In a wooden apartment over forty years old, in a room soaked with mold, drugs, and vomit, a man named Kai Kamon spends his days staring at the ceiling, unable to die. With social phobia and drug addiction, he has fallen out of society entirely.
One night, the ceiling tears open, and Princess Melissa of the Flamme Kingdom falls through. Exiled from her world and stripped of all magic by a transfer spell, she collapses on the filthy tatami floor. She looks around the rotting room and gives him a
It was raining.
In the dim gray of Haigami Ward, a thin, cold rain kept falling. Kamon Kai stepped out of Room 102 of the Co-op Haigami and stood on the wet asphalt. When he breathed in, the smell of mold, rain, and drainage ditches mixed together and clung to the back of his throat.
His body felt heavy.
It was the second day since his medication had run out. A thin fog hung in the back of his mind. Even the events of last night felt unreal in places.
The ceiling had split open.
From it, a girl with gold and silver hair had fallen.
The Kingdom of Flamme.
A princess.
Clean it up.
All of it felt like something from a dream.
Only that voice remained.
Clean it up.
Even while he slept, it had repeated over and over in the back of his mind.
Kai put his hand in his pocket.
Inside was the job listing he'd found last night.
Special cleaning.
On-site worker.
No experience required.
Misogi Service.
The address was one street back from Yorimichi Street Shopping Arcade.
A phone number was listed too.
But he couldn't bring himself to call.
Just speaking out loud to someone was a hassle. Just thinking about what he'd be asked exhausted him.
So he'd go there directly.
He didn't know if he'd be hired.
If they turned him down, he'd just go home.
That was all.
Kai started walking.
Yorimichi Street Shopping Arcade was still asleep.
A covered arcade two hundred eighty meters long. Being morning, most of the shops had their shutters down. The sound of rain striking the roof echoed long into the depths of the street.
Kai walked without stopping.
He passed by the bento and side-dish shop Maruyoshi.
In the planter by the entrance, there were withered flowers.
The brown-discolored stems were being beaten by the rain.
Almost no petals remained.
Kai glanced at them.
(This place is dead too.)
The moment he thought that—
At the base of the flowers, he saw something black.
Like smoke.
Like a stain.
A black haze with no outline.
Kai looked away for just a moment.
His medication had run out.
That was why.
He wanted to think so.
Last night's events too—he could just chalk it all up to that.
But as he walked, he kept seeing them.
Behind an old vending machine.
In a drainage ditch pooled with rainwater.
Under a bench no one sat on anymore.
Thin black haze remained in all of them.
Kai stopped.
"...What the hell is this?"
No one answered.
Kai passed through the arcade as he was.
He checked the address written on the job listing.
He took one wrong turn.
Went back.
Turned the corner at an old town factory.
Entered an even narrower alley.
It was a road just a bit too narrow for two people to walk side by side. Old houses and warehouses lined both sides, and water dripping from rain gutters flowed into the drainage ditch at his feet.
He looked at the map on his smartphone.
The destination was close.
But he couldn't find any building that looked right.
Kai wiped the wet screen with his sleeve.
He looked up.
At the end of the alley was an old two-story building.
As if avoiding notice, it sank into the shadow of the surrounding buildings.
The outer wall was cracked.
Black traces of rainwater dripped down the window frames.
Beside the entrance was a small paper notice.
The characters were blurred from the rain.
Kai approached.
The edge of the paper was peeling off.
Even so, he could read the name.
——Misogi Service.
"...This is it."
It was the same name as on the job listing.
Kai looked up at the building.
And then, he held his breath.
He could see the black haze.
It was thin.
But it covered the entire building.
It seeped along the cracks in the outer wall, tangled around the window frames, and slowly crawled out from under the roof.
Though wet with rain, it did not wash away.
Though the wind blew, it did not scatter.
It simply stayed there.
Impurity.
The same thing that had been in his room last night.
