I officially added a new schedule to my daily routine. Apart from playing games, watching movies, reading books, browsing the internet —especially Ghostpedia, and chatting with Desmon, aside from my duties as a student such as going to school, studying, or more precisely, doing school assignments and attending tutoring sessions, now I also chat with Chloe.

Chloe is quite cool, she doesn't make me feel like I'm a weirdo. In fact, Chloe is someone who doesn't judge others. If you remember, I assumed she was someone who just wanted to find a friend. And I was right.

So, the day after we became friends on FWC, I accidentally once mentioned that Chloe was my first friend. Even though I had other friends before her, but everything changed when someone called me weird.

Chloe replied that she doesn't think anyone is weird just because they're different. That's when Chloe started telling me about how she had met and befriended many people from various different backgrounds such as different cities, countries, nationalities, beliefs, races, economic classes, and education levels. Chloe even mentioned having friends from different worlds.

Different worlds? Do you think that refers to the ghost world? I also thought about that, but apparently not.

The world Chloe meant was a gaming world, a kind of Virtual World game where you play a character in that world and interact with other people and NPCs entirely controlled by AI.

"How was it? Did you already tell him?" Desmon asked, appearing behind me without me noticing.

When I shared Chloe's story about her being open-minded, Desmon urged me to be completely honest with Chloe and tell her that I can see ghosts.

How rude, indeed.

Actually, Desmon knows clearly when was the last time someone else found out I can see ghosts, I've told him that multiple times. Can't he understand that I have some sort of trauma or fear about what might happen if others know about my ability to see ghosts?

What if I tell him to go to school? Will his school trauma not show up? Annoying.

But on the other hand, I understand. That ghost girl, or phantom, hasn't just been bothering me but has also scared Desmon. A ghost being scared by a phantom? Sounds quite weird.

At least, even though we might not be free from phantom's bother or fears, if we get to know it better, perhaps we can adapt. It's similar to my ability, I can't be free from ghost bother or fears because of this vision, but now that I've gotten to know ghosts better, I've not only adapted but even made a ghost my friend.

And one way for us to get to know phantom is by gathering information about it. Unfortunately, we only have two most reliable sources regarding phantom —though this isn't certain yet. The first way is to ask Ryan, but unfortunately, we lost track of Ryan. The second way is to ask Chloe.

So, I understand why establishing communication with Chloe has become so important here. Therefore, Desmon urged me to hurry up and tell Chloe that I can see ghosts, so I can start asking about that ghost girl. But Desmon's rushed attitude could backfire if after I tell her about my ability, Chloe ends up distancing herself from me.

"Yeah, wait. Hold on a sec," I declined.

"Why is it taking so long? If you said she's open-minded, it shouldn't be a problem. You know we're running out of time before that phantom returns, right?" Desmon grumbled while turning my chair around.

I looked into Desmon's eyes, he seemed angry. "But you also can't answer, what if after I tell her, she just distances herself? We've lost Ryan. So, let's not lose Chloe."

"How long are you going to wait? We could be killed by the phantom if you keep delaying."

"Okay, okay. After school, I'll tell her. I'll think about how to tell her at school."

I got up from my chair, and when I saw my mom had taken out her car, a sign she was ready to take me to school.

"Alright, I'll come with you," said Desmon.

"No. You just search for information about Ryan. Let me handle Chloe," I requested.

I immediately left the room and closed the door, I didn't need to wait for Desmon's approval.

###

My school is located in a different sector, although the distance isn't too far. My school is located in the Les Cervelle Rose sector, which, because it was too hard to say, many people refer to as Lecer or just LCR.

Lecer is known for its traffic jam, despite having almost no permanent residents in the sector. After World War III, Lecer was repurposed exclusively as an academic area where the center of knowledge resides.

So, you can understand that my school is top-tier school, which means the burden I carry is quite heavy.

