Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 37 - Chapter 3

Episode 3: Corona House Spring Cleaning!

In the middle of February, Shizuka decided it was time to give Corona House a good cleaning. She normally did it in December, but the Corona House crew had all been in Forthorthe during that time last year. The Folsarian double who’d stood in for her while she was gone had handled the day-to-day cleaning, but Shizuka had exceptionally high standards. She wanted to clean the past year’s worth of dust from Corona House, as well as spiff up a vacant room for a new tenant. So as a proud landlord, she decided to get to work. Since the job was so big, however, she tried recruiting a little help too.

“Any volunteers? Your reward will be all the cake you can eat from the cafe in front of the station!” she announced.

Cleaning all of Corona House on her own would take several days—several days that she couldn’t afford to waste with the school year drawing to a close. She was hoping to find a few helpers to speed things up. But since she was asking as the building’s caretaker rather than as a friend, she’d prepared a fine reward in the form of cake.

“Here! Me! I’ll help!”

“I’ll help too!”

The first to jump at the offer were Sanae and Yurika. Sanae loved sweets, and Yurika was happy as long as she got fed. In other words, they were exactly who Shizuka had been expecting to volunteer.

“But Yurika, you have a meeting in Folsaria that day,” Maki cut in.

“Whaaaaat?! Really?!”

“Yes. I was called to attend as well.”

Unfortunately, Yurika had to back out immediately. As Maki had pointed out, they had an important engagement that day. A meeting to discuss Folsaria’s future couldn’t be skipped for the sake of cake.

“Aww, it looks like I can’t help after all. I’m sorry, Shizuka-san.”

“That’s all right, Yurika-chan.”

“But the cake...”

“So that’s the part you’re sorry about, huh?”

“Don’t worry, Shizuka! Everything’ll go great with Sanae-chan on your side!”

“Hahaha, thanks. I’m counting on you.”

In the end, Sanae was the only one able to help. Since the request was so sudden, no one else was able to make time in their schedule for it. Shizuka wasn’t going to let that get her down, however. Given the situation, she was happy to have even a single volunteer. And if that single volunteer was Sanae, she had no complaints. Sanae was a great help when it came to cleaning.

The spring cleaning session was set for that Sunday. First on the docket was Corona House’s outdoor areas, including the parking lot. They needed to clean up the vacant room 105 too, but they began their spring cleaning outside. Since it was so cold, Shizuka hoped to finish up quickly and move indoors.

“Sanae-chan, can you wipe down all the windows? And when you’re done with that, can you clean up any dirt you see on the walls?”

“Aye, aye, sir!”

Having received her mission, Sanae gave Shizuka a confident salute. Armed with a bucket and dustpan, she then took off with a spring in her step. Knowing cake awaited her at the end of the day, she was raring to go. Seeing her like this made Shizuka smile.

“Here we are!”

Sanae bounded up the outer stairs so she could start with the windows on the second floor. She moved quickly and confidently, getting the windows visibly cleaner. She didn’t even struggle with the hard-to-see places. It was some fine work.

“Hmm hm hmm!” she hummed happily.

“Just what I’d expected from Sanae-chan,” Shizuka remarked.

Sanae’s talent for cleaning had a lot to do with her psychic powers. People left residual thoughts behind when cleaning, meaning that uncleaned places were free of them. Sanae was able to perceive that, so she was like a dirt-seeking missile even without any direction from Shizuka. The problem was that she usually lacked the motivation to clean at all, but fortunately the promise of cake was enough to encourage her. And thanks to Sanae’s psychic powers, Shizuka didn’t need to worry about her falling off the ladder and hurting herself. As long as she was focused, Sanae was a master at cleaning. There was just one hiccup...

“Hmm hm hmm!”

“Hey, Sanae-chan! No flying!”

As short as she was, Sanae had trouble reaching certain places from the stepladder. She had to get down and move it frequently, which she found rather annoying. So instead, she’d started using her psychic powers to fly up and scrub the out-of-reach spots.

