Rumor About Steel Ghost

It is not a strange thing if one does not know the names of ‘youkai-henge’.

Even more, if one is a girl.

Yumihara Saki knows names like Kappa and mermaid. However, she never heard the name [Kudan] until Sakuragawa Kurou told her about it.

Kudan. It is written [件] in kanji and is a youkai with a human head but a body of a cow. It can speak human’s words, and it is said it will die after predicting the future.

It sometimes predicts things like good crops harvest or house’s prosperity, but in most cases it predicts unfortunate things like poor crops, diseases or natural disasters and it will without a doubt hit the mark. It is said that Kudan that was born during the World War 2 had predicted the Japan’s lost in that war.

Kudan that speaks the future by exchanging it for its own life. This [Beast of Prediction] is the most famous among all other commonly known monsters and often used as a subject in novels by many well-known authors, but Saki had never heard about it.

She never thought in her reality life that such things that could not be proved their existence would affect her life like this.

The time where she would have to think carefully on how will she associate with a monster that has the power to see the future; she was surprised that she could imagine it coming.

It has been 2 and a half years since she broke up with Kurou and found a job, but she still could not forget things concerning the Kudan, the Kappa, and the mermaid.

Even though she is working as a police, a job where there is no romance or dream in it, an occupation at an organization that operates on reality.

And today, as Saki was having a late lunch at the station’s cafeteria, Terada of the crime division sat in the seat opposite of her with a serious face with only teacup in his hand.

“Yo, Yumihara. When I invited you for yakiniku before you said whenever you eat beef you’ll recall your ex-boyfriend that you had broken up with in a bad fashion and it’ll ruin your mood and declined me.”

“Yes, I think I did.”

Saki did not stop her hand that was digging on the beef kalbi set but she answered the monk-headed Terada as she looked at him in the eyes.

Terada has been working at Makurazaka Police Station, Makurazaka City where Saki is assigned for more than 10 years and is a sergeant.

He is a 5-Dan judo practitioner and is well-known as a strong opponent at the inter-station match.

With a huge and tall body like a wall of stone, smashed ear caused by practicing judo and very cold-looking lips, he is known as a skilled detective that would make even a veteran flinched at the first glance.

If only he tried to do the extra work, he would have been promoted by now. If only he could soften his glare by just a few percent, he would have found a marriage partner by now. Those are what people in the station had commented about him.

Saki is in the traffic division so she wears a uniform while working, and her works usually about handling cases like traffic accident so she often meets him due to work duty. After she took up the new post, she often gets called out and invited for a meal or drink.

Honestly, Saki thinks it as a bother so she went to consult about it obliquely with the personnel chief and the result was-

“There’s nothing much I can do. Yumihara-kun is Terada’s type after all. Just try to play along with him for now.”

Such response that Saki thought is an absolute lie when the personnel chief said he could not do anything about it. It is because she could not play along with him anymore that she wanted him to do something about it but the whole station is giving an atmosphere of supporting Terada-

“His face is scary but he is a good guy.”

“He is a late bloomer, and he’s giving his best to talk to you, you know.”

“Never heard he had a lover before or a hobby, so his saving should be quite a lot.”

since she was occasionally being told such supporting statements from them.

As for Saki, she keeps rejecting those invitations but Terada always kindly, never tries to resort to harassment. And she knows well that unlike his appearance or tone, he is a gentleman.

Even the fact that the whole station is giving their support had proved that he is a trustworthy man.

But this is a problem of taste, so there is nothing that could be done.

Her type is the complete opposite of the boorish Terada, is a perfect guy like her previous boyfriend, Sakuragawa Kurou whom she had broken up with in a cruel fashion, and her taste has not changed ever since.

Kurou was a dull and soft-looking young man and was shorter and one year younger than her and he was plain; like a mountain goat.

She was the one who brought up the topic of breaking up, but she still remembers him and their memories all these times.

They broke up when she graduated in early March, and today is Thursday, September 20th. Two and a half years had passed ever since and she is already 25-year-old.

After her training at the police-training school and being made to chase things everywhere before getting used to her work after she was designated, she still recalls her times with Kurou sometimes, which made her resented herself for being weak-minded.

When that she heard about the rumors not so long ago; that his cousin that was admitted into hospital for a very long time had passed away, she thought that only if she passed away right before their trip to Kyoto, they would have to cancel their trip and such thing would not have happened; such selfish thought as she punched his pillow in the late-night.

There should be a limit on how weak-minded one could become.

“Well then, Yumihara, why are you eating that beef kalbi set?”

So Terada continued. Saki, still looking him in the eyes, answered without slowing down her chopsticks in hand.

“I thought that being haunted by the past won’t do me any good, so this is my positive effort of trying to overcome it.”

“So, can I invite you for some yakiniku again?”

“If possible, I don’t want to do such practice in a private time.”

“Okay, how about sushi? I’ve found a good place.”

“Fish dishes also reminds me of my previous boyfriend, so I rarely eat them.”

“How on earth did you break up with him that it had become this bad?”

Terada, rather than being angry, sounded more like being tired of it as he readjusted his sitting posture.

From Saki’s point of view, even if she kept on lying to decline Terada’s invitations, Terada could not complain about it even though he did not find it pleasant as he is a gentleman at heart. It also means she can use that to her advantage.

“Even if it is lunch-time, asking your female-kouhai to explain about the reason of her broken past love, as a man and a senpai, I don’t think that others would think highly of that.”

Saki, while still continued to eat the beef kalbi like a robot, refused to explain the reason politely.

Terada who never fails at interrogating suspect for the past five years had no choice but to stay silent and then began to start spinning the teacup in his hand.

“But, to reject a fine woman like you, I’d doubt he is a good man, no?”

It looked like Terada still had not given up yet and tried to change Saki’s mind about the man.

A fine woman or not, Saki does not have such confidence about herself. Be it about appearance or about personality, she knows that she is not very woman-like that it always bugs her.

She had only dated Kurou, just one man so far in her entire life, and she is too tall for a girl that it troubles her. She even considered it as a minus point.

After breaking up with Kurou, she had shortened her hair that people could now see her nape; for which her hair used to be at her bottom-neck long.

There were also times when she was mistaken for a guy from behind when wearing casual clothes.

Once, someone from the headquarter came and saw Saki in her uniform and rumor was that he had been asking around about the female model who he thought was doing the station-chief-for-a-day role. Saki who does not lose in height even when she stands among the males in the station, often being teased or made fun of by them.

Terada probably has his own preferences, so, for now, she decided to accept “a fine woman” statement as a praise, and corrected him where she thought should be corrected.

“No, it was me who dumped him. I think I did something really bad to him.”

“But that was because he wasn’t a worthy man, right?”

“We had introduced each other to our parents, and even planned to get engaged. Both our parents agreed on our idea of getting married after we both had graduated from university. We would have already been married by now. If we could get away with it without breaking up, we’d do that already. But we couldn’t.”

“Even if you looked at me in the eyes with that serious face, how do you expect me to take that story?”

“Please take it in a nice way. It’s simply the truth.”

Now that Saki had told him that much, Terada must be feeling that it might be better not to ask any further about Saki’s past, and decided to withdraw.

Saki up till today, had never talked to a single person about why did she break up with Kurou.

Even her friends who know the both of them well had attacked her with questions out of shock and suspicion, but she kept giving them unclear and vague answers.

If possible, she really wants to tell someone about it. She thought maybe that way she could sort out her own feeling and forget about Kurou eventually.

