4 - Welcome to the Ghost Inn
4 - Welcome to the Ghost Inn
“Perfect...! My plan is perfect! Perfect! Amazing! Wonderful! The whole world will be mine!” Nozomi smiled to herself in the janitor’s room. On her notebook were the words “Final Empress Project” In other words, her final project to become empress.
“This is my final plan... Bringing the Empress to my house! And then, I can use the unique nature of my home to confuse her mind, and make her give me the throne!” she shouted to the empty room. Her beautiful forehead reflected the light from the room’s ceiling.
“What do you mean, ‘the unique nature of your home?’”
“I mean the ghost! Sasahara is haunted by a ghost! Wait... uwah!” Nozomi noticed a person behind her and screamed. She wasn’t alone in the room. Korone was standing behind her.
“W-What are you doing here?”
“That’s a strange question. You sent a letter to the Empress with tickets to your inn, correct?” Korone dangled the letter in front of her.
“T-That’s the letter I sent! Why is the first step of my plan here, instead of with the Empress?”
“You’re very stupid, aren’t you? I am the Empress’s servant. I read all her mail.”
“I-I didn’t realize it worked that way...! So, why are you here?”
“I’ve done my research on your inn. And I think we’re going to go.”
“Oh no! My plan’s failed already! And it was perfect, too... Huh? You’re going to go? Go where?” Halfway through her sentence, Nozomi realized what Korone had just said, and looked up at her face.
“We’re going to spend the night at Sasahara. Just like the ticket says.”
“Huh? You are? Why?”
“If you’re asking why, does that mean you don’t want us to stay?”
“No, of course I do...”
“Then it’s settled. Oh, one more thing. The ticket says we’ll get a discount, but I would prefer we got to stay for free.”
“F-Free...!”
“You don’t want us to stay?”
“W-Well... maybe just the Empress could stay for free?” Nozomi stammered.
Korone nodded.
“Very well. There are others who are likely to want to come as well... But I’m sure you’ll be more than willing to accomodate them.”
“U-Um...” Nozomi called out to Korone as she turned to leave.
“What is it?”
“It’s just um... why are you going along with this, when you know my plan?” Korone’s answer was immediate.
“Because it sounds fun.”
“Huh?”
Korone quickly followed up as Nozomi’s mouth dropped open.
“That was a joke. Well, half of a joke.”
“H-Half...? Then what’s the other half?” Nozomi asked, but Korone didn’t answer.
“It’s a secret.”
“A secret...” Nozomi didn’t know what to say, so Korone simply left the room.
“Aww... Now I’m curious. But wait, this is my chance. I can come up with an even more amazing plan!” Now that she was fired up, Nozomi began to think of an even more ridiculous plan.
○
“I’ve got tickets to a hot springs! Let’s go!” Keena said, happily waving the tickets around.
“I see. That’s great,” Akuto said without looking up from the book he was reading on his screen. Like always, Keena was inside Akuto’s room, chowing down on candied rice. Akuto’s response was nothing new for him, but Keena frowned.
“That’s not what I meant. You’re coming with me.”
“Huh?” Akuto turned around as Keena spread out three tickets like a fan. “Three tickets... So you, me, and Korone?”
“That’s right! It’ll be fun. It’s free! Rice at an inn tastes different than usual rice!” Keena said excitedly, but Akuto thought deeply for a moment.
“But won’t you cause a commotion if you stay at a place like that? And I don’t know if it’s okay for us to go alone...” Akuto said, but Korone quickly came down from the ceiling and intervened.
“All steps to ensure our security and keep the paparazzi away have been completed. All that’s required now is for you to not attempt to molest the Empress.”
“That’s right! Korone knows what I’m talking about. I’m so exhausted from this whole Empress thing, and I really need a break!”
“But you don’t actually do any work... No, I guess that doesn’t matter. It feels like something else is going on—” Korone shot him a glance to shut him up before he could continue that line of thought. Akuto returned her glance, and took a ticket.
“Alright, let’s go, then. We’re in different rooms, right?”
“Correct. We leave tomorrow. It’s not that far, so we’ll just walk there.”
“I’m kind of disappointed it’s so close, but I guess that’s fine. It’ll be fun! See you tomorrow!” Keena handed Korone the ticket and left through the window. Akuto watched her go, and then turned to Korone.
“So, what’s actually going on here?”
“Look at the ticket. The name of the inn is ‘Sasahara.’ It’s the same as that janitor. This is her family home.”
“Oh, I was just there.”
“Yes. As you know, Nozomi Sasahara claims to have imperial blood, and has been causing all manner of trouble. But our investigations have revealed that her claim might be true.”
“Huh? Really?”
“There’s a possibility, that’s all. Records were found indicating that treasure of the Imperial Family was given to her clan. The Royal Guard has already gone to look, and ascertained that the treasure is real.”
“And what is it, exactly?”
“An imperial seal. What effects it has, exactly, are unknown, but there’s a possibility that it’s built to trigger in response to royal blood.”
“...The imperial seal. The symbol of the imperial family is sitting in that inn?”
“Correct. The loss of the seal is the reason that the title of Empress or Emperor is instead given to the one who can use the family’s unique magics,” Korone said. “Normally, the royal seal identifies the heir.”
“And that’s why Keena herself needs to go there?”
“Yes. The Royal Guard will be providing security incognito. The inn staff will be operating their business as normal. They don’t know about this.”
“But won’t it cause a bit of a commotion if the Empress goes there?”
