In the first-floor living room, Shirogane Miyuki patted his chest and let out a long breath. "Really, if they already moved out, they should have taken the unwanted dolls with them..."
Takashi held Nyanko-sensei and was deep in thought, because he swore he absolutely did not see wrong; those two dolls just now were definitely standing in front of the window looking at them.
But Nyanko-sensei didn't say anything. If it was a yokai, he should be able to solve it easily, right?
Uchiha Ryo unconditionally believed Takashi, although he indeed didn't see anything, and he didn't feel anything when entering the room just now.
The wooden glued dolls half-lying in the corner, in his opinion, were just ordinary dolls. There was neither demonic energy nor Onmyouji's spiritual power inside.
However, for the sake of Shirogane Miyuki's safety, it's better to dispose of those two dolls.
"Let's not talk about that, how do you feel about this house?" Uchiha Ryo thought it was very good anyway. This kind of house wouldn't be cheap in other areas, let alone in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
In Shirogane Miyuki's words, he really considered it a steal to be able to rent this kind of house.
"Of course I am very satisfied, and the price is really suitable. I have already decided that my room will be that workroom on the second floor."
Uchiha Ryo nodded. "The doll room is for Kei?"
"....."
Shirogane Miyuki coughed lightly. "I am a firm materialist, I don't care about those things. Between the two rooms on the second floor, the doll room is indeed bigger. It's very normal for a girl's room to be a bit bigger, right."
"We'll just throw the dolls out later. I still have to do a trial stay for a night tonight."
Uchiha Ryo stood up. "Then you enjoy your trial stay. Takashi, let's go back."
Takashi also stood up holding Nyanko-sensei, looking like he was about to leave.
"No no no! I'll treat you guys to a meal! I'll cook personally and treat you to a meal, okay! Anyway, the rooms here are big enough, just do me a favor to the end and stay with me for a day."
Uchiha Ryo raised his eyebrows. "You're not scared, are you?"
"Scared? I am the dignified Student Council President of Shuchiin, how could I believe in that kind of thing! It's just that the dolls are made a bit too exquisitely... what's that term again? Right! The Uncanny Valley effect."
"They're just mere dolls, it's not like they can move!"
Click— It sounded like a door opening, followed by thump, thump footsteps coming from the direction of the entryway.
"Ah!!"
Shirogane Miyuki directly hid behind Uchiha Ryo, looking towards the living room door with a slightly trembling voice. "The sound over at the entryway... is also the sound at the stairs on the second floor, right..."
Uchiha Ryo slapped away Shirogane Miyuki's hand that was tightly gripping his shoulder, and then sat down on the spot.
"Takashi, then let's stay with Shirogane here for a night. Shirogane, what are we eating tonight?"
"Is this the time to study what to eat!!!" Shirogane Miyuki was somewhat breaking down. He wanted to open the door to see what was going on, but didn't dare to go over.
Until the footsteps stopped outside the living room door...
"No wonder I saw the lights were on, so there are people... Are you the new tenants of this house?"
Walking into the living room was a middle-aged auntie who looked to be in her fifties, wearing a headscarf and cleaning clothes, looking like a dedicated cleaner.
The auntie caught a glimpse of the key Shirogane Miyuki had put on the table, then smiled and said.
"I help the original owner of this house clean up. I come over every Saturday and Sunday. Of course, if there are tenants, I won't have to come, and the main gate key will be given to the tenants."
Saying that, the auntie took out a main gate key from her pocket and threw it on the table.
Shirogane Miyuki let out a sigh of relief, immediately returned to normal and smiled. "I also came to look at the house today, planning to stay for a night to try it out. If it's okay, I'll move over next week."
The auntie's appearance was very kind and amiable, instantly easing the somewhat tense atmosphere in the living room.
"In that case, do you still need me to clean today?"
"Of course you can! By the way, you come over to clean every week, right? Can I ask why the original owner of this house left two dolls upstairs?"
"Dolls... what dolls?"
Shirogane Miyuki pointed towards the ceiling. "The ones in the empty room on the second floor."
The auntie's expression became visibly serious. "I've been coming every week for these past few months, there are absolutely no dolls on the second floor..."
Shirogane Miyuki: "....."
"Uh... hahaha, Auntie, did you remember wrongly? Let's go up and take a look right now!"
In order to prove that the three of them couldn't all have hallucinations, Shirogane Miyuki led the auntie to the second floor and opened that doll room.
What a clean and tidy room. A breeze blew through the window on the left. The room was empty, as clean as a newly renovated house.
Shirogane Miyuki pointed at the corner where the dolls were supposed to be placed, his mouth open but unable to speak.
After a long while, the auntie sighed, shook her head and said.
"Let's go back to the living room first..."
Uchiha Ryo frowned. "Auntie, do you... know something?"
The four people returned to the living room. Shirogane Miyuki squeezed between Uchiha and Takashi, and even held Nyanko-sensei in his arms, as if only this could give him a sense of security.
As for the cleaning auntie, she sat opposite, looking very conflicted.
"Sigh... I'll just say it straight. These things originally couldn't be told to you. After all, the original owner of this house treats me well, I can't drive away the tenants he finally got..."
"But I also can't watch you unrelated students get involved."
The auntie had a serious expression. "Have you guys ever heard of an urban legend circulating on the internet called the Two Dolls?"
Two Dolls?
It is said that the original owner of this house suddenly became obsessed with making dolls in his middle age. As the craftsmanship became more and more refined, his dolls even sold for quite high prices online.
But his temper became increasingly irritable, and he was always shouting that he must make the most perfect work.
Then somehow he heard that there is a sorcery in the East called Gu, which means putting bugs, snakes, and things like that into a box to let them kill each other, and the one that ultimately survives is the perfect work.
So the original owner frantically made a large number of dolls and put them into the doll room, then cursed those dolls and left the house for a period of time.
When he returned, the dolls all had varying degrees of damage, but only two dolls stood there completely unscathed.
After succeeding, the original owner smugly said he had made the most perfect dolls, but most people thought he had gone crazy from being alone for too long.
No one paid attention to him. So half a year later, the original owner moved out of the house and destroyed all the dolls together.
Later, there was a rumor nearby that one could hear people's footsteps and the sound of objects moving in the house at night. Some people even came out of curiosity at night to investigate, and then ran away shouting "There are two! There are two!".
That's how the rumor of the Two Dolls spread, because it is said that many witnesses claimed to have seen moving dolls.
"The original owner of the house used to be a very cheerful child. Because my son works out of town, he often came over to take care of me. After he left, I also volunteered to come help clean the house..."
"About two months ago, there was also a tenant who moved in. It seemed to be an author looking for a quiet place to write, so he took a fancy to the environment and the legend of the urban legend here, preparing to find inspiration."
Shirogane Miyuki swallowed his saliva. "Then... what about that author?"
The auntie sighed. "He didn't stay for more than a week... because he fainted at home from a heart attack. Because he lived alone and was too lazy to clean, I still came over every week to help, and then I found him and sent him to the hospital."
"Is he okay?" Shirogane Miyuki continued to ask.
"After waking up, he also claimed to have seen the Two Dolls, then directly checked out and moved out of Tokyo. I heard he has already gone abroad."