Keli, of course, knew that the situation before him was very strange.
The sudden aroma, and the water had no taste, completely unlike a sewer problem. He checked the water meter, and it wasn't moving.
So! This wasn't an ordinary underground spring! This could be a living spring!
But Keli wasn't flustered at all. He stepped forward and turned off the faucet.
Watching the water level continue to rise even after the faucet was turned off, Keli sat in the bathtub, blinking curiously.
He wanted to see what was going to happen.
Soon, the water overflowed the edge of the bathtub and began to seep out little by little, and the rate of seepage was getting faster and faster.
Listening to the sounds from the bathroom drain, Keli watched as wisps of black threads spread out from the drain.
...
"Whoosh!"
Kazuma, who had slept from afternoon until evening, turned over.
"Whoosh!"
The sound of water in his ears continued unabated, and his nose still caught a faint fragrance. Kazuma sat up with a frustrated sit-up.
A strange ceiling came into view. He thought for a moment and realized that he wasn't in the home he had lived in for over ten years; he had been out for half a month.
Kazuma walked to the door with a pained expression and turned on the light.
Then he followed the sound downstairs.
"Hey! Keli! What are you doing up so late, not sleeping…?"
As soon as he got downstairs, Kazuma's eyes widened.
He saw Keli with the bathroom door open, sitting inside on a small stool, holding a black, murky mass in his hands.
Kazuma immediately sobered up. Combining the smell, he suddenly remembered the old women who had come up earlier to tell them this was a haunted house.
He cautiously stepped forward and looked at Keli, fearing that Keli would turn around and suddenly reveal a monster's face.
However, Keli was calmly tinkering with something in his hands.
Hearing Kazuma's voice, he even turned to look at Kazuma.
"Look, water has been seeping out of here for two hours without stopping! And there's always hair floating in it.
The light in the hallway keeps flickering on and off, and there's a woman's shadow floating there. Every time the light turns off and on, it gets closer to me. And the faucet over here even spews blood foam when you turn it on."
"So… so what?"
Listening to Keli's chilling description, Kazuma looked in horror towards the kitchen. At that moment, the light there actually turned on, then immediately off, and Kazuma vaguely saw a shadow standing there.
Immediately, Kazuma screamed in fright, pulled out the gun he hadn't even taken off while sleeping, and pointed it in that direction.
"Ke… Keli! What… what do we do?!"
Even though Kazuma had been quite bloody-handed during this time, he was still flustered and helpless at the sight of this scene.
Keli, however, calmly shook his head.
"What's there to be afraid of?" Keli took out a small bottle.
"I just collected a bottle of the blood from that faucet. Tomorrow, we'll take it for testing to see what blood type it is. Maybe it could solve a lot of blood donation problems in the future!
And this water, we'll test it later to see if it's poisonous. If not, with this inexhaustible supply, we won't have to pay for water anymore. I just tried it, and it doesn't harm the skin, so at least we can all use it for bathing! If it's drinkable, we'll save on water bills in the future! If it keeps gushing, we can even get a water pump and give free hot water to the elderly in the neighborhood!
And that shadow, if there's a ghost, can't I have Nobel personally award me the prize? Also, let's see if we can gather all the dead sports stars and regularly hold underworld competitions! So that the living can chat with their departed loved ones. I've checked, this market is currently empty, we can be the first to establish a company specializing in this, specifically for the dead and living to meet…"
However, before Keli could finish his endless stream of ideas, everything returned to normal.
The lights stopped flickering, the water stopped gushing, and it began to drain normally down the sink.
Keli frowned, stepped forward, and turned on the faucet that had previously spewed blood foam. Clear water flowed normally from the faucet, and the fragrance lingering in the bathroom gradually dissipated.
Keli looked at the bathtub and then at the half-braided pure organic material rope in his hand.
"No, why is it being so stingy now?"
Finding nothing abnormal, Keli regretfully wiped himself down. Since he had already somewhat bathed, he prepared to go to sleep.
"Wait! Are we just going to leave it like this?"
Kazuma was still a bit nervous and grabbed Keli, who was already heading upstairs.
Keli, however, shook his head.
"It's not bad to have some emergency rations in the house. Anyway, I'm not hungry right now."
By the time Kazuma reacted, Keli had already gone upstairs.
Keli surprisingly got some sleep that night, but Kazuma stayed awake all night, tentatively speaking to the air from time to time.
He was terrified that if he fell asleep, a female ghost would appear and drain him dry.
But luckily, he had slept all afternoon, so when Keli woke up early the next day, Kazuma was still quite energetic.
Today, the two of them planned to go and see what it was that Kappa had asked them to do.
After all, although they were full after the Corpse Demon incident, they still needed to prepare for the unexpected. Neither of them wanted to experience that feeling of hunger again.
Riding small vehicles from the side of the building downstairs, the two headed all the way to Minato Ward.
After they left, a few old women gathered not far away looked at each other in confusion.
"They didn't have any problems all night? Is something wrong?"
"No rush, just wait."
...
Spring in Tokyo always brings sudden drizzles, which then stop shortly after.
The two rode all the way to Minato Ward, seeing many people wearing masks on the way.
Because spring is the season for hay fever, this is a very common sight in Japan, a strange place where 40% of the population suffers from hay fever.
However, it's worth noting that hay fever isn't due to unique Japanese genes, or everyone getting genetic diseases from a wave of "Nagasaki Speed" radiation. It's caused by the perverse city planning years ago that led to cedar trees being planted everywhere.
Cedar trees are those tall, straight trees with leaves only at the top, commonly seen around shrines and temples. Because they're very effective, even in urban shrines, they can create a visual effect of deep valleys and secluded orchids. But while they're beautiful, these things can be deadly during pollen season.
It wasn't until around 2023 that Japan began to take this problem seriously and started aggressive logging.
Upon reaching the designated area, Kazuma looked at Keli with some confusion.
"What's wrong with you? You've been silent since it started raining."
"Nothing, when it was raining, I think I saw a wet, blue-haired twin-tailed girl walking towards the rehearsal room. I really wanted to follow and see the scene, but I felt that this matter was more important, and now I regret it a bit."
"What are you talking about? But speaking of it, although I've heard about it before, Totsuki Academy truly is…"
Kazuma stared at the building before him, built in Minato Ward like a mountain gate, and the seemingly endless scale behind it, gasping in awe.
This Minato Ward isn't the kind where a commander might accidentally be taken back by a ship girl to be drained; it's one of Tokyo's most expensive districts, directly facing the sea, with Chuo Ward nearby.
To have a campus larger than a typical university in such a location, even with its own back mountain and different dormitories, it's hard to imagine that this is just a culinary vocational school without university divisions, where students usually go directly to work after graduation, rather than something like Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
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