For the girl named Gotou Hitori, this was supposed to be an ordinary day.
An ordinary wake-up, an ordinary breakfast, an ordinary two-hour one-way commute by train to school, then an ordinary lonely day, and finally, an ordinary return home to rest and wait for the next day to arrive.
But this script, plain as clear water, went wrong right at the first act.
When Gotou Hitori opened her eyes, what she saw wasn't the familiar ceiling of her own home, but a terrifying ghost face smeared with bright red lipstick, face bluish-purple, with fangs protruding outward.
Seeing her awake, that ghost face asked excitedly, "You can see me? You can see me?"
Her brain short-circuited instantly, and Bocchi's face froze in a daze, even losing the ability to make a sound.
The ghost face pestered her with questions for quite a while, but never got a response. Maybe it thought this pink-haired slime hadn't woken up yet. Eventually, it lost patience and floated elsewhere.
Finally snapping back to reality, Bocchi, worried for her family's safety, ran downstairs in her pajamas.
When she reached the living room, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Dad was sitting on the sofa watching TV, Mom was in the kitchen preparing breakfast, and her little sister was happily playing with Jimihen. [T/N: Jimihen is the Shiba Inu of Bocchi]
Everything seemed perfectly normal, except for that ghost face floating beside her dad.
'It seems… only I can see it?'
Despite being within arm's reach of the ghost face, her father's expression remained calm. He even curiously asked why she was up so early today.
Relying on some mysterious intuition, Bocchi had a strong feeling that if the ghost face found out she could see it, something really bad would happen.
So she stammered through some vague answers, ate a breakfast full of anxiety, and was soon rushed out the door by her mom, worried she'd be late for school.
It wasn't until she got on the train, looking at the compartment that was no different from any other day, warm sunlight pouring in through the clear windows, that things finally felt peaceful again.
Gotou Hitori almost thought she'd imagined it al, 'Maybe this morning's incident was just a hallucination?'
But just as she let out a breath of relief, she encountered another monster near the school.
Wearing a school uniform in black and white, with long bare legs bouncing lightly, it looked just like any cheerful high school girl you'd see around.
Except… it didn't have a head.
'Ki-Kidoko!' [T/N: Ghost of Misery]
That was the first word that flashed through the girl's mind.
It was said to be a monster born from the anxiety of adolescent female students, quite a well-known urban legend in Japan.
Just like the ghost face at home, this Ki-Kidoko also walked with light steps, occasionally hopping up beside passing students and whispering softly into their ears, "You can see me?"
God knows what organ a headless monster even uses to speak.
Gotou Hitori wanted to turn and run, but that Ki-Kidoko had already locked onto her. Though still seven or eight meters away, it appeared beside her in the blink of an eye.
Then, it leaned in close, "Can you see me? Can you see me?"
As a weak, pitiful, and helpless social anxiety sufferer, Gotou Hitori barely had any experience interacting with humans, let alone ghosts.
As expected, she gave herself away, and was promptly chased by the excited Ki-Kidoko.
Little Bocchi ran for her life, quickly dashing out of the school, and in a panic, darted into a small alley, trembling beside a garbage bin.
'C-Come to think of it…'
'It's been a while now, that Ki-Kidoko should've given up the chase, right?'
———
Yeah, right.
From Kaito's perspective, the pink-haired slime squatting with her head down was radiating a faint black aura all over her body. Especially around her eyes, which were shrouded in thick black mist.
In other words, she had ghost-blindness.
Thinking she had escaped campus, she'd actually run straight into a trap. A secluded, abandoned classroom. Probably, even if she died here, it'd take ages before anyone found out.
As for that ghost…
It was actually standing right beside Gotou Hitori, holding a bloodstained box cutter, greedily absorbing the thick aura of fear pouring off the girl.
Sensing the presence of a living person, the Ki-Kidoko turned around, toward the classroom entrance.
Then, it couldn't wait and dashed over.
"You can see me? Can you see me? Can you see me?"
'This ghost doesn't seem very bright.'
'Completely unaware of the situation. Doesn't even see me as a threat.'
Kaito raised his hand, lightning crackling.
A simple palm thunder, a required course for every disciple of the Courting Death Sect.
It's usually just for teaching beginners the basics, but in this case, it was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.
The headless JK in front of him disintegrated into ash in an instant.
At the same time, the black aura wrapped around Gotou Hitori mostly dispersed, and her sky-blue eyes returned to normal.
"Eh?", Still crouched by the garbage bin, trembling, Little Bocchi blinked in confusion.
'Why did the surroundings suddenly change?'
Not only that—she also saw a familiar figure.
'That is… Kurumizaka-kun?'
The most popular guy in class suddenly appearing didn't make Gotou Hitori feel dazzled by his beauty.
Instead, she panicked and rushed over, grabbing his hand and trying to run away.
"K-K-K-Kurumizaka-kun! This place is d-dangerous!"
Of course, with Little Bocchi's strength, trying to drag Kaito was pure fantasy.
Seeing she couldn't move him at all, the girl looked like she was about to cry.
"Don't worry," Seeing that she might burst into tears any second, Kaito's voice carried a strange calmness that soothed her heart, "The ghost that was chasing you is already scattered to the wind."
"Eh?", Gotou Hitori looked up slightly, a little dumbfounded.
Anyway—
After spending about two minutes explaining the situation briefly, Little Bocchi gradually understood.
"T-Thank you for s-saving me… I-I-I can't repay you enough…", Once she confirmed she was safe, Gotou Hitori's social anxiety took over again.
Especially since the boy in front of her was the most popular in the grade. He'd become famous throughout the school in just two days since the semester started, even had a fan club with tons of members already signed up.
Little Bocchi gave a deep bow, then pulled out a piggy bank shaped like a small piglet from who-knows-where and respectfully offered it to Kaito, "This is the money my mom saved for my wedding… please, you must accept it…"
"I-If it's not enough, please tell me a number, Kaito-kun! No matter how much, I'll gather it all!", Her emotions suddenly flared up.
Despite being such a scaredy-cat, her gratitude was surprisingly sincere.
Kaito pondered for a moment, then reached out and accepted it.
Not because he was greedy, but because the girl in front of him seemed to be at her limit. This action had clearly taken all of her courage. If he refused her now…
He had a feeling she'd fall to her knees sobbing, then go home and secretly hang herself at his doorstep in the middle of the night.
And he was probably right.
Even though she'd handed over a huge sum of money, Gotou Hitori didn't feel any pain at all. Instead, she looked relieved.
"K-Kurumizaka-kun, c-could I ask you for one more f-f-favor?", The girl cautiously peeked at his expression from the corner of her eye, ready to drop to her knees and apologize at any moment.
"I already said yes."
Little Bocchi stared blankly at him, "B-But I haven't told you what it is yet…"
"You've probably encountered other ghosts too, haven't you?", Kaito didn't keep her in suspense.
After destroying that Ki-Kidoko, although most of the ghost aura around Gotou Hitori had dissipated, a portion still remained.
And that remaining aura was clearly stronger than the one from the Ki-Kidoko.
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