6th Mystery: The House in the Corner
Chapter 1: Don’t Want to Go Home
The family died.
It was the daughter’s birthday that day.
After undergoing infertility treatment, they finally conceived a child, their precious daughter, whose birthday it was.
The parents went to buy a birthday present for their daughter as a surprise while she was at school.
They went out in the car and bought a birthday present.
Then, they collided head-on with a car that ran a red light and died.
The last time the daughter saw her parents, they were smiling, but the parents sleeping in the coffin couldn’t be seen.
The funeral staff comforted the sobbing daughter, and then she saw them.
Standing quietly by the coffin were the parents, dressed in tattered clothes, their faces worn down like blank masks.
To say that she didn’t feel fear at the sight would be a lie.
From that day on, Kasugadani Houzuki, in the valley of ghosts, could see spirits.
From that day on, the family of Kasugadani Houzuki became strange.
☆
After school, it was always decided that she would spend time in the science preparation room.
A creepy room with human body models and skeletal specimens in the corner.
When she was in elementary school, there was a school ghost story that said, “If you stay in the room with the human body models and skeletal specimens at midnight, they’ll start dancing.” But is it really true? Since Hiyori could see other ghosts on a regular basis, it wouldn’t be strange at all for the human body models and skeletal specimens to be dancing hand in hand.
For some reason, Hiyori held beakers filled with coffee in both hands and looked squarely at the male teacher sitting directly in front of her.
“Surely there are plenty of ghosts in Tsukinashi Town. Why don’t we just eat them up one by one?”
“Fool. That would lack flavor, wouldn’t it? It’s the interesting stories that make ghost tales exciting.”
Engaged in a serious conversation is a male student with silver hair and red eyes, while talking to the natural perm prominent black-haired biology teacher, Kuroomi Otoya.
With transparent silver hair and sparkling red eyes, he possesses a handsome face that would surely attract female students if he were alive.
Wearing the black stand-up collar of ×× High School’s uniform, he seems to have been a student enrolled in this school in the past. Now, he has become a ghost confined to the old school building, yet strangely, he’s a ghost that feeds on other ghosts.
His name is Yuiru Enen, though his real name is Irune Yuen. He is a malevolent spirit that utilizes Houzuki’s ability to attract ghosts in order to solicit meals.
“There’s nothing less enjoyable than a tasteless, odorless meal. Indeed, a little bit of fear adds spice.”
“Modern ghost stories have evolved, you know. They use things like cell phones and public telephones to summon ghosts, and there’s also the Kokkuri-san ritual1.”
“I’ve tried all the famous ones multiple times while I was alive!!”
“Then what do you suggest?”
Otoya was at his wit’s end with Yuiru’s demands.
Despite Yuiru’s complaints that ordinary ghosts were boring, Otoya tried to entertain him by sharing stories of various ghosts he knew. However, none of them seemed to resonate with Yuiru.
As Yuiru floated through the air, pouting his lips in boredom, a girl who seemed like an elementary school student charged at him. As a result of her charge, her head ended up impaled on Yuiru’s side, and he let out a groan like a squashed frog, saying, “Ugh.”
“Y, yo, you, what are you doing……!?”
“Don’t be a picky eater!! You have to eat properly or you won’t grow big!!”
“How noisy!! Ghosts won’t grow sh*t!!”
The true identity of the elementary school girl was Towako, a close friend of Houzuki. With her hands on her hips, she angrily argued with Yuiru. Both of them had a childlike mentality.
As Houzuki shrugged her shoulders with a sigh, the sound echoed not only in the science preparation room but throughout the entire school building.
Ding-dong, ding-dong.
The chime signaling the end of the school day rang out.
Kuroomi Otoya lifted his head, and both Yuiru and Towako, who had been arguing fiercely until then, fell silent.
Houzuki was the only living student left in this place; she had to go home. If she stayed in the school building past dismissal time, the grade teacher would scold her later.
But Houzuki didn’t move. —She couldn’t move.
“Houzuki-chan, aren’t you going home?”
“…………Yeah, I guess so.”
She had to go home.
Yet, there was a reason she didn’t want to go back.
Waiting for her at home were Houzuki’s family, who had become strange since their deaths, her parents with their grotesque appearances.
Gripping the beaker with the remaining coffee tightly, Houzuki turned to Otoya, who was a teacher, for advice.
“Kuroomi-sensei.”
“What?”
“Could I stay at your place?”
Otoya spat out in surprise.
Yuiru followed suit with an expression of disbelief, and Towako placed a hand over her mouth, saying, “Oh my.”
There was no special meaning behind it. It was just that Otoya was the only dependable adult around.
“Hey, it’s not right for a teacher and a student…”
“Is it not right?”
“Is there something going on at home? A reason you don’t want to go back?”
“Yes, my parents are there.”
Before, when asked about going home from the science preparation room, she had answered, “My parents are dead.”
Indeed, her parents were dead.
And they had become strange since their deaths.
Sensing an unusual atmosphere, Yuiru’s expression turned serious.
“Houzuki, are your parents really dead?”
“They’re dead.”
“Then what on earth is in your house?”
Houzuki didn’t have an answer to that question.
They were her parents, yet they were not her parents. Something had changed about them.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Because――”
They don’t have faces.
Houzuki couldn’t even determine if they could still be considered her parents.
TN:
1- The Kokkuri-san ritual- also known as the Kokkuri game, is a Japanese ritual used to summon a spirit for divination or entertainment purposes. It typically involves participants sitting around a table with a piece of paper divided into sections representing the alphabet and numbers. A coin or an object like a planchette is placed on the paper, and participants ask questions to the spirit, inviting it to move the object to spell out answers or indicate responses. The spirit summoned is often referred to as Kokkuri-san, which is believed to be a fox spirit similar to a Western Ouija board’s planchette. The ritual has gained popularity in Japanese folklore and urban legends, with various stories and cautionary tales associated with it.
