Tsumiki had found herself at the attic. It was a dusty, old place with a disgusting musk of a scent that caused Tsumiki to reconsider her decision in coming up here. The place was cramped, uncomfortable, and reek of intrusive particles. Feces of small animals and dead bugs littered the floor, and the boxes were caked with green mold. Tsumiki figured that if the ghosts weren’t as hostile as they should be, the fungus would kill her instead.
Walking through, there were small trophies scattered throughout. There were mostly athletic awards and there were some pictures, far older than anyone could have starred in that wasn’t in their 80s. Most likely left behind, and most likely served as a bitter reminder of the past. But, who knew, Tsumiki wasn’t a detective.
There was one particular object that interested her. In the far corner there was a stray box filled with things that a typical high school student would have. Yearbooks, student essays, pictures, things of that sort filled the box. One that stood out was a letter signed with a heart.
Upon opening it, a love letter sprawled out before her. Its characters read of how the person adored the recipient, how cute he was, and how intelligent he behaved, and was concluded with more hearts. The disturbing part of the letter was, however, its incredible attention to detail at the recipient’s habits. His daily hygiene, his circle of friends, even accurate descriptions of his actions within class were described. Even more disturbing was the new edits.
All over the letter, in red ink, were the words “Loser” and “Freak” and “Stalker” and other language that was vulgar and horrific to read. The edges were frayed as if the original author had gripped the paper for such a long time, rereading the messages that were returned to her.
“Did I do something wrong?” asked a voice behind her.
Tsumiki stood and turned to see a teenage ghost, about her age, with long blond hair and sad, ageless eyes. The ghost stared at Tsumiki, expecting an answer, but she kept talking.
“Was it my fault?” she asked, “Did I do something wrong? Am I weird? Am I a freak? A creep? A loser?”
Tsumiki stepped back as malignant energy poured from the spirit. It was so potent that it had completely altered the attic and when it stopped, they were on top of a school rooftop. Tsumiki was sure that this was an illusion, but she could hear the chattering of students down below as classes were dismissed.
The spirit stepped forward, her pale blue eyes were so sad, “I don’t deserve to exist, right?”
“That isn’t true,” Tsumiki answered.
“Liar!”
Her energy spread out and wrapped itself around Tsumiki until a massive bottle, one that soda was typically dispensed in, formed around her, trapping her in it. Soda had filled up the entire bottle and even though everything wasn’t real, Tsumiki was slowly drowning. She punched at the glass but to no avail, it wouldn’t fall under her strength.
“I should just die, shouldn’t I?” the ghost asked, uninterested in Tsumiki’s predicament.
Somewhere in Miki’s mind, however, she wondered why she got the violent, irrational spirit.
“He told me, you know,” she said, “He called me a weird girl and laughed when I asked if there was a possibility of us dating.”
The scene changed again to a path through a small forest. Autumn trees flanked either side of the road and a cool wind blew through the path, the sun dipped low in the horizon and made the ocean and sky shimmer with a scarlet hue.
The ghost stood opposite of a tall teenage boy. He was impossible to describe as his face was completely blank, very much literally in the sense. The only thing that distinguished him was his jet-black hair.
“Sorry,” he said, his voice echoed and sounded surreal, “But you’re not my type.”
“What is your type?” the girl asked, stepping forward to grab his hands, but he pulled back.
“Not you. Look, you’re a good girl and all but you’re weird. I heard things about you and your family-”
“What does that have to do with anything?!” she cried. The sudden burst of anger had startled the boy.
“Listen, I’m sorry, but could you not talk to me in school anymore?”
Before the girl could retort, however, he walked off and the scene changed back to the attic. Tsumiki, desperate to escape, kept banging on the glass.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” the spirit insisted, “I just loved him. Why was I being mistreated because of that?”
Having enough of this, Tsumiki sliced open the top of the bottle with a sword created from her highly concentrated spiritual energy. She climbed out of the bottle and gasped for air.
“I don’t… want to fight,” Tsumiki said in-between breaths, “I can help give you peace of mind, but you need to calm down-”
A black hand came out of the spirit’s chest and faster than Tsumiki was able to react; it grabbed her and tightened its grip around her neck.
“I DON’T NEED HELP!” the rooftop shook and shimmered like a hologram, “You’re like the others; you want to medicate me and shut me up. You don’t care about me, none of you do!”
