99th vampire princess ~The last vampire~ - Chapter 1.4

Chapter 1.4

CHAPTER 1 – LORE OF THE “ONE-MAN HIDE-AND-SEEK”

PART 04

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As expected of an apartment fit for the elite, even the front entrance was huge .

“Thanks for letting us in,” Shigure said, then let out a small sigh of relief as she clutched at my sleeve . She must have been worried we’d be turned away . I gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder .

As we followed Yumie-chan’s mother down the hallway, she turned back to look at us .

“Yumie’s not hiding out at your place, is she? Are you kids here as some sort of spy for her?”

“I’m afraid I’ve never met Yumie-chan before, Miss . But judging by your beauty, I’m sure she’s a really cute girl . ”

“Oh, that girl’s really drab and unrefined . I can never understand what she’s thinking . ”

It pained me somewhat to hear a woman speak so badly of her own daughter, but to speak out now might make her change her mind and forbid us from checking out Yumie-chan’s room . Thus, I held my tongue .

Finally, we were shown into Yumie-chan’s room .

“This is Yumie’s room . ”

“Thank you!”

The room we were ushered into was probably the smallest in the entire apartment, only about 6 tatami mats large, but it was undoubtedly a junior high school girl’s room . However, it also felt somewhat plain . There were lots of personal items around, yet their placement didn’t make the room feel lived in at all .

Aside from some fashion magazines and manga on the bed, the rest of the room was tidy and neat . There were lots of soft toys around, but even those were lined up nicely, contrasting sharply with the books on the bed and the wide-open closet door .

Piles of clothes which had been hanging in the closet seemed to have been taken out, and were neatly folded and piled in the corners of the room . Spotting some nightwear among the items, I politely averted my gaze . I knew it wasn’t as embarrassing as seeing underwear, but I thought it would be polite to respect a girl’s private belongings .

“Well, I have to get ready for work . Don’t steal anything,” Yumie-chan’s mother warned before leaving the room .

“……Yes,” Shigure whispered, slightly taken aback . On the other hand, I was annoyed at the woman’s implication that my little sister was a thief .

However, I guess it wasn’t hard to imagine why this woman had become so critical and suspicious of others . Unable to trust anyone in her profession, she couldn’t even empathize with her own daughter . Watching her leave, I gave Shigure another pat on the shoulder .

“…Yes, I’m fine, big brother,” Shigure sighed as she assured me, placing her hand over mine .

“Well, let’s get started, shall we?”

“Yes . Big brother…?”

“I’ll take a look through those magazines . ”

With a change in mood, we shifted into detective mode . I was usually really frank, but this was about Shigure’s friend, and it was a personal issue within their family anyway, so I couldn’t speak my mind . Even though I was pissed at the woman’s attitude, there was nothing I could do to change that .

So .

Let’s not think about ‘lores’ first . Let’s pretend this was a simple case of a girl who ran away from home .

In that case, there was a chance that she’d contacted someone who had posted an ad on the ‘friendship board’ featured in the magazine I was holding in my hand . She was a junior high school girl, and this magazine was a little too mature for girls her age, but she was also at that age where girls started to take an interest in such things . I remembered hearing the girls in my junior high school class talk about topics such as these .

Flipping through the magazine, I soon found the page featuring the ‘board’ .

It wasn’t hard to imagine Yumie-chan contacting some guy here, and being attracted and lured away by him . Besides, judging by her family environment, she must have been a lonely girl craving for human contact .

However, something else soon caught my attention .

Flipping through the magazine a few more times, I discovered that it often opened up on a specific page .

“Shigure, there’s an interesting page here . Yumie-chan has bookmarked it . ”

“Really? What page is that?”

“Well…”

I spread the page out fully for Shigure . It was a special feature on the occult . And the title was…

“It’s called, ‘How to play the one-man hide-and-seek’…”

“Hmm… So Yumie might have tried out whatever is written on the magazine . ”

If she had searched the Internet on her smartphone, Yumie-chan might have found many different methods to play the one-man hide-and-seek, but it would be hard to tell which was true and which was fake . Thus, she must have tried out this method published in the magazine instead .

“Big brother, look at that,” Shigure said as she pointed at something on the table .

A few nail clippings, with a small scattering of rice . A red thread on a needle, a large box cutter, and a normal glass cup .

“In the trashbin too,” Shigure pointed to the bin, which was filled to the brim with pillow fluff .

It was obvious that Yumie-chan had dissected and emptied out some soft toy .

“But there’s no soft toy without its stuffing . ”

“You’re right . ”

“Yes, but there’s a box cutter here, which means she’s used it . ”

I knew then that Yumie-chan had indeed carried out the one-man hide-and-seek, based on what I’d read on the Internet and the method written in the magazine . Now, I took a closer look at the article .

~~~

=PREPARATION=
– Select a soft toy with a name .
– Remove all stuffing from the soft toy .
– Fill the toy with rice and nail clippings, then sew closed with red thread .
– Fill a cup with saltwater and place it at your hiding place .

=PROCEDURE=
– Begin at 3 a . m . in the morning .
– Turn to the soft toy and say, ‘I will be It first’ 3 times .
– Bring the toy to the bathroom and submerge it in a bucket filled with water .
– Turn off all lights in the house, and tune the TV to a static channel .
*For most digital TVs, switching it to analog mode can help you to tune to a static channel .
– Close your eyes and count loudly to 10 .
– Return to the bathroom with the box cutter .
– Tell the soft toy ‘I’ve found you, (toy’s name)’ .
– Stab the soft toy with the cutter .
– Tell the soft toy ‘You’re It now, (toy’s name)’ .
– Go to your hiding place with the saltwater and wait .