Mutsuko was right that this was the reverse of the way Aiko usually imagined it going. Most people believed that ghosts could harm people, but not the other way around.
“The question is, where is Chie? Eto, do you see her?” Mutsuko asked to a random part of thin air.
Aiko could see Nami, though, who was pointing to a corner of the screen.
“Sakaki! To the right, at the end there! Chie’s in the seat on the rightmost side, second desk from the front!” Aiko said, talking to the tablet.
✽✽✽✽✽
But Yuichi didn’t even need Aiko’s direction.
He had already defeated all the specters, and the seat furthest to the right, second from the front, contained a girl who had been there the whole time without budging an inch.
The label “Specter” hung over her head, but she was wearing a Seishin High girls’ uniform. There was no one else who looked like that, which meant this must be Chie. Nami had said she seemed different, but Yuichi didn’t notice anything strange about her other than a slightly hazy silhouette.
Yuichi walked up to Chie. “Are you Amatsu?”
“Who are you?” Chie asked in an empty voice, not even looking at him. Her eyes remained where they were, pointed to the front of the room.
“My name’s Yuichi Sakaki,” he said. “Nami Eto asked me to come here and save you.”
“Nami... Eto... Nami...”
“Yeah. You remember her?”
Chie muttered absently, and Yuichi began to wonder if she still had any right mind left. Would she still have any memories of her old life after becoming a specter?
“Nami... Yes... because of her... I was killed, and then...”
“Amatsu?” he asked.
Chie looked at Yuichi for the first time. There was a smile on her face: an emotionless, pasted-on smile that caused Yuichi to jump back from fright.
The attack that came from the side a second later grazed his face. Chie’s arms were still on the desk. But there was a third arm reaching out to grab Yuichi. Then, there was a fourth, and then a fifth.
The label above her head had changed to “Superficial Bodhisattva.”
“She feels less like a Bodhisattva and more like an Ashura, to me...” he muttered.
A few months ago, he might not have been able to dodge this, but his experience fighting monsters had helped him to mature. The growth of a few arms wouldn’t be enough to throw him off.
“Let me see... I don’t know who you are, but perhaps I’ll send your head to Nami,” Chie said, her smile unwavering.
She still had her mind, it seemed... but that mind was a prisoner to madness.
✽✽✽✽✽
Aiko and the others were heading for the athletics field.
“No matter what monster you face, don’t be afraid, don’t feel despair, and don’t freeze up in horror,” Mutsuko said. “I wanted to train Yu so that his first thought would always be, ‘How do I beat it?’ And he’s finally getting there!”
As usual, the things Mutsuko said felt utterly inhumane, but Aiko had gotten used to that, too.
“If he keeps this up, he should make it in time,” Mutsuko added in a whisper that Aiko couldn’t quite make out.
They arrived on the field and met up with Chiharu. “How are things going? Most of the numbers within have vanished, so I assume that Yuichi Sakaki is winning. N-Not that I was worried! It’s just that I wish to be the one to defeat him, myself!”
“Are you a tsundere-slash-rival now?” Aiko objected mildly.
“Yeah, I guess he’s fighting the final boss?” Mutsuko said. “Though I sure hope he’s not making Chie the final boss... wasn’t he supposed to save her?”
“Um... well, in the state she’s in, she’s probably not capable of asking to be saved...” Nami said in a low voice, suddenly beside them.
They watched Yuichi fight through the tablet screen.
“Uh, am I the only one who feels bad for the specters?” Aiko asked.
“Yeah, this is a little off-putting...” Mutsuko mused.
Yuichi had pulled off Chie’s arms and was beating her with them. Chie’s archaic smile remained, yet there was something strained about it now.
Chie continued growing more arms to attack Yuichi, but Yuichi dealt with them head-on. When an arm struck out at him, he struck back and caused it to vanish, or tore it off and threw it away. As this happened over and over again, Chie started to recoil in fear.
Yuichi had her on the ropes.
