Chapter 117: There Is Really A Ghost!
Kimura Kazuki did not rest at all for the whole night.
In the middle of the night, he was still pacing around downstairs from time to time. Sometimes he went upstairs to patrol the corridors. As it should be, those actions were carried out quietly without disturbing the slumbering residents of the house.
He had even used Peeking Eyes three times, but he did not find any peculiarity in the villa.
His realm had reached the fifth of the Foundation State, but he would rise to the sixth Foundation State soon.
It would be more difficult to advance to the next level of Foundation State when his level was at a higher level. Meanwhile, the demand for Reiki would also increase as his level increased. Although the demons in Akichi High School were on the verge of reaching Metamorphosis State, there were many impurities in the Reiki of the demons after death. After removing the impurities, the excess amount of Reiki that allowed Kimura Kazuki to reach his current realm had been out of his expectation.
He had reached his limit by using Peeking Eyes three times. If Kimura Kazuki continued to use Peeking Eyes, it would cause permanent damage to his eyes.
In the end, he still could not discover any oddities. However, Nakagawa Akira had told them that she had the same dream again.
Kimura Kazuki frowned slightly. He could not believe that it was just an ordinary dream. It was bizarre that the old lady had been having the same dream for more than half a month. Even if the old lady thought about it day and night, it was still impossible for it to affect her dream. After all, ordinary people could hardly control their dreams.
Therefore, Kimura Kazuki believed that someone was trying to convey a message through that dream.
The one who sent the message through the dream might not be a demon. Otherwise, Kimura Kazuki could have easily sniffed out the demon's presence, unless it was at Metamorphosis State. Even if it was a spirit and could evade normal means of discovery, it was near impossible for it to hide from the scanning of Peeking Eyes, unless the spirit had metamorphosed too.
However, in the era that Reiki had yet to replenish, there were not many ghosts that could metamorphose.
The reason he could encounter those at Akichi High School was due to the unique nature of the multi-armed demon. It was a combination of the whole class, which was why the demon was so strong. As for Reika and Motohashi Kiyomi, it was because there were two souls in one body. Speaking of which, both of them existed due to exceptional circumstances. Even so, Kimura Kazuki still found them to be unusual.
Although he did not discover anything for the whole day, Kimura Kazuki was not discouraged. There were so many extraordinary things in the world. It was inevitable that there was something that he could not understand.
Hence, Kimura Kazuki could only apologize to Nakagawa Aokiji and leave. After all, he still needed to attend his classes. His studies took priority above anything else.
Nakagawa Aokiji understood him well, so he was not offended. He even sent Kimura Kazuki to the tram station to show his gratitude.
"I will inform you if anything unusual happens," promised Nakagawa Aokiji.
Despite the anticlimactic experience, his opinion of Kimura Kazuki had remained the same. He had witnessed Kimura Kazuki's ability before and experienced the horror of the demons in Akichi High School for himself. Kimura Kazuki managed to annihilate all the demons in Akichi High School in such a short time. The display of power had really convinced Nakagawa Aokiji of his strength.
"Alright!"
Although Kimura Kazuki said so, he did not really expect anything much to happen.
However, the next day, he was eating in the dining hall and discussing the novel with the Furuhashi sisters during lunch break when he received an urgent call from Nakagawa Aokiji.
"Kimura-Kun, you should come over right now! There really is a ghost!"
Kimura Kazuki was startled by the urgency in Nakagawa Aokiji's voice. He replied immediately, "I will be there soon, do not act rashly."
Upon saying that, he got up and hurried to the tram station without even bidding the Furuhashi sisters farewell. His empty plate was also left haphazardly on the table.
On the way to his destination, he called his teacher to put in a request for a leave of absence. After half an hour, he arrived at the gated entrance to Kageyama Park.
When he was about to call Nakagawa Aokiji, he looked up and spotted him standing by the guardhouse. He was stunned for a moment, before speaking up cautiously, "Nakagawa-Kun, I'm here."
Nakagawa Aokiji felt relieved the moment he saw Kimura Kazuki. After filling in the guest log, they walked to his car together.
While getting into the passenger seat, Kimura Kazuki caught a glimpse of Nakagawa Akira, who was sitting in the backseat. The old lady looked terrified. She looked at Kimura Kazuki and smiled weakly, "Ghosts are real."