Tsumiki’s hood dipped over her head and revealed her face, contorted in pain as she tried to escape the spirit’s hold. It would have been easy simply to blast the spirit into oblivion, but that wouldn’t make anything better. What she needed was closure, peace of mind in order to be sent into the afterlife.
“You understand, don’t you?” the spirit asked, “You’re like me. Just another weirdo, I can see the spirit you hold inside your body. Nobody will accept you, like they didn’t accept me, you understand right? Right?!”
Tsumiki couldn’t handle it any longer and two bolts of energy materialized and found purchase on the spirit’s face. It stunned her momentarily but it allowed Miki to escape. She teleported away and reappeared behind the ghost.
By the time the ghost realized what had happened, Miki’s power had materialized into a shadowy apparition that bound the ghost.
Miki’s eyes glowed with strength while the ghost struggled under its dark holds. She was turned around and faced Miki’s expression.
“What did you love about him?” Miki asked.
The ghost stopped struggling and blankly stared at her, “The way his lips quiver whenever he was asked a question in class. The fact that he makes his own lunch, and the way his hair looks in the sun.”
“All right, what’s his last name?”
She didn’t respond instantly and instead thought about it, “Um, it was… um, what was it, shoot-”
“His birthday? What was his father’s name? His favorite color? Was he athletic? What about his hobbies? Was he studious?”
The more questions Tsumiki asked, the more distressed the ghost became. It continued to the point where the ghost became to cry and scream.
“Shut up! Shut up! I loved him! What do you know about that you creepy witch?!”
“What did he look like?”
The ghost stopped resisting, her eyes were completely dead. The more the ghost thought about it, the fuzzier her memory of her crush became. She couldn’t remember his face, or the color of his eyes, or anything. It was just a blank slate. Empty.
After noticing how calm the ghost became, Tsumiki dropped her and pulled her hood over again.
“You were just a child back then, naïve and a bit dense to reality,” Tsumiki said, “I don’t know for sure if it was love you felt. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but right now it isn’t love. It’s obsession. What he did to you was bad, I understand, but what you feel now isn’t love.”
She looked right in Miki’s eyes, dreading the next words, “It’s hate.”
As she said that, the scenery changed again. They were back in the attic, but the ghost was missing. What had replaced it was even more horrifying. It was a massive blob with an undefined face that kept transforming into ugly monsters. Its entire body was as big as the basement and was akin to a jellyfish. It kept pulsating and crawling over itself, a deep, guttural noise churned in the beast’s stomach. As it opened its mouth, a horrible high-pitched, whining sound screeched out.
“You took advantage of this girl’s feelings,” Miki accused the creature, “Just to develop your own physical body. You wanted to use her as a catalyst to reform your body.”
A clear, defined face popped out of the monster. It was one of an arachnid. Slime and goo dripped from its fangs and at its “stomach” was the face of the spirit from before, but, not only that there were also dozens of other faces imprinted in its body.
“More, more sadness and anger!” the spider hissed.
“You aren’t the hive,” remarked Tsumiki, “Too small. You’re just another leech.”
In anger, the creature swiped at Tsumiki. It was stopped, however, by an invisible wall of force that deflected the attack. The force was so strong that the spider’s appendage was torn right off and it screeched in pain. But just as fast, it attacked again with its fang. Tsumiki jumped back to avoid it, but at the last moment the spider lifted its head to slam against her in mid-air. The tactic worked as she was sent flying to the back.
Recovering fast, she prepared for a counterattack. A black spear materialized in front of Miki and with little effort, the spear pierced the thorax and split the entire monster in two. The body disappeared as the spirits it had consumed rematerialized and began to shimmer out of existence. Tsumiki saw the ghost from earlier and when they made eye contact, she smiled at Miki.
“It was weak,” said Tsumiki, observing her arm that took the blunt of the spider’s attack, it was red and the discoloration was spreading quickly, “But still damned potent.”
An aura of magic surrounded her free hand as she nursed the wound. The monster’s hatred would try to envelope Tsumiki, it wouldn’t succeed, however, as another spirit would repel it instantly.
As Nao was tossed in the air, he began to think about the possibilities.
He landed on a soft patch of grass, but it failed to soften his fall. Nao sat up and stared at his attacker, a shadowy apparition.
It hadn’t fully developed into a spirit, but it contained enough negative emotions to conjure up tangibility. Nao hadn’t accounted for that, hence the damage he suffered earlier.
