I blinked repeatedly believing my eyes may be deceiving me, but no, they aren't. The room is the same as any of the rooms in this corridor, a small four-by-four fully white room, with one embedded white lighting on the ceiling. Yet there is something that differentiates it from any other room checked so far... it is not empty.

In the dead center of the room is a desk.

The desk is a simple, old model desk your average, soulless accountant uses. The desk is brown and made of wood, its surface has many scratches on it. It is directed away from the room's door and on its surface nothing other than what seems a small notebook.

"What's wrong?" Bell's noticing my change acquired.

"The room is not empty." I pointed at the room with my chin, a furrow on my face while I tried to calm my sudden hastened breathing.

"Oh," She exclaimed with a nod "Captain would hopefully calm down with this."

Is that it?

"Something wrong?" She moved out to call the others but then stopped, turned to me, and asked, her head tilted slightly to the side.

"You haven't seen it?!"

"Seen what?"

"The desk!"

"Stop rambling, Dumdum," She furrowed "and get to the point."

"It wasn't here a moment ago," Even though I honestly didn't want to talk more than necessary especially if it is something that will diminish my credibility.

"So what you want to say is..." She trailed. From her initial reaction after seeing the desk, she obviously didn't notice anything abnormal.

"I don't know, I saw the room is empty then ten seconds and a desk appeared out of nowhere!"

"Calm down, Dumdum. It happens,"

What happens? Are ghosts real in this fucked up world? Or desk appearing out of nowhere is an everyday occurrence?

"...sometimes it takes days for the side effects to wear off."

"...what?" for a moment I got lost.

"Yeah, there was this Neviltien, the poor bastard took him four days for the hallucination effects to leave his body, the poor wimp was so fucking into it that he started rumors on sewers' ghouls," she smiled as she said, obviously finding relishing at the poor soul's sufferings before she turned around and began walking in the direction of the others "so, don't worry about it, take a deep breath and relax, in a week or so will laugh on it."

The side effects of the drugs? Is that it? Was it just a hallucination?

No, I don't think so, I don't believe it to be the making of my imagination. I did hallucinate multiple times after taking the drugs, but I was aware of it every fucking time. If I didn't notice it while still amid an episodic hallucination I would notice after it passes.

The other possibility I can think of that is reasonable and involve neither drugs nor ghosts, is the need for sleep.

Maybe my brain is playing tricks and ignoring the desk when I first looked since the rooms are all identical. It is hard to believe but highly possible. Well, that is if not some negative side effect of my gift. The Toll of my ability is my brain energy but was it not damaging for the brain energy to diminish unnaturally and abruptly in a matter of seconds, surely it can't be a healthy practice.

Great, another risk to look out for, as if being an emotionless machine is not enough.

However these are still unconfirmed guesses, either the drug hallucination effect or my brain needing sleep, and they are on the promise that whatever it was, it is my imagination. But what if it wasn't the case, what if there was not a desk in that room then suddenly there was?

I abruptly look at the room through the door's window, hoping to see... well I am not sure, maybe the desk not being there anymore or more objects would have suddenly appeared. However, nothing abnormal could be seen, the desk is still there, the notebook was on top of its surface, and the room; still and white.

I clicked my tongue.

Either my brain has gone nuts or this place is infested, Casper type of infestation. Some would argue the sole fact of believing in ghosts is ample proof of the brain already losing it, hence reducing the initial statement to one conjuncture; I am turning cray.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

But... why shouldn't there be ghosts? What is there to ghosts being so abnormal that they can't be real?

I mean, I, myself, aren't I more abnormal than ghosts?

I got transmigrated into the body of someone from another world, and that someone has superpowers. I am practically in the body of an alien with superpowers. Isn't that abnormal and unrealistic enough to coat anything else with vapid paint?

A heavy breath left my lungs as the tension initially built up started to dissipate and my mind calmed down. It stoked, the realization and relief that one of the knives I feared all along was made of wood.

I felt so dumb that I chuckled.

Why was I afraid?

The Shredders are fearsome, rightfully so. They are machines made to kill, their body is a weapon. If you don't fear something like that then you don't have much time to live. Fearing something that can end you is necessary if you don't want to end.

However fearing the ghosts, and by ghosts, I mean the unknown, the obscure, the darkness is too excessive. I should be wary of the unknown not fear it. I should try to understand the ghosts instead of running from them.

"Which one?" Alec hurriedly come out of one of the rooms a bit away and walked in my direction, Bell and the others followed behind.

