Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou

Chirp, chirp, chirp. Chirpity-chirp.

Good morning!

Looks like you overslept again, huh?

Did you get enough sleep?

Yeah.

I'm...

Suzuki-san, good morning.

I...

Good morning, Yushi-kun!

Good morning!

I'm really back!

Good morning!

Tempura soba! And such pretty temari sushi!

And the sauce for the ankake soba is just perfect!

The squid and spring vegetable tempura is good, too!

It's nice and crispy!

Da...

Da...

Da...

Da?

Da smell of dashi broth!

Soba! Sushi! Japanese food!

Oh, Furuhonya-san! Welcome back.

Sixth Haunting Petit Hierozoicon

It's so good!

I love it!

Furuhonya-san lives here.

He hasn't been back for a year or so, though.

You're the best, Ruriko-chan! The best!

You really are the best chef!

How I've missed you this past year and a half!

This rice, these pickled vegetables, they're the best!

But where have you been that you ended up like that?

He's ready to drink already.

I've been journeying from Africa to the Middle East.

And all over the countryside, too.

There wasn't even anything I could stand to eat,

let alone Japanese food.

Furuhonya, do you sell old books?

That's right.

I was looking for a book of spells called The Black Mary

that's a mix of early Christianity and African folk religion.

I never did find it, though.

I see...

But I did find a lot of interesting stuff,

like the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Book of Adventures,

and The Book of the Multiverse.

Those are all extremely famous magical books...

I don't know if I believe they exist.

Well, they're things you could never get via normal methods!

Another shady guy...

I do love Japanese tea.

So who are you?

So late!

Oh, you're new here, huh?

Sorry, sorry.

Yushi-kun loves books, too.

I bet you'll get along, huh?

Right...

Want to see?

Amazing, right?

For example, the Voynich manuscript. One of the rarest books of them all.

In the year 1912,

a bookseller named Voynich found a manuscript in a certain temple and copied it into this.

It's said that Roger Bacon wrote the manuscript in the 13th century,

but it contains drawings of sunflowers,

which should have only become known to Europe in the 15th century,

illustrations of sperm and ovum, concepts which didn't even exist yet,

as well as a drawing of the Andromeda Galaxy!

Well? Amazing, huh?

It's the original Venus in Furs!

You've got The 120 Days of Sodom, too!

Hey, if you're not buying, then put them back!

I think there's a limit to how many books you can fit in a trunk.

Is there some kind of trick to it?

That feels strange.

Did something unusual get mixed in with them?

Strange?

It's easy for people's emotions to gather in books.

They're collections of words with will.

Especially magic books.

And used books are ones that were, well, used, so...

This is it!

What's this, Furuhonya-san?

Hmm, what was that again?

Somebody at a flea market gave it to me for free as a bonus.

It didn't feel dangerous.

Is it an artbook of tarot cards?

The names are weird, right?

For instance, card 1 in tarot is the Magician, right?

This picture is the Magician,

but I can't read the name on the card.

What is that?

A code? Ancient script?

I've never seen it, either.

Furuhonya-san, this book is probably...

Sealed.

Sealed?

It has some power, but that power has been locked away so it can't be used.

That's why we can't read the names of the pictures.

So I got lucky, huh?

A real magic book!

A magic book?

Thanks, Akine-chan.

I owe your sensors big time!

What will you do with it?

Books like this can be tricky to handle,

but collectors will pay a ton for them.

I should've figured.

Yup.

So I'll see if it's safe for you.

I'll have master take a look at it before I tell you if it's safe to sell.

What? No...

You don't want to have to deal with some weird power, right?

A magic book, huh?

So they really exist.

Okay, I'm off to work!

In England, parapsychology is a recognized field of study.

Not only is "magician" a real job there,

but it has its own status.

So sometimes it's actually harder to have things printed there,

and so they're brought to Japan or published here.

This book, written by a real man named Aleister Crowley,

is one example.

But still, there were all kinds of problems with it,

and it caused a big fuss.

Reimei-san, you know what I mean, right?

You deal with words for a living.

That's right.

Sometimes I put words down on a page and they turn into something different.

Something different?

The printed word is a tricky thing.

More than images or sculptures.

For example, the Venus de Milo.

Some people say that if it had both its arms,

it wouldn't be as famous as it is today.

That's because your imagination can fill in what the missing arms might have looked like.

The printed word gives you the biggest opportunity to use your imagination, right?

That's where we get the word 'kotodama,' or a word of power.

That's right.

When I wasn't fitting in at my uncle's house,

my one source of entertainment was words.

They could take me anywhere.

I could be anyone.

There are probably a lot of people who see

the demon-summoning rituals in this book and actually try them.

Maybe some of them even succeed.

That's what makes books scary.

They become a catalyst to amplify humanity's latent abilities.

Is that what Akine-chan meant by emotions building up in them?

Let's drink!

These people...

Well, magic books have nothing to do with me.

This is paradise.

This apartment is the best!

Yeah, I missed it, too.

I was gone for six months.

Why did you come back?

Because...

I was lonely.

No, what am I saying?

It's fun here, ain't it?

Yeah!

Hey, what are you talking about?

Let me join!

Mariko-san, this is the men's bath!

This one's bigger, though!

Mariko-chan hasn't changed a bit huh?

That was a little too much fanservice.

She's a ghost. She's not supposed to be that visible.

Ryu-san doesn't mind.

She's not actually physically there, though.

That's what he said.

Wow.

Okay, night!

I'm tired.

What a long day.

But...

I feel good.

I'm going to hang out with Hase tomorrow.

He'll be happy I came back.

Someday, I want to invite him here.

What will he think?

Of course, he'll be surprised.

But I'm sure...

Good evening.

Huh?

I thought I was asleep.

It's an honor to meet you, Master.

My name is Fool.

It's a pleasure to meet you!

After such a long long journey, we have finally met a master,

and we are so very happy!

I hope this is the start of a long— don't go to sleep, Master!

Quiet. I'm tired.

If you want to play, go visit someone else!

Wait!

This is the time of day when your channel opened!

Please, listen to me, Master!

Who's your master?