Chapter 3: Mouth and Premonition
After putting the bank card into my wallet, I checked my phone for the time. It was almost 4:30 PM. It was nearly dinner time, and our appointment was for 4:30, so she should be arriving soon.
“Then, I’ll gratefully accept. I have plans tonight, so I’ll be going now.”
After downing my coffee, I said goodbye to everyone and prepared to leave. Seeing that I was about to go, Li Nai stood up and asked, “Wait, Juncheng, where are you going?”
“I’m taking Xuan’er out for dinner. She helped us so much last time, it would be wrong not to treat her to a good meal.” The ghoul invasion incident last time would have ended in disaster if not for Xuan’er. So after the incident, I promised Xuan’er that I would treat her to a feast once I got paid.
Actually, if I’m getting paid enough, treating her to a feast for a month wouldn’t be impossible. I’ll thank her properly with this.
“Heh heh, then I want to go too~”
Although Li Nai is usually quite annoying, she played a very important role at critical moments. Without her, Lianbing would have done something irreversible to revive me. Considering your efforts, I’ll treat you to a meal as well.
After saluting Miss Akiko and waving goodbye to Eddie and the others as I prepared to leave the room, I suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask Miss Akiko. Last time, after sending Miss Akiko’s corpse back, I mentioned to Lianbing that she could see Miss Akiko, but Lianbing refused for some reason. Or rather, this was to meet her biological mother, Qiu He, Aunt.
But why refuse the meeting request now? It’s such a precious thing to be able to see our deceased mother again. I’m even thinking of taking Xinran and Ke Ling to see her, and Dad too. But I can’t make this decision on my own, I need to ask her thoughts first. Lianbing and Akiko—or rather, Miss Akiko’s corpse—had an unpleasant reunion, and were even in opposition. I was even stabbed.
But this has nothing to do with Miss Akiko herself; it’s just the instinctive reaction of the corpse after being demonized. If Lianbing doesn’t want to see Miss Akiko because of this, I feel it’s my responsibility to help them resolve this conflict that shouldn’t exist. So, this time I want to ask Miss Akiko’s own opinion first.
Miss Akiko didn’t show much hesitation, and with her signature smile, she said, “I’m a earthbound spirit, I can’t leave this building. So, if she wants to see me, I won’t refuse, okay? Hehehehe.” Ah, indeed, Miss Akiko’s title is written like that. What is the reason she can’t leave this building? And she seems quite different from ordinary ghosts; sometimes she can be touched, sometimes not, sometimes she’s a solid entity, and sometimes she’s semi-transparent. Isn’t that too strange?
Although I’m curious, it’s better to know less about things I shouldn’t. Otherwise, Miss Akiko might just erase them. Ever since I met the Loli King Yama, I’ve seriously suspected that Miss Akiko also has the ability to extract part of someone’s soul, which is why she can make people forget.
However, since Miss Akiko can’t leave here, is bringing Lianbing here the only way? “I’ll find a way to bring her. How about it?”
“Oh my, indeed, Xiao An sounds a bit feminine and a bit childish. How about I just call you…”
“Not yet,” I said, rubbing my nose awkwardly, and somewhat flustered, I opened the door and looked back to salute again. Miss Akiko smiled and waved goodbye. Then, Li Nai and I went out together.
Sent a message. In the elevator, I was going to send a message to Xuan’er, asking her to come to Black Street, but I saw that Xuan’er had already sent one to me, saying she was already at the building entrance. Staring blankly, no response.
When we reached the ground floor, we indeed saw Xuan’er waiting for us at the building entrance. She was leaning against the glass of the main entrance, looking out. She was wearing a sailor uniform. Today, Xuan’er was wearing that unique outfit again, a costume for cosplay. Today she was wearing it, wanting to take a photo. Xuan’er’s hairstyle was also very similar to that of a certain Jigoku Shoujo. The completion of this cosplay was quite high, making one unable to help but… “Okay?” to this extent. Although she is indeed cute, when we go for dinner later, it’s better to wear something more casual. Well, it’s her, she’ll definitely say “Cuteness is justice!” Right? It doesn’t seem like it’s tearing.
As I was about to go and greet her, I suddenly saw something split open from the back of Xuan’er’s head. Huh? No, it didn’t split open, it “opened.” Why can I tell the difference? “This is a mouth…” Yes, it’s like the ability Xuan’er used before, hair woven into a mouth, devouring anything. “Gluttony Hair.” But why did that ability activate now? Could it be she’s trying to scare us? A mouth, there’s a mouth.