“Nozomi Sasahara herself was the one who proposed it. I’m sure the inn is ready. What, exactly, they’re ready for, is another question, but they’re ready. We’ve imposed a media blackout to keep attention to a minimum. There will likely be rumors, of course, but we’re only staying a single night. By the time the rest of the world finds out, we’ll already be gone.”
Akuto nodded.
“Then it’s my job to keep Nozomi from putting whatever plot she has into action. I hope there’s not too much trouble. Her parent seem like good people.” He seemed to lose himself in thought for a moment. “But... why do we still need to maintain the system of an Empress? I know I’m probably not one to talk, after everything I’ve done, but wouldn’t it be better if there was nobody to serve as the cause of all this trouble?”
“We artificial intelligences understand that humans find trouble pleasant,” Korone said.
“Yeah, I’m sure you and God both feel the same way. Even war and slaughter can seem pleasant as long as you’re not actually part of it.” Akuto shrugged.
“You’re closer to us than you are to humanity,” Korone said calmly, “And to answer your question, the reason it’s better to have an Empress is that it’s convenient.”
“I understand that. But I just don’t like it. I don’t want to start a war, but there are some systems I’d like to dispose of.”
“That’s a very dangerous statement to make. But before you start talking about national politics, you should deal with the more pressing issue that’s close at hand.” Korone pointed outside the window.
“What?” Akuto looked outside to see that Nozomi was selling tickets.
“Come one, come all! Get your tickets while they’re hot! The Empress and the Demon King are staying at an inn, and you can be there the same night. Who knows what will happen, but you’ll be there to see! They’re super cheap!” She was yelling and waving around fistfuls of tickets. She had a mask and sunglasses on, and a sign made from cardboard was hanging from her neck.
“...Uwah.” Akuto just sighed sadly, unable to speak.
“I did tell her that she was free to advertise her business. But don’t worry. Nobody will be stupid enough to actually buy... Oh, someone just did,” Korone said. Fujiko had run up to Nozomi.
“Is this true? Akuto is staying at an inn with Keena?”
“Yes. It’s true. Absolutely true!”
“Not happening! I’m going there too! How much?”
“They’re super cheap at just 20,000 yen a night!”
“That’s expensive!”
“Then don’t buy it!”
Nozomi insisted on yelling loudly during the whole conversation, but finally, Fujiko was able to haggle her down to 14,500 yen.
“Oh... I don’t know where she heard about it, but Yoshie Kita bought one too. She’s called Hattori, as well. Hattori is feigning reluctance, but she’s bought one.” Korone calmly commented on the unfolding situation.
“You don’t need to tell me...” Akuto had already given up on watching and was quietly sighing to himself.
○
“Welcome, and thank you for coming.” The old couple looked nervous when they saw Akuto. He knew why, so he tried his best to make a soft smile. They’d been informed afterwards that it was all a big misunderstanding, but after what they saw, they were still frightened of him. Perhaps they were relieved when they saw how kind he was in person, or perhaps Fujiko’s best efforts at being charming paid off, because they were polite the whole time.
In the end, Akuto, Keena, Korone, Junko, Fujiko, and Yoshie had all gotten tickets. The girls would all stay in one big room, while Akuto stayed in a smaller one. As for Nozomi, the girl who’d come up with this plan, she was welcoming them in the front hall with a smile.
—Tonight, you’re all going to see the Empress hand over the throne to me, she thought to herself, as she bowed politely.
“Welcome.”
“Uwah... This place is amazing. I love places like this,” Keena said happily as she craned her head to look around the lobby.
“You do? Well... It certainly does have an atmosphere,” Fujiko said, frowning a little.
The carpet on the lobby was worn down. The leather on the sofas was thin and torn in places, and the glass on the table was cloudy. There were countless small cuts on the big wooden pillars that supported the ceiling, and their surfaces were cracked and worn down.”
“At least they’re keeping the place clean, I guess...” Yoshie said, in her usual brusque tone. The place felt like it was falling apart, but there wasn’t a speck of dust to be seen. Everything was clean, it was just so old that cleaning didn’t help.
“No, you’re not supposed to say that...” Junko said, but since Yoshie was right, she trailed off.
Nozomi, who was taking them to their rooms, would normally have complained. But this time, she planned to use the place’s age to her advantage. So she said nothing.
“It’s old, but it’s got a lot of history. For instance, that rattan chair that’s hanging from the ceiling...” Nozmi pointed to a rattan chair which was tied to the ceiling with wire in a corner of the lobby.
Of course, it was too high up to sit in, so it seemed to be some kind of interior decoration, but...
“Everyone who ever sat in it died within a week of doing so. Anybody who tried to throw it away died too, for some reason, so we ended up just hanging it on the wall.” Unfortunately, she wasn’t bluffing. She was telling the truth.
“Um... there’s no such thing as curses, right?” Junko said, worried, as she tugged on Akuto’s sleeve. But nobody except Junko was scared, and Fujiko whacked her hand away, saying “Of course not.”
“A lot of people think that curses are a part of black magic, but since they use mana to function, they’re no different than any other spell. If it’s got a spell on it which can interfere with the mana in your body and kill you, it should be pretty easy to sense.”
“It’s also possible that it’s all just a series of coincidences. But life’s no fun without coincidences like that, don’t you think? Maybe it’s better to just write it off as a mystery.” Yoshie’s words could be taken either way, but if nothing else, it was clear that she wasn’t scared. As for Keena, the girl whose opinion was most important...
“Wow, isn’t that amazing, Ackie? It’s so scary!” She said it was scary, but she had a giant grin on her face.
