Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 6 Chapter 1 (section)

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Then after about an hour, Naru, the center of the confusion, returned. As usual, dressed in black from head to toe, his looks alone are excessively good. Although black clothing is stifling in the summer, Naru looks strangely cool wearing it.

Like he always is when he returns from his travel of an unknown purpose, Naru was in a remarkably bad mood. When he saw the two outsiders in the office waving, he openly frowned.

“What do you want today?”

His voice was thoroughly cruel. Despite this, neither Ayako, nor Bou-san, seemed to have answers.

“Well, I was in the neighborhood.”

“That’s right. I was just shopping—”

Naru gazed coldly.

“Every time with the same excuse, you can’t get enough of it, can you?”

“Ahahahaー”

...whoaa. He’s in an unexpectedly foul mood today.

Taka and I were already attempting to flee from enemy fire on account of letting sleeping dogs lie, however Ayako was as resilient as ever.

“Hey, Naru. I heard an interesting story.”

“And you want me to listen?”

Ayako leaned her face towards Naru, who sunk back on the sofa.

“Right. I heard there wasn’t a ‘child before.’”

Naru looked at Ayako with a questioning look.

“Even though you told Mai ‘the child before quit,’ in truth, there wasn’t a ‘child before’. Why would you tell her that? Surprisingly, you’re kind to Mai, aren’t you?”

Naru was expressionless. While directing a cold gaze, he spoke without hesitation.

“Are you jealous?”

Ayako reddened noticeably.

“Wait aー! Who, me?!”

''Of course.'' Ayako is no match for Naru.

“It’s because I have a kind nature.”

“Yeah, right!”

“Oh, it doesn’t appear so? Don’t I always kindly listen to your inane conversation?”

Ayako put on a smile, her face twitching.

“Aren’t you actually interested in Mai?”

...ummmmmm.

In response, Naru smiled sweetly. Like a flower, I’d like to say, but it’s disturbing since his eyes aren’t smiling.

“I’ll offer you a denial. Because it’s pathetic when you get sick with too much shock. Aren’t I kind?”

This—this narcissist.

Looking at Ayako, as one would expect, she was struck speechless, her mouth agape. Then Naru said,

“Mai.”

“Y-yes!”

“There seems to be a customer. Please receive them.”

When I looked back in haste, the figure of a person could be seen peering inside from the opposite side of the door. I hurried to the door while inwardly breaking into a cold sweat.

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At the entrance stood a man of about twenty years of age and a girl around kindergarten age.

“Yes?”

I switched to a business smile as I opened the door.

“Excuse me, I don’t know how I should say this, but… you’re spiritualists, right?”

Pulling the hand of the girl, he came into the office. He had a very quiet voice.

“We’re a little different from spiritualists. Do you have a request?”

He nodded, then looked down at the girl.

“I would like you to examine this child.”

The girl was wearing a shirt with a sailor collar, and her neck was bandaged.

“Well...”

I looked back at Naru. There are some spiritualists that will treat illnesses, but in the case of ‘Shibuya Psychic Research’, that sort of thing is outside our area of expertise. Furthermore, in our case, we’re very different from spiritualists.

As I was thinking that, Naru frankly replied,

“I think you should go to the hospital if you need treatment for an illness.”

Being said as such, the man’s eyes grew wide a little bit in surprise. Then, he gently smiled.

“I agree....but, I don’t think it’s an ordinary illness.”

Naru stood up.

“Is there an illness?”

“No.”

“First of all, you should consult a doctor.”

Naru’s voice seemed blatantly irritated. Hearing Naru, the girl looked up at the man.

“I hate hospitals.”

He smiled.

“It’s alright. We’re not going to the hospital.”

“Is this a hospital?”

“It’s different, Hazuki. You don’t smell medicine, do you?”

The girl nodded, but was still uneasy. She firmly clung to his arm as she looked around the office.

“Naru-chan.”

The one who interrupted was Bou-san.

“It’s alright if we examine her, right? In particular, it won’t take long, so there’s no reason to be so impatient, is there?”

Glancing at Bou-san, Naru lightly sighed. He offered the two the sofa.

“Please sit. —Takahashi-san, please serve tea.”

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The man’s name was Yoshimi Akifumi-san. The girl’s was Yoshimi Hazuki-chan. She’s his niece. After introducing himself, he began to unwind the bandage that was around Hazuki-chan’s neck. From beneath the gauze appeared a sort of red eczema on her throat. It was simply a red line straight across the middle of her throat. Blood lightly seeped out of the sore skin.

“It looks like a skin disease.”

When Naru said that, Akifumi-san turned Hazuki-chan sideways.

“It’s around her entire neck.”

True to his words, the line went around her neck. A band of eczema, the width of about a centimeter, was around her neck. It was somewhat creepy. It looked like a wound. As though to cut the neck directly horizontal.

“It doesn’t seem painful at all, and it seems there’s no itch.”

“It’s not a rash from something?”

Akifumi-san shook his head ‘no’.

“If it was only that, I would have taken her to the hospital, but it’s also on her back.”

After he said so, Akifumi-san turned to Hazuki-chan.

“Hazuki, excuse me.”

After speaking, he opened Hazuki-chan’s shirt and dropped it from her shoulders. Looking at her small white back, I unconsciously spoke aloud.

“What… is this?”

Similar to the eczema that was on her neck, there was a line on her back. Something like this can’t possibly be a skin disease.It looked like nothing but characters. As if written with a brush, there were the kanji, ‘喘月院落獄童女.’

“...that’s terrible.”

It was Bou-san who said that in a low voice.

“What?”

“This is… a Kaimyou, isn’t it?

“Kaimyou, isn’t that a name given to a dead person?”

Bou-san made an unusually serious expression.

“Right…. this guy is malicious.”

“Malicious?”

“‘喘月’ means the foolishness of fearing something too much. ‘落獄’ would mean descend into hell. —Yoshimi-san, please dress the young lady.”

Descend into hell? What kind of Kaimyou is that?

“‘童女’ is given to girls. It’s a Kaimyou someone made with malicious intent. —It means, ‘This foolish child will descend into hell.’”

...this foolish child…

“‘月’ in ‘喘月’ is probably taken from the character in ‘葉月(Hazuki).’ This is a Kaimyou for this child.”