Byakuyakou The Novel ~ Chapter 2
Four years later. 1977. The main characters are Akiyoshi Yuichi and Kawashima Eriko. Akiyoshi is a 3rd grade student in Ooe Junior Highschool student. Ooe is a public school and well-known for it's bad reputation. Eriko is a 3rd grade student in Seika Girls Junior Highschool. Seika is a private elite school. Ooe and Seika are in the same neighbourhood.
This chapter is split into several parts and each part is told from Akiyoshi and Eriko's point of views in turns.
After school, Akiyoshi would come near to Seika juniorhigh to take pictures of Karasawa Yukiho, this very pretty popular girl in the neighborhood. Although, Akiyoshi personally likes her too, but actually his classmate, Muta asked him to take pictures of her and he would buy it for 300 yen each picture. Usually many Ooe boys would peek around Seika after school, but only Akiyoshi takes pictures.
Eriko is Karasawa Yukiho's bestfriend. She adore Yukiho very much since first grade and had always wanted to be friends with her, but she is so popular in school that Eriko didn't have the courage to talk to her. When Eriko is finally in the same class as Yukiho in 3rd grade, she talked to her and asked Yukiho, "Would you be my friend?", and to her surprised, Yukiho welcomed her so friendly with a big smile. Eriko is an ordinary girl with ordinary looks and she wears glasses, so she felt it is such an honor to be Yukiho's bestfriend. She is proud of it, in fact. Besides popular, Yukiho has this striking beautiful face, beautiful long hair and a 'rich lady'(ojousama) first-class attitude and way of speak. She doesn't speak in Kansai dialect like the other girls there, although she was born in Higashi-osaka. Actually Yukiho spoke in Kansai-ben when she was a child, but as she grew up she was trying to avoid speaking in Kansai dialect for an unknown reason. With these characteristics, Eriko has to face noisy boys from Ooe trying to talk to them after school, well... talk to Yukiho actually, and Eriko would always try to protect Yukiho. They also know that a certain boy is trying to take Yukiho's pictures. Eriko was bewildered that Yukiho didn't say anything to that boy and she didn't let Eriko to say anything either. But Yukiho explained that it is best to ignore those boys, there's no use talking to them, she said.
Meanwhile, a weird rumor about Yukiho has been spreading around Seika. That Yukiho's mother commited a suicide when she was a child. Eriko heard it but she didn't ask about it to Yukiho and ignored the rumor. However, Yukiho know about the rumor and asked Eriko whether or not she has heard. Eriko tried to avoid the topic but Yukiho said it's okay, she can ask her about it. So Yukiho told Eriko the truth. How her birth mother died. That day, she was playing around with her friend after school and then she came home, but the door is locked, so she asked the landlord to open the door with his keys. When it was opened, apparently her mother is dead already. The police reported it as an accident. Yukiho regret so much that she played around after school, if only she came home straight after school was over, her mother might be saved. Yukiho said it is almost like she's the one who has killed her mother. Eriko said, "Stop it! Don't blame yourself! It cannot be helped,".
Since then, Yukiho's late father's cousin, a middle-aged woman, Karasawa Reiko came and adopted her. Karasawa Reiko is a rich widower and she doesn't has a child. And she is a very, very kind old lady.
Yukiho was previously a student of Ooe Elementary School, but as soon as she is adopted, Karasawa Reiko transferred her to the private school, Seika Elementary School.
Trying to divert the topic, Yukiho showed Eriko the accessory case made of cloth, she has been knitting for quite sometime. It'll be finished soon. Yukiho knitted the initial letters R.K. on it. Eriko asked her, "Why is it R.K.? Your name is Karasawa Yukiho, it's suppose to be Y.K.,". Yukiho answered, "It's a present for my mother, her name is Reiko,".