As they arrived at the window’s edge, he mercilessly kicked Chie in the solar plexus, a hard enough blow to likely kill a human.
“Ah.” Aiko looked up at the second floor classroom.
The window glass broke and Chie fell out. Yuichi fell after, to stomp her on the ground.
“Graaaagh!” Chie let out a desperate scream of a sort rarely heard from a girl. Her pasted-on smile disappeared, her face becoming tormented by fear and despair.
“Chie!” Unable to just sit back and watch this, Nami ran up and covered Chie protectively. Then she glared up at Yuichi, and cried, “Stop it!”
“Um... I got Amatsu out of there?” Yuichi said, brow furrowed.
“Sakaki... did you totally forget until now that you’d gone there to save her?” Aiko shouted.
“Yuichi Sakaki... this seems a bit excessive, even for you,” Chiharu added.
Both of them were dumbstruck.
“Nami... why... you killed me... why save me?” the specter murmured.
“I didn’t! I fell and died, too! It was an accident! No one was at fault!”
“Nami...” Chie responded weakly. Her form had grown dim and started to disappear.
“Chie, I’m sorry,” Nami sobbed. “I’m sorry we fell! I’m sorry I couldn’t save you!”
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry,” Chie murmured. “The grudge I held against you is the reason I ended up in this form...”
“Hey! Why is Chie disappearing?” Nami cried.
“I don’t really know...” Yuichi frowned, unsure of how to answer her.
She was likely disappearing because of Yuichi’s attacks, but it had been the only way to get her to listen to reason. Thus, Nami wouldn’t have been able to work things out with her if he hadn’t, so maybe things had worked out for the best.
“Maybe she’s trying to move on?” Mutsuko suggested. “She had turned into a specter, but if her grudge against Nami has disappeared, maybe she’s starting to disappear because she’s free.”
“Chie... I’ll go with you, then. My regret about you was the only thing keeping me here...” Nami’s form began to fade, as well.
As the two wrapped their arms around each other, they disappeared together.
✽✽✽✽✽
By the next day, Seishin High School was totally back to normal. Of course, hardly anyone had noticed anything strange to begin with, so most of the students were acting the same as ever. Even Reiko Takasugi, who was venerated for her sixth sense, didn’t seem to be acting any differently. She hadn’t seemed to notice the specter invasion in the school the day before, either.
“Sakaki, how have you been feeling? You don’t have much time left...” Reiko warned.
“Hmm, I feel pretty good. I don’t think you have to go out of your way to help me,” he replied. He had been walking with Aiko after class when he happened upon Reiko Takasugi in the hall.
Reiko had her groupies with her, as always. Misaki Gokumon, who had been absent the day before, was now present. Her face was rather pale, and she seemed unsteady on her feet. It seemed she had taken the day off yesterday because she was feeling sick, and it looked like she hadn’t fully recovered yet.
“I see. If you say so,” Reiko replied, brimming with confidence. Perhaps she still expected him to give in to her in the end, as others had all done before.
As the group passed by, Yuichi unleashed a backfist. He hooked his fingers and struck Misaki’s back with the back of his hand.
The head of t
he “Specter” went flying and dispersed, and the chain leading out from Misaki’s waist vanished at the same time. It seemed Yuichi couldn’t see the chains unless they were holding a spirit in them.
It was the specter that was causing Misaki’s illness. Even if she caught them with chains, she couldn’t control them, and it seemed the specter had possessed her.
That should do it for now, but the same thing could still happen again... he thought.
Misaki had to find a way to control her “Medium” ability. It might mean parting ways with Reiko, but that part wasn’t any of Yuichi’s business.
“Hey. Do you think I can banish specters, too?” Aiko suddenly asked, with eyes filled with hope.
“Hmm, you probably shouldn’t try,” Yuichi said after a moment’s thought. “You can see them, and you probably could beat them, but I think it would make you vulnerable to spirit influences.”
To acknowledge the existence of specters meant acknowledging the power they could have over you. Unless you had a firm belief that you could beat them, it seemed better not to get involved.
