Just as we are granted those as human rights, beyond it– could mean a whole different type of weapon.
“Yo, Kagu! Did you finish last period’s homework?”
“We had homework?”
Watching as people moved past him, he felt different types of gazes on him. As a recent transfer student, he was mentally prepared to be probed at by people’s eyes. Curious, wary, they’re nothing short under the term ‘hesitant’. Not that he held a grudge against such feelings– even in his previous homeland, he had given off a vibe that had people appear uneasy around him. He had long labeled this: “The Kagutsuchi Effect”. His chi–so overwhelmingly powerful to mortals and those from the beyond–was simply a barrier that unwillingly exposed itself as his scary privilege. Kagutsuchi was used to this, but at least in this school, it appeared to be strangely different. The guys treated him no differently, it was the girls that were somewhat affected by his presence. It was a strange phenomenon, but one he doesn’t know the solution to.
He named his current temporary solution as “woman’s intuition: honed to perfection”.
As of recently however, Kagutsuchi faces a task that appears to be his toughest yet. Unfortunately chosen as the one to approach a girl to give her her assignment papers, since she had been resting in the nurse’s office for all of second period, had him hesitating in front of the nurse’s office until he was called in. It was then that he was met with a certain pair of eyes that he had been meeting for the previous month, so stern yet forward– a mean one. Ever since the rumor of “Lover’s Lake” had passed, he had been meeting the scrutinizing gaze of the class hamster– Miyu Kubo. Even without words, her eyes seemed to say: “I know what you are.”, but what exactly is he? What exactly is she seeing? The moment he stood before her and held out the papers, she took them and flipped through them, occasionally folding a corner. However, once the nurse left the office, those mean eyes were back on him.
“What..”
“Huh?”
“That red stuff around you.”
“Hah?”
“That red stuff around you’s been pissing me off!”
“My immaculate aura?!”
Letting the silence settle in, she scoffed off to the side. Kagutsuchi had known she was especially friendly with other people in their classes, they had the unfortunate lineup of having last names being similar– so they were stuck in every class together, especially with her being quite the overachiever for her grade. However, he could sense something was off around her, between her usual self and her current self– it was like it wasn’t exactly her. His bracelet had tightened subtly from the smallest contact with her when handing her the papers, as if giving him a small warning. Her difference in voice pitch was another sign, it was different and deep. Behind his eyelids, every blink he took– he could sense how different her aura was. How it seemed to be right beside another’s. Without thinking, he grabbed her sweater and peered over her.
“Are you perhaps possessing this girl?”
“Pah! Let go of me!”
The hair clip that had been on her shirt-pocket began to glow, the same energy spirits would give off as they were cornered. Spurts of energy that were futile against his field of chi, he prepared a simple quick exorcism of piercing exactly where the two energies mixed– her eyes grew vigilant, she quickly shoved him away and covered her shirt pocket before bowing her head.
“No! Don’t do anything! My friend spoke out of line!”
“Friend?”
“He promised me he wouldn’t cause trouble! I’ve been napping whenever I have breaks, please forgive him!”
“If he’s capable of possessing you and talking through you, he can cause future harm. I’m not trying to sound like a strickler, but-”
“He still has to fulfill my wish!”
Seeing that she was a stubborn bloat, he knew he wouldn’t get much of his point across. The pin that her hands protectively covered, seemed to go powerless as it began to dim under her palms. Looking guilty, she took her papers and turned to get off of the side of the medical bed.
“Forget you even spoke to me.” She said as she looked back at him, before turning away and walking out of the nurse’s office.
Knowing he couldn’t, as it was against his own set of rules that were practically ingrained into him:
- Always stay on the trail of a spirit.
- Always prepare for hardship when handling a possession.
- Always keep destruction to a minimum.
This plan, he calls it the “Kagutsuchi Triple A-Battery” plan.
?
“You’re terrifying.”
She bluntly said, she had been forced to sit next to him once she had been taken out of dodgeball– he had been sitting there the entire time after he willingly bumped a random ball on his head and sat down. Slouching and cupping her cheek, he noticed something about her during his analysis week. She keeps conversations short, doesn’t initiate them unless spoken to, keeps that same pin on her always, and seems to be both popular and distanced.
