Waka Okami wa Shōgakusei (Novel)

Wakaokami wa Shougakusei (若おかみは小学生) is a novel series by Hiroko Reijo with illustrations by Asami. It ran from 2003 to 2013 publishing a total of 20 books under Kodansha's Blue Bird Library label (Aoitori bunko).

Synopsis
The parents of Oriko "Okko" Seki are killed in a car accident on the family's way back from attending a festival at the town where Okko's grandmother Mineko runs a ryokan, the Hananoyu Inn. Okko herself survives, seeing a vision of a boy floating in the air before she loses consciousness. Once she's recovered, she moves into the inn. There she discovers that the boy is a ghost named Makoto Tachiuri, nicknamed "Uribo". Uribo was a childhood friend of Mineko who died shortly after she moved away. He goads Okko into committing to take over the inn from Mineko when she grows up. Mineko then makes her the "junior innkeeper", giving her a kimono of her own to wear.