Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 5 Chapter 2 (section)

===6===

After many trials we had finally completed the floor plan of the first floor. By then it was almost 11:30. When we got back to base we handed the completed part of the plan to Lin-san, who entered it into the computer. In the mean time we ate lunch very hurriedly, and after agreeing to meet again at around 3 o’clock teatime, we set off once more on our Mansion Exploration Journey.

In the morning, when we started our investigation, the other psychics were all asleep; they had finally risen one by one and started their investigations. A man with a white beard hanging down to his chest held a rosary made up of beads that were as large as a fist and walked around chanting. 

“Who is that?”

I asked Bou-san while we mounted the stairs.

“Don’t ask me.”

Yeah.

“Isn’t he Mihashi-san from the xxx association?” (tl/n: the Chinese script doesn’t re-state the name of the association. I’m not sure if it was meant that Yasuhara remembers the names of the people but not the association they are from, or if the Japanese to Chinese translator was being lazy. Either way, I don’t suppose the names of the associations are all that important.)

It was Substitute Head Yasuhara who answered.

“Oh oh, no wonder you’re a freshman at an institute of the highest level of education. Such a clever boy.”

“You really know how to exaggerate, aren’t you a university graduate yourself, Takigawa-san?”

The university graduate in question is…

“Bou-san has graduated university?!”

Bou-san showed a very unhappy expression.

“Is the fact that I hold a bachelor degree from a university something that is so strange, ai?”

“No… ha ha. Even Bou-san had gone to university.”

“I say, in Japan they let monks attend university.”

“He~~”

That was really surprising.

“What do you all do in university? Do you practice chanting scriptures and stuff like that?”

“… this, this type of thing is also done.”

“Like if you don’t wear a Kesa you can’t attend school etc.”

I say, Bou-san looked like he was in agony.

“Miss, there are also females in the university for monks. Also, they teach English, and German, Mathematics and also Physical Education. Understand?”

“Oh~~”

Incomprehensible. What type of university is it? Let me think about it a little.

Yasuhara, also looking like he did not understand, said,

“Are there early lessons in the morning as usual? Look, don’t Catholic schools in some places hold Mass or something in the mornings, right?”

“Are there still this type of schools today? My school wasn’t very religious. At most the tea served in the canteen on Hanamatsuri (Vesak Day, or Buddah’s Birthday) would be sweet tea.”

“That doesn’t count-”

“Stra, strange…”

That escaped my mouth unconsciously. Eat a bento together with sweet tea? I feel that their flavors don’t match~~.

“Unnecessary nonsense. --?”

Bou-san stopped at the turn of the corridor on the second floor.

The northerly corridor on the second floor was very narrow. Hence we ran into Bou-san’s back.

“Ouch. What’s up?”

Bou-san silently looked down the corridor. There were 4 figures there. Of those two people were squatting on the floor with their foreheads touching the ground, going in circles. Standing aside watching these was the man over thirty, and Ohashi-san.

“… who?”

I secretly asked Yasuhara.

“Isn’t that 圣-san of the xxx association?”

Yasuhara replied immediately. Yasuhara is really clever.

The two squatting persons made circles that were the full width of the corridor, there was no way to pass. Just as we were looking at these, troubled, 圣-san lifted his head and looked our way.

“You can’t pass this way.”

A smile of ridicule was beneath his moustache.

“Just as you can see, an important revelation is about to occur.”

… ah.

When I was smiling vaguely, somebody shook my shoulder form behind. Turning back, Yasuhara was making the sign to retreat. I nodded then everyone returned to the corridor we had come from.

There are various types of psychics, aren’t there. Fortunately there isn’t anybody amongst our members who does such embarrassing things…


The four of us, armed with tape measures, measured each room in sequence. What I knew after completing the measurements for the first and second floors was that the interior of this building had a lot of strange rooms. Entering the building, the rooms inside did not have things called windows. Even when there was, if it didn’t open into the next room, it opened into a wall. Even though there was electrical lights in the interior rooms, most of them were pointless bulbs, so we could only rely on the two torches we carried.

“The previous generation that renovated this place, never intended to live here at all.”