However, even if she talked about it, she does not think that anyone would believe her and she does not really sure whether it is alright to tell others about this kind of thing.

She just could not bring herself to say that “we broke up because of a Kappa”.

Before they even believe it, they would likely laugh about it first.

At least, if it was a less common youkai then it would make the story somewhat believable, but it is a Kappa; a creature well-known to almost everyone as harmless and pleasant. People might think she is crazy as she explains it to them.

And then if she continued the story with Kudan and mermaid she feels people would unpleasantly and slowly back off from her.

During the night of their trip to Kyoto, a Kappa that they had met when they walked along the Kamogawa River. Even today, just remembering it would give Saki goosebumps.

Normally, people would treat it as if they had mistaken it for something else, and there is nothing weird about it if they did, however, they could not deny the otherworldly vibe that they were feeling.

Saki was tremendously scared which was very unusual for herself, that she had clung on Kurou.

If Kurou too, were frightened at that time, or if he held her by her shoulder firmly, maybe their relationship would have remained unchanged.

But before Kurou could make any move, it was clear that the Kappa was staring at Kurou, as its hatchet face stiffened and its body taken aback, it started to groan as such.

“Ah, human is so scary. You human would eat anything, and would breed with anything. Giving a birth to such monster like you, ah, how scary.”

Afterward, the Kappa stumbled as it fled into the night.

The creature that Saki tried to deny its existence with all her might, had one look at the slightly unreliable-looking man next to her and then ran away without trying to do anything.

She could not help but to think about it. What exactly is her boyfriend, which that all-green thing which is called a Kappa just called him as a monster.

Terada put down his teacup.

“Ah, you see, actually, I’m not here to invite you for a meal. Nor that I’ve come here to say something sarcastic. Three days ago, you were the one that dealt with the accident case at X river, right?”

“It wasn’t just me alone, but what about it?”

Three days before, past 10 pm, an accident in which a car had broken through the guard rail and fell into X River near the outskirt of the city had happened. Saki was one of those at the scene.

If one had listened to the story it might sound like a big accident, but the guard rail itself was old and rusty, and the height difference between the road and the river is about 2 meter. But it was gently sloped, as the driver accidentally turned the steering down the slope and fell towards the river just like that. That was all.

The depth of the river is just almost 30 cm, so there was no danger of drowning. The car itself was soaked in the water so it could not be started again, but the 21-year-old student that was driving it only suffered a minor wound.

There was no other passenger nor any other victim and that student admitted his wrong, so the case was handled quite smoothly.

On the right side of that road is a mountain, and on the left side is an unpopular river so it did not lead to a traffic jam.

There were no injured nor dead people came out from this accident that may spell crime that would attract the interest of a detective. Even if there was something, asking Saki who was just in-charge of the inquiry is a weird thing to do.

“The cause of the accident was, he thought he saw a dog in front of him, so he immediately turned the wheel all the way, crashed into the guard rail and fell straight into the river; is what written but I heard at first he told a different story.”

As Terada’s voice became lower, Saki lifted and brought up the bowl of miso soup that came with her meal set to her mouth and answered with a cold tone.

“He must’ve talked in agitation since we just saved him from a car sunken in water. Afterward, the person himself denied it saying he remembered it wrong.”

“So, it is true then.”

“What is?”

“That the student at first said “a girl without a face holding steel beam about 2 meters long, wearing a standing out red and black frilled dress with a mini-skirt, and a huge ribbon on her head suddenly appeared in front of the car so he immediately turned the steering wheel towards the river” “.

Saki put the bowl down.

She did not turn away from Terada’s stare.

“He didn’t tell that kind of story that consists only the important points, but it is about right, mostly. Also, he added another characteristic of that girl; she has a big bust.”

Perhaps after the student had regained his composure, he had doubted that people would believe the story he had told and it would be troublesome if he was suspected of driving in the effect of alcohol or taking drugs, so he changed the thing that had appeared to a dog.

Such story had no problem in itself, so Saki wrote it down as such.

However, Saki never thought of denying the driver’s story in her head.

She felt that student’s fear was similar to hers at that time. Hence, she did not question him much and compiled the story he had told her in an innocuous way.

For some reason, Terada was trying to dig that story out.

“Terada-san, are you trying to find the [Steel Ghost Nanase]?”

(T/N: The original word is Koujin Nanase. Nanase is Nanase, a name. Well, Koujin is.. Kou means steel and Jin means people or human. But this Nanase isn’t a human anymore so I changed it to ghost.)

Saki without a smile on her face, mentioned a name that has been spreading as a rumor in Makurazaka City recently.

Terada, also without a smile on his face, lifted up his teacup as he answered her.

“If I could catch the mysterious person behind this [Urban Legend], I might receive a medal from the headquarter chief, don’t you think?

In the end, would [Steel Ghost Nanase] really be nothing more but an urban legend? Saki does not think so.

After all, the meaning of the term itself is vague. Rather that an urban legend, its existence is much closer to a [Ghost Story].

In the beginning of this year, an idol died in Makurazaka City. Her name was Nanase Karin, and her real name was Nanase Haruko.

She was 19 at that time.

Saki had never known her name or her look until she heard about her death but it seemed like she was a popular idol that did gravure shots and often appeared in variety shows.

Due to a certain dark rumor, she had become the attention of the media in a bad meaning. So in order to run away from the media’s hounding, she came to hide in a hotel in Makurazaka City which is quite a distance from Japan’s main cities. But on January 30th, Saturday, she was found as a corpse buried under countless steel beams at a construction site just next to the hotel.

Even though it was within the city, the case was out of her station’s jurisdiction, so she did not know much about the detailed investigation but for a countryside city with a population of about 500 000, inappropriate numbers of groups of reporters had marched into the city. She had to run everywhere handling the traffic and deal with the suddenly increased number of accidents, so Nanase Karin’s name is stuck in her memory.

In the end, her death was concluded as an accident, considering the possibility of suicide is quite high due to the pursue from the media and the suffering from slander and libel from the rest of the society.

Not even a week has passed and her topic was nowhere to be heard.

No matter how surprising and unexpected her case was, that is the fate of an idol, if she could not show herself anymore, the majority of the people will lose their interest in the idol. Saki is also the same.

However, since about two months ago rumor about her, especially in this city, started spreading.

The ghost of Nanase Karin wearing the same costume back when she was an idol, carrying the very steel beam that crushed her in one hand, is rumored to be appearing night after night attacking people.

As if trying to take revenge on the society that had cornered her to her death.

And for the record, when they found her corpse her face was tragically crushed by the steel beams. That happened to be the reason of her ghost too, does not have a face.

At first, the rumor seemed to be circulating among middle school students, but not long after that the ghost was given a name [Steel Ghost Nanase]. That name which has a vibe around it, was introduced to the internet and later became a topic throughout the whole nation.

She had crawled out from under the pile of steel beams, swinging a steel beam unfitting her slim body as if its weight is nothing; such story is said had given her that [Steel Ghost] nickname.

Although it has become a nation-wide topic, it is only limited to the internet and neither that nickname nor her appearance was reported in the tabloids or television. It seems that its popularity among the common people is still low.

The youngsters who love to have fun sometimes went for a “field trip” to the site where she was found dead but that is all there is to it.

When most of the society of the city consisted of elderly, the number of people who do not know are more than the people who do, it seemed.

Saki thinks she had heard about [Steel Ghost Nanase] but that is all. Until the accident happened 3 days ago made her recalled the faint memory about the rumor.

