Chapter 435. Soul Exchange. (7/7)

“Uh… Ran? Rosa? Where are yuh?”

Huh?

When I suddenly heard the familiar voice I was more puzzled than anything. It naturally wasn’t Rosa’s, nor was it a ghost. But… why was she here?

I retrieved my phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it in the direction I heard Dawn’s voice.

“Dawn, is that you?”

“Uh… yeah, it is.”

“Do you see my light?”

“Oh! Yeah, I do. So that’s where yuh were.”

“What are you doing out here?”

I was naturally on guard. Why the hell did she come here at this hour?

“I… uh… I realized I forgot to pay yuh back the money I promised I would.”

“Hah?” I’d intentionally not brought it up with her before I left to use it as insurance. Insurance in the event she hadn’t offered me her address. That way I could guarantee to go to her place when it was time to collect. It was a pretty convenient excuse to go to her place later on.

Somehow it seems to have backfired on me and she instead came back after she went home. It was pretty clear she’d gone home since she wouldn’t be able to pay otherwise.

A light suddenly appeared a short distance away and not long after Dawn stepped out from behind a tree.

“You seriously came to pay me back… at this late hour of the night?”

“Yeah.”

“You know… you could have just waited until morning.”

“I was afraid I’d miss yuh, I didn’t know when the two of yuh would leave.”

“You could have just texted Rosa.”

“Ah. I coulda, couldn’t I?”

This airheaded country girl. Remember you have a phone damn it! Someone from the city would never forget something so obvious.

“Oh well, I’m already here. Unless yuh want me to leave without paying.”

“Haaaaaah. It’s fine, I’ll just take the money now. It’d be a waste of your time otherwise.”

Dawn approached the tent I was inside, handed over the money but suddenly asked when she realized Rosa’s absence, “Is Rosa not in the tent with yuh?”

“No, she’s taking care of something really quick. She should be back in a minute.”

“I see.”

With Dawn close enough and my flashlight illuminating her figure, I suddenly noticed something on her white-collared shirt under her brown mini vest. There were a few wet spots that looked like raindrops had soaked in.

“Did it start raining?” I quizzically held my hand out outside the tent but didn’t feel any rain. I would have heard it inside the tent as well if it had started to drizzle.

“No, it didn’t start raining. I think there were some critters up in the trees taking a leak on my way here or something. I had the bad luck to pass under one.”

When I heard her explanation and realized the direction she came from was in the general direction Rosa and I had been… the pieces of the puzzle fell into place on their own.

No… why was this girl so damn unlucky? I want to cry for her.

“It’s not a big deal, living on a farm I’m pretty used to animals. Trust me, it’s much better than gettin blasted in the face by a cow’s explosive diarrhea. I’ve been on the receivin end of it before.”

“Don’t get used to that!” A golden shower from another woman isn’t something you should be used to!

“What’re yuh freakin out about? It’s just a little bita pee.”

No wonder Rosa was taking so long, she was probably digging a hole to bury herself in right about now.

“Right… if you say so.” I did my best to not give anything away and tried to play it cool.

A light suddenly caught my attention from the corner of my eye in the direction Dawn came from. Rather than light from a flashlight, it was Rosa’s soul. I brought her soul into focus and confirmed the color was currently bright red, signifying embarrassment. 

Rosa had peeked her head out from around a tree just enough to keep one eye on us. I couldn’t see her expression, but the current color of her soul gave me a good idea. Her expression right now was no doubt an extremely perplexed one. She definitely knew exactly what she’d accidentally done.

“Rosa, aren’t you going to come out now?” Her soul momentarily flashed orange before it changed to a blood-red shade. I suppose the orange signified her surprise at being discovered by me and the blood-red signified her desire to kill me right now.

Honestly, this particular feature might not be so useless. It was essentially a Rosa beacon. As an assassin, she was surely sneaky and could go around undetected, but with this bright beacon on her all the time, she couldn’t hide from me at all.

Ah. I turned my attention back to Dawn when I realized I couldn’t see her soul. Was she a special case? No, I hadn’t seen anyone else yet. It might only be Rosa’s soul I can see right now.

If I could see Dawn’s soul though, what would it look like if it was damaged as I suspected?

“Rosa’s there? Where do yuh see her? I don’t see a thing in the direction you’re looking.”

“She’s behind that tree spying on us.” I pointed at the tree in question. It was easy for me to spot her with the light given off by her soul.

Rosa moved to another tree.

“I don’t even see the tree you’re pointing at. Are yuh just making things up or seeing things?”

“She moved to hide behind the tree over there now.”

Rosa was fuming and I honestly found it hilarious.

“You must have really good eyesight to see her with how dark it is.”

“Haaaaaah, I am here.” Realizing she could remain hidden, she spoke up, walked out from behind the tree, and headed toward us.

“Wow, yuh were right. Why was she hiding and watching us from there instead of coming out though?”

“Why? That is…” Rosa blamingly looked to me for an answer for dragging her out from her hiding spot.

“She’s embarrassed because she was the one who-”

How would you like to die?

