Chapter 5: Inside the house
―― There’s a woman in the house.
The man was single.
Earning a modest salary, he chose this room when looking for a place to live, opting for the cheapest rent possible.
It was a rundown apartment that seemed like it would be blown away in a typhoon, the ground-floor unit, Room 1.
It was what you might call a corner room. Normally, it would seem like the landlord would live there, but the landlord lived elsewhere, leaving Room 1 completely vacant. Oddly enough, despite the dilapidated state of this apartment, no other rooms were available.
Well, getting a room for practically free was a blessing in itself.
Kii~… (TN: Creak)
The landlord, who practically gave away the room for free, said there was just one condition.
That was not to touch the three-sided mirror in the room.
In the room that serves as the living room, there’s an old three-sided mirror placed, exuding a solemn atmosphere. Since moving into this room, it has been there, eerie beyond measure.
Because, even without anyone touching it, it opens by itself.
Thunk…
Someone sits on the chair placed in front of the three-sided mirror.
It’s the faceless woman.
With unkempt hair, tattered clothes, and limbs bent in strange directions, she is a peculiar sight. Despite her eyes, nose, and mouth being worn away, she remains motionless in front of the three-sided mirror.
She appears when you least expect it, and disappears when you notice her.
The woman in the three-sided mirror is such a eerie ghost.
“――――、――、――――、――”
It’s hard to say exactly when it was that he heard the woman muttering something.
“Not beautiful. Not beautiful.”
The woman sitting in front of the three-sided mirror repeatedly curses, slamming her forehead against the cold surface.
“Not beautiful. Not beautiful. Not beautiful. Not beautiful.”
The man, who could only observe her strange behavior, felt a sense of terror towards the woman who kept repeating “not beautiful” incessantly.
This woman is abnormal.
This woman is not normal.
Although he had sensed that it was a haunted property when he was presented with the condition not to touch the three-sided mirror that was already there, he had never imagined it would be such a dangerous place. It was completely unexpected.
“Hey.”
The woman in the three-sided mirror turns to face him.
Although her face reflected in the mirror was featureless, she now has a proper face.
However, it’s just a plain white face with cuts resembling scars drawn across where her eyes and mouth should be.
The jaggedly torn mouth stretches all the way to her ears on both sides, and the woman sneers.
“Am I beautiful?”
Needless to say, he ran out of the room after that.
☆
“In the house…?”
Houzuki was taken aback.
Not only the faceless monster but also its main body being somewhere else surprised her.
Was it a miracle that she had been safe until now, or was it simply because she had been used to seeing ghosts that she hadn’t noticed? – Houzuki herself was now in various kinds of danger.
The silver-haired, red-eyed male student, Yuiru Enen, spoke with a tone of amusement.
“That’s right, inside the house. Have you been living without noticing anything until now?”
“But… there are so many things here, I don’t know. Where is it?”
“Throughout this entire building.”
Yuiru points his index finger towards the second floor of the apartment building.
In a supposed-to-be sealed-off home, the door was halfway open.
Peeking out from there was a little boy. His face was pale due to the loss of blood, and with hollow eyes, he stared at Houzuki and Yuiru on the first floor.
But it wasn’t just him; other rooms were the same.
Windows and doors were half-opened, with women and men peeking out from them. Like the child before, they also had vacant eyes, looking down at Houzuki and Yuiru.
Jiiー…….
It was a scene that could only be described as eerie.
“What… What is this…”
“In short, this is a ghost apartment, and it seems like your room is the worst of them all.”
Looking up at the poisonous-colored sky, Yuiru said,
“Probably, this place is the boundary between the afterlife and the living world. You were dragged in by that faceless monster and ended up seeing the true form of this ghost apartment. Well, it’s quite an interesting experience.”
“Stop talking so casually! Do something about it!!”
Houzuki lunges at Yuiru.
She was beyond distressed.
She never imagined her apartment would turn into such a disastrous state. She had only been relieved by the slightly cheaper rent, but was this the reason behind it?
“Hahahahaha”, Yuiru laughed out loud.
“Do something? I would love to, but I don’t even know where this place is.”
“How did you even get here!?”
“I was in a frenzy. It’s only natural, considering you’re here to provide me with meals.”
With Yuiru arrogantly uttering such remarks, Houzuki instinctively smacks him on the head, showing no regret or remorse.
The silver-haired, red-eyed male student holds his head in pain, exclaiming, “Ouch, Houzuki!”
But she gracefully ignores him.
She needs to find a way back to the original world. After all, Houzuki doesn’t want to die just yet.
Looking around, she notices the signboard of the apartment.
“Oh.”
The name of the building displayed on the apartment’s signboard was reversed.
“Yuiru.”
“What’s up, violent girl?”
“This place might be inside the mirror.”
It wasn’t just the apartment signboard. Everything from the trash sorting chart and various flyers stuck to the old apartment walls, down to the nameplate, was all reversed.
She hadn’t noticed because she couldn’t see the sun. This place is probably a world inside the mirror.
Yuiru blinks his red eyes and says, “Oh?”
“Do you have any idea about the mirror then?”
“Huh… well, there are mirrors in every house…”
Houzuki swallowed the words that she should have one.
There’s always a three-sided mirror in her home.
The landlord had offered an incredibly cheap rent in exchange for the condition that the three-sided mirror in her room remain untouched and unmoved. It was practically free rent at that point.
Could it be that the three-sided mirror was involved?
“I have a three-sided mirror in my house. The landlord told me not to touch it too.”
“That’s probably the cause.”
Yuiru nods. “Well then, shall we go, Houzuki?”
――It’s time for the main dish.
