Chapter 5: My Life as a Ghost's Hobby

It has been exactly one month since my life was hijacked by a specter with an appreciation for cynicism. My dream of being an unremarkable background character was dead and buried-or rather, dematerialized from extreme apathy. My new normal consisted of having a translucent, beautiful girl permanently attached to my personal space, providing a running commentary on the sheer "entertainment value" of my mundane existence.

"Ooh, Kaito-san, you're doing the grumpy face again!" Shizuka's whisper tickled my ear as I tried to solve a calculus problem in the library. "It's the one where your eyebrows try to become one! It's my third favorite! So intense!"

I slammed my pencil down. "It's just my face," I hissed under my breath, earning a stern glare from the librarian. Shizuka just giggled, a sound like wind chimes that only I could hear.

Life with a ghost was… weird. School had become an obstacle course of trying to interact with Shizuka without looking like I was talking to myself. She'd float through walls, phase through other students, and occasionally try to "help" by pointing out answers on other people's tests, which I had to vehemently wave off.

The Paranormal Investigation and Napping Club-now with 100% more actual paranormal activity-had turned our rooftop sanctuary into Shizuka's personal activity center. Our main club goal had shifted from hunting ghosts to finding Shizuka a hobby. The results were, to put it mildly, a disaster.

Yumi's idea was "ghostly haunting." She tried to teach Shizuka how to knock books off shelves and create cold spots. Shizuka, however, was too polite. Her attempts resulted in books gently sliding an inch and a slight, pleasant draft. She was less a poltergeist and more a spectral air conditioner.

Rina's approach was, predictably, scientific. She set up a program on her tablet that would translate Shizuka's ectoplasmic energy into text. Shizuka's first message wasn't a secret from the great beyond, but: "Kaito-san looks cute when he's concentrating." Rina has been trying to filter out the "Kaito-centric" data ever since.

Mio's attempt was the most endearing. She brought a mountain of manga and read them aloud to Shizuka for hours. Shizuka loved the stories, but it was a passive hobby. She couldn't turn the pages. Her only contribution was making the snacks Mio was eating float dramatically in the air, which nearly gave Mio a heart attack every time.

Which led back to me. Since I was the one who started this mess by yelling at her, everyone decided I was the "Shizuka-whisperer."

"I still think you should try video games," I said one afternoon on the rooftop. I was lying on my back, eyes closed, trying to salvage the "napping" portion of our club's name. Shizuka was hovering just above me, examining a cloud.

"But I can't hold the controller," she sighed. "My hands go right through it. It's like trying to hug a rainbow."

"It's nothing like hugging a rainbow."

"How would you know? Have you ever hugged one?"

I opened my eyes to glare at her, but she was looking at me with such genuine curiosity that my annoyance melted away. It was happening more and more often. This ghost, who found my every boring action to be a source of endless delight, was slowly chipping away at my carefully constructed wall of indifference. Her joy was infectious.

"Here," I said, sitting up and handing her my phone. "Don't try to touch it. Just tell me what to do."

I opened a simple puzzle game. At first, it was clumsy. Her telling me "no, the other left!" or "up, up, a little more to the side!" was infuriating. But then, we found a rhythm. I became her hands, my fingers swiping and tapping according to her surprisingly sharp strategic commands. We cleared level after level, a strange, symbiotic team of the living and the dead.

Yumi, Rina, and Mio watched us, a rare, quiet moment for our chaotic group. For the first time, Shizuka wasn't just observing-she was participating. She was doing something.

A comfortable silence settled over the rooftop, broken only by the cheerful notification sounds from my phone. The setting sun painted the sky in shades of orange and pink. Yumi was sketching a new club logo that included a cute, smiling ghost. Rina was analyzing the data from our "human-spirit interface experiment." Mio was happily munching on a cookie, offering a second one to the air where Shizuka had been floating moments before.

Shizuka had drifted from the game and was now settled beside me, not clinging, but just… present. Her translucent form was bathed in the warm light of the sunset.

"Thank you, Kaito-san," she said softly, her voice full of a genuine warmth that had nothing to do with ghostly chills. "This is fun. Being with everyone… it's the best hobby in the world."

I looked at her, at the genuine, happy smile on her face. I looked at my other friends, lost in their own peaceful activities. This was my life now. It wasn't quiet. It wasn't beige. It was a loud, chaotic, paranormal mess filled with ridiculous people and a clingy ghost who thought I was the most exciting thing since sliced bread.

My quest to be a background character had failed spectacularly. I was the main character in the weirdest, most absurd story I could imagine.

I sighed, a long, weary sound. But as Shizuka beamed at me, I felt the corner of my own mouth twitch upwards into a small, undeniable smile.

Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.