School Ghost Stories
The first time I set foot in the new school—an institution that had radiated such a terrifying aura I’d half wanted to turn around and run—it was hard not to be disappointed by how normal it looked once I was inside.
It’s cleaner than I expected.
The place had made such a blatant show of harboring evil spirits, but the moment I stepped through the doors, a thoroughly ordinary school atmosphere had spread out before me.
Students sprinted down the hallways. Boisterous chatter spilled from the classrooms. Clusters of girls who passed me with curious expressions, their eyes bright at the sight of a face they’d never seen before.
None of it matched the frightening image I’d caught from outside.
Come to think of it, if ghosts were openly roaming around inside a school, that wouldn’t be a ghost story anymore. That’d be an apocalypse story.
“I’m Lee Haru, a new transfer student at Somyeong High School.”
“…….”
“I’ll be in your care.”
With my nerves easing just a little, I managed to introduce myself without incident after entering my newly assigned classroom, under the guidance of my homeroom teacher.
“Haa….”
There was, however, one miserable downside: there hadn’t been a seat prepared for me, the transfer student.
Worse, the only empty seat in our class at Somyeong High School—a coed school, of course—wasn’t on the side with a group of boys, but amid a cluster of girls.
Still, at least there isn’t anyone beside me…?
That was the small comfort I clung to as I stared blankly at the sound of the bell signaling break time.
“Pfft!”
“Seriously, what was that?”
“That’s so freaking funny.”
Then, all of a sudden, laughter bubbled up from the front of the room—the voices of girls snickering as though they’d heard the best joke in the world.
“Go on, hurry up.”
“I’m really gonna do it?”
“Hey, just do it already.”
And it didn’t take me long to realize that their eyes were on me.
No matter what it is, I’d rather not do it….
Watching them with a sour expression, I lowered my gaze on purpose and muttered inwardly, What if I end up picking up a ghost or something?
The reason I’d transferred schools in the first place was that students who came near me had a bad habit of getting into accidents.
Maybe it was because I’d been born with the ability to see ghosts, but I tended to attract more spirits than ordinary people did.
So I tried to keep to myself as much as possible, but the few classmates who kept coming up to me anyway inevitably wound up in one small accident or another.
And because an unusual number of those victims had been girls, this situation felt even more uncomfortable than usual.
“Ahem!”
But then, in the next moment, a voice thick with amusement rang out right in front of me.
“Hey, your name’s Haru?”
“…….”
“It is Haru, right?”
Among the group of girls who’d been eyeing me and snickering earlier, one of the more noticeable ones—dyed hair and all—tilted a playful smile my way and spoke to me.
“Hi, I’m….”
Then she abruptly stopped, her face going pale as death.
-Goooo….
Even now, Red Mask, who had been standing quietly behind me all this time, wore a severe expression as she exuded a freezing aura in every direction.
“Uh, huh? Uh….”
At the same time, the girl slowly backed away, scratching her head and muttering, “S-suddenly it’s so cold….”
“…….”
“…Th-that’s weird.”
Then, the moment her eyes met mine, she flinched and hurriedly turned on her heel, returning to her friends.
“What was that? Why’d you come back already?”
“Whoa, look at the goosebumps on her.”
“No way, did you freak out and bolt?”
The other girls prodded her and teased her, but she kept glancing my way with a dazed look on her face, only mumbling to herself.
“No, it’s just… something feels… I can’t explain it….”
“Then what is it?”
“…I’m telling you, it’s weird. Anyway?”
Almost immediately, a wave of puzzled stares from the girls washed over me.
“…Ah.”
The moment I found that unbearable and looked away to the side, Red Mask—still radiating that frigid air—suddenly took the empty seat to my right and spoke.
“I’m prettier.”
She had started using a new line, and now she stared straight through me.
“…Right?”
“…….”
“Answer me.”
Of course, it seemed the reply I was supposed to give her hadn’t changed.
“Y-yes, of course.”
So I answered with a forced smile, but honestly, it wasn’t even a lie.
Now that I’m seeing her up close, she really is pretty….
Apparently the urban legend that was supposed to inspire terror with a red mask had also been given the completely unnecessary setting of being absurdly beautiful.
I still hadn’t seen what lay beneath the mask, of course, but even with that condition, she was easily attractive enough to outclass the girls on the other side of the room.
