Expectation

Just as Yûsuke had said, to find the ghost, they had to go to an open field, without trees or anything taller than them, nothing taller than Teresa specifically, the shortest one.

“And now?” Imobach asked.

“We wait.”

"What a plan, brainiac," Adassa complained. "So much criticism that we came here like a headless chicken and in the end you did the same thing."

He simply pointed to the sky.

The small number of passers-by, who appeared every so often, the immensity of the valley that ended in an even more immense sea and made him shudder and the distant singing of finches, canaries, mosquito nets, blue tits and who knows if some wagtails, inclined Imobach to sit on a stump and relax; although with Adassa nearby the relaxation would never be complete, it caused more problems than when his sister reached puberty and discovered that the Internet was an infinite source of fan-fics , most of the time racy. He had not been so scandalous, and that in his case if he liked someone it was as easy as inviting him to watch Netflix.

The camera also had its small role, and that was despite the fact that there was a slight fog. Yûsule had decided to take some express photography classes, for the first time in a long time she had time to learn, and Adassa, who has never been able to keep her feet still… or her hands… or her mouth, agreed to be her teacher. At the highest point of the clearing, Teresa and Coral were undergoing the most exquisite tasting; they had found some bells and, following the advice of Grandpa Melián, they sucked on the stem; they talked about anything, Coral could find a topic from anywhere, curiously she ended up relating it to Asian animation and, her counterpart, to the occult.

“Hey! Hey,” Adassa said.

She didn't know if she was the first to see it, but she was the first to raise the alarm. She hung the strap around her neck and focused.

“That's what you wanted, what are you worried about?” Yuusuke asked.

Imobach, who was a few meters away, scolded the space between his eyebrows, only to relax and scold him again seconds later, opened his right eye slightly and turned towards the screams.

“Can you lower the tone?” He said. Although then he saw it and corrected himself. “Coral, Tere, down!”

They were too engrossed at the top of the hill, unconsciously ignoring the screams.

The shadow within the fog, at first barely visible, seemed like a space that the low clouds did not want to touch, but as the seconds passed it became more and more noticeable, it was dark and had a defined shape, it moved slowly and in a coordinated manner, it emitted a small multicoloured aura.

“Why so afraid? If they were looking for him.”

Yûsuke repeated, he was the only one who hadn't moved when he saw her, not out of fear, but out of safety.

“I remind you that in this universe they are not very common. Coco! Teresa!” He claimed them again.

“Shh. You're scaring him.” Adassa told him to shut up.

“You were the one who shouted first. Coco! Teresa!” he continued calling them as she approached.

“Shhhh!”

The one with the cut eyebrow took long strides but his voice was not used to raising its voice, luckily at some point, the blonde heard him.

“Imobach, come, try them, they will save you from thirst when you go camping again” She offered him a plant.

“No, thank you, he denied due to the tension of the moment.”

“Huh” Coral tapped her on the shoulder. “Look, look.”

They focused their gaze beyond the chestnut tree.

The humanoid figure, creating a void in the mist, moved suddenly, without emitting noise or light.

"Damn" Coral regretted.

“Are you okay?” Her friend took her hand.

“Damn, I wasn't prepared. I thought it would be a quiet day of hiking, without incidents.”

“Ídem” Added his brother.

“Oh, sorry, I'm so excited, it's like a dream... sorry.” Teresa looked down.

“No, no, but it's not your fault. But, damn... I didn't expect that” She placed his right hand on his cheek and mouth, covering them.

“This route was used by many merchants to go from one town to another.” Imobach said. “It may be the spirit of one of them.”

“Yes? Do you believe it?”

If it weren't for the slippery terrain, Teresa would be jumping for joy.

“Say what you want, I'm going to take the credit! I'm the only one who's recording it.”

“No, no, no, miss.” She ignored the hand her brother offered her. “We don't work like that.”

“Whatever you say! Run, it's getting away. Can he hear us?”

