Chapter 14: The 10 Yen Coin Incident

Kiyomi Liuli's curiosity was intense. If she encountered something she couldn't understand, she would think it over constantly, ruining her appetite and sleep, but her curiosity had not yet reached the point where she would ponder why someone would exchange coins.

"It's just changing coins, right? What about it? Isn't that sort of thing very common?" she said inexplicably.

"Exchanging coins is common, but asking only for ten-yen coins, and the more the better... Is that common?"

Still not taking it seriously, Kiyomi Liuli casually replied, "That uncle might be running a small business. Maybe he sells really cheap stuff, so he needs to prepare a lot of ten-yen coins for change. That's not weird."

"Then why didn't he want five-yen coins? If it's for making change in business, two five-yen coins can do the job of one ten-yen coin, right?" Takeshi Nanahara finally started moving, talking while walking. "There were a lot of five-yen coins in the cash register, and when the clerk offered them, he refused."

"Uhh..."

Kiyomi Liuli was stumped for a moment, unable to think of a reason and was about to ask Takeshi Nanahara when a thought suddenly crossed her mind.

Why is this guy bringing up such trivial matters out of nowhere? Could it be that he's challenging my deductive reasoning skills?

Or maybe, he's stumped by this as well. If I can figure it out, wouldn't it prove that deductive reasoning is indeed powerful? Then he should realize his own shallow ignorance and honestly join my club, right?

With that thought, her dark pupils shone brightly, feeling as if her entire being lit up, and she immediately began to rack her brains.

Why did that man only want ten-yen coins?

After thinking for a while, she cautiously said, "Maybe he just finished an all-night drinking session with friends, and they had agreed beforehand to split the bill, say each person owes 1190 yen, he took care of the bill, but everyone gave him 1200 yen, so he needs to give each friend 10 yen in change— he's a very conscientious person, and even though ten yen is very little, he still wants to stick to the agreement and return it to his friends. And he might be afraid of friends refusing, since it's awkward to forcefully give them small coins, so that's why he's collecting so many ten-yen coins!"

Kiyomi Liuli felt confident in her deduction and looked forward to seeing Takeshi Nanahara's face filled with surprise and admiration.

Takeshi Nanahara didn't even glance at her, shaking his head and said, "That's impossible. Not to mention that handling two five-yen coins is not that difficult and can be forcefully given to friends, nor to question his willingness to drink with over twenty, or even thirty or forty people all night—he had already exchanged dozens of coins earlier and got another nine from you. Including the ones he originally had, he now has a significant number of ten-yen coins in hand.

"Even if he fancied a night out drinking with so many people, the number of friends should be fixed. When you asked him how many coins he needed, he should give you a specific number, like he needs five more, ten more, or fifteen more, etc. He wouldn't say 'the more the better' to you."

"Uhh..." After giving it some thought, Kiyomi Liuli felt Takeshi Nanahara made sense and that her deduction was perhaps a bit presumptuous, then pondered again for a moment, "Then... he's preparing to visit a shrine to make a vow?"

At this, her eyes lit up, "Right, he's going to visit multiple shrines, so he needs a large amount of ten-yen coins, he wishes for double the luck!"

In Japanese, five yen has a pronunciation similar to "good karma," so when Japanese people go to shrines to fulfil a vow, they often offer money in the amount of five yen or multiples of five, such as ten yen for "double the karma," fifteen yen for "perfect karma," or even four hundred eighty-five yen for "good karma from all directions," each with their special significance.

Kiyomi Liuli believed her deduction was sound, but Takeshi Nanahara was silent for a moment before asking, "Spend ten yen at a shrine for a double connection? So, he's going to visit over twenty, or even thirty or forty shrines in one day, do you think that's likely?"

"That, if he runs fast enough, should... should be doable, right?" Kiyomi Liuli faltered, feeling her deduction might not be very reliable, but still pouted and said defiantly, "Then you tell me why he wants to exchange so many ten-yen coins? At least I have some plausible... barely plausible deductions, and you've come up with nothing!"

"There must be something that can only be done with ten-yen coins, something that can't be replaced with other coins..." Takeshi Nanahara suddenly stopped in his tracks, nearly causing Kiyomi Liuli to bump into him, and then it dawned on him, "I see, that guy is most likely a burglar."

"Huh? That uncle is a thief?!" Kiyomi Liuli's eyes widened, her mind racing, but still couldn't figure out how Takeshi Nanahara had come to that conclusion.

"Probably, the suspicion is big."

Having figured it out, Takeshi Nanahara no longer dwelled on the matter and continued walking towards the station. Unable to contain her curiosity, Kiyomi Liuli grabbed him and demanded, "Make yourself clear, how did that uncle turn out to be a thief?"

"You can't figure it out? Do you want to purchase a question-solving service?" Takeshi Nanahara's eyes shifted towards Kiyomi Liuli's pocket.

You money-grubbing guy!

Kiyomi Liuli mechanically took out her wallet, slapped a 500-yen coin into his hand, and snapped, "Spit it out fast!"