While they discussed the subject, they eventually arrived at the school’s exit.
“Well, well! If it isn’t Yuichi Sakaki!” Chiharu called out, her instrument case on her back.
“Don’t act like we just happened to run into each other! We agreed to meet here!” he shot back. They had decided to patrol the school just to be safe, so she had been waiting for him there.
The three of them walked around the school together, but they found nothing amiss. At the end, they decided to stop by the roof.
There would no longer be a sad spirit there throwing herself off of it... or so they thought when they came, but they were surprised by what they saw:
Chie Amatsu, “Specter.”
“What are you doing here?” Yuichi demanded.
“Uh, I guess you could say I’d built up too much bad karma to move on,” she admitted. “Or maybe I ended up with new unfinished business?”
“Did Eto move on?” Yuichi asked.
“Yeah. I don’t know if it’s Heaven or the Pure Land, but she definitely went ‘upstairs.’ She hadn’t really done anything wrong. I got denied, though.”
“Does that mean the specters I beat up didn’t move on, either?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “They just sorta got blasted to bits. They might re-coalesce soon enough, but I doubt they’ll come back here again. They’re scared of you, Yuichi.”
“Why did you come back, then?” he asked.
“Hey... even if I am a spirit, we can make it work as long as we can touch, right?”
“Huh?” He couldn’t understand what she was talking about.
“See, I died before I could get a boyfriend, and I really feel like I missed out,” she said. “I never had a proper youth, and I still want a proper high school experience. So I thought... since there’s a boy here who can touch ghosts, that’s pretty perfect!”
“Unacceptable! I shall be forced to purge you myself!” Chiharu shouted. She began to unpack the bow from the instrument case on her back. “Yuichi Sakaki is a part of my harem! No specter shall ever lay hand upon him!”
“When did I become a part of your harem?” Yuichi muttered.
Chiharu began twanging the bow string again and again. The invisible arrows flew in a torrent, but Chie blasted them away easily. She had been sort of like the specters’ boss, which suggested she must have had quite a lot of power.
“Damn! And isn’t this change of character a bit too sudden?!” Chiharu shouted. Perhaps because her attacks didn’t worked, Chiharu began to scold the specter on other, more random points.
“Sakaki... this ability you have that Takeuchi mentioned, to befriend the people you beat up... it’s really something...” Aiko said with a furrow of her brow.
“I do not have that ability! At least... I don’t think I do, anyway...”
Yuichi couldn’t actually say with confidence that he didn’t.
Epilogue: “Protagonist”
Something was wriggling on top of the blanket.
The sensation woke Ryoma Takei up for a moment before indolence overtook him again.
It wasn’t very heavy. Even though it was on top of him, he could probably sleep through it.
Just a little while longer. Ryoma pulled the blanket over his head and tried again to escape from reality.
“Wake up, Big Brother!” The thing began to pound Ryoma through the blanket.
This was one thing he couldn’t sleep through. Realizing that convincing was required, Ryoma poked his head out from below the covers.
Big round eyes gazed back at him. Long, glossy black tails were bound up on both sides of her head, and she was wearing a middle school uniform. It was Ryoma’s little sister, Shiori.
“Little Sis... Big Bro wants to sleep a little longer,” he complained. “Can’t you see that from how I’ve been acting?”
“But look at the clock! You’re gonna be late!” Shiori pointed at the clock on the wall.
“Late, huh? Being late once or twice in my life won’t hurt anything,” he said. “It’ll be fine. Go on without me, Shio—”
“Hey, Ryoma! Don’t give Shiori grief!” The one who opened the door was the girl who lived next door, Mio Morikawa. Her long black hair was bound back into a single tail. Her almond-shaped eyes conveyed such fire behind them that Ryoma had a hard time fighting her.
They were childhood friends. They went to the same high school and were even in the same class — a tie he just couldn’t seem to sever.
“How many times are you gonna be late this month? Get a grip, already!” she snapped.
