Chapter 5

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“I see. So you can see strange things for about a month now.”

“Yes, that’s the case.”

In response to Shouma’s serious expression, Tendou, who put on a dubious-like look on his face, only nodded with an exaggerated hmmm.

Tendou got a slender physique with quirky hair and a faint smile clung to his well-featured face. He was older than Shouma, and probably was in his mid-twenties. He wore a long, fine quality trench-coat, but the shirt and vest underneath weren’t ironed and his slacks were wrinkled too. The buttons on his neck were, of course, undone.

The clothes alone were in neat condition, but there was a certain sloppiness in the way he was dressed.

An eccentric he didn’t quite understand. This was Shouma’s first impression of Tendou.

After finishing his story, Shouma sipped from the tea in front of him, which had been served for him earlier by the flashy-dressed girl.

She was a part-time worker, and apparently she worked here as a clerk. Right now, she sat in the reception’s chair and watched a video on her phone. As the phrase has it, like an employer like a part-timer.

As Tendou corrected his posture on the thin cotton sofa, he suddenly leaned closer to the sitting Shouma in front of him.

“So, how much can you afford?”

“Sorry?”

He couldn’t help but ask back.

Tendou made a circle with the index finger and thumb of his right hand. It was a sign for money.

“What are you so surprised about? Did you take the sign that said ’free consultation’ seriously? Of course the consultation is free. That’s why you just asked me for advice, haven’t you? But there is an extra charge for answering your concerns.”

“Well…”

“So, how much could you spare?”

“How much can I…” Shouma backed away.

It was a bit too direct all of sudden.

Having just lost his part-time job and worrying about how he was going to pay for school, Shouma had no free money to spend in a place like this. Who would say, “If it’s about an x amount of yen, then…” at this stage, when he didn’t even know if the cause of his problem could be solved.

At least, Shouma couldn’t trust him that much yet.

He stood up from the sofa.

“I’m going home.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

Without trying to stop him, Tendou shrinked his shoulders. “As expected, it’s a bit too dubious…”

“Indeed, I’m with you on that one. This building is weird to look at, you know. The inside is reasonably clean but the outside gives the feeling of an abandoned building, even the ivy is crawling all over it…”

Tendou laughed loudly.

As expected, Shouma couldn’t say that the man in front of him was the most suspicious, even more than the building.

“But take a look around this suspicious detective agency. Do you see any ’apparitions’ as you happen to call them?”

After hearing the question, Shouma was flabbergasted.

In this office Shouma had not seen a single one of those apparitions. Normally, it didn’t matter if he was indoor or anywhere out there, they always showed up in droves.

“Not here. That sort of thing doesn’t approach this place.”

“That sort of thing?”

“The beings you think of as ’apparitions’. They are what we experts call the ’kaii’[1].”

At that moment the atmosphere around Tendou completely changed. Just a moment ago, he had been giving off the vibe of an “incomprehensible weirdo,” but now there was some kind of sharpness to him.

It was the same ’suspicious’ but it was more like a mysterious, almost eerie kind of feeling he emitted.

“For the kaii, each has its own comfortable and uncomfortable place to live in. From the kaii’s point of view, this area is probably not a place they want to be.”

Shouma sat back down on the sofa.

“What are these kaii?”

“Oh my! So you suddenly feel like listening to me talking? But there is an extra charge from here…”

Tendou broke off there and looked suggestively at Shouma. Then, after a brief silence, he pulled up his lips and showed a faint smile.

“…That’s what I would normally say but today is special. I’ll answer all the many questions you have. Free of charge, of course.”

Shouma listened to Tendou as he folded his hands and leaned forward.

“The word ’kaii’ is a title these phenomenons possess. It’s a word which specifies all things supernatural. What you are seeing is one of them. But there are several different names which can be used to refer to them, like ’mononoke’, ’bakemono’ or ’ayakashi”.

“Ayakashi?”

“Basically, the kaii are usually invisible to normal people. When they let the people see them, they make their density thicker. But you can see things which people are not supposed to see, even before they can materialize themselves. And thus, those people are often favoured by the kaii.”

“Favoured?”

“That’s right. That’s why the kaii keeps meddling with you.”

Tendou recrossed his legs.

Shouma opened his mouth, even though he almost got swallowed by the ambience which filled the room.

“Well, then. Do you know why those creatures suddenly became visible to me? I told you that about a month ago, I…”

“I think you’re probably misunderstanding something very fundamental, and that’s your own nature. It’s not that ’you started to see’ but more like ’you gradually get to see’ them. The state where you weren’t able to see them until now was an abnormal one.”

“What?”

“Because, it’s your nature, your body’s constitution. You were born with it.”

Tendou pointed at Shouma with his long finger, and drew a circle around him.

For a moment, Shouma froze, unsure of what was being said to him. However, he quickly came back to himself and shook his head.

“No, no, no! I’ve never had anything like this before! I’m not psychic or anything! Like those kaii? I’ve never even seen anything like them!”

“There’s a slight difference in the nature of being able to see the kaii and being a psychic. In the first place, it’s hardly an acquired ability to see the kaii. It’s not uncommon that these people lose the ability to see things which cannot be seen but. ……well, I think we can have a lecture about this subject later.”

Tendou picked up the desk calendar, which had been put on the low table.

“You said you started seeing strange things last month, but can you define exactly how long you have been seeing them?”

“Let’s see… from the beginning of April.”

Shouma traced a vague line around the fifteenth day on the calendar he was offered.

“Did you notice anything unusual around that time?”

“Not in particular.”

That’s something that Shouma has thought about a few times. But no matter how much he thought about it, there wasn’t any strange occasion. All he could say was that one day, all of sudden the world became a different place.

“Really nothing comes into your mind?”

“No.”

“Hmm. Well, then let’s do some research.”

As soon as he said that, Tendou put both his hands on the side of Shouma’s torso. He then started tickling Shouma’s abdomen as hard as he could.

“Hey, what are you…haha! No… stop! Hahaha!”

Shouma tried to resist, but Tendou’s strength was unexpected and he was unable to shake him off.

“Se..se-seriously! Stop…hahaha!”

When the tears welled up in Shouma’s eyes, Tendou pulled his hands off from his side. However, one could look at it, he didn’t seem to investigate anything. But still, Tendou held something in his hand.

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Translator’s Notes:

[1] 怪異 This is an actual Japanese word that has multiple meanings. The primary is mystery, monstrosity, strangeness, while the secondary can mean monster, apparition, phantom or goblin. I thought it would look kind of odd if Tendou just suddenly came up with their original names as phantoms or apparitions while Shouma refers to them in the same way, so I leave this word in Japanese, like I would do the same with yokai or ayakashi.

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This translation is hosted by Nocturne Translations.

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