Saturday morning.
Like every Saturday, Mir walked to the library a little bit far from her school in the morning. The ghost followed her. As for her other new friend, he was picked up by his butler the previous night and he hadn’t shown up again. Mir didn’t think much about him though, as they would probably meet again at school on Monday.
The library was located in the governmental district. There were offices around the library. And the lack of shopping districts or malls was perfect for Mir. It was not a place where a young girl like her went to. No, actually, there were rarely people who went to that district except for working, not to mention the library. Fewer people went to the library, especially after the internet spread all over the world. It was easier to get information from the internet after all.
After four stations, she finally arrived in the governmental district. It was Saturday, so there were fewer people than usual. Just as she walked out of the station, someone suddenly called her.
“Hey, little girl with short brown hair wearing a pastel hoodie!”
The way he called her was too specific, so Mir knew that he was calling her. Mir stopped and looked in the direction of the caller. It was a young man in an unwashed black hoodie. His face looked pale and he had black eyes under his eyes. He looked suspicious, just like a scammer, Mir thought. Or maybe, he sold something he shouldn't sell, she thought as she stared at him suspiciously.
“Little girl, do you know that you are haunted by a ghost?” The young man leaned closer and whispered as if he didn’t want anyone to find out what he said.
Mir reflexively glanced at the ghost on her left. Seeing her reaction, the young man raised his eyebrows.
“You can see it? Well, that’ll make it easier! If you pay me 500 grams of gold, I can help you banish it!” The young man offered with a smile.
“What!? 500 grams of gold!? Hey, brother, are you joking? Do you think an ordinary girl like her can pay you 500 grams of gold? Besides, why gold? Mir, ignore him. He must be a scammer!” The ghost retorted, a bit irritated. It added in a soft voice, “Besides, 500 grams of gold? I am worth tonnes of gold…”
“…” Mir followed the ghost’s advice. She shook her head politely, turned around, and continued walking.
Flustered, the young man grabbed her shoulder and forcefully stopped her. “Wait a minute! You can see it, yes? You know it’s going to possess you sooner or later! It will attack you when you are at your weakest! Trust me! Uh, alright, if you can’t pay 500 grams of gold, how about 250…
“…” Mir shook her head again.
“Forget about him, Mir. Let’s hurry up to the library.” The ghost urged her.
“No, 100! No, if you can’t, 25 is alright too! Uh, 10! No? Alright, last offer, 1 gram of gold! I can’t go any lower than… ugh…”
Mir nodded to the ghost’s words and as she turned around to walk away, she heard a thud from behind her. She looked at the young man behind her. Or more accurately speaking, she looked at the young man that had fallen to the ground. His finger twitched a bit.
“…” Mir tilted her head inquisitively. Behind her, the ghost commented.
“…this pattern… I know this pattern! There are only two truths! He must try to say that you bump into him and you have to pay his hospital bills because you broke his arm! Or the second one, he must be an idiot that forgot to eat for three or five days!”
Mir looked at the young man. She crouched. “…hungry?”
“…I haven’t eaten for four days not because I forgot… guh, people in this city don’t believe in ghosts so I can’t get money…” He explained weakly.
Mir silently opened her bag and took out the food she brought for lunch. “…want?”
“…this… are you giving me? Really? I can eat it? Woah, thank you, little girl, you are kind!” The young man sprung back to life as he grabbed the sandwiches and gobbled them quickly. His complexion turned a bit better, though he seemed like he was still hungry.
“Ah!” The young man suddenly screamed and looked at the sky.
“How can I eat a free meal!!?? There is no free meal in this world! Little girl, wh-what do you want from me!?”
“…nothing.” Mir shook her head.
The ghost also commented. “Yo, brother, if you doubt the purity of such a kind girl, you should question yourself first. Well, but I agree with you that there’s no free meal. Mir, why don’t you ask something from him?”
The young man begrudgingly agreed with the ghost. He didn’t want to admit it, but after he was scammed twice, he wouldn’t trust others easily now. Well, he was scammed twice by people who wanted him to banish ghosts haunting their place, only for them to refuse to pay him. Instead, they insisted that Raleigh was just a scammer and tried to sue him, so he had to run away. That was two days ago...
“…something?” Mir asked. She didn't need anything in particular. And naturally, she also didn't want something in particular.
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“Well, yes, something is better than nothing. For example… right, he seems to work as a ghostbuster or something like that, right?” The ghost asked the young man.
“It’s not ghostbuster! I come from the prestigious Vampire, cough, I mean, Ghost Hunter family, Raleigh von Vlad!” The young man, Raleigh, introduced himself with a unique pose.
“…ah, well, whatever. You hear him, Mir. Why don’t you ask him about your talent?” The ghost said the advice. It couldn't be bothered to retort Raleigh's weird pose.
“…right.” Mir nodded in understanding.
“There is something you want to ask me? Talent?” Raleigh scratched his chin. He was staring at Mir, and Mir was staring straight at him.
Talent, huh? What does she mean by talent? Is she thinking about her talent to be an actress? A model? Or an idol? Well, she is quite a beauty for her age. Her body is… although she is a bit small, her proportion is kind of nice too… no, no, no, what am I saying? She is still underage! I can’t date someone underage! Well, but I can still appreciate beauty, can’t I? Anyway, talent, huh? Do they think I come from a talent agency? Well… talent agency is not bad. Yeah, I can advertise her as an idol! That way, I will get a lot of money and I won’t have to worry about what to eat today or tomorrow! Now then. What should I say to recruit her as my idol…
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…argh! Alright, I’ll tell him!”
