Section 3: Ghost Apartment (2/2)

This journal is written with characters from multiple different languages. I cannot determine what it is saying.

Perhaps it is a kind of code? That would explain why it is written like this.

Though that does not give us any leads...

Let me see that.

...I can read this.

You're right. It's code written in a mixture of old Chinese and Japanese.

Oh wow!

Here, Tomoe, I'll teach you the trick so you can read it too.

Understood!

Thank you.

Sure thing. Okay, so first...

... ...

I just finished reading the journal, Master.

Hmm. Where to begin...

It seems this mountain was once called ■■■■■■.

This village has been around for a very long timeor at least since well before my own lifetime.

It looks to be about two thousand years old or so.

Two thousand years!

Excuse me, Lady Yu Mei-ren, but how do you read this name?

Beats me. Those characters don't make any sense there.

It's probably someone important, but whoever wrote this changed some details so they couldn't be identified.

Hmm, I see.

There seems to be something strange about this person's writings.

？！

The descriptions they give of various people are contradictory. For example, these passages here

Oh? Did the power just go out?

Huh? I-it is nighttime already!?

But the sun couldn't possibly have set so quickly!

A demonic creature has appeared, so it's night now. So, this is another of the rules.

Sorry, everyone, it looks like it's here now.

？！

Oh, I thought you knew.

A decrepit old apartment building. Empty rooms. Stagnant air.

Sealed-off spaces, and the malice accompanies them.

It's a scary story that's told all throughout the world...

The haunted apartment building.

This is quite the pickle, huh, Master? What're you going to do?

What else? We pound the snot out of it until

Ugh, would you settle down already, Tomoe? I'm getting sick of hearing you stomping around.

I-I didn't move a muscle!

I didn't so much as budge either, of course.

Was that you then, Master? ...It wasn't, was it?

？！

Then who!?

Why...

It was me♡

？！

Teeheehee. Ahahaha.

Why did you run from me, dear Anchin?

K-Kiyohime? Are you all right?

Oh no, I'm not running at all.

Not when there are so many Anchins here.

？！

Oh my.

Ahh, Anchin, Anchin, Anchin!

I'll never chase you again. I'll never hate you ever again.

You and I can just live out our days here forever and ever.

K-Kiyohimeee! You are burning up in the literal sense of the word!

Oh my, whatever are you saying, dear Anchin? This is just a paper-covered lantern.

It helps me wake up with the toasty rays of the morning sun.

Oooh, so she's literally cold-blooded?

She thinks I am Anchin too!? Th-this is very bad.

It seems we will just have to do what we do best to settle her down!

So, kick her ass!

...Right?

Of course!

I'll help you. It would be a big problem for me and my guardian if she were to burn down this whole building.

Come on, Master, you help too.

？！

...Huh? What was I just doing?

Oh my, what are you all doing here?

Thank goodness. She has come back to her senses!

...Well, you know, as much as a Berserker can.

Oh, wait. She is a Lancer now, yes?

A-at any rate, what in the world happened?

Hmm? What do you mean?

I'm afraid I have no memory at all of whatever I was just doing.

Setting that aside for the moment... Excuse me, Kiyohime?

Yes, that's me. What can I do for you, O small and virtuous one?

One, two, three.

...Urk.

？！

I hypnotized her. It's a good thing she was so susceptible to it.

I'll take her to a room where she can rest.

There are still several things I would like to ask her.

Um, it doesn't seem like she remembers anything.

I see...

But hey, at least we know this mountain's name now. Isn't that something?

？！

Teehee. Don't worry, there's no rush.

These sorts of things are best taken one step at a time, just like virtue.

There are so many more moving experiences ahead of us as we go. It's a lot like playing hard to get.

Well I'm pretty wiped after all that fighting. How are you holding up?

？！

That so.

Damn, we've spent so much time fighting that it's actually nighttime now.

Let's get back to the cottage before anything else tries to jump us.

？！