Chapter 15 Fifteen Ghosts Behind the Scenes

Tsuruga River is a hot spring hotel located on the north bank of Lake Toya. Unlike the Nan'an Hot Spring Street where most hotels are located, the area around here is naturally quieter and more remote with fewer visitors.

Hanada Minoru, who works as the hotel's front desk, has been working here for two years. Except for the hot spring peak season when a large number of guests check in, there are basically only a few tourists who like the quiet atmosphere and come here to try it out.

When Hanada Minoru is bored, he always complains in his heart that if Tsurunokawa was not a business passed down from his boss's family, and if the boss, as a rich second-generation, did not expect to make money here, he would have become unemployed along with his boss long ago.

Originally, the lake view hot springs of Lake Toya were one of the best in the whole of Hokkaido and even in other places in the country. However, the owner insisted that he didn't like noisy places, so he moved the hotel from the prime location of the hot spring street to the mountains on the north shore. Sometimes Hanada was curious about how the guests found them here.

But these are all the boss's business. As long as the boss is still a rich second-generation and the hotel is open, he will work here. After all, it is difficult to find such a job that requires most of the time free time and has a high salary elsewhere.

Thinking of this, Hanada Minoru yawned with his chin on his hand, tapping the keyboard occasionally to play a small stand-alone game, and his whole body exuded a leisurely air.

There's no way. It's only the beginning of July now. According to the rules of the past two years, the passenger flow to Dongye Lake in the first two months of summer is basically on the south bank. At least after August, when there are more people, they will have guests visiting here.

Just as Hanada Minoru was thinking this, the quaint paper sliding door at the entrance of the hotel was opened from the outside, and a blond young man in simple clothes with a bag on his back stood there, and then walked towards the front desk with a warm smile on his face.

"Excuse me." The young man said, showing the screen of his mobile phone. "I made a reservation on the official website a day in advance. Please help me check in."

Hanada Minoru rubbed his eyes and took a look, then suddenly realized: I was wondering where this official website came from... Isn't this the Tsuruga River Hotel website that the boss set up some time ago? There really is a sucker, no, there really is a bored tourist who happened to see it and made a reservation?

He immediately looked at the young man in front of him with admiration.

It's a bit strange that he came to such a far place alone to soak in the hot spring with lake view in the mountains...

"Okay, please wait." Although he was complaining in his heart, Hanada Minoru still smiled and lowered his head to check in the guest on the computer. Since he was not well prepared and the signal in the mountains was not very good, the process of checking in took quite a while. The guest did not seem to be in a hurry and chatted with Hanada Minoru cordially.

"This is my first time to visit Lake Toya. I heard that the hot springs here are very famous, but I prefer to soak in the hot springs quietly, so I have never been here."

A customer who registered under the name of Amuro Toru said with praise: "My friend said this shop has a good environment and is quiet. Now it seems to be true. The slow pace of life is also very comfortable."

That's right! Hanada Minoru couldn't help but chuckle quietly and nodded in agreement.

Although he complained that his boss's decision was unprofitable, he really liked this peaceful and leisurely work routine, otherwise he would not have worked here for two years.

Mr. Amuro sighed with some regret as he spoke: "It's a pity that Celori is sick of transportation, otherwise I think the child would like this place too."

"'That child'?" Hanada Minoru asked curiously.

"Yes, it's my Akita dog, named Celery." Mr. Amuro smiled sheepishly, and it seemed that he really liked his dog. "I looked at the introduction on the official website. It's rare for a pet to be accepted here. In the end, Celery couldn't come at all. It's a bit of a pity."

Indeed, most hot spring hotels do not allow pets.

Hanada thought about it and couldn't help but continue the conversation: "That's really a pity! He must be a very cute child, right?"

The two of them immediately started chatting enthusiastically about the topic of dogs.

