Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 1-24

The chapter opens with a flashback to the beginning of the novel, when the narrator is still a student at the university. He is now living in a new dorm, and he is very happy to be there. He tells the story of his roommate, who is now dead, and how he and his roommate are going to visit the ghost of a wolf. The wolf is described as being a "wimpy lookin'" . The ghost of the wolf is also described as a "wimpy lookin" , and the narrator wonders if the ghost is a wolf or a wolf-like creature. The narrator tells us that he has no idea what the wolf and the ghost are talking about, but he does know that they are both going to a place called "hakone," where spiritual energy can be "incredibly stable." The narrator says that the apartment building is built on a "special field" of energy, and that there are "multiple dimensions up on top" of each other. He wonders if they are all talking about the same thing, but the narrator doesn't know what they're talking about. When the narrator returns to his room, he finds that his roommate is gone. He asks the roommate if he will stay in the dorm until the new building is completed. The roommate says that he will, but that it is only for a half-year, so he won't mind if he has it for that long. He then asks the narrator to give him a special discount on the cost of living in the new dorm. He says he thinks the ghost called them "automa," and that he thinks they are "all sorts of people" in this new building. He also asks if the roommate has settled in yet, because he is worried that everyone is worried about him, because they are friends.