A few years ago, when I was strolling on the beach with Jellyfish Sister, we heard music playing on the beach:
Living a good life, thriving~
Catching up with a good era, a joyful time~
The looping music was very catchy. When we went to check it out, we found an old-fashioned phone with physical buttons lying on the beach. It was probably a Symbian system phone, most likely left behind by an elderly person who came to the beach for a walk or to enjoy the sea.
When I picked up the phone, the ringing had already stopped. We unlocked the phone and called back. The sound quality of the phone was poor, and combined with the caller's strong accent, it was difficult for us to understand. It took a lot of effort to communicate and let the person know that we were waiting for them on a prominent bridge to return the phone.
The sea breeze was quite cold, making our noses run. I was attracted by the aroma of snacks being sold on the bridge and bought a serving of grilled cold noodles. It was so hot when I ate it. Before I could finish, the old man who had lost his phone arrived with his partner on a motorcycle. He thanked us in an accent we could barely understand and brought a big bag of apples as a gift. Jellyfish Sister later said that in those days of lockdown, receiving a bag of fresh fruit was something to be happy about.
The scene shifted to another outing. After Jellyfish Sister and I finished shopping at the mall and bought her favorite taiyaki, we decided to ride shared bikes back to our place. She wore the JK skirt I had just bought, with her phone in the pocket. The weather was a bit chilly, and the strong wind occasionally blew, causing us to sneeze from the seasonal fluff in the air. 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 Sister suggested leaving it be. After thinking for a moment, I decided to get off the bike, pick up the box, and put it back in place, weighing it down with something heavy.
It took us 15 minutes to ride back home. When we locked the bikes, Jellyfish Sister 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 clearly unreasonable, so I quickly caught up with her on the bike to search along the way. The shared bike had poor shock absorption, and my hands were hurting from the vibrations. We rode back and forth, but couldn't find the phone. When we called it, the phone was turned off. I didn't think that dropping the phone on the ground would cause it to turn off, so I speculated that whoever found the phone turned it off and might try to flash it, which would be the worst-case scenario. However, I later remembered that her phone was relatively old and not worth much for flashing or reselling.
My first thought was that reporting to the police wouldn't be very useful. I had lost a bike here before and only had a record made, but there was no follow-up. However, 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 filed. So I made the report and went to the police 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. It turned out that a friend of the caller had found the phone while delivering takeout and had been keeping it for the owner. They waited 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 make the call.
Jellyfish Sister 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 Sister, 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.