Chapter 21: The Fleuret Family

Chapter 21:
The Fleuret Family

 

I WONDER HOW the hunting festival went.

According to Noela, Ririka had in fact dropped by to thank me. By the time I came out to say hi, though, she was already gone. I assumed that she must’ve done pretty well—otherwise, I was pretty sure she would’ve come to tell me how badly I screwed up.

Anyhow, I was making medicine in the laboratory when Mina poked her head in. “Are you busy right now, Mr. Reiji?”

“Nah, not really. What’s up?” Did she gain weight again or something?

“Ah!” Mina looked at me suspiciously. “I bet you just thought something very rude!”

“Nope! Definitely not!”

She came close and sat across from me. “Mr. Reiji, I…I want to go outside with you and Noela.”

“I can’t blame you,” I replied. “I always have you watching the store for us.”

I actually mulled over Mina’s problem before. Was there anything I could do for her? Despite her physical form, she was still a ghost. I wasn’t sure I could fix her ghost problems with my medicine-making skill.

“Have you ever tried going out?” I asked.

“Of course, although not for quite a while. When I put one foot outside the house, though, I’m immediately returned inside. I just suddenly appear back in the living room.”

So, it wasn’t like she was paralyzed outside, or ran into some invisible barrier. She goes back to square one, over and over again.

When we first met, Mina told me that if the people living in the house were truly happy, she’d be satisfied. I knew for a fact that I was quite happy with my current life, and so was Noela.

“Yet you’re still here,” I murmured. I’d originally thought that if she was satisfied, she’d move on to the next life, but she’d shown no sign of disappearing no matter how content we were. What a mysterious
ghost.

“Is something the matter?” Mina asked.

“No. I just figure, if you could mess up and give me your panty-shopping list, it isn’t impossible that you’re wrong about going outside, too.”

“J-jeez! Can you stop mentioning that list? Everyone makes mistakes! Gosh…you’re so mean.” Mina turned her gaze away, pouting.

Even someone as comforting as her can get angry sometimes, eh?

“Could you show me?” I asked. She glanced at me, signaling me to continue. “You know, the whole not-being-able-to-leave-the-house thing. I want to see how it works.”

“All right. It happens really quickly, though.”

She stood, walked toward the side door to the garden, and opened it. We made eye contact, and I nodded. Mina took a deep breath and stepped out of the house.

Just like that, she disappeared. I went into the living room to find her on the sofa.

“That happens every time,” she sighed.

“Regardless of which body you’re in?”

“Yes. Will I be stuck here forever?”

We repeated the disappearing process a number of times, but nothing changed. I can’t do much about this without knowing the cause.

Mina sat on the sofa, hugging her knees. “I’m dead anyway, right? I’ll probably never leave this house again. Ha ha…ah ha ha…!”

She really did wear her heart on her sleeve; that was one of Mina’s charming qualities. However, in that position, she was giving me a full view up her skirt. It’s kind of hard to be serious when she’s flashing me.

“C’mon, cheer up,” I smiled. “Who knows? You might suddenly be able to go outside again one day. And, hey, I want the three of us to go on vacation together. A company retreat! We can spend some of the money we’ve saved and really go all out. Sounds fun, right?”

Mina started to cry. “I…I’m so glad I met a homeowner as kind as you, Mr. Reiji!”

“There, there.” I patted her head gently.

I’d comforted Mina, but even now, I had no clue what to do. This might just be how ghosts work. If I try to force her out of the house, she could disappear forever.

Noela heard us from the other room and trotted over. “Mina, what wrong?”

Mina hugged her tightly. “Noelaaa!” Cuddling the werewolf girl was enough to make her smile. I told you, that “fluffiness” stuff works.

“Why on sofa?” Noela tilted her head, clearly puzzled. Mina didn’t usually sit there. Normally, she was in the kitchen cleaning up, or going around tidying.

Actually, now that I think about it… I had Mina try to leave through different exits. Every time, though, she got sucked back into the house and ended up on the same spot on the sofa.

“Is something up with the couch?” I muttered. No, that couldn’t be; I’d bought that thing when we moved in. “Below the couch, then?”

I looked underneath, but found nothing noteworthy; just regular flooring. But could there be something under the floor?

I looked at Mina, who was currently in heaven thanks to Noela’s fluff. “Hey, Mina, did anyone ever renovate this room?”

“Actually, yes. The first family that moved in after I became the house guardian did some work.”

She still calls herself a “house guardian,” huh?

I didn’t have the skill to rip up the floor, nor the tools. “Noela, get him.”

“Him?! Understood! Go get now!”

Noela dashed out of the house. Ten minutes later, she returned carrying an old man piggyback.

It was Gaston, the carpenter who’d turned the house’s entrance into a storefront for us. As usual, he was hunched over at a practically ninety-degree angle. His mouth moved as he mumbled something or other; he looked like he might fall asleep at any second.

“See the floor under the couch, Gaston?” I asked. “I want to check what’s beneath it. Can you make that happen?”

“Huh? What’s that?”

Just like before, the guy could barely hear anything. “I want to look! Under! The flooring! Can you handle that?!”

“Ah, yeah! The old lady—right! Back in the day…”

I didn’t ask about that.

“Right, right,” Gaston continued. “In the end, he got cheated on!”

Again with this story? “Who got cheated on?!” I yelled.

“Under the flooring?” Gaston wheezed. “Sure, I can do that.”

How did we get here? Damn it! I want to know how the story goes!

