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

T/L: Orenji

Chapter 69: Alibi

“Well, it seems she is lucky with her life. But she might be a bit dense, so I think she didn’t realize that she came to this mansion as a living spirit using her original face before the plastic surgery. It is useless for her to wear kimono pretending to be someone else,” said Ayano.

She continued, “I wasn’t so sure before but considering Tanimoto-san can see her, then it must be true.” Her soft voice sounded lonely. Takato raised his head, shocked at the revelation.

Shun looked at the storeroom and said, “Chizuru-san is still alive? Then the one inside this storeroom is…?”

He was unable to finished his words. He remembered that when he was young, he accidentally saw Kengo killing Chizuru and was threatened to keep it as a secret. He wondered if his memory was true or not.

Anyway, Chizuru didn’t die that night. She was living as a different person somewhere far away. Even Shun could understand what these meant. Following that train of thought, he could guess who was the biggest vengeful ghost in this Rainy Mansion.

“Let’s tear up the floor apart. We can find out once we dig that place, right?” Shimizu said as he stared at the storeroom.

Ayano replied, “I think the body is no longer here. What is left at this place is just its vengeful spirit. It is a pitiful vengeful spirit that was sealed by Natsu-sama because she worried about her grandkids and great grandkids’ future.”

While they were chatting, the screeching sound from inside the storeroom never stop. It was unknown whether the sound came from the ghost that was trying to escape from the room or it was the sound made when they were struggling when they were killed.

“Now that you mentioned it, I think when I witness what happened at this place back then, I didn’t hear this kind of screeching sound,” Shun said.

Most likely Chizuru didn’t struggle when she was strangled by Akito or suffocated by Kengo. She must have given up thinking that it was her fate for loving those guys.

Then, Ayano turned around and asked, “By the way, Satoshi-san, are you not going to move on from this world?”

Satoshi was standing in the hallway in a daze while holding his book as usual. He hasn’t been out for a while.

“Maybe …not?” Satoshi replied embarrassedly while looking at her. Both of them went silent and just looked at each other. Satoshi was puzzled not knowing why he was still there. In the end, he went back to the toilet while holding the faded book in his hand.

* * *

After Shimizu and Tanimoto left the mansion, Ayano climbed up the stairs to return to her room.

“You are going to fall…” the staircase ghost said to her with a calm voice.

Ayano smiled and replied, “Thank you.”

She returned to her room and sat on her bed before taking out the small hand mirror from her pocket. She watched her face reflected in the mirror. Natsu’s face was no longer there.

Then she also took out the lipstick from her pocket and put it on her lips. Just like what people said, she really resembled her mother.

At that moment, the door was opened suddenly. The visitor didn’t even bother to knock before entering. Ayano looked at the reflection in the mirror and laughed. “You came in your physical form today?”

“What do you mean?” asked Takato.

Ayano laughed and explained, “Your alibi was testified by Tanimoto-san. He saw your living spirit entered my room at that night. Oh, that is not right. You never entered my room. You always turn back at the door.”

Tanimoto kept the story as a secret and didn’t dare to tell anyone about it. He only explained it to Ayano because she was involved in the late night rendezvous.

“I’m not going to turn back today.”

“Even if you are not a spirit?”

“Yes.”

“Even when you know we might be siblings?”

“Yes.”

Takato slowly closed in to her and kissed her lips. It was their first kiss although they had been longing for each other for so many years.

“It is hard to love someone forever,” Ayano said.

Chizuru was unable to continue loving Akito. She was unable to keep loving Satoshi either.

Back then, Akito tried to kill Chizuru but stopped halfway and left. Later that night, he came back and saved her from Kengo. When Akito’s wife, Mizuko found out about it and confronted him, he killed his wife in the storeroom.

Chizuru was unable to abandon Akito at that point, so she changed her face and lived her life as Mizuko and stayed with him.

Ayano felt she could no longer follow her feelings and be together with Takato. Maybe it was because they were half siblings. Maybe because Takato’s mother was murdered because of her mother. Or maybe because she thought this love would not carry on forever.

Goodbye, Takato.

Ayano knew she didn’t have to say those words because she knew for sure he would leave the Rainy Mansion tomorrow.

* * *

“Everything is over,” said Takato to Sokichi while leaning against the sliding door.

“You knew all along?” Sokichi was sitting in his futon as usual. It was almost dawn and the room was barely lit. “I’m sorry, Takato. But I can’t give my life to you as an apology since I’m already dead.”

“You have no intention to do it anyway,” Takato mumbled to himself while looking over the transparent paper screen. “Humph… The ghost in this mansion won’t even disappear when the night is over. So annoying.” Takato chuckled and heaved out a brief sigh.