School Ghost Stories
The morning after I’d driven the red-masked girl who’d been following me around insane with a long, detailed confession of love.
Dammit.
On my first day at the new school where I’d be spending my years as a student, I came to a stop and let out a long sigh.
“……”
It was because the Red Mask, who normally only appeared at night to make my life miserable, had kept following me even in broad daylight.
“Um, excuse me.”
“…Hm?”
“How far are you planning to follow me…?”
After glancing around to see if anyone was paying attention, I gathered what little courage I had and asked the girl trailing behind me.
“Do you hate me?”
She tilted her head for a moment, then suddenly opened her eyes wide and leaned in close to my face.
“N-no… That’s not it….”
“Really?”
“D-do whatever you want.”
Her dark, blood-colored eyes were so terrifying that I mumbled something incoherent and, in the end, allowed her to come along.
Still, the good news is she doesn’t seem to be trying to hurt me…
One thing I couldn’t ignore was that I didn’t sense any hostility toward me from the Red Mask.
Usually, wasn’t the Red Mask the kind of ghost who asked if she was pretty and then murdered you depending on your answer?
And as far as I knew, no matter what you said, there was no escaping the horrible fate she had in store for you.
So why was the girl behind me just trotting along after me like this?
Could it be… she wasn’t the Red Mask I knew?
“Um, are you really the Red Mask I know?”
“……”
“You know, the one who asks if she’s pretty and rips your mouth apart if you say yes.”
A sudden doubt struck me, and once again I worked up the courage to ask the girl who was still standing quietly behind me.
“I won’t tear your mouth apart.”
“Why not?”
Then, with a chill in the air, she tilted her head to the side and fixed me with a long, steady stare before answering.
“…That’d be a shame.”
The next instant, the girl’s eyes narrowed.
Seeing the red mask she was wearing twitch slightly, it seemed her mouth had curved upward too.
So you’re not going to tell me why?
After that, it was clear enough: the girl in front of me was indeed the Red Mask I knew from urban legend after all.
Of course, even if I’d gone a little out of my mind yesterday, I was handsome enough to have said all those things to her—but that, too, matched the Red Mask described in the old stories.
Then why was this Red Mask showing me such inexplicable kindness?
There had to be a reason Grandmother had warned me so insistently…
Though I’d managed to avoid being murdered on the spot, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that came from the warning my grandmother had left me when I was little, and it kept circling through my mind like a bad omen.
“Hm?”
But if I kept dawdling any longer, I was going to be late for school, so I finally started to move again—only for something to happen.
“Grrrraaaah—rrrraaaah….”
From a dark alley I happened to be passing, a hideous hand suddenly shot out and grabbed my arm.
What the hell?
It had been a long time since a spirit had caught me before I even realized it was there, and cold sweat broke out over me. Then, beside me, a warped voice soaked in frigid air began to ooze out.
“H-hiii. Hellooo?”
“……”
“Wheeeere are you goooing? Where are you going?”
At that moment, the only thing in my head was that I absolutely could not react.
I’d met countless things that weren’t people, but the one hanging onto my arm now was among the creepiest of them all.
Unlike most of the others, who usually didn’t touch me first, this thing had even gone so far as to make physical contact.
I didn’t know exactly what it was, but it was obvious that if I kept giving it attention, my life would be in danger.
-Crrrkkkk….
And yet, if I gave it no attention at all, the arm it was gripping was already beginning to hurt in a truly serious way.
“Play with meeee….”
Then I heard a sound like a neck being wrenched, and black hair began slowly spilling down in front of my vision.
That was right. The thing lurking in the alley had now bent its neck at a grotesque angle and was trying to force my gaze into meeting its own.
Shit….
I wanted to drop my eyes at once, but I knew even that would count as giving it attention, so I clenched my teeth and forced myself to take another step forward.
“Huh….”
That was when the Red Mask, who had been standing quietly behind me all this time, let out a low sigh and started walking.