Normally, the trip from home to school takes about 15 minutes if we can access the school's exclusive lanes. But if those lanes are closed or under maintenance, like today, it takes around 40 minutes because we have to go through the main public bridge that connects many sectors.

But today seems different. The streets appear much more congested, almost at a standstill.

I looked in every direction —front, back, left, right, up, down— everything was filled with vehicles heading to their own destinations. It's not usually this congested unless it's a long weekend or holiday season.

My mom has made more than two calls already since we started moving again, but it didn't last long. The roads were at a complete standstill.

But even with thousands of vehicles, I sensed silence. No honking or the typical sounds of vehicles. Yeah, all vehicles today were definitely noiseless, but there are still people who have mental disorder that make their vehicles very noisy.

I turn off my mom's car AC after I see her rubbing her body and smoke coming out of her mouth. I also felt this coldness starting to bother me. But isn't cold air better than hot air when you're in a closed space? Heat would make it harder to breathe.

About ten minutes after being stuck on the bridge and after my mom had called five people, she decided to take a quick nap until we were out of the bridge, so she activated the autopilot.

I usually use trip time to get some extra sleep, but right now, I don't need it. What I need is extra time to find information about that ghost girl. I've assigned Desmon to search for information about Ryan, so my task is simply to chat with Chloe.

Unfortunately, Chloe is currently inactive on FWC.

So, I'm just looking out for the traffic jam, who knows, I might find the source of this unusual congestion.

I looked out the window to my right. Big dark clouds were moving toward us, a sign of heavy rain —or even a storm if the clouds were that massive— is about to happen. Luckily, I've prepared all the necessary equipment to face the storm, from raincoat to an umbrella drone and an waterproof bag.

The movement of those clouds is super fast, not like how clouds usually move. From the distance and speed, I predicted that we'd be hit by that rainstorm while still on this bridge.

Of course, the air will get colder.

Of course, we're stuck in traffic longer because vehicles tend to slow down when it's dark and raining heavily. The AI sensors aren't advanced enough to see through both darkness and heavy rain.

Shit.

I should have arrived about twenty minutes ago. I know I'm definitely going to be late for school, but I received an announcement from my school app notification that the school's start time was delayed by thirty minutes due to the traffic. But even with the delay, I'll still be late, maybe even miss the first class.

My initial plan was, upon arrival at school, to have about 10 minutes before the first class bell rings, so I could order food and eat in class. I really miss the taste of the ramyeon sold by the Korean aunties.

But all my plans were canceled because of this congestion. And shit, now I'm feeling hungry because I haven't eaten anything this morning.

The autopilot slowly moved our car forward whenever there was a gap. Although we could have gotten a few gaps, but because our car's autopilot had a low-level priority, we had to give way to other cars whose autopilot had a higher priority.

We were finally close to getting off the bridge after being there for about 25 minutes.

The big dark clouds carrying the heavy rainstorm were just a few meters away from where my car was, but the rain had already started pouring heavily.

The cold air and darkness began covering us, plus the silence of the autopilot cars. And my stomach started growling, demanding food.

Our car's autopilot was turned off, and my mom was now fully awake to take over driving again.

Just a few minutes before my mom and I entered the empty lane toward my school, just moments before we were free from this traffic jam.

I, who had been looking around, saw an odd sight, and right then, all the hair on my body stood on end.

Not just one or two, but I saw about a dozen eerie black figures, far back between the bridge's center. These black figures faced toward my left side area, that still bright before it was covered by the dark clouds.

"BOOOMM!!"

A white lightning bolt struck behind us. It was blinding, so I couldn't pinpoint its exact location.

The sound was deafening, and I could even feel the vibrations in our car.

When my eyes and ears began to recover from that terrifying lightning, I noticed that some car windows were shattered. Even our car's window had cracked.

I realized something odd from behind us, exactly from the direction of those black figures, so I looked back at them.

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Now, I could clearly recognize one person. She stood, or more exactly, flew above the car. Her hand pointed forward as if commanding the black figures to leave or attack something.

