I'm a teacher in Tokyo!

Upon hearing this, the bartender's expression softened slightly, but he couldn't help but inwardly complain:

"Why come to a bar if you don't drink? Is this guy crazy?!"

I made a glass of ice water and pushed it over from the bar.

Yoshizaki took the cup, took a small sip, and said, "By the way, may I ask you something?"

Although he really wanted to say "no," bars never had the habit of turning away customers, and his profession didn't allow him to do so, so he forced a professional fake smile: "Please go ahead."

"I heard there's a resident female musician here, she seems quite famous. Will she be coming today?"

"Are you referring to Ms. Makoto Higa?"

"She is indeed our bar's resident singer, and she will arrive around six o'clock in the afternoon."

To be honest, he was somewhat surprised when he learned that the guy in front of him had come because he admired Makoto Higa.

That woman, whose flamboyant attire stood out even in a rock bar, mostly attracted gangsters and thugs—men who were involved in all sorts of vices.

As a bartender, having seen all sorts of people, I naturally have my own way of judging them, which allows me to have pleasant conversations with customers and sell more expensive drinks.

This guy has slender fingers, doesn't smell of smoke, and doesn't drink. Wearing glasses, he looks like a highly educated person, especially the slightly indented finger marks between his right fingers, which must have been caused by holding a book in one hand for many years.

Nothing but books could leave such fingerprints.

Furthermore, although he looked very poor, his tone had an inexplicable confidence, suggesting that he was somewhat wealthy but rather stingy. It was precisely because of this that he hadn't been keen on entertaining such people before, because—there was no tipping involved.

"That's it."

Yoshizaki hesitated. If it was after six o'clock, it would be dark by the time he got back.

I wonder if that ghost will try to ambush me on the road?

Although the probability is not very high, he is extremely willing to gamble even on a very small probability, as he has been given a second chance at life.

After a moment's hesitation, he took out 1,000 yen from his wallet;

"Could you please tell me this lady's address? I need to speak with her about something very important."

Upon seeing the 1,000 yen figure, he shook his head slightly. He wouldn't sell someone else's information, not even if it were 100,000 yen. He knew that once this kind of thing got out, the losses would be far more than just that amount of money.

However, there are naturally compromises!

He was unwilling to miss out on that thousand yen; even a small amount is still money.

Seeing the latter shake his head, Yoshizaki Kawa, slightly disappointed, was about to leave when the latter called him back:

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you these things, but if you really have something important to say, you can use my phone to make a call, just pay me the phone credit."

Want to make a call?

That’s okay too.

He took out another thousand yuan, placed it on the bar with a cup, and said gratefully, "Thank you for your help."

As the phone rang, the bartender changed his tone: "Excuse me, Ms. Makoto, a customer here says he has something important to discuss with you. Would it be convenient for you to take this call?"

After a moment, he handed the phone to Yoshizaki Kawa;

After answering the phone, Yoshizaki tentatively said "hello," and a rough, hoarse female voice immediately came from the other end: "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I saw some news about you on the forum before, Ms. Makoto. May I ask... are you a psychic?"

Yoshizaki asked directly, because at this time, beating around the bush would be useless and would only waste time.

If yes, then continue chatting; if not, then say goodbye and find the next target.

Everyone's time is precious.

Upon hearing Yoshizaki's words, the bartender suppressed a laugh. It seemed that Makoto had mentioned being a medium when she was working as a hostess, but that was just to trick customers into buying alcohol.

Makoto would even recount stories about exorcising ghosts in vivid detail, but everyone knew it was all fake.

After all, it's the 20th century now, who still believes in feudal superstitions?

If there were really ghosts, something bad would have happened long ago, given the chaotic scene at the bar that night.

Meanwhile, Yoshizaki Kawa waited nervously for a reply from the other side;

However, the next sentence stunned him.

"Have you run into trouble?"

Is he really a medium? Upon hearing this, he knew he had it all figured out.

"Yes, recently I..."

However, before Yoshizaki could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the other end of the phone.

"Do you have money?"

"rich!"

Without the slightest hesitation, he said, "Damn it, although I'm stingy, compared to my own life, that money is just pure money, okay?"

"wait for me."

The tone on the other end seemed much more relaxed, the words were still brief, and then the call ended.

Yoshizaki breathed a sigh of relief, then gave the bartender a grateful look before handing him his phone.

