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

Chapter 60: Outside the barrier

“Why am I back at this place again?”

Shimizu was on his way back to the police station, but for some reason the car that he was driving kept turning up at the road nearby the Rainy Mansion.

“Maybe because someone is sitting next to you?” Tanimoto said from the back seat.

When they got into the car earlier that day, Tanimoto had refused to sit in the front and went to sit at the back instead. Shimizu complained that he was not his chauffer but Tanimoto insisted that he couldn’t sit at the driver’s seat or the front seat.

Tanimoto: “I think I have become sensitive after staying at the mansion for a few days. I could sense a woman is sitting in the front seat.”

Shimizu: “Stop it! I’m trying hard not to turn my head.”

Tanimoto: “Maybe it is Matsuko-san?”

Hearing that name, Shimizu unintentionally turned to look at his side. He saw a drenched woman with brown hair sitting with her head down.

“Damn it! It is not Matsuko!” Shimizu shouted as he drove by, weaving all over the road.

* * *

The woman disappeared when the car arrived at the Rainy Mansion. And right after the two men went inside the house, Tanimoto disappeared too.

Where the hell did he go? Shimizu cursed Tanimoto inwardly. As he wandered inside the mansion aimlessly, he found himself standing outside the room with the white sofa.

Although it was night already, Shimizu felt the room looked brighter than usual as he sat down on the sofa. Matsuko was lying on the floor by his feet in her normal position. Next to her, Onoda was sitting on the floor while hugging his knees.

“I’m sorry,” Onoda said while clasping his arms around his knees without looking up.

“What are you apologizing for?” Shimizu asked.

“I heard that you like Matsuko – someone said so when I was here. Actually, Matsuko died here alone. She was lying on the floor by herself. I used the leftover poison that she took to kill Toru. And then I put them both side by side on the sofa. I wanted to make it look like a double suicide to win Hisami’s heart. … I feel bad for you and Matsuko,” Onoda said while hugging his knees like a child.

Shimizu: “So Matsuko was not in love with Toru-san?”

Onoda: “I don’t know. I have no idea what was on her mind. But it made her look mysterious and maybe that was why you were attracted to her. Well, even if Matsuko did like Toru, I don’t think she would be happy that I put their dead bodies side by side. After all, her ghost keeps lying on the floor anyway.”

The sleeping beauty was still dead lying on the floor alone, as if time had stopped. It was as if she couldn’t be bothered to think about things and chose to become a ghost instead.

“I think the heaven is punishing me for killing Toru. Hisami betrayed me with another man and I found out Reiko isn’t my daughter. Even though I killed Hisami, she just ended up being a ghost just like Toru.”

After turning into a ghost, Hisami often bumped into Toru at the hallway and they would get into a fight every time they met. It seemed both of them had no intention to move on from this world yet.

Onoda: “I don’t want to see them anymore. I’ve decided to move on from this world.”

“I see. Thanks for everything,” Shimizu said perfunctorily.

Onoda remained sitting on the floor while hugging his knees. “… What should I do to move on from this world?”

“Uh- I’m not sure. I have never died before,” Shimizu replied.

The storm shutters were closed even though it wasn’t raining. The female ghost that haunted the shutter was looking at them with a grin on her face. Her body was still stuck at the wooden shutter and she seemed to have no intention of leaving this world.

Everything was as usual in the Rainy Mansion.