Chapter 82: A Night of Terror at the Inn

At night, the lights in the hot spring inn were already out.

In the end, Misty still chose her sleeping bag over the obviously more comfortable futon, settling Amu in the half of the room closer to the closet.

However, in the middle of the night, Misty woke up shivering from the cold...

She had never been woken by the cold when camping outdoors before!

"The mountain nights really are chilly..." Misty comforted herself, though she couldn't help glancing toward the folding screen. It was set in the middle of the room, and on the other side, Amu was already fast asleep... along with the closet.

"No, no, it's not that cold!" Misty quickly denied the budding thought of sneaking a futon. But as she shook her head, she realized the zipper on her sleeping bag had come undone—no wonder she was freezing!

Unable to endure it any longer, Misty got up and crept around to the other side of the screen...

"I'll just use Amu's sleeping bag," she tiptoed past. After all, Amu was using the inn's bedding...

But when she looked, Amu's travel bag was nowhere to be found. Helpless, Misty gently shook Amu. "Hey, let me borrow your sleeping bag..."

Amu, half-asleep, mumbled, "It's in the closet."

Misty: ...

Since when did you become so tidy? Putting your travel bag in the closet?

"Then help me get it... Hey, hey..." Misty tried to rouse Amu.

But for some reason, Amu seemed to be sleeping especially soundly tonight.

Misty didn't suspect much; she remembered Amu had just exhausted himself earlier and probably hadn't fully recovered. Feeling a little guilty, she decided not to wake him further.

Instead, she took a few deep breaths, steeled herself, and approached the closet...

Knock, knock, knock—

Misty knocked honestly.

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock—

She worried that whatever was inside hadn't heard, so she knocked a few more times.

Hesitating, her hand rose and fell before she finally gave up—maybe she would just make do with the broken sleeping bag...

But just then, the closet creaked open all by itself!

Misty froze in place, her body rigid, as a human head rolled into view at the opening. "Guest, didn't I tell you? If you need anything, just call for me."

Though pale, with hair obscuring much of her face, Misty could still make out that it was definitely Tsukihi.

...

...

"Ah—!"

After a brief silence, Misty's scream pierced the entire inn.

This time, Amu was jolted awake too, though for some reason he felt a little groggy.

The next moment, there was a crashing sound as someone burst through the door...

"Villain, prepare to die!"

At that moment, Ann stormed in with a flying tackle. Fortunately, Amu rolled away just in time, so she only landed on the bedding.

Now fully alert, Amu shouted angrily, "What are you doing?"

"You were... doing something to Misty... huh?" Ann realized something was off.

Hearing Misty's scream in the dead of night, and given her first impression, Ann had assumed Amu was up to no good. But now, seeing Misty crouched at a distance, clutching her head with one hand and pointing shakily at the closet with the other, Ann hesitated.

Following Misty's gaze, Amu saw her expression and, forgetting to scold Ann, asked, "What's wrong?"

"Th-there's a head!" Misty still had her eyes tightly shut.

"A head? What head?" Amu was puzzled.

Flustered, Misty grabbed Amu by the collar. "A head! A human head—Tsukihi's! It's all your fault for sleeping like a log, I couldn't wake you!"

Ann now realized she had misunderstood...

When Amu turned to look at her, she was already kneeling in a formal apology.

Amu: ...

This spirit of courage to admit mistakes but never to change... Truly worthy of a ninja.

"What head? Look, the closet's closed. You must be too nervous..." Amu recited the classic lines of the 'ignorant character' in horror movies as he boldly strode to the closet, flung it open, and thrust his head inside—a swift, practiced motion!

Unfortunately, the plan to "catch the ghost off guard" failed yet again; Amu found nothing.

"She's gone," Amu said regretfully.

Remembering something, Amu rummaged through his travel bag. Learning Misty's sleeping bag was broken, he took out another futon.

"What? You're still planning to stay here?" Misty said incredulously.

"Don't worry, if even ghost-type Pokémon won't show up in front of a Ghost-type trainer like me, it must just be a mischievous ghost Pokémon," Amu reassured her grandly.

"You're a Ghost-type trainer?" Ann looked at Amu in surprise.

"Something like that," Amu replied.

Ann hesitated but said nothing more.

At that moment, accompanied by faltering footsteps, the hunched old innkeeper finally arrived, carrying a lantern. She opened the door and asked, "What's going on here?"

Before Misty could question her, the old lady's eyes widened in anger at the tatami mat Ann had just damaged. "Ah! My hundred-year-old tatami! You three... Hm? Why are all three of you in this room? No matter what you're up to, you shouldn't be destroying inn property! Do you know how valuable that tatami—"

"No, no, a tatami that's a hundred years old would have rotted away long ago..." Amu exposed her scam, then shot back, "And what's with your inn? Just now, my friend saw Tsukihi's head in the closet... Where is she?"

"Tsukihi? What Tsukihi? Do you think this old place can afford to hire staff? I do all the work myself," the old lady replied matter-of-factly.

"But... she led us upstairs just now..." Misty protested.

"Hm? I told you to come up yourselves... I was just wondering what you were muttering about," the old lady said calmly.

But Amu gave her an odd look.

Misty glanced at Ann, who said, "I saw Tsukihi too—she brought me to this room."

"If you don't want to stay, then don't, but you have to pay for the tatami!" the old lady snapped, growing impatient.

"Sorry, that's on me," Ann apologized sincerely.

"Hmph, that's more like it." Hearing she'd get compensated, the old lady finally let it go.

Ann followed her out to settle the matter, while Amu checked the time and said to Misty, "It's still early. Get three more hours of sleep—at dawn we head into the mountains, so we need to rest. I'm going to the bathroom..."

There wasn't even a bathroom in the room.

Unfortunately, Misty was now too rattled to sleep. She released Psyduck to hug, refusing to draw the screen closed.

The Magikarp and Goldeen hardly mattered, but as for Starmie...

It couldn't stay out of water for long!

Only Psyduck—though it looked silly, clutching its head with vacant eyes—was soft and furry, and hugging it made Misty feel a bit safer.

As for Amu, he returned from the bathroom and promptly fell back into a carefree sleep...