spooky love

He replied "I know".

Ryoichiro works as an assistant professor in the Department of Botany at the Imperial University of Science. Although his monthly salary is enough for two people to live on, the debts owed by his family's bankruptcy must be repaid on a monthly basis, so money is tight.

Ryoichiro, who is not good at family finances, seems to be conscious of spending as much as he has, so he handed over all the salary he received to Dema.After deducting debt repayment, food expenses, and rent, there is not much left on hand.If he can stay by Ryoichiro's side, Dema will be satisfied, as long as he has something to eat, he will not be dissatisfied, but Ryoichiro can't, because he is a botanist, and when he needs to live to collect plants, he can't be allowed to sleep on the street, and he also has books. to buy.

Because there is no maid, Dema takes over chores such as cooking, laundry, and cleaning.Even though he is busy every day, when he still has free time at hand, he does little by little home crafts introduced by his neighbor's wife to supplement his family's income.Ryoichiro didn't say that Dema couldn't do household handicrafts, but he would be unhappy if he did it in front of his eyes, so he didn't do it when Ryoichiro was around, this was to show consideration for his difficult master.

On the day of moving, I don't know whether it is the rainy season or we can act as usual, the sun rarely shows his face.Ryoichiro and Dema carried the quilts, washing boards, pots and other personal daily necessities on a trolley, and moved them to a new rented place closer to the university.

It rained until yesterday, and Ryoichiro yelled in a low voice, pulling the cart and walking on the road where the ground was not completely dry, while Dema pushed from behind.He obviously didn't have much luggage, but the car was extra heavy because of the poor road conditions.

After sweating and walking for about half an hour, the road widened and divided into sidewalks and carriage roads. There were also more shops on both sides, and brick buildings like Western-style mansions (Note 34) can be seen everywhere.As they entered the center of the town, horse-drawn carts and rickshaws chasing noisyly past the carts, the muddy water was stirred up and splashed on them unpleasantly.But even if there was no splash of mud and water, the knees of Ryoichiro and Dema were already covered with mud and turned black.

When I looked at the sky in the morning, I thought from the bottom of my heart that it would be sunny, but now I hope there will be some clouds.As long as you lower your head, sweat will drip down like a waterfall.De Ma laughed and said that human beings are really capricious. When one wish is fulfilled, another wish will be born.

"Huh? Isn't this Satake-sensei?"

The one who greeted him from the sidewalk was a student surnamed Hara. He had a wife with his teaching assistant before, but he left his job and family to elope, so now Ryoichiro is taking care of him.

Hara walked over wearing Satsuma clogs (Note 35) with a rattling sound and raised the brim of his hat:

"Mr. Dema is also...are you going to move?"

Ryoichiro had hired a maid until the family owed debts, so Dama had never done this kind of work.He often went to the university to help collect plants or organize specimens at the request of Ryoichiro, so he also met Hara.

Under the sunlight, Yuan's face looked quite dark. At first he thought he was tanned, but he saw that his cheekbones were protruding, his eye sockets were sunken, and he was much thinner than when we met before.

"That's right, because I found a nice house near the university."

Ryoichiro wiped the sweat from his brow with his shirt cuff.Even when he was on holiday, Ryoichiro wore Western clothes, not kimonos.

"This is really great. You have always said that you live too far from the university, which is very inconvenient."

While talking, Hara hugged the cloth bag wrapped in the furoshiki to his chest, and lowered his head a little unnaturally.

"I really want to help, but I have something urgent..."

"Oh, that's not necessary, that's all the luggage. When we moved last time, because the house was too small, the specimens and books had already been moved to the university."

I don't know if he was a little embarrassed because he couldn't help, Yuan said "Then I'll take my leave" and nodded slightly in salute, then hurriedly trotted and disappeared.

"Mr. Yuan, what's wrong?"

Hearing the other party's question, Ryoichiro put his thumb under his chin and muttered softly: "Hmm——"

"Do you think so too? He seems to have lost a lot of weight, but he doesn't seem to notice it. I asked him to be checked by a doctor, but he didn't listen to me."

"And his face is ugly, I'm so worried."

Ryoichiro pointed to his chest with his thumb:

"Because there is no cure for the disease here."

"Is his heart bad?"

Ryoichiro said "stupid" in a low voice, then sighed and said, "Hara-san fell in love with a woman, it's because of lovesickness."

After reaching the end of the main road, the two turned at the corner.Ryoichiro stopped when he reached the entrance of the back alley.

"Yes, there it is."