Huatian Minoru is a dog lover. His computer screen saver, exterior decorations, desk ornaments and even the background pictures that his boss asked him to upload on the official website are all pictures of his own dogs. It can be said that the boss's mark that pets are allowed here is the result of his gradual "brainwashing".

The sound effect of successful processing came from the computer, and Huatian handed over a series of items including the check-in manual and access card to the new guest with a bit of reluctance.

It's rare to meet someone you can talk to so well.

And if you look closely, Mr. Amuro has a slightly darker skin tone and blond hair. He might really be a mixed-race from some country. No wonder he is so cheerful and handsome. Even he, a man, finds him so pleasing to the eye!

At this moment, Hanada Minoru completely forgot how she had complained about the other person in her mind ten minutes ago.

He looked around for a while, then went up to Amuro Toru and whispered a rare reminder.

"It's a bad timing. My boss has a party with his high school classmates in the hotel during these days every year. They used to be in an instrumental music club, so every party is often... uh, with music? Anyway, it might disturb you."

Hanada Minoru squinted his eyes and said, "So if Mr. Amuro minds this, I can help you move to a quieter room."

Mr. Amuro, who loves dogs and likes to be alone, smiled and waved his hands: "It's okay, I actually like music too. Anyway, I'm used to taking a hot spring bath in the morning, so I won't make any noise."

After the two said goodbye, Mr. Amuro, who was told to pass by, walked up the wooden stairs with his access card and disappeared from the front desk's sight.

If the boss wasn't about to come back, Hanada Minoru really wanted to lead the way to Mr. Amuro himself.

What he didn't know was that, beside Mr. Amuro, who he thought came alone, there was actually a ghost of a young boy in a red sweater and black and white scarf lingering behind him.

"'I have an Akita dog named Celery'?" The black-haired boy said something that no one else could hear, pouting childishly, "That's a really lame reason, and so is the name."

Amuro Toru remained calm and pretended that he was not criticized for his naming taste.

Originally, it was just a made-up name he made up to build closer ties with the front desk. In fact, he didn't have a pet, but he did have a little devil, and it was still talking.

Chi Jiang Na Yue's expression looked really disgusted. He wrinkled his nose and said in a dissatisfied tone: "I hate dogs."

He had just been able to tolerate Toru Amuro talking to the front desk for so long just to get some information, but that was already his limit.

Amuro Toru just found out about this. He was stunned for a moment and asked curiously, "Why?"

"She wags her tail at everyone, she's loyal and clingy, and you can't chase her away." Chi Jiang Na Yue snorted twice and said, "I hate her, I hate her, there's no reason why."

Amuro Toru was speechless: "You are obviously talking about advantages..."

The little devil made a face at him.

—

The clues that Kuroda Heiwei initially provided were very few, only an address in Toyako-cho, Hokkaido, and a brief document that recorded some easily available information.

Not to mention Toru Amuro, even Akae Nazuki himself took a long time to recall before he found the relevant things from the deep inside of the room in his brain where he had placed useless information.

In the past, Chijiang Nayue never cared much about the people around him and always kept to himself, but in order not to worry his adoptive mother Chijiang You, he would still pretend in front of his family.

In other words, there was no need for him to pretend - after all, for high school students, Akajō Nazuki, who always ranked first in the grade, looked handsome, was good at fighting, and had a strong personality, was the object of secret admiration for most people for three years.

But Chijiang Nayue herself doesn't care about these.

If the name hadn't been on the information provided by Kuroda Hei, he might have needed to spend more time to remember it.

The 'classmate related to those years' they were looking for was named Tsuda Atsushi, the rich second-generation boss of the Tsurugawa Inn. He was also a classmate of Akae Nazuki for three years.

Before setting off, Toru Amuro checked Tsuda Atsushi's information again, and they learned that he did not continue to study at university after graduating from high school, but returned to Hokkaido to inherit several hot spring hotels from his family, and moved one of them, "Tsuru no Kawa", to this remote mountain on the north shore.

