Japanese

Orient Ferry Mystery

As you know, we had to change our trip schedule because the big earthquake hit Southern and East coast of Hokkaido, and many streets were damaged and closed. We originally planed to go to Noboribetsu, the most famous Hotsprings,onsen, in Hokkaido and leave from south side of Hokkaido. But we had to cancel the plan and went back to Otaru to get on the Ferry. Otaru is famous for many Russians. This time our ferry was just 6 months old, brand-new, clean and shine. But the people inside were as corrupted as can be.
The mystery happened while we were on the ship.
Passengers have to get on the ship on foot. John was not allow to stay in the car. I had to search John after I parked our car on the bottom of the Ferry. I went to our room on the 3rd floor, but John was not there nor any of his luggage. I was puzzled. Maybe he could not find our room because of his language problems. I finally found him at the front room on the 4th Floor called "ocean view room." He was on the computer. "Did you find our room?" I asked him. He said "Yes, a nice young lady helped me to locate the room." "Megu" was the name she told us when I met her later.


The Ferry left Otaru at 10:30AM. Soon we had to eat lunch. And then they opened public bath. The lady's bath room is located the left side of the ship, so I could enjoy the coast view while taking the bath. There was almost nobody there in the whole time. It was like my big private bath, and I took extra time to relax myself. It was a great experience. After that I met John at the Ocean view room again, he told me that he saw a suspicious looking guy in the ship. As you know, John used to be a famous detective in his murder mystery business. He also read all the Sherlock Holmes books. He has a Nose for mystery. I was very curious what would happen that evening.

At 6PM they announced that the Restaurant was opened. We planned to eat at a little cafe not the restaurant, but we went there anyway to see what kind of food they have. While we are wandering around, John again spotted the suspicious guy. He was rather small but unusual looking guy wearing a off-white flat hat and a little mustache. While John was trying to take the man's pictures, we met the "nice lady" who helped John to locate our room. She was eating at the table with some one she said was her "friend, Keiko".
This is their picture. "Megu" is the lady wearing the green shirt. They look happy, don't they ? John told these two ladies that he found a suspicious looking guy who is probably selling some Japanese secret and going to meet his contact on this ship. I was surprised why John knew so much about the man already.
Later I asked him how he got those information. He replied "You see, but you do not observe."
But he should have kept the information secret. It was the big mistake on John's part. Our enemy was so clever.
John did not realize that "Megu" was actually "Natasha", a Russian spy and her plan to kidnap "Keiko", a innocent Japanese lady.

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