"So your name is Amelia Braggart huh?"

"Hmm did I just hear some ungrateful person sass his savior? Also you pronounced braggart wrong."

"Sorry English names are just really difficult to pronounce, Amelia Airhead."

Now that I am feeling better after two days rest in the hospital, my sass levels have returned to max. Heheh.

"Sassing your savior and the one who paid your hospital bills?"

"... I sincerely apologize Miss Amelia. I hope you can forgive me for my insolence."

"Hmm~."

She let out a noise akin to satisfaction at beating me in our sass contest.

"Okay. My name is really Amelia but I just added the Earhart because I look up to her."

"That is understandable. We want to be the people we look up to the most."

"So Fish, what were you doing in that river?"

A normal question with the words 'fish' and 'river' and there is no pun or punchline? Impossible. This is out of character for this girl whom I've gotten know these past two days. Perhaps she's just setting herself up for a bigger punchline.

"I was being chased by a monster and so I smartly jumped into the flooding river to escape."

Heh. I'm pretty sure you'll be so shocked, you won't be able to say anything witty in return. And that's when I'll come in with a "Haha you thought I was serious".

"Hmm so what did this monster look like?"

Eh? So she's going along with my half true joke? But she went a completely different route, I can't think of any good gags to finish with.

"Umm well, it looked like a human, but you couldn't see its face. It was wearing a hoodie and holding a serrated knife and..."

I ended up just describing it seriously. The look on her face, though! She looks so surprised, bewildered to say the least. If I can't out pun or out wit her, I guess a crazy story is enough to surprise her.

"It seemed to get faster, the faster you ran."

... she ended my sentence before I could.

...

Who is this girl?

She's Amelia

No I mean. What does she know about that monster?

Come to think of it, I don't even really know this girl that well. And she's saved me, paid my hospital bills and even offered to drive me home. This seems exactly like the string of events that lead someone into financial trouble and then they have to sell their organs to the black market to pay back their debt. Please don't take my kidney!

My stranger danger awareness is sorely lacking.

The road we're on. I decided to ignore this but I haven't been able to recognise the roads or scenery for quite a while now... Is this actually an abduction? The alarms in my head are really ringing now.

"Where are we going?"

"To a temple."

To take my kidney?

"For?"

"Exorcism."

Exorcising my kidney? Wait that doesn't make sense.

Okay calm down, me! Think calmly...

... and I don't like the way this is heading. Following the conversation we've had up to this point, cutting out all the puns, it is possible she's bringing me to help exorcise the monster that chased me. No, wait. Judging by the road, we've been on it for quite a while now and it definitely doesn't lead home. That means instead of going to my town, she had planned from the beginning to bring me to the temple before I told her about the monster.

The more questions I ask, the more confused I get. She knew about that monster, how, why? Could she have known about the Shui gui in the river? She even saw me crawl out of the river to boot! Does she know I can see the supernatural? I want to ask questions but...

I have a feeling she isn't planning anything malicious... I can't help but go along because I have questions I want to ask and she probably knows that. I'm not naively believing in her but I can only adapt as the situation changes.

Urgh. My migraine is acting up from thinking too hard about all this. I'm getting black spots in my vision too...

The rest of the trip is continued in silence and after two hours, we finally reach the temple.

"Alright let's go, Fish. Don't get cold feet now."

"Saying that when you haven't properly explained what we're here for..."

"Like I said exorcism."

She isn't answering my question...

On the terrace of the temple, there was a man sweeping the steps. Judging by his calm visage, bald head, facial hair and robe, I assume he is a monk.

"Well don't just stand there and look."

Amelia nudges me forward.

As we approach the monk, he looks up from sweeping and shoots me an unfriendly look. He does not look happy to see me.

"Amelia I told you not to bring friends over."

"No. This is the guy I told you about. The one who climbed out of the river."

Almost immediately the old monk shot forward and punched me in the stomach.

"W-what was that for?"

"Checking whether you're a shui gui."

He points to my stomach. There is a paper talisman stuck on my shirt.

"That's a relief. I was worried you might be one of those shui gui's when you first came out of the river."

Ah so that's why she was scared of approaching me at first. Come to think of it, she did ask whether I was human. Though at the time I was too tired to think of the implications.

