3.0 Late Night Horror Fight Labyrinth Part 1

“We are now… game show contestants. Whoo-hoo…” Junna said with a deadpan sigh. “Dammit. Looks like we’re stuck in the Late Night Horror Fight Labyrinth…”

“Is… is that the episode’s challenge?”

“You’ve heard about Itsumademo MIDNIGHT SESSION, huh?”

“Yes, Itsumise has been causing a lot of problems here... I talked to Doikawa-san about it recently because the miko and priests at her shrine sometimes rescue contestants. Other exorcists have been trying to figure out where it’s broadcasting from.”

“Itsumise? They have a nickname already? Good grief… but yes, that’s this episode’s challenge. There are forty-four ghosts on the loose in the area and we just have to survive. I can handle that part, no problem.”

“Are there, um, any other contestants t-tonight?”

“Sounds like there could be, and that might be a problem. You don’t have any talismans or charms or anything on you, do you?”

“Just the one on my phone…” Nana had the foresight to at least pocket her phone before leaving her home. Visible under the clear sparkly case was a talisman drawn in bubbly pink hiragana that seemed to offer physical protection to the phone.

“Oh, that’s really cute, actually. We’ll have to be cautious. We’d better at least sweep this area for innocent bystanders. People who can see ghosts and spirits get caught up in this kind of thing so easily…”

“Th-that’s true. We could help exorcize some of the ghosts, too?”

Junna nodded sagely. “Let’s take a walk to Sensōji.”

“Okay.” Nana finally released Junna’s hand, opting to walk beside them as they headed down the small side street towards an actual named road. “Junna?”

“Hm?”

“I’m… happy to see you again.”

“Oh. Yeah, me too.” That wasn’t a lie, even if Junna didn’t want to get anyone they knew involved with Ibuki or her shikigami. Having Nana by their side released some of the tension in their shoulders and put them at ease. It freed them up to act casually, connecting them to the person they were before losing Ibuki. For the moment, they pushed the paranoia out of their mind; they could protect Nana.

The layout of the roads and location of the buildings indicated that they weren’t very far into the spirit world, probably just a figurative layer or two removed from the world of the living. In case of an emergency, it would probably be easy to get Nana back to the surface. Junna would shove her a few meters across the banks of the Sanzu River if they had to.

They walked down the deserted street for several minutes in silence.

“I see you still have your fish,” said Nana, clearly uncomfortable with this.

“Yeah, I always have at least half a dozen of these guys.” Six large goldfish spirits swam lazily in the air around Junna. They were so used to their own familiars they hardly paid them any mind in day to day life. There were two Wakin, a black telescope, a veiltail, a comet, and a ranchu. Sometimes there were other types of goldfish, sometimes koi. The fish were useful for exorcisms, but otherwise acted as a neat decoration. “Can you even see them clearly, though?”

“I can see that they’re fish-shaped, and they’re probably goldfish, but that’s about it.” Nana could see the supernatural, but ghosts seemed to be a separate category that less people could properly perceive. “Is one of them um, a ranchu?”

“That’s probably good because two of them look really rotted. They were in bad shape at that pet store.” Junna’s heart had dropped when they found the two wakin goldfish drifting to the top of the tank, eyes glazed and chunks of flesh eaten by other inhabitants. The pet store was disappointing when it came to fish care. “The ranchu doesn’t look so bad.”

“O-oh, that’s awful! But at least they can swim around freely now.”

“I mean, when you think about it, I’m using them as tools, but I like to think they’re happy.”

They weren’t hungry or suffocating in filthy tanks too small for them, at any rate.

“Do you like your new apartment?”

“It’s cheap. I got a discount on rent cuz it was a jiko bukken, but I sent the ghost off so now it’s not even haunted.”

Except by Ibuki, like every apartment, house, temple, or shrine Junna had lived in.

“Oh, that’s very like you, heh heh… um. Have you talked to Kei yet? Or… Doikawa-san, maybe?”

“Uhhh… not yet…” Junna admitted. They had friends in Tokyo who they’d intended to see originally… Nana and her brother Shigoro, the Takara triplets (except Takuto). They also had Kei and of course, Junna’s old teacher Doikawa Touko, the kannushi of Doikawa Shrine. They’d been out drinking with ghosts in cemeteries instead. “Just you. I’ve messaged Kei since I’ve been back but not much. I’m planning to see everyone, though. I guess I’m kind of scared to see Doikawa-sensei…”

“Oh, that’s good! I mean, that you messaged Kei. I think everyone will be happy to meet up!” Nana murmured. “You know, I don’t sense anything dangerous around…”

She’d jinxed it.

“Can you sense that?” Junna pointed about a block ahead, at a place where the street they were walking along intersected with another narrow road. At the corner, something was lying on the ground, suspiciously human-sized and shaped. Both of them stopped dead in their tracks, but Junna immediately relaxed. “It’s okay, just a sad ghost, might be drunk. Let’s see if it’s friendly. Or, reasonable, at least…”

Junna tucked their arms in their sleeves and strode over to the ghost. The human shape was normal looking, not broken or bent as if it had fallen a long distance or been hit by a car. That didn’t make it look less frightening, though. It wore no clothes and laid face down on the ground, long black hair splayed around it.