“Aw, why not?”

“What if the neighbors see you?! Hurry up and get down!”

“Come on...”

“I’ll make it all you can drink in addition to all you can eat from the cafe!”

“Really?! Coming right down, then!”

Fortunately, Sanae acquiesced and safely landed back on the stepladder. The hot chocolate from the cafe in front of the station was her favorite. The rich cocoa flavor with the fresh milk had a hold on her. Sanae loved it with a ton of extra sugar. If Shizuka was offering as much as she wanted, she had every reason to listen to her. And so Sanae started working according to Shizuka’s wishes.

“Phew, she should be fine now...”

“Leave this to me, Shizuka!”

“I won’t be upstaged! Time for me to get to work too.”

Satisfied with Sanae’s handiwork now, Shizuka pumped herself up to get to cleaning. There was a lot to be done, and if they didn’t get to it, the day would be over before they finished it all. Shizuka was determined to work every bit as hard as Sanae.

Shizuka’s primary job that morning was cleaning, but by the afternoon, she’d shifted over to general maintenance and repair. She swapped out cracked bricks, fixed a real estate agent’s sign that was about to fall down, and so on. The building didn’t look very nice if left uncared for, and Shizuka wanted to keep her family heirloom in good shape. By that evening, she was working on repainting the fence around the courtyard.

“Heh. I think I’m getting pretty good at this.”

She used sandpaper to smooth out the peeling paint. The trick was to grind away a little more than actually necessary for a better finish in the end. After prepping, she sprayed the fence with a primer and waited for it to dry before applying the paint with a practiced hand. Like she said, she’d picked up the technique after doing it for several years.

“I wonder if Dad would praise me if he saw the job I’m doing...”

She looked at the fresh coat of paint and thought of her parents, who’d passed away six years prior. Shizuka’s father had been a karate fighter. He was fortunate enough to inherit land, and by constructing the apartment building on it, he’d been able to strike a good balance between his family life and his karate career. He’d always taken good care of Corona House. The reason Shizuka was so good at fixing things up was because she’d been helping him since before she could remember.

“Nah, I’m sure he’d say that I still have a long way to go. He really loved this place, after all...”

The property Corona House had been built on was passed down in the family for generations, and her father had cared for the building every bit as much as he had the land. As a result, it was still in excellent condition twenty-five years later. It looked at least ten years younger than it really was. Shizuka wasn’t quite as skilled a caretaker as her father had been, but she hoped to catch up one day.

“Heya, Shizuka.”

“Wah!”

While Shizuka was working, Sanae suddenly tackled her from behind. The impact nearly made her drop her paintbrush. Fortunately, she was able to grasp it again because it wasn’t too heavy. When she looked back down at what she was doing, she noticed Sanae’s arms around her chest. Rather than tackling her, Sanae had actually hugged her.

“What’s the matter, Sanae-chan?” she asked.

“Eeheehee, nothing. Am I not allowed to hug you unless something’s wrong?”

“I didn’t mean that...”

“Then who cares? Take this!”

“Ahahahahaha!”

There, Sanae initiated her tickle attack. With her paintbrush in hand, Shizuka was unable to defend herself. She was completely at Sanae’s mercy.

“P-Please forgive me, Sanae-chan!” she begged.

“No way! You’ve got it coming!”

“Ahahahaha, s-stop it!”

Shizuka realized that Sanae was probably doing this because of the lonely expression she’d been wearing. Since Sanae was sensitive to the feelings of others, she’d picked up on Shizuka’s wistful mood.

“Ahahahaha—okay—hahaha—I get it already, so please forgive me!”

“Sanae-chan can see through all lies! I’m not letting go of you yet!”

Knowing what Sanae was up to, Shizuka couldn’t bring herself to get angry. She was happy that Sanae cared so much for her, so she wanted to cheer up too. And so she let Sanae do as she pleased. It was the least she could do to be able to face her with a smile.