The girl's clothing wasn't like usual, which is vibrant and full of colors, but now she was wearing dark and quite tight clothes that showed off her body curves.

When she turned her face toward me —whether she actually looked in my direction or not— I could clearly see her face, confirming my assumption that the girl was none other than Chloe.

What's happening? What is Chloe doing there? Who are the mysterious black figures? And, most importantly, am I the only one seeing them? Or can everyone else see them too?

I turned my gaze to the left, curious about where Chloe was directing those black figures.

What I found was even more shocking, Ryan. There was no mistaking it, that was Ryan, the one Desmon and I had been looking for. He seemed surrounded by the black figures. But it wasn't just Ryan, he was accompanied by a few others. They all seemed to be in some kind of fight.

What's happening here? Who are they, really? Are they just ordinary teenagers? Are they secret agents or superhumans?

Is there some sort of secret war going on like in movies?

I can't be sure.

Especially since lightning kept striking, worrying my mom.

So, when my mom saw the chance for us to be free from the traffic and enter the lane toward my school, she took it without hesitation. Then, she pressed the accelerator as hard as she could.

We sped away from all those strange events or the secret war between Chloe and her shadowy forces against Ryan and his friends —maybe that's what was really happening, hehe.

But among all the questions swirling in my head and the confusion about what really happened, at least I could answer one question.

I'm the only one who can see them, or at least my mom clearly couldn't see them because she kept talking about the lightning, rain, cracked car window, and our lateness to school. Not a single mention of the black figures, the person flying, or the battle Ryan was facing.

Who exactly are you, Chloe? And who exactly are you, Ryan?

###

Thankfully, my school is very understanding. All classes before the first break were canceled because almost all students and teachers were stuck in traffic. So, I had time to grab some food before the next class started.

I couldn't understand what my teacher was teaching at all. Maybe it was because I was stupid, or my mind was filled with Chloe and Ryan and what happened to both of them.

My social studies teacher was replaced by an economics teacher, but my mind remained unchanged. I was still thinking about the incident at the bridge earlier, so much so that I didn't pay attention during the economics class either.

The second break bell ring. My teacher was the first to leave the classroom, followed by my schoolmates one by one. Now, there was only me alone inside the classroom.

I really wished Desmon could be here. There were so many things I wanted to tell him and ask him. But I knew he couldn't enter the school as long as he still had his trauma.

Actually, Desmon wasn't entirely unable to enter the school. If you remember, my first meeting with Desmon happened at my school.

I once asked Desmon about it, and he answered. According to Desmon, he wasn't entirely in control at school. In fact, he had previously harmed some students before I came.

Desmon also emphasized that he could have harmed my friends, Ken and Nevo, if it hadn't been for my presence that drew his attention. So, my presence saved Ken and Nevo.

Based on Desmon's story, I think Desmon could enter the school grounds as long as I accompanied him, because my presence could draw his attention and prevent him from losing control.

But Desmon refused, especially considering that after the incident with Ken and Nevo, everyone at school, including my teachers, blamed me for the students Desmon had hurt. Perhaps it left an impact on Desmon, and he still feels guilty towards me.

I sat quietly for a few minutes in the empty classroom.

With no friends around, I opened my smartphone to message Chloe, trying to find out what she had actually been doing on the inter-sector bridge earlier that morning.

However, my chat history with Chloe suddenly disappeared. Not only that, Chloe was no longer friends with me. Even when I searched for Chloe's account, it was as if her account never existed on FWC.

This only added more questions in my head about who the real Chloe was.

As I couldn't gather information through Chloe, whose account suddenly disappeared. I decided to browse Ghostpedia. But only the homepage loaded before my smartphone suddenly shut off at the same time as the school's power outage.

Seeing the dark classroom conditions, I couldn't understand why everything became so dark even though it was still daytime. I knew there was still sunlight, but it felt insufficient to lit up my classroom.

