Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 299 Seagull Girl

The sea breeze brings the bitterness of memories.

Mayu Ito still remembers that there was no hot spring town in Minamiizu Town at the beginning, and tourists all stayed in B&Bs. The residents made a living by fishing on weekdays, and during the peak tourist season, they would clean up their empty rooms and accommodate tourists.

The town is not big, and everyone knows their neighbors. They know which couple has a new baby today, and which elder has passed away tomorrow.

It only takes half a day to walk from the beginning to the end of the Odoko Trail, which includes passing the Joren Waterfall and passing through the Amagiyama Tunnel. The area where people actually live is not very large.

One day, a big event suddenly spread throughout the town:
——The Ito family picked up a child.

To be precise, a baby was forced into her.

A couple of travelers stayed at Ito's house and left without their child. It was not until the next morning that Mr. Ito heard the crying sound and found the baby in the cradle.

At first, everyone thought that the couple had lost their child and that they would find him after a while. Mr. Ito thought that he was unlucky and thought that he couldn't just throw the child away, right? He and his wife had to raise the child.

In order to distinguish her identities, Mr. Ito called her according to the name tag in the swaddling clothes:

"Koizumi Mizuha"

Yes, in the eyes of the Ito family, Koizumi Mizuha is an uninvited guest. Sooner or later, her biological parents will come to take her away.

Even though the couple changed her diapers, fed her, bathed her, and took good care of her, they actually still treated her as someone else's child.

However, as time passed, the couple never returned.

There was more and more criticism in the town. Everyone was saying that the couple must have deliberately abandoned their child and would never come back - the reason was simple: Koizumi Mizuha had a congenital defect and seemed to be deaf and unable to hear anything.

As it turned out, everyone was right in their guess; Koizumi Mizuha's parents really never came back.

Later, when Koizumi Mizuha grew up, about four or five years old (no one knew her birthday), Mr. Ito and his wife had children. The family was financially tight and could not afford to raise two daughters, so Mr. Ito consulted with the mayor, saying that they had raised Koizumi Mizuha for four years and had done their best, and they really did not have the energy to continue taking care of her.

The mayor was also in a difficult situation. He took Koizumi Mizuha and asked several families, but no one was willing to adopt her.

Although Koizumi Mizuha couldn't hear any rejection, she could see everyone's resisting expressions.

That day she held the mayor's hand tightly and refused to let go no matter what.

The mayor had no choice but to take her home and raise her for a year or two.

Not long after, a new mayor came to Izu Town. He had a position and credentials, as well as the support of a group of underworld gangs. As soon as he arrived, he said he wanted to develop the tourism industry, and every household would receive demolition compensation based on the number of people.

Koizumi Mizuha suddenly became very popular. Everyone said she was their own child and asked the old mayor to help her get citizenship.

The old mayor rejected a group of people, but he couldn't refuse some old friends he knew well, so he agreed. It was just a matter of adding an entry to the household registration.

Besides, he is already old. His wife died in childbirth and his child died young. Now he is alone. If something happens to him in the future, who will take care of Xiaoquan? It is better to take this opportunity to entrust her to a good family as soon as possible.

Originally, everything had been settled. The old mayor and his friend went to the city to complete the formalities. But when his friend came to pick her up, Koizumi refused to leave. She grabbed the door frame and refused to let go no matter what.

The old mayor gestured and just asked her to stay at her friend's house for a few days, just for show. Koizumi refused and shook her head desperately. Her friend got impatient and reached out to pull Koizumi, and she burst into tears.

"I, I didn't use much force..." The old friend apologized in a low voice, saying that there was no need to force it. Anyway, the household registration had been completed, and he could still get the money. It would be better if Koizumi didn't come, which would be good for everyone.

The old mayor felt helpless when he saw his old friend leaving.

That night he was lying on the bed, and Koizumi was sleeping beside him, her little hand tightly holding his thumb, sleeping very uneasily, as if she was afraid that he would run away.

The old mayor couldn't help but sigh: "What a great opportunity... Why follow an old man like me..."

That night, Koizumi Mizuha didn't sleep. She was awake and couldn't hear anything. She squinted her eyes and could see the old mayor's mouth moving.

Later, the old mayor also passed away.

His younger brother went to Tokyo and made a lot of money, so he wanted to take him to Tokyo to live in retirement. The old mayor wanted to take Koizumi with him, but his younger brother didn't want to have another burden, so he tricked him into boarding the ship, claiming that he had already placed Koizumi Mizuha in a good family.

Koizumi Mizuha watched the ferry go out to sea. She screamed "Ahhh" on the beach, but she couldn't call out the old mayor's name.

When the townspeople saw her crying so sadly, they lied to her and said that the old mayor had gone out to sea to fish.

Koizumi Mizuha knew that everyone was lying, and everyone also knew that Koizumi Mizuha knew what was going on. They kept it a secret and did not break the window paper.

The old friend took the head money, took out a loan to buy land, and helped the developer advance funds, intending to open a proper hot spring hotel in the future. He had no spare money, and it was difficult to eat, so he could not afford to support Xiaoquan Ruiye, so he had to push her to someone else to take care of her.

The town discussed it and decided to share Koizumi Mizuha's food and lodging in turns. From then on, she moved every week.

When Mayu Ito went home on holidays, she would always see Mizuha Koizumi walking alone on the cobblestone path, holding a torn sack containing her clothes and bedding. She left one family and moved carefully to another.

Everyone says that Koizumi Mizuha is very well-behaved and sensible.

But no one was willing to adopt her.

The only entertainment for Koizumi Mizuha is to go to the beach to watch the seagulls. When Ito Mayu passes by, she can always see flocks of seagulls landing on the beach and surrounding Koizumi Mizuha. She seems to have finally found a place to belong.

Day after day, year after year, the townspeople grew old and the children gradually grew up. Mayu Ito always remembered that there was an older sister who was guarding the village in the town. Every time she went home, the older sister would be very happy and chat with her using her hands.

I thought this peaceful life would continue until the Izu Oshima earthquake in 1983, when everything changed.

No one expected that a deaf person could feel the tremors in advance.

That night, Koizumi Mizuha's cries were heard throughout the town. She screamed all night, knocking on doors from house to house, but could only make some strange "babbling" sounds.

The residents didn't know what was wrong with her and thought she was possessed by evil spirits, so they went out to stop her. Koizumi Mizuha had no choice but to go to the chairman of the town council, hoping that Mr. Tsuchiya could organize everyone to escape.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Tsuchiya was in a bad mood when he woke up. After being woken up, he rushed out angrily, slapped Koizumi Mizuha several times, and knocked her to the ground.

Mayu Ito stood in the crowd and saw it clearly. Everyone was watching, and no one spoke up to dissuade him. After all, Mr. Tsuchiya was rich and powerful, and no one dared to offend him.

Just then, the earthquake occurred.

The cliffs collapsed, the sea surged, the heaven and earth roared in rage, and everyone was terrified.

(End of this chapter)