The part of Sanae’s soul that had wandered free of her body as a child came to live in room 106 before Shizuka’s parents passed away in the hotel fire. But since it took a while for that part of her soul to develop an ego, she didn’t have any memories of them.

“Your dad was pretty good at karate, wasn’t he?”

“Oh, you knew?”

“It’s more like I can sense the residual energy.”

“You mentioned that earlier.”

“I can feel a lot of it from this gi, so he was either really strong or just really believed he was... But since this is your dad we’re talking about, I’m sure it was the former.”

“That’s right. I first learned karate from him.”

“I can also sense that he wanted to show off to his daughter a lot.”

“Oh, Dad...”

Even though she hadn’t known Shizuka’s parents personally, Sanae was able to learn lots about them thanks to her psychic powers. She’d happened upon some of Shizuka’s keepsakes in storage when she went to put away the tools they’d used so far. She’d also detected some of Shizuka’s parents’ residual thoughts while cleaning, so she recognized them immediately.

“Why did your mom get angry over here, Shizuka?”

“One time when we were cleaning, Dad put me up on his shoulders to reach a high spot and I ended up bumping my head there.”

“Hmm, so she was worried.”

“With things like that happening, my mom was against me learning karate. She wanted me to do more girly things. But my dad lived for karate, so taking care of this building was the only other thing he could teach me...”

“It seems like your mom was dying to teach you how to cook,” Sanae said with a grin as she picked up an old frying pan.

It was the same frying pan Shizuka’s mother had used in their old house before moving to room 206 in Corona House. The kitchen here was cramped, so she’d bought a smaller one for the apartment.

“It’s true! My mom and dad argued over what I should learn, which put me in a tough place as their daughter.”

“But you ended up learning both, right?”

“That’s why I know how to cook and fight! Funny, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty weird.”

“I wasn’t sure what to pick up myself back then,” Shizuka replied with a grin of her own.

She’d been feeling lonely, but thanks to Sanae, she was all smiles now. Since Sanae could get a feel for the past based on lingering thoughts and energy, she really and truly understood Shizuka. That was largely what had put a smile back on her face.

“What’d you want to do?” Sanae asked.

“Both, troublingly enough. Dad looked so cool when he was fighting, but mom was just wonderful when she was cooking.”

“That’s a toughie.”

“Yeah. But in the end, both are useful, so it all worked out.”

The cooking skills she’d inherited from her mother not only fed Shizuka herself, but everyone in 106 too. And the karate she’d inherited from her father allowed her to protect her friends. As it turned out, both skills were a great boon.

“You’re protecting Corona House and everything, Shizuka! You’re doing a great job!”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. I think everyone does.”

“Thanks, Sanae-chan. I’m happy to hear that.” With that, Shizuka picked up a bucket, a bundle of dust cloths, and a bottle of detergent. She then turned to Sanae again. “Now, I’d love to keep talking, but why don’t we get back to cleaning?”

“Yeah. I’m never going to get my cake if we stand around here all day.”

The two girls exchanged smiles and left the storage unit. In their hands now were the supplies they’d need to start cleaning indoors. They’d finished up outside, so all that was left on their list was cleaning up vacant room 105.

Room 105 was, up until very recently, occupied by a university student. They’d graduated earlier this year and moved back home. It was before the typical moving season, but they’d been able to find a good place because of it.

“Looks like they didn’t smoke, so we probably won’t need to change the wallpaper,” Shizuka said in a cheery voice as she got to work wiping down the walls.

Since the wallpaper in room 105 was treated, a light wipe was all it took to restore it to its original beauty. It would’ve taken more if smoke residue was involved, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. The wallpaper was torn in two places, though that would be easy enough for a contractor to fix up.

“Don’t you need to return the security deposit thing?” Sanae asked, curious.

“Only after the cost of repairs has been covered. I think we’ll be able to return more than half of it,” Shizuka explained.

“That still means you’re spending almost half, huh?”

