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

Chapter 58: The mystery of that summer

Ayano always felt it took a lot of courage for her to enter that tatami room. She followed behind Takato and Shun and entered the room. The room was cleaned thoroughly and there was nothing inside. Takato seemed to shared her feeling, she could sense his nervousness from his back.

“I don’t mind continuing the game,” Shun said breaking the silence. “But do you remember how many candles left to finish the ritual?” he added while pointing at the box of candles.

Ayana and Takato turned and looked at the box. Ayano remembered at that time she was distracted by the female ghost so she couldn’t concentrate halfway through the ritual. As for Shun, he was dragged into joining the others even though he was not interested with the game.

“At that time, I thought the ritual was complete once the candles were all gone,” said Takato.

“Then what should we do?” Ayano asked. She lighted a candle and put it down while thinking how many more she should prepare.

Shun’s spirit illuminated by the candle light replied, “We would know once it reached 100th.”

“Huh?” Ayano was puzzled by his answer.

“Something would happen once we complete the ritual, right?” Shun explained.

Ayano was dumbfounded by his idea and complained, “And you even dare to ridicule other people when you yourself come up with a half-baked plan.”

Then, the three of them sat on the tatami surrounding the candles at the center. They looked at each other wondering who would go first.

Takato: “Ayano, you first. You should know a lot of ghost stories since you have lived here all your life.”

Ayano: “Well, I do know a lot of stories from ghost. That reminds me, I met a ghost at the kitchen a while ago. The ghost taught me how to make delicious pickled plums.”

Takato: “I don’t think that story qualified for 100 Tales.”

Ayano turned to look at Shun but he had been staring fixedly at the candle light since earlier. She wondered if he was thinking about the storeroom.

Ayano took a deep breath before saying, “Alright. I’ll start first. I’m not sure if this story is suitable for 100 Tales though. I will tell you everything about the strange thing that happened back then—”

During the summer vacation when Ayano was in the fifth grade of elementary school, the children in the Rainy Mansion gathered together to play the 100 Tales. They were sitting on the floor hugging their knees to their chests, crowded together around the candles that dimly illuminated the room. Before long, it was Takato’s turn and he began to narrate his story.

At that time, Ayano noticed a female ghost wearing a vermilion colored kimono with an old fashion flower pattern sitting next to her.

The ghost turned to Ayano and called, “Chi…zu…ru…” Her deep voice sounded as if it echoed from the bowels of the earth. “I won’t let you… Chizuru… I won’t let you steal my husband… or my grandson… I won’t let you steal anyone!”

“Ayano!”

Ayano finally came to her sense when someone pulled her arm.

The adults had found out about them playing 100 Tales, so the children were running all over the place trying to escape. Takato had grabbed her arm and pulled her to escape from the tatami room. It seemed that he was unaware of the female ghost although his psychic ability was as strong as hers.

Ayano’s legs were about to step on the female ghost who was sitting on the floor when she was pulled by Takato. She struggled to keep her feet firm on the ground and shouted, “Takato!”

Right at that moment, someone had put out all the candles in the center of the room. All of a sudden, the female ghost disappeared together with the light.

However, right before the candlelight went out, Ayano had turned around and coincidentally saw the blade of the sword in her line of sight. She saw the figure of the woman illuminated by the candlelight reflected on the blade.