"Hey so that means this whole time, you were a bit wary of me?"

"Heehee you found out. But I was quite convinced you were human too. That sense of humor can't possibly belong to a ghost. I actually brought you here to confirm it with gramps."

Yeah, I imagine a violent water ghost would not be that likely to joke around.

"Well, Fish. How would you like to assist yours truly with a little bit of ghost hunting?"

"Ghost hunting?"

"Yup, we're hunting one in particular. It so happens to be the same one that chased you and forced you to jump into the river. We want to exorcise it before there are any more victims."

"There have been victims?"

And she's asking me to help? What could I possibly do? I'm just a ordinary boy who escaped through pure luck.

"Mhmm. Some of them lived to tell the tale."

"But why do I have to help you?"

"Didn't I save you from the chilling cold and send you to the hospital before you succumbed to your wounds? Shouldn't you return the favour to your savior? You'll be at ease as well if that thing is gone right?"

"But I'm not..."

"Hospital bills~"

She says that line in a sing song voice and dangles the bill in front of my face. I can feel the blood drain from my face instantly. I can't believe that a two day hospital visit would cost that much... Her eyes shaped like dollar bills light up, happy that I understood the circumstances. I was not in a financial position to argue.

"Don't worry grandpa and I will do most of the heavy lifting, and it's not as if we'll send you in without any protection at all."

"Boy you best give up and let her have her way."

The old man shot me a look that seemed to say," There's nothing you or I can do, let's just give in". That sort of specific look.

"Don't worry, Fish. I never make a mistake. So you can rest assured, you're in good fins. Heehee. Fins. Get it?"

She starts to giggle at her joke once again. Actually aren't her puns getting worse and worse? She's really scraping the bottom of the fish jokes barrel.

"Alright Grandpa, I'll go prepare the stuff. You tell Fish everything okay?"

Oh no. The grandpa who's not happy with me and I are both alone now.

He's glaring at me. Is that a signal for me to start the conversation? I don't know what to say though. The atmosphere is getting awkward.

He glares at me even harder. I blink.

He just sighs. I win. He initiated the conversation.

"There is no changing her mind once she's decided on something. And I'm sure you want an explanation on why she wants to drag you into this ghost hunting business."

I nod overeagerly. I may actually have overdone it because I felt something in my neck crack. I clutch my neck in pain.

He ignores my silly overreaction and proceeds to explain things to me seriously.

"You could see how the monster looked, am I right? That's why she brought you here."

"Yeah. Is that important?"

"Very much so. The clearer an image we are able to see of a monster, the less power it holds over us because we are able to perceive its true nature. Most of the victims were only able to describe that some dark figure attacked them out of nowhere, or out of thin air. So describe the monster for me."

So if I were to get involved, I would have a higher chance of surviving than anyone else.

"Well it looked like a human, but its face was shrouded with darkness. And it was wearing a hoodie and holding a serrated knife."

"Very good. You described just as much as me and Amelia have been able to see. You have good eyes."

"Wait. So you have seen that monster before?"

"Yes, at the time we were not ready however and it slipped out of our grasps. This time, we plan on baiting it before destroying it."

"Then my role is... Am I the bait?"

"It appears that is what Amelia has planned for you."

"You guys are going to be protecting me right?"

"...If it comes down to it, my priority would be Amelia first and you second. I hope you find this satisfactory."

He saw through what I was asking and cut straight to the heart of my question. This old man's sharp.

What I was really asking was whether they would be willing to put their lives on the line to rescue me, if it all went to hell. Call me cowardly or weak but I don't like pain and I definitely don't want to die. Killing this monster and saving both of our towns is important, but I refuse to die for anyone.

With the monk's word, I am convinced I won't die. He could be lying of course and he might prioritise his own behind when it comes to it. But I don't think he is. Call it my gut feeling or a sixth sense.

But yeah, I can't really argue against his order of priorities. Amelia is his granddaughter and I am a random civillian who got dragged into this by Amelia. Well in actuality, I was involved from the very beginning. The monster had attacked me after all. And as the only person able to see it clearest, I have an unspoken responsibility to help out.