“Thanks for the compliment.”
He jabbed back, noticing how she watched the balls that flew around the outdoor court. Even if it was slight, he squinted and saw the faintest light from that pin, which he could confirm to be where the spirit was located. He knew that within the millions of relics he had studied up to, to the point where they’re imprinted within his memory– that was not one of them. There was a difference between enhancement relics that have pure life-source energy, cursed objects with life-source energy in exchange for a certain price, and naturally born life-sources. Kagutsuchi could tell it was a cursed object (at least to his knowledge), but he didn’t know how to exactly relay his good-intentions to her without having her get defensive. The moment the match ended, he saw a figure summoning out of the pin, hands that massaged her shoulders as she stretched and got up.
Gym hell was over, but now it was time to get the real deets.
“I’ll leave you alone if you tell me where you got that pin.”
He bluntly stated while walking beside her, he knew that she had this weird way of taking different routes when going to the same places– probably to avoid certain people. Miyu frowned up at him, before pointing up at him.
“You can’t make fun of me, but you’ve been helluva annoying.”
“I mean it.”
“You can’t make up any dumb rumors either!”
“I said I’d leave you alone, so yeah.”
Once they had roamed to a more secluded space, the pin had been acting up again. She covered it, lowering her head as she shook her head.
“It’s too embarrassing!”
“It’s not as bad as hitting a split and pissing yourself doing it.”
“That’s what your friend did yesterday..”
“Exactly, point and laugh at him. I won’t point and laugh at you.”
Seeing how nonchalant her senior was made her slightly relieved, she covered her face as she recalled the incident from a month ago. Listening in on the rumors, she had heard a specific one that could be her remedy to her loneliness and her boring high school life– while also assisting her with her dilemma of a crush. “Lover’s Lake”, a lake that is rumored that if someone were to get near the lake, they’ll have the confidence to not only confess– but to guarantee the succession of their love life. The proof of it came from the random boom of couples, while it was perfectly timed for February, that extra piece of information was disregarded in Miyu’s mind. Her problem when reaching the lake was with one lingering question: just how close did she need to get to it? Feeling nothing when she moved closer to the muddy side, she sat on her sweater, where she could see her reflection in the water. Clasping her hands together, she had wished to the murky depths–
“Please! Grant me the loyalest boyfriend ever! I don’t want these quick lovers , I want an oldie loyal man who enjoys old classy things like I do! I want a boyfriend that’ll protect me cooly and shit like that! One that’ll tell me ‘you’re already doing your best, Miyu’! An overprotective cutie hottie! I. Don’t. Need. Sexy!”
Yet there was nothing, not even after a moment of silence. With her hands settling down at her sides as she waited, Miyu realized she probably looked ridiculous begging a pool of water to grant her a wish. The moment she went to rise, her sweater had slid from below her hands, the mud slippery enough to have her stumble into the lake. Struggling against the reeds for a moment, she felt her lips touch upon something soft within the water– barely peeking her eyes to see the lily-like petals in front of her. She had kissed a water lily. In the depths of her struggle as she attempted to grasp her way out of the water, she had seen a silhouette before blacking out. When awakening, she had been laying beside a pristine clean lake– the water’s clearer to see within. More importantly, the lilies were in view. Her sweater was no longer muddy, alongside being not soaked. Feeling something pinning her hair back, she had woken up with the pin holding her usually unruly cowlick down.
Miyu’s face had heated up again, she shook her head quickly once she finished her whole story, it wasn’t before then that he realized what type of spirit she had attached to herself. Beyond a water spirit, she had one that seemed to be exactly what she wished for. That loyalty she was looking for was granted, but she didn’t seem to realize it yet. Water spirits are the shyest types of elements, fickle beings that cower to their own bodies of water. Within his Wikipedia for brains, water spirits were small elements of nature, but the nature of this one was different– an unwilling water spirit. The soul of a person that was bound to such a place, drowning and endlessly remaining there, sorrowfully in their forever prison. It was the unfortunate truth, but the spirit had an attunement to nature for him to end up the way he was. A quiet scoff escaped his lips, he pointed to the pin.
