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Volume 3 Chapter 3 Part 3

Though I guess the better question was whether Tateishi had read my message at all. She’d caught a cold, so it seemed pretty unlikely that she was reading and responding to texts.

After a while with no response, I was about to give up, do some more levelling, and ask Shizuku about what exactly the ‘relationship advice’ consisted of. At that moment, my message became marked as ‘read.’

And shortly after that, a new message appeared.

Ayame: 『Rather, it should be I who apologizes for pushing you. Was I being annoying?』
Ohoh. A reply. And moreover, it appeared that Tateishi wasn’t annoyed with me.
Tooru: 『Not at all. Thanks for worrying about me』
Ayame: 『I wasn’t a bother then? Thank goodness (*^^*) 』
In reality though, she had been really bothersome.
But… a kaomoji, huh? From what I had gathered about her personality from meeting her in real life, this was completely out of left field. [1. TL Note: kaomoji are similar to emoji’s, like (*^^*) or \(★ω★)/. A brief guide to different kaomoji emotions is included at the end of the chapter]

However, just because it was the internet didn’t mean that this personality was fake.

Perhaps this was how Tateishi really was.

Ayame: 『By the way, how long are those girls from Romania going to be staying?』
Tooru: 『Actually, they left this morning』
Ayame: 『Really!?』
Tooru: 『My apartment’s pretty calm now. Though I kind of miss the noise』

I spent all of today relaxing with Shizuku without any disturbances.
And even with the Kokorone Miru incident, that was still nothing compared to when Ria and the others were here.
Alright. I felt that now would be a good time to ask about her cold and end the conversation.
But as my fingers reached out to type out the question, Tateishi beat me to it.

Ayame: 『Then, I’ll go right away』
Tooru: 『Eh? Where? Don’t you have a cold?』

I suddenly had a terrifying premonition.
My last message was marked as ‘read,’ but no reply came.

Ayame: 『Fighting spirit! (*^^*) 』

I have no idea what she meant by that.
Maybe something like ‘Even if I have a cold, my fighting spirit will help me get through it!’? But that still didn’t answer where she was going.
What do I do? Should I send another message? What would I even say?

「Ahhhhh. My phone battery ahhhhhh.」
Of all times for my battery to die…

I hurried to plug my phone into an outlet.
「Faster! Faster! Turn on already! Turn on!」

But it showed no signs of life. But despite my panic, now that I wasn’t reading the LIME messages, I felt a little calmer.
When I’d read 『I’ll go right away』, I thought that Tateishi meant my apartment, but that was probably just me overthinking things.
After all, she was a model high school girl, and I was some random guy without any good qualities living off a part-time salary, three to four years older than her. No way would she visit my place. She was probably talking about the hospital or pharmacy or something.
Eventually, my phone buzzed to life.

The last message in our conversation was still Tateishi’s 『Fighting spirit! (*^^*) 』.
For now, I decided to send another message.

Tooru: 『If you’re leaving the house, make sure to wear something warm』
Ayame: 『Mhm. I’m wearing warm stockings, so I’m fine (* ´ ∀`*) 』

…I wanted to see a stocking-wearing Tateishi.
Wait, no. Rather, something was strange about her texts. It made it sound as if she was actually coming over.
Even walking from the temple to my apartment wouldn’t take very long.
-Ding-dong. Ding-dong. The intercom buzzed.
No way… I made sure I was holding the key as I opened the door.

「Suzuki, I have come.」Standing just outside my apartment was none other than Tateishi.
S-she actually came… why?
Her expression was cold as she stared at me and my apartment. What had happened to that kaomoji-using carefree Tateishi from LIME? Scratch that- this wasn’t a cold expression; Tateishi was straight up glaring daggers at me.
Anyhow.
I briefly looked back towards the room. Luckily, it seemed like Shizuku had hidden somewhere, or had camouflaged herself as part of the room.

My conscience wouldn’t allow me to leave someone standing outside in this freezing weather, especially not when they’d already caught a cold and was taking off from work because of it.

「W-why don’t you come in first.」
「Very well. I apologize for the intrusion.」
No matter how much I tried, I simply could not reconcile this icy-toned Tateishi and the one who used kaomojis.
But putting that aside for the time being, the only chairs in my apartment were at the dining room table, so I showed Tateishi there, offering her a seat.
「For drinks… um, is tea okay with you?」
「Yes.」
Even as I was pouring the tea, Tateishi didn’t utter a single word.
「Are you not cold?」
「Yes.」
「Why did you come here?」
「Yes.」
「…」

I don’t think that answered my question.
Nor did I think there was any chance of a conversation happening anymore.
-Tick-tock, tick-tock.
The only sound was the living room clock, ticking away the seconds. Despite having a guest over, my apartment was filled with a dead silence.
Wait whaaaaaaat? When I checked the time again, it was already 10 pm.

