Chapter 1 - A Frightening, Yet Sexy Ghost

What exactly is time, anyway? It’s something that can’t be seen, heard, or felt. And yet it influences everything in the universe, whether it be a person’s aging or a star exploding into a super nova. Without time, there would be no change. If time were to stop right now, everything would become like a photograph; frozen in time. But how could we be frozen in time if there’s no time be frozen in?

Questions like these aren’t typically asked by high school students. Certainly not by high school students that get bad marks in most of their classes. I like to blame it on the system. Schools cannot possibly measure a human’s intelligence accurately. Nor can it teach anything useful. Rather, the only thing school is good for is teaching us how to pass tests and complete assignments. After that, most people can hardly remember a thing they learned in those past three to four years.

The thing about time is that it only moves forward. There’s no going back and what’s done is done. If you made mistakes, you have to make amends in the future. You can’t go back in time to fix it so that it never happened. That’s just science. Sometimes humans get science wrong, but science itself is just how the universe works.

This is what I had assumed up until a certain day in my second year of high school. The season of fall had started up, prompting all of the students at my school to shed their light, summer uniforms into their warmer winter ones. Around this time of year, I sometimes get teased because of my name. Just because my name is Aki, though, doesn’t mean I actually like fall. I prefer the summer months.

In my school at Fukuoka, a new girl seemingly out of nowhere transferred here. Or so I thought she did. It just happened to be that we had the same homeroom. I was sitting lazily at my desk, absent-mindedly looking out of the large window to my left. My thin, middle-aged teacher was up at the front of the room teaching nonsense about obnoxious teenagers taking photos around his house, which had jack to do with anything.

 It was around 3:30 when I heard the classroom’s door slide open. For whatever reason, I was the only one to turn their head towards the door. A pale girl with long, flowing, brown hair carrying absolutely nothing with her walked in. She was still wearing the summer uniform, so I wondered if perhaps she was new here and didn’t get the memo.

 Something about her gave off an air of maturity. Maybe it was her full-figured body, or the fact that she managed to look drop-dead gorgeous without any make-up. And yet, the teacher paid absolutely no attention to her and looking around the room it seemed no one did. The girl took a seat behind my desk, which I just now realized had been empty for the entire school year. I felt a little nervous with her behind me. Maybe it was because she messed up the feng shui of the room, but then I remembered that I had no idea what feng shui was.

 I tapped my pencil on my desk to distract myself from the feeling of being watched and gazed out of the window again. There wasn’t anything interesting outside except for withering trees and old buildings. I started to feel hot. Were her eyes burning into my back? I really, really wanted to take off my suit jacket. It felt like there was a built-in heater inside of it. Without looking at her, I stood up, unbuttoned my uniform, and placed it around my chair. I sat back down and for some reason it felt like even more people were looking at me. At least I wasn’t so hot anymore. Thankfully, I had a skirt on. If I wore pants, I probably wouldn’t be able to take the heat around my legs and would have to resort to sitting through class in nothing but my underwear. Wait a minute, but that actually sounds like a good idea...

 "You could just take all your clothes off, you know."

 The sound of her voice behind me startled me. Unsure of how to respond, I ignored her and stared idly into the wall in front of me.

 "Are you listening to me? Get naked already if you're so hot!"

 I scanned the classroom and realized no one else seemed to notice the fact that this girl behind me was yelling at me to strip in the middle of class. Am I just going crazy or is this some sort of idiotic prank?

 "How 'bout this: if you take off your clothes, I'll take mine off, too." She said it in such a seductive tone, I couldn't help but feel my cheeks burn a little. Slowly, and very slightly, I turned my head back and took a look at her from the very corner of my eye. I nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw that she was in very close proximity to my face. I quickly jerked my head back and resumed sitting awkwardly at my desk. My teacher momentarily stopped his lecture and raised his brow at me.

 "Matsumoto-san, is there something wrong? Would you like to see the nurse?"

 "I-I'm fine, thanks." I replied quickly. "It's nothing at all, please continue."

 He nodded and continued to go on about his wife and how she never seemed to have time for him. Meanwhile, I could feel the girl behind me literally breathing on my neck.

 "Do you like this?" she whispered into my ear, "do you like it when I breath on you like some sort of perverted old man?"

