Chapter Text
Giorno Giovanna was always more of a recluse kid, not really interacting with other kids his own age. This never proved to be a hindrance to Giorno and he had grown to live with it, despite it slightly irking him in his younger years. However, he was no longer that young boy who quietly wished to be accepted by his peers. He was now starting secondary school, going into his ninth year. His foster sister, Trish Una, was also in the same year as him. She was one of the closest people to Giorno, having bonded over extremely messed up familial situations when they were put into the same foster family. The only two other people Giorno actually conversed fully with beyond formalities were a student in the tenth year and eleventh, Narancia Ghirga and Guido Mista respectively. Narancia was in quite a few of Giorno's classes on account of Giorno being more advanced in his academics than most students his age. This led Narancia, who sometimes struggled in classes, to frequently ask Giorno for assistance whenever he got stuck. This never bothered Giorno surprisingly, he actually felt a connection to the rambunctious boy from their first conversation. This paired with Giorno's inherent need to help those around him and Narancia's upbeat personality proved to successfully form a fond friendship between the two. The story between Giorno and Guido's meeting was a little more chaotic than the one with Narancia. Mista was skating around the local park one day, doing simple tricks here and there. While passing Giorno, who he assumed to be a woman, Mista got caught off guard and "absolutely ate shit" according to himself. Luckily for Mista, Giorno keeps a first aid kit on him everywhere he goes. While being patched up by the younger boy, Mista decided to try and talk with him a bit to break some of the tension. After a while, Giorno felt the same connection with Mista as he did with Trish and Narancia. They decided to stay as friends, especially after finding out they were attending the same school.
They were now a month into their first semester, and though almost everyone knew of Giorno, as well as the other way around, Giorno still didn't really find interest in conversing with anyone other than the small circle he had developed. Due to this, he was quite out of the loop on certain things such as gossip and rumors. So he was never aware of the supposed rumor that the library on the west side of the school's campus was haunted. All Giorno knew was that the other library in the north-wing was treated more like a hangout spot and the one in the west was quiet and pretty much empty. So for about three days now, Giorno had been doing some work in the west-wing library after his classes. During those three days, however, strange things would happen in the library. He would hear books being moved around behind him even though he had seen no one else in his radius, his pens would roll off completely flat surfaces when he wouldn't even touch them, etc. These events only ever transpired in the library, so Giorno had thought nothing more of it. That was until weird stuff started happening outside the library.
While in his room, the stuff that happened in the library would take place along with some more, like candles/flames going out around him unprovoked and things shifting from the corner of his eye. He started to feel like he was actually going insane, or that secondary school was truly stressing him the hell out. Either way, he had to fix this.
He didn't exactly know what to do, given that he has never been approached with a situation like this. He decides to confide in Trish, who offered him support for the stress he might be facing. He thanked her sincerely, though he had felt that whatever was happening with him was a little bit more than stress. He tried to talk to Narancia about it, however, they both continuously had gotten sidetracked by different topics of conversation. By the time he bid Narancia goodbye, Giorno realized he never told Narancia about his situation. Giorno decided to let him know later and kept moving on. He was supposed to meet up with Mista in a few for a walk/skate anyway.
A couple of minutes pass and Giorno hears the ever so familiar rolling of wheels on the pavement. Gently turning his head towards the noise, a tall beanied figure came into view. Mista was skating towards Giorno at a moderate speed, balancing two drinks in a cardboard holder with his left hand, the right one finding refuge in his pants pocket, popping up in a quick wave when he saw Giorno. He had rolled to a stop about a foot away from Giorno and popped his board up. He tucked the board under his right arm, Giorno being slightly amused when he caught a glance of underneath Mista's skateboard. Instead of just four wheels, there was an extra fifth wheel attached near one of the trucks, resembling a sort of spare tire. Mista's solutions to avoiding the number four due to superstition were always quite interesting, to say the least. Giorno's attention shifted when a cup was being held out in front of him.