I shut my mouth. She silenced me with a single look. Her chin tilted upward, her head angled to the right, combined with crazy eyes, and slightly parted lips which seemed to ask me whether those were the final words I had before I departed from this world.

“Huh? She was the one who what?”

“Nothing. He was going to make something up. I was really just curious about whether my boyfriend was having a secret rendezvous with you behind my back so I remained hidden.”

“It’s nothing of the sort! I’m just here to pay him back for the battery he paid for because I was short on funds.”

“Relax, I was just teasing you a bit.”

Dawn let out a relieved sigh.

“Well, now that I’ve delivered the money I owed him… I should really head back. I wouldn’t want to be a bother by overstaying my welcome and getting between the two of yuh.”

“Nonsense, there’s no such thing. Since you already came all the way out here, you should stick around for some scary campfire stories.”

Huh? Weren’t we going to sleep? When did we agree on telling scary stories?

Her eyes conveyed, ‘You reap what you sow, jerk.’

Ah, I see. It was my punishment for teasing her too much.

“But-”

“No buts, we should get you changed out of that shirt for now. I’ll lend you something to wear for the time being.”

“Huh? It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine at all. It’s unsanitary.”

“Uh… if yuh say so. But…”

Will it fit me? I’m pretty sure she wanted to ask that, but she stopped.

Rosa’s lips twitched, but she didn’t get mad.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Rosa stepped inside the tent, pushed me out, and dragged Dawn in.

“Start the fire while Dawn’s changing.” Rosa dished out that order before she zipped up the tent.

“Haaaaah.”

Just when I thought the day was over… it’s going to be a long night.

I suppose this was what it felt like when going into overtime during a basketball game.

By the time I got the fire started back up again, the tent opened up and Dawn exited first. She wasn’t wearing Rosa’s clothes, but the sweater I’d been wearing up until a little while ago. I’d taken it off when I got back to the tent while waiting for Rosa.

I didn’t bother to say anything about it. Helpless, I resigned myself to two hours of telling scary campfire stories. The only convenient thing about being an author was that coming up with stories to tell wasn’t all too difficult. 

Over the last few days, we’d done this a lot.

By the two-hour mark, Dawn’s head started to unconsciously dip down before jerking back up. When I finished the story I was telling, Dawn suddenly said, “I should really get going now. If I stay any longer I won’t be able to drive home safely.”

Rosa countered, “Just stay together with us for the night. It’d probably be pretty dangerous to head home now with how tired you look already.”

“But-”

“No buts, it wouldn’t be funny if you dozed off while driving. You shouldn’t take risks with your life like that.”

“Aren’t I being a nuisance after sticking around for this long though?”

“I don’t think you’re a nuisance at all. In fact, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your company tonight and I’m sure Ran feels the same way.”

“Is it… really fine… if I stay?” Dawn nervously looked over at me and asked.

“Haaaaaah. Sure, whatever. I don’t really care at this point. Whatever lets me go to sleep sooner. I just want to pass out already.”

“Then… I’ll let my dad know.”

“I’m surprised your dad was fine with you coming here at this hour and even staying out this late. Did you even tell him or did you just sneak out?” When she brought up her father, I couldn’t help but ask. What sort of father lets their daughter go out this late? Well, I get that she was 18 and all… but still.

“He knows… I also let him know when I was inside the tent earlier that I’d be out for longer than expected.”

“Isn’t your dad a bit too easygoing?” I mean if it was me, I’d definitely tell her to wait until morning. But then again, that’s considering the fact that I live in a big city where crime is quite high. I guess out here crime wasn’t as big a concern as it was in the city. The bigger concern would probably be wild animals darting out onto the road in the middle of the night.

“Uh… maybe. He does give me a lot of freedom to do what I want. In fact… he’s the one who told me to…”

“He’s the one who told you to what?”

“He says a bunch of weird things.”

“Weird things? Like what?”

“It’s nothing. Forget I said that.”

I was curious but too tired to actually continue conversing any further.

“I’m going to sleep then. I’m exhausted and want to pass out.”

“What? Already?” Rosa asked with a mischievous smile.

“Yeah. What about you?”

“Me? I still want to stay up a bit and chat with Dawn, but you’re free to go to sleep. Just keep in mind though, what happens when you go to sleep first at a sleepover.”

“I don’t care. What’s the worst you’re going to do? I trust Dawn will keep you in check. Dawn, I trust that you won’t let her do anything weird to me while I’m asleep and you’ll stop her if she tries, right?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah. I wouldn’t do anything weird.”

“Good, I’ll hold you to your word.”

“What~ that’s so boring~ you’re supposed to be my ally here Dawn. I’m the one who’s your friend here, aren’t I~ we even have each other’s numbers~” Rosa whined as she wrapped her arms around down from her side.

I didn’t bother to listen any further. I zipped up the tent, crawled into the sleeping back, and immediately passed out. As long as I fell asleep first when Rosa wasn’t around, I wouldn’t have to deal with that bright light around her keeping me up.

I’d just have to adapt and get used to it. Given enough time, I’m sure I’ll eventually figure out a way to control what I see.