Chapter 204: Ghost Granny
The Grand Performance Area loomed in the distance, its massive entrance still sealed shut. With nearly fifteen minutes left on the clock before the scheduled showtime, Haruto had absolutely zero intention of standing around like a sitting duck. Stretching his arms lazily, he gestured for Kaguya and Youmu to follow him down the winding path toward the Kiosk nestled near the Cafeteria. He distinctly remembered spotting a freezer in there earlier; a cold drink sounded like heaven right about now.
The sprawling roads and the adjacent Cafeteria were completely swallowed by a suffocating, pitch-black darkness. The oppressive gloom of the horror instance pressed in from all sides. If Haruto's supernatural vision as a Boundary Youkai hadn't far surpassed that of a mortal, he would have been stumbling blindly over his own feet.
Up ahead, the Kiosk's main door hung wide open. A sickly, flickering fluorescent light spilled out onto the deserted pavement, casting long, unnatural shadows. The silence was absolute. Stepping inside, Haruto's eyes lit up. Against all logic of this haunted dimension, the glass-front freezer was still humming with power. Rows of perfectly chilled beverages lined the shelves—and right in the center sat several bottles of grape juice, his absolute favorite.
He reached out, but just as his fingertips brushed the icy plastic, a memory flashed through his mind. During his last visit, a terrifying Old Woman had materialized out of thin air, her rotting hands lunging to grab anyone who dared touch the merchandise. Haruto instantly yanked his hand back, his muscles tensing as he dropped into a defensive stance, fully prepared to blast whatever jumped out at him into the stratosphere.
Seconds ticked by. The hum of the freezer was the only sound. He glanced left, then right. The space behind the dusty counter remained completely empty.
Haruto let out a long, exaggerated sigh of relief, his posture slumping back into its usual lazy slouch. Without a second thought, he raided the shelf, snatching up every single bottle of grape juice and casually tossing them into a miniature Gap that ripped open in the air beside him. Kaguya leaned over, snagging a bottle of carbonated Happy Water to fuel her gamer habits, while the ever-disciplined Youmu settled for a simple bottle of mineral water.
Staring at the now-barren section of the freezer, Haruto scratched his cheek. Even as a shameless Boundary Youkai, he still had some basic integrity. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a crisp, large-denomination ghost coin and slapped it down onto the glass counter, easily covering the marked prices. He tapped his fingers for two seconds. When no spectral cashier appeared to hand him his change, he just waved his hand dismissively.
"Forget it, keep the change as a tip."
He turned on his heel, ready to leave. But just as he stepped halfway across the threshold, a harsh metallic scrape echoed behind him. The rusty cash register slowly slid open on its own. The till was completely empty, yet the ghost coin Haruto had left on the counter suddenly levitated, grasped by an invisible hand, and neatly tucked itself into the drawer.
Simultaneously, a voice like grinding sandpaper drifted from the shadows behind the counter.
"You can't get out... It's been so, so long... Almost two years now, and no one has been able to get out..."
Haruto's brow twitched. He slowly pulled his foot back inside and turned around. The Ghost Granny had materialized out of nowhere. She sat slumped in a creaky wooden chair behind the register, her cloudy, cataract-filled eyes staring blankly ahead.
"What do you mean?" Haruto asked, his tone dropping its casual edge as he strode back to the counter.
The Ghost Granny didn't answer. Instead, she pushed herself up with agonizing slowness, her joints popping in the quiet room. With a hunched back, she shuffled toward an inconspicuous little door beside the counter and disappeared inside.
Haruto frowned. His immediate instinct was to grab Kaguya and use her as a meat shield, but when he glanced over, the immortal princess already had her arms crossed, glaring at him with a look of supreme suspicion that practically screamed, Don't even think about it.
Clicking his tongue in disappointment, Haruto had no choice but to grab Youmu by the shoulders, gently pushing the bewildered half-phantom in front of him as a vanguard before stepping into the back room.
The back room was cramped and sparsely furnished, reeking of mothballs and old age. It looked exactly like the lonely bedroom of a solitary elder. The Ghost Granny was already sitting on the edge of a sagging mattress, her dead eyes locked onto a bulky, ancient television set. The screen was a chaotic mess of jumping black-and-white static, emitting a harsh hissing noise. It looked like the exact TV Sadako would crawl out of in a classic horror flick; absolutely nothing discernible could be seen through the snow.
"I'll ask again. What exactly did you mean by that?" Haruto pressed, stepping closer.
Silence. The old woman just kept staring at the static.
Kaguya let out an exasperated sigh. Stepping up beside Haruto, she raised her hand and rubbed her thumb and middle finger together in the universal gesture for cash.
"Oh, right, right. Pay to play," Haruto muttered, realization dawning on him. He fished out another high-value ghost coin and slapped it onto the rotting wooden table next to the bed.
The bribe worked like a charm. The Ghost Granny slowly reached into her pocket, producing a chunky black remote control, and clicked a button. The static on the screen violently flickered before finally stabilizing into a grainy image. It displayed a small, rustic farmhouse courtyard. In the center of the frame, two men dressed as traditional craftsmen were locked in a heated argument.
The Ghost Granny didn't blink as she stared at the screen, her raspy voice echoing in the cramped room.
"Too many rules... and too strict. It's easy for things to get messy. Once upon a time, there were two gatekeepers. One insisted the door should open inward. The other demanded it should open outward. They argued and argued until the sun went down... In the end, neither of them watched the gate."
Haruto shot a sideways glance at Kaguya. The princess merely shrugged, her expression just as baffled as his.
