Chapter 3.10 Sunny

Turning open the cowhide cover, one could see that the paper inside the diary had yellowed. The name "Fukutomi Hirahara" was written on the title page in clumsy, awkward handwriting.

The diary's text was naturally in Japanese. The earliest entry was dated 42 years ago, when Fukutomi Hirahara was nine years old.

"3.10, Sunny. Uncle came back from abroad and brought us gifts. He gave me an English-Latin dictionary, books on ancient Greek mythology, ancient Babylonian mythology, and ancient Egyptian mythology, as well as several of his own research papers on Hinomoto mythology.

Ah, so annoying.

Although Uncle is a famous folklorist who often appears on TV shows, and I admire him very much, studying is still too annoying...

What's even more infuriating is that Uncle wants me to keep a diary, study English and Latin every day, and write down my thoughts on the books I read and my daily insights. Considering he said he would take us abroad for summer vacation, I'll reluctantly write something."

"3.11, Read manga, ate daifuku."

"3.12, Read manga, ate akafuku mochi."

"3.13, Read manga."

"3.14, I can't go on like this. If I keep playing every day, I'll fail the exams. I must study hard tomorrow."

"3.15, Read manga."

Xing Hechou flipped through the diary, a black line seemingly hanging on his forehead.

The first dozen or so pages of Fukutomi Hirahara's diary were all like this, with only a few words on each page and the occasional childish doodle.

"3.20, Spring break has started, and we have returned to our old home in the countryside. The village holds a festival every year at this time. I met my old friends."

"3.21, Spent the whole day doing my spring break homework."

"3.22, Went to the mountains to play and checked the secret base I built before. It was indeed very hidden, and no one else had discovered it. I can continue building it! Building a secret base that only me, Hideyori, and Yuzuki know about."

"3.24, The secret base is finally finished! We dug deeper into the existing hollow in the mountain, lined the bottom with newspapers, used tree stumps as support, and covered it with unwanted thin wooden boards and fallen leaves. You can't see it at all from the outside, hehe.

We played in the base for an afternoon and almost didn't make it home before dark. Mom scolded me."

"3.25, Uncle also returned to the village for the festival. He checked my homework and praised me. I told him about the secret base, hoping he would praise my hands-on skills, but he was very, very angry, and his face looked terrible. Maybe he was afraid that the wooden boards or tree stumps would fall down and hurt us."

"9.1, Summer vacation is over, back to school."

"10.2, Went back to the countryside to visit Hideyori at my uncle's house. Secretly went to pay respects to Uncle along the way."

"10.5, My uncle's family called to say that Hideyori's illness had worsened and he might have to be sent to a sanatorium for treatment. Mom and Dad are very worried about him. I didn't tell Mom and Dad, but I've been having headaches lately. I'm afraid I'll be like Uncle..."

Xing Hechou looked at the contents of the diary, his brow furrowed. "Strange, the diary was still recording things in March, how did it suddenly jump to September?"

"Maybe the kid was just lazy and liked to play."

Wanli Fengdao said, "After all, Fukutomi Hirahara was only nine years old at that time, it's quite normal.

Oh, right, it could also be because his uncle died.

Did you notice?

On October 2nd, the diary says that he went to his uncle's house to visit Hideyori (Hideyori should be his cousin, who has some kind of disease), and secretly went to pay respects to Uncle along the way.

In that case, his uncle should have died between March and September."

Liu Wudai said, "Based on the sentence 'I've been having headaches lately, I'm afraid I'll be like Uncle,' we can guess that the cause of Fukutomi Hirahara's uncle's death was related to headaches.

It's possible that he suffered from some kind of mental illness with a family history,

Or it could be related to abnormal events—his uncle was a famous folklorist, maybe he was caught up in some abnormal event."

Li Ang said, "Well... the diary says that Fukutomi Hirahara's uncle often brought him study materials and urged him to study hard.

But the major that Fukutomi Hirahara eventually chose was mechatronics at a university in Tokyo. After graduating, he worked for a medium-sized electronics company in Kawagoe City and is now the section chief.

That is the position of Hiroshi Nohara, Shin-chan's father in the anime *Crayon Shin-chan*. He can be regarded as a middle-level executive in a Japanese company.

His study doesn't have any related books on English, Latin, or European mythology. There are only books on literature, biography, philosophy, law, and social science.

It can't be ruled out that he gave up folklore research because of his uncle's death..."

Before he could finish speaking, Xing Hechou clearly heard a suppressed sob coming from behind him.

"Wuuu..."

The sound seemed to be muffled by something, unclear.

There was also the sound of a palm hitting a door panel from time to time.

Xing Hechou's back instantly tensed. The place he was in at the moment was the washitsu (Japanese-style room) where Fukutomi Hirahara and his wife usually slept.

Behind him should be the tokonoma (alcove) in the washitsu, used to store bedding (the small compartment where Doraemon usually sleeps).

Xing Hechou had already searched the tokonoma earlier and found that the edges of the two shelves in the tokonoma were covered with blue embroidered dust cloths. The inside of the tokonoma was empty, with nothing inside.

Then, what was making the sound now?

Xing Hechou turned his head slowly, as if his neck was rusty.

He only heard the crying and the sound of knocking on the door panel getting louder and louder, as if calling him, asking him to go over and open the door of the tokonoma.

Xing Hechou instantly thought of the scenes in the movie *Ju-On: The Grudge*—Kayako was hidden in the small compartment of the room after her limbs were broken and she was killed by her husband...

Coldness permeated his whole body. Xing Hechou wanted to get up and run away, but his body was out of control.

He could only watch himself step by step towards the compartment.

"Quick! Quickly flip through the diary!"

Li Ang's voice rang in his ears. Xing Hechou's right hand trembled as he brought the diary into his line of sight and quickly flipped through it with one hand.

The other hand, however, touched the door of the compartment,

And with a "shua" sound, he pulled open the door of the compartment.