 Not particularly, no, and I don't see why you have to act like one. Then again, I don't see why you're in here in the first place. And why are you only picking on me? What did I do to you? As if I was saved by the divine gods of the universe, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. The teacher wrapped up his discussion and everyone went on to clean up the classroom before either going home or club. The girl behind didn't even get up from her seat to help the others, oddly enough. Once the sweeping of the floors and the wiping of the chalkboard was done, I slung my bag over my shoulder, debating whether or not I should ask the girl what all that was about. She didn't seem to be leaving, either, which was sort of weird.

 My curiosity got the best of me and before I left, I walked over to her desk and looked at her kind of uneasily as I scratched the back of my head out of nervousness.

 "H-hey... uh, what was that?"

 "What was what?"

 "You were um... talking to me or something about getting naked. Then you started breathing on my neck."

 "Is that unusual?"

 "O-of course it is! What kind of person does that, anyway?!"

 "Matsumoto-san?" a teacher who was walking by had stuck his head into the classroom and called behind me. "Just who are you talking to?"

 "I'm talking to the new student here." I pointed at her as if it was obvious.

 "Who? There's no one else in the classroom except for you."

 "What? You can't see her?" This was getting weird. Was she just a part of my imagination? Was I hallucinating? But I could see her as clear as day sitting at the desk right here!

 "See who?"

 "The... never mind. I'll be going."

 "That'd be best." He withdrew his head and continued down the hall.

 Lowering my voice, I said to the girl, "can we talk outside?" She nodded and got up from her desk then followed me out of the classroom. At least she wasn't being difficult.

 It was a good thing the hallway was empty because I'd rather not get strange looks from people if this girl really was invisible or something. I had a feeling that I should just go home and pretend this girl didn't exist, but I really wanted to know what was going on. Being the daughter of a Youkai, I sometimes encountered strange people. I guessed this was probably another one of those occurrences.

 "So, Aki-chan, what is this about?"

 "I should be asking you that. Also, how do you know my name?"

 "I just do, silly." She giggled and I didn't know if I wanted to punch her or gush over how incredibly cute she looked.

 "Well, I just need to know why I'm the only one that can see you."

 "Oh you don't know? I'm a ghost."

 Did I mishear her? "Sorry, what was that?"

 "I'm a ghost."

 "A ghost?"

 "Yes."

 "Ghosts don't exist!"

 "Who told you that?"

 Ah. So it was one of those situations. The existence of ghosts wasn't known by anyone outside of the realm of those that were either Youkais or the children of Youkais. And of course, a Yuurei (ghost) itself. I was still unsure if a prank was going on, so I acted dumb. "There are no such things as ghosts. That is fact."

 "There are such things as ghosts. That is fact. Aki-chan is an idiot. That is also fact."

 "I am not an idiot!"

 "Yes you are. But idiots are cute."

 I felt like taking off my suit jacket again. But then I remembered that I left it in homeroom. "H-hah?"

 "Look, Aki-chan. I know that you know I'm a ghost. You may not know much about ghosts, but you know I am one. Why do you think no one else said anything when I walked in? If I were a transfer student, the teacher would've introduced me. Not only that, but Itou-sensei thought you were talking to a desk."

 I hated to admit it, but she was exactly right. Though, I wasn’t ready to give in so easily. Anyone could pretend to be a ghost and get everyone to play along with it. “If you really are a ghost, prove it.”

 She threw up her hands, clearly frustrated with me. "You really don’t think I’m telling the truth? Fine,  I’ll go and assume my, err... ultimate form."

 I doubled over and burst out laughing. I laughed for such a long time, my stomach ended up hurting. "Ultimate form... sorry, I do know what that is, but I've never heard anyone use that term before."

 She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you young people and your slang..." Young people? She looked about the same age as I did. Then again, if she really was a ghost, there’s no telling how long she’s actually been around. Before I could say anything, my back was suddenly rammed against the wall, knocking the oxygen out of my lungs. She had changed from a beautiful, young woman to a raven-haired, frail, ghastly figure. She was hunched over, wheezed heavily, and her uniform was replaced by a clean, white kimono. The mist that surrounded her sent a shiver down my spine. Plus, her breath smelled like ebola. She quickly changed back, much to my relief. I slumped onto the floor as she released the collar of my shirt.

 I was definitely convinced, but I still had questions. "Wait, but if you're a ghost, how come I can see you? Ghosts can only be seen by family and loved ones."

 She smiled and cocked her head. "I dunno. We only just met, haven't we?"

 "Yeah."

