8 Chapter 7 : The Tomiju Manor

"What I had seen in the room was absolutely not Iwamoto, the week after slowly from my brother, I was scared, I didn't tell anyone about what had happened, I didn't even dare to enter his room anymore."

"What I saw in the room was absolutely not Iwamoto, the week after my brother's funeral, I was scared, I didn't tell anyone about what had happened, I didn't even dare to go home because I felt an evil presence inside the house that was silently watching me".

"I moved with all my employees to the family mansion in Ōta and called in a lot of exorcists to take care of this thing, but most of them were just crooks who ran away with the money I gave, I've already contacted all the so-called exorcists in Nakano except you."

Dewa nodded with an understanding face, then took out a black business card from his pocket with the words "Tokyo Exorcist" and a phone number written on it.

"Miss Mawatari, you've come to the right place, we're taking over your case."

He gave the card to Mawatari who put it in her handbag.

Dewa took an expression of pain and helplessness and said in a tired voice.

"We accept your case but, you know, ghosts are very difficult to exorcise, it's very tiring and we risk our lives."

"Seven million."

Hearing Mawatari's words, Dewa's eyes suddenly turned red.

"What did you just say, miss?"

"Seven million yen if you get rid of the thing that killed my brother."

A vigilante aura suddenly appeared around Dewa, who rose from the couch with a brave look on his face.

"Don't worry miss, we'll make the thing that killed your brother regret not staying in hell."

Then Dewa walked Mawatari back to the luxury car waiting for her outside and said goodbye with a smile.

Dewa quickly returned to the office and sat down on his desk chair before looking at Eiji with a serious look.

"What do you think of her story?"

Eiji thought for a moment as he looked out the window at the car that was changing streets before he got up from the table.

"Her story seems credible to me, but I feel she deliberately omitted some details."

Dewa nodded and then wrote an address on a piece of paper and handed it to Eiji.

"This is the address of their mansion, she said she'll tell the janitor to let us in, if there's a ghost I'll let you take care of it, in the meantime I'll go get some information."

Then he took a disposable phone out of his pocket looking like the old Nokia model and gave it to Eiji.

"I was tired of only contacting you on your landline number, we need a means of communication, my number's already registered."

Eiji took the phone and the piece of paper and put them in his pocket before walking to the door.

"This is our first customer, try your best."

He waved his hand in response and walked out of the office.

. . . . .

Eiji walked pensively through the streets, admiring the dead leaves of the falling trees, winter was already announcing its coming as autumn had set in.

He walked for more than an hour before arriving at the address given by Mawatari, it's not that he didn't want to take a cab, but it was too expensive.

In Tokyo and surrounding cities, the basic price was ¥410 for the first kilometer. Usually, the fare then increases in increments of ¥80 every 237 meters.

The house of the Tomiju family was located almost on the edge of Nakano, on the approach to Nerima, a few hundred meters from Egotanomori Park and Tokyo General Hospital.

Paying for land in this area cost a small fortune and required not only money but also a lot of connections.

Eiji was standing in front of the big front door when a bald man wearing a black tuxedo came out of an annex behind the door and approached him.

"Good morning sir, Miss Mawatari has already informed me of your visit."

The gate opened slowly and then the man brought her in front of a huge building of 200 square meters with western architecture, surrounded by a huge garden.

The entrance was an immense porch with climbing red roses, whose threshold was white marble, the house had a look that clearly showed the wealth of its owners.

The servant gave Eiji the keys to the mansion before returning to his post.

Eiji looked at the building for a moment before going inside.

Once inside, the mansion was very simple but also very empty.

There was very little furniture, but there was a lot of decorations such as tablaux of great masters, crystal chandeliers, calligraphy framed on the walls...

Suddenly, Eiji stopped, looked at his arms and began to feel a slight burning sensation.

"It's like when I met Dewa."

He started walking up the stairs and went to the top floor, the further he walked the stronger the pain became, finally he came to a room at the end of the second floor hallway.

The room was unhappily closed. He used the keys given to him by the servant and opened the door.

The next moment a dark aura emanated from the room and pushed Eiji backwards, at the back of the room he saw a dark creature hanging from the ceiling, this creature looked like a young woman but its body was made up of countless small animals and pets.

The creature, as if sensing Eiji's presence, melted into the darkness.

Eiji then noticed that his body was paralyzed and that the shadows in the room, as if they were alive, were slowly approaching him.

"What's going on, I can't move."

Eiji looked down and saw that at his feet a shadow in the shape of a human hand had caught his shadow on the ground.

He clenched his teeth and then his chains came out of his hands and hit the ground.

*Creack*

The chains broke the floor in an instant, the hand-shaped shadow released its grip on Eiji's shadow and retreated back into the room.

Recovering his ability to move, Eiji quickly closed the door and then moved backwards before leaning against the corridor wall.

"What was that thing?"