“Ahaha, well, hiring help isn’t cheap.”

Shizuka was good at cleaning, but there were certain jobs outside of her expertise—like getting rid of grease stains in the ventilation, or fixing up the kitchen sink and the flooring. Since this apartment would be rented out to a new tenant, she wanted to be thorough.

“So you do most of the jobs yourself to save money?”

“That’s right. That’s how you make a good name for yourself.”

“You sound so professional.”

“Right?”

Shizuka would include a surcharge to cover the costs of the cleaning, but she aimed to reduce them wherever she could. Even if she was spending her tenant’s security deposit, she believed being frugal with that money would make a good impression on future tenants. Promising they’d get a good portion of their security deposit back was an easy sell for a real estate agent. Most landlords with multiple properties couldn’t offer something like that, but Shizuka only had Corona House to take care of.

“Sanae-chan, could you replace the lightbulbs in the bathroom?”

“Aye, aye... Oh? You’re not using LED lights?”

“That’s right. Residents typically only live here for a few years, and it’s not like the lights in the bathroom are on all the time. It’s cheaper to just use conventional lightbulbs and change them out whenever they move.”

“Wow, you really are professional.”

“Right? Hahaha.”

Shizuka kept cleaning with Sanae’s help. Together, it didn’t take them long at all to spiff up the apartment. They were done within the hour.

“Good work. Thanks, Sanae... Wait, what’s wrong?” Shizuka asked. She’d just come back from dumping out the dirty water in their cleaning bucket and found Sanae looking around in the middle of the room.

“Hmm... Well, I was just thinking how room 106 was kind of like this when I was alone.”

“Sanae-chan...”

Sanae was smiling, but Shizuka could sense her loneliness. She knew what it was like to be separated from her parents. She knew Sanae had been all alone in an empty apartment. And thinking back on it now probably made her feel the same way Shizuka had in the storage unit.

“Take this!”

So Shizuka wrapped her arms around Sanae and hugged her without warning, just like Sanae had done to her earlier.

“What are you doing, Shizuka?”

Surprised by the suddenness of it all, Sanae could only blink in puzzlement. She had a tendency to jump on others, but they rarely did it to her.

“Can’t I hug you for no reason?” Shizuka asked.

“Of course you can.”

It was only there that Sanae realized Shizuka was really trying to cheer her up. But she didn’t have a chance to think much more, because...

“And you get this next!”

“Ahahahahahaha!”

Shizuka started tickling Sanae for revenge. Sanae loved tickling others, but she was actually quite ticklish herself, so she promptly burst into laughter. It was like the emptiness inside her instantly filled up—not because she was being tickled, but because she wasn’t alone anymore.

“Take this! And that! Is this your weak spot?!”

“Ahahaha, n-now you’ve gone and done it!”

Sanae was a sore loser, so she wasn’t willing to go down without a fight. She reached out for Shizuka’s sides and started tickling her back. And so a spontaneous tickling match erupted.

“Ahahahaha, stop it, Shizuka!”

“Hahahahaha! Sanae-chan—ahahaha—not there! Hahaha!”

The intense tickling match continued for about five minutes. By the time they were done, both girls were out of breath and exhausted from laughing so hard. They’d collapsed in the middle of the floor.

“I’m beat... I thought I was going to die,” Shizuka sighed.

“No one dies from laughter,” Sanae interjected.

“Heh, that’s true.”

“Heeheehee.”

The tickling match was over, but the girls continued laughing for a bit. When they were done, Sanae turned to Shizuka and quietly said, “Hey, I never really apologized, did I?”

“Hmm? For what? Do you have something to apologize for?”

“Yeah. It was just a long time ago, so you’re not remembering it.” There, Sanae lifted herself up and looked down at Shizuka, seeming unusually serious. “You know... I’m sorry for chasing all of the residents out of room 106 even though this place is important to you.”

Of course, she was talking about when she was a ghost. Back then, she’d felt like she was protecting her home—but to Shizuka, it was the opposite. Corona House getting such a bad rap must have been heartbreaking for her.