“Well, it’s probably one of those things that’s more fun if you believe in it.” Akuto nodded, disinterested.
—It didn’t work... But I’m just getting started! Nozomi bit her lip, but on the surface she remained bright and cheerful.
“It’s popular with our guests, you know. But some people say that just looking at it makes them feel sick. Now, I’ll show you to your room.” Nozomi led them deeper into the inn. As they walked down the hallway, she would stop to point out empty rooms and explain their histories.
“About a century ago, three people hung themselves in this room. You’ll all be staying next to each other, so you don’t have anything to worry about, but sometimes you can hear the boards in the ceiling creak at night. It’s the sound of the ropes in the next room, the ones they used to hang themselves.” Nozomi’s forehead glistened slickly in the light as she spoke.
“H-Hey... Cut it out!” Junko’s voice was quavering again. But the others’ responses weren’t any different from before.
“If the dead are haunting that room, I can talk to them with necromancy.”
“It’s probably just the boards shrinking when it gets cold at night.”
“It’s so scary, huh Ackie?”
“Yes. Suicide is a very sad thing.”
—Crap. They say it’s hard for modern people to believe in ghosts... but maybe that goes double for students at the academy? Nozomi began to get worried.
“And here’s the room for the girls. It’s a big room, but watch out for the mirror in the corner. Sometimes a woman in white will come out of it. I’m told that sometimes, she’ll drag you into the mirror, too,” Nozomi said as they entered the room.
“D-Do you die if she drags you in?” Junko’s voice quavered.
“You do,” Nozomi said firmly.
“Aaaah!” Junko screamed, but Akuto put a hand on her shoulder.
“If somebody died like that, there’d definitely be records of it. I understand that you’re trying to entertain us, Sasahara, but if you take it too far you’ll spoil the fun.”
“No, it’s the truth. I just wanted to warn you.”
“Right, right.” Akuto waved her off. But then Fujiko jumped at Akuto and grabbed his arm, pressing herself tightly against it.
“Kyaaah! How scary! The evil spirit in the mirror is going to try and kill me! If that happens, will you protect me, Akuto?” She looked up at him pleadingly, but he just furrowed his brow.
“I’m sorry, even I can tell you’re faking that.”
“Tch!” Fujiko said.
○
Afterwards, Nozomi went to show Akuto his room, while the others stayed behind. Akuto and Korone followed her.
“You’re not going to stay with the others?”
“I want see what your room is like, just in case something happens,” Korone said.
Nozomi told him all about the terrible things that had happened in the room’s past, but he mostly ignored her. Her next words, though, got his attention.
“There’s another room behind yours which is locked up tight. There was a terrible massacre right after the inn was opened, and it’s been sealed ever since.”
Akuto looked at Korone. “And there’s something hidden there, or something?”
“Heheh. I knew you’d ask that. There’s said to be a legendary pot in there, with an evil spirit sealed inside. This pot is actually...” Nozomi continued, but Akuto threw a glance at Korone. She nodded and whispered in his ear.
“The thing you’re thinking of is in the basement. But the investigation was never able to reveal if it was real or not. We’re going to have to look into this room, as well.”
“Let’s do it,” Akuto said.
“Huh? Why are you whispering to each other? Are you scared? Well, have a good night!” Nozomi grinned, though she had no idea what they were talking about. And when Akuto was putting his things away, Nozomi walked over and whispered in Korone’s ear.
“What do you think about my perfect plan? I’m going to scare the Empress until she can’t think straight!”
“I see. Now, everything you told us so far is true as far as you know, right?” Korone asked.
“Huh? Of course it’s true!”
“Understood. Good luck with your plan, then.” As Nozomi walked out of the room, confused, Korone went over to Akuto.
“I hate to say this, but we may have a problem. Be careful.”
“...You don’t look like you’re just trying to scare me. But there’s no such thing as ghosts, right?”
“Perhaps we can’t be so sure about that,” Korone said with a serious expression. Of course, she always had a serious expression, so it lacked the effect it might otherwise have.
“You are just trying to scare me after all, aren’t you?”
“No... Oh, we’ll be eating dinner with the rest of the girls in the large room. Until then, we’ve been told we can take a bath. We’ll do our investigation once night falls. For now, our goal is to search the inn and find the imperial seal by morning. And then tomorrow, we can have the Empress take a look at it.”
“Got it. Let’s relax until evening, then.”
○
The sun set, and Akuto headed alone to the inn’s large bath. The girls were busy changing, but since the mens’ and womens’ baths were separate, there was no need for him to worry about running into them.
Akuto opened the door to the changing room, feeling peaceful and relaxed at the prospect of spending some time alone. The changing room was clean, but it was old. The basket for holding his clothes was falling apart. Akuto didn’t believe in ghosts, but the atmosphere felt gloomy in here.
“...Well, I hate to say it, but I don’t think I have to worry about any other customers,” Akuto whispered as he opened the door to the bath. It was an open-air bath, and a pretty big one, too. The inn was surrounded by trees, so even in the center of the city it still felt isolated.
“Gloomy or not, I still haven’t felt this relaxed in a long time...” Akuto sank into the bath and let out a big sigh. He could feel his exhaustion draining from his body as the heat surrounded him. Right above him, in the trees, however, was a lurking shadow. Of course, it was Nozomi.
“Hehehe... I can play my tricks from the men’s side of the bath without those girls finding me...”