Back to Akiyoshi, one of his close friend, Kikuchi told him he'd like to borrow one of his photo that he has. In the next day, Kikuchi asked Akiyoshi if he want to come with him meeting someone on the rooftop, to talk about the photo he borrowed from him. Apparently, Kikuchi is meeting Kirihara Ryoji on the rooftop. Kikuchi showed the photo to Kirihara saying that it's his mother with his father's pawnshop employee walking together intimately. Kikuchi know about the incident four years ago saying with this photo proof his mother and her lover might be his father's murderers. But Kirihara said he doesn't know anything and that the woman in the photo is not his mother. Looking upset Kirihara left the rooftop. Akiyoshi asked Kikuchi what was that all about, apparently the person who found Kirihara's father's corpse was Kikuchi's little brother. Although they found the corpse first, but the police was suspecting his parents instead, thinking that there's a theory where a murderer would pretend finding the corpse first. He was trying to clear that suspicion from his family, so he is quite concern about the criminal case. But unexpectedly Kirihara ignored him.
The next day, Muta told Akiyoshi to take pictures of another girl beside Yukiho. Her name is Fujimura Miyako. Akiyoshi didn't know the girl and Muta only told him that Fujimura plays violin in the music classroom. So Akiyoshi took a peek on the music room from outside, but Fujimura saw him from inside and hushed him away. Akiyoshi didn't get Fujimura's picture.
One night after English private class that Yukiho and Eriko joined every after school, they were late than usual and Yukiho made a phone call from the public phonebooth telling Eriko that she's going to call her mother. Then Yukiho told Eriko they should take a shortcut. When they were passing by a warehouse, Yukiho saw a Seika uniform lying on the ground right in front of the doorgate. The door was opened a bit, and Eriko told Yukiho they should immediately leave this place, but Yukiho went inside the warehouse. Inside they screamed to find their classmate, Fujimura Miyako lying half naked on the floor unconcious.
Yukiho and Eriko were interrogated by the police detectives, and Yukiho told the police about Ooe boys who likes to peek around their school. Yukiho told them she remember the nametag of the boy who likes to take pictures, his name is Akiyoshi. Eriko was surprised, since Yukiho seem never care about those boys, but apparently she care enough to even remember their name.
Later, when they were visiting Fujimura Miyako at her house, her mother said Miyako doesn't want to see anybody for now. And her mother told them that although the incident happened, Miyako's virginity was not taken. They asked them to believe her about this. In return, Yukiho said, "We were not thinking that her virginity was taken at all, please do not worry,".
And so, the police interrogated Akiyoshi, but he has quite strong alibi. The police showed him a piece of keychain, half-broken octopus keychain that was found on the crime scene. Akiyoshi was shocked to see that because he just noticed yesterday, Kikuchi's octopus keychain is half-broken. The police asked him whether or not he recognize the keychain and Akiyoshi couldn't lie.
Kikuchi was interrogated too, but he had an alibi that he was watching a movie in a movie theater on the time of the crime. And so the suspicion turns to Muta.
Meanwhile, as Akiyoshi observing his class when a group of boys were talking(gossiping) about the incident and how their classmates got involved in this, Akiyoshi is surprised to see Kirihara Ryoji was a part of the group and listening with full of interest. So far, he almost never talk to Kirihara and as far as he know, Kirihara never talk to any of their classmate either. Kirihara is always alone and he usually doesn't care about any happening at school. So this is a rare view for Akiyoshi. When the teacher came in, they all returned to their seats, Akiyoshi kept observing Kirihara returning to his seat. On his desk, he saw an accessory case made of cloth with initial letters R.K. knitted on it...
This chapter ends with Muta calling Akiyoshi to the rooftop and with his friends, they beat him up, suspecting it was Akiyoshi who told the police about him asking Fujimura Miyako's photos.
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It didn't quite explain how the police solved the case, but probably it was never solved, and they weren't able to capture the real culprit. Actually, I already know that none of the criminal cases that will happen in later chapters will be solved at all^^ Not until the very last chapter, maybe.
Episode 2 of the TBS drama follows this Chapter 2 quite accurately, the difference is just that the TBS drama shows what happened behind the crime scenes. Also, this plot was placed on the highschool timeline. Yukiho and Ryoji were 3rd grade highschool in the drama when these cases happens. So it was not 4, but 7 years later since the murder of Ryoji's father.