“That’s fine. It’s all in the past,” she said, sitting up and slowly shaking her head.

“Still...” Sanae argued. She couldn’t just leave it at that after seeing just how much Corona House really meant to Shizuka today.

“Really, it’s okay. Sure, I lost revenue because of all the tenants you chased out, but it’s also thanks to you that Satomi-kun moved in. And that’s how I got to meet all of you. So I don’t have any complaints. Corona House isn’t any worse for wear, and I’ve gained something money could never buy.”

Shizuka thought about what her life would have been like without Sanae. The rent for room 106 likely would have been too high for Koutarou, meaning he never would have met Clan and slipped through time, leaving room 106 a perfectly ordinary apartment. The other girls never would’ve had any reason to show up—and that’s not what Shizuka wanted. So at the end of the day, it was a good thing that Sanae had chased out the other tenants.

“Shizuka...”

“I would hate it if I had all that money and none of you guys were here.”

“Yeah, I get that... You’re right.” Sanae hugged Shizuka for the second time today, but this time, she was shedding tears instead of trying to tickle her. “Thank you, Shizuka.”

“Sanae-chan...”

Shizuka might have been crying too, but since they were hugging each other so tightly, Sanae had no way of knowing.

The girls remained silent for a while after that, but when their smiles returned, so too did the conversation. With no furniture in room 105, it reminded them both of how room 106 used to look.

“When Koutarou first moved in, he couldn’t see me. He couldn’t even hear my voice.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yeah. So I relied on all kinds of paranormal phenomena, like making rapping noises or subtly shaking the room.”

Sanae remembered the day she met Koutarou like it was yesterday. She’d been determined to chase him out of the apartment, and she did her best to recount the events to Shizuka with wild gestures. Her childlike storytelling put a warm smile on Shizuka’s face.

“But it didn’t work, did it?” she asked.

“Nope. Once he fell asleep, he wouldn’t wake up for anything,” Sanae explained. “And it’s not really scary when you do that stuff during the day.”

“So he was hard to handle for a ghost.”

“How rude, right? He had cute little Sanae-chan right next to him, and he didn’t even know it!”

Despite Sanae’s best efforts, Koutarou hadn’t noticed her. Thinking back on the indignity, Sanae angrily puffed her cheeks out. She had been mad that he wouldn’t get out at the time, but now she was just mad that he hadn’t paid any attention to her.

“I bet he would’ve gotten the message if you used your polter-thing to hit him with something. Didn’t you try that?” Shizuka asked.

“Huh... I wonder why I didn’t.”

Sanae was perplexed by the question. If she’d just been more direct with her haunting tactics, she surely would have gotten his attention. Why she hadn’t resorted to that was a mystery to her.

“Now that I think about it, my powers didn’t get stronger until after Koutarou showed up.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. When Koutarou came back from his part-time job after hitting his head, I could move heavy things. And it was around then that he started being able to see me.”

Everything had changed drastically when Koutarou came home from the ruins that day. He was able to sense Sanae, and she was able to move heavier objects around with her powers.

“Do you think it’s because Signaltin started working on you?” Shizuka asked.

“Ah, maybe that’s it!”

“It was like that at the beach too.”

“Eeheehee, that was when I started understanding how Koutarou felt.” With a smile, Sanae reached for the charm around her neck embroidered with the words family safety. “No matter what Koutarou might say out loud, he thought it was okay for me to stay in room 106.”

Sanae stared blissfully at the charm as she held it. It had once hurt her, but after the events at the beach that first summer, it began protecting her. Never again had it burned her to touch it, making it like a valuable treasure that proved she wasn’t alone anymore.

“I wish I had something like that too...” Shizuka mumbled.

“But you have Corona House and room 106. They’re like super big charms,” Sanae said, pointing toward the room next door.

“Yeah.” Shizuka glanced that way, then shrugged her shoulders. “But it’s not like I can walk around with them.”