I stood up to leave the classroom, but a cold hand grasped my shoulder as I did. The hand pushed me back into my seat.

The owner of the hand, with a pale yet somewhat colorful face, walked past me, moved the chair in front of my table, turned it around, and sat on it.

"Hi, Robert." Her voice sounded alive, unlike before, when it was terrifying, almost ghost-like. But this time, her voice sounded more human.

"Yo... you..." I struggled to put my words together, still in disbelief at what I was seeing. But at least I could move, especially my index finger, which I pointed at the ghost girl.

"Yes, my name is Leina. We've met before, but this is the first time I've been able to talk, although briefly. So, I'll get straight to the point. I want to thank you for saving me from the clutches of that cursed girl's influence. Be careful of her because her deceit is much stronger than you can imagine. If you need something, don't hesitate to call me."

The ghost girl, or Leina as she introduced herself, spoke in a bit of a rush. Maybe she couldn't speak freely to me because the phantom dimension and the human dimension are different. I wasn't entirely sure.

However, one thing for sure, now Desmon and I could get rid of Chloe and Ryan first because I already got the main source of information, Leina, or the ghost girl herself.

Leina gave me a transparent paper, even more transparent than the items Desmon had in the ghost world.

Perhaps it's true that the connection between the phantom world is more closed off compared to the Ghost world, so items from the phantom world are much harder to feel and see.

After giving me the paper, Leina disappeared again. Just before disappearing, I could still see her smile. The same smile as before, but this time much sweeter.

Leina disappear, leaving warmth in my body and maybe throughout the entire classroom. However, she also left something puzzling, especially her words about the cursed girl.

Who is the cursed girl Leina referred to? Is that cursed girl the one who had trapped Leina, turning her into a ghost girl or a terrifying phantom? Then what deceitful powers does the cursed girl possess, which Leina warned me about?

It seems I have to ask Leina about this directly, but not now. Desmon also needs to know about this, so I called Leina later at my house.

Right now, I just wanted to open the paper given by Leina to see if there were any specific requirements to call her, or maybe the paper actually had something else on it.

As I was opening the paper from Leina, the power came back on. The voices of my classmates became closer, and right on time, the bell rang again, signaling the next class was about to begin.

I continued to unfold Leina's paper, there were only two folds. Strangely, the paper had nothing written on it, completely blank.

I wondered if the ink was also transparent, making it hard for me to see, or if the paper was truly blank.

Whatever it was, I couldn't confirm it right now, as my classmates had started entering the classroom. So, I just folded the paper back and put it in my pants pocket.

###

The bell rang ten minutes ago, but my mom hadn't arrived yet.

I glanced at the sky in every direction, there were no signs of dark clouds like this morning. The late afternoon sky was clear with a refreshing breeze.

Shortly after, I spotted the lights of my mom's car from the end of the street.

As the car arrived, I immediately got in.

Inside the car, I saw my mom sitting in the driver's seat, talking on the phone while her hands were busy tapping the screen on the dashboard to activate the autopilot control towards our home.

Unexpectedly, in the back seat, sat Desmon with a ghost girl whom I guessed was his friend he mentioned before.

Without needing a signal or listening to Desmon, I knew I had to ignore their presence because my mom was there. So, I remained silent.

"What's wrong, honey? Did you see a ghost?" my mom asked. She had finished her phone call.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Okay. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

We left my school and headed home.

During the trip, my mom and I chatted —exactly, I stayed quiet while my mom kept talking non-stop— about her workload, which was overwhelming and left behind because to severe morning traffic. The congestion had even made it to the news portals on various platforms and media.

Meanwhile, Desmon and the ghost girl were talking about something not sneakily or whispering, but their voices were too soft compared to my mom's voice and the radio's sound. So, I could only faintly hear their conversation.

I signaled with my hand to get Desmon's attention, but it seemed unnecessary because after my mom finished venting all her work-related issues, she fell asleep. Meanwhile, our car continued to drive on autopilot control.

