Epi.4-2: Can We Live in the Abandoned House?

“What’s going on…?”
Sayuri opened the door without the slightest hesitation and peeked out into the hallway.

“Hey—what are you doing all of a sudden!?”
Misaki shouted before she could stop herself.

“Y–yes, exactly!”
Shinobu raised her voice in a fluster.

“Because aren’t you curious?”
Sayuri, completely unfazed, beckoned the two of them over.
“Come on, come on—you’ve got to get used to this. Otherwise you’ll never be able to get out of here for the rest of your life, you know?”

“Well… that might be true, but…”
Misaki exchanged a glance with Shinobu.

Cautiously, the two of them peeked out into the hallway.
In the dark, dilapidated corridor, there didn’t seem to be anything there.

“…Nothing… there…?” Misaki whispered.
“…It seems… so…?” Shinobu whispered back.

At that moment—
plop.

A white lump rolled down and landed right in front of the two of them.

“Hyahhh!?”
Misaki jumped back, and Shinobu collapsed on the spot.

“Ahahaha!”
Sayuri, laughing, poked at the lump.

“Hey! Shinobu-chan!? Shinobu!”
Misaki hurried to pull Shinobu up, but her hands only swept through empty air.

“Wahhh! Shinobu!”
Sayuri realized what was happening, her face turning pale.

“Sayuri! Carry her inside!”
“Y-yes!”

Sayuri immediately lifted Shinobu up and gently laid her down on the floor of the room.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Her voice was trembling.

After a while, Misaki sat facing the two of them.
Sayuri sat in formal seiza, her head lowered, and the white lump was curled up small beside her.

“I understand that scaring others is your job. But—Shinobu-chan fainted from it, you know?”

Misaki’s voice carried not anger, but a mix of confusion and bewilderment.

Sayuri drooped her shoulders in apology, and the white lump gave a tiny, trembly shiver.

“…I didn’t mean it like that.”
Sayuri murmured in a thin, faint voice.

Misaki let out a small breath and lowered her gaze.

“…But this is the human side’s argument, isn’t it?
I said it too one-sidedly. I’m sorry.”

As she bowed her head quietly, Sayuri hurriedly urged her to lift her face.
The white lump, as if startled, rolled side to side in little turns.

After that, Misaki saw the lump off all the way to the hallway.
Bouncing in soft little hops, the lump disappeared into the depths of the darkness.

—I was lecturing a ghost and a supernatural being.

Thinking about that made her feel a little foolish for having been so scared.

If you talk properly, they’ll understand you.
Of course, maybe not every single one of them—
but maybe things can work out somehow.

When she turned around, she saw that Shinobu had woken up.
Sayuri was apologizing through tears, and Shinobu was smiling as she accepted it.

—Ghosts and supernatural beings think differently from humans.
We’re the ones who came later, after all.
If I just keep complaining, of course they’d end up disliking me.

It’s fine to take it little by little.
Little by little, we can try to meet halfway.
We might never get completely used to each other—but still…

Misaki took two ochoko from the shelf and quietly set them on the table across from her.
She called the two—now smiling again—and had them take their seats.

“I know you can’t drink, but this kind of thing is about the feeling.”
She poured sake into Sayuri’s and Shinobu’s ochoko, then picked up her own glass.

“Kanpai.”

Misaki quietly smiled as she touched the ochoko and her glass together.
A small, clear clink rang out.

“Misaki-san! From now on, let’s get along!” Sayuri said, her eyes shining.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Shinobu said, bowing her head politely.

“Fufu… let’s get along.”

For Misaki, her first night in the abandoned house closed quietly, wrapped in the scent of sake and warm voices.