“Make Uncle Alu carry them for you!”

“Would you like me to?”

“Leave them where they are, please!”

Thinking about it, Shizuka realized Koutarou had never given her anything special. There were small presents or gifts for the group, but nothing unique like Sanae’s charm or Kiriha’s card. It was kind of a lonely feeling.

“Then let’s go bug Koutarou together. I’m sure he’ll cave as long as we double-team him.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah! He never listens to one person whining, but he’s all ears when we gang up on him,” Sanae pronounced, full of confidence.

She believed that Koutarou would listen to them in earnest. She was also planning on asking for items for the other girls as well while she was at it.

Back when Sanae was haunting room 106, she’d had no interest in anything apart from the apartment and getting back to her parents. She’d thus paid relatively little attention to Koutarou personally when he first moved in. Shizuka had gotten to know him a bit even before then, however, and Sanae was now curious about what their initial meeting had been like.

“Hmm, well... at first I thought he was awfully serious,” she explained.

“Didn’t you feel something? Like love at first sight?” Sanae asked.

“Nothing at all, unfortunately... Maybe I’m just dense?”

“I don’t think so. I tried to chase him out first too, after all.”

To Shizuka, Koutarou had been just a potential tenant she’d been introduced to by the real estate agent. Her first impression wasn’t much beyond that. Or rather, everything that happened afterward made their initial meeting seem so commonplace.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Satomi Koutarou.”

“I’m Kasagi Shizuka, the landlord here.”

Koutarou had been perfectly polite, never saying a word about Shizuka’s young age for her position. He’d bowed properly and shown her all due respect. Shizuka thus thought he’d make a fine resident and happily signed his lease. It was a very normal meeting between a landlord and tenant.

“Didn’t you tell him about me?” asked Sanae.

“I did. It wasn’t like anyone had died in room 106, so I didn’t really have to, but I did anyway because I want to be honest with my tenants.”

“And how’d he respond?”

“He was full of confidence and signed the contract saying that he wasn’t scared of some ghost.”

Koutarou had never seen a ghost before, but he’d figured that if one showed up, he’d deal with it. That was one of the reasons he’d moved in with so many charms. It was a simplistic and direct plan—just what the girls expected from Koutarou.

“What’d you think when he said that?”

“Well, I’d seen other tenants run screaming after saying the same thing, but I wasn’t sure what would happen. As landlord though, I wanted to put an end to the rumors, so I was really hoping he’d be fine.”

“So you were on Koutarou’s side.”

“I was on his side the minute he told me that he didn’t want to be a burden on his father.”

“Yeah, okay. You would be.”

That was the first profound impression Koutarou had made on Shizuka. He’d lost his mother and been raised by a single father, so she understood why he didn’t want to be a burden. She’d found herself thinking of him after that, and not just as a tenant.

“So were you on Koutarou’s side when we were all fighting too?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure... Since the room was damaged, I got so angry that I wasn’t really on anyone’s side at the time.”

“Ahahaha, sorry about that.”

“Oh, it’s fine. Haha.”

Sanae now understood why Shizuka had been so enraged. Someone damaging Corona House was no different from someone trying to take her charm away. It was a capital offense. If she’d been in Shizuka’s shoes at the time, Sanae would probably have gotten just as angry.

“So, when did you fall in love with Koutarou?” she asked next.

“Th-That’s...” Shizuka hesitated, her cheeks turning red. Since the girls had been happily chatting away, the change that came over her was obvious even to Sanae. “When Uncle lent me his strength... No, that’s not it. That’s probably when I first realized it, but I think it happened much sooner.”

“What made you fall in love with him, then?”

“After losing my parents and growing up alone, my dream’s always been to have a big family to live with. And with Satomi-kun, I kind of had that... Before I knew it, I’d gotten pretty comfy.”

“Eeheehee, I know what you mean. I got so dependent on Koutarou that I accidentally almost killed him. Whoops.”

