Chapter Text
Akito has never believed in ghosts.
Not once. Not when Ena swore she had seen one lurking the hallways of their family home, and Not when An had tried convincing him that one of the abandoned buildings near Kamiyama was haunted. Even after reading countless stories online from people who claimed they saw, and had spoken to spirits. He’d always dismiss them with a shrug.
Ghosts weren’t real. He knew that.
That's exactly why, on an especially boring Friday night, he’d found himself scrolling a random WikiHow tutorial on How to Summon a Ghost.
He didn’t expect anything to happen. He couldn’t seriously summon a ghost using a WikiHow tutorial.
He lit the candles, just like the tutorial stated. Drew a sloppy symbol on the floor, something that looked like it belonged in a cheap horror film. He mumbled the strange chant under his breath while resisting the urge to laugh at how utterly ridiculous he looked.
He waited.
And waited.
…and waited.
Nothing happened. After a whole FIVE minutes of waiting.
“...Knew it.”
Akito sighed and reached for his phone, ready to go back to scrolling mindlessly on random webpages.
It was only then did he notice the room getting colder. The kind of cold that crawled under his skin.
The candle flames flickered violently
“...uhh..”
A faint light began to form in the middle of the circle.
It grew brighter, causing akito to step back.
Until, a flash of pale blue light lit up the room, and someone appeared.
A strange, semi-translucent boy floated a few centimetres above the floor, staring directly at him.
Akito almost forgot how to breathe.
The ghost wasn’t particularly intimidating. If anything, he looked… pretty ordinary. Like your average highschool boy. He was average sized, with messy blonde hair that framed his face almost perfectly. His body was thin, akito wondered if ghosts could somehow be underweight.
His hands trembled ever so slightly.
His eyes were the strangest part.
They were dull, almost lifeless— but not completely. There was still a spark of light behind them, a light that Akito couldn't take his eyes off. He looked shockingly human, despite the fact that the rest of him was transparent.
The two stared at each other in complete silence.
“...”
Akito blinked.
The boy blinked back.
“...huh.”
“At last!” the ghost declared, placing a strong hand on his chest. “Someone has summoned me!”
Akito continued to stare, completely confused.
“Can I… unsummon you?” Akito mumbled.
The ghost gasped as if Akito had cursed his whole family
“HAH? Excuse you, I just got here!”
“And I don't exactly want you here.”
“You're the one who performed the ritual!”
“I didn’t think it would actually work.”
“Well, it did.” The ghost spread his arms out dramatically. “And now you're stuck with me! The one and only, Tsukasa Tenma.”
Akito groaned, dragging a hand down his face. Of course he had to summon the most annoying ghost possible.
“What do you mean, stuck with you? Can’t you just.. Leave?”
The ghost opened his mouth confidently, but nothing came out.
His expression slowly changed.
“I…”
For the first time since appearing, he looked uncertain.
“I don’t think I can.”
Akito stared at him. The room suddenly felt tense.
“Oh god.”
Akito stared at the ghost in front of him.
Then he looked at the summoning circle.
Then back at the ghost.
"...Okay."
Tsukasa tilted his head.
"You seem strangely calm."
"I'm not calm. I'm figuring out how to fix this."
Tsukasa gave an offended look. It was strange, seeing a ghost show so much emotion.
"While I'm standing right here?"
"Yes."
Tsukasa scoffed, placing a hand over his chest.
"That's incredibly rude."
Akito glanced up from his phone.
"You're a random ghost that appeared in my room after I followed a WikiHow tutorial."
“It doesn’t mean it's fake!”
“There were three spelling mistakes in the first step.”
Tsukasa opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
“...that doesn't prove anything.”
Akito doesn’t bother to respond.
Tsukasa floated closer, looking over Akito's shoulder at the screen.
"Wait, what does that say?"
Akito moved his phone away.
"Nothing."
"You're hiding it from me?"
"Because it says 'how to get rid of a summoned spirit,' and I don't need you making commentary."
"But I could help!"
"You are the problem."
Tsukasa looked genuinely offended.
"The problem?"
"Yes."
"I am a person."
"You're a ghost."
"I was a person before I became a ghost, you know!"
Akito paused.
That was... annoyingly reasonable.
He immediately ignored that thought.
"Whatever. I need to figure out how to send you back." he always imagined spirits to be something terrifying— not whatever this was.
He acted like a (somewhat) normal guy.
A very annoying, and very dramatic guy.
"Are you seriously looking up how to remove me?"
"Yes."
Akito eventually gave up trying to find anything useful online.
Most of the results were either obviously fake, written by people trying to scare teenagers and old people who just discovered what the internet was, or it involved instructions that sounded even more ridiculous than the ritual itself.
At this point, he wasn't sure what was worse—the fact that he had actually summoned something, or the fact that the internet had apparently decided the solution was to “befriend the spirit, act like everything's fine, and learn its unfinished business.”
He lowered his phone with a sigh.
“Unbelievable.”
The room fell quiet. For the first time since appearing, Tsukasa wasn’t talking.
Akito glanced over. Maybe he finally left?
Nope. The ghost was floating near his cd collection, looking over the things he’d collected over the years. His expression was different from before. Less dramatic. More calm.
It was strange.
Akito had spent the last half an hour trying to figure out how to get rid of him, but now that the initial shock had faded, the reality of the situation began to sink in.
There was an actual ghost in his room.
A real fucking ghost.
Akito stared at his phone for a few more seconds.
Then he looked up.
"...Wait."
Tsukasa glanced over.
"What?"
"If you're actually a ghost..."
The ghost frowned.
"I would hope so. I don't know what else I would be."
"Then other people should be able to notice something, right?"
Tsukasa tilted his head.
"Hm,
I suppose we could test that."
Akito didn't need to be told twice.
He stood up, already walking toward his bedroom door.
"Where are we going?"
"To find out if I'm the only one who can see you."
Tsukasa floated after him.
"You know, I appreciate that you're finally accepting my existence."
"I'm not accepting anything, I'm testing a theory”
"That sounds like accepting."
Akito stood in front of Ena's door, hesitating for a moment.
Explaining this was going to be impossible.
"Hey, Ena, can you tell me if there's a ghost standing next to me?" probably wasn't the best conversation starter.
He gave a quick knock.
"...Akito?"
"Quick question."
"That's never a good start."
"Do you notice anything different?"
Ena stared at him.
Then looked around the room.
"Different how?"
"I don't know. Anything."
Tsukasa floated into view beside Akito, waving.
"Hello!"
Ena didn’t react.
Akito watched carefully.
Nothing.
Not even a glance.
His stomach sank slightly.
“So you don't see anything? Nothing at all?”
"No?"
Ena narrowed her eyes.
"Why are you asking me that?"
Akito hesitated.
Before he could answer, Ena suddenly shivered.
She rubbed her arms.
"...Okay, that's weird."
Akito looked up.
"What?"
"I don't know. It just got really cold."
Tsukasa looked surprised.
"Oh?"
Ena looked around suspiciously.
"Did you leave the window open or something?"
"No."
She stared at him.
“Anyway, are you done here?”
Akito paused.
“...Yeah. yeah, I am.”
Ena stared at him for another second, then immediately reached over and shut the door.
"You’re weird. Goodnight."
The door clicked closed.
Akito stared at it.
"Hah, I know."
Tsukasa floated beside him.
"She seems lovely."
"She thinks I'm insane."
"Are you?"
Akito looked at him.
"..."
"Right. Sorry."