She gasped, clapping her aged hand to her mouth. “What was that?!” she yelled.

My response was cold and measured. “You are mistaken. Susumu would never have hurt another soul. He looked after others. He didn’t always make the right decisions... no one is perfect. He was aimless and had no real future. But, he had a heart of gold. You and EVERYONE,” I addressed everyone around me as well. “You only ever judged him based on how he looked! You assumed the worst of him! Because of the rumors, you made his life hell. You’re all bullies! You should be ashamed of yourselves! If you think he was scarier than he was, there are far more terrifying things in the world! Oh, he had a scary face... what a big deal! It’s entirely unreasonable to make someone an outcast because of something they couldn’t control!” My voice had risen in volume. I seemed to grow as my passion did while the bracelet glimmered on my wrist. “He’s dead now! And you're all guilty of having killed him! Yesterday morning, his murderer attacked him! In short, let the dead rest in peace!”

The woman was for the first time taken aback by my words, not that I ever had stood up to everyone before and particularly not her. “Truly dead?” She blinked. “Probably killed in a shootout,” she harrumphed. She literally would not stop. She was like a runaway train.

“Dead, you say. And then someone comes to live here after such a short time after.” She went on another tirade. “Phaw! We saw him leave. Isn't that right, everyone?! He returned with his briefcase held up to keep us from seeing his infamous face. He’d just committed some sort of crime.” Ouch... I did hide my face in shame. “Then he resurfaced in a sentai costume. He charmed that poor impressionable young boy right over there.” She pointed at him. He was hiding even more from her eyes. “His last ploy was to use a hero costume as disguise. At the very least he had the decency to hide his unsightly face!

“After that, he simply vanished. You’re trying to claim someone like that is supposed to be a hero? Fool!”

“That was his ghost.” I steeled my resolve. She wouldn’t win this! “He was filled with regret and sadness. His life was already ended even before he was attacked. But trust me. You’ll certainly never see that man’s face ever again.” That I could certainly say.

“A... ghost? Are you trying to say ghosts exist as well? Preposterous!” the woman barked. “I’ve never heard so much nonsense in a short time in my whole life!” She raised her middle finger to glare and shake it. “I’m finished with your nonsense. Just leave and never return!” She seems to think she’s the landlady. It seems she has won despite all my efforts. I couldn’t think of anything else to say that would ever sway her. Everyone else seemed to be conflicted while the annoying elder fumed and glared, quivering with rage.

“Oh my..." Ume was astonished. She pointed down at the street with a mischievous toothy grin. “Look down there... what’s going on?” Ume gasped aloud feigning surprise.

The woman looked at her and then waddled over to the rail; since she was nosey, a finger pointed couldn’t fail to draw her attention or distract it. Akuchi was in the street. The goths had moved to the side of it. Suddenly her body was glowing. Then she grew explosively, stretching gruesomely along the road.

The woman watched with a dreadful fascination. Everyone present were watching fearfully and raptly, and at that moment the amount of people watching doubled. Everyone hiding in their apartments peeked out or bolted out to gape as some started to scream or yell excitedly. Passersby stopped to stare, wonderingly. Yokai are supposed to be discreet. Why is Akuchi doing this right in front of everyone? My eyes widened. Ume had whispered into Akuchi’s ear just a bit earlier. This explained some things.

While Akuchi was still shapeshifting, more and more people began to cry out in pure fear. When her transformation was completed, a bus stood in the street. The goths gathered at the door, which promptly opened to welcome them. They trooped on as the onlookers stared dazedly. We all watched as Akuchi honked and pulled away with all the goths aboard.

The old woman gasped and fainted. Rui smiled warmly at me, giving me the victory sign. Apparently they’d somehow plotted together when I wasn’t noticing. Ume grinned, supporting this theory. “I think it’d be best if we got your elder tucked into her bed. Would someone perhaps among her neighbors be willing to take care of her? By the way, she’ll be fine. Her heart is strong despite her age. She didn’t have a heart attack.”

Natalia-sama smiled and knelt down by the prone pruny crone. She extended her hands to inspect her as well, and she nodded as she slung one of her arms over her shoulder and lifted her. She scanned around, meeting the eyes of the people on this walkway. “Does anyone know this senior well enough to escort her back to her home? Someone?”

The people were still stunned by what they’d seen. Finally, a young man shook his head and scurried over. “I’ll help. She’s a handful, but I can handle this,” the young man murmured. I sighed, relaxing. He eyed me cautiously as he took the woman off Natalia-sama’s shoulder. “You... there’s something odd about you. You seemed to tower over everyone while you were addressing everyone. That speech of yours was effective. I’ll think about what you said. This old lady has been harping on about how horrible that man was daily.” He chuckled. “Grandmother will probably have to find something else to complain about now, likely me.”

I nodded. “Take care,” I murmured. “Let’s go. We still have a lot to do today.” I turned again. The three girls followed me with smiles.

“We need to pick up some better clothes for Susumu,” Rui murmured as we headed towards the stairs. The neighbors started shuffling back into their homes. “I think we should go to your store next, Natalia.”

As we passed the neighbors by the stairs, there was a tugging at my pants. It was Touma again. I smiled warmly.

“Magiranger-chan!” he exclaimed.

I gasped, my eyes wide. What? HOW? How would he know?

His parents watched him carefully. “It’s you, right! I thought that Magiranger was a guy, but it was really you!”

I blinked. “Hahaha... Y-yeah. The truth is that m-my cousin had that costume in his closet for months.”

“Why’d you decide to wear it? It looked good on you, though! I was fooled!” He giggled. “You were so cool!”

“Eh? I don’t know... a whim. It was a very good costume, and it was Halloween.” I waved my finger with a smile. “I met with my friends, here. We had an amazing day.” The girls smiled warmly at me. Ume hugged me and Natalia-sama looked at me apologetically.

Rui tousled Touma’s hair. “Yup! We hung out all day! If you find good friends, you should treasure them!”

Natalia-sama giggled softly. “Sorry to hold you up.” She offered a warm bow to Touma’s parents.

“No problem at all. You all seem friendly.” His father hesitated but then he deeply bowed and his wife joined him in the gesture. “In fact, on behalf of this community and this addled senior, I apologize to you for having had something to do with the death of your cousin. If he was driven to suicide, that’s a sin we’ll bear for the whole of our lives.”

The onlookers were silent until the small boy spoke again to say goodbye, “Take care, Magiranger-chan!” Touma cheered.

“You said he was your cousin,” the mother murmured. “I’m sorry that we weren’t kind neighbors to him. It’s true that he never did anything to us. Our imaginations were running wild.”

I blinked, not having expected apologies. My neighbors were horrible, I’d thought as long as I lived here. I suppose I never could understand their viewpoints before this day. They all had reasons for having believed as they did.

“Take care!” they said together. Touma’s mother swept him up into her arms and hugged him. He grinned and snuggled against her.

“Goodbye!” I smiled warmly, turning to the stairs. I was purified by the experience. Mourning the loss of my face and perhaps my identity truly marked the end of my previous life. But an ending isn’t always sad. There was still a future ahead of me. If we fought hard and well, everything would turn out for the better. Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes. My lips tilted in a brave smile.