The Second Mission: The Investigation Begins

“Welcome to the Yuruishi Onsen Resort! How may I help you?”, The friendly smiling woman behind the counter said.

Kuro and Hinako were in the lobby of a big Onsen Resort. It seemed pretty popular, since a lot of people were waiting to check in. Kuro showed his ID and work badge.

“Ah, I see... Please wait a moment.”, The friendly smiling woman said and made a quick phone call, “Would you be so kind and wait here to the side. The owner will come shorty and explain everything to you.”

Kuro nodded and went with Hinako to the designated area. It didn’t even take a minute and a middle-aged woman in a simple but elegant Kimono came up to them.

“Ah, you must be our special guest! My name is Tanaka Mei. It’s my pleasure to welcome you in my humble Onsen Resort Yuruishi.”, She said and bowed deeply.

Kuro and Hinako bowed as well, but not as deep.

“My name is Kuro. This is Homura Hinako. We came t-“, Kuro introduced them, but Mei held up her hand stopping him.

“Let us talk someplace else. If you would follow me, please.”, She said.

Kuro nodded and then they followed her. Mei led them through a hallway that was crawling with guests in Yukatas. Then they went through a door with a “Staff only”-sign. After a few narrower hallways, teaming with staff, they ended up in Mei’s office.

“Please have a seat and I will explain everything to you.”, She said.

Kuro and Hinako took a seat in front of the large desk.

“First, I would like to ask you for your utmost discretion. I really want to avoid any uproar or disturbances for my guests.”, Mei began.

“That depends on what you called the MDF for…”, Kuro replied.

“Well, let’s get to the point then… I had worrisome reports in the last few weeks from some of my employees doing the nightshift cleaning.”

“Worrisome?”, Hinako asked.

“Yes… They all report hearing strange noises in some of the baths at night. When nobody should be in there. Some of them went and looked but never found the source of the noises. At first, I thought it just to be their imagination, but then multiple people on different occasion all reported the same.”, Mei explained.

“What noises were heard?”

“Like shuffling across the floor. Licking and slurping sounds. Sometimes something clawing at things.”

“And no other traces were found?”

“Small dirty footprints were found in some of the baths and on some tubs and buckets were small claw marks.”

“And nobody ever saw anything?”

“No… well except for me two days ago… that’s when I decided to call the MDF for help.”

“What did you see?”

“After the reports I took it upon myself to check these noises out. The first few nights I heard nothing but then, two days ago, I heard them. A licking and slurping. I went to check it out. When I entered the bath, I heard something knock over some of the wash buckets. As I examined them, I saw a small shawdow scurry across the floor in the corner of my eyes. As I turned, I spotted a small silhouette just climbing over the fence.”

“It was in one of the outside baths?”

“This time yes, but the noises were previously heard from some of the inside baths as well.”

“Any details of its appearance?”

“It was dark, so I didn’t get a good look. It was the height of a child and had shaggy hair.”

“Hmm… okay… Were those noises heard in all of the baths or only in the private ones?”, interjected Kuro with a question.

“Mostly in the smaller baths that can be reserved for private use by our guests.”, Mei answered after thinking for a while.

“Could there be more than one?”

“I only saw that one briefly, but according to the timeframe of the reports is that thing either very quick or there are multiple of them.”

Kuro nodded and scratched his beard. Hinako gave him a strange look.

“It only happened at night?”, She asked.

“Yes, luckily. None of my guests seem to have noticed anything… And I would like it to continue like that.”, Mei answered empathically.

Kuro and Hinako nodded.

“You’re free to investigate at night all you want, I will let my employees know to cooperate with you, but during the day I would ask you to behave like normal guests here. You can use any facility or services provided by us and can stay as long as you need, free of charge of course.”, Mei explained further.

Hinako’s face lit up at the mention of free services.

“There is only one slight problem…”, Mei began.

Kuro furrowed his brow.

“What is it?”, He asked.

“We only have one free room currently… but it’s one of our more luxurious ones, with an adjacent open-air bath. I hope it’s okay with you to share that room until we have a second free one?”, Mei replied and looked between them two.

“No problem at all!”, Hinako exclaimed with a smile, which earned her a glare from Kuro.

“Perfect.”

Mei made a quick phone call and a few seconds later the door opened. A young woman in a Yukata came in and bowed deeply.

“This is Takahashi Sakura. She will show you to your room. If you need anything else you can ask her.”, Mei introduced her.

Kuro and Hinako got up and followed Sakura. It didn’t take long and they reached their room. Sakura excused herself as soon as they entered. Hinako immediately began to run around checking out the rooms. The interior was traditional Japanese. One room had a low table with already some refreshments and snacks on it. In the other one were two futons prepared side by side.

“Holy fuck! the out-door bath is huge, dude!”, Hinako exclaimed excitedly after she came back inside.

Kuro had to smile, seeing her this excited. He sat down at the table, where a pamphlet with information for all of the different offered services were. Hinako sat next to him.

“This gonna be a great mission!”, She exclaimed after reading all the different types of baths offered.

“We’ll see about that…”, Kuro mumbled.

“You have an idea what that thing could be?”

“I have a hunch, but that would be a bit… hmm… unusual?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well from the description, all point to the thing being a Akaname…”

“That filth licking yokai? But don’t they live in abandoned homes, dirty bathhouses, or sewers? This place doesn’t seem to fit their usual habitat…”

“It doesn’t, that’s what makes it a bit unusual… well I guess, we have to investigate a bit further…”

“And by investigating you mean… soaking in hot and steamy water?”

Both looked at each other and grinned.