To Pay Rent

I was home.

This place didn’t feel like home just yet, but I was going to have to warm up to that. I dragged my groceries inside and began throwing stuff inside of the fridge. What remained was a cup of instant ramen that was begging to be eaten.

In under sixty seconds, I boiled some water, and poured it into the cup. With the spin of my chopsticks, I began devouring the noodles en masse. It was a spicy chicken flavor, a little bit basic but it was a classic for a reason.

Throughout this entire time, I was completely ignoring the ghost girl that was floating over my shoulder.

“Hello? Are you gonna keep ignoring me? We have very important business to discuss. Cause, you know, our souls are interlinked?”

The ghost girl had been like this for a while. I ignored her because I deemed my stomach more important than her concerns, but after I finished slurping my noodles I turned to her.

“What the hell was all of that about anyways?”

“I’ve been trying to talk to you about it and you’ve just been ignoring me!”

“Well, I’m listening now, so what was all of that about?”

The ghost girl sighed. She crossed her arms and began to explain her situation.

“I’m Miharu. I’m a spirit of justice and hope!” She put on a cool pose. As cool as a ghost could do anyways. “I’m here to save the city from all of its crime!”

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain what the situation was.”

“Ah. Well, as a spirit I’m a bit of a target for certain… unruly actors, who want to eat me. It’s a hard life, and it doesn’t work super well when I can’t… affect the world without a host that much.”

“And you picked me? Of all people?”

“Uhh… yeah. Humans are the easiest to work with because they aren’t guarding their soul all the time. Sorry about that… but it was necessary for my survival, you gotta trust me!”

“Sure…”

I rolled my eyes. It’s not like that situation came with no benefits at all. Plus, I don’t necessarily mind having someone to chat to. But, if she was going to get me caught up in more trouble like that then it was going to be a problem.

“So, you mentioned you’re a spirit of justice and hope, but that doesn’t exactly tell me a lot about you. What exactly do you even do?” I asked her out of curiosity.

“Uh. Well, the thing about that is… that I kinda… don’t remember.”

“What? What do you mean by ‘you don’t remember’?”

“It’s like… I only recently awoke as a spirit, y’know? I know my purpose, my name… but I don’t really remember like… me. I guess. I was hoping I could find it, because spirits were at least someone before they died.”

“Oh, that complicates things, doesn’t it? How do you even know you’re a spirit of justice and hope then?”

“It’s just a vibe. I know it in my heart of hearts… that I was built for that purpose. I just don't remember why at all.”

If I’m dealing with a girl who doesn’t remember anything, then that might complicate my life if I was being roped into helping.

“So… I was hoping you could help me. Y’know, with memories and like, justice and stuff.”

I was being roped into helping.

“You know, you’re giving me a completely awful hand here. I don’t appreciate being forced,” I told her.

“I… I’m not trying to force you. Sorry. I just wanted some help, that’s all,” Miharu sighed. “Help with my memories, and help with helping people.”

“Look. I don’t necessarily mind you staying around, but… it’s just a lot you know? I just moved here and I’m being tossed into this. Our souls are already interlinked… but I dunno if I want to commit to your quest.”

“No, no. It’s fine. It’s hard to interact without a host, but I’ll find a way. I’ll just hang around until I find a way to unbind our souls.”

I blinked at that comment, before realizing what exactly that meant.

“Wait a minute… did you seriously tie your soul to mine without knowing how to undo it?”

“Hey, relax! It was a split second decision! What else was I supposed to do?”

“Ugh…” I slammed my hand into the table. It seemed like Miharu was going to be sticking around for longer than she thought. “You know what? I’m gonna go get some sleep. We can talk more later, but I have something I need to wake up for.”

“Y…yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

With a sigh, I walked towards my barely created bed. I realized this conversation made me forget to clean up my noodles, but that would be a problem for tomorrow Akina. Today Akina has been through enough.

***

I woke up to loud knocking at my door. The sleep that I got was awful. It seemed like the change of scenery didn’t help my sleep quality.

“You have someone at your door. It’s a woman, who seems to be human?”

Miharu seemed to have stayed with me the entire night. She was serious about me helping her out, it seemed.

“She’s the person I’m looking for. Let me clean myself up a bit.”

I realized I slept in my clothes, and I probably stink. This would be an awful first impression, but I couldn’t keep the door closed now.

In a few seconds, I threw on something more presentable and cute: a nice t-shirt and skirt, before combing my hair. My comb got stuck more times than I’d like, but I managed. In under five minutes—which was way too long already—I ran to the front door and opened it. Outside, an older woman with long brown hair, in a gray suit appeared in front of her.

“Akina?”

“Yo. What’s up, Mrs. Lio?”

“Seems like you already have a friend. It’s only been one day.”

She was looking over my shoulder and at Miharu. The spirit girl waved at her. “Hey. Uh, we’re roommates!”

“What? Was that an official agreement? Aren’t you just mooching off of me?” I shot back at her.

“I mean if we’re soulmates then, I think that’s pretty official,” Miharu said.

I groaned, but I couldn’t argue with that logic. “It’s an unfortunate circumstance. I’m not gonna have to do extra work for it, am I?”

“No, no. It’s fine, whatever you do in the apartment is none of my business,” Mrs. Lio said. “However, I’m about to head to work, so it’s time for you to do your job.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “I’m ready to go-”

“Not with that breath you aren’t. Go and brush your teeth and then we’ll discuss on the way there.”

The door was then closed on my face. I put my hand to my mouth. Yikes, she was right. I better get to fixing that.