Nanahara Takeshi chuckled as he accepted the money, "In Hirarano, for what purpose must you use a ten-yen coin?"

Kiyomi Liuli, with a nasty attitude, retorted, "I don't know, that's why I'm asking you. Out with it!"

Nanahara Takeshi smiled, "To make a call from a payphone! That guy had to make many calls, so he needed a lot of ten-yen coins."

Before mobile phones became affordable for everyone, it was a certainty to find telephone booths on Japanese streets.

They were usually coin-operated, with each ten-yen coin allowing a one-minute conversation. If time ran out before you were finished, you could insert another ten-yen coin to continue for another minute, and so on.

Of course, you could also insert a 100-yen coin for a ten-minute talk, but the machine would not give change if you didn't use all the time, as the payphone would not issue refunds.

Japanese payphones only accepted these two types of coins, and after a few more years, phones that could use IC cards would gradually become more common.

At its peak, Japan had more than 2.1 million public payphones. Even by 2020, they hadn't completely vanished, with 270,000 still remaining, but their users were mostly tourists.

Nanahara Takeshi had been in this world for over half a year, and, having no cell phone, of course, he had used public phones, but not often, which was why he didn't think of it at first. However, once he did, deducing that the guy was a thief was logical.

However, Kiyomi Liuli still hadn't figured it out and hesitated, "Even if he wanted to use a public phone, how does that make him a thief? Everyone needs to use public phones at some point, right?"

"You're hopelessly dumb, your brain might as well be that of a pig!" Nanahara Takeshi said bluntly, "He exchanged so many ten-yen coins and even asked for as many as possible, clearly planning to make a lot of calls with short durations. How many households he would have to call, he didn't even know. What do you think he's planning to do, telemarketing?"

If he were a telemarketer, he definitely wouldn't use a public phone, which Kiyomi Liuli could understand. She then pondered aloud, "So, he's trying to find out if anyone is home? If there's no one, he might try to sneak in and steal valuable items? So, you're saying he's a burglar doing a break-in?"

Phone numbers were not hard to obtain, as people at that time did not place much emphasis on communication privacy.

On the contrary, people were afraid of not being reachable, so they would list their addresses, surnames, and phone numbers in the phone company's directory—almost every phone booth had one, tied there with a thin cord. For instance, if you wanted to call Kiyomi Liuli, you'd flip through to the Upper Division, then to Higashitama Town, find the right page, and finally locate the Kiyomi Family's number.

Even, as Kiyomi Liuli knew, in their town section's bulletin board, many had left their phone numbers to facilitate communication between neighbors; and all bulletin boards ended up beside the public notice board with several hanging there, open for anyone to flip through, with no one minding at all.

Kiyomi Liuli felt that Nanahara Takeshi's reasoning might actually make sense, and he nodded, "It's highly likely. If he really needed to make many legitimate calls, why not ask a friend? Using a public phone means he's worried about dialing multiple silent calls to a specific area before committing the crime, which could later raise police suspicion and lead to tracking."

After a pause, he stroked his chin and laughed, "If that's true, he's quite a clever thief. Households with phones are at least not too poor, so it wouldn't be a wasted trip for him. And within half an hour or so, it will be shift change time at the Police Box. Patrol officers will be back reporting for duty, and everybody else will have left their homes for work or school. The timing of his crime increases his chances of safety. He's smart."

The more Kiyomi Liuli listened, the more she felt it was true, and recalling the man's attire—a nondescript grey and white work outfit, light rubber-soled shoes, and an inexplicably deflated backpack—she urged anxiously, "Then we should hurry to the Police Box to report it!"

Nanahara Takeshi, feigning deafness, continued on his way with a laugh, "This is just speculation. I have no evidence and can't guarantee that the facts are as such. It's not good to tell the police without proof. What if that person just has a weird obsession with collecting ten-yen coins? Wouldn't that be causing trouble for others?"

"Who would have such a strange obsession!" Kiyomi Liuli exclaimed, exasperated. The thought of a potential thief entering her childhood neighborhood made it impossible for her not to panic, "Go tell the police your theory. Maybe they can catch him red-handed!"

"I'm not going. I don't want to be late for school just after it started, and..." Nanahara Takeshi wrestled free from her grip, started entering the station, and turned back with a smile, "Besides, it's not necessary for me to go. Someone else will."

Kiyomi Liuli asked with curiosity, "Who would go?"

Nanahara Takeshi just flashed her a smile and walked away. Kiyomi Liuli stood still for a moment before it dawned on her—The jerk, he thinks I'll definitely go, so he doesn't need to waste his time!

She really wanted to call Nanahara Takeshi's bluff, not go, and see what he'd do then. But after hesitating for a moment, she ultimately didn't dare follow him into the station to take the train. With a stomp of her foot, she turned and ran towards the Police Box.

Nanahara Takeshi might have had no emotional connection to the neighborhood, but she did, and she simply couldn't ignore what was happening.