She straddled herself on a large branch as she took out a bottle from her pocket. It was filled with a red powder that dissolved in water. If she spread it into the girls’ bath, it would turn into what looked like a lake of blood.
“And a few minutes later, the water goes back to clear! They’ll all scream and run away, and then when they come back, they won’t know if they hallucinated it, or if it was a real ghost that did it!” Nozomi looked away from Akuto’s naked body, and waited excitedly for the girls to come into the bath. But when she heard a voice from below she looked back down at Akuto.
“F-Fujiko! What are you doing here?” Akuto was screaming, and there was no wonder why. Fujiko was there, completely naked, and pushing herself up against his back.
“Because I just wanted to see you so badly,” she said in a seductive voice.
“But this is the men’s bath.”
“There’s nobody else here in the inn. I just walked right through the front.”
“But... you know...”
“Oh, you don’t want me here? I ran out before everybody else came, so we don’t have much time. Come on, let’s do this quickly.”
“D-Do what quickly?”
Nozomi gulped as she looked down at them. Of course, she’d never seen anything like this before, and she was so stunned that she thought her heart might burst out of her chest. She knew she shouldn’t watch, but she couldn’t help it.
“Aww, you know...”
“No, I’ve told you before, this isn’t right...”
“Oh? If you’re talking about some sort of religious thing, that doesn’t matter to you anymore. And of course, ethically, there’s no problem at all. I plan on giving birth to a very healthy child.” Fujiko began to rub Akuto’s chest with one hand as she rubbed her own with the other.
“A child?! No, wait... I mean... hey!”
“Ooh, you’re so strong all the time, but you’re so cute when I do this... I love it...” Akuto and Fujiko began to squirm inside the bathtub. Nozomi was now completely focused on them, her eyes bloodshot as she let out short, panting breaths.
—A-Aah... This is amazing... It’s amazing now, but what if it gets more amazing? Huh? I feel something on my face.. Oh, my nose is bleeding... She gasped and put her hand over her face, but it was too late. A drop of blood was already falling on top of the two.
“W-Wait, Fujiko. Something just fell on me...”
“Heheh... Don’t try and change the subject. Or are you just embarrassed about how big you are down here? Huh? Blood?”
—Crap! Nozomi went to run away. But she didn’t have to worry.
“STOP IT!” She heard a scream, and then the sound of something being sliced. She looked over just in time to see the bamboo wall separating the mens’ and womens’ baths being sliced open by a katana. With a powerful kick, Junko knocked a hole in it and came bursting in.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Junko yelled, but the response was surprisingly calm.
“Wait... this is blood...”
“T-The whole pool turned red...” Akuto and Fujiko were gasping.
“You can’t try and change the subject... W-Wait... AAAH!” Junko began to loudly scream.
—Huh? It was just a nosebleed... Nozomi turned her gaze from Junko back to the bathtub. The water was beginning to turn red.
—Wait, don’t tell me I dropped the bottle... She checked, but the bottle was still there, and still firmly sealed. It hadn’t cracked, and it wasn’t leaking.
“T-Then what is that...?” she whispered.
Akuto and Fujiko had wrapped towels around themselves and fled the bath. It wasn’t that big, but it was still ten times the size of an ordinary household tub. And now, half of it was giving off an eerie red steam.
“W-What is that...? Is that a real curse?” Nozomi’s voice was quavering in shock.
○
“This is human blood,” Korone said after she finished her analysis.
After they’d fled from the bath, she’d gotten permission from the owners to run a test for anything unusual, and learned two things:
First, it was human blood.
Second, the blood hadn’t come from the faucet. It had been splashed from outside the tub.
“Do you think it’s those guys who attacked the place earlier?” Akuto asked, but Korone shook her head.
“That would be difficult.”
Akuto remembered that the royal guards were currently watching the inn.
“Sheesh... Hey, let me just make sure. This isn’t your doing, right?”
“I can understand why you’d think that, but this time, it wasn’t me. Of course, I am giving Nozomi free reign.”
“Then it could’ve been her?” Akuto frowned, but Nozomi was nowhere to be seen.
In the end, everybody had taken turns using the bath in their rooms, and changed into yukatas to eat dinner. The owners had cooked them an elaborate meal, but what should have been a fun experience instead turned into a discussion of the supernatural.
“Hey... You’re sure there really wasn’t anything there?” Junko asked, worried.
“You’re just too gullible. There’s a possibility that Nozomi had a lot of human blood, after all,” Fujiko said. But there wasn’t that much energy in her voice, either.
“That’s even more scary than a ghost. But if it’s real human blood, then it must belong to somebody, right? Can’t you use mana detection to find out who?” Yoshie looked at Korone.
“My attempt failed. I can’t see a mana canceller being involved in this, however, so I’m not certain why.”
Everyone fell silent.
“I’m sorry... There was an incident in the bath once where someone’s head was split open with a rock...” the owner said, apologetically. The gloom in the dining room deepened even further.
“Um, well... Let’s just assume that it was a human, not a ghost, who was behind this. Korone and I will look for Nozomi. Everybody else, stay together in your room. We’re all fine with that, right?” Akuto proposed. Everyone nodded. Dinner finished, the owner gave one last apologetic bow, and Korone began to make tea.
Akuto chose his words carefully to try and make everyone feel better.
“Um... Guys, I’m sure it was just a prank. Yeah.”
“I hope so...” Junko said, her voice gloomy.
“It has to be. Everyone else is worried about a potential enemy. You’re the only one who’s worried about a ghost. In the modern era, we’ve solved almost all the mysteries of nature, so why would there be a ghost...”
