Ghost of a Chance

The Nightmare Dwelling (Part 5)

Hirota stood in the open doorway of the base, furious.

" 'We'll thoroughly investigate whatever appears to be related to spirits.' That's complete nonsense," he yelled. "You only said that to gain Midori-san and Auntie's trust. And then afterwards, you'll ask for a huge amount of money as a reward!"

"Hirota-sa—n?" Mai said, coming over from the hall. "Is everyone okay with green tea—"

"You too!" Hirota said sharply as he whipped his head around to look at her, surprising Mai.

"!?" she said.

"As expected, you were all just scamming the Agawa family, weren't you? And to go as far as acting all familiar with them, too."

"Is that so," Yasuhara said calmly.

"Hey, hey... Aren't you going too far," Bou-san said, sweat-dropping.

"To think I was almost tricked as well," Hirota continued to rant. "To make this suspicious man use props and act like a spiritualist just to let us see—"

"Eh? Isn't Bou-san the placebo?" Mai asked.

"Placebo? What's that supposed to mean?" Hirota asked. Naru sighed.

"I was going to explain it just now," Naru said. "Seriously, why is everyone thinking like a single-celled organism?"

"Wha—" Hirota said, about to let Naru have it, when he saw the icy look in his indigo eyes.

"First, sit down," Naru said firmly.

"Ng," Hirota flinched, taken aback. He sweat-dropped as he took a seat, grumbling under his breath. "... What the heck. To make me sit down..."

"Even if you're an idiot, how could you think a placebo is something strange—obviously, it's terminology used in medical pharmacology," Naru said.

"Waaah," Mai said, pitying Hirota.

"In pharmacology, there are many highly active substances—for example starch is sometimes disguised as saline, so it's easier for the patient to take," Naru said. "The patient would think that they've already taken the medicine, and these thoughts can help improve the patient's condition even more than actually taking the medicine. Strange things were happening ever since Agawa-san moved into this house. Her mentality should be highly unstable right now. So even if something like the wind were blowing, the windows would create some kind of noise, which would make it feel like it's haunted. Midori-san is also extremely worried about her mother's condition, so I thought we should use the idea of placebo to make her feel at ease. For that, we need to make the exorcism as grand as possible, so her subconsciousness would think the spirit has already been exorcised and has left." Hirota was surprised.

"Don't tell me you expect me to pretend to pray and then just leave?" Bou-san asked. "You know, I have my own pride as well."

"I don't think this case is bad enough to need Bou-san's help," Naru said.

"Eh?" Bou-san said.

"For example," Naru said, reaching into the bag. "The reason why the electrical circuit breaker always trips is because of this." He produced a breaker switch.

"What's this?" Mai asked.

"An electrical circuit breaker's switch, right?" Hitomi said.

"Right. I disabled and examined this house's electrical circuit breaker," Naru said. "Even though the outer part is labeled thirty amperes, the inner component itself really only flows at five amperes. Japan's average household electricity consumption is about one hundred volts and five hundred watts per output. On average, one to four times of the electric current would automatically make the power switch turn off. In other words, if two air conditioners were on at the same time, then it's possible for the breaker to trip."