Hey, Ai. Don't you think you should tell me before we enter the final dungeon?

"About what?"

Don't play dumb. What's the reason you want me to go to the town hall?

"To help you to settle your awkward situation with the shui gui..."

No. Your other reason for wanting me to come here. Don't even try to lie, it's impossible when we can sense each other's feelings.

"You tried to lie to me too, you... hypocrite."

Yeah. We are all just a bunch of hypocrites, the two of us. A bunch of cheats too. We disguise our actions as good intentions to help each other when really, we are just helping ourselves.

No one is so altruistic and perfect to help others without a hidden agenda. As soon as it benefits their situation, everyone is willing to lie a little bit. No matter how good natured, friendly, truthful or helpful they are, everyone has something they're willing to lie for. Whether that's lying to avoid confrontation, lying for the love of their loved one, or a white lie to help someone, everyone has something they're willing to lie for.

So what are you lying for, Ai? Just because you didn't speak an untruth, doesn't mean it isn't dishonest. That's what they call lying by omission.

"..."

I'm fighting my own urge to lie right now, Ai. Fighting the urge to turn a blind eye to your dishonesty. You told me not to run from this uncomfortable situation with the shui gui. And now I'm telling you not to run from yours as well.

It took Ai a good while but she eventually managed to collect herself enough to tell her story.

"I... remember. The granny carpenter, she's my mother, I confirmed it. She had a daughter named Ai after she became a shui gui. I couldn't bring myself to tell her I was that Ai... When I drowned that day, we left on really poor terms. We were fighting and I ran away from home. That's when I slipped and fell into the river. That's the real reason I spent so much time with your family. It wasn't to better your relationship with them. I just really miss my mom..."

Hearing her talk about her mother, made me think about mine as well. A year ago, despite her not knowing, I did leave on bad terms with her. And it took Ai, just a year to fix our relationship. Somehow, it makes me feel, jealous. Jealous of someone who's in an even worse position than me. Someone who doesn't even have a living body anymore.

It's alright to miss your mother, damn it! There's nothing to be ashamed of! Even if you left on bad terms, it's been so long she won't hold it against you.

"Are you really certain?"

I can't be certain. But you amended my dysfunctional relationship with my own mother! The bond between parent and child isn't so easily destroyed. As long as you are alive, well... sort of alive, you can at least come together to agree to disagree.

"Thank you, Zhang Shun. The fact that you honestly believe in that, makes me feel hopeful too."

Don't thank me. I haven't really done anything substantial besides giving you a pep talk. And this is partially my selfish desire at work too, it isn't altruistic at all.

"And what kind of weird, selfish desire is that? I can read your mind but even I can't seem to figure it out."

A desire to help people... but that's a pretense too. I'm really just after that feel good, fuzzy feeling, I think!

"Can you really call that selfishness? Such an honest, sweet, harmless desire? Until we find out, we can't really call you selfish, can we? To call yourself selfish, when you don't even know that about yourself, that's dishonest too."

Before the ending of our ghost stories, Ai and I had reached a conclusion together, about lying. This conclusion and the knowledge it taught us, was the prelude to the story of how Ai and I became supernatural detectives.

But that's a story for another time, far off in the future.