“So, where’s Mashiro-senpai then?”
“Not here, apparently.”
We were looking at a pile of people who had collapsed from fear just outside the Ghost Mansion. Only Iroha and I were still standing. It had taken us a split second to be overwhelmed by fear, but we recovered pretty quickly. I guess it was down to some sort of combination of being both sensitive and young.
Iroha was stretched up pointlessly on her toes as she looked around, but there was no sign of Mashiro at all. I’d assumed she had beaten the mansion and would be waiting for me at the exit, but apparently I’d assumed wrong.
I tried my phone, but neither a regular call nor LIME was getting me anywhere.
Just then, I remembered Mashiro getting a call from her editor, Canary, on our way here—more or less the moment we’d stepped out of the taxi. It sounded like they were arguing about something, but anyway, I wondered if it had drained her battery.
“She’s not picking up her phone. I hope she’s not still on her horror-addict rampage; I thought she’d calm down after getting out of the mansion.”
“I bet you did something to make her uncomfortable, Senpai.”
“I-I did not. What kinda guy d’you think I am?”
“I smell a rat. Why are your eyes darting all over the place if you’re innocent?”
“I’m telling you, I didn’t do anything.”
“Look me in the eye and say that!”
“Gngh!”
Iroha looked up at me from beneath her eyelashes—and she might as well have given me an uppercut to the jaw for the effect it had. The moment my brain registered her big eyes, my face automatically snapped to the side.
“See! You looked away! You can’t tell me you’re not guilty now!”
“I’m not!”
“How come you’re not looking me in the eye, then? What, your eyes’re made of magnets or something? And then mine are too, except both your and my eyes are like the same poles facing each other, so they naturally repel!”
I paused. “Look, there are times when guys just can’t look someone in the eye, okay?”
“Oooh, so it’d make things awkward for you to look right at me, you mean?” Her eyes dancing, Iroha dropped her hips like she was defending a goal. “Right!”
I dodged.
“Left!”
I dodged.
“Right, right, left, right, A, B, A, B!”
I dodged, dodged, dodged, and dodged again.
“One, two, hey!”
“Oh my God, stop trying to get into my field of view!” I yelled at her, snapping because of her high-speed hopping.
Instead of shrinking back, Iroha punched the air like she’d achieved something. “Yes! I got you mad!”
“That’s not a good thing!”
“Upupupu! It sure is fun to tease you, Senpai!”
“Gimme a break already...”
And I didn’t just mean from the teasing. I swear she was about to give me a heart attack.
At least Iroha seemed satisfied for now; she finally stepped back from me, like she was ready to do something more productive. She approached a group of college girls (read: victims of the haunted house) sitting exhausted on a bench and showed them her phone screen. After swapping a few words with them, she moved on to someone else, and didn’t return until she’d spoken to quite a few people.
“What were you doing?” I asked.
“Investigating. Looking for witnesses who might’ve seen Mashiro-senpai around.”
Iroha’s phone screen showed a photo of Mashiro.
Ah. I hadn’t thought of asking other people. Mashiro and I were close for a variety of reasons, including the fact we were childhood friends, so it might be a bit weird for me to say this, but she was stunning. She was gloomy and a former shut-in, which could distract from her looks, but looking at it from another perspective, those things could also work to make her a beautiful, forlorn maiden. Either way, her beauty alone would be enough to stick in people’s minds.
“How’d it go?”
“Bingo.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Isn’t it super cool how I can just be all, like, ‘bingo’ in a deep, suave voice, and you instantly think ‘damn, this girl’s cracked the entire case wide open’?”
“No. Where’s Mashiro?”
“Jeez, calm your tits.” Iroha pointed towards a neighboring area of the park. “Apparently she was heading in that direction.”
I spotted something that looked like a rollercoaster, and wondered if Mashiro left me behind to go have fun by herself. I hoped that was what she was doing, actually; I’d feel bad if she was lonely, wandering around alone.
There was only one way to make sure she was okay.
“Let’s go after her, Senpai!”
“Yeah. Wait, though. Aren’t you supposed to be buying drinks?”
“I can grab some water on the way no problem. You’re gonna need all the man power you can get to find her, right?”
“I don’t think just one extra person is gonna be that helpful, though.”
“It’s double what you’d have otherwise! C’mon, let’s move out!” Iroha grabbed my arm, and we were on our way.
Searching for Mashiro with Iroha like this, I had a sudden sense of déjà vu. We’d done just this in a shopping mall, back when Mashiro had only just transferred to our school.
But there was that other time too: when we searched for her at the summer festival.
For whatever reason, Mashiro went missing a lot. And for whatever reason, Iroha and I often teamed up to find her.
There was just one thing that made today different.
Iroha’s face, and the smile on it; they were radiant. So radiant, I couldn’t keep my eyes on her.
Yeah, I’m screwed. I can’t even look at her...
✦ ✦ ✦
“Aaaaaaaaah! Both Iroha-chan and Mashiro-chan were so cute in this chapter! Please, don’t make me choose between them!”
“I totally agree, Murasaki Shikibu-sensei, but you seriously need to chill.”
“Whew! Haah! Whew! Haah! Okay, I’m calm, I’m calm...and I’ve just remembered something! Mind if I tell you?”
“Uh, I guess not. Go on.”
“So you know how the ghost right before the second floor stairs and the one in the middle of the fourth floor were, like, the same sex, but also wearing matching outfits like couples do sometimes? I was just thinking, d’you think they were dating before they died? Damn, Ghost Mansion is amazing, inspiring all these headcanons...”
“Must be nice to be so happy all the time.”