Places And People (2)

      After a few hours, he opens his eyes and jerks up realising that he had slept off while thinking about something which he couldn’t remember since he just woke up. He looks around and then sees Ayame studying on her table. He then asks in a daze-

“W-who are you?! Have you finally come for me… demon!?”

“What the hell is wrong with you? First, you sleep in my room and then you wake up to say stuff like that… What is wrong with you?” and she continues to study.

     Thinking about the phone call he got, he gets out of bed and says in a hurry-

“I’m gonna go see a doctor. I completely forgot about my nose. I need to check it.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Middle of the night? How long was I sleeping?”

“When I returned and entered my room thinking nobody was there… I took off a layer of my clothes then realised you were there so I changed back…”

“Haha. Alright I get that I slept for a fair amount of time. Thank you and sorry for making you worry… God!” Says Akihiko while leaving the room and heading for the front door.

     He wears his shoes and gets ready to leave.

“Alright! I’m all set for an adventure!”

“You sure? Going alone in the middle of the night to meet that person?”

“So you did catch on… Yes. I do feel that going alone will not put your family in trouble in case something does happen.”

“Hmm~ Alright. See ya then!”

“Yep! Take care!” says Akihiko and leaves the house.

     While walking on the streets in the dark he switches his phone on to see where the location for meeting them was. He follows the directions given by the unknown caller and reaches the location.

      A building with an eerie atmosphere surrounding it was in front of him. That was the location of the unknown caller.

“I really don’t feel like doing this. I feel like I’m some reporter from some video game…” he says and hesitatingly enters the building.

     The building was abandoned. The inside of the building was not what he had expected it to be. The reception was a mess and the lights were blinking. Everything was destroyed in there and it looked like he had to climb up the stairs.

“The elevator probably won’t work so… it’s stairs then.” Says Akihiko while slowly climbing up the stairs.

     There were at least 6 floors in that building since Akihiko had to climb 5 flights of stairs. Of course, he checked each and every floor for them. Although there was not much there, he took that little extra effort to look for them. On reaching the 6^th floor, he walks in the corridor and the light bulbs on that floor start to light up one by one leading him to a door at the end of the hallway.

“This reminds me of a boss battle from some game… What was it again…? Hmm…” he thinks to himself while walking towards the door at the end of the hallway.

     On reaching the door he hears the sound of rubble behind him so he immediately turns back but doesn’t see anyone.

“Weird.” And sees his shadow flicker in the dim light.

      Opening the door in front of him, he finds himself to be in someone’s house the very next instant. He turns around and sees a different door than the one he saw in the building.

“What?” he says with a very confused face.

“He’s here!”

“If he is then shouldn’t you be leading him in here?”

“Tch.”

“Oye. I’ll give you less food.”

“Okay…” says one of the two voices and a small kid comes from one of the rooms with a lollipop in his mouth to Akihiko.

      Akihiko who was still confused sees the kid and asks-

“Now, what? Did you call me?”

“Of course not, you idiot. Think about it a bit will you? Idiots everywhere… Follow me.” He says and walks toward the room where he came from.

     Akihiko follows him without saying anything and then he sees a man setting the table for a meal.

“Oh! You’re here. And here I was thinking that you were still under the impression of me being a salesman scammer. Haha!”

“You were the one who called me! I remember your voice… But why do I feel like I’ve heard it from somewhere?”

“Leave that thinking aside and have some ramen!” he says and keeps three bowls of freshly made ramen on the table.

     Akihiko sees the appetizing ramen and shamelessly dives in to eat it. The other two on seeing how gung-ho he was, join him and start eating their dinner.

     After their meal Akihiko who had enjoyed his meal says-

“You both are pretty good people. I guess I was in the wrong for thinking about you that way.”

“Don’t mind it. Anybody would’ve thought the same thing.”

“Oh, alright then! Now….” Says Akihiko with a serious face and continues, “You called me regarding that thing and how it ruined my life, no?”

“You read into the situation too quickly. That’s not at all the reason why I contacted you. I merely contacted you because we need more personnel.”

