Hayashi's reassurance was quite practical, but unfortunately, Erina and Hisako did not calm down; instead, they clung to Hayashi's wrist as if it were a lifeline.
"Ugh—"
Hayashi winced in pain, drawing in a sharp breath, and looked incredulously at the two delicate hands gripping his wrist—no, no, no, are you trying to squeeze the life out of me?
The grip of these two girls was terrifying; he could not let them continue!
Hayashi tugged at the corners of his mouth and said, "Let's just go inside first; if the owner of this place gets impatient, they might resort to some unconventional means to force us in."
Erina and Hisako exchanged glances, and their minds immediately conjured images from various horror films—
Like a headless corpse crawling towards them like a spider;
Or a pus-dripping corpse lunging at them with claws outstretched;
Or a half-beast, half-human modified corpse roaring as it charged at them.
"Eek—"
The two of them shivered in unison, retreating further behind Hayashi, giving him a strong sense of déjà vu.
'Isn't this just like when I went home during summer break in college and watched horror movies with my niece?' Hayashi sighed in exasperation; back then, his niece would hide behind him, and every time a scary scene appeared, she would scream and pinch his arm.
In the end, he forgot all about the plot of that horror movie, only remembering his bruised arm (the battle-damaged version).
After a moment of hesitation, the three of them finally stepped through the door of the mist-covered mansion. As they did, the door behind them slammed shut with a chilling "creak."
"Eek ah—"
The already frightened Erina and Hisako screamed, clinging desperately to Hayashi's arm, but he felt no hint of flirtation or pleasure.
It hurt, it hurt too much!
'This is it, I'm going to die—'
Hayashi's eyes widened in pain as he looked at Erina and Hisako gripping his arms, tears almost welling up—sure, grip all you want, but don't dig in with your nails! They're turning purple, purple!!
It hurt, it hurt too much!
"Ladies, calm down, calm down—" Hayashi tugged at the corners of his mouth and said, "Can we analyze the situation a bit?"
If I don't distract these two, I might just be killed by these nine-yin white bone claws!
Erina trembled and asked, "Analyze what?"
"This is the Johto region, and the ghost-type Pokémon that inhabit the Johto region are only the Gastly line!" Hayashi said, gasping for breath. "Considering that the Kanto region is very close to Johto, we can also include the ghost-type Pokémon from Kanto, which are the Misdreavus line."
"Only those two?" Hisako asked instinctively, and the young lady beside her also showed a curious expression.
"Exactly!" Feeling the grip on his arms loosen, Hayashi quickly nodded and said, "In the earlier generations of Pokémon, the number of ghost-type Pokémon was very limited, and it wasn't until later generations that they gradually increased."
After nervously scanning their surroundings and finding nothing suspicious, Erina let out a slight sigh of relief and asked, "So, the Pokémon residing in this mansion are either Gastly, Haunter, or Gengar, or Misdreavus or Mismagius?"
"Well, if the owner of this mansion has traveled to other regions before, then the selection range expands significantly—" Hayashi shrugged and said, "Like Shuppet, Dusknoir, or Spiritomb."
"Uwaah—"
Erina and Hisako let out a mournful cry, turning a single-choice question into a multiple-choice question; the difficulty had increased significantly!
'Speaking of which—' Hayashi curiously glanced around, thinking: 'Why haven't the ghost-type Pokémon made any moves since we came in?'
He didn't voice this thought, as he felt that if he did, Erina and Hisako, who had finally calmed down a bit, would probably start pinching his arms again.
Thinking of this, Hayashi couldn't help but lower his head to look at his battle-damaged arms, the vivid nail marks making him wipe away a tear of bitterness.
While he was rubbing his sore arms, Erina, who was huddled with Hisako looking through the Pokédex, suddenly spoke up, "If only it were Misdreavus or Mismagius that lived here—"
Hisako chimed in, "Sinistea or Polteageist would be fine too!"
Erina nodded, "Mimikyu seems okay as well."
Hayashi looked at the two of them in confusion and asked, "What are you talking about?"
"If the ghost-type Pokémon residing here were Misdreavus or Mimikyu, it wouldn't feel so scary—" Erina blinked her violet eyes and said, "Because they look quite cute!"
"I actually think Sinistea is pretty nice," Hisako stated.
Hayashi couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, asking, "Wait, are you two seriously discussing this at a time like this??"
