"I didn't expect you to be so good at cooking, Kagami."
After dinner, having polished off two bowls of rice, Hiratsuka Shizuka patted her stomach and looked at Tsushima Kagami.
Although the meal consisted of dishes Tsushima Kagami and Yukinoshita Shizuku usually made, they had a guest after all. It was one thing for him to be used to Yukinoshita Shizuku's cooking, but that wouldn't do for entertaining a guest.
So, aside from a few side dishes that Yukinoshita Shizuku made passably well, Tsushima Kagami was responsible for all the main courses.
Hiratsuka Shizuka praised the food non-stop while eating, constantly comparing it to various ramen she had eaten.
"Who usually cooks at home? You or Shizuku?" Hiratsuka Shizuka suddenly asked them.
"Usually, Shizuku cooks, and I'm just responsible for eating," Tsushima Kagami replied.
Yukinoshita Shizuku smiled. "He's usually a lazybones. If you hadn't come today, Shizuka, I would have been cooking alone again."
"Eh? So I received special treatment today?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka put on an exaggerated expression of feeling extremely honored.
Just then, Tsushima Kagami's phone rang. He took it out of the bag and answered.
"Hello, Mother."
"You might not be able to come back tonight either?"
"Okay, I understand."
After hanging up, Tsushima Kagami looked at Yukinoshita Shizuku.
"Mother said there was a small problem with the project and she has to go see to it personally. She might not be back tonight."
Yukinoshita Shizuku nodded. "Understood."
After the three chatted and rested for a while, the bathwater was ready. Tsushima Kagami let Yukinoshita Shizuku and Hiratsuka Shizuka bathe first while he washed the dishes.
Night, inside the living room.
Yukinoshita Shizuku and Hiratsuka Shizuka had changed into their pajamas. Tsushima Kagami was playing cards with them while chatting.
Suddenly, Yukinoshita Shizuku yawned. As if it were contagious, Hiratsuka Shizuka yawned as well.
After all, Yukinoshita Shizuku had just arrived home from a trip. Although she had slept a bit on the train, she had been busy unpacking and cooking since returning. It was about time she felt sleepy.
"If you're sleepy, hurry upstairs and go to bed." Tsushima Kagami threw down the cards in his hand and looked at them.
"I am indeed a bit sleepy. We'll go rest then." Yukinoshita Shizuku dropped her cards, then led Hiratsuka Shizuka back to their room.
Tsushima Kagami put away the cards and returned to his own room. He took out his previous sketches, intending to draw a few more pages of manga before sleeping.
Not long after Tsushima Kagami started drawing, there was a sudden beep. The room went completely dark, and the air conditioner, which had been whirring with cold air, stopped running.
Then came a scream from Yukinoshita Shizuku and Hiratsuka Shizuka in the room next door.
Following a flurry of panicked footsteps, someone slowly approached his door, and it was opened.
Yukinoshita Shizuku, using the faint light from her phone screen, led Hiratsuka Shizuka inside.
Tsushima Kagami looked at the two of them. "Looks like a power outage. I don't know when it will come back on."
"I remember there are candles downstairs."
Tsushima Kagami stood up and walked towards them.
"I'll go down and get the candles. You two stay here."
Just as Tsushima Kagami prepared to leave the room and head downstairs, his arm was suddenly grabbed.
"Um, I think I'll go with you," Hiratsuka Shizuka laughed awkwardly.
"Alright. Do you want to come too?"
Tsushima Kagami looked at Yukinoshita Shizuku, who had been abandoned by her teammate.
Without a second thought, Yukinoshita Shizuku imitated Hiratsuka Shizuka and grabbed Tsushima Kagami's arm.
"I'll go too."
With one girl clinging to each arm, Tsushima Kagami relied on the faint light of the phone to carefully make his way down to the living room.
After rummaging around, they finally found the candles and lit them with a spare lighter.
The living room finally brightened up.
Tsushima Kagami took all the remaining candles and looked at them.
"Let's go up."
...
When the three returned to the second floor, Yukinoshita Shizuku and Hiratsuka Shizuka took a few candles back to their room.
