Hanabi

Chapter 7: Cat talk

INFO:

Ofuda – they’re paper talismans with inscriptions used mostly to welcome a spirit inside of one’s home. They function like charms, supposedly, working for purification and exorcisms. In manga/anime series they can do like millions of things, so I’ll be taking advantage of that lol.

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- What the hell are you doing, Suzuki?!

Haruna just yelled, her head hurting. She had just fallen on the floor, and tried to sit up while she watched Rina slowly standing up in the darkness as well.

- I'm sorry, I slipped and couldn't stop.

The two girls had just collided and fallen backwards, each in one direction, and now the other yuurei was nowhere in sight. That ghost had been making them chase it all around the place, and if that wasn't an enraged yuurei, Haruna would swear it was laughing at their faces somewhere in the room.

- Smooth moves, oh wise ancient being. - Haruna grunted sarcastically while standing up, and Rina glared at her - Now what?

- Now we pay attention... - Rina began, and noticed that Haruna was holding her head with a painful expression - Oh please don't tell me you're that sensitive, oh ruthless hunter.

Haruna growled a little at how Rina mimicked her sarcasm.

- You have a hard skull, smartass. - the shorter girl retorted - I thought my head was cracking open.

- Don't be dramatic, Haruna-san.

- It'll be dramatic when I take this new attitude of yours and shove it up your...

- Ok! Wow! - Rina cut her words, raising her hands as if she was asking for peace - Let's not use that kind of language now, we're fighting yuurei, not each other.

- Fair enough. - Haruna mumbled after taking a deep breath, and looked around - Now what are the odds of finding two female yuurei haunting the same place unless they're mother and daughter?

- Very low.

- And that's exactly what we're seeing here, isn't it? They look the same age.

- Yes it is. - Rina searched the place again cautiously - But maybe they're sisters, it's a possibility.

- I don't know what's worse... It's just weird that the other one was trying to kill us and this one is just avoiding us...

Haruna barely finished her sentence when some object passed flying by her, missing her head by just an inch.

- You spoke too soon, Haruna-san.

They turned to the direction where the object seemed to have had come from, but there was nothing. Haruna let out a frustrated sigh and Rina scratched her chin, thinking about the situation. They had been there for a long time already, trying to catch that annoying spirit with almost zero progress, and Haruna was clearly affected and stressed out by that. Rina figured it was mostly because they lost track of time and, when they realized, it was over 02:00AM already. When Haruna tried to call, Tomomi didn't answer the phone, and that made the already moody brunette even more moody.

Rina told her that Tomomi had probably stayed over at Mami's house and was already asleep, because Mami would never let her wander around alone late at night, and that seemed to make Haruna calm down a little. Mami was difficult, but honorable. She would never let people get into dangerous situations if she could avoid that.

What Rina found interesting was that, in contrast with her initial thoughts about Haruna and how she would usually deal with Tomomi, the short and angry girl seemed to care a lot about her partner. The concern was easy to see on her face when they checked the time and realized they hadn't gone to pick up Tomomi.