Can Scotland Have a Light of His Own?

Zhu Fu Takaaki's younger brother had been missing for a long time. He couldn't remember when it started, but at some point, he lost contact with his brother.

The first time Zhu Fu Takaaki realized it was happening was on a Sunday afternoon, following the old calendar, as he sat beside the telephone waiting for Zhu Fu Jingguang to call. An old quartz clock hung on the wall. Its hands made a faint ticking sound as they moved, especially noticeable in the empty room, clearly marking the passage of time.

He held a thick copy of The Tale of the Genji in his hands, but the pages hadn't turned in a long while. It was obvious the reader's mind was elsewhere. Half an hour passed, but the phone, which should have rung by now, remained silent.

It wasn't that Zhu Fu Takaaki didn't want to contact Zhu Fu Jingguang himself. But in those days, when people still used landlines, Jingguang didn't want to trouble the relatives he was staying with, let alone use their phone and make them pay the bill. Both brothers lived on their parents' inheritance, so every week at this time, Jingguang would go to a phone booth a little way from home and send his longing from Tokyo to Nagano.

Zhu Fu Takaaki tapped his fingers restlessly on the table. The black characters on the thick book in front of him looked like crawling insects baring their claws, giving him a headache. He closed the book and focused entirely on waiting for Zhu Fu Jingguang's call.

Nothing. Not a sound. Even after the dark of night swallowed the sky, Zhu Fu Takaaki still hadn't heard from him.

Maybe Jingguang had something urgent to deal with, he thought. He would wait a little longer.

He thought that way and waited for a whole month. Every day when he came home, his eyes went straight to the telephone in the corner. He even moved his little homework desk beside it. If he stayed there, he thought, he wouldn't miss Jingguang's call.

There was no word at all. It was as if his younger brother had suddenly vanished from his life.

At last, he couldn't wait any longer. He picked up the phone and dialed the number of their relatives' home in Tokyo. As soon as the call connected, he forgot all about manners and asked bluntly, "Where's Jingguang?"

The other person's hesitant reply made his heart sink. What came next made his mind ring, leaving it completely blank.

"Missing...?" He heard his own voice trembling.

"Yeah. A month ago, he said he was going to call you and went out, but he never came back." The other person's tone was strange. Zhu Fu Takaaki frowned. There was no anxiety over a missing child in their voice, only a subtle sense of relief and even delight. But he had no time to dwell on it. His mind was full of Jingguang, and only Jingguang.

His younger brother had gone missing on his way to call him. And he hadn't thought much of it, only realizing what had happened a month later. He had even waited for a whole month without doing anything.

He deserved to die.

Black Shuu, Black Akai. The bonds from the police academy are still there, and it should have a happy ending.

No outline. I'll write wherever my thoughts take me.

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