Chapter 159: The Transfer Student from Osaka
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 159: The Transfer Student from Osaka
The new transfer student from Osaka, Hattori Ayame, had a remarkably cheerful personality.
As soon as she sat down at her assigned desk, the other students swarmed her with all sorts of questions, and she answered every single one without a hint of annoyance.
She quickly befriended everyone, boys and girls alike, leaving me to conclude she was just a natural-born social butterfly.
"The new girl is super popular."
"Tell me about it."
"But why do all the transfer students end up in our class? I'm sure there are empty seats in other classes, too."
Satoru's question pointed out what was essentially an unwritten rule.
But the only possible answer to that was, "Because this is a rom-com."
Anyway, the transfer student was one thing, but I was more worried about Ryuji, who still hadn't shown up.
Homeroom had ended, and first period was about to start, yet he still hadn't arrived.
'Did something happen to him?'
Just as I was starting to worry, the back door of the classroom slid open.
Creeak!
"Sorry I'm late!"
Ryuji was panting, trying to catch his breath as if he'd run all the way to the classroom.
They say the main character always shows up late. This guy was setting a new record on the very first day of the new semester.
Any later and he would have been cutting it close.
Ryuji, the cause of the commotion, realized first period hadn't started yet and let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew, the teacher isn't here yet."
「Ryu-chan!」
And Saya, who was behind me, was delighted to see him.
Saya zipped over to him.
However, she slammed on the brakes when she saw another ghost, Mahes, enter through the back door right after.
「Who are you?!」
「What the?」
Mahes seemed just as startled.
It made sense, since he'd probably never seen another ghost in the classroom before.
"Mahes? What's wrong all of a sudden?"
But Ryuji, unable to see the ghostly Saya, just tilted his head in confusion.
「No, it's nothing. I just saw someone I hadn't seen before.」
Muttering an excuse, Mahes looked past Saya to me, his expression asking for an explanation.
I gave a wry smile and pointed at my watch.
'First period is about to start. Let's talk later.'
Seeming to understand, Mahes nodded and followed Ryuji.
「Kim Yoo-Sung! Who's that foreigner! Explain yourself, now!」
Of course, that meant Saya, who had been eagerly awaiting this moment, unleashed a barrage of questions on innocent old me.
*
During the break after first period.
Saya, Mahes, and I ended up on the deserted rooftop for a three-way confrontation.
「So, Kim Yoo-Sung. Who is this girl?」
「Who are you to be sticking to Ryu-chan?」
「Answer me.」
「You answer me.」
"Enough!"
With the two ghosts' questions bombarding me from both sides, I felt like my ears were about to bleed. I yelled to make them stop.
As if on cue, both ghosts fell silent at the same time.
"Your voices are overlapping and I can't understand what you're saying. One at a time, please."
Mahes cleared his throat with a "Ahem," and spoke first.
「I don't have many questions. I just want to know who this girl is, why she calls my contractor by such a familiar name, and how she is withstanding my power.」
"Your power?"
「Tutra. The power of the sun. Just as you possess something called Extreme Yang energy in your body, I have a similar power. Most minor ghosts can't even get near me.」
I see, so that's what it was.
Realizing what he was getting at, I decided to answer his questions.
"This is Ryuji's childhood friend. They were separated when they were young. She was born with a weak constitution and was confined to a mansion in the mountains for long-term care, where she eventually died young. I happened to run into her, and she said she wanted to see Ryuji, so I brought her here."
As I spoke and gestured to Saya, she lowered her head with a reluctant expression.
Unlike her initial hostility, she at least seemed willing to talk.
"And to answer your other question, it's because Saya is strong enough to withstand your power."
「Strong? A girl this frail?」
"She may look that way, but she possesses immense spiritual power. The reason she died so young was that she was born with more Yin energy than her body could handle."
「I see. In that case, I can understand. I've heard many stories of those born with the qualities of a priest who died because they couldn't control their own power.」
Mahes said, crossing his arms and nodding repeatedly.
「Then it's my turn.」
Saya, who had been patiently waiting for her turn, spoke up.