Aren't you worried that the ghost-type Pokémon hiding nearby might overhear your discussion, think you find them ugly, and then fly into a rage, scaring you to death?
That's so messy… no, I mean, that's so unclean!
Erina put away the Pokédex and muttered, "If we don't discuss this, there's nothing else to talk about, right? We can't just talk about what kind of torment we might face later, can we?"
Ah, that's true…
"By the way, Mr. Hayashi, which ghost-type Pokémon do you think is the cutest?" At that moment, Hisako opened the Pokédex, filtered for ghost-type Pokémon, and handed it to Hayashi, asking, "Is it Mimikyu? Or Froslass?"
Hayashi disdainfully swatted away Hisako's Pokédex and shook his finger, saying, "I see you two completely don't understand!"
Erina raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh? You seem to know a lot?"
Hayashi chuckled and said, "Of course, I know everything!"
Erina asked, "Then tell us, which ghost-type Pokémon is the cutest?"
Hayashi placed his hands on his hips, puffed out his chest, and declared, "Isn't it obvious? The cutest ghost-type Pokémon in the world is, of course, Gengar! How can Gengar be such an adorable little thing!"
"Eh!?"
"Ha?"
"Gah!?" Σ( ° △ °|||)
Erina's eyes widened as she quickly pulled out the Pokédex she had just put away, then called up Gengar's data, saying with a strange expression, "Uh, you mean this… purple little chubby thing?"
"Gah!!"凸(艹皿艹 )
"Hum hum, you can't judge a Pokémon's cuteness just by the Pokédex!" Hayashi shook his head, feeling like the only one in the group who knew the source of a GIF, proudly pulling out his phone and saying, "I just happen to have saved some pictures of Gengar; let me show you how cute Gengar really is!"
"Gah, gah!!" (/ω＼*)
Hayashi opened his album and found a picture of Gengar cosplaying as a rainbow Eevee, asking, "What do you think? Isn't it super cute?"
After looking at the picture, Erina couldn't help but murmur, "Wow, it actually does look quite cute…"
"Gah, gah!"╰(°▽°)╯
"Right?" Hayashi winked proudly and said, "Don't be fooled by Gengar being just a purple little chubby thing; it's super cute!"
"Gah, gah, gah!"Um, um..." At that moment, Hisako suddenly said with a pale face, "H-have you noticed that there's been a strange sound since just now?"
"Strange… sound?"
Hayashi and Erina exchanged glances, and they both tilted their heads in recollection, then simultaneously smacked their hands, saying in unison, "It seems there really is!"
Where is that sound coming from?
As they realized this, Hayashi, Erina, and Hisako suddenly felt a chill creeping up the back of their necks, and the muscles that had relaxed before tensed up, turning stiff as rusty door hinges as they turned their heads.
What greeted their eyes was a massive purple figure, with scarlet eyes and a grinning mouth.
"Gah!"
Seeing that the three of them finally noticed him, Gengar waved happily at them—oh my, this is the first time someone has come in and praised me for being cute! Others either scream or shout about wanting to catch me.
So annoying!
However, at that moment, Gengar, whose affection for Hayashi and the others had skyrocketed, did not realize that his silent appearance behind them would bring a fright.
"Waaahhh—"
In the next moment, the three of them screamed in unison.
"Gah!!"
Startled by their screams, Gengar darted up to the shadows of the ceiling, peeking out cautiously after a while, patting his chest in relief.
Once calm, Hayashi patted his chest, gasping for breath, and said, "I feel like this Gengar was startled by us?"
Erina, feeling a bit weak in the knees, leaned against Hayashi's arm, panting as she said, "N-no wonder it's a ghost type; it really made no sound at all."
"Gah, gah—"
Gengar, feeling a bit shy, scratched his head as he dropped down from the ceiling, swaying his body awkwardly while occasionally glancing at Hayashi.
The trio: "?"
"What's wrong with it?" Erina couldn't help but ask.
"Seems like it's… shy?" Hisako hesitantly suggested.
"Shy? Could it be…" Hayashi seemed to realize something, took a step forward, and tentatively said to the Gengar in front of him, "Gengar is super cute!"
"Gah!" Gengar's eyes widened in surprise, and after bouncing up and down excitedly, he approached Hayashi and licked his face with his tongue.
Then Hayashi's vision went dark, and he lost consciousness.
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