Haunted by a dark rumor, idol that ran away but then died and became a ghost. Not to mention, she became an evil spirit that swings a piece of steel with one hand. It would be a pretty interesting story to talk about.

She also heard about someone who gave her the name [Steel Ghost Nanase] somewhere.

Not [Iron Ghost] but [Steel Ghost], little different do they have but it was not a word one would find every day but it leaves a mark in one’s mind.

(T/N: The word Tetsujin exists but Koujin does not. Think of it as Iron man and Steel man. You’d know Iron man but you’d never heard of Steel man.)

It is probably not wrong to say Nanase Karin became an urban legend because of that name attached to her.

Even then, they are all just rumors. Like the story of a woman with a ripped mouth, human-faced dog, vanishing passenger in the taxi and the woman who would cause an accident at the entrance of a tunnel; those legends born in the city are nothing but a ghost story.

If one were to pursue the original source of such story, one would only found vague and without a definite proof clue like “I heard it from my friend”, ” a friend of a friend of mine saw it”, ” my senpai’s lover’s friend really experienced it” or ” the kouhai of one of my relatives’ uncle happened to be there”. There was not a single concrete evidence in them.

Born in the darkness of the city, a fairy tale to tell people indirectly the cold truth about the danger of such dark places.

It has a feel of reality to it, makes one wants to believe it, but when investigated thoroughly it should be nothing but a lie.

“Catching a ghost or a mysterious person is not a police’s job, so headquarter probably won’t be giving out a medal for it.”

Saki said that indifferently to Terada as she stuffed the beef kalbi into her mouth.

“What do you think?”

“Like I said, there is no medal.”

“Not about that. Do you really think a ghost called [Steel Ghost Nanase] or a mysterious person or something else is wandering around here?”

That was a question which Saki did not know how to answer but, she straightened her sitting posture and put her chopsticks down.

“That university student who was driving the car in the accident three days ago knows about the [Steel Ghost Nanase]’s rumor but it looked like he only realized what he saw when he was explaining about the situation to me. When he realized it, he denied the earlier story and gave a proper story about the cause of the accident.”

“It didn’t look like he was lying?”

“Whatever had appeared in front of him; a ghost or a stray dog, it won’t change the fact that it caused the accident, so I didn’t ask for more details. Since we work based on the assumption of ghosts, mysterious person do not exist, I didn’t call him back and determined the first story is a lie. Thus, I didn’t write it down.”

The one who was questioning the student about the accident was another officer in the first place.

The officer thought that such story would be meddlesome so the officer pushed him over to Saki mid-way.

For some reasons, the officer told Terada who is interested in [Steel Ghost Nanase] about the accident so Terada came to see Saki for the rest of the details.

“It is not like I’m trying to blame you, I just want to know, from your point of view, did he really saw a girl holding a steel beam, or did he not?”

Even if Terada said he was interested in it, it did not look like he was half-playing to search for it. Saki gave him a reply in an instance.

“He did. He saw something that isn’t normal so he turned the steering wheel to the wrong direction.”

The frightening look in the student’s eyes, The sudden steering change and the tire tracks, the guard rail that he broke through, and above all, the air around the river that had shaken Saki’s sense.

Something from out of this world was once standing there.

Ever since she met a Kappa at Kamogawa, she is somehow able to feel their presence strongly.

It is not that they had talked to her directly or did something that affected her daily life but she does not see the world as the same color as before.

That said, it was not like a special power is blooming within her and there is no way to use it practically. At most, the only thing that had changed is her personality, it became darker than before and she could not see things as they are right now.

It was not sure whether Terada was able to see Saki’s gloom but he nodded silently about one thing.

“It hasn’t become a case yet and there is no damage report made for it officially. But within the city, there are a few reports lodged at the police boxes about seeing a suspicious person that looks like [Steel Ghost Nanase] or almost being attacked by her.”

“Directly to the police boxes?”

When a rumor has been circulating around too long, sometimes it could affect the society in reality.

If a story of a mysterious person attacking kids and women had been spreading around, people would refrain themselves from going out at night, and school kids would go home in a group in response to such story.

But when such rumor even reached the police, Saki thought it as weird.

Not to mention, it was not something like a friend or an acquaintance who saw or met it, but the person himself/herself who saw or was attacked was the one that lodged the report.

“Currently, for most of them, the police told those people that they probably mistook it for something else, and teased them to kill some times. They dealt with such complaints not in a serious way. But somewhere around the middle of last month, there are a few cases of mysterious assault attempt in the city and also several cases of random attacking. Some of the victims fell over when trying to run away and scraped their knees. Only light wounds like that, no significant wound has been reported. Maybe, like that accident case three days ago, there are still victims out there that couldn’t say that they were almost being assaulted by a girl with big bust holding a steel beam.”

Probably in some cases, they do not even know what is attacking them; it is reflected in their eyes but their brain just could not tell them what it is.

In the middle of the night, meeting a girl wearing a standing out frilled dress, plus, that girl is swinging a steel beam around.

There is no one who could stay calm after seeing such scene.

“Terada-san, are you really thinking [Steel Ghost Nanase] is really out there, attacking people?”

If this staunch detective really thinks so, then he is really something.

Saki felt a cold sweat ran through her back. Whenever she thinks about those unknown monsters would influence her life again, she feels like her stomach had shrunken.

Terada opened his eyes to her after hearing Saki’s voice stiffened unnaturally, and let out a bitter laugh.

“Oi, oi, it is not like I believe in ghost, even if they exist there is nothing I could do as a detective.”

Then why is he gathering all these information?

“Even if there was no ghost, there are reports about people are witnessing it, almost assaulted by it. It is the truth behind it that we should look for. If it was just a rumor that people are getting assaulted and killed it wouldn’t be a problem, but it is really weird that it now reached the police’s ears. Such thing is not a ghost’s doing, it’s a living human’s doing for sure.”

After listening to his explanation, Saki let out a small breath.

It would be natural that people who had never experienced a life-changing experience about something that looks human but is actually not, would think that way.

This time, Saki laughed bitterly.

“So, what you mean is, someone somewhere is pretending as a dead idol night after night, hiding her face, wearing a dress, wandering around this city with a steel beam in one hand?”

“In order to show that big bust, I think that someone must have stuffed a lot of padding. That late Nanase Karin’s bust size is said to be over 100 cm.”

“That is big.”

“It is. It is sure a hard-work pretending to be [Steel Ghost Nanase]. Well, it is not my kind of taste, though.”

“Is that a sarcasm to silently say that my chest is small?”

“No, it isn’t.”

Putting the bust size matter aside, imitating the [Steel Ghost Nanase] is an impossible story.

If one was to believe the rumor and the witnesses, the steel beam that [Steel Ghost Nanase] is carrying around is about 30 cm longer than her own height, about 180 cm to 2 m.

If it is the real deal, it would probably weigh around 20 to 30 kg.

Even a muscular man could not rotate it around with only one hand.

Let’s say that someone made something that looks like a steel beam out of woods or polystyrene so that someone could carry it around with one hand, but going to all the trouble to make it just for that purpose is absurd.

On top of that, moving around with something that bulky, is not an easy thing to do, even with a car. It would stand out too much.

And then, wearing a bizarre costume like black and red frilled mini dress and a huge ribbon on the head.

Wandering around the city wearing such outfit without leaving many witnesses, that would really take extra cautions to make it worked.

