Chapter 285: The gOOd Landlord
"Whoa!" Nik stares at the rows of sleek boxes displaying images of different smartphones that all look the same. There is one with the logo of a half-eaten banana, a smartphone with the stamp of a cute pink bot of some kind, and stamps designed for the letters 'HG' and 'SUS.' The store owner sneaks glances at Nik, finding the youth strange.
"Forgive me for asking, kid," The middle-aged man blinks. "How come you never had any of these smartphones? I can barely get my son off these parasites, and he's only seven years young!"
"Oh," Nik smiles as Kurumi looks through the variety before handing Nik one of the smartphones, impatiently replying in his stead. "He was a sheltered boy, alright? Can you generate the bill, please?"
Nik smiles as he looks at his phone, thinking, 'Others in the mansion will go crazy about this stuff.' He retrieves a silver-colored card with a strange chip on its end, waving it, "I will pay with this card!" Kurumi and the owner look at Nik with amazement, noting the first man in their lives to see someone so happy to pay for something.
As the owner gets on with the work, Nik looks at Kurumi expectantly, pointing at the black screen of the smartphone while constantly pressing the supposed power button, as taught by Yuuko. "Why isn't it working? I can't slide it open, and nothing is displaying on the screen."
"Because that's the volume button. And I chose an older model with an external battery. No need to get the high-end stuff when you're not even used to the basics, right?" Kurumi thins her lips before smiling at the sight of Nik's confused expression.
"I'll teach you, 'kay?" She leans into him while browsing some other things. "Let's see if we can afford a good protective case in your current budget. How much is it in your bank account?" She questions without the intention of prying as much as it is to help Nik after understanding he is just as lost despite his memories 'returning.'
But the question attracts the Store Owner, too, something Nik observes from the corner of his eyes. And not stupid enough to reveal his wealth out in the open, Nik leans into Kurumi's ear, making her flinch momentarily before whispering a number.
Her honeyed eyes widen as her head snaps in his direction, staring at him like an exotic creature!
Instead of gracing his words with an astonished yelp, Kurumi hurriedly stops the store owner, "Wait! We don't want this one. We're going to buy this Samsong model!" She taps the smartphone with the stamp of a pink-colored bot of some kind.
The owner blinks, sensing a good profit margin to be made as he offers, "Why not B-Phone 12? They have the same spec—"
"Do they have earbuds inside the packaging?" Kurumi scoffs as the owner's lips twitch. He would try to work with Nik, but the latter was more interested in seeing himself on the television screen through the security cameras in the store.
'What's wrong with this couple? The lady looks a tad too young, and the man looks a bit too sharp to be acting like a lost kid!'
---
"Huaah~!" A pink-haired woman leans against her balcony's railing, staring at the distant shopping district. She resides on the ground floor, but the empty building allows her to occupy the terraces on the upper floor without any issues. Her building's dull grey walls contrast with the vividly vibrant and newer apartment building constructed two years ago. The surrounding residential structures look in better condition than her building, too. But she has more space, notes the woman, staring at the small parking space within the perimeters of her property—capable of parking three sedans and five motorcycles.
"But everything is so technological today. And all the tenants move out after a month or two for some reason!" She whines. There is no reason for her condition to be this worse! Even the questionable young couple she rented space with moved out without bothering with their security!
"I could use Kaya-san's special pastries~!" She rests her chin on the railing, staring at the empty parking lot. "Daa-san, I miss you." She mutters with a sad smile. "I'm sure we would have been so happy here. Who knew I had an estranged aunt who left me this building as her inheritance."
She sighs again until seeing a young couple walking into her property's parking lot.
'Eh? Are they coming here? Am I seeing this right? They are coming here instead of walking on!' Her dim blue eyes regain their vibrancy as she finds the couple staring at her.
"A-Ah! Coming!" She yells, quickly rushing down the shared balcony to the stairs and standing in front of the duo, huffing and puffing as she takes no note of her beige sweater sticking to the last slope of her curves and moving along the beats of her pants. "Welcome!" She smiles widely. "O-oh, I," she stares at Nik before trying to speak in a strange language as Kurumi cuts her off, "It's alright, Oba-san. He's a local, I think."
But something else catches the woman's surprise.
"Oba-san?!"
---
The apartment block recommended by Yuuko is rather small compared to the one they passed. The building has six rooms, three on each floor facing the front, with a shared balcony connected to the stairs on the outside. The six rooms are identical in the sense there is a small bathroom and a separate toilet, a kitchen near the entrance, and a large space shared as a living room and bedroom. It's clear Yuuko has some empathy for the Landlord since the place is completely empty!
