Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 8 Chapter 14 (section)

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Why is Mori-san here?

I soon understood why. Heedlessly following after Naru, who hurriedly went toward Mori-san, I caught sight of three people who were a little distance off.

—That’s…

Two people were talking with Lin-san. A middle-aged man and woman. Moreover…

I unconsciously stopped walking.

They’re f-foreigners…

—Why are foreigners here?

I felt as though I vaguely understood the answer. This was actually soon confirmed given that Naru rushed directly over to the pair.

The woman hugged Naru close. The man also put his arm around Naru’s shoulders.

It was obvious who could do something like that without fear.

“Long time no see.”

Mori-san suddenly appeared beside me.

“It has been a while. —Mori-san, are those people Naru’s mother and father…?”

After smiling softly, Mori-san looked at Lin-san, who had similarly appeared beside me unnoticed.

“—I wonder if it’s okay to introduce them?”

Lin-san nodded to her question.

“Good. —Taniyama-san, I’ll introduce you. A little later.”

I see. That time Lin-san said, “I heard they’ll depart from over there soon,” he was talking about Naru’s parents... 

I don’t know how long it takes to travel from England to Japan. Still, I definitely think it was probably a very difficult trip. This place is where the body of their missing son is resting. Due to that fact, they’re reuniting with their other son who otherwise wouldn’t live separately in such a distant foreign country.

“Is everyone well?”

“Yes.”

“I see. Then, maybe I should go briefly welcome them.”

Mori-san momentarily looked off to the side, so I looked in the same direction. Naru’s mother seemed to be crying.

“Let’s not disturb them.”

“You’re right.”

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When I returned to the bungalow with Mori-san, everyone was still there hanging around.

“Mori-san!”

“Wow!”

“Long time no see!”

Mori-san smiled at everyone’s voices and spent some time catching up with them.

“What brings you back all of a sudden?”

In response to Bou-san’s question, she explained that she was acting as a guide for Naru’s parents. While everyone was chatting animatedly, I pulled Masako aside.

“Hey, hey.”

“What’s wrong?”

“At one point, when you were captured, didn’t Naru go to where you were and cheer you up?”

After covertly looking around for a moment, Masako spoke in a hushed voice.

“...Yes. What about it?”

“Did you know that wasn’t Naru?”

“It was Naru.”

“No. It was his older brother.”

“That’s not possible. Because it was Naru.”

Yeah, I understand the feeling of saying that.

“No, it was his older brother… his twin.”

“Twin!?”

Masako cried out and the voices behind her suddenly stopped.

“Who are twins?”

Yasuhara-san asked and Mori-san laughed.

“Ah, Naru and Gene, right?”

“His older brother is his older twin brother?”

“Right. They’re identical twins.”

‘Whoa,’ Yasuhara-san muttered,

“...there were two of that face. That must have been a sight to see.”

D-definitely.

“Even though they’re called twins, aren’t there some that don’t look that similar?”

Mori-san gently laughed at Ayako’s comment.

“They were similar. When you line twins up side by side, there are things that are unexpectedly dissimilar, but those two were very similar. I think twins that similar are rare.”

I wonder what it would be like to have a twin brother. I don’t really know, but I somehow feel like it would be much more intimate than a regular brother.

“I wonder if Naru’s personality become like that… because his brother died.”

It seemed sort of reasonable, but…

“Nope.”

Mori-san looked surprised.

“Naru’s always been like that.”

...gah!

“A-always? It's not because he’s carrying around a dark past and being cynical or something like that?”

“I don’t think so. I heard he’s been like that since he was little. Since Gene said it, I think it’s true.”

...Yikes.

Mori-san looked at the ceiling for a moment as if trying to remember something.

“You know… twins with looks that incredibly similar may be rare, but I think brothers with such different personalities is equally rare.”

“When you say different...”

“Exactly opposite.”

Ack! If one side is like that, then that means the opposite is…

Gentle, good-mannered, kind, modest…

“Like an a-angel?”

“A little different from that as well.”

Mori-san laughed.

“...Actually, Gene’s personality was probably normal, but because his other half was like that, he seemed like an incredibly good child.”

Well, naturally.

“Unlike Naru, he was the cheerful type. And he was friendly.”

Uh-huh.

“He also had a mischievous side. The twins often exchanged places and fooled the people around them. Naru doesn’t mess around like that, so that sort of thing was probably Gene’s suggestion.”

“...That’s a p-pretty surprising personality.”

It makes my head hurt when I think of someone with the same face as Naru doing that.

“He was just a bit like you, Taniyama-san. ”

Mori-san said so and gave me a warm smile.

...eh?

“Me?”

“Yeah. Although, it seems like he was a bit more of the quiet type.”

I’m sorry. I’m a noisy person.

“Lin also said so. That you’re similar.”

“...Huh?”

“Taniyama-san, you immediately sympathize with clients, right? You become completely absorbed with the people involved and laugh or cry with them?”

...Yeah, I have that sort of personality.

“He was similar in that regard. For that reason, everyone opened up to him...”

“Doesn’t that make him perfect?”

It Yasuhara-san who said this.

“With those looks, if his personality was good, he had nothing to fear.”

Mori-san smiled a somewhat wry smile.

“A child like that tends not to live long… Such is life.”

A somewhat sad tinged silence descended upon us. The sun had mostly set and everything in the room was covered in shadows.