Chapter 3: The Mystery of the Morgue
“I overheard the nurses talking about it while I was in the hospital.”
As he places a paper bag full of peaches on the shelf next to his bed, Kuroomi Otoya tells Houzuki a ghost story he overheard.
“This hospital has a morgue in the basement, and they say that while on patrol, they hear the sound of something falling from the morgue, like ‘kashan, kashan.'”
“So when they went to investigate, they found a scalpel on the ground.”
“Why are you doing the butterfly stroke in the air?”
“I’m a hammer*, you know. I can swim in the air without drowning.” (TN: can’t swim)
Taking advantage of the fact that his body is transparent and that the other patients can’t see him, the high school boy with silver hair and red eyes performs butterfly strokes in the sky above the hospital room – Yuiru urges him to continue the story.
“Who’s dropping the scalpels?”
“If we knew that, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
“You can just fool them with your pretty face.”
“Have your eyes finally gone blind? There’s no way a forty-year-old man with thick black hair like me would be popular.”
Otoya denies it, but Houzuki doesn’t think so.
Because Otoya is actually a very popular biology teacher at XX High School. He’s praised exclusively by the female students, who say things like “I love those languid eyes” or “He’s tall and surprisingly well-toned.”
Anyway, that’s beside the point.
“What is the ghost in the morgue doing after dropping the scalpel?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, anyway…”
“Apparently, the nurses who patrolled the morgue are quitting the hospital one after another. That’s why patrolling the basement floor is considered taboo for nurses, and it’s off-limits.”
That makes sense, Houzuki agreed.
This means there’s no way to find out the truth. The only way is to see it with her own eyes, but if she enters the forbidden basement floor without permission, she’ll get in trouble with the police.
But Houzuki doesn’t have the ability to persuade the hospital. She’s not that good at talking, and it would be no use to say “I can see ghosts and exorcise them, so please show me the morgue.”
Yuiru, who has become interested in the ghost in the morgue, approaches her with sparkling red eyes, saying, “Houzuki!!”
“I’ll go ea-, no, look at the ghost in the morgue by all means!!.”
“You were just about to say “eat”, weren’t you?”
“Maybe you misheard?”
Yuiru laughed as hard as he could to brush it off,
“More importantly, we need to get into the basement first.”
“Have a nice trip.”
“Why, Houzuki? I can’t go anywhere unless you go to the basement too.”
“Isn’t it okay for me to not go this time? Besides, I don’t want to get the police involved by going to a restricted floor.”
Houzuki has no parents or other relatives, so even if the police take care of her, no relatives will come to pick her up. She will definitely be sent to an orphanage, or as it is a first offense, he will probably just be given a stern warning.
Anyway, this time she cannot go with him. It would be better if Yuiru, a ghost whose body is transparent and no one notices, went alone.
Yuiru probably wants Houzuki to accompany him because he wants to take advantage of Houzuki’s unique constitution. Houzuki has a constitution that allows her to attract ghosts, so he actively takes her to haunted places to provide food for Yuiru.
“Without you, the ghosts might not show up. I’d end up missing out on food!!”
“But it’s not possible, because this time it’s in a restricted area. If the hospital says anything, we’ll end up getting the police involved…”
Suddenly, “What!!” a nurse’s voice came from outside the hospital room, Yuiru reacted quickly and crawled out of the room. Houzuki hurriedly followed Yuiru out of the room as well, to make sure he didn’t do anything dangerous.
However, he wasn’t playing pranks or causing trouble to ordinary people. He was simply listening with interest to a conversation between two nurses who were apparently having an argument.
“No, I don’t want to. Why on the basement floor…”
“It’s daytime right now, so it’s fine. Okay? You just need to put this away in the storeroom.”
“But the basement floor is famous for being haunted, isn’t it? I’d hate for something to happen…”
It seemed the older nurse was asking the younger nurse to put away some testing equipment, and it seemed the place for her to go was the storehouse in the basement.
The basement was where the ghost in question haunted. The ghost haunted the morgue, but she probably still wanted to avoid going to the basement if possible. The young nurse looked genuinely unwilling.
Yuiru pointed at the young nurse and said,
“Houzuki, now’s the time. Let’s negotiate and go to the basement floor.”
“…”
Houzuki had a reluctant look on his face.
What should he say to the young nurse? Should he say, “Shall I come with you?”
It would be nice if they accepted it just like that, but she thinks people who aren’t wary of someone they’ve just met are credulous. Houzuki absolutely doesn’t want to.
However, Yuiru urges her from the partition, “Hurry, hurry!”
“Uh, excuse me.”
“Yes, do you need something?”
When Houzuki spoke, the two nurses immediately smiled and responded. Were they in the sales department or something?
Just thinking about distorting their smiles now made her feel heavy.
Ignoring Yuiru, who was giving her an expectant look, Houzuki began to speak.
“Um, my family is a family of shrine maidens who are good at exorcisms and the like.”
Unable to smile politely, Houzuki smiled strangely,
“If you don’t mind, um, can I go to the basement floor with you? And then I’ll… perhaps exorcise the ghost.”
The nurses’ reaction to her words was,
“Really? Please do!”
“Yesh.” (TN: like a fumbled yes)
An answer that Houzuki hadn’t expected came flying.