If she is not a ghost that can appear and disappear freely, it sounds impossible to keep doing it for a long time.

“It seems too complicated to be a prank.”

Then, it feels like the idea of Nanase Karin’s ghost really appeared would make more sense.

Or it was just people were exaggerating about what they saw.

That is just how odd this [Steel Ghost Nanase]’s existence is.

Anyway, it is not something that police should take it seriously.

But Terada’s opinion was different.

“That’s where I think something off. If there is really a need to go that far to pretend as a ghost, there must be an important reason or a huge aim behind it. This isn’t just a normal prank, probably a crime or something else.”

Terada thinks [Steel Ghost Nanase]’s appearance as some kind of preparation for a big, bad crime.

The police officers working at the police boxes where the reports were lodged also felt something was off, and maybe some of them came to talk to Terada about it.

I see, so this is what they called a detective’s intuition. I guess it’s not because of his appearance that made him popular inside this station, to the level that they started to worry about him since he hasn’t found a life partner yet.

“[Steel Ghost Nanase]’s rumor started about two months ago. It seems like it was about the same time as people started to call her with that name. Direct testimony about her and the damage she had caused in this city started around two weeks ago. On the net, the information about her on blogs or any related sites suddenly increased around that time. There was enough time to make preparation in that period between them. Preparation like making the outfit and the steel beam. It only started to move recently.”

“Do you have any clue on why would someone play as a big-busted ghost?”

“No, I don’t yet. For something like this, I can’t go out investigate it openly. I’ll have to collect information with utmost care. A detective taking rumor seriously isn’t cool either, but there is definitely something happening. Lately, countryside cities tend to be breeding ground for criminal syndicates. Even in a city like this, the number of cases of teenagers caught taking drugs escalated, you know? It is because they are rumors among kids, that they might have some truth in them. Someone needs to set up the antenna for them before it’s too late.”

Terada emptied his teacup after finishing his sentences.

“I’d be glad if you could lend me a hand. You don’t have to do something extraordinary. Just collect information on rumors inside this city and on the internet naturally. Right now I’m marking places where that [Steel Ghost Nanase] had appeared on the map. I think maybe there’s a pattern.”

Superiority. Seeing things that others could not, doing things that other would not bother. For a detective, one just has to start moving once there is a case. Even though he does not know which station’s jurisdiction does this case will fall to, Terada has never thought of putting his guard down.

As for Saki, it is not like she is reluctant to lend him a hand, it is just that she knows one truth that Terada does not.

“Terada-san, please, at least, don’t forget this and keep it in your heart. That is, the possibility of things like ghost, youkai exist in this world. When such things lurk around, you can feel their ominous and unrest presence as if something bad was about to happen.”

“Huh?”

Saki could feel it. That this [Steel Ghost Nanase] is a real thing. A real ghost, without such second intention like crime plot or a scheme.

Whatever happens in the future, it is not something that police could deal with.

“If this ghost that people saw, reported for attacking people is really the ghost of Nanase Karin that died in January this year, then the only thing that should be done is an exorcism ritual. Your effort might end in vain if you keep at searching for it.”

Maybe because he did not expect Saki to say something like that in a dead serious tone, Terada who was getting up from the chair stopped his movement and stared at her for quite some time.

“What’s this? Yumihara, don’t tell me that you’re the type that believes in those things?”

“I’ve never seen a ghost before, but it is because I’ve seen a youkai before.”

“What are you talking about? If you don’t want to help you can just say so, you know? I’m the one that asking the impossible here. It is just that, when you were handling that case, I heard you took care of the driver very seriously. So, I thought maybe you’d understand.”

“No, I’ll lend you a hand, but I’m telling you to keep in mind that, such things exist in this world.”

It was probably useless even if she said it. When the world’s rule that one had been believing simply bent in another direction, one would live an uneasy life, fearing that it would one day happens again. Someone who did not live such life, can not feel the atmosphere where those things exist.

Saki closed her eyes once, pinched the area between her eyebrows with her fingers and met with Terada’s unrefined face again.

“Anyway, please be careful. If you treat it as something that is different than the logic of our world, it might save you one day.”

To add a bit to the persuasion, Saki continued by saying this.

“It’s because I never thought it that way, that I ended up breaking up with my ex-boyfriend.”

And it seemed like it had an effect on him.

“Is your ex-boyfriend a youkai or a ghost or something?”

“I don’t know how should I say it. He is something much better, or maybe something much worse.”

Things like he once ate something that could be called a monster aside, Saki really does not sure how should she categorize Kurou who is feared by a youkai like Kappa.

Saki herself could not answer that question for all these time. She tried thinking of everything she could use to explain it, but she just could not find the right word.

Saki said “excuse me” to Terada while looking a bit impolite as she hold her mouth with one hand and dashed towards the washroom.

She had thrown up almost half of the beef kalbi set that she just ate.

It is not like every time she eats beef she would remember about Kurou.

Kurou is not at fault here but somehow there are things that she could not accept mentally yet.

When she got out of the washroom, the huge Terada was waiting while keeping his body small.

(T/N: Something like crossing your arms tightly, or putting your hands inside pockets while keeping your arms tightly to your body)

He was curious so he went after her, but of course, he could not enter the female’s washroom but he felt reluctant to return to the cafeteria so he just stood there.

And also, waiting in front of woman’s washroom must be giving him an uneasy feeling too.

(T/N: He did not wait outside of the washroom, there’s a distance between him and the washroom. It’s like he followed her from a distance but immediately stopped right after Saki entered the washroom.)

“Guess it’s true when you said you couldn’t eat meat. Want me to get you something to drink?”

“No, it’s fine. Can’t let you go through that trouble for me. I was a bit careless, that’s all.”

Although she was still feeling heavy in her chest and also her stomach as she just vomited, she straightened her resolution along with her back as she lifted a hand to refuse him.

If she took Terada’s kindness for granted, she could imagine there would be rumor spreading inside the station later. Most likely, they all are going to look at the both of them with a warm heart.

“Anyway, Terada-san. Something that is out of world’s logic exists. You must not ruin your career by concerning yourself with it too much. Please be extra careful.”

Not sure whether Terada is amazed at Saki’s persistent words or is tired of them, but he gave a smile looking like he understand what is she trying to tell him.

“Okay, understood. I understood well enough that you had a really complicated past love story.”

“Well, the only thing that is complicated was about the result of it .”

Understanding each other is a difficult thing. It really hurt Saki in the heart that she still could not understand Kurou even after dating him for more than five years.

In the end, Saki promised to give Terada her cooperation before they parted, and Saki went to order another meal set that does not have any meat inside it at the cafeteria and returned to her traffic work afterward.

Terada might have asked for her cooperation purely because of work, or maybe he wanted to increase his chance to talk to Saki in order to get closer to her, whichever it is, leaving the matter as it is, does not sit well with her.

To be honest, becoming closer to Terada and concerning herself with the monsters; both matters make her feel tired.

But seeing people next to her get deeply wrapped up with it and later ended up losing trust in the world is even worse.

One should, at least, prepare a way out that would save oneself at some point.

(T/N: She is talking about Terada)

That day, there was no big accident or big case so Saki’s work ended at 9.30 pm and made her way back to home.

Finding information on [Steel Ghost Nanase] during her working time is kind of awkward, so she thought of getting home as soon as she could and get start with it.

After the accident three days ago, she only took a look briefly at the summary because she did not want to investigate any further than that, fearing that she might see “them” again. Thus, she tried to not to think much about it.