To be honest, looking into this guy's innocent eyes, the bartender couldn't help but want to tell Yoshizaki the truth, but hesitated for a moment. One was a resident singer who was deeply rooted in the area, and the other was a complete stranger.

He simply sighed and said, seemingly unintentionally, "Some things, you just have to figure out for yourself."

Faced with the bartender's reminder, Yoshizaki could only smile helplessly. It wasn't a problem of him being able to discern the truth, but rather that he couldn't find any other way to do so.

Besides, if this guy were a fake, she definitely wouldn't be able to tell that the house was haunted.

I definitely won't pay for it then.

Half an hour later, a woman with short hair, carrying a crossbody bag, wearing heavy makeup, a low-cut dress, and a cigarette in her mouth, rushed into the house. She also had letter tattoos on her arms.

As an English teacher, Yoshizaki immediately recognized the meaning of the English phrase "freedom and love," and the "rose" on his chest.

To be honest, after seeing this guy's appearance, he's a little worried now.

Makoto Higa walked in, plopped down next to Yoshizaki Kawa, and exhaled a smoke ring: "Was that you on the phone just now?"

Yoshizaki nodded, and the latter immediately snapped his fingers: "A glass of tequila, on his bill."

Yoshizakigawa: "..."

Seeing the bartender's questioning look, he nodded;

"What happened to you? Come on, let's go over there and talk."

She enthusiastically tried to take Yoshizaki Kawa's hand and lead him to a corner of the bar to sit opposite each other.

Although the woman in front of him seemed a bit unreliable, Yoshizaki still recounted what had happened that day.

"...That night, I was walking a student home when I saw a very strange child staring at me through the window on the way back. Later I found out that the house was abandoned and no one lived there!"

"That must be a ghost. I've been afraid that thing will find me these past few days, and I want to find an exorcist to help me."

After listening to Yoshizaki's story, she crossed her legs, took out a cigarette from her pocket, lit it, took a deep drag, and then said to Yoshizaki, "Didn't you already see an exorcist? He should have given you something. With that on, how could a mere earthbound spirit possibly harm you?"

"Ok??"

"I didn't quite understand what you meant."

He was somewhat bewildered, not understanding what the latter was talking about.

"You're wearing something on your left hand, right? That's probably a talisman left to you by the exorcist before, and it has very strong spiritual power."

Although her magical power was inferior to her sister's, she possessed extremely strong intuition and could sense the existence of evil spirits and magical artifacts with "spirits," something her sister could not do.

The moment Makoto Higa saw Yoshizaki Kawa, she knew he carried a powerful magical artifact.

Ok?

Yoshizaki was taken aback at first, then suddenly realized something, lifted his sleeve to reveal the bracelet that Kayako had given him, and said incredulously, "You mean... this is an exorcism artifact??"

Damn, the bracelet that Kayako gave herself, woven from her own hair, is actually considered a magical artifact by other exorcists?

Although it seems a bit outrageous, Yoshizaki thought of Kayako's powerful superpowers and realized that it wasn't entirely unacceptable.

After all, he is a terrifying superhuman who will become a great evil spirit in the future. It should be normal for his hair to have spiritual power... right?

"Tsk! So this is how a magical artifact is made? It's obvious that using hair as a vessel would cause the spiritual energy to dissipate quickly, but the surrounding area seems to be influenced by some kind of will, and the spiritual energy not only doesn't dissipate, but becomes even more concentrated."

Logically speaking, a magical artifact made from a part of a sorcerer's body should have great power, but the source of that power is the sorcerer himself. Therefore, the power should dissipate quickly once it leaves the sorcerer.

However, the power of this bracelet is locked within a will, which requires a mage to pour extremely strong emotions into it.

Furthermore, such a magical artifact would cause the mage to perish along with it, and even his own sister wouldn't dare to make such a thing.

It seems this guy has a close relationship with that medium, and judging from his actions, he's shocked by it, meaning he has no idea it's a magical artifact.

"Is it being deliberately concealed? It seems there's more to the story than meets the eye. This is quite interesting."

She thought to herself, but said it aloud:

“Although you have a magical artifact to protect you, that earthbound spirit does need to be dealt with. Considering that you already have a medium protecting you, I will only charge you 50,000 yen to get rid of that earthbound spirit!”

Can this guy really take down that "Earthbound Spirit"?

After all, there's a certain probability that the earthbound spirit is Toshio Saeki from the original work, the one who sparked the entire Ju-on story.