'And for a reason,' Nik narrows his eyes, unable to ignore the sensation of someone's surveillance.
'Someone is watching us,' Nik lets out a silent pulse of heat that the other two barely notice, and when the Heat Vision fails, he lets a pulsation of his ethereal chi, noting a strange entity on the corner of the wall hidden from the naked eye. But IT senses Nik's chi, too, hiding at a moment's notice.
'Like a spirit,' Nik thins his lips, recalling the strange woman in white when he was traveling back to Mitsuko's home with Souko.
'There are spirits in this world, too. I hope they aren't anything major like the Primordials or their offspring. Ray did say the newbies' homeworlds are low-leveled and have a distinct lack of potential when it comes to entities of energy like chi and whatnot.'
"I understand the rooms leave a lot to be desired," a guilty voice brings Nik from his thoughts as he stares at the 'Unit' of a woman ahead. "But my property provides many facilities like the parking lot!"
"We don't own vehicles," Kurumi replies bluntly, learning from her previous mistake as she addresses the woman as "Okita-san."
Okita's shoulder slumps, making Nik and Kurumi's gaze follow her swaying breasts.
"Can I ask you a few things?" Nik questions as 'Okita-san' leads the duo inside her apartment for a cup of tea. He looks around the comfortably decorated room, "Yuuko-san told me that finding a property is very difficult. Why is yours empty?"
Okita's expression freezes, her plump lips press together before she lowers her head, "I don't know."
"You don't know, Okita-san?" Kurumi blinks. "Didn't your previous tenants offer any feedback?"
Okita shakes her head.
"Yuuko sent you two, right?" Okita questions. "May I ask why are you moving into the area?"
"I have a job nearby, so it makes sense," Nik shrugs, noting if he can fit everyone in the other five rooms. 'Maybe not all? I don't think Azula, Toph, or June will enjoy feeling even slightly weaker than usual in this world. Michi and Mai have their flower store, and Poppy works well with Yue and Sokka in managing the settlement. Zuko is beginning to start his farm like other southern tribe warriors. It could work.'
"I'm trying to live on my own, too," Kurumi nods.
"Away from your mother?" Okita blinks.
"You know my Mom?" Kurumi looks equally surprised.
"Of course," Okita smiles brightly. "I run into Mitsuko-san in the shopping street while buying groceries. She helped talk me through some of my worst days after Daa-san passed away in a car accident."
Kurumi nods, looking at the picture of the dark-haired man on the nearby cupboard. "I'm sorry."
Nik breaks the consequential silence with a cough, smiling, "Okita-san, my family is huge. Some of them can settle in the other rooms. Is it alright if I rent all five rooms?"
Kurumi and Okita look at Nik before the latter snaps out of her surprise, gunning on the sweetest deal she's received recently, other than the questionable ones from the landlord of the neighboring apartment building.
"All five?" She gasps. "Is your family waiting nearby? Can I meet them?"
Nik shakes his head. "They are on their way. For now, it's just me."
"And me," Kurumi frowns.
"Yes, and her," Nik snickers. "But I would like to look around and compare some prices first." He isn't dull enough to understand that a property's value rises the more one rents or purchases as opposed to usual bulk purchases in a market. But Nik would be damned if he just paid the full rent despite his agenda of ridding the spirit haunting the property!
"I- I see," Okita sits and serves the cups of tea to Nik and Kurumi while looking guilty. "That's your right. B-But I assure you my prices are the lowest! Your family will be happy living here!"
Nik sips the tea, nodding, "I hope so."
"That's right!" Okita blinks, almost flipping over the table in her excitement. "I forgot to introduce myself properly. I'm Kyouko Okita," the pinkette smiles charmingly, bringing her fists close to her face as her arms press her breasts together, something Nik looks away from after a careful inspection lasting a second. "And I promise to fulfill every single one of your needs to show our hospitality!"
The corner of Kurumi's lips twitches as she glances between Nik and Kyouko. 'What kind of landlord is she?!'
---
'I dislike him! I dislike them! Why is someone near her?!' The feeling is more intense than usual. It's more intense than the moment when the recent illicit couples wanted to do 'things' to HER after slipping something into her tea and more intense than the repulsion at the sight of the bald landlord from the next door! But its dislike matters little in their goal to remove everyone from her gaze. She needs to stay pure and kind, untouched by others—even if it means haunting the tenants out of the complex!