Following the direction he pointed, he could see a beautiful longhouse made of tiles. Ryoichiro preferred Western-style clothing to kimonos, and this seemed like a residence he would like.A house built of bricks looks much stronger than a wooden house.There are five families in one building, each of which occupies a very wide area, without feeling cramped, and the inside should be very large, without the unique noise of longhouses, but standing gracefully and quietly.Just looking at the building, you will fall into the illusion that you have lost your way to a foreign country, but the woman who is entering and exiting through the gate is a woman with her hair in a bun and wearing a kimono.

"Is this a two-story building?"

"That's right, downstairs is the kitchen and one room, and upstairs there are two more rooms. Our house is second from the right."

Dema couldn't believe that the rent for this longhouse was the same as the house he lived in before.

"It seems that a foreign couple lived here before, and we seem to be able to use the furniture left behind."

Ryoichiro said proudly, "Put your luggage in, let's take a rest," and then pulled the cart vigorously.But as soon as De Ma came to the house, he felt as if he had been gently caressed by a cold hand, and the hairs on his back stood on end.He thought "No way", and turned his gaze to the window of this house, but was shocked to see a brown-haired foreign woman staring at the other side of the glass window on the first floor.

Her appearance is not of the world.He thought again: "Could it be..." Looking up at the second floor, he saw that there were also monsters in the windows above.Although there seemed to be monsters in the house next door, they were not as dense as my house.Taking a closer look, the five households obviously have the same structure, only the atmosphere of my own household is dark, gloomy and shrouded in hazy mist.

There are many monsters or spirits in the world, but they are invisible to the naked eye.Although there are many longhouses, they will not cause harm to humans. At most, they will show up sometimes to scare people, lick the dirt (Note 36), and overturn the lid of the pot.But the ghost of that house was different, and he felt a strong resentment.

"By the way, there is also a small courtyard here. It seems that it was originally built for foreign professionals. There is a courtyard in the longhouse. This arrangement is really elegant."

Ryoichiro said it was because a professor told him from Nakaseki, but there seems to be another reason for the cheap rent.Just by looking at it, one can understand that these spirits and monsters are quite powerful. If there are them, the people who live inside should not be able to sleep peacefully every night, right?Not only will the body deteriorate, but one may even be possessed.What place is not easy to rent, but this kind of unclean house... Dema lowered his head and sighed softly.

Unlike Dema, Ryoichiro couldn't feel the breath of monsters or spirits.It is true to say that ordinary is very ordinary, but Ryoichiro's slowness is not only extraordinary, but it is also very easy to be possessed by things that do not belong to this world.

He was also possessed when he was young and almost died.Think about it, maybe Ryoichiro's lifespan should be up by then, but Ryoichiro's mother "sees" those things just like Tokuma, and she trades her life for Ryoichiro, saving his life.

Dema not only can see, but also keeps ghosts in his body.The green ghost enters and exits from Dema's right palm, acting according to Dema's will.Although the ghost came out of De Ma's body, it was quite different from his personality. It was quite lazy, and often complained "it's so troublesome" all at once.

Dema named the ghost "Sangye".The mulberry leaves are as small as a mouse at first, but they will grow up gradually, and now they are as big as a cat.Mulberry's food is monsters or spirits that are weaker than himself, and he often feasts on them. He also makes Mulberry eat a lot of spirits attached to Ryoichiro and so on.On the contrary, if you encounter a powerful monster, it may become the opponent's food, and Sang Ye will quickly withdraw into De Ma's hands.

After Ryoichiro parked the cart in front of the house, he took the house key from his pocket, grabbed Dema's wrist and said, "I'll show you inside."The foreign woman standing by the window stretched out her arms, piercing through the glass like a plesiosaur, and holding the left and right arms of Ryoichiro on the opposite side, but Ryoichiro didn't realize that he wanted to get into the room quickly. It is under the control of this woman.

"I'm a little tired after walking here, can you rest under the shade of a tree for a while?"

He grabbed Ryoichiro's shirt sleeve, slightly bowed his head in plea.So Ryoichiro stroked Tokuma's head gently:

"That's right, I didn't stop all the way."

The lover put his arms around Dema's shoulders, took him to sit in the shade, and said with concern: "Are you okay?" gentle.Since having skin-to-skin contact, he feels that Ryoichiro has become more self-willed, but also more gentle.

"Put your head on my lap."

Although he wasn't tired to this extent—after all, being tired was an excuse for not going into that house—but now he couldn't admit that he was lying.There was no one around, so he followed the guidance of Ryoichiro's fingertips and put his head on the opponent's lap. It was very comfortable to pillow on the lap of the man he liked.

"Let me see