Arya stirred under his blanket, which covered him completely from head to toe. Only a small corner of his pillow peeked out from the tightly wrapped mound. That morning, his boarding house room was still calm and quiet. The air in the cramped room hadn't warmed up yet, and the morning light slipped through the gap in the curtains, drawing thin lines across the floor.
In the middle of that stillness, a strange sound reached Arya's ears, faint and distant.
It sounded like a hoarse song, though he couldn't tell where it came from. The words were sung slowly, dragging along, as if someone were trying to tell him something through one long whisper. The voice seemed far away, yet at the same time very close, echoing faintly inside his head until he couldn't tell whether it came from outside or had simply lingered from his sleep.
Arya stirred once more. His brow furrowed, and his fingers tightened around the edge of the blanket. The sound was still faintly there, disturbing his sleep and making him uneasy. But before he could understand what he was hearing, it slowly faded away.
Arya's eyes snapped wide open.
He shot upright in bed, gasping for breath. Cold sweat dampened his temples, and his chest rose and fell quickly, as if he had just run a long way. For a few moments, he just sat there, trying to steady his breathing and collect himself after a nightmare that had felt far too real.
His eyes swept across his cramped room. Nothing looked different. His things were where they always were, the room felt the same as ever, and there was no sign of anything that should have frightened him.
Before Arya could fully calm down, a cheerful voice suddenly rang out from the corner of the room.
"Drama this early in the morning."
Arya turned toward the voice.
Rika was floating lazily in the air. A mischievous smile played on her face, and one hand propped up her chin as if she were watching a pretty entertaining show. There wasn't a trace of worry on her face. If anything, she looked like she was enjoying the sight of Arya, who had just woken up with a rumpled face and uneven breathing.
"Wake up, lazybones! You have a morning class today, right?" Rika went on cheerfully.
Arya glanced at her with tired eyes. He let out a long breath, then snorted in annoyance. The drowsiness still clouding his head bothered him far more than the urge to respond to Rika's chatter.
He dropped back onto his pillow and pulled the blanket up over most of his face. With a lazy motion, he rolled onto his side, turning his back to Rika, as if that simple move were enough to end the conversation.
"Forget it. I need five more minutes," he mumbled in a husky voice.
Rika clearly had no intention of letting him fall back asleep.
The ghost drifted closer to his bed, her expression getting even more mischievous. She stopped right beside it and tilted her head, studying Arya as he hid under the blanket again.
For a few seconds, Rika said nothing.
She seemed to be working out the best way to wake Arya up without having to repeat herself over and over. The smile on her face slowly widened as an idea crossed her mind.
Rika took a deep breath.
Then, without the slightest warning, she opened her mouth and screamed as loudly as she could right beside Arya's bed.
"ARYAAA! WAKE UP OR YOU'LL BE LATE FOR CLASS!!!"
The scream shattered the quiet of the little room.
Arya leaped out of bed. His body jerked so fast that the blanket that had been wrapped around him came loose and ended up in a heap on the mattress. His heart pounded as if it might jump out of his chest. His eyes were wide, and his face showed a mix of shock, panic, and irritation.
Without thinking, his hand grabbed the pillow beside him. He hurled it at Rika with all the annoyance he had just built up.
Unfortunately, the pillow simply passed through her body. It sailed right through without any effect and dropped to the floor.
Rika looked at Arya with a satisfied face, as if making him jump out of bed was the greatest achievement she could have hoped for that morning.
"RIKAAAAA! Can you please not make a racket first thing in the morning?!" Arya protested loudly.
He glared at the mischievous ghost, his breathing still not back to normal. The sight of him looked nothing like someone who had started the day peacefully.
Rika only giggled at his reaction.
She raised both hands and reached toward Arya's head, still giggling, her fingers grasping at the air as if she wanted to ruffle his hair.
"Okay, okay, don't be lazy! You don't want to be late, do you?" Rika said cheerfully.
Arya just stared at her with a flat, sleepy face, while Rika kept her playful smile, as if waking Arya up this way were the most natural thing in the world to do in the morning.
************
A little while later, Arya finally arrived on campus. His backpack hung from one shoulder, and his steps were a bit sluggish as he made his way across campus toward the lecture building. His face looked weary, his eyes still heavy from lack of sleep. Now and then he gave a small yawn, trying to shake off the weight that kept dragging at his eyelids.
That morning, the campus was already fairly busy. Some students walked in groups toward their classrooms, while others chatted along the hallways. The sounds of conversation, footsteps, and student activity blended together into the familiar atmosphere of a campus in the morning.
