Dangerous Souls

Shoji no Noroi

"Now you decide to take my offer..."

***

September Day 1, 3:45 P.M.

"Thank you for coming such a long way," a man around his mid to late thirties said, bowing. "I understand how the traffic must have been a nightmare."

"It's no trouble at all," Yasuhara bowed in return. "After hearing about your situation over the phone, we knew we had to come quickly."

"I take it you're Mr. Shibuya?" the man asked the college boy.

"Yes, I believe we spoke over the phone, Mr. Ishikawa."

"The rumors of your age are true, it's very admirable of you at such a young age to be running such a successful business," the man smiled in approval, then gesture to the young woman by his side. "Please, call me Ryouta. This is my wife, Akahana."

"Pleasure to meet you both," Yasuhara bowed. "These are my acquaintances whom I have done many cases with, Ayako Matsuzaki, Houshou Takigawa, and Masako Hara." He gestured to the people behind him, each bowing at the call of their name. "And these are my assistants, Lin Kojo, Mai Taniyama, and Narumi Kazuo."

"Nice to meet you all, why don't you come in and we can talk in a more private location," Akahana suggested, placing a hand on her swollen belly. "I can also show you to your rooms and give you a tour of the property."

The group agreed, walking into the massively gorgeous hotel. All trying their best to not show their fatigue after the seven and a half hour drive to the woodsy area just outside of Kyoto. The ride should have only taken about five hours, but with two rest stops (thanks to Mai and Monk respectively) and quite a bit of traffic, their arrival was delayed.

Naru had been hearing much about the paranormal activity going on at the Suiren Yadoya (Water Lily Inn) for a while now. The activity had even been reported on the news several times. With danger becoming ever greater, this business needed help, and Naru needed a body double.

"As I explained to Mr. Shibuya on the phone, my wife and I are fairly new to the hotel business," Ryouta began, as the group sat in the mess of papers that appeared to be his office.

"What Ryouta means, is that we have both worked in hotels in the past, but we're new to owning a hotel," Akahana defined, carrying a large tray filled with tea and cups. Seeing the large amount of items, Mai immediately raced to help the pregnant woman. "Thank you." She smiled.

"We met when we were both hired at this specific hotel by the previous owners, things were fairly creepy back then, however..." The man took a cup from his wife.

"It wasn't until after we married two years ago and we ended up buying this place from the former owners, did we realize how severe things were," Akahana finished, taking a seat with the help of Mai. "Thank you again."

"Can you explain to us what sort of experiences you have had here?" Yasuhara asked, as Lin sat laptop ready at one side of the room.

"A feeling of uneasiness and things that go bump in the night are common in almost every building, but that's not why we called you here," the woman explained, taking a sip of her tea.

"Even when we first started working here, things had been going missing, of course we figured the items were simply misplaced," Ryouta added. "That was, of course, after we found many of the objects in rooms that had been closed off for years."

"Then things had begun to escalate, especially once the man staying in room 534 committed suicide," Akahana added with a sigh.

"Committed suicide?" Monk repeated.