e may be onto something here,” Kaga murmured as soon as they were

outside the school gates. “My sixth sense is telling me that there’s a link

between the accident from three years ago and our current case. I also get

the feeling that the teacher is hiding something.”

“I agree. When Aoyagi contacted Itokawa three days before his

murder, do you think it was the accident he wanted to talk about?”

“Almost certainly. Though there’s still a lot that doesn’t add up.”

Kaga stopped after they had reached the end of the block.

“I know a guy in the local precinct. I called him this morning and

asked him to dig up all the files on the pool accident for me. I’m going to

go and collect them. Let’s meet up later.”

“I’m heading to Aoyagi’s house.”

There was a slight look of surprise on Kaga’s face as he turned to

Matsumiya.

“If it’s Yuto you want, he’ll be at school.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m going to ask the mother to give me his junior high

school directory.”

Kaga nodded approvingly. “Good idea.”

They went their separate ways after arranging to meet at Nakameguro

Station later.

Fumiko Aoyagi was home. Haruka was taking the day off school and

was up in her room, she explained.

Fumiko invited Matsumiya into the living room, but he kept his shoes

firmly on and made a deprecatory gesture.

“I’m fine here. I just want to borrow something.”

Fumiko looked puzzled when he mentioned the school register from

Yuto’s swim team days. “Is it relevant to the case?”

“I can’t yet be sure. All I can say is that it might be.”

“I thought that guy was the killer?”

“If you mean Fuyuki Yashima, that’s a conclusion that the media have

jumped to all by themselves. As far as the police is concerned, we haven’t

yet made an official announcement.”

Fumiko looked at him, wide-eyed. “Are you saying that he didn’t do

it? Then why? Why was my husband killed? Who really did it?” Her voice

was shrill.

Things were getting awkward. Matsumiya was worried. What would

Kaga do at a time like this?

“Just calm down, please. At this stage, I’m not at liberty to share any

details with you. For now, could you just fetch me the directory and leave it

at that?”

Fumiko looked at Matsumiya with an expression of mixed chagrin and

perplexity before shifting her gaze to the top of the staircase. “The

directory’s in my son’s room, I think. He’ll get mad at me if I just go in and

help myself to it.”

“I’ll photocopy it and give it straight back to you. No one outside the

force will see it. I promise you that.”

Fumiko capitulated and grudgingly agreed. “All right, wait here a

minute.”

“Thank you,” said Matsumiya, bowing deeply.

A few minutes later, Fumiko handed him a pamphlet with the title

Shubunkan Junior High School Swim Team 60th Anniversary

Commemorative Issue on the cover. The back pages contained a list of the

names and contact details of all the school’s present and former swim team

members. The pamphlet was probably published every ten years or so,

Matsumiya guessed.

“I’ll get this right back to you,” said Matsumiya with a nod of thanks.

He had opened the door and was about to head out when something came

into his head and he spun around.

“Three years ago, there was an accident at the swimming pool of

Shubunkan Junior High School. Do you remember it?”

Fumiko’s eyes widened in surprise. “Yes, I do … A boy in the year

below Yuto’s drowned, I think.”

“Have you discussed the accident recently, as a family?”

“No, not that I’m aware.”

“I see. Thank you. I’ll be right back.”

Matsumiya went to the local convenience store, where he photocopied

the necessary pages of the pamphlet. There was a foreword written by

Itokawa on the first page, so he copied that too.

After going back to the Aoyagis’ house to return the pamphlet,

Matsumiya called Kaga as he headed to the train station. Kaga was already

ensconced in a café nearby.

“According to the records, the accident seems to have happened as

Itokawa described it to us.” Kaga pushed his coffee cup to one side and

placed a bundle of files on the table. “The accident was deemed to have

been caused by Tomoyuki Yoshinaga’s own negligence, so no one else was

held liable. I wanted to find out more, so I tried calling the Yoshinagas. I

got no answer. As Itokawa said, they must have moved.”

“What does it all mean? What on earth prompted Aoyagi to start

visiting shrines that offer protection from drowning at this stage of the

game? It would make a little bit more sense if Yuto was the one doing it.”

As he said this, Matsumiya placed the photocopied pages of names and

addresses on top of Kaga’s pile of documents.

“Another mystery is why Aoyagi kept his shrine visits secret from his

family, Yuto included.”

“Maybe there’s some sort of connection between Aoyagi and

Tomoyuki Yoshinaga.”

“Like what?”

“Like…” Matsumiya lowered his voice. “Like Yoshinaga being

Aoyagi’s secret love child.”

Kaga broke into a broad grin. “I don’t think so.”

“Why not? We won’t know until we check it out.”

“Let’s check it out, then.” Kaga picked up the photocopied pages.

“Look, here’s a new address for Tomoyuki Yoshinaga, despite that teacher

fellow claiming not to know what it was. Karuizawa, eh? The perfect

distance for a day trip.”