Bou-san used the torch to illuminate the surrounds of the room. This was a room about 4 tatamis large. Only a door to what was apparently a regular storeroom could be seen. There was no furniture.

“Exactly. I don’t think that anyone would want to live in this type of room.”

Yasuhara looked around the room.

Indeed, the narrow room without windows and lights is very stifling. If it were me, I wouldn’t stay in this room for even one day. – But if the rent was free I would consider it.

The second floor was more or less complete before the 3 o’clock tea time, so we returned to meet at the base. While Lin-san entered the details of the recent investigation into the computer, we sat down to have tea. Ohashi-san and his staff presented cakes and sandwiches etc; this touched us greatly.

“Talking about it, it really is a very large house.”

Ayako looked around. There was no one in the Dining Room besides us. 

“Aren’t there around 20 people running all over this house? But I practically did not meet anyone.”

“Exactly. We met a few, that~~, Mihashi-san and 圣-san.”

“We met him also, that 圣. Because Masako was mocking them, a fight nearly broke out.”

… was there such a thing.

“And then, we also met a don’t-know-what’s-his-name-san. It was like he was carrying some machine and walking.”

“He~~”

After finishing tea, we set out once more to construct the floor plan. When we got to the third floor and was measuring a room, we met a bald man coming from the entrance to the attics.

It was the monk called Imura, Yasuhara told me.

“People from Shibuya Psychic Research?”

“Yes, we are.”

Yasuhara, representing us, lowered his head.

“Collecting children one by one – can that have any use at all?”

It was such a vulgar tone, but Yasuhara took no notice of it at all. He smiled and spoke, tilting his head as though he was speaking of someone else.

“Who knows how it is. We will try our best.”

“What psychics talk about is experience. What can little children do?”

Yasuhara nodded like a model student observed by a teacher.

“We will try even harder.”

Imura sneered.

“How old are you?”

Like a model student, Yasuhara answered smartly.

“Me? I am already 332 years old this year.”

… poo.

Imura-san was momentarily stunned. Then his face turned completely red.

“Whatever, you fellow, do you take me for an idiot?”

“Not at all. Because longevity runs in my family.”

Yasuhara smiled a model student smile.

“What year were you born, tell me.”

“Ai, me? I was born in the 8th year of Hooreki. Or according to the Sexagenary cycle, the Boin(戊寅) year.”

Ah la ~~, how clever.

“You are just talking nonsense here.”

Imura-san glared at Yasuhara, but Yasuhara didn’t look the least concerned.

“How annoying, you doubt the words of your elders. When I was young, if I spoke such to my elders I would get a beating. Ai ya, young people these days are really fortunate~~.”

… poo poo.

“Talking about my youth, I have experienced the Great Tenmei Famine. Youth these days don’t know what famine is like~~.”

… poo poo poo.

“Recently there was some uproar about trade friction between Japan and America; when I was young we were still fighting about whether or not to open the country’s borders. Really, at that time I thought that the future was pitch-black.”

Ignoring Imura-san, who was gnashing his teeth while glaring at him, Yasuhara nodded to himself and continued speaking.

“… Every time I speak of these things, I would get scolded by my parents. They say things like ‘you’re clearly just a green child but you sound like it is crystal clear’. How should I put it, my parents were born around the Kenmu era. Their pet phrases are ‘the Onin war was such a catastrophe’, ‘young people nowadays really don’t understand hard work’ etc. And if my grandfather were to speak, he would probably say that ‘’that’’ was nothing compared to the Genpei War or something. My grandmother on my father’s side would then say only the Jinshin War was really scary. Hey, hey, are you listening?”

Imura-san’s shoulders were shaking; he didn’t have the opportunity to shout.

“My great-great-grandmother on my mother’s side had her home burnt during the fall of the Yamataikoku. Until she passed away she has always said that it was very sad, it really was etc. – Aiya? Imura-san, where are you going? And then, there’s my great-great-great-grandfather on my father’s side~~”

Face completely blank, Imura-san stomped back to the corridor.

When Imura-san’s figure couldn’t be seen anymore, needless to say we all burst out in laughter.