Daily Life

After dinner.

Shiyue Shuo volunteered to do the dishes.

He stood before the sink as warm water ran over the porcelain bowl in his hands. Mai leaned against the counter beside him, holding a cup of hot tea as she watched his profile.

"So what are you planning to do next?" Mai asked. "Drift around like this forever?"

"I don't know." Shiyue Shuo turned off the tap and flicked the droplets from his hands. "I want to stay here for a few days first. Is that okay?"

He turned to look at Mai, a hint of cautious inquiry in his eyes.

Mai took a sip of tea and looked out the Window.

"The shop happens to be short on laborers to move flowerpots." She spoke flatly. "Even if you're a ghost, if you can wash dishes, you should be able to work, right?"

Shiyue Shuo froze for a moment, then broke into a grin.

"Of course. I'm really strong now."

"Then stay." Mai set down her teacup. "But I'm not paying you."

"As long as you feed me."

"Dream on."

The next morning.

Furano's sunlight filtered through thin clouds, casting a golden edge over the snow-covered streets.

Skyward Flower Shop opened for business right on time.

Only today, the shop had one strange new "employee."

Wearing a loose gray sweater Mai had found for him, Shiyue Shuo crouched on the floor, arranging the freshly delivered cut flowers.

"Um... Miss Mai, how much is this bouquet of lilies?"

A high school boy in uniform pushed through the door and asked shyly. His gaze passed straight through Shiyue Shuo, who was crouched by the entrance, and fixed directly on Mai behind the counter.

"That bouquet is 1,500 yen." Mai answered with a smile.

The boy was clearly trying to use buying flowers as an excuse to strike up a conversation with Mai, lingering and refusing to leave.

"Um, if you don't mind, this weekend..."

For some reason, the boy suddenly tripped. He staggered forward, nearly crashing into the flower stand beside him.

"Whoa!"

Just as the stand was about to topple over, an invisible force caught it firmly and restored its balance.

The boy steadied himself in fright, staring around with a baffled expression.

"What happened?" Mai suppressed a smile and pretended nothing had occurred.

"N-Nothing. Maybe the floor was a little slippery." Blushing, the boy hurriedly paid, clutched his flowers, and fled in embarrassment.

"Do high schoolers these days, or sorcerers for that matter, not watch where they're going?"

Mai shot him a glare. "Are you five? You actually used that kind of power to trip an ordinary person."

"I was helping you maintain order," Shiyue Shuo said solemnly. "Besides, I only nudged his shoelace a little."

"I think you just have too much free time." Mai shoved a bucket of roses into his arms. "Since you're so free, move these flowers onto the rack outside. Make sure you arrange them neatly."

"Got it."

Shiyue Shuo carried the bucket of flowers outside.

Passersby could not see him. They only saw a bucket of roses suddenly appear on the rack; the world would erase the process for them, or implant some reasonable memory to explain it.

The feeling of being ordered around, of being needed, made him feel incomparably grounded.

That afternoon, an elderly woman came into the shop.

She was a regular customer. Every visit, she bought a bouquet of lisianthus to pay respects to her late husband.

"Mai, the flowers are blooming beautifully today." The old woman smiled warmly. "Did you use some special fertilizer?"

"No, Grandma." Mai smiled as she wrapped the bouquet. "Maybe it's because the sunlight is nice today."

Shiyue Shuo sat on a stool beside them, quietly watching the scene.

He could see a faint gray aura wrapped around the old woman's body—the sign of age and declining health.

After thinking for a moment, he quietly drew upon a trace of the [Horse] Talisman's power.

A milky white glow flowed from his fingertips and gently settled onto the bouquet of lisianthus.

That little bit of power could not bring the dead back to life or restore youth, but it could at least make the flowers bloom longer and let the person holding them feel a little warmth and comfort.

The old woman accepted the flowers, surprise appearing on her face.

"Oh my, why do these flowers feel warm in my hands? How nice."