Tsushima Kagami fixed a candle onto his desk and continued his battle by lamplight, drawing his manga.
After a while, the room, now devoid of air conditioning, began to get noticeably hot and stuffy.
Sweat started beading on Tsushima Kagami's forehead. He opened the window, allowing a night breeze that wasn't exactly cool, but not too hot either, to blow in.
Knock, knock.
"Kagami, are you asleep?"
"Not yet. Come in."
Realizing he couldn't continue drawing, Tsushima Kagami put his manuscript into the drawer and looked at Yukinoshita Shizuku and Hiratsuka Shizuka as they entered the room.
Perhaps because it was too hot, the two had changed out of their pajamas into thin camisoles and short athletic shorts.
They huddled in front of Tsushima Kagami, greedily enjoying the not-so-cool night breeze coming through the window. Holding round fans they had found somewhere, they fanned themselves from both sides.
A fragrance, seemingly a mix of body wash and shampoo, drifted bit by bit to the tip of Tsushima Kagami's nose.
"It's too hot. Your room is better after all."
Hiratsuka Shizuka lay down casually on Tsushima Kagami's bed.
"When will the power come back on?"
Yukinoshita Shizuku sat on the edge of the bed, fanning herself and then fanning Tsushima Kagami.
Seeing them get hotter the more they fanned, Tsushima Kagami smiled and suggested, "You'll only get hotter like that. Why don't we play a game?"
"That way, if you stop thinking about how hot it is, it won't feel so hot."
"What game?"
Hearing about a game, Hiratsuka Shizuka quickly sat up on the bed next to Yukinoshita Shizuku.
Yukinoshita Shizuku also looked curiously at Tsushima Kagami in the candlelight.
Tsushima Kagami grinned.
"Hyakumonogatari."
Yukinoshita Shizuku and Hiratsuka Shizuka suddenly shivered.
Hyakumonogatari (One Hundred Stories) originated in the Edo period. It is a game for summoning spirits. The game is usually played in a dark room. Participants dress in blue and prepare an andon (paper lantern) covered in blue paper, filled with enough oil. They then light one hundred wicks arranged side by side. After each ghost story is told, a wick is blown out.
Legend has it that if someone blows out the last wick after the ninety-ninth story, a ghost—known as the Aoandon—will appear.
Generally, it is rumored that if the one hundredth story is told, something strange will happen. Therefore, the last wick is usually left burning while everyone sits together waiting for dawn, only dispersing when the sun rises.
However, with the changing times, the andon has been replaced by candles. The new rule is that the last candle must be blown out. Hyakumonogatari has become a terrifying ghost story gathering. It is said that when the last candle is extinguished, strange things do indeed happen.
"Do we really have to tell ghost stories? It feels a bit creepy."
Hiratsuka Shizuka, usually carefree, said hesitantly. She was now sitting next to Yukinoshita Shizuku, who had already covered her ears. Hiratsuka Shizuka rubbed the goosebumps on her arms as she watched Tsushima Kagami fix the candles to the floor one by one.
"Isn't it effective? You've forgotten the heat and only feel creeped out now."
Tsushima Kagami smiled at them.
"Come on."
Reluctantly, Hiratsuka Shizuka and Yukinoshita Shizuku walked over to Tsushima Kagami and slowly knelt down.
As the three sat around the lit candles, Tsushima Kagami asked, "So, who goes first?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka and Yukinoshita Shizuku looked at each other, then looked at Tsushima Kagami together.
"Fine, I'll start."
With that, Tsushima Kagami suddenly changed his expression as if possessed. His voice shifted, pressing low but ensuring both could hear clearly.
Illuminated by the flickering candlelight, his face looked eerie as he spoke slowly.
"This is a true event I experienced personally."
"One night, not long ago, I was riding a certain private railway, but I felt something was strange..."
Gulp...
Before Tsushima Kagami had even finished the opening, Hiratsuka Shizuka and Yukinoshita Shizuku swallowed hard. Then, unconsciously, they grabbed Tsushima Kagami's arms tightly from the left and right...
____
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