Junko frowned as she interrupted Fujiko.
“My family’s sect is also responsible for performing the ancient rites. And part of that job means believing in mysterious powers.”
“But when you start getting mixed up between the gods, who are just a system, and those strange powers, is when things start going wrong. That’s what Akuto didn’t like, right? The God Suhara was the first one he destroyed.”
“But...!” Akuto tried to cut them off before they could argue further.
“Come on, let’s not talk about this...”
But then Yoshie interrupted too. “No, no. I have a bit of a different opinion.”
“What is it?”
“We’ve solved most of the world’s mysteries, but the problem of the soul remains unsolved. The fact that we have a soul separate from our bodies, like I was able to prove, is now certain. But we don’t know where that soul comes from. You all remember that Zero had a soul, right?”
Yoshie continued to elaborate.
“We say that Liradans develop ‘selves’ if they spend enough time with humans, right? If the soul and the self are the same thing, then that means the soul is transmissible. We may live in a far stranger world than we think we do.”
“Yes, I feel like I might be forced to admit that.” Fujiko was there to see it for herself, so there were no grounds for her to disagree.
“Which means that a soul can see another soul. Maybe it’s possible for us to see a ghost.”
But when Yoshie said that, Fujiko spoke up.
“But that’s got nothing to do with what happened here. That human blood was a real, physical object, right?”
“That’s right. You can make it with mana, but you still need chemical elements and human DNA to do it. We can assume that the blood came from someone. But what I’m trying to say is that I don’t think Junko is wrong. And isn’t it a little cute when she gets scared? Don’t you think?”
Yoshie winked at Akuto.
“Oh, um... maybe,” Akuto mumbled.
“Oh...” Junko blushed.
Fujiko, however, demurred.
“She is not cute!”
○
“Alright, let’s go.” Akuto said as he left the room with Korone. The girls who were left behind were terrified. Well, Junko was, at least.
“T-They’ll be okay, right?” Junko was clinging to Yoshie. She must not have realized what she was doing, because when Yoshie patted her head, she jumped.
“Ooh, you really are cute, Junko. There, there.”
“H-Hey, stop it...”
“You’re the one who grabbed on to me, though!”
Yoshie stroked Junko under the chin like a cat. Junko was too scared to move, and all she could do was complain that it tickled.
“Stop it! Hey, stop!”
“Hehehe... I think you need to be tickled!”
Junko was almost in tears, but Yoshie was just having fun. Keena joined in too, when she saw them. “I want to play too!” she yelled as she wrapped her arms around Keena and began to pat her down.
“S-Stop it... That really tickles!” Junko squirmed, and the three of them fell over. All of them were wearing yukata, which were beginning to roll up and reveal more than they wanted to show.
Fujiko chuckled and told them to stop.
“That’s enough, girls. Hattori’s calmed down, it looks like.”
“Huh?” Junko looked at Fujiko.
“Aww, when you say it like that, it makes it sound like I did it deliberately!” Yoshie chuckled too.
“I thought we were doing it because it was fun,” Keena said, her arms still wrapped around Junko. And then...
Creak...
Creak...
There was a low, heavy sound.
“Huh...?” Everyone froze and looked up at the ceiling. The boards above them were creaking.
Creak...
Creak...
It sounded like something heavy was hanging in the next room.
“A hanged man in the next room...” Junko grabbed on to Yoshie again. And this time, Yoshie didn’t seem to feel like messing with her.
“That sound is real, right? So...”
“It’s faster to assume someone’s playing a trick!” Fujiko turned and ran out of the room, the hem of her yukata flailing up behind her. She ran a short distance down the hallway, before pressing her back up against the wall and cautiously peering into the next room. And then, for an instant, she froze.
There was a woman in the room, looking away from her, with long black hair. There was something that looked like a white rope around her neck, and her legs were floating off the ground. Her whole body was floating left and right, like a pendulum, as the boards above her creaked.
“You’re not scaring anyone!” Fujiko said, completely unafraid, as she fired a mana ball at the hanging woman. She limited the power of her strike, to avoid damaging the room. Fujiko was more interested in finding out who this was. There was a small explosion of light, blinding her for a moment.
“I know I hit her...”
But the blow didn’t seem to have the impact she expected.
“...There was something here, right?” Keena, who’d followed from the other room, said as she peeked over Fujiko’s shoulder.
“I saw it too. It looked like a hanging corpse, I guess.” Yoshie walked up to them as well. She was holding Junko tight to her chest.
“S-Stop it... Are you sure you saw them?”
“I was... but they disappeared.”
Fujiko shook her head.
After the explosion was over, the room was quiet. The only sound was the sound of the clock, ticking like nothing had happened.
“T-Then that... was a real ghost...” Junko said, scared.
“You shouldn’t say something’s real just because you can’t prove it wasn’t. Look, there’s any number of ways in an out of this room.” Fujiko pointed up at the ceiling. The tiles were loose, and any could be easily removed. It was probably easy to escape up to the attic.
“We should probably just stay in our room until Akuto gets back,” Fujiko said. But when they got back, they just sat there in silence.
“S-Somebody say something...” Junko said with a shaking voice.
“Yeah, it’s a little too gloomy in here... Not that I’m feeling cheerful myself, exactly.” Yoshie crossed her arms.
“If somebody is attacking us, then it’s safest to stay here until they try attacking this room. We need to make sure we’ve got an escape route, but this place is so old that if we have to, we can break a window and jump out of it. Until then, let’s just have some tea and relax,” Fujiko said calmly.
