Chapter 48. Is it hidden well?
The sound, which seemed to be coming from the main entrance, did not affect Tsukino, Chiya, and Ohma Kokichi's actions of moving the boxes from the innermost shelf to the ground one by one.
Most of the boxes on the shelves are empty, making it easy to pick them up and throw them on the ground, but there are some exceptions.
One box contained many children's picture books and magazines.
However, it was clear that no one had read these books in a long time. A thick layer of dust had accumulated on the picture books and magazines, and they had been forgotten in the box.
At this point, only one empty box remained on the shelf—Tsukino and Chiya had glanced at it as they were taking down the other boxes, and he was quite certain that it had originally been an empty box.
But now...
"Meow."
Tsukino and Chiya felt the sudden weight of the box they had picked up, and almost dropped it on the ground as usual.
Wang Ma Xiaoji certainly wouldn't miss such an anomaly. He immediately poked his head over and saw the white cat sitting upright in the box.
The cat was moving too fast, and the light was too dim. Even Wangma Xiaoji, who had seen cats run before, only saw the cat's full appearance at this moment.
This is a very beautiful white cat.
Its cat has white and fluffy fur, clean and pure blue eyes, and a slightly raised chin that makes it look even more noble and adorable.
"So you've come here." Wangma Xiaoji greeted the white cat. "For a long-haired cat to maintain this appearance, it seems to be well taken care of. It is quite beautiful, but for some reason, it looks strangely familiar... Ah, I remember now."
The colors white and blue are so striking that it's hard not to associate the two people being haunted by the strange sight with the white-haired, blue-dressed doll.
Wang Ma Xiaoji: "Eh, what a subtle sense of déjà vu."
Tsukino and Chiya: "It appeared out of thin air in the box; there was nothing in the box originally."
In other words, this white cat is indeed not an ordinary cat... Although an animal appearing at this particular time and place, even if it were a normal occurrence, would still arouse the suspicion and doubt of the two of them.
Wang Ma Xiaoji stared at the white cat in the box, his attitude no different from when he saw any other person, as if he didn't think the cat couldn't understand him and was trying to communicate.
"Hey, did you deliberately lure us here? You mean 'trick people in to kill them'? What an evil and wicked little kitten!"
Tsukino and Chiya weren't sure if the white cat understood. But as if in response, the cat meowed again. Chiya noticed that it didn't open its mouth.
The next second, Tsukino and Chiya felt a lightness in their hands, and the white cat that had appeared out of thin air disappeared into the box again.
Tsukino and Chiya: "This kind of sudden appearance and disappearance is really relatable." That doll also likes to appear and disappear suddenly, as if it's not satisfied with being ignored and has to pop up to show its presence and remind others that "I'm still watching."
Wang Ma Xiaoji asked in confusion, "Huh? Who is Tsukino talking about? I'm talking about that white cat that looks like Akira."
Compared to the white-haired, blue-skirted doll, the white-haired, blue-eyed snowman they both knew also resembled the cat from earlier in terms of color, right?
Tsukino and Chiya pretended to believe them: "Um, so you were talking about Akira." Of course they thought Akira was familiar; would that be "unpleasant"?
However, that sense of déjà vu was probably just a coincidence. Tsukino and Chiya remembered the cat food that was currently on the shelf in the storage room; the Chishima family must have cats.
It might be the same one they just saw.
Wang Ma Xiaoji seemed to think the same way, his tone tinged with regret: "If I had known it was so fast, I should have petted it. I don't even know what a ghost cat feels like to touch... This is an experience even the 'Ultimate Animal Care Committee Member' has never had! Damn it! If I see that cat again, I definitely won't miss it! This is a great opportunity to show off in front of Tanaka!"
...No, generally speaking, if you were to say that you touched a ghost cat, people would probably just think it's a lie.
“However,” Ohma Kokichi blinked, “you and Uncle Hachishiki both said before that strange things are formed from the strong resentment left behind by the dead. Can animals also become strange things because of strong obsessions?”
"Well... I can't say for sure, because just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Tsukino and Chiya answered as they threw the last empty box on the ground. "You should still remember 'Chewing the Bride,' right?"
"Chewing on the bride? Ah, I remember that. Wasn't it one of the strange things Uncle Hachishiki encountered when he was still an Inu?" Ohma Kokichi placed his hand on the empty shelf where all the boxes had been removed. "Is Kozuki Kazumi trying to talk about the dog next to the bride?"
