The Invisible Co-Writer

Ren woke up to a strange noise echoing through his room early in the morning. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he glanced around the room until his gaze landed on a pair of bizarre, otherworldly feet jutting out from behind the curtains. Heart pounding, Ren threw the curtains aside, only to gasp in shock—it was the Creative Writing Shadow!

"What on earth are you doing here?" Ren whispered loudly.

Before the shadow could answer, the heavy thud of footsteps echoed from the staircase. Ren's mother was coming up. Panic surging through him, Ren frantically signaled the shadow to hide. A moment later, his mother walked in holding a cardboard box.

"Ren, I need you to parcel this order today," his mother said, scanning his tense posture. "Why are you standing there looking so stiff?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Ma! I literally just woke up," Ren stammered, trying to look natural.

Nodding, his mother placed the box on the edge of the table and left the room. But the box was too close to the brink. As soon as she closed the door, it began to tilt, sliding slowly toward a nasty fall. Before it could hit the ground, the Creative Writing Shadow darted forward, catching it flawlessly from underneath.

Ren quickly locked his bedroom door and.  turned around, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He demanded, "Seriously, how did you even get in here?"

Ignoring his question entirely, the shadow turned the box over in its hands, looking at it with deep curiosity. "What's inside this?"

Ren snatched the box back quickly. "Nothing you need to know."

The shadow let out a low chuckle. "What, are you your mom’s personal delivery boy?"

Ren sighed, adjusting his shirt. "Yeah, basically. My mom knits these by hand."

"Hmm, it's a really beautiful sweater," the shadow remarked casually.

Ren froze, his eyes widening in complete disbelief. "Wait, what? How could you possibly know it’s a sweater and not something else? The box is completely sealed!"

The shadow leaned in closer, its voice dropping to a soft, mysterious whisper. "I can see right through things. I know exactly what's inside."

Utterly stunned but pressed for time, Ren decided not to argue. He had a packed morning ahead—he needed to drop off this parcel first and then head straight to the super shop for groceries. He began rushing to get ready, refusing to strike up another conversation to save time.

But as Ren grabbed the parcel and moved toward the front door, he realized the shadow wasgliding right behind him, matching his footsteps.

"Hey, stop! You can't come with me," Ren hissed, turning around to wave it away.

The shadow simply smiled, its dark form shifting calmly. "Relax. Don't worry so much... no one in this world can see me except for you."Ren let out a sigh of relief and said, "Fine. Just wait a minute, though—if nobody else can see you, why did you hide from my mom earlier?"

The shadow shrugged smoothly. "You didn't even give me a chance to speak. You just started panicking!"

Deciding not to drag out the argument, Ren headed out. He walked down the street and successfully dropped off the sweater at the courier service. With his first task done, he walked straight back to the super shop to get the groceries his mother had asked for.

All through the grocery aisles, the Creative Writing Shadow kept gliding next to him, talking non-stop about the story they were working on. Ren, however, kept his mouth shut. He didn't want people in the shop thinking he was a crazy person talking to thin air. Seeing Ren completely focused on picking out groceries and ignoring it, the shadow eventually faded away and left.

Once his tasks were finished, Ren walked over to a nearby park. Exhausted, he sat down on a wooden bench, leaning his head back and staring up at the sky. He watched the fluffy, cotton-like white clouds drifting lazily across the blue expanse.

A sudden wave of exhaustion hit him. He muttered to himself, "I wish I could just drift away like those clouds..."

.

Right at that moment, the shape of a large cloud began to shift. Ren's eyes widened as the cloud slowly formed the exact silhouette of the Creative Writing Shadow's face.

Ren bolted upright on the bench, his heart skipping a beat. He sat there, staring at the sky in total shock. The shadow's words kept echoing in his mind, and he found himself completely lost, unsure of what to do next or what this mysterious entity actually wanted from him.

The Creative Writing Shadow suddenly reappears right next to Ren on the bench. Before it can even utter a single word, Ren cuts it off sharply.

"Alright, look. What am I supposed to do with this Hitumori story anyway?" Ren demands.

The Creative Writing Shadow's eyes light up. "Listen, you are going to complete an incomplete story! Please, you have to help me. I told everyone back in my kingdom that I would improve my color shade. Ren, if you help me, you’ll see a massive change in your own life too. You will become a world-famous writer!"

The shadow puts on a grand, dramatic performance, gesturing wildly with its hands like a theater actor. "Think about it, Ren! The fame, the glory, the readers chanting your name—"

Amused but mostly annoyed, Ren puts a hand up to shut it down. "Alright, alright, cut the drama. That's enough. You don't need to oversell it."

The shadow instantly drops its theatrical pose, leaning in eagerly. "So... are you in?"

