60fps

Naoya didn’t even know if ghosts could hear, but his diversion worked. It worked too well. At first, only a few shades along the rift’s edge turned towards the one living human in the Deadrealm… and then he spotted the ones rising up from all around the houses around the plaza. The town of Kusatsu was hundreds, if not thousands of years old, with people flocking to the hot springs to enjoy them for as long anyone could remember. And where people lived, people died. Where people died, ghosts lingered.

Many, many ghosts.

With more courage than he felt, Naoya raised his fists and stood at the ready.

“If this doesn’t count at least double for your redemption, I’m putting in a formal complaint,” he muttered through his teeth, and in response he felt a familiar sensation pulsing in his head. In the living world, Hinako was distant. In the Deadrealm, she was present. “Let’s do this together.”

He balled his right hand to a fist and thereby activated the spells woven into the fabric. His hands glowed as he took aim and punched into the direction of the ghost which flew at him like a falcon poised to strike. Light bloomed between them, and the ghost dispersed with a loud screech. A jolt like lightning went through Naoya’s arm, but he gritted his teeth and raised his fists once more.

Just then, two more people joined him from the sky, following the cloud of ghosts congregating around him. One of them had a rabbit head, but opposed to Karin’s lighter colour, it was a solid black. The other sported the head of a fluffy, brown dog.

“You’re going to get yourself killed if you lure them in like that!” the dog head person yelled as she displaced another group of souls.

They weren’t being harmed by this, but Naoya still felt bad as he heard the screams. The rabbit head jumped into the air again, intercepting another group with quick steps, before it could even reach the ground.

“Do you want all of them in the living world?” Naoya yelled back.

“Fair point. Makes it easier to hit them too, if they line up nicely,” rabbit head replied.

“Not the point!” dog head shouted.

They swirled around like martial arts heroes, blinding light shooting from their hands, which was now brighter than the rift. The combined efforts of the agents were working. But it was working slowly. Very slowly.

“Put your back into it,” rabbit head yelled. “The harder you want to hit, the harder they get hit.”

“I don’t want to hurt them at all!”

“You’re not hurting them. Dispersal is a nuisance at best, but it buys time. None of us wants to hurt our brothers and sisters.”

Rabbit head jumped and punched another shade into thin mist.

“Could’ve fooled me…” Naoya murmured under his breath.

Even without the ability to fly, Naoya had no shortage of adversaries to confront. The ghosts were still coming towards him in droves. More and more were rising up from the surrounding town, like the clouds of steam from the hot water.

Naoya looked at Aki, who had her eyes closed now, quietly chanting. She trusted him to hold his own. He wouldn’t disappoint her.

“We need more people in Tokyo!” Kazu yelled. “Faster!”

Naoya looked up to the rift, which didn’t seem to close anymore. Kazu ran around, distributing the new talismans to the others, rushing to replenish the missing energy.

“Is video worse than photos?” he asked dog head.

They stood back to back, keeping a watch on reforming ghosts, who struggled to single-mindedly fulfill their desire to return to the living world. Naoya wondered not for the first time if these agents got a chance to actually fulfill the wish that bound them to haunt the Deadrealm.

“Videos are way worse. Every frame is a single picture.”

“Oh.”

“These new phones can record even with 60fps.”

Naoya punched the air in front of him with both fists, making a bright light bloom and the shades fade into air. He could imagine it, the fireworks shining even brighter than this display. He’d do it too, innocently recording the interplay of light and shadow in the sky, colourful lights and music. Phones raised high around town, all filming the same location—the very place the rift flickered above them.

“Kazu! How long is the fireworks display scheduled for?” he yelled.

The bird's head turned and Kazu fixed him with one shining eye.

“Ten minutes.”

Naoya looked at his wristwatch. Just one minute left. Alright. Above him, rabbit head punched another ghost, who faded with a shrill screech like out of a nightmare.

“Do you have talismans left?”

Kazu jumped over, holding up a handful of paper. “Not many. They needed them elsewhere.”

“Give them to me.”

“What?”

“I’ll use them all at once.”

“You will not.”

“Kazu,” Naoya said and grabbed his wrist. “Hinako will help me. Trust me.”

“You don’t even know that.”

“Well, I will never know it if we don’t try.”

Kazu looked towards Aki, but she still had her eyes closed. He cursed.

“Aki will have my head if something happens to you. Ruri too, I’d wager.”

“Hinako is Aki’s mother. She’ll do everything to keep me alive to see her son again.”

“She’s a ghost, who cursed you,” Kazu said.

“She’s the same as you. As you all. I trust you, so I’ll trust her. Alright, ten minutes are up.”

Naoya snatched the paper talismans from Kazu’s hand, raised them all up to the rift and started chanting again, reciting the lyrics once more. The paper caught fire in his hand, but he held onto them despite it, opening his eyes wide. The pressure in his head increased hundredfold, as if he had a very acute migraine attack, and then it faded all of a sudden, his whole vision flashing white.

He barely realised how he fell, and was unconscious before he hit the ground.