"A small mocha latte, for you, my liege," Mista gave a small, joking curtsy. Giorno accepted the cup, giving a playful smile.
"Ah, yes. Thank you, my loyal subject, I am tremendously grateful for this deed."
They began their trek to nowhere specific, idly chatting about classes and whatnot. Giorno suddenly remembered his current situation and tensed up slightly. Before he even got the chance to speak, Mista picked up on this almost undetectable cue.
"You okay, Gio? You seem a Lil' worried, what's on your mind?"
"Well..." Giorno went on to explain the last couple of days to him, beginning from the initial library visit to now. He told Mista about every odd event that has ensued in the past couple of days and how he's just been feeling off. "Trish thinks it's probably stress, but honestly I'm not sure at this poi-" Giorno stopped abruptly after his eyes met Mista's, which were wide with what seemed to be a combination of shock and... fear?
"Which library did you go to?"
"Huh?"
Mista looks at Giorno with the most seriousness he's ever seen Mista muster up. "I asked, which library did you go to?"
"The one in the west-wing? Mista, I don't understand-" Mista gasped dramatically at the mention of the west-wing library
"Oh fuck, Gio! You haven't heard all the shit about that place!?" Giorno stepped back slightly in an almost pitiful attempt to dull Mista's loud tone. Words are absolutely pouring out of Mista's mouth at this point and Giorno cannot understand a single thing being told. He's about to tell Mista to slow down, until Mista instead cuts himself off, taking a deep breath in and out.
"Okay... So what you're telling me is that you are completely unaware that the west-wing library is haunted as shit." Mista suddenly grips Giorno's shoulders, "AND NOW YOU'RE BEING HAUNTED BY SOME FUCKIN' GHOST."
Giorno remained still throughout Mista's outburst. Honestly, when he told Mista this information he was kinda expecting a reaction of this nature. Giorno was very aware of how superstitious the older boy could be and knew that what he was experiencing may incite exactly what is happening now.
However, the mention of ghosts and hauntings had thrown him off. Giorno was expecting ramblings of a curse of some sort, or perhaps a case of bad luck spurred on by an unfortunate event like walking under a ladder or past a black cat.
"A ghost? Really?" Giorno began to pry his exasperated friend's hands off his shoulders. "I mean, I truly appreciate the concern Mista, but this can't possibly be a case of the supernatural."
"Giorno, you gotta trust me on this one. I've seen some weird shit come from that library. Back in my tenth year, before the rumors really started getting around, I was in the west-wing with a couple of other kids, y'know just fucking around. We decided to go to the library cause no one was really there. So some of the guys dared me to climb one of the big ass bookcases." Mista shivered but digressed. "Of course, I started to climb it, no hesitation. But when I was halfway up... I got yanked by my pants leg, hard. If my friends didn't catch me I'd probably be like, paralyzed or some shit"
"They aren't that tall, I doubt you would actually-" Giorno was caught off once again.
"Anyways, not only are you being haunted, but the ghost haunting you is a fucking asshole," Mista punctuated the statement with a soft 'hmph' and crossed his arms.
Right when Giorno was about to give a light chuckle, Mista's drink looked like it was slapped clean out of his hand. The whole world felt like it went silent, except for the clattering of ice and plastic on the pavement. Of course, then followed by a quite high pitched squeal emitting from Mista's poor vocal cords. But Giorno was so shocked by what happened that he just stared at the now empty cup, as its contents were being soaked in by the ground.
Leave it to Mista though to be the one to (violently) pull Giorno out of his own head. Once again, holding a tight grip on his shoulders.
"DO YOU BELIEVE ME NOW!?!"
Giorno sighed, "I don't know yet, but I'll humor the idea for now." Mista's hand slipped off Giorno's shoulders, his right one now resting atop his beanie and the left one in his pocket.
"Okay, I know a guy we could get more information about this on."
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