Chapter 691: Chapter 437: Sugoroku Day (Part 2)
"Oh, it’s nothing, anyway, it’s not like we’re handling the case."
He placed the glass bottle on the table, crossed his legs, and leaned back in the chair to digest his food.
Taira Sakurako, a deft pickpocket, swiped the glass bottle. She went out with Minamoto Tamako today and had some gains.
Turns out the convenience stores in Hokkaido recycle glass cola bottles, and each bottle is worth fifty yen. She thought this was a business opportunity and planned to resell the glass bottles to boost her little treasury.
"That’s what you say, but... but..."
Minamoto Tamako couldn’t come up with a coherent argument, so she tried a different angle to get Fushimi Roku back into the discussion: "Aren’t you curious about what the truth is?"
"Isn’t it just one of those three possibilities?" Fushimi Roku wasn’t curious at all. After all, when you know the answer in advance, it’s no fun.
Minamoto Tamako was not convinced and tried to argue: "But what if the husband really committed crimes in two places at once? What if the hotel maid also pointed to the husband? He has a suspicious alibi in both murder cases. How do you explain that?"
"You already said ’what if.’ Let’s wait until he’s identified before jumping to conclusions." Fushimi Roku didn’t care much. Now that he was full and satisfied, he enjoyed teasing people and started to make fun of Minamoto Tamako: "What if the killer is a twin who looks just like the husband?"
He let out a meaningless laugh after that, just like when he teased Minamoto Tamako at the police station before, watching her face turn red as a tomato was rather amusing.
Minamoto Tamako was so annoyed that she couldn’t eat. She snorted and, out of spite, said, "Just watch! I’ll go out again tomorrow to look into it, and I will definitely prove it to you!"
"Ohhhhh, I’m looking forward to it."
After saying that, Fushimi Roku lay back on the tatami, resting his head on his hands, and crossed his legs, transforming into a lazy Nobita.
Minamoto Tamako still wanted to compete, but Fushimi Roku didn’t respond. She decided to swallow her pride for now, silently finished her dinner, and cleaned up the table and washed the dishes with Taira Sakurako.
The seaside street gradually descended into evening. Fushimi Roku lay down for a while, feeling bored. This place had neither comics nor TV, and the magazine he had bought along the way was also dull—its short stories were filled with a strong scent of Chicken Soup for the Soul.
He was so bored that he suggested they all play sugoroku together.
The traditional Japanese sugoroku is actually quite complicated, divided into "board sugoroku" (similar to Western backgammon) and "picture sugoroku" (illustrated adventure game) two major types... but Fushimi Roku didn’t want to play a game that required too much thinking. He preferred games of luck, so he decided on drawing his own sugoroku.
It’s a bit like flying chess and Monopoly. You draw a board on paper, write corresponding penalties or rewards on each square, and whoever reaches the finish line first wins.
It sounds simple, but fun game rules are usually not complicated.
Minamoto Tamako also had nothing to do. She wished she could fly back to the police station immediately to continue the investigation. But with Fushimi Roku at home, she couldn’t come up with an excuse to go out, so she agreed to kill time.
To make the game more fun, Fushimi Roku suggested writing the contents of each square on sticky notes. They would take turns writing for each square, and once finished, turn the notes over and stick them on the squares.
When the piece lands on the corresponding square, they would flip the note to see it.
Minamoto Tamako had no objections, as it was just to kill time, so she agreed.
Taira Sakurako volunteered to go to the convenience store to buy dice and toy figures, actually using the chance to return the empty cola bottles for money and earn herself a little extra from Minamoto Tamako for running errands. Her little treasury was growing, and she felt a great sense of accomplishment.
The two of them drew the board on a sheet of scratch paper and took turns writing sticky notes. Midway, Taira Sakurako returned with the dice and toy figures and also wrote a few sticky notes.
Once everything was ready, Fushimi Roku suddenly didn’t want to play anymore.
He lay back down on the tatami, saying, "You two play, I’ll just lie down for a while."
"What’s the matter?" Minamoto Tamako was puzzled and wanted to peek at the notes: "Did you write some weird penalties?"
"How could I? I could land on any square myself, so of course I wouldn’t do something that dumb." Fushimi Roku really was just losing interest and didn’t want to play: "I just feel like winning isn’t meaningful."
Taira Sakurako figured out what he was thinking and asked, "Do you want to bet something?"
Fushimi Roku looked up, asking, "What are you guys planning to bet?" His interest reignited, and he sat back down at the board: "How about setting a prize?"
Minamoto Tamako didn’t want to participate in gambling, so Fushimi Roku backtracked and said this wasn’t gambling, it was a competition, and even second place would get a prize.
Upon hearing that, she got excited too, filled with the competitive urge. She still held a grudge against Fushimi’s earlier taunt and was eager to seize this opportunity to wipe the slate clean!
"What’s the prize?" Taira Sakurako focused more on the tangible aspects.
"Everyone chips in an entry fee, and the prize is to split the entry fee evenly!" Fushimi Roku came up with a compromise, pulling out a ten-thousand yen bill from his wallet and placing it beside the board.
Seeing this, Taira Sakurako dug out a metal bottle cap from her pocket and placed it next to the ten-thousand yen bill.
"What do you mean by that?" Fushimi Roku asked puzzled.
"This is my lucky charm, carrying it boosts my luck. It’s priceless." Taira Sakurako explained.
Fushimi Roku took a closer look and asked, "Isn’t this the cola bottle cap I just drank from? Since when did it become a lucky charm?"
"This is a bottle cap from the first batch of Coca-Cola. It has great collectible value, so don’t talk nonsense if you don’t know." Taira Sakurako turned the tables on him.