The Chewing Bride is a bizarre creature with a tragic past. When she was murdered, her dog also met a violent end. After she died and transformed into a monster out of resentment, her dead dog also became a non-human being, wandering the place where she was murdered.
However, according to the description given by Kazuo Yashiki, one of the people who experienced the strange event, rather than describing the dog as something as bizarre as chewing on a bride, it was more like...
"That dog was more like a 'spirit' that was awakened along with the appearance of the chewing bride, wasn't it? If we're talking about the weirdness of 'resenting humans for toying with them with fear,' that dog wasn't that powerful. So I think the white cat from earlier might have appeared along with the appearance of the Sarayashiki, but it wasn't enough to be called a weirdo... Okay, should we move to this place?"
The weight of the empty shelf wasn't too overwhelming. While they were talking, Tsukino, Chiya, and Ohma Kokichi had already moved the shelf to another location, so they could now reach the things that were originally behind the shelf.
"Huh? What? It's a mouse."
Wang Ma Xiaoji moved quickly. After setting up the shelf, he immediately let go and eagerly went to get the thing that had taken them some effort.
Is it for the cat or for the child?
It was a toy mouse made of iron, not particularly pretty, but extremely lifelike. Wang Ma Xiaoji held the tin mouse in one hand and tapped it all over with his fingers in the other, making a constant "thump-thump" sound.
"Speaking of which... in my experience, here—"
Wang Ma Xiaoji, who was studying the tin mouse, suddenly seemed to have discovered something and reached out to pull on the mouse's tail. Then, the tin mouse's tightly closed mouth opened.
"Wow! Big discovery—☆! How about that, I'm pretty capable, aren't I~?"
Accompanied by the purple-haired boy's cheerful voice, Tsukino and Chiya reached into the tin mouse's mouth and took a crumpled piece of paper, replying in perfect unison, "Yeah. Well, if it were me, I probably wouldn't have noticed it. It's so great to have Ohma by my side."
Ouma Kokichi: "Yeah! Kazuki Ozuki is the type who can say 'You're the most important' without batting an eye~ Just like me, I also like Kazuki Ozuki the most!"
Tsukino and Chiya didn't say anything like, "But when you saw Hinata before, you also said 'My favorite Hinata,' right?" Instead, they carefully unfolded the crumpled paper they had just taken out.
Worried that their movements might make things worse for the already damaged paper, Tsukino and Chiya moved slowly and gently. Fortunately, the paper ball wasn't very big, and it was quickly unfolded to reveal its full appearance.
Tsukino and Chiya: "As expected."
Wang Ma Xiaoji: "Huh? This feels like a very common trick. It seems one of our next tasks is to collect all the shredded paper and successfully reconstruct the original."
The piece of paper in Tsukino and Chiya's hands was also part of the torn painting, and it happened to be the upper half of the shredded paper they had obtained earlier.
The first little figure was pieced together—the two crumpled pieces of paper were put together, and finally the image of a man wearing glasses, a beard, and a suit appeared.
The man had a big smile painted on his face.
Tsukino and Chiya's gazes fell on the right hand of the male figure in the painting, which was simply drawn with just a few strokes.
There, you can also see a few other small hands holding its hands.
So... it really is a family photo.
Strange beings are non-human entities, created from the intense resentment and obsessions left behind in life.
The root of their resentment and obsession often lies with humanity itself. Because this is a world where humans harm each other, and then transform into monsters to continue harming humanity.
Lovers, classmates, colleagues, and even strangers with malicious intent... can all be sources of harm.
And this time...
Are they family members?
*******
There didn't seem to be anything else worth paying attention to in the storage room.
After thoroughly inspecting the storage room, the two of them left... Oh, and Wang Ma Xiaoji also took the crowbar that was originally in the storage room with him.
After walking through the short corridor and returning to the living room, Tsukino and Chiya were slightly taken aback: "Eh...?"
Behind him came Wang Ma Xiaoji's voice, seemingly utterly shocked: "Whoa! Have we time-traveled?! When?"
The living room had changed drastically; unlike its original spaciousness, it now contained many more items.
The coffee table and sofa were still in their original positions, but they had been replaced with a different style. Several cheap paintings had appeared on the walls, and a few more cushions had been added to the sofa. One of them looked like it had been scratched by some animal—Qianye guessed it was a cat—the cushion's inner core was exposed and hadn't been repaired in time.
