Chapter 4: Basement floor
“Thank goodness. It’s a place I definitely didn’t want to go to alone.”
“I understand how you feel.”
Checking the young nurse’s chest, she saw that her nametag read “Suzuki.” Carrying the examination tools she was going to put away in the storeroom, she started down the stairs to the basement.
Houzuki followed behind her, heading for the basement.
The young nurse looked genuinely depressed, so she must really hate going to the basement. If Houzuki hadn’t offered to accompany her, she would have ended up going alone.
Yuiru, walking beside Houzuki, said,
“Hmm, it stinks. It’s up ahead.”
“……”
Houzuki didn’t respond to Yuiru’s words.
In truth, she should have done so, but she had someone accompanying him. She didn’t want the young nurse Suzuki to see her talking to Yuiru and be put off.
Well, she was basically allowed to accompany her because she said she could exorcise ghosts, so all she could do was pray that Yuiru would eat the ghost.
“This is the basement.”
The young nurse opened the closed door to the basement floor.
On the surface of the basement floor door, it says “No entry except for authorized personnel.” It appears that patients and other ordinary people who use the hospital are not allowed to enter the basement floor.
Lagging behind the young nurse, Houzuki also stepped into the basement floor. In the summer, hospitals are air-conditioned and comfortable, so for some reason this basement floor felt strangely cold.
“It’s cold…”
“It’s strangely cold here.”
“Is that so?”
Houzuki rubbed her arm, which was sticking out from the short sleeves of her uniform.
It felt like she was inside a refrigerator. Her breath didn’t turn white, but it was still so cold that it felt that way.
The young nurse also seemed to feel the cold, but she herself didn’t seem to notice it.
The fluorescent lights dimly illuminated the room and flickered, and a black figure was stuck to the dusty ceiling. Moving its limbs like a spider, it clung to the ceiling and looked around, its eyes squirming as it looked at Houzuki and the nurse who had come down to the basement floor.
A woman with hanging hair was standing close to the door. She cast a resentful look at her and reached out her skinny arm towards Houzuki. She somehow dodged to avoid being touched, and Yuiru stabbed the woman’s arm with the silver knife.
Yuiru eats the female ghost as if it were an appetizer, and follows behind Houzuki while eating it. If only he’d stop walking while eating.
Houzuki casually glares at Yuiru, and the young nurse asks, “What’s wrong?”
She can’t see the large number of ghosts. The ghosts have gathered as if they hate her. It’s a pretty terrifying situation, but for some reason the young nurse is even more confident than Houzuki. It’s terrifying to not be able to see.
Houzuki shook her head,
“It’s nothing.”
“Really… Ah, maybe you can see something?”
“……..”
“He, hey, don’t be quiet.”
The young nurse was on the verge of tears,
“What’s in there? It’s there, right? Hey, please, say something!!”
Houzuki could only give a vague reply.
Surely, seeing the sight of so many ghosts would surely make the young nurse quit the hospital. With that in mind, it was hard for Houzuki to say.
However, considering her future, would it be better to just tell her? Would it be better for her if she encouraged her to resign?
Houzuki hesitated to answer,
“It, it’s going to be okay. I’;; chase them all away.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it’s alright. Please believe me.”
Houzuki turned her gaze towards Yuiru, where she saw the silver-haired, red-eyed high school boy engrossedly devouring another ghost. With his bottomless stomach, he probably thought of this situation as an all-you-can-eat situation.
His goal is the morgue, after all. His goal is to solve the mystery of why the scalpel falls, and to eat the ghost.
“Umm,” Houzuki asked the frightened-looking young nurse,
“Where’s the morgue?”
“Are you, going to the morgue? Will you be okay?”
“Yes, it’s fine.”
If a ghost appears, the problem will be solved instantly. Yuiru’s red eyes sparkle as he dances around, shouting “To the morgue, to the morgue.”
He must be really happy to be able to go to the morgue, even though Houzuki really doesn’t want to.
The young nurse points to the end of the corridor,
“Turn right down that corridor and it’s at the end.”
“Thank you.”
“Uh,you know, uhm”
The young nurse grabbed the sleeve of Houzuki’s uniform,
“I’m worried so can I come with you?”
“Are you alright with that? I’m about to confirm the ghosts existence.”
“Oh, I’m not, but you’re going to resolve it, right? I will trust in that.”
“I understand.”
Accepting the young nurse’s offer, Houzuki shields her from behind and heads to the back of the corridor.
Pushing the large number of ghosts to the corner of her vision, she peers around the corner to the right. The fluorescent lights were out in only that place, and a dimly lit corridor stretched on forever.
At the end of it was a room. There was a sign that said morgue.
“Houzuki.”
Yuiru peered into the corridor with her,
“Can you hear anything?”
“?”
Houzuki strained her ears.
The sound was definitely coming from the back of the morgue.
A faint, faint sound, like something falling.
–Kashan, kashan.
