"What did you do after that?" Zhang Heng asked.
"I … didn't do anything." Takeda Tetsuya's eyes were filled with guilt. "I shouldn't have left Kobayashi there. I wanted to … get out of the car to check on him, but I heard police sirens coming from the other side. I was so scared that I didn't dare to stay any longer. I turned the car around and hurried off the highway."
"What happened to the two of them in the end?" Ameko could not bear to watch.
"I also saw what happened later on on the news. The TV station reported that two delinquents were racing in the wrong direction on the highway and crashed into an oncoming truck. In the end, one died and the other was seriously injured. The seriously injured one was still being treated in the emergency room, but he died three days later."
"Was the seriously injured Kobayashi or …"
"It was Asano Naoto. Other than being the best racer Ryoma, he had another identity. His uncle was the vice president of Tokyo's largest Yakuza organization, Oni Hitomi."
"I see. So, that's why you quit the racing scene and changed your name?"
"Yes. It was an undisclosed race. No one but the three of us knew about it. Although there were other witnesses on the highway, the visibility was poor, and we were driving the wrong way. Based on the vague testimonies, the police could not confirm the existence of a third car. Afraid of going to jail and getting revenge from Oni Hitomi, I … chose to keep quiet again.
"However, I didn't feel any joy from escaping punishment. Every day after that, I lived with guilt towards Kobayashi. If I hadn't acted on impulse that day and insisted on the match that shouldn't have started, none of this would have happened. At that time, I was the one with one foot in the jaws of death, but ironically, the first one to die out of the three of us was Kobayashi, the only one who voted against it … I secretly went to his house to see him later, but Kobayashi's father passed away a long time ago, leaving only his mother and sister. After this happened, they quickly moved away from Tokyo."
"You met your mother after that, right? If that's the case, why didn't you live a good life?" Ameko asked.
"After that incident, I was so nervous that I couldn't even sleep. I even prepared a will next to my pillow, but as time passed, neither the police nor Oni Hitomi came looking for me. So after a while, I thought that the incident was over, and I began to resume my daily life. It was during that time that I met the woman I loved, and we started a family like other happy ordinary people. A year and a half later, we had you. I swore that I would never drive again, and instead, I opened a seafood shop.
"After the initial struggle, the seafood shop's business is doing quite well. Everything seems to be on the right track. It's been six years since that incident. That's enough time to forget many things, so I never thought that the nightmare from back then would come looking for me again one day."
"What do you mean?" Ameko did not understand.
"One night, I was dealing with an order in the seafood shop when a rock suddenly flew in through the window and smashed the glass. I thought it was a prank from a nearby kid, but I didn't see anyone. When I came back, I found that the rock was wrapped in an old newspaper, and the front page of the old newspaper was the high-speed car accident that year. There was even a line of bloody words next to the headline — Did you think you could escape?"
Takeda Tetsuya shook the ash off his cigarette. "No one else knew about that incident other than the three of us. Kobayashi … died on the spot. Asano Naoto stayed in the intensive care unit for three days. He was seriously injured. The newspaper said that he was in a coma, but that didn't rule out the possibility that he might have woken up for a while. Anyway, the moment that newspaper appeared, my life was over." "So, you weren't addicted to gambling at all. You just wanted to force your mother to divorce you, right?"
"Six years ago, I made a mistake and dragged Kobayashi into that incident. I won't make the same mistake again," the seafood shop owner said calmly. "I'm not afraid of death. That's the ending I deserve. The real Yosuke Tsuchiya died on that highway with Kobayashi a long time ago. The Takeda Tetsuya who survived is only his guilt and cowardice."
"Compared to that, I'm more curious about how you managed to escape from Oni Hitomi again and again."
"If you're asking about that incident many years ago, perhaps they wanted to see me down and out, or maybe they wanted me to suffer longer. Anyway, they never came looking for me again until nine months ago, when a mysterious person called me and said that Oni Hitomi would be coming for me very soon. He told me to be prepared. He was also the one who informed me about what happened last night."
Takeda Tetsuya paused. "Alright, that's the end of my story. Like I said before, this has nothing to do with you. That tragedy started because of me, so naturally, I should be the one to end it."
"You don't believe it yourself, do you?" Zhang Heng said. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have pretended to be addicted to gambling again and forced Ameko to cut ties with you."
Takeda Tetsuya fell into a short silence. After a while, he said, "I have to try. I can't just do nothing."
The seafood shop owner looked like he had made up his mind. Ameko was a little anxious. She opened her mouth to say something, but the next moment, she blushed. Zhang Heng got up and picked up his coat.
"You were the one who taught me how to drive. I don't care what kind of person you used to be. At least let me give you a ride."
Takeda Tetsuya thought about it and did not refuse. He looked at the two of them and said, "Help me take care of Ameko."
The three of them left the breakfast shop. Takeda Tetsuya walked in front. He pulled open the van's door, and then his eyes rolled back into the back of the van.
Zhang Heng put away the soup bowl in his hand and said to the stunned Ameko, "His guilt over what happened all those years ago has overwhelmed his rationality. He's not thinking about how to deal with the situation at hand. All he can think about is asking for death. I'm sorry. This is the only way I can calm him down."
"Huh? Huh? She was still wondering why Zhang Heng had suddenly become so flirtatious when she was about to say something, secretly pinching her hand under the table. She had almost misunderstood him.
But the weirdest thing was … she did not seem to be as averse to this kind of thing as she thought she would be.
Ameko was still in a daze until Zhang Heng's voice rang in her ear. "This car has not been inspected or registered. Let's leave this place first."
"Mm." She got into the back seat and closed the door.
Zhang Heng started the car and deliberately made an extra turn on the road to avoid being followed. Fifteen minutes later, he parked the L300 in the parking lot of a large supermarket, opened the door, and held out his right hand.
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