Murder At The Rainy Mansion ~The Never Ending 100 Tales~

Chapter 33: You can’t see it, right?

The boundary between the living and the dead in this mansion is really ambiguous, Tanimoto thought as he watched Ayano rummaged through the shelves.

Ayano: “Please come in. Grandpa is there by the futon.”

Tanimoto knelt on the floor and bowed towards where the futon was laid. “I’m sorry to disturb you without notice. And thank you for letting me to take a look at the photos.”

Ayano took out a thick album that carried an old book smell. She smiled and waved her hand while saying, “Tanimoto-san. You don’t have to be so formal. You can’t see him anyway.”

Tanimoto felt he couldn’t help it because he was unable to see Sokichi and he didn’t know the right manner to talk to a ghost. He stood up and said to Ayano, “It looks heavy. Let me carry it.”

“It’s okay,” Ayano said as she put the faded silver album down on the tatami. She turned the pages and explained, “There is not much photos taken in this mansion. The pictures are distorted and the people in the photos are blurry if there are ghost inside the frame.”

Tanimoto was amazed as he looked at the sepia colored photo taken in the prewar days. Ayano kept turning the page until they saw a picture of rows of people taken at a place that looked like the veranda.

Tanimoto: “Are these people all lived here?”

Ayano: “I think so. All family members used to live here. Maybe they just didn’t want to leave their beloved hometown.”

But Tanimoto felt it couldn’t be the reason why they wouldn’t leave this place, nor would they commit a murder if they thought the other family members were hindering them. A hometown was not only made up from land and building but also the residents.

“Oh, right. The living spirit that I met just now was wearing kimono like this one.” Tanimoto pointed to a small picture of a young woman wearing a pale yellow kimono. “But I’m not really familiar with kimono and everything looks pretty much the same. Anyway, I think this one looks the most similar,” he added and chuckled.

“That is Mizuko-san, Takato’s mother. Next to her is Akito-san, Takato’s father. Takato looks similar to Akito-san when he was young. And this one is Grandpa Sokichi and his wife, Kikue-sama. This is Natsu-sama, Grandpa Sokichi’s mother, and this one is Kengo-sama, Grandpa Sokichi’s father.”

Ayano was introducing the people in the photos to Tanimoto, when suddenly they heard a scream and a loud thudding sound.

“I think the sound came from the front entrance again,” Ayano stood up and sighed.

Tanimoto followed behind Ayano as they went out to the garden. They saw a man lying on the ground while the rain began to fall. Ayano looked at the man in the suit and called out softly, “Shun…?”