“I’ll have a word with Chief Ishigaki when we get back to the task

force room. As we’re busy doing our own thing, he’s guaranteed to make

some sarcastic crack.”

“Great. You do that. Look at what Itokawa wrote here. ‘Water never

lies. Lies have no affinity with water. Try to cheat the water and your

deception will rebound on you.’ Quite the poet, isn’t he? If Itokawa really

believes what he wrote here, then our current line of inquiry is doomed.”

Matsumiya sipped his coffee and looked intently at Kaga. “Isn’t it time

you told me?”

“Told you what?”

“How you worked out that the motive for Aoyagi’s visits to Suitengu

Shrine was protection from drowning and not safe childbirth. I’m prepared

to accept that intuition had something to do with it, but there must have

been a more tangible trigger.”

Kaga put down the photocopies and reached for his coffee cup. “Yeah,

I don’t know.”

“So, what was the trigger?”

“It wasn’t so clear-cut. I just couldn’t get my head around the onehundred-

and-eighty-degree change in Yuto’s attitude. One minute, he’s

saying all these things that suggest he has nothing but contempt for his

father, then the next, everything changes. The news about him beating up

Kotake, the factory manager, only reinforced my impression.”

“I noticed that too. Personally, I thought his sister slitting her wrists

was what prompted his change of heart.”

“I don’t think so. Don’t you remember what Yuto said? He said that

doing that is tantamount to an admission of Dad’s guilt. That suggested to

me that he had decided to believe the best of his father even before the

drama of his sister’s attempted suicide.”

Matsumiya reran the episode in his head. Kaga was right.

“So what do you think prompted his change of mind?”

“I think he was given some new information about his father. But we

know that no one in the family had any contact with anyone else overnight.

Mrs. Aoyagi also said they deliberately hadn’t watched TV or checked the

news online.”

Kaga had raised those very points with the mother at the time,

Matsumiya recalled. Meaning he had already noticed the change in Yuto

and was trying to find what was behind it.

“The question then became: Who gave Yuto the information? I had no

way of knowing, but then the answer came to me in the most unexpected

way.”

Matsumiya searched his memory, but couldn’t come up with anything

like an answer himself. He scowled and glared at Kaga. “All right, you win.

Without being too condescending about it, tell me who it was.”

Kaga grinned merrily. “None other than your own good self.”

“Me? What did I say?”

“When we were at the Aoyagi house the day before the sister cut her

wrists, you mentioned the kirins. The statues on Nihonbashi Bridge, I

mean.”

“The statues? Come to think of it, I did. But mention them was all I

did. Yuto just went straight back up to his room after that.”

“In fact, though, your words had a powerful impact. You remember

me telling you how I bumped into Ms. Nakahara in Hamacho Green Road

park? Later on, we saw Yuto halfway across Nihonbashi Bridge.”

“Yuto? On the bridge?” It was the first Matsumiya had heard of it.

“I didn’t think much of it at the time, but on reflection, I realized that

he’d been gazing up at the kirin statues. I began to think that perhaps he’d

figured out why Takeaki dragged himself all the way to Nihonbashi Bridge

after being stabbed. Whatever the reason was, it had some sort of

connection to the kirin statues and was enough to completely transform the

way he thought about his father. Voilà, an explanation for his change of

heart.”

“What’s the significance of the kirins?”

“I don’t know. What I can say is this: the kirin statue was a final

message from Takeaki to Yuto, from a dying father to his son.”

“From Takeaki to Yuto, a dying father to his son…,” repeated

Matsumiya, before he worked it out. “Kyo, you got that idea from

something Kanamori said.”

“I believe in leaving the process of deduction to my imagination.

Anyway, that’s not important; it’s Yuto we need to be thinking about. He

understood the message his father sent him. That means that he must also

have understood the motivation behind his father’s otherwise inexplicable

behavior. Why was Takeaki Aoyagi making repeated visits to Nihonbashi? I

tried taking a new angle. What if Takeaki wasn’t praying for himself? What

if he was praying on behalf of his son, Yuto? What if Yuto had a girlfriend

and he had gotten her pregnant? But we saw no evidence of anything like

that.”

“Which is how you made the leap to the whole protection-fromdrowning

angle.” Matsumiya nodded and sighed. “Now I get it.”

“What about your theory of Tomoyuki Yoshinaga being Takeaki’s love

child?”

“Scrub that. Takeaki Aoyagi was making his shrine visits on his son’s

behalf: I’m sure you’re right there. In which case, we need to speak to the

kid himself.”

“I know.” Kaga glanced at his watch. “School’s out soon.”

They finished their coffee, left the café, and set off for the Aoyagi

house. They went as far as a truck that was parked at the side of the road

not far from the house. They decided to watch the house from there.

“What do you think really happened at the pool?” Kaga asked

Matsumiya.

Matsumiya thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I’m not sure.