I made sure my mom was really asleep before speaking to Desmon. But as usual, Desmon immediately started talking even while I was checking on my mom.

"Hey, Robert. Did you see what happened this morning? By the way, this is Cherry, whom I told you about."

I just raised my hand in greeting. She probably knew my name from Desmon, so I didn't need to introduce myself directly.

"So, at that time, Cherry told me she had seen Ryan. So, I decided to go to Cherry's location. When I arrived there, because Cherry was frightened, I investigated on my own. I managed to follow it to the inter-sector bridge, honestly, I lost track of Ryan, but I sensed something strange, an extremely strong death aura. So, I followed that death aura. What shocking me was that Ryan was already there with some people I didn't recognize, fighting against a black figure that I thought was a phantom."

If there were a mirror, I would see my eyes widened and my mouth wide open. Everything I saw this morning was exactly as Desmon described.

I retold the incident in my version to Desmon, starting from how I being stuck in traffic, seeing the dark clouds, the group of black figures, and Ryan and his friends fighting the dark figure.

"But to me, that wasn't a phantom. Because you said yourself that phantoms cannot be seen, even by ghosts, and you don't have that power," I stated.

"You're right, but for your information, that black figure wasn't a ghost either."

"But definitely not a phantom."

"I also actually thought they weren't phantoms, but all the phantom characteristics were present in them. You know, the aura of vengeful ghosts accompanied by the aura of death."

"I felt it too," Cherry finally joined our conversation. Desmon and I turned our attention to her, but it seemed to make her a little embarrassed as she slumped a bit in her seat. "Ummm... I mean, the death aura that Desmon described, like silence, darkness, coldness, thirst, foul odor."

"You felt all that?" I asked to confirm.

"Not everything, you know, ghosts don't feel hunger and thirst. But I felt silence, darkness, and coldness."

"You know, that could be because of the weather. There was a rainstorm and those massive dark clouds."

"You're right." Desmon agreed with my opinion, "But at least we know one thing, Ryan could see that black figure too. So, he definitely has abilities like yours, Robert."

"Yeah." I replied, "But there's one more thing I forgot to mention."

Desmon and Cherry had prepared themselves to hear my next words.

"Chloe. I saw Chloe among the black figures, seemingly giving commands to them to attack Ryan," I continued.

"Are you sure? Could you have seen wrong? You yourself said your position was far enough from the center of the bridge, maybe you just got it wrong," Desmon questioned.

"I don't know, I wanted to message her and ask about it, but her FWC account and all our chat history disappeared. Maybe during our next tutoring session, I can ask her."

"You haven't asked where she lives?"

"Not yet, didn't get the chance."

Desmon buried his face in his hands. "I told you not to put off. You didn't want to listen to me. Now we've lost all clues."

I tried to remain calm while taking out the paper from Leina from my pants pocket.

"Relax, I got the main source," I said, showing the Leina paper to Desmon and Cherry, "I can call her to ask."

"Hmm..." Desmon leaned closer to the Leina paper, and so did Cherry. Then the two of them looked at each other.

"Why?" I asked.

"Are you showing something?" Desmon asked.

"I don't see anything," Cherry said, nodding along with Desmon.

"Seriously, you both don't see this paper?" I moved my hand holding Leina's paper towards them both, "This is the paper given by Leina, the ghost girl or the phantom."

"Really," Cherry's voice sounded like someone meeting their idol.

"Yeah, you don't see it?" I asked again to confirm.

"No," Desmon replied, raising his hand and index finger towards something in front of my car. "Isn't that Chloe?"

I turned my body back towards the front of the road. I didn't realize that we had already arrived at our home.

The direction pointed by Desmon's finger indeed led to a girl named Chloe, who at that moment was doing something, and somehow she knew the location of my house. She was standing right in front of my house as if waiting for me to come home.

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