Ren takes a long moment to think. He stares at the grass, weighs his options, and finally sighs, nodding his head. "Fine. I will try one last time.But if this doesn't work out, you will go straight back to where you came from and never disturb me again. Deal?"

The Creative Writing Shadow snaps its hand up to its forehead, giving him a playful, disciplined salute. "Yes, sir!"

"But wait," Ren rubs his temples. "Where on earth am I even going to find this Hitomori i story?"

The shadow gives a mischievous grin, its dark form flickering with excitement. "Don't you worry about that at all. Just walk with me, and you'll see."

Ren gets up from the bench, picking up his grocery bags, and mutters under his breath, "Who knows what kind of dangerous mess this guy is going to drag me into now..."

Overhearing his whisper, the Creative Writing Shadow chuckles softly and says,do you something? Ren??

Ren stood up from the bench, brushing off his pants and shaking his head. "No, it's nothing," he muttered. He then looked at the shadow curiously and asked, "So, where exactly are we going?"

The Creative Writing Shadow grinned. "The hospital."

"What?!" Ren gasped, stepping back. "Are you sick? Why on earth are you going to a hospital?"

"Just come with me, you'll see," the shadow replied smoothly.

It turned out the shadow already knew everything. It had planned ahead and spent the walk coaching Ren on exactly what to say. Soon, they arrived at the very hospital where Hitumori had been admitted. The shadow quickly navigated the hallways, searching for the specific nurse who was the last person to speak with Hitumori.

When they finally spotted her, Ren’s jaw dropped. He recognized her instantly—she was the exact same woman who had ordered the hand-knitted sweater from his mother this morning! The Creative Writing Shadow hadn't realized it because she looked completely different in her professional nurse's uniform, but Ren knewfor sure.

Trying to stay calm, Ren approached her, and they sat down in a quiet corner of the hospital lobby. Following the shadow's prompts, Ren cleared his throat and began, "Excuse me... about two weeks ago, a patient named Hitumori was admitted to this hospital, right?"

The nurse paused, thinking back for a moment. "Yes... but who exactly are you to him?"

Ren hesitated, his mind racing for a believable lie. Caught off guard, he blurted out, "I'm his friend."

The nurse's eyebrows furrowed deeply. She looked at him with a mix of suspicion and judgment. "His friend? Where were all of his so-called friends when he was suffering in his final moments?"

Ren began to stammer, shifting uncomfortably. Sensing his panic, the nurse squinted at him. "Wait a minute... I feel like I saw you just this morning."Yeah... I was thinking the exact same thing about you," Ren admitted softly.

"Okay, so why are you here at the hospital asking about Hitumori now?" she questioned, her tone turning sharp.

"Actually... it's about the incomplete story Hitumori was writing," Ren explained, trying to sound earnest. "The one he left behind in his hospital cabin. I came here looking for it."

The nurse's expression hardened completely. "What? What do you want with Hitumori's story? Are you trying to steal it and publish it under your own name?!"

"No, no, no! It's not like that at all!" Ren said frantically, waving his hands. "It was Hitumori’s deepest wish to finish that story. Since he couldn't, I want to write the remaining part and complete it for him."

Hearing this, the nurse suddenly stood up from her chair, looking down at Ren with an unreadable expression.

Alright, I will give it to you tomorrow," the nurse said calmly, cutting the tension in the air. Without another word, she turned around and walked back toward her station.

Ren let out a massive breath he had been holding. "Thank you so much!" he called out after her.

Relieved, Ren turned to his side to share the victory with his companion, only to find the Creative Writing Shadow completely asleep on the spot, leaning lifelessly against the wall! Ren's jaw dropped. He reached out and gave the shadow a hard shove.

The shadow jumped up with a start, blinking its dark, formless eyes. "Huh? What? Did we get it?!"

Soon, Ren and the shadow left the hospital and were walking back down the street together. The Creative Writing Shadow was absolutely ecstatic, practically floating with joy. "We did it! I can't believe we actually recovered the path to the story!" it cheered.

Ren, however, looked down at his hands, feeling the heavy weight of what was coming next. "That was incredibly stressful," he muttered, a wave of anxiety hitting him. "And that was just getting the pages... I have no idea what is going to happen to me when I actually sit down to write

sit down to write this story. What if I ruin it?"

The Creative Writing Shadow stopped walking and looked at him, its tone suddenly becoming warm and earnest. "Don't say that, Ren. You have immense latent skill. I chose you for a reason. You can definitely do this, and I promise you, one day you will be the absolute best writer out there!"

Hearing those words, a spark of hope lit up inside Ren. He felt a sudden rush of courage, reassurance, and genuine motivation wash over him. For the first time, he actually started to believe that maybe, just maybe, he could pull this off.