Cold sweat ran down Kai's back.
A sensation like being traced from the nape of his neck to his waist by an icy finger ran through him.
He should go home.
He thought so.
There was no need to enter a place like this.
He'd found the job listing.
He'd come this far.
That alone was enough.
And yet, his legs wouldn't move.
From beyond the black haze, he felt like something was watching him.
Kai looked at the second-floor window.
The black things were gathering.
For a moment, it looked like a human face.
The next moment, it collapsed.
It became just a stain.
Kai closed his eyes.
Opened them.
It hadn't disappeared.
"...Guess I'll go."
He didn't even know who he was saying it to.
He put his hand on the old door.
It was cold.
When he turned the knob, it wasn't locked.
Gii, the hinge creaked.
Inside was dim.
The smell of mold, old paper, and disinfectant mixed together.
The air was heavier than outside.
On the first floor, several rooms that looked like storage lined the hallway. Cardboard boxes and boxes of detergent were piled up. At the back were stairs.
From the second floor, he heard a faint sound.
Kai looked up the stairs.
Black haze was crawling along the wall.
It was thicker than what he'd seen outside earlier.
One step.
Two steps.
With each step, the old wood creaked.
He went up to the second floor.
At the end of the hallway was a door that looked like an office.
It was half open.
Kai stopped there.
From inside, he heard the sound of something being dragged.
Zuu.
The sound of scraping the floor.
Kai's breathing grew shallow.
The sound stopped.
Only the rain remained.
(Is no one... here?)
The moment he thought that—
Gii.
The sound of a chair being pulled.
Kai didn't move.
He peered through the gap in the door.
An old desk.
A pipe chair.
A document shelf against the wall.
Beyond it, a figure moved.
Slowly standing up.
It was a man in his late sixties.
Short hair mixed with white.
Deeply etched wrinkles.
A slightly bent back.
His build was thin.
And yet, only his eyes were strangely sharp.
The man looked at Kai.
He didn't seem surprised.
He just stared.
Kai took out the job listing.
"...Um."
His voice was hoarse.
"I want to... do the special cleaning work."
The man said nothing.
Kai swallowed.
The air in the office was heavy.
Black haze drifted behind the man too.
Old work clothes.
Documents.
Tools lined up on the shelf.
The unpleasant atmosphere that only those who have been through death scenes many times possess.
What had seeped into all of it—Kai could see it.
The man couldn't.
Eventually, the man went around to the other side of the desk.
"Come in."
Kai entered the office.
The man sat down on the pipe chair.
"I'm Kiryu Koichi. I run this place."
"...I'm Kamon Kai."
"Experience with special cleaning?"
"No."
"Cleaning work?"
"No."
Kiryu looked at Kai.
"I see."
That was all.
Kiryu placed the job listing on the desk.
"Do you understand what this work is?"
"Cleaning rooms where people died."
"It's not just that."
Kiryu continued matter-of-factly.
"Body fluids from decomposed corpses. Blood. Waste. Insects. Smell. Disposal of belongings. Depending on the case, you'll be cleaning up a room left unattended for weeks, alone."
Kai stayed silent.
"Will you do it anyway?"
"...I will."
"Today?"
Kai looked up.
"There's a site today."
"..."
"I'm short-handed. You can decide after seeing it."
Kai thought for a moment.
"I'll go."
Kiryu looked at Kai.
He seemed to be thinking about something.
But he didn't ask anything.
"Get changed."
Kiryu stood up.
He opened the locker at the back of the office.
Well-worn work clothes.
Rubber gloves.
Protective mask.
Protective equipment.
He handed them all to Kai.
"Company supplies. I'll lend you today's set."
"...Yes."
"There are tools too."
Kiryu lifted a black toolbox placed against the wall.
He opened the lid.
A scraper.
A brush.
A sprayer.
And other cleaning tools, neatly arranged.
"Put them back when you're done."
