Chapter 1: 1

Chapter 1: The Night of 100 Tales, The Beginning of the Story ～Ayano～

One of the candlelight went out. Then another one, and another one—

Ayano and a group of kids were playing the 100 Tales[1] in this house called the Rainy Mansion during the summer vacation when she was in the fifth grade of elementary school. This house was called the Rainy Mansion[2] because it always look damp and gloomy even during a sunny day, perhaps because it was an old building.

The residents in this mansion had been involved in a long battle of inheritance dispute for years, so there were many people who made arbitrary speculation that perhaps the mansion always looked dark and gloomy because it was soaked in a deep-seated grudge.

Actually, the reason was much simpler. The mansion was haunted.

There were many spirits lurking here and there inside the Rainy Mansion. Quite a number of the family members were sensitive to spiritual things and could see ghosts. Considering this situation, it seemed reckless for the kids to play the 100 Tales in this mansion. Well, the kids were probably bored with nothing to do during this long summer vacation.

Perhaps due to the inheritance issue, most of the family members wouldn’t move out of this Rainy Mansion even after getting married, so there were many young children living in this house.

Based on Ayano’s memory, the person who suggested to play the 100 Tales was Eita who still lived in the mansion at the time. They stole the candles from the altar room[3], and lined up the candles on cans that they had brought from the kitchen. There was a Japanese sword at the center of the room. One of the kids had sneaked in the sword from somewhere to use it as a talisman.

They would surely be scolded if they were found out. However, the mansion was quite spacious and had many rooms. Normally the adults wouldn’t notice what the children were doing in some corner of the large mansion.

The children were sitting on the floor hugging their knees to their chests, crowded together around the candles that dimly illuminate the room. Because the candles were flickering, their shadows reflected on the paper sliding door and chests of drawers also swayed. Just looking at the swaying shadows could make one’s heart beat faster.

Growing up in this mansion, it was only normal for these children to have a large collection of ghost stories. The ritual of 100 Tales was progressing smoothly.

And then, something happened when it was Takato Sudou’s turn to tell his story. Takato was the heir of this mansion. He had a fair skin and never tan even in summer. His good-looking face was illuminated by the candlelight.

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Ayano was looking at him in a daze when she noticed someone was sitting on her left side. Well actually, Eita was sitting on her left side since earlier. But now, the one that was next to her was not Eita even though Eita was still there.

A child normally had a higher body temperature compared to adult and she couldn’t feel the warmth that she had felt before. There was something else sitting next to her.

Ayano clenched the hand that was hugging her knees and tried to move her line of sight a bit to the left. She saw a vermilion colored kimono with an old fashion flower pattern. It seemed that a female ghost in a kimono was sitting upright[4] next to her.

Everyone was looking at the center of the room, while that ghost was the only one sitting with her knees pointing towards Ayano. Many of the children here had the ability to see spirits, but for some reason, other than Ayano none of them had noticed the ghost.

She felt her body on the left side had goosebump as she felt the strong presence from the female ghost next to her. Even though she was used to mystical phenomenon, somehow, she was unable to bring herself to look at the ghost.

And then, the ghost opened her lips and said–

[1] 100 Tales: A parlor game/ritual where a group of players light up 100 candles and then take turn telling 100 ghost stories. The player will douse a candle after finishing one story. If you are not familiar with this game, you can read more here. 

[2] 雨屋敷 (ame yashiki): Literally means Rainy Mansion. Personally, I like the Japanese name better. 

[3] 仏間: the room where the family Buddhist altar is placed. Sample image. 

[4] 正座Japanese style proper sitting. Wiki page here. 

T/L Note: ① I have changed the first person narrative to 3rd person POV because there are so many characters in this story and the POV kept changing from sentence to sentence.
② I followed the tag that the author used. Personally, I think the story is 20% comedy, 20% romance, 20% horror and 40% madness.

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