But the sight of the dusky-skinned youth sets off all its haunted radars! There is something about him that it has come to despise at first sight!
"Wow, Daa-san, our new tenant is so cute. I envy their youth. Kurumi-chan and Nik-kun look so good together~!" It hears her whispers, noticing the longing in her tune sets it off further as she gazes at the couple walking back on the road into the sunset, holding each other's hands.
"It's been two years, huh," she mutters. "I wonder if I should stop bothering you with my rambles. I'm sure you are in a peaceful place and don't want me bothering you."
And that decides it!
It cannot leave the apartment and expect to return. Its existence will start wilting the second it departs the building, but its demise is acceptable as long as it finds a way to stop that man from moving in—that disgusting man. There is something wrong with him, it is sure! It isn't intelligent and acts on its emotions. And its instincts tell it that something 'terrible' will come from that man moving into the apartment after completing some necessary purchases for his living.
It looks at Kyouko one last time. It doesn't know why it obsesses over this woman but knows she is important.
'Farewell,' it leaves the apartment complex like a shadow, willingly breaking off the constraints that bound it to the complex.
The lack of sun makes things comfortable for the spirit as they follow the duo, feeling their strength slowly wane. The couple makes a stop in different stores, purchasing things like fans and some utensils before having them delivered to Kyouko's apartment. The couple wasn't shy in taking advantage of Kyouko's kindness since she did offer to help in any way possible, so accepting some deliveries should not be hard.
The spirit's alarm breaks beyond its peak when it sees the couple taking a second to kiss each other after some conversation.
But as the spirit follows the couple under the gradually darkening dusk, it feels the presence of another kindred spirit not far from the stairs exiting from the shopping district.
---
"Okay, so this is called a selfie," Kurumi smiles as Nik takes the pose as instructed by extending his hand, holding his smartphone diagonally as the camera on the front captures the couple's image with a touch of a button. The girl snatches the phone from his hand, smiling widely, "Now let me teach you about filters!"
"Sure," Nik accepts everything, knowing that he will have to eventually pass down these amazing lessons to his close friends and family since they won't understand the language of this world as easily.
'But I still need to find out if there is a similar language in this world so I can translate it for the group. Or I will have to write the notes myself since I know both languages.'
As Nik learns about the filters, playing with contrast and sharpness that threatens to ruin the selfie, he questions—"Are you nervous about asking your mother's permission?"
"I wouldn't need one if you weren't so stubborn about it," Kurumi pouts and hesitates, "Um, Nik. The family members you mentioned... what kind of family are they? Didn't you say you ran from your family?"
Nik looks at her for a second before admitting forthrightly, "I'm engaged. Not to one but many women."
"Very funny," Kurumi scoffs.
"It's the truth. And my fiancees know about you," Nik nods. "A few of them are eager to meet you and your family, too."
Kurumi stops between the stairs, staring at Nik with a dazed look.
"Are you serious?"
"Dead serious."
"Does Mom know?"
"Not really. But Mitsuko isn't the one who called me her boyfriend this morning—you did. And she also isn't the one who dragged me to the school's gym locker."
Kurumi continues staring at Nik, her expression shifting from confusion to indignance, then condescension as she crosses her arms, ignoring the strange looks from other men and women sparsely trafficking the stairs.
"I'm not falling for such pranks! If you don't want to hang out with me, just say so! What's the point of trying to make up with me before saying stuff like this?"
Nik works his jaw before muttering, "I didn't say anything about not wanting to hang out with you. I'm kind of disappointed that shopping for the appliances took so much time we didn't get to do that 'Karaoke' you were excited about." His shoulders slump. "And there's the shopping for my clothes. I can't keep wearing the same hoody for the rest of the week!"
"You're truly engaged?" Kurumi chews her bottom lip, questioning with hesitations as Nik nods.
"To different women?"
He nods again.
"And they know each other?"
Nik smiles, "I won't lie. I had to work my way for it."
"I don't believe you," Kurumi frowns, but something in her gaze tells Nik she is beginning to see the truth but refuses to admit it regardless. "So, you played Mom, Souko, Sayoko, and me!"
He shakes his head as he starts walking again, unwilling to continue the conversation under so many gazes, many of them his Hug Connoisseurs, as he calls for Kurumi, "Come along."
"Is it because of your family?" Kurumi questions as she follows. "Did you run away due to some strange traditions? Many strange things exist in our world. I once eavesdropped on my father, hearing him talk about some Paradise Island where specially bred women exist!"
