Yokai Read Online Free PDF Page A

looked at her wearing it. Especially in this
part of town. She had a bright pink bag over one shoulder with
Asuka from Neon Genesis: Evangelion on it, giving the peace sign. Several keychains of
other anime characters dangled from the zipper, clinking together
loudly.
    “ Hey, Reina,” Yumiko said,
with less enthusiasm. Reina was one of the girls who worked the
front desk at the love hotel, and she thought that Yumiko was a
good friend of hers for some reason, often barging into Madame
Mori’s space and chatting up a storm. She didn’t really take hints.
And she was utterly boy crazy. “How’s it going?”
    Reina took a seat on a stool at the
end of the bar and dropped her bag to the floor with a loud sigh.
“I think I’m going to die an old maid.”
    Yumiko blinked at her. “I highly doubt
that.”
    “ Oh, what do you know?”
Reina pouted. “I went to karaoke with this guy I used to go to
school with, and after two songs, he said he had to go. And he,
like, went ! I
totally paid for the room and everything!”
    Yumiko shifted awkwardly on her feet.
She wasn’t exactly the sort of person to give out advice in the
love department. She’d never even had a boyfriend. She was too
focused on her training to make time for one. She’d even dropped
out of high school to pursue her calling. Boys were…troublesome
distractions.
    “ You’re probably better off
without him,” Yumiko said, slowly. “At least he didn’t waste your
time, and you can date other guys now.”
    “ But what didn’t he like
about me?” Reina whined.
    “ Here’s your rice, dear!”
Mrs. Wada appeared in the window, pushing a tray with two steaming
cups of rice, and chopsticks, her way.
    “ Thank you,” Yumiko said,
bowing her head before grabbing the tray, and thanking her lucky
stars that she’d been saved from answering Reina’s
question.
    But Reina wasn’t going to
let her off the hook that easily. She followed Yumiko up the hall
to Madame Mori’s library. “I mean, I’m pretty, right? Like, really pretty.”
    “ Of course,” Yumiko
murmured.
    Reina looked away. “I mean,
I’m not pretty like you , but few people are. I’m totally above average, though. And I
diet like crazy for this figure.”
    Yumiko paused at the
statement. Pretty? People thought that she
was pretty?
    “ If nobody wants me anyway,
what am I counting calories for, right?” Reina babbled on as Yumiko
slipped off her sandals and stepped through the beaded curtain. “I
should just eat chocolate and be fat and happy then.”
    Yumiko turned to Reina as she reached
the opening to the library. “Reina. You’re going to find someone
else. He was just a dumb guy. There are plenty of others, and I’m
sure there’s a perfect guy out there, made for you.”
    “ Really?” Reina asked, eyes
wide, as she clasped her hands together, as if wishing very hard
for Yumiko’s words to be true.
    “ Really,” Yumiko said
firmly, then lifted the tray in her hands. “Now, I need to have
dinner.”
    Reina nodded, looking relieved.
“Thanks, Yumiko.” She touched Yumiko’s elbow. “You’re a good
listener.”
    Yumiko frowned. “You’re
welcome?”
    Reina leaned into the room and waved
at the desk in back. “Good evening, Madame Mori!”
    “ Good evening,” Mori
replied, without looking up.
    Then, with another smile in Yumiko’s
direction, and a little bounce in her step, Reina skipped back
across the foyer and out through the curtain.
    Yumiko let out a sigh of relief and
walked the tray of rice to the back of the room. Madame Mori stood
and pulled aside a sliding paper door that led to a small
antechamber, this one with a table low to the floor, with cushions
on either side, as well as several more cushions against the wall.
When a client called on Master Mori, she would serve them tea here
to discuss their yokai problem. But most of the time, they used it
as a dining room for just the two of them.
    Setting down the bowls and chopsticks,
Yumiko kneeled on her