Arya passed through it all without paying much attention to his surroundings. His mind felt heavy, not just because he hadn't slept enough, but because something had been nagging at him for the past month.
When he reached the classroom, Arya went straight to a seat in the corner. He set down his backpack, then sat back, leaning into the most comfortable position he could find. From there, he could see the projector screen at the front of the room showing the lecture material. Some students were already in their seats, while others were still getting their notebooks and pens ready before the lecturer continued.
Arya tried to keep his eyes on the front. Now and then, he looked at the words and pictures that appeared on the screen, trying to follow the lecture so he wouldn't fall completely behind.
But his focus didn't last long.
Arya tried to put together the scraps of memory he still had, hoping to find some clue he might have missed about what had happened before. But the more he thought about it, the more he felt there was something about all of it he still didn't understand.
He didn't even notice that he had been staring at the projector screen for quite a while without really taking in what it showed. Slide after slide changed in front of him.
His daydream finally broke when a voice came from beside him.
"Arya, what's that square thing stuck to the ceiling? The one with the super bright light? How can pictures come out of it?"
Arya looked away from the board and turned toward the voice.
In the seat next to him, Rika sat comfortably, gazing at the front of the class with obvious curiosity. The ghost kept pointing at the boxy thing she was asking about. Her head tilted up slightly, and her eyes followed the images on the screen as if she were watching something completely new.
Arya was quiet for a moment.
"That's a projector, Rika," he finally answered.
"Ohhh! A protector!" Rika said innocently, staring at the projector and the whiteboard.
Rika cried out with excitement, as if she had just made an amazing discovery. Her eyes sparkled, and she nodded to herself, satisfied that she had her answer.
Arya let out a quiet breath and turned his eyes back to the front.
"Then what's that thing Mr. Teacher is holding?" Rika asked again.
Arya hadn't even answered yet when Rika raised her hand and pointed at the lecturer, who was explaining the material. In the lecturer's hand was a laser pointer, which he occasionally used to point out something on the projector screen.
"The one that shoots out red light, you know~"
Arya immediately looked where Rika was pointing. His eyes followed the ghost's finger until they landed on the laser pointer in the lecturer's hand. For a few seconds, he just stared at it, then turned back to Rika with an expression that was hard to describe.
He never would have guessed something so simple could make Rika wonder so much.
Arya raised a hand and covered part of his face, holding back the reaction that almost escaped. His shoulders shook slightly as he tried to hold in a laugh, though he also felt embarrassed that Rika kept asking questions in the middle of the lecture.
"That's called a laser pointer, and the man up front isn't called Mr. Teacher, he's a lecturer," he whispered, trying to keep his voice down so he wouldn't disturb the other students.
Then Arya lowered his hand and shot Rika a warning look.
"And please don't be too noisy. I want to listen."
His tone sounded like a scolding, but his face didn't fully back it up. A small smile still lingered at the corner of his mouth, hard to hide. Even as he pretended to be bothered by Rika's antics, part of him actually enjoyed simple moments like this.
At the very least, Rika's presence made the boring lecture feel a little different.
Rika nodded along as Arya explained. She seemed to accept the scolding without complaint, as if promising to stay quiet and let Arya get back to the lesson.
But Rika's attention wasn't really on the lecturer or the material at all.
Her eyes kept roaming, exploring every corner of the classroom with a curiosity that never seemed to run out. Her head turned to follow whatever caught her interest, until it finally settled on something else she found even more fascinating.
Arya was still trying to follow the lecture when Rika spoke up again.
"What about that big one? The one that goes round and round..."
Arya closed his eyes for a moment.
He didn't even need to turn around to know Rika had found something else to ask about. With the last of his patience, he took a slow breath, hoping her next question wouldn't turn into another long conversation like the last one.
Rika was still staring at the thing she meant. Her eyes followed the spinning blades of the ceiling fan. She watched it for a while, as if trying to remember something she had seen before.
Suddenly, her face lit up.
"Oh, that must be a fan, right? I know that one!"
Rika said it proudly. Her eyes sparkled, and her face glowed with satisfaction, as if she had just answered a hard question without anyone's help.
Arya finally turned and followed her gaze. He saw the fan turning steadily above them, then looked back at the ghost.
"Yeah, that's right," he said shortly.
He added no explanation and no other comment. Arya gave only the answer she needed, hoping the conversation would end there.
But even after hearing his answer, Rika still looked pleased with herself. She went back to watching the fan, while Arya slowly turned his eyes to the front of the class.
Arya let out a long sigh.