“Then we’re safer if it really was a ghost, huh?” Keena said innocently.
Junko shook her head violently. “No! Absolutely not!”
“No, I vote for ‘ghost’ too. If this is an assassination plot on Keena, it’s a little beyond our ability to deal with. Or rather, I don’t want to take responsibility for dealing with it.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t going to come out and say it, but you’re right. But whether our enemy is physical or spiritual, we’re in a really weird place. Mana doesn’t work like it’s supposed to here. Most of the time when you hear about places like this, it’s just rumors, but some people call them ‘mystery zones.’ They’re places where gravity works funny, or things happen that make people go insane.”
“That’s not important right now. We need to talk about what we’ll do if there’s trouble. We’ll have to run and keep Keena safe. If something happens, we leave the mystery zone. That should be our priority.”
Both Fujiko and Yoshie were starting to take the situation seriously.
“B-But they’re not going to put a curse on us, are they?” Junko was still clinging to Yoshie.
“If they do, it’s not like there’s anything we can do about it. Which means there’s no sense in worrying.”
“It would be so much fun if it were a ghost, though!” Keena said.
“Hey, ghosts disappear, and make weird sounds, and threaten people, right?”
“Those are things you do too,” Fujiko said with a sigh.
“Aww, come on!” Keena pouted. “Don’t talk about me like I’m a ghost... Oops.” Keena leaned forward to complain, but when she did, she knocked her now-empty teacup off the table.
“...Oops! I dropped it!” Keena reached out for the fallen teacup. A pale white hand came out from under the table, picked up the cup, and handed it to her.
“Oh, thanks.”
She put it back on the table. “So anyway...” she continued.
Everyone froze. They all looked down at their hands.
And then, as Junko began to scream, they all raced out of the room.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
○
“It’s difficult to detect, but the sound and vibrations indicate that there are multiple people in the house,” Korone said. She and Akuto were searching the inn. They hadn’t found Nozomi yet.
“That’s impossible though, right?”
“The only people here are Nozomi, her parents, and one Liradan servant. Nobody else. Her parents were at the front desk, and the Liradan was in the garden.”
“We’re supposed to get a report if somebody comes from the outside, right?”
“Yes. But I can’t contact the guards. The mana here is unstable. That said, if there was any danger, the royal guard would come to warn us directly.”
“That’s weird, too. What’s going on here?” Akuto looked down at the box in his hand, which held the royal seal. He’d brought it up from the basement, but right now it was nothing more than a box with an antique in it.
“We’ve searched every place Nozomi could be. Except this one. The sealed room.” Korone pointed in front of her. Akuto put a hand on the door.
It wasn’t locked.
“...It doesn’t seem very sealed to me.”
“The knights did a search of this place in secret, and they didn’t mention any sealed rooms, either.”
“Then if we don’t find Nozomi here, let’s go back to the girls’ room.” Akuto went inside.
The room appeared to be a storeroom, with shelves on both walls. The shelves were lined with antiques, none of which seemed to be interesting except a single large pot in the back. There was a chance that if they looked at each one, they might find something surprising, but it didn’t seem likely.
“So this is that pot she was talking about?” Akuto headed towards the back.
The pot was as tall as a child, and was painted white with complicated blue patterns. Akuto looked inside, and gasped. Nozomi was in it.
“What are you doing here?”
“Aaah! It’s here! Don’t hurt me! Please, don’t hurt me!” Nozomi was screaming.
“You’re fine, just calm down...” But just as he said that, there was a distant explosion. It was the one caused by Fujiko’s mana ball, but of course, Akuto had no way of knowing that.
“We can worry about her later. We need to hurry back,” Akuto said to Korone as he turned to leave. But Nozomi grabbed on to his arm.
“Oh, good! You’re human! Don’t go! T-There’s a ghost! A real ghost! I need you to save me! It’s scary! So scary!”
“H-Hey, let me go. You heard that explosion, right!”
“That’s why I need you! There’s a monster! A real monster!” Nozomi was screaming and crying. Akuto glanced at Korone. She put her hands to her ears for a second, and shook her head.
“I hear the girls. They’re talking normally. It appears they’re fine.”
“Hmm...? Don’t tell me they blew something up while they were playing around...”
“From the conversation, it appears they saw something.”
“A ghost or a monster, then...?”
Akuto looked at Nozomi. She was crying and grabbing on to him.
“It’s real! I saw a hairy monster! Oh, I’m so sorry! I was lying about everything! But everything I said was true! You might not believe me, but there’s a monster!”
Nozomi wasn’t making any sense, but it was clear that she’d seen something she hadn’t expected. Akuto wasn’t sure what to do.
“Hmm... Well, it’s clear something’s going on here. For now, let’s get her out of here. We’ve got the seal, so we can call the guard and...” Akuto lifted Nozomi out of the pot and helped her to her feet, then left the room and looked around. The room was at the end of an L-shaped hallway. When he looked at the corner, Akuto felt his blood run cold for a moment.
There were two kids standing at the end of the hallway, with short cropped hair and faded kimonos. The two kimonos were identical, except for their differing colors, and the identical hairstyles and identical faces made it clear that they were twins. They were silently standing there, looking at him.
A moment later, Akuto recovered from his shock and readied for a fight. However... the twins seemed to float around the corner and disappear.
“What was that?” He turned to ask Korone, but then he saw the girls running towards him, screaming.
“Uwaaah! Help me, Akuto! It’s going to kill me!” Junko jumped into his arms.