 "Well, since ghosts also can't lie, I simply don't know. Maybe you're just a weirdo."

 "Don't call me a weirdo!"

 "But you are, aren't you?"

 I stood back up and dusted myself off. "You really are a pain in the ass."

 "Nonsense! I'm sure we're gonna have our fun soon."

 "Fun? Soon?"

 "That's right! You're gonna help me return to my rotting corpse."

 "Ah. I see. Do continue."

 "You see, when a sentient organism dies, their consciousness is recycled into the universe and in any given planet in any given Galaxy where life exists, their consciousness is born into a new organism. A man can be reincarnated as a woman then later become some genderless creature on a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy. They'll have no memories of what they once were and the life they live will seem like the only life they ever had. You could call it their soul."

 "I knew about reincarnation, though I never would've guessed there was a scientific explanation to it. So Buddhism is the right religion..."

 "Somewhat. On a bigger scale, however. Life isn't limited to earth, you know. To think that is both exceedingly ignorant and anthropocentric."

 I blinked. "Look, I get the whole idea, you're a Yuurei and all. The supernatural isn't anything new to me. So you’re probably stuck here for a reason, aren’t you?”

 "Oh? Looks like Aki-chan isn’t the dumbass I thought she was. That’s too bad. I was really looking forward to taking advantage of your stupidity.”

 My ahoge twitched. “Why are you so mean to me?”

 “It pleases me greatly.”

 I folded my arms and leaned against the wall. “Okay, so if my instincts are correct, you’re going to ask me for my help.”

 “Yep.”

 “Gonna give me more science lessons along the way, too?”

 “Maybe. Only if you want to make sense of it all in a logical manner. After all, the supernatural is just bending the laws of physics to the nearly impossible.”

 "Again, I'm aware of the supernatural. My father was an Oni."

 "Oh, I know. I also know that you touch yourself at night."

 Just what was wrong with this girl?

 She put her hands on her hips and gave me a distasteful look. “Alright, now back to my situation. Because my body is dead, and my consciousness has yet to be recycled into the universe again, there’s only one thing left to do other than spend eternity as a ghost floating through space: return my soul to my body.”

“And just how would I go about doing that?”

“That, I don't know. However, I do know a woman that is an expert on science and the supernatural. She’s a little crazy, but she knows what’s she’s doing. Most of the time."

“Wait, she can see you?”

“She’s blind. But because of her insanity, she can hear spirits talking to her. You’re gonna come visit her with me.”

“What makes you think I’ll even agree to help you out with this ridiculous plan?”

“I know you will. You have this thing called ‘human morality,’ don’t you? So you’ll feel obligated to help a poor girl in need… am I right? Either that, or you're just after my body. Perv.” She threw me a smirk and fluttered her eyelashes at me. It was almost as if those lashes sent a million butterflies flying towards me that came rushing into my mouth down to my stomach. I diverted my gaze, which for whatever reason landed on her breasts.

“Well… I suppose.”

"It may have been false assumption on my part, but could it be that rather than me being the pervert it’s actually you that’s the even bigger pervert?”

 “That... could be true. No, actually, it's not true at all. Why do you ask?"

 “Oh, you just seemed to be giving off the aura of someone that is weak against vivacious women. I have also caught you staring at my humongous jugs on more than one occasion. Not that yours are bad or anything." As if to emphasize what she just said, she buried her face into my breasts and inhaled deeply before lifting up her head to look at me with her brilliant, blue eyes.

“What...”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just comfortable is all.”

“By the way, how did you die, anyway?"

She didn't answer. "You'll help me, won't you?"

"Sure, but I'd like to know your name first. We may as well get to know each other right?"

She smiled warmly and stood back. "Kurebayashi Sachiko. I was around the same age as you when I died."

"Well even though you probably already know me better than I do, the name's Matsumoto Aki. Second year, seventeen years old. I look forward to working with you."

"Alright. You're gonna have to skip school today. Probably for the next few days, actually, depending on how long you take. You know what, you may as well drop out of school entirely. That shouldn't be too hard for you, considering the delinquent you are, you naughty little half-Oni."

"Have you been watching me?"

 "No. But I have seen you naked."

"What?!"

"Just kidding. Ghosts can't lie, remember? But then again, that in itself could be a lie, too."

"Right..."

"Now that we got all that out of the way, shall we go?” Sachiko held out her hand, and, without knowing what I was getting myself into, I took it without any hesitation. 