Chapter 10: Mold

The next morning, cold air once again made its rounds throughout the room. It swept across the bed, then visited the empty kitchen. Still not satisfied, it then ran to the toilet and lastly to the shower, where it escaped through the vent in the ceiling.

In other words, the air circulated the way it was supposed to. Sometimes warm and humid, sometimes dry and cold, and sometimes crisp and pleasant, it had been doing the exact same thing for almost a year now, and as it had been every day for a year, the next thing that would occur was Haruto waking up as he felt its touch.

The wind continued to blow. Coming into the room from one place and exiting through another, it continued its course uninterrupted, keeping an empty room from building up mold. That's what ventilation was good for, and Haruto was only now noticing it from outside his window.

For one year he had been waking up in the same place, next to the same ghost that patiently waited for him to open his eyes so that he would notice her staring back at him. Every day without mistake, it would happen as such.

Every day, but not today.

"Maybe if I get into bed?" Haruto asked himself from high up on a tree branch outside his apartment, looking at the covers that had been untouched since evening.

Although winter was getting ready to leave, the cold had kept the boy awake all throughout the night, the dark bags under his eyes being his only companion as he spent the dark hours up there with nobody around.

"Or maybe I have to sleep for her to appear. Maybe I can take a nap now and—"

But before he went through with the idea, the boy shook his head. He knew all too well that he was being too optimistic.

"Thinking back on yesterday, she was gone way before Airi-senpai left..."

He didn't know when exactly Yuurei had disappeared. All he remembered was her worried look right before Airi grabbed the boy. Everything after that—up until the moment when Airi got up to leave—was a stain on the boy's memory.

"I have to open up the window..." he told himself.

"If I don't, it'll get moldy. If I don't, then the room will grow rotten!"

That room had been unchanged for the whole year. Ever since Haruto had moved there to start university, everything stayed the same. His life as a student began in that room every day, and every day ended there. Every day except today.

"I don't want mold..." he said, grabbing his chest.

"I don't want mold..." he said again, trying to wipe off his shirt where his hand was grabbing.

"I don't want mold. I don't want mold! I don't want mold! I don't want mold!"

Unbecoming of the man he was trying to become, tears welled up in the boy's eyes.

"I want the same room! Not moldy! Not cleaner! Not colder! Not warmer! Not darker! Not brighter! I want the same room I always sleep in! The same as ever!"

Shouting at the window outside of his room, Haruto stretched his hand, trying to touch it. An unbearable fear that his room might fill with mold if he didn't do so refused to leave his head.

Mold was what he feared most of all, for if he let mold grow, it would taint his whole room. He knew that ignoring a spot one day would lead to his dorm losing a corner to it by next week. He knew that cleaning it would be painful, and he was well aware that there was a chance he could never truly get rid of mold.

Hence, he stretched his hand. If he was to act, he had to do it now, when only a small spot got to stain the boy's heart.

"Almost there..."

If only he could stretch a bit more. If only he could fly like Yuurei. If only he weren't so powerless against the mold that kept building up.

But in the end, it wasn't an easy task to keep your room in check, and when his finger had almost reached the window, the boy gazed at the bed he should have been sleeping in.

"Then I'll be the one to tie the knot~"

That's when Airi's words came back to him, and with them, they brought images, smells, touch, and even taste. All of the sensations that overwhelmed the young man a day before were now coming back to him just as he was about to open the window and save himself from the mold.

"Damn it..."

It then took but a moment for Haruto to lose his balance, and the next thing he saw was the ground quickly approaching him—or the other way around.

Once again, he hit his head on the cold dirt, but this time, there was nobody to check on him. So the young man had to check himself to see if his head was still intact, and after making sure it was, he lay on his back and looked at the clear blue sky.

"Haha... who am I kidding..." he said to himself, noticing a single dark cloud that walked around, waiting to spread its gloom to the others the others, were it not for the sky being clear that winter day.

"There's no getting rid of mold once it catches on..."

Just like a rain cloud waiting to share its load with the other clouds around and fill the sky. Just like mold building up in the corner of a room and then taking up the whole wall. Just like feelings that spark in the corner of your heart and burn at it little by little. There's no stopping it once it gets going.

"Even if you open up the window, it's not like it will go away. It's quicker to punch a hole in the wall and leave it there to remind you how stupid you were. Once it's there, there's no way you'll have the same old room back... ever..."

The words shot out of his mouth with no way of stopping them. Were anyone to walk around that early in the morning, Haruto would have to hide himself in shame for the rest of his life for saying something so cringe. No matter what, these words and anything about her—he had to keep it all to himself.

"After all... It would all fly away if I did!"

After all, only he knew about Yuurei. He was the one who had to take responsibility. 

That was a window he could never open to let anyone in, for at the very least he had to keep everything in that room where it was.

"You know... there's always the option to ask someone to keep an eye out. Or maybe help you put up a net? Worst case scenario, you can have someone jump out and catch whatever tried to get away. It's easier if you ask for help!"

To top it all off, Haruto's fear had come true, for his cries had been heard.