The shadow picked up a few planks and tossed them at Nao. He wondered where the shadow had gotten those projectiles, but decided to dodge first, ponder later.
Nao stood up and in the motion of his standing dodged the first plank. He took a casual step to the left, dodging another, and continued this casual and normal style of walking. With each of his movements, it looked like he was inadvertently dodging the projectiles, as if it was a literal walk in the park.
Once the shadow’s arsenal was spent, Nao stood, about face, and scratched the back of his head.
“Now what,” he muttered. His exorcising abilities weren’t exactly up to par, and Yui wouldn’t be around for another twenty seconds, he had gone inside to use the bathroom. With a roar, shadowy tentacles emerged and aimed for Nao’s head. Again, his movements were causal and appeared accidental. He looked left, and right, as if searching for something and the tentacles caught empty air.
“Man, this is annoying. I’m not good at exorcising you guys,” admitted Nao to the spirit who continued to attack, “Should I wait? Should I run away? Call the police?”
With each question, he took a step forward and again moved in a cocky and bored manner avoiding each attack.
“Hm?” he stopped as a tentacle managed to flank him. It was much too fast for him to dodge, and deflecting it was out of the question.
Maybe I should dodge left, Nao deliberated mentally, No, it’s too late now. It’s gonna hit me. Ugh, this is going to hurt.
It smacked the side of his head and sent him across the yard and right into the house. The force wasn’t enough to cause the house’s structure to fail, but it gave Nao a headache.
“You’re not going to give up, right?” Nao asked and a roar was given as a response. The shadow soon began to develop legs and raced its way toward Nao. With a mighty sweep, it slashed at Nao’s chest in an attempt to spill his gut. But it missed completely. In fact, Nao disappeared altogether.
Reappearing behind the shadow, Nao reached out and grabbed its “head”.
His eyepatch was removed, revealing a single black iris with a ring spheres. A deadly orange color glowed like a flame on his eye and covered the entire left half of his face. Nao grinned, expressing emotion for the first time, “Go in peace.”
He crushed the shadow’s head and let the residue get lost in the wind.
Yui had returned with two juice boxes. Nao was right where he left him, lying down on the porch with his head being propped up by his left arm.
“I brought you some juice!” Yui announced as he handed him the carton and sat, cross-legged, next to Nao.
“Ah, thanks,” said Nao in his typical monotone voice.
Walking through, there were small trophies scattered throughout. There were mostly athletic awards and there were some pictures, far older than anyone could have starred in that wasn’t in their 80s. Most likely left behind, and most likely served as a bitter reminder of the past. But, who knew, Tsumiki wasn’t a detective.
There was one particular object that interested her. In the far corner there was a stray box filled with things that a typical high school student would have. Yearbooks, student essays, pictures, things of that sort filled the box. One that stood out was a letter signed with a heart.
Upon opening it, a love letter sprawled out before her. Its characters read of how the person adored the recipient, how cute he was, and how intelligent he behaved, and was concluded with more hearts. The disturbing part of the letter was, however, its incredible attention to detail at the recipient’s habits. His daily hygiene, his circle of friends, even accurate descriptions of his actions within class were described. Even more disturbing was the new edits.
All over the letter, in red ink, were the words “Loser” and “Freak” and “Stalker” and other language that was vulgar and horrific to read. The edges were frayed as if the original author had gripped the paper for such a long time, rereading the messages that were returned to her.
“Did I do something wrong?” asked a voice behind her.
Tsumiki stood and turned to see a teenage ghost, about her age, with long blond hair and sad, ageless eyes. The ghost stared at Tsumiki, expecting an answer, but she kept talking.
“Was it my fault?” she asked, “Did I do something wrong? Am I weird? Am I a freak? A creep? A loser?”
Tsumiki stepped back as malignant energy poured from the spirit. It was so potent that it had completely altered the attic and when it stopped, they were on top of a school rooftop. Tsumiki was sure that this was an illusion, but she could hear the chattering of students down below as classes were dismissed.
The spirit stepped forward, her pale blue eyes were so sad, “I don’t deserve to exist, right?”
“That isn’t true,” Tsumiki answered.
“Liar!”
Her energy spread out and wrapped itself around Tsumiki until a massive bottle, one that soda was typically dispensed in, formed around her, trapping her in it. Soda had filled up the entire bottle and even though everything wasn’t real, Tsumiki was slowly drowning. She punched at the glass but to no avail, it wouldn’t fall under her strength.