Teresa preferred to accept the help and descend more slowly.

“It wouldn't make sense, would it? I've done some research on the different figures of the night but I've never thought about it…”

“Historically they have been wandering and whiny beings, but I have never heard any data on this…”

“How curious…”

“Yeah.”

They went down not as fast as Coral, Teresa also wanted to see him up close, but her agility did not stand out.

The other two slowed down their pace, taking long, slow and agile steps like gazelles, not wanting to scare away their exclusive, but it moved away just the same.

“Hey, wait, cutie…” Coral corrected. “Cutie… Oh, but what am I saying… you must be an adult…”

“And you do something, okay?” Adassa ordered.

Yûusuke was still sitting on the stump, with his left leg crossed over the other, his body leaning forward without hunching over, and three fingers resting on his forehead.

“Are you done?” He said with a blank expression.

“We haven't even started yet.” Teresa replied when they reached their slope.

“It will be one of the first phenomena recorded in good quality.” Added Imobach.

“Yes! Enough of 4CIF, we want 3 megapixels!”

“And now she's getting vindictive…” the athlete shook her head.

He finally got up.

“It's an optical illusion.” Yûusuke spoke loudly and clearly.

“What are you saying? Come on now.” Adassa ignored him and continued pointing.

“I don't understand.” Coral responded more respectfully.

“There's an explanation for everything. Does Mountain Spectre sound familiar to you ?”

On both sides they shook their heads, Teresa still wanted to believe that it was a lost soul, a spectre, a banshee , a jinn or a miserable spirit... but it wouldn't be like that.

“Come closer.” He asked Coral. “Slowly.”

She obeyed.

“And you don't stop recording.”

Adassa also reluctantly obeyed and imitated him. If he recorded his mistake it would be a 2x1 , winning twice.

“See?”

The girl with the scar on her shoulder raised her left leg, and so did the shadow, then she posed like a photo and was also imitated, now that she was paying attention, she identified it as a reflection.

“He's not stalking her or possessing her.” Yûusuke said beforehand. He did well, Teresa already had an arsenal of ideas ready to shoot out of her mouth, she gave herself a point.

“So?” Imobach asked, gathering her hair.

“Easy. The spectrum appears when the light beams shine, projected from behind the mountaineer, in this case Coral, from a peak forward, through the fog or mist, any dense cloud itself. It seems to move, because Coral walks and because of the variations of the cloud, haven't you seen it when you travel by plane?; Other times it is clearer when the perspective makes it look triangular, in addition, many times a halo appears due to the water droplets and the diffraction of visible light.”

“Aha…” Coral could not disguise her incomprehension.

"What do they teach you in class?" he exclaimed, impassive.

“We can't get up to go to the bathroom until the old man comes back," the girl with heterochromia nodded.

“Thanks, teacher, now I can buy myself a masquerade.” the one with the tongue piercing said ironically. This made the blonde laugh.

“En español, por favor.” Coral ordered.

“The Brocken Ghost, here, it was named after the apparitions in 1780 in Germany.” Imobach continued reading the page with the little coverage he could get, without looking up.

“We're done. I admit it was entertaining.”

“You knew it, that's why you looked so funny before.” Coral laughed.

“Yes, cousin Miguel is a joker.” Adassa complained. “I knew it from the beginning, it only added to the intrigue.”

I swear his nose grew a couple of centimeters.

“We finished, then?” Coral hugged the one in the Victorian clothes and the one in the uniform by the neck, she didn't even try to do it with the one in the orange jumpsuit, nor did she let her get close to her. “And you, stop following me!”

“Give it a few minutes, the sun moves on.”

The bus on line 348 had seats soft and plush enough for Coral to fall asleep on. She wanted to be first, so she could subtly fall on Yûsuke's shoulder and have the typical anime scene. However, the last thing she saw when she closed her eyes was Adassa's drool colonizing her shoulder.