"Understood."
"Don't touch anything you don't know how to use."
Kai accepted the toolbox.
It was heavier than he'd expected.
"We leave in thirty minutes."
Kiryu looked at the clock.
"Go change in the back."
Kai stood up.
He went out into the hallway.
He felt Kiryu's gaze on his back.
He didn't turn around.
＊
The Tokyo Metropolitan Haigami Housing Complex Building C was in a corner lined with old gray buildings.
Fifty-one years since construction.
According to Kiryu, more than a third of the hundred twenty units were vacant.
To Kai, the black haze drifting over the entire building was more concerning than those numbers.
He passed through the entrance of Building C.
In front of the elevator, Kiryu stopped.
A paper saying "Out of Order" was taped to the door.
"Stairs."
Kiryu said only that and started walking.
Kai followed with the toolbox.
Fourth floor.
He stepped out into the hallway.
There, Kai's feet stopped.
Room 407.
Around the door, black haze had pooled.
It leaked out from the gaps and crawled along the hallway floor.
It was incomparable to the building from earlier.
Thick.
Just breathing made his chest heavy.
Kiryu didn't notice.
He took out a key and opened the door.
"Come in."
Kai took a step forward.
There was a smell.
A smell that stung the back of his nose.
Sweetish and damp.
The windows were shut tight, and the curtains were closed.
Kiryu turned on the light.
The inside of the room surfaced.
A living room of about six tatami mats.
An old television.
Dishes.
Newspapers.
Furniture.
Dark stains remained on the floor.
Stains spread on the walls too.
On the ceiling, marks like water leaks.
But what Kai could see was not just that.
Black impurity filled the entire room.
It hung from the ceiling, clung to the walls, crawled along the floor.
Some of it looked like human shapes.
Some of it looked like faces.
They swayed quietly in the room.
"About three weeks after death."
Kiryu said.
"Seventy-eight years old. Male. Lived alone."
Kai listened in silence.
"Discovery was delayed. Body fluids have soaked into the floor. Today will mainly be pre-treatment, deodorizing, and floor cleaning."
"...Yes."
"Put on your protective gear."
Kai equipped himself as instructed.
He put on the gloves.
Put on the mask.
Opened the toolbox.
Took out the scraper.
The black impurity swayed as if avoiding its tip.
Kai crouched down.
He looked at the stain on the floor.
And then, he pressed the scraper against it.
Zari, it made a sound.
The next moment.
The black thing entered through his fingertips.
Cold.
Scared.
Hard to breathe.
No one comes.
No one notices.
Only time passes.
"...Ngh."
Kai's hand stopped.
The scenery before his eyes warped.
The ceiling.
The water leak marks.
The dark room.
An old man lying on a futon.
Only his eyes move.
He's waiting for someone.
They don't come.
He tries to speak, but no voice comes out.
Only the sound of rain.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Kai's stomach violently contracted.
"Ugh..."
He covered his mouth.
He didn't make it in time.
He vomited on the spot.
"Hey."
Kiryu's voice reached him.
Kai put his hand on the floor.
He couldn't breathe.
The terror of an old man he didn't know remained in his head.
Someone.
Someone.
Only that voice wouldn't disappear.
Kiryu said from a short distance away.
"Going home?"
Kai looked up.
"..."
"If you can't do it, go home."
There was no anger in Kiryu's voice.
"Some people throw up on their first time."
Kai looked at the floor.
What he had vomited.
Beyond it, the black impurity.
It remained throughout the room.
He could just go home.
He thought so.
But what would he do if he went home?
Sleep in his room.
Look at the ceiling.
See the black things again.
And hear that voice.
Clean it up.
Kai picked up the scraper.
"...I'll do it."
Kiryu was silent for a moment.
"I see."
He said nothing more.
Kai cleaned up where he'd vomited.
He crouched on the floor once more.
Pressed the scraper against it.
Zari.
Th
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