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….
Right... Ghosts don't have a sense of smell, Clint thought. I'll toss it later. Bigger problems right now.
Taking a deep breath, Clint stepped into the hallway. Based on his theory, digital sensors could pick up the ghost's image, so his phone camera should work too. It was a flimsy plan, but it was all he had.
Walking into the living room, he saw the two bodies lying on the floor. Nothing else. No ghost, no dark miasma, nothing. Apart from the corpses, it looked like a normal apartment. Clint turned on his phone camera and scanned the room again. Nothing.
He turned around to check behind him, and the entire screen went black. The air around him seemed to darken instantly.
Not realizing what was happening at first, he lowered the camera... and found himself staring directly into the black torso of the monster, inches from his face.
He scrambled backward, falling onto the floor in terror, locking eyes with the dark pits of the ghost staring down at him.
"What happened?" Enega asked. Her voice sounded like it was coming from far away. "Are you okay?"
S-She can't see him? Clint realized, tearing his eyes away from the monster.
Enega was looking at Clint with concern, completely oblivious to the giant nightmare standing right in front of her. Suddenly, the monster raised a long finger and pointed at the pendant hanging around Clint's neck, the black book he had bought at the doll shop.
"So... you can hear me?" the spirit rumbled, his voice deep and vibrating with intrigue. "Finally..."
"Y-Yes..." Clint squeaked, paralyzed.
"Well, look at that..." The ghost leaned in close, inspecting him, before turning its hollow gaze toward Enega. "Get her out of here."
"W-Why?"
"Clint, what's going on?" Enega asked, her voice tense.
"Get her out. She's... in the way," the ghost drawled, his eyes raking over Enega's body with a disturbingly heavy breath. "If only I had learned to materialize sooner..."
"C-Can you step out... just for a minute?" Clint asked Enega, trying desperately to look calm.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Y-Yes."
"Alright... Call if you need me. I'll be right outside the door." She hesitated for a moment, then nodded and left.
"Okay."
As soon as the door clicked shut, the ghost shrank. He condensed down until he was roughly human height, though his appearance remained just as monstrous. He glanced at Clint, then walked over and casually sat down on top of one of the dead robbers.
"I tried to take their bodies," the ghost said simply. "But, as you can see, that didn't work out. So now, I don't have any other option. I have to take yours."
With every word, a suffocating weight pressed down on Clint's chest. The spirit's voice grew more mocking. The ghost's form began to blur, turning into a semi-gaseous mist.
"Uh... Maybe let's not?" Clint gulped. "W-What if I die too?"
"Dying isn't so bad, especially if you know you're dying for a worthy cause." Ignoring Clint's fear, the ghost drifted closer.
I-I'm going to die?!
"C-Contract!" Clint screamed from his knees, watching the silhouette loom over him.
"Contract? Hah, are you joking?" The ghost sounded amused, a gambler sensing a game. "Alright then. What could you possibly... offer me..."
"B-Become my Quirk!"
Suddenly, silence fell. A heavy, crushing silence that weighed on Clint like a thousand-ton truck.
Then, the truck was sliced in half by excited laughter.
"A Quirk... Hah... Seriously? Why that specifically..." The tension in the air evaporated instantly. The ghost seemed genuinely thrown off, though Clint didn't understand why. "Hah... That changes a lot... What do I get in return?"
"In... return?" Clint asked, confused.
"A contract is a mutual benefit, kid." The mockery was gone from the ghost's voice. He was dead serious now.
"Ah... I'll get you a body!" Clint stammered after a few seconds of panic. "You want a body, right?"
"Let's say I do. But why should I wait for you to fetch me one when I can just take yours right now?" Cold, phantom fingers wrapped around Clint's throat, not physically, but deep inside his mind.
"I won't destroy your doll!" Clint blurted out, trying to sound confident.
"Is that stupidity, or some kind of grand plan?.. Weak, boy. Weak," the ghost drawled, unimpressed.
"I..." Something snapped inside Clint. There was nowhere left to run. If he failed here, he died for good. He had to bet his life to save it. "Aren't you interested in the outside world?"
"Not really... I'll tell you a secret: I know the future of this world. And with your body, I could actually change it."
"Hmph. What about Enega? She knows everything that happened here. Calling a priest or an exorcist wouldn't be hard for her, even if I die." As Clint spoke, his confidence surged. He looked straight into the ghost's eyes. It felt like staring down a predator. The cold gaze was devouring him, draining his energy like he was a juice box.
"We divide my body between the two of us! You can take control!"
"Not enough, my friend. Didn't your parents teach you how to haggle?"
"I'll follow your orders! No! I'll be your friend! Th-That would be interesting, right?!"
Clint's brain was firing at 120% capacity, desperately trying to churn out a single viable option amidst the tsunami of nonsense flooding his mind.
"What..."
Suddenly, the suffocating tension in the room evaporated. The ghost froze in place, looking slightly shocked. Then, hysterical laughter shattered the silence, shaking the walls of Clint's mind.
"Pfft-HAHAHA! I totally forgot that people here are different. More sentimental."
The ghost tried to shove his hands into his pockets and look coolly at the ceiling, but his hands found no pockets and just dangled awkwardly in the air.
"You know what? Sure. You can be my Slave Number One."
"S-Slave?.."
"Work hard, and maybe you'll eventually become a person whose opinion I might actually consider. Maybe."
"I'm not a slave," Clint said suddenly. "This is a contract. That means we're partners!"
A confident smile bloomed on Clint's face. Inside Andrey, something bubbled with amused laughter.
Absolute stupidity matched with absolute stubbornness. What a complete dumbass...
"You'll become a partner when you start working properly." The ghost tried to flick the boy on the nose with a shadowy finger. "Now, let me into your body."
"Uh... How?" Clint asked, confused.
….
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