Chapter 38

"Lingmeng, could we check out the haunted house? It looks like tickets are pretty cheap today."

Shiori said this because, as the family's homemaker, he had little resistance to words like "discount" and "half price."

"Uh... Shiori, are you sure you want to go?"

Lingmeng didn't sound eager. The moment she heard "haunted house," her body had instinctively recoiled.

Embarrassing as it was to admit, Lingmeng had been terrified of ghosts and monsters since childhood.

She hadn't always been like that. Everything changed when, as a child, she foolishly spent a night alone in the dark reading a collection of Junji Ito's stories.

Even after becoming a Spirit, Lingmeng still carried that fear.

"Yeah. But if you don't want to, we can skip it."

"It's not that I don't want to... If you really want to see it, Shiori, I'll go with you..."

Lingmeng still seemed reluctant, but she agreed to go with Shiori.

"Then let's go. It looks pretty close."

Completely oblivious to Lingmeng's expression, Shiori took her hand and followed the map toward the haunted house...

Timid as a Mouse

"Hello. Two tickets, please—one for me and one for her."

At the haunted house ticket counter, Shiori spoke to a young woman dressed as a Halloween pumpkin.

"Heh, heh, heh. That'll be two thousand yen."

The woman at the counter answered in a strange voice.

"Here you go." Shiori handed her two thousand yen in cash, then led Lingmeng inside.

As soon as they entered, the light began to fade. The walls were covered in cobwebs, cracks, moss, and vines.

The only light came from lamps hanging on the walls, their faint blue flames casting an eerie glow.

"H-hey, Shiori... I know you're actually scared, right? If you are... I could take you back outside..."

Lingmeng's voice trembled, fear creeping into her words.

No monsters had appeared yet, but she already regretted coming in.

"I'm not really scared. The scenery and the monsters were all made by people, after all. Once you remember that, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Shiori's voice was perfectly calm. Then he spoke again, sounding awkward.

"Lingmeng... Could you stop clinging to me so tightly? It's hard to walk like this..."

He looked at Lingmeng, who was wrapped around him like a raccoon clinging to a tree trunk, with a complicated expression.

"N-no! A frail little girl like you is bound to attract scary monsters, Shiori. So it's safer if I hold on to you..."

Lingmeng spoke with righteous conviction, then tightened her grip as though afraid he might escape.

Shiori could only stare at her flimsy explanation.

Hey, which one of us is the frail little girl? I'm a man. If anything, that should be you!

"Lingmeng..."

"W-what?"

Lingmeng looked up at Shiori with the expression of a frightened squirrel.

"You're not scared, are you?" Shiori smiled as he called her out.

"!!!"

Like someone whose lie had been exposed, Lingmeng forced herself to sound calm.

"Of course not... I'm a Spirit. How could a Spirit like me be afraid of something like this...?"

"Oh~ Is that so?"

As though he had discovered something amusing, Shiori leaned close to Lingmeng's ear and whispered in an especially sinister voice.

"Lingmeng, you look delicious... Can I have a bite!?"

"Aaah... Nooooo!"

Lingmeng let go of Shiori and scurried back against the wall, staring at him with a small, pitiful, helpless look.

"Haha, I'm kidding. It's just me, the same old Shiori."

Looking at Lingmeng, Shiori waved a hand and laughed, seemingly pleased with himself.

Come to think of it, Shiori often pretended to be possessed to scare Kotori at home, too—but only when she was in little-sister mode with her white hair ribbons.

"Really...?" Lingmeng asked, still half doubtful.

"Really. Look, it's me in the flesh." Shiori rubbed his cheeks, deliberately trying to look cute.

"Thank goodness... You scared me to death."

As if a great battle had finally ended, Lingmeng held a hand to her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing Lingmeng so different from her usual scatterbrained self gave Shiori an unexpected sense of novelty.

"So you have a girly side too, Lingmeng? It's surprisingly cute!"

Shido said it with a smile and half-lidded eyes. Lingmeng was simply too different from her usual self.

"Girly? I used to be a tough guy! How can you call me girly? Not even you can get away with that, Shiori-chan!"

Lingmeng puffed out her cheeks, turned away, and spoke in a huff.

"I'm not talking to you anymore. It's just a haunted house, right? I'll walk through it by myself!"

With that, Lingmeng marched ahead.

"Wait, Lingmeng... I was only joking!"

