Back to school

“Yesterday, there was an explosion at 13 Bohata street, inside the Osharena de Gyuniku restaurant. The rescue teams are still looking for missing people, but so far, four have been reported dead and twenty-nine injured. The police are still investigating the cause of the explosion, but speculations are that it occurred because of a gas-”

I turned off the TV and started looking at videos online to take my mind off it. But I was instead presented with a video from a popular influencer covering the exact same tragedy.

“Ladies and bros! If you haven’t heard about it, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Yesterday a whole restaurant blew up, claiming the lives of four people. I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. If you want to learn more, go watch the news or click the link in the pinned comment. But I’m here today to talk about two things that a lot of people are asking.”

I was about to scroll to the next video but stopped when I saw my own face on the screen. It showed Rui running around the ruins, and me at first screaming at the person filming. Then it showed how I was instructing everyone and eventually leading them outside. He then showed a second video, filmed by a different bystander, of Rui rushing out of the ruins while carrying me, then dashing back in. The video showed her face quite clearly.

“First, about the young man you see guiding everyone outside to safety, what he did was amazing. He was probably injured too but still managed to bear with the pain and lead everyone to safety. Truly a hero in my opinion. If you’re listening, you have my respect, and I think everyone else’s too."

“Thanks…” I said to myself sarcastically.

“And second, what everyone is probably curious about even more, is the mysterious girl with shining blue hair. If you think that was edited or something, that’s what I thought at first too, before I saw the second video. In both videos, the girl has the same blue hair, and if you look closely, the same pointed ears. I don’t know if those features are fake, or how she moved faster than a train, but the fact both videos show the same girl doing the same thing proves it’s real. What remains is the question: Who is that girl, and is she even human? I will keep you in the loop when I find out more.”

The video ended and then started playing from the beginning again. I watched it with my eyes open and my face otherwise blank. After it was done playing the second time, I finally came to my senses and put down my phone.

This is bad, right? Even if it’s just a random online video now, it won’t be long before it reaches the media. Her face is clearly visible, so if it goes viral, people will recognize her on the street. She usually has a different hair color though, so maybe it’s not that big of a deal?"

While brainstorming, I automatically picked up my phone and checked my messages, specifically my messages with Rui.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Rui, where are you right now? Could we meet up?”

“Please respond once you read this.”

It said ‘delivered’ at the bottom of the last text, showing me the cruel fact that Rui hasn’t even read it yet.

“Ughhh...”

I sank into the sofa, looking up at the ceiling dejectedly.

After the whole incident, the police questioned the survivors, me included. While I kept my mouth shut, many people reported a ‘strange blue shining lady running around at lightning speed.’ With videos online like that one going viral, it wouldn’t be long before people actually start believing it’s real.

I wanted to meet with Rui to discuss the whole situation plus the fact that I was still technically possessed by a ghost and was unable to sleep. Those past few days of not sleeping weren’t particularly dangerous, but not being able to sleep for that long wasn’t natural, and both Rui and I had no idea if something might happen to me at any moment.

*

In the blink of an eye, the summer ended, and school started again. I was going to be a second year in high school.

After the restaurant’s collapse, Rui still hadn’t reached out to me. I even tried going to her dorms, but nobody was there. She wasn’t picking up when I called her either.

So, I went on normally, playing badminton and hanging out with David and the others. Rita once asked me if I knew where Rui was. I said no, and that was the end of it. Surprisingly, no one really cared about the fact that Rui was basically missing. Nobody looked for her and no one questioned me.

“I wonder if people will realize she’s missing when she doesn’t show up at school at all."

It was 4 am on the first day of September. I would normally be waking up in three hours since it was a school day, but I was wide awake, staring at my CactuCall messages with Rui, which she still hadn’t read.

This sucks. And I’m mad. Why won’t she contact me? Was I really just an acquaintance that she happened to save from dying from ghost possession and nothing more? I really thought we were starting to get closer, even if just a little.

Throughout the summer, I started thinking and eventually came to the realization that I might like Rui as more than just a friend. It was a new and unfamiliar feeling, one that I didn’t feel once while I was dating Onna. Is this what liking someone is? Is this how it feels? These thoughts led me to the conclusion that I really had a crush on Rui. That only made me sad and angry though, with Rui having ghosted me for the whole summer.

Time slowly went by, and soon the clock hit 7 am. I got up from my bed, made myself breakfast and went to school. It was 12:16 when I suddenly got a notification. I looked at my phone to see who it was from. My jaw dropped, eyes widening in shock.

“WHAT?!”

I stood up so abruptly that I knocked over the chair I was sitting on. Because of my shout and the loud sound of the chair falling on the ground, every single person in the cafeteria looked in my direction. It was my lunch break, and I was eating together with David, Otto and Kotoba.

Realizing what I had done, I turned red and tried to sit back down, but the chair wasn’t there, so I ended up falling on the ground, embarrassing myself even further and hurting myself in the process.

*

“Is this the place?”

I found myself in a secluded alley on Podezrela street. It was only a five-minute walk from my school, so I got there as quickly as I could.

“Why would she ask me to meet her here?”

The notification I got in the cafeteria was a message from Rui, asking me to come to this place. I was really surprised to finally hear from her, but mostly delighted, so as soon as school ended, I ran like a madman, trying to get there as fast as possible.

There was trash all around me, with even some occasional rats running around in a search for food. Despite it being afternoon and the sun shining, the alley was dark and cold, as if the sun refused to look its way.

The smell was even worse, prompting me to cover my nose with the top of my
T-shirt. The garbage cans here belonged to a cheap bar that also served some questionable food, so all their waste ended up in that alley, making the air around practically unbreathable.

“Am I not in the right place? She said she’d already be waiting for me here.”

“Oh, you’re in the right place, my dear, Jinko Saido, don’t worry about that.”

I was about to leave and text her back, when a woman’s voice stopped me in my tracks. But instead of being excited, I froze in fear, too afraid to even look back. It wasn’t the voice I was expecting, that being Rui’s, but a voice that I didn’t recognize. Yet somehow, I could tell. This woman wasn’t here to be friends with me. Her voice was cold and sharp, like it belonged to an empress who looked down at others like insects.

“What you should be worried about is going into a dark, secluded and scary alley all on your own.”