Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 8 Chapter 10 (section)

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Having finished the meal, we chased the three men out and tidied up.

“I wonder if anyone will hire me to work part-time.”

When I said this, Ayako, who was drying the cups, gave a wry smile. 

“I could hire you, but I can’t pay you a part-time wage as much as ‘Shibuya Psychic Research.’”

Ah. I see. I can understand that.

“It was exceptionally good. —Do you make a living as a spiritualist alone, Ayako?”

“More or less. If it’s not enough, my parents give me money.”

“I see. You’re a rich person. There’s no need for you to try to marry into money.”

Ayako gave a brief laugh.

“Greatness is comparative. Even though my family has a villa, there’s no yacht. Hohoho.”

“Extravagant person.”

“I’m an extravagant woman. Unlike you.”

“[[Ghost_Hunt:Volume8_Translator's_Notes#Nya|Nya]]!”

“Ho-hohohoho!”

“Aren’t you an only child? Does your family not have a successor?”

“I wish my parents would adopt a rich doctor as a son-in-law who’s a good-looking and well-rounded person.”

I looked at Ayako incredulously.

“You really are an extravagant person.”

“Japan is a country where there’s a gap between the rich and poor. Don’t you know that?”

“I know it now. —Masako, what about you? Do you have any siblings?”

Masako, who was putting away the cups, blinked her eyes.

“I have none. What are you up to?”

“Investigating personal histories. After thinking about it carefully, I don’t know anything about you guys.”

“Is that so...”

“It is. After the office is closed, it’s possible I won’t see everyone again. Therefore, I thought I should ask before it’s too late.”

“We cannot meet if the office is closed? Why is that?”

“Isn’t that so?”

“I wonder if it is.”

I sighed.

“I don’t know your house or telephone number, Masako.”

“I don’t know your contact information, either, Mai.”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“But you’ll know it if you ask, right?”

“If I ask, will you tell me?”

Masako sighed. A moment later, she abruptly turned her back on me and went back to the room.

“Mai-chan will be lonely, huh?”

Ayako laughed.

“Yeah. I’ll be lonely. I’ve gotten used to being bullied by everyone and if I don’t get bullied, my body will feel like there’s something missing.”

“What have you mistaken for bullying? If I win the heart of a son from a distinguished family of some kind of large business and get married, I may take you along as a lady-in-waiting.”

“You won’t have a single boyfriend due to an overambitious aim like that.”

“Shut up!”

Ultimately, it might be classified as a business association.

Sighing deeply, I failed to notice the sound of Masako’s footsteps as she returned.

“Mai.”

“Huh?”

Masako grabbed my hand.

“Masako?”

“...”

“J-Just a minute! What are you doing?”

“...”

“Hey! Just a minute, hold on!”

“Here you are.”

Masako held up a magic marker and grinned. Ayako burst out laughing.

“...what were you thinking, Masako?”

“My address and phone number.”

“Do you usually write it on other people’s arms?”

“Oh, you would have prefered it if I wrote it on your shirt, I wonder?”

“I say!”

I looked at my arm incredulously. With such large characters… Oh!

“Put out your hand!”

“I refuse.”

“Then I’ll write on your kimono.”

“I refuse that, too.”

This girl really doesn’t have a good personality.

“Alright, alright. I get it.”

“There’s notepaper in the room, you know.”

“...”

“You’re embarrassed to exchange addresses formally, aren’t you?”

Yup. I understand perfectly why Masako would write on a person’s arm. She’s fiercely embarrassed to write it on notepaper and say something like, ‘Keep in touch!’ This isn’t limited to Masako, either. Such is the kind of embarrassed relationship we have.

“Surely everyone thinks so, too!”

“Is that so?”

“At least, I did. Even though I thought about sending out New Year’s cards, I was embarrassed to ask for addresses, so I gave up.”

Ah, indeed. There’s the custom of New Year’s cards.

“John said so, too.”

Ayako told us.

“Really?”

“He said he thought about sending out cards at Christmas, but felt it was kind of strange to ask for addresses after all this time.”

Well, that’s true. I guess.

“It’s a strange relationship.”

“It is, huh?”

“That’s right.”