***

I was freshened up and heading to my new job. Miharu was following me, and I was following Mrs. Lio. I liked to think that this was a representation of the pecking order in this trio.

“So like, what is this job anyways?” Miharu asked. “You seemed like kind of a bum.”

“Well, first of all, rude. But second of all, I’m babysitting,” I answered back. “That’s more than you’re doing, mooching off of me.”

“Babysitting?” Miharu asked, suddenly interested. “Ohhh, I love babysitting. It’s like the perfect thing for heroes, making children happy.”

“Seems like you have an enthusiastic friend,” Mrs. Lio said. “I don’t mind the extra company. It’ll keep my son happy too.”

“Sweet! I’m going to tell them all of my cool hero stories and they’ll be super impressed!”

“Like running away from a soulhunter?” I interjected.

“What? No. Shut up. We beat the soulhunter, remember?”

“I beat it.”

“You did it with me!”

“Because you forced me into it.”

“Ladies, we’re here.” Mrs. Lio interrupted our little spat, pointing to a small house amongst many. It was a quaint one, only one story, but it was much bigger than my apartment to say the least.

The three of us walked inside, and shortly after, a boy ran from the kitchen to hug his mother. He was a small kid in a brown shirt and shorts, looking up at the three of us.

“Mom!”

“Hey, Yoshio,” the mom kneeled down to look at him. He seemed to be about eight years old, which surprised me, because I was expecting a much younger kid.

“Who are they?”

“They’re going to be your babysitters while I’m at work. I’m going to show them around, be nice to them, okay?”

“Okay! I’m gonna go study then.”

The boy ran off back to the kitchen and began to take out some papers. He seemed to be working on something.

“He’s cute,” Miharu said.

“And bigger than I expected. Does he not go to school?” I asked.

“No. The school has been very accommodating to us and allowed me to homeschool him. Most of his work gets done at night. It’s… a special circumstance. I just need you to take care of him until I come back, and I don’t want him getting lonely.”

“I see. Well, if you’re giving me a house for this work, then who am I to complain? I’ll do my best.”

“We’ll do our best,” Miharu added confidently.

“Yeah. I guess, we,” I rolled my eyes.

The next few minutes were spent showing Miharu and I around the house. I jotted this down in my mental notes, and hoped I wouldn’t forget like I did on the exam. I knew the kitchen, the cleaning supplies, the bathroom, and a first aid kit in case of any emergencies. The most important thing however, came near the end.

“I installed this button here,” she explained, pointing to a red button. “If there’s any trouble, it should alert the police. Then you need to get Yoshio into the basement, where it’s safe. There’s an emergency exit built there too, he knows what to do.”

“Wow, really? You need this?” I asked.

“This city has its benefits, but it also has its dangers. There’s a reason why you’re only the second human in this neighborhood, after me and my son,” Mrs. Lio said. “Just, stay alert.”

“I see, well, I’ll see you when you get back, then!” The two of us waved her off. Leaving us alone in the house with the kid.

With nothing else to do, we both sat down at the dining table, where Yoshio was doing something on paper. He seemed to be working pretty intensely on it.

“What’s going on with you?” I asked him.

“I’m doing times tables!” He said with a smile. “I’m having a little bit of difficulty memorizing, though.”

“Oh, times tables? Those are easy,” Miharu said. “Two times two is four, two times three is six… times four is eight…”

“Well, if you just tell him then he’s not gonna memorize everything,” I interjected. “You need to understand the process. Like it’s kind of just like repeated addition. Three threes, three and three and three, that’s nine.”

“Okay but when you get to the bigger numbers like nine by nine, that’s gonna take forever,” Miharu responded. “Nobody has time to do that entire process, you should just memorize it.”

“How are you gonna memorize when you don’t understand?”

“Miss Lady. Miss Ghost Lady.” The boy interrupted our disagreement. “What about both, though. Cause I already understand that, but memorizing the numbers is a good… shortcut. I think?”

“Huh,” I said, a bit impressed. “Yeah, I suppose that makes sense.”

“Good thinking, Yoshio!” Miharu patted the kid’s head, though her hand just went straight through his head. “Keep up the good work.”

The two of us watched the kid do some homework, as he referred back to us for help. I may have failed my entrance exams, but even this work was at a level I could understand. It felt great being the smartest person in the room.

“I’m done!” Yoshio said, holding up his paper. “I’m gonna be prepared for whatever my mom throws at me tonight. In the meantime, I want ice cream!”

“Do you want me to get it for you?” I asked.

“No, I’ll get it myself. My mom taught me that it’s good to reward myself a little after I do hard work. I’ll be right back!”

Yoshio ran off to the fridge to grab some ice cream. I waited for him with a smile on my face. This was the easiest job ever.

“Free rent is a cinch when this is all you have to do,” I said.

“Yeah, well, we still need to discuss how you’re gonna help me,” Miharu responded.

“You’re still on that?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I be? I need a partner for my ventures as a spirit of hope and justice!”

I rolled my eyes. This was complete nonsense that I was being dragged into. I already had a whole lot on my plate, and she was going to probably bring more.

“Look. I get that you’re looking for someone that can stick their neck out for you but-”

“YOU…”

I blinked. That voice definitely did not come from Miharu, nor Yoshio. Was I hearing things?

“Who was that?” Miharu asked. That confirmed I wasn’t hearing things. The two of us scanned around the house, left and right. It took us a moment, before both of our eyes locked onto the same thing.

A woman in a shrine maiden’s costume, jagged teeth sneering at us through the window to the house. Long nails tapping against the glass.

“YOU…”

It was the soulhunter.