The Goddess Shines on America

Tuesday, September 10, after school.

There was a bang above my head, and I raised my head reflexively, and saw a black object flying out of the window on the third floor and falling directly above me. I dodged in a hurry, the black object hit the place where I was standing just now, and shattered.

It was a pot with geraniums.

This happened after school, when I was walking by the school building. The sound of the piano came from nowhere. For a moment, I stared blankly at the ceramic planter, not understanding what was going on, until the sweat seeping from my armpits trickled down my arms before I came back to my senses.

In the next moment, I rushed into the teaching building and ran up the stairs.

I stood panting in the corridor on the third floor. The rapid heartbeat is not only due to the violent running just now, the fear in my heart has reached its peak. What would happen if you were hit by a flowerpot just now? The red color of geraniums suddenly appeared in front of my eyes.

Which classroom would that window be? I stopped in front of the science laboratory, and there was a smell of medicine coming out of it. I looked closely, but I didn't see a slit of about five centimeters.

I pushed the door open, and a crisp breeze blew in. The window facing the door was open, and the white curtains were fluttering.

I walked down the corridor again. I don't remember how long it has been since the flower pot was dropped, but I always feel that the people who still have the flower pot are hiding in the classrooms on both sides of the corridor.

The middle of the teaching building is L-shaped, and I stopped when I walked around the corner. Voices came from the classroom with the sign of "Second Grade Class C", and I opened the door without hesitation.

There were five students inside, writing something by the bed. Seeing someone break in suddenly, they were startled, and they all looked at me.

I had to say, "What are you doing?"

The student at the front replied: "We are from the literature and art club... and we are making a collection of poems."

The tone was very sure, as if he was going to say "don't bother".

"Has anyone been here?"

The five looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No one passed the corridor either?"

They looked at each other again, and someone muttered "No." The student who spoke just now replied as if representing everyone: "I didn't pay attention."

"Oh... thanks."

I looked around the classroom and closed the door.

The sound of the piano came again, as if it had been playing just now. I don't know much about classical music, but I've heard that piece and thought I could play it pretty well.

There is a music classroom at the end of the corridor, and the sound of the piano comes from there. I opened the classrooms one by one to check if anyone was inside, and the last thing left was the music classroom.

I opened the door rudely and made a noise. Just like calm flowing water being disturbed and beautiful buildings being destroyed, the sound of the piano stopped abruptly.

The pianist looked at me timidly. I have the impression that she is a student in Class A of the second grade. Her fair skin is eye-catching, but at this moment her face looks a little pale. I didn't just say "sorry".

"Has anyone been here?"

I asked and looked around. There are three rows of benches in the room, two old pianos by the window, and portraits of famous composers in the music world hanging on the walls. It can be concluded that there is nowhere to hide.

She has broken the law and shakes her head. She played a grand piano, which looked rather ancient.

"Yeah……"

I went around behind her, walked to the window, and saw the students from the club running on campus.

There is also a staircase to the left of the music classroom, from which the murderer probably escaped. He has plenty of time to run away, the question is, who exactly?

I noticed the girl playing the piano was staring at me with a disturbed expression,

I squeezed out a smile: "Keep playing, I want to listen for a while."

Her expression merged, she glanced at the music score, and moved her fingers nimbly. Calm and passionate melody... By the way, it is Chopin's famous song, even I know it.

Listening to Chopin while looking out the window was an unexpectedly elegant time, but I didn't feel happy, and I was still depressed.

——With the above content as the dividing line, the editor-in-chief Tsukamoto said: "I believe that everyone, like me, is hesitant about who the murderer is. Judging from the plot currently written by the author, there are nothing more than three situations. "

This is a very simple fact, so Tsukamoto said directly: "Either the murderer is the five girls in Class C. They made preparations immediately after they found out that 'I' was fine. When 'I' broke into the classroom, It became very tacitly traditional. Either the murderer was the girl in the music classroom. The author used her gentle and artistic image to contrast with the tough attitude of the girls in Class C, inducing ordinary readers to doubt the five people. She is the murderer."

"Or, the murderer did run away, but I'm personally not inclined to this conclusion, because in this way, the most critical part of this plot becomes nonsense. Alice Wang is not a real newcomer writer , I don't think she would make such a low-level mistake, what do you think?"

