The Woman in the Warm Light

The humming grew louder as Yuji and Megumi stepped through the open door. The warm light spilled into the hallway, casting long shadows behind them. The air was thick with the smell of old paper and something sweet, like rotting fruit hidden beneath perfume. Inside, the room was a perfect replica of a standard office floor—cubicles, potted plants, a water cooler—but everything was slightly off. The desks were arranged in a spiral pattern, their surfaces covered in sticky notes that fluttered as if stirred by a breeze, though the windows were sealed shut. At the center of the spiral sat a woman in a pale yellow dress, her back to them, her dark hair cascading down her shoulders. She was humming a lullaby, her fingers tracing patterns on a desk calendar. "Excuse me," Yuji said, his voice steady despite the chill crawling up his spine. "Are you lost? This floor isn't supposed to be here." The woman stopped humming. She turned her head slowly, revealing a face that was beautiful in a hollow, porcelain way. Her eyes were empty pits of black, and her smile was too wide, too sharp. "Lost? No, dear. I'm exactly where I belong. The question is, are you?" Megumi's hand went to his pocket, where he kept his cursed tools. "We're investigating this building. There's a curse here, and we're going to exorcise it." The woman laughed, a sound like breaking glass. "A curse? This building isn't cursed. It's blessed. I keep it safe. No accidents, no break-ins, no deaths. Everyone who works here goes home happy and healthy. Isn't that wonderful?" "At what cost?" Megumi asked, his eyes narrowing. The woman stood, her movements fluid and unnatural, as if her joints were hinged backward. She gestured to the sticky notes on the desks. "Each note is a promise. A little piece of someone's worry, their fear, their bad luck. I collect them all. I keep them here, in my home. And in return, I ask for one small thing." "What's that?" Yuji asked, his fists clenched. "Company," she whispered, and the lights flickered. The sticky notes rose into the air, swirling around her like a tornado of paper. "I've been alone for so long. The janitor visits, but he never stays. You two look strong. You'll last a long time." The door behind them slammed shut. The warm light turned cold and blue, and the woman's smile stretched to her ears. "Shadow: Nue!" Megumi shouted, summoning the owl-like shikigami. It swooped toward the woman, but she dissolved into a cloud of sticky notes, reforming behind them. "That's not very polite," she cooed, her voice now coming from everywhere at once. "I offer you a home, and you bring violence into it." Yuji grabbed Megumi's arm. "We need to find the core of this curse. The janitor said the twelfth floor only exists on weekends—maybe that's where her power is anchored." "Then we need to get out of here first," Megumi said, summoning another shikigami—a great white dog—to guard their backs. The sticky notes were plastering themselves to the walls, the ceiling, the floor, forming a cocoon around them. The woman's laughter echoed as the lights went out entirely.