-wait, that's Uzuki-san.
Mistaking a person is embarrassing, though, so I squint for another look.
Jiii... (TN: onomatopoeia for staring)
There seems to be no mistake.
Kei: ......Uzuki-san?
Even my frightened, startled whisper travels better down that hallway than I imagined it would.
At my call, that person turns to me soundlessly and answers.
Uzuki: That voice, Kei-san?
As if to confirm, she watches me while squinting her left eye.
Maybe it's the abundance of moonlight, but her opened right eye seems to shine with a blue-green light, making me freeze, but...
In the next moment, the light disappears, and by the distance and lighting, I can't see the eye itself very well.
I pat down at my chest, and approach to a distance where we can converse normally.
Ah, my footsteps are pretty loud.
Kei: Uzuki-san, what are you doing awake at a time like this?
Not to wash her hands, I take it. Going to the bathroom doesn't require such a dangerous - umm, japanese sword? - walking around with that, no matter how you think about it, is strange.
Or rather, why is she carrying something like that, I wonder?
Strange though it may be, could I still be dreaming?
Uzuki: Ah, it's natural enough that you're worried about this...
Did she notice my staring? (Yeah, I'll bet she did. With me looking at it so seriously.) Thus she speaks as she sheathes the katana in a gold colored scabbard.
"Shaa!" except, making none of the prominent sounds you'd expect from a period drama, it was done very quietly.
Uzuki: This sword, "Ito," is a "fukuma" long sword, you see. (TN: The kanji for "I-to" consist of "rope" and "the Big Dipper," respectively.)
Kei: "Fukuma"?
Uzuki: "Prostrating demon." In other words, it contains a special power to make evil spirits submit.
Kei: Umm, like a protection charm?
Uzuki: ......Something like that.
Though I had nearly no confidence about it, it would seem I was mostly right.
In fact, considering how gorgeous it is, with gold coloring from hilt to sheath, it has more the feel of a charm than something you'd actually use. Yeah, like those. The decorative swords the dolls carry in the Boys' May Festival.
Kei: Ah, but, why do you need something like that?
Uzuki: Kei-san, do you believe in the existence of "rei", by any chance?
Kei: Umm, by "rei", you mean the "rei" from "yuurei", ......right? (Yuurei = ghost. "Rei," by itself, denotes "spirit" or "soul.")
Speaking frankly, I find it a little hard to believe.
However, it's true that I came out here because I thought I sensed a presence from my room.
Kei: ......A little.
A fairly noncommittal answer on my part, but it seems to have satisfied her.
Uzuki: That makes things simple enough. I'll have you believe whatever you like, but let's just say that I'm a human who leans in that direction.
Speaking thus, Uzuki-san takes out a small sheaf of vertical writing paper.
Some complicated kanji-like characters or patterns are vividly inscribed upon it in ink.
Kei: Paper charms?
Uzuki: Demon-banishing charms. I'll let you have them.
Kei: Eh? Why give them to me?
Uzuki: Just now I sensed such a presence in this area. If you paste these in the four corners of your room, nothing that isn't atypically strong will be capable of entry.
Uzuki: It had already dispersed by the time I got here, though.
Uzuki: Anyway, it's little more than a precaution. Feel free to take them.
Kei: Ah, thank you.
......Could it be, the girl from...
Maybe that strangely vivid dream was also showing me something unordinary...?
Uzuki: Well, then, Kei-san, I wish you a sound, peaceful sleep.
Kei: Ah, yeah, good night.
Continue...