「So who is this person? Why is an Egyptian ghost possessing a Japanese person like Ryuji?」
"Well… it's a long story."
I didn't know the details of their relationship either.
If this world wasn't based on a manga, it would have taken me a long time to accept this reality.
To be honest, the very phrase "a modern Japanese person possessed by an ancient Egyptian ghost" was pretty strange.
Is this really Japanese?
Fortunately, Mahes himself answered Saya's question.
「I was originally a Pharaoh and a great warrior of the sun, resting peacefully in the spirit world. But one day, someone suddenly intruded upon my tomb, and there I met my current contractor. In exchange for saving his younger sister, he promised me, who thirsts for battle, fights against strong opponents. That is why we are together now.」
"You saved Ryuji's sister?"
This was the first I'd heard of it.
「The grave robbers who invaded my tomb attacked not only the contractor, but also his young sister without hesitation.」
Yeah, if I were in that situation, I probably would have given my body to Mahes, too.
Hearing that Mahes had saved Ryuji's sister seemed to change Saya's mind a bit, and the venom in her eyes faded.
Seeing my chance, I decided to wrap things up.
"So, are we all settled then? Class is about to start, so let's head back down."
「Very well.」
「Okay.」
The two ghosts readily accepted my suggestion.
As we were heading down the stairs from the rooftop to the third floor, Saya asked as if she'd just remembered something.
「By the way, it seems like Ryuji can't see me. What's up with that?」
I looked at Saya, dumbfounded.
"Normal people can't see ghosts."
「But you can.」
Mahes, who was beside her, chimed in.
「It's obvious at a glance that he is no normal person.」
「Oh, is that so?」
…What do these two think I am?
*
Perhaps because it was the first day of school, most of the students were goofing off during class.
It seemed that after such a long break, their bodies were rejecting the idea of sitting still at a desk and studying.
After fourth period ended, lunchtime finally arrived.
SLAM!
A familiar head of red hair appeared, someone I felt like I hadn't seen in ages.
"Kim Yoo-Sung! Let's go get lunch!"
It was Karen from the class next door.
"Ah, long time no see, Karen. Now that I think about it, is this the first time we've seen each other since we went to the beach?"
Come to think of it, I'd seen Rika and Sasha again since then, but not Karen.
We exchanged happy greetings and caught up on the way to the cafeteria.
The lunch crew was the four of us: me, Rika, Karen, and Sasha.
Satoru went to eat with his other friends, and Ryuji was having some quality couple time, eating a lunchbox his childhood friend Maiya had packed for him.
For the record, Saya had followed those two and was nowhere to be seen.
As we entered the student cafeteria, all eyes naturally turned to us.
"Look over there. It's Kim Yoo-Sung and his girls."
"Ugh, I'm so jealous. I want a girlfriend, too."
"I wonder what kind of dirt he has on them…"
It seemed the rumors about me were still going strong, even in the new semester.
Anyway, it wasn't anything new, so we naturally took a table in the corner.
"Ryu-chan, you didn't pack a lunch today?"
"Yeah, I'm just going to buy lunch today."
I said, getting up to buy a meal ticket.
"Then let's go together."
Unlike Rika and Sasha, who had brought lunchboxes, Karen was planning to buy her meal ticket, too.
We went to the ticket machine, got our tickets, and picked up our food from the counter. When we returned, the other two were waiting patiently for us.
"You should have started without us."
"It's fine, we only waited a minute. And it's more delicious when we eat together, right?"
"Same here."
Just as we sat down and were about to start our lunch.
"Hi."
"Huh?"
I turned my head at the sudden voice.
"We're in the same class, right?"
Hattori Ayame, the transfer student, was standing there with her food tray.
"Uh, yeah. We are."
As I answered awkwardly, she asked with a friendly smile.
"Do you mind if I eat with you guys? I just transferred today, so I don't have any friends yet."
"If that's the case, I don't mind."
Honestly, I never expected someone like her to ask me of all people.
Most people just take one look at me and get scared.
"Thanks! And once again, I hope we can all get along!"
But the brown-skinned girl simply smiled and sat down in the empty seat next to me.