“What does it matter to you if I’m late?” he demanded. “You think you’re my mom or something?”
“What?!” Mio shouted.
Ryoma sat up. Now that Mio was here, there was no way he was getting back to sleep. Her presence also shook off the last of his exhaustion.
Ryoma waved his hands to shoo them both off. “Fine, I’ll get changed. Just get out.”
The two reluctantly left the room.
“I think I’ve really gotta analyze if it’s even necessary for me to go to school these days...” Ryoma muttered.
Ryoma was really busy. He’d gone to bed around 4:00 that morning and was extremely sleep-deprived.
But if he said out of the blue that he didn’t want to go to school anymore, his sisters would worry, so he’d just have to find a way to better manage his time.
Ryoma got dressed and headed to the kitchen to eat.
His big sister, Kotori, was waiting there, making breakfast. For some reason, Mio was at the table, too, looking rather unhappy. Kotori, though, was smiling as warmly as ever.
Their parents had both gone on a business trip overseas, so the three children lived there together, with Kotori assuming the role of mother. Looking at Kotori’s face, he decided once again that he didn’t want to worry her.
After rushing through breakfast, Ryoma was hurried by Mio to school. It was his usual morning routine.
Starting from his usual morning, he had his usual classes, then he returned home. He returned to his room as he usually did, and since he had no other commitments, he considered sleeping for a while. But as usual, events wouldn’t leave him alone.
An unfamiliar girl was waiting for him in his room.
She had red hair and wore a faded dress, and was sitting on the desk, reading a book as though perfectly at home.
Ryoma sighed. He tossed his bag aside and threw himself onto the bed.
“Oh? You don’t seem very surprised to see me,” the girl said without lifting her eyes from the book.
“I’m not,” he said. “I’ve had this happen a ridiculous number of times before. Girls come out of my TV and my computer and my books, and so many have come from the sky, I’ve lost count. There was even a girl who came out of the ground recently. Compared to all that, coming home to find a girl I’ve never seen before reading a book se
ems pretty normal.”
“I see,” the girl said. “That’s exactly what I was hoping for.”
“You know, you don’t talk like most girls nowadays,” he commented. “So, what do you want? You look like you’re from another world, right? You want me to beat another demon lord in a fantasy world? Stop a space war? I’m in the middle of a death game VRMMO right now, so it’ll have to wait.”
“Your nonplussed attitude suggests a wealth of experience, as well. But wait just a minute, please. I’ll explain after I finish reading my book.”
“Ah, I’ve never been through this one before,” he said. “It’s always people insisting I help them without even asking about my schedule. I’ve never seen someone putting off the explanation to read a book after they came to me.” He tried a little sarcasm, but the girl ignored him.
Ryoma waited.
At last, the girl closed the book. “Yuichi really is interesting. Commonplace encounters with the bizarre, huh? That sure is how it felt. Now, what were we talking about again?”
“If you don’t want anything, leave.”
The girl smiled. “I’m just kidding around. My name is Ende. I came here to give you an invitation.”
“To what? I’m busy, you know,” he shot back. “I can’t just go off with you out of the blue. We can talk later. Just put your name on the waiting list, and when it’s your turn, I’ll deal with you.”
“Don’t worry about that,” she said. “The stories have all moved on. There’s nothing left for you to do. You should be free for a while, so please, hear me out.”
“Huh? What do you mean, the stories moved on?” he asked, confused.
“The stories moved on without you,” she said. “Most of them reached a bad end, I’m sorry to say.”
“Huh?” Ryoma had no idea what Ende was talking about.
“Go ahead and see for yourself.” Ende picked the HMD — a full-face helmet called a Head Mounted Display — off the top of his desk and tossed it to him.
Ryoma scrambled to catch it.
It had been sent to him out of the blue one day. The letter that had come with it had said it was for playing a VRMMO, and while he’d found it unbelievable, when he’d put it on, he had found all five senses immersed in a virtual world of a game.
The Strongest Little Brother’s Commonplace Encounters with the Bizarre?! Page 17