“I should just die, shouldn’t I?” the ghost asked, uninterested in Tsumiki’s predicament.
Somewhere in Miki’s mind, however, she wondered why she got the violent, irrational spirit.
“He told me, you know,” she said, “He called me a weird girl and laughed when I asked if there was a possibility of us dating.”
The scene changed again to a path through a small forest. Autumn trees flanked either side of the road and a cool wind blew through the path, the sun dipped low in the horizon and made the ocean and sky shimmer with a scarlet hue.
The ghost stood opposite of a tall teenage boy. He was impossible to describe as his face was completely blank, very much literally in the sense. The only thing that distinguished him was his jet-black hair.
“Sorry,” he said, his voice echoed and sounded surreal, “But you’re not my type.”
“What is your type?” the girl asked, stepping forward to grab his hands, but he pulled back.
“Not you. Look, you’re a good girl and all but you’re weird. I heard things about you and your family-”
“What does that have to do with anything?!” she cried. The sudden burst of anger had startled the boy.
“Listen, I’m sorry, but could you not talk to me in school anymore?”
Before the girl could retort, however, he walked off and the scene changed back to the attic. Tsumiki, desperate to escape, kept banging on the glass.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” the spirit insisted, “I just loved him. Why was I being mistreated because of that?”
Having enough of this, Tsumiki sliced open the top of the bottle with a sword created from her highly concentrated spiritual energy. She climbed out of the bottle and gasped for air.
“I don’t… want to fight,” Tsumiki said in-between breaths, “I can help give you peace of mind, but you need to calm down-”
A black hand came out of the spirit’s chest and faster than Tsumiki was able to react; it grabbed her and tightened its grip around her neck.
“I DON’T NEED HELP!” the rooftop shook and shimmered like a hologram, “You’re like the others; you want to medicate me and shut me up. You don’t care about me, none of you do!”
Tsumiki’s hood dipped over her head and revealed her face, contorted in pain as she tried to escape the spirit’s hold. It would have been easy simply to blast the spirit into oblivion, but that wouldn’t make anything better. What she needed was closure, peace of mind in order to be sent into the afterlife.
“You understand, don’t you?” the spirit asked, “You’re like me. Just another weirdo, I can see the spirit you hold inside your body. Nobody will accept you, like they didn’t accept me, you understand right? Right?!”
Tsumiki couldn’t handle it any longer and two bolts of energy materialized and found purchase on the spirit’s face. It stunned her momentarily but it allowed Miki to escape. She teleported away and reappeared behind the ghost.
By the time the ghost realized what had happened, Miki’s power had materialized into a shadowy apparition that bound the ghost.
Miki’s eyes glowed with strength while the ghost struggled under its dark holds. She was turned around and faced Miki’s expression.
“What did you love about him?” Miki asked.
The ghost stopped struggling and blankly stared at her, “The way his lips quiver whenever he was asked a question in class. The fact that he makes his own lunch, and the way his hair looks in the sun.”
“All right, what’s his last name?”
She didn’t respond instantly and instead thought about it, “Um, it was… um, what was it, shoot-”
“His birthday? What was his father’s name? His favorite color? Was he athletic? What about his hobbies? Was he studious?”
The more questions Tsumiki asked, the more distressed the ghost became. It continued to the point where the ghost became to cry and scream.
“Shut up! Shut up! I loved him! What do you know about that you creepy witch?!”
“What did he look like?”
The ghost stopped resisting, her eyes were completely dead. The more the ghost thought about it, the fuzzier her memory of her crush became. She couldn’t remember his face, or the color of his eyes, or anything. It was just a blank slate. Empty.
After noticing how calm the ghost became, Tsumiki dropped her and pulled her hood over again.
“You were just a child back then, naïve and a bit dense to reality,” Tsumiki said, “I don’t know for sure if it was love you felt. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but right now it isn’t love. It’s obsession. What he did to you was bad, I understand, but what you feel now isn’t love.”
She looked right in Miki’s eyes, dreading the next words, “It’s hate.”
As she said that, the scenery changed again. They were back in the attic, but the ghost was missing. What had replaced it was even more horrifying. It was a massive blob with an undefined face that kept transforming into ugly monsters. Its entire body was as big as the basement and was akin to a jellyfish. It kept pulsating and crawling over itself, a deep, guttural noise churned in the beast’s stomach. As it opened its mouth, a horrible high-pitched, whining sound screeched out.