“You slippery bastard.”
“Wuuuuh?! Are you making fun of my confession?!”
“No, but you’re in the clear. I can tell what kind of buddy you have there now.”
“Ah.”
“But now you’ve endangered yourself, I hope you realize. That pin is a healthy life-source, which means spirits not only know you can see them, but that they can harm you for that clip.”
Feeling a shiver run down her spine at his warning, she swatted his hand away as a way to show her confidence.
“Don’t worry, I’ll have my super cool boyfriend by then! Plus, I already knew that I’d see spirits, I’ve already seen a few.”
“Where?”
From the way he asked instantly, she could tell that the situation was more urgent.
“Outside, but it was down below so there’s no way it can affect us-”
As if she jinxed it, the lights all began to flicker and go out, eliciting a shriek out of Miyu’s mouth as the rows of lights broke and slammed off into pitch black. In the darkness, she shook the clip quickly and tapped it.
“Hey! Mr. Spirit! Mr. Spirit! Some light please!”
Hearing a flame suddenly crackle and light ablaze, she looked at Kagutsuchi, seeing him practically blanketed into his chi, he was a walking flashlight. Following him along, Miyu kept her small smirk as she scanned him up and down.
“So.. are you possessed?”
“I’m an exorcist, if you couldn’t already tell.”
“I thought you were an occult fan.”
Walking into what seemed to be the auditorium, the stage had a looming figure set in the center of the catwalk. The stage lights were on, all lights were set upon the pale figure that seemed to distort and twist, far worse than an optical illusion. Kagutsuchi set his hand on his tightening bracelet, before he looked back at her.
“I’ll handle this, just stay right here.”
Before she could say anything, in an instant he had bolted forward towards the ghost. The ghastly figure twisted and shrieked, the rooms altering entirely. Sliding his hand over his bracelet, each bell sparking up his chi– he rolled his hand once before a small flame appeared, bursting into a bow. The moment the ghost lunged attack him mindlessly, he charged up a giant blaze arrow just between its multitude of eyes. With his hands releasing the arrow, a heavy exhale left Kagutsuchi’s mouth as he swung with force to further send the arrow flying. The stage had ended up exploding into flames, but he then realized something odd– the darkness still remained, the rooms were still altered.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It was the work of both aliens and spirits.
What he got rid of was nowhere near the main body.
–??
「Empty Space
A phenomenon that only occurs in the presence of aliens, due to their incapability of handling Earth’s gravity. Creating their own subspace just outside of reality, all those who either have no spiritual connections or an extravagant amount of chi will not be summoned into this space. 」
Being stuck on a different floor entirely had Miyu confused for a moment, she had barely regained her footing once everything had registered in her mind. She had been completely shifted and altered away from Kagutsuchi, standing alone in the dark. Letting her clip illuminate the area, she noticed that the location she was in looked exactly the same as the previous area– except this time she was on the catwalk. Exactly where the spirit was, she was now surrounded by an audience of those same figures. Each one in every seat, the distorted figures seemed to appear more abstract every time she blinked.
“God, looking at these gives me such a headache.. being all together like that makes them look like a giant fuzzy white screen..”
Hearing the echoing sounds of booing suddenly radiate around the room, the sudden cluttering of distortion went dark, the stage lights focusing directly on her. It began to feel imposing, the light itself felt like a weight beginning to push down onto her back. Noticing a barrier around her, she looked down at the clip itself– it was shining brightly.
“It’s like it’s protecting me..”
A sudden microphone stand had fallen right in front of her the moment she stepped forward, she had been prepared to make a run for it out of the crowd. Taking the microphone, hearing the blare of feedback once her hand brushed against the near-top of the mic. It caused a wave of disgruntled to upset sounds run around the room, she was baffled. Was she expected to sing? Entertain? She looked around, praying to see Kagutsuchi– he was overly confident in handling the situation.
“Kagutsuchi! Kagutsuchi!! Where the hell are you?!” She yelled into the mic, the crowd growing agitated while she stepped back from the microphone.