The mouth finally opened completely, but it was different from what I saw before. It looked like a real white mouth, with lips, teeth, and even a tongue sticking out, showing a cynical smile. The phrase “smile from behind” surfaced in my mind, and inexplicably, I felt very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable! It rivals the Kuchisake-onna urban legend! Can you imagine? The other person’s back is facing you, but you can see them smiling—that eerie feeling is comparable to urban legends! This joke isn’t funny at all; she should put it away quickly.
As I was thinking of walking over, I realized I couldn’t move. The world… No, everything around me stopped. Wait, what happened? Did time stop? Ah, is this Thought Acceleration activating? Huh? But I didn’t use it, did I? What’s going on? Did Kuuga activate it? Hey! Kuuga! Is that you! No response. Come here. That’s right, Kuuga should still be sleeping.拔 also said that Kuuga needs to sleep for a long time to recover. So what’s the situation now? Did the ability activate uncontrollably? How can I stop it? In this world, in this gray space, the passage of time has slowed to the extreme, almost to a standstill. In this state where even I can’t move, only that mouth can move. The mouth bared its teeth, smiled brilliantly, licked its lips, and said something silently. What did it say? I don’t know. I’m not Yu Hui; I can’t read lips. But I have a feeling it was important information. Damn, I should have learned lip-reading! After speaking, the mouth smiled again and then disappeared. After that, Thought Acceleration stopped.
“Xuanxuan~” I saw Li Nai hop towards Xuan’er and hug her. I rubbed my eyes and activated Thought Acceleration again. This time, I could control it. What was going on? Was that a premonition? It definitely wasn’t a joke! No, I can’t ignore something like this anymore; I need to investigate thoroughly. Thinking this, I walked over.
“Juncheng, what are we eating today? I’m super excited~” The mouth ability activated.
“We’ll talk about that later. Xuan’er, are you okay recently? I think I saw your hair turn into… a mouth.”
“Huh? Gluttony Hair? I didn’t feel anything at all,” Xuan’er said, touching the back of her head with no awareness.
“I really saw it, and it looked like it said something.”
“Gluttony Hair spoke? Ugh, that’s rare. What did it say?” It’s also a ghoul’s ability.
“Uh, because there was no sound, I’m not too sure… Um, Xuan’er, is this ability of yours…? Last time the ghouls who attacked mentioned something about forbidden things. I was busy with other things back then, I don’t remember it clearly, but other ghouls don’t have this ability. It’s definitely not that simple.”
“Ah, that could be considered a ghoul’s ability. But it’s a forbidden ability.”
“Forbidden? Xuanxuan, did you do something wrong?”
“Not really. How do I put it…” Xuan’er, held by Li Nai, tilted her head back as if recalling something. “It’s like how some people curse themselves to gain power. I ate the soul of the hair part, allowing it to become…” Seeing my shocked expression, Xuan’er smiled. “If there was really a problem, it would have happened long ago.”
“Ahaha, there won’t be any problems. Gluttony Hair has been with me for almost hundreds of years. If…” Li Nai also nodded and said with a smile, “That’s right, that’s right. When the time comes, things will work themselves out~”
It will be too late then! I still felt a little uneasy and patted her head. “If you feel anything is wrong, be sure to tell me.”
“Got it. Really, Juncheng, you worry too much. Light Novel.” Xuan’er shyly lowered her head, then looked up energetically and asked, “So, what are we eating today?” Don’t you like sweets, Xuan’er?
“Um, there are a few options. My younger sister recommended a new dessert shop. What do you think, Xuan’er?” This shop was recommended by Ke Ling, so it must be good.
“Eh? Dessert? Let’s eat meat! Meat!”
I’m not treating you, so shut up. “Hey you, uninvited foodie, can you please leave?”
“Aiya~ Don’t be so distant~ Who are we to each other~” Her thick skin is beyond normal. It depends on Xuan’er’s preference.
I looked at Xuan’er, wanting to ask for her opinion, but she gave a forced smile. “Ah, I can eat anything.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. I’m just too hungry and don’t have much strength. Don’t be polite to him about the salary!”
“Ahaha.” It’s really just because she’s too hungry. Could it be she doesn’t want to eat dessert?
I came to Xuan’er, squatted down, and leaned on my knees, looking her in the eye. “Tell me. I’m treating you to dinner today, so tell me what you want. Come on, what do you want to eat? Tell me.” Although it was a bit like coaxing a child, this way I could find out her true thoughts.
“Oh, entrails are also good! Let’s go eat pig intestines!” I glanced at Li Nai with disdain. I’ll ask my sister again to see if she has any good recommendations. “You’re fine with any meat, right? So you wanted to eat entrails? You should have said so earlier.”
“Eh? Ah, ah ah, that’s right. I’ve been wanting to eat strange things lately. Ahaha.” Her smile seemed a bit forced. Does she have something on her mind? I hope she cheers up after eating.