“C-Calm down! Nobody’s going to kill you!” Akuto held her shoulders and tried to calm her.
“She’s too scared to think. And right when we need to plan, too.” Fujiko said, as she pressed herself up against Akuto, though in a less obvious manner.
“Hey, Ackie, it feels weird in here! Like something’s crawling on my skin!” Keena grabbed his arm. Keena was acting different from usual, which didn’t make him feel any better, but before he could answer, Yoshie jumped on his back.
“Oh, sorry... I just felt like joining in.”
“S-Stop that... A-Anyway, calm down everybody. I get it. If we can see them, we can deal with them. Don’t worry.” Akuto said to all of them.
“All of them” referred to the girls clinging to his body. Junko was grabbing on to him from the front. Fujiko his right arm, and Keena his left. Yoshie was on his back, and Nozomi and Korone had each grabbed on to a leg.
“I get the feeling that Korone’s just doing it as a joke, but... Come on, everyone. Get off. Look, there’s nothing there...” Akuto said as he pointed at the hallway. But...
Something was there.
It was a tall woman. Her hair was so long it almost touched the floor. Her bangs drooped over her face, completely concealing it. She was thin, and wearing a plain-looking dress. What was strange, however, was the way she moved. Her limbs were bent strangely at the joints, and she was walking on the ground like a crab or a spider.
And what was even stranger was the way her abdomen was slithering like a snake as she moved. Her shoulder bones, ribs, and pelvis seemed to slide independently to the left and right with each step she took. And she was coming towards them.
Akuto froze in shock, and the others turned to look at what he was seeing. And then, they saw it too.
“Uwaah!”
This was enough for even Fujiko and Yoshie to scream. Only Korone was unimpressed. Junko, especially, was panicking.
“Noo! It’s going to curse us and kill us! That’s a legendary spirit! My grandma told me about it! It’s the manifestation of a curse, and it’ll kill you if it touches you!”
“C-Come on, it’s fine. You’re a strong girl. You can kill anything if you put your mind to it. So just get off me for a second...” Akuto was a little hesitant after seeing his foe’s strange appearance, but he knew it was an enemy, and he was ready to deal with it. But...
“What? Is that how you think about me?!” Junko said in shock. Akuto hurriedly added,
“No, I didn’t mean that. You’re actually a very delicate girl who can be very cute. I know that. I just mean that now is a time when you need to be strong.”
“Thank you. I’m glad I got to hear that in my last moments.”
“W-Wait, your last moments?”
“Everybody’s going to die here, right?”
“No, we’re not...” Akuto said, but Junko was no longer listening at all.
“I love how you’re so kind, the way you always try to keep me from worrying. I can finally tell you the truth. I know only a coward would say something like this before she dies, but now I can tell you how I really feel. I love you. From the bottom of my heart. Hold me until the moment of my death!” Junko was grabbing on to him as tightly as she could.
“Hey... Um...” Akuto blushed, not sure of what to say. It was very clear that she wasn’t messing around.
“At least... At least tell me before I die... Tell me that you love me!” Junko shouted as she looked up to Akuto, pleadingly. Of course, Fujiko wasn’t just going to ignore this.
“Stop messing around! You’re not the only one who loves Akuto! Tell me, Akuto, why don’t you love me like I love you? We’re all going to die, so I want to hear it. Akuto, who is it you love?” Fujiko looked up at him demandingly.
“T-This isn’t the time...”
“It’s the right time if I say it is! This is important!”
“Oh, um... If this is what we’re doing now, can you put me on your list of candidates, too?” Yoshie said.
“Ackie, I’m feeling kind of jealous. Come on, answer them!” Keena seemed a little desperate too as she clung to Akuto.
Akuto wasn’t sure how to answer, so instead he just looked at the monster. By now, it was almost on top of them.
“Gogagagagugegiagagigogogoro...” It was making strange sounds, like its throat had been crushed.
“Fine! Fine, I’ll tell you!” Akuto said.
“It’s not just me being indecisive. As you know, I’m different from other people. The only person who could normally be my partner is Keena.”
Everyone froze in shock.
“But I’ll tell you how I really feel. I love all of you. The story that you can love only one person is just another illusion. I want to love all of you the way you love me. I’m still an unstable being. I haven’t decided what my future will be. But when the time comes when I know how I’m going to live, I promise I’ll live for all of your sakes. That’s my answer.”
“He’s not indecisive...”
“He just wants us all, huh?”
“Oh? I’m fine with that.”
“Ackie, I still feel really weird.” Somehow, his words had drained the tension from everyone. They all whispered to themselves.
“All I did was tell you how I really felt.” Akuto wasn’t sure how to take their reactions. And it wasn’t just the girls who were confused.
“Guga...” The monster was blushing too. It had lifted up its face to reveal that it was Arnoul.
“I did nah expect this to get so romantic,” Michie Ootake said as she walked into the hallway. She was blushing too.
“Sigh... This is what we get for scaring innocents.” Kanna Kamiyama walked down the hallway towards them as well. All three members of the student council trio were there.
“Wh... wh... wha?” Junko was looking rapidly between them, confused. The others were all surprised, too, to a greater or lesser degree.
“Was this all your doing...?” Akuto asked. Michie nodded.
“Yup. I’ll say, though, that we didn’t know you were here. When we made our plan, we didn’t know you were coming.”
“Huh? What does that mean?”
“After last time, we got to be friends with Monami the Liradan, and we came to play with her. And that’s when we heard Nozomi was up to something, and decided to scare her,” Kanna said.
