“Misaki-san! If there was a cloud, you should’ve said so properly! Then I would’ve come even faster!”

  The moment she opened the door, Yuka, holding a spray bottle in one hand, blurted out.

  “…Yeah, yeah. I’ll be more careful next time.”

  She took a drink of her sake as if exasperated.

  “Hey, I can feed it, right? Where’s Cloudy?”

  As Yuka looked around the room restlessly, the two ghosts returned together with the cloudling drifting lazily.

  “Sorry. Cloudy said, ‘I want to go back to the room by myself,’ so we ended up taking a little longer.”

  Behind Sayuri, who said it proudly, Shinobu was giving a small round of applause, saying,

  “Cloudy, you did your best.”

  “Feeding it is fine, but is it hungry? And I don’t even know the proper amount, you know?”

  Misaki posed the question.

  “I don’t know if it’s hungry, but it seems to want water. I think it just absorbs what it needs.”

  While gently pushing the cloudling away as it showed interest in her sake, Misaki listened to Sayuri’s interpretation.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  However, Yuka seemed unable to hold back and was already holding up the spray bottle.

  “It’s okay now, right? Right?”

  Yuka glanced at Misaki’s expression.

  “You don’t need my permission.”

  With a sigh, she let out a “Yay!” as if to drown it out, then called out to the two ghosts, “Here I go!”

  Not wanting to miss the moment, Sayuri and Shinobu were staring at both the cloudling and the spray bottle.

  When Yuka pulled the lever, a fine mist of water fell over the cloudling.

  It stretched its form vertically and horizontally, as if in delight.

  The three of them, excluding Misaki, watched the sight with shining eyes.

  Each time Yuka pulled the lever, the cloudling twisted its body as if dancing.

  Before long—

  “Wait a second! It’s peeing!”

  Misaki cried out.

  “Misaki-san, this is rain. Cloudy is a cloud, after all.”

  Yuka said it in a calm tone.

  Sayuri and Shinobu immediately voiced their agreement as well.

  “Well, if it’s a cloud… then I guess it’s rain…”

  She averted her eyes and brought the sake to her lips, but she was not convinced.

  When the feeding was over, the two ghosts left the room, taking the cloudling with them.

  “Clouds are that fluffy, huh? It was my first time touching one.”

  “You can’t possibly touch a cloud. That’s some kind of supernatural being that only resembles a cloud.”

  Misaki said it as if forcing reality upon her.

  Then—

  “As long as those girls are happy, I don’t really care what it is.”

  At Misaki’s words, Yuka laughed, saying, “See?” as she poured sake into Misaki’s glass.

  Misaki poured sake into Yuka’s ochoko as well, and a clear sound rang out.

  Upcoming Releases

  Short story: "10μm Droplet"

  ?Chapter 5-8: February 24 at 8:00 PM (PST).

  ?EXTRA & Author's Note: February 27 at 8:00 PM (PST).

  Update Schedule & Related Links

  : Contains the full update schedule and all related links.

  : Get early access and support the project here.

  : Read the Japanese version here

  Feel free to leave a comment or question—I'd love to hear your thoughts.