Chapter 18

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“Shouma, you’ve liked horror stories and stuff?” asked Yamato as he crushed the bag of the melon pan. The next thing he put before himself was a bread roll sandwich with a croquette feeling. Although he was a rather petite man, seeing his gluttony was kind of sickening.

“I don’t like horror stories, but it’s true that I’ve been interested in them lately. If you happen to hear any ghost stories or strange rumors, I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know.”

“Wow…”

“You didn’t seem to believe in that kind of thing, Shouma.”

Yamato and Yoshihiro spoke up in that order.

“Ah, how about something like this?”

“Something like what?”

Yamato held up his index finger.

“A girl in my club told me about this the other day. I heard this came out recently.”

“Came out?”

“Yes, It’s about a female ghost around the Rokko Hachiman Shrine.”

The Rokko Hachiman Shrine is a large shrine which was located behind the Hankyu Rokko Station, [1] where the Random Assailant appeared before. Every year on the 18th and 19th of January, a big festival called the Yakujin [2] Festival is held there.

Yamato grinned and slung both his hands down in front of his face, trying to resemble a ghost.

“At first glance, she looks like a beautiful woman in a dress, but she has purple marks around her neck, which look like she had been strangled. That’s why she seems to be wandering around the area night after night. There seem to be people who heard her saying ’Where is that person…’. The rumour has it that she is the spirit of a woman who was strangled to death by her lover and now she is roaming around, looking for him…”

“What the hell? Isn’t it just a rumour at best?”

“Aiya, I told you this because you said a rumour would do.”

Yamato’s mouth twitched at Yoshihiro’s prodding.

It was indeed an eerie story, but it didn’t have anything to do with the Mikoshi Nyuudou. What Shouma was looking for was a man-like kaii.

(Although, it might be a good idea to tell Tendou-san about it. It might give him a clue about something.)

While he opened his notebook and wrote down what Yamato had told him, he put a yellow sticky note on it, saying ’I’ll try to talk to Tendou-san about it later’.

“More importantly, Let’s go to this weekend’s Festival together!”

At Yamato’s cheerful voice, which was fairly different from before, Shouma looked up from his notes.

“It’s a Summer Festival organized by the neighborhood council, right? It looks like the people in the shopping district are really excited about it and I’m looking forward to it too!”

“Rumor has it there will also be fireworks!”

“Oh, first fireworks of the year!”

A bright smile was also on Yoshihiro’s face.

There was a poster of the Festival on the wall of the cafeteria. It must have been a new Festival since the ’first time’ was written on it. It may have seemed a little bit too early to describe it as ’escaping the heat and enjoying the cool breeze’, but it has certainly gotten slightly hotter lately.

“I knew you’d come, since I’ve been talking to the members of my faculty. A lot of girls will be there… Well, of course the guys will be there too! All those beautiful girls in yukata, what a pleasure!”

“Yukata… hmm, not bad”

Both of them nodded a hmm with a slightly loose expression, while Shouma wondered what they had been imagining in their heads.

When finishing his lunch, he put away the bento box.

“Sorry guys, I’ll pass on this.”

“Huh?”

“Why?”

“To be honest, I’m broke. It’s kind of tristful to go to the Festival but not enjoy it.”

Shouma didn’t go to his afternoon lecture, so he planned to go back straight to the office.

He stood up and put his lunch box in his backpack. His friends pursed their mouths in disapproval, they were unconvinced.

“Eh!”

“And if I lend you some money?”

“Lending and borrowing money is not a good thing to manage with friends. Well, if I change my mind I’ll call you and let you know. Now, see ya!”

He drank up the remaining water from his cup and put it on the recycling table.

Then he raised his hand, waving to his friends.

“Well, I got my part-time job today.”

“Oh!”

“Do your best!”

—

Leaving the cafeteria, Shouma proceeded towards the direction of the Acoustics Laboratory building of the Engineering Department and went down the stairs.

About halfway down, he heard the familiar voice.

“Sho-u-maa-saa-n!”

A large, fluffy pelt-like thing danced in the sky and a boy fell from it. Then, the boy hugged his face, as Shouma looked up at them.

“Whoaa!”

The impact was so strong that Shouma lost his balance and almost fell off the stairs. The back of his head nearly hit the corner of the stairs, but the flying fur came between the stairs and Shouma’s head, protecting him.

“Oi oi, don’t just jump off randomly! Didn’t I tell you it’s dangerous! For you! And him as well!”

It was Subaru who protected Shouma’s head.

The kaii puffed out his cheeks, angrily speaking to the boy who suddenly jumped off, the Tofu Boy.

“Uwaa! I’m sorry! I just couldn’t wait to find out what happened to my dad…”

Shouma picked up the little Tofu Boy in his hands, who dropped his head downheartedly. His body, which resembled a four or five year old child, was surprisingly light.

“Tofu Boy, did you leave the office?”

“I was unable to contain myself…”

While he was looking for Mikoshi Nyuudo, he asked the Tofu Boy to wait for him at the office. Tendou didn’t seem to be reliable so he had called Subaru to take care of him, but today he couldn’t wait and ran out of the office.

“I thought it might be dangerous to let him go alone, so I brought him along. Then this guy jumped off as soon as he saw you…”

“I see. Thank you for everything Subaru. You were a lifesaver just before too.”

“Hmm”

With a small sniff, Subaru shrunk smaller and climbed onto Shouma’s shoulder. From the way he curled up, it seemed that he was planning to take another nap.

Tendou had said before that once a kaii is collected in the book, it can’t get too far from it, but apparently that rule didn’t apply to the kaii that were summoned by calling out with their names.

“Shouma-san, about my father…?”

“I’m sorry. My friends at the University didn’t hear about him.”

“I see…”

The little Tofu Boy nodded his head in disappointment. He squeezed his bamboo hat in his hand, lifting it up to his nose. Both of his eyes flickered unwittingly.

Shouma smiled at the Tofu Boy, as if to reassure him.

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely find your father for you. Today, I have an idea of where to go, shall we go look for it while we walk home?”

“Yes”

The Tofu Boy let out a small sigh.

—–

Translator’s Notes:

[1] Both the Rokko Hachiman Shrine and the Hankyu Rokko Station are in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture.

[2] A deity who spreads infectious diseases

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This translation is hosted by Nocturne Translations.

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