“Then that blood in the baths was...” Fujiko asked, and Michie blushed and put a hand to her cheek.
“That was me. I was hiding, and I saw what you two were up to and got a nosebleed...”
“There was an awful lot of blood, though.”
“Well, I’m a little different than most people. As long as I’ve got the nutrients I can create infinite blood... It means I have to eat a lot of red stuff, though.”
“You have to be kidding me...” Fujiko sighed.
“Then the hanging woman and that thing we just saw...” Yoshie asked, and Arnoul nodded.
“Gugah.”
“And the hand?” Akuto asked, and a voice came from further down the hall.
“I heard what they were up to, and decided I had to join in the fun. It was worth it, too! I got to see your big romantic moment.” Lily Shiraishi appeared, grinning. Next to her were the “twins,” Monami and Keisu.
“Now Nozomi won’t be able to boss me around!”
“Look, master! I made a friend who owns a kimono!”
Monami and Keisu were happily waving at them.
“But how did you get past the royal guard?” Akuto asked. Lily shrugged.
“They were pretty bossy, and didn’t know who I was. So I just knocked a few of them out. If they’re friends of yours, you should’ve warned them about me.”
“They’re not friends, they were the elite royal guard...”
“Who cares? Anyway, why not go take a bath? It looks like you’ve got plenty of girls who’d want to wash your back.” Lily grinned. And then Junko, who’d been strangely silent, began to moan.
“I... I...”
“Hey, are you okay?” Akuto put a hand on her shoulder, worried. But Junko brushed it off.
“I-I told you I liked you...” Her voice was quavering. And then she screamed.
“I told you I liked you! In front of everybody!” She turned bright red and began to yell, but no one around seemed impressed.
“Are you stupid? Everyone already knew that.”
“But who cares? It worked, right?”
“You should be thanking us, not getting mad,” Lily said.
“Uwaah! I’m so embarrassed! This is your fault!”
Junko tried to hit Akuto, but she was so distraught she simply staggered and collapsed in a random direction.
“Oh, watch out!” Akuto tried to grab her, but she’d fallen onto one of the shelves of antiques in the sealed room. There was a loud clatter, and then an awkward silence.
“Well... That ruined the fun.”
“Jeez, what’s wrong with that girl? The Student Council isn’t paying for that.” Fujiko and Lily sighed. But then Korone spoke up, seemingly after realizing something.
“But there’s something we haven’t figured out yet. The problems with the mana.”
“Is there something going on with it?” Akuto asked. Korone nodded and pointed to the end of the hall. Everyone looked. There was a woman in white standing there. She was thin, with long hair, just like Arnoul, but she had a strange, noble aura about her.
But the biggest difference was...
“Hey, whose dat?”
“No idea, gyah.”
“Do you guys know?” Lily asked.
Akuto shook his head.
“Which means that’s...?”
“Not human,” Korone said.
“I don’t hear the sound of a heartbeat, or the sound of motors.” Lily snorted when she heard Korone’s words.
“Stop right there. That body is probably made out of mana, but...” Lily stretched out a hand to grab the woman’s shoulder, but her hand passed through empty space.
“Huh?” Lily’s hand was going right through the woman’s body. This was enough to shock even her.
“That’s not mana...” She reached out a hand again and again. But the woman was drawing closer, as if her hand wasn’t even there. No, it was hard to tell if she was even getting closer. Her legs weren’t moving. She seemed to be motionless as she glided across the floor.
“Is that a real...” Junko stammered. She must’ve been too scared to stand, because she’d crawled back to Akuto and wrapped her arms around his legs. Akuto put a hand on her head.
“It doesn’t look like she wants to hurt us, though.” As the woman got closer, they could tell that he was right. Her narrowed eyes had a light in them, as if she wanted to say something. Korone suddenly spoke.
“When she manifested I was able to pinpoint the center of the mana disturbance. It’s one of the antiques that Hattori knocked over, I believe.”
“It is?” Junko stood up in surprise and looked back at the antiques. One of them was a wooden box that had fallen open. There was a small branch from a tree inside that was shining with a golden light. It seemed to be just an ordinary decoration, but the light it was giving off wasn’t mana. It was the same light that was coming from the woman.
“Is that...?” Akuto gasped in surprise. The same light began to pour out from the small box he was holding. It was the same light as the imperial seal.
“W-What’s going on?” Junko looked towards Korone for an explanation. Korone shook her head.
“I don’t know. It’s probably some secret hidden by the ancient imperial family.” She took Nozomi, who’d been clinging in terror to Akuto’s legs, and helped her up.
“Huh? W-What’s going on?” Her forehead reflected the light from the branch and the seal.
“Your family does not have royal blood. But you’ve followed the royal family’s orders for generations. The strange disasters at your inn may have been caused by the branch and the seal, to delay their being found.” Nozomi’s eyes went wide.
“Then my family served the Emperor...” Nozomi’s voice was shaking. Huge tears rolled down her face, as if all the worries she’d kept bottled up were pouring out of her.
“Well... all’s well that ends well, I guess? But that means she...” Akuto turned to Keena.
“I don’t really know for sure but... I think her job is to welcome me,” Keena said. And then, the shining woman opened her mouth and spoke.
“You have the right to bear the royal seal. Preparations have been made. Return the jeweled branch to its rightful place, so that the true empire may be born.”
Nobody said a word. But Keena tugged on Akuto’s sleeve and pouted.
“Hey, Ackie, I told you I felt weird.”