「Tateishi, it’s already 10 pm.」
「Yes.」
「You can’t just say yes. Aren’t your dad and family going to be worried?」
「Yes.」
Did this girl know how to say anything but ‘yes’?
「Yeah, see? Your family is definitely worried.」
「No.」

This time she gave a ‘no’ response. It was as if she had the vocabulary of the main character from Dragon Qu*st. On the other hand, she wasn’t just repeating ‘yes,’ but answering my questions, so at least it wasn’t entirely futile. [2. TL Note: refers to Dragon Quest, a popular turn-based combat game. If you’re not familiar with the game, the joke is that as the protagonist, you generally only can select ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ similar to games like Pokemon]

「Why wouldn’t they be worried?」
「Yes.」
「…」

Maybe she really couldn’t say anything but ‘yes’ or ‘no.’
And whenever I glanced at her, her expression was as stiff as ever. Yesterday, when she had come for the ‘exorcism,’ her speech had been short as well, but at least it had resembled human speech.
As I sat, completely at a loss, I heard a whisper in my ear.

「Master.」
It was Shizuku in her earphone form. She had done something like this a while back, transforming a part of her body into an earphone so that only I could hear her voice.

「Master, could it be that Tateishi is so nervous that she can’t speak?」
C-could that be it?
I had assumed that she’d been in a really bad mood, hence her one-word answers, but…
After all, I hadn’t done anything that would put her in a bad mood to begin with.

「What if you try talking to her via LIME?」
I-I see. If I followed Shizuku’s plan, I’d probably look incredibly rude, staring at my phone while sitting right in front of a guest. However, that was the only way I’d be able to make progress, so I decided to follow through with the idea.

Tooru: 『Are you maybe feeling a little nervous?』
For a while, Tateishi did nothing but stare intently at me.
Ah. Maybe I shouldn’t have used my phone in front of her after all.
But unexpectedly, as if she suddenly realized something, she took out her own phone as well.
Ayame: 『I guess I get a little embarrassed when I’m alone you（* ´ ω ` *）』

「Ehhhh? Weren’t you talking completely fine yesterday?」

Ayame: 『That’s only because Kuno came with me（ﾉ ´ ∀ ` *）』
Even when I spoke out loud, she answered me using LIME, and I blinked in surprise. Tateishi also looked shocked at her own actions.
「Um, um, um, s-sorry.」
「I-it’s fine. If it’s hard for you to talk out loud, I don’t mind you using LIME.」
Ayame: 『（ ´ ▽ ` ）Thanks! You’re so kind!』
A-anyway… With this, we could finally communicate.
「Thanks for going out of your way to purify my apartment yesterday.」
Ayame: 『But I can’t HA! like my father… sorry（Tд T）』[3. TL Note: HA! refers to a Japanese meme about a monk named T-san, who can solve any ghost problem just by yelling HA! Earlier, Tooru mentioned that he heard of a T-san living in the temple, so this is an extension of that joke]

「No, no. I’m just happy that you were concerned for me.」
I peeked at Tateishi again, and she seemed to be enjoying our conversation.
But when she noticed me looking at her, her expression instantly returned back to its usual, cold self.
Ayame: 『In the end, I had my father come and take a look at your apartment from the outside. According to him, there were absolutely no problems with it（ﾉ ´ ∀ ` *）』
Obviously, I’d doubt people who claimed this apartment was haunted. On the other hand, I wouldn’t exactly put my faith in those who declared that there was absolutely no problems with it either.
Ayame: 『I heard from Kuno that you were acting like a zombie, so I maybe I misread the signs? （ｍ ´・ω・` )ｍ Sorry…』
「I see, I see.」
But why did Tateishi go that far for me? She had put on white temple robes and bathed in cold water before coming over, which is about the last thing anyone would want to do in this winter weather. Maybe that was the devotion of someone born in a temple.
Well, whatever. I wanted to ask about other things.

「But if you know that there’s no spirits in my apartment, why’d you come over today?」
Ayame: 『I thought I’d come take care of you. Since the people from Romania left. Don’t make me say it aloud (*^д^*) It’s embarrassing』
「Huh?」
Ayame: 『And no matter how many people are doing a homestay at your place, tell me whenever you let a girl into your house. ヽ( ´ д ` #)ノ I hadn’t even been to your house once before （# ^ ω ^ ）*irked*』
Why did I have to report to Tateishi if any girls were homestaying at my apartment? Well, I guess I didn’t have to worry about that right now, since neither Ria nor Deet were here.
「You also said something about taking care of me. Aren’t you the one with a cold?」
Ayame: 『Suzuki also looked terrible yesterday and sneezed a lot. Weren’t you also sick?（ ´・ω ・` )』
「That was just lack of sleep. Besides, you’re the one who looks terrible right now. Look at how red your face is.」
Ayame: 『It’s only 39 degrees so I’m fine (* ´ Д `) *haha*』[4. TL Note: 102.2 Fahrenheit for those who use the inferior form of measurement]
39 degrees? That is… not fine at all.

And upon closer inspection, I realized that it wasn’t just her face. Tateishi was breathing heavily and seemed to be trembling.
「T-Tateishi, what’s your home phone number?」
Ayame: 『I-isn’t it a little early for me to introduce yourself to my family? Σ(ﾟ∀ ﾟﾉ )ﾉ *kya* But if you really want to know, the number is 042-XXX-XXXX (*ﾉ ∀ ﾉ ) 』
「W-what are you saying! I just want to call your parents for a sec!」