{A/N: Aomizuan works.}
"Your father talks about women?" Nik changes the subject, finding some interest in the island.
"He was fighting with his 'friend,'" Kurumi scoffs, "Apparently, the Island has women that can make the bent ones straight."
"Hoh?" Nik lets out a hum of admiration. "I wonder if women feel the same way as a man does when one makes a lesbian straight."
"What? That's not how it works."
"Really?" Nik strokes his chin, "I disagree."
"Ah, don't change the subject!"
"Look, before we continue this conversation, I want to ask a favor," Nik looks at Kurumi. "How do I order food from my smartphone? It doesn't have the same applications as Yuuko's smartphone. And how do I acquire an online wallet that Yuuko has to pay for the food?"
Kurumi stares at Nik before wondering, "How are you engaged?"
Nik grins, reaching out to hold the girl's hand as he encourages, "Stick around and find out. At least meet my family before judging me. And I'm telling you all this so that you can tell Mitsuko about everything. You and your family should have this much knowledge if you want to live with me."
Kurumi thins her lips, chewing them from within as she looks into Nik's sincere violet orbs.
"Mom may not allow me to live with you after knowing the truth about your family. Why can't you talk with her instead?"
"Because she's your mom," Nik turns to stare at the flickering street lamp as the sight of a pale figure interrupts Kurumi. Her eyes widen to their limits as she pauses in the middle of the street, her hand tightening around Nik's as she stares at the eerie figure under the flickering light. A cover of pitch-black hair covers the woman's face.
"N-Nik? Can you see that?"
Nik stares at the figure as the couple hears a haunting whisper.
"Kuro..."
'I know this isn't about my skin color. But damn it! I started as Shiro, you spiritual bitch!'
He squeezes Kurumi's hand, smiling, "What are you talking about?"
Kurumi stares at Nik, but her consciousness fades before she can say anything. A swift chop near her neck is all it takes.
'This would have been the perfect way to show that my skills don't fall under the ordinary category. If there are spirits, there should be other humans with some chi or other power system.'
He holds Kurumi close to himself while grinning at the haunted bitch.
"But my ability to clear pests like you is rather brutal and that's not the first impression I want to leave on Kurumi and the others when I can create flowers of fire from my Firebending!"
---
The innate hatred gives way to terror as it watches the strange youth chop lightly near the girl's neck before walking in the 'female' spirit's direction. It instantly knows that the woman in white is a vengeful spirit, setting sight on men she desired in her life but could not get—an apparition of envy and hatred. Yet, the man actually grabs the pale white hand of the spirit, surprising both the 'ghosts' as HE opens his mouth and—
*Chomp*
—bites half her neck out as the vengeful spirit in white screeches loudly. The street lamp bursts apart as the section of the asphalt experiences dim darkness save for the hazily glowing violet irides and the strange sound of someone eating something.
"Beh~!" A grumble echoes in the darkness as the spirit stares in horror. Fright births in its hollow self as it understands the reason for its innate hatred against the man.
"Soggy french fries taste a lot better than this wet sludge!"
A spirit's hatred marks this man—a Spirit met a hateful demise at this man's hands—or mouth.
The man turns his head in the darkness as if this is not horrifying enough. His violet orbs stare piercingly at IT.
"I hope you had your fun stalking us since Kyouko's apartment. Saved me the trouble of tracking you down."
The spirit tries to flee, but the spirit is unfortunate enough to view the odd bluish-indigo flicker of light in the man's eyes, and that's the last thing it remembers.
[Energy: 98→105]
***
Alternate Title: The Smartphone Initiation; The Sugar Daddy; Kurumi Finding Deals; The Tech Advisor; The Selfie Master; The Filter's Expert; The Busty Pinkette; Kyouko Okita; The Haunted Apartment; Ghost Protecting From Hentai Acts; Hitting An Iron Wall; Kurroooo; Bitch, I'm About Shiro All Over You!; The New House; Nik About To Smuggle Benders; The Honest Harem Flagger; Small Apartment is a Comfy Apartment; The Ugly Landlord Tag?; A Good Landlord?; I Will Work For Every Inch!—Kyouko Probably; The Spirit Consumed; The Death Eater's Life; The Wet Sludge; Worse Than Soggy Fries; No Longer Afraid of Spirits, Weak Ones At Least; First Impressions Last; The Monster In The Darkness and The Two Spirits
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Kyouko Okita
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