A few years ago, when I was strolling on the beach with my friend Jellyfish, we heard music playing:
Living a good life, flourishing~
Catching up with a good era, a joyful time~
The repetitive music was very catchy. We went to take a look and found an old-fashioned phone with physical buttons lying on the beach. It was probably a Symbian system, and it seemed that an elderly person had come to the beach for a leisurely walk or to enjoy the sea and accidentally left it here.
When we picked up the phone, the incoming call had already stopped ringing. We unlocked the phone and called back. The sound quality of the phone was poor, and combined with the person's strong accent, it was difficult for us to understand. It took a lot of effort to communicate and inform the person that we were waiting for them on a prominent bridge to return the phone.
The sea breeze was quite cold, making our noses runny. I was attracted by the aroma of snacks being sold on the bridge and bought a serving of grilled cold noodles. It was hot and delicious. Before I could finish eating, the old man who had lost his phone arrived with his partner on a motorcycle. He expressed his gratitude to us in an accent that we couldn't quite understand and brought a big bag of apples as a gift. Jellyfish later said that in those days of lockdown, receiving a bag of fresh fruit was something to be happy about.
The story then shifts to an outing. After shopping in the mall, Jellyfish and I bought taiyaki, her favorite snack, and decided to ride shared bicycles back to our place. She wore my new JK skirt, and her phone was in the pocket of her skirt. The weather was a bit chilly, and the strong wind occasionally blew, causing us to sneeze due to seasonal pollen. We rode at a moderate speed on the main street. Along the way, we saw an empty box next to a truck being blown away by the wind and flying across the road. I stopped to retrieve it, but Jellyfish suggested leaving it. After thinking for a moment, I decided to get off and pick up the box, put it back, and weigh it down with a heavy object.
It took us 15 minutes to ride back home. When we locked the bikes, Jellyfish realized that her phone was missing.
She tends to make unrealistic decisions when she's in a panic. She said, "Just wait here for me, I'll ride back and look for it myself." This decision was obviously unreasonable, so I rode my bike to catch up with her and explore along the way. The shock absorption of the shared bike was weak, and my hands were sore from the vibrations. We rode back and forth but couldn't find the phone. When we called, the phone was turned off. I thought that dropping the phone on the ground wouldn't cause it to turn off, so I speculated that the person who found the phone turned it off and might try to flash it: the worst-case scenario. However, I later remembered that her phone was relatively old and not worth much for flashing and reselling.
My first thought was that reporting to the police wouldn't be of much use. I had lost a bike here before, and going to the police station only resulted in filing a report, with no further updates. But after thinking it over, I felt that I should still give it a try, and I should start by calling the police instead of going directly to the station, so that a case could be opened. So I reported it to the police and went to the station to search for surveillance footage.
The jurisdiction of this station did not cover our entire route, and after reviewing the footage, we didn't find any useful clues. Just as we were about to leave and go to another police station, we tried calling again and surprisingly got through. The friend of the person who delivered food had found the phone and kept it for the owner. They had been waiting for a long time before realizing that the phone had run out of battery, so they charged it before turning it on. That's when I was able to reach them.
Jellyfish was overjoyed. We went to the address provided by the person, thanked them for returning our phone, and gave them the two taiyaki we had bought. Jellyfish, who usually doesn't like spending money, was very generous today. She felt that it was worth spending money to avoid a disaster, so we went to an all-you-can-eat buffet and had a big meal together.