The atmosphere in the dusty hallway of the Old School Building was thick with the scent of ozone and rotting wood. Rito stood at the center of the corridor, his shadow cast long and intimidating by Mio's flashlight. His eyes hummed with a subtle golden glow, and the air around his fists shimmered with the heat of his burgeoning power.
Opposite him, the "monsters" hesitated. The skeleton's red eyes flickered uncertainly, and the three-eyed cephalopod alien let out a wet, bubbling gurgle that sounded suspiciously like a whimper.
"Wait! Wait! Don't shoot! Or punch! Or whatever that gold stuff is!" the skeleton suddenly shrieked. It wasn't a ghostly wail; it was a high-pitched, frantic voice that sounded like a very stressed middle-aged man.
Rito paused, his fist pulled back. "You can talk?"
The skeleton reached up and pulled its own skull off, revealing a small, green, wrinkled alien head underneath. "Of course we can talk! We're not dead! We're just trying to survive!"
The zombie followed suit, unzipping its "flesh" to reveal a spindly creature with large ears. Even the massive octopus alien shrank down, its translucent skin folding away into a series of mechanical plates.
"You're... aliens?" Haruna asked, her grip on Rito's arm loosening just a fraction as her confusion overrode her terror.
"We are refugees." the green alien (formerly the skeleton) explained, wiping sweat from its brow. "Our planets were down-sized by a galactic conglomerate. We have nowhere to go, no permits, and no money. We found this building abandoned and thought if we scared people away, the authorities wouldn't find us."
"So, the piano... and the 'Get out' voices... that was all you?" Risa asked, stepping out from behind Rito. She looked more annoyed than scared now. "Do you have any idea how much you creeped us out? I almost dropped my phone!"
"We're sorry!" the cephalopod alien burbled. "But we're desperate! If we get deported, we'll be sent to a labour moon!"
Rito relaxed his stance, the golden aura fading from his skin, though his eyes remained sharp, he felt a pang of sympathy. He knew better than anyone that the galaxy was a chaotic, often cruel place. "You should have just asked for help. Scaring students is a good way to get real authorities called on you. Or worse… the Public Morals Committee of this school."
"We didn't know who to trust!" the skeleton alien pleaded.
"They are telling the truth." Yami said, her hair returning to its normal state, though she kept a single blade-strand active just in case. "Their heart rates are consistent to that of creatures with extreme anxiety. They are not warriors."
"Well, now that we know you're just a bunch of squatters," Risa said, regaining her confidence, "maybe we can—"
WHOOSH.
The temperature in the hallway dropped forty degrees in a single second. The flashlight in Mio's hand flickered and died, plunging them into a darkness so absolute it felt physical.
"Something... is coming." Yami warned, her voice dropping to a whisper. This time, she didn't sound annoyed, she sounded alert.
From the end of the hall, a soft, blue luminescence began to glow. It wasn't the mechanical glow of an alien device. It was ethereal and cold.
"You... intruders..."
A new voice echoed through the hallway. It wasn't a high-pitched alien squawk. It was the voice of a young woman, melodic but dripping with ancient, icy fury.
Followed by the voice, out of the wall stepped a figure that stopped everyone's breath.
'It's her.' Rito murmured in his mind.
She wore a tattered, white kimono that seemed to float in a non-existent breeze. Her hair was incredibly long, dark-blue, and flowed around her like ink in water. Her skin was a translucent, pale blue, and she had no feet, her form tapering off into a misty vapor.
This wasn't an alien in a suit.
"The real one..." Haruna whispered, her knees finally giving out. She slumped against Rito, her weight heavy against his side.
"You are bringing so much noise..." the ghost girl hissed. Her eyes were empty pits of blue fire. "I have lived in peace for four hundred years... but these little green ones brought guests. Violent guests who break my furniture."
She looked at the shattered remains of the piano Rito had destroyed.
"My favourite instrument," she whispered. "My only friend."
The air began to vibrate. Nearby lockers began to shake violently, their metal doors groaning. Desks in the adjacent classrooms began to fly into the hallway, orbiting the ghost girl like a chaotic belt of debris.
"Wait!" Rito shouted, stepping in front of Haruna and Lala. "It was an accident! We thought there was a threat!"
"A threat?" The ghost laughed, a hollow, chilling sound. "I am the owner of this place! I am Murasame Shizu! And you... you are the threats!"
(A/N: Murasame Shizu, usually addressed as "Oshizu" the O is an honorific used to refer to women)
She pointed a spectral finger at Rito. A massive surge of telekinetic force slammed into him. It was like being hit by a freight train made of ice.
Rito slid back, his shoes sparking against the floorboards. He dug his heels in, his body flaring up to combat the cold.
"Rito-kun!" Haruna cried.
"Stay back!" Rito shouted and looked at Oshizu.
She was spiralling out of control, her grief and anger fuelling a psychic storm that threatened to pull the entire building down on their heads. The ceiling beams were already beginning to crack.
"Yami! Protect the girls!" Rito yelled.
"Understood," Yami replied, her hair weaving a dense golden shield around Lala, Haruna, Mio, and Risa.
Rito turned his attention back to the ghost, though he knew her from his memories. But reality was obviously different, this was their first official meeting, and the situation was not favourable to them.
He realized that conventional force wouldn't work. She was spiritual energy, pure, unadulterated emotion. If he punched her, he'd just pass through.
But then, he remembered Mikado-sensei's words during his checkup. 'Your energy-signature isn't just DNA... it's pure life force.'
According to what Mikado said, his golden energy was the literal opposite of her cold, stagnant death-energy.
Rito closed his eyes for a heartbeat, reaching deep into the core of his being. He didn't think about fighting. He thought about warmth. He thought about the heat of the sun, the feeling of Haruna's hand in his, the bubbly energy of Lala's laugh, support Mikan provides, the energy Run brings and so on.
He focused that heat into his right hand.
The glow that erupted wasn't a flash; it was a slow, steady pulse of brilliant, golden light. It felt like a miniature sun had been born in the palm of his hand.
He ran forward, dodging a flying desk. He leaped over a spinning chair, his movements fluid and precise.
"Get away!" Oshizu shrieked, sending a wave of psychic pressure at him.
Rito didn't dodge. He thrust his glowing hand straight into the wave, parting the cold energy like a hot knife through butter and reached her, not for a punch but to grab her wrist.
The moment Rito's fingers closed around Oshizu's translucent arm, the world seemed to go silent.
Oshizu froze. Her blue eyes widened, the fire in them flickering out to reveal soft, startled pupils.
"You..." she gasped.
In the 400 years since her death, Oshizu had felt nothing but the damp cold of the earth and the hollow ache of loneliness. No one had seen her. No one had spoken to her. And certainly, no one had ever touched her.
But Rito was touching her.
His hand that was touching her, was solid and firm. But most of all, it was warm.
The Golden Energy flowing from Rito's palm wasn't attacking her spirit; it was nourishing it. It felt like a hot bath on a winter night. It felt like being wrapped in a thick blanket. It felt like... she was alive again.
*****
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