He tried to focus again on the lecturer's explanation, which was still going on. He even tried to recall the part of the lecture he had listened to earlier.
Arya sighed again, a little heavier this time.
He realized his attempt to follow the lecture was a total mess. He hadn't even found an answer to the mystery nagging at him, and now he had to deal with both his sleepiness and Rika's endless curiosity.
Meanwhile, the lecture carried on as usual, and Rika was still sitting comfortably in the seat beside him.
****************
After class ended, Arya quickly packed his things and slipped his notebook into his backpack. He slung the bag over one shoulder and got up to leave the classroom. There was still time before the next class, so he decided to head to the canteen first. It would fill the free time, and he also wanted to find something to eat, or just sit and relax before facing another lecture.
As soon as he stepped out of the classroom, Arya walked down the hallway with Rika floating casually beside him. The campus was fairly crowded during the class change. Students came and went along the corridor, some walking in groups and chatting, others hurrying to their next class. Every now and then, laughter and conversation rose from different corners, mixed with the constant sound of footsteps.
In the middle of the crowd, Arya walked with his head slightly lowered. His hands now and then adjusted the strap of his backpack, and his eyes were more often on the floor in front of him than on the people passing by. As an introvert, he wasn't comfortable being the center of attention or meeting other people's eyes for no reason. So he chose to walk quietly, trying to get through the crowd without drawing anyone's notice.
Rika was completely different.
The ghost floated lightly beside him, now and then drifting a few steps ahead before matching his pace again. Her eyes kept wandering, taking in everything they passed. The students sitting on the corridor benches, the notice board on the wall, the open doors that showed what was going on in the rooms.
Rika seemed to enjoy every second of being on campus. There was always something that caught her eye, making her turn or pause to take a closer look. Her excitement was obvious, a sharp contrast to Arya, who only wanted to reach the canteen without having to interact with anyone.
But as they neared the end of the corridor, Rika suddenly stopped.
The ghost who had been so lively a moment ago went still. The cheerful smile that had been on her face all this time slowly faded, replaced by a strange expression that was hard to read. Her eyes were fixed on the end of the corridor, as if something there both drew her attention and made her unwilling to go any closer.
Arya, who had already walked a few steps ahead, only now noticed that Rika was no longer beside him. He slowed down and looked back.
Rika was still standing in the same spot.
Arya frowned. He saw how Rika's face had suddenly turned serious, then followed her gaze. But from where he stood, he couldn't see anything clear enough to explain her change in attitude.
"What's wrong?" he asked suspiciously.
Rika gave a small start, as if she had just realized Arya was watching her. She quickly looked away from the end of the corridor and tried to put her cheerful expression back on.
"Umm, nothing," she said quickly.
The answer came too fast to be convincing. In fact, the way Rika said it only made Arya more suspicious. The ghost who never ran out of things to chatter about now looked restless, as if she were trying to hide something she didn't want Arya to know.
"I just remembered there's something I need to do. Come on, let's take another way."
Rika hurried over to him and gestured for them to turn around. The forced smile was still on her face, but her movements showed that she wanted to get away from there as soon as possible.
Arya didn't follow right away.
He narrowed his eyes and studied Rika with a probing look. In the time he had known the ghost, he had gotten used to her oddness, her pranks, and her habit of asking endless questions. But a sudden change like this felt different. Rika really seemed to be trying to avoid something, not just suggesting another route for some small reason.
"Rika, what are you hiding?"
Rika opened her mouth as if to answer. But before a single word came out, Arya suddenly sensed something unpleasant in his nose.
A faint rotten smell hung in the air.
Arya wrinkled his nose and instinctively took a short sniff, hoping to figure out where it came from. But the more he noticed it, the clearer the foul odor became. It smelled like a dead rat that had been rotting for a long time, damp and nauseating, making his stomach turn.
He instinctively held his breath for a moment.
"What on earth is that smell...?" he murmured.
The hairs on the back of Arya's neck began to rise. He turned toward the end of the corridor, following the direction Rika had been trying so hard to steer him away from. This time, he finally saw what he hadn't noticed before.
From the far end of the hallway, faint black smoke was drifting toward them.
At first, it looked like a clump of dark mist creeping slowly along the corridor. The smoke moved in an unnatural way, as if it had a will of its own. The mass of it thickened and thinned now and then, its edges swirling like smoke in the wind. But there was no breeze at all around them.
Arya stared at it, frozen.
The black smoke kept coming closer, slowly taking the shape of a silhouette that looked more and more like a human body. It was long and thin, with something like a head on top and long hair hanging down over its face. The closer it got, the clearer it became that this was no ordinary smoke.
