The House in Which Nightmares Dwell 6.4

[touchturnfly]

4

"Well?" Takigawa said. "I don't know very well what's going on, but in any case I think there's a tangible person behind the troubles inside this house. Except the mother is frightened, so is it alright for me to fake an exorcism to give her peace of mind?"

Naru nodded.

"But, what if the damage keeps continuing? Isn't it better to catch the offender and put screws on them?

"That's true, but... ..."

"I say this as a faith healer though. Rather than telling her "There was a ghost and we exorcised it", I think it's much better to say, "The one who played pranks on you is this person". Unless she's deeply superstitious."

"I agree," Hirota nodded. That would have been the response of a respectable human being. -- Though he didn't know what a type like Saki would say.

"I wonder if there's proof?" Hirota asked, but Naru shook his head.

"There's no direct proof huh. It would be great if we could film the offender breaking in."

Just when he thought, 'I see', he heard footsteps. When he stuck his face from the base and looked, Midori had just descended down from the stairs at the same time, then came to him.

"-- How is aunt doing?" Hirota said.

Midori made a somewhat bothered smile and looked to the back. The sound of light footsteps. Reiko soon showed up from going down the stairs as well.

"Is it okay to get up?" Hirota asked and Reiko smiled.

"Yes. ... ... I'm sorry, I was a bit out of it."

"Not at all... ..."

"Everyone must be hungry right? Please wait for a moment," Reiko said and looked towards the base. "I thought I heard the door bell just now. I wondered if the people you invited were here."

"Ah, yes... ..."

As soon as Hirota said that, the door bell rang. Midori went down to the entranceway and opened the door.

"-- Yes?"

"Hey, are you already done making dinner?"

That voice leaped inside of the house.

"That's because I saw you come home just now."

It was Sasakura Kazumi.

She looked around the house from the door crevice and presented a package she held in her hands.

"There are a lot of visitors. It must be hard to prepare a meal right? So I thought I'd bring you something."

Midori and Reiko exchanged glances for a moment.

"It's not ready to eat though. I only did some preparations, so if you would lend me the stove for a while, I can immediately finish it up for you."

Midori made a worried smile.

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry, but there's no reason to do such a thing for us."

"Jeez, what are you saying?" Kazumi laughed. "If you're in a pinch, we're in the same boat. Aren't we fellow neighbours?"

"Well, actually my mother is about to start preparing something."

"It's only one dish. I'll just borrow your kitchen."

Midori stopped Kazumi from getting inside of the house.

"Um, -- Please wait for a moment."

When the exhausted Midori got the better of Kazumi, Hirota's voice interrupted.

"Let her in, Midori-san."

"Eh," Midori turned around. She saw Hirota who had put his arms together. Behind him in the corridor Naru had shown up.

"That's just right. Let me in."

Both Midori and Reiko seemed bewildered, while Kazumi fully smiled.

"Isn't that right? With so many people around, making dinner must be difficult."

She merrily came through the entranceway and entered the house.

"Now where was the kitchen?" Kazumi said, then arbitrarily went into the direction of the living room.

Midori watched a bewildered Hirota.

"Hirota-san... ..."

Hirota nodded at Midori who had lowered her voice, and turned to the back. He looked at Naru who was leaning against the wall.

"Shibuya-kun. I think it's better if we quickly cleared up this sort of matter."

Naru sighed a little and nodded.

Both Midori and Reiko looked from Hirota to Naru for a short moment.

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