Realizing he had gone too far, Shiori apologized at once. But Lingmeng ignored him and kept walking.

Ahh~ Lingmeng's ignoring me. I've really messed up now! ≥﹏≤

While Shiori was thinking that, something suddenly fell from the ceiling above Lingmeng.

"What's this?" Lingmeng caught it on instinct and muttered in confusion.

Curious, she brought it closer to her eyes to see what it was. Then—

"Aaaah... Oh my god! It's a human head!"

The instant she realized what she was holding, Lingmeng flung it to the floor and ran back to Shiori, throwing her arms around him.

"Sh-Shiori, that was a human head... It's so scary. Don't leave me here and run away... (?д?; )"

Lingmeng hid in Shiori's arms, sniffling as though afraid he might abandon her.

"A human head?"

Shiori frowned and glanced at the thing on the floor. Just as Lingmeng had said, it was a woman's head with disheveled hair. But...

Shiori gently wrapped his arms around Lingmeng and stroked her head.

"Don't cry, Lingmeng. I won't leave you behind. Look, it's just a prop."

"Huh?" Lingmeng stared blankly at Shiori, then turned her gaze back to the head.

On closer inspection, she realized the so-called human head was just an ordinary plastic prop. The dim lighting had made it look real.

An awkward silence fell—

"Ahem—I knew that, of course. I just wanted to see how you'd react, Shiori."

Seeing Shiori's teasing smile, Lingmeng composed herself before offering her explanation.

"That's not very convincing, considering what you're doing right now."

Shiori glanced at the arms she still had wrapped around him, a bead of sweat forming on his brow.

"Uh... That was an accident. An accident..."

Red with embarrassment, Lingmeng let go and spoke with stubborn pride.

"Anyway, let's hurry up and finish walking through this awful place so we can leave! And don't you dare run off without me!"

"Okay, okay. Don't worry, Lingmeng." Shiori's expression turned resolute. "No matter what happens next, I'll protect you."

"Hmph! You'd better keep your word."

Lingmeng folded her arms, turned her face away, and continued forward.

"Maybe choosing the haunted house was the right call..."

Shiori watched Lingmeng walk ahead. He scratched his cheek with a wry smile, then followed her...

Lingmeng the Monster Hunter

A man and a woman walked along a dim path. They were Lingmeng and Shiori.

Determined to act brave, Lingmeng had rashly insisted on walking in front, while Shiori followed behind.

"Hmph. Haunted houses aren't such a big deal after all, are they?"

They had walked for a while without seeing a single monster, and Lingmeng was growing cockier by the minute.

Behind her, Shiori clapped along encouragingly.

"That's Lingmeng for you. You've gotten used to it already?"

"Of course. I'm the Strongest Spirit!" Lingmeng flashed a confident grin.

But before Lingmeng could finish showing off, a dark figure suddenly dropped from above—

"I'm going to... suck your blood!"

A vampire in a black cloak appeared before them. He opened his mouth to reveal fearsome fangs.

He spoke in a raspy voice, and several black bats flew out from beneath his cloak.

"Aaaah... I'm gonna die! Bats! Aaaaah!" The sight of the vampire shattered Lingmeng's bravado. She looked as though she had seen a ghost, covered her face, and screamed.

"You two had better stand perfectly still, or I'll—"

Seeing how frightened Lingmeng was, the vampire tried to pile on more threats. But a small fist came flying straight at him.

Smack!

The punch sent the vampire flying into a distant wall, where he promptly passed out. The one who had struck him was none other than Lingmeng, whom he had just scared.

Lingmeng stood frozen with her fist still extended. Looking at the unconscious vampire, she sank to her knees as though her legs had given out.

"Aah... That... that was terrifying..." Tears glimmered in the corners of Lingmeng's eyes, and her voice was faint.

"Lingmeng, wasn't that a bit much...? He was just an ordinary person in a costume."

Shiori looked worriedly at the unconscious vampire. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he thought he saw something like a soul drifting out of the man's mouth.

"H-he shouldn't have scared me like that. Hmph, serves him right!"

Lingmeng turned her face away with a huff.

"Hey, scaring people is his job at a haunted house."

Shiori stared at Lingmeng in disbelief, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Ignoring him, Lingmeng was just about to catch her breath when something suddenly flew into her face.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

That's right. The thing that had flown into Lingmeng's face was one of the bats from earlier...

"Aaaaaah..."