“I knew it….”
As I was thinking that pointless thought, Red Mask—who had been staring at me so menacingly only a moment ago—rested her chin in her hand, flashed a bright-eyed smile, and withdrew the cold air around us.
Huh.
And then, once again, I felt someone approaching from the side.
“Hey, are you good at soccer?”
“You play any games?”
“Wanna hit the PC bang later?”
This time, the ones approaching me were a group of boys who looked bored out of their minds.
That’s weird.
If this had been the old me, the swarm of spirits clinging to me would’ve kept them from coming anywhere near.
It looked like, thanks to Red Mask sitting beside me, the other ghosts who’d been driving off my classmates had all run away.
…Wait.
Then that meant…
Could I finally make friends?
*****
“What the hell, you’re actually good at soccer? You looked all weak and feeble.”
“…I’ve played a little since I was younger.”
“Really? Nice. We’ve got a class match coming up soon, actually.”
That afternoon, just as P.E. had ended.
Would you look at that. I’m actually making friends….
For the first time in my life, I was walking down the hallway after finishing a soccer game with the friends I’d somehow managed to make, and I was feeling oddly moved by it all.
“Hey, um, hi… wh-woah!”
“S-suddenly I’m freezing….”
“A-achoo!”
Of course, that only applied to boys.
Girls still avoid me like the plague, though….
This was already the fourth time a girl who’d been whispering with her friends and then approached me had turned pale and fled, shivering the whole way.
“…….”
Needless to say, it was because Red Mask, who was still silently following behind me, had gone rigid every time and sent out another blast of cold.
…Still, better than nothing.
For someone like me, who’d never managed to make a single real friend from childhood until now, even that was a blessing.
“…You’re pretty fun, you know.”
Anyway, I was strolling along with a stupid grin on my face when I suddenly heard a whisper from beside me.
“……?”
Turning my head, I found a girl staring at me expressionlessly.
What, is she a ghost?
She was wearing the same uniform, so she was obviously a student, but since she’d come close despite Red Mask’s cold aura, for an instant I’d almost thought she wasn’t human at all.
“Huh? She talks?”
“This is the first time I’ve seen her speak.”
“Right? Do you two know each other or something?”
But the boys walking beside me exchanged glances and asked me about her, which made it clear enough that she wasn’t a ghost.
“…….”
Curious, I looked back at her, and for some reason she jerked her head away and walked right past me.
“Tch.”
Still scratching my head over what the hell that was about, I suddenly felt Red Mask’s presence behind me, tinged with what seemed to be irritation.
What was that all about…?
Just as I was tilting my head, even more bewildered by the strange atmosphere around me, a message I’d seen that morning floated back into view.
Drive out the seven ghost stories lurking at the school.
[Warning: Failure to complete the quest within the time limit may result in unknown consequences.]
...Well damn.
I still didn’t know what this status-window-looking thing was, and I had no clue what would happen if I ran out the clock or failed to clear the quest.
But one thing was becoming very clear to me.
If I ignore it, I have no idea what’ll happen….
The instinct that if I wanted to survive a peaceful school life, I’d better clear the quest in front of me as soon as possible, was getting stronger by the second.
*****
“Hmm….”
Having decided, at least for the moment, to try clearing the quest I’d been given, I stayed behind after school while most of the students headed home and began wasting time in the empty building.
Weird. Why can’t I see any of them…?
But once I actually set out to look for ghosts, I found that they were surprisingly difficult to track down.
That made sense, really; a school was one of the classic places steeped in the life force ghosts hated.
The majority of school ghost stories didn’t happen in broad daylight, after all, but at night, when students were left alone.
“Hey, what are you doing all alone…?”
“…….”
“…Ah, never mind!”
Of course, Red Mask was still sitting beside me and driving off anyone who came near, so maybe because she was a guardian spirit, she seemed to be exempt from that rule.
“Sigh. I don’t know anymore.”
After that I spent a long, boring stretch killing time, and by the time the sun began to set, I’d given up on finding ghosts and decided to head home for the day.
“No, you really can’t follow me in here.”
“…Can’t?”
“It’ll just take a second, I’m begging you.”
Before that, though, I’d tried to stop by the restroom for a moment, only to break into a sweat while trying to keep Red Mask from following me all the way inside.
“Phew….”
