A New and Spooky Home - Part 3

"W-why won’t you leave?" she asked in a spectral yet timid voice. Her tone was now very different from the ominous whispers of the first few days. "Why… aren’t you afraid of me?"

Faced with her expectant and somewhat downcast gaze, I finally spoke honestly with her.

"To tell you the truth, during the first few days your attempts to drive me away were working." It wasn’t a lie. Anyone would be frightened by the uncertainty of something lurking inside their own home, especially if one isn’t aware of what they are facing. That, combined with the warnings from the neighbors and the landlord, was more than enough to truly make me reconsider staying—or at least to want to solve the problem. "However, after our first encounter, all the fear and anxiety I had completely collapsed…"

"W-why?"

"…You’re devilishly cute," I said bluntly. "The moment I saw you up close that night, all uncertainty disappeared. I knew who was haunting me, and on top of that, it was a cute ghost girl. From that point on, all your attempts to scare me started to seem adorable."

Just remembering those moments when I managed to make her nervous after teasing her a little caused an involuntary smile to form on my face.

"Y-you’re lying!" the ghost girl exclaimed. "T-there’s no way that anyone… could consider me cute…"

Despite trying to refute my explanation, she became so embarrassed that she blushed and lowered her gaze without saying another word. She didn’t entirely believe me, but it seemed she was truly beginning to consider the possibility.

It could have ended there, but since we were finally having a proper conversation like normal people… if speaking with a ghost could even be considered normal, I felt that I wanted to know more about her as well.

"In any case, why are you so desperate to drive me away from here?"

In ghost stories, the trope of driving people away to protect something or to seek revenge is quite common, but that was only simplified fiction. I wanted to know the real reason behind the ghost girl who had been haunting me for so many days.

"I… want to be alone again," she replied, lowering her gaze once more. "People seem bothersome to me and…"

She appeared hesitant to finish her explanation. Her hands, which were resting on her legs, curled into trembling fists, but even through her nervousness, the ghost girl managed to continue.

"…and th-they scare me…"

That was certainly a reason few would expect from an existence like hers. Normally, one would assume that as paranormal beings, they would fear nothing and simply wander about doing as they pleased, blinded by resentment or some other motive, but this was different from anything I had seen about ghosts in any novel or series.

"Scared, huh?"

"W-what about it?"

"No, no, it’s nothing. It’s just that… I understand you quite well."

People can indeed be terrifying and troublesome. I was well aware of that from personal experience—experience that had ultimately brought me to this place, wanting to rest from everything while I reorganized my life.

I know nothing about this girl. I have no idea what she was like in life or how she ended up as a ghost in this neglected apartment, but what I can say is that, at least in a few small ways, we were alike.

It may only be a presumptuous thought, but I couldn’t help seeing a bit of myself in the nervous ghost girl standing before me.

My answer seemed to leave her slightly confused. It was as if she could see right through me and sensed that my words carried more weight than they appeared to, so I decided to continue our conversation.

"Besides, I couldn’t just leave like that. I’d already paid three months of rent in advance…"

"…What?" the girl said, surprised by my situation.

Yes, leaving was an option, but it wasn’t going to be the first one. My original plan had been to speak with the landlord and look for ways to solve the problem—even if we had to resort to exorcisms or something similar to cleanse the place.

Even if the apartment’s rent was cheap, I didn’t want to waste the money. I was currently unemployed, so my savings were the only thing I could rely on. Of course, they were limited, which meant I had to be careful not to squander them.

And that’s not even mentioning that searching for another apartment would be troublesome, and I seriously doubted I’d find one with a price as good as this one. It’s true that this place isn’t exactly well maintained, but it was more than enough to live comfortably.

The ghost girl was left speechless, and a few seconds later, she collapsed onto the sofa, dejected and defeated by my overwhelming determination not to waste money.

"So… everything I did was for nothing…"

Well, technically speaking, her attempts to scare me during the first few days had been working. But since leaving had been a low-priority option for me, if things had continued that way, she probably would have ended up exorcised sooner or later.

In a way, she was lucky that everything had turned out as it did—though I couldn’t say whether the fact that she was a ghost counted as good or bad luck in itself.

There were still many things I didn’t know about the paranormal. Maybe I should look into it a bit later. I could even contact an old friend who’s pretty deeply involved in that field.

"In any case…" I added, trying to change the subject so as not to depress her further, "since we’ll be stuck together for a while, what do you say we make an effort to get along?"

At my suggestion, the ghost girl raised her gaze slightly. Her eyes were still a little teary, but I also noticed a hint of curiosity in them.

"Get along…?"

"Yeah!" I replied, then extended my hand toward her. "My name is Yuuta Shirogane. It’s a pleasure to meet you!"

The girl stared at my hand for a few moments, unsure of what to do. But eventually, she made up her mind. She lifted her hand and tried to take mine… only for it to pass straight through. Even so, her intention was clear from the gesture.

"A-Aiko… I’ll be in your care," she said between stammers.

And just like that, our curious and paranormal cohabitation officially began.

I had no idea where such an encounter would lead me. But what I could say without fear of being wrong was that from that moment on, the days I had expected to spend alone in this old apartment had taken a turn I never could have imagined. And yet, I was happy and excited about it.

"Aiko, huh? That’s a cute name!"

"W-what!?" the ghost girl, Aiko, exclaimed before flying off and disappearing straight through a wall.

Yeah. From now on, my days would be anything but boring.