The House in Which Nightmares Dwell 8.6

[touchturnfly]

6

Hirota and Naru glared at each other in the dining room.

The two of them were left behind and instead Hirota found himself driven to a wall. It felt absurd how intimidating the other party was, even though he was several years younger and also physically weaker than him.

"-- In the end you insist on not having seen anything at all?"

"... ... I did not see anything."

"There was nothing outside the window?"

"... ... Nothing at all."

Hirota feigned calm with great effort, but he didn't think he succeeded even if he said so himself.

If he were questioned in such a state he would soon end up confessing that he saw something imaginary. Even so, his pride would not permit him to run away.

That's why Hirota breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the sound of light footsteps.

"-- Naru, the temperature on the second floor starts dropping."

Naru turned his head to Mai. He immediately left Hirota's side and went out of the dining room.

Hirota was left behind in that place and softly exhaled. The tension was finally released and he felt like sitting down right at that spot. Being stuck in a glaring contest with that boy required a vast amount of emotional strength.

After breathing in and out several times, Hirota looked into the direction of the base beyond the wall.

-- She said the temperature started to drop. I wonder if something strange will happen.

Hirota hesitated for a moment, but he eventually left the dining room. He was curious if something would happen.

When he looked into the base before coming in, all of the members were looking up at the monitors. Mai briefly glanced at Hirota.

"What's... ... going on?" Hirota timidly asked, but Mai readily pointed at one of the monitors.

"The temperature on the second floor started dropping. It is still dropping."

The screen Hirota was gazing at, was only speckled with a cold color.

"-- This is?"

"A thermographic view. It's a camera that records and color codes the temperature. There's a gauge on the side, you see?"

There was a gauge on the right side of the screen. From comparing the colors he understood it was lower by ten degrees. The other screens beside that one showed 15 degrees, but only that screen showed a very low temperature of 5 degrees celsius.

"Where is this?"

"The one next to it is captured from the night vision camera. The second floor's hallway."

The night vision camera reflected the sliding screen in 4.5 tatami mat room Hirota was using.

"That camera is now showing the place with the lowest temperature."

"Then, that place is the lowest?"

"Inside perhaps," said Naru. He turned his gaze at Hirota with a deep colour in his eyes.

"... ... What happened to wanting to be used as an assistant?"

Hirota nodded in disappointment.

"Please use me."

"Then, please go up tot he second floor and open that sliding screen. -- Mai, go together with him and tell him how to open it."

What did he mean by, 'tell him how to open it?' Mai pushed Hirota's back while he was thinking about that in doubt and inclining his head.

"Let's go."

Mai climbed the stairs to the second floor and approached the 4.5 tatami mat room straight ahead. She carried a small instrument in her hand and turned it towards the sliding screen's surface.

"-- What's that?"

"I'm inspecting the static electricity. Whether it's electrified or not."

"But it's a sliding screen."

"It's possible, even for a sliding screen. ... ... It does, after all."

"It does?"

Without thinking about it Hirota reached out with his hand towards the sliding screen and was stopped by Mai.

"Don't do it. At the edge of the wall there's an instrument that looks like a penlight with a copper wire attached. Please take it."

Hirota looked over his surroundings as he was told and found it placed in a corner.

"This?"

"Yes. Put it against the handle of the sliding screen and wait until it starts beeping. Then it's earthed."

"I see."

When he hit it lightly with the pointed end without the copper wire, it briefly beeped.

"Not yet. Until there's a second beep. -- In a room in which an abnormal phenomenon occurs strange things often happen with the electricity. In particularly bad situations it will knock you over once you touch it."

"-- That much?"

"Such things happen. -- That just now was the second beep? It's alright now."

Hirota placed his hand on the handle of the sliding screen. Once he opened it chilly air flowed out.

"Incredible, it's so cold... ..." Mai said and took out a different small instrument from her pocket. It was an ordinary thermometer.

"... ... Geez, it's only three degrees."

Even if Hirota was peeking at the liquid crystal display, he could tell it showing as few as three degrees. The room's temperature was extremely low for sure, because it felt chilly to the point of getting goosebumps.

-- The problem was, why did it drop so much?

It was October right now, so the outside temperature couldn't be three degrees. There was an air conditioner, but it had no switch. To say nothing of the fact that an air conditioner could in no way drop to just three degrees. With the exception of a chest of drawers and a small shelf, the unused room contained no furniture. Even if he surveyed the room it didn't appear likely that there were any devices that could lower the temperature.

"Why is the temperature dropping?"

Mai looked blankly as she answered Hirota's question.

"When spirits manifest, the temperature drops. ... ... This means, there is one."

"What do you mean, there is one?"

"Well, I can't think of it as anything else?"

Hirota found it troublesome to reply. He thought it was absurd, but even so he couldn't explain why the temperature had dropped so much.

"Let's go down. It's better if we're not around," Mai said.

They left the sliding screen open like that. As soon as they turned around to go back, a scream could be heard.

"-- What."

"It's from the inner part."

Hirota and Mai exchanged glances.

"-- It's Midori-san."

---

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