"Am I hallucinating?" The floating child nodded sardonically, and said it in a soft childlike voice, 

"Took him long enough, I thought he'd dig his arms out." Fuzen furrowed his eyebrow as he stared at the little apparition. It continued to hover and look around, it sighed and pinched its nose, 

"It's so stinky in here, I hope that Miyamoto-sensei comes soon. I can't believe I've been stuck in such a hell-hole for so long." The little apparition puffed out its chest for a moment and said proudly, 

"Any other house spirit wouldn't last this long." It made a muscle with its left arm and nodded in satisfaction, 

"Yep, I'm super strong." Seeing the little spirit go on, Fuzen was dumbfounded. 'What the hell is this little thing?' Fuzen searched his memories, and couldn't come up with anything. That is, until it called itself a house spirit, upon realization, Fuzen softly spoke his guess. 

"Zashiki-warashi?" Upon hearing this, the little spirit's red face turned pink, and its expression was a mix of shock and fear. It gave out a little scream and shot backwards straight towards the bathroom, looking at him wearily by poking its little head out from the edge of the doorway. Its voice was tinged with fear when it unsuredly asked,

"You can see me?" Fuzen placed his hand on his forehead feeling a headache coming on and spit out, 

"You didn't know?"

"If I knew, would I be so close to you, you crazy bastard!?" 

"Where do you get off on calling me crazy when you're talking to yourself?" The Zashiki-warashi stomped its little feet at the precipice of the bathroom and yelled shrilly at Fuzen while its face turned a bright shade of red, 

"What do you know!? I'm the only here anymore ever since..." The Zashiki-warashi shut its lips tight and looked fearfully at Fuzen. Fuzen didn't know how, or even really want to deal with this cantankerous little apparition, but finding out you have been spied on in your own home comes with a great deal of severity. Furthermore, based on what the little spirit said, there were others. Fuzen didn't really know how to silence spiritual witnesses, nor did he really plan to, but if word got out in the spirit community that he made a deal with a snake demon, he feared that his untimely death would approach quicker than he anticipated. Fuzen carefully asked, 

"Who used to be here?" The little apparition's face scrunched up and turned a bright shade of red, it began to berate him,

"Useless thing! Unfilial Child! Treacherous creature!" It pointed its little finger and began to huff as curses spilled from its mouth without taking a break as if it were afraid that if it stopped, it wouldn't cover all the curses. Fuzen wasn't particularly angry, watching this show, he was actually rather amused, he couldn't help but giggle and say, 

"Aren't you too small to be my mother?" The little apparition placed its hands on its hips and said with gusto,

"It's a good thing I can't give birth to a vile thing like you. Else, I'd be dead for sure!" Fuzen shook his head and laughed, 

"I not that bad, you don't need to kill yourself over such a thing to do you?" The little apparition made a gesture as if it was spitting and said, 

"Who said anything about killing myself? You'd cut me to death before I had a chance! Parent killer!" Fuzen's good mood vanished, and his face become cold and his voice icy, 

"I think you're mistaking me for someone else." The little apparition face turned into a light red, and it hid behind the bathroom door. Its voice was small and shaky when it said, 

"No, don't you hear their voices in your head?" At the beginning of the sentence, a vein almost burst out of his forehead, you could accuse him  of a lot of things and be right, but he wouldn't take the blame for that little girl. However, hearing the second half, he was confused and couldn't help but feel a chill as he asked,

"Why?" Tears were rolling down its face as it asked in contempt,

"You don't even know that?" Fuzen wanted to retort, but he didn't understand why this little things mental state collapsed so quickly, it couldn't be because he got mad at it could it? The little spirit let out a hollow laugh and said softly, 

"You led that demon in there not even knowing? You never thought to ask? That little ceremony you did is a demonic spiritual strengthening method." Fuzen didn't really understand, but seeing as the little apparition was going to continue talking, he kept his tongue.

"It finds spirits, shatters them and absorbs them into the practitioners soul to strengthen it." Its expression shifted to anger, and it yelled out towards Fuzen, 

"Not only could you not take care of your sister, but you killed your parents just to save your own skin! I've never seen someone so vile!" Fuzen stood up and interrupted the little apparition, he didn't understand everything it said, but he did understand one thing. He killed their spirits. He did it. He murdered them. It couldn't be true, it mustn't be true. He had a single thread of hope, and he held onto it with every bit of his might when he asked,

"But I hear their voices, I hear their words, their admonishments and their disappointment. If what you said is true, that can't be dead. They must be alive. " Seeing his desperate expression, the little apparition's heart warmed a little, but it didn't hold back when it said,

"But that's all you heard, wasn't it? You can't talk to them about the past or their thoughts. Although they may react a little to certain things, they can't do much more than that. Those voices are a mix of things, of the thoughts of the souls before they vanish and what the practitioner thinks they would say." 

Fuzen collapsed back onto the ground, motionless, hopeless, filled with guilt. At the end of the day, all he could do was cry, he sobbed violently and tears ran non-stop down his face. He rolled up into a ball and sobbed and sobbed. The little apparition could not hold its tears either. Together they cried, and the only sound in this empty house were the sounds of sobbing.