Well, the living room suddenly felt more lived-in, as if someone had finally started living there.
...It just seems like I've gone a little too far with my lifestyle.
Tsukino and Chiya glanced down and noticed the ashtray on the coffee table was overflowing with cigarette butts. On the other side, near the kitchen, there were some untidy dishes on the dining table, the food on them already rotten and emitting a foul odor.
Several potted plants were placed on the windowsill, but the plants inside had withered and died. Judging from what Tsukino and Chiya saw, there was probably no way to save them.
There was an empty shelf in the corner of the wall, which should have originally held decorative vases... but now...
Tsukino and Chiya avoided the broken porcelain shards on the ground, whose patterns suggested they had once been a beautiful vase.
Having avoided the porcelain shards, there are still glass shards to navigate ahead.
Besides the broken items, there were several fallen books, a remote control, and... on the ground.
Tsukino and Chiya bent down and carefully picked up the photo frame, avoiding the shards of glass.
Wang Ma Xiaoji didn't seem to have any intention of approaching this area: "These things don't look like they fell because of an earthquake; they seem more like they were deliberately thrown to the ground."
"Hey, Kozue. Do you think these things were smashed by debt collectors who broke into the house, or by the people inside in a fit of anger?"
It's a bit of a pity. The picture inside the frame wasn't the family photo that Tsukino and Chiya had originally imagined, but just an ordinary painting.
As Tsukino and Chiya casually placed the photo frame on a nearby dining table, they replied, "I guess it was someone living in the house who broke it... If it was an outsider's protest, it seems a bit too mild."
After all, there weren't that many things that were thrown on the ground as a form of venting.
"Hmm...this taste is like..."
Not only did the food on the table smell terrible, but the kitchen also smelled awful.
During their conversation, after avoiding the things on the ground, Tsukino and Chiya arrived at the kitchen, which was connected to the restaurant.
The place reeked of a truly disgusting stench. However, after passing through an even more pungent classroom not long ago, Tsukino and Chiya found the smell here rather acceptable; at least it wasn't so foul that it would make them want to run away as soon as they entered.
But in any case, Wang Ma Xiaoji's decision not to come here was truly prescient.
Tsukino and Chiya endured the stench and opened the refrigerator door.
When they opened the refrigerator, Tsukino and Chiya didn't feel the expected burst of cold air. The source of the smell was the spoiled food inside, which had stopped working at some point.
After confirming this, Tsukino and Chiya did not rush to close the refrigerator door again, but instead carefully examined the contents inside.
"Hey—Kozuki—what are you doing—"
Even though the first floor of this house is only so big, Wang Ma Xiaoji deliberately acted as if the two of them were thousands of miles apart, putting his hand to his mouth and dragging out the sound.
"Could it be that since we're already here, we're planning to use whatever ingredients we have to make a simple three-dish meal with soup? But—it'll poison people, won't it?!"
"Could it be that Kozuki and the original owner had this in mind all along?"
After letting out a gasp, the purple-haired boy pretended to mutter to himself in a low, sorrowful voice, loud enough for Tsukino and Chiya to hear perfectly.
"What a free method of poisoning! Aside from being too blatant for me to consume, it's a perfect crime in every way! After all, it's done in a house with paranormal activity, so even if there are any traces of the crime, the monster might just easily erase them... How convenient!"
“Now that you mention it… that makes sense.” Tsukino and Chiya closed the refrigerator door again and walked out of the kitchen. “Besides, even if someone discovers something and tries to investigate the truth, they might be silenced by the monster if they don’t know or believe it, or don’t know how to deal with it.”
"Hehe, that weirdo is really a must-have for working from home, even if it's murder or arson... What's that Kozuki holding in her hand?"
“I just took it out of the refrigerator. I saw it was pressed under a plate of leftovers.” Tsukino and Chiya once again avoided the scattered fragments on the ground and came to Ohma Kokichi’s side. “It’s also part of that torn painting.”
As for why part of the painting ended up in the refrigerator, that wasn't something they needed to investigate further. Under the influence of spiritual forces, it was even possible for fragments of the painting to appear in the chandelier on the ceiling.
"Really? What a coincidence, I got it too. I thought I was progressing faster, but it's still a tie. But that's alright, a close contest is more interesting than an overwhelming victory~"
Although it was the one who took the initiative to ask what Qianye was holding, Wangma Xiaoji seemed to have known the answer all along and was not surprised at all by his reply.
