, a friend of Silva-san who was killed. It's real. If you think I'm lying, you can look it up on the Internet during your break. If you do a search, you can find his face right away. Once again, I am very sorry for your time."
After the waitress had gone, Maruta said with a look that could have been an unfamiliar wink. "It's really not a good idea for non-cops to do this kind of thing unnecessarily, though. Especially during lunchtime, the shopkeepers will be busy. Now that we've ordered our lunch set, go choose our favorite bread. Over there is a buffet with baskets of it."
Kira had a look of admiration on his face the entire time Maruta was talking to him, as if he were watching a juggling act.
Maruta then handed out business cards at several nearby convenience stores that he had researched beforehand, as he did at the restaurant. He couldn't get any information about the 〈Tokyo Spread〉 sighting right then and there. But Kira's face was still very helpful in making the investigation more rational everywhere he went.
"Also, shall we have lunch like last week?" This time Kira suggested.
"That's still fine. Kira-san, would you like to have lunch here?"
"I don't mind either way."
The name 'Casa Canary', a name Maruta had never heard of, gave him the impression that it was one of the several restaurants opened in the countryside. However, the sign posted at the end of a long pole could be spotted fairly early on by him while driving.
When they took the seats they were shown, Maruta spoke up.
"This is the closest restaurant to the site we just left."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, it's roughly ten kilometers(6.2 miles) in a straight line from the crime scene to here."
Kira was left with a blank stare, as he was unable to extract any unspoken meaning from Maruta's words.
Soon, a waitress, who appeared to be a housewife, came to take their order. They ordered the "Daily Vegetable Lunch" and also added tea and bread as a set, which was a savings of 150 yen.
As the waitress was about to leave after reciting the order, Maruta stopped her.
"Sorry to bother you, but do you know these people?"
The smartphone Maruta held out shows the five members of 〈Tokyo Spread〉.
The middle-aged waitress looked at the small screen, then somewhat annoyingly said she didn't know. However, when Maruta briefly told her about the incident of 〈Silva〉 and the five people involved, she gasped, holding her mouth with her hand.
"There," Maruta is quite indifferent to her confusion. "There may be some part-time student workers here. If any employee claims to have seen them on the day of the incident, please call this number, even at a later date."
Maruta handed her one of his ever-present business cards. It even has a QR code for the messenger app printed on the back of it. Finally, he added this.
"Rest assured. I'm not trying to hit on you. Across from me is Yuya Kira, a friend of Silva-san who was killed. It's real. If you think I'm lying, you can look it up on the Internet during your break. If you do a search, you can find his face right away. Once again, I am very sorry for your time."
After the waitress had gone, Maruta said with a look that could have been an unfamiliar wink. "It's really not a good idea for non-cops to do this kind of thing unnecessarily, though. Especially during lunchtime, the shopkeepers will be busy. Now that we've ordered our lunch set, go choose our favorite bread. Over there is a buffet with baskets of it."
Kira had a look of admiration on his face the entire time Maruta was talking to him, as if he were watching a juggling act.
Maruta then handed out business cards at several nearby convenience stores that he had researched beforehand, as he did at the restaurant. He couldn't get any information about the 〈Tokyo Spread〉 sighting right then and there. But Kira's face was still very helpful in making the investigation more rational everywhere he went.
