Murder At The Rainy Mansion ~The Never Ending 100 Tales~

Chapter 55: This mansion doesn’t need a detective

“Onoda-san had fallen into despair since long time ago. Why do you think he stayed alive?” Ayano asked Reiko. “I think it was because he wanted to see you. He had been watching over you thinking that you are his daughter. Even when he found out that it was not true, for him, you are no different from his own child. No one would blame you for the truth. The love he had for you when he was watching over you would not disappear. I think he intended to take his own life after watching you – after burning your image into his memory. I’m sure he thought of you as his beloved child up until the moment he took his last breath.”

Reiko bit her lips. “Shun… I’m sorry,” she apologized to Shun’s living spirit who was standing near Ayano. “I thought you had accidentally found out about the test result when I was reading the documents on the roof. I didn’t mean to pushed you down the roof. I know you would carry it to your grave had I asked you to keep it a secret. I was unable to think rationally at that time. I’m really glad to see you are okay. But I’m afraid I’m going to die soon.”

Right after she said those words, they heard the siren from an ambulance that was approaching the mansion. Her body was still breathing albeit weakly. Reiko was just a living spirit like Shun, even though she almost died.

“You are going to be alright,” Ayano persuaded her. Although she had no solid reason to back up her words, she had a feeling that Reiko would be fine. She believed that all the love from Toru, Hisami and Onoda towards Reiko would keep her in this world.

However, Reiko watched the red light blinking on the ambulance looming from between the nearby buildings and said, “I’m not going to make it.”

Ayano: “Why do you say that?”

Reiko: “I just… I want everything to end already.”

Ayano: “Nothing is going to end even if you die. Especially in this Rainy Mansion. You should know better.”

Reiko chuckled when she heard Ayano persuaded her in her usual cold and lack of passion attitude. She whispered back, “Yeah. You are right.”

The medical rescue team carried Reiko’s body away on a stretcher and Kana followed her to the hospital. Meanwhile, Ayano and the others went down using the stairs on the other side.

Takato, who was walking at the back, asked her, “The thing that you told her just now – is it true? Did Onoda-san stay behind to watch over her?”

“I don’t know. But I’m going to ask Onoda-san to collaborate with my story regardless of the truth. I’m doing this to save her soul,” Ayano explained. “Maybe that is why we can talk to the dead in this place.”

Ayano wondered if their ability to talk to the dead was to save the soul of the living. Or perhaps it was to tie up and push the living into an abyss of despair – just like what the female ghost who sat next to her did when they played the 100 Tales back then.

While she was immersed in her thought, she heard Takato said, “By the way, I wonder why Onoda-san left the body hidden inside the storeroom. Do you think it is because there were too many people and ghosts in this house so he didn’t have the chance to move the body, or because he didn’t care since he planned to commit suicide anyway?”

Ayano: “I think he left it there because he didn’t care if someone finds it. Besides, even if he almost got caught by someone when he moves the body, he can just leave the body there and run away.”

Takato: “Huh? What makes you think so?”

Ayano: “Because in this mansion no one would be surprise if they see dead bodies lying around.”

Takato: “I don’t think dead bodies are the same as ghost…”

“We don’t know why Onoda-san chose to die or why he stayed alive for a few days after killing Hisami-san. But we can just ask him if we see him later. Sooner or later, this place will regain its calmness,” Ayano said optimistically.

Takato: “If everything can be solved by asking the ghost, then this mansion doesn’t need a detective.”

Ayano: “Well, there is no detective here anyway. Show me one.”

“There is someone who act like a detective here…” Takato muttered to himself.

Ayano glanced at Shun who was standing behind Takato. He seemed to be deep in thought about something since earlier.

When they were about to go downstairs, the staircase ghost whispered to Ayano, “You’re going to fall down.”

“No, I won’t,” Ayano replied.

Then the ghost whispered to Takato, “You’re going to fall down.”

“I won’t,” Takato replied.

The hardworking ghost then whispered to Shun, “You’re going to fall down.”

“I already did,” Shun replied.

All of them burst out laughing.

“Don’t…. Don’t tell this to anyone, Shun—”