"This one." I pointed with my chin since using my hand would be more painful.

Bang.

Again the bastard didn't lose any time and fired before even reaching five meters from the door.

"Less than a week?" Bell stopped at my side.

"Mmh." I lifted an eyebrow.

"You are smiling," She shrugged "I thought it would take you a week before remembering and laughing at how much tripped you were."

I still don't have any definite conclusion on what just happened in that room, be it my brain or my eyes playing tricks or something else external entity, ghost, secret passage, wherever it was, it helped me set some boundaries on what to fear and what to be wary of.

"I just thought of something."

"Oh did you come up with a shitty name, you deliciously thought would be good?"

"No," I didn't suppress my smile as of habit, it is good to decompress from time to time "a bet."

As soon as the word left my mouth, Bell titled her head and her eyes shined vaguely with interest. I haven't been mistaken, what a Gambling addict.

"...what are you stakes?" Her voice even displays none of her feelings.

"What do you want?" I said as I looked at the team members inside the room, specifically Alec. The team leader is standing beside the desk, the notebook found on top of it in his hand, while his face is marred with a deep frown, contrasting with his usual stoic expression.

"What do you have?"

"You know that already."

"It won't be enough." She shook her head, the ponytail swaying behind her, giving me the urge to grab it.

"That would be a shame."

"Ceding?" Raising her eyebrows "a man should be firm with his ambitions."

"But what can he do when all doors a closed."

"He just had to open them" She turned and looked at the door whose locker was destroyed "if not with a light knock, then a heavy one will do."

... I am lost.

"Unfortunately, I have a bad experience with knocking," I shook my head "last time I did that I was sent flying."

"Going after a Muskie when you can't even catch a Chub." She looked down and sighed.

"What do you propose?" Found myself playing at her rhythm without even knowing when.

"You will need coffee tomorrow."

I zoned out for a brief moment trying to understand what the heck she talking about. Smart people are to talk to but sometimes they can be a real pain in the ass.

If I correctly understood from her words, while I first offered her a bet, she isn't offering one here but an exchange, but with what?

Her end of the deal is clear, she would get me the drug Zane mentioned earlier, coffee, the TS3. From what Alec had explained it is a boosting energy stimulant, and they only have three samples. And since energy may affect my ability I guessed it could be of help but haven't tested it yet, maybe this is the chance.

"What time is it?"

Bell pulled her left arm's sleeve "3:08" and responded with precision.

... and here I thought It was midnight.

"When is tomorrow?" I asked again.

"If you are good without coffee just say it."

"It is not that I am good without coffee but I don't have any changes."

"Oh, it's alright you will just have to pay me later."

A favor.

The old man will get out of his grave to put me in it if I were to owe anything to anyone.

"Let's do that then," I said any sign of smile I had previously gone.

Owing a favor is a bad idea, but depending on the situation not all bad ideas are bad. It is at calm times like now I need to start stacking my chances, not encountering any monster does not mean I won't soon. And an energy drug can and will be a massive boon for my chances of survival. So refusing her favor is more of a bad idea than accepting it.

...and the old man can't reach me in this world.

"Doing what?" A voice echoed from my right prompting me to turn "Is friend Victor doing something fun."

"Don't get your nose in here Priest." Bell said displeasure clear in her voice. Everyone seems to find Zane a bit of sore eyes is what I first thought, but it turns out he is the best at getting under people's skin. And the worst part is he seems to like it.

"Don't be like that Ms. Mira," Zane adopted a smiling and shining expression on his face "Isn't it right for friends to play together."

"We aren't friends."

"Friend Victor and I are, right friend Victor?"

"If you stop using that word behind my name then we will."

"See." Looking at Bell, his smile is the same as before yet somehow it has a triumphant edge to it "so what is the fun?"

"We were talking o-"

"Fishes," Interrupting me, Bell said, "we are talking about fishes."

I looked at her, and she looked back, her black eyes saying everything.

She wants to keep it secret.

I smiled at her and nodded before turning to Zane and saying "We were also talking about coffee."

Bell lips twitched, while I kept my smile.

She wants to keep it a secret, but what secret is she trying to keep?

I first thought about the way she would acquire the drug isn't ethical, but that would be brain-dead stupid. Risking going against your team and laws for what? A kid you meet twelve hours ago? Hard to believe anyone making such a foolish decision. And the beautiful part is she is fucking smart.

Then why does she want to keep it a secret from Zane?

It is easy, it is not Zane she is trying to keep in the dark, but I.

From what? What is it that she doesn’t want me to know?