I didn’t pry any further, though, since that had nothing to do with the problem at hand. Instead, Noela and I pushed the couch out of the way.

“Here, right?” Gaston rummaged through his toolbox. “Time to get busy!”

Pulling out some tools, he started to work; like before, he moved at a snail’s pace.

“Um…how long will this take?!” I yelled.

“Let me see,” Gaston mused. “I’d say about three days.”

“That long? Okay, time to use the good stuff. Noela, can you grab some?”

Understanding my vague description, Noela brought a bottle from the drugstore. I offered it to the elderly carpenter.

“Here, Gaston. Drink this. It’ll give you lots of energy. You might even work faster.”

Gaston narrowed his eyes, inspecting the bottle. “What the heck’s this stuff? Some kind of weird juice?” He’d completely forgotten that he’d drunk it before. Tilting his head, he took one sip, then two.

The bottle flew in my direction. I managed to catch it. Take that! My number-two bestseller: energy potions!

“You just hang onto your butt, lad!” Gaston exclaimed. “I’m exploding with energy! Bwa ha ha ha!”

He was like a totally different person, just as I’d hoped. The Legendary Gaston has returned!

The old man stood straight up, glowing with some mysterious aura. “This job won’t take more than ten seconds! Gwaaaah! I can do it—I’m a legend! Ha ha ha!”

For the record, it took you longer than ten seconds to bark that out. Laugh maniacally as much as you want, but please, get to work. Of course, there was no way I’d actually say that out loud.

“I hope you don’t regret awakening me,” Gaston added.

“Why’re you making it sound as if you’re going into battle or something?” I scoffed. “I just hope you do a good job.”

“Bwa ha ha ha ha!” Gaston laughed, and started to work with legendary speed.

Before long, there was a hole in the floor, allowing us to look below.

“As a bonus, take this!” the old man yelled, hinging a small trapdoor to the hole.

Fast, excellent work. Yeah, he really is a pro, I mused. Despite the quality, he doesn’t charge much, either. Talk about a good guy.

“Call me the next time you need me!” Gaston exclaimed.

“Will do! Seriously, you’re a real lifesaver.”

After I thanked him, Gaston nodded and took his leave.

“What an amazing old gentleman,” Mina marveled. “Is that what having multiple personalities is like?”

“Crazy. Very crazy,” Noela echoed.

Oh, right. Neither of them have seen him in action. Gaston was quite a character—especially after an energy drink—so I understood their shock.

“Is there something below the floor, Mr. Reiji?” Mina inquired.

“If I’m right, something linked to you should be down there.”

“Hunh.” She didn’t really seem to follow.

I wasted no time opening the small trapdoor; an old ladder led into the empty space below. I descended the ladder, but it didn’t go far down. I reached the bottom in no time at all.

Near my landing spot, there was an old door, currently open. Beyond it, a room held a bookshelf, chair, and a desk; thick dust covered all the furniture.

Hrm…was I wrong? I thought something down here was grounding Mina inside the house, but…

I opened a desk drawer and discovered a petal-shaped brooch.

 

Fleuret Family Brooch: Expensive accessory set with green garnet.

 

Fleuret…? Now that I thought about it, I’d never learned Mina’s surname.

“Mr. Reiji? Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m coming up now.” I climbed back up the ladder and showed Mina the brooch. “Is this familiar?”

“Ah! I gave my mother this brooch to hold on to… Wow, the memories. It was in the basement?”

“Yeah. Why’d you give it to your mom?”

“It was something she gave me originally. She told me only to wear it on special occasions. I, um, didn’t really have a chance to wear it at the time, so I had my mother hold on to it for me. In the end, I died without ever getting to put it on. Ah ha ha…!”

Is this what ties her to the house, then? It was time to check. Brooch in hand, I headed to the laboratory.

“Go outside now, Mina!” I yelled from afar.

Mina suddenly appeared in the air above and landed on top of me. “Eek!”

“Whoa!”

Thunk! My body broke her fall.

“A-are you okay, Mina?”

“Y-yes. Ah—I’m sorry!” She pulled away. “I didn’t mean to land on you.”

I rose to my feet. “Looks like we hit a bullseye. When you move a set distance from this brooch, it calls you back to its location.”

To prove this theory, I had Mina wear the brooch, then step outside with me. Instead of reappearing inside the house, her feet landed on the ground outside like it was no big deal.

“I thought so! As long as you have this brooch on, you aren’t tied to the house.”

“Oh my gosh!” Mina raised both hands into the air. “I’m outside! I’m really outside! I can go shopping on my own! I can do anything! Mr. Reiji!”

“Yup! Now the three of us can go all kinds of places together.”

Mina hugged me tightly.

“Whoa! Hey, now. We’re outside, in public.”

“I can go anywhere…! Waaaaah…!”

“Why the tears?”

“I’m just so happy!”

Noela apparently heard us from inside. She trotted out and clung to me as well. “Noela too!”

“Yo, Noela. Now that Mina can leave the house, how about the three of us go somewhere together?”

“Garroooo! Master, Noela, Mina, together!”

Noela’s tail wagged enthusiastically back and forth—I could tell someone else was happy about this, too.

“A company retreat. We’ll have to think about where to go,” I added.

Mina rubbed the tears from her swollen eyes and smiled warmly. “Mr. Reiji, I’m the happiest girl in the world right now.”

“Noela too! Noela too!”

“Yeah,” I replied. “I’m pretty damn happy myself.”

That was how Kirio Drugs’ staff grew that much closer to each other.