Chapter 18: Rejection
The sudden change in their personality is surprising.
"Listen carefully, that ragged doll of yours is quite special. Our daughter has taken quite a liking to it.", the man revealed before sipping the tea.
"She is like us. Dead people with powerful souls. She possesses the same characteristics we have and our body.", the teapot itself floated as she said that. This was her demonstration that they are different from the norm. To make him believe that their capabilities are beyond people's imagination.
The father on the left then continued the story after he emptied his teacup.
"Our daughter is a sweet child. Mischievous at times and obedient at times. She's also incredibly smart, brave, and innocent. Unfortunately, she died too early, not having the chance to explore the wonders of the world.", the tough tone of the man softened. Even the toughest rock couldn't survive when talking about their own child.
"Yeah, yeah, sympathy isn't going to convince me.", Lon interjected with good timing. It won't go anywhere if he has to listen to a long series of stories from people that will start to narrate from day one until the last moments of her death.
It will be only counterproductive and a waste of valuable time. The time spent hearing those tales can be utilized to do more experiments and research instead.
Plus, they are ghost parents that are afraid of their own child.
There are many inferences that can be made from that piece of clue and that sounded painfully ridiculous.
The girl can be more powerful than the two of them, a disobedient child that will escape from their radars, or an evil spirit that tyrannically does what she wants.
"The risks of your task is equivalent to me dying, so nope, no thanks." Another explanation that uses the least words in the simplest format that even an elementary student could understand. It was perfectly timed after they ate his previous words.
"Why don't you just accept it and do the job!", the man's voice rose up a few times. Being rejected once is alright, twice is a bit hurtful, but it seemed that the patience of the man is running short.
Tak! Tak! Tak!
The rattling of chains reached their ears. The three people in the living room looked at where those noises came from. All of them stared at the rattling brown, rectangular door.
Tak! Tak! Tak!
Moments passed then the noise abruptly stopped. However, this scared two people at the table.
Lon couldn't imagine what crappy soul has possessed his puppet. This was one of the outcomes under the 'worst things that could happen'. Not only that it really seemed the puppet was possessed by the soul of that little girl and is now trying to free from the constraints he placed.
The other person that is affected is the father. In his peripheral vision, he could see that he was actually shaking. Unknown if it is due to fear or excitement.
This puzzled Lon as their conduct is questionable. The man is afraid of something awakening the moment they heard about it and the woman was nonchalant as she took a sip from her teacup.
"What are we to you.", the woman spoke, directly asking him. It seems to her that there is no point in being secretive.
"Fleeting souls of the dead, the ones with unfinished business in the physical realm. Lives that wanted to do something before passing away. People with strong sense of attachment, solely based on their emotions."
It was what on his mind. If he could express it in a shorter form he would have done so. But this is the best explanation to avoid confusion and misunderstanding.
"I understand.", the mother stood up as the chair behind her disappeared into a thin strand of smoke. The man followed suit, still insisting for him to accept their offer.
"Sorry to say but I will decline."
That was the third rejection.
His time is also limited considering that he has still to get the three other coffins in the north sector. Dividing his focus now would put him into an unfavorable situation where death will claim his life sooner than expected. There's no way he would take care of a kid because he doesn't want to and he doesn't have the ability to.
A creepy sensation suddenly crawled on his skin as they both looked at him. No, they weren't staring at him but at something behind him.
Lon looked back and before he got a clear look, he almost had a heart attack.
On his right shoulder is the cuddly face of a child. Her ordinary pigtail style long black hair is cute. The puffy, rosy cheeks give her a sense of youthfulness. Red white irises that exude a liveliness of a living person.
Who wouldn't like an adorable sister like her?
That was all good and nice to have a cute munchkin hanging on your own shoulder.
Until you couldn't feel the weight of the little gal.
It is the same for Lon because common sense dictates she's supposed to have mass. All things in the universe, even the lightest solid, has weight. You would still feel the sensation of lifting up the lightest synthetic material or a grain of rice in your palm.
But his nerves could not perceive any feeling on his back. It only meant one thing considering what he experienced so far tonight. She's not a human but a levitating soul of a deceased.
The real nerve-wracking thing for him is the parents he was talking with is nowhere to be seen.
Whether he looked left or right, there's not even a speck of a fleeting shadow. If not for the tea set left on the table, he would have believed it was a product of his tiredness. A hallucination that tricked his soul, mind, and body.
The second evidence is the three leather suitcase with identical designs and dimensions. One of them is filled with five million Nins while the other two are still locked.
The third and final evidence is the cold sensation coming from his back. It is quite similar to the cold drafts of wind caressing your body. Depending on the location, it is either relaxing to feel or horrifying to know.
Hugging someone from the back is lovely and sometimes romantic, then came the knowledge of your lover was already dead three days ago, would you still think of that as romantic?
The external stimuli the brain processed were large yet it only sent a flurry of responses that have a delay between each command.
The idiotic fight of the century occurred in the next moment as Lon took drastic actions to save his life from trouble.
His right arm forcefully hit backward, only to hit the empty air. Then he let his body sidestep to the left and ordered the corpse puppet to do a rotating right hook. For the living it is impossible but for a puppet, it is still somewhat achievable.
Swoosh!
The air current was disturbed and the heavy knuckle also hit nothing. He looked up and saw the girl in that flower dress. The difference is that she has this cheeky smile on her face while standing quietly behind the chair. That is worrying for him because silent types are the hardest ones to deal with.
The common point is that they won't speak more than needed. Silence is more disturbing than a chatterbox who only knew how to spout nonsense.
Zing!
The light ray that passed her body dealt with no damage. A clean circle was created in the ceiling due to his actions. He wouldn't care about the future reprimandation of Nana as the corpse puppet delivered a straight punch to her stomach.
The result is still the same, it went through her body.
Then the girl twirled, charged, and phased through the door. It wasn't just any door because it was his door to his room.
Indeed, silence is scary as he looked at the direction of his room.
The supposedly locked door is now wide open. There wasn't any indication it was forcefully unhinged or how it was opened without him noticing at all.
In that bright environment, the slithering silhouette of someone is the first thing he noticed. It didn't lazed around as it was hovering around the place where the female corpse puppet is.