“For reading X-rated books?” asked Shisei.
Akane gave him a sharp look. “Saito?”
Saito found himself on the receiving end of cold, accusatory stares from both girls. “I don’t read dirty books!” he protested.
Shisei pointed a finger at his chest like a detective pressing a suspect. “I, Shise, know. The books you read have lots of erotic scenes. When I try to peek, you always slam them shut.”
“H-how do you know that?!”
“I, Shise, remembered seeing where you were in the book and opened to that exact spot later to confirm.”
“Argh…” Saito gritted his teeth.
“Reading that kind of filth in my house is unforgivable! Disgusting!” cried Akane.
“They’re just normal novels! Even movies have steamy scenes!”
“We have to inspect your porn stash, Ani-kun,” declared Shisei.
“It’s not a porn stash!”
“We’ll confiscate any inappropriate materials!”
Fueled with righteous fervor, Shisei and Akane stormed into Saito’s study.
“Wait! Aren’t we supposed to be investigating ghosts?!” Saito protested, but the girls were unstoppable. Shisei, using her small frame, crawled into the closet.
“Oooh…” Her muffled voice echoed from inside.
“Did you find something, sensei?! A haunted porno mag?” Akane called out.
“There’s too much going on! Narrow your search focus!” yelled Saito, pulling Shisei out by her legs.
“I found Ani-kun’s underwear,” said Shisei proudly, holding up a pair.
“W-why would you look for something like that?!” shrieked Akane, turning beet red and covering her eyes with her hands.
Shisei buried her nose in Saito’s underwear and sniffed repeatedly. “It doesn’t smell like my usual Ani-kun. Smells like detergent—I can confirm it’s been properly washed,” said Shisei.
“Of course it has!” Saito tried to snatch his underwear back, but Shisei nimbly dodged him.
“Finders keepers. This treasure belongs to me now.”
“Your hand’s going to rot!” shouted Akane. “Throw it away right now!”
“If she throws my underwear away, I’ll be going commando!” Saito shot back.
“Ani-kun’s commando mode could solve all the world’s problems,” said Shisei.
“That’s absolutely not true!” snapped Saito.
“Not wearing underwear is perverted!” screamed Akane.
“You’re the one who told her to throw it away!”
It took quite a while for Saito to drive the two girls out of his study room and reclaim his underwear from the chaos. Panting, he collapsed onto the floor. He made a firm resolution: From then on, he’d lock up his underwear drawer. He could handle Shisei, but Akane seeing his underwear was another story.
“Next, I’ll investigate Akane’s study room,” announced Shisei.
“Wait, sensei! There’s no ghost in my room. It’s totally safe…” Akane’s face looked like it had been coated in the miasma of hell as she tightly gripped Shisei’s shoulder.
Shisei tried to move forward—but made zero progress. “You don’t want your panties unearthed too, Akane?” she asked.
“Of course not! Just look for ghosts like a normal person!” shouted Akane.
“But panties are way more interesting.”
“No they’re not, sensei!”
Blocked by an ironclad defense, Shisei was forced to retreat from Akane’s study room. Shisei was now flanked by Saito and Akane on either side. Saito knew that if he let his guard down, anything could be dug up next. The three of them walked down the second-floor hallway and arrived at the bedroom.
Akane shrank back in fear. “When I was sleeping here, I saw a shadow standing by my pillow.”
Shisei began her questioning. “What kind of shadow? Like…a chupacabra?”
“I don’t know exactly what a chupacabra is, but it was a small shadow, about the size of a child,” answered Akane.
“Did it try to bite you?”
“No… When I screamed, it disappeared right away.”
“I see…” said Shisei, folding her arms tightly as she started pondering.
“Did you figure something out?”
Shisei didn’t respond.
“Shisei-san?” Akane reached out to touch her shoulder, but Saito stopped her.
“Just give her a second,” said Saito. “She might not look it, but Shise is sharp. Right now, those brain cells of hers are racing through every possible scenario. That’s Shise…she’ll definitely uncover the truth.”
“Y-yeah…that’s our sensei,” said Akane.
Saito and Akane held their breaths and watched.
Before long, Shisei slowly lifted her face and proclaimed, “I’ve finally figured out what the ghost really was.”
“Really?! What was it?” Akane leaned in.
“A cat? Or maybe a possum?” Saito also waited for the answer.
The bedroom was filled with solemn silence. With an aura of unusual gravity, Shisei raised her index finger to the ceiling dramatically and declared, “The ghost was…me, Shise!”
Both Saito and Akane were at a loss for how to respond.
“U-um… What exactly do you mean?” Akane asked, confused.
“I deduced it from the location of the appearances, the time the paranormal phenomena occurred, and the ghost’s behavior pattern. The ghost was me, Shise, because I have been visiting this house for the past few days,” she confessed.
“Why didn’t you just say that from the start?!” asked Saito as he grabbed Shisei’s cheeks and stretched them side to side.
“I see! So it was Shisei-san! Thank goodness…but still, say something sooner next time!” Akane, relieved but still angry, shifted through a flurry of expressions like a skilled actor.
Now that the culprit was identified, it was time for Saito to interrogate her. As Saito gently stretched Shisei’s marshmallow-like cheeks, he questioned Shisei.
“I’m pretty sure the door was locked. How did you get in?”
“Mmmph.”
“I mean, it’s you, so I’ll let the trespassing slide—but why sneak in without telling us?”
“Mrmph Mmph.”
“You understand that you have no right to an attorney, correct?”
“Mrmmph.”
Akane interjected on humanitarian grounds. “Saito, let go of her cheeks. Everything she’s saying is muffled, anyway.”
“…Fine. I’ll give you five minutes.” With that, Saito finally released Shisei’s cheeks.
Shisei rubbed her face, but she didn’t seem to be in pain—on the contrary, she looked like she was having fun.
“I’ll answer your questions one by one,” said Shisei. “First, I asked Grandpa for the key, and he gave it to me right away.”
Saito sighed, his face twisted in disbelief. “That old jerk…”
Shisei was beloved by everyone she encountered, and their grandfather Tenryu was no exception. Add to that his shameless grandparental bias—he doted on her to an absurd degree, granting her every request without hesitation.
Shisei held up a peace sign and continued. “Answer to the second question. I didn’t tell you two I was coming because I didn’t want to disturb the lovey-dovey newlywed couple at night.”
“We’re not lovey-dovey!” Akane shouted, blushing furiously.