The figure looked like a woman.
Her long hair spilled down, covering almost her entire face, leaving only a small dark patch showing between the strands. Her body moved slowly, with no visible footsteps. She seemed to float above the corridor floor, drifting toward them without making a sound.
Arya felt the back of his neck stiffen.
He wanted to ask Rika about the figure approaching them, but the words seemed to get stuck in his throat. Something about the woman's appearance made his instincts warn him that they shouldn't be there.
The faint rotten smell was now much stronger.
At the same time, the air around them began to grow much colder.
The change came so slowly that Arya only really noticed it when the chill crept across his skin. He instinctively hunched his shoulders, his eyes never straying far from the woman who kept moving closer.
Beside him, Rika looked far more terrified than before.
The ghost's body trembled slightly. She tried to keep a calm face, but her anxiety was hard to hide. Her eyes followed the woman's every movement, and the cheerful smile that never left her face was now completely gone.
Arya glanced at Rika.
He had never imagined he would see Rika with an expression like this. Rika, who was usually so bold about bothering him, chattering about everything, acting as if nothing in the world could scare her, now looked completely helpless.
Cold sweat started to trickle down Arya's temples. He stood stiffly, not daring to move or make a sound. Rika did the same. The two of them stood frozen in the middle of the corridor, able only to watch as the woman came closer.
Time seemed to move slower than usual.
Each second felt incredibly long, as if they had been standing there for hours. The noise of the campus, which had come from every direction before, now sounded distant and faint. Arya's attention was fixed entirely on the black figure in front of him, while his mind filled with terrible possibilities he didn't dare say aloud.
The woman finally passed right by them.
Her movements stayed slow and silent. Her long hair swayed faintly with her body, but there was no rustle or footstep to go with it. She passed Arya and Rika as if the two of them were nothing more than part of the hallway she was walking through.
Arya held his breath.
He tried not to move, even as the figure passed close enough for the chill around her to feel like it was piercing him. His whole body went rigid, and his fingers gripped the strap of his backpack tightly.
Behind the long hair that hid her face, the figure now and then tilted her head. Through gaps in her hair, Arya could see what looked like dark, empty eye sockets with no light in them. Those sockets turned toward them, as if the woman were glancing over to make sure they were there.
A few moments later, the woman kept moving away.
The black smoke that formed her body slowly drifted down the corridor, getting farther and farther from where Arya and Rika stood. Even so, neither of them moved right away. They stayed frozen where they were, waiting until the figure was far enough away to give them a little courage.
Only when the woman was well out of range did Arya slowly turn to Rika.
Rika turned to him at almost the same moment.
Their eyes met.
Neither of them spoke right away. They just looked at each other with tense expressions, as if making sure they had both seen the same thing. Arya's face was still pale, while Rika was clearly trying hard to keep her nerves under control.
Arya swallowed.
"You didn't see anything, right? Right?" he asked with a stiff smile.
Rika was silent for a moment.
"Nope. Didn't see anything at all," she answered quickly.
After saying that, Rika laughed nervously. Her laugh sounded awkward, nothing like the cheerful laugh she usually had. She even seemed to struggle to keep up her own relaxed expression, as if she were trying to convince Arya and calm herself at the same time.
"Where are you two going~?"
The voice was soft, almost like the friendly greeting of someone calling out to an acquaintance. But something in its tone made the greeting deeply creepy. The end of the sentence stretched out, as if the owner of the voice were savoring the fear of the ones she was calling to.
Arya didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
The woman hadn't left. Or rather, she was still close to them.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Rika's loud scream suddenly shattered the silence of the corridor.
Without waiting for an answer or checking what would happen next, Rika shot away like the wind. Her body floated off at incredible speed, leaving Arya behind without a moment's hesitation.
Arya froze for a fraction of a second, unable to believe that Rika had actually run off first and left him alone.
But when he heard a creepy little laugh behind him, all his hesitation vanished.
"Hey, Rika?! Wait for me!"
Arya ran after her.
He no longer cared about staying calm, or about his efforts to avoid attention on campus. His backpack bounced on his shoulder with every step, and his breath came in gasps. He ran as fast as he could, trying to get away from the source of that voice that kept making the hairs on his neck stand up.
And from that incident in the corridor on, the rest of the day passed in tension. The shadow of the long-haired woman, the sharp rotten stench, the unnatural chill, and the creepy little laugh from behind them stayed in Arya and Rika's memories, making their experience on campus that day anything but peaceful.