Wearing gray trousers and a bag of the same color on her shoulder, she left the station.

The place where she lives is about 10 minutes walk from the police station, a 15-year-old one-room apartment located on high ground. Surprisingly, it has an auto-lock.

Usually, station workers who do not live with their family or anyone else would be living in the station’s dormitory but the dormitory itself was already old and full, so she is living outside on her own. The apartment was fine, the rent is affordable, the only minus point is she had to spend an endless 10 minutes climbing the hill from the station to her home.

Riding a bicycle down the hill to work would be fun, but going back home would be frustrating.

There is not a single house can be seen until one reached the top. On one side of the road is a wall, and on the other side passed over the guard rail one could see a great look-down view of the city. Although it was really pretty, she had enough of it after seeing it every day.

After it gets dark, that one-way road becomes a lonely and quiet road that even if there is a police station nearby it still makes women feel restless when passing through it.

Saki walked along the usual asphalt road shined by the street lights that lined up at an interval as she climbed the hill.

It would be a lie if Saki said she is not afraid walking the road at night.

Rather, now that she knows about those otherworldly beings, perhaps she is more afraid than a normal person do.

But there is no way she could avoid from walking at night in her life.

Then, she would just have to walk it without slacking, enough to build up some resistance towards it.

So Saki, with her slender legs, walked with a fast pace like an automaton or cyborg through the dark road.

There were a few times she got startled by people of the apartment who, like her, was climbing the hill trying to get home.

She wondered how much longer that she would have to be scared of the darkness, of the unknown world.

If she could forget about Kurou, will those youkai’s existence fades away from her reality?

Saki thought as the night winds blew at her in that slightly warm September.

At that moment, she heard a voice coming from uphill direction.

“U-waah.”

Although there was a weird pause it was a scream for sure, she thought.

The next moment, something that looked like a launched dodgeball came falling in Saki’s direction.

Even with the light from the street light that only shines a particular spot, she knew what it was.

It was a person. And it was a girl with a small build.

Saki quickly reacted to catch and stop the falling girl.

Losing balance and fall rolling down in such bad-looking way is not an impossible story, but that was the first time Saki saw someone doing it.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, compared to the pain of being deflowered, this much is nothing.”

“Why are you bringing up that kind of clear example at a time like this?”

“Well, that was the most painful experience for me, so there’s nothing else I could’ve said.”

So the girl had said, but Saki never thought that a young girl like her would say something like that.

But if she could say such weird thing, then her body and also her mind should be alright.

“I don’t know who you are or where’d you came from, but for the time being, you’ve saved me.”

The girl fixed her beret that she had pushed down securely to her head so it would not fall as she rolled down. Calmly refused Saki’s hand to help her getting up, she supported herself using the cane and stood up.

Her left leg’s movement was stiff, perhaps from the fall or perhaps it was already like that from the beginning.

As she was standing, it revealed her prominent small body figure.

The different in height between her and Saki should probably be around 30 cm.

Looking at her face, she was very child-like and lovely like a Japanese porcelain doll and looked like an adorable princess that was brought up with the tenderest care.

But her vigorous looking eyes, and lips that did not show any sign of discomposure gave a feeling as if her experience is backing up that calm appearance of hers.

Saki could not guess the girl’s age. If the girl said she is a middle school student, Saki would satisfy with it, and if the girl said she is older than Saki then Saki would also accept it. That is just how weird this girl’s existence is.

“I don’t know who you are or where’d you come from, but”

The girl brushed the dust off her green and white soft-looking cardigan and skirt, fixed her front hair that was covering her right eye and then looked upward towards Saki and repeated her words.

“I won’t say anything bad, but please run away.”

“From what?”

The girl moved her gaze towards the top of the hill. There, on top of the hill, was another silhouette of a human.

Saki’s breath stopped for a moment.

There was a big ribbon on the head of the human silhouette.

It was wearing a dress with a mini skirt that shows clearly its body line and its thighs but the dress’ shape did not crumble at all as if its shape is being held by wires inserted into the dress.

The dress was woven in black and red color and its design was to emphasize the wearer’s slim hips.

And, its right hand was carrying a long object next to its body with its end pointed down a little.

At one look, it looked like it was carrying a naginata.

(T/N: Naginata is something like long sword with a long handle like a spear)

But it was, without any doubt, a steel beam.

10 cm in width, about 2 m in length H-shaped piece of steel.

With one swing, that piece of steel looked like it could crush human’s skull like a tomato. The very same heavy piece of steel that is used in construction work.

The human silhouette hit and put down one of the steel beam’s end on the asphalt road and slowly walked down the hill as it dragged the steel beam together with her making a dull guon-sound.

Underneath the chest part of the dress that emphasized its cleavage, the two huge swellings swayed accordingly as she walked.

“Steel ghost, Nanase-”

The ghost of an idol that ran away from the society’s critic, but died tragically crushed under a pile of steels.

Hearing Saki muttered the name with a dry throat, the girl moved her eyebrows a little.

“So you know about her.”

“I really wish I don’t however.”

Her appearance and her outfit were exactly the same as the rumor she had heard.

On top of that, Saki could see it clearly, that there was no face.

Even under the little light in a dark night, it was clear.

It was not like it was hidden under a mask or it was painted with make-up to cover it.

Like smashed flattened meat; the face of that ‘thing’ which was walking down the hill with a steel beam in its hand, was nothing but black.

That is not a human being. It is something that has two legs, coming from a different world.

Saki did not expect to encounter it before Terada does.

Maybe this is the fate of people who have some kind of relationship with Kurou.

“Please run now. That is not an illusion, nor a prank of someone with a weird taste. That is that kind of beings, those that we called a ghost, a monster or a youkai.”

The girl, with an indifferent tone, said without removing her stare from the ‘urban legend’ that was still closing in.

“I know. I could tell from this atmosphere it’s the real thing.”

“Those huge knockers are the real things too.”

“That is not the problem here?”

This Nanase Karin is a more ominous being than a Kappa.

Her feet was paralyzed and her heart was beating fast.

If that kind of thing suddenly being lighted by the headlight, it would not be a strange thing if one would turn the steering wheel as hard as one could.

“Is this some kind of joke? I’ve had enough.”

Saki murmured. The word “eh” came out from the girl’s mouth as she turned around to Saki.

Saki’s retina was like burning with fire as her gaze was fixed on the steel ghost Nanase.

She is afraid of the night and she is afraid of those monster.

If she could run away, then she would do that.

But at the same time, as her heart screamed “haven’t you played with my life enough already?! Now cut it out!” as she felt an anger within herself.

She had run from the Kappa and she had run from Kurou.

As a result, she was living a pessimistic life.

Saki threw away her thought and the bag hanging mid-way on her shoulder to her side and dashed forward, towards Steel Ghost Nanase.

As a police officer, she never misses training her body all these time. Even for her clothes and her shoes, she always chooses something that would allow she to move around quickly so that she could deal with the situation right away.

She could even win against a murderer holding a dangerous weapon.

This is a good chance, she thought.

If she did not think that way, then what was she about to do is a total absurdity.

I’ll fight against this monster head on. I’ll beat this steel ghost and get rid of my fear and my hesitation right here this very night.

The Steel Ghost Nanase in front of her slowly stopped her feet and without even preparing swung the steel beam with only right hand horizontally.

Saki bent her body while trying not to leave too much space, and the blunt object went past her.

The invisible cold air had just passed above her head.

