1.48: Missing the PointI stared down at Rui’s hand while Akuchi strutted over, far too pleased with himself.Ume licked her lips as she studied me closely… too closely.

  “I think so,” she murmured, sniffing the air. “He smells… somewhat familiar.”

  “Uh… you met me much earlier today…” I looked at her, sweating. Had she suddenly lost it? “We even shared a…” I squeaked.

  THWAP!

  Rui suddenly bopped me from behind my head.

  “Not that smell.” Ume ughed lightly. “My memory is fwless. I would never forget someone I showed my…”

  Rui pouted and waved her hands madly and then crossed them with a tiny gre, interrupting her.

  “Okay RuiRui…” Ume tittered. “I told you earlier that your blood has a strange bouquet… not the exact words I used, but… The scent suggests that there is something… unusual inside you.”

  Rui raised an eyebrow. “I can’t smell anything around Susumu except his faint body odor.”

  Ouch. Faint is good… I guess.

  Especially considering I hadn’t bathed since yesterday.

  Rui spped the object firmly onto the table, revealing a tiny waving cat.

  It was a maneki-neko.The force of the impact sent its little paw jerking wildly.

  I blinked. “…Um. Is that a gift for me? It’s cute. I don’t really collect much in the way of knickknacks but I’d cherish anything from my frie—”

  “No, idiot!” Rui cackled. “This isn’t décor. It’s not a gift. Ume-chan, demonstrate.”

  Ume nodded, lifted her hand… and waved it above the beckoning cat.

  WAPWAPWAPWAPWAPWAP—

  The paw went wild… thrashing like it was trying to escape.She pulled her hand back and the thing kept filing on its own, but gentler.

  I stared, halfway convinced there were strings. I leaned closer, curiosity getting the better of me…

  Ume grabbed my hand with a grip like iron. “Not yet,” she giggled.

  Rui stopped the paw with her fingers and exhaled sharply. “Now I’ll show you what happens when I try.”

  She inhaled.Lifted her arm dramatically…

  ….………

  Then chopped her hand over the cat.

  ………………………………

  Nothing.

  The maneki-neko remained dead still.

  There was no movement this time. No twitch. Zero changes.

  I sighed. “…Is this some kind of weird scam? No, more like a cute prank?” I smiled.

  Ume gasped so dramatically she could’ve won an award. “Eh?! Is that what you think of me? Do you genuinely think that I would… I’m hurt—hurt!” Tears immediately welled up.

  Natalia-sama patted her head gently. “Ume-chan, hush. Even I wouldn’t believe the significance of this little knick-knack without more proof.”

  Rui leaned over and kissed the tears from Ume’s cheeks.Ume instantly brightened, her lips curving happily.

  Natalia-sama then stepped forward. “Susumu. Believe her. This maneki-neko is more than meets the eye. This tool measures spiritual density. There’s a milligram of spiritually porized metal in its paw.”

  She waved her hand above it.

  The cat’s paw nearly ripped itself off trying to keep up.

  WHAPWHAPWHAPWHAPWHAP—

  The entire figure rattled on the table as though possessed.

  “W-wow… So you can make a cat wave its paw like a ghost animated it,” I muttered. “What do you mean by spiritual density…?”

  “Yes, you can sum it up to that!” Rui said, giggling. Her arms wrapped around Ume, who was still letting out soft sniffles. “Susu, there’s a field that forms around people with conscious power. It’s always there. When this alloy comes in range to some source of spiritual energy, it reacts. Now… Susumu, I need you to do the same. But hold on, I need to stop the paw first so we don’t get any false positives. I’ll do the honors, since I’m the only one here with zero spiritual presence.”She patted Ume comfortingly as Ume snuggled into her shoulder. Rui’s smile softened and then dimmed.

  “How did you do that scroll thing in the…” I asked, dimly remembering how she bzed with energy when we were fighting Noh-face.

  “Now’s not the time.” Rui’s lips twisted.

  “I’m sorry!” I blurted, suddenly springing to my feet. I practically lunged across the table. I’d somehow hurt Rui and said something thoughtless to Ume. I wrapped my arms around them.

  She gasped as I held them tightly in a kind of group hug. I looked straight into their eyes. “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings. I’m not used to… having friends, not that that’s any kind of a good excuse. I never had any real ones. Except for Reiko-chan.” My throat tightened. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  Ume giggled softly, cheeks flushing as she patted my back. “Oh, sweetheart… I was just acting.” She sighed, embarrassed. “I’m sorry my performance was too convincing.” She hugged me back warmly. “As lovely as this moment is, we shouldn’t waste too much time.”

  Rui giggled softly. “It’s alright. I’ll expin sometime. I meant what I said. I have zero spiritual ability.”

  I nodded and pulled away… just enough to gnce down. Rui leaned down to hold the maneki-neko’s paw between two fingers… and then looked up at me expectantly.

  …

  CRACK

  Everyone stared.

  The cat’s paw had snapped clean off in Rui’s fingers.

  Natalia-sama sighed. “My goodness. Another heirloom destroyed.”

