Chapter 4

04. I’ve become a neighbor of the heroine.

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Why are you here……?

As soon as I saw the person standing at the door, I hardened.

“Hi……”

But for now, I also responded to her wishes. Then a radiant smile rose on her face. It was a woman like a dewy lily of the valley who visited my house. The thin and fine hair like silver thread was glittering transparently in the sunlight at noon, and the soft green eyes like freshly bloomed leaves were singing. Her eyes, which looked as if they were gentle with drooping tails, projected me in them.

“It’s so nice to see a woman of my age living right next door!”

As she said that, there was a hint of joy in her face.

“I’ve moved around a few times, and every time there was no one around me or my sister and her age.”

I thought it said ‘I am friendly’ in her eyes. I felt a little burdened because it looked as if I were a friend of the future. By the way, I’m sure she introduced her name as Annmarie. Then is it really right? She’s the female lead. At first, I doubted it, but I didn’t think there would be a woman in the world who looked the same as the novel’s description left in my memory, or who would have the best appearance in the world.

Besides, she lives with her sister. Then why did the heroine move next door…? When I was lost in though, the girl who introduced herself as Annmarie said something.

“Well, I heard from a neighbor, who I just happened to meet, that you’re working for the largest coffee house in the neighborhood. Is it the right store on Ferret Street?”

I heard the following question and I stopped.

“Yes, that is correct.”

Since I got out of the lab, I’ve been living like a normal person since I got a job. I moved here to work at a coffee house on Ferret Street from about two years ago.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

I thought I’d save some money and settle down, I decided to take a day to find a good place to live alone. I stopped at a nearby cafe and drank a cup of coffee. After looking around the surrounding landscape, I turned my head a little later, and there were many customers around me. The store’s business seemed to be good. But when I was leaving, the owner of the place suddenly jumped out and asked me if I could start working here. Of course the offer felt absurd and I tried to refuse. But if things didn’t work out, I could just come out of the store and sit still. So I ended up getting a job on Ferret Street on unfavorable terms. I am given a day off once a week, and during that time I usually stay at home. So it was true that Annmarie heard something from the other neighbors. I don’t know exactly who the neighbors are that told her this, but it’s probably from the mouth of the pawn shop owner or Mrs. Mary Elle at the repair shop. They’re the only two in Grey Ferret who like to talk to others that way. I don’t think they heard the warning I gave them last time about not leaking personal information to people like this. After eating the fragments of the remains at the institute, I was somewhat dulled by the emotions of the people. So I wasn’t particularly angry or offended, but the fact that somebody was still spreading stories about me was a little annoying. But Annmarie noticed. Seeing my awkward reaction, her eyes flashed a glimmer of regret and remorse.

“Ah……I’m sorry to ask you this kind of personal question when we’ve never met, I was rude, wasn’t I?”

Soon she apologized to me in a hurry as if she had made a mistake.

“Well, I’m going to work at the clinic across the street starting from tomorrow. So I was surprised that you were my neighbor but also near the place where I work, and so I was so forward and kind of rude.”

In explaining so, she was at a loss.

……It’s like our Coco.

The sight of Annmarie reminded me of a puppy I had raised in my previous life. Her drooping ears and tail seemed to overlap. If anyone saw her with such a sad expression, they wouldn’t be able to stay angry. I wasn’t even mad at her in the first place. Moreover, perhaps because she reminded me of Coco, a more softer voice came out of my mouth.

“It’s okay, if you work at a medical clinic, I’ll often see you out in the future.”

You’re going to work in a clinic more than me. You’re the real heroine of the novel. I was just saying something, but the woman standing in front of me laughed as if she were really happy. She smiled like a main character. She must have had a hard time coming here to save her sister after the family collapsed, but she didn’t show that to a surprising extent. But this is not the house where the main character lived at the time of the novel, is it? I think there’s still a year or two left before the novel starts, and I’m sure she moved to a shabby house. But this is one of the best places around here. Do you happen to live here and move to a smaller house because of the cry of Gose? Somehow the idea seemed right. Seeing such an innocent person, I felt that somehow it would be hard to raise money from the bottom. When I rolled from the bottom of the ladder, I could feel the way I imagined it. The woman in front of me right now smelled like a pure, good-natured girl who couldn’t doubt anyone, to say the least, it smelled like a good catch. In the novel, she brought an unidentified man who was lying in front of her house and treated him with utmost care. The author added episodes that emphasize her goodness in several novels, whether she intended to make the main character a saint. As a result, a bad person who tried to use Annmarie and tried to harm the story appeared. And they were punished for it in the hands of Lakis, the neglected villain-servant.

Of course that doesn’t mean he was good.

In any case……

It’s probably not her final destination, as Annmarie just said, “I’ve often moved before.” I’ve been looking back, but I can’t remember the address of the main character’s home in the novel. Still, at the beginning of the novel, she lived in a hot place where the male leads and side characters got in, so such a lonely place could not have been the main stage. Then at least next year or the next, the main character will move out. I don’t really intend to be close to her, but I thought I’d at least be a neighbor for a while.

“You can call me Yuri.”

“Oh my that’s a really pretty name.”

Arachne was the name I was given in the lab, and when I was living in the slums I didn’t have a name. So now I was using the name of my previous life.

“Well, by the way……”

Then, as if remembering something she had forgotten, Annmarie asked me a question. But somehow she couldn’t talk easily.

“……I hear there’s a ghost in my house, is that true?”

When I heard her question, I lost my voice and didn’t know how to respond.

“Of course I don’t believe in superstitions like that, but I’m afraid my sister will be scared when she hears about them……”

But her cheeks were a little flushed, so I didn’t believe it. I told her without hesitation.

“Don’t worry—it’s a false rumor.”

The reason it was rumored to be a haunted house next door was because of me. But I couldn’t say that. It’s a rumor when I moved here for the first time, but it’s gone on too long. However, she was relieved to hear that it was not true.

“Is that so? People said that this house had been empty for a while before I came in. I guess that’s why there’s a rumor.”

While listening to her, I felt a prick of conscience that I had been lost. After all, I was so nervous that I wanted to buy a house like this. No one has entered the house for about a year and a half because of the rumor that ghosts are coming out. Oh, maybe that’s why she bought the house a little cheaper. But when Annmarie said that, I had no choice but to stay silent.