Seeing her in such a state, Kimura Kazuki could not help but return a smile at the old lady. "Ms. Nakagawa, I presume that you believe me now." To be honest, he had speculated before that the old lady was too lonely at home, so she made up the story and asked all her family members to take action. But after thinking about it, the old lady did nothing except watch dramas, television shows, and movies every day. Sometimes, she would play mahjong when she had nothing else to do. Time flew by quickly. She would not have felt lonely at all.
Nakagawa Akira remained silent and just nodded her head. Obviously, she was still in shock after what had transpired just now.
With Kimura Kazuki sitting next to him, Nakagawa Aokiji was finally able to calm himself. After taking a deep breath, he told him everything that had happened.
It turned out that this happened because of the jade pendant worn by the old lady.
Kimura Kazuki was unable to pinpoint the peculiarity of the place. Half a month ago, Nakagawa Akira's husband had accidentally dropped and chipped the jade pendant that she kept in her bedroom while she was showering. A corner of the jade was fractured. Tomohito was frightened when he saw what he had done. The jade pendant was won as part of a pair by Nakagawa Akira in an auction eight years ago. Both jade pendants looked identical.
Although the jade pendants existed in a pair, both of them were individual pieces of jade. One of the pendants was given to Amami, who was the servant Kimura Kazuki saw yesterday.
Spending money to restore the chipped jade was a trivial matter, but Tomohito's biggest concern was that the jade was cherished dearly by his wife, so much so that she never took it off unless it was necessary. Otherwise, she would be wearing it all the time. It was clear how much Nakagawa Akira valued the jade pendant.
As a husband who loved his wife very much, Tomohito came up with a solution. He borrowed Amami's jade pendant and substituted it for his wife's. After that, he looked for a professional to mend the chipped pendant.
The mending process took half a month.
Nakagawa Tomohito returned the mended jade to Nakagawa Akira yesterday and confessed that he had chipped it a few weeks ago. They had been married for a couple of decades, and Tomohito did not want to hide the truth.
He decided to conceal the matter initially as Nakagawa Akira had worn this jade pendant for eight years. He was afraid that his wife had developed a mental attachment to the pendant, which might make her anxious if she had to part with it while it was being mended.
"After having lunch, I went for a walk. When I came back, I started to feel drowsy, so I went up to my bedroom to take a nap. I took off the pendant and placed it on the bedside cabinet, then all of a sudden, a woman materialized from the jade."
Although her breathing had stabilized now, her heart was still pounding as she was still in shock. Fortunately, she did not suffer from any heart disease. Kimura Kazuki would have to meet her in the hospital instead of Kageyama Park.
Even though it was proved that ghosts did exist in the world, Nakagawa Akira was still skeptical about Kimura Kazuki's capability. After all, Kimura was too young, and he was still a student. Her deeply-ingrained traditional mindset made her doubt his ability. However, Nakagawa Aokiji had solemnly assured her about Kimura's ability, so Nakagawa Akira could only believe in him reluctantly. If she were to make a decision, she would prefer to invite a priest from the temple to exorcise the ghosts.
Soon, Nakagawa Aokiji pulled up in front of his house. All of them got out of the car.
Amami had gone back after preparing lunch while Tomohito was working at his company. For the time being, only Kimura Kazuki, Nakagawa Aokiji, and Nakagawa Akira knew about the matter. Nakagawa Aokiji did not tell anyone else about it since it would be better if fewer people knew about it. If his father caught wind of this matter, it would definitely add to his stress. After all, he had had enough stress managing all the affairs at his company.
Kimura Kazuki got out of the car without waiting for the other two people. He took the lead and approached the door. However, the door was left open a crack. Clearly, Nakagawa Aokiji and his mother left the house in a hurry. After all, there was a ghost in the house. Ordinary people would not dare to stay in the house any longer after knowing that there was a ghost inside the house.
He pushed the door open and entered. He did not bother to change his shoes at the entrance since he wanted to catch a glimpse of the ghost as soon as he could.
As soon as Kimura Kazuki came to the living room, his eyes fell on the semi-corporeal ghost sitting on the sofa. Kimura Kazuki was so surprised he blurted the first name that came to his mind.
"Furuhashi?"