At last I’d managed to leave Red Mask waiting at the entrance and was about to step farther in when—
-Clunk, clunk….
The toilet stall suddenly began to rattle violently, and a chilling voice drifted out from within.
“Will you take the red paper….”
“…….”
“Or the blue paper….”
And then, with a sharp bang, the stall door flew open, and at last the nonhuman presence I’d been searching for revealed itself.
Wait. What do I do now?
The problem was that this had happened while Red Mask wasn’t with me.
I’d been caught off guard, and the situation had hit so suddenly that panic seized me. I blinked, then frantically looked around and broke out in a cold sweat.
“…Huh.”
Before I knew it, I was standing inside the stall that had been wide open only seconds ago.
-Click.
And then, before I had time to react, the only escape route was locked shut.
“…….”
Completely isolated now, I stared at the hand holding out the toilet paper and felt panic rising fast. I squeezed my eyes shut.
Why are you doing this to me…?
Unlike the shaman grandmother I’d had, or the protagonists in Japan who seemed to be living their best lives, I had no exorcism power of any kind.
Sure, Red Mask had become my guardian spirit yesterday, so I’d been relying on her—but for some reason, now that I needed her, she wasn’t answering at all.
Then what the hell was I supposed to do?
I’d spent my whole life following my grandmother’s dying wish and pretending not to see anything that wasn’t human. I didn’t know the first thing about exorcising ghosts….
Wait, come to think of it…?
As I lamented my fate and dripped cold sweat, a lightbulb suddenly went off in my head.
...Back when I confessed to Red Mask, she got driven away, didn’t she?
The solution that had just come to mind was so absurd I wanted to laugh.
But since I’d actually succeeded in doing something like exorcism for the first time yesterday, I didn’t exactly have a lot of other options.
Shit, I don’t know anymore.
They say if you enter a tiger’s den, you survive as long as you keep your wits about you.
But I’d been dragged into a den of ghosts, so I needed the opposite strategy.
Let’s just see what happens.
If I was going to survive a ghost’s den, I’d need to throw my wits away. It was time to prove that theory.
“Hup.”
“Kyah!?”
With that, I steeled myself and grabbed the approaching hand, pulling it toward me. A shriek full of panic echoed through the stall.
“Ahhh….”
Moments later, dragged by my strength and thrashing for a second, the thing that finally crawled out from the toilet and fully revealed itself was—
“…….”
A girl about my age, with a gloomy atmosphere clinging to her so thickly it practically hung in the air, though she was actually rather cute.
“H-hi….”
Soaked through and sitting on the floor, her eyes rolling nervously as she peeked at me, she offered a timid greeting.
“Hah.”
And at that exact moment, I realized something, and all I could do was let out a dry laugh.
Why was I ever scared of ghosts?
Come to think of it, when a high schooler reincarnates, gaining an overpowered cheat ability is basically common sense.
And apparently, even if I hadn’t noticed it until now, I must have had some cheat ability that kept ghosts from daring to treat me lightly.
Once I got that far, I actually felt a little indignant.
If all the ghosts I’d been avoiding all this time were this level, I should’ve started talking to them ages ago….
“Hey.”
But just as I was laughing weakly in relief, the timid girl suddenly went serious and spoke to me.
“Are you going to bully me too?”
“Huh?”
And then, in the next moment, the bathroom floor beneath my feet was abruptly swallowed in black smoke.
“Like those bitches did… are you here to bully me too?”
At the same time, the girl’s eyes had turned pitch-black, and she was clutching my leg while releasing a terrifying aura and asking again.
This spirit is an Earthbound Spirit.
Within her own territory, she can exert overwhelming power. A direct confrontation is impossible.
And then, right in front of me, another blood-red warning message floated up.
Ah….
After checking it, I had no choice but to hastily revise everything I’d been thinking a moment before.
Reach Affection Level 2.
Guardian Spirit Condition: Reach Affection Level 5 or higher.
The power I’d been born with really had nothing to do with some isekai overpowered cheat.
It was more like a hardcore dating sim where I had to bet my life on my tongue and my judgment.
“Why aren’t you answering…?”
In other words, there was only one way to handle this situation.
“You came here to bully me too, didn’t you…?”
If I wanted to survive, I’d have to give everything I had and seduce the earthbound spirit in front of me.
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