“You took advantage of this girl’s feelings,” Miki accused the creature, “Just to develop your own physical body. You wanted to use her as a catalyst to reform your body.”
A clear, defined face popped out of the monster. It was one of an arachnid. Slime and goo dripped from its fangs and at its “stomach” was the face of the spirit from before, but, not only that there were also dozens of other faces imprinted in its body.
“More, more sadness and anger!” the spider hissed.
“You aren’t the hive,” remarked Tsumiki, “Too small. You’re just another leech.”
In anger, the creature swiped at Tsumiki. It was stopped, however, by an invisible wall of force that deflected the attack. The force was so strong that the spider’s appendage was torn right off and it screeched in pain. But just as fast, it attacked again with its fang. Tsumiki jumped back to avoid it, but at the last moment the spider lifted its head to slam against her in mid-air. The tactic worked as she was sent flying to the back.
Recovering fast, she prepared for a counterattack. A black spear materialized in front of Miki and with little effort, the spear pierced the thorax and split the entire monster in two. The body disappeared as the spirits it had consumed rematerialized and began to shimmer out of existence. Tsumiki saw the ghost from earlier and when they made eye contact, she smiled at Miki.
“It was weak,” said Tsumiki, observing her arm that took the blunt of the spider’s attack, it was red and the discoloration was spreading quickly, “But still damned potent.”
An aura of magic surrounded her free hand as she nursed the wound. The monster’s hatred would try to envelope Tsumiki, it wouldn’t succeed, however, as another spirit would repel it instantly.
~--~
He landed on a soft patch of grass, but it failed to soften his fall. Nao sat up and stared at his attacker, a shadowy apparition.
It hadn’t fully developed into a spirit, but it contained enough negative emotions to conjure up tangibility. Nao hadn’t accounted for that, hence the damage he suffered earlier.
The shadow picked up a few planks and tossed them at Nao. He wondered where the shadow had gotten those projectiles, but decided to dodge first, ponder later.
Nao stood up and in the motion of his standing dodged the first plank. He took a casual step to the left, dodging another, and continued this casual and normal style of walking. With each of his movements, it looked like he was inadvertently dodging the projectiles, as if it was a literal walk in the park.
Once the shadow’s arsenal was spent, Nao stood, about face, and scratched the back of his head.
“Now what,” he muttered. His exorcising abilities weren’t exactly up to par, and Yui wouldn’t be around for another twenty seconds, he had gone inside to use the bathroom. With a roar, shadowy tentacles emerged and aimed for Nao’s head. Again, his movements were causal and appeared accidental. He looked left, and right, as if searching for something and the tentacles caught empty air.
“Man, this is annoying. I’m not good at exorcising you guys,” admitted Nao to the spirit who continued to attack, “Should I wait? Should I run away? Call the police?”
With each question, he took a step forward and again moved in a cocky and bored manner avoiding each attack.
“Hm?” he stopped as a tentacle managed to flank him. It was much too fast for him to dodge, and deflecting it was out of the question.
Maybe I should dodge left, Nao deliberated mentally, No, it’s too late now. It’s gonna hit me. Ugh, this is going to hurt.
It smacked the side of his head and sent him across the yard and right into the house. The force wasn’t enough to cause the house’s structure to fail, but it gave Nao a headache.
“You’re not going to give up, right?” Nao asked and a roar was given as a response. The shadow soon began to develop legs and raced its way toward Nao. With a mighty sweep, it slashed at Nao’s chest in an attempt to spill his gut. But it missed completely. In fact, Nao disappeared altogether.
Reappearing behind the shadow, Nao reached out and grabbed its “head”.
His eyepatch was removed, revealing a single black iris with a ring spheres. A deadly orange color glowed like a flame on his eye and covered the entire left half of his face. Nao grinned, expressing emotion for the first time, “Go in peace.”
He crushed the shadow’s head and let the residue get lost in the wind.
Yui had returned with two juice boxes. Nao was right where he left him, lying down on the porch with his head being propped up by his left arm.
“I brought you some juice!” Yui announced as he handed him the carton and sat, cross-legged, next to Nao.
“Ah, thanks,” said Nao in his typical monotone voice.
