Claude was with the little girl. After fighting against a group of people, he walked around the city without any aim. He remembered that on the dawn, the little girl said that she liked to eat oranges. Because they had nothing to do, he wanted to buy her a few oranges, though she disappeared before he suggested. Now that the sun had set, he gave her a basket full of oranges that he bought on the noon.

The little girl looked at it in silence. She didn’t accept his gift.

Claude asked, “say, because you don’t want to tell me your name, do you mind if I call you Orange?”

“... Big brother… you know that I can’t touch anything right?”

She replied with an unrelated question. Her little eyebrows were knitted together. That indignant expression was directed toward him. A little sunlight was still left in this sunset. If people were able to see her, they would notice that her body was translucent. A little push toward her body, and it will be known that the hand would travel past her body.

Claude almost dropped the basket. He honestly had forgotten that. This… he didn’t know what to do. A cluster of leaves suddenly floated around them. Though it was already spring, Claude still felt the cold even with his thick robe. He was too embarrassed to apologize. In the first place, who in the world didn’t know that ghosts can’t touch anything?

For the sake of justification, the little girl was actually not a ghost. Claude didn’t know how to differentiate each of them, he only knew when the little girl carelessly told him. But still, Claude blamed all this stupid mistake toward the unclear rules surrounding the ghosts, lingering thoughts, or souls. Even in the night before, didn’t the little girl touch his sleeve? But why now she can’t touch even these oranges?

“Umm… then how about I call you Touch?”

He brushed off her question and shamelessly proposed a new nickname for her.

Claude then continued, “then, let’s go!”

With that, he walked with a rushed step. He didn’t even ask her consent of her new nickname.

“Big brother! Wait!”

Touch followed behind him. Short were her legs, she tried so hard to chase after him. Her shoulder-length hair wavered, not because of the wind, but from the rushed steps she took.

This pair walked particularly to nowhere. When they didn’t know what to do anymore, Claude remembered something. It was so random and sudden. Though the content was too important.

“Right! Do you know where you can find the strongest ghost in this city, Touch?”

…Why did she feel that it sounded like a pet name? But to come back to his question, she suddenly felt a fluctuation sense of familiarity inside her non-existent heart. But she didn’t even understand why she had this feeling, and to be honest, she didn’t know even a bit about this city. She knew that humans grew starting from their birth. It was not strange when they can still remember a childhood memory even though it was already forty years ago, and for Touch, she had already knew that her memory of her past life was non-existent. There was a void in her memory. She remembered that the first time she started to have ‘conscious’, she didn’t even know why she existed in the first place. At first, she thought she was a ghost, but then she realized that she was actually just a ‘lingering thoughts’.

“—Touch? Hey?! What happened to you?!”

The sight of when Touch suddenly stopped walking and just stood on the street like a stone statue made Claude worried. He placed his face so close in front of her face. His hands tried to shake her shoulders, however, unlike what she said earlier, he easily touched her. Claude didn’t care about this recent discovery, he just shook her shoulders mightily, forgetting the fact that she was just a little girl(the exact answer that did the lingering thoughts can feel pain or not was still debatable for Claude).

Because of Claude’s violence, Touch woke up from her daze.

“Waa—what?”

When Claude saw Touch returned, he released a relieved sigh.

“Thanks goodness, I thought you caught a ghost fever.”

“...What is a ghost fever?”

“You don’t need to know.”

With that, this pair stopped talking. The street suddenly became eerie quiet. Though it was because Claude wanted that to be so. He didn’t want to walk in a street full of crowd and to be seen as a maniac when he talked with Touch. It was in the deepest regret of his that there were only a few people who can see Touch.

Claude asked, “well?”

“What?”

“You know… about the strongest ghost.”

“Oh, right.”

She then of course answered truthfully, the fact that she didn’t know anything.

Suddenly, a drizzle fell down.

It ticked quietly when it touched the ground. The pair looked at above. They just realized that the sky was cloudy. It was a group of grey clouds. The clouds in the west had been converted into orange colour, but the clouds above them seemed to try opposite it. The contrast created a depressing atmosphere.

The sound of falling rain water became louder. The rain was getting heavier. That moment, Claude realized that he didn’t have an umbrella with him.

“Touch, do you know any place where we can buy an umbrella?”

Touch nodded vigorously. They then rushed away from the street.

It was when Claude was almost fully drenched in water that they arrived in the front of a convenience store. Claude hurriedly opened the door and reached inside. The interior only seemed to be colder than the outside. The accumulation of coldness from the air conditioners almost made Claude shiver.

Claude slowly walked toward the cashier. He asked him about the umbrella. The cashier then pointed toward the place where Claude can find it. Claude straightaway went there.

“Big brother.”

Touch suddenly said when she had determined that they had already left from the presence of other people.

“What is it?”

“Well… though I don’t know if it can help, but if you really want to know about this ‘strongest ghost’, I think you can go to Māra temple. I heard the priests there like to deal with our kind.”

Māra, one of the six primary gods. Even though Claude came from the countryside, he nevertheless still knew about this god. At first, Claude thought he can find this strongest ghost with just running around the city and trying to sense the negative energy. In the end, this method failed as the city was too big. Claude really can’t underestimate this city again.

But hearing Touch’s suggestion, Claude finally felt hopeless. It seemed that there was really no other way. He thought he can still do this without any other person’s help. Well, gazing at the little girl beside him, it looked like he already got a help even at the very start of him reaching this city.

“Yeah… it looks like there’s no other way. We’ll go there after we buy the umbrella, all right?”

“Sure! I know the way too! I’ll lead you there.”

Claude then stopped. In front of him was a group of umbrellas arranged neatly. Claude specially chose a white umbrella and went off toward the cashier.

“It’s 4.300, please.”

Claude took out his money from one of the pockets inside the backpack carried behind him. He then paid the required money.

“Thank you for buying in this place. Please do come again.”

Claude smiled at the cashier when he heard it. He politely left the store.

The rain was already heavy. Thick rain water continuously fell toward the earth. Claude opened the umbrella. It was then that he saw that Touch tried to walk directly under the rain.

“Hey, Touch! Come on, walk beside me. It’s not healthy to walk under the rain like that!”

He shouted as the rain almost blocked their voice.

Touch equally shouted, “I’m not a human, big brother! It’s not like I can get drenched like you!”

“What do you mean?! Do you think I’m gonna let a little girl like you walk alone?!”

With that, he walked toward her and moved the umbrella above them.

“The umbrella’s too big anyway. I can’t use it just for myself. This kind of umbrella’s to be used with another person.”

He didn’t shout this time. The distance of them was near. Though the rain was loud, but it was as if, when they talked under this umbrella, the world would be silenced and their words will be heard crystal clear.

The sight of this big brother made Touch laugh. Though she didn’t know why he wanted to find the ‘strongest ghost’ in the city, but it seemed like she can laugh everyday if she was with him.

Thus, they walked away under the heavy rain. The direction this time was clear. They were going to a Māra temple. If people were to see this scene, they would see a certain alone person used an umbrella that was too big to be used alone. He strangely bent the umbrella slightly to the right side, as if there was another person beside him. But even so, to them, he was still a only a person who liked to use a big umbrella only for himself.