For Shizuka, having the family she’d always longed for was like a dream come true. Letting it go would be hard. She’d developed a deep attachment to it—to him—that would be difficult to sever. But left alone, it only continued to grow.

“It felt like the pieces of a puzzle had fallen into place. Like I was being told that this is where I belong.”

“Yeah, I get that. It means everything, you know?”

Shizuka craved the same things Sanae did—love and warmth. That was also what Koutarou sought, meaning they’d be able to provide it for each other. So after they met, the rest was history.

“But you know, Shizuka...”

“What is it?”

“If that’s true, should we really be here?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. This isn’t where we belong.”

“Nope. We got the wrong apartment.”

“We should be in room 106!” both girls exclaimed in unison. They nodded at each other and flew out of the door to get home.

Since room 106 was Koutarou’s apartment, cleaning it was his job. Sanae and Shizuka, however, began tending to it like it was their own. They felt room 106 was the frame of a picture they both belonged in.

“Check it out, Shizuka! This is our very first score chart!”

“Kiriha-san and Theia-chan really were strong competitors...”

“And Yurika was dead last, like always.”

“Our relationships may have changed, but the dynamic is still the same in that regard.”

“You could call it fate.”

“Ahahaha!”

The girls’ spring cleaning quickly ground to a halt in room 106. Everything they picked up to clean brought back memories, especially after what they’d talked about today.

“That’s right,” remarked Shizuka. “There were only five of us at first.”

“Yeah, you and Ruth weren’t playing back then.”

“The scorecard looks kind of empty with only five names on it, though. Ten fills it up much better.”

“Ten is the perfect number.”

“Except Satomi-kun would say it’s a lot...”

“Only because he likes to be a meanie. He doesn’t really think that.”

“Hahaha!”

“Ahaha!”

Indeed, the girls weren’t making any progress with their cleaning now. In fact, it could be said that they were losing ground with all the mementos they were digging up. Still, it brightened up the room immensely.

“Sanae-chan, I found something really dangerous,” Shizuka called out, something rattling in her hands.

“What’s that?”

“One of Theia-chan’s mines. Remember the kind she used during the obstacle marathon?”

“Oh, those!”

“She must have forgotten this one.”

“So it’s been here for over a year? That could have been dangerous for Yurika...”

“Honestly... I can’t tell if she’s lucky or unlucky.”

The cleaning wasn’t getting anywhere, but the girls were okay with that. They were really in room 106 to find their place, after all. Spring cleaning was just a means to an end.

“Gosh, we’re never gonna get anything done in here,” remarked Sanae.

“I know, right?”

“There’s too much fun stuff.”

“Things were only difficult at the very beginning.”

“Yeah.”

The girls had uncovered mountains of memories in room 106, and virtually none of them were bad. Even the tough times they’d been through had all been a prelude to something wonderful. There were no tears in the apartment, only laughter.

“I think this is true happiness...”

“Love is all.”

“Hahaha... The only thing that kinda concerns me is what my parents would think if they could see me now.”

Shizuka’s past had been painful for her, and she was always wondering if her parents would approve of the way she’d turned out. With no way to know, it only made her worry.

“If their daughter’s happy, they’re happy too. Duh. Why would you think anything else?” Sanae replied, uncertain why Shizuka was so worried. She saw things much more simply.

“Parents always have a lot to consider. I mean, we do dangerous things sometimes, and I don’t know that I’m taking care of Corona House like they’d want.”

“Don’t worry. They’re both all smiles.”

“Huh?”

“Your mom and dad are smiling, so it’s fine.”

“You can see them?!”

“Yeah. They’re normal guardian spirits, and since you’re not in danger, they’re sort of just a blur. But I can tell that they’re smiling.”

Sanae’s incredible psychic powers allowed her to sense the spirits of Shizuka’s parents around her, and they were clearly radiating joy. As such, she didn’t think Shizuka had anything to worry about at all.

“Really? Mom, Dad... I’m doing just fine, okay?”