Saki took a breath only half-way as she tried to hit the Steel Ghost Nanase before the ghost could swing the steel beam right back at her using a backhand, and threw her fist towards Steel Ghost Nanase’s toned abdomen.

Although her opponent was a girl or even a ghost, she did not hold back a tiny bit at all.

But her fist slipped through. It was not because it got dodged, but like trying to touch a hologram image, Saki’s hand just passed through Steel Ghost Nanase’s abdomen.

Immediately it came to her mind.

That Steel Ghost Nanase is a ghost spirit.

And spirit could not be touched directly, and could go through wall and ceiling. A fact that is well-known for so long.

The steel beam that missed her earlier was once again fiercely swung towards her.

She bent and managed to narrowly dodge it but her jacket got caught on the narrow part of the H-shape and it made her stance to collapse and fell on the asphalt road.

Since the whole place was a slope and her legs were still not in a stable state, she could not stand up immediately. Steel Ghost Nanase easily held the steel beam aloft.

This is absurd. The fact that human could not touch a ghost, but ghost could do things that could affect human.

“That’s why I told you to run away!”

The moment Saki had prepared herself for the pursuing attack of the steel beam, that girl with her small body, rammed Steel Ghost Nanase using her shoulder, and the dress-wearing ghost was sent flying.

Steel Ghost Nanase’s bosom shook violently as it had to take a few steps forward to stop itself after receiving the ramming impact.

The girl also seemed to be unable to keep her stance, landed on her knees and fell forward.

Quickly, she used her cane to get herself up back.

Steel Ghost Nanase, like a rubber doll, returned its body posture back to normal.

It had fixed its grip on the steel beam but as if it was satisfied with just attacking them, it vanished with a puff.

It was not like it had dashed away or flew away to somewhere else, just simply vanished like a fog or a haze or an illusion. Like a real ghost would do.

“It looked like it had retreated. But I thought it isn’t something that could be the defeated with force alone.”

The girl flopped down and sat on the road, and said with an eager tone.

Saki got herself up, picked up the beret that the girl dropped when she rammed the ghost and moved closer towards the girl.

“I couldn’t touch that thing at all, why were you able to touch it? Are you a youkai or some sort too?”

The atmosphere around her was mysterious, but there was no feeling of fear or ill-omened about her.

She looked enigmatic but she also looked like a human.

Saki while trying to keep a little distance as she stayed on her guard, held out the beret to her. The girl, looking somewhat bashful, reached out her hand.

“Ah, no, I guess I can say I’m somewhere in the middle.”

Right after she said that, as she was trying to get up using the cane as a support her left leg fell off, making a gakon!-noise that blood-running human flesh would not make as it hit the road.

Her left leg just a bit over her knee had been disconnected.

It was too sudden Saki was shocked that she did not even let out a voice.

Maybe this girl is not human after all.

“Please do not worry, it’s a prosthetic leg. It is designed to detach itself when under too much load. Because if it didn’t, it might hurt my body.”

While still standing on just one leg, the girl took her beret from the dumbfounded Saki’s hand, and cheerfully said such as she put back the beret on her loosely wavy hair that extended till her shoulder.

After that, she bent down, grabbed the prosthetic leg and nimbly moved towards the guard rail with one leg and set her hips on it.

There, she began to reattach the prosthetic leg that was put on it a long sock, thus from far one could not tell them apart between it and a real flesh leg.

Saki could no longer tell what was going on anymore.

The girl of unknown age having an artificial leg and was able to touch a ghost.

From her look and her clothes, she looks like a well-raised up girl.

But a well-raised up girl doing something like walking on a long sloped road in the middle of the night, is somehow unthinkable.

It would make better sense if this girl was a youkai too.

“I don’t know you are or where you are from, but dear brave one, please forget things that happened today. I’ll do something about that Steel Ghost Nanase some time soon. As that is the reason I came here for. I’m asking you to not to contact the police about this, and please keep the matters about me a secret as well.”

The girl politely bowed and was about to take her leave but, Saki who managed to hold back her fear grabbed the girl by her arm just in time as she flashed her police identification card to the girl.

“Let’s hear about it in details at the station. It is just down the hill.”

“What the deuce-”

Saki was not sure if she could say that the girl was unlucky tonight, or maybe she was the one who is unlucky.

She could not hand the girl over to Terada just like that, not after all that happened, but she could not just let her go either.

Saki herself does not wish to run away from this youkai.

If she did, who knows how many years will she continue to live with this ill and distrust feeling.

“That leg’s aside, there must be bruises or scratches here and there. Let’s get them treated. Don’t worry, I don’t plan to write a record, or unreasonably try to contact your family. There was already a case of accident that is thought to be caused by Steel Ghost Nanase but it already got ignored.”

“Yumihara Saki from Traffic Patrol Division… Are you by chance, Saki-san?”

The girl at first was surprised seeing Saki’s Police ID, but now she seemed to be surprised to see her full name on the rank division card.

“Uh, I don’t really get what you’re saying.”

Well of course Yumihara Saki is Saki.

The next moment, the girl looked at Saki’s face intently with an opened mouth.

“I see, your hair is shorter now and you seem to have lost some weight too. Ah, that’s why I didn’t realize. A-ah if I knew it was Saki-san I wouldn’t have gone and saved her. Ah, but I wouldn’t just watch and let her die, though.”

Saki was somehow pissed off so she smacked the girl’s head once. Only with an amount of force enough to be called a joke.

“Explain it so I can understand. You, do you know me? As for me, I don’t have any memory of you at all.”

The girl who was holding her head like it was hurt threw out her chest with proud-looking smile.

“We have met once before, but this is the first time that we introduce ourselves. My name is Iwanaga Kotoko. Sakuragawa Kurou-senpai’s current girlfriend.”

The word “current” was being emphasized. Before anything else, Saki gave the girl another smack. But this time, it might not end up with just a joke.

After hesitating for a while, Saki decided to drag Iwanaga Kotoko not to the police station but to her house on the fifth floor of her apartment building.

She did not want her to speak about her ex-boyfriend nor his name to the people at the station and she personally had a mountain of questions that she needs to ask her.

Iwanaga too had easily agreed upon being brought to Saki’s apartment and walked up the hill. Looking at the way she was walking, no one would have guessed that she has a prosthetic leg.

When Saki asked her about her age, she answered it is 19, and she is currently studying at the same university as Kurou and Saki was.

She said she had met her before at the hospital, but Saki could not remember anything about it at all.

“You said you’re Kurou-kun’s girlfriend, that was a lie right?”

“It has been two and a half years since he broke up with Saki-san. He is already 24-year-old this year, it is fine for him to get a new girlfriend, right?”

“I asked because you are not his type.”

“He got rejected badly by his type of girl, perhaps that turned his preference towards a completely different direction.”

Iwanaga replied with a composed face as she drank the instant-coffee that Saki had made for her in a cup.

Even if she does look like a princess that was brought up with the tenderest care, her way of speaking is something else.

Now that she thinks of it, she had heard that Kurou’s cousin had passed away. Maybe Kurou had used that as a starter to talk the girl that he had put on a distance between but now he is in a distress as she sticks with him and follows him everywhere. That might be the case right here.

Saki who does not like to have many things only had the minimum items that are needed for daily use in her room.

It had not been a year passed yet since she was sent to Makurazaka Police Station but she did not have the time to increase the things in her room except for things related to her work.