"Really?" Mai glanced at Shiyue Shuo, who sat beside them pretending nothing had happened, and the corners of her lips lifted slightly. "Then this bouquet must want to make you happy too, Grandma."

"Mai, you really do have such a sweet mouth." The old woman left happily.

"Busybody." After the old woman had gone, Mai spoke softly, though there was no reproach in her tone.

"Just doing it while I could." Shiyue Shuo stretched lazily. "My power has nowhere else to go right now, so I might as well do a good deed and earn some virtue."

"Earn virtue?" Mai sounded as though she had heard something hilarious. "You blew Tokyo Metropolis apart, and now you want to earn virtue?"

"People have to look forward."

Shiyue Shuo looked out at the street. Several children were building a snowman, their laughter bright and clear.

"Senior Mai."

"Hmm?"

"It would be nice if days like this could go on forever."

Mai's hands paused. She raised her head and looked at Shiyue Shuo's somewhat lonely profile.

She knew this peace was only temporary.

That black hole still hung in the sky. For Shiyue Shuo, it was the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head at every moment.

"Then make every day count."

Mai walked to his side and looked out the Window with him. "Since you're a ghost, don't think about the future. Ghosts just need to scare people and cause trouble."

Shiyue Shuo turned to look at Mai.

Sunlight fell across her short hair, softening lines that had once seemed so cold and sharp.

"You're right."

Shiyue Shuo smiled.

"Then tomorrow, I'll hide the wig of the bakery owner next door."

"That won't be necessary."

Night fell.

The flower shop closed.

After dinner, the two sat on the second-floor windowsill, watching the snow.

Hokkaido's snowy nights were quiet, broken only by the occasional sound of passing cars.

Shiyue Shuo held an old magazine he had pulled from the bookshelf, idly flipping through it. Mai was trimming a newly repotted asparagus fern.

"Shiyue."

"Hmm?"

"Even though you seem fine, I can tell." Mai put down the scissors, her tone growing serious. "You've actually been tired all along, haven't you?"

Shiyue Shuo stopped turning the pages.

He closed the magazine and fell silent for a moment.

"Can't hide it from you."

He sighed and leaned against the wall. "Keeping myself in a state where I can't be observed all the time has made me question whether I even exist. I often wonder whether I'm still alive."

"Only here, when you can see me, does that feeling lessen even a little."

Shiyue Shuo looked at Mai, a trace of dependence in his eyes. "Because I exist in your perception. That gives me a foothold in this world."

After hearing him out, Mai showed neither excessive surprise nor sympathy.

She simply stood and walked over to Shiyue Shuo.

"Then sleep."

"Huh?" Shiyue Shuo blinked.

"I said, go to sleep." Mai pointed to the sofa beside them. "If you're tired, then rest. I'm not going anywhere, and neither is the shop."

"But I don't need to sleep..."

"Shut up." Mai pressed a hand onto his shoulder and forcibly pushed him down onto the sofa. "That's an order."

Shiyue Shuo looked into Mai's unquestionable eyes and could only raise his hands in surrender.

"Fine, fine. I'll listen to you."

He lay on the sofa with a blanket carrying Mai's scent draped over him.

Mai turned off the main living room lights, leaving only a dim yellow floor lamp.

"Good night, Shiyue."

After saying that, Mai turned and went to her bedroom.

Shiyue Shuo lay in the darkness, listening to Mai's footsteps upstairs and the wind and snow outside the Window.

The electrical, rejecting noise that had constantly wound around the depths of his mind grew Miraclesly quiet at that moment.

He closed his eyes.

Since coming to this world, this was the first time he had felt so completely at ease.

He did not need to stay alert for cursed spirits, calculate the timing of talismans, or think about how to fight the world's malice.

He only needed to stay here, as an existence "needed" by someone, and sleep quietly.

His consciousness gradually sank into darkness.

Before he fell completely asleep, a faint smile rested on Shiyue Shuo's lips.

"Good night, Mai."

Shiyue Shuo fell into a deep sleep. Yet in a corner beyond his notice, the shadow outside the door suddenly flickered.