-Kraaaack!
And the next moment, there came a sudden snapping sound from beside me.
“K-kreeeeek….”
For some reason, the alley ghost let out a pained shriek, then hurriedly let go of my arm and hid itself back inside the alley.
“……”
Still looking dazed, I watched the red-masked girl pass in front of me with her hands folded behind her back, and she flashed me a slight, eye-crinkling smile.
-Swish….
Then she loosened the strap of the mask covering her mouth and disappeared with light steps into the alley.
-Crack, crack….
After that, for a while, the sounds of something being violently broken and torn apart echoed from inside the alley.
“Hey.”
How much time had passed? The Red Mask came walking back toward me, wiping her mouth with her sleeve, and once again gave me that same eye-smiling expression as she asked the question she always asked.
“Aren’t I pretty?”
Only then did I timidly glance toward the dark mouth of the alley, and all I could do was let out a dry laugh.
“Haha….”
Inside the alley where some nonhuman thing had clearly been lurking, only black smoke—the kind that rose when a ghost vanished—was billowing out in thick, lazy clouds.
The alley ghost has been exorcised.
What the hell is going on…?
As I stared blankly at the message and read it over and over, the Red Mask, who had been standing motionless in front of me, suddenly tapped my shoulder and spoke in a quiet voice.
“Hey, can’t you hear me?”
“Ah.”
“I asked if I’m pretty.”
At the same time, she became serious and leaned her face in close to mine.
“Y-yes. You’re pretty.”
I answered in a panic, every hair on my body standing on end, and the Red Mask, after staring at me for a moment as if to bore through me, finally looked satisfied and returned to my back.
“…I know.”
Then, muttering under her breath, she fell into step behind me again.
“Haha….”
I didn’t know what any of this was about, but apparently I was going to have to spend the foreseeable future tiptoeing carefully around the Red Mask’s moods.
*****
“Hmm….”
About thirty minutes later, after barely avoiding being late and arriving at the front gate of my new school, I turned back with a wry expression.
So she’s following me all the way here, huh.
Even now, the Red Mask trailing behind me showed no sign of disappearing, even though we’d reached the school grounds.
The one saving grace was that, unless someone was like me and born with Spiritual Sight, they couldn’t see her.
And as far as I knew, people with Spiritual Sight were extremely rare in this world. So even if I came to school with the Red Mask in tow, there shouldn’t be any commotion.
She’s not going to hurt the other students, is she?
The thought crossed my mind for an instant, but spirits generally drew strength from the life force around them, and the more people gathered in one place, the weaker they tended to become.
Of course, because this was originally based on a Japanese shonen manga, there were always the occasional exceptions who appeared just to casually ignore those rules, but this place wasn’t Japan, the true home of curses and exorcism, where the original story was set. It was South Korea.
And the Red Mask, who had practically become my Guardian Spirit, didn’t seem to have any intention of hurting anyone, so it should probably be fine.
Though, yes, she had instantly erased that ghost in the alley a moment ago… but let’s call that self-defense.
-Bzzzt….
Anyway, just as I was quietly taking a breath and preparing to walk toward the front gate of my new school, it happened.
Eliminate the seven ghost stories lurking within the school.
Reward: Increase in exorcist rank.
My vision suddenly flickered with static, and then a translucent window containing that message appeared before me.
“……!”
I read the message in a daze, and only belatedly did I take in the scenery of the school spread out beyond it. When I did, my mouth fell open before I could stop it.
-Goooo….
The school I’d just entered was wrapped from top to bottom in a black aura.
…Is this a school, or the Demon King’s castle?
For reference, in this world, a Black Aura was something that usually leaked only from places where evil spirits were lurking.
“……”
Still standing there in a daze for quite some time, I suddenly shuddered as a flood of unpleasant stares began pouring toward me from far away, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
...I’m fucked.
Apparently, my life was about to get thoroughly and completely twisted starting today.