Arya stirred beneath his blanket, which was already pulled up from head to toe. A strange sound—a hoarse singing that dragged its words out like a ghost's whisper—echoed through his cramped boarding room. Arya's eyes flew open. He sat up with cold sweat on his temples, his breath ragged after a nightmare that had felt far too real.
"Already causing drama this early in the morning," Rika's cheerful voice came from the corner of the room. The ghost floated lazily in the air, smiling playfully as she rested her chin on her hand. "Wake up, Arya! You have morning class today, remember?"
Arya grunted, pulling the blanket back over himself and trying to ignore Rika's existence. "Forget it. I need five more minutes," he mumbled, his voice hoarse.
But Rika wasn't about to give up. She drifted closer, stopping right beside Arya's bed, and tilted her head. Suddenly, she opened her mouth and screamed as loud as she could, "ARYAAA! WAKE UP OR YOU'LL BE LATE FOR CLASS!!!"
Arya leaped out of bed, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest. His hand instinctively grabbed the pillow and threw it at Rika, though it passed right through the ghost's body without any effect. "Good grief, Rika! Can you not make a ruckus this early in the morning?!" he complained, glaring at the mischievous ghost.
Rika just giggled, her hand reaching out as if to ruffle Arya's hair, but nothing happened. Arya could only see it as a failed little joke. "Come on, don't be lazy! You don't want to be late, do you?"
************
A while later, Arya had arrived at campus, his bag slung over one shoulder and his face worn from lack of sleep. In class, he sat in the corner of the room, trying to focus on the material displayed through the projector at the front. But his mind wandered, drifting back to the faces of the man and Nagini he had encountered a month ago. There was a mystery that kept nagging at him—who were they really? And why had they appeared in this world?
Arya's reverie was broken when he heard Rika's voice, now sitting casually in the chair next to him, starting to bother him. "Arya, what's that box thing? The one with the light and the moving pictures."
Arya glanced at her, half in disbelief. "That's a projector, Rika."
"Oooh! A projector!" Rika exclaimed like a child who had just learned something new. "Then what's the one standing at the front of the class? He looks like he has a magic wand." She pointed at the lecturer with the laser pointer.
Arya covered his face with his hand, struggling hard not to laugh. "That's a laser pointer, not a magic wand. And please don't be too loud, I want to listen." But the small smile at the corner of his lips showed that he was enjoying this moment despite pretending to be annoyed.
Rika nodded along, but her eyes kept wandering around the room. "What about that big round thing? The one that spins… Oh, that's a fan, right? I know that one!" she said proudly, her eyes sparkling.
"Yeah, that's right," Arya answered briefly. He sighed, realizing that his concentration on the class material was completely ruined.
*****************
After class ended, Arya and Rika walked to the cafeteria to pass the time before the next class. Arya, the introvert, walked with his head slightly lowered, trying to avoid people's gazes. Beside him, Rika, floating along, was cheerful as always, observing every corner of the campus with contagious enthusiasm.
But Rika's steps suddenly stopped. She stood still, staring at the end of the corridor with an expression that was hard to read. Arya tilted his head, confused by the sudden change in her demeanor.
"What's wrong?" he asked suspiciously.
"Umm, it's nothing," Rika answered quickly—too quickly. "I just remembered there's something I need to do. Let's take another route."
Arya narrowed his eyes, sensing something was being hidden. "Rika, what are you hiding?"
But before Rika could answer, Arya caught a faint stench of rot that stung his nose. It smelled like a rat carcass left to decompose. He shuddered, and his eyes followed the direction of Rika's gaze. From the end of the hallway, he saw a faint black smoke beginning to approach, forming the silhouette of a woman with long hair covering her face. The figure moved slowly, as if floating above the cold floor.
The air around them felt colder. Rika looked anxious, her body trembling slightly even as she tried to appear calm. Cold sweat began to bead on Arya's temples. Arya and Rika both stood frozen. The seconds felt like hours. The female ghost slowly drifted past, gliding by them without a sound. Her eyes—nothing but dark hollows—occasionally glanced their way, making Arya hold his breath.
Once the figure was far enough away, Arya and Rika exchanged glances. "You didn't see anything, right? Right?" Arya asked with a stiff smile.
"Nope. Didn't see a thing. Not at all," Rika answered with a nervous laugh. They tried to keep walking, though now more cautiously.
But then a soft voice with an eerie tone suddenly sounded from behind them. "Where are you two going~?"
Arya froze, feeling the hairs on his neck stand on end. The air grew even colder, and the faint sound of footsteps could be heard approaching. Before he could react, Rika had already screamed loudly and floated away as fast as the wind, leaving Arya behind. By reflex, Arya ran too, his heart pounding hard while a small, terrifying laugh echoed behind them—and the day passed in tension.