“Personnel for?”

“Our comp- “

“Group!” says the child sitting on the chair.

“It’s a company.”

“With two people?”

“…”

“We’ve had this conversation before as well. Just call it a group from now on and don’t embarrass yourself.”

     Akihiko was shocked on seeing the kid speak that way to the man in front of him and he says-

“Kids aren’t supposed to talk to elders that way! Shame on you! And what kind of parent are you, letting your child talk like that?”

      They both start laughing on hearing him say that and the man says-

“He isn’t my kid… He’s just a brat who works with me.”

“Even though I look like this, in reality I am 25 years old. I’m just letting you know.

“Oh, right. Before all of that, I had to introduce ourselves. We both are part of the Hunter community and we specialize in hunting creatures from stories.”

“Just say spirits. It’ll be easier for him to understand.”

“Right. So, I am Yasuhiro Ritsu and this brat is…”

“I’m Seirei.”

“You don’t have a last name?”

“No. I wasn’t born with one. Why? Is there a problem?” he says while licking his lollipop.

“No. I thought that you both were related so…”

“So you thought I’d have the same last name as this guy. Well, can’t say I wouldn’t think of it.”

“You can stop being so blunt now brat… At least think about my feelings…” he says and snaps his fingers.

     The scenery changes and Akihiko finds himself in a small office room. Yasuhiro takes a seat on the chair behind the table while Seirei was seated on the couch next to Akihiko.

“Now, take a seat. I shall explain about the situation that has occurred currently.”

     He seats himself on the chair in front of the table and the conversation starts.

“We were actually hunting that yokai for some years now… You probably wouldn’t know the term ‘hunting’ here. Or do you?”

“No. I do not.”

“Okay. I’ll explain it in simple terms. There are three categories under which people or humans in general fall under… The cast, the off-cast and the hunters. Well, only if you’re out of your mind will you take the hunting route. My point being that the cast can interact with spirits, dead people, apparitions if they have not passed into the afterlife and they decide to stick around as a rumour. The off-cast are those idiots who can’t see these apparitions and they decide to use external devices like an Ouija board to disturb the dead. If these people are possessed then that can either take a turn for the worst or nothing will happen, the person who summoned the apparition will just die.”

“So they just die? How is death such a simple term for you?”

“Kid, you’re yet to see the underworld to talk like that. You just get used to it. That’s how our jobs are.”

“So, you play detectives while taking out these apparitions? These ‘Yokai’?”

“Coming to that topic… Yokai in specific have traits that apparitions don’t. They interfere with the human world. And by interfere I don’t mean teasing people or pulling pranks… They kill for either entertainment or just for the sake for it.”

“Well, I’ve experienced something of the sort so go on.”

“Yes, now we come to the main point. The one that ruined your life… the ‘Akaname’ (Filth licker) is the one we’ve been chasing around for a few years prior to your incident. At some point we gave up on it and decided to hunt something else but nothing ever showed up so we had to stick to it. After some research we finally found some leads on it. And because of that we did get the leads to the other ‘Yokai’ who were lurking in the darkness as well. I think there were at least 15 back then when we found a lead on the Akaname.”

“Wait. Are you sure it was the Akaname?”

“What do you mean? It hung from the ceiling, right?”

“Yes but it used me like a doll.”

“A doll? Then maybe it wasn’t an Akaname. What’s your say brat?”

“It could even be a ‘Tenjoname’ (Ceiling licker) for all I care I just want those apparitions to die.” And he continues to read a magazine which was kept on the table.

“No… Just no! Why is it just another licker? I mean it was on the ceiling but not like that.”

“Then how?”

“How?”

“Hm… How should I put it?” Akihiko thinks really hard to himself and then a voice comes from, “It was probably a ‘Tenjokudari’ (Ceiling-hanger).”

     Akihiko suddenly speaks as if something had clicked and says-

“Yes! Exactly something like that!” and sees Ayame walking from behind him.

“Eh?”

“Surprised that I followed you?”