Turning to run backstage, she bumped into someone. Miyu quickly moved away from them, being stuck between the crowd, this unknown being and the microphone, she watched as the lights slowly split and pointed towards the being. A tall, almost comically horizontal being– someone who looked like the poor mistake of someone trying to prove Slenderman’s existence through a sketch. While it looked somewhat human, the answer was clear. She couldn’t sense any spiritual energy or see any area coming off of it, this was an otherworldly being.
“What the fuck..”
Muttering under her breath, the being moved up to the microphone and took it into their own hands.
“Ladies and gentlemen, above rows and below rows, it seems like our actress is acting off.”
Feeling a sudden itch in the back of her mind, she realized the statement the being had said. The exact same line the announcer had made when she froze up in the middle of an official scene on stage during her team’s performance in the past, she quickly stepped backwards, bumping into a prop. Everything seemed to be a reflection of her emotions, the same cardboard that her team spent nights painting to the ridiculous costumes on display. Yet those who were wearing those costumes weren’t the people she knew back then at all, those distorted beings had replaced them in their place. Once the stage light landed on them, their faces were reflected over those beings.
“Miyu, what are you doing?”
“Miyu, say your line!”
“Miyu, we promised each other if you got this role, we’d make it to the big stages!”
“Miyu.. why are you hesitating?”
“Don’t you want your poor mother to be proud of you?”
“You can do this much, right?”
“Or is it that you're a simple amateur to begin with?”
As those words rotated her mind, she felt herself grasping at her head while it twisted with her reality. While she seemed to struggle in coherently understanding what was reality and what was not, the alien had gone to step towards her, reaching out to grab the life-source off of her. The clip had an outburst in energy, snapping her back into reality as she was launched out of the memory.
“You bastard!”
She choked out, the sudden light from all the distortions of the crowd blinded her, the stage disappearing within the light. What stood within the field of blank was the figure and her, she looked all around before she heard a voice echo in her mind–
“Can you hear me? Don’t listen to your doubts, they’re twisting your confidence up. You’re already doing your best, Miyu.”
So don’t falter,
what’s said is done.
Now raise your head up high,
a queen never lowers her crown to evil.
“That’s right, I am a fucking queen!”
Her instinct had her grab her clip, setting it to pull back her side swept hair as the burst of energy from the small lily suddenly rose by tenfold– the memories of her embarrassment and the disappointment she faced lingered within her mind. However, the truth in them remained embedded in her memory. The alien seemed intimidated by her sudden confidence, the field it had created using the spirit it had harnessed was being broken apart. From the depths of her maiden heart, Miyu had one simple, delicate dream. To embrace the sunlight in a long white gown, holding a parasol in hand while holding the hand of her lover– as any girl would swoon over being at their most prettiest in front of their lover. Her usually tousled bun hair, an unremarkably dim medium champagne of a color, had an outburst in shade. Evaporating her hair tie, her hair flowed down into a wavy pure diamond blonde. Burning away her school uniform, a prolonged white gown adorned with small lilies at the hems of it. Alongside it, a parasol had formed from midair the moment she imagined its shape. Once opening her parasol, one step forward in her newest form had created a crack within the altered reality, breaking it apart after each step she took towards the alien.
“You son of a bitch, using my worst memories against me. What’s next, you want to show me something I don’t already know?”
The glint of a glare returned within her eyes, once an unremarkable dark hazel now shone a pure greenish-blue, all while a lady-like smile was on her lips.
“I know you’re not from here, so I’ll send you back to fucking space.”
Closing her parasol quickly, she swung it at the being with record speed, sending it flying into the seats of the crowd. As the spirits began to lunge towards where she was, she opened her parasol back up– a beam exploding from it. With one twirl all around before setting the sunshade back onto her shoulder as each spirit exploded into bits.
“How unremarkable, it’s truly astonishing that you dared to even peek into my mind.”
Miyu was then taken off-guard once the alien had bolted back at her, sending a kick into her parasol. Being bounced back, she scoffed once she landed onto her feet. Looking back at the alien, she scoffed once she used the parasol’s beam to blast herself up, yelling down below at it.