I’ve a hunch that Yoshinaga wasn’t alone.”

“If his teammates were there, they’d have realized soon enough that

something was wrong. But to need an ambulance, he must have been at the

bottom of the pool for a while. It doesn’t make any sense.”

In what sort of circumstances could something that made no sense

have happened? Despite racking his brains, Matsumiya came up empty.

“Hey.” Kaga jerked his chin and Matsumiya looked in the direction he

indicated. Yuto Aoyagi was approaching from the far end of the street,

dragging his feet as he walked.

The two detectives set off in his direction. Yuto had his eyes on the

ground, but he must have sensed something. He looked up, saw the two

men, and stopped in his tracks.

“We want to ask you a few questions,” Matsumiya said. “All right?”

“What’s with the ambush tactics?” Yuto glared at them defiantly.

“We just want to talk to you,” Kaga said. “We think there’s a better

chance of getting honest answers if your mother and your sister aren’t

around.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I don’t want to do this out here on the street. Let’s start by finding a

place we can sit down and relax.”

Kaga stalked off. Matsumiya indicated with his eyes for Yuto to follow

him.

They ended up back at the same café they had just left. Kaga ordered a

coffee and Matsumiya an English tea, while Yuto opted for an iced coffee.

“I gather you don’t do any extracurricular activities at your present

school,” Kaga began. “How come?”

“No special reason … Not interested.”

“How about swimming? We know you were a keen swimmer back at

junior high.”

Yuto blinked. “Is this the official interview?”

“I guess it must be. What’s wrong? You look slightly uncomfortable.

You don’t like talking about your time on the swim team?”

“No, I don’t mind…,” Yuto replied, his eyes fixed on the floor.

“Let’s talk about something else. Your father was a frequent visitor to

the Nihonbashi area and we know why. He was doing the Seven Lucky

Gods pilgrimage circuit, with Suitengu Shrine as his main destination.

Taking his hundred origami cranes along with him. But I think you already

know that.”

Yuto half looked up, then ducked his head back down and shook it

from side to side. “No idea. First I’ve heard of it.”

“Sure about that? You don’t seem very surprised.”

“What do you want me to do? What is this Suitengu business,

anyway?”

“We came up with a theory that your father was visiting Suitengu to

pray for protection from drowning. The logical next step for us was to see if

your father had been involved in any accidents involving water recently.

That led us to the accident that occurred at Shubunkan Junior High three

years ago. I’m referring to the accident that resulted in the hospitalization of

Tomoyuki Yoshinaga. I assume you’ve not forgotten it.”

Yuto passed his tongue over his lips. “Naah,” he croaked hoarsely.

“We want you to tell us about the accident. In detail. Whatever you

know.”

Yuto said nothing for a while, then he picked up his glass, sucked

some iced coffee through his straw, and sighed feebly.

“Yuto,” said Kaga.

“I don’t know anything,” Yuto replied. His voice was strained. “I

really don’t. Yoshinaga snuck into the pool by himself and drowned. That’s

all I can tell you.”

“Then why was Mr. Aoyagi—why was your father—doing what he

did? What do you think he was praying for at Suitengu Shrine?”

“I don’t know.”

“Listen, Yuto, this is a serious matter. There could well be a link to

your father’s murder. In fact, we’re convinced that the two things are

connected. Come on. Why not just tell us the truth?”

Yuto’s cheeks were twitching. He breathed out heavily, then raised his

head. “I don’t know.” He looked Kaga in the eye. “Can I go now,

Detective? I can’t answer any of your questions.”

“Listen, Yuto—” Matsumiya began. Kaga gestured him to be quiet.

“You can go if you want to. It’s a pity, though, a real pity. We could

solve this case a whole lot faster if you were willing to help us.”

Yuto grabbed his bag and got to his feet. “Right, I’m off, then. Thanks

for the iced coffee.” With a brusque nod of the head, he made for the door.

His retreating figure seemed to radiate intransigence.

Matsumiya sipped his tea and cocked his head to one side. “I wonder

what that was all about. There must be something very uncomfortable for

him involved.”

“I don’t think that’s quite it. If he was only thinking about himself, he

wouldn’t have had that look in his eyes.”

“His eyes?”

“He’s covering for someone. I can tell from his eyes. When a

youngster has that look, nothing an adult says can make a jot of difference.”

Matsumiya was wondering what Kaga meant when his phone started

vibrating. It was Kobayashi.

“Matsumiya here.”

“Kobayashi. Something urgent’s come up. Can you talk?”

“Sure. What is it?”

There was a brief pause. “We found some prints,” Kobayashi said.

“Prints. You mean…?” Matsumiya felt the sweat forming in his

armpits.

“They found Yashima’s prints on the books you guys brought in.

We’ve managed to confirm that the man in the CCTV footage is Fuyuki

Yashima. Meaning that whoever was in the café with the victim, it wasn’t

Yashima.”