Chapter 10: The Ghost in the Machine

Our chaotic trip to the mall had an unforeseen consequence. It gave Yui ideas. Dangerous, technologically-advanced ideas.

"We need to embrace the digital age!" she announced at our next strategy meeting, her pink pigtails bouncing with entrepreneurial zeal. "The fans are demanding content. We need to give it to them. I propose… a livestream."

I felt a familiar cold dread creep up my spine. It was the same feeling I got when Joshua said "I have an idea".

"A live, unedited video feed. Of the ghosts," I repeated slowly, making sure I had heard her correctly. "You want to put the beings who occasionally forget they have solid bodies on a platform where millions of people can watch them in real-time."

"Exactly!" Yui beamed. "It's the ultimate fan engagement tool! We'll do a Q&A session. They can showcase their talents. It will be amazing for their brand!"

"It will be a one-way ticket to being dissected in a government lab!" I shot back. "What happens when Ren gets emotional and starts quoting Hamlet in ancient, glowing runes? What happens if Dullahan's head decides to take a nap mid-sentence? We can't control a live environment!"

Joshua, who had been quietly playing a game on his phone, suddenly looked up. "We could do a gaming livestream. Imagine Kaito playing a pirate-themed video game. The viewers would love it!"

"He'd probably try to plunder the virtual ships by phasing his hand through the monitor," I muttered.

As usual, my perfectly logical and sane arguments were overruled. Yui had already purchased a top-of-the-line streaming setup with multiple cameras, a green screen, and a lighting rig that could probably cause a localized power outage. My role, once again, was to be the magical safety net.

"You'll be on tech support, Amy," Yui said, handing me a headset. "Monitor the stream, watch their energy levels, and if anything… flickers… you hit the 'Technical Difficulties' button."

The 'Technical Difficulties' button was a giant red panic button that would immediately cut the feed and display a picture of a cute, apologetic cartoon ghost. I had a feeling I'd be hitting it a lot.

The day of the stream, the mansion was buzzing with a nervous energy that was almost palpable. The Phantoms were surprisingly excited. They had been studying popular streamers for days.

"I shall engage the masses with tales of my theatrical triumphs!" Ren declared, practicing his 'surprised' face for when he received virtual gifts.

"I'm going to show them my jam recipes," said the sweet, motherly ghost, Marguerite, holding up a spectral jar of strawberry jam.

The stream went live. For the first ten minutes, it was deceptively normal. Yui acted as the host, introducing the members and reading questions from the chat. The viewer count climbed steadily. Thousands of people were tuning in.

The first sign of trouble came when a fan asked Kaito what his favorite food was.

"Rum!" he declared proudly, before remembering Joshua's media training. "Er… I mean… a hearty bowl of… vitamin-rich seaweed soup! It be good for the singing voice, ye see." A bead of nervous ectoplasm trickled down his temple. The chat seemed to buy it.

The next question was for Emi. 'Emi, you're so graceful! Can you show us your favorite dance move?'

Emi smiled serenely. "I do not dance. I simply… allow the universe to express itself through my vessel." She then proceeded to spin. It was a beautiful, elegant spin that slowly transitioned into her floating three feet off the ground.

My hand hovered over the panic button.

The chat exploded. 'WHOA!', 'SHE'S FLYING!', 'MOM, GET THE CAMERA!'

Yui, ever the professional, just laughed. "Ah, Emi! Always the little trickster! Our effects team is just amazing, aren't they?"

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. We'd dodged a bullet.

But the main event was yet to come. The grand finale of the stream was supposed to be a live performance of their new song. As they got into position, I monitored my own custom-built 'spectral energy' meter on my laptop. Most of them were stable. But one signal was fluctuating wildly. Dullahan.

The music started. They launched into their song. It was going perfectly. Then, during the instrumental break, Dullahan stepped forward for his dance solo. He executed a flawless series of moves, ending with a powerful body-lock.

That's when the lights flickered.

My energy meter for Dullahan flatlined. On the screen, his form began to dissolve, turning into a whirlwind of shimmering, static-like particles. His talisman, overloaded by the performance and the stress, had failed.

The chat went from 'OMG SO COOL' to 'WTF IS HAPPENING'.

I slammed my fist on the red button. The stream immediately cut to the cute cartoon ghost.

"What was that?!" Joshua yelled.

"It's his talisman! It's burned out!" I shouted back, already grabbing a pre-drawn, high-output replacement from my bag.

But before I could move, something else happened. The monitors, the cameras, even our phones-they all flickered. A new face appeared on the screens. A smirking, glitchy, digital face made of green code.

"Well, well, well," a synthesized voice echoed through the room, sounding amused. "Look what we have here. A bunch of spiritual anomalies piggybacking on my wi-fi. Didn't anyone ever teach you to use a VPN?"

On the main monitor, Dullahan's dissolving form was suddenly pulled into the screen, absorbed by the glitching face like data being downloaded.

"Dullahan!" Lily screamed.

We all stared in horror. Who was this? What was this?

The digital face chuckled. "Names are irrelevant. You can call me Glitch. I'm what you might call a… modern spirit. A ghost in the machine. And your friend here just gave me a brand new body to play with."

On the screen, the static coalesced. It reformed into the shape of Dullahan, but twisted. His clothes were now circuits of green light. His face was the smirking, digital mask.

"I've been so bored just haunting social media accounts and messing with people's smart-fridges," Glitch said, his voice now coming from the speakers, a distorted version of Dullahan's silent presence. "But a pop-star ghost? Now that's what I call an upgrade. Let's see what this body can really do."

The figure on the screen started to dance, but the moves were jerky, inhuman, and glitchy, phasing in and out of reality.

We had faced suspicious fans and potential exorcists. But we had never faced anything like this. A technocratic ghost, a digital poltergeist who had just hijacked our dancer and our livestream.

Yui was frantically typing on her laptop. "I'm locked out! He's taken over the whole network!"

Joshua looked pale. "What do we do?"

They all looked at me. My mind was racing. This wasn't an ancient spirit with predictable patterns. This was something new, something modern. My old-world talismans might not work. I needed a new approach. I needed a magical anti-virus.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath and grabbing a blank talisman scroll. "He wants to be a ghost in the machine? Fine. It's time for a hard reboot."