However, Akae Nazuki was certain that he did not have much contact with this classmate Tsuda during high school, and did not meet him on purpose before graduation - in fact, even if he used the "difference in parallel worlds" to explain it, it would not make sense.

It was already April when Chi Jiang graduated from high school, and he received his parents' ashes on March 17, his birthday.

The public security officers don't know his identity and are not familiar with his personality, so they think it's normal. However, Akae Nazuki himself doesn't think that in this world, after his parents were silenced by Karasuma Renya and he decided to take revenge, he would have the time to go back to school just to meet an unfamiliar classmate.

That's why he believed that Tsuda Atsushi must have clues related to his death that the public security department had not discovered.

Now it seems that they are lucky. Since they are going to have a reunion with their classmates here, it means that Tsuda Atsushi will definitely appear in the hotel within the next two days.

Next, it depends on how Amuro Toru is going to get more information. As for himself, he will of course just cheer Amuro Toru on!

"Don't talk about being lazy so openly." After packing the things in his bag, Amuro Toru stood up and said helplessly.

Chi Jiang Na Yue showed a well-behaved smile and suddenly said: "I am here to cheer you on behalf of the other three companions. There are four people... Who let them still sleep?"

Toru Amuro's face suddenly became even weirder and a little blue.

After learning from Akae Nazuki that day that there were actually three sleeping ghosts behind him, Toru Amuro's sleep became much shallower at night. If Akae Nazuki hadn't seen enough of the show later and told him that the other three ghosts couldn't see anything while they were sleeping, he estimated that he would have simply slept all night.

Who can fall asleep with four ghosts hanging from their backs?

Not to mention that although Toru Amuro has never asked Akae Nayue what the other three spirits behind him look like, he always feels that if there really is a spirit behind him that will be bound by him, apart from the current accident, the most likely other possibilities are... the three good friends who died early in his memory.

Regardless of whether it was them or not, he would be restless.

According to the little devil, the three sleeping spirits would rarely show up (even if they did, he wouldn't be able to see them), so the little devil could so righteously occupy his shoulders and use him as a human means of transportation.

Just as Toru Amuro left the room, someone was heard talking at the staircase.

The man and the spirit behind him looked at each other and walked in that direction together. The closer they got, the clearer they could hear.

Are these two female voices...arguing?

"Ha, I was wondering why you broke up with me all of a sudden, even though we had decided to get engaged in March this year." Turning the corner of the stairs, the scene below came into their eyes - the red-haired woman leaning against the front desk was holding her chest and sneering, saying, "Tell me, Ling. When did you two hide your relationship from me?"

The black-haired woman opposite her kneaded her brows and spoke patiently: "I have already explained that it was after you broke up that Tonomiya confessed to me, and I did not accept it. Kuki Riko, can you calm down for a moment?"

Kumu Li Ke's expression became even uglier: "Calm down? My boyfriend of eight years confessed his love to my best friend of nine years, and you want me to calm down?"

Amuro Toru took a step forward on the stairs and immediately retracted it. He didn't want to stay and listen to the gossip, nor did he intend to get involved. Besides, the current situation below didn't seem to be a suitable time for him to show up...

However, when he turned around, he saw that the little devil's watery red eyes were already shining, and his whole face was filled with expressions like 'your social circle is so messy' and 'so interesting'.

"So you know better, Fujimiya is not as important as you as a friend to me, why would I like him?" The woman named Ling couldn't stand it any longer, "You know clearly that the person I like has always been Akae-senpai!"

…

Wait, who?

Chijiang Nayue, who was originally watching the show, was shocked and looked very confused.

"Yes, but classmate Akae has been dead for so many years, who knows who you still like now." Kumu Li Ke said sarcastically.

Now, even Toru Amuro's gaze became strange.

The 'Chijiang classmate' who passed away many years ago...isn't there one right next to him?