“Keep believing in that love. It’s important.”

“Yeah. Thank you, Sanae-chan.”

“Heehee, you can count on me!”

The sun eventually set, dimming room 106. It was almost dinnertime, and the apartment would naturally brighten when everyone returned home. Koutarou was the first to get there, and when he flipped on the lights, he was surprised to find Sanae and Shizuka in the dark.

“Whoa! Sanae, Landlord-san?! What’s wrong? Why didn’t you turn any lights on?”

“Hey, welcome back, Koutarou.”

“S-Satomi-kun! We were just cleaning around Corona House and figured we’d clean up over here too...”

“Oh, thanks. Sorry to trouble you.”

When he looked closer, he saw that Sanae and Shizuka were wearing aprons and kerchiefs—they were clearly in the middle of cleaning. They’d just been taking care of the lights, so they’d naturally had them off. And thanks to the darkness, Koutarou hadn’t noticed Shizuka crying when he’d first walked in.

“I know! Koutarou, let Shizuka ride on your shoulders!”

“Huh? Why?”

“Um, well... Oh, yeah, to clean the clock!”

“What’s gotten into you, Sanae-chan?”

“Just play along! You two clean the clock up there and straighten it out.”

“Sure thing.”

Sanae was behaving oddly, but Koutarou didn’t mind helping out with the cleaning. It was his apartment after all. The clock on the wall was indeed slanted and dusty, so it was hard to argue with Sanae.

“Sorry about this, Satomi-kun.”

“Why are you apologizing, Landlord-san? It needs to be cleaned.”

“Jeez, take a hint!”

“Wait, did you mean how much you weigh—”

“Don’t you say it!”

Koutarou crouched down and Shizuka climbed onto shoulders. Being athletically inclined, she was astoundingly dexterous and didn’t even wobble when Koutarou stood up.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, you’ve gotten more muscular.”

“Even so, I don’t want you to think that I’m heavy!”

“If you hadn’t said anything, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed.”

“Easy for you to say when you have no idea what kind of psychological damage a girl takes when you do notice!”

“But—”

“No buts! Just forget it, please!”

“Hrmmf!”

Shizuka covered Koutarou’s mouth with her hands. Koutarou had something he wanted to say, but he knew that it was better to keep it to himself when a girl got like this. And so he approached the wall with his mouth still covered.

“Jeez. This is the worst thing about you, Satomi-kun.”

“Hmmnmm.”

Shizuka was looking down on Koutarou from above. It was the first time she’d ever seen him from this angle, but...

Huh...?

For some reason, it felt familiar. Like this had happened before.

But when...?

Shizuka searched through her mental archives. It wasn’t anything recent. No, it was something from long ago. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to realize it. She remembered exactly what it was by the time Koutarou reached the wall with the clock.

That’s right. I did this with my dad...

Riding on Koutarou’s shoulders had conjured memories of cleaning Corona House with her father. The way she’d looked down at his face and held on to his warmth... was something she’d never get to do again.

“Is something wrong, Landlord-san?”

“No, nothing. I’ll get this cleaned up in a jiffy, so just hang tight for a second.”

“Okay.”

Shizuka left her tears as they were. Koutarou couldn’t see them from his angle, and she couldn’t hide her feelings from Sanae either way. She just desperately tried her best to keep from sobbing.

“Sanae-chan,” Shizuka called out to Sanae.

“Whaaat?”

“Could you bring me a rag?”

“Okaaay.” Sanae happily agreed with a smile that reminded Shizuka of how her mother had warmly watched over her piggyback rides from her father.

“Thank you, Sanae-chan...”

The words that came out of her mouth were simple, but they were full of complex emotions. A normal person would have only been able to take them at face value. And in reality, that’s exactly what Koutarou did.

“Eeheehee. You’re welcome.”

Yet their true meaning was perfectly conveyed to Sanae. Still smiling, she reached out and wiped away the tears in Shizuka’s eyes.