The purple-haired boy gently shook the incomplete piece of paper he was also holding in his hand: "I found it in the pillows on the sofa. There was a cushion that was so torn that the synthetic fibers inside were showing, that's the pillow, and this piece of paper was hidden inside it."
The places where things were hidden in this house were truly bizarre and wonderful. Luckily, they were quite fortunate, otherwise, it's hard to say how long they would have had to search through all the drawers and cabinets.
The piece of paper that Tsukino and Chiya found in the refrigerator had a drawing of a small female figure, while the one that Ohma Kokichi found in the pillow had a drawing of half a small figure.
This childlike drawing, which is now almost certainly a family portrait, is now only a small part remaining.
That's the part below the head of what is probably the child in the painting.
"Hey, Kazuo Kozue, should we go upstairs and check the situation first?"
The first floor has a limited area; besides the entrance hall, living room, and the connected dining room and kitchen, the rest consists of a storage room and a bathroom.
The only place they hadn't checked was the restroom, which was even smaller and could be investigated more quickly. After examining it, Wang Ma Xiaoji suggested going upstairs.
The stairs were not far away; they had passed by them several times when they were investigating on the first floor.
It was just an ordinary staircase, with nothing on the steps except for dust, so Tsukino and Chiya didn't pay much attention to it.
But now...
"Meow."
Although they hadn't yet reached the stairs, they could already notice that the white cat, which had previously disappeared, had reappeared on the first step of the stairs.
It was as if it was waiting for them, or as if it was guarding the stairs, preventing anyone from having the chance to reach the second floor.
*******
From the moment I arrived at this supposedly haunted house until now, everything seems to be progressing exceptionally smoothly.
However, just as the word "easy" is taboo in jobs like police or doctors, when exploring locations related to strange events, just as thoughts of "safety" and "smooth sailing" begin to emerge, the supernatural beings seem to be able to read minds and start making some unusual noises.
They had already "seen" the ghost at the bottom of the well in the courtyard of this Saraya-shiki when they first arrived at the house. At that time, they saw the well in the yard and heard intermittent counting coming from it.
At the time, because they were unsure how long the slow counting would last, and because they lacked sufficient knowledge about Sarayashiki, they decided it was inconvenient to directly do anything to the well, which was closely related to the Sarayashiki ghost story. In the end, they chose to go inside the house to look for clues.
And now, just as they were considering heading towards the staircase guarded by the white cat and climbing to the second floor—
It finished counting.
A sound that should have come from the well outside suddenly echoed throughout the house, making it difficult to pinpoint its true source... no, not from anywhere in the house, but... in one's mind?!
What should a child's laughter sound like?
Naïve? Pure?
Perhaps, but neither Tsukino and Chiya nor Ohma Kokichi had time to appreciate the joy in the children's laughter.
Along with that chilling laughter that seemed to come directly from my mind came a wave of dizziness.
Tsukino and Chiya felt as if their brains, filled with laughter, were filled with lead, yet their bodies felt light and their feet couldn't find solid ground.
He instinctively reached out to grab the wall beside him, but both the wall and the floor beneath his feet seemed to have turned into a vortex and started spinning. Chiya's breathing became rapid, and he forced himself to look at where Ohma Kokichi was standing, suppressing the dizziness.
The purple-haired boy leaned against the wall, one hand supporting himself against it, and let out a weak groan: "Ugh... It feels like I've been thrown into a washing machine and it's spinning like crazy... Is there any way to stop it?"
Tsukino and Chiya: "Maybe..." Should we go check out the well?
Although the dizziness made him feel lightheaded and unsteady, he should be able to manage to reach the well outside by using the crowbar next to Wang Ma.
Although it's not impossible for them to support each other and leave first... it would be bad if the voices and dizziness in their minds didn't disappear after leaving this room.
Perhaps those who came to this house, successfully left, but ultimately chose to commit suicide because they couldn't bear the dizziness caused by that laughter day and night. (*)
However, before any action could be taken, the child's laughter suddenly stopped... It seems that the previous guess was not correct.
The dizziness that had accompanied the laughter disappeared as well. But before they could catch their breath from the physical discomfort they had just experienced, the voice of the child... the ghost of Sarayashiki came again.
"Time is up."
"Is it hidden well?"
-----------------------
Author's note: (*) Although the conjecture in this story is not true, the existence of such a strange thing in NG keeps screaming in my head, it's terrifying.
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