When Iwanaga first set her foot inside the room, her eyes were saying “what a room, it doesn’t have a feeling of someone actually lived in here” as she had taken a look around the room but it seemed like Saki deliberately made such temporary-residence-like atmosphere herself.

There was a television inside the room but it had only been turned on less than a few hours for the past week.

It was a room where the echo from the noise that refrigerator made can be heard clearly.

Saki made Iwanaga sat on a chair in front of a table that she usually use for dining or to do her works when using a laptop while she just leaned her hips against the kitchen with a mug in her hands.

“Then, take a look at this intimate picture of Kurou-senpai and me, and see for yourself.”

Iwanaga said as she pulled out her mobile phone and opened it before she gave it to her.

From the screen of the phone she had just taken, there was definitely a picture of Kurou and Iwanaga linking arms and looking so close.

They must have asked someone to take this picture for them.

“Kurou-kun sure made quite a sour face. He didn’t look very happy to me.”

“Senpai is a shy person.”

“I’ll tell you, such lie won’t work with his ex-girlfriend who dated him for more than 5 years.”

She could not see the real relationship between the two of them, although, from the picture, she could tell that Kurou and Iwanaga are not a stranger to each other.

But it also showed that her guess of him being in a distress might hit the mark.

After Iwanaga closed her mobile phone and put it on the table, Saki asked.

“So, how’s Kurou-kun doing now?”

“He is still at the university since he continued to postgraduate study. He said now that he wasn’t going to get married with Saki-san there was no need to hurry  and find a job. I bet he just wanted to stay and spend more time with me at the university.”

“He had planned on doing postgraduate long before that. He even considered it when planning for the wedding.”

“But the wedding didn’t happen. Because you had run away from Kurou-senpai.

Fufun, as she said looking proudly as if she had won.

Saki’s expression turned sullen and she readjusted her fingers on the mug. She wondered how much did this girl know.

“What else could I do. I’d never thought that he is not a human.”

She was only saying that to test how much did the girl knows, but it sounded like she was only putting the blame on Kurou so she quickly continued.

“Sorry, that was too much to say.”

After that continuation, she wondered to whom exactly she was apologizing.

At least, she knew that it did not feel like she was saying it to Iwanaga.

Iwanaga was only staring at the surface of the liquid inside the cup that she was holding with her small hands and as if she knew what was in Saki’s mind, she answered with a voice containing her feeling of being considerate.

“No, it wasn’t really far off the mark. Kurou-senpai while still has his human-like sides, I don’t think that he could be categorized as a human. But then, the youkai and such are scared of him so it is hard to say that he is one of them.”

Iwanaga knows almost everything about Kurou. Rather, she noticed and could see the value that he has. What on earth is this girl exactly?

“Well, I’m also something pretty similar. So, we make a good combination, don’t you think? Therefore, I will assume you now understand that you are not in a position where you can say anything about our relationship.”

Something pretty similar, she just declared such herself openly to Saki but she still did not know its exact meaning. She did say something about coming here to deal with Steel Ghost Nanase. She could touch those things that are not from this world.

“What are you?”

“I am the goddess of wisdom for those beings called youkai, ayakashi, ghost and demon. You can think of it as a miko that acts as an arbitrator for their troubles.

“I thought a miko isn’t supposed to get deflowered?”

“But, it was Kurou-senpai who forcefully..”

“Kurou-kun isn’t capable of such forceful things.”

He is a simple and passive guy, but whenever she needs him to be by her side, he will do whatever it takes to stay beside her; he is that kind of person.

If he could really do something forcible, then thing probably would not be this complicated and ended up parting away.

What was the conversation is all about again? Right, it is about Iwanaga Kotoko.

She is a mediator specialized for the monsters, perhaps Saki could call her as a negotiator.

Aside from it is out of common sense, she could not deny the things that she said.

And she knows it very well herself, that common sense is useless in this matter.

“That is not the issue right now, is the police already began to start the investigation on the Steel ghost Nanase?”

Iwanaga asked as her expression suddenly changed into a serious one.

If they kept talking about Kurou, it would only bring out more issues. Maybe that was why she tried to change the course of the conversation.

But it is the truth that the reason she came to Makurazaka City is because of the Steel Ghost Nanase.

And someone whose appearance looks like a princess should not be able to do something like ramming herself towards a ghost swinging an H-shaped steel.

If she could do something about it, then it is best to leave it to her.

As for Saki, she already had this trouble of thinking about how should she makes Terada give up on this matter. And there was no reason for her to hide any information too.

Saki put her mug in the kitchen and crossed her arms somewhere above her belly.

“There is one detective who noticed about the strange things happening in the city and started to investigate on it. That person himself doesn’t believe in ghost at all, so if we left him just like that, something really bad might happen.”

“How about a damage report?”

“Officially, there is none yet. Maybe it’s only a matter of time now. The Steel Ghost Nanase we met earlier was more aggressive than the rumor had said. If we let it be just like that, almost no doubt there will be a murder case happening soon.”

“Yes, I’m afraid so too. There is a need to deal with it as soon as possible.”

The girl with an artificial leg agreed, looking so concerned about the matter which Saki could not do anything about even if she wanted too, but there was one other thing that bothered Saki so much.

“But, whether it is a youkai or an unknown person hiding behind the urban legend, was there any other cases like this one, where it clearly appears before people and become a case that would involve the police? For something like ghost that appears before a haunted curve, or Kappa that drowns people to death, or the cursed Shichinin Misaki, they could be treated as just a coincidence or an accident, or can also be put away as a story of a confused person or a hallucination, but this one, it is not a case where the culprit is not something visible, uncertain and vague.”

There are victims came out from this, and she can felt the angry ghost or the youkai’s existence but it was hard to make something clear out of it.

She could think it as someone who lost a screw in the head’s doing and she could also think it as a devil that had come down to earth.

Then, why not just tell the story with mysterious and eerie shadows behind, and the story would remain much longer, and in a wider range.

Because it was vague, one would think it as a ghost, as a youkai.

No one spoke about them in the open, and they never appear during the daylight, and they are terrifying beings.

Cases of drowning by an unknown cause that are said to have something to do with Kappa just like one that Saki once met, although it is very rare it happens sometimes and often being put away as an accident and just like that slips into people’s daily life.

And for the unknown cause part, it probably would leave an uneasy feeling for someone who is close to the victim.

But then, there is no definite proof to say it is the work of a Kappa, and the police also would not do anything about it and no one would take them seriously when they try to talk to someone about it.

Thus, it remained unsolved giving an ill-feeling but it emphasized the ominous shade of color in their heart where the story remained.

But now, Steel Ghost Nanase is different. If it became a series of cases where it beats people to death, it is no easy way to clean this up.

It will be an event where the police will have to move and start a proper investigation, and it would not easily disappear from people’s memory for sure.

It has not turned into that kind of horrible accident yet, but testimonies of people saying they have seen the Steel Ghost Nanase with their very own eyes are being brought in to the police.

And its eccentric appearance is befitting the nature of this case.

Is it even alright for such demon with strong self-assertion to exist?

In this modern days, are there still any people who would believe that thing which clearly exist, as a ghost or a youkai?

“You sure have a good perspective in this. A normal monster is more reserved and acts after observing its surrounding and situation. That one isn’t normal, which is why those extremely humble ghosts and monsters that have been living in this region for a long time were scared and troubled when ‘that’ appeared, and went out of their way to come and see me who live over hundreds of kilometers away and requested to do something about it.”

“Can’t the monsters do something about the monsters’ problem themselves?”