“Kicking is a sense of superiority.. your enemy is beneath you. So ground level and below you that you need to use your foot to handle them, just so your hands won’t get stained.. you think you have the right to kick me, you scummy ruffian?!”
Landing a swinging kick onto the alien that thought simply bracing itself would work as a line of defense, she curved a second kick once she propelled herself off of it, sending it crushing down under her heel.
“You’re beneath me, beggar!”
With the crushing power of her heel, sending the alien propelling through the floor– she had shattered empty space completely. The alien disappeared once wounded enough, so Miyu assumed she had defeated it. Once the darkness disappeared, she had reappeared back into the real world, standing on the empty auditorium stage. Noticing Kagutsuchi at the edge of the stage, she began to walk towards him until she felt a splitting pain throughout her body. Having used a power she wasn’t used to having overexerted her completely, she felt her nose begin to bleed while catching herself from stumbling.
“Hey, Kagu.. I beat down that.. alien thing..”
“Kubo!”
????
Waking up in the nurse’s office, she immediately sat up while feeling her face. Remembering the feeling of everything that had happened, she got up off of the medical bed, stretching and walking over to a small mirror on top of the file cabinet.
“That was fucking cr-.. my hair! My gorgeous straight locks!”
Feeling her unruly locks, she looked into the eyes of the girl she was seeing before herself. She still had the same bangs, however, her once usually straight-as-a-ruler hair was now wavy at the edges. Seeing that she was alone again, she left the nurse’s office with a frown while she messed with her newer curls. Glancing at the clock, she realized it was only time for their second class. It had felt like she had spent hours fighting, but it had been a mere hour or so in the real world. Spotting Kagutsuchi who stood right beside the room’s entrance, she went up to him and smirked.
“I know, saving your absolute undying gratitude for moi. I saved us, and-”
“Look.”
Cutting her off and presenting what looked like the miniscule version of the ghost that had been used to create those distortions used against them, she lightly poked it.
“How did one of these survive my big power beam?”
“I fought a ton of these while we were separated, but when empty space was broken, it shrunk down to this.”
“Is it sensitive to light?”
“It’s probably now sensitive to my chi.”
Poking the small being a couple of times, she watched a hand take her wrist and lightly pull her back away from him. Looking up at the being, Miyu realized her hair clip was glowing. Alongside it, this being was someone she recognized– his mere silhouette was all she needed to see to recognize that this spirit was the one she saw in the lake. Seeing how he tugged her away, she seemed baffled. Disregarding their distance apart, she looked at Kagutsuchi.
“What do you plan to do with that spirit?”
“I’ll send it off once it tells me what the fuck it was doing teaming up with an alien. Spirits rarely ever do that crap, they’re mortal enemies.”
“I’m sure you saw it, but that alien was capable of manipulating memories.”
“Your assumption that the alien had used old dirt as leverage is possible.”
Kagutsuchi said while flicking his bracelet, with a small jingle, he had sealed the small ghostling into it. Looking into the eyes of the water spirit behind her, seeing him flinch had him lull his head to the side while sighing.
“Too much happened today, I honestly don’t feel like questioning you.”
“You were planning to interrogate me?”
“Not you, him. Your ghost buddy, I planned to do a background search.”
“Like a detective? So you’re an exorcist detective!”
“Out of curiosity, yeah.”
Without being able to react, he felt her hook her arm around his arm, smiling up at him.
“Your aura doesn’t bother me anymore.”
“It did before?”
“Be honored, you’re now a friend of mine! Miyu Kubo! We’re going to become the next generation of Ghostbusters!”
“Ghostbusters? Fine, then I, Ruby Kagutsuchi, will become your fr-”
Being cut off by a small snicker, he heard a small “pfft” leave her mouth while she covered her lips.
“Ruby..”
“Huh?”
“That’s your fucking name? Ruby?!”
Incessant laughing erupted from her while she let go of his arm, walking in front of him.
“Still, I think it fits you.”
Holding out her hand for him to shake, she smiled up at him.
“Fighting next to you would be badass in future, you know.”
“Yeah.”
Taking her hand, shaking it before she let go, giving him a fist bump, Kagutsuchi smiled and shook his head a little.
“I think so too.”