It was the ghost who gave up first. Mir and the young man were staring at each other without saying anything. Mir was thinking about how to tell him about her talent while the young man was thinking about the talent she might have.
The young man seemed to wake up from his stupor. He suddenly smiled and stretched out his hand. “Hello, Mir. My name is Raleigh von Vlad. Welcome to my new idol agency. Together with me, we will soar and aim the s—”
“Not that kind of talent!” The ghost retorted. It sighed exasperatedly. If it had a body, it would touch its temple and shook its head. “Seriously. Why do I feel I am the most normal here? Even though I’m a ghost, I’m normal… anyway, she has the talent to see ghosts and to attract their attention whenever her emotion is disturbed. She is troubled by it. Can you give her some advice?”
“Ah, that kind of talent, huh?” Raleigh nodded in understanding. “Unfortunately, I’m still an appr…”
He stopped abruptly. He didn’t say anything for a full minute before suddenly, he smiled. Behind that smile, the ghost noticed a scheme.
“Ah, I can help you. Mm, yes, you are an unpolished raw diamond. All you need to do is training. You need to know how to train your power. Look, everyone who has the talent to see ghosts has spiritual power. That’s the case in my family. But in your case, no one trains you, so you don’t know how to use them. How about this. I will help you training your spiritual ability while you help me as my assistance?” Raleigh said with a smile that at first glance, looked sincere.
“Oy, oy, what kind of scheme are you plottin—” Before the ghost finished his question, Raleigh suddenly pulled him far from Mir. Mir watched them and thought that it was weird how Raleigh could touch the ghost.
“Pst! What do you think of a beautiful ghost hunter?” Raleigh only said that line to the ghost.
The ghost stopped to think. That was right. Mir had the beauty. She also had the ability. She only didn’t have the trainer. If Raleigh could train her to be a ghost hunter, wouldn’t a beautiful ghost hunter appear in this world?
“…but why would the world need a beautiful ghost hunter?” The ghost muttered.
“Fool! It’s not only about a beautiful ghost hunter! I… no, we, everyone in this business are trying to do one thing! No, in addition to purifying this world from evil spirits, we are trying to do one thing! And that is to make the existence of ghosts is acceptable to normal people! No, not acceptable, but we want them to understand that ghosts are real and they might inflict harm to them!”
The ghost added. “And then, when they believed it, you will have more jobs, is that it?”
“Well, yeah, something like that.” Raleigh admitted readily. “And for reason like that, we need someone who can attract normal people’s attention!”
“Your goal is noble… is not something that I’m gonna say!!!” The ghost yelled at Raleigh. “What’s that got to do with us, huh!?”
Raleigh coughed. “Well, for that girl, I think that she might want to train her ability even a little bit. And for you… don’t you want your existence to be known? You can be a well-known ghost, you know?”
“I don’t care about fame.” The ghost shrugged.
“…how about money? You can buy whatever you want!” Raleigh didn’t give up.
“Helloooo, I’m a ghost, I don’t need anything, remember? Also, if I want something, I just can borrow from someone or the shop.”
That was right. It was a ghost. Thinking that it needed money was a mistake. However, when he thought that the ghost could go into a shop or a house without anyone noticing it, he started to think that the ghost could also do something bad. Shoplifting, for example.
“You evil spirit!” Raleigh suddenly shouted and started attacking the ghost.
“Oy, oy, you are the evil one! Which part of a pure and innocent ghost like me is evil!? Are you blind? Look at my eyes and you will see my purity, you stupid!” The ghost retorted as it retreated to Mir.
“Don’t hide behind her!” Raleigh snapped at the ghost.
“Heh, who will obediently follow your order?” The ghost ridiculed Raleigh as it ran around Mir with Raleigh followed behind it.
“…” Mir was watching at them as she didn’t know what to do. Right now, the two of them were so childish that Mir couldn’t react to them. And the gazes of other people were painful… she wanted to leave as soon as possible, but the two of them were circling her at a fast pace. It would be difficult to walk without bumping into them…
“…Mr. Vlad.” Mir called out to Raleigh, which immediately stopped chasing the ghost and started trembling.
“Gah, stop! Don’t use my last name like that! If they know, I will die for sure!! Just call me Raleigh!” He said while trembling and hugging his body.
“…stop.” Mir said.
Raleigh looked at Mir, and then at the ghost. In the end, he sighed. “Well, I don’t plan on banishing this ghost without payment though. Ah, anyway, here’s my plan…”
He explained his plan to Mir. It was to make Mir work as a part-timer for him. Mir listened to the plan carefully, but in the end, the one who answered was the ghost. No, he didn’t answer. He added the part that Raleigh wanted to hide. Such as he wanted to use Mir’s beauty to popularize the existence of ghosts, something like that.
“…can’t.” Mir refused without a second thought.
“Why!?” Raleigh howled as he stopped Mir from walking.
“…impossible.”
“That didn’t explain anything!” Raleigh said.
“…” Mir stopped talking as she looked at the ghost hopefully. The ghost understood what she wanted to say. It could only sigh as it tried to explain what Mir thought to Raleigh.
“Well, you see, the point is, this young lass just can’t talk a lot. Or she doesn’t want to. It doesn’t matter, anyway, she just won’t be able to talk a lot. Do you think someone like her can popularize the existence of ghosts?”
Mir nodded vehemently. She looked back at Raleigh who didn’t say anything. His face looked like he just found out the truth about the world… well, only for a moment though. As in the next moment, he smiled again.
“What, it’s just that? Well, you don’t have to say anything at all. No, even if you don’t say anything at all, just standing beside me all the time, it’s more than enough. Now, it’s not so impossible, right?”