Chapter 5: The Scalpel in the Morgue
“Just not, something-“
Before Houzuki could say “I heard a sound,” Yuiru rushed into the morgue.
“Hey, Yuiru, wait up!!”
“What, wh, what? Wait, don’t leave me behind!!”
Leaving the young nurse behind, Houzuki chases after Yuiru.
As a ghost, Yuiru slips through the morgue door, and Houzuki chases after him and opens the door.
The inside of the morgue is extremely damp, and there is only a pedestal for placing patients who have died at the hospital. It does not appear to be in use at the moment, and a desolate atmosphere hangs over it.
A shining silver blade had fallen on the linoleum floor.
“A scalpel…”
Otoya had said that a scalpel had been found in the morgue.
When Houzuki picked up the scalpel, the young nurse who had followed her let out a high-pitched shriek, “Hiih.”
Her gaze was fixed on the scalpel held in Houzuki’s hand. It seemed she too was aware of the rumor that scalpels were found in mortuaries.
Houzuki handed the brand new scalpel to the young nurse,
“Here, I’ll give this back to you.”
“Uh, okay.”
The young nurse took the brand new scalpel from Houzuki and said,
“Hey, hey. Do you see anything here? I can’t see anything.”
“Um…”
Houzuki looks around.
The only ghost that can be seen in the morgue is Yuiru Enen, the high school boy with silver hair and red eyes who has possessed Houzuki. He walks around the morgue, looking for the ghost that dropped the scalpel.
Seeing Yuiru sitting on the pedestal and folding his arms as he says “Hmm,” Houzuki realizes that he has noticed something. However, if she continues to talk to Yuiru, the young nurse will become even more frightened, so she will ask the slightly younger nurse to keep quiet.
“Excuse me.”
“Wha, what?”
“I’m sorry but I want to talk to a ghost so can you please cover your ears??
“I, I understand.”
The young nurse immediately nodded and covered her ears so she couldn’t hear what she was saying. Now she felt relieved.
“Yuiru, did you find out anything?”
“Hm, sort of.”
Yuiru sat on the pedestal in the morgue, swinging his legs back and forth as he spoke.
“It certainly smelled delicious until I heard the sound of the scalpel falling. But the moment I jumped into the morgue, it was gone.”
“You mean it ran away?”
“Maybe.”
Pouting in boredom, Yuiru says,
“It might reappear once night comes. For ghosts, night is the time to rampage, so the ghost in the morgue will be active as well.”
“Then, do you want to wait until it’s night?”
“Oh?”
Yuiru blinked his red eyes at Houzuki’s suggestion.
“That’s unusual, Houzuki. You were saying you didn’t want to get the police involved.”
“But I feel sorry that the nurses won’t be able to work. And I also said that I will exorcise the ghost.”
“That’s also true.”
Yuiru laughed with genuine amusement,
“Okay, Houzuki, negotiate to see if you can accompany them on their late-night patrols.”
“… Think about what to do if that doesn’t work.”
Houzuki glared at Yuiru who said this in a light tone, then tapped the shoulder of the young nurse who had covered her ears and was not looking at Houzuki.
The young nurse, with an obviously surprised look on her face, asked, “Wh-what? Are you done?” She seemed to want to get out of the morgue quickly.
Will this go well, Houzuki wondered. But she couldn’t let her guard down.
“The ghost that dropped the scalpel wasn’t there. It’s probably because it’s still daytime that it won’t come out.”
“What? Then what will we do? You can’t exorcise it!?”
The young nurse cried out in a panic, and Houzuki continued, “So…”
“I was wondering if I could accompany you on night patrols.”
“What, but if that’s the case…”
“If I can’t accompany you on patrols, could you give me permission to enter the basement floor late at night? That should solve the problem.”
If that doesn’t work, she’ll have Yuiru charge into the morgue alone. From here on, it’s beyond Houzuki’s power.
The young nurse thought for a moment, and then replied, “I understand.”
Just when she thought things would go so smoothly, she said,
“But let me talk to the head nurse about this. We want this problem solved as soon as possible. As soon as they looked around the basement floor, nurses started quitting one after another, so we don’t have enough staff and everyone is in trouble.”
“Yes, please do that.”
Perhaps she needs to get her superiors on board after all. Well, it’s not a problem that a young girl can solve on her own, but it seems the hospital wants to get the morgue issue resolved as soon as possible.
It seemed like the matter was coming to an end, and Yuiru was jumping up and down behind Houzuki, saying, “Yay, we’re having dinner at the hospital tonight.” Though it hadn’t been decided yet, he sounded as if it was already decided.
The young nurse called out, “Shall we head back then?”, and Houzuki responded.
“…?”
The moment the door to the morgue closed, a familiar sound once again reached his ears.
Kashan, kasha~n.
Houzuki didn’t reopen the door of the morgue. Yuiru also seemed curious but after deciding for a revenge match tonight, he also gave up this time.
Houzuki chased after the young nurse who quickly left the morgue, and heard that sound again from the other side of the morgue door.
The sound of a scalpel falling.
Kashan, kashan.
Kashan, kashan.
The truth of who dropped the scalpel and why will probably be revealed in the night.
