Setting a Trap

The next day, Mochi and Miyu met again in the courtyard during lunch to discuss the situation.

Mochi no longer felt safe sleeping in a place where an anomaly was lurking, but she also refused to abandon her apartment. Not only would it be a hassle to move back home and explain to her parents why she was returning, it would also be a direct blow to her pride. She refused to lose.

—I don’t know what that anomaly is thinking… —Mochi complained as she bit into a taiyaki she had bought. Normally, she prepared a homemade lunch, but with the chaos from the previous night she ended up going to bed late, woke up even later, and barely made it to her first class on time—. Up until now it hasn’t even attacked me.

—Sempai, what if all of this is part of its plan? —Miyu said with a serious expression—. Think about it. It keeps you awake and nervous so you weaken from lack of sleep… and when you’re exhausted, it’ll attack you when you least expect it.

Miyu stood up, clenching her fists with determination.

—We can’t let it get away with this! We need to catch it.

—Yeah, that sounds good, but… how do we do that? —Mochi sighed—. I searched every corner of my house until I was exhausted and found nothing. Do you have any ideas?

Miyu smiled immediately, as if she had been waiting for that exact question.

—Actually, yes, I do have a plan. Zeke helped me come up with a strategy to deal with this problem. I promise you it won’t escape this time.

Mochi looked at her with a hint of distrust. She had no idea what kind of “strategy” those two could have come up with.

—

That same night, Mochi set Miyu’s plan into motion. She prepared everything and went to sleep, hoping the anomaly would act again… and it did.

She woke up in the middle of the night to the same sounds as always, but this time she didn’t get up to investigate. She stayed in bed, motionless, alert to anything that might try to enter her room, while sending messages to Miyu to keep her informed.

The noises continued until dawn. Then, suddenly, they stopped.

A few minutes later, her phone vibrated with a message from Miyu.

Mochi got out of bed and went straight to the front door. When she opened it, she found Miyu standing there, holding her wagasa, brimming with energy.

—Good morning, Sempai! Ready to put an end to this once and for all? —she greeted with her usual enthusiasm. As a lover of the supernatural, Miyu was genuinely excited to take part in what sounded like a ghost hunt… even though she knew they weren’t dealing with a ghost, but an anomaly.

—Let’s do it —Mochi replied firmly.

The night before, before going to bed, Mochi had closed every door and window in the house, as well as drawers, shelves, and closets. Then she placed small pieces of adhesive tape, well hidden, in such a way that no one could see them unless they knew exactly where to look.

The plan was simple:

If any piece of tape was found peeled off, it meant that door —or drawer— had been opened during the night.

Now they just had to check them one by one.

They began the inspection with all possible entry points: windows and doors that led outside. It was very possible that the anomaly wasn’t living inside the apartment, but was entering from outside… which would explain why Mochi couldn’t find it no matter how hard she searched.

But, to their surprise, all the tapes on those entrances were intact.

—Sempai… —Miyu murmured as she examined a window— at first I thought this would confirm that the anomaly was inside, but… what if it has other ways of entering? Like going through walls… or maybe it looks like some kind of snake or insect and can crawl through the pipes. I don’t know if anomalies have a standard form… if they’re limited to humanoids or if they can be other things too.

Mochi paused for a moment to think. What Miyu said made a lot of sense; after all, the first anomaly Miyu had ever seen had turned out to be… a phone booth.

The truth was that both of them had very little information. Maybe the adhesive tape strategy didn’t make any sense at all… but it was too late to back out now. At the very least, they would check everything thoroughly to the end; with luck, they would find something.

They continued checking every door in the apartment and, to their surprise, they did find something.

—Miyu, look at this —Mochi said, pointing at a small piece of tape that had fallen in front of one of the doors—. So it was this room after all. But I checked here before and didn’t find anything.

—Let’s search again —Miyu replied, stepping closer—. What’s inside?

—A bunch of boxes with furniture, clothes from the previous tenants, and other things. The real estate agency told me I could keep whatever I wanted and get rid of the rest, but… I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

As they talked, both of them entered the room with their weapons in hand. Nothing inside seemed out of the ordinary. They checked the window that faced outside, but it was intact. However, one of the pieces of tape had fallen: the one that should have been on the closet door. Mochi had checked that closet before and had only found old clothes, nothing more.

—Sempai, you know what to do —Miyu whispered as she took a defensive stance, gripping her umbrella tightly, ready to use it at any moment.

Mochi nodded, took a few steps, and positioned herself directly in front of the closet door. She turned for a second to look at Miyu, a signal for her to prepare, and then focused. Just as she had done countless times before, she tried to sense the ether inside. Thanks to the practice she had gained lately, she was able to adjust the intensity of the ether wave she sent to some extent.

Her plan was simple: send a pulse with the highest intensity possible to startle and disrupt any anomaly that might be hiding in there. If something was inside, the sudden burst of ether should expose it.

And it worked.

A loud commotion burst forth inside the closet: something was moving desperately inside, slamming itself against the walls like a trapped animal, completely panicked.

The sudden noise startled Mochi, but Miyu’s quick voice brought her back to reality.

—Sempai!

Mochi hurried forward and, with a single strike, flung the closet door wide open