Behind a desk decorated with a statue of a slender girl with white hair and a single pearl eye in the center of her face, Rudy sat reading some papers while Helena stared at the statue. She suspected it was moving, but she had no proof until suddenly.
The statue blinked.
Helena's body jerked backward in shock. The statue spoke with innocent curiosity:
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fi… it's just a doll, how is this possible?"
Jaspen answered:
"This place is full of ghosts…"
Rudy cut her off:
"Didn't you summon one yourself, Helena?"
Helena looked at him in confusion. Jaspen helped:
"That girl from Collective Dreams."
"Ah… yes, sir."
"Honestly, someone else already did the hard work tracking cases of SUNDS, Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome.
We narrowed it down to five possible cases in the western region. Your mission is simple: bring back the girl Helena summoned alive and without causing any commotion, unlike that idiot you saw earlier in my office. We barely managed to compensate the victims… You'll have a supervisor with you to evaluate your performance. Since you're the more experienced one, Jaspen, you'll lead the mission."
"Understood."
"And Rita will be supervising you."
Rita emerged from the strange statue and Helena immediately wished she hadn't. She was the ghost of a mature woman wearing white clothes that clung to her body, hiding the upper half of her face. In the center of that face was what looked like a giant eye concealed beneath a head covering, resembling a second mouth filled with sharp teeth. Her outfit resembled a nun's habit in white, covering her hair and the rest of her body while still being tight enough to trace every curve. She spoke:
"Hello, Helena. I'll be your supervisor. Consider me nonexistent."
Then she vanished.
Helena didn't reply or move. She simply stood there, tense, knowing that this thing was secretly watching her.
The scene shifts to the two of them leaving the sect's headquarters, disguised as a government records building. Jaspen said:
"Those ghosts have been watching us since the beginning. You won't get rid of them until you rise to higher ranks. But there's some bad news."
"What?"
The ghost spoke:
"You'll never know when we're not watching you."
Jaspen continued:
"The aura of Hectotypes has a special property it devours other energy auras, especially bodiless ones like ghost auras, and absorbs them into itself."
"You're a Hectotype too, right?"
"I'm only a Tritotype, but I can buy an anti-ghost talisman."
"Why do you both hate me?"
They answered together:
"What a stupid question…"
Helena added:
"At least show yourself and talk to me."
"People would panic."
"You're so weak-willed… This is how you ghosts always are. You slam doors, make noises, but when it comes to showing yourselves and speaking honestly, you're too cowardly for that."
Slap…
Helena felt a cold slap across her face.
"Watch your tongue when speaking to your supervisor."
"My supervisor?! You're not even a real person of flesh and blood for me to take your words seriously. Show yourself and face me as a futanari and a ghost. If you're just going to hide and talk like someone with social phobia, you don't even deserve me wasting my time on you."
"Helena, calm down. You're talking to yourself."
"I'll report your behavior to management."
"Go ahead. I'll tell them to assign a human…"
Helena suddenly felt a fist squeezing her heart. Sophia's whisper entered her ear:
"Remember, you are not in a position of power."
The pain was unbearable. Helena collapsed to the ground, writhing.
"F… fine… I surrender."
Sophia released her grip on Helena's heart. A passerby asked:
"Young lady, do you need help?"
"No, no… I'm fine, thank you."
Jaspen escorted Helena back to her house, saying:
"I'll pick you up in an hour. Prepare your travel things."
"How long will the trip take?"
"The locations are scattered… It's complicated. If I had to guess, in the worst case it might take three days. Actually, prepare for four."
"But my things are still in my old apartment. I was supposed to move them today."
"They can wait."
Helena returned home, wondering:
"What am I even supposed to pack?
Clothes… my clothes are in the other house.
Food… hmm, I'll buy some during the trip, or maybe Jaspen will bring something."
She took out the wallet she had kept since her trip to the clothing store the day before. When she opened it, she felt the auras of the money like different flavors, each bill and coin tickling her aura.
"532 Tartin[1] … I think that's enough. Helena used to travel to Tofitska in the west several times with 270 Tartin to visit her family there… Helena has parents."
The fog in Mark's mind began to clear, revealing the shapes of her parents.
"Mr. and Mrs. Freadgam. A decent family. Her father works as a lawyer in the city, and her mother is an elementary school teacher…Should I visit them?
Would they even recognize me?
Ammm… better avoid any complications. What I'm stuck in right now is more than enough."
Suddenly Rita appeared, holding some money, and said:
"How about we make peace?"
Helena snatched it from her hand, looked at it, thought for a moment, then thanked her. Rita replied:
"I wasn't happy with their policy on missions either… I mean, sending a ghost that gives new recruits paranoia about everything. But look at me now. When I refused to be a ghost supervisor, they killed me and my comrades. My soul survived by a miracle, and this energy body of mine is slowly disintegrating. Just being here with you is speeding it up.
What do you say? A fresh start?"
"What bothers me is the privacy issue. You're hiding from my sight and spying on me. At least show yourself."
"I can't. If I show myself, everyone will notice my body is slightly transparent and they'll panic. But I'll try."
"I'll try to tolerate you then."
"Thank you."
"But here, in empty places like this, show yourself."
"But call me 'ma'am.'"
"You're mocking me…"
"Fine, I'll make an exception for you."
Suddenly Jaspen knocked loudly on the door. Helena opened it.
"What kind of knocking is that? You're going to bring the whole house down on our heads."
"Oh… looks like you two made up."
"…Helena, consider Rita nonexistent and just live with her. She works the same shifts we do…"
"Forget it. We agreed she'll only show herself when we're alone."
"That's good… You look ready. Lock the door properly and let's move."
[1] Ŧ