Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 5 Chapter 2 (section)

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We went to the van to retrieve thermometers and small blackboards. Following that, together with Substitute Head Yasuhara, who was alone, the three of us went to various rooms to measure the temperature. It is said that in locations where paranormal activities take place, the temperature of that location would be lowered.

We discussed what Ohashi-san had said while we walked.

“Is it really alright~~?”

Substitute Head Yasuhara mumbled while he opened a closet.

“What’s alright?”

“I say… the incident where people disappeared here happened 2 months ago right? If those people got lost in here, they would definitely be already dead.”

“… perhaps.”

“I don’t want to discover corpses while wondering around this place.”

… wu. Don’t mention such unpleasant things.

“And in this type of old building, there are definitely mice around. Do you want to encounter corpses badly eaten away by mice and cockroaches?”

“Stop saying that.”

For me, putting horror aside, I really hate blood.

Bou-san smiled expansively.

“We couldn’t possibly find those bodies while walking around here. The police ‘’have’’ already searched this area.”

“Ah, is it?”

“However, it is also possible that they simply got lost.”

This huge house does indeed have a strange and complicated structure. The corridors twist and wind pointlessly; even the width of the corridors change from wide to narrow randomly. Short flights of stairs appear at random locations, sloping up or down. One would lose sense of direction in an instant.

If we didn’t draw a simple map of the house on the blackboard used to record temperatures, perhaps we too would have gotten lost here.

“Eh~. It feels like playing an RPG.”

Yasuhara said, looked around the irregularly shaped room with walls jutting in and out all over in a # shape. (tl/n: the room was described as having a “井” shape.)

“What is an ‘RPG’?”

“Role Playing Game. Taniyama-san, don’t you play PC games?”

“I don’t have such things. Are they interesting?”

“They are passable, perhaps. The two major games are “DQ” and “FF”. If new products of either game are released around January or February, University would definitely take a second place.”

Hey… hey?

Bou-san poked his head out of a window in a corner.

“Ou~~ Incredible. This window opens into the neighboring room.”

Ah?

It was only a normal window with nothing special – except for the point that the window opened into the next room instead of into the gardens.

“And blinds were also put up…”

“It should have turned out like this because of the renovations or additions… it looks like a weird 3D dungeon.”

While Bou-san said that, Yasuhara suddenly clapped his hands.

“Are you a fan of PC games too? Have you played ‘Megami Tensei’ (女神转生) before?”

“Now that you mention it, I haven’t played it since the second series. When I am immersed in magic and beasts, I lose sight of my original goals.”

“I completely understand.”

But I don’t understand.

I looked somewhat grudgingly at the 2 people talking excitedly while I set up the thermometer. The thermometers we use here aren’t like the alcohol thermometers used in school, I mention that to be prudent.

4 degrees centigrade. The temperature is rather low, similar to all the rooms around this area. I recorded the temperature onto the blackboard. Because I don’t know what room this is, I had assigned numbers to the rooms on the map.

“It’s OK. Let’s head to the next location.”

Even though I said that, even I didn’t know where we had entered from. There were doors at the identical location on all 4 sides of the ‘#’ shaped room, and I didn’t know which door we had entered through. Che. I did ‘’not’’ bring a compass.

“Where did we come in from?”

I asked. Yasuhara and Bou-san pointed to different directions.

Such unreliable fellows.

Opening each door to check, Bou-san said.

“This is practically Winchester (Mystery) House.”

What is that?

Yasuhara replied with a question.

“Is the ‘Winchester’ you mention the Winchester of the Winchester Rifle?”

“What is that?”

Yasuhara pulled his woolen shirt, and told me in a tone unimaginable for the head of “Shibuya Psychic Research”.

“There was a gun of that name amongst the antique guns. Or rather it is still present today. Is it that?”

Bou-san nodded.

“Yes. It is the family home of the Winchesters who invented the Winchester Rifle. I don’t remember too clearly, but it was a strange and complicated house like this one. It had windows that cannot be opened, stairs that lead to nowhere, and doors that were impassible.”

“Ah, exactly the same.”

“Yeah.”

Yasuhara had a strange expression of comprehension.

“I really don’t understand the thinking of rich people. Why do they all like this type of building?”

“Apparently there was a reason for Winchester House. The truth was, if inauspicious events occurred after the construction of the house, it was not completed and renovated endlessly.”

“He~~. Then perhaps there was also some reason for this building.”

“It’d just be a joke of a house if there wasn’t a reason. Ah, this is the one, a room that we haven’t been in before.”

That said, Bou-san randomly opened a tall door.