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The bank clerk, seeing how confident Aoyama Nanami was, went out of their way to help her get in touch with someone from a real estate company.
Banks and real estate companies might technically be separate businesses, but the two crossed paths often—so often that the bank staff had the realtor's number on hand.
By noon that day, thanks to the clerk's efforts, Nanami was already sitting face-to-face with a real estate agent.
The man was in his forties. Not some slick, hardened businessman, but a plain-looking, honest sort of middle-aged guy.
When he heard Nanami wanted to apply as a "haunted house test sleeper," he agreed immediately. Truth be told, Mikacho could use people like her.
Especially a high school girl like Nanami—houses she stayed in would even gain a little extra value. The realtor practically welcomed her with open arms.
The problem was, most high schoolers weren't anywhere near that brave. Just hearing "haunted house" was enough to scare them off, never mind volunteering to actually live in one.
Nanami, then, was in a league of her own. There was no way he'd turn her away.
But the moment he heard she specifically wanted the most haunted house available, his expression changed. He froze, then blurted out:
"That place? You can't stay there. People really die in that one."
Nanami leaned in, curiosity piqued. "What's wrong with it?"
The realtor lowered his voice, almost whispering.
"That's not just a haunted house. That's the haunted house. The Saeki place."
"Anyone who's ever gone inside… not a single one came out alive. Every one of them died."
At that, Akio raised an eyebrow.
The Saeki House?
Wait—don't tell me it's that Saeki House.
No way… has this world actually patched Ju-On into itself?
If it really was the one he was imagining, Akio couldn't help picturing Nanami squaring off against Kayako Saeki.
The thought was… honestly kind of thrilling.
And as for who'd win? Akio had little doubt. Nanami was his follower, after all. There's no way she'd lose to just some evil spirit. Even if that spirit was Kayako.
No matter how terrifying, an evil ghost couldn't possibly match someone he had blessed. What, did people think the light he'd bestowed on Nanami was only good for massages? Please. It worked just fine for exorcisms too.
"So? Did you go?" Akio asked, hopeful.
Nanami shook her head. "Nope."
"Why not?" His excitement deflated into disappointment.
She explained that the realtor flat-out refused. The man was terrified she'd actually die if she set foot in the Saeki house, and he simply wouldn't introduce it to her.
Well… Akio had to admit, that was unexpectedly decent of him.
So, no epic showdown between Nanami and Kayako. Instead, the realtor steered her toward another haunted property—this one also located in Mikacho.
Nanami stayed there a few nights, then walked away with her first paycheck: around 500,000 yen.
The house had a murder history but, strangely enough, no actual spirits. That surprised her.
Ever since becoming Akio's follower, Nanami could see the true world. Ghosts weren't quite "everywhere," but they were common enough that streets practically crawled with them.
So naturally, she'd assumed a murder house would be loaded with restless spirits. Instead, it was completely empty—not even a shadow of a ghost. Honestly, there were more lingering spirits on the sidewalks outside than in that house.
Total letdown.
Still, the money was real. Too real, maybe. Half a million yen for just sleeping in a place? It almost felt hot in her hands, like money she hadn't really earned.
By their agreement, she was supposed to split it with Akio. But since she was planning to open a shop, she held onto it, carefully noting it down on paper to make sure she remembered.
She then pooled that cash with her savings and rented a dirt-cheap haunted house in Mikacho, converting it into a massage parlor.
That was when Akio finally realized—wait, her massage shop was also inside a haunted house?
And not just any haunted house, but one in Mikacho.
Which meant… he'd stepped right into the territory of the so-called "God of Death."
Not the traditional, scythe-wielding kind, of course. The two-dimensional one… Conan.
At this point in time, Shinichi Kudo was still appearing in newspapers and on TV as himself. No shrinking into a grade-schooler yet, which meant the story of Detective Conan hadn't officially begun.
Even so, Mikacho's crime rate was already sky-high. Not quite Gotham levels, but bad enough that the place was crawling with criminals.
Which explained how Nanami managed to rent a storefront for dirt cheap.
The shop itself was plain and a little shabby, but business was booming.
That success was thanks in large part to the bank clerk and the realtor. Both had experienced Nanami's massages firsthand during their dealings with her—and both had been completely won over.
So, when she opened her humble little parlor, they sent her a flood of customers, mostly their own coworkers.
At first, people turned up their noses at the place. But after one session, their attitudes flipped completely. Nanami's massage skills earned nothing but glowing praise.
On her very first day—today, in fact—she pulled in 400,000 yen.
She set aside some operating expenses, then handed over 300,000 yen directly to Akio.
He blinked, taken aback. "Now hold on, I need to scold you for this, Nanami. Didn't we agree on a fifty-fifty split—"
"Exactly. Fifty-fifty."
Nanami cut him off, her voice full of excitement. "Have you forgotten, my lord? This is the second sum I've earned since becoming your follower."
"The first was that 500,000 yen from the haunted house job. By our deal, I owed you 250,000. But since I needed it to open the shop, I kept it back then."
"Now that I've made more money, of course I had to pay you what I owed."
"..."
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