“More or less,” Shinji replied. “We’ve got a lead now. We’ll see what comes of it.”
Kojima gave him an enthusiastic smile. Shinji smiled back before turning his attention to Teruo who exchanged ideas with Suzuki about the murder weapon, the high school and the bullying. Teruo’s voice became lower and more distant as if he was drifting away. The shapes of Teruo and Suzuki’s frames warped and blurred.
Shinji blinked and held tight onto a nearby chair. The temperature dropped fast, and a shudder shook his body before he could suppress it. He stared toward the door. Beyond it were the ghosts lined up in the corridor. Was it their doing? He couldn’t tell. His senses were a mess.
A sharp pain shot through his body, from the skull down his spine and he hissed, gritting his teeth. Taking a labored breath, Shinji gazed around. There was no ghost in the room, so it was definitely one of those from the corridor affecting him. Shinji pondered whether to use hisreiryokuand stop them or to just bear with it. If he intervened with the ghosts’ little torturing game, he risked making things worse, not for the non-supernaturals whom he could easily protect now, but for Teruo who was affected by hisreiryoku.
Another spiritual energy grabbed Shinji’s attention—one different than the ghosts—and he focused on it, but it was faint, mostly covered by the ghosts’ auras. Before he had a chance to study it further, something solid landed on his shoulder and brought Shinji out of his thoughts. Kojima stood to his left, lips parted and brows furrowed with worry, her hand grasping Shinji.
“You okay?” she asked.
Shinji stepped away from her and the second spiritual energy vanished. His muscles and joints ached from the freezing aura of the ghosts.What the fuck was that?He slowly relaxed and the room warmed up again.
“Oi, Miyazaki,” Teruo said. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, sir. Just a headache.”
Teruo’s eyes narrowed, obviously not believing Shinji, but knowing better than to push the issue. Suzuki and Taniguchi stared too and Taniguchi went to the sink and poured a glass of water, then placed it on a table in front of Shinji.
“Thank you,” Shinji muttered and took a sip.
“Guess I’m not the only one getting sick in this place,” Taniguchi said in an unnecessarily smug tone.
“Exceptyouare not supposed to be sick,” Suzuki scolded him.
Taniguchi grumbled something under his breath and returned to the autopsied body.
“Let me know if you have news for me, yeah?” Teruo spoke to Suzuki.
“Will do,” Suzuki said.
Teruo guided Shinji back outside through the corridor, lightly placing his hand on Shinji’s elbow, the touch warm and healing. The ghosts were no longer lined in the corridor and Shinji drew a long breath to shake away the coldness of their auras. Rarely did spirits openly mess with a supernatural. Something Shinji did must’ve triggered them or there was another reason they reacted like this. Either way, they couldn’t be left to their own devices in a building filled with so many people.
“Keys,” Teruo said when they reached the car. “Not letting you drive while sick.”
Shinji wasn’t sick, but didn’t want to argue about it. His mind was still not quite fully the present, so he gave Teruo the car keys and climbed in the passenger seat as Teruo sat at the wheel. Shinji sent a message to the Onmyoryo alerting them of the situation at the medical center, then slumped back in his seat.
“What happened in there?” Teruo asked, taking his Nissan out of the parking lot.
“Nothing.” Shinji rubbed his palms on his thighs. “I just didn’t feel well.”
Teruo placed his hand on Shinji’s, his thumb tracing over Shinji’s knuckles. Then he drew a short breath and quickly withdrew it.
“We talked about this,” Teruo said. “You promised to tell me.”
“Yeah, if it pertains to the case. It doesn’t.” Shinji wanted to tell Teruo to hold his hand again, but kept his mouth shut, not wanting to make things more awkward then they already were.
“Something bad happened to you. Tell me. I swear I won’t freak out.” He paused. “Much.”
Shinji chuckled, massaging his forehead. No point in beating around the bush. “The first floor is haunted. Possibly the other floors too.” He glanced at Teruo whose mouth was slightly ajar, but remained focused on the road ahead. “Some of them decided to ‘play’ with me for a bit,” Shinji explained. “Make me feel… sick.”
Not quite what had happened, but explaining to Teruo how a spirit’s aura worked meant getting into forbidden territory. Many ghosts were passive, but those who figured out how to torture the living would engulf them into their cold aura sucking onto their vitality—ironically what Shinji had unintentionally done to Teruo. Spirits and Shinigami had more in common than the Shinigami themselves were willing to admit.
“Afterwards I got better,” Shinji added, skipping over the second spiritual energy he felt. It hadn’t been a ghost-induced hallucination, but he wasn’t sure what to make of it either. Not yet.
“Okay,” Teruo said carefully. “How does one solve such a situation? A Shintomikoto bless the place?”
Shinji shook his head. “Won’t help.”