Fushimi Roku reacted the fastest. He raised his gun in a zero-frame motion to aim, while his left hand lifted a flashlight under the gun grip, shining it toward the silhouette at the end of the hallway.
The beam pierced through the corridor, adding a halo of light on the white wall at the end, swaying side to side as Fushimi Roku’s wrist moved.
In the fleeting interplay of light and shadow, the silhouette suddenly vanished.
"W-Where did the person go?" Minamoto Tamako’s throat moved slightly.
Fushimi Roku strode forward, proactively heading towards the stairwell entrance; it was the first time his curiosity had been piqued.
As a staunch materialist warrior, he firmly believed there were no ghosts in the world— even if Fushimi Roku traversed the afterlife and obtained a system, he believed it could be explained scientifically, like aliens causing trouble, or higher dimensional beings looking for amusement.
"Hey? Wait, wait for me!"
Minamoto Tamako hastily followed, nervously fumbling at her gun holster but deciding against drawing her gun after a brief hesitation.
In truth, she was also very curious about what was going on. As a future famous detective and famous police chief, she couldn’t possibly believe in the existence of ghosts and gods! It was just like the bizarre cases in detective novels where the protagonist doesn’t easily trust terrifying legends, uses intelligence to solve unthinkable mysteries, and ultimately reveals the villains’ acts of pretending to be ghosts!
But fear was still unavoidable, as physiological instincts couldn’t be suppressed.
Mr. Yasukawa screamed after seeing a ghostly figure, shrank into his room, and began singing his hoarse ghost opera. The hallway reverberated with footsteps and the mournful aria, making Minamoto Tamako’s heart almost leap out of her throat.
The two hurried along the corridor, Minamoto Tamako noticing for the first time that yellow talismans were affixed beside each apartment door, and white porcelain bowls filled with heaps of salt sat at the entrance, the top faintly blackened.
The stairwell was silent. Fushimi Roku leaned over the handrail, shining the flashlight downward as Minamoto Tamako followed suit, looking down. As the light beam swept past, a silhouette stood on the stairs, and Fushimi Roku aimed the flashlight at the person’s face, who instinctively raised a hand to block the light.
"Oh, it’s you." Fushimi Roku was greatly disappointed.
The man standing on the stairs was Watanabe Shun, holding several skewers of takoyaki in his left hand and an aluminum flat hip flask in his right. His face was slightly flushed, seemingly planning to eat and drink as he walked.
"Ah! Damn! I’ve been discovered!"
Watanabe Shun was startled, shoving the takoyaki into his mouth in a couple of bites, screwing the cap of the flask back on. He mumbled a vague excuse: "I came to check on your work progress..."
Seeing this, Minamoto Tamako let out a heavy sigh of relief, thinking to herself that there’s no way ghosts exist in this world! Of course, Kawai was an exception; a good ghost wasn’t a ghost, it was a residual biological magnetic field... In any case, they were just frightened for nothing.
Fushimi Roku frowned slightly, shaking his flashlight as he sized up Watanabe Shun, then suddenly asked: "Did you just come up here?"
"Come up what?" Watanabe Shun’s head was a little unclear. He had been punched hard during the day and had a few drinks at night, managing to stand and walk was already impressive for his constitution.
"Have you been on our floor?" Fushimi Roku repeated.
"No, I just got here," Watanabe Shun said, leaning against the wall as he stepped upstairs. "How’s it going? Getting used to patrolling on the first day... hic!"
Only then did Minamoto Tamako realize that Watanabe Shun’s silhouette and the one she had seen earlier didn’t quite match. Her heart, which had just settled, grew tense again, and she trembled as she said: "Senpai, this joke isn’t funny at all."
"What joke?" Watanabe Shun found it baffling.
The two sides engaged in a hallway confrontation, roughly figuring out the situation, which ended up being even more frightening.
When Fushimi Roku and Minamoto Tamako were witnessing the ghostly figure, Watanabe Shun was wandering on the stairs. Before the two rushed over, he hadn’t seen anyone go downstairs. Fushimi Roku asked him repeatedly, and Watanabe Shun was sure, absolutely sure, that he wasn’t drunk to the point of losing consciousness. If someone had come down the stairs facing him, he would have noticed.
In other words, in the situation of being surrounded by the two groups, the silhouette suddenly vanished in the hallway.
Fushimi Roku paced back and forth, surveying the distance from the end of the hallway to where Watanabe Shun stood on the stairs, roughly six to seven meters apart, with no other passages.
Watanabe Shun didn’t mind this; he thought Fushimi Roku and Minamoto Tamako had seen incorrectly. Newbies on their first day on the job, it’s normal to be under too much pressure and get scared into hallucinations. Fushimi Roku couldn’t come to a conclusion and also intended to let it go. There were so many strange tales in the world. As entertainment, it was fine, but spending time and effort to figure it out wasn’t worth it.
Only Minamoto Tamako insisted on investigating thoroughly; she felt it was related to a murder case.
Because Mr. Yasukawa had just said, "A woman jumped to her death"; but Watanabe Shun said, "Recently, neither the patrol house nor the police station received any reports of a jump suicide case"—if both were true, it meant the body had been dealt with! Therefore, the jump might not be a suicide but a premeditated murder!
Even if there’s a vengeful spirit, it would be the innocent soul wrongfully dead seeking help!
And she, as a patrol police officer at Sugamo Station front Patrol House, faced with residents living in constant fear and the ghostly shadows of unavenged grievances, how could she turn a blind eye?!
These were the thoughts of Minamoto Tamako. Her legs were trembling, and she was too embarrassed to say this kind of morning drama heroine’s standard line, so she could only find an excuse saying: "If we don’t investigate thoroughly, Mr. Yasukawa will certainly continue singing ghost opera for appeasement, right? The residents complain about the noise disturbing them, and we have to deal with it!"
This made sense, so the three knocked on Mr. Yasukawa’s door again.
This time, there was no immediate response, until Watanabe Shun banged on the door impatiently. Yasukawa Seiji had no choice but to shout through the door panel: "Please leave, or else you’ll be haunted by spirits as well!"
"Ha! Female ghost? How does she haunt..."
Before Watanabe Shun could finish speaking, he noticed the two juniors giving him strange looks. His face flushed, and he hurriedly coughed twice, adopting a serious face, and said: "It doesn’t matter how it haunts; do you think I’d be scared? Don’t underestimate the resolve of a police officer!"
Minamoto Tamako didn’t think much of it, assuming the senior had just made a verbal slip. She chimed in to persuade: "If necessary, we can organize a crowdfunding among the residents to invite the high monks from Honmyo Temple to conduct a ritual. Once the spirit is appeased, wouldn’t it solve all the problems? So please let us in to discuss the matter of exorcism in detail!"
This statement stood from the opponent’s viewpoint, providing a solution. Mr. Yasukawa seemed touched and unlocked the door, inviting them inside for a detailed discussion.
As the door opened, a stench mixed with the smell of chemical reagents wafted over. The three were forced back a step, and Minamoto Tamako, having a keen sense of smell, was brought to tears by the odor.
"W-What is that smell!" Watanabe Shun felt the takoyaki in his stomach churning, and he felt a bit nauseated.