"Can you drop the cryptic riddles and just speak plainly?" Haruto demanded.
The Granny fell dead silent, her jaw snapping shut. Haruto gritted his teeth, pulled out two more ghost coins, and slammed them onto the table.
The coins vanished. The Granny's mouth opened once more.
"The door can never be opened again. Opening it, closing it—it doesn't matter anymore... The courtyard outside the door was planted with thorny vines by them. Dense, thick, full of thorns. You can't get out... You can't get out..."
And just like that, she froze again, like a broken animatronic.
Haruto's face darkened with annoyance. He slapped down yet another ghost coin. Honestly, if he hadn't completely mugged those two Ghost Postmen earlier in the instance, there was no way he could afford to bleed cash like this. While virtual ghost coins were cheap, the purchasing power of physical, paper ghost coins in these instances was astronomically higher.
"Too many rules... and too strict, it's easy for things to get messy. Once it's messy, then..."
Her raspy voice abruptly cut off, dying in her throat before she could even finish the sentence. Haruto scowled and slammed one more ghost coin onto the wood. Nothing. Not a single twitch.
Suddenly, the Ghost Granny's hunched figure began to violently blur and distort, like a corrupted video file. The walls of the cramped room shook, dissolving into digital static. Haruto blinked. In the span of a single second, the entire Kiosk vanished into thin air. The three of them were suddenly standing in the middle of a desolate, wind-swept wasteland.
"...It's gone?" Haruto muttered, genuinely dazed. He realized with a sinking feeling that this specific NPC encounter was a one-time, non-repeatable clue event.
He immediately pivoted to Kaguya. "Alright, genius. What exactly did she mean by all that?"
Kaguya blinked, spreading her hands in utter innocence. "How should I know? I wasn't even paying attention. I don't even remember exactly what she said. You tell me first, what was the exact quote?"
Haruto's expression froze solid. A heavy, awkward silence descended upon the wasteland. Kaguya swallowed hard, a bead of sweat forming on her brow. "Don't tell me... you didn't memorize it either?"
"I thought you were supposed to remember!" Haruto shot back, exasperated. "I only caught the first line about 'too many strict rules making things messy,' and then my brain was too busy trying to decode what the hell that meant to listen to the rest!"
Instantly, the two immortals fell into a dead, shameful silence. Only the bleak wind howled through the wasteland, mocking their shared incompetence. Slowly, as if synchronized, Haruto and Kaguya turned their heads to stare at Youmu.
The half-phantom stood there, blinking her silver eyes. "I remember it," she said softly.
Fortunately for the two slackers, Youmu's discipline extended to her memory. She dutifully recited the Ghost Granny's entire cryptic monologue word for word.
Hearing the complete sequence, both Haruto and Kaguya let out massive, synchronized sighs of relief. This was undeniably a critical, one-time lore clue. If they had permanently lost it because of their own laziness, they might have actually been doomed to become permanent performers in this twisted circus.
After forcing themselves to actually memorize the riddle this time, the trio wasted no more time. They crossed the wasteland and headed straight for the Grand Performance Area. By the time they arrived at the massive, ominous circus tent, the muffled sounds of cheering and eerie carnival music indicated the show had already begun.
A solitary figure stood guarding the main entrance. Actually, calling him a 'person' was a stretch. It was the Circus Troupe Leader they had encountered on their very first night in this instance. He was just turning to head inside the tent, but upon spotting Haruto's group approaching, that signature, impossibly wide smile stretched across his pale face.
"Ah, my three distinguished tourists," the Troupe Leader greeted, his voice dripping with theatrical politeness. "I am afraid the grand performance has already commenced. If you have not purchased your tickets in advance, you absolutely cannot enter."
Tipping his top hat, he prepared to turn and vanish into the dark corridors of the tent.
"Hold on a second," Haruto called out, halting the entity in his tracks.
The Troupe Leader paused, glancing back over his shoulder. "Is there anything else I can assist you with, distinguished tourist?"
Haruto shoved his hands into his pockets, putting on his most earnest, theatrical expression. "Tell me... would this magnificent Circus truly refuse an audience member who loves and appreciates its art with all their heart, simply because of a trivial piece of paper like a ticket?"
The Circus Troupe Leader's tall figure visibly stiffened. For a fraction of a second, the system logic governing his NPC behavior seemed to glitch. Then, he smiled again. It was the exact same painted-on grin, yet the underlying vibe felt distinctly different—almost resigned. With a sweeping bow, he stepped aside, graciously clearing the path for the trio.
"The Circus... will never refuse an eager audience member."
Kaguya blinked in genuine surprise. She hadn't actually expected Haruto's shameless sweet-talking to bypass the instance's strict rules. She shot a look at the Boundary Youkai, who merely spread his hands and gave a smug little shrug, his entire demeanor radiating an aura of: This is just standard operation, please hold your applause.
Bypassing the ticket booth entirely, the Troupe Leader personally escorted them through the velvet curtains and down the dimly lit aisles, leading them straight to the VIP front-row seats. The grand stage was already bathed in blinding spotlights, with bizarre performers and grotesque, twisted animals executing their terrifying routines.
A few seats down, the Girl with High Ponytail was already seated, her posture rigid with tension. When she caught sight of the terrifying Troupe Leader personally acting as an usher for Haruto and Kaguya, a massive wave of shock crashed through her eyes.
When she had first discovered the strict ticket requirements for this death-trap of a show, she had been absolutely certain this eccentric trio would be locked out. She never in her wildest dreams expected that not only would they waltz right in without tickets, but they would be treated like absolute royalty by the boss of the instance himself.
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