  “I—It’s Susumu’s fault!” Rui yelled immediately, bming me.

  Ume inspected the broken cat, slipping around me with delicate efficiency. “Now, now. I’ll have it repaired. Though really, Rui, why break it before we finally got around to the demonstration?” She tapped her chin. “I do have others in my shop. If someone is willing to pay a small fee~.”

  I remembered those waving cats in her store… about how they suddenly started waving on their own as we passed through. It reinforced my thoughts that her shop was haunted.

  “You did have tons of them, Ume-chan,” I said faintly.

  “Yes.” She beamed. “They’re spiritual meters. Many of my cursed items house violent spirits, so these help me monitor their activity. They rarely bother me, but sometimes they like to py tricks.”

  A room full of poltergeists…And I walked through it casually as though it was a Bizney Store.

  Kami help me.

  Rui crossed her arms. “Anyway! Don’t hug or kiss Susumu anymore! His fail cooties might rub off on you!”

  COOTIES?

  What age was she now? She really said cooties?

  “You kissed me yourself!” I squawked.

  Natalia-sama chuckled. “Oh please, Rui-chan. None of us mind Susumu’s germs.”

  “I second that!” Akuchi decred, immediately snaking her arms around me again. At least her enormous package wasn’t pressed against me this time.

  “Me too,” Ume said, gncing back with a wink as she held the broken lucky cat.

  “Traitors…” Rui whispered dramatically.

  Ume approached her, leaned close, and nibbled her ear.

  Rui purred. Actually purred. “Kyaaaaaaa…”

  “Thanks for the light snack,” Ume murmured, licking her lips pyfully. Then she leaned close to whisper something into Rui’s ear… soft enough that nobody else could hear.

  Rui’s entire face turned scarlet.

  I swallowed hard. My mind instantly filled with specution… wildly inappropriate specution.What exactly did Ume promise to do to Rui tonight?Where?Alone?

  My imagination betrayed me faster than I could stop it.

  I fidgeted.

  A lot.

  “Oooooh… a blood fountain,” Ume cooed.

  I blinked——and realized warm liquid was dripping down my nose onto my shirt.

  “Hyaaaaaa!! Shower time!!” I yelped, and bolted for the hallway.

  “I’ll wash your back, Susumu-sama!!” Akuchi lunged after me like a rocket-propelled koa.

  “Nooooooooo!!” The shriek that tore out of me was unmistakably… girlish. Armingly so.

  “Susumu!” Rui barked. “WAIT!”

  Too te.Akuchi’s arms were already around my waist, squeezing with undead enthusiasm. I cwed at the wall like a cat being taken to the vet.

  “RUI!! HELP ME!!” I pleaded as Akuchi ground disturbingly against my back.

  “You should shower,” Rui said ftly. “All your clothes are dirty anyway. What are you pnning to wear tonight?”

  I froze mid-struggle.

  …She was right.

  Most of my clothes were stained, torn, or smelled like despair and curry. If I wanted to storm a murderer’s skyscraper, I couldn’t go dressed like a vagrant.

  Ume approached and tugged lightly at my shirt’s hem.

  “I’ll clean this for you,” she said sweetly. “I don’t mind leftovers now and then. Lust-infused blood has a special fvor.”

  My brain conjured an image of Ume sucking the blood straight out of my shirt like it was a juice pouch.

  Was… was that not what she meant?

  Ume giggled.Then, without warning, she spun me around and ripped my shirt upward in one clean motion.

  I staggered, my arms filing skyward as the shirt flew off me……and in the same motion, her sudden twist dislodged Akuchi’s grip entirely.

  I spun in pce like a malfunctioning ballerina and came to a stop, dizzy, topless, and mortified.

  “Kyaaaaaaa!” I squeaked, covering my chest instinctively.

  Akuchi’s eyes bulged.She licked her lips.And then she sprang.

  “YIPE—!”

  Ume slid in front of me with perfect timing and bumped her hips backward.Her butt struck Akuchi square in the torso.

  THUD

  She hit the wall and crumpled.

  Ume didn’t even look her way.

  Instead, she turned to me, her gaze dropping to my bare chest with unnerving interest.

  She poked me.Right... on... the... center... of... my... chest…

  I felt something cool to the touch wriggle there… It suddenly heated…

  I stiffened, trembling.Is she going to pounce on me too?!Does lust-filled blood affect her that strongly?!“Kyaaaa—!!”

  In my imagination, Ume ripped off the rest of my clothes, threw me onto the tatami, and…

  A flower dropped before a curtain fell as she....

  WHOOSH

  Something shot away from us, so fast it whistled through the air.A white blur ricocheted off three walls and……bonked Akuchi in the forehead.She colpsed in a heap.

  I snapped back to reality just in time to see the white object… a towel… nd in my hands.

  “Take a shower, Susumu,” Ume said sweetly. “Before someone eats you.”

  I didn’t need to be told twice.

  I sprinted for the bathroom like my life and innocence depended on it.

  CRACK

  Relwing