An encapsulated fairy


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Raien walked out of the house with a bulky envelope in one hand and a dirty mop in the other.

"I hate my job," Raien mumbled to himself.

The area he currently had to clean was located at the end of a narrow lane, and houses of the lane blocked out the sunlight on this September afternoon.

"Good," he thought. "It is always more likely for me to get killed by some angry spirits if there's no sunlight around. I hope I will get that promotion quickly, and be assigned to a better place... maybe the archives department. Maybe they'd let me hold and archive and all... maybe even a whole book…."

He mop began to swivel on its own. Raien's brain froze automatically as he saw this phenomenon. When he came back to his senses, the mop had swerved across the wet path and was now trying to lick his ankle.

"Tch. Ais, as always. She's not the only one who's entitled to a bit of mischief now and then."

Raien looked around to check whether anyone carried a camera.

He smirked. None of the people living in the end of the lane were having an active outdoor life that day. Only a dog in the backyard of the nearest house was barking. Its owners must have fed it and given it some exercise this morning.

"Come on," Raien said to the mop. "Let's get you some exercise. And some exercise is what we both need."

The mop listened and took the lead. Its sharp, sticky tongue snaked out and then retracted, and its little hooves hopped on the stairs.

After climbing twice, the mop landed at the top of the steps. It looked up at Raien and gave a short nod.

"Good boy," he said. "I'm coming."

He went out with its mop in the same manner, the mop sticking to its back with vine-like tendrils crossing one another. With its long legs, it looked like how it had come in, with two pedals sticking to its back, with the same effectiveness.

The house stood on the corner at the end of the lane, but it did not stand on the corner of the lane itself. The lane ended in the middle of the house's backyard, opening at the left.

Raien rapped his mop once on the cement before climbing down, stepping onto the wet grass, and then onto the muddy earth. The moss on the earth felt nothing like the soft itchiness of grass brushing against his ankles.

The mop stopped to dance for a moment on the earth, Raien restrained it again.

"We're here to clean you've forgotten. You can dance later."

The mop stopped dancing and took the lead again, moving towards the dusty house.

The people living there were luckily out of town for the weekend. Raien felt lucky because he had an interview appointment with the department head today. If the house was occupied, he would have imagined what he would say to the owners. "Alas, I come to clean your home, but rumour has it that there is a ghost carousing inside. Try not to die in the accident, and also try to enjoy cleaning."

While muttering to himself, Raien let his mop to be the cleaning tool. He only dealt with the dust and the stains on the way. His mop's tongue was not sharp, but it had the ability to sweep the dirt and the stains into its body, and could avoid leaving marks.

He used this ability to clean up all dust and stains he could find, and back to the front door.

"I suppose I should leave some sign that I have visited. If the owners come back, they will worry that their family spirit has killed me while I clean.

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