After Shiori and Suga filled their stomachs with a pile of fluffy pancakes, and a single charcoal one, they sat in the living room area and talked. With her appetite taken care of, the brown haired girl felt more of her strength return. While she was leaning against Suga's shoulder, dozing off, Shiori realized that she was still in her night clothes. She excused herself, blushing bright red while doing so. Before she ran to the stairs, Suga brushed a hand along the side of her face. He told her that he'd be cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. His words had a double meaning to them. I'm close by if you need me. Shiori squeezed his hand affectionately and her eyelids fluttered shut.
"Understood," she whispered, replying to his literal words and hidden message. As Shiori headed up to the third floor, she paused in front of the room containing the books on the history of the Kotori Obake. "Maybe I should take another look at the books," she wondered to herself, then promptly shook her head. "No, I've already read through them so many times that I can recite each book exactly by heart. I wouldn't find anything new." With a dejected expression, the brown haired girl continued into her room. Everything was how it had been left last night: sheets rumpled on the bed and pillow in an obscure position.
When Shiori was pulling her shirt on, she remembered the underground library that Suga and herself had stumbled upon. There were tons of books down there, one of them had to be about the Kotori Obake! Although, from what she could recall the writing was in a different language. Shiori threw on the rest of her clothes and was reaching for her orange ribbon when she thought of the black fabric already there. It was still nicely tied up in her hair, so she decided to keep it in.
"Should I tell Suga about the library?" Shiori asked herself as she stood in the center of her room. Guilt would undoubtedly eat away at her if she didn't. But the fact remained that the tall man would be against her going back to such a dangerous place. "Maybe if I explained it to him properly…" If he had been hesitant to allow her to search for Sakuma when she ran away, then he probably wouldn't let her go now.
With her decision made, Shiori opened the top drawer of her desk and took out from it a black pen and a notebook. She would, at the very least, leave the man she loved a note telling him where she was. So he could find it easily, Shiori planned on placing the note on the receptionist desk.
Shiori carefully took the stairs down, intent on avoiding the steps that creaked. She sidled against the wall next to the set of stairs that lead to the ground floor and listened. Footsteps approached her position and the brown haired girl grew worried that someone was going to go upstairs. But at the last second they veered away, and she heard the office door open and close. Waiting several seconds in complete silence, Shiori went down the steps when she felt that the coast was clear.
Just as she had set down the note on the desk, the front entrance swung inwards. In walked Sakuma with her school bag hanging from her arm. She froze instantly when she noticed Shiori. Her mouth began to form the obvious question and Shiori panicked. She held up a finger to her lips as a signal for the young girl to remain quiet. She then pointed in the direction of the kitchen and together they quietly moved into it. Once they cleared the doorway, Sakuma let loose her questions, "What are you doing, Onee-san? Should you really be up and about? Why are you acting so sneaky?"
"I'm all right, Sakuma. Please don't worry," Shiori assured the young girl. But the expression on her face was one of utter disbelief. "I know that my recent behavior and actions make my statement less than believable, but Suga's been helping me since last night."
Sakuma's eyes widened. "The manager is back?"
The brown haired girl nodded, smiling slightly. "And now that I'm a little more rested, I've realized that something is going on and I need to get to the bottom of it." Hesitation bloomed in her chest, did she really want to bring the middle schooler into this?
"Onee-san, please let me help you." Sakuma must have seen the hesitation in her eyes because she reached for Shiori's hands with a pleading expression. "If I can do anything, then let me."
Shiori let out a deep sigh of resignation. "Promise me this first, if anything happens you'll run to safety. No trying to be a hero, especially when it comes to the supernatural." She waited until the young girl agreed before she continued on. "I'm not sure that this thing with the Kotori Obake is over yet. So I have to go to the library underneath the well. "
Fear almost immediately filled the middle schooler's face and Shiori already began to regret having told her anything. "Are you sure?" she whispered quietly, as if she were afraid her voice might conjure the woman's ghost.
"No, I'm not," the brown haired girl admitted. "But it's the only explanation for the things that I've been seeing lately. And you also know how stubborn Suga-kun can be. I know that he won't let me go to that library if I just ask him. Which explains the sneaky bit."
Sakuma's brow scrunched up in thought. She only relaxed it after a minute or so had passed. "Let's do this," she said with newfound determination. "If Onee-san needs to go there, then we will." There was a fire in her eyes that eliminated the fear that had previously resided in her. "Does Onee-san know how to get there?"
Instead of answering, Shiori walked over to the door at the far end of the kitchen and tried to open it. She wasn't surprised to find that the knob wouldn't budge. Suga had locked it again and she didn't have the key anymore. "Hmm, we might have to go to the well behind the mansion. The rope that Officer Mochizuki used should still be there." Sakuma and Shiori looked at one another and an agreement passed between the two. They slipped out of the kitchen and made their way to the backyard. Thankfully Suga didn't leave his office while they went through the entrance hall.
When the two girls couldn't find the door that lead to the back of the mansion, they ended up squirming through an open window. Dark clouds hung overhead, threatening to release a downpour of rain. Both girls shivered as a cold wind blew around them. Shiori brought the middle schooler to the well and peered into it. Sure enough the rope had been left alone and was still tied to one of the posts. It fell down into darkness, towards the bottom that neither Shiori nor Sakuma could make out. "Is this it?" Sakuma mumbled, craning her neck to get a better view.
"This is it. Are you ready?" Shiori asked the young girl, giving her a sympathetic look. "You don't have to do this, Sakuma."
Sakuma shook her head fervently. "I want to help you, Onee-san. Let's go."