After pondering for a moment, Chunzi spoke first: "That's what I said, but Alice has never written a mystery novel after all, and I guess few people here have read her two books, right? After all, it's only been two years. It’s just time. Maybe this is a failure? Is it because she wrote some redundant plots?”

"In this most unlikely situation, Chun Zisang should not worry about it."

Hong Zhi leaned comfortably on the chair, shaking the copy and said: "I am more inclined to girls who play the piano. As the editor said, ordinary readers will never doubt her, but stare at the five girls who reacted well. She is a more intense girl, so Alice-san probably really pinned the murderer on this cute cutie."

Qingzhi pondered for a moment and said: "I also think it might be the piano girl. At the beginning of the article, the piano sound was written, and then when the protagonist continued to search for the situation in the article, the author mentioned the piano sound again, and finally ended with the girl playing the piano. .Since you have made this kind of writing technique of foreshadowing, forging, and re-emerging, surely it will not be in vain, right?"

Tsukamoto looked at Yamamoto and said, "Pengya-kun, what do you think?"

Yamamoto did not answer immediately, but stared at the manuscript.

In fact, many readers have an urge to turn to the last page directly when reading a book, which is especially reflected in mystery novels. When the author throws out one mystery after another, many people with low concentration will not be able to bear their curiosity, and then turn to the last page.

After all, it's so easy to do. With a book in hand, which page to turn is not in the mind of the reader? What's more, the last page of any book is particularly eye-catching, and the thickness of this mystery novel is not so thick that it is difficult to grasp. The last page is really just the thumb of the right hand holding the book. It's such a simple thing.

Seeing the difference in Yamamoto's expression, Tsukamoto immediately thought of this possibility: "Pengya-kun, you can't help it, can you?"

Several people around had an urge to be excited, an urge to explode. Their feelings are not very obvious, but Yamamoto is a veteran of Kodansha for nearly 20 years, and the most important thing is...he is the most prestigious editor in the mystery novel world!

Last year's Edogawa Ranpo Award went to Mori Masahiro's "Mozart Doesn't Sing a Lullaby". The year before last year's award, Torii Kananko's "Descendants of the Miko" was pushed back to Takahashi Katsuhiko's "Sura Killer" in 1983. Incident", and even the newcomers to Edogawa Ranpo in the past seven years were all carefully selected by this senior. Even if the quality has declined in the past two years, it can't hide his talent!

If it is said that even Senior Yamamoto couldn't help his curiosity and wanted to "turn the last page", then there is no need to say more about the potential of this rookie writer!

Although, it seems that Alice Wang has already proven her strength in the US market...

"Excellent work, this should be an authentic undergraduate reasoning, but it is also connected with campus life, which gives people a refreshing feeling."

After pondering for a while, Yamamoto said: "I don't doubt Alice's strength. In fact, I just bought her "Jurassic Park" last month. After all, it has been on the New York Times bestseller list for several months. It’s a new book, and it’s still this kind of subject matter... To be honest, I still bought the original English version.”

His words aroused surprise from his colleagues, and Yamamoto continued: "This kid is not very old, but he is obviously a good storyteller. "Jurassic Park" is of this type. People" catches the eye, then opens with a solo episode of a 'mysterious creature' attacking a worker, and doesn't let the story's theme emerge until many words later."

"I haven't read "Blood Fairy Tale", but judging from the current plot of this book, she may be using this trick again."

As soon as the expert opened his mouth, it gave people a different feeling. Tsukamoto nodded with satisfaction and said, "That's good, let's hold the meeting here first, and everyone returns to their posts to continue working. As for this manuscript, after all, it is more than ten years old. Wanzi novels, you can’t let you waste the whole day reading novels, as of this weekend, everyone give me a copy of the post-reading report!”

Apparently, Tsukamoto wanted to include this novel in the nomination list for this year's Edogawa Ranpo Award. Hongzhi stood up cheerfully, nodded and bowed and said, "The editor-in-chief has worked hard! I will definitely give you my review immediately, Do not worry!"

Qingzhi kicked his ass: "You have what you said, hurry up and make coffee for me, double the strength, do you hear me!?"

Everyone quickly walked out of the conference room amidst Hongzhi's repeated responses, and Tsukamoto walked last, and he walked out of the room slowly, just walking side by side with Yamamoto.

"Mr. Peng, this book "After School" doesn't have many words. It seems to be Alice Sang's attempt in the field of mystery novels. What do you think about her development potential?"

Yamamoto looked at the manuscript in his hand, but was speechless for a while.