“Like I said, Steel Ghost Nanase isn’t normal. Be its existence or its power.”

What a complicated story. And when things get complicated, those ‘things’ went and requested their goddess of wisdom to go in person and stop it; it does make sense.

However, that is only if, she really recognized this girl called Iwanaga Kotoko as someone who stands between human and the shadows.

Iwanaga also thought it as a real bother and frowned.

“If that wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t bother myself to come to unfinished city area like this.”

“Coming down this far, you say? Isn’t our university is in a rural city too?”

“But it is a city designated by government ordinance.”

Saki could not deny that Makurazaka city is a city still in development. But that so-called city designated by government ordinance is doing deficit financing and now is suffering from it.

Saki threw out a sigh and mentioned about one more unclarified issue.

“One more thing, why isn’t Kurou-kun with you? He is feared by those monsters, a human-like something that isn’t human. Isn’t it normal for him to come along if it is a monster extermination? If you are his girlfriend, then he would surely follow you even if you said no.”

Even if Kurou is not her boyfriend, he does not have that kind of personality to watch someone who he knows walks into a danger.

Even for someone who seems to have the nerve stronger than a steel beam like Iwanaga Kotoko, he definitely would not let his university-kouhai who is using a prosthetic leg and walks around using a cane to go alone by herself.

“I was planning to finish it within the day so I thought it’d be fine if I didn’t tell him.”

“Considering your personality, I bet you’d ask him like asking to go for a trip. Something like- let’s go for sightseeing while we’re at it.”

“Kurou-senpai is, right, he contracted an infectious disease that requires him to report it to the officials.”

“Why are you saying it while looking away?”

“Another cup of coffee, please.”

“Don’t try to change the topic.”

Iwanaga who was acting all cheeky before was just looking at the ventilation fan as she made a sulking lip.

“It is just Kurou-senpai, has been missing since last week and without a single call. I left messages to his cell phone’s answering service but no reply. And this, the last message that was sent to me.”

Iwanaga pushed a few buttons on her mobile phone, opening the message inbox and selected one of the messages before showing it.

It was sent on August 24th, at 17:18. The sender is Kurou-senpai and without a title, consisted only one line.

[Something came out. Don’t look for me.]

“I’m pretty sure that you are being hated by Kurou-kun.”

“It is just that Kurou-senpai isn’t good at expressing his own feeling.”

“I already told you such lie won’t work.”

Iwanaga who seemed to be feeling restless inside her heart about the content of Kurou’s message turned her head downward and put her forehead on the table.

It even made Saki, who was the one saying such things, restless too.

Kurou, for good and bad, is a gentle person. He does not have it in him to hate other people or getting mad furiously at someone.

But his approach towards Iwanaga seemed somehow without any mercy and he is not even trying to hide his feeling.

Even if he hated her right from the bottom of his heart, that would also mean deep inside his heart, he is trusting and opening up to her.

She could not make herself calm. She found it hard to accept that the man that she broke up with a few years ago is doing well with a girl that is the complete opposite of her.

It’s worrying.”

“What is?”

“About Kurou-kun’s missing without any contact. It doesn’t feel like he is trying to disappear.”

“Well, yeah, but I could say it isn’t like I don’t have any clue about it at all, right, it isn’t something that an old girlfriend of his has the right to worry about anymore.”

Iwanaga gave a half-hearted answer in a vague way, as she fluttered her hand without lifting her head from the table.

After that, she slowly raised her head.

“Besides, he won’t die even if someone killed him. Rather, it is likely to be the one who tries to kill him is the one that would find it very unpleasant. Unless it is very serious, he’d come back alive for sure.”

(T/N: If you haven’t read the manga, you will have no absolute idea of what she meant by them. That manga has more spoilers than I’d imagine)

From that statement, Saki could guess that the girl knows about Kurou’s unique ability that even made monsters ran away from him.

Kurou’s power that is related to Kudan and mermaid; she knows about it.

Knowing that, she still approached him.

It might be that, although she looked like she was not worried, but actually she is keeping all the worry and suffering to herself, and is mad at Kurou for not trying to rely on other people.

It seemed to her that this girl really loves Kurou.

Saki could feel it even though she was restless about it.

Iwanaga is doing things that Saki once could not do naturally.

No matter how out of human logic her burden is, she did not run away.

“I guess you’re right. I shouldn’t be meddling in Kurou-kun’s affair anymore, and I also got works to do.”

They never even exchange new year cards after they had broken up, and Saki could not imagine what kind of face should she make if they were to meet each other.

“Also, about Steel Ghost Nanase, it isn’t the work for the police. There is nothing fun in trying to get involved with those being that aren’t human. Although, that goes without saying.”

Iwanaga put her mobile phone back into her pocket and got up from the chair. Then, she put onto her head the beret that was on her lap and moved with the hair in front of her right eye up and down.

“I will try to solve it as fast as I could, but if you happen to met Steel Ghost Nanase again, this time, please run away without giving it a second thought. It hasn’t turned into that kind of evil spirit that would chase someone everywhere till it kills the person yet.”

As for Saki, she is not that daring to face someone who she could not even touch without any plan twice.

Then, what about Iwanaga?

“It goes the same with you too, can you really do something about that monster with that body of yours? not just that left leg, your right eye is artificial too, right?”

She was half-bluffing as she pon!-hit her forehead with her fingers.

“Ahaha, you’d realized it?”

It was just that, Saki often watches an oversea’s drama series, where one of the actors has a fake eye. Her behavior and the way her body moves were almost identical to the actor’s so she tried saying it but it looked like it hit the bull-eye.

“One-eyed and one-legged. This is the reason for my being to be close to a god or an ayakashi. It is because I have this, that I’ll be fine.”

Iwanaga said it so that it would sweep away Saki’s worry, however, if she were to understand it normally it would make her even more worried that she should be.

What exactly had happened in this girl’s past?

What is it that made such young-looking girl from the outside to have the aura of someone who has vast experience?

Iwanaga gave her a smile which stopped her from asking any further and then lowered her head.

“Well then, thank you very much for the coffee. If it is fine with you, I could send you the invitation card for my wedding with Kurou-senpai when the time comes.”

“Don’t need it.”

Iwanaga nodded looking satisfied hearing Saki’s flash reply and reached for her cane that she put at the entrance, and later, gone through the door.

For a little while, Saki, as if waiting for Iwanaga’s warmth and fragrance to disappear, did not move from her hips from the kitchen, and eventually got herself up and took the cup on the table away.

Steel Ghost Nanase is a ghost, a youkai and can be called a monster. It is not something that a police officer could lay a hand on.

“But I’ve decided not to run away.”

Even if she could not catch it, as someone who knows about the ghost, she should try to do something about it.

And if she were to add another reason, to run away exactly like the girl had told her had really irritated her.

She washed the cup thoroughly in the sink, put it in the dish drainer then went to turn on her computer.

First, she needs to find the right information. The information she had gazed earlier on was not even being confirmed of its authenticity.

What is the whole story that behind the Idol Nanase Karin’s death; that caused the Steel Ghost Nanase to be born in the first place?

During the time she was hiding in Makurazaka City to hide from being chased by the mass media, she died. And maybe if she was not being chased, she might still be alive.

Usually, when the mass media attacked an idol because of a rumor, it would be a rumor about love affair, however, it was different in her case. As far as